Ministers have bought up capacity to produce five million face masks a week as they prepare to make them compulsory in shops.

Government sources said ten factory production lines have been acquired to ensure there is enough supply if and when the wider use of coverings is made mandatory.

Half of the businesses, in Wales and Burnley, are already in production with the rest to come on stream next week.

Boris Johnson appeared in public wearing a face mask for the first time on Friday night, hours after suggesting the Government would become stricter in insisting that people wear face coverings in confined places

Sources said the move was to make the UK resilient and not reliant on foreign suppliers.

Masks are already compulsory on public transport and the Prime Minister hinted on Friday that the Government is poised to extend the requirement to retail premises to help control the virus spread.

Michael Gove sparked confusion over official policy on the issue yesterday when he said it should not be made mandatory in shops.

But Government sources last night said the Cabinet Office ministers comments had been misinterpreted  and suggested masks could still be made compulsory in shops within days.

Boris Johnson appeared in public wearing a face mask for the first time on Friday night, hours after suggesting the Government would become stricter in insisting that people wear face coverings in confined places.

Masks are already compulsory on public transport and the Prime Minister hinted on Friday that the Government is poised to extend the requirement to retail premises to help control the virus spread

But asked if Downing Street was going to make their use mandatory in shops, Mr Gove told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show yesterday: I dont think mandatory, no. But I would encourage people to wear face masks when theyre inside in an environment where theyre likely to be mixing with others and where the ventilation may not be as good as it might. So I think that it is basic good manners, courtesy, consideration to wear a face mask if you are, for example, in a shop.

A Government source insisted Mr Gove was not signalling a shift in stance, adding: Michael was clear that the situation is under review and that is the position. The PMs comments still stand.

London mayor Sadiq Khan, who is campaigning for compulsory mask use, urged ministers to get their act together.

He said: Our response is once again behind the rest of the world. Mr Gove is also helping oversee the initiative to shore up UK supplies of coverings.

He told Sky News the Government had been investing in significantly increasing the capacity to manufacture face masks in the UK.

Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope urged ministers not to make masks compulsory, saying he would stop shopping if required to wear one

A Whitehall source said the Government had now acquired ten production lines, each capable of producing half a million masks per week.

Five are already operating, with the rest expected to complete safety tests within days.

But Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope urged ministers not to make masks compulsory, saying he would stop shopping if required to wear one.

He said ministers should keep things in perspective and be trying to build confidence about the nature of the risk involved.
Austria is one of the 'frugal four' seeking changes to the European Unions planned coronavirus recovery fund

Covid-19 patients are being treated with oxygen at the Tshwane District Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa. (AP)

Vienna: Austria, one of the frugal four seeking changes to the European Unions planned coronavirus recovery fund, wants a bigger share of that aid to go to the blocs poorest countries, its leader said in remarks published on Saturday.

Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden are among the biggest net contributors to the blocs budget and also generally oppose big spending plans. Together they resisted the idea that the fund contain grants, suggesting only loans instead.

The European Commission, the EUs executive body, has proposed a 750-billion-euro ($847 billion) fund, two thirds of which would be grants. EU leaders hope to hammer out the details at a summit on Friday, and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has conceded that he no longer opposes grants entirely but will discuss the mix.

According to the Brussels plan, Italy, Spain or Poland would benefit the most, Kurz told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

But in the EU we have significantly poorer countries. My sense of justice tells me: If we in the EU are going to spend that much money, it should primarily flow to the poorest of the poor, he said, without specifying which countries.

Latvia, Romania, Greece, Croatia and Bulgaria are the poorest countries in the bloc on a per capita basis, according to EU statistics office Eurosthere Austria maintains close relations with Western Balkan countries like Croatia.

Instead of using unemployment figures as of 2015 to decide how much countries should receive, the fund should be allocated according to a measure like how much economic output shrank because of the pandemic, Kurz said.

Granting aid money must be coupled with conditions. Conditionality is important so that money is not used merely to plug holes in budgets, he said saying it should be used for green measures, digitisation and supporting reforms.
Storm damage including downed trees, power outages and a fire at a Birmingham church has been linked to a line of powerful storms that cut across the northern half of Alabama on Sunday.

Trees blocked roads in Marion, Walker, Winston and Blount counties as high winds and rain moved through the area on Sunday. Lightning struck a church in Birmingham and caused a fire.

Units from Birmingham Fire and Rescue responded to St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Cahaba Valley Road Sunday afternoon. Capt. Gail DeJarnett, the public information officer for Birmingham Fire and Rescue, said the fire was extinguished by 4:45 p.m. A lieutenant on the scene identified lightning as a possible source of the blaze, she said.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham reported 40 m.p.h. winds as thunderstorms struck the area around mid-day. Severe thunderstorm warnings have now been issued for Jefferson and Walker counties. Meteorologists issued warnings about strong storms in the northern half of Alabama today.

A spokesman for the service said much of the damage had been reported around the towns of Haleyville and Hayden.

Multiple trees down on AL Hwy 13 in Natural Bridge from Katie Cagle pic.twitter.com/wrCS1biMXJ  James Spann (@spann) July 12, 2020

There have also been reports of flooding in some areas, including Moulton in Lawrence County.
From the Electoral College to structural racism, America is feeling painfully aware of its inherent flaws these days. None looms more ominously now than that awkward moment that is the presidential transition. In the momentous winter of 1860-1861, the United States literally split in two during the haze between the failed presidency of Pennsylvanias James Buchanan and the first-ever Republican administration of Abraham Lincoln that terrified the slave-addled South.

Now consider this scenario: A seemingly unending crisis has ripped millions of jobs from the U.S. economy, with a growing homelessness problem  and a stubborn lame-duck president with his head in the sand about the radical government intervention required. Those problems appear to loom in 2020, and they were also all too real in the first two months of 1933.

At the absolute low point of the Great Depression, with a rash of bank failures worsening the sense of doom, outgoing GOP President Herbert Hoover clung to his ruinous mix of free-market capitalism and private charity, refusing to work with incoming Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt on anything that might speed up his proposed intervention known as the New Deal. As America stared into the abyss, whats alarming about 1933 isnt the fear that FDR would become a dictator (as Adolf Hitler was doing in Germany that January), but that a lot of respectable folks seemed to want one, including a New York Daily News editorial that breezily noted that [d]ictatorship in crises was ancient Romes best era.

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America got lucky nearly 88 years ago. Roosevelt was the strong leader that the Depression required but not a dictator  although the nation was so scarred during the long Hoover-FDR handover that it quickly ratified the 20th Amendment to shorten future presidential transitions by about six weeks.

With Donald Trumps approval rating plunging below 40%, and polls showing Joe Biden at nearly a double-digit lead, its important to see the presidents late Friday night commutation that kept Trumps longtime crony, the political trickster Roger Stone, from going to prison for what it really is: The beginning of a cornered presidents dangerous endgame, as well as the start of Americas greatest test since that chilly winter of 1861.

Although after 42 months of Trumps outrageous presidency has made it almost impossible to be shocked by any headline, Trumps dictatorial grant of freedom for Stone  clearly a reward for keeping quiet about what the future president and his close associates really know about Russian election interference in 2016  was arguably the worst abuse of power yet from a POTUS whos already been impeached once. The commutation was an assault on the Constitution that even Stones political mentor, Richard Nixon, considered too extreme at the depths of Watergate.

But what was so striking about the Stone commutation  just four days before he was supposed to report to federal prison to begin a 40-month sentence  was the lack of political calculation. Its been long suspected that Trump would abuse his presidential powers to release or pardon his close associates like Stone and Paul Manafort  but after the outcome of the Nov. 3 election. Instead, he moved right when his poll numbers among the white, college-educated suburban voters most likely to be offended by the crude commutation are already collapsing.

Could it be that Trump has moved on from the notion of a second term (for which he cant even give a clear answer on why he wants one) and is fixated on saving himself and his friends and family from prison under Biden, who has made it clear he will not pull a Gerald Ford and issue Trump a blanket pardon? Last month he even sounded resigned to losing when he told his close friend Sean Hannity at Fox News that Biden is going to be president because some people dont love me.

At virtually the same moment that Trump was commuting Stones sentence, his relentless political fixer  Attorney General William Barr  was replacing the U.S. attorney in New Yorks Brooklyn-based Eastern District, the third of three top prosecutors in the jurisdictions where Trump and his family face the most criminal exposure (the others are Manhattan and D.C.) to be removed in a most unconventional fashion by the lawyer who earns his nickname Trumps Roy Cohn every day.

No one should ever be overconfident in modern American politics (everyone, please, vote!). But now that the moment that at least 65 million people have so fervently dreamed about since the painful morning of Nov. 9, 2016  the end of Trumps democracy-endangering presidency might be at hand, the risks of such a moment are becoming clear.

The 45th president has already plowed through the guardrails of that democracy with his over-the-top (though not unprecedented) abuse of his pardon powers, and who knows what worse offenses could come between now and Jan. 20, 2021, especially as Trumps winter of discontent closes in. The psychologically damaged commander-in-chief will likely veer wildly between defeatism, self-preservation  and occasionally impulses that he could still win a second term with a wild-and-crazy gesture. The combination of those whims and a presidents ability to start a nuclear war with zero constraints (or a conventional war, which is bad enough) should terrify every American.

But in the annus horibilis that is 2020, the Roger Stone commutation is only the yin, the worst so far of a series of horrible, unlawful actions that Trump and his minions like Barr could take between now and January. The yang (no pun intended, Andrew) is the action that our demoralized and seemingly unstable president refuses to take on the coronavirus and its economic misery  an inaction that has already needlessly killed thousands of Americans and lengthened food lines amid a looming housing crisis. Both the pandemic and the recession could get much, much worse before a Biden administration is tasked with cleaning it up.

I always thought the most telling quote of the entire Trump presidency came out during the 2019 impeachment hearings, when the diplomat David Holmes testified that ambassador Gordon Sondland told him that Trump only cares about big stuff that affect him and his political fate. Thats very much in line with the presidents niece  Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist whos known The Donald her entire life  finding he has every trait of narcissistic personality disorder. Only a damaged, narcissistic president could draft Stones commutation on the same day that he traveled to the coronavirus hot spot of Florida and made scant mention of the pandemic.

Trump is now the worst possible president at the worst possible moment  James Buchanan when it comes to national unity, and Herbert Hoover when it comes to inaction on an American crisis. Trumps refusal to listen to or now even meet the countrys top scientific experts, his failure to not only encourage masks, but to even wear one himself before Saturdays too-little-too-late performance art, and his focus now on reopening schools as COVID-19 cases continue to hit new highs is Hooverism with a lethal twist. Now economists are urging that we prepare for a long and deep recession. Trump is not preparing, though. Theres no plan for more stimulus, or to aid the one-third of Americans who cant pay their rent or mortgage.

 READ MORE: Coronavirus exposed how broken American higher education really is | Will Bunch

Europe got it right on the coronavirus while the United States got it wrong, and now the only real solution  painful as it sounds  would be to repeat Marchs shutdown and get it right this time, with adequate testing, real contact tracing, and mandatory mask-wearing, so that schools could possibly reopen in the fall and offer some relief to Americas beleaguered families. And there should be monthly payments of $2,000 to every adult to survive the second shutdown.

That would require bold and deft leadership out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., where currently no one is home. Instead, much as happened to FDR in the long winter of 1933, the task will be left until January and the presidency of Biden, except that this time there will be a lot more to fear than fear itself. Who can calculate how big a hole a new Democratic president and Congress might need to climb out of next Jan. 20, or how much opposition to mask-wearing or economic stimulus might come from the newest tea party sure to be ginned up by Fox News?

There is another way. The go-to Washington solution is always to wait until the next election, when the beauty that is the American Experiment will sort everything out. But this is not a normal year, and this is not a normal president. I dont think we should find out how much more damage 192 more days of Donald Trump can create, not when Americans are needlessly dying from the coronavirus.

The growing number of 2016 Trump voters abandoning the president, and the tiny cracks of GOP opposition to the Stone commutation on Capitol Hill, could expand quickly. Its hard to imagine either Senate leaders following the historic example of Barry Goldwater, John Rhodes, and Hugh Scott, marching down to the White House in 1974, or what would happen on the other side. But every principled Republican who still exists  as well as newspaper editorial boards and a lot of other folks  should be demanding Trumps resignation, and his Senate removal if he wont go. GOP leaders can try to save their country and their party  or they can watch Trump try to save himself and destroy everything.

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Over 30 Pentecostal Christians arrested in Eritrea as crackdown continues: report

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More than two dozen Pentecostal Christians were reportedly arrested in recent days as the crackdown against nondenominational Christianity in the northeast African nation of Eritrea continues.

Berhane Asmelash of Release Eritrea told BBC that over 30 Christians were rounded up and detained while praying in three different locations in the nations capital of Asmara.

The BBC report follows reports from human rights watchdogs earlier in the month that stated that 141 Christians were arrested on May 10 in the Mai Temenai area of Asmara. They were detained after gathering for a private meeting ahead of the countrys Independence Day, according to nonprofit Release International.

Open Doors USA noted that of those arrested were 104 adult females, 23 men, and 14 minors.

The Eritrean government, which has been run by President Isaias Afwerki since the countrys independence from Ethiopia in 1993, only recognizes four religious affiliations  Orthodox Christianity, Sunni Islami, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea and the Catholic Church.

Afwerki is reportedly a member of the Orthodox church.

According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Eritrean government highly regulates religious practice to the extent that there is little to no freedom of religion or belief for people outside the four officially recognized faith communities.

But even the officially recognized religious bodies in the country have suffered from government interference as the government demands full control of religious organizations and their entities that include schools, clinics, and orphanages, reports the Catholic nonprofit news website Zenit.

Eritrea, which has a population that is about half Christian and half Muslim, has been recognized by the U.S. State Department as a country of particular concern for egregious violations of religious freedom since 2004.

According to Release International, about one out of 12 Eritreans has fled the country and gone to other African nations or Italy.

In its 2019 annual report, USCIRF said that Eritreans are regularly arrested and detained for their religious beliefs and practices while not being afforded due process under the law.

Members of approved religions are regularly arrested for protesting government interference in their activities, and members of unregistered religious groups can be arrested if found to be observing the illegal religion, the USCIRF report reads. In March 2018, the honorary president of the Al Diaa Islamic School in Asmara died in detention, having been arrested and detained in 2017 along with other colleagues for opposing government interference in the school.

Even in prison, USCIRF warned, inmates are banned from praying aloud, preaching and having religious books.

Arrested individuals have reported being asked to sign documents certifying that they renounce their faith or that they join or return to the Eritrean Orthodox Church, and if they do not, face transfer to worse conditions, according to the report.

A United Nations inquiry from 2016 found that the use of torture by Eritrean officials has been, and remains, both extensive and methodical in civilian and military detention centers.

Last year, authorities in Eritrea released Pastor Oqbamichel Haiminot, the senior pastor of Kale Hiwot (Word of Life) Church in Asmara after he spent over 11 years in prison. Haiminot was among 60 evangelical Christians arrested in 2005 during a wedding ceremony and taken to Sawa military center.

Eritrea is ranked as the seventh worse country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USAs 2019 World Watch List.

During the 2019 World Watch List reporting period, government security forces conducted many house-to-house raids and imprisoned hundreds of Christians in inhumane conditions, including small shipping containers in scorching heat, an Open Doors factsheet reads. Protestants, in particular, face serious problems in accessing community resources, especially social services provided by the State.

Christians from nontraditional church groups, such as evangelicals, face the harshest forms of Christian persecution, Open Doors reports. Also converts from a Muslim background and cross-denominational converts from Orthodox backgrounds encounter harsh mistreatment from their families and communities.
After actor Amitabh Bachchan, 77, tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, political leaders from across party lines wished him a speedy recovery.

Taking to Twitter, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that "a billion prayers" were with the veteran actor. Sir, we wish you a speedy recovery. The power of a billion prayers is with you, Kejriwal said.

Sir, we wish you a speedy recovery. The power of a billion prayers is with you. https://t.co/vxlSowqvnh Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 12, 2020

The actor has been admitted to a city hospital. Amitabh's son Abhishek has also tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that she was praying for the actor's health and recovery. Extremely saddened to hear the news of Shri #AmitabhBachchan Ji testing COVID Positive. Praying for his strength & speedy recovery. @SrBachchan please get well soon! Banerjee tweeted.

Extremely saddened to hear the news of Shri #AmitabhBachchan Ji testing COVID Positive. Praying for his strength & speedy recovery. @SrBachchan please get well soon! Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 11, 2020

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, while praying for his speedy recovery, hailed Amitabh Bachchan as an idol for millions in the country.

Dear Amitabh ji, I join the whole Nation in wishing you a quick recovery! After all, you are the idol of millions in this country, an iconic superstar! We will all take good care of you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery! @SrBachchan @juniorbachchan#AmitabhBachchan #COVID, Union health minister tweeted.

Dear Amitabh ji, I join the whole Nation in wishing you a quick recovery! After all, you are the idol of millions in this country, an iconic superstar!We will all take good care of you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!@SrBachchan @juniorbachchan #AmitabhBachchan #COVID https://t.co/NHeY7e2mjC pic.twitter.com/CsVKlvCJeG Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) July 11, 2020

He also tweeted wishing Abhishek a speedy recovery. "My best wishes for a young, brilliant actor with a most charming smile !," he wrote.

My best wishes for a young, brilliant actor with a most charming smile !Take good care of yourself dear @juniorbachchan & of your father Sh @SrBachchan ji too !Am sure both of you will bounce back to perfect health soonThe Bachchans rule our hearts. Our prayers for you ! https://t.co/WCSrrBB8ff pic.twitter.com/Y7gjjZbbEQ Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) July 11, 2020

BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also expressed hope for the actor's speedy recovery.

We all wish and pray for your speedy recovery! Get well soon @SrBachchan ji! Fadnavis wrote.

We all wish and pray for your speedy recovery!Get well soon @SrBachchan ji ! https://t.co/RX8FrWWDx9 Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) July 11, 2020

Hospital sources told News18 that both the Bachchans were showing mild symptoms before testing positive. Their health is stable now without any complications.

Bachchans upcoming movies include Chehre, Brahmastra and Jhund. He was last seen in Shoojit Sircars comedy-drama Gulabo Sitabo alongside Ayushmann Khurrana.
The historic oil price crash and Covid-19 pandemic have left major producers of the commodity in a deep economic crisis. Dramatic production cuts by OPEC+ has exacerbated the situation by further lowering export inflows for economies that depend heavily on oil dollars. Some, such as the UAE, have tried to put on a brave face by touting the strength of their banking systems and claiming they can withstand shocks of any scale.

Unfortunately, a growing body of evidence suggests pretty much the opposite: A wave of banking mergers is sweeping through the Middle East as the sector scrambles to stay afloat amid slowing economic growth.

About $440 billion worth of deals are already on the table. Thats a remarkable feat for a region that has the lowest banking penetration anywhere on the globe.

Interestingly, Saudi Arabia--guilty of initiating the oil price war with Russia that triggered the oil price crash--is well represented in the growing trend.

Source: World Bank

Giant mergers

Source: Bloomberg

#1 Saudi Arabia The National Commercial Bank, Saudi Arabias largest lender by assets, has lined up a $15.6 billion takeover bid for rival Samba Financial Group. The $15.6B tab represents a nearly 30% premium to Sambas valuation before the deal was announced, while the potential deal will create a $210 billion (assets) behemoth.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, the Kingdoms central bank, has unveiled nearly $27 billion in stimulus packages to support its flagging banking system suffering from years of weak private sector loan growth. The Kingdoms oil and gas sector accounts for 50% of GDP and 70% of export earnings. The IMF has estimated Saudi Arabias fiscal breakeven sits at $76.1 per barrel, a far cry from the current ~$40/bbl.

Related: U.S. Natural Gas Production, Consumption And Exports Hit Record In 2019



The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund, is looking to complete other such mergers to make the sector more competitive. The PIF is NCBs and Sambas largest shareholder with a 44% and 23% slice of NCB and Samba, respectively.

#2 Qatar

In June, Qatars Masraf Al Rayan QSC and Al Khalij Commercial Bank PQSC kicked off initial negotiations to merge their operations. The potential merger could create a combined entity with more than $45 billion in assets as well as one of the largest Sharia (Islamic) compliant banks in the region. The deal follows the 2018 tie-up between the countrys Barwa Bank and International Bank of Qatar that saw the proposed three-way merger with Masraf Al Rayan abandoned.

Qatar is the worlds 17th largest producer of oil, pumping 1.5 million barrels of the commodity per day. The countrys economy is heavily reliant on oil, with petroleum and natural gas accounting for more than 60% of GDP, 85% of export earnings, and roughly 70% of total government revenue. Nevertheless, the IMF has tapped Qatar as one of only seven countries expected to run a budget surplus in the current fiscal year thanks to heavily scaling back capital spending.

Source: The Print

#3 UAE In January, Dubai Islamic Bank, United Arab Emirates biggest Islamic lender, completed a deal to buy smaller rival Noor Bank in an all-share deal. The combined entity now holds more than $75B in assets. The giant bank has since then stolen its competitors playbook by courting more international investors and raising its foreign ownership cap to 40%. Related: Libya Lifts Force Majeure On All Oil Exports

Although the UAE has one of the most diversified economies in the region, it remains extremely reliant on oil, with the exception of Dubai. The UAE is the worlds 8th largest oil producer, pumping 3.1 million b/d with oil exports accounting for about 30% of GDP. The IMF has estimated that UAE needs ~$69.1/bbl to balance its books.

#4 Kuwait

Kuwait Finance House has postponed its planned merger with Bahrains Ahli United Bank until December. Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has received a letter from the Central Bank of Kuwait to review the transaction due to the coronavirus. The merger would have marked one of the regions rare cross-border banking tie-ups and created a combined entity with assets of $104 billion.

Kuwait is an OPEC member and the worlds 9th largest oil producer at 2.9 million b/d. Kuwaits fiscal breakeven of $61.1 as per the IMF means the country is one of the most adversely affected by the oil price crash though it still has ample back-up in its General Reserve Fund.

#5 Oman

The Oman Arab Bank has finalized plans to acquire local competitor Alizz Islamic after Omnivest, one of Omans largest investment funds, sold its 12% stake. The combined entity will become a wholly-owned unit of Oman Arab Bank with assets of $8.4B.

Oman pumps a million barrels of crude per day, making it the worlds 19th largest producer just ahead of Libya. Like most Middle East countries, Oman is heavily dependent on oil and gas resources for 68% of GDP and 85% of government revenue. The country is expected to record one of the biggest budget deficits in the current financial year at nearly 20% of GDP.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Authorities on Sunday ordered a partial lockdown in Srinagar by designating over 60 containment zones amid a surge in coronavirus cases over the past week, officials said.

The lockdown will be imposed in 68 containment zones of the city from Monday and no movement would be allowed in these areas without permission, they said.

In view of the major spike in Covid-19 cases, we will have to carve out containment zones for effective restrictions in different areas of Srinagar. Local cooperation is solicited in best interest of public health, District Magistrate, Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said.

He confirmed the reimposition of the lockdown.

The decision to reimpose the lockdown in these areas of city was taken at a meeting late Saturday evening, the officials said. The city has witnessed a spike in the number of coronavirus cases over the past one week. The total number of positive cases has reached 1,611, out of which 1,075 are active.

While the union territory administration had first announced a lockdown across Jammu and Kashmir on March 22 as part of its efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, restrictions were imposed in many parts of the valley, including in the city, on March 19 after the UT saw its first positive case from Srinagar.

The lockdown was then gradually eased in June and the markets in the city reopened after about three months in the second week of June.
Nepal has sent a 'diplomatic note' to India, urging New Delhi to take steps against the broadcast of materials what it called "fake, baseless and insensitive as well as abusive" to the country and its leadership by a section of the Indian media, a source said on Sunday. The move came days after Nepal on Thursday stopped the transmission of all Indian private news channels except Doordarshan, accusing them of airing reports hurting the country's national sentiment.

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'My girl got that out of her system!" Lori Salvatore posted the next day. "That was a major step in her receiving new lungs. Even though she doesn't have the virus anymore, it did major damage to her lungs' structure that is irreversible. They are beefing her up with extra oxygen in her lungs as well as draining fluid from around the lung area."

Eight days later, Moore remained weak.

"She is under heavy sedation and they are trying to wean that off of her," her mother posted on May 27. "Every time they try, her blood pressure or heart rate goes crazy. Since they cannot wake her up, they did a CT scan today to see if everything was OK neurologically. That came back great! Once they are able to wake her up, then she can start rehab and PT to get her strength back. After that she will be put on the transplant list."

Total strangers rallied in support. The Buffalo Bills Backers group in Cleveland offered Salvatore meals and a place to stay when she was ready to take up residence there. A company called 26 Shirts, which designs and sells T-shirts for a cause, offered its help. The Go Fund Me page was on its way to more than $30,000 raised, far more than the $20,000 goal.
Hong Kong expatriates living in Britain have welcomed London's pledge of "a pathway to future citizenship" for millions of the territory's residents after China imposed a controversial security law there. But they warned this "message of hope" would not help many, including those born after Hong Kong's 1997 return to Chinese rule and now aged over 18 -- people at the forefront of protests against Beijing. "It is helpful -- it sends a strong message of hope to Hong Kongers, many of whom are waiting to be rescued from their city," a 35-year-old financial analyst living in London since 2005, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP. With relatives still in Hong Kong, he is very worried about their fate, especially those of university age. "These guys won't be helped directly by this but they are the ones who are more vulnerable -- they stopped their university degrees to join the movement," he added, referring to pro-democracy protests that erupted last year. Beijing enacted the sweeping security law for the restless city of around 7.5 million people on June 30, banning acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. The move has sparked international condemnation. The UK has said in response it will allow anyone with British National (Overseas) (BNO) status and their dependants -- husbands, wives, civil partners and children under 18 years old -- to come to Britain. They will be able to remain and work for five years, compared to the current limit of six months, before being able to apply for citizenship. More than 350,000 people currently have BNO passports, and the government estimates there are around 2.9 million eligible for the status in total in Hong Kong. - 'Main target' - "This proposal will definitely help some of the people who fear for their life -- at least they have somewhere safe to go," said Abby Yau, 40, a naturalised British citizen after 19 years in the UK. "But at the same time I wonder how much it will benefit the majority of the people who are oppressed by the (Chinese) government." Britain created the BNO status ahead of Hong Kong's 1997 handover, allowing its residents to apply for a form of British nationality and a BNO passport. But it conferred no automatic right to citizenship, could only be applied for before the end of 1997 and cannot be passed on to future generations. Critics of Britain's proposed changes note they still fail to help swathes of people who missed out on that opportunity. "The British government forgets the fact that most of the protesters are from my generation, in particular citizens born between 1997 and 2002," said another 22-year-old former Hong Kong resident studying in the UK since 2015. "These generations have suffered the most throughout the years and now they are the main target of the (Hong Kong) government. "The British government needs to consider this generation or otherwise, this proposal won't be meaningful." However, he expected "a wave of people fleeing" to Britain once the new immigration measures are formalised. "Social media such as Facebook has been flooded with questions regarding working in the UK," he added, noting it reflected "how anxious and hopeless Hong Kongers are at the moment". - 'Valuable workforce' - Yau said she too had been contacted by friends asking about life in Britain, and argued the new arrivals "could be an unbelievably valuable workforce for the UK post-Brexit". But she does not expect large numbers to leave Hong Kong, noting not everyone can afford to relocate and navigate Britain's costly immigration system while others may not want such a different lifestyle. The 22-year-old Hong Kong emigre echoed the sentiment. "It will be a big challenge and sacrifice for the sandwich-class in Hong Kong as they work hard throughout their entire life to promote their social status," he said, referring to the city's middle class. "Immigrating to here would mean restarting a new life as second-class citizens, and their social status might be dropped if they are not professional or wealthy." Meanwhile the financial analyst who left Hong Kong 15 years ago agreed there will be "reluctance" to start over in Britain, but noted two of his relatives who had long been mulling relocating have finally been convinced by recent events. "Can you call a place home when someone has taken away its core values, freedom and spirit?" he said. "To me, that place ceased to be home -- and the real home for Hong Kongers is where we can carry on contributing as a world citizen." Hong Kong protesters say the new security law gives Beijing carte blanche to move against them
As the country's COVID-19 tally rose to nearly 8.5 lakh, authorities were getting ready to reimpose lockdown for varying periods in more cities, including in Bengaluru and Pune, in the coming days, while there appeared to be an improvement in the situation in the national capital.

IMAGE: A labourer takes rest on a wooden cart during an intensified lockdown as a preventive measure against the spread of coronavirus disease, in Chennai. The state government had earlier announced that on all the four Sundays in July, intense lockdown will be in force across Tamil Nadu and only health care services, including pharmacies and hospitals, will be functional. Photograph: PTI Photo

The Uttar Pradesh government decided to implement strict restrictions across the state on weekends to check the spread of coronavirus, joining Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which have been imposing Sunday lockdown.



Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Bihar were among the states that have already announced area-wise lockdown for different durations.

Karnataka government has now announced a complete lockdown in Bengaluru for seven days from July 14.



Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami extended the curbs in Madurai and nearby regions including the Paravai Town Panchayat and several village panchayats till July 14.

IMAGE: A security official stands guard on a blocked road after the authorities announced to re-impose lockdown from July 13 due to surge in COVID-19 cases, at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. Photograph: S Irfan/PTI Photo

The Maharashtra government had earlier announced a comprehensive lockdown in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad from July 13-23. The state government had imposed similar curbs in areas around the state capital Mumbai.



Authorities in Kashmir too began strict implementation of another phase of the lockdown on Sunday, sealing off historic Lal Chowk and 67 other areas in Srinagar which have been declared containment zones after a sudden surge in COVID-19 positive cases over the past one week.



However, there have been some positive developments in Delhi where the COVID-19 case count on Sunday remained below the 2,000-mark for the second consecutive day.



And with the recovery rate improving to nearly 80 per cent, authorities have for now put on hold plans to use stadiums as makeshift coronavirus care facilities.

IMAGE: A woman mourns as she looks at a photograph on a mobile phone screen of a body of her husband, who died due to the coronavirus disease outside a mortuary in New Delhi. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

In the last 24 hours, the national capital has recorded 1,573 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 1,12,494 in the city, while the death toll mounted to 3,371 after 37 fatalities were reported, according to the latest Delhi health department bulletin.



Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Delhi has been able to minimise deaths of coronavirus patients in home isolation through pulse oximeters, which he termed as "suraksha kavach'' (protective shield).





IMAGE: Volunteers from Mercy Angel and their helping hand team perform the last rites of a COVID-19 victim at Khuddus Saab burial ground in Bengaluru. Photograph: Shailendra Bhojak/PTI Photo

Maharashtra was still struggling to contain the surge in cases which rose by 7,827 to 2,54,427 on Sunday, the highest in the country.



With 1,263 new COVID-19 cases being recorded on Sunday, Mumbai's case count mounted to 92,720, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.

Sixteen personnel at the Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai have tested coronavirus positive, a civic official said.



In a statement, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said he is perfectly alright and had tested negative.

IMAGE: A salesman attends a customer at a jewellery shop in Chennai. Photograph: PTI Photo

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, his son Abhishek, daughter-in-law Aishwarya and grand daughter Aaradhya are among those who have tested positive for COVID-19.



In a series of tweets, Abhishek said he and his father will "remain in hospital till the doctors decide otherwise".



"Aishwarya and Aaradhya have also tested COVID-19 positive. They will be self quarantining at home," he said.



Veteran actor Anupam Kher said his mother, Dulari, along with brother Raju and his family have also tested positive for COVID-19 and are currently under quarantine.

IMAGE: Medics attend the COVID affected patients at a temporary COVID-19 Care Center constructed in the Commonwealth Game in New Delhi. Photograph: ANI Photo

Tamil Nadu has the second highest number of cases in the country. With 4,244 fresh infections being reported, its tally rose to 1,38,470, the state health department said.



The state came to a virtual standstill under an intense 'Sunday lockdown' as only police and health personnel could be seen on roads, and hospitals, labs, ambulance services and pharmacies alone worked as per government directives.



Such curbs will be observed on two more Sundays this month.



Health workers, however, continued their routine of door-to-door checks to ascertain if people had flu-like symptoms in Chennai and several other parts of Tamil Nadu.

Mist cannons, which are huge blowers mounted on trucks, went around several neighbourhoods in Chennai spraying disinfectants.

IMAGE: Health workers wearing personal protective equipment escorted by policemen as they arrive to screen the people in Ambujwadi slum in Mumbai's Malad area. Photograph: ANI Photo

In Karnataka too, most vehicles stayed off the roads and shops remained shut due to the Sunday lockdown.



The number of coronavirus cases in Karnataka may double in the next 15 to 30 days and the coming two months would emerge as a big challenge for the government in tackling the pandemic, state Health Minister B Sriramulu said.



"Lockdown has been announced in Bengaluru from Tuesday 8 pm for the next seven days. Abide by the regulations. Everyday more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus are coming to fore," Sriramulu said late Saturday.



As on Saturday, the cumulative tally of COVID-19 cases in the state touched 36,216.

Bihar registered the highest single-day spike of 1,266 novel coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 16,305 on Sunday even as nearly a third of its 38 districts were under lockdown to contain the pathogen. Patna, Bhagalpur, Nalanda, Nawada, Begusarai and West Champaran districts have been under restrictions for more than 24 hours.



The Health Department attributed the spike to the enhanced testing capability.



In Uttar Pradesh, Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Information) Awanish Awasthi said that the lockdown restrictions will be imposed from coming Saturday on weekends and will remain in place at least for July.



Meanwhile, shops and business establishments, other than those dealing in essential services, remained closed in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The state government had on Thursday announced 55 hour-long restrictions from 10 pm on Friday till 5 am on Monday following a surge in coronavirus cases.



The state has reported over 35,000 cases so far.

IMAGE: Murals on COVID-19 frontline warriors are seen on the pillars of a bridge in Noida. Photograph: PTI Photo

The Arunachal Pradesh government had on Saturday extended the lockdown in the capital region for another week till 5 pm on July 20 in view of the spurt in COVID-19 cases in the region.



Several states reported highest single-day spike on Sunday. Among them was Gujarat where the tally rose by 879 to reach 41,897.



West Bengal's COVID-19 cases crossed the 30,000-mark with record 1,560 new cases reported from different parts of the state, according to a bulletin issued by state the health department.



A new daily record of 1,933 cases pushed the coronavirus tally in Andhra Pradesh to 29,168 on Sunday.



India added a record 28,637 cases of coronavirus infection pushing the country's COVID-19 tally to 8,49,553, while the death toll climbed to 22,674 with 551 people succumbing to the disease in a day, according to the Union health ministry data.



The number of recoveries stands at 5,34,620, while there are 2,92,258 active cases of coronavirus infection presently in the country, the updated data at 8 am on Sunday showed.



Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said early detection of COVID-19 cases through widespread testing, surveillance and clinical management has resulted in India having one of the lowest fatality rate at 2.66 per cent



The minister, who visited the Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre at Chhattarpur in Delhi to review its COVID-19 management status, also said that "our success" can be seen in the recovery rate which is almost 63 per cent at present.
Taiwan would welcome a visit by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, its foreign ministry said on Monday, a trip that would infuriate Beijing which views him as a dangerous separatist.

The Dalai Lama has not visited the Chinese-claimed, democratic island under the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen, who first took office in 2016. He last came in 2009.

In a birthday message via video link to supporters in Taiwan on Sunday, the Dalai Lama said he would like to visit again.

"As the political scenario changes, it may be that I'll be able to visit you in Taiwan again. I hope so. Whatever happens I'll remain with you in spirit," he said on his website.

Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the government had not yet received an application for him to travel to the island but would handle it under "relevant rules" if one came.

"We will, in accordance with the principle of mutual respect and at a time of convenience for both sides, welcome the Dalai Lama to come to Taiwan again to propagate Buddhist teachings," Ou added.

Beijing is deeply suspicious of Taiwan's president, believing she wishes to push for the island's formal independence. Tsai says Taiwan is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name.

Taipei-Beijing relations have worsened further since Taiwan offered to receive Hong Kong people who wish to leave the city after China passed a new national security law last week, an offer Beijing has condemned.

The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

China accuses him of being a "splittist", but he says he only wants genuine autonomy for his remote Himalayan homeland.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 21:21:00|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Despite his leading role in the U.S. fight against COVID-19, top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci has been sidelined by the White House, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Citing a senior White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Post reported that Fauci "no longer briefs (U.S. President) Trump and is never in the Oval (Office) anymore."

According to the report, Fauci had not spoken to Trump since "the first week of June."

Since COVID-19 broke out in the United States, the Trump administration and especially the president himself have had strained relations with the scientist over the country's coronavirus policy.

In recent days, with coronavirus infections and death surging in most U.S. states, Fauci, whose TV appearances were reportedly "scuttled" by the White House, had spoken more critical of the country's response to the epidemic.

In a live stream event on Tuesday, Fauci warned against a "false narrative" of a falling COVID-19-related death rate even as Trump continued to tout alleged progress the United States had made in tackling the COVID-19 outbreak by citing a falling U.S. mortality rate.

In another interview with the Hill on Thursday, Fauci said that U.S. states hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic should not be moving forward with reopening, another public rebuke of Trump, who had repeatedly downplayed the worsening COVID-19 outbreak in the country and encouraged states to quickly reopen their economies.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aradhya test positive for coronavirus in the 2nd test i.e, the swab test. Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan were hospitalized yesterday as they both tested positive for COVID-19.

Bachchan familys four members have tested positive for coronavirus. Aishwarya Rai and daughter Aradhya Bachchan have just reportedly tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Their prior reports marked them negative but in the latest swap reports both Aishwarya and Aradhya have tested positive. Jaya Bachchans test reports are negative. Saturday evening Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan were hospitalized as they had mild symptoms, they both were found to be COVID positive. Amitabh Bachchans residence Jalsa has been sealed by the BMC and the are has been sanitised.

As Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan were found corona positive on Saturday, other family members have also undergone rapid antigen test for COVID-19. However, in the swap test, 8-year-old Aradhya and 44-year-old Aishwarya were found corona positive. Other family members that include Navya Naveli Nanda, Agastya Nanda, and, Shweta Nanda have tested corona negative. Rajesh Tope, Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare Maharashtra informed about Aishwarya and Aradhya through a tweet.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her daughter Aaradhya Bachchan test positive for #COVID19. Jaya Bachchan tests negative: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope pic.twitter.com/lpLvLGufxk  ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2020

Both Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan have tested positive in the 2nd swab test as well. Amit Sadh, Abhisheks co-star in the newly launched Breathe: Into the shadows underwent the rapid test too as he was present with Abhishek Bachchan for dubbing purpose in the SoundNVision studio.

Also read: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan test positive for Covid-19

Also read: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan Covid-19 positive: Bhumi Pednekar, Sonam Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor wish speedy recovery

On Saturday night, senior Bachchan himself tweeted to inform that he has tested positive for coronavirus. He asked everyone who has been in close proximity with him within the last 10 days to get their tests done. Sometime after Amitabhs tweet, his son, actor Abhishek Bachchan tweeted that he has also tested positive for coronavirus and he also informed that BMC is in touch with them and they are complying with it.

Also read: Rekhas bungalow sealed by BMC after security guard tests positive for Covid-19

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse)  Sun, July 12, 2020 15:31 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665b1717 2 Science & Tech NASA,space,united-states,Earth,germs Free

NASA has updated its Planetary Protection Policies to reduce the spread of Earth germs in the vastness of space.

Though space is seemingly endless compared to the Earth, a mere speck of dust in comparison to the size of the universe, NASA wants to ensure that humans aren't dirtying up the place with our germs as people travel to the moon and beyond. In any case, no matter how small we -- and especially our germs -- are compared to the cosmos, dirt is dirt, and the US's National Aeronautics and Space Administration wants to keep outer space contamination to a minimum.

To prevent humans from ever getting into a spat with extraterrestrial street cleaners that could very well possibly be out there, NASA has updated the Planetary Protection Policies for Robotic and Human Missions to the moon, Mars and eventually beyond.

The first modification "addresses the control of forward terrestrial biological contamination associated with all NASA and NASA-affiliated missions intended to land, orbit, or otherwise encounter the Moon." To simplify, the organization requires that no biological matter is left on or around our moon, not even microscopic beings.

Read also: NASA's smell of space' has been converted into a perfume

The second addition specifies that when people travel to Mars in the future, neither forward nor backward contamination should occur, meaning that humans should not contaminate Mars with biological materials, and when they come back, they likewise must not contaminate Earth with Martian biological materials.

Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen explained that such precautions should be taken to protect these sites, as they "have immense scientific value in shaping our understanding of the history of our planet, the Moon and the solar system."

Both these changes were officially published Thursday.
Washington

Justice Clarence Thomas spoke and Chief Justice John Roberts ruled.

The Supreme Court's most unusual term featured victories for immigrants, abortion rights, LGBTQ workers and religious freedoms. The usually quiet Thomas' baritone was heard by the whole world when the coronavirus outbreak upended the court's traditional way of doing business. When the biggest decisions were handed down, the chief justice was almost always in the majority and dictated the reach of the court's most controversial cases, whether they were won by the left or the right.

The decisions in some of the biggest cases came with majorities of six or seven justices, a blurring of the stark 5-4 divide between conservatives and liberals on the court that Roberts and his colleagues have worried would cast them as mere politicians in black robes.

"The outcomes attest to the justices' understanding that their legitimacy rests upon not deciding cases on the deeply partisan lines that everybody else seems to use in society," said David Cole, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The rulings may make it difficult for President Donald Trump to claim complete success to his base over his 2016 promise to swing the court solidly to the right as he campaigns for reelection under a worsening pandemic, historic unemployment and mass protests over racial inequality.

Still it may give him the opportunity to ask voters for even more than the 200 Trump-appointed judges on federal courts, including Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

"Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn't like me?" he tweeted after the court ruled against him in a major immigration case. What the court needs, he said, is more conservative justices: "Vote Trump 2020!"

Roberts and Gorsuch, who wrote the opinion that said firing someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity is illegal, were part of majorities that otherwise included liberal justices. And some of the liberal justices joined with conservatives in a defeat for environmental interests and in two religious liberty cases, including one that prohibits some employees of religious schools from suing over job discrimination.

"The court really is doing this delicate dance, giving progressives some real victories," said Adam White, a law professor at George Mason University's law school, citing the LGBTQ case. At the same time, he said, the court is moving forward on some of the religious liberty cases. "It's fascinating to watch those two things move on parallel tracks."

When the court in its last opinions of the term Thursday rejected Trump's claims of immunity from congressional and criminal investigations, while also making it all but certain that Trump's financial records won't become public before the November election, a broad coalition of justices that included Kavanaugh and Gorsuch joined in the majority.

No one proved more influential in negotiating a term crammed with controversial cases than Roberts, the 65-year-old chief justice who has led the court for nearly 15 years. He wrote the court's opinion preserving protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. Roberts also had both majority opinions in the cases about Trump's financial records.

He also spoke for the court in requiring states to include religious schools when they direct public money to private schools. And Roberts had the decisive opinion that struck down a Louisiana abortion law, but may also have given abortion opponents a road map they can use to win future abortion cases.

By contrast, Roberts was a dissenting vote in two of the court's nearly 60 cases, and wrote just one dissenting opinion. And nearly forgotten in recent months during the shutdown, Roberts presided over Trump's Senate impeachment trial, declining to play an outsized role as majority Republicans acquitted him of charges he abused his power and obstructed Congress.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The term variously pleased and infuriated liberals and conservatives.

The ACLU's Cole called it "a surprisingly good term from the standpoint of civil rights and civil liberties," though the ACLU also represented an asylum-seeking Sri Lankan man who lost his high-court bid. Conservative commentator Carrie Severino criticized Roberts for what she said "looks like a troubling pattern of him being motivated by politics rather than by legal reasoning." But Severino also noted the court's "impressive" decisions in religious liberty cases.

How much did the coronavirus outbreak change things at the Supreme Court? The court met by telephone for the first time, Thomas broke his usual silence at arguments, and the whole world could listen, even hearing what sounded like a toilet flush during arguments. And for the first time in nearly a quarter century, the justices kept churning out opinions into July.

Still, the opinions, especially dissenting views crackling with anger and frustration, gave readers a window into emotions behind the decisions. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito, in the LGBTQ case, accused his colleagues of overstepping their role, writing: "There is only one word for what the Court has done today: legislation."

On the other side of the court, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said her colleagues had skewed the facts and taken a "simplistic" approach in a case she said would strip thousands of teachers of employment discrimination protection.

There was speculation during the last weeks of the term that either Alito, 70, or Thomas, 72, could retire in the hope of giving Trump a third Supreme Court appointment and putting a like-minded younger jurist on the bench.

But there hasn't been an election-year retirement in more than 50 years, and, as of now, that hasn't changed.
Jim McCloskey (left) and John Grisham (right) will discuss McCloskey's new memoir, "When Truth Is All You Have," in an event July 16 sponsored by the Princeton Public Library. Grisham based a character in his novel "The Guardians" on McCloskey. Read more

John Grisham and others call Jim McCloskey The Exonerator. For 40 years, starting before the use of DNA evidence gave rise to the Innocence Project, the Havertown native and founder of Princeton-based Centurion Ministries has been working to free wrongfully convicted men and women.

So far, 63 people, including four from Philadelphia, have walked out of prison with the help of the organization, from which he retired in 2015. (Its now known as just Centurion and is headed by McCloskeys longtime collaborator Kate Germond.)

McCloskey is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and named Centurion for the Roman in the Gospel of Luke who said of the crucified Jesus, Certainly, this man was innocent!

When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted is his new book, being published Tuesday (Doubleday, $26.95). In it, the former businessman and Vietnam veteran recounts the religious awakening in his 30s that put him on the path to the seminary, and the encounter with a New Jersey inmate that detoured him into a different form of ministry.

McCloskey, who continues to work on a couple of cases, also paints a picture of a badly flawed justice system that produces more wrongful convictions than he thinks most people realize.

 READ MORE: Philadelphia man exonerated after 21 years in prison wins $6.25 million settlement

The books foreword is by Grisham, whose 2019 best-seller The Guardians includes a main character who was inspired by McCloskey. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, McCloskey and Grisham will appear together in an event on Zoom sponsored by the Princeton Public Library. (Registration is at eventbrite.com.)

Speaking with The Inquirer last week, McCloskey talked about jailhouse confessions, how DNA-related exonerations are changing attitudes, and about what Grisham did and didnt get right in his fictional version of Centurion. This interview has been edited and condensed.

What do you wish prospective jurors knew about how the justice system works?

False convictions, throughout the United States, [have] been going on for decades and decades. I dont think the public has any idea how systemic the problem is.

When I started out in 1980, I was 37 years old. I had no experience with the criminal justice system in any form. And I always believed that the police and the prosecutors cared about one thing, and this sounds Sunday school-ish, but truth and justice, that they would never suborn perjury or do anything other than do their best to find the real perpetrator. I believe that most people  Im talking about largely white people who have had no negative experiences with law enforcement  they believe that the police and the prosecutors are out to protect and serve. Whereas communities of color have a whole different view of that.

So Im trying to hopefully educate the public about how this happens, and what to be on the lookout for.

Jailhouse confessions, in which the defendant is said to have proclaimed his guilt to another inmate, have been at the bottom of many of the cases youve investigated. Do we need a new standard for admitting them as evidence?

There have been calls to just completely eliminate jailhouse confessions. The ones who [testify to them] are mostly career criminals used by the prosecutors or the district attorneys to give what in my experience has been universally false testimony in exchange for, a lot of times, secret deals between the DA and the inmate wherein that person gets a sweet deal, mostly noncustodial time for his own crimes.

The way you fix it, in my view, is to eliminate such testimony. Its almost universally bogus.

People in law enforcement have been complaining for years about the so-called CSI effect, which has juries expecting definitive forensic evidence. Yet in several of your cases, the wrongful conviction seems to have turned on an attempt to oversell the science  as when for instance, someone testified to the age of fingerprints. How are nonexperts supposed to sort this out?

They must not take it as gospel whatever the crime lab person in the local police department says. It might not be accurate, or might be exaggerated. So they have to be more careful of blindly accepting that kind of evidence.

Every person weve ever worked to free was indigent. In many instances, they have court-appointed attorneys who are inexperienced, and besides that theyre funded very little money to go out and hire their own forensic experts who could possibly rebut what the crime lab presents.

Im probably one of the few people who can say that Ive read your book, but not John Grishams The Guardians, which includes a character you reportedly inspired. Do you come off as more heroic in his telling? Because you seem to have gone to a lot of trouble to not paint yourself as a saint in your book.

[Laughs] Youre right. Im no saint, and I wanted the readers to know that I dont think of myself in those terms. And I think thats quite evident in some of the accounts of my private life.

I can say that John Grisham, he gets its. Hes very knowledgeable about wrongful convictions, and hes very familiar with our work. His telling of that story in The Guardians was, Id say, 75% accurate of how we go about doing our work. I dont know if I looked more heroic in his telling. But he does have that central character who apparently is modeled after me doing some things in The Guardians that I would never do [including stealing something from an evidence locker]. I would never dare attempt to steal any evidence. We would use proper channels to get that done.

He also has Guardian Ministries, the organization in the book, offering cash for some witnesses, which we wont do because it could serve to impeach their credibility down the road.

 READ MORE: At 82, a just-released Graterford prisoner savors a taste of freedom

You write that DNA evidence has changed the criminal justice landscape, but when you began getting people exonerated, that wasnt yet available. Whats the difference that its made?

In 1989 [the same year Gary Dotson became the first person in the U.S. to be exonerated of a crime through DNA evidence], a couple of law schools formed the National Registry of Exonerations. And theyve documented the numbers: [More than] 2,600 men and women have been exonerated since then.

What DNA and all the other non-DNA exonerations have demonstrated to those who administer the criminal justice system is [what they didnt know]. They had no idea that eyewitness testimony was as unreliable as it is. And had no idea that innocent people would falsely confess to crimes when they were arrested. So it really shed light on a number of factors that go into wrongful convictions and how unreliable that kind of evidence is. It has awakened an otherwise very complacent legal community.

 READ MORE: The case of Larry Walker

You argue in your book that the system doesnt want to change, and that while there are good cops, the problems with police go beyond a few bad apples. Where do you stand on calls to defund the police?

My understanding of it is what people are calling for by defund is to take money out of the police budget and provide it to others, the state or local agencies who could better work with addiction and mental health problems. I dont claim to be an expert. It might deserve some serious consideration.

Would it help prevent wrongful convictions?

Nobody really knows at this point. Will it affect concretely the homicide investigation department or the [sex crimes] investigation unit or [those investigating] crimes against people? I dont know if it would affect the resources that police would have available to themselves to legitimately and thoroughly investigate those crimes.
A Nebraska man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the death of his stepmother in rural Custer County.

Trenton R. Esch, 44, was arrested at 9:40 p.m. and booked into the Dawson County Jail following the shooting death of Crystal Esch, 62, at her home, a Nebraska State Patrol spokesman said Sunday. Esch was arrested at his home in Broken Bow following a brief standoff, the spokesman said.

Crystal Esch was pronounced dead at her home north of Broken Bow. Court records in Custer County show that Crystal Esch had a valid protection order against her stepson.

Trenton Esch had at least twice been convicted of violating protection orders obtained by his stepmother.

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Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media

NEW HAVEN  Police released the name Saturday of a city resident shot and killed in the Hill neighborhood earlier this week.

Ricky Newton, 36, was wounded on Rosette Street Friday afternoon, Capt. Anthony Duff said in a release.
(Natural News) Today we feature a contributed article by Gary Heavin, who has been intimately involved in working with doctors and hospitals to document the most effective treatments that can halt covid-19 and put an end to lockdown tyranny.

Heres his full article, which contains priceless information on a cure for covid-19 that exists today (but that the medical establishment is deliberately suppressing to maximize fatalities and create demand for high-profit vaccines).

The Great COVID-19 Deception  and What You Need to Know to SURVIVE

by Gary Heavin

Ive been speaking with my friends who include medical doctors and other highly educated people about the treatments that they would seek if they were diagnosed with Covid 19. Most of them had no idea what course of treatment they or their families might seek. This conundrum is in part due to the massive volume of information that is being thrown at us. Much of this information is deliberately deceptive. I am writing this article to cut through the deception so that you and your physician can make informed decisions if and when the time comes.

This article has two purposes. First, its imperative that you understand the great deceit that Big Pharma, their minions at the FDA, CDC, NIH, the WHO, the MSM and officials in high government positions are perpetrating on you, your family and likely your doctor.

The second purpose is to assure that you are armed with the necessary information to insure that you receive the best treatment options from your health care provider. Knowledge is power.

Allow me to repeat, you need to know you are being duped and you need a plan for you and your family if you become infected with Covid 19. So lets get to it.

Let me begin by stating that Im not a medical doctor and I m not offering medical advice. I do have a bachelors of science degree in health, nutrition and counseling. Ive written two NY Times bestselling books on womens health and fitness and I have been awarded an honorary doctorate degree. However, you will need to determine your treatment options with your personal physician.

THE GREAT DECEPTION

When it comes to safe, effective and affordable therapies for Covid 19, Big Pharma and its agents, i.e. Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx and many others, appear to have an agenda to lie to you and your physician.

The most obvious example is their ongoing effort to ridicule the treatment option of Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin and Zinc. Weve all watched the harsh criticism that President Trump received when he promoted this protocol for Covid 19.

So, Hydroxychloroquine has been around for almost 70 years as a treatment for Malaria, Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. The WHO has designated it as a safe and effective medication akin to taking an aspirin. A survey of 6,000 medical doctors affirmed it as their treatment of choice for Covid 19.

The treatment works like this. Hydroxychloroquine is an ionophore, which means it can transport material through the cellular wall. Zinc is a mineral that stops the replication of the Covid 19 virus within the cell. Hydroxychloroquine transports Zinc into the cell so that it can stop the replication of the virus. The Z-pak antibiotic is given to prevent opportunistic bacterial infections like pneumonia that can occur while your immune system is engaged in Righting your viral infection. The key to its effectiveness is to start this treatment at the early onset of Covid 19 so that it has time to work.

How much effort has Big Pharma put into subverting this treatment regimen? In addition to denouncing its effectiveness, from Dr. Fauci and company, constant MSM hit pieces, the censoring of medical doctors articles and videos from the internet, there has also been a number of studies done that were literally sabotaged from the onset.

The VA hospital system reported in March that they had given Hydroxychloroquine to a number of patients. Following their release of information, the MSM ran the story with the headlines, VA hospital found that Hydoxychloroquine doesnt work and increases the fatality rate of Covid 19. However, if you actually read the study (see link) you will Rind that only the sickest of the cohorts were given the drug. They got the drug only after they were so far along that it would not have a chance to work and they were not given zinc. None of these details made the MSM articles.

https://www.mdedge.com/cardiology/article/221227/arrhythmias-ep/hydroxychloroquine-ineffective-covid-19-va-study-suggests

Another example of the Great Deception came from the British medical journal, The Lancet. The Lancet reported that a meta study showed that Hydroxychloroquine was ineffective. As a result of this published study, France, Italy and other European countries immediately prohibited the use of this treatment option. Within a few weeks, it was found that the study was so badly designed and that the results were literally fabricated. The Lancet was forced to make a retraction of the study. Of course in the meantime the MSM ran the original Lancet story and mislead millions of people and their physicians.

So what could possibly be the motive behind Big Pharmas Great Deception. Well theres three answers, money, money and money.

That brings up the treatment option that Big Pharma is promoting, Remdesivir. This lovely experimental drug, costs above $3,000 per regimen, must be given intravenously in a hospital (Rive days stay around 15 grand) and evidence shows it doesnt really work.

https://thereport.be/article/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Ftechnology%2Fremdesivir-study-finally-out-drug-only-helped-those-oxygen-finds-mortality-too-high

The other treatment option is the promised Covid 19 vaccine that they allege is forthcoming. The NHS in Great Britain has committed to purchase a vaccine for the entire population of Great Britain. Thats a commitment of 65,000,000 doses at an agreed price of around $600 for each vaccination. Thats about $40,000,000,000. (40 Billion) Thats a lot of incentive to mislead people. This week, a US pharmaceutical company received $1.6 billion dollars towards their efforts to make this vaccine which in the opinion of many experts, wont work on a coronavirus and will be untested and experimental.

https://www.sgtreport.com/2020/05/censored-dr-kaufman-they-want-to-genetically-modify-us-with-covid-19-vaccine-loses-his-job-and-willing-to-go-to-jail-to-resist/

How does Big Pharma have so much control over the dissemination of this information or should I say propaganda? Well, the same answer pops up again, money. Big Pharma gave $2 billion dollars during the last election cycle to US politicians. Big AG, the military/security complex and big oil each gave only a paltry $1.0 billion dollars to buy the votes of our political leadership.

The MSM counts Big Pharmas advertising revenue at up to 80% of their income. The internets masters of the universe also kowtow to Big Pharmas influence and advertising dollars by censoring anyone who tries to tell the American people the truth about Covid 19.

It certainly appears that anyone who is complicit in this Great Deception, a deception that is designed to kill and terrify enough people to ultimately beg for an experimental vaccine, well, these people would be accessories to murder.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SURVIVE

Now, for some good news. There are several therapies that are being offered that appear to be safe, effective and affordable. However, these therapies must be utilized early in the disease progression.

BUDESONIDE

Japan, Taiwan and other Asian countries have maintained a much lower fatality rate with Covid 19 then we have here in America, in spite of the fact they live in densely populated communities. Many people believe that it is due to their preferred method of treatment. They use a steroid medication that is inhaled in a mist through a home use nebulizer. Im familiar with this since my 2 year old granddaughter needed this treatment with a similar drug for an upper respiratory issue that she had recently. That speaks to the safety and the commonality of this treatment. Watch the link of a Texas doctor who shares his patients experiences with this therapy method using the drug Budesonide and a course of antibiotics.

IVERMECTIN

Another treatment option that appears to be safe and effective is the use of the anti- parasitic drug Ivermectin with the antibiotic Doxycycline. Just one Ivermectin pill and then the course of antibiotics for ten days resulted in a 100% cure rate for Covid 19 patients according to the attached study. Ivermectin has been widely used on the continent of Africa for many years as an anti-parasitic and is believed to be a primary reason that Covid 19 has not severely impacted the African population.

https://www.worldhealth.net/news/ivermectin-displaying-promising-results/

HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & ZINC

As weve seen above, this therapeutic regimen should be considered simply due to the efforts to prevent you from knowing the truth about it. As Shakespeare wrote, Methinks the lady do protest too much?

The challenge with this therapeutic is both finding a doctor who will prescribe it and finding a pharmacy that will sell it. This should be between you and your doctor. Not the governors of certain states. Considering that 20% of all drugs are prescribed off label, meaning that they are prescribed for a use other than intended, you and your doctor should have the liberty and the responsibility to make this health care decision.

https://www.henryford.com/news/2020/07/hydro-treatment-study

There are several other therapies that appear to be safe, effective and affordable. You may want to research Chlorine Dioxide, intravenous ozone, high dose intravenous vitamin C and another, Glutathione which are popular treatments in the homeopathic communities.

(Authors note) Ive received a number of questions regarding supplementation with vitamins and minerals. I regard these as preventative rather than therapeutic. However, my personal daily regimen is 2,000 mg of vitamin C, 2,000 iu of vitamin D3, 250 mg of magnesium and 25 mg of zinc.

As for me and my family, we are going to make informed and responsible decisions regarding our health care. I hope the information Ive given to you today along with the links for further information will help you, your family and your doctor make the best decisions as well.

Gary Heavin and his wife Diane are the founders of Curves, the worlds largest fitness franchise. Gary is the author of two NY Times bestselling books, Curves and Curves on the go. Gary co-wrote and starred in the movie Amerigeddon. Gary is a pro-life libertarian and serves on the advisory board of Dr. Ron Pauls Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Gary and his wife are philanthropists who feed 10,000 children a day in Haiti and operate an orphanage outside the slums of Mumbai. Most importantly, they are bible believing Christians.
The full citation explaining why then-Private Beharry received the Victoria Cross in 2005 reads:

'Private Beharry carried out two individual acts of great heroism by which he saved the lives of his comrades. Both were in direct face of the enemy, under intense fire, at great personal risk to himself (one leading to him sustaining very serious injuries). His valour is worthy of the highest recognition.

'In the early hours of May 1, 2004 Beharry's company was ordered to replenish an isolated coalition forces outpost located in the centre of the troubled city of Al Amarah. He was the driver of a platoon commander's warrior armoured fighting vehicle. His platoon was the company's reserve force and was placed on immediate notice to move.

'As the main elements of his company were moving into the city to carry out the replenishment, they were re-tasked to fight through a series of enemy ambushes in order to extract a foot patrol that had become pinned down under sustained small arms and heavy machine gun fire and improvised explosive device and rocket-propelled grenade attack. Beharry's platoon was tasked over the radio to come to the assistance of the remainder of the company, who were attempting to extract the isolated foot patrol.

'As his platoon passed a roundabout, en route to the pinned-down patrol, they became aware that the road to the front was empty of all civilians and traffic - an indicator of a potential ambush ahead. The platoon commander ordered the vehicle to halt, so that he could assess the situation. The vehicle was then immediately hit by multiple rocket-propelled grenades.

Members of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, including Johnson Beharry, at their base in Barker Barracks, Paderborn, Germany in 2005

'Eyewitnesses report that the vehicle was engulfed in a number of violent explosions, which physically rocked the 30-tonne warrior. As a result of this ferocious initial volley of fire, both the platoon commander and the vehicle's gunner were incapacitated by concussion and other wounds, and a number of the soldiers in the rear of the vehicle were also wounded.

'Due to damage sustained in the blast to the vehicle's radio systems, Beharry had no means of communication with either his turret crew or any of the other warrior vehicles deployed around him. He did not know if his commander or crewmen were still alive, or how serious their injuries may be.

'In this confusing and dangerous situation, on his own initiative, he closed his driver's hatch and moved forward through the ambush position to try to establish some form of communications, halting just short of a barricade placed across the road. The vehicle was hit again by sustained rocket-propelled grenade attack from insurgent fighters in the alleyways and on rooftops around his vehicle.

'Further damage to the warrior from these explosions caused it to catch fire and fill rapidly with thick, noxious smoke. Beharry opened up his armoured hatch cover to clear his view and orientate himself to the situation. He still had no radio communications and was now acting on his own initiative, as the lead vehicle of a six warrior convoy in an enemy-controlled area of the city at night.

'He assessed that his best course of action to save the lives of his crew was to push through, out of the ambush. He drove his warrior directly through the barricade, not knowing if there were mines or improvised explosive devices placed there to destroy his vehicle. By doing this he was able to lead the remaining five warriors behind him towards safety.

'As the smoke in his driver's tunnel cleared, he was just able to make out the shape of another rocket-propelled grenade in flight heading directly towards him. He pulled the heavy armoured hatch down with one hand, whilst still controlling his vehicle with the other. However, the overpressure from the explosion of the rocket wrenched the hatch out of his grip, and the flames and force of the blast passed directly over him, down the driver's tunnel, further wounding the semi-conscious gunner in the turret.

'The impact of this rocket destroyed Beharry's armoured periscope, so he was forced to drive the vehicle through the remainder of the ambushed route, some 1500m long, with his hatch opened up and his head exposed to enemy fire, all the time with no communications with any other vehicle. During this long surge through the ambushes the vehicle was again struck by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.

'While his head remained out of the hatch, to enable him to see the route ahead, he was directly exposed to much of this fire, and was himself hit by a 7.62mm bullet, which penetrated his helmet and remained lodged on its inner surface. Despite this harrowing weight of incoming fire Beharry continued to push through the extended ambush, still leading his platoon until he broke clean.

Prince Charles met L/Cpl Beharry in 2019 at the Grenada Houses of Parliament

'He then visually identified another warrior from his company and followed it through the streets of Al Amarah to the outside of the Cimic House outpost, which was receiving small arms fire from the surrounding area. Once he had brought his vehicle to a halt outside, without thought for his own personal safety, he climbed onto the turret of the still-burning vehicle and, seemingly oblivious to the incoming enemy small arms fire, manhandled his wounded platoon commander out of the turret, off the vehicle and to the safety of a nearby warrior.

'He then returned once again to his vehicle and again mounted the exposed turret to lift out the vehicle's gunner and move him to a position of safety. Exposing himself yet again to enemy fire he returned to the rear of the burning vehicle to lead the disorientated and shocked dismounts and casualties to safety.

'Remounting his burning vehicle for the third time, he drove it through a complex chicane and into the security of the defended perimeter of the outpost, thus denying it to the enemy.

'Only at this stage did Beharry pull the fire extinguisher handles, immobilising the engine of the vehicle, dismounted and then moved himself into the relative safety of the back of another warrior. Once inside Beharry collapsed from the sheer physical and mental exhaustion of his efforts and was subsequently himself evacuated.

'Having returned to duty following medical treatment, on June 11, 2004 Beharry's warrior was part of a quick reaction force tasked to attempt to cut off a mortar team that had attacked a coalition force base in Al Amarah. As the lead vehicle of the platoon he was moving rapidly through the dark city streets towards the suspected firing point, when his vehicle was ambushed by the enemy from a series of rooftop positions.

'During this initial heavy weight of enemy fire, a rocket-propelled grenade detonated on the vehicle's frontal armour, just six inches [15cm] from Beharry's head, resulting in a serious head injury. Other rockets struck the turret and sides of the vehicle, incapacitating his commander and injuring several of the crew.

'With the blood from his head injury obscuring his vision, Beharry managed to continue to control his vehicle, and forcefully reversed the warrior out of the ambush area. The vehicle continued to move until it struck the wall of a nearby building and came to rest. Beharry then lost consciousness as a result of his wounds.

'By moving the vehicle out of the enemy's chosen killing area he enabled other warrior crews to be able to extract his crew from his vehicle, with a greatly reduced risk from incoming fire.

'Despite receiving a serious head injury, which later saw him being listed as very seriously injured and in a coma for some time, his level-headed actions in the face of heavy and accurate enemy fire at short range again almost certainly saved the lives of his crew and provided the conditions for their safe evacuation to medical treatment.

'Beharry displayed repeated extreme gallantry and unquestioned valour, despite intense direct attacks, personal injury and damage to his vehicle in the face of relentless enemy action.'
Specialist schools say they should not be forced to reopen on Monday due to serious concerns about the safety of staff and their most vulnerable students after successive days of triple-digit growth in the number of COVID-19 cases in Victoria.

Cameron Peverett, president of the Principals' Association of Specialist Schools, said the schools should operate under the same rules as mainstream sites, which will offer remote learning for most students until at least August 19 , to help flatten the second surge of the virus.

Mr Peverett said there were "significant concerns about the health and safety of our staff and our students during a time when education shouldnt be the priority but health and safety should".

Schools are on alert after the state reported a record-high 273 new positive cases on Sunday and Al-Taqwa College in Melbourne's south-west was linked to Victoria's biggest cluster of COVID-19 cases.
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Hectic activity was seen at Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlots residence in Jaipur on Sunday with several legislators and ministers arriving to meet him to convey that they were with the chief minister in the hour of crisis.

The officials posted at the chief ministers residence said that as many as 95 legislators have given a letter of support to Gehlot, which is said to be another show of strength.

In the 200-member Rajasthan assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and has the support of another 18, taking its tally to 125. The BJP has 72 legislators and is supported by three MLAs of Hanuman Beniwals RSLP. In the Rajya Sabha elections on June 19, the two Congress candidates got votes of all 125 legislators supporting the government.

ALSO READ | Amid reports of turmoil in Rajasthan govt, Sachin Pilot meets Ahmed Patel

Some disgruntled Congress MLAs are, however camping in Delhi, party sources have indicated.

In Jaipur, several ministers including revenue minister Harish Choudhary, labour minister Tikaram Jully, health minister Raghu Sharma, Pramod Jain, Subhash Garg and MLAs reached the CMs residence and met CM Gehlot today. They held discussions over the present political situation.

The ministers and MLA are meeting the CM. Most of the party legislators and independent MLAs have met the CM since yesterday. Around 95 of 107 MLAs have in written expressed faith on the party and his leadership, said a close aide of the government.

Independent MLA Babu Lal Nagar, said, We are meeting the CM to express faith and confidence in his leadership. The MLAs have confidence in Gehlots leadership.

Nagar said that he has also received a notice by Special Operation Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police for his statement. The SOG has already issued a notice to the CM, deputy CM and chief whip for recording statements in connection with the matter.

The Special Operation Group had registered an FIR on its own on Friday in connection with attempts to topple the state government, on the basis of facts that came up during interception of two mobile numbers.

Sources claimed that SOG has issued notices to all independents MLAs for their statements.

The Congress government has distanced itself from three independent MLAs- Khushveer Singh, Omprakash Hudla and Suresh Tak, who have been named in the preliminary enquiry (PE) registered by the anti-corruption bureau, in connection with offering money to other MLAs on behalf of BJP to destabilize the state government, on Saturday. The government no longer considers them as supporters, a Congress leader said.

The political crisis began on Saturday after chief minister Ashok Gehlot held a press conference and blamed the BJP leadership for trying to topple his elected government. The allegation was, however, denied by the BJP.

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Not Rated | 1h 58min| Drama, Western | 23 April 1953 (USA)

Remember the simple, understated heroes of the Old West? The down-to-earth, courageous, and gutsy characters of a time now forgotten, drifting into the past like old tumbleweeds blowing across windswept plains?

There has been a drastic reduction in the number of productions of Westerns since their heyday in the 1940s and 50s. So sometimes, its nice to revisit that time in cinematic history and study its heroic archetypes (that many of todays superheroes are based on). One classic of these Old West pictures is Shane, released back in 1953.

Young Joey Starrett (Brandon De Wilde) watches Shane (Alan Ladd) ride off toward the mountains, in Shane. (Paramount Pictures)

Enter the Man With the Past

Helmed by visionary director George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Giant), the film begins with sweeping long shots of a snowcapped mountain range. As things settle in, we are introduced to a homesteading family going about the usual business of tending to their land.

The patriarch of the settlers, Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) works outside while his loving wife, Marian (Jean Arthur), keeps herself occupied with busywork in their small, cozy home. Their only child, son Joey (Brandon De Wilde), alternates between playing with the various forms of livestock on their modest acreage and practicing his aim with his fathers rifle.

(LR) Brandon De Wilde, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin as homesteaders and Alan Ladd as a drifter, in Shane. (Paramount Pictures)

One day, a mysterious stranger comes across their settlement on horseback. He wears worn buckskin and has a six-shooter strapped to his side. The man introduces himself as Shane (Alan Ladd) and exchanges pleasantries with the Starretts. Where Shane comes from or where he was headed isnt ever made clear, but its hinted at that he has a somewhat checkered past.

But soon after Shanes appearance, trouble arrives in the form of the Ryker clan, who are local cattle ranchers. Since the Starretts have settled on land that used to belong to the Rykers (appointed to the Starretts by the government), Joe has been at odds with them.

Joe mistakenly assumes that Shane is part of the Ryker posse and sees him off just as the Rykers enter the propertys front gate. The Rykers then engage in some veiled threats directed toward Joe and his family. Just when it seems that violence is about to break out between the two parties, Shane appears out of nowhere and backs Joe up, causing the Ryker party to disengage and ride off across the dusty prairie from whence they came.

Joe then apologizes to Shane for distrusting him and asks him to stay awhile. Shane accepts. He also agrees to Joes offer of employmentJoe figures he needs an extra hand to tend to the burgeoning family farm. Shane seems to want to leave his gunfighter ways behind him and settle down, so it seems like a good pairing.

Other homesteaders who neighbor the Starretts land are gradually introduced, including tall and lanky Axel Swede Shipstead (Douglas Spencer) and the small-but-tough Irishman Stonewall Torrey (Elisha Cook Jr.). The other men and their families are constantly antagonized by the Ryker clan and their minions, who want to run the homesteaders off what they still consider to be theirs. The Rykers were the original inhabitants of the area, who tamed the wildlands.

The Rykers regularly hang out in the nearby town, which serves as the only local place for the homesteaders to purchase supplies. Of course, the two factions eventually run into each other in town, which culminates in a barroom brawl between Shane and Joe on one side, and the Ryker clan and their men on the other. Amazingly, Shane and Joe manage to best the entire gang and then back their way out of town.

This causes the leaders of the RykersRufus (Emile Meyer) and his brother, Morgan (John Dierkes)to send for an out-of-town gunslinger named Jack Wilson (Jack Palance) to deal with the stubborn homesteaders. One of the first orders of business for Wilson is to brazenly gun down Torrey.

Things boil over from there in the films third act, with the emergent leaders of the homesteadersShane and Joeon a collision course with the Rykers and their minions, including the fast-drawing Wilson.

Throughout the film, little Joey becomes infatuated with Shane and considers him a hero for protecting his family. And a smoldering, just-beneath-the-surface chemistry begins to blossom between Marian and Shane, which doesnt go unnoticed by Joe.

Open Prairies and Tough Settlers

Ladd is a short actor as the mysterious drifter, but his presence stands tall, even when next to the lanky, 6-foot-3-inch Palance. He plays Shane as a rugged, quiet-yet-imposing gunfighter in a role that would later be emulated by other actors across multiple film genres. Likewise, Arthur and Heflin are believable as homesteaders who steadfastly refuse to give up their small parcel of land on the wild frontierthe fringes of civilization.

Van Heflin (L) and Alan Ladd on the set of Shane. (Hulton Archive/Courtesy of Getty Images)

The films cinematography is beautifully rendered, with ample long shots of the bluish-purple Rocky Mountains in the background, and trickling rivers that snake through rolling prairies and foothills. Shane was mainly filmed on location in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The final scene (spoiler alert) shows Shane, wounded (to what degree is uncertain) following the final gunfight. He realizes that he is what he is; his destiny lies elsewhere. As Shane rides off into the night, Joey calls after him to come back, over and over. The whole ending scene can be seen as a metaphor for a dying breed of cinema that may never returnthe classic American Western.

Shane

Director: George Stevens

Starring: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin

Rated: Not Rated

Running time: 1 hour, 58 mins

Release Date: April 23 1953

Rated: 4 stars out of 5

Ian Kane is a filmmaker and author based out of Los Angeles. To see more, visit DreamFlightEnt.com or contact him at Twitter.com/ImIanKane
Global oil market analysts are carefully watching the latest news emerging from Africas (potentially) largest oil producer. In an unexpected move, Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) stated lifted the force majeure on crude exports from its key terminals. The national oil company indicated that it expects a gradual revamp of production, but emphasizes that overall production levels will be less than 50 percent of its historic highs. The company indicated that significant damage to reservoirs and oil and gas infrastructure in the country, caused by the blockade that has been in place since mid-January 2020, has left a segment of its production at risk. The removal of the force majeure by NOC surprised many observers as the security situation in the country doesnt appear to be improving. The move has left some analysts wondering if NOC has been able to set up a deal between the UN-supported GNA government and some parts of general Haftars LNA forces. Others have suggested that significant pressure from third parties may have forced the two groups to agree to an oil deal. The North African oil producer has seen oil production collapse due to the conflict between the UN-backed GNA and the self-styled Libyan National Army of Khalifa Haftar. Since mid-January, a force majeure was declared by NOC on crude loadings out of the ports of Marsa El Hariga, Brega, Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, Zueitina, and Zawiya. Total Libyan oil production fell to between 70,000 and 100,000 bpd in the past few months, from over 1.10 million bpd before the blockade. Despite the positive news from NOC, optimism about Libyan oil production should be tempered. The situation on the respective oil-producing fields is far from positive, while damage to infrastructure and possible reserve issues are expected to keep production very low in the coming months. NOC also stated that the forced closure of several of Libya's oil fields has affected the oil reservoir quality, which has undergone mechanical, structural, and chemical changes.

Related: U.S. Natural Gas Production, Consumption And Exports Hit Record In 2019 The broader geopolitical situation in which Libya finds itself is another reason for analysts to temper optimism. UN chief Guterres stated that foreign interference in Libya has reached unprecedented levels, without directly stating the main culprits. It is looking increasingly likely that we will see a military operation by GNA forces, backed by Turkey, on the Sirte region. Any military action in the Sirte region would be a direct danger to NOCs future plans, as oil production and exports in the region would likely be halted. The GNA and Turkish officials have openly stated that they are preparing a move against Sirte, currently in the hands of LNA forces, to regain control of the areas strategic oil reserves. Indirectly Turkey has stated that it wants to regain power over the Sirte area in order to deliver a major blow to Haftars LNA and its backers, Russia, UAE, and Egypt. The UN is currently trying in vain to set up a possible political solution for the crisis, but the developments on the ground suggest that there is no political will for such a deal at the moment.

As things stand, two major external forces are on track to clash in a military conflict within Libya. Turkish forces have recently put their full backing behind the GNA, while Egypt has promised the protect Haftars forces. Egyptian President Sisi has stated that any violation of Sirte and Al-Jufra will result in direct intervention from the Egyptian military as per international norms. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stated that these threats clearly and currently endanger Egypt, and we will not tolerate these types of threats which are close to our borders, at a time when foreign interference provides those militants with support.

To show their readiness to intervene, Egypt has held a military drill near the Libyan border called Hasm 2020. This drill was a direct reaction to a Turkish statement that the Turkish navy will hold exercises off the Libyan coast. Egyptian defense sources have stated that Hasm 2020 involved Egypts Armed Forces land, maritime, and air defense. Some analysts expect more Egyptian naval maneuvers near Libyan waters in the coming days. The Turkish Navy said the maneuvers, called Naftex, will take place off the Libyan coast, involving 17 warplanes and eight naval vessels. Ankara has reportedly reserved an area for military exercises in the Mediterranean, according to Turkish news Yeni ?afak, slated to be three different regions, named Barbaros, Turgut Reis, and Caka Bey, off the Libyan coast. On June 11th, Turkish armed forces held a maneuver in the Mediterranean with eight naval ships and 17 fighter jets.

Related: Libya Lifts Force Majeure On All Oil Exports

A possible conflict between Egypt and Turkey is now a very real possibility. Such a conflict would likely draw in other forces as Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Cyprus are indirectly involved already. Turkish military moves, including a possible Sirte operation, will need to be backed up by Turkish naval forces. These naval forces would need to go via the maritime areas of the East Med countries, regardless of Libya and Turkey signing a bilateral EEZ agreement. Cairo is unlikely to back down any time soon as Ankara has been supplying armed drones, military advisors, and Syrian mercenaries to the U.N.-recognized GNA. On July 4, Al Watiya airbase, where Turkey had started to deploy some of its MIM-23 Hawk air defense missiles, was attacked by unidentified airplanes. There are rumors that this attack involved Rafale fighters, which would suggest that Egypt is already involved as the country has a large fleet of such fighters. Military analysts clarified that Egypts Rafales are equipped with long-range air-to-surface Storm Shadow missiles, able to evade any low to medium-altitude air defenses.

Until now, there are a lot of open questions, but Turkeys willingness to take part in the Libyan conflict has put it on a collision course with Egypt, the UAE, and possibly even Israel. Turkish Airforce and Navy capabilities are impressive, but Egypt and its partners have a geographic advantage. A significant Egyptian military intervention in Libya would be a litmus test for Ankaras resolve. In the end, Turkey will have to transport its armor across the Mediterranean while Egypt would just have to drive or fly across the border.

In the coming days and weeks, we will likely see the Libya crisis swing in favor of one of the two major powers. Ankara and the GNA will have to consider the possibility that some European partners and Israel may refuse to sit on the sideline if a military conflict does happen. Further destabilization of Libya and increased Turkish influence in the region would not be to the advantage of France (Total), Italy (ENI), or the littoral powers of the East Med. Whatever happens in the coming weeks, a revival of Libyan oil production and exports is looking extremely unlikely.

By Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 01:32:29|Editor: huaxia

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SANAA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A family of 10 members were killed on Sunday when a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a house in Yemen's northern province of Hajjah, the Houthi rebels-run al-Masirah TV reported.

Two others were injured and rescued from under the rubble of the house in Washhah district, said the television.

The victims were mostly women and children, local residents told Xinhua.

There was no comment yet from the Saudi-led coalition over the airstrike.

Yemen has been mired in civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the country's north, forcing the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in the Yemen conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.

The war has since killed tens of thousands of people, mostly children, displaced 3 million and pushed over 20 million to the brink of starvation. Enditem
The civil servant drafted in to run Britains pandemic response has quit, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Respected mandarin Tom Shinner is the latest high-profile figure to announce his departure in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.

Once dubbed the Mr Big of Brexit, Mr Shinner had returned to the Government in April, having left for the private sector after leading cross-Government preparations for a potential No Deal exit.

Respected mandarin Tom Shinner (pictured) is the latest high-profile figure to announce his departure in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis

At the time, Whitehall trade magazine Civil Service World said his appointment was at the personal request of Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill.

Boris Johnson eased out Sir Mark from his role as Civil Service boss last month, amid growing acrimony between Downing Street and the Whitehall machine.

Last night, No 10 insiders insisted that Mr Shinners job was only a temporary secondment and the response to the pandemic was beginning to wind down.

One friend said he was contractually obliged to return to his job at a startup.

But a Whitehall source said: There is a uneasy feeling in the building that those directly involved in the past few months are making themselves scarce before the inevitable post-mortem.

Mr Johnson has conceded that the coronavirus crisis, and Britains high death toll, will be subject to a full inquiry in the coming months.

The Prime Minister is understood to have become increasingly frustrated with Sir Marks handling of the unfolding horror and Britains lack of preparation.

One ally told The Times yesterday: One of the main things was that when Covid started to emerge as a major threat in February, a plan was asked for and there was no plan. Thats despite it being top of the risk register since 2008.

Where was the plan? Why was the person in charge of the risk register  who is not just the Cabinet Secretary but also the National Security Adviser  not on top of it? Thats his job.

Sir Mark has pointedly refused to say his departure was voluntary, and it later emerged that he had received a 250,000 payoff.

Sir Mark (pictured) has pointedly refused to say his departure was voluntary, and it later emerged that he had received a 250,000 payoff

Legal experts said the size of the contribution to Sir Marks pension pot pointed to a potential threat of legal action behind the scenes.

Employment law specialist Tim Goodwin, a barrister at 12 Kings Bench Walk, said yesterday the payments most likely purpose is to settle claims that Sir Mark has threatened to bring in the Employment Tribunal.

Mr Goodwin added: In that context, 250,000 is very high. The cap on an unfair dismissal claim is 88,519, so in order for his claim to be worth more than that, it would need to be a whistleblowing or discrimination claim.

We do not know what advice the Prime Minister has received, but that he describes the settlement as good value for money suggests to me that he has been advised that Sir Marks claim is a strong one and that he would likely be awarded a significant sum.

Given the likely costs of defending the claim, and considering the relatively low rates the Government pays external lawyers, I dont think this is a case of paying out compensation simply to avoid legal costs.

The Government is currently engaged in a bitter legal dispute with Sir Philip Rutnam, the former boss of the Home Office who resigned in February citing constructive dismissal.

Downing Street has refused to discuss the exact details of Sir Marks departure, beyond suggesting the decision to leave was mutually taken with Mr Johnson.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 00:07:53|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said on Sunday it had intensified a manhunt for six poachers behind killing of antelopes and buffalos for meat at Mount Elgon National Park.

Josephat Wambua, senior warden at Mouth Elgon National Park, said the wildlife agency is on high alert to prevent death of iconic mammals in the hands of poachers.

"We have six dangerous poachers whom we are pursuing and we are urging the community to help us apprehend them," said Wambua.

He urged local communities in north-western parts of Kenya to take up conservation of wildlife, adding that benefits are huge.

In May 2018, KWS rangers shot dead three suspected poachers during an exchange of fire at Mount Elgon National Park. Enditem
At 10 a.m. Saturday, the effort to recover the body resumed using personnel from the Coast Guard, as well as various beach patrols, fire and police personnel from neighboring jurisdictions continually checking the waters and shore lines of their respective municipalities.

Mark Alston said his younger brother just graduated from George Westinghouse High School in Brooklyn last month. He said his brother was pure positivity, pure love.

Mark Alston doesnt recall ever having to teach his brother anything, but he knew his younger brother was copying him, which made the older brother feel like he had to be a role model.

I always knew he was watching, said Mark Alston, who added he has no other siblings. I was always a little strict in my upbringing (because of Jalan).

A Gofundme account has been set up for Alston in hopes to raise $11,000 for funeral services. The account was set up by Jayda Smith, one of the swimmers Alston rescued. As of Monday morning, there was more than $1,900 raised.

"Jalan Alston saved both me and Sierras lives from the rip current off the Jersey shore," Smith wrote on the crowd funding page. "He selflessly and almost instinctively jumped into the current after me, pushed me out and got me to shore. He then tried to get back to the shore with Sierras help, but to no prevail. He understood what was happening, grabbed her wrist and shook his head, then with a push sent her to the shore with me using his last bit of strength he had. Its because of him that I am here, sharing his story to the world. He has such a beautiful soul and spirit, heart and mind. He gave me a second chance, and I will be using it to make his life, his legacy rememberable, starting here."

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When a few cases of COVID-19 popped up in Kingston in late June, contact tracers immediately started looking for patterns.

For months they had kept infections low, with just two discovered the entire month before. So where did these new ones come from? What could the patients have in common?

It turned out that two of them had recently gotten their nails done. That crucial clue helped public health officials quickly link the cluster back to a west-end salon, test over 6,000 people, and get hundreds more to self-isolate.

This was classic public health work, said Dr. Azim Kasmani, public health and preventive medicine resident physician at Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox & Addington Public Health.

Were going to keep seeing outbreaks here and there, but its making sure that those little sparks dont turn into big fires.

As we emerge from months of lockdowns, the virus that causes COVID-19 could be lurking anywhere. A nail salon, a restaurant patio, a wedding or funeral. But with new infections and deaths down across Ontario and in the GTA  on Friday the province announced there were fewer active cases than there have been since before the April peak of the outbreak  we may soon be in a situation where we can proactively fan out the flames. As the epidemiologists call it: cluster busting.

If we can do it right.

Were at least trending in the right direction, said Ashleigh Tuite, an assistant professor at U of Ts Dalla Lana School of Public Health, whose spring outbreak modelling with colleague professor David Fisman showed months of social distancing would be required to flatten the curve.

Were also in a much better place than we were a month or two ago, when it comes to the R number, the average number of people each person with COVID-19 will infect.

It fluctuates daily, Tuite, said, but is now sitting at or below one. Above one means infections will continue to grow, like in March and April. One is a sustained epidemic thats grumbling along. Below one means its declining.

Ideally, well now have the ability to focus more on place. Find where people are getting infected, and quickly test, trace and isolate individuals, whether theyve been at a barbershop, a factory or a family birthday party.

Japan has been doing this cluster-busting successfully since the beginning of the pandemic, Tuite said, managing to avoid lockdowns. The country relies on an army of contact tracers, which theyve used in the past for squashing outbreaks of diseases like tuberculosis.

It makes a lot of sense, Tuite said. The challenge is you cant do that if you have hundreds or thousands of new cases a day. Its just not feasible.

In March, public health authorities had limited options because COVID-19 was spreading so quickly unchecked.

We went with a really blunt measure, which was basically a shutdown, she said. The goal has always been to have a more nuanced response that relies more on testing and tracing. I think were headed in that direction.

Its not easy but the advantage is if you can do it, you avoid another shutdown.

This is essentially what Kingston was able to do. By Kasmanis count, 37 cases were identified linked to the nail salon outbreak. Once they realized the connection they made a public appeal for anyone who had been there since it opened to get tested and self-isolate for 14 days, and the salon was temporarily closed.

There have now been several days with no new cases again. One person was hospitalized related to the salon outbreak but has since recovered, Kasmani said.

He chalks up the success to good communication, existing relationships with the community and public buy-in. The medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, streamed his whiteboard debriefs on social media, showing the spread in a transparent way that helped people understand what was happening.

The health unit had also laid groundwork to prevent outbreaks by developing a checklist, adapted from provincial guidelines for businesses, on how to safely reopen. And testing was broad but it was also targeted to those most at risk.

The unit also brought in a mandatory mask policy within days of the outbreak, which isnt perfect but does help, Kasmani added.

P.E.I. is also in the midst of its own kind of cluster busting, trying to control the spread from six active cases all linked back to a person who entered the Atlantic travel bubble from the U.S. with a student visa.

The most recent positive case, a man in his twenties, first tested negative, P.E.I.s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Heather Morrison, told reporters Thursday. He eventually developed symptoms and retested positive. But luckily he was still self-isolating, as health authorities had asked all close contacts of positive cases to do, regardless of their test results.

We know that COVID-19 has not gone away and it will be with us for a considerable amount of time, she said. We should not let our guard down and we should remain vigilant. Now is not the time to become complacent.

The island has only had 33 cases of COVID-19 in total and no deaths.

In the Maritimes things have come full circle with new cases related to travel, just as they were back in February, said Colin Furness, an assistant professor at the faculty of information at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

The system worked, he said. Public health was right on top of it, isolating, contact tracing, testing, and there no one has to say, uh oh weve got to pull back.

At our best thats exactly what its going to look like.

But its important to also remember that COVID thrives in marginalized populations and that its going to keep going there.

In Toronto, the northwest corner has been the hardest hit. The Star found that those neighbourhoods also have some of the highest concentrations of residents who are low-income, racialized and living in crowded housing while working in higher-risk sectors like manufacturing.

The provinces migrant workers have also been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Furness would like to see more investment in public health units for hiring, more proactive leadership from the medical officer of health, and whats called sentinel testing.

Thats where people are randomly tested in a community to see how many are infected. This would ideally happen in high-risk work settings likes farms, salons and restaurants, and vulnerable neighbourhoods.

Mandatory face-covering bylaws will also definitely help slow the spread, he added.

Furness also said the government should tighten up what essential travel means, particularly as the situation in the U.S. spirals out of control with over three million COVID infections. There should be zero tourists and business travellers, he said. But special considerations should be made for international students and extended family members of Canadians.

He does still worry about a rise in cases in the fall, when everyone heads back inside. If we do really thorough sentinel testing, then yes were going to keep a lid on it, but I dont know if were going to do it, he said.

Now is the time, said Tuite, to be making improvements to the system, as well as urging everyone not to let their guard down.

The question is, in Ontario do we have the resources and the test capacity and the contact tracing capacity to do this?

I guess well find out.
The investigation of special operations group (SOG) into the sedition case registered on the basis of interception of two mobile phones has found that the two accused were eyeing six MLAs of southern Rajasthan and began efforts to contact them on June 10, said officials aware of the development.

The names of the MLAs have not been disclosed.

They also hinted that there could be more arrests in the case.

The SOG arrested Bharat Malani of Ajmer and Ashok Singh of Banswara on charges of hatching conspiracy to topple the Ashok Gehlot government.

Singh, a businessman, is a former member of Rajasthan BJPs executive committee. Malani has been the state coordinator of one of BJPs state committees.

SOG additional director general of police Ashok Rathore said that recording of a conversation over the phone in which Malani and Singh are reportedly talking about offering money to legislators to destabilise the government is the basis of the FIR. Both the accused are been questioned. They have been booked under section 124 A (sedition), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, he said.

During investigation, it was found that between June 10 and June 16, Singh contacted six MLAs from Banswara, Dungarpur and Chittorgarh, the officials quoted above said.

The accused also tried to lure two MLAs of a newly formed party in Dungarpur.

Another top police official familiar with the development of this case said that there were four to five more people who were helping the two.

We have got some clues from the investigation so far that there were four more businessmen from different districts of the state who were indirectly helping these accused in arranging money. We are working on the clues and once we get sufficient evidence, we will arrest them too, added this person who asked not to be named.

Interestingly, the state Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday lodged a complaint against three independent MLAs and the charges against them were that they were luring the MLAs of Dungapur, Udaipur and Banswara before Rajya Sabha elections to de-stabilize the government.

The complaint has been registered on the basis of inputs collected by intelligence unit of ACB. The charges against these three MLAs are that they were trying to induce some MLAs in Dungarpur, Banswara and Udaipur by offering money, said an ACB official on the condition of anonymity.

The three MLAs are Suresh Tank from Kishangarh constituency; Khushveer Singh is from Marwar Junction and Omprakash Hudla.

Malviya was cabinet minister in previous Gehlot government and is considered as a prominent leader of the tribal districts of state which Dungapur, Banswara and Udaipur. This tenure he was not given any post and he was dissatisfied with this fact. The rest MLAs are also ambitious as the supported Congress but didnt get any strong return, said a senior state Congress leader.
New Delhi, July 12 : The fight against COVID-19 continues to take place all over the world. With most of us homebound owning to the home-sheltering and social restrictions, we have been able to spend quality time with the family.

For those with young children, managing work from home as well as keeping the little ones occupied has been challenging. Children are often bored at home and wish to go out, play and meet their friends, however that's best restricted right now. Thankfully, children do not seem to have suffered serious illnesses owing to this pandemic, but its best to equip them with information about the right way of safeguarding themselves against diseases.

Parents have a major role to play while teaching and inculcating these good habits and to make optimum utilization of the lockdown.

Dr Gurudutt Bhat, Consultant Pediatrician, Fortis Hospital Kalyan and Dr Jesal Sheth, Sr. Consultant, Pediatrician and Neonatal Intensivist, Fortis Hospital Mulund suggests some habits that you could gradually inculcate in your child: Hand-washing properly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, is the cornerstone of our efforts to avoid all illnesses not just COVID19

Follow this with sanitization of hands multiple times a day

Follow social distancing while visiting public places, this habit will have to be practiced for a long time to come

Always maintain a distance of 2meters or 6feet between yourself and the other individual, when you go out, or see your friends

Always follow cough etiquettes, which means that you cough or sneeze in your elbow sleeves

Corona enters the body if we touch our nose, mouth, and eyes. So always wear a face mask, that covers the nose and mouth while outdoors and do not touch you face. Do not remove your mask or touch it till you reach home Take bath if possible when you come home, if not, wash your hands thoroughly

Eat healthy home cooked immunity boosting food, including vegetables, fruits and legumes

Continue to be in touch with their peers and family members, not physically but by digital means

Inculcate a habit of physical activity comprising fun indoor exercises

Proper use of the internet and online tools with appropriate use of child-safe tools must be taught

Instill in them the habit of reading, writing or following a hobby of their choice

This is the best time to get to know your kids, understand the challenges that they might be facing. It is recommended to talk about the importance of mental health, especially during these challenging times Pray and respect for all service workers that are helping COVID-19 patients, is important

While you are at home, make the most of your time and teach your children life lessons by setting an example by things you regularly do. It could be spiritual, reading to them, or even as basic as dinner table discussions.

(Puja Gupta can be contacted at puja.g@ians.in)

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
The large refrigerated trailer suddenly appeared one day near the loading dock at HCA Healthcare Northwest, taking some on staff by surprise. But soon its purpose became clear.

When a patient died last week in the hospitals intensive care unit  nearly full these days of critically ill COVID-19 patients  the body was packed in ice and moved into the trailer. The hospitals morgue was full. HCA officials confirmed the trailer was used as temporary storage until the body could be picked up by a funeral home.

As other hospitals prepare to follow suit or have already done so, there is a stark new reality in Houston.

In the early months of the pandemic, it seemed as if Texas as a whole, and Houston specifically, was mostly spared the worst of the crisis, especially compared with the Northeast. In a city and state so big, the number of cases remained relatively small. So, too, did the number of dead, with about 3,100 reported in Texas so far. Overrun hospitals and makeshift morgues happened elsewhere  not in a city with the largest medical center complex in the world.

But Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows Texas is one of 24 states that publicly reports only confirmed COVID-19 deaths, not probable ones. And with rampant testing shortages in Texas, many patients likely died without being screened for the disease, experts said.

Texas ranks 40th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in deaths per 100,000 population on the CDC COVID-19 tracker. But that is potentially misleading since it compares Texas with 27 states that include probable cases. Nearly 1 in 5 deaths reported in New York City, the national epicenter for COVID-19, was reported as a probable.

The surge of cases has left doctors, nurses and first responders in Houston overwhelmed, and scores of patients wait for 12 hours or more for emergency room care or ICU beds. On Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott warned that the death toll will rise.

What were seeing now in states like Texas is comparable to what we saw in New York City, said Bob Anderson, chief of mortality statistics for the CDC. It remains to be seen what we will see with the rate of death. The numbers may be smaller, but the pattern is there.

Deaths are the ultimate lagging indicator, sometimes not occurring for many weeks after a person is first infected. And then it can take several more weeks until that death is recorded and shows up in the statistics, distorting public perception and the true scope of the crisis.

For instance, on Thursday, Mayor Sylvester Turner, announcing the citys latest toll during a news conference, included the death of a woman who died nearly seven weeks ago on May 24.

The steep rise in cases that started about mid-June in many states will likely be seen in rising deaths very soon, said Jen Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. It is hard to see how they wont come.

Waiting on stretchers

The trajectory is now a nearly straight line heading north.

On Tuesday, a milestone was reached as the daily count of new cases in Texas topped 10,000. Two days later, the number of statewide cases reached 10,214  a tenfold increase from mid-May, when officials were alarmed that the number of cases was rising by 1,000 per day.

As of Saturday, there were 255,763 confirmed cases in the state, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of state data. In the Houston region, the number of confirmed cases reached 62,268 on Saturday, up more than 2,400 from the day before, the analysis shows.

Houstons two safety net public hospitals are straining. On Friday, Ben Taub Hospitals ICU was at 66 percent capacity and Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital was at 113 percent.

The surge is showing up in other ways as well.

Sam Pena, Houstons fire chief, said in a recent interview with the Chronicle that his department is overwhelmed. In the past three weeks the calls for help have jumped 30 percent, the majority being respiratory distress.

When the state shut down in March, the fire chief said, his department was averaging about 800 calls per day. Now it is 1,100. And once at a hospital, if there is no bed immediately available, he said the patient waits on a stretcher in the emergency room hallway.

It will go up

Researchers recently reported that a mutated coronavirus strain, the main one circulating in the Houston area, is more contagious than the original virus in China. But they have not found it to be more deadly.

On Saturday, there were 3,156 confirmed deaths in Texas, translating into a fatality rate of about 1.23 percent.

In the Houston region the death count stands at 642, or slightly less than the statewide rate.

The current death rate in Texas has, in fact, gone down since April and May, when it was 2.4 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.

That has fueled critics of mandated precautionary measures such as masks and social distancing. The White House, too, has pointed to a decline in overall death rates as proof that the recent spike in new cases is not a big deal and that the country is winning its war with the virus.

And it is true the demographic of the virus is now shifting to younger patients who may be better able to fight off the disease. Increased testing has also meant that the virus is caught earlier and treatment in hospitals is proving more successful as doctors better understand the coronavirus.

But health experts caution that the virus can be slow to develop. The CDC estimates it can be up to 14 days after exposure for symptoms to appear. Once sick, it can be another two weeks to a month or longer before a case results in death.

One of the big things that people who dont want to implement social distancing say is, Hey, so what if cases and ICU admission are going up, so long as mortality is not going up? said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Houstons Baylor College of Medicine.

Well, No. 1, it will go up, he said. It may not go up as steeply as it did in New York because were better prepared to handle it  we know how to provide better ICU care now  but it will go up.

And in fact, Wednesday and Thursday had 218 new deaths statewide in just 48 hours, according to a Chronicle analysis of state data.

The growing deaths have now triggered emergency measures across Houstons hospitals.

HCA Houston Healthcare said the refrigerated trailer at Houston Healthcare Northwest was needed briefly last week because the hospital morgue is small. But the hospital system said it was likely the same preparedness measures will be used at its other hospitals. Similarly, Memorial Hermann Health System said it has used such makeshift morgues in the past and is deploying them as needed across its system, while Baylor St. Lukes Medical Center said it has a refrigerated trailer on site that has not been used yet. Other hospital systems said the potential use of the temporary morgues is part of an overall strategy should the situation worsen.

Even if the death rate remains steady or rises only slightly, Dr. David Persse, Houstons chief medical officer, said the math is not on the citys side amid such dramatic increases in cases. One percent of a big number is still a big number, he said. Its a lot of people dying.

It may never be counted

Health experts also worry that the true scope of the local crisis may never be measured accurately.

For instance, if an ambulance crew arrives and a person is already dead or dies on the way to the hospital they will not be tested for the virus. We have a team that weve deployed with the health department to conduct testing at nursing homes, but we dont do a test for patients in the field during emergency responses, Pena said.

And if a patient dies in the emergency room from a heart attack or organ failure but there is not clear indication that the death was caused directly or indirectly from the virus, they also may not be tested, health officials acknowledge. Admitted patients are now routinely tested, doctors said.

If they are not tested in the ER or a doctor does not write that it is COVID-presumed, it may never be counted, Persse said.

Anderson at the CDC said that unless COVID-19 is specifically listed as cause of death or as a contributing factor on the death certificate, it will not be included in that agencys data. It is absolutely possible we are missing some, he said.

In Texas, a death can be certified by medical professionals or government authorities, depending on jurisdiction.

In Harris County, if a body is turned over to the medical examiners office, it will be tested if there is suspicion of the virus, said Michele Arnold, public information manager at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. Of the 1,990 deaths certified by that agency since March 1, a little more than 10 percent, or 253, have been tested for COVID-19, she said. Of those, roughly half came back positive.

Still, not all who test positive will have COVID-19 listed as the cause of death if they died from something unrelated, she said.

Front-line doctors are skeptical that all of the deaths they see are being accurately counted. The death certificate I signed on June 30 with a confirmed lab test is still not being reported as a COVID death, said one HCA Healthcare Northwest physician on Thursday.

We see the death rate is rising every day. All day we are hearing code blue called overhead for a different bed in the intensive care unit, he said, describing the signal that a patients heart has stopped. We know those are COVID patients fighting for their lives. The numbers being reported are lagging behind what is happening on a daily basis.

Persse said he understands that reporting lags or gaps can be frustrating to the public and damaging to those trying to beat back a crisis. But what is truly distressing, he said, is that it could have been prevented.

What people do, how vigilant they remain, the precautions they take, are the true predictors of the virus toll on the city. Its hard to predict because it is totally up to us, he said. The death rate depends on us.

Lisa Gray and Matt Dempsey contributed to this report.

jenny.deam@chron.com

twitter.com/jenny_deam

zach.despart@chron.com

twitter.com/zachdespart
Newly named Russian Ambassador to Egypt Georgy Borisenko was welcomed this week by a delegation of the Egyptian Association of Graduates from Russian and Soviet Universities, discussing means to enhance bilateral ties

The newly named Russian ambassador to Egypt started his activities in Cairo meeting a delegation from the Egyptian Association of Graduates from Russian and Soviet Universities, to discuss means of enhancing bilateral relations.

Ambassador Georgy Borisenko was welcomed this week by Alexey Tevanya, director of the Russian Cultural Centers in Egypt, and Sherif Gad, president of the association at the Russian Cultural Centre in Dokki.

Gad underlined the success of the association's initiative to welcome Borisenkos arrival in Cairo, in which notable members of the Egyptian community  including governmental figures, representatives of civil society, university presidents and public figures  participated.

The delegation of the association included Fathy Toughan, secretary-general of the Egyptian Association of Graduates from Russian and Soviet Universities, Professor Makarem El-Ghamry, who was recently awarded the Pushkin Medal from President Putin, former cultural advisor in Moscow Ali Ghaleb, together with members in the association, professors Samia Tawfik, Noor Nada, Mona Zeidan and Ayman Montaser.

During the meeting, members of the association seized the opportunity to present their vision for boosting bilateral relations between Egypt and Russia, suggesting the postponement of the Egypt-Russia Cultural Year 2020, which came at the initiative of presidents Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Vladimir Putin, for the coming year in order that the importance of this unprecedented historical event is not lost.

They also highlighted the importance of the friendship associations between the two countries and conveyed the proposal of the General Egyptian Book Organisation to sign the exchange of translation rights agreement, and the need to provide Russian language sections in Egyptian universities with more books and professors, and to facilitate visas for Egyptian businessmen while providing the necessary information about the Russian market, in addition to developing cultural relations and exchanging visits of ministers of culture in the two countries, which stopped 40 years ago.

Members of the delegation also expressed their desire to include the cultural field with all its branches in annual Russian grants, alongside the scientific field, taking into account the importance of developing technical and scientific relations in the field of mineral industries and organising joint scientific conferences.

For his part, Ambassador Borisenko welcomed the efforts and suggestions of the associations members, confirming that Russia values the role of Russian and Soviet university graduates in building bridges of communication between the two peoples and a key partner in supporting and developing cooperation in all fields.

Bilateral relations are witnessing a qualitative breakthrough thanks to the support of presidents Putin and El-Sisi, and Egypt being its largest country is key to the region, he pointed out.

Borisenko disclosed in the meeting that the Egypt-Russia Cultural Year will be celebrated immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic abates, and will be continued into 2021.

He added that there are joint efforts underway to reduce the spread of coronavirus through cooperation between Russian and Egyptian medicine companies.

He also welcomed regular meetings with members of the Egyptian Association of Graduates from Russian and Soviet Universities to discuss visions of developing bilateral relations and to benefit from their experiences in various fields.

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The family of Naya Rivera spent part of their day on the banks of the California lake where the actress disappeared on Wednesday.

Her father, George Rivera, arrived on the shores of Lake Piru with the rest of the family. He was seen dashing into the lake and splashing water over himself as he walked into the waters in an emotional moment as he attempted to connect with his missing daughter.

Rivera's distraught mother was also pictured crumpled on the banks of the lake where her daughter vanished as the search continued for a fourth day.

There were emotional scenes as the family all came together and hugged one another.

At several moments throughout the day family members were seen immersing themselves in the waters, while on other occasions were pictured in isolation, alone with their thoughts.

Naya Rivera's ex-husband Ryan Dorsey was seen at the banks of Lake Piru on Saturday

At one point Naya Rivera's father George Rivera sat alongside his former son-in-law Ryan Dorsey

Naya's father George entered the waters fully clothed as the search for his daughter's body went on for a fourth day

Naya Rivera's brother, Mychal, and cousin are pictured together at Lake Piru on Saturday

Rivera's brother Mychal and his father George can be seen walking with their arms around one another as they made their way over to the lake

Mychael Rivera, Naya's brother, hugs another family member in the parking lot of the lake close to where the search is occurring

Ryan Dorsey appeared walking out of the lake with a family member of his ex-wife's, in tears

Dorsey was given a friendly hug by a member of his former in-laws family as they appeared to be speaking about Naya

The entire family put their arms around one another as the horrible nature of what unfolded appeared to be slowly sinking in

The horror of what might have occurred out on the waters of Lake Piru struck Ryan Dorsey as he placed an arm around Naya's brother Mychal

Family members could be seen speaking with members of the Ventura Sheriff's Office, who are conducting the search

Ryan Dorsey is hugged by one of Naya's Rivera's family members in the lake in a moment of grief

Naya's brother and dad George appeared to lead the way in some type of respect to connecting with Naya one more time by jumping in the water for what looked like a spiritual moment for the family

Dad, George, and his son, Mychal were spotted walking through the parking lot close to the lake

Ryan Dorsey could be seen wiping away tears as he walked around the banks of the lake close to the Rivera family

Dorsey, 36, would be seen walking along the docks close to patrol boats at the side of the lake

Yolanda Rivera was pictured kneeling with her arms outstretched in a moment of desperation in front of Lake Piru in Ventura near Los Angeles on Saturday alongside Naya's brother Mychal as the duo joined in the recovery operation for the missing star's body.

Rivera, 33, disappeared while out boating on the lake with her four-year-old son Josey on Wednesday. Josey was found alone in a rental boat Wednesday evening with no sign of his mother, who is now presumed dead.

Yolanda and Mychal put on life jackets and joined the Ventura County Sheriff's search team as they scoured the lake. The pair were seen embracing along the banks of the lake.

At other points during the day, younger members of the family were seen playing on a beach at the lake.

George Rivera, is pictured coming out of the lake after venturing into the waters in moment of grief. His son Mychal was there to greet him

Naya Revira's brother, Mychal, also went into the waters of Lake Piru at the recovery operation went on nearby

Brother Mychal Rivera together with his father George, right, and a cousin, left, were all seen on the shores of Lake Piru

All those present waded into the waters and ended up splashing one another. There were even a few smiles raised

George Rivera initially charged into the water alone and could be seen running back to shores carrying a pair of shoes

Naya Rivera's former husband, Ryan Dorsey, was seen playing in the lake along with a couple of children belonging to other family members

The family tried to take their mind off the nearby recovery operation that was taking place nearby

Naya Rivera's father appeared to take a moment to relax with some younger family members in the lake on Saturday

Mychal Rivera, Naya's brother, could be seen with his partner and their child as they supported other members of the family

Ryan Dorsey took a moment to collect his thoughts and could be seen standing on the jetty at the edge of the lake

Dorsey could be seen wiping away tears. Their relationship was on-and-off for many years but eventually led to the pair walking down the aisle

George Rivera, Naya's father, took some time to stand at the edge of the lake and collect his thoughts as he looked at the waters

Ryan Dorsey walked around a nearby parking lot as he tried to collect his thoughts during an anguish-filled time for the family

'They're obviously devastated, grieving,' Sgt. Marta Bugarin, a public information officer with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said. 'Our goal is to try and bring some closure to the family today.'

The recovery operation will resume first thing on Sunday morning. The Ventura County Sheriff's Office was assisted with their search efforts by members of the Tulare and San Luis Obispo sheriff's agencies as well as a private contractor, Bugarin said.

Footage has been released showing the nightmarish underwater hunt for Rivera's body as authorities warn she could be found 'five minutes from now or five days from now' and her devastated family say they 'need closure'.

Naya Rivera's brother, seen in the white t-shirt, and their sons distracted themselves by looking at a nearby fire truck

Naya Rivera's mum, Yolanda, brother Mychal and father George take a few moments together at Lake Piru

Searchers from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department were seen out on the waters looking for signs of the actress

Naya Rivera's mother, Yolanda and her son, Mychal, far right, along with a police officer were pictured walking along the jetty

The family were seen walking around the dock area of Lake Piru on Saturday afternoon

Naya Rivera's distraught mom is seen above with Rivera's brother on the banks of the lake as the search for the missing Glee star entered its fourth day and authorities released footage of the nightmarish underwater hunt

Naya Rivera's mother Yolanda and brother Mychal are seen embracing on the edge of the lake as the search for Naya continues

Naya's mom Yolanda and the Glee star's brother Mychal are seen getting off of the Ventura County Sheriff's boats after joining in the search for Naya

Holding out hope: Naya's family joined in the search operation on Saturday

Several boats combed the lake north of Los Angeles for the remains of the actress and mother

Mychal Rivera could be seen looking across the lake and taking a few moments for himself as he collected his thoughts

Ryan Dorsey, the actress's ex-husband could be seen chatting with other family members at the side of the lake on Saturday

Naya's father George was pictured staring out across the lake while the search party went on nearby

Footage has been released in the underwater hunt (pictured) for Rivera's body as authorities warn she could be found 'five minutes from now or five days from now'. Authorities point to a tree limb which looks like nothing more than a long dark shape given the water's poor visibility, highlighting the challenges divers are facing in the search

The search for the Glee star, 33, (pictured) entered its fourth day Saturday following her disappearance while out boating at Lake Piru in Ventura near Los Angeles with her 4-year-old son Josey

Ventura County Sheriff's Department shared footage of the 'difficult' search for the missing actress on Twitter Friday night, which has been hampered by the poor visibility of the lake's murky waters.

The video shows the images picked up around 30 feet below the surface of the water.

The lake itself is 1,200 acres and can reach depths of up to 130 feet.

In it, authorities point to a barely visible tree limb highlighting the challenges divers are facing in trying to find the missing mother-of-one.

'Here's an example of the underwater visibility at a 30-foot depth in Lake Piru,' the Sheriff's Department tweeted.

A second social media post shows footage of the a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) being lowered into Lake Piru and details that specialized equipment including sonar, divers and dogs have also been deployed in the hunt.

'Here's the ROV used by @TulareSheriff in the search for Naya Rivera at Lake Piru today,' the Sheriff's Department wrote.

Plenty of media gathered nearby along the banks of the lake as they waited for news of the operation

Naya Rivera's mother Yolanda is seen above with her brother in the white t-shirt, on Saturday. The actress's distraught family said they just 'wish' she could be found so they could get some 'closure' over what is believed to have been a tragic drowning

A member of the sheriff's office is seen above speaking with Naya's mom on Saturday amid the search

Naya Rivera disappeared while out boating at Lake Piru in Ventura with her four-year-old son Josey on Wednesday and is now presumed dead. Pictured above Naya's brother can be seen on the front of the boat during the search

Naya Rivera's brother Mychal is seen at the front of the boat on the fourth day of the search on Saturday

With almost zero visibility, human divers are resorting to searching by feel, meaning it could take several days before crews can locate her body, Eric Buschow, Ventura County Sheriff's Office spokesman said at a press conference Friday evening.

'We don't know if she's going to be found five minutes from now or five days from now, so we're still going to be continuing this effort,' he said. 'The visibility in the water is one to two feet,' Buschow added.

Buschow said 'promising' images had shown up on the sonar Thursday night but when the ROV was dropped into the water the objects turned out not to be Rivera's body.

'What they do is they go out and they tow these devices in the water that scan the bottom of the lake for any objects that might look like a body.

'Last night, they had a couple of images that showed up on the sonar that they thought might be promising to investigate,' he said.

The video shows the imagery picked up around 30 foot deep in the water

A second social media post shows footage of the ROV being lowered into Lake Piru

Crew drop the ROV into the water in the hunt for the missing mother-of-one

'This morning, they sent an ROV, or a small robotic device, down into the water to examine those objects. Unfortunately, they did not locate Naya Rivera. They are still searching.'

Buschow admitted the conditions of the lake made the search 'difficult' but said he is confident Rivera's body will be recovered.

It could take several days before crews can locate her body, Eric Buschow, Ventura County Sheriff's Office spokesman said at a press conference Friday evening (pictured)

'It's very effective,' he said of the sonar system.

'They get a really detailed image and they can go down and focus on specific things rather than putting divers in the water where they're literally feeling around because they can't see.'

The search resumed at 6am Saturday morning, with authorities now focusing on the north and east sides of the lake, based on where the boat was found and the currents of the water.

A specially-trained dog is also being used in the search to sniff above the water's surface and alert handlers to a body beneath.

Authorities confirmed the mission had shifted to a recovery Thursday as hope of finding Rivera alive vanished.

The actress's distraught family said they just 'wish' she could be found so they could get some 'closure' over what is believed to have been a tragic drowning accident.

A man thought to be 65-year-old Arnold Dorsey, the father of Rivera's ex-husband Ryan Dorsey and the grandfather to Josey, told The Sun the whole family was 'sad' and were rallying around Rivera's son.

This diagram shows where Naya Rivera and her son rented a boat on Lake Piru before the four-year-old was seen alone. The map in the top left shows the location of the lake in relation to Los Angeles where Rivera lives

The actress's distraught family said they just 'wish' she could be found so they could get some 'closure' over what is believed to have been a tragic drowning accident. Rivera pictured with son Josey

A man thought to be 65-year-old Arnold Dorsey (pictured above with Josey), the father of Rivera's ex-husband Ryan Dorsey and the grandfather to Josey, told The Sun the whole family was 'sad' and were rallying around Rivera's son

'We are sad, we just wish they could find her so we can have some closure,' he said outside Rivera's mother Yolanda's home in Valencia.

He said Josey was having some 'good days' after the four-year-old's terrifying ordeal.

'We still have good days [with him], I can't make any other comment at this time.'

Josey was found asleep and alone on the rental boat Wednesday evening.

He told police his mother had 'jumped' into the water to go swimming and never came back, but police admitted it was 'challenging' to interview a four-year-old.

The lake was said to be a 'sanctuary' for Rivera and somewhere she had been going to for years.

However, the waters are also known for their rip currents and for being full of debris, and eight people have drowned there since 1994.

Authorities have said there is no evidence of foul play or suicide and that everything points to the young star accidentally drowning.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office released CCTV footage showing Naya Rivera and her four-year-old son arriving at the dock on Lake Piru on Wednesday
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The coronavirus pandemic has lent urgency to the homelessness crisis in a state that has grown all too accustomed to an outrage. Theres nothing like a statewide stay-at-home order to underscore the dire reality that more than 150,000 Californians have no home in which to stay.

Governments newfound determination to get people out of shelters and other settings vulnerable to the ravages of the virus is belated in most cases, and probably insufficient, but welcome. With the aid of federal subsidies, the state has leased hotels and motels for over 14,000 homeless people exposed to or in particular danger from the virus, emergency accommodations that have been pressed into service in most counties. The recently enacted state budget includes $550 million to help cities and counties convert such lodgings to badly needed permanent housing.

Californias disproportionate homeless population was susceptible to infections even before the pandemic, as evidenced by outbreaks of hepatitis A and other diseases. Abigail Stewart-Kahn, interim director of San Franciscos Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, noted that homeless people are more vulnerable to every crisis. If society is an ocean being roiled by a storm, she said, Theyre all in the water, and were all in boats.

San Francisco has leased some 2,500 rooms and instituted distancing, testing and other measures that have helped prevent a repeat of the outbreak that infected more than 100 at the citys largest shelter in April. The Tenderloins sprawling tent encampments, the focus of a recent lawsuit by the UC Hastings law school and other neighborhood plaintiffs, have shrunk by more than half.

Unfortunately, the push to house homeless Californians, who account for about a quarter of the nations unhoused people and half those who are unsheltered, comes as state and local budgets are being strained by the virus and the related downturn. And while the federal government is contributing to the emergency housing effort, Congress has dedicated relatively little of the stimulus so far to shoring up state and municipal revenues.

The crippling of government resources is only the beginning of the dangers posed by the combination of the deadly virus and the underlying condition of Californias housing shortage and runaway homelessness. Another is the possibility that the problem will grow worse.

The sickened economy has eased the overheated Bay Area real estate market as tenants have lost jobs or settled into remote work, making some of the countrys most expensive real estate incrementally more affordable and available to rehousing programs. But with the state unemployment bureaucracy overwhelmed by nearly 7 million claims since March, lost incomes will put more renters on the brink, especially among poorer tenants who are most vulnerable to homelessness; nationwide, only about a quarter of tenants in the most affordable properties paid their full rent in June, according to one survey. And with everyone more hesitant to share housing due to the risk of spreading the contagion, those who lose their homes will be less likely to find refuge with a friend or relative.

Evictions have been paused by state and local moratoriums, but those measures are temporary and being contested on multiple fronts. Moreover, they leave accumulated rental debt in place, threatening a wave of evictions after theyre lifted. Lawmakers continue to debate measures to aid tenants further by forgiving or subsidizing rent. While that would be more humane and cost-effective than swelling the ranks of the homeless, any government intervention would be hampered and complicated by the regions grossly inflated rents.

For all the added risks of homelessness and the renewed will to house those facing the pandemic on the streets, whats most remarkable is how little the latest crisis has changed the longer-term conditions that have deprived so many Californians of shelter.

Shortly before the pandemic struck, the governors homelessness task force recommended making housing a constitutional right to no apparent avail, though the Legislature is still considering making it a legal right in half a dozen years. In late January, the week before the first known coronavirus death in the Bay Area and the United States, the state Senate killed a landmark bill to boost housing production, replacing it with a package more in keeping with Sacramentos tradition of tinkering around the edges of the housing shortage instead of taking on the local obstruction that suppresses supply and pushes rents ever higher. Even the watered-down measures face fierce opposition from anti-housing forces.

With less housing per capita than nearly any other state, California entered the pandemic at a deficit of over 3 million homes and counting, with production lagging below half the estimated need. The latest regional census found a 13% year-over-year increase in Los Angeles Countys homeless population, matching the steep growth in the Bay Area and across the state the year before. Despite the extraordinary budgets California and its cities devoted to the problem in better times, the housing shortage is the chronic condition spreading homelessness faster than any program has been able to administer a cure.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
The battle to acquire Torstar took a dramatic turn Saturday with the emergence of an improved $60-million bid from NordStar Capital, topping a rival $58-million offer from Canadian Modern Media Holdings.

The new bid from Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett, the entrepreneurs behind NordStar, has the support of Torstars board of directors, the voting trust of five families who control the Stars A-class shares, as well as Fairfax Financial, the biggest holder of B-class shares, with roughly 40 per cent.

Under the terms of the revised bid, those agreements are hard lock-ups, meaning the voting trust and Fairfax cant change their votes to support any other bid, a source said. That means the bidding war is effectively over.

Im beyond excited, humbled and really looking forward to the Star being around for the next 100 years, said Bitove, who has vowed to keep the Stars progressive Atkinson Principles intact.

The improved NordStar bid had the unanimous support of the Torstar board  meaning board member Martin Thall, who had held out for a higher offer after NordStars previously-announced $52 million, has decided to support the new bid.

The new offer tops a rival proposal from the Canadian Modern Media Holdings group, which includes Matthew Proud, CEO of Dye & Durham Corp., his brother Tyler Proud, CEO of technology company Avesdo Inc., finance industry veteran Neil Selfe and former Ontario finance minister and Ontario Liberal Party president Greg Sorbara.

Any response to the Proud-Selfe proposal was expected to come after it was made official. The deadline for that to happen had been Monday at 5 p.m.

A disappointed Selfe said he and the Prouds had been prepared to offer more.

Our financing was firm, we would have been able to meet their timelines, and we were prepared to offer much more money, said Selfe.

The Proud-Selfe offer also included so-called contingent value rights on top of the $58 million.

While the Proud-Selfe team didnt publicly reveal where they were planning to get financing for their bid, sources say it was Canadian Western Bank.

A July 21 meeting where shareholders are being asked to vote on NordStars offer is scheduled to go ahead.

The deal is contingent on getting a majority of votes from A-class shareholders and B-class shareholders, as well as 66 per cent of the votes from both classes added together. The lock-up agreements mean the first two conditions are guaranteed to be met.

The deal is expected to officially close July 28 and Bitove and Rivett have said they intend to take Torstar private.

Bitove said that when they take ownership, he and Rivett will stand by their earlier commitment to support the progressive journalism the Star is known for. The two previously announced that they will bring former Ontario Liberal Premier David Peterson on board and intend to make him vice-chair once the takeover is complete.

We are committed to the Atkinson Principles, the Toronto Star and excellent journalism, Bitove said.

The latest bid still values the company at less than the $69 million in cash Torstar had on hand at the end of the first quarter. Torstar was also debt free.

The Proud brothers offer was worth 72 cents per share, while Bitove and Rivetts offer had been worth 63 cents per share before they raised it to 74 cents this weekend. Bitove and Rivett initially offered 56.6 cents per share, but that offer was rejected by Torstars board. Their 63-cent offer was made public in late May after being recommended by the board.

Torstar shares closed at 71 cents per share Friday, down one cent on the day.
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci on Sunday defended his record, a day before flying to The Hague to be questioned by war crimes prosecutors over his role in the 1998-99 conflict.

Our war was clean and just, said Thaci, now 52, who was the political leader of an ethnic Albanian guerrilla group when it rebelled against Serbian rule.

While the rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had perhaps committed political errors, they had in no circumstances violated international law, he told Albanias Top Channel television station.

Kosovo was a victim, he insisted.

Thaci will on Monday be interviewed in The Hague by prosecutors who have accused him of war crimes in the 1990s conflict with Serbia that won the province its independence.

He was charged in late June by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers of war crimes and crimes against humanity investigating the conflict, which claimed about 13,000 lives, overwhelmingly Kosovo Albanians.

Its true that we violated the laws of Slobodan Milosevic, the man who ruled Serbia at the time of the conflict. But that was something he was proud of, he added.

The Kosovo conflict was only ended when the NATO forces launched a bombing campaign against Serbia that forced them to quit the territory.

Thaci, Kosovos most powerful politician, insists he is not guilty and has said he would quit if the accusations were confirmed. The indictment still needs approval from a pre-trial judge, which could take months.

Thaci, his closest political ally Kadri Veseli and others are charged with being criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders in addition to other crimes against Serb, Roma and Kosovo Albanian victims.

President since 2016 and prime minister before that, in recent years Thaci has taken part in talks aimed at normalising ties with Serbia.

Belgrade still rejects the independence of its former province, declared in 2008.

After the 1990s war, several Serbian military and police officials were convicted of war crimes.

But KLA rebels have also been accused of coordinating a campaign of revenge attacks on Serbs, Roma and ethnic Albanian rivals during and after the war.
2020 is turning out to be a horrible year for India's elephants, both in the wild and those domesticated.

From the pregnant elephant that was killed in Kerala to the jumbos that were found dead in Chhattisgarh, it has been some concerning times for them.

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According to animal rights groups, between the period of 27th May 2020 to 29th June 2020, 30 elephants have died in India.

Most of the mentioned cases are from the 12 states, namely Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Kerala, and they appear to have involved violence. In some cases, it is even clear that the deaths are linked to illegal poaching for ivory.

FIAPO (Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations), the apex animal rights organisation, FIAPO, along with six other organisations, has approached the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to create a National Level Committee to investigate the deaths.

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"This is a highly worrying trend, as Elephants are endangered and protected under the IUCN and also UN Convention for Migratory Species. They are officially recognized as a National Heritage Animal in India with the highest protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972," the petition stated.

When the Government does not have funds and facilities to rehabilitate existing sick and old captive elephants in private custody, capturing wild elephants in conflict and maintaining them in captivity is not sustainable. It is against the rights and welfare of existing captive elephants who need rehabilitation. The only solution we can arrive at is to address it in the wild itself, Ramesh AS is an independent activist who has followed the trail of elephant deaths since the incident in Kerala said.

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Documenting the deaths, rights groups said, in most cases above, the deaths appear to be deliberate murders that require investigation. They indicate a growing pattern of abuse, violence and the interference of the right of Elephants to live freely in the wild.

"Cessation of such crimes requires stricter laws. Currently, hunting of these protected species is a crime under Section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act, with imprisonment for a term which may only extend to three years, or with a fine not below Rs 10,000. As a result of such lenient laws, illegal activities, with animals being subjected to violence and being treated as commodities, dont stop," they said adding that under Section 39 of the WPA all wild animals are Government Property, the onus of taking reasonable measures to ensure their safety and well-being lies with the Government. The forest department remains the primary custodian of all elephants whether captive or wild.
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Due to the continued rise of new novel coronavirus cases in Contra Costa County, the Contra Costa Health Director has issued an update to the Shelter in Place order affecting indoor activities and enhancing the use of facial coverings.

According to the latest data, 8.04 percent of COVID-19 tests administered over the past seven days came back positive. Under the variance received by the county from the State of California allowing for the reopening of many businesses, the 8 percent rate of positive results could trigger a review of the variance.
Let us not forget that the Clinton administration endorsed the crime bill, and that the former first lady called certain AfricanAmerican youth super-predators, and likened them to dogs that need to be brought to heel.

The last administration actually placed the author of this tragic bill within a heartbeat of the presidency, and only discussed justice reform when forced to do so. This speaks to a party and a nominee that not only takes us for granted, but believes they own our vote and in essence, own us.

I will not be owned. I share the current presidents belief that our nation is great because my ancestors endured and survived horrific and indescribable darkness; because my grandparents overcame and persevered through Jim Crow and other bigotry to produce enlightened children; and because my HBCU-educated parents thrived in the midst of discrimination to teach the next generations of great contributors to our society in the MississippiArkansas delta one of the most impoverished regions in our nation.

My parents raised a son who considers it a blessing to have received an excellent education from an HBCU, earned a law degree, built a substantive career and authored this article.
The origin of our teeth goes back more than 400 million years back in time, to the period when strange armoured fish first developed jaws and began to catch live prey. We are the descendants of these fish, as are all the other 60,000 living species of jawed vertebrates. An international team of scientists led by Uppsala University, in collaboration with the ESRF, has digitally 'dissected', for the first time, the most primitive jawed fish fossils with teeth found near Prague more than 100 years ago. The results, published in Science, show that their teeth have surprisingly modern features and give a new insight into the origin of our teeth.

Teeth in current jawed vertebrates reveal some consistent patterns: for example, new teeth usually develop on the inner side of the old ones and then move outwards to replace them (in humans this pattern has been modified so that new teeth develop below the old ones, deep inside the jawbone). There are, however, several differences between bony fish (and their descendants the land animals) and sharks; for example the fact that sharks have no bones at all, their skeleton is made of cartilage, and neither the dentine scales nor the true teeth in the mouth attach to it; they simply sit in the skin. In bony fish and land animals, the teeth are always attached to jaw bones. In addition, whilst sharks shed their worn-out teeth entire, simply by detaching them from the skin, bony fish and land animals shed theirs by dissolving away the tooth bases.

This diversity raises many questions about the origin of teeth. Until now, researchers have focused on fossils of a group of ancient fish that lived about 430 to 360 million years ago, called the arthrodires, which were the only stem jawed vertebrates in which teeth were known. However, they struggled to understand how they could have evolved into the teeth of modern vertebrates, as arthrodire teeth are so different in position and mode of tooth addition in comparison to bony fish and sharks.

Scanning the most primitive jawed fishes

A team from Uppsala University, Charles University (Czech Republic), Natural History Museum in London (UK), National Museum in Prague (Czech Republic) and the ESRF set out to determine whether this peculiar type of dentition was really ancestral to ours, or just a specialised offshoot off the lineage leading towards modern jawed vertebrates.

With this aim, they turned to the acanthothoracids, another early fish group that are believed to be more primitive than the arthrodires and closely related to the very first jawed vertebrates. The problem with acanthothoracids is that their fossils are rare and always incomplete. The very finest of them come from the Prague Basin in the Czech Republic, from rocks that are just over 400 million years old, and were collected at the turn of the last century. They have proved difficult to study by conventional techniques because the bones cannot be freed from the enclosing rock, and have therefore never been investigated in detail.

Members of the research team mounting a specimen in the experimental hutch of ID19 beamline. Credits: Boris Ekrt.

The researchers used synchrotron microtomography at the ESRFs ID19 beamline, which allowed them to visualise the internal structure of the fossils in 3D without damaging them.

The results were truly remarkable, including well-preserved dentitions that nobody expected to be there says Valeria Vaskaninova, lead author of the study and scientist from Uppsala University. Follow-up scans at higher resolution allowed the researchers to visualize the growth pattern and even the perfectly preserved cell spaces inside the dentine of these ancient teeth.

Like arthrodires, the acanthothoracid dentitions are attached to bones. This indicates that bony fish and land animals retain the ancestral condition in this regard, whereas sharks are specialized in having teeth that are only attached to the skin  in contrast to the common perception that sharks are primitive living vertebrates. Again, like arthrodires, the teeth of acanthothoracids were not shed.

More different from arthrodires than expected

In other ways, however, acanthothoracid dentitions are fundamentally different from those of arthrodires. Like sharks, bony fish and land animals, acanthothoracids only added new teeth on the inside; the oldest teeth were located right at the jaw margin. In this respect, the acanthothoracid dentitions look remarkably modern.

Fossil skull of Radotina mounted for precise high resolution spot scans at ID19 beamline. Credits: Boris Ekrt.

To our surprise, the teeth perfectly matched our expectations of a common ancestral dentition for cartilaginous and bony vertebrates. explains Vaskaninova.

The tooth-bearing bones also carry small non-biting dentine elements of the skin on their outer surfaces, a character shared with primitive bony fish but not with arthrodires. This is an important difference because it shows that acanthothoracid jaw bones were located right at the edge of the mouth, whereas arthrodire jaw bones lay further in. Uniquely, one acanthothoracid (Kosoraspis) shows a gradual shape transition from these dentine elements to the neighboring true teeth, while another (Radotina) has true teeth almost identical to its skin dentine elements in shape. This may be evidence that the true teeth had only recently evolved from dentine elements on the skin.

These findings change our whole understanding of the origin of teeth says co-author Per Ahlberg, professor at Uppsala University. And he adds: Even though acanthothoracids are among the most primitive of all jawed vertebrates, their teeth are in some ways far more like modern ones than arthrodire dentitions. Their jawbones resemble those of bony fish and seem to be directly ancestral to our own. When you grin at the bathroom mirror in the morning, the teeth that grin back at you can trace their origins right back to the first jawed vertebrates.

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More than 150 Minneapolis police officers are filing work-related disability claims after the death of George Floyd and ensuing unrest, with about three-quarters citing post-traumatic stress disorder as the reason for their planned departures, according to an attorney representing the officers.

Their duty disability claims, which will take months to process, come as the city is seeing an increase in violent crime and while city leaders push a proposal to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new agency that they say would have a more holistic approach.

While Floyd's death in May and the unrest that followed are not the direct cause of many of the disability requests, attorney Ron Meuser said, those events and what Meuser called a lack of support from city leadership were a breaking point for many who had been struggling with PTSD from years on the job.

Duty disability means the officer was disabled while engaged in inherently dangerous acts specific to the job.

More than 150 Minneapolis police officers (pictured on May 27) are filing work-related disability claims after the death of George Floyd and ensuing unrest, with about three-quarters citing post-traumatic stress disorder as the reason for their planned departures

'Following the George Floyd incident, unfortunately it became too much and as a result they were unable to, and are unable to, continue on and move forward,' Meuser said. 'They feel totally and utterly abandoned.'

He said many officers he represents were at a precinct that police abandoned as people were breaking in during the unrest. Some officers feared they wouldn't make it home, he said, and wrote final notes to loved ones. People in the crowd ultimately set fire to the building.

Mayor Jacob Frey issued a statement saying that COVID-19 and unrest following Floyd's death tested the community and officers in profound ways. He said cities need resources to reflect the realities on the ground.

'In the meantime, I am committed to supporting those officers committed to carrying out their oath to serve and protect the people of Minneapolis during a challenging time for our city,' he said.

Meuser said in recent weeks, 150 officers have retained his office for help in filing for duty disability benefits through the state's Public Employment Retirement Association, or PERA. So far, 75 of them have already left the job, he said.

Police spokesman John Elder questioned Meuser's figure of 150, though he does expect an increase in departures.

The department currently has about 850 officers and will adjust staffing to ensure it can do its job, he said.

The city said it has received 17 PTSD workers compensation claims in the last month, but when it comes to PERA duty disability, officers are not obligated to notify the department that an application was submitted.

While Floyd's death in May and the unrest (protest pictured on May 27) that followed are not the direct cause of many of the disability requests, attorney Ron Meuser said, those events and were a breaking point for many who had been struggling with PTSD from years on the job

Meuser said the city isn't being transparent about departures, and the numbers it sees will lag as PERA benefits take months to process.

Doug Anderson, executive director for PERA, said 150 officers seeking duty disability from one department would be high.

PERA approved 105 disability applications from both police and firefighters statewide in all of 2019, including 60 claims for duty-related PTSD and 20 for other work-related injuries.

PERA is primarily a retirement plan, in which members and employers contribute funds. Members who become disabled can receive a disability benefit until age 55, at which time retirement benefits kick in.

A high percentage of those on duty disability do not return to the job, Anderson said.

'It's a disability that as a general rule is a permanent designation entitling them for benefits for the rest of their life,' Meuser said.

A high number of people taking PERA disability likely won't impact the city budget immediately, as the city's rate of contribution to the plan is fixed, though the Minnesota Legislature could increase contribution rates.

The city can incur significant costs if the leave is classified as 'duty disability,' because the city would continue to pay for the officer's health insurance.

To apply, an officer needs supporting documents from two physicians. A third-party administrator ensures applications are complete. If there is a discrepancy, PERA can require an independent medical evaluation.

The police department could also challenge an application, and there is a process for appeal. Denials and appeals are uncommon, Anderson said.

Meuser made his announcement amid an increase in violent crime. From Thursday night to Friday morning alone, nine people were shot in Minneapolis, including one fatally.

Police data analyzed by the Star Tribune show that at least 243 people have been shot so far this year, compared with 269 in all of 2019.

Asked about his timing, Meuser said he believes Minneapolis officers are being unfairly tarnished, and its time to call out 'decades of failed leadership' in the city.

Meuser opposes calls to dismantle or defund the police department, and said he hopes the news that veteran officers are leaving will make the public reassess the city's current trajectory.

'The men and women in public safety who give their heart and soul to serve Minneapolis and keep it safe deserve to have Minneapolis leaders to step up and supporting them,' he said.

'Instead of spending time plotting the dismantling of the force, lets come together to improve community trust and work towards a safer city for all. '
<! Police IG Mohammed Adamu: Some Nigerians banned from applying for police constable jobs >

By Abankula

The Nigerian Police Force announced Saturday that online applications for enlistment as constable will begin on Tuesday 14 July.

Its portal www.policerecruitment.gov.ng will remain open till 23 August.

Interested applicants for the 40,000 vacancies, according to an advertisement signed by DCP Frank Mba, must have National Identity Number(NIN).

They must have five credits in WASSCE or NECO, GCE or NANTEB, at not more than two sittings.

They must also be between 17 and 25 years.

The advertisement however lists some categories of people who cannot apply for the jobs.

These are:

* Short men and women. The advert says a female applicant must be at least 1.64m tall, while a male applicant must be at least 1.67m.

* Male applicants must have a minimum chest measurement of 34 inches.

*Female applicants must not be pregnant.

*All applicants with financial problems or pecuniary embarrassment are barred.

* Applicants with impediment of speech

*Gross malformation of teeth or jaw

*Knock knees

*Bow legs

*Bent Knees

*Deformed hands

*Defective eyesight or squint eyes

*Amputation of any part of the body.

Read the advert for the constabulary jobs:

Related




UNIVERSITY of Zimbabwe Seventh Day Adventist Students Association has challenged the sitting of examinations scheduled on Saturdays, arguing it was in contradiction with their religious beliefs since it is their Sabbath.

University of Zimbabwe Seventh Day Adventist Students Association and representatives Maranatha Chigogora and Natasha Nyathi cited University of Zimbabwe (UZ), the registrar of the university, Higher and Tertiary education minister Amon Murwira as respondents seeking to have the decision set aside.





Alternatively, they want the examinations to be written on different dates and times and previously proposed that UZ puts them into quarantine to allay any fears of cheating and releases them for examinations at 6pm on the respective dates.





The court heard that the UZ opened its learning facilities to final year students on June 29 following its closure in March due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.





On July 1, the university released an examination timetable through the e-learning portal and some of the examinations are going to be held on June 11 and 18 which will be Saturdays.





The applicants being members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church cannot avail themselves for the said examinations on the above-mentioned dates as this conflicts with their professed faith, in particular their belief that the biblical seventh day, Sabbath, starts from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, reads the application.





Applicants have fundamental constitutional rights to freedom of conscience, right to education and right not to be unfairly discriminated against. The right to freedom of conscience allows them to practice, propagate and give expression to their religious beliefs. Given that the applicants cannot take up the exams on Saturdays, they will definitely suffer prejudice if the examinations are to proceed in their absence.





The students said they had attempted to engage university authorities concerning rescheduling of the examinations, but to no avail.





The court heard that despite efforts to negotiate for the students to sit for the examinations from 6pm on the Saturdays, UZ authorities did not take heed of the letter of proposal on July 8 for the alternative plan.





To allay any fears of cheating the affected students may be placed in quarantine at the university and still sit for the exams soon after their Sabbath ends.





It is accordingly just and equitable and consistent with the applicants fundamental liberties that the examinations scheduled for Saturdays July 11 and 18 are suspended with immediate effect and rescheduled to any other dates which are not Saturdays.




The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday appointed one member judicial commission to probe into the Kanpur ambush and various other incidents including the police encounters with gangster Vikas Dubey and his aides.

A spokesperson of the state government said the commission, to be headed by retired justice Shashi Kant Agarwal, has been mandated to probe into the various incidents that took place between intervening nights of July 2-3 and July 10, including encounters between criminals and police at various spots. The commission will submit its report within two months, he said.

The constitution of the judicial commission comes a day after the Yogi Adityanath government set up a three-member special investigation team (SIT) headed by senior IAS officer Sanjay Bhoosreddy to probe different aspects of the Kanpur ambush case.

According to a state government statement, the SIT will also look into a failed raid that eventually led to the ambush, the nature of action taken against Dubey and his group in the past few years, and the gangsters alleged links with policemen and government employees.

Dubey was killed on the morning of July 10 when he allegedly tried to escape the custody of Special Task Force (STF) following an accident involving the vehicle in which he was being taken to Kanpur from Madhya Pradesh.

The STF had come under fire from various quarters with the opposition alleging that the encounter was staged to eliminate a criminal who could have possibly revealed uncomfortable details of a police-criminal-politician nexus in the state.

The STF claimed that Dubey was shot dead after he opened fire and refused to lay down the weapon. He had been arrested in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday morning, a week after he and his gang members ambushed a police team killing eight policemen.

The gangster and four of his aides have been killed in separate encounters between July 3 and 10.

The one member judicial commission, which will be headquartered in Kanpur, will probe into the ambush on the police team by Vikas Dubey and members of his gang on the intervening nights of July 2-3 in which eight policemen were killed and several others were injured, the government spokesman said.

It will also probe into the July 10 encounter between police team and Vikas Dubey as well as all the encounters between police personnel and members of Vikas Dubey gang that took place between July 3 and July 10 at various spots, he said.

It will also inquire into the nexus between the Vikas Dubey, members of his gang with policemen as well as the personnel of other government departments and people. The Commission in its report will also give its recommendation to the state government to check the repeat of such incidents, the spokesperson said.
With the $3.9 billion merger of IberiaBank into First Horizon in Tennessee now a done deal, the Lafayette-based bank's top five executives are in line for payouts totaling $75.8 million in cash and other benefits known as golden parachutes.

About $34.4 million of the payout to top IberiaBank executives is cash, with the rest as other compensation, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission records filed as part of the merger agreement.

The purchase of IberiaBank, billed as a merger of equals, makes First Horizon one of the largest financial services companies across the South and among the top 25 banks in the U.S. when ranked by deposits at $60 billion, with 460 banking centers across 11 states. The combined entity has $79 billion in assets. Most of First Horizons branch presence is in Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. IberiaBank is primarily in Gulf Coast states from Texas to Florida and in Arkansas, and its name will change to First Horizon by mid-2021.

IberiaBank CEO Daryl Byrd, who has become executive chairman of First Horizon's board with the merger, could take home more than 10 times the value of his annual base salary in cash  $14 million. Byrd, who has been at IberiaBank's helm for nearly two decades and is credited with growing it into a regional bank, is eligible to earn at least $48.6 million in total compensation in the next few years, some of which would be tied to consulting fees he'd receive after he steps down as First Horizon's chairman in two years, records show.

Likewise, executives of First Horizon, which will be headquarters to the combined company in Memphis, also are getting their own golden parachutes worth $44.1 million  $25.2 million of that amount in cash.

First Horizon CEO D. Bryan Jordan, who gave up the chairman title and will reclaim the position in two years from Byrd, is expected to earn $18.1 million  about $6.8 million of that in cash. Four other top executives at First Horizon would earn $26 million total, with $18.4 million of that in cash, according to the golden parachute section of the merger documents.

Golden parachutes are commonly provided to top executives to give them a "soft landing" in case they lose their jobs or to ensure they remain on board as key employees during a merger. The term also has evolved to generally describe merger-related compensation.

Corporate governance experts are often wary of golden parachutes if they are heavier on cash than such things as stock options and other incentives designed to get executives to stay with the combined business in the long run.

When provided the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings ahead of the merger, Marcia Narine Weldon, an attorney and lecturer in law at the University of Miami School of Law who specializes in corporate securities and was not involved in the merger deal, noted that for the size of the IberiaBank-First Horizon deal, the executives may be taking home big checks, but that the ratio is not egregious compared to other deals of publicly traded institutions.

"For a deal of this size, this does not seem unusual," Weldon said. "The consulting agreement, that seems a little bit long," she said.

Records show Byrd's executive compensation tied to the IberiaBank-First Horizon merger is $14 million in cash, $8.5 million in equity, and another $10 million in benefits and tax reimbursements for a total of $32.6 million in executive compensation.

For scope, Byrd's annual base salary between 2016 and 2018 ranged from $1 million to $1.25 million. Byrd's total compensation in 2018 was nearly $5.3 million, which includes about $2 million in stock awards and another $1.5 million in non-equity compensation. That's down slightly from $7.6 million in total compensation during 2017, when the executive had a higher equity stake in the business with $4.9 million in stock awards.

Byrd is expected to serve only a two-year term as First Horizon's executive chairman. For the first two years after that, Byrd would be a consultant paid $3.75 million a year, then for the third year $3.5 million. The compensation is in addition to a $5 million one-time "cash integration and continuity award" for the longtime executive.

IberiaBanks legacy in Louisiana goes back 133 years, but the modern IberiaBank that employs more than 3,000 and spans 12 Southern states, has been built by about two dozen acquisitions under Byrd, who is often credited with steering the bank from obscurity to a major regional player. Byrd, who was an executive with former New Orleans-based First Commerce Corp., joined IberiaBank in 1999.

IberiaBank's chief financial officer, Anthony Restel, is expected to take home $5.1 million in cash out of a total of $12.1 million in executive compensation. Director of Corporate Strategy Fernando Perez-Hickman is slated to earn $3.3 million in cash out of a total of $6.3 million in compensation. Jefferson Parker, director of capital markets and energy lending, would earn $5.5 million in cash out of a total $10.1 million in compensation.

Michael Brown, the chief operating officer who is tasked to lead the New Orleans regional office for First Horizon, would take home $6.4 million in cash out of a total $14.4 million in compensation.

Each of these corporate executives earned between $518,000 and $650,000 in 2018 as base salaries and between $1.6 million and $2.1 million in total compensation that year.

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"A buyout 10 times their salary, is pretty rich as a percentage of their annual compensation, Timothy Swift, an associate professor at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia who specializes in corporate governance and management issues, said before the merger.

One reason these executives are expected to earn a generous golden parachute could be due to its corporate governance structure, said Swift, who worked in the corporate world as a senior executive for technology and telecommunications businesses before entering academia.

He noted that IberiaBank was not sold at a premium for shareholders, and said generous terms provided by the board to executives could be viewed as a business with weaker shareholder rights.

"What you've got in this situation is a board that is friendly to management, and when we look at this from a shareholder perspective (appearing to have) close social and political ties to management isn't necessarily a good thing," Swift said.

Sometimes, companies won't sell at a premium because the current owners are not "trying to hold on to their shares because they're not sure what they would do with them, so they are looking to liquidate and get out of the business," Swift said.

But it's possible that IberiaBank was trying to hold out for a premium, he said. Records show IberiaBank had another undisclosed company it was discussing a potential acquisition or merger with while it was considering its options with First Horizon. The third party ultimately decided to drop out of the competition in late August 2019 due to "internal considerations," documents show.

There were 16 banks contacted by or who reached out to IberiaBank management or its financial advisers in the past year, only six of which were considered the "most attractive potential transaction opportunities."

The fact that the first bidder walked away is insightful," Swift said.

Byrd, in a previous interview, said that the lack of a premium reflected then-current market realities.

Swift also noted that IberiaBank shareholders would see their dividends increasing by more than 40% when they converted into shares in the new combined bank. IberiaBank shareholders would receive 4.584 shares of First Horizon stock. Shares would vest right away.

On the one hand, Im not giving you a premium (on the deal) but Im letting you (as a shareholder) get rid of shares right away without having to hold on to them, Swift said.

"Often, there's a premium paid if there's a competition for the bank," said Weldon, the law lecturer at the University of Miami School of Law who earned a law degree from Harvard.

"It looks like the two banks are selling this to investors as a merger of equals and thus they may not believe there's a need for a premium," she said. "You probably would have seen a premium if the other party was in the picture. If there was no doubt that the company would be sold and there were multiple bidders, the board would have a duty to get the best price for shareholders."

Sometimes it's a more complicated story than, "Oh, any company ought to get a premium," said Lawrence White, professor of economics at New York University at the Stern School of Business.

When Company A wants to buy Company B, almost always there will be a premium that Company A offers over the pre-announcement share price, said White, who has been in academia for more than 40 years. That premium is partly determined how well Company A thinks Company B will fit in its operations; partly there is just a premium for the ability to have unilateral control over operations of Company B  and partly the amount of the premium will be determined by has there been leakage of the information, have there been rumors floating around. If there had been rumors then there would have been anticipation.
Georgian Downs hosted a trio of $22,450 Grassroots divisions for the two-year-old trotting colts on Saturday night (July 11), and it was local youngster Master Grand who delivered the fastest mile of the Ontario Sires Stakes battles.

Master Grand and trainer-driver Aaron Byron left with confidence from post 5 and had established command by the :31 opening quarter. Byron allowed Randy Waples and Imasharpdealer to circle to the front heading for the 1:01.2 half, but were soon back out and pressing the pacesetter.

Imasharpdealer could not handle the pressure and skipped off stride as the colts reached three-quarters in 1:31.2. From there it was smooth sailing for favourite Master Grand, who hit the wire five-and-one-quarter lengths the best in 2:00.3. Diehard Seelster was second and Insanity was well back in third.

Hes been training down great. Were local to Georgian and I wanted to give him a start here, and he really handled this well, said Byron, who trains Master Grand for owner Paul Kelly. Hes a nice horse and he trots very well. Hes a nice, big Muscle Mass colt.

Byron and Kelly traveled to Harrisburg, PA last November for the annual Black Book Yearling Sale and spent hours looking at a variety of yearlings before acquiring Master Grand for $28,000, time Byron says they could have spent elsewhere as it turned out.

He was the first horse we looked at. We drove, what seven, eight hours from here, and the first horse we saw we could have just bought that one, but instead we looked at about 1,000 more, Byron said with a chuckle. He was the very first horse because I went into Winbak [Farms] to get a pen, because I like their pens, and some young lady goes, Oh want to see my favourite horse? And that just happened to be him.

He did everything right, like hes really easy on himself, so the winter in Canada didnt bother him too much. Hes just kind of a nice horse to be around, hes a real gentleman.

Byron has spent most of the last decade plying his trade south of the border, but with a growing familyhe and wife Carylyn welcomed twins three weeks agohe decided it was time to come home. The reinsman has been making regular appearances at Georgian Downs in addition to trips to Woodbine Mohawk Park and Grand River Raceway.

The other two divisions were clocked in an identical 2:00.4. Four Wheelin captured the first Grassroots win of the two-year-old trotting colt season, getting a neck in front of fan favourite Arch Hall and Tymal Chrome at the wire with a big late effort.

I dont drive that much so I was confident of him, but I didnt drive him that confident. He helped me get the job done, said trainer-driver Marcel Barrieau. It was unbelievable what he did tonight. I really like him all that much more, because he showed a lot of grit, he trotted home real well.

After leaving sharply from post 2 Barrieau and Four Wheelin led the field at the :30.4 opening quarter then yielded to Showme Some Muscle heading for the 1:00 half. As Arch Hall and Tymal Chrome powered up the outside lane on the way to the 1:31 three-quarters Four Wheelin was pinned on the rail in fourth, but when Showme Some Money skipped off stride in the stretch Barrieau was able to squeeze Four Wheelin up the inside for the narrow victory.

Hes got a big burst. He showed that in Mohawk qualifying there (June 18), home in :27.4, said Barrieau, who shares ownership of the Wheeling N Dealin colt with Gestion Mastel Inc. He did tonight too, to come home like that, so we hope that hes got a good heart so he can keep going.

Four Wheelin was a $32,000 acquisition from last falls London Selected Yearling Sale.

Top Hall captured the other Grassroots division with a commanding performance from post 6 that saw him hit the wire two lengths ahead of The Wheel and Moscow Moon.

He said he qualified really good, Gerard did, and he said he trained good. He said hes been pretty solid, so he said just be careful with him off the gate and if he seems good you can let him roll, said Paul Mackenzie, who piloted the gelding to the win for trainer Gerard Demers. I just let him float out of there and he did everything pretty good. He got a little green around the last turn, but when I asked him he still had some go to him. Hes nice and solid, a nice trotter. Gerard did a great job of training him down and bringing him to the races.

Demers conditions the Angus Hall son for Les Ecuries GLD Inc., Jean Roch Marois and La Ferme Tag Inc. The partners acquired Top Hall from the London Selected Yearling Sale for $22,000.

The two-year-old trotting colts will make their second Grassroots start at Hiawatha Horse Park on July 25.

(Ontario Sires Stakes)

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Georgian Downs.
Some of the nurses were abused by fellow doctors and other members of the military. Not much of a way to treat a caring person. Most of the infantry guys had so much appreciation and respect for the nurses.

I could go on and on, talking about the good those angels did and how tough they had it in a mans world.

There was also a group of young ladies called Doughnut Dollies. These ladies would talk to the GIs, pass out doughnuts and sometimes play games. We were so far out that they only came one time to the closest firebase to Chu Lai LZ Professional. It was a blessing to see these young ladies.

The nurses would do things in Vietnam that only a doctor would do. They were way ahead of the nurses stateside and most likely a lot of doctors. When they got back to the States, the fact of all the experience they got in Vietnam was of no value to them, and they were most likely treated second class as a result of being in Vietnam. I am sure they would have gotten bored cleaning bedpans with all the experience they had.
WASHINGTON - For months, Anthony Fauci has played a lead role in America's coronavirus pandemic, as a diminutive, Brooklyn-accented narrator who has assessed the risk and issued increasingly blunt warnings as the nation's response has gone badly awry.

But as the Trump administration has strayed further from the advice of many scientists and public health experts, the White House has moved to sideline Fauci, scuttled some of his planned TV appearances and largely kept him out of the Oval Office for more than a month even as coronavirus infections surge in large swaths of the country.

In recent days, the 79-year-old scientist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has found himself directly in the president's crosshairs. During a Fox News interview Thursday with Sean Hannity, Trump said Fauci "is a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes." And in an interview last week with Greta Van Susteren, when asked about Fauci's assessment that the country was not in a good place, Trump said flatly: "I disagree with him."

Fauci no longer briefs Trump and is "never in the Oval [Office] anymore," said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Fauci last spoke to the president during the first week of June, according to a person with knowledge of Trump's calendar.

For some administration officials, such developments have been an early sign their job was on the line. But Trump cannot directly fire Fauci, a career civil servant with more than 50 years in government service who enjoys strong bipartisan support in Congress. In any case, the president has no plans to get rid of him, said the official.

As for Fauci himself, although he is frustrated by the turmoil and the state of the outbreak, friends say he has no plans to abandon his post, which includes a critical role in the development of a coronavirus vaccine and treatments.

Fauci has found other ways to get his message out, from online Facebook chats to podcasts and print media interviews. And in recent days, with coronavirus cases slamming hospitals in the South and West, he has been frankly critical of the U.S. response - and implicitly, of the president.

"As a country, when you compare us to other countries, I don't think you can say we're doing great. I mean, we're just not," Fauci said in a podcast interview with FiveThirtyEight last week.

Fauci did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this story.

A White House official released a statement saying that, "Several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things," and attaching a lengthy list of the scientist's comments from early in the outbreak. Those included his early doubt that people with no symptoms could play a significant role in spreading the virus - a notion based on earlier outbreaks that the novel coronavirus would turn on its head. They also point to public reassurances Fauci made in late February, around the time of the first U.S. case of community transmission, that "at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you're doing on a day-by-day basis."

Fauci's supporters acknowledge those early mistakes, attributing them to the challenges posed by a new, largely unknown pathogen. They agree he downplayed the possibility of the virus spreading from person to person in January and early February even as it quietly seeded itself in communities on the East and West coasts. And, like several other public health officials, he initially said the public shouldn't wear masks, but now strongly recommends it, especially when individuals can't maintain distances of at least six feet from other people.

Fauci has said he was worried early in the outbreak about a shortage of masks and wanted to reserve them for health care workers. And he has said from the start that scientists' knowledge of a brand new virus would evolve and recommendations could change based on new information.

The tension between the White House and Fauci was on full display last Sunday, when CBS host Margaret Brennan told millions of viewers that "Face the Nation" had tried for three months to interview him.

White House communications officials, who must approve television appearances related to the coronavirus, responded by allowing Fauci spots this week on PBS NewsHour, a CNN town hall with Sanjay Gupta and NBC's "Meet the Press" during the prime Sunday morning slot, according to one person familiar with the situation.

Then Fauci joined a Facebook Live event on Tuesday with Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., disputing Trump's assertions that a lower death rate showed the country's progress against the pandemic. Fauci called it "a false narrative" and warned, "Don't get yourself into false complacency."

Fauci did not end up making any of the scheduled appearances. The White House canceled them after his Tuesday remarks, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to relate behind-the-scenes conversations.

The episode underscores the deteriorating relationship between a scientist and a president who once bonded over their shared New York City roots and love of sports, but whose rapport has long since disintegrated over their differences on face mask policy, state reopening strategies and the use of antimalarial drugs to treat covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

A senior administration official who requested anonymity to reveal internal deliberations, said the White House has asked Fauci to do certain media appearances, but is not approving all of his requests.

"Our bigger issue with Fauci is stop critiquing the task force . . . and try to fix it," the official said.

But that may be an impossible order given his strong differences with the White House over how the federal government should respond to the accelerating infection rate that's pushing up the death toll after months of decline.

Fauci has argued that parts of the country experiencing surges should shut down, "but there is no buy-in for that," said an official with direct knowledge of the conversation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Four months ahead of Election Day, Trump wants to "reopen and move on," said another senior administration official who requested anonymity to reveal internal deliberations. Those who disagree with that approach are out of favor, the official said.

Fauci has also expressed concern about the administration's plan to reopen schools, but White House officials see keeping children home as having even more deleterious effects. Fauci has also called on state and local officials to mandate that people wear masks in public.

Even though his suggestions have been largely ignored, Fauci has not complained that he does not get in to see the president, according to one of the officials.

Trump is also galled by Fauci's approval ratings. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll showed that 67 percent of voters trusted Fauci for information on the coronavirus, compared with 26 percent who trusted Trump.

The internal turmoil and troubled national response have taken a toll on Fauci, those close to him say. He is exasperated that states and individuals are not following the recommendations of experts, such as social distancing and wearing face coverings, said David Barr, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist who has known Fauci for 30 years.

Three or four weeks ago, Barr said, he and Fauci spoke about the troubling signs they were seeing as cases began to tick upward.

"You could just feel from Tony . . . how unsettled it made him," Barr said. "He didn't know what to do to change that, to stop it, but if the leadership isn't there, and it's clearly not there, then it's really difficult to set the tone for the country."

"What he cares most about is not his influence, but what's happening - that things are going so badly and it's going to cause so much disease and death," Barr added.

People who are close to Fauci say the public undermining of scientists and public health experts has frustrated and saddened him because it adds to the chaos the country is already experiencing from the pandemic.

Despite the repeated pushback from Trump and the White House, however, Fauci has told those close to him that has no plans to do anything differently.

"For somebody like Tony, who tries to deal with people honestly and in a very open and generous way - that's how he's tried to approach his personal interactions with the president - it's immensely frustrating and depressing. And there's not much he can do about it," said Peter Staley, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist who has known Fauci for more than 30 years.

"He's going to continue being himself, which is always talking honestly about a public health crisis and a new infectious disease," Staley added. "If things are looking more in conflict, it's because this administration is going further and further adrift from a pro-science approach."

White House communications officials say they have told government scientists and doctors that their job is to educate the public by talking about best practices to contain the virus and what the administration is doing to help the states.

Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo, a longtime Trump ally, approves Fauci's television appearances, with input from the White House, said one of the senior administration officials. Several White House aides view Fauci's interviews as unhelpful and say they're frustrated he has expressed interest in appearing on programs such as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, which are hostile to the administration. That one was rejected.

"The speculation game doesn't serve the public in any particular way," the same official said. "When it gets to handicapping and what's going to happen next, get a cable news gig. We've conveyed that down to all the doctors."

White House officials generally favor White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx, one of the senior administration officials said. Both Birx and Fauci have expressed frustration that their concerns have not gotten to the president, although Birx is working with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Jared Kushner, a White House senior adviser and Trump's son-in-law, to ensure better communication, the official said.

The administration also plans to have Brett Giroir, an assistant HHS secretary, and FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor do more appearances related to coronavirus.

Among those crusading against Fauci internally is Peter Navarro, the president's trade adviser, who has clashed with Fauci over his opposition to adopting the use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, to treat covid-19 before its effectiveness had been proven.

When Trump and Navarro repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for coronavirus, Fauci pushed back both internally and at task force briefings, arguing there was only anecdotal evidence about the drug's efficacy. The Food and Drug Administration eventually revoked its temporary authorization after evidence showed it was not effective against covid-19 and could be dangerous for some patients.

"Dr. Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public but he has been wrong about everything I have ever interacted with him on," Navarro said. "Now Fauci is saying that a falling mortality rate doesn't matter when it is the single most important statistic to help guide the pace of our economic reopening. So when you ask me if I listen to Dr. Fauci's advice, my answer is only with caution."

Friends and allies say Fauci doesn't quit because he loves his job and also feels a great sense of responsibility about helping to develop coronavirus vaccines and treatments - the biggest challenge of his career and the only way the country can truly begin to move past the pandemic. He has long said he does not want to retire before there is an AIDS vaccine.

"He recognizes if he doesn't intercede, things could fall apart very quickly - even more so than they have already," said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. "He does it because he cares about the country and realizes he is uniquely positioned to help in this."

Although his message is regularly at odds with the president, Fauci is naturally conflict averse and has sought to establish a personal relationship with the six presidents he has served over his career.

"He'll try to be accommodating except for principles that are truly not something he can compromise on," said one former senior administration official who has worked closely with Fauci for years. "He will try to really accommodate and fulfill your reality, but he's bound by the laws of science."

In the previous five presidential administrations, Fauci has almost always played a key role in public health emergencies and infectious-disease responses by advising the president and serving as a chief spokesman for both Republican and Democratic administrations.

In many ways, he was shaped by the HIV/AIDS crisis that emerged during his first years as NIAID director when the Reagan administration remained largely silent about a disease afflicting mostly gay men.

Amid fear of the virus and the stigma associated with having the infection, Fauci learned the importance of communicating with the public about new diseases that were little understood. He found out it was critical to speak honestly about the risks, and help people differentiate between valid concerns and unfounded fears, according to several people who have worked with him.

As the face of the HIV/AIDS response, Fauci also developed a thick skin, experiencing the ire of activists who felt an uncaring federal government was not doing enough to make treatments available for dying patients. But over the years, he forged friendships with some of those who had begun as adversaries, activists said.

The lessons learned from the HIV/AIDS outbreak have had an impact on how he has handled almost every public health crisis since. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the Obama administration made Fauci its chief spokesperson to explain to people the actual risk of the virus.

Fauci briefed Obama about three times a week and had unlimited access to him if something came up, said Ronald Klain, the Obama administration's Ebola czar and now an adviser to Joe Biden's campaign.

But in the coronavirus pandemic, Klain said Fauci is facing a new challenge: He's the only member of the administration willing or able to speak plainly about the threat of the virus, in Klain's view.

Fauci "respects the public," Klain said. "He has this view that the public can handle the truth, whether it's good news or bad news and the most important thing is to give people the best information he has at the time. Tony is left being the one person having to carry the weight of speaking honestly about all this stuff."
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 18:26:18|Editor: huaxia

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CAPE TOWN, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Massive rolling power blackouts continued in South Africa on Sunday for three days running, dealing another heavy blow to the economy already battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The severely constrained generation system will most likely persist through the coming week, said state-run electricity utility Eskom, which provides about 95 percent of the electricity consumed in the country.

Rolling blackouts, or load shedding, were a necessary step to replenish the emergency generation reserves to better prepare for the coming week, said Eskom.

Due to the much colder weather, demand for electricity has also risen significantly, requesting the public to help reduce electricity usage in order to lessen the impact of load shedding, said Eskom.

The latest load shedding resulted from the dysfunctioning of several generation units, which removed more than 2,600 MW of capacity from the system, according to the utility.

South Africans had been spared of load shedding for the past four months, after being constantly subjected to rolling blackouts in the past few years.

The latest spate of load shedding has led to public outrage as the country was grapping with the COVID-19 pandemic which has infected 264,184 people and claimed the lives of 3,971 others as of Saturday.

Not only will the economic sectors, especially small businesses, have to contend with the COVID-19 lockdown, they will now also have to weather the storm of the rolling blackouts, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said.

Just as businesses begin to pick up the pieces after the disastrous economic lockdown, they have been dealt yet another blow, said Ghaleb Cachalia, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises.

To break the electricity monopoly by Eskom, the DA has proposed a plan to split the utility into two entities, the generation and distribution, as a pathway to a partial or full privatization of the parastatal, and to bring independent power producers on board.

"Electricity is central to ensuring people's livelihoods are secured. It is clear that while South Africans can afford electricity, they cannot afford Eskom," Cachalia said.

Eskom says it implements load shedding as the last resort to prevent the national grid from a total collapse.

Due to poor management and alleged corruption, Eskom, the world's fourth largest coal-burning power plant, has been struggling to meet the growing demand for electricity.

South Africa has suffered from electricity insufficiency for more than a decade, with power blackouts having become increasingly frequent in recent years. Enditem
President Donald Trump's management of this summer's crises has triggered what Democrats detect as a tectonic shift in the political landscape, with party leaders suddenly bullish about not only taking back the White House but also wresting control of the Senate, as well as expanding their House majority.

Trump's incumbent advantages have steadily eroded since the spring, with the president now trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in virtually every public poll nationally and in battleground states, as well as lagging behind the former vice president in fundraising for May and June.

Trump and his advisers insist that their campaign's internal data show the race as more competitive - "In the real polls, we are doing very well," the president claimed Friday - and that he can gain momentum in the weeks ahead with a disciplined message and a brutal, sustained assault on Biden's character, ideology and mental acuity.

Yet Trump has never shown much discipline, and time and again this year he has stymied his campaign's best efforts with bouts of seeming self-sabotage. On Friday night, Trump provoked critics anew with his decision to commute the prison sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone, an act Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called "unprecedented, historic corruption."

With the coronavirus pandemic still raging across much of the country, Biden enjoys a commanding position, though his campaign advisers say nothing is yet secured and they are careful not to take any state for granted.

Both Democratic and Republican operatives increasingly view Trump as a drag on GOP candidates in many key Senate and House races - especially in suburban areas, where polling and focus group data suggest he has been bleeding support.

Voters' disapproval of Trump's handling of the pandemic and of the racial justice movement, as measured in public surveys, has buoyed Democrats down the ballot. Some long-shot Democratic challengers in Kentucky, South Carolina and other Republican strongholds reported staggering fundraising hauls in recent days, which party leaders see as a sign that their playing field could expand further.

"It's just in the air," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in an interview. "You just feel it, the importance of taking back the Senate, the importance of getting the country moving again, the importance of paying attention to the middle class."

Schumer said "we're feeling very good" about winning the three or four seats required for Democrats to gain control of the Senate for the first time in six years.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in an interview that if the election were held today, Democrats would pick up seats and expand their majority. But she cautioned that Trump remains popular in a number of congressional districts in traditionally Republican areas that Democrats captured in the 2018 midterm elections, despite his collapse elsewhere, which endangers those incumbents.

"For reasons that are beyond my comprehension, he still has some favorability in these districts, and so the question is: In the last election, did people stay home because he wasn't on the ballot and now turn out because he is on the ballot and they support him?" Pelosi said. "It's the strangest phenomenon I have ever seen in politics."

Pelosi said she has warned fellow Democrats not to let down their guard. "I say: 'Own the ground. Don't give one grain of sand. Get everybody out.' " And Pelosi predicted that Trump and his allies would work to suppress access to the polls or create other obstacles for black people and other loyal Democratic voters.

"One advantage we have this time over the last is people are vigilant, they are attuned, they are concerned," Pelosi said.

Mike Murphy, a longtime GOP strategist involved in the Republican Voters Against Trump super PAC, similarly advised against overconfidence.

"There's so much Democratic psychological energy warped by Trump's gravity field," Murphy said. "Now they're having this exhilaration. Ninety percent of the political gestalt is set by public polls, and the polls show Trump's going to lose, we can all relax, it's over. But I would say, 'Caution! Elections are very dynamic.' "

Biden leads Trump by nine percentage points among registered voters in a Washington Post average of national polls conducted since mid-June. He also leads the incumbent, in some cases outside the margin of error, in recent polls in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

"The president is in a very, very deep hole, and I'm not quite sure how he gets out of it," said Amy Walter, national editor of the Cook Political Report, which on Wednesday shifted a number of states in its electoral college ratings in Biden's favor.

"He is taking with him Senate and House candidates," Walter added. "Instead of just a slight drag, the president is tying anchors around the ankles of Republican candidates."

Michael McAdams, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, countered: "President Trump at the top of the ticket remains a massive advantage for Republicans in the 30 Trump districts House Democrats are defending."

But other GOP strategists privately disagree and worry about Trump dragging down the party, though they said they were hopeful that the electorate snaps back to a more even partisan split by the fall.

Haley Barbour, a former Mississippi governor and former Republican National Committee chairman, said Trump can recover with a more disciplined message.

"He needs to be talking about the accomplishments before the pandemic took hold, where we were, why the positive economy was because of his policies, and why what Democrats propose is not going to work," Barbour said.

For weeks now, White House officials and Trump campaign surrogates have been arguing that the president is better positioned than Biden to rebuild the economy after the pandemic, a message they hope resonates with some of the voters who polls show have peeled away from him.

Jason Miller, a Trump campaign senior adviser, argued that the president's base is more motivated to turn out than Biden's, and that Trump has "a lot of room to grow." He likened Trump's performance the past few days to his "razor sharp" focus in the home stretch of the 2016 campaign.

Central to Trump's efforts ahead is an all-out assault on Biden. Miller said the Trump campaign believes several lines of attack are potent, including that Biden lacks the mental sharpness for the job, that he is beholden to liberal activists and that he would "throw the country into a U-turn" by undoing Trump's economic policies.

"Joe Biden is very undefined," Miller said. "Even though he's been in office for decades, people don't know Joe Biden, and they definitely don't know this iteration of Joe Biden. ... His radical, left-wing friends have to prop him up and wheel him around like a bad episode of 'Weekend at Bernie's.' "

Anita Dunn, a Biden campaign senior adviser, said Trump and his allies have been attacking Biden for the past year without much success.

"The idea they haven't had time to define Joe Biden yet is ludicrous," Dunn said. "This president got himself impeached by trying to define Joe Biden in a negative way. ... The problem that Donald Trump has is that he has been defined for the American people, and the American people don't like a president who they think puts himself ahead of their interests, who doesn't listen to experts and who has made a bad situation a catastrophe."

Dunn argued that the election would come down to the issue of presidential leadership.

"When Joe Biden makes a speech, when he addresses an issue, he is being the president people want," she said. "He's working to unify people. He's honest about the challenges facing us, but optimistic about our ability to address them if we all work together."

Sixty-seven percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's coronavirus response, according to an ABC News-Ipsos poll released Friday. The same percentage said they disapprove of Trump's handling of race relations.

"There's a tsunami coming," said Terry McAuliffe, a former Virginia governor and former Democratic National Committee chairman. "If he'd early on jumped in front of the coronavirus and been a leader, this guy would've been unbeatable. But every opportunity he's had to stand up and be a leader, whether Charlottesville or anything else, he's failed each time."

The danger for Trump will be if the voters he lost are not willing to come back. Democratic pollster Peter Hart said this is the case, based on his extensive focus group interviews.

"Voters have arrived at a place that they're done with Donald Trump," Hart said. "The last four years have been total chaos, and the public says: 'Stop the music. I want to get off.' "

Former Republican congressman Carlos Curbelo of Florida, a state Trump carried in 2016, said the current environment there is unambiguously troubling for the president.

"The idea of a reality-TV president was perhaps intriguing or interesting to a lot of people while the country was on autopilot," Curbelo said. "A lot of middle-of-the-road voters who took a chance on the president in 2016 are in a vastly different mood right now, and that is certainly true in suburban Florida, which will be decisive come November."

The prospects for Senate Republicans have darkened in recent weeks as coronavirus cases rise in dozens of states. Though the battle for Senate control is largely being waged in a half-dozen states, Republicans are having to fend off well-funded opponents elsewhere as well.

A quartet of Democratic challengers raised enormous sums in the quarter that ended June 30: Amy McGrath said she collected $17.4 million in her bid to unseat Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky; Jaime Harrison reported raising $13.9 million in his race against Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Steve Bullock collected $7.7 million in his bid to defeat Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.; and Cal Cunningham raked in $7.4 million in his campaign against Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

GOP officials feel secure about McConnell and Graham winning re-election, though Montana and North Carolina appear more competitive. The one race so far where a Republican candidate has outraised a Democratic incumbent is in Michigan, where John James collected $6.4 million against Sen. Gary Peters.

Republican officials believe the dynamics could shift once scrutiny increases on the Democratic Senate candidates. But there remains notable concern about Republican incumbent Sens. Martha McSally of Arizona, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Susan Collins of Maine. Recent polls show the races tightening for Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Tillis, both in states that Trump carried four years ago but could lose this time. Republican officials also have been watching the two Senate races in Georgia, especially as that state becomes more competitive on the presidential level.

"This is shaping up to be a lot like four years ago - with challenging states, a massive Democratic spending advantage and a class of sharp Republican senators who pushed through to win at the end," said Steven Law, president of the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC dedicated to electing Republican senators.

As recently as Trump's February acquittal in his impeachment trial, House Democrats were nervous about losing some seats, but now they see pickup opportunities thanks to Trump's sinking approval ratings in suburban areas. Democrats are eyeing Republican-held districts in Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, as well as long-shot opportunities in Alaska and Montana.

The most concentrated state is Texas, where Democrats are targeting seven GOP-held districts, including the suburban Houston district once represented by former House Republican leader Tom DeLay. Democratic strategists believe the spike in coronavirus cases across Texas could further erode Trump's standing with voters in those districts.

"The world is changing," said Abby Curran Horrell, executive director of the House Majority PAC, a super PAC helping elect House Democrats. "What we're seeing is this president is just a drag on these Republican candidates, and it's just tough to get around that. And we're seeing it across the map."
Workers have described a Boohoo warehouse in Sheffield where 25 people were infected with coronavirus as a 'breeding ground' for the disease.

Speaking under condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, employees at the centre also revealed how staff would arrive in 'packed cars' to save on transport costs.

And a video published on social media on March 26 shows employees standing close together in hi-vis jackets at the warehouse, in apparent breach of social distancing rules.

This is the second time a warehouse connected to Boohoo has been embroiled in allegations of mistreating its workers after reports surfaced that a centre in Leicester was paying employees 3.50 an hour, less than half the minimum wage.

More than 1billion was wiped from the company's share price as it nose-dived by more than 25 per cent.

The price has so far failed to recover to its July 3 height of 387.50 per share.

Boohoo workers have described the factory in Tinsley, Sheffield, as a 'breeding ground' for the virus with employees arriving in 'packed cars'

And a video published on social media in March shows workers at the factory all standing close together, in apparent breach of social distancing. MP for the area Clive Betts says he has received 50 complaints from workers in relation to the factory

A father-of-two working at the Sheffield warehouse has revealed to the Sunday Times that he had to keep coming in to drag boxes of women's shoes, handbags and dresses despite having a fever, constipation and a bad back.

The 51-year-old, who is one of the individuals to test positive for the virus, said: 'I needed to put food on the table for my kids. I knew there was a risk in continuing to work.

'I caught it from the warehouse,' he said. 'There's no way I should have been working. How is distributing cheap women's fashion essential?'

He also revealed how his wife's breathing became laboured and their 12-year-old son became lethargic. They have also tested positive for Covid-19.

Clive Betts, local MP for the area, says he has a database of as many as 50 workers who raised concerns about their safety at the warehouse during the lockdown.

He said complaints started coming in eight days after lockdown, with some saying they felt as though their lives were at risk.

The warehouse in Sheffield was investigated by Sheffield City council and Public Health England. Under-fire Boohoo has had 1 billion wiped off its share price

The Sheffield warehouse is a distribution centre for the online-only women's brand and operated by a third-party firm called Clipper. No clothes are made at the centre.

The warehouse was investigated by Sheffield city council and Public Health England between April and June, after they recognised it as a coronavirus hotspot.

But they found that it had taken 'reasonable steps' to ensure workers safety.

Staff at the centre are from Poland, Romania, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sudan.

An undercover investigation at a warehouse in Leicester used by Boohoo by the Sunday Times also revealed there were no additional hygiene or social distancing measures in place at the height of the pandemic.

It triggered visits from seven different agencies to the centre, including Leicestershire Police, Leicestershire City council and Immigration enforcement.

The city is currently in local lockdown due to a spike in coronavirus cases.

The reports follow allegations that its factory in Leicester pays workers 3.50 an hour, less than half the minimum wage

Clipper and Boohoo told the Sunday Times that all government guidance had been followed.

'The warehouse has been inspected a number of times by Public Health England and Sheffield city council and has been approved each time,' Clipper said.

In response to the video published in March of workers standing together, Boohoo's chief executive John Lyttle said: 'I want to reassure you that we took immediate action when this was brought to our attention.'

In response to the Sunday Times' Leicester factory investigation, Boohoo hired a top lawyer to look into reports that its factories were making people work below minimum wage and breaching safety rules.

The under-fire brand said it was 'shocked and appalled' before alleging it had found 'some inaccuracies' with the reports.
Published on 2020/07/12 | Source

Kim Eun-sun, who became the first female music director of the San Francisco Opera in December last year, will conduct this year's Concert de Paris on France's national day next week.

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The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France announced Tuesday that Kim will conduct the French National Orchestra, the choir and choir school of Radio France at the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower on July 14.

Bastille Day is France's biggest holiday. All schools, offices, and most cafes and restaurants are closed, and huge fireworks are on display around the Eiffel Tower at night.

Kim, speaking by phone from her hotel in Paris, said, "I was staying in Houston and came to Paris two weeks before the first rehearsal for quarantine. I got special permission to enter the country from the French government".

Eight world-renowned soloists including pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, soprano Sonya Yoncheva, and baritone Ludovic Tezier will perform at the concert, though the program has yet to be announced. The tradition is to start with Berlioz's "Hungarian March" and end with the Marseillaise.

The concert will be broadcasted live throughout France on TV and radio and dozens of countries via satellite. Over 3 million people watched the concert last year, setting a new record. However, due to the coronavirus epidemic, the number of musicians was reduced to 65 and the choir to 48.

Kim's international career was launched when she won the Lopez-Cobos International Opera Conductors Competition at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 2008, while she was studying in Stuttgart, Germany.

She made regular appearances in major European opera houses and is set to debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera with "La Boheme" next year.

"Whatever the stage is, the process of making music with an orchestra is the same. I will only think about doing my best to make music", she said.

Read this article in Korean
A fourth meeting between senior Indian and Chinese commanders is expected to take place along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh this week, officials said.

Both sides are working on finalising the date, the officials added.

The military-level talks between corps commander-ranked officers are expected to focus on the critical Finger Area and the strategic Depsang plains. The next phase of the complex disengagement process is expected to begin after the fourth round of talks, the officials said.

Also read: Army to order 72,000 assault rifles from United States amid border row

The previous military-level talks, which were held on June 30, set the stage for disengagement in Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Gogra.

Also read: No buffer zone on LAC, only suspended patrolling to avoid flareup on border

During the meeting, Indian and Chinese armies had stressed the need for an expeditious, phased and step-wise de-escalation of the ongoing border conflict on priority, people familiar with the developments had said.
She is no stranger to sharing honest updates about her life on social media.

And Ulrika Jonsson was at it again on Sunday as she told her followers how she hadn't washed her hair in eight days.

The star, 52, shared an unusual selfie from the shower after deciding to finally give it a clean.

Candid: Ulrika Jonsson shared a selfie from the shower on Sunday as she revealed she hasn't washed her hair for eight days

The TV personality also posted a number of snaps of wildlife as she makes the most of the summer.

She said: 'The sun came back!! So I washed my hair for the first time in 8 days. (God, I hate washing my hair. Its so fecking booooooring).'

Ulrika continued: 'Ignored Govt advice and opened my own beauty salon early in my very own bathroom and executed a gorgeous pedicure. No point in manis cos Im a manual labourer.

'Trying to get my head around the family abandoning me on Monday for a week away. Maybe thats why I ended up with 3 Bulldogs in my bedroom last night, rationing myself on I May Destroy You because its so damn fine.'

Lockdown: Ulrika joked that she 'Ignored Govt advice and opened my own beauty salon early in my very own bathroom and executed a gorgeous pedicure'

Honest: Ulrika delighted her followers with the post, who praised the star for keeping it real on her Instagram profile

In the lengthy caption, Ulrika also gave a small tribute to the late Jack Charlton and said she has spent her Sunday making sourdough.

Ulrika delighted her followers with the post, who commented: 'Totally LOVE your beautiful an honest posts , your a breath of fresh air';

' Love your posts you are literally a breathe of fresh air! Being mid 50s myself it just refreshing to see your honesty. Enjoy the sun, Im off to sit in it for most of the day..no Fs given!!

Sun worshipper: Earlier this month, Ulrika admitted that when she moved from her native Sweden to the UK in 1979 she was stunned at 'pale, colourless, doughy and pasty' Brits

It comes after Ulrika admitted last month that when she moved from her native Sweden to the UK in 1979 she was stunned at 'pale, colourless, doughy and pasty' Brits.

She also proudly professed she has always exposed her children's skin to the sun.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, she said: 'My drug of choice is the sun and as Ive lived by the sword, I shall, no doubt, die by it  as long as its in the sun.'

Ulrika spoke candidly in her column about her unapologetic addiction despite admitting it can be damaging to the skin to soak up the sun.

The star said she has come under fire from people judging her sunbathing habit who say she will prematurely age and harm her skin.

But the presenter said the sun is in her DNA as a daylight-deprived Swede and has always been envious of those with glowing tans.

She even admitted she doesn't mind if she ends up looking like Sheila Reid's character Madge Harvey in Benidorm.

The 82-year-old is known for her comically dark tan in the hit ITV comedy.

Ulrika said: 'Fortunately for me, I tan easily, go a dark brown and I have no qualms about accepting that I look like Madge Harvey in Benidorm (OK, possibly a bit older).'

The former Gladiators star said sunbathing ages her, just as having four 'ungrateful' children does.

And she admits she doesn't look like to lather her children in suncream, instead placing them in the shade for much of the day and adjusting them to the sun gradually.
An expert in diseases has expressed serious concern at the prospect of further arrivals in Ireland from the US.

Professor Sam McConkey Associate Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons and Head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine said he is very worried about tourists arriving from the US by air in Ireland.

Professor McConkey is also worried about future death rates in the US from Covid-19.

"The death rates haven't really started to skyrocket there yet but it takes four-six-eight weeks for the deaths to come," Prof McConkey said.

"So I'm very pessimistic about how US cities are going to look in a few weeks time."

Prof McConkey also said that the possible spread of coronavirus by US tourists in Ireland could endanger rural areas that were not affected up to now.

Prof McConkey said: "I think we certainly don't want folks coming in from there to reinfect especially rural parts of Ireland that haven't had Covid-19 very much."

The health expert's comments come as Ireland records no new deaths today from the coronavirus.

People arriving in Northern Ireland from more than 50 countries including France, Spain, Germany and Italy are now no longer required to quarantine. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

The new Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has reiterated the government's guidance on travel arrivals into Ireland and said people must self-isolate for 14 days.

The Minister for Health said: "Anyone who is planning on coming here for any amount of time, be it one day, one week or one month,

"Is for the first 14 days of your trip, you are meant to self-restrict your movements.

"So if you are only coming here for five days then you should go to wherever you are planning on being for those five days and that's it.

"Then go back to the airport or the port."

Mr Donnelly's instructions follow reports on social media that tourists are not adhering to the advice after filling in locator forms.

A green list of countries safe to travel to from Ireland is due to be published later this month.

The total number of people infected since the outbreak broke out here is 25,628 and the death toll has reached 1,746.
According to government officials, informal settlements in Egypt constitute around 40 percent of the countrys urban areas

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi opened on Sunday the third stage of the Al-Asmarat housing project in Moqattam, Cairo, which is part of continued government efforts to combat informal settlements and build new homes for slum residents.

Al-Asmarat 3 is set to become home to thousands of residential units with full utilities and facilities and a service complex that would serve around 100,000 people living in all three stages of the housing project.

The third stage includes constructing 7,440 units and several facilities, including playgrounds, health units, a parking space that can accommodate 9,000 cars as well as plans to construct a church and a mosque.

El-Sisi toured the third stage of Al-Asmarat complex with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal and Defence Minister Mohamed Zaki, inspecting residential units, schools and sport facilities among others.

The government began work on Al-Asmarat residential complex in 2014.

El-Sisi reiterated on Sunday the governments zero tolerance policy on building violations, stressing that violations on state lands will not be allowed.

During the inauguration of the third stage of Al-Asmarat housing project in Cairos Moqattam, El-Sisi said the state has dealt with building violations in the past 10 years with patience and without strict measures, something that he says has to be changed.

We will no longer allow informal growth or violations on state lands. This wont happen. The magnitude of danger to the Egyptian state is huge, he said.

Egypt saw a significant rise in illegal buildings amid the security vacuum that followed the 2011 uprising. Countless people started constructing multi-storey buildings without acquiring the necessary permits or complying with safety standards.

A large portion of Egypt's 100 million citizens live in clusters of red-brick buildings and informal settlements.

El-Sisi said that 250,000 housing units have been constructed to rehouse residents of unsafe areas, adding that the state is set to provide simple funding instruments for citizens.

During the inauguration, El-Sisi watched a documentary - A Smile of Hope - on several national projects -- including Al-Asmarat 3 -- and efforts over the past six years to turn informal settlements into safe residential complexes.

The documentary showed slums that had littered the country before the projects development, with El-Sisi stressing that such informal settlements will not be allowed again.

Government takes action

The phenomenon of informal settlements was first put in the national spotlight in 2008 following the collapse of a rock face on the edge of Moqattam, which led to the deaths and injury of scores of people living in the Doueyka area and highlighted the urgency of addressing housing challenges.

According to a government officials, informal settlements in Egypt constitute around 40 percent of the countrys urban areas.

Authorities have removed a total of 14,964 illegal buildings, almost half of which were built on state-owned lands during the period from 25 March to 7 July, the cabinet said last week.

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Assem Al-Gazzar said that the issue of unsafe informal settlements is among the most critical facing the state, adding that the government has worked on addressing the issue through its Informal Settlements Development Fund (ISDF).

The minister said that 250,000 residential units are currently being established at a cost of EGP 61 billion, and that 610,000 social housing residential units have been constructed at a cost of EGP 90 billion.

The minister added that the construction of 750,000 residential units under the countrys social housing scheme is currently underway at a cost of EGP 145 billion, and that more work is underway to construct 1 million residential units at an estimated cost of EGP 200 billion.

El-Sisi has ordered the government to open registration for citizens in the unprivileged areas of Zelzal 1 and Zelzal 2 to receive new residential units.

The president asked Defence Minister Mohamed Zaki to allocate a plot to establish a new residential city for Zelzals residents, who received housing following the devastating 1992 earthquake, and others seeking relocation.

Affordable Housing

El-Sisi said the estimated cost of constructing 1,000 residential units is EGP 600 million, explaining that the actual cost of building each unit is EGP 600,000.

He said authorities will enforce very firm and harsh" building requirements, stressing that it costs the state less to build well-planned communities than to fight the impact of illegal settlements.

He stressed that the state continues to stand by citizens, providing subsidized apartments to those who live in dangerous areas.

The president said that citizens only bear the cost of maintenance at their new units, adding that had the state chosen not to subsidise rents, the cost of renting a unit at market price would have been between EGP 5,000 and 6,000.

Social Solidarity ministry efforts

Social Solidarity Minister Nevine El-Qabbag highlighted during the inauguration a number of statistics about the residents of Al-Asmarat, and her ministry's efforts to develop the area.

The minister said that around 47.7 percent of the families in Al-Asmarat have more than four members, and 65 percent of the families have members who are informal workers. This is why the ministry was keen on furnishing the housing units for residents in cooperation with civil society organizations.

Around 33 percent of the residents of Al-Asmarat are illiterate, 11 percent receive financial support, 17.3 percent receive pensions, and 47.5 percent benefit from ration cards, the minister said.

She explained that the ministry is undertaking conscious-raising campaigns among the youth in Asmarat to change behavioural norms and encourage investments.

She added that the ministry is planning to open a fairground to market the products made by Asmarat residents.

El-Qabbag added that an integrated service centre in the complex provides special services for empowering women and children in cooperation with several ministries.

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Amrik Singh BHPian



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My Automotive Life in Dubai - Memoirs of a Decade



Now that going to Dubai as a visitor has become so easy, that anyone can think of and fulfill his dream of a foreign sojourn. This was not so till mid 1990's when getting a job and Visa for the same was a must. It was no easy to land into a job with good reputation. To avail family status, the employee was required to have a minimum salary criteria.

I got the opportunity of taking up a job in Dubai after stints in Iraq (1982-84), Doha Qatar (1984-86), Bahrain (1991-95) and finally Dubai in 1996.

Dubai has now become one of the most visited place. Pictures of Burj Khalifa, Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah, various Malls, Gold Souq and other Architecture etc. are common and familiar images. I shall avoid all that and take you to a tour of my hobby - Off Road Driving. Desert Driving, Dune bashing or any other name for it, but wrecking of Cars is the essential component.



My driving started in India from Defence Services TMB (Tata) Trucks and scaled down to smaller vehicles later. I would sometimes drive Private Bus under DTC operation (as Tashan in 1979-80) while I was working and being a student of JNU, pursuing German Language as a part time student.



1982 took me to Iraq on a Dam Project where I was allotted and had the opportunity to wreck Toyota Landcruiser 4WD pickup. Those two years, I was off road only, and true to my signature, all sounds from my LC would become Audible while on Tarmac. Hence, my LC was unofficially termed "Not Allowed on Tarmac". That was all courtesy Iraq Govt. and my salute to Saddam.



What started the passion ?



It was this LC that is responsible for all that happened in my life, later













I had this under me while in Bahrain (1991 - 95)

Owners Pride, Neighbours Envy if I may say so. It could give heartburn to some considering it to be a Hot Topic in the forum presently while I drove this Shoe box just a quarter century ago.





It was this LC that is responsible for all that happened in my life, laterI had this under me while in Bahrain (1991 - 95)if I may say so. It could give heartburn to some considering it to be a Hot Topic in the forum presently while I drove this Shoe box just a quarter century ago.



Much later, 1996 till 2010, I lived in Dubai with my Wife and two daughters (then School going). This is where Sun, Sand and S** is abundant and for people to enjoy. My passion for Off-Roading was re-ignited, but now I was to own and wreck my own Cars.



I have been member of dubai4X4.com and later an active member and Moderator for Humour section of desertlions.com. Unfortunately, this website was shut down with most of the senior members leaving Dubai and all our Photographs and memoirs were lost. I have some Pics of our outings which I would share here. Please bear with me for the quality of Pictures here because some of them have been scanned from picture on 110 Film, 35mm Film and early digital with P&S Camera, proudly owning 4MP Canon.



Hope it would be of interest to fellows here.



Amrik Singh I am narrating briefly on my life in Dubai after return a decade ago.Now that going to Dubai as a visitor has become so easy, that anyone can think of and fulfill his dream of a foreign sojourn. This was not so till mid 1990's when getting a job and Visa for the same was a must. It was no easy to land into a job with good reputation. To avail family status, the employee was required to have a minimum salary criteria.I got the opportunity of taking up a job in Dubai after stints in Iraq (1982-84), Doha Qatar (1984-86), Bahrain (1991-95) and finally Dubai in 1996.Dubai has now become one of the most visited place. Pictures of Burj Khalifa, Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah, various Malls, Gold Souq and other Architecture etc. are common and familiar images. I shall avoid all that and take you to a tour of my hobby -. Desert Driving, Dune bashing or any other name for it, but wrecking of Cars is the essential component.My driving started in India from Defence Services TMB (Tata) Trucks and scaled down to smaller vehicles later. I would sometimes drive Private Bus under DTC operation (asin 1979-80) while I was working and being a student of JNU, pursuing German Language as a part time student.1982 took me to Iraq on a Dam Project where I was allotted and had the opportunity to wreck Toyota Landcruiser 4WD pickup. Those two years, I was off road only, and true to my signature, all sounds from my LC would become Audible while on Tarmac. Hence, my LC was unofficially termed "". That was all courtesy Iraq Govt. and my salute to Saddam.Much later, 1996 till 2010, I lived in Dubai with my Wife and two daughters (then School going). This is where Sun, Sand and S** is abundant and for people to enjoy. My passion for Off-Roading was re-ignited, but now I was to own and wreck my own Cars.I have been member of dubai4X4.com and later an active member and Moderator for Humour section of desertlions.com. Unfortunately, this website was shut down with most of the senior members leaving Dubai and all our Photographs and memoirs were lost. I have some Pics of our outings which I would share here. Please bear with me for the quality of Pictures here because some of them have been scanned from picture on 110 Film, 35mm Film and early digital with P&S Camera, proudly owning 4MP Canon.Hope it would be of interest to fellows here.Amrik Singh Last edited by Amrik Singh : 9th July 2020 at 10:55 .
Riddhima Kapoor, sister and daughter of Ranbir and Neetu Kapoor slams the attention-seeking media and claims that her family and fit and healthy.

Riddhima Kapoor, sister of actor Ranbir Kapoor has slammed the rumours going around social media that mother Neetu Kapoor and Ranbir have tested positive for COVID-19

In a post shared by her on Instagram, she shared the screenshot of a tweet of a user claiming that the mother-son duo attended the birthday party of Amitabh Bachchans grandson, Agatsya Nanda during the lockdown period along with Karan Johar

She called off the attention seekers and claimed that her family is well and healthy as of now. She laid emphasis on netizens to stop spreading fake news and only trust a reliable source of information.

T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 11, 2020

Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you.   Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

On 11 July, Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchan were admitted to the Nanavati hospital and soon afterwards, they both tweeted that they have been tested positive for coronavirus.

The father-son duo requested their friends, family and staff who they have been in contact with recently to get themselves checked for the virus.

Riddhima Kapoor Sahni is the daughter of late actor Rishi Kapoor and actress Neetu Kapoor. She is a fashion and jewellery designer and has her own clothing line.Her husband, Bharat Sahni has previously donated blood plasma for COVID-19 patients.

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AMLOs choice of traveling commercial instead of flying on the official presidential airplane is part of a carefully-crafted everyman image he has been cultivating for years since he left the ranks of the once immovable conservative ruling party, the PRI, and joined the left-leaning PRD in the late 1980s. In 2014, Obrador formed a new party called MORENA after having served as Mexico Citys mayor for four years and later losing his first bid to become president in 2006.

The Trump White House hosted AMLO on Wednesday, one day after Pemex  the embattled Mexican state-owned petroleum company  announced a $22.4 billion debt swap to mitigate its massive financial liabilities. The swap will be the largest of the recent refinancing operations carried out by the once state-owned company; and while the filing with the U.S. SEC did not specify when the bonds would be issued, the action was intended to alleviate pressure mounting on the oil giant, which Obrador had planned to use as a pillar in his strategy to turn the Mexican economy around. Falling oil prices, however, have severely hampered the execution of that idea.

In addition, the coronavirus-induced economic crisis is being evoked by entities like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to predict a veritable collapse of the Mexican economy. In their June World Economic Outlook Update titled A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery, the Atlanticist organization forecasts a devastating 10.5 percent contraction for Mexico this year, nearly four percent lower than its April forecast.

The IMF threatens Mexico

The IMFs dire estimate comes on the heels of the official start of the USMCA, which went into effect on July 1 and comprised a significant portion of the state visits agenda. The revamped NATFA agreement has mostly modest improvements over its predecessor and has served mostly as a political tool by all three heads of state.

The one sector that did get a complete overhaul in the new trilateral agreement was the U.S. tech sector, which secured important concessions from both Canada and Mexico, such as the fact that they cannot be sued for the content appearing on their platforms or forced to store their data on in-country servers. Intellectual property protections heavily skewed in favor of American companies were also expanded.

Related to these provisions are ones surrounding biotechnology that could have critical implications for the agricultural sector provisions in the trade deal. The original NAFTA made Mexico a net corn importer through unfair rules allowing the U.S. to subsidize its own corn industry while prohibiting the same of the country that gave birth to corn, itself. New biotech rules are sure to exacerbate these problems for the Mexican agricultural sector and a multitude of groups have come out in opposition.

The USMCAs new normal

In a letter signed by more than 80 agricultural associations in Mexico petitioned the government to prohibit the introduction of GMO seeds into the country. The coalition, which calls itself Group in Defense of Agricultural Diversity and Mexican Food Against Genetically Modified Organisms warns of the grave danger posed by the lack of defined rules against the introduction of GMOs throughout the national territory. In addition, the group condemns the provisions in the USMCA, which forces Mexican farmers to adhere to the UPOV 91 protocol that makes seed hoarding and trading illegal.

Casting a shadow over the implementation of the USMCA is compliance to the extraneous COVID-19 new normal policies, which are forcing a rethinking about global supply chains and are sure to affect exactly how the new trade deal is ultimately enforced.

AMLOs trip to D.C. may have been a signal to the Atlanticist power bloc that he is ready to give in to their demands, recently outlined in an article authored by a CFR senior fellow, where the Mexican president is called on to save his presidency by embracing globalization lest the country slip into a more severe recession. Presciently, the author recommends that AMLO welcome foreign money and expertise into the energy sector, foreshadowing the debt swap announcement a day prior to Obradors official White House visit.

Adherence to market-based rules are also endorsed by the perennial Atlanticist mouthpiece as a way to carve a path out of the permanent poverty of subsistence farming by enabling the specialization in more profitable fruits, vegetables, coffees and other products, a strategy first implemented by NAFTA and which has resulted in the precise opposite effect.

Feature photo | President Donald Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wait to sign a joint declaration at the White House, July 8, 2020, in Washington. Evan Vucci | AP

Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.
CanSino's COVID-19 candidate, Ad5-nCov, became the first in China to move into human testing in March but is running behind other potential vaccines in terms of trial progress.

Chinese vaccine developer CanSino Biologics is in talks with Russia, Brazil, Chile, and Saudi Arabia to launch a Phase III trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, its co-founder said on Saturday.

Chinas success in driving down COVID-19 infections has made it harder to conduct large-scale vaccine trials, and so far only a few countries have agreed to work with it.

We are contacting Russia, Brazil, Chile, and Saudi Arabia (for the Phase III trial), and its still in discussion, Qiu Dongxu, executive director and co-founder of CanSino, told an anti-viral drug development conference in Suzhou, in eastern China.

He said its Phase III trial was likely to start pretty soon, and the company plans to recruit 40,000 participants for the test.

Its COVID-19 candidate, Ad5-nCov, became the first in China to move into human testing in March but is running behind other potential vaccines in terms of trial progress.

Two experimental vaccines developed by Sinovac Biotech and a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) are already approved for Phase III trials.

Qiu said its Phase II trial involving 508 people has yielded much better results than the Phase I about the safety and ability to trigger an immune response. He did not disclose specific evidence.

He said its new factory under construction in China will allow it to produce 100-200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines per year by early 2021.

Chinas military, whose research unit is co-developing the vaccine candidate, approved its military use last month, while Sinopharms two experimental shots are offered to employees at state-owned firms traveling overseas.

Zeng Guang, former chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the conference that Chinese construction groups overseas, in particular, are keen to take experimental vaccines.

He also said the discussion should start whether to launch emergency inoculation of experimental vaccines right now.

There are no approved vaccines yet for COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, which has killed more than half a million people globally.
Iran is determined to develop its oil industry despite reimposed US sanctions, the countrys oil minister Bijan Zangesh said while addressing the nation on July 11. The Trump-led administration in 2018, reimposed strict sanctions on the Islamic republic after existing from Irans nuclear deal. Since then, the nations crude production has halved to around 2 million pounds.

We will not surrender under any circumstances ... We have to increase our capacity so that when necessary with full strength we can enter the market and revive our market share, said Zanganeh.

$294 million contract

His remarks came hours before he signed a $294 million contract between National Iranian Oil company and Persia Oil And Gas, to develop Yaran oilfield shared by Iraqs Majnoon field. As per the Iranian ministry, the aims of producing 39.5 million barrels of oil in yaran oilfields from Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran. The country's export is down from 2.5 barrel per day in April 2018 to 2,00000 barrels per day.

Read: US Sanctions Five Iranian Ship Captains Who Delivered Oil To Venezuela

Read: Iranian Ship En Route To Venezuela Signals Ongoing Alliance

The US has also criticised Iran delivering oil to Venezuela, a country which US thinks is under 'illicit' leadership. Last month, the United States sanctioned five Iranian ship captains who delivered oil to the South American country on June 24. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the ships from Tehran delivered nearly 1.5 million barrels of gasoline along with some related components. Pompeo also warned the mariners against doing business with Maduros government as the US showcases support for the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Read: Iran President Hassan Rouhani Warns Lockdowns Could Lead To Protests

Read: US Judge Orders Iran To Pay $879 Million In Punitive Damages For 1996 Saudi Bombing

Image credits: AP
Throughout these times of COVID-19 pandemic, we have consistently seen one thing happening in the world of business and that is the effective use of digital channels. While all the online platforms have existed for years now, it was just after the coronavirus that the world accepted to go online if businesses want to survive in times to come.Hence, as the situation has come of great advantage for the digital platforms that are helping businesses to grow online, one case is Whatsapp that is yet again revealing a new set of tools, exclusively for businesses.Owned by Facebook, the messaging platform is now expanding the use of QR codes to make customers connect with their favorite businesses more easily on the platform. Customers will now be notified with series of stickers (as you can see below) for important details like were open for business and furthermore, businesses will also get the opportunity to share Whatsapp based catalogs which users will eventually soon be able to link it to ads outside of the Whatsapp platform itself.The Whatsapp Business app - mostly used by merchants to contact customers and promote their products - has experienced exponential growth over the past few months. As per stats given by the parent company Facebook, the app now has 50 million monthly active users, with the biggest market being India (with 15 million MAUs) and Brazil (5 million MAUs). The catalogs alone have 40 million views to date.But with all the success, Whatsapp also had to face a lot of backlash for introducing various features in an attempt to help businesses during the pandemic.A more recent example of such loss has been the launch of payments option in Brazil last month which was introduced to not only let users send money to each other but merchants could also use the service for selling online. However, just nine days after its launch the Brazilian regulators blocked the service because of competition concerns.The idea of QR codes has received a positive response last week from consumers as they are really enjoying swapping details for the first time with the help of codes rather than entering a phone number manually every time. The feature is not like Snap codes or other social media apps that use similar shortcuts to make any user skip adding the contact details.So basically, if you want to reach out to a business for customer support or orders, then you can simply scan a QR code from a receipt, their business display at the storefront, or even one of their products posted on the internet to connect with them.Businesses that already have adopted the feature can also set up welcome messages as soon as a user adds them.The catalog sharing feature on the other hand feels like an expansion of the similar thing that the company first introduced back in November 2019. The only addition now is that businesses will be able to create and share links of their catalogs to post on multiple channels as well including Facebook and Instagram etc.All of the services in Whatsapp Business is free for use as of now. But one can also expect Facebook doing the groundwork to capitalize on these features in the near future - if not through payments then by of course pushing businesses to advertise more on Facebook. After all, linking Whatsapp profiles to those ads seem to be a great cross-market strategy for any business.Read next: Finally Good News For PC Users, Facebook Has Rolled Out The Dark Mode For Web Version Of WhatsApp Messaging App
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Fresh Saudi airstrike kills nearly dozen civilians in northern Yemen

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 12 July 2020 4:26 PM

Nearly a dozen civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed when Saudi military aircraft struck a residential area in Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its bombardment campaign against its southern neighbor.

Saudi fighter jets carried out an airstrike on a neighborhood in the Washhah district of the province on Sunday afternoon, leaving ten people dead and two others injured, unnamed local sources told Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah television network.

Earlier in the day, Saudi-led warplanes conducted three air raids on the Shada'a district and another two on the al-Dhaher district of the northern Yemeni province of Sa'ada.

There were, however, no immediate reports on possible casualties and the extent of damage caused.

Separately, Saudi jets bombarded Boq district close to the border with the kingdom's southern region of Najran, though no reports of casualties and damage were quickly available.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in order to bring former Saudi-backed president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, back to power and crush Ansarullah movement.

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, which is supported militarily by the UK, US and other Western nations.

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Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

PATNA: Responding to the persistent demands of the RJD seeking postponement of Bihar elections, state deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday compared the opposition party to a weak student who wants exams to be delayed just so he doesn't fail them. "RJD is looking for an excuse to postpone the polls in view of its possible defeat," senior BJP leader said.

"We in NDA are ready for every situation. Whether assembly elections are held as per the schedule or are postponed by the election commission, the NDA will abide by it," Modi said adding that there is no room for the party like RJD that has continued to wreak havoc of fear during its 15 years of rule in Bihar.

He said that the election to the Bihar legislative assembly is in about three months ahead and it is the job of the election commission to assess the pandemic situation before taking a final decision.

"Till a final decision is arrived at, no political rhetoric or ruckus should be created on the preparations of commission," he said targeting the RJD for making a mountain out of a mole on the election issue.

Predicting complete disintegration of mahagatbandhan (grand alliance), Modi said that nobody in the state had any faith in the coalition party as it had always been an alliance of self interests rather than any political ideologies. "It's so ironic that the so called biggest leader of this grand alliance is convicted and jailed in connection with scams and can't even contest for the post of a Mukhiya. How can anyone trust in such coalition? The party which will trust in this coalition will get nothing but a deceit," he said.

Upon his attention drawn on a recent statement of Tejashawi Yadav related to the possibility of Lalu Prasad's bail, Modi termed it as a move to put political pressure on the judiciary.

"With such kind of political rhetoric, RJD leader also wants to prevent mass exodus of party leaders ahead of elections seeing no political future ahead of this party," he said.

"Lalu Prasad was sentenced to jail after four years of transparent and long judicial process in four cases of fodder scam worth Rs 1000 crores. To grant him bail is the court's prerogative. On what basis the RJD can predict about the bail in October," Modi said.

He categorically denied that Lalu Prasad being in jail or getting bail will not make much difference for the NDA as NDA has served and performed for the progress and peace of the state.

"If Lalu Prasad lives among the people, we will not have to put more effort in reminding them of his dreadful reign of 15-years long jungle Raj as nothing was done during the period of RJD rule from 1990 to 2004," he said.

When asked about relentless efforts of Tejashawi Yadav in Bihar and Rahul Gandhi in the Centre taking on the NDA government, Modi said, "Both Tejashawi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi are products of dynasty politics without any knowledge of how development oriented governance is done for the welfare of state as well as the country".

He further said that they (Tejashawi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi) have never been able to prove themselves in the dignity of those party posts because of being rooted with dynastic politics.

"Rahul Gandhi made irresponsible statements right from the purchase of Rafael aircrafts to the standoff with China. Tejashawi Yadav has proved his immaturity by opposing the decision of the NDA government to give constitutional status to the backward classes Commission and to give 10% reservation to the general class people of poor economic strata," he said.

"The way Rahul Gandhi is not now taken seriously by people in politics, the habit of speaking only against the government everyday has made Tejashawi Yadav so light that he has got out of public mind and consideration", Modi said.

He predicted the continuation of NDA government in Bihar as it has set a new record of development in every field after 2005 while the opposition including RJD had plunged the state into darkness of backwardness.
Syrian govt. forces block US convoys in Hasakah, force them to turn back

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 12 July 2020 1:44 PM

Syrian government forces have blocked three US military convoys as they tried to pass through the country's northeastern province of Hasakah, amid lingering public resentment over the deployment of occupying American troops in the regions.

According to a report published by Syria's official news agency SANA, the US forces' convoys had to turn around and head back in the directions they came from after Syrian army troops intercepted them in the villages of al-Sibat, Tal Shamiran and Mansaf Tahtani.

No injuries were reported and there was no immediate comment from the US military.

The development took place only a day after a US convoy of three armored vehicles returned to its base when Syrian soldiers intercepted it in Mansaf Tahtani village, which lies in the Tal Tamr district of the same Syrian province, and did not allow it to move ahead. There have been no reports of injuries in that encounter.

Since late October 2019, the United States has been redeploying troops to the oil fields controlled by Kurdish forces in eastern Syria, in a reversal of President Donald Trump's earlier order to withdraw all troops from the Arab country.

The Pentagon claims the move aims to "protect" the fields and facilities from possible attacks by Daesh. That claim came although Trump had earlier suggested that Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oil fields.

The presence of US forces in eastern Syria has particularly irked the civilians, and local residents have on several occasions stopped American military convoys entering the region.

Syria, which has not authorized the presence of the US military in its territory, says Washington is "plundering" the country's oil.

Turkey dispatches new military convoy to Idlib

Separately, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that Turkey had sent a new military convoy to Syria's embattled northwestern province of Idlib.

The Britain-based war monitor, citing activists requesting anonymity, said a Turkish convoy of some 40 military vehicles had entered Syrian territory through the Kafr Lusin border crossing and headed toward Turkish positions.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced on March 13 that the Russian and Turkish militaries had agreed on the details of a new ceasefire in the Idlib de-escalation zone following four days of talks in Ankara.

New US sanctions against Syria under Caesar Act condemned

Moreover, the General Secretariat of the Arab Parties Conference has strongly denounced new US sanctions against Syria under a legislation called the Caesar Act, which entered into forces on June 17, as an outrageous violation of international law and the UN Charter.

"Such criminal acts will fail to undermine the steadfastness of Syria, Iran and Lebanon," it said in a statement, pointing to the Damascus government's generous support for the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement during the Israeli military's 33-day war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

The statement highlighted that terrorist plots have been hatched against Syria over the past decade, because the government attaches high priority to national stances, calling on all Syrians to exercise resistance in the face of such conspiracies.

The General Secretariat of the Arab Parties Conference is based in the Jordanian capital city of Amman, and represents 130 Arab parties from different Arab countries.

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A former London student who joined Isis in Syria has reportedly died while being held in prison.

Ishak Mostefaoui, 27, was captured in March 2019 as the terrorist group lost the last scraps of territory in its self-declared caliphate.

He was held alongside international jihadis in a jail run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Hassakeh.

In an interview with The Independent in December, Mostefaoui said he had not been visited by any British government representatives but was willing to stand trial in the UK.

Weve been here for nine months and we dont even know what is going on, he said.

If we go back home, and we get taken to court and we are found guilty of whatever crimes they see as a crime, Ill put my hands up and do my time for that.

Because of the position Im in now, I regret everything Ive done. I want to start a new page.

The BBC reported that he had died in contested circumstances at the prison, which is inside an abandoned school.

Competing sources claimed that Mostefaoui was shot while trying to escape, killed during recent rioting, or  according to an Isis propaganda channel  killed while trying to get water during a siege that saw food and medication withheld from inmates.

Held alongside Mostefaoui was Aseel Muthana, from Cardiff, and an unconfirmed number of other British jihadis whose fate is unknown.

Aseel Muthana (L) and Ishak Mostefaoui (R) (Channel 4/BBC)

When The Independent visited the jail, guards feared an escape attempt and cells were dangerously overcrowded with around 5,000 men.

Around 100 were crammed into each cell at the time, and half were believed to be suffering from medical conditions.

The Foreign Office said it did not comment on individual cases, and that the SDF and other local groups were responsible for prisoners in their care.

A government spokesperson said: Since 2011, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised against all travel to Syria.

Those who chose to leave the UK and fight for, or support, Daesh potentially pose a very serious national security risk.

Mostefaoui, who previously lived in Leyton, east London, left the UK for Syria in 2014 with fellow Westminster University student Zakariyya Elogbani.

They were among seven students from the same university to join Isis, including executioner Mohammed Emwazi, who became known as Jihadi John.

Mostefaoui, whose family moved to the UK from Algeria when he was five years old, claimed he was motivated to join Isis by the suffering of the Syrian people the ongoing civil war.

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the citys entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syrias Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

After being captured, his friend Elogbani said the pair went to Syria to fight, but Mostefaoui claimed he did administrative work for Isis.

Mostefaoui left the groups last major stronghold, Baghouz, unconscious after being severely injured in a US-led coalition airstrike that he said killed his wife and young son.

The SDF has repeatedly called for the UK and other countries to take responsibility for their foreign fighters and remove them from the region.

There have long been fears over escape attempts and instability fuelled by the Turkish-led invasion of northern Syria in October.

Karim Omar, a Kurdish foreign affairs official, previously told The Independent that the SDF was holding men, women and children from 49 countries across different prisons and camps.

We cannot bear this responsibility alone, he added. We ask the international community and the countries to which Isis members belong to take up its moral and legal duty and repatriate their citizens back to their countries.

The British government has so far refused to take that step, amid concerns over a lack of evidence to jail returnees and the security threat they present.

Of more than 900 people who travelled to Syria and Iraq from the UK, an estimated half have returned but only around 40 were successfully prosecuted.
As we continue to confront COVID-19, a new health challenge is emerging  an alarming backlog of joint replacement surgeries.

Even before the pandemic, provinces were struggling to meet benchmark wait times for hip and knee joint replacement surgeries. In 2019 in fact, not a single province achieved the medically recommended six-month target for all patients. In one Ontario hospital, the average wait time reached an intolerable 547 days.

The closure of operating rooms for elective surgery was an important and prudent step as part of the response to COVID. Unfortunately, joint replacement surgery was particularly hard hit and there is now a significant backlog on top of a system already strained, says Dr. Michael Dunbar, an orthopedic surgeon in Halifax.

Annie Levesque, 42, is the mother of two teenagers. Diagnosed with osteoarthritis at 18, today she can barely walk a kilometer. A Quebec resident, shes waiting for surgery to replace both of her hips.

Having my surgery put on pause is disastrous for me, she told us. If we have to keep waiting, there are many people in pain like me who may not have the health to undergo surgery when the time finally comes.

Joint replacement surgery is commonly referred to as elective surgery. But for those in need, theres nothing elective about it. Joint pain can be excruciating. It can limit or prohibit the ability to walk and move. It can interrupt sleep and lead to depression and other mental health issues. Surgery delays can also lead to weight gain, diabetes, heart and circulatory issues and other compounding health challenges.

A new study in the British Journal of Surgery estimates that around the world, COVID-19 resulted in the cancellation or postponement of close to 30 million operations in just 12 weeks. Even with a 20 per cent increase in surgical volume, it would take almost a year to clear that backlog. Here in Canada, the government of B.C. has said it could take up to two years to catch up.

As the leading voice for Canadians with arthritis, the Arthritis Society is calling for a clear, immediate and sustained response to this growing crisis. Governments must act now to increase funding for surgeries  and put in place a surge strategy to reduce and eliminate this extended backlog within a set period.

The Arthritis Society is also immediately convening a Pan-Canadian Working Group to recommend practical strategies for how we can swiftly expand surgeries and implement new and innovative models of care and prevention.

Governments in Canada reacted with admirable speed and purpose to the economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They need to bring that same sense of urgency to the new crisis in Canadian health care.

They must act now to ensure that Canadians arent left waiting in life-altering pain for the surgeries they need to live a better life.
Angry Khabarovsk Residents Rally In Support Of Arrested Governor

By Siberia Desk, RFE/RL's Russian Service July 11, 2020

KHABAROVSK, Russia -- Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk to protest against the arrest of their regional governor on murder charges, chanting slogans against President Vladimir Putin.

Supporters of Sergei Furgal on July 11 gathered on the central Lenin Square for a spontaneous demonstration before marching toward Komsomolskaya Square, carrying posters with slogans such as "I Am Sergei Furgal" and "Free Furgal."

Participants shouted, "Shame on Moscow!", "Putin's a thief!", and "Down with the tsar!" -- references to President Vladimir Putin.

"We need to defend our choice, the choice of the people, and we are not afraid of the consequences," a protester told RFE/RL, calling Furgal's arrest politically motivated.

A member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Furgal was elected in 2018 in a major upset of the ruling United Russia party.

Estimates by local media and opposition put the number of demonstrators at between 5,000 and 35,000, with the news website DVHab.ru describing the rally as a "historic event" for the city of about 600,000 inhabitants.

Smaller rallies were also held in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Elban, Solnechny, and other cities in the region.

The Khabarovsk government announced later in the day that it would extend coronavirus restrictions, which include the banning of mass gatherings, throughout the region until at least July 26.

The demonstrations come a day after a Moscow court ordered the 50-year-old Furgal held in pretrial detention for two months.

Furgal has pleaded not guilty to ordering the murders and attempted murders of several businessmen in 2004 and 2005.

Protesters questioned why prosecutors decided to arrest Furgal now, 15 years after the alleged crimes, and demanded his trial be held in Khabarovsk and in a transparent manner.

He was detained by the Investigative Committee on July 9, sparking outrage from his party.

LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky told the State Duma on July 9 that the LDPR faction in parliament was "ready to resign in protest" against the arrest.

"Let the whole world learn what a mess this country is," Zhirinovsky told the parliament's lower chamber earlier this week.

Also on July 10, two lawmakers in the Khabarovsk region, also members of LDPR, were arrested on fraud charges and will be held in custody until September, a district court representative was quoted as saying.

The two lawmakers, Sergei Kuznetsov and Dmitry Kozlov, deputy chairman of the regional parliament, used to run the Amurstal steel plant.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/angry-khabarovsk -residents-rally-in-support-of- arrested-governor/30720609.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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Hyderabad: The opposition in Telangana is laying into chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) over the demolition of a Muslim place of worship and a Hindu shrine within the Secretariat complex, which is being demolished to make way for a brand new administrative hub.

Right after the damage to the places of worship was reported in the media, the chief minister issued an apology--which is untypical of him--promising to build new structures to appease both communities involved. The Muslim side of the matter, represented by Asaduddin Owaisis Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), accepted the KCRs apology and his offer to make ample amends.

The BJP on the other hand, looking for a toehold in Telangana, seized the issue and demanded a temple right at the very spot where it stood.

The opportunity of creating a Babri-Ram Janmabhoomi-like controversy was not lost on Telanganas political parties, and soon enough the Congress joined in, condemning the demolition and affecting hurt to religious sentiments.

State Congress president Uttam Kumar Reddy said the mosque and temple were held sacred by government employees working in the Secretariat. The old Secretariat itself was dear to Hyderabadis. If the Secretariat demolition was bad enough and a Tughlaq-like decision, the damage of the temple and mosque has hurt the sentiments of people belonging to all communities, he said.

Uttam Reddy found fault with the chief minister for not consulting the heads of the temple and mosque before carrying out the demolition. KCR is trampling upon the religious sentiments of those people who made him what he is today. He will get a befitting reply from Hyderabadis at an appropriate time, he said.

Congress Shabbir Ali referenced the Babri Masjid dispute and pointed out that the chief ministers apology did not make a specific commitment that the demolished mosque would be rebuilt at the very spot.

Shabbir Ali said the demolition of the mosque and temple was carried out with the full knowledge of the chief minister. Even Owaisi, an ally of the TRS, was aware that the mosque was being razed but chose to make a round of the citys hospitals on Thursday to divert peoples attention.

TPCC working president A. Revanth Reddy said the demolition would be remembered as Black Day. He said building on the Hussainsagar shore was disallowed and he would be moving the top court. He was addressing the media with ex-MP Konda Vishweswar Reddy and Shabbir Ali.

BJP demands temple at the same place

BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar and BJP chief spokesperson K. Krishna Sagar Rao warned of a backlash from Hindus across the state for demolishing a temple.

Destroying a temple is blasphemy. The KCR government has committing the insulting act of demolishing a Hindu religious place of worship unilaterally, they said. They demanded that the Chief Minister visit the site and apologise for the demolition, and build a temple at the very same site.

BJP general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao told a virtual rally for Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts that the days of the TRS government were numbered. He said the curse of the temple goddess would haunt the Chandrashekar Rao government.

He also criticised the demolition of the Secretariet building in the middle of a global pandemic. KCR has failed to lead the state from the front during the coronavirus crisis and it has led to death, fear and pain for the people, Muralidhar Rao said.
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The Kano Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), on Wednesday, July 10, 2020 secured the conviction of one Moses Onah Eje before Justice Nasiru Saminu of Kano State High Court on one-count charge of criminal misappropriation of funds.

Ejes journey to prison began when the Kano Zonal Office of the Commission received a petition from one Evelyn Bose Odudu, an estate manager, who alleged that sometimes in 2016, she discovered that some tenants owed up to two years rent arrears, in the properties she is managing in Kano metropolis, not knowing that the defendant, who was her secretary, and the estate officer of her firm, entrusted with the collection of rent from the tenants, had collected rents up to the sum of N4, 178, 000.00 (Four Million, One Hundred and Seventy-eight Thousand Naira), without remitting same into the firms account or that of their client.

Upon arraignment, the defendant pleaded not guilty. In the course of trial, prosecution counsel, Douglas I. Gift presented two witnesses against the defendant and proved her case beyond every reasonable doubt.

Justice Saminu found the defendant guilty and sentenced him to one year imprisonment with N50,000.00 (Fifty Thousand Naira fine) option of fine.

He is also to restitute the plaintiff the sum of N3, 710, 000.00 (Three Million Seven Hundred and Ten Thousand Naira) or serve additional two years prison term.
Scanning through leaked flight logs from Jeffrey Epstein's private jet between 2001 and 2006, an unfamiliar name crops up time and again - 350 times, to be precise. The name is Sarah Kellen.

Only Epstein himself and Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate, appear to have flown more often than Kellen on the plane dubbed the Lolita Express. Described as Maxwell's "lieutenant", she is accused by his victims of procuring women for Epstein.

Little has been heard of, or from, the 40-year-old, and three other alleged female "co-conspirators", since they were given immunity from prosecution under a highly unusual "sweetheart deal" struck between Epstein and US attorneys in Florida in a 2008 criminal case. The arrest of Ghislaine was at the behest of New York attorneys - who say they are not bound by the Florida agreement - now raises the prospect that the four will be investigated.

Authorities are looking into the alleged role played by Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, and Nadia Marcinkova with a view to bringing charges. The women are accused of being his "recruiters, groomers, sexual partners and friends", an organised network of underlings who reportedly received huge salaries and perks in return.

Kellen is accused of running a stable of girls that she would arrange to visit Epstein.

"When Jeffrey wanted me, Sarah or Ghislaine would call me into his bedroom. I had no choice but to go," said Sarah Ransome, who was a 22-year-old student when she claims she was abused and trafficked. Ransome alleges the pair also gave her tips on how to give Epstein erotic massages, including how to rub his feet and satisfy him sexually.

"Sarah Kellen knew for every girl that she organised to go on that island or to be picked up by a car to go to the New York mansion, she knew that these girls were there to be abused repeatedly," she said. According to court papers, Kellen and Maxwell told the girls not to talk about their interactions with Epstein. Maxwell denies all charges against her.

Kellen, who was 22 and had just been cast out of the Jehovah's Witnesses after a divorce when she met Epstein, claimed to have been manipulated "sexually and psychologically" by him for years. She did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement to CBS News, lawyers for Kellen claimed she scheduled appointments for Epstein and Maxwell "at their direction". Kellen is "aware of the pain and damage Epstein caused and deeply regrets that she had any part in it," they said.

Marcinkova and Ross have exercised their right to remain silent when questioned on the allegations. Groff denied having anything to do with Epstein's sexual misconduct through a lawyer in 2019.

Marcinkova says she was herself a "sex slave" who was brought by Epstein to the US from Slovakia when she was 15 before she is alleged to have started helping procure other girls. The women have faced numerous civil lawsuits, but never criminal ones.

The question now is whether Maxwell, who is facing 35 years in prison if she is found guilty, will work with prosecutors to build a case against the alleged co-conspirators.

"She will name names. She's a drowning rat," said one insider.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
Fiona Adams, a photographer who captured a memorable image of the Beatles, jumping in the air, just as the band was gaining worldwide fame, died June 26 at a hospice on the British island of Guernsey. She was 84.

Her family announced her death in a notice in the Guernsey Press newspaper. The cause was not disclosed.

After working in London in the 1950s, Adams spent two years in Australia before returning in 1962 to a London that seemed transformed.

"I was walking around in a different world from the one I'd left a few years earlier," she later said. "Here I was in an exciting new environment with new, fun clothes and a new music scene."

At the time, the Beatles were just becoming established in their native country after honing their act for two years in Hamburg. The band developed a strong following and changed its look, adopting the soft, forward-brushed "moptop" hairstyles suggested by photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who died in May.

By 1963, when Adams met the Beatles at a London studio, they were on the cusp of international stardom. She was working for Boyfriend magazine, which catered to teenage girls - who were the core of the band's fan base.

"I just sat down next to them and said I was from Boyfriend magazine and would they mind coming up to the studio for a shoot the following week, and they said fine," she told the British website Culturevoyage in 2008. "It was as casual as that in those days. You didn't have to go through a manager or any other official channel."

Adams, who preferred shooting outdoors, often scouted her locations by riding around London on buses. For the Beatles, she found a bombed-out building from World World War II that offered interesting photographic angles.

She lugged her equipment down into the crater, as the four Beatles cavorted above her. Recalling the portrait photography of Philippe Halsman, who often had his subjects jump as he snapped the shutter, Adams asked the Beatles to do the same.

"The boys did their bit and stood patiently - beautifully silhouetted against the sky and the buildings," she recalled, according to the Guardian newspaper. "I set up my camera and shouted: "One, two, three - jump!" And they jumped - twice. Cuban heels and all."

Her most memorable image captured the Beatles seemingly about to tumble off a cliff - or soar into the heavens. The photo created an immediate sensation, embodying the group's iconoclasm and insouciance in a single image.

The Beatles used it for the cover of a British-released extended play record, "Twist and Shout." When it was displayed more than 40 years later at an exhibition of Ms. Adams's photography at London's National Portrait Gallery, the curator, Terence Pepper, called it "one of the defining images of 20th-century culture."

During the next four years, Adams was at the center of the rock revolution as one of Britain's most acclaimed rock photographers - and one of the few women in the field.

"This business was our whole life," she said in the 2008 Culturevoyage interview. "You'd be shooting all day, then go to a record company reception, have a few drinks and go on to a gig. There was no time for anything else."

Adams shot more than 300 rock-star portraits for Boyfriend and later Fabulous magazine, including sessions with the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Bob Dylan and the Hollies. She photographed Jimi Hendrix in London clubs and in quietly contemplative settings before he became famous.

"I was in the Bag O' Nails club in London to see him when he played his famous gig there in January 1967," she told Culturevoyage, "and the Stones and the Beatles were in the audience. Word must have got out but I hardly knew who he was. He'd just been sitting at one of the tables and got up onstage."

At the end of 1967, Adams abruptly stepped away from the heady rock scene she had chronicled.

"The attitude of the bands was changing, they were becoming more distant and drugs were taking their toll," she said. "In photography, you can never relax. You always want to come up with new ideas, for yourself if for no one else. I think I was a very hard taskmaster to myself and it was becoming impossible to make things look different any more."

She took a job with American Express, shooting pictures for advertising and brochures. She eventually settled on the British Channel island of Guernsey, where she had a general photography studio.

Her photos of rock stars remained stored away, and most of the people she met in her later work had no idea she had been at the heart of the London music scene in the '60s.

Fiona Rose Pattinson Clarke was born Sept. 26, 1935, on Guernsey, where her parents, both trained musicians, operated a hotel.

She became interested in photography when a couple who were guests at the hotel gave her a Kodak Brownie camera. During World War II, she and her family moved to the British mainland for safety.

Adams studied photography at a London art school and later worked for a portrait photographer before spending four years with a government agency, taking pictures of buildings throughout London. She then spent two years in Australia, where she had a brief marriage. Little is known of her first husband, except that she took his last name, Adams.

Beginning in 1972, when she married Owen Le Tissier, a globe-trotting engineer, Adams shot scenic landscapes around the world. She returned to her native Guernsey in the 1980s.

Her husband died in 2011. Survivors include two children and a grandson.

After mounting small exhibits in Guernsey, Adams gained wider acclaim in 2009, when Britain's National Portrait Gallery presented an exhibition of her rock portraits.

She retrieved her old contact sheets from a suitcase, uncovering images of what, more than 40 years later, looked like a lost civilization.

"For years I never really thought about what I'd done in the '60s," she said in 2008. "It was only [years later] that someone said to me why not mount an exhibition of your work?"
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 03:50:37|Editor: huaxia

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BAGHDAD, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Five Islamic State (IS) suicide bombers and two security members were killed when Iraqi forces and U.S.-led coalition aircraft attacked an IS hideout near Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Iraqi military said on Sunday.

Acting on intelligence reports, an Iraqi force affiliated with the intelligence service surrounded an IS hideout housing five suicide bombers in a village located in the southwest of Baghdad, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement without giving further details about when exactly the raid occurred.

The troops, backed by an international coalition drone, managed to kill four suicide bombers, while the fifth blew himself up, leaving an officer and a soldier killed, the statement added.

The raid came as the extremist IS militants have intensified their attacks on the security forces, including Hashd Shaabi forces, and civilians in the formerly IS-controlled Sunni provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens.

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Enditem




By Nam Hyun-woo







Samsung Biologics has entered into a development and manufacturing service agreement with STCube for the latter's STM418 immuno-oncology candidate.







STM418 received much attention from the biopharmaceutical industry earlier this year following the publication of a study in the Cancer Research Journal. In the preliminary study, STCube reported that STM418 potentially inhibits PD-1 binding to enhance anti-tumor immunity.







PD-1, or programmed cell death protein 1, is a protein on cell surfaces that can prevent the immune system from killing cancer cells.







Under the agreement, Samsung Biologics will provide full contract development services including cell line development, process development, non-clinical and clinical material manufacturing, and investigational new drug (IND) applications for the global clinical trials of STM418.







This is the second time that Samsung Biologics and STCube have signed a contract development agreement. In March, the two sides entered a partnership for immuno-oncology molecule STT-003.







"We are grateful to STCube for this extended partnership and for recognizing our development expertise and our dedication to bringing client products to market faster and better," Samsung Biologics CEO Kim Tae-han said.







STCube CEO Jung Hyun-jin said, "We look forward to getting fast IND approval for our novel PD-1 antibody through this extended partnership with Samsung Biologics. "We will commence global clinical trials to prove the enhanced efficacy compared to existing PD-1 antibodies."







Including the latest, Samsung Biologics has signed 55 contract development agreements since it started the business in 2018. The company attributed the fast growth of its contract development business to a 53 percent rate of clients returning for additional partnerships.







"The high rate of clients signing additional contracts shows that Samsung Biologics' drug development speed and quality are widely recognized," Kim said.


Representative image

Non-government organisations (NGOs) are struggling to raise funds for causes other than COVID-19 as individuals and companies donate more towards relief measures.

In FY21 so far, funding for non-government organisations (NGOs) has lowered 43 percent from FY20, according to a report by The Economic Times.

During the same period in FY21, funding not directed towards a specific initiative has plunged 63 percent, the report said.

The change in the funding pattern has hurt NGOs' long-term projects by causing a shortage of capital, The Economic Times reported.

"We could not do a single cataract surgery for senior citizens from the end of March to June as no one was donating towards this cause. The elderly are at risk. If we dont provide medical intervention, they may die of other diseases, not COVID-19," Mathew Cherian, who was CEO of HelpAge India till June-end, told the paper.

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

Fundraising by PM Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund has hurt donations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) donations towards NGOs, the report said.

Donations made to the PM CARES Fund as CSR are eligible for 100 percent tax exemption.

Companies with a net worth of over Rs 500 crore or a turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore, or a net profit of Rs 5 crore, spent 2 percent of their average net profits over the past three years on CSR.

CSR contributions usually make up 30-50 percent of the total funding of NGOs.

"In the current business environment, with profits under pressure, CSR budgets will be hit in the next two years," philanthropist Amit Chandra, chairman of Bain Capital Private Equity India told the publication.
Pedestrians walk through the gates of Harvard Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge. (AP)

Pheonix: International students worried about a new immigration policy that could potentially cost them their visas say they feel stuck between being unnecessarily exposed during the coronavirus pandemic and being able to finish their studies in America.

Students from countries as diverse as India, China and Brazil told The Associated Press they are scrambling to devise plans after federal immigration authorities notified colleges this week that international students must leave the U.S. or transfer to another college if their schools operate entirely online this fall.

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a lawsuit this week to block the decision, and now California and Washington state are seeking injunctions against enforcing the new visa policy.

Shame on the Trump Administration for risking not only the education opportunities for students who earned the chance to go to college, but now their health and well-being as well, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Thursday.

Some said they may return home, or move to nearby Canada.

Im generating research, Im doing work in a great economy, said Batuhan Mekiker, a Ph.D. student from Turkey studying computer science at Montana State University in Bozeman. Hes in the third year of a five-year program.

If I go to Turkey, I would not have that, he said. I would like to be somewhere where my talent is appreciated.

Mathias, a Seattle-based student who spoke on condition his last name not be used for fear of losing his immigration status, said he is set to sell his car, break his lease, and get his cat Louis permission to fly back to his home in Paris in the next two weeks.

Everyones very worried, he said. We have our whole lives here.

Seven students from China and Germany who attend universities in California sued Friday to block enforcement, alleging potential threats to their health and financial calamity.

The policy treats them as pawns for the presidents politically motivated decision, Mark Rosenbaum of nonprofit Public Counsel, which filed the suit, said in a statement.

Many American universities have come to depend on the revenue from more than 1 million international students, who typically pay higher tuition. President Donald Trump has insisted they return to in-person instruction as soon as possible, alleging that schools are being kept closed to harm the economy and make him look bad.

The guidance was released the same day Harvard announced it would keep all undergraduate classes online this fall. Harvard said the new Trump directive would prevent many of its 5,000 international students from remaining in the U.S.

The University of Southern California sent a letter to students and faculty, saying it is deeply troubled and that the the policy could negatively impact countless international students.

Like other universities, USC said it was pushing back and working to ensure students academic careers arent harmed, while exploring ways for students to safely study in person if they wish.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the directive could inflict significant harm on colleges, students, the business community and the economy.

A U.S. State Department press release said the policy provides greater flexibility for non-immigrant students to continue their education in the United States, while also allowing for proper social distancing on open and operating campuses.

A day after Harvard sued, the university notified the court that immigration authorities appear to be already enforcing the policy. A lawyer for Harvard urged the judge to suspend the rule, saying that a first-year student from Belarus was turned away from his flight at a Minsk airport. There is another hearing Friday.

This is very dangerous and cruel, said Jessie Peng, a Chinese graduate student in analytics at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

We have nowhere to go, said Peng, 27. Either risk our lives and go to school or we risk our lives flying back to China.

Jasdeep Mandia, a doctoral candidate from India studying economics at Arizona State University, said he has breathing problems that could worsen if he gets sick from COVID-19.

Mandia, 35, originally planned to conduct all his fall studies online. He says the Trump directive puts the shaky standing of international students on display.

It has never been a level playing field, he said. But this makes it more apparent.

At Indiana University, American scholar Dakota Murray wrote in the school newspaper about his uncertainty over how the guidance would affect him and his wife, a fellow doctoral candidate who is from South Korea.

Murray, 27, said he and his wife had discussed going to live in South Korea or maybe Canada, where she has relatives. He spoke on condition that his wifes name not be used because she is trying to obtain a green card that will let her work and reside in the U.S. after she finishes her studies.

Vanderbilt University student Safa Shahzad went home to Manchester, England, for a visit in March but got stuck there when the U.S. imposed travel restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.

Still in England, the 19-year-old, who is double majoring in politics and computer science, completed her freshman year from afar after the university transitioned online.

Although Vanderbilt has said courses will be a hybrid of online and in person this fall, Shahzad cannot travel to the U.S. until the Trump administration lifts the travel restrictions.

Im just kind of waiting, she said.

Computer science student Vivian Degasperi, 23, from Brazil, said the new guidelines are going to make my life harder at Erie Community College in Buffalo, New York.

Degasperi said the college has announced that almost all classes will be taught remotely, and is examining how to keep international students from losing their visa status.

Because she lives near the northern U.S. border, Degasperi said she would consider moving to Canada.

My family is worried, she said. Everyone is calling me all the time.

Natalia Afonso, a Brooklyn College student, also from Brazil, said she hopes the school will adopt a hybrid model of remote and in-person classes  but she fears riding the subway to campus could increase her chances of catching the virus.

I dont see myself moving back to Brazil at this point, said the 27-year-old, who is studying education and just finished her first semester. Its very unfair.
MIAMI  After record-breaking second quarter losses, Carnival Corporation will begin cruising again during the COVID-19 pandemic in August and shed 13 of its ships by the end of the year.

The company previously reported a loss of $4.37 billion, or $6.07 a share, during the second quarter  its largest quarterly loss ever  as cruises remain banned in the U.S. through at least late July.

While U.S. health authorizes remain focused on curbing COVID-19 outbreaks among crews on cruise ships in U.S. waters, the cities of Hamburg, Kiel and Rostock, Germany, have given the industry the go-ahead to start cruises again next month. Carnival Corp.s AIDA Cruises brand will begin cruises from those ports at less than 50% capacity starting Aug. 5, CEO Arnold Donald announced on an earnings call Friday. The passengers will stay on the ships during the entire cruise.

The company has already received around 1,000 bookings for the cruises, which went on sale Thursday.

Theres a lot of pent up demand, he said. The company is eyeing Italy as a possible spot to start cruises next.

Outside of the AIDA 14-ship fleet, 53 of the companys ships are anchored with just a skeleton crew on board, and the 35 others are expected to reach that status in the next month. Still, the company is burning through around $650 million per month on operations and capital commitments.

In an effort to lower its cash-burn rate, Carnival is offloading 13 of its ships this year  nine more than previously planned. So far the company has sold Costa Victoria from its Costa Cruises line and Oceana from P&O Cruises. The company is also slowing down its fleet growth; only five of the nine ships the company planned to add to the fleet in 2020 and 2021 are now scheduled to be delivered by the end of fiscal year 2021. The company has secured $10 billion in new capital, Donald said, enough to last into late next year even in a zero-revenue scenario.

Since the cruise industry halted operations worldwide in March, companies have been slow to repatriate all of their crew members as ships continue to experience COVID-19 outbreaks and some countries require companies to provide testing and quarantine facilities for returning crew. Around 3,000 of Carnival Corp.s 80,000 crew members are still awaiting repatriation, Donald said.

Cruise bookings for 2021 remain in historical ranges, Donald said, meaning the COVID-19 pandemic has not shaken confidence in cruising as much as the Costa Concordia sinking in 2012 and the Carnival Triumph poop cruise in 2013.

None of (our brands) or others have gone to the low levels we experienced at that time, said Donald.

A Miami Herald investigation has found that at least 72 cruise ships  28% of the industrys ocean fleet  have been affected by COVID-19 and at least 95 passengers and crew have died of the disease. At least 70 of those deaths were Carnival Corp. passengers and crew.

We had less than our market share of incidents, Donald said. We had a disproportional amount of media attention.

When AIDA cruises begin in August, the company said it will check passengers temperature before boarding and require passengers to wear masks and maintain social distance. The ports are prepared to evacuate and quarantine sick passengers and crew on land if needed, according to a company spokesperson.

On Thursday, the United Kingdom warned citizens to avoid cruises citing medical advice from its public health authority.

Cruising in the companys most lucrative market, North America, remains banned through July 24. COVID-19 cases in South Florida, where Carnival Corp. has its headquarters, continue to surge. Members of the cruise industry lobbying group Cruise Lines International Association, including Carnival Corp., have canceled all U.S. cruises through mid-September.

The Miami Herald interviewed five doctors, three of whom treated COVID-19 patients on cruise ships, about what cruise companies can do to keep passengers and crew safe if companies resume operations before a vaccine is available. They recommend cruises operate at 50% capacity and stay within 500 miles of land. They said cruise companies should test passengers for COVID-19 before boarding, provide flexible cancellation and refund policies, and arm ships with more medical staff and ventilators, among other things.


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
New Delhi: Fazil Fareed, a native of Ernakulam who is now staying in Dubai, is said to be the main conspirator in the smuggling of 30 kg gold through diplomatic channel in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram.

According to sources, an accused in the case arrested by the National Investigation Agency said that the smuggling was done for Fareed by his co-conspirators.

Sarith, who has already been arrested by the Customs (Preventive) Department, had introduced Fareed to the UAE consulate official, sources said, adding that the United Arab Emirates is also sending their team to question and share details in the probe. Fareed is yet to be arrested.

The NIA had on Friday registered the FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against four accused  Sarith, Swapna Prabha Suresh, Fazil Fareed and Sandeep Nair.

Suresh worked in Kerala government's IT department and was previously an employee of the UAE consulate. The Chief Minister's Office said her contract was terminated after the serious allegations surfaced.

Sandeep Nair's wife in her statement to Customs had said that her husband used to "smuggle gold with the help of Sarith and Swapna".

Sources said that Suresh's role is also important in the case as she continued to work with Sarith even after leaving consulate.

According to the agency, 30 kg of 24 karat gold worth Rs 14.82 crore was seized at the international airport in Thiruvananthapuram last Sunday. This consignment was camouflaged in diplomatic baggage from UAE that is exempted from inspection, but this consignment was confiscated based on specific inputs. Sarith, who had turned up to receive the consignment, was arrested.
More than 900 of the worlds largest corporations, including Unilever, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Lego, Ford, Pfizer and all five of Canadas big banks are boycotting Facebook to protest its active participation in spreading hate and misinformation. Their objective is morally indisputable: #StopHateForProfit.

Whos missing from that list? The government of Canada, for one. Some of the worlds largest, most profit-fixated corporations cant stomach Facebooks indifference to hate and propaganda, yet our government seems to have no such qualms. Our government will likely funnel more than $20 million to Facebook this year, not to mention the billions in subsidies, tax breaks and exemptions it provides.

Knowingly amplifying hate speech is a crime. Canadian media companies are subject to rules and standards that forbid them from spreading not just threats and incitement to violence, but all other manner of objectionable content  all in service of healthy, civilized democratic discourse. Yet the Canadian government seems disinclined to apply our laws whenever Facebook is involved and wont even join a global movement condemning the platform for its shocking indifference to the harm its business inflicts.

Absent government leadership, corporations are taking matters into their own hands by commendably withholding hundreds of millions of ad dollars from Facebook.

Ottawas blase approach to Facebooks trespasses is no longer justifiable, as is its continued advertising. Facebooks bad behaviour isnt exactly news.

Following myriad misdeeds, legislators from around the world came to Ottawa last year to question Facebook and other social media goliaths about their hate problem, but also other sins like facilitating election finance fraud and violation of regulatory settlements.

Parliament summoned Mark Zuckerberg to attend, but he was not swayed by the mere will of the people. In his stead sat Kevin Chan, Liberal insider turned Facebook lobbyist, whose serial evasiveness and disdain for democratic authority were befitting of Mr. Zuckerberg himself. For many countries, this snub alone would be cause enough to remind Facebook that democracy is not a mere nuisance to endure, but a power to obey. Canada took no such action.

Facebook performed its now familiar mea culpa routine, admitting to mistakes and vowing that AI would help them to eventually do better, while fiercely resisting even the slightest departure from the highly profitable status quo. But the committee was having none of it.

Singaporean MP Edwin Tong pointed out that in 2018, Facebooks AI could not even recognize as hate speech viral posts from Sri Lanka exhorting readers to kill women and children with bombs. Shortly afterward, the Easter bombings killed 267 people in Colombo and wounded 500.

If a Canadian newspaper, website or broadcaster carried an ad encouraging readers to kill women and children with bombs, the government would send prosecutors. When Facebook does it, Ottawa sends cash.

Other governments are acting. Germany, the U.K., and even the U.S. are legislating to hold Facebook legally and financial liable for not just publishing, but knowingly recommending hateful and illegal content. The rest of the developed world is gripped by this issue, yet the government of Canada has not even brought it to Parliament.

The federal government should join the #StopHateForProfit campaign immediately. But thats not enough. How to tax and govern billions of dollars of digital economic activity is the major governance question of our era. Ottawas unwillingness to tackle it betrays a more profound pathology: a troubling habit of ducking major social and economic questions.

Many lament activist courts for straying into territory that should be occupied by elected legislators. Yet, on generationally consequential questions like marriage equality and medically assisted death, Parliament did next to nothing. Eventually, the courts were forced to decide for them.

How to hold platforms liable for recommending illegal content is a difficult question, but it is essential to our democracy. Parliament cannot continue to ignore it.

Daniel Bernhard is executive director of Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. Follow him @sendinthewolf.
A woman in her sixties has been tied up in her bathroom during a burglary in Ballintoy in the early hours of Saturday morning.

It happened shortly after midnight when the woman was upstairs in her home on Whitepark Road. She heard voices downstairs and shortly afterwards, the door of the room she was in was forced open by two masked men.



Police received a report at around 12:50am this morning about the incident, which occurred around 12:15am.

The woman was ordered to hand over money and jewellery before she was forced into the bathroom, where her wrists were tied. She was ordered to stay there and not to raise the alarm.



The men left the house after taking items from her bedroom and her handbag.



One of the men is described as being approximately six foot tall and well-built and thought to be aged about 34 years old. The second male is described as being approximately 5' 8'' tall and of a medium build. Both men had their faces covered and are both described as having accents not thought to be local to the area.



Detective Sergeant Wallace said: "This has been an terrifying ordeal for the victim. This despicable and cowardly crime occurred in her home, somewhere where she rightly deserves to feel safe.



"We are continuing with our enquiries this morning and I would urge anyone who has any information about this crime to please tell us by calling our detectives in Coleraine on 101, and quoting reference number 170 of 12/07/20."



A report can also be made using the online reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport or by calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org
Thousands of people protest to defund the police in support of Black Lives Matter in Toronto, Canada, on June 19, 2020. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Protester Hit With Tear Gas by Police Died of Natural Causes, Officials Say

An Ohio woman who died after she was tear-gassed during a Black Lives Matter protest died of natural causes, according to an autopsy.

Sarah Grossman, 22, died two days after she attended a protest in Columbus on May 28, days after George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody. She was exposed to tear gas and pepper spray that was discharged into protesters to control crowds, according to 10News and other news outlets.

She died on May 30 after family members found her unresponsive in their home in Centerville. Her family members claimed on social media that she died of being exposed to tear gas and pepper spray.

The Montgomery County Coroners Office said Grossman, who recently graduated from Ohio State University, died of a coronary artery dissection due to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Her manner of death was described as natural, officials said in the 10News report.

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a rare condition that affects ones connective tissue, including the skin, joints, and blood vessel walls, says the Mayo Clinic on its website. The National Institutes of Health says Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is a group of disorders that affect connective tissues supporting the skin, bones, blood vessels, and many other organs and tissues. Defects in connective tissues cause the signs and symptoms of these conditions, which range from mildly loose joints to life-threatening complications.

A preliminary autopsy report said she was taken to Sycamore Hospital after suffering from cardiac arrest and was foaming at the mouth.

On May 31, her father told the Montgomery County Coroners Office that Grossman was at a protest and was exposed to tear gas and pepper spray that was discharged by police as part of crowd control, the Dayton Daily News reported.

Sarah was a fierce but compassionate supporter of environmental issues and social justice, her family wrote in an obituary. Those who knew her will understand what a beautiful soul the world has lost. She lived a short but full life.
An 'avid bargain hunter' and business owner has revealed how she transformed the kitchen in her rental property for under $1,000 (Nicole Herrick pictured)

An 'avid bargain hunter' and business owner has revealed how she transformed the kitchen in her rental property for under $1,000 - and her tips to help you do the same.

Nicole Herrick, 41, from Melbourne, said she has always dreamed of having a nice kitchen, but it's so expensive to move somewhere that has your dream setup, and because she rents she is limited with what she can and can't do.

But, after getting permission from her landlord, Nicole said she managed to transform her dated wooden kitchen into a modern, sleek space in just six weekends - spending $953 in the process.

'I did all of this myself for under $1k and have never done any of this before so it all about just jumping in and giving it a crack!' she told FEMAIL.

So how did she do it?

BEFORE: Nicole Herrick, 41, from Melbourne, said she has always dreamed of having a nice kitchen, but it's so expensive to move somewhere that has your dream setup

AFTER: But, after getting permission from her landlord, Nicole said she managed to transform her dated wooden kitchen into a modern, sleek space in just six weekends - spending $953

DURING: Firstly, Nicole said she spoke to her landlord, as you cannot do anything in Australia in a rental property without asking for permission

DURING: Once the 41-year-old had got the all clear, she set about sourcing materials and getting to work in her kitchen

Firstly, Nicole said she spoke to her landlord.

'In Australia, you can't do anything in a rental without permission - not even paint or put a hook in the wall,' she explained.

'This is why so often so many of us don't even think to ask.'

She said when she asked, she was told she could create her vision - provided she did a 'good quality job'.

'I think lots of owners would be more than happy to allow renters to enhance their properties, as long as they treat the home with the respect that they would their own,' Nicole said.

BEFORE: Nicole said that so often, so many of us don't ask as we assume that we won't get permission for it

AFTER: 'I think lots of owners would be more than happy to allow renters to enhance their properties, as long as they treat the home with the respect they would their own,' Nicole said

Where did Nicole spend the money? * Three slabs of Litestone - $500 - Fowles Auctions * Paint - $250 - Bunnings Warehouse * Tap - $20 - Gumtree (new) * Tiles - $60 - Gumtree * Mastic and grout - $25 - Bunnings Warehouse * Plasterboard, joint compound and tape - $58 - Bunnings Warehouse * Silicone and caulk - $20 - Gumtree * Handles - $20 - eBay (second-hand) TOTAL = $953 Advertisement

Then, the 41-year-old set about researching how she could bring her dream to life.

'I watched some YouTube videos and read around, she said.

'I also drew up a visual of exactly what I wanted to do on Photoshop, so I knew how to start and what would be the end.'

Nicole said she saved money by carefully researching all the different things she would need and how she could get them cheaply:

'My biggest spend was $500 on three slabs of Litestone from a home renovators' auction place,' she said.

Everything else was bought from the likes of Bunnings Warehouse, Gumtree and second-hand on eBay.

'It took me six weekends to do all of it, and I did it all by myself (apart from a few things that needed lifting),' Nicole said.

'I smashed out the old tiles, replaced the gyprock, plastered, tiled, replaced the bench tops and cut the stone, painted the cupboards and installed new handles.'

She added: 'It sounds like a lot, but you actually don't need to own a whole bunch of tools to do this.

'Many places have tool libraries where you can rent hand tools cheaply. I also asked family members, friends and neighbours if they would lend me a few bits and pieces.

She added: 'So often, so many DIYers do something once and then just have the tools lying around gathering dust in their garages.'

BEFORE AND AFTER: Nicole said she sourced a lot of the items from the likes of Bunnings Warehouse and second-hand on Gumtree and eBay

DURING: 'My biggest spend was $500 on three slabs of Litestone from a home renovators' auction place,' she said

DURING: 'I smashed out the old tiles, replaced the gyprock, plastered, tiled, replaced the bench tops and cut the stone, painted the cupboards and installed new handles,' Nicole said

Sharing the results of her handiwork online, thousands were impressed with Nicole's efforts.

'What an inspiration you are, this is incredible,' one commenter wrote.

Another added: 'This looks so nice and fresh. Your landlord must be delighted.'

Nicole has a YouTube channel where she shares exactly how she carried out some of the renovations.

BEFORE: It took Nicole six weekends and cost $953 to create her own dream kitchen space at home

AFTER: Sharing the results of her handiwork online, thousands were impressed with Nicole's efforts

What are Nicole's DIY tips? * Draw up a visual of what you would like to change so you can show the owner you've taken the time to research what you want to do. * Ask them to contribute to materials if you are going to change lots. * Ask around with your friends and neighbours for tools you might need. * Do not ignore second-hand. Gumtree and eBay have lots of good buys. Advertisement

She said that she has many tips for others wanting to transform a tired rental space.

'Draw up a visual of what you would like to change, so you can show the owner that you've taken the time to research and they can envisage what you want to do,' Nicole said.

'You can ask them if they would pay for materials, but chances are they won't want to spend unless it's essential, and obviously they can't control the final quality.'

Nicole said you could ask for a contribution towards your efforts, but she opted not to as she has lived in her home for six years and loves the house, but hated the kitchen.

'My rent is reasonable and $1,000 was far cheaper than moving to a more expensive place,' she said.

'Plus, I got to teach myself a whole new set of skills.'

To find out more about Nicole Herrick, you can visit her YouTube channel here.
A streetcar crosses over Jefferson Davis Parkway near the site of where the Davis statue was removed. The New Orleans City Council created a street renaming commission setting off a process to decide on what will be renamed. The council is also introducing the ordinance to rename Jefferson Davis Parkway for Norman Francis.
President of the Congress of Igbo Leaders in the UK and Ireland, Mazi Obi Okoli

12.07.2020 LISTEN

In an early July interview taken by Kester Kenn Klomegah with the President of the Congress of Igbo Leaders in the UK and Ireland, Mazi Obi Okoli believes that Nigeria has lots of challenges implementing a system of governance that will guarantee the interests of all within the nation. According to him, many of the problems, frictions and issues faced today in Nigeria is a direct result of the defective federal system, the 1979 constitution drafted without consultation and the negative attitudes by majority of politicians toward development in Nigeria.

Here are the interview excerpts:

Why did you choose to write the book The Lost Igbo Treasure as part of your life?

Our journey of life must be to add value to human existence. I believe that people have to leave some positive footprints that will allow the coming generations to access truth, information and facts about their history, traditions and culture. I chose to write the book The Lost Igbo Treasure in order to document the facts of history, proverbs, language, culture, tradition and beliefs of the Igbo people of West Africa. It is my resolute belief that an informed generation are the best generation that can make positive impact to the world.

Over the years, there have been discussions about different ethnicity in Federal Republic of Nigeria. How different are the Igbos from Hausas, Yorubas and Fulanis in Nigeria?

It is a huge fact of life that the Igbo people have never been subject to one particular kingdom or caliphate like the Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba tribes who are under the monarchical leaderships of Sokoto and Ife kingdoms respectively. This exposes the reader to the mindset, characteristics, beliefs and understanding of the Igbo people as an egalitarian people. The Igbos like every other human society believe in peace, co-existential continuum of the human race.

However, the Igbos are unique in their thinking, very hard working, strong, communal, resilient, entrepreneurial mindset, freedom seeking, family oriented and peace loving. The Igbos believe in the cosmological belief of the sanctity of human life, respect and fairness in their dealing with all human persons. They hold the sanctitutional belief of live and lets live. They abhor injustice and deceit in human dealings. They believe that religion is and should be a means to an end and not the end of a means.

All the above distinguishes them from the Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba who are influenced more by religious inclination and a combination of religion/societal belief for the later.

The Igbos are unique in what they do; how they live their lives, what they eat and wear, how to beat their path of existence on earth, the peculiarities and the songs they cherish, so also are the music, behavior and general attitude to life. It is clear that the Igbos uniquely differ from other ethnicities, in each of the above respects, in Nigeria.

Looking inside your book, what treasures have the Igbos lost in the countrys history?

The effects of colonialism, slavery, foreign religion, the genocide of 1967 have all severely impacted the Igbo society. The cherished Igbo treasures of togetherness, love and culture, tradition, language and ways of life. Our norms, values, belief, character and attitude, communal engagement, proverbs, idioms are treasures which the ancestors bequeathed to us from history have all began to elude our people and nation as a whole. Every society is alive by the presence of their unique values and traits. A loss of any of the above has great impact on the people and their society. Ndigbo must awaken themselves to the gathering storms and begin to see that our treasures are vanishing before our eyes.

How would you interpret and connect ethnicity with the federal system of governance?

This is a very difficult question. I will try not to be very academic so your readers will be carried along. The federal system of government is one that divides or shares the powers of governance between the national (federal), state and local governments. If this is true then it is imperative that this system of governance will guarantee, safeguard and protect the interests of all component parts that make up the federation.

However, over the centuries the experiment of this defective system as practiced in Nigeria has denied many ethnic nationals the opportunity to enjoy or harness the benefit of such a system if any. The travails and struggles of ethnic minority communities in Nigeria has also been that of the rest contending against both cultural extinction, politico-economic marginalization and political participation traumatization by the North with the former contending against economic expropriation, marginalization, exclusion, developmental strangulation and political oblivionization of the rest of the country, especially the Igbo people of the Eastern Nigeria.

These negative dimensions and conditions of ethnic minority alienation and discontent in the Nigerian federation has been indeed made worse under the present regime and further tightening of the noose continues unabated.

Therefore, the interpretation and connectivity of ethnicity with the federal system of governance is that of a resultant inherent contradictions and tensions in the evolution and operation of the Nigerian federal system. Many of the problems, frictions and issues faced today in Nigeria is a direct result of the defective federal system; the problematic 1979 constitution drafted without consultation and the negative under-developmental attitude of the Nigerian politicians.

All the above that I have mentioned, it has been made worse by the over-centralization of the governance system; the primitive refusal to recognize the complex ethnic configuration and interest; the pragmatic consensual underdevelopment of some regions, especially the Eastern part of the country; the relatively limited development of accommodative, consensual or power-sharing mechanisms; the absence or weakness of key mediatory or regulatory institutions; and the repeated distortion and abortion of democratic institutions. With the above administrative defects, it will be difficult for the nation to progress in contemporary times and be able to compete with other developing nations of the world.

Do you envisage any challenges and hurdles, for instance, if the Eastern States stand independently from the rest of the Nigeria?

The word If is relative. I would rather say when  When the Eastern States stand independently from the rest of the Nigeria there will be mountain of problems to face of which the greatest will be the problem of a mindset tabular rasa. For the new nation to triumph, we must clean up the mindset of our people from the retrogressive, corrupt, despotic attitude and character we would have migrated with from Nigeria.

We shall have the challenges of implementing a new functional system of governance that will guarantee the interest of all within the nation. We shall have the hurdles of implementing fast and modern economic policies, manufacturing strategies, progressive and meaningful educational system; effective purpose driven internal and external security measure that will safeguard, protect, defend our people wherever they live in the world.

We shall have the challenges of defining and implementing a robust manufacturing regime that will make us a competitive export oriented nation. The hurdles of corruption transfer, religious dependency on spirituality instead of hard work, the integration of our culture, tradition, norms and values lost in the euphoria of colonialization and sojourn in the plantations of Nigeria shall be hurdle that we must surpass to emerge a strong nation.

How sustainable is the economy, and resources available to support the needed development there?

The economy of the Eastern region is enormous and can definitely support and sustain the development of a new nation. There are abundant and available human, material, agricultural, industrial and technological resource which will be perfectly combined with the positive resilience of our people will catapult our nation in 20 years to a progressive global economic player.

Can it help bridge the development gap and what are future perspectives for the Igboland?

It will help bridge the developmental gaps and we hope to see a positive future prospect not just for the Igbo people, Eastern Nigeria but the world at large. A new nation of Eastern Nigeria will become the pride of all black people globally.

As the President of the Congress of Igbo Leaders in the UK and Ireland, how can you describe the popular sentiments of your fellow members there? Do they support the Eastern States to break away or rather advocate for national integration?

As you would expect in every organization you will have the pessimists, the rational and the progressives. In Congress of Igbo Leaders UK, we have divergent opinions. That is the beauty of such an organization blessed with the best minds, leaders and citizens of Igbo nation.

We endeavor to have healthy conversations, agree to disagree on pertinent issues. Overall, all our people want is to have a nation that all can be free. A nation where equity, fairness, justice, respect for the rule of law, absence of security operative brutality, respect for the fundamental human rights of her citizens, the right of life, education and movement without hindrances, harassments and intimidation. I must say that if Biafra offers us such an opportunity, there will be no Igbo person who will reject such an opportunity. One thing that is clear from the opinions of some of our members, war is not an option.

Kester Kenn Klomegah frequently writes about Russia, Africa and the BRICS
Kabul, July 12 : The Afghan government said that there were serious reservations about the release of over 500 Taliban prisoners within the countrys legal and judicial institutions, and most likely these detainees will not be released.

"Our system (Afghanistan's legal and judicial system) may not allow a number of the Taliban, who may not be the Taliban or the individuals who were listed and are accused with other issues to be released," TOLO News quoted Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman to President Ashraf Ghani, as saying on Saturday.

On June 6, the government said that it was not releasing 597 prisoners of the 5,000 inmates that were to be freed as part of the US-Taliban agreement signed in late February, since they were accused of "crimes and moral issues" Three days later, The Taliban handed over a replacement list for the 592 prisoners which were originally rejected as release candidates by Afghan government, said the TOLO News report

But, the Presidential Palace has said that the list so far has not been shared.

The government has so far released 4,019 prisoners and the Taliban has freed 737 inmates.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has said that the group will not endorse the intra-Afghan talks unless the Afghan government releases its 5,000 prisoners from the jails.
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The podcast episode is raw and heartbreaking. Host Jen Hatmaker, a popular author and speaker, invited her daughter Sydney to discuss her homosexuality and spirituality. The open discussion was part of a special A Moment of Pride series on Hatmakers For the Love podcast.

This is like a known fact in our family, and has been, Hatmaker prefaced the podcast. This is not news, this is not new news, this is not an announcement.

Sydney speaks of recognizing she was lesbian around 12 years old (12 years old!), having pretend crushes on boys, and finally understanding her sexuality thanks to representation of gay people just in movies and stuff.

She admits to struggling with confusion and, quite sadly, doing her own comprehensive Bible study to understand varying perspectives.

Sydney explained, I just remember trying to Google it, and one of the first resources that I found was just this person talking about various Christian perspectives on same-sex marriage. And they were kind of providing some different leaders who had said different things on it.

The article mentioned those who were loving, but unaffirming and then linked to an article written by Jen Hatmaker at the time. Sydney said, after that moment, I didnt touch a Bible for years.

Towards the end of the podcast, Hatmaker says that among her greatest regrets is not reconciling homosexuality and Christianity sooner. In her own words:

So, it will just always be my greatest sadness that Dad and I did not do our own work early enough so that you felt safe and beloved in your own familyor that we didnt do our work in front of you even, that that was not something that we were talking about. He and I were, but we werent talking deeply about what we were learning and processing in front of you, and thus left you alone, and vulnerable, and scared. And I am so sorry. And Im so sad. And if I could go back, I would change it. I would shake myself to life before you were even born, shake some sense into me. Like, "Look at this, look at what this is causing. Just look around, use your eyes, use your ears, use your brain, and use your heart."

I would not change one molecule of you, not one. Im so glad youre gay, Im so proud that you are free. I love that this is how you were made. Im thrilled about your future, Hatmaker concluded.

The words of Romans 1:32 are striking. Though they know Gods righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Hear me, I know we are all deserving of death because of our sin. Its only because Jesus Christ paid our debts that we have life. But Romans 1:32 is a warning to those who blatantly disregard the moral law and deadly effects of sin.

Were listening to this happen on a podcast between Jen and Sydney Hatmaker. A popular Christian mother overlooks any recognition of sin and even apologizes for once affirming moral law.

I have no doubt that the love and experiences discussed by Jen and Sydney are genuine. As a mom of two precious babies, I feel compassion for Hatmaker. To think of my daughter feeling scared and confused because of her attractions is unbearable. So Im trying to approach this discussion with gentleness.

Yet, it is painful to listen as there is no recognition of wrong.

It is also heartbreaking to hear of parents who deny relationship with their kids because of sin. To threaten or manipulate a child to change who is struggling with same-sex attraction is not the answer either.

Hatmaker has long spoken of motherhood and parenthood. She has a strong influence on young Christian moms. Her words and actions are effective, whether we like them or not. And how she approaches her daughters sexuality will influence a cohort of young moms, many thousands who attend conservative evangelical churches.

Yes, I recognize that I have little authority to speak on parenting young adults with gay identities, and so I want to proceed cautiously here.

I do wish that more Christian leaders (with more authority than this blogger has) were sounding the alarm. But theres been little commentary, especially from female Christian leaders.

Where are the mature Christian mamas whove grappled with extending grace to their beloved children while also affirming orthodox Christian teachings? Their experiences and insights are what we need to hear now.

I know they are out there somewhere. Online, its just easier to find the Hatmakers  those who affirm without recognition of wrong. Their online communities are massive and devoted. Some other female Christian leaders just avoid the topic altogether, likely due to fear of the Cancel culture (but thats a post for another day).

Affirmation of sin isnt limited to homosexuality. We especially see it happen with cohabitation and premarital sex. Some Christian parents hand their teenage daughters hormonal contraception and IUDs and give their sons barrier methods, with little discouragement and discussion. They are buying into a culture that says: abstinence is unachievable, so its better to be safe than sorry.

We cannot change or control our kids. Im learning this lesson, even with toddlers. And we do not own our kids, whether they are toddlers or young adults. Im especially learning this lesson. Our children are gifts given to us by God that come with a responsibility to demonstrate both Gods grace and Gods law. (Thank you author Paul Tripp and his book Parenting for teaching me these principles.)

Parenthood is hard.

Somehow we must show love without sacrificing truth. Ill be the first to raise my hand in exhaustion and discouragement and recognize this challenge.

Yet, Romans 6:23 warns, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This truth is frightening. I cant bear to think of my children perishing and being part of the reason why they couldnt recognize sin. This verse should be enough to motivate us to boldly denounce sin, while demonstrating unconditional love.

Theres no Christian formula or 7-step article that holds the answers to this challenge. But with Him all things are possible.

Actually, only with Him is godly parenting possible.
At a time when the COVID crisis has hit every industry in the country really hard, we spoke to Adel Singh, the Group CEO of Datar Security Services group about how companies should ride over this right time while ensuring the safety and security of their employees. Talking about the COVID crisis and the impact of the unprecedented lockdown on the manpower industry he says, No country, no economy, no businesses were prepared for this pandemic. Coming to the manpower industry, as most of my clients are from the public sector and government sector, we were a bit tensed because when an economy goes into crisis, your payments get stuck.

So the banks had moratoriums coming in and the clients were also pushing us for cost-cutting but it was a tough decision we had to make. We had to restructure our SOPs. Our management was given two weeks but we had to restructure our SOPs and sales strategies and service lines, think about diversifying because it was the need of the moment. Secondly coming back to security and manpower, I just wanted to be consistent. I did not want any layoffs, I focused on the retention of my business. So it has been a challenging part but we have sailed through with prime colours and hopefully, we should continue.

Adel also had a piece of advice for business leaders on how involved should they be in ensuring a healthy work environment for their employees. Talking about the role of the CEO in the well being and mental health of the employees, Adel says, A leader has to be with his force. I am not talking about management having a round table conference with four top people. I think it is going down to deep levels, standing with your workforce. For example, I have clients who are government hospitals. Initially, for the first month, we just procured all the PPE equipment and sent it to our ground forces because they work for hand in glove with the police departments. After a while I realised that I cannot motivate my manpower sitting at home who are standing 24 X 7 in hospitals, doing COVID work and are right at the frontline working with the paramedical staff. I took a decision and told by management to increase the morale of our people who are on the ground and we decided to go to the ground. I was personally going for site audits. In the past month, I have been to Gujarat, J&K and I have covered almost 4000 kilometres. From a CEO point of view, it is a very critical time and it has been difficult for us because it has changed our work and personal lives. So it was very important that in the starting month, I was in touch with all my management people. I was constantly giving them work, taking updates because I did not want anyone to be free.

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Talking about how he dealt with the economic challenge of the lockdown he said that, We had no layoffs and I instructed my management to support our people. From the people at the ground to the management, we had to give them back what they gave us. This was the 2 or 3 months where I had to give them back. So like we promised, we gave our increments and bonuses without giving cutoffs and layoffs. I instructed my management to release increments and bonuses during this period. Because this is the time when a person needs our support and it is not about profitability. At times it is about society and I could cover my profits in the next quarter. With that, I realised that if the economy goes down in a crunch, the manpower sector is based on the public sector. So if the economy goes down, I would have a crunch. We were into user free collection of tolling. So we moved down our major setup to the tolling side because that business is low on debtors so that we could manage our funds and manage our cashflows.

Adel also spoke about his personal journey and what actually led him to take over the reins of the DSSG group, he gave a brief description of how he started the journey. My father was in the Indian Armed Forces, he was a Col. in the army and is a Shaurya Chakra Awardee. So he has given his optimum results everywhere. Back in 2004, he left the army and he started this organisation. So he started with the first contract of 100 people, scaling it up to 5000 people until the point I joined. I was 16 years old when my father started this organisation. Seeing his entrepreneurship, hard work and seeing how he is giving his whole sole heart to the work, I was really inspired and I took him as my role model. Honestly, he was my role model since the beginning and I saw his determination to succeed, says Adel Singh.

Adel also spoke of his journey from a college dropout to a Group CEO, I joined the Delhi University, I joined VCACS and I was doing my BA programme. Then I realised that this wasnt my cup of tea and my inheritance was business and finally my family would at some time ask me to join our business. At that point I joined IBM, I was in an MBA programme there. I could not complete my degree due to some reasons, but the knowledge I gained was not theoretical but practical. So I would say that from a CEOs desk, whatever that you learn is from your mistakes. But you need to have a person who believes in you. In my organisation, the person who believed in my was my father. But it took me time to make him trust me in my decisions. When you start you always make mistakes. I will not say that a person is successful without making mistakes. I have failed an ample amount of times but consistency is the key. If you fail, you have to get up.

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Pakistan has restored the bank accounts of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his four top aides, a media report said on Sunday.

Saeed, a UN designated terrorist whom the US has placed a $10 million bounty on, was arrested on July 17 last year in the terror financing cases. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in February this year in two terror financing cases. He is lodged at the Lahore's high-security Kot Lakhpat jail.

Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, Haji M Ashraf, Yahya Mujahid and Zafar Iqbal - all on the UN Security Council's terrorists list  were the other members of the JuD and Lashkar-e-Taiba who got their bank accounts restored, The News reported.

They are currently facing sentences ranging 1 to 5 years in Lahore jail for terror financing cases filed against them by the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), the paper said.

"The restoration of bank accounts has taken place following formal approval of the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council, the paper said.

Citing sources, the paper said that the JuD leaders had appealed United Nations for restoring their bank accounts that they could run their family affairs.

"Initially we did not want to file an appeal but we were advised to file it as it was difficult for our leaders to run their affairs," a senior JuD leader was quoted as saying by the paper.

These leaders in their request to the government of Pakistan had also mentioned about their financial income and sources of earning. The same was forwarded to the UNSC along their bank account numbers and other related details, it added.

Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.

His bank accounts were frozen by the Pakistani government complying with the UNSC resolution.
Mr Joseph Tetteh, the Second Trustee of the Kaneshie Drivers Association has urged the public not to relent in adhering to the COVID-19 protocol in order to contain the spread of the disease.



He said the increasing rate of the infection of the virus was scary and therefore people should continue to wear the nose masks, wash their hands and use the sanitizers regularly while practicing the social distancing.



Mr Tetteh gave the advice in an interview when the Ghana News Agency undertook a survey to assess the Associations management efforts against the coronavirus at the station.



He said in their station, vehicles were not allowed to move out of the station if even one passage was found without a face mask.



He commended the government for the safety measures put in place to contain the disease, especially the practicing of the social distancing and pleaded with the citizenry to religiously comply with the protocols for their own safety.



Mr Abdul Razak Mohammed, the Secretary of the Madina Central Welfare of the Ghana Private Roads Transport Union, said the executives of the terminal was strictly enforcing the No masks no entry policy to ensure safety against the COVID-19.



He said the disease was real and that everyone must play a part to contain the spread.



Mr Mohammed expressed gratitude to Mr Abubakar Siddique Boniface, the Member of Parliament for Madina for donating personal protective equipment to the Union.

Source: GNA









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DUBAI, July 11 (Reuters) - A gas explosion shook a residential building in Iran's capital Tehran on Saturday, injuring one person, the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted the city fire department as saying.

Several gas cylinders kept in a basement blew up, damaging the building and injuring a resident, a fire department spokesman told ISNA.

There have been several explosions around Iranian military, nuclear and industrial facilities since late June. (Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
The Bitterroot College as a program of the University of Montana has an early start to the fall semester and work is underway for an independent community college.

Candy Lubansky, as the Bitterroot College UM Advisory Council Chair, said the current Bitterroot College UM situation is healthy and a June meeting with some members of the Bitterroot College advisory council, the UM provost, the interim provost, the UM two-year facilitator and legal counsel was positive.

That meeting was intended to solidify and agree to the tenor of the transition time, Lubansky said. Clearly the UM is all about us staying stable and viable. That was a good thing to hear. If a community college comes about they want this this college to be well-poised and in-shape for that transition.

Bitterroot College, as it is now, is going forward. Classes start two weeks earlier than usual on Wednesday, Aug. 19 (applications due Aug. 1), with the same faculty, same leadership and all credits still transferable.

The people of the Bitterroot can count on us still being here, Lubansky said. All of the university and its affiliates are experiencing reduction and we did experiencing a reduction but we are moving forwards with transferable course work.

She said the university brought forward three reduction package possibilities and Bitterroot College was fortunate to receive the lesser reduction package.

Our staff is in place and we have a budget, Lubansky said.

The process of becoming an independent community college, a goal passed by the voters in May, begins by answering questions from the Montana University Systems Board of Regents to show there is a need for a community college in the Bitterroot and how it would address that need.

It has a lot of detail to it about staffing, budget, how you will get information back about local needs, what your partnerships are, kind of a whole host of planning questions, Lubansky said. That is what the trustees elect are working on. They are questions intended for the regents to make a recommendation for legislators.

She said the legislators make the decision but they do take in to consideration the recommendation by the regents.

The Bitterroot College Trustees, elected in May to govern the creation of the Bitterroot Valley Community College in Ravalli County, are diligently working on the proposal for the regents.

The seven trustees-elect, Janet Woodburn and Don Gardner (co-chairs), RAN Pigman, Gary Carlson, Linda Doughty, Sue Smith and Marci Smith, will not be sworn in to office until the Montana Legislature approves the college but the trustees are working now on a strategic plan to that end.

They are a lovely group of people, Lubansky said. They are learning on the run and right now are sort of in no mans land. They are invested, interested community citizens who are working very hard to put together the outline that the regents are asking for. It is really good work because essentially that becomes a great road map.

The current BC Advisory Board is assisting the trustees elect.

Trustee-elect Gardner said it is a detailed process to form a community college.

So, although the voters approved (an independent Bitterroot Valley Community College), it doesnt happen unless the Legislature approves it, he said. Were hopeful they will consider our effort in this upcoming spring legislature.

The trustees-elect are working to answer questions asked by the Commissioner of Higher Education in Helena.

The questions are convince us of the need for a community college and give us your plan for filling that need, Gardner said. That would be course offerings, the educational programming, the budget to handle that and what infrastructure or what facilities we plan to use.

He said that in August the detailed proposal will go to the Commissioner of Higher Education to forward to the Montana University Systems Board of Regents (BOR) for their September meeting. The MUS BOR will meet again in November to vote and then give the Montana Legislature a recommendation.

Trustees-elect are hopeful the BOR will vote to recommend that the Montana Legislature approve the new community college for the Bitterroot Valley, Gardner said. But even if the BOR were to not be impressed with our proposal its not a deal-killer, necessarily. After the November election we would begin to lobby with Legislators and other stakeholders.

Trustee-elect Gary Carlson said he is positive the Board of Regents, the office of the Commissioner of Higher Education and then the legislature will all give us a thumbs up.

His reasoning is that currently if a student and their parents in the valley wanted to save money and live at home for the first two years of college the closest community college is 167 miles away in Kalispell. He said Ravalli Countys current population of over 40,000 makes a community college here important.

Also with 70% to 80% of any community college budget going for personnel and benefits the money will be re-invested here, Carlson said. A community college in Ravalli County would not only be good for students and their parents, but the new college would be a huge benefit for the local communities and for the entire state of Montana. Right now medical techs working at St. Pat's, Community or even Marcus Daly all have to go out of state to earn their credentials.

In May, the community passed the proposal to create a community college but the levy to pay for it did not pass. Lubansky said she thinks it was because of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic but is optimistic for future funding.

Gardner said that at some point it would be essential to go back to voters with another levy appeal.

Its a strange situation, were trying to create something out of nothing and also with no budget, he said. With no budget to hire faculty, the proposal [to the Commissioner of Higher Education and MUS BOR] will be more conceptual about the kinds of things we hope to offer but really the nuts and bolts would have to come after the Legislature approves.

Gardner said there are three avenues for funding of a college  a local levy, student tuition and funding from the state.

Gardner predicted a possible fall opening in 2023, with a transition period.

Were doing a paperwork exercise to make a convincing case to the Board of Regents and hopefully they recommend us to the Legislature, Gardner said. The state Legislature has the power. Then we would have to put our noses to the grindstone and design the college the community hopes for.

Residents with questions or those wanting to be involved in the process are encouraged to contact the Trustees-elect at Trusteeselect@bvcommunitycollege.org.

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At least 16 staff of Maharashtras Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in Mumbai, have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Sunday.

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is already in isolation and will undergo the test for Covid-19, if required, in the coming days, the civic bodys officials said.

Click here for full Covid-19 coverage

Sixteen staff members at Raj Bhavan have tested positive until now. Of the 16, two had tested positive around eight days ago, a BMC official said.

After this, tests of around 100 staff members was undertaken by the governors office on Saturday at the state-run JJ Hospital. Of the 100, around 14 have been tested positive, the official added.

The staff members, who tested positive for the coronavirus disease, are stable and asymptomatic, they added.

The civic body has sealed the staff quarters and the governors office and carried out sanitisation of the premises.

The governors residence as such cannot be sealed but we have sealed the staff quarters and the office of the governor will be shut for eight days as staff members are in quarantine, the official added.

Late on Saturday night, Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan and his son, Abhishek Bachchan, tested positive for Covid-19 and were admitted to the Nanavati Hospital. They have mild symptoms and are stable, said hospital authorities on Sunday.

Maharashtras death toll due to Covid-19 had breached the 10,000 mark on Saturday with 223 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, as the states case tally also registered its highest single-day spike of 8,139 infections  first in excess of 8,000.

The toll stands at 10,116 and the tally at 246,600, according to data released by the state health department, which also stated that active cases rose close to 1 lakh at 99,202. The state reported its first Covid-19 death on March 17, which means it took 117 days to cross the grim 10,000-mark.

Saturday was also the second consecutive day that the state reported its sharpest single-day spike after it recorded 7,862 cases on Friday.

Meanwhile, Mumbai maintained a sort of stability in the number of fresh cases. On Saturday, it reported 1,284 new Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 91,745. There are 22,782 active cases in the city. Mumbais death toll stands at 5,244 after 39 more fatalities on Saturday.

The number of recovered patients in the state also increased to 136,985 after 4,360 patients recovered in the past 24 hours, data showed on Saturday. The recovery rate has improved to 55.55%.

As the cases are going up across the state, the situation in Mumbai appears to be slightly under control as compared to last month. Mumbais contribution to the state tally has reduced to 37.20% with 91,745 cases from 58.09% with 43,492 cases on June 3.

In contrast, the number of daily cases in other eight cities of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) are rising at a rapid speed. Their contribution has increased to 25.56% (63,039 cases) from 15.49% (11,594 cases) on June 3.

The cities are Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayander, Ulhasnagar, Panvel, Vasai-Virar and Bhiwandi-Nizampur.

On Saturday, Kalyan-Dombivli recorded 640 fresh infections, Thane 455, Navi Mumbai 256, Ulhasnagar 304, Mira-Bhayander 260, Vasai-Virar 305, Panvel 169 and Bhiwandi-Nizampur recorded 63.

Amid the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in MMR, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with commissioners of civic bodies in the region on July 9 and termed the situation a concern.

This was Thackerays second interaction with the civic chiefs in under two weeks.

Thackeray, who expressed dissatisfaction over the health infrastructure in many cities in MMR, has directed them to follow the example of Mumbai and ramp up health facilities for Covid-19 cases.

The chief minister during the video conference also asked officials to set up field hospitals to treat patients of the coronavirus disease.

The areas that are not in the red zoneapart from the states 19 citiesare also experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Their contribution to the states caseload rose to almost double in more than a month. It has now gone up to 17.56% from 9.32% on June 3, indicating a rise even in rural areas of the state.

Dr Archana Patil, director at the directorate of health services, said they are working only on enhancing healthcare facilities and cannot say that the peak has started.

Currently, we are monitoring the growth rate of fresh infections and based on that, making projections for the coming weeks. I cannot say that the peak has started. Our priority is to augment healthcare facilities because more cases need more medical facilities. We will have to match the health infrastructure with the rise in fresh cases in each and every district of the state, Dr Patil said.

Stricter lockdown restrictions have been imposed in several cities and districts by the local administration amid the rise in the numbers of infections.

Solapur municipal corporation declared on Saturday that a lockdown will be imposed between July 16 and July 26 to break the chain of infections. Solapur municipal commissioner Milind Shambharkar made the announcement after 77 fresh cases were reported in the city. The case count went up to 3,085.

Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic bodies had on Friday decided to impose a 10-day lockdown from July 13, while Mumbais neighbouring Thane and Kalyan-Dombivli civic bodies have also extended their ongoing lockdown for seven more days till July 19.

Along with a spike in cases, the state is also reporting a large number of deaths every day. In the past 11 days, it has recorded 2,110 Covid-19 casualties. With 9,893 deaths, the case fatality rate (CFR) of the state was recorded at 4.15% on Friday.

It is second highest in the country after Gujarat, where the CFR is 5.05% with 2,022 deaths and 40,069 cases recorded till Friday, according to data shared by the states medical education department.
More than 74,000 Pima County residents could be at risk of losing their homes as Arizona Gov. Doug Duceys moratorium on evictions approaches its end.

Across Arizona, 365,000 renters could face eviction over the next four months, according to a recently published analysis by the international consulting firm Stout Risius Ross.

The University of Arizonas Innovation for Justice Program at the James E. Rogers College of Law uses Stouts methods for making local predictions while the programs Cost of Eviction Calculator provides cost estimates: The state could pay over $2 billion and the county upwards of $419 million for costs related to a surge of evictions. Among the expenses: related child-welfare cases; medical and emergency room visits; shelter fees; and involvement in the juvenile court system.

Duceys order delaying evictions for renters affected by COVID-19 is scheduled to expire July 22.

There are no plans to extend the order at this time, said Patrick Ptak, the governors spokesman, who added that the state is continuing to monitor the situation.
Rajasthan's deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot arrived in Delhi on Sunday morning with some of his loyalist MLAs and may talk to party leadership regarding the developing political crisis in the state.

Pilot is expected to speak to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi, a day after he met her close aide and senior party leader Ahmed Patel. The flurry of meetings comes amid a slugfest over the BJP's alleged attempts to topple the Congress-led Rajasthan government.

According to sources, Pilot told Patel at a meeting late on Saturday night that chief minister Ashok Gehlot was trying to sideline him and was given assurances that injustice will not be allowed to happen to him.

The meeting followed fast-paced political developments in Jaipur that have sent alarm bells ringing in Congress high command as a deepening rift between Gehlot and Pilot threatens of a fate similar to what happened in Madhya Pradesh, where Jyotiraditya Scindia walked out the government with his MLAs, leading to the downfall of the Congress.

Sources said that Pilot claims he has 23 MLAs in his camp and wants to flaunt his strength because of the clash with Gehlot. About 16 of the pro-Pilot Congress MLAs and three independent MLAs reached Delhi on Saturday, ahead of the deputy CM's arrival.

They said that Pilot believes that the inquiry ordered by Gehlot against three Independent MLAs for alleged attempts to bribe Congress MLAs ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls last month was also a way to target his camp.

Seniors in the party feel that this ego clash can be avoided and have asked Piliot to show patience and not ruin his future, assuring that things would be sorted out.

At the heart of the tussle between the two is a deep distrust that has manifested itself multiple times in the last couple of years.

On Saturday, chief minister Ashok Gehlot also convened a meeting of the council of ministers at his residence to discuss the political situation in the state. Urban Development and Housing Minister Shanti Dhariwal, Health Minister Raghu Sharma, Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Labour Minister Tikaram Jully, among others, visited Gehlot. Apart from Congress MLAs, Independent MLAs also met the chief minister.

Gehlot has accused the opposition BJP of trying to topple his government by offering his legislators large sums of money. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were unable to "tolerate" him or his government and were therefore planning a conspiracy.

Rejecting Gehlot's allegations, BJP state president Satish Poonia said the political situation in the state was the result of infighting in the Congress and the chief minister was just trying to shift the blame.
Mumbai: Amitabh Bachchan on Sunday (July 12, 2020) extended his love and gratitude to the people who expressed their concern, prayers, and wishes for Big B and his family's speedy recovery from the coronavirus.

The 77-year old megastar took to Twitter and wrote, "To them that have expressed their concern, their prayers and their wishes for Abhishek Aishwarya Aaradhya and me .. my unending gratitude and love."

Bollywood's Shehenshah who's now admitted to Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital further added, "It shall not be possible for me to acknowledge and respond to all the prayers and wishes expressed by them that have shown concern towards Abhishek, Aishwarya, Aaradhya and me. I put my hands together and say *emoticon for folded hands*. Thank you for your eternal love and affection."

T 3591 - ... to them that have expressed their concern, their prayers and their wishes for Abhishek Aishwarya Aaradhya and me .. my unending gratitude and love ..      ,     ,    ,      Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 12, 2020

T 3592 - It shall not be possible for me to acknowledge and respond to all the prayers and wishes expressed by them that have shown concern towards Abhishek, Aishwarya, Aaradhya and me ..

I put my hands together and say ..

Thank you for your eternal love and affection ..  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 12, 2020

The Bachchan family has been the latest Bollywood victims to the unprecedented outbreak of the coronavirus as senior Bachchan along with junior Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her daughter Aaradhya have contracted the virus.

Also read | Amitabh Bachchan's battle for life with Coolie accident, Tuberculosis and intestinal ailment

Earlier in the day, Abhishek who is also currently admitted to Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital shared an update on his wife Aishwarya and daughter Aaradhya.

The 44-year-old actor informed that while his wife and daughter will be home-quarantined, his mother Jaya Bachchan, who has tested negative, will be under self-isolation.

The actor also wrote that he and his father are still in the hospital and will remain there until doctors decide otherwise.

The statement from the actor came amid speculation that he has been discharged from the hospital.

The BMC officials have sealed all four bungalows of Bachchans  Jalsa, Prateeksha, Vatsa and Janak on Sunday.

A sanitation drive was also carried out at Jalsa where the family lives. The Juhu bungalow was already declared a containment zone and no one is now allowed to enter or exit the area.

The BMC also conducted contact tracing among all staff members, and at least 30 people were identified as high-risk contacts.

A total of 16 people including guards and staff from the Bachchan family have been tested, reports of which will come out on July 13.

Luckily, Big B's wife Jaya has tested COVID-19 negative and so has the couple's daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda and her children Agastya and Navya Naveli.
The mercury will drop into single digits in Brisbane this week as an approaching cold spell causes overnight minimum temperatures to nosedive.

Temperatures will hit freezing this week near the Queensland-NSW border and further inland, with the possibility of the mercury going sub-zero, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Temperatures will hit freezing this week near the interstate border and in central-southern Queensland. Credit:Shutterstock

Meteorologist Kimba Wong said the trough which lingered throughout the weekend, would move offshore on Monday morning and make way for the cold snap.

"There is a cool, dry air mass coming through most of the state in its wake and that will be the story for much of the week," she said.
Mumbai: Actor Amit Sadh informed his fans that he will get himself tested for coronavirus COVID-19 on Sunday (July 12), a day after his 'Breathe: Into The Shadows' co-star Abhishek Bachchan along with a few members of his family, including his father, wife and daughter tested positive for the infection.

Amit and Abhishek were dubbing for their web-series 'Breathe: Into The Shadows' until recently, which got premiered on July 10.

Sharing the news, Amit tweeted, "Hi all. Thank you everyone for all your concern and wishes. I am feeling perfectly fine. However, will get a precautionary COVID-19 test done today. My thoughts and prayers are with Mr Bachchan, Abhishek and family. Hoping for their speedy recovery."

Abhishek made his digital debut with the second instalment of 'Breathe' where he met Amit. The duo dubbed for their episodes in the recent past.

Also Read: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek, Aishwarya, Aaradhya test coronavirus COVID-19 positive; Jaya, Shweta negative  Here's complete details

On Saturday evening, Amitabh and Abhishek were admitted to Nanavati Hospital after they tested positive for COVID-19. They shared the news of their illness on social media and asked their fans to stay calm. A day later on Sunday, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan along with her daughter Aaradya too tested positive for the infection. They along with Jaya Bachchan and other members of the Bachchan family had undergone tests on Saturday and had tested negative in their first report.

Jaya Bachchan, Shweta Nanda and her children Navya Naveli and Agastya have tested negative in their second report and are in self-isolation.

On Sunday, a team from the civic body visited Bachchan's bungalows - Janak, Jalsa and Pratiksha for sanitisation and contact tracing.
The Indian army has set its eyes on acquiring hand-launched, remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle Raven from US and state-of-the-art Israeli Spike Firefly loitering ammunition to add lethality to its ground infantry apart from long-range precision artillery shells with a range of over 40 kilometres.

While the army is sharpening the teeth of its infantry, the air force will get five Rafale multi-role fighter jets from Paris this month, with another four to be used for training in France. The five fighter jets will be based at Ambala.

The Indian navy is all set to commission its second ballistic missile-firing nuclear submarine, INS Arighat, later this year.

According to people in South Block aware of the development, the army is set to acquire 200 pieces of RQ-11 UAV, which can fly up to 10 kilometers at an altitude of 500 feet and speed up to 95 kilometre per hour, to help infantry troops conduct reconnaissance of the battle theatre ahead and placement of enemy troops.

After the Indian army brought Spike Mark III anti-tank guided missiles from Israel as part of emergency purchases due to the Ladakh standoff with China, it is now buying firefly ammunition that can deliver a precision strike on enemy troops hiding within a range of one km.

The latest Firefly ammunition not only has loitering capability to locate a target but also can be called back if the target has moved beyond range.

While the IAF and Indian Army have been at the forefront of the Indian posture in Ladakh, the Indian Navy has been on the front foot in the Indian Ocean against Chinese warships.

According to senior military officials, the Navy through its Fusion Centre at Gurugram, has kept a close watch on the Indian Ocean throughout the Ladakh crisis and has been able muscle out six Chinese warships from the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean region.

These ships were around Gwadar port in Balochistan. First three ships went back to China with Indian Navy closely watching them and then the remaining three also returned to their home country. Today, there is not a single Chinese warship in Indian Ocean, said a senior military officer on condition of anonymity.

While the senior military commander talks on disengagement in Ladakh will take place this week, the troop withdrawal exercise from all the four stand-off points is currently on with verification on the ground.

While the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army has tried to link the withdrawal with other conditions, Indian army commanders have made it clear that the disengagement is unconditional.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shishir Gupta Author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (2011, Hachette) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (2014, Hachette). Awarded K Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and the 2011 Ben Gurion Prize by Israel. ...view detail
Only five years ago, then-British Prime Minister David Cameron was celebrating a golden era" in U.K.-China relations, bonding with President Xi Jinping over a pint of beer at the pub and signing off on trade deals worth billions.

Those friendly scenes now seem like a distant memory.

Hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent days over Beijings new national security law for Hong Kong. Britains decision to offer refuge to millions in the former colony was met with a stern telling-off by China. And Chinese officials have threatened consequences" if Britain treats it as a hostile country" and decides to cut Chinese technology giant Huawei out of its critical telecoms infrastructure amid growing unease over security risks.

All that is pointing to a much tougher stance against China, with a growing number in Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Conservative Party taking a long, hard look at Britains Chinese ties. Many are saying Britain has been far too complacent and naive in thinking it could reap economic benefits from the relationship without political consequences.

Its not about wanting to cut ties with China. Its that China is itself becoming a very unreliable and rather dangerous partner," said lawmaker and former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. He cited Beijings trashing" of the Sino-British Joint Declaration  the treaty supposed to guarantee Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy when it reverted from British to Chinese rule  and aggressive posturing in the South China Sea as areas of concern.

This is not a country that is in any way managing itself to be a good and decent partner in anything at the moment. Thats why we need to review our relationship with them," he added. Those who think this is a case of separating trade from government  you cant do that, thats naive."

Duncan Smith has lobbied other Tory lawmakers to cut Huawei out from Britains superfast 5G network. Not only that: He says all existing Huawei technology in the U.K. telecoms infrastructure also needs to be eliminated as soon as possible.

The company has been at the center of tensions between China and Britain, as U.K. officials review how the latest U.S. sanctions  imposed over allegations of cyber spying and aimed at cutting off Huawei's access to advanced microchips made with American technology  will affect British telecom networks.

Johnson decided in January that Huawei can be deployed in future 5G networks as long as its share of the market is limited, but officials have since hinted that that decision could be reversed in light of the U.S. sanctions. A new policy is expected within weeks.

Huawei says it is merely caught in the middle of a U.S.-China battle over trade and technology. It has consistently denied allegations it could carry out cyber espionage or electronic sabotage at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.

Weve definitely been pushed into the geopolitical competition," Vice President Victor Zhang said Wednesday. U.S. accusations about security risks are all politically motivated, he said.

Nigel Inkster, senior adviser to the International Institute for Strategic Studies and former director of operations and intelligence at Britains MI6 intelligence service, said the issue with Huawei was not so much about immediate security threats. Rather, he said, the deeper worry lies in the geopolitical implications of China becoming the world's dominant player in 5G technology.

Its less about cyber espionage than generally conceived because, after all, thats happening in any place," he said. This was never something of which the U.K. was lacking awareness."

Still, Inkster said hes been cautioning for years that Britain needed a more coherent strategy toward China that balances the economic and security factors.

There was a high degree of complacency" back in the 2000s, he said. There was always less to the golden era than met the eye."

Britain rolled out the red carpet for Xis state visit in 2015, with golden carriages and a lavish banquet at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II. A cyber security cooperation deal was struck, along with billions in trade and investment projects  including Chinese state investment in a British nuclear power station. Cameron spoke about his ambitions for Britain to become Chinas best partner in the West."

Enthusiasm has cooled significantly since. The English city of Sheffield, which was promised a billion-pound deal with a Chinese manufacturing firm in 2016, said the investment never materialized. Critics have called it a vanity project and a candy floss deal."

Economic and political grumbles about China erupted into sharp rebukes earlier this month when Beijing imposed sweeping new national security laws on Hong Kong. Johnsons government accused China of a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and announced it would open a special route to citizenship for up to 3 million eligible Hong Kong residents.

That amounts to gross interference," Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming said. Liu also warned that a decision to get rid of Huawei could drive away other Chinese investment in the U.K., and derided Britain for succumbing to U.S. pressure over the company.

Rana Mitter, an Oxford history professor specializing in China, said that the security law  combined with broader resentment about Chinese officials handling of information about the coronavirus  helped set the stage for a perfect storm of wariness among Britains politicians and the public.

Mitter added that Britain has careened from uncritically accepting everything about China" to a confrontational approach partly because of a lack of understanding about how China operates.

Some have cautioned against escalating tensions. Philip Hammond, the former British Treasury chief, warned that weakening links with the worlds second-largest economy was particularly unwise at a time when Britain is severing trade ties with Europe and seeking partners elsewhere. Hammond also said he was concerned about an alarming" rise of anti-Chinese sentiment within his Conservative Party.

Duncan Smith rejected that, saying concerns about Chinas rise are cross-party and multinational. He is part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a newly launched group of lawmakers from more than a dozen countries  from the U.S. to Australia to Japan  that want a coordinated international response to the Chinese challenge.

We need to recognize that this isn't something one country can deal with," he said.





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An urgent public health alert has been issued in Queensland after a Sydney hotel popular with travellers has been identified as the source of a COVID-19 outbreak in NSW.

Any Queenslanders who visited the Crossroads Hotel in the south-western Sydney suburb of Casula on July 3 to July 10 inclusive should isolate and be tested, according to the state health department.

Medical staff at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic in Casula in NSW, where the local Crossroads Hotel is now a hotspot. Credit:David Gray - Getty Images

Meanwhile, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed one new case in the Sunshine State on Monday, but the person was already in hotel quarantine.

"We have only one new case, but its in hotel quarantine, so we have absolutely no concerns about that issue for Queensland," she said.
BBC collaborates with Sri Lanka Tourism View(s):

Despite being considerably affected by the recent COVID -19 outbreak, Sri Lanka Tourism is currently taking several measures to revive the Tourism sector by collaborating with key international organisations, and platforms, through destination promotional marketing among new markets via social and digital media. It is very well known that the Travel and Tourism industry worldwide has faced a major drawback due to the ongoing COVID -19 crisis, and Sri Lanka faces a tough challenge in encouraging tourist arrivals with the new health precautions and safety guidelines in place.

Sri Lanka has been highly successful in its efforts to control the spread of COVID -19 and has proven that the country is not just the worlds number one travel destination, but also a destination with an excellent health care system. As one of the leading media giants in the world, BBC extended its valuable support to Sri Lanka Tourism during this challenging time, by entering into a no cost partnership with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) through a comprehensive advertising campaign.

As a result, the campaign was launched in June 2020 with a coverage of 375 spots on 30 second commercials for a period of one month and were aired in South Asia, Asia Pacific, Middle East, North America and Europe news feeds of the BBC Network, (both Digital and TV).The high visibility destination marketing campaign was a result of the long standing partnership with the media platform and a testament to Sri Lankas proactive guidelines and protocols that have been put in place to provide travellers from across the world a safe and secure experience in a post COVID 19 environment.

In the current context,a large number of travellers from around the world are eagerly awaiting the re-commencement of their tours or have had to put on hold their travel plans until the situation is controlled. Considering that the destination marketing space will be highly competitive in this new normal, continuous visibility of the Sri Lanka Tourism brand is essential. SLTPB is currently working on several advertising campaigns to keep Sri Lanka at the forefront among the selected target markets is geared up to promote our paradise island once more as a top travel and tourism destination with a diverse range of attractions from pristine beaches to lush green mountains and an island that offers unmissable experiences while ensuring the safety of all travellers.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A woman and a man were murdered in two different incidents on Friday in Chennai and Kancheepuram respectively. The woman was allegedly killed by her husband and the man was murdered by his neighbour.

Devi Prasad (45) and his wife Saraswathi (42) were residents of Ennaikaran Street in Kancheepuram. While Devi was working as a driver in a travels agency in Chennai, Saraswathi had been working as a domestic servant in few houses at her neighbourhood.

Since the lockdown, the duo was unemployed and often fights erupted between them. On Friday, during a similar fight, Devi Prasad stabbed his wife with a kitchen knife and later hanged himself. When the couple did not step out of the house for a longtime, neighbours entered the house and found both of them dead, said a police officer.

In the second incident, Selvam (50), a resident of Ambedkar Street in Adambakkam, had frequent fights with his neighbour Anjalai and her son Kuralarasan. Selvam had often questioned Kuralarasan for being wayward and sometimes about the sewage waste entering his house. On Friday, there was a similar fight. Anjalai informed her son about the incident.

Kuralarasan along with his friends entered Selvams house at around 10 pm and stabbed him. When Selvam was trying to flee, the mob chased him and stabbed him several times, said an officer. The police registered a case and arrested Anjalai. The hunt to nab Kuralarasan and his friends is still on.
Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- 566,000+ deaths -

The pandemic has killed at least 566,075 people worldwide since it surfaced in China late last year, according to an AFP tally at 1900 GMT on Sunday based on official sources.

The United States is the worst-hit country with 135,066 deaths.

It is followed by Brazil with 71,469, Britain with 44,819, Italy with 34,954 and Mexico with 34,730 fatalities.

- South Africa declares night curfew -

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa re-imposes a night curfew and suspends alcohol sales again as infections spike.

"As we head towards the peak of infections, it is vital that we do not burden our clinics and hospitals with alcohol-related injuries that could have been avoided," Ramaphosa says in an address to the nation.

- Sharp rise of virus cases -

The pandemic has been accelerating sharply since the start of July, according to a count carried out by AFP from official sources.

The three biggest daily worldwide increases in new cases were seen on Saturday (more than 230,000), Friday (more than 225,000) and Thursday (nearly 220,000).

The number of declared cases worldwide -- now at nearly 13 million -- has doubled in just a month and a half.

- 'Tragic' resurgence in Iran -

Iran's supreme leader calls the resurgence of the virus in the country "truly tragic" and urges all citizens to help stem what has been the region's deadliest outbreak.

- Hungary gets tough on travel -

Hungary's government says it is barring travel from Africa, most of Asia apart from China and Japan, and restricting entry from several European countries after worldwide spikes in cases.

- Indonesia outbreak -

Nearly 1,300 people at the Indonesian Army Officer Candidate School in the country's most populated province of West Java test positive and are quarantined, with 30 initially hospitalised with mild symptoms, an official says.

Of the 1,280 confirmed infections, 991 are cadets and the rest are staff and their family members. Most have no symptoms.

- Sri Lanka cancels rallies -

Sri Lanka's ruling party calls off its rallies ahead of parliamentary elections on August 5 and delays the planned August 1 reopening of the international airport.

A swathe of cases have emerged in the last week, including an outbreak at a drug rehabilitation centre that saw 253 patients test positive in a single night.

- Trump wears mask -

US President Donald Trump wears a face mask in public for the first time, donning a dark mask with the presidential seal as he walks through the corridors of Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington to meet wounded veterans.

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Thanks to the machinations of Turkeys Islamist president, Recep Erodgan, Turkey will be reconverting the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. There was no need for this, except to assert an Islamic supremacism to his voter base.

The construction of the Hagia Sophia  the name means Holy Wisdom - started in 360 A.D. A fire destroyed it in the sixth century, but a re-construction soon started, which was completed in 537 A.D. For the next nine centuries, the Hagia Sofia was a church, arguably the greatest in the world.

It shifted hands between Catholics and Orthodox  and in the 8th century, icons were destroyed by iconclasts - but it always remained in Christian hands.

In 1453, with the fall of Constantinople, the Hagia Sofia fell into the hands of Muslims. For over nine centuries (not counting the first church which was burnt down) it had been a central point of Christian worship. But the Muslims set about turning it into a mosque. Still, even to this day, the Hagia Sofia had been a place of Christian worship for twice as long as it had been a mosque.

After the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was defeated. Kemel Attaturk took over Turkey, and tried to reform it, to produce a kinder, gentler, secular Islam. In 1935, the Hagia was de-Islamicized and turned into a secular museum. One of the greatest museums in the world.

Click here to see PBS documentary.

The Hagia Sofia is truly a World Heritage Site, in every sense of the word.

But to an Islamist, like Erdogan, the Hagia Sofia had to re-Islamified. On July 10th, after the approval of a Turkish Court, Erdogan signed a decree reinstating the Hagia Sofia as a mosque. He promises that Islamic services will begin on July 24.

. What a monstrous decision this is, but it is all too typical of Islam. Islam loves to steal the religious sites of others. I am not of a Greek Orthodox background, and have some differences with their theology, but the outrage still festers. Islam never surrenders what it has stolen. To get an idea of what was lost  and giving a hat tip to The American Conservative for finding this video  click to hear what Christian chanting in the Hagia must have sounded like  thanks to computer simulation. Or check out this video (Click here). Such glorious echoes would not be possible in Western, angular church structures. The Reformation rightly re-invigorated hymnistry, with its emphasis on worship in song in the local languages, but I doubt the Reformation has come near the Orthodox emphasis on structural acoustics, especially given the Reformations preference for simplicity in buildings, order of worship, theology, and its disdain for tradition. Oh, well! To each its own. In India, in the 16th century, the Ayodhya religious site was taken over by Muslims to construct the Babri Mosque. In 1992, Indian Hindus liberated the mosque, but only recently, in 2019, has the Indian Supreme Court allowed the Indians to continue with construction of a Hindu temple. According to The Guardian [The Indian supreme court] ruled that a mosque that had stood on the site since the 16th century, and was the basis of the Muslim claim to Ayodhya, was not built on vacant land and that the Hindu belief could not be disputed. The judges declared that a separate prominent five-acre piece of land would be allocated to the Muslim community to build a mosque near the contested site. By allocating five acres to the Muslims, India was more generous than I suspect Islam would have been to the Hindus. Wikipedia has a list of non-Islamic buildings converted to mosques. (Click here). Much of these structures were forcibly converted. Many have remained under Muslim control, some sporting the name of Great Mosque or Grand Mosque. What should be obvious is that many of the now-so-called mosques shown to tourists were not Islamic to begin with. Many were cathedrals  which should disabuse some of the claims of Islamic genius in architecture. The list would be even longer, except that some buildings were liberated back from the Muslims. (such as in Spain, Hungary, and Greece). Of course, the greatest theft is the Islamic occupation of the Temple Mount. Any competent historian can show that its origins were Jewish. The only good thing to come out of this Hagia Sophia mosquification is that the Orthodox Christian world is furious, and Turkey may get a lot of diplomatic blowback, even from some of its so-called friends. Greece and Russia, both Orthodox Christian nations, are furious over this. Much of Eastern Europe will be outraged as well. What the West should do is inform Turkey that since a precedent has been set, the West will not complain if the Jews retake their patrimony. If Islam can re-Islamify the Hagia, let the Jews re-Judaize the Temple Mount. There is a critical difference though. Islam is re-taking a structure that was never theirs to begin with, but the Jews  unlike the Muslims  would be re-taking what was theirs all along. Now is the time for the West to take advantage of Eastern Orthodox anger to put an end to Islamic predations in Israel. We can use this window of opportunity to allow the Jews to act, and this time we might have a lot of support from nations who have hitherto been neutral. A message should be sent to Islam.

Image credit: Pexels public domain, processed with FotoSketcher
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: In a major move, the Rajasthan ACB (Anti Corruption Bureau) unit has registered an FIR (PE) against three independent MLAs amidst allegations of horse-trading in the state.

The three MLAs against whom the FIR has been lodged are Om Prakash Hoodla from Dausa who is the MLA from Ajmer, Suresh Tank and MLA Khushveer Singh from Marwar Junction in Pali district.

According to ACB sources, they were trying to lure fellow MLAs and subsequently topple the elected government.

Congress has removed all three of them from their associated members' list.

Allegedly these three MLAs approached their counterparts in Banswara and Dungarpur districts and offered to bribe them with a large sum of money. ACB DG Dr Alok Tripathi has confirmed the claim and now the ACB is likely begin its investigation under the PC Act.

ALSO READ | Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot says BJP trying to topple his govt; saffron party blames Congress infighting

Meanwhile, the ACB has filed a lawsuit against the three independent MLAs who were believed to be supporters of Ashok Gehlot's government and its action has caused panic amongst the other independent legislative members who also support the ruling party.

Before the Rajya Sabha elections in June, Mahesh Joshi, the Chief Whip in the state government, alleged that the opposition is tempting MLAs, both with the Congress party and independent ones, to destabilize the government.

Two phone numbers were also given in this report further stating that these were used to call people and lure them.

Joshi had also filed a written complaint with ACB and SOG (Special Operations Group) and the SOG on Friday filed a case in connection with this and the names of MLA Ramila Khadia from Kushalgarh in Banswara district and former Minister, along with present Congress MLA Mahendrajit Singh Malviya.

They were allegedly offered bribe by the opposition.

Meanwhile, CM Ashok Gehlot on Saturday accused the Centre of trying to topple the Rajasthan government.

Accusing BJP, CM said that the opposition is offering Rs 15 crore to Congress MLAs.

"While during the Corona crisis, the government is working for the people, BJP meantime is causing problems for the people. BJP is constantly trying to topple our government," Gehlot said.
Amid deepening political crisis in Rajasthan, Rajasthan Congress president and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, who is is miffed with CM Ashok Gehlot, has arrived in Delhi with his loyalist MLAs in order to meet Sonia Gandhi and apprise her about the political situation in the state.

Speculations are rife that Pilot is planning to take some drastic decisions but he wants to meet the party high command before taking a final call.

The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police has sent a notice to Pilot seeking his availability for recording his statement in connection with the alleged attempts to topple Congress government in the state.

Sources said that all 13 independent MLAs have also received SOG notice to appear for questioning. It is to be noted that all these MLAs are supporting CM Gehlot's govermment. Pilot loyalist minister Ramesh Meena has also received SOG notice.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan, Avinash Pandey, has submitted a report to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi saying there is no threat to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state.

Pandey mentioned in his report that all Congress MLAs are in touch with the senior leaders of the party. The report, however, noted that there is some resentment of the MLAs that will be resolved.

Pandey said in his report that Pilot is also angry because he is afraid of losing Rajasthan Congress president post. Notably, Pilot is the president of Rajasthan Congress since 2014. The assembly elections in 2018 were also fought under his leadership.

But after winning the election, the Congress appointed Gehlot as the chief minister after which the Chief Minister, after which the relationship between the two leaders kept on deteriorating with each passing day. continued continuously in Rajasthan.

In 2018 too, Pilot had agreed to accept the Deputy CM post only if the party let him remain the state president oo. Sources said that Pilot now feels that the party is now planning to remove him from the state president post. Pilot is of the view that Gehlot wants to sideline him in state's politics and Pilot has made his displeasure known to party high command too. Sources claimed that Congress high command is also willing to remove Pilot as Rajasthan Congress president.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the BJP is not planning to topple the Congress government in Rajasthan as the party thinks that the grand old party is facing crisis due to internal rivalry between CM Gehlot and Deputy CM Pilot.
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said he had launched an investigation into violence committed during a mass anti-government protest on Friday, which saw at least one person killed and 20 wounded. Thousands initially rallied in the capital city Bamako to demand that Keita resign over a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption in the fragile West African state. But the protest later descended into violence -- a rare occurrence in the capital -- as demonstrators blocked main thoroughfares, attacked the parliament and stormed the premises of the state broadcaster. "We have recorded one death," said Yamadou Diallo, a doctor in Bamako's Gabriel Toure hospital, adding that 20 people had been wounded. An official from the prime minister's office also confirmed the death. The circumstances under which people were wounded and one person was killed were not immediately clear. The protest, organised by a new opposition coalition, is the third such demonstration in two months -- significantly escalating pressure on the 75-year-old president. Led by influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, the so-called June 5 movement is channelling deep-seated frustrations in the country. The opposition alliance said in a Friday evening statement that, pending further details, it held the government responsible for the violence. It also urged security forces to protect "the bare-handed protesters who are only defending democratic, secular and republican values". Keita, in a statement on Friday evening, said the scale of "human and material losses" remained unclear but that an investigation was underway. He also bemoaned the violence and suggested that some opposition leaders had incited it. Friday's demonstration came after the president unsuccessfully floated reforms intended to appease opponents this week, having rejected their calls to dissolve the parliament and form a transition government. -- Barricades, burning tyres -- Many protesters on Friday carried placards bearing anti-government slogans and blew vuvuzela horns, AFP reporters saw. "We don't want this regime any more," said one of the demonstrators, Sy Kadiatou Sow. Protesters later erected barricades and set tyres alight on two of the main bridges in the city, AFP journalists said, and entered the courtyard of state broadcaster ORTM, whose television channels later went off air. National guardsmen also fired tear gas at demonstrators hurling stones at the parliament building. Such unrest is rare in Bamako, which has been spared much of the violence that is routine across swathes of Mali. The country has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012, before spreading to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes. -- 'Civil disobedience' -- On Friday, opposition leaders published a ten-point document calling for civil disobedience. Recommendations in the document included not paying fines, blocking entry to state buildings, and occupying crossroads. After weeks of growing political tension, Keita had made a speech on Wednesday in which he offered to appoint new judges to the constitutional court. The court has been at the centre of controversy in Mali since April 29, when it overturned provisional results for March's parliamentary poll for about 30 seats. That move saw several members of Keita's party elected and triggered protests in several cities. It is also widely seen as having ignited the country's latest political crisis. Keita, who was first elected in 2013, had suggested that appointing new judges would mean the constitutional court could revisit its earlier decision. But the speech fell on deaf ears among Mali's opposition leaders, who had been demanding that the president dissolve the parliament and form a transition government. Issa Kaou Djim, a member of the political opposition, said that efforts at dialogue had failed. "Now, no one considers him the president. But everything we are going to do will be done within a democratic and republican framework," he added. Keita is on increasingly shaky political ground as protests continue, alarming the international community which is keen to avoid Mali sliding into chaos.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - A U.S. district judge on Monday ordered a new delay in federal executions, hours before the first lethal injection was scheduled to be carried out at a federal prison in Indiana. The Trump administration immediately appealed to a higher court, asking that the executions move forward.

Late Monday, the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., refused to allow the executions to proceed. The administration has asked the Supreme Court to step in.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said there are still legal issues to resolve and that the public is not served by short-circuiting legitimate judicial process. The executions, pushed by the administration, would be the first carried out at the federal level since 2003.

Chutkan said the inmates have presented evidence showing that the governments plan to use only pentobarbital to carry out the executions poses an unconstitutionally significant risk of serious pain.

Chutkan said the inmates produced evidence that, in other executions, prisoners who were given pentobarbital suffered flash pulmonary edema, which she said interferes with breathing and produces sensations of drowning and strangulation.

The inmates have identified alternatives, including the use of an opioid or anti-anxiety drug at the start of the procedure or a different method altogether, a firing squad, Chutkan said.

The Justice Department appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

And the Bureau of Prisons continued with preparations in order to move forward should the stay be lifted. The man slated for execution, Daniel Lewis Lee has had access to social visitors, has visited with his spiritual adviser and has been allowed to receive mail, prison officials said. Hes been under constant staff supervision. The witnesses for Lee are expected to include three family members, his lawyers and spiritual adviser.

The new hold came a day after a federal appeals court lifted a hold on the execution of Lee, of Yukon, Oklahoma, which was scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT on Monday at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell.

The government has been trying to plow forward with these executions despite many unanswered questions about the legality of its new execution protocol, said Shawn Nolan, one of the attorneys for the men facing federal execution.

The Lee execution was to be carried out after a federal appeals court lifted an injunction on Sunday that had been put in place last week after some members of the victims family argued they would be put at high risk for the coronavirus if they had to travel to attend. The family on Monday appealed to the Supreme Court.

The decision to move forward with the execution -- and two others scheduled later in the week -- during a global health pandemic that has killed more than 135,000 people in the United States and is ravaging prisons nationwide, drew scrutiny from civil rights groups as well as family of Lees victims.

Critics argue that the government is creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency for political gain. The developments are also likely to add a new front to the national conversation about criminal justice reform in the lead-up to the 2020 elections.

Anti-death penalty protesters began gathering in Terre Haute on Monday. Organizer Abraham Bonowitz drove a van through the city with a sign emblazoned on the side of a trailer that read, Stop executions now!

Because of coronavirus concerns, Bonowitz said his group, Death Penalty Action, wasnt encouraging others to show up. No more than a few dozen protesters were expected to join him.

Its symbolic, Bonowitz said about the protests. We are just here to say that this is wrong.

In an interview with The Associated Press last week, Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department has a duty to carry out the sentences imposed by the courts, including the death penalty, and to bring a sense of closure to the victims and those in the communities where the killings happened.

But relatives of those killed by Lee strongly oppose that idea. They wanted to be present to counter any contention that it was being done on their behalf.

For us it is a matter of being there and saying, `This is not being done in our name; we do not want this, said relative Monica Veillette.

The relatives would be travelling thousands of miles and witnessing the execution in a small room where the social distancing recommended to prevent the virus spread is virtually impossible. An attorney for the family members who have objected to the execution said they hadnt travelled to Indiana, as of Monday morning.

The federal prison system has struggled in recent months to contain the exploding number of coronavirus cases behind bars. There are currently four confirmed coronavirus cases among inmates at the Terre Haute prison, according to federal statistics, and one inmate there has died.

Barr said he believes the Bureau of Prisons could carry out these executions without being at risk. The agency has put a number of additional measures in place, including temperature checks and requiring witnesses to wear masks.

But on Sunday, the Justice Department disclosed that a staff member involved in preparing for the execution had tested positive for the coronavirus, but said he had not been in the execution chamber and had not come into contact with anyone on the specialized team sent to handle the execution.

The three men scheduled to be executed this week had been scheduled to be put to death when Barr announced the federal government would resume executions last year, ending an informal moratorium on federal capital punishment as the issue receded from the public domain. A fourth man is scheduled to be put to death in August.

Executions on the federal level have been rare and the government has put to death only three defendants since restoring the federal death penalty in 1988  most recently in 2003, when Louis Jones was executed for the 1995 kidnapping, rape and murder of a young female soldier.

In 2014, following a botched state execution in Oklahoma, President Barack Obama directed the Justice Departmen t to conduct a broad review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs.

The attorney general said last July that the Obama-era review had been completed, clearing the way for executions to resume.

___

Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Mark Sherman in Washington, Michael Tarm in Chicago and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.
Open banking is expected to provide a boost to the financial technology (fintech) sector in New Zealand. Its progress is closely monitored by the government, which says that COVID-19 has delayed its development. But the pandemic may also provide new opportunities for the growing sector, says industry group FinTechNZ.

What is open banking and who is developing it in New Zealand

Open banking enables better product comparisons and new digital experiences because it allows customers to give third-party providers access their financial data.

To facilitate open banking, the banking sector has to open up their customers financial data via application programming interfaces (APIs). In New Zealand, this is being facilitated by the Payments NZ API Council, which announced in early July 2020 the latest version is now available in its API sandbox, allowing developers to test that their solutions function as expected against the APIs.

The banking industry had received a letter from the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi in December 2019, expressing concern that the process for developing APIs was too slow and too fragmented. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment told Computerworld New Zealand that it continues to monitor progress and has remained engaged with the Payments NZ API Council.

In light of COVID-19, the banks have understandably had to prioritise resources to core banking services for their customers. This has meant delays in some cases to the timeframes for implementing the API standards and therefore bilateral arrangements and delivery of products in market. However, the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs continues to see this work as important and expects API providers to continue efforts in the areas outlined in his letter, the spokesperson told Computerworld New Zealand.

The fintech opportunity in New Zealand

FinTechNZ CEO James Brown describes open banking as the next transformation across New Zealands financial sector. Unlike other countries, New Zealand doesnt have as many skeletons in the cupboard. Open banking will create more trust and transparency as well as a more competitive landscape, he says.

Brown says the Payments NZ API Centre is a great place to test and learn your products and solutions noting that, our regulatory framework is well placed to help stimulate innovation in New Zealand.

He would, however, like to see greater cooperation with global organisations. I would like to see the Financial Markets Authority consider joining the Global Innovation Financial Network, which has over 20 regulators around the world which will help launch new products into market while we are going through COVID.

In addition to the government providing a clear mandate on open banking, Brown is keen on a national strategy around fintech, digital IDs and AI, similar to what is in place for tourism and agricultural technology. As a small nation we have the opportunity to leap ahead of what the UK has achieved around open bankingand could even learn from what is going on in Australia which could lead to a trans-Tasman open banking joint project.

A FintechNZ report on trade opportunities with the UK notes that companies in this sector are some of the best New Zealand performers on the global stage, with Xero, Invenco, Vend, Pushpay and Transaction Services Group all cited. There are 13 fintech companies listed in the TIN200 [which ranks New Zealand tech companies in terms of export revenue] for 2019, and of the TIN200 companies, fintech also had the highest staff growth rate and average wage out of all secondary technology sectors.

Data Portability not in new Privacy Act, but Consumer Data Right may be on its way

There was discussion about data portability being mandated in the new Privacy Act, which comes into effect in December 2019, but it wasnt included. That means that a customer can still only request that a company provide them with their own datathere is no obligation for it to transfer the data to another business. So, if a customer decides to switch providers there is no legal requirement for the original provider to send information to the new provider, nor does the original provider have to destroy the former customers data after they leave.

Brown says the exclusion of data portability in the new Privacy Act isnt a show-stopper for open banking. I dont think its essential, however I do feel that it should form part of the transition as the user then takes control of their own data and how it is shared and distributed, he says.

Meanwhile, Minister Faafoi is aiming to release a discussion document on whether a Consumer Data Right (CDR) is appropriate for New Zealand. This would give consumers more choice and control to share their data between service providers in various sectors.

Australia introduced its version of CDR in 2017, and Brown says a similar law could be advantageous, especially if New Zealand and Australia could look a joint project during COVID.
The party, which holds the majority in the House of Representatives, will field a number of its high-profile figures in the Senate election

Egypt's Mostaqbal Watan (the Future of the Homeland) party announced that it will contest all seats up for grabs in the country's Senate elections, which are due to be held on 11 and 12 August.

A large number of members from the Mostaqbal Watan Party, which holds the majority in the House of Representatives, will run in the polls either independently or as part of a coalition of parties.

The list of Mostaqbal Watan's candidates who registered for the poll on Saturday includes the party's deputy chairman Adel Nasser, the party's assistant secretary-general Essam Hilal, and political analyst Amr Okasha.

Ashraf Rashad, the party's secretary-general, said the party decided to field candidates for the 100 seats reserved for independents.

Mostaqbal Watan, following two rounds of negotiations with 15 political parties, has also prepared "a national unified list" that will contest another 100 seats reserved for party lists.

The list will include the party's leader and former chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razeq; the party's deputy chairman Hossam El-Khouli; Al-Wafd Party's deputy chairman Yasser El-Hodeibi; editor of the leftist Tagammu party's mouthpiece newspaper Al-Ahali Amina El-Naqash; deputy editor of the independent weekly Al-Osbou Mahmoud Bakri; and chairman of the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party Farid Zahran.

Mostaqbal Watans secretary-general Rashad said the national unified list will include candidates from 15 political parties who agreed to join in contesting the 100 seats reserved for party-based lists.

"We are the only party capable of fielding individual and party list candidates in all of Egypt," said Rashad, adding that we have offices in all of Egypt and we have the financial power to campaign in all districts.

The Mostaqbal Watan Party is a staunch supporter of Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's policies regarding economic reform and fighting terrorist organisations.

The Senate election is Egypt's first for a second chamber since the Shura Council was dissolved in 2013. The 2014 constitution did not envisage a second house, though constitutional amendments passed in 2019 returned the council, this time by the name of the Senate.

A law governing the Senate's work and formation was passed by parliament on 17 June.

Head of the National Elections Authority (NEA) Lasheen Ibrahim said candidates can register between 11 and 18 July from 9am to 5 pm. Election committees are set up in first instance courts in Egypt's 27 governorates to receive registration papers.

Ibrahim said that as many as 254 candidates have registered for the Senate election on Saturday.

The Senate law states that it will include 300 seats, one-third of which will be elected via the individual candidacy system, a third by closed party lists, and a third to be named by the president. The law stipulates that 10 percent (30) of the Senate's seats are to be reserved for female candidates.

Under the law, 100 independents will be elected in 27 districts. There will be four party list districts, two of which will elect 15 representatives each, and two will elect 35 each.

Under the closed party list system, a single party or a coalition of parties that gains 51 percent of the votes in a certain district will take all the seats.

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Sunday will have a slight chance of light rain on an otherwise sunny day with a high temperature near 77 degrees.

A front moving into northwest Oregon and southwest Washington will bring a 20% chance of precipitation Sunday in the Portland and Vancouver metro areas. Along the coast and on the west part of the Cascades could see on and off light showers.

The chance of clouds and rain will gradually fade today due to warming temperatures and increasing wind. Morning clouds will mostly stick to the north coast and lower parts of the Columbia River, while the rest of the state will see mostly sunny to sunny conditions.

The rest of the week is forecasted to have highs near 80 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Monday will be mostly clear, while Tuesday through Saturday is expected to be mostly sunny. Evenings will be clear, with lows near 60 degrees and some winds Sunday through Tuesday.

 Ryan Nguyen; rnguyen@oregonian.com; @ryanjjnguyen
By Julia Conley, staff writer, Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams

Following weeks of warnings from public health experts regarding the dangers of allowing the public into bars, restaurants, and other enclosed spaces while coronavirus case numbers continue to rise in several states, hospitals in two of the hardest-hit states showed signs that the pandemic has spun out of control in the United States current epicenters.

According to Floridas Agency for Health Care Administration, 85% of the states intensive care unit (ICU) beds were full as of Saturday morning. Fewer than 1,000 beds are currently available for patients who become critically ill with Covid-19 in a state where more than 11,000 new cases were reported on Friday. More than 9,000 new cases and 421 new hospitalizations were reported on Saturday.

Across the country, in Arizona, 90% of ICU beds were reported to be full according to The Guardian.

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN Friday evening that like healthcare workers did in New York City in April as hospitals rapidly became overrun with victims of the coronavirus pandemic, doctors and nurses in Arizona, Florida, and other states where cases are skyrocketing may soon become overwhelmed by the demand.

We will have hospitals overwhelmed and not only in terms of ICU beds and hospitalsand thats badbut exhausted hospital staff and hospital staff that [are] getting ill themselves, Hotez said. So, we wont have enough manpower, human power, to manage all of this.

In Florida, at least 52 hospitals are currently at full capacity in their ICUs, but Gov. Ron DeSantis, a loyalist to President Donald Trump who began pushing to reopen the states economy in early May, downplayed the situation.

Therell be articles saying, Oh, my gosh. Theyre at 90 percent,' DeSantis said at a press conference Friday. Well, thats how hospitals normally run.

As tens of thousands of people in Florida became ill over the past two days, the state reopened Walt Disney World, one of its top tourist attractions, while DeSantis stressed the importance of schools reopening in the fall.

DeSantis was forced on June 26 to direct bars to shut down again as case numbers skyrocketed, nearly two months after he began the process of reopening. But grim new statistics across the state indicated that the effects of the early reopening are coming to light now.

Florida was among several states which recently saw significant increases in their seven-day averages for coronavirus deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Its consistently picking up. And its picking up at the time youd expect it to, William Hanage, a Harvard University infectious diseases researcher, told The Guardian Saturday of the nationwide death toll, whose increases are currently being driven mainly by California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, Illinois, and New Jersey.

In Arizona on Friday evening, some morgues reported that they were near capacity, with Maricopa Office of the Medical Examiner saying it was 97% full.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, criticized Republican Gov. Doug Duceys decision to begin reopening the state in mid-May.

We opened way too early in Arizona. We were one of the last states to go to stay at home and one of the first to reemerge, and we reemerged at zero to 60, Gallego told ABC News. We had crowded nightclubs handing out free champagne, no masks. Our 20- to 44-year-olds, which is my own demographic, really led the explosion, and weve seen such growth in that area.

Like DeSantis, Ducey was forced in late June to pause the reopenings of some establishments, including bars, gyms, and movie theaters.

The state reported more than 3,000 new cases on Saturday, but as of Saturday afternoon Ducey had not announced any new reopening policy changes.
Three religious shrines are said to have been demolished while razing the old Secretariat complex in Hyderabad this week. The demolition is being carried out to make way for a new building to house Telangana's administration. Photo: Gandhi, DC.

Hyderabad: The reported demolition of two mosques and a temple within the premises of the old Secretariat complex in Hyderabad has invoked sharp reaction from leaders of two communities. A report published in an Urdu daily about the demolitions triggered furious reactions from a cross-section of people.

In a statement, leaders of the United Muslim Forum (UMF)  MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, Moulana Syed Shah Ali Akbar Nizamuddin (Chancellor, Jamia Nizamia), Moulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani (secretary, Muslim Personal Law Board), Moulana Safi Ahmed Madani (Ahle Hadees), Moulana Hamid Mohammed Khan (state President, Jamaat-e-Islami)  condemned the alleged demolition of mosques.

They said that this will hurt the sentiments of Muslims. By demolishing the mosques, chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had lost their trust, they said.

They demanded that the government reconstruct the mosques failing which Muslims would be forced to protest. The UMF leaders condemned the inaction of the Wakf Board in protecting the mosques.

State president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Rama Raju said that it was unfortunate that even places of worship were no longer safe.

We can preserve these places and prepare a design without harming them. If displacing them was necessary then both communities had to be taken into confidence with a promise to rebuild them. The government should not hurt the religious feelings of any community, he contended.

State president Jamiat Ulema Hind Moulana Hafiz Peer Shabbir Ahmed said it was a tragic development for the community.

Earlier a mosque was demolished in Amberpet for road-widening and on our protest, the government promised to rebuild it. However, no action has been taken so far and now the government has razed two mosques. No Muslim leader from his party has objected but we will not remain silent. We will call for protesting against the demolition before the mosques, he said.

TS BJP chief spokesperson K. Krishna Sagar strongly condemned the atrocious and brazen conduct of the government in reportedly demolishing a temple and two mosques inside the Secretariat building complex.

He said BJP will take up a grassroot level agitation if these places of worship have been demolished. We warn the government of serious consequences for this insensible and insinuating act.
The aim of the reduction, from 1.1 trillion euros (US $1.24 trillion) to 1.074 trillion, is to try to appease the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Austria, which were harsh in their criticism of the previous package.

Brussels, July 11 (IANS) European Council President Charles Michel presented a revised proposal that includes a minor reduction to the European Union's (EU) seven-year budget in a bid to secure the green light for his fresh wide-ranging plan to revive the European economy.

A document said the new proposal was made "on the basis of extensive consultations" held between Michel and the heads of state and government of the member states, and it "presents a balanced solution catering for the interests and positions of all member states," Xinhua news agency reported.

A week before EU leaders gather for their first physical meeting since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, Michel told a press conference on Friday that he was "optimistic" that they will accept the new package.

The package he presented combines the seven-year budget -- formally known as the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) -- and a coronavirus pandemic recovery plan, set at 750 billion euros to be allocated as grants and loans to the affected countries and sectors.

Presenting his new package, Michel said the goals of recovery can be summarised in three words: convergence, resilience and transformation. Through this plan, which he described as a one-off tool for an exceptional situation, he said he hoped Europe can repair the damage caused by COVID-19, reform economies and remodel societies.

Michel confirmed that countries with long-held rebates on their European contributions would continue to get them. These countries are Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden.

He said the EU member states will be given more power on how the recovery fund would be distributed, giving member states' capitals more power over the spending plans of their neighbours.

He proposed to preserve the balance between loans, guarantees and grants to avoid over-burdening member states with high levels of debt.

Addressing concerns over repayment at the beginning of the next budget cycle and the lack of own resources that would finance reimbursement, Michel said he was proposing that repayments would start earlier in 2026, two years ahead of what was originally planned.

In June, EU leaders criticized the original package and the European Parliament made a strong case on Wednesday for an improved plan that can help European economies not only survive the current crisis but emerge strengthened and ready to face the challenges of the next years.

--IANS

rt/
BIA new terminal project takes off with loan from Japan By Damith Wickremasekara View(s): View(s):

The Bandaranaike International Airports new terminal is to be constructed by a Japanese company at a cost of Rs 108 billion, Civil Aviation Ministry Secretary S. Hettiarachchi said.

He said they hoped to complete the project in three years and the funding would come as a loan from the Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA).

Japanese companies have been selected as consultants and builders.

The project had been delayed for more than four years following allegations that the engineering cost quoted was 43 percent more than the market price. However after negotiations the rates were revised.

About 200 Japanese are due to arrive in Sri Lanka for engineering work and supervision of the project.

With the construction of the new terminal, an additional nine million passengers could be handled a year raising the capacity from six million to 15 million. A facility to park 600 vehicles will be available after completion, the secretary said.

Meanwhile, the Katunanayake-Minuwangoda road will be closed when the construction begins next month. A special traffic plan will be put into operation in the area.
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 As Gov Ganduje Flags-Off Seasonal Malaria Chemeprevention, MNCH Week

-Insists other illnesses need attention too

To effectively tame Malaria in Kano state, governor Abdullahi Umar Gandujes administration in collaboration with Malaria Consortium, will spend over Three Billion Naira (N3b) in the state.

Governor Ganduje assured that the state would do everything humanly possible to do away with Malaria in the state, Which is one of the health problems disturbing societies of Tropical Africa. We cannot afford to loose this fight against Malaria, he said.

He made this known when he flags-off Seasonal Malaria Chemeprevention along with Maternal Newborn and Child Health Week, for the 44 local governments of the state, in Bichi, which took place at Bichi Emirs Palace.

The flagging-off was in the presence of the Emir, Nasiru Ado Bayero, Deputy Governor, Dr Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, development partners, many dignitaries and community leaders, Sunday.

Also in an attempt to avoid sole concentration on COVID-19 pandemic at the expense of all other illnesses, in driving effective response, governor Ganduje said that event was necessary for the continued support and development for the health sector.

It is glaring that global attention is turned to COVID-19 pandemic. We are witnessing the same situation across the country. This, we think should be revisited. That is why we are coming up with this and similar programmes. We need to also give our attention to other illnesses, he reminded.

This programme is aimed at saving our pregnant women and children. Pregnant women should bring themselves for this opportunity and bring forth their children. People should cooperate with government to improve healthcare system, governor Ganduje said.

In his remarks the state Commissioner of Health, Dr Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa reveals There are estimated 219 million cases of Malaria worldwide. Most of these cases were in African region, with an estimated 200 Million making up to 92% of global cases.

Adding that, In 2017 five countries accounting for nearly half of all Malaria cases worldwide were in Africa. And Nigeria alone is contributing 25% of the global burden. With most childhood malarial disease and deaths occurring in the Sahel sub-region.

He explained further that, The MNCH Week will be conducted in all the 44 LGAs in Kano state in four cycles of 4 days per months, from July to October, 2020. The exercise entails administration of Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus Amodiaquine (SPAQ) to children of 3 to 59 months. And therefore targeted 2,835,462 children in the state.

Health Commissioner commanded governor Ganduje that, At this juncture, I wish to most sincerely thank His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kano state, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR for his immense support to Polio eradication.

Particularly the significant role he played in reversing the trend of Polio transmission in Kano state since his days as Deputy Governor. This exemplary leadership and commitment has placed Kano on high pedestal and celebrated worldwide.
Police investigate the scene of a shooting in Chicago, Ill., on July 4, 2020. (Carly Behm/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Police Update: 50 Shot, 9 Fatally, Across Chicago This Weekend

Nine people are dead and at least 50 people have been shot in incidents across Chicago over the weekend, Chicago police said on Sunday evening. Some of the victims were children.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, officials said that the most recent fatal shooting left a 26-year-old man dead in Englewood on Sunday morning.

In another incident, a 14-year-old was also shot and injured in Marquette Park on the Southwest Side. The teen was standing in an alley at 2:55 a.m. when someone opened fire, police told ABC7.

On Friday evening, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed on Chicagos South Side, officials said. The teen was identified as Terrance Malden, whose family members said was standing in the street when someone inside a light-colored vehicle opened fire, striking him in the back.

His family members suggested there is hypocrisy over the lack of outrage over the teens death.

Im sick of it. Im tired of it. We talk about Black Lives Matter, but Im sick and tired of whats going on in these streets, said Erikka Gordon, Maldens aunt, according to ABC7.

Detectives also said they are investigating several more citywide shootings, including one in the Avalon Park area where three women were shot. One of the women died at the hospital, authorities told CBS Chicago, adding that the other two women, both 28, were taken to a nearby hospital and are in fair condition.

Chicago police investigate the scene where a 7-year-old girl was fatally shot in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, Ill., on July 4, 2020. (Tyler LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

In the most recent fatal shooting on Sunday, police stated that five people were shot in North Lawndale. A 52-year-old man was shot in the neck during the incident, and he died at the scene.

The victims are believed to have been in an argument with several men before the shooting. At least two individuals started opening fire, police told local news outlets.

No suspects have been taken into custody or identified, officials told the outlets.

Good Kids Mad City organized a love march in the wake of the recent violence plaguing the city, which has claimed the lives of several children.

Theres not enough graduations, weddings, baby showers, march organizer Nita Tennyson, 22, told the outlet. Its funerals and urns. Thats all Ive been to in the past four years. And I ended up losing one of my friends this weekend. And I wanted to do the march because its enough.

Two marches are being planned for Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Englewood neighborhood and at 4 p.m. in the South Shore area.

During the Fourth of July weekend, 87 people were shot, including 17 fatally, across Chicago, police said. Thirteen of those who were shot were minors.
Washington

With President Donald Trump's poll numbers sliding in traditional battlegrounds as well as conservative-leaning states, and money pouring into Democratic campaigns, Joe Biden is facing rising pressure to expand his ambitions, compete aggressively in more states and press his party's advantage down the ballot.

In a series of phone calls, Democratic lawmakers and party officials have lobbied Biden and his top aides to seize what they believe could be a singular opportunity not only to defeat Trump but also to rout him and discredit what they believe is his dangerous style of racial demagogy.

This election, the officials argue, offers the provocative possibility of a new path to the presidency through fast-changing states like Georgia and Texas, and a chance to install a generation of lawmakers who can cement Democratic control of Congress and help redraw legislative maps following this year's census.

Biden's campaign is so far hewing to a more conservative path. It is focused mostly on a handful of traditional battlegrounds, where it is only now scaling up and naming top aides.

At the moment, Biden is airing TV ads in just six states, all of which Trump won four years ago: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina and Florida. The campaign included perennially close Florida only after some deliberations about whether it was worth the hefty price tag, and when Trump's struggles with older populations made it clearly competitive, according to Democrats familiar with their discussions.

The campaign's reluctance to pursue a more expansive strategy owes in part to the calendar: Biden's aides want to see where the race stands closer to November before they broaden their focus and commit to multimillion-dollar investments, aware that no swing states have been locked up.

Yet they are increasingly bumping up against a party emboldened by an extraordinary convergence of events. Trump's mishandling of the pandemic, his self-defeating rhetorical eruptions and the soaring liberal enthusiasm  reflected in the social justice protests and Democrats' unprecedented Senate fundraising  have many officeholders convinced they must act boldly.

Public and private polling shows Trump not only trailing badly in swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin but also running closely with Biden in traditionally conservative bastions like Kansas and Montana.

"Trump's abominable presidency, especially in the context of the total failure to confront coronavirus, makes Texas very winnable," said Rep. Filemon Vela, an early Biden supporter. He said he is getting bombarded with pleas from Texas Democrats who are similarly convinced the state could turn blue with a substantial commitment.

Vela, who represents a long stretch of South Texas, said he had repeatedly made his case in recent weeks with Biden's campaign manager, Jennifer O'Malley Dillon. He argued that the former vice president's strength with Black voters and suburbanites, and his ability to shave the party's rural losses, gave him the party's best chance in decades to claim the state's 38 electoral votes.

Some Democrats remain chastened by 2016 and believe this moment is so turbulent, and Trump so willing to break through political guardrails, that the party should not grow overconfident.

Georgia Democrats are also especially eager for Biden to compete in the state because it has two Senate seats up for grabs this year. More consequential, they argue, 2020 could kick-start a long-term realignment.

"The Sun Belt expansion is what will drive the next 30 years of elections," said Stacey Abrams, the state's former House Democratic leader, noting that Georgia has the most Black voters by percentage of any potential swing state.

The pressure on Biden, however, is not coming just from the South.

Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio is pushing the former vice president's aides to compete in his state, a long-standing political battleground that many Democrats had concluded was out of reach.

No state offers as big a temptation, and potential payoff, as Texas, with its increasingly Democratic, and diverse, urban centers. Beyond its importance in the presidential race, Texas provides House Democrats more pickup opportunities than any other state and the prospect of claiming a majority in the state House and on the state Supreme Court, both of which could prove pivotal for redistricting.

Recent Texas polls show a close race, with neither candidate leading by more than the margin of error.
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MARAWARA, Afghanistan - In talks in Doha and in Kabul, the Taliban's leaders have struck a conciliatory tone: Issues of human rights, democracy and power sharing are open for discussion, they said, and will be worked out during peace talks with the Afghan government.

But here, in one of the militant group's long-held districts in eastern Afghanistan, Taliban commanders and fighters speak not of peace but of toppling the Afghan government in Kabul. They boast of a hard-fought "military victory" over American forces in the country.

"We will only accept 100% of power in Afghanistan," said Yaser, a 26-year-old Taliban fighter from the Marawara district whose comments were echoed by his commander and others in the area. Yaser, like many Afghans, goes by a single name.

The competing visions of a postwar Afghanistan within the Taliban's ranks reveal the difficult task facing the group's leaders as they seek to rally support for an agreement with the government in Kabul ahead of long-awaited formal talks. Many fear that even with a peace deal, a fractured Taliban could lead Afghanistan back to a period of perpetual violence.

It's difficult to discern how widespread the views expressed by these Taliban fighters are in other parts of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan because access to those areas is severely restricted. Washington Post reporters traveled into the Taliban district in eastern Afghanistan with the permission of the militant group this month. Taliban fighters escorted Post journalists in the district to interview civilians and visit a school and a clinic.

Throughout the trip, Taliban fighters and supporters emphasized the importance of continuing the fight against the Afghan government to assume full control of the country. But even in the relatively small district of Marawara, which has largely been under Taliban control for more than nine years, the group had little to show in the way of governance.

Key services such as education and health care in Marawara are funded by the Afghan government even though the district lies beyond government control.

The Marawara district, in Konar province, is wedged between the government-held town of Asadabad and the border with Pakistan. It is entirely rural and deeply impoverished. Most young men here seek work as day laborers in nearby government-held towns and cities, and the families who stay in Marawara subsist by farming small plots of land and raising livestock.

Along the side of the district's main road - a dirt and rubble track running along a steep mountain - a cluster of Taliban fighters in mismatched fatigues gathered to pose with automatic weapons and white flags. They chanted "death to the American slaves," referring to the Afghan government, and "death to Ashraf Ghani," the Afghan president.

As the United States draws down its forces, the fighters said it is only a matter of time before they take full control of the country. One of the district's commanders described the signing of the peace deal in February as the fulfillment of "a dream" to defeat "the infidels."

Yaser, the fighter, stood among the group, clutching a modern American M4 rifle outfitted with a thermal scope. He said he captured the weapon during an attack on an American base in Kandahar or Helmand. The U.S. military command in Kabul and the Afghan military did not respond to questions about weapons taken by militants from coalition bases.

The group's "military victory" over U.S. forces, Yaser said, was just one reason the Taliban deserved to control the country.

"It's unacceptable to divide power," he said, "and it's not possible to have a divided Islamic government." He said that if Taliban leadership in Qatar agrees to share power, he and his men will break from the movement and take up arms independently.

Amanullah Arabii, a 30-year-old Taliban commander from Marawara, agreed, and said he believes the goal of direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government is the "complete destruction" of the government so an Islamic country can take its place.

Throughout more than a decade of informal and later formal talks with the United States, the Taliban maintained command and control of fighters on the ground by refusing to yield on issues that would risk the group's internal cohesion. But a political settlement with the Afghan government probably will require more controversial concessions, such as explicitly defining human rights, civil liberties and democracy.

Taliban leadership has "a mammoth undertaking up ahead in terms of getting the rank and file on board with what a political negotiated settlement means," said Andrew Watkins, a senior Afghanistan analyst for International Crisis Group. Building that consensus "will require a huge amount of persuasion and explanation . . . and it's intentional that they haven't done any of that yet," he said.

Taliban leaders feared that beginning conversations about political compromise too early would risk more of the group's 50,000 to 100,000 fighters breaking away and joining other militant organizations that pledge to continue violent resistance regardless of a peace deal, Watkins said.

Civilians living in Marawara point to the question of violence and insecurity as one of the reasons they've remained in Taliban territory: They trust the militants to provide better security than the Afghan military. But what they're lacking - and what they say they hope to see in a post-war era - is improved services like paved roads, health care and education.

Like most territory held by the Taliban, Marawara relies on the Afghan government and aid groups for health and education services. But insecurity often delays the delivery of essential goods such as medicine and salary payments to doctors and teachers. Staff members at the district's only clinic in Taliban-controlled territory report that they have not received their government salaries in more than eight months.

Inside the small mud-brick clinic, four women, all in their 20s, waited for the doctor to arrive from a nearby government-held town. No doctor lives in Marawara district, so one travels into Taliban-controlled territory for a few hours a day to see patients. For months, the clinic has been unable to find a surgeon to do the same.

With the doorway covered by a thick blanket and without electricity, the room was dark. Most of the women cradled crying infants, one nursing between sobs.

"We don't know what's wrong with them," said Yasmin, 22, holding her 6-month-old son, the youngest of her five children. Inside the privacy of the clinic, the women could reveal their faces, lifting the blue head-to-toe coverings they are required to wear when leaving the home. Their male guardians waited for them outside in a courtyard.

"With peace, we hope this clinic will receive better medicine from the government," she said, explaining that medicine in syrup form for children is rarely available and her family is too poor to travel into government-held territory to visit a pharmacy.

Across a valley and atop another hill, under the shade of a row of thick trees is Marawara's primary school. Four groups of boys and girls sat on plastic woven mats hunched over tattered practice books as teachers and pupils took turns leading classes through exercises written on chalk boards held up by easels.

The school has been unable to get funds to construct a building, so classes are held in the open air, according to the head teacher, Sayyed Tariq. Like the clinic, the school's supplies and employees are paid for by the government in Kabul. The students learn from government textbooks, but teachers say they don't receive as much funding as schools in government-controlled areas of the country.

"If peace comes, we are hoping for development to build a school," said Tariq.

He said he hoped greater freedom of movement would also allow girls in Marawara to continue their education past primary school. Students are required to segregate by gender after puberty, but the district lacks a female high school teacher, which means girls cannot attend high school. It is a self-perpetuating problem: Most of the teachers in Marawara like Tariq are originally from the district, and the current system makes it impossible for a local woman to become a teacher.

Tariq, like most civilians in Marawara, said he expected the Taliban to assume full control of the Afghan government once U.S. forces withdraw. But when asked what that would mean for the funding and supplies his school relies on, he eyed the Taliban fighters observing the interview and replied, "You and I both know I cannot answer that question."

In a small village square across from a modest mosque, a group of men and children milled about after prayers. Most of the men were jobless, forced to return to the district from Afghanistan's cities when coronavirus lockdown measures dried up work for day laborers.

The men in the group said they largely supported power-sharing between the Taliban and the Afghan government, but believed the most inevitable outcome would be the Taliban taking full control of the country.

Nissar Burhan, 49, the Taliban administrator of the small mud brick clinic, said once the Taliban abolishes the Afghan government and assumes power, he expects conditions at the clinic to improve.

"Right now, we are still in the middle of the fight, so we haven't had a chance to provide services," Burhan said. "When the Taliban rise up, they will take these new responsibilities."
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President JP Nadda on Sunday said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was meeting the Chinese Ambassador "secretly" during the Doklam standoff and alleged that his love for the nation is "fake".

"The people of India know that Rahul Gandhi was meeting the Chinese Ambassador secretly during the Doklam standoff and you misled the nation and did not inform the country. India got to know only when the Chinese Ambassador broadcast your picture with him online. This 'love for your nation' is fake. You've missed all 11 defence committee meetings. This is how you run a country?" he said after inaugurating the newly constructed BJP District Committee office 'Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Mandiram' in Kasaragod, Kerala.

ALSO READ | What happened that China took away India's land during Modi's rule: Rahul asks government

The BJP President also urged the workers of United Democratic Front, Left Democratic Front and the Congress to join his party.

"UDF, LDF, Congress have always kept the nation in the dark. I call upon the workers and people of Kerala to leave LDF, UDF and Congress to join the BJP and make the state stronger," he said.

Notably, earlier today Gandhi had targeted the Central government over the June clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers and asked what had happened that China "took away" the sacred land of India.

"What had happened that China took away the sacred land of Mother India during Modi ji's tenure?" the Congress leader asked on Twitter (translated from Hindi). He also posted an article by a news website about the Galwan valley clash.

20 Indian soldiers had lost their lives in a violent face-off in the Galwan valley on June 15-16 when Chinese troops attempted to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation.

India and China have been involved in talks to ease the ongoing border tensions since last month.
Representative Image

Three Congress MLAs, who had left for Delhi and were being counted among those in Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot's camp in the power tussle in Rajasthan, on Sunday said they will follow the party line.

Addressing a press conference at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home here, Rohit Bohra, Danish Abrar and Chetan Dudi called themselves soldiers of the party and said they will do whatever the top leadership tells them.

The MLAs said their visit to Delhi was a normal affair and the media should not speculate over it.

We are with the Congress Party which gave us tickets. The media trial, which is going on, has no sense. We are soldiers of the party and will remain so for lifetime, Bohra said.

He said they had long association with the Congress and the media should not indulge in speculation.

I have been going to Delhi since childhood. Visiting Delhi is a normal affair but this time, it was made special, Danish Abrar said taking a swipe at the media. "We are soldiers of the Congress Party at any cost, he said.

Chetan Dudi said they have full faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Former Russian Finance Minster Says Economy 'In Stagnation,' Needs More Government Spending

By RFE/RL July 11, 2020

A respected former Russian finance minster said the nation's economy is stagnating and the government needs to invest more in education and health in order to drive growth.

Aleksei Kudrin, who served as Russian finance minister through the 2000s, said if gross domestic product (GDP) falls 5 percent this year as expected, then the national economy would have averaged just 1 percent annual growth over the past decade, he said on July 11 during a speech in Moscow.

"That is very low. It's historically low that during a decade we grew so little," he said.

Russia has the potential to average annual economic growth of 3 percent to 5 percent a year, but the government hasn't taken the steps needed, he said.

"And despite the fact that we have been talking about this for years, unfortunately, no decisions in this sense are being made [and] we are in stagnation," said Kudrin, who now heads the audit chamber.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval ratings have declined in recent years and protest sentiment inside the nation has increased amid anger over stagnant living standards.

Putin's decision last month to raise income taxes on the upper middle class and wealthy from 13 percent to 15 percent will have no major impact on the economy, he said.

"It was politically almost inevitable. It had to happen at some point," he said about the tax increase.

Kudrin said Russia needs to increase current spending plans on "human capital" such as health and eduction by 1 percent of GDP, which implies nearly $20 billion.

He also said the nation suffers from poor state administration and high regulatory barriers and needs to reform how government workers are trained and motivated.

With reporting by TASS and Interfax

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/former-russian-finance- minster-says-economy-in-stagnation-needs-more -government-spending/30721157.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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Indias coal sector is in the limelight following a series of recent government decisions.

A new study by data analytics company GlobalData shows that India and a few other countries would step in to bolster an anticipated about 7.8% drop in U.S. coal production this year.

In late June, Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of an auction for 41 of Indias coal mines for commercial purposes.

While the government called it a big ticket reform, some opposition party leaders and experts have opposed it and expressed reservations about the move.

The prime ministers announcement to award coal and lignite blocks on a revenue-sharing basis has ended almost seven decades of policy curbs in the coal sector.

The designated 41 mines are expected to hit peak production of 225 million tons (mt) and will account for around 15% of Indias total coal production in 2025-26, Livemint report. Whats more, the government claims they will add billions of dollars annually to the public treasury.

But heads of provinces, like Chief Minister of the Indian State of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, have asked the federal government to reconsider, the Economic Times reported.

In a letter she wrote to Modi, Banerjee said this policy could neither bring foreign direct investments nor technologies or knowhow in the mining sector, as claimed by the Government.

Those like Banerjee who are opposing this move are perplexed by the auction call, since the interest of global investors is moving toward renewable energy projects as opposed to coal mining projects.

Some claimed this seemed to be a desperate attempt at reviving Indias coal industry. Theres enough evidence to show that India had begun moving away from coal and that coal demand was dying, so what anyone will do with the newly mined coal is one of the questions being raised.

But the Indian governments stance is that Indias newly launched program of self-reliance cannot achieve success without a strong mining and mineral sector, which is why reforms in the coal sector had been initiated. At the same time, it claims, it remained committed to protecting the environment, which is why it had also launched the coal gasification program.

India has the worlds fourth-largest coal reserves, yet imports around 235 million tons of coal annually.

This auction process marks the opening of the Indian coal sector for commercial mining, helping India to achieve self-sufficiency in meeting its energy needs, according to Pralhad Joshi, Indias coal, mines and parliamentary affairs minister.

By AG Metal Miner

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:
During these days of self-isolation, word-search puzzles, crosswords, and sudoku may be the only consolation for those who are stuck at home with literally nothing to do.

This tricky trio of word-search puzzles is tailored for that very purpose. Rumor has it that only expert puzzlers have what it takes to solve all three in succession, so there will be bragging rights for those who can do it.

Each puzzle has five words hidden within, and its your task to find them. Are you ready to give it a shot? Youll find the answers to all three puzzles at the bottom of the page (but no peeking).

Puzzle 1

Here is a uniform grid of random letters with the words low, sail, thus, important, and discovered hidden in their midst.

Remember to look left to right, up and down, backwards and forwards, and diagonally to stand the best chance of finding all five words. Good luck!

(The Epoch Times)

Puzzle 2

In this second puzzle, youve got five new words to find: entire, carry, cloud, sleep, and rich.

If you struggled with the first puzzle and are feeling like throwing in the towel, enlist the help of a friend or family member by sharing!

(The Epoch Times)

Puzzle 3

Lastly, try solving puzzle three in order to count yourself among the expert puzzlers. Find the words possible, members, does, rolled, and halt.

(The Epoch Times)

If you managed to find all the words, congratulations! You can count yourself, at least in our books, among the elite class in the world of puzzle solving! If you didnt manage to find them, better luck next time; but for now, you can see the solutions down below.

(Illustration  Duntrune Studios/Shutterstock)

Puzzle 1: Solution

(The Epoch Times)

Puzzle 2: Solution

(The Epoch Times)

Puzzle 3: Solution

(The Epoch Times)

If you enjoyed this tricky trio, then share the puzzles with your friends, family, and loved ones to help them pass the time during this self-isolation period.

Did You Know?

In an interesting bit of trivia, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin explains that puzzles are so uniquely satisfying because they prompt moments of insight as the solutions come to us, sometimes seemingly out of the blue.

This is a moment that triggers a lot of excitement, says Carola Salvi, according to The Washington Post. But why do we need so much drama?

Salvi says that moments of insight ignite the brains inbuilt reward system, which is the same system that responds to food and to other basic pleasures. In short, we complete a puzzle and the drama of the win is our reward.
In January 1964, a young woman named Catalina Ortega arrived at the Judicial Police Office in Guanajuato, Mexico. The woman bore signs of brutal beatings and malnourishment. She also carried with her one of the most horrifying and gruesome tales ever recorded in Mexican history.

Delfina and Maria de Jesus Gonzalez, also known as Las Poquianchis, were two sisters born in El Salto de Juanacatkan, Jalisco. Their father, Isidro Torres, was known for his violent temper. He would often imprison his daughters for wearing make-up. Some accounts claim he once shot a man dead during an argument.

The sisters were raised to be cold-hearted and fear poverty. Throughout their childhood, Delfina and Maria saved money to open a saloon in San Pancho. Discontented, they began opening up brothels across several cities in the Guanajuato state.

Picking Escorts

According to initial investigations, the sisters would prowl the countryside in search of the prettiest young ladies. They would also post help-wanted ads that targeted women who hoped to make it big.

The Gonzalez sisters offered their victims employment opportunities as maids or waitresses. In some cases, Delfina and her lover, Army Captain Hermengildo Zuniga, would kidnap women.

The women were force-fed heroin or cocaine, and most were put to work at the Guadalajara and Barca de Oro brothels. Wealthy patrons frequented the bars, their money reserved for untouched girls. The others would be raped and showered with ice water as initiation.

The girls were never allowed to go outside. The things they needed, they could only buy from the Gonzalez sisters. The escorts would be sold to law enforcement officers, military personnel, politicians, and villagers. If a girl became pregnant, she would be beaten until the baby dies. If she were found ill, other escorts would beat her with sticks or logs.

Grim Discoveries

In 1964, Catalina Ortega, one of the brothel girls, managed to escape the whorehouse through a small wall opening. Delfina sent her lover, Zuniga, to capture and eliminate Ortega.

The victim fled and returned home to her mother, who accompanied her to the police station at Leon, Guanajuato. The cops immediately requested a search warrant. On January 14, the officers raided the Loma del Angel brothel.

The authorities and reporters found over a dozen dirty and malnourished women at the ranch. As police explored the area, the girls would point to spots where they would later find over 91 bodies of men, women, and unborn children.

The sisters were taken to the Irapuato City Jail, where they faced one of the century's most sensational trials during that century. They were accused of practicing Satanism by forcing the women to practice sexual acts on animals. They also accused the sisters of bribing local and state authorities. The Gonzalez sisters were eventually sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Deaths

In prison, Delfina, the eldest, went mad. She died in an accident on October 7, 1968. According to reports, construction workers repairing the cell above hers accidentally dropped a bucket of cement on her head while trying to catch a woman's glimpse.

Maria finished her sentence. She dropped out of the radar after walking free. Legends say she met a 64-year-old man in prison and married him when they both got out.

Want to read more?
She has been showing off her stunning pregnancy wardrobe while she continues to work throughout lockdown.

And Sunday was no different for Vogue Williams as she was spotted looking radiant as ever in a powder blue midi dress with puffed sleeves as she left Heart FM following her breakfast show.

The presenter, 34, who is expecting her second child with husband Spencer Matthews, 31, showed off her chic maternity style.

Gorgeous: Vogue Williams was spotted looking radiant as ever in a powder blue midi dress with puffed sleeves as she left Heart FM following her breakfast show on Sunday morning

Vogue, who is just weeks away from her due date, was the picture of summer in the elegant blue dress.

She finished off her look with a pair of pearl-encrusted sandals that showed off her perfect pink pedicure.

And Vogue seemed in high spirits as she strutted down the streets of London revelling in her pregnant glow.

Stunning: The presenter, 34, who is expecting her second child with husband Spencer Matthews, 31, showed off her chic maternity style

She matched her handbag, made of wicker and decorated with faux pearls, to her sandals and added a pair of white-rimmed sunglasses.

The toffee-haired beauty left her luscious locks loose in effortless waves.

The radio host is expecting a daughter this month with her husband Spencer Matthews - their second child.

Expecting: Vogue, who is just weeks away from her due date, was the picture of summer in the elegant blue dress

But it won't stop her presenting her show on Heart Radio on Sunday mornings, she told The Sun.

'I love working at Heart and I really want to just carry on. If I was in an office working nine to five I would probably want to take some time off, but Im lucky in the way I work  I leave my house at 4.50AM and Im back by 9.20AM so Spenny will be on baby duty while I go out to work.

'I can come back home to my babies having only missed one feed. I could bring the baby with me to do the show  theyre really good like that at [work] and if I wanted to they would support me doing it. But I dont think Ill need to.

Happy: Vogue seemed in high spirits as she strutted down the streets of London revelling in her pregnant glow

'Obviously, it depends on the birth I have but I cant imagine Ill need to take too much time off.'

Vogue is due at the end of the month, and told her Instagram followers on Wednesday 'the countdown is on' as she revealed how soon her due date is.

The Irish presenter looked gorgeous in a white summer maxi dress which sheathed over her baby bump.

Vogue complemented the look with a white fedora hat with a pale blue ribbon trim and brown sandals.

The television personality captioned the shot: 'I can't believe our baby girl will be here in less than a month. I have really enjoyed dressing my bump but WOW it's getting hot. The countdown is on!'.
People's Action Party wins Singapore election again

Global Times

Source: People's Daily Published: 2020/7/11 21:33:55

The governing People's Action Party (PAP) won Singapore's general election, retaining its more than 55-year grip on power, according to results reported online on Saturday by Singapore's Election Department.

The PAP won 83 of 93 seats on offer, while the opposition Worker's Party (WP) secured 10 seats.

Turnout was 95.63 percent among registered voters.

There were more than 2.65 million voters eligible to vote. 191 candidates from 11 political parties and an independent candidate contests in all 93 seats.

Some analysts believe that this general election is being held during the coronavirus pandemic, and the PAP, which is in good performance in the ruling the country, has a great advantage.

However, Singapore voters, especially young voters, showed their desire to change and seek a diversified government, resulting in the governing party's ballot results being not as expected.

The governing PAP has led Singapore since its independence in 1965. In the last general election in 2015, it won almost 70 percent of the popular vote, perhaps boosted by the death earlier that year of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister and the incumbent's father.

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Haiti - News : Zapping...





Several Haitian diplomats recalled to Haiti

According to our sources, Claude Joseph, the Minister of Foreign Affairs would have recalled a dozen Haitian diplomats to Port-au-Prince. Beyond rumors and speculation, one have yet to ignore the subject of this recall.



New Dominican Chancellor

"On behalf of the President of the Republic, Jovenel Moise, I congratulate Mr. Roberto Alvarez, appointed by Luis Abinader [new President of the DR] as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic. He can rely on our frank collaboration to strengthen and make fruitful the relations between the two countries," said Haitian Chancellor Claude Joseph.



Senator Fethiere clarifies

Senator Jean Marie Ralph Fethiere reminds the people of the North that the appointment of municipal agents is a prerogative of the Executive and that at no time was he contacted, informed or consulted on these appointments.



Making it easier for people with disabilities to obtain a CIN

Ms. Soinette Desir, Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, accompanied by a member of her cabinet recently met with Jude Jacques Elibert, the Director of the National Identification Office (ONI). At the end of this meeting, the two heads of these institutions agreed on the arrangements to be made in order to facilitate people with disabilities across the territory of the Republic to obtain the National Identification Card (CIN).



Montreal : Dany Laferriere Exhibition

From August 20 to November 1, in Montreal, as part of the 35 years of his life as a Haitian writer and academician Dany Laferriere (67), a multimedia exhibition "A nomadic heart" will retrace his work and his life. Free admission. Promenade des Artistes (Boulevard de maison Neuve and Jeanne Mance, Bus 125, Metro Place-des-Arts and Bus 80).



HL/ HaitiLibre


















It looks like EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) is about to go ex-dividend in the next three days. You can purchase shares before the 16th of July in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 31st of July.

EOG Resources's next dividend payment will be US$0.38 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$1.50 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, EOG Resources has a trailing yield of 3.3% on the current stock price of $45.4. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

View our latest analysis for EOG Resources

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Fortunately EOG Resources's payout ratio is modest, at just 34% of profit. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. What's good is that dividends were well covered by free cash flow, with the company paying out 21% of its cash flow last year.

It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

NYSE:EOG Historic Dividend July 12th 2020

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. EOG Resources's earnings per share have fallen at approximately 7.4% a year over the previous five years. Such a sharp decline casts doubt on the future sustainability of the dividend.

Story continues

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the past ten years, EOG Resources has increased its dividend at approximately 18% a year on average.

Final Takeaway

Has EOG Resources got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? EOG Resources has comfortably low cash and profit payout ratios, which may mean the dividend is sustainable even in the face of a sharp decline in earnings per share. Still, we consider declining earnings to be a warning sign. All things considered, we are not particularly enthused about EOG Resources from a dividend perspective.

On that note, you'll want to research what risks EOG Resources is facing. For example, we've found 2 warning signs for EOG Resources that we recommend you consider before investing in the business.

We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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.



Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
According to data, 82 percent of patients in Dharavi have recovered, bringing down the number of active cases to 166

Medics conduct COVID-19 screening of residents at a camp, during the ongoing nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, at Dharavi in Mumbai. (PTI Photo)

Mumbai: Dharavi, one of the largest slums in the world, has added a feather in its cap for its efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has praised the measures taken to control the Covid-19 pandemic in these slums.

According to data, 82 percent of patients in Dharavi have recovered, bringing down the number of active cases to 166. The first Covid-19 patient in Dharavi was found on April 1, nearly three weeks after Mumbai recorded its maiden positive case on March 11. Around 1,815 patients have recovered and been discharged from Covid-19 facilities.

As per the civic body, while in April the doubling rate of cases was 18 days, it is now 430 days. At least six lakh local residents were screened, 14,000 persons were tested and 13,000 were placed in institutional quarantine with free medical facilities and community kitchen service.

Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of the G North ward, said that the civic body implemented an aggressive system of reaching out to patients instead of waiting for them to come to hospital. Instead healthcare workers went from door to door to look for potential patients. Proactive screening helped in early detection, timely treatment and recovery, he said.

Applauding the efforts, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Dharavi has shown that even if the outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought back under control with sustained and dedicated efforts. A strong focus on community engagement and the basics of testing, tracing, isolating and treating all those that are sick is key to breaking the chains of transmission and suppressing the virus, he added.

Dharavi has become a global role model in the containment of coronavirus. It showed that coronavirus can be contained through self-discipline and community efforts, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said. He praised the BMC, private doctors, NGOs and local residents for the feat.
<! Health workers attending to a COVID-19 patient. The coutry recorded highest single day spike on Sunday >

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Rampaging Coronavirus pandemic has killed 20 people in Lagos and four other states in one day, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC has said.

According to the NCDC, in its report, Coronavirus killed 14 people in Lagos State on Friday, the highest fatality to be recorded by the state in a single day.

This brings to 147 the total number of people killed by Coronavirus in Lagos since the pandemic began.

Also, two persons were killed by the virus each in Plateau and Rivers, while one person each was killed in Bayelsa and Jigawa.

Plateau has so far recorded a total of 16 deaths, while Rivers recorded 46 deaths.

While Bayelsa now has a total of 18 deaths, Jigawa has recorded a total of 11 deaths.

However, the nation has recorded a total of 709 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Related
The police in Oyo State on Sunday confirmed the killing of a suspected gang leader in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Abiola Ebila was killed around 12 p.m. on Sunday during a reprisal attack by a rival gang at the Kudeti area of Ibadan.

Mr Ebila was the alleged mastermind of the killing of the rival gang leader, Moshood Oladokun, in May during a clash of the two gangs.

It was gathered that Mr Oladokuns group on Sunday killed Mr Ebila during a retaliatory attack.

Police spokesperson in the state, Olugbenga Fadeyi, confirmed the incident on Sunday.

Yes, he has been killed. But I am yet to get details of the incident. We will brief the press when we get details of the incident.

Police have been deployed to the area to maintain peace, the officer said.
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This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics.
Aides to Mr. Trump released to The Washington Post and later other news outlets a list of remarks Dr. Fauci made about the virus when it was in its early stages. It featured several comments White House aides had privately complained about for months.

An official told The Post that several other officials were concerned about how often Dr. Fauci had been wrong.

For example, White House officials pointed to a statement by he made in a Feb. 29 interview that at this moment, there is no need to change anything that youre doing on a day-by-day basis.

But they omitted a warning Dr. Fauci delivered right after.

Right now the risk is still low, but this could change, he said in the interview, conducted by NBC News. When you start to see community spread, this could change and force you to become much more attentive to doing things that would protect you from spread.

Dr. Fauci works for the Trump administration, but the list of his statements was laid out in the style of a campaigns opposition research document. Its release to news organizations by the White House was extraordinary.
On Tuesday, more than 60 people were arrested by police, using batons and tear gas, on charges of breaching coronavirus restrictions on public gatherings. There was no mass protest, just scattered groups, and the organizers, some of Kenyas most hardened activists, were left to wonder: What will it take for Kenyans to push back against police?
WHO advance team leaves for China to probe into coronavirus origin

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 July 2020 1:30 AM

The World Health Organization (WHO) has sent a team of experts to China to open an investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 550,000 people across the globe.

In a statement on Friday, the UN agency announced that a two-member team, with expertise in animal health and epidemiology, left for China and would work with Chinese scientists to determine the scope and itinerary of the investigation.

"We know it's very, very similar to the virus in the bat, but did it go through an intermediate species? This is a question we all need to be answered," said WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris in a news briefing but declined to name the experts.

The new coronavirus is believed to have emerged in a wholesale market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year after jumping the species barrier from the animal kingdom to infect humans.

Separately, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later said at a press conference that the two experts at the time were en route to China "to meet with fellow scientists and learn about the progress made in understanding the animal reservoir for COVID-19 and how the disease jumped between animals and humans."

He further said that the investigation would help lay the groundwork for the WHO-led international mission into the origins of the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, a contagious respiratory disease.

Earlier this week, the United States, which used to be WHO's largest donor, notified the UN agency that Washington was withdrawing in a year's time after accusing the agency of being too close to China and not doing enough to question Beijing's actions at the start of the crisis.

American President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have time and again said that the new coronavirus might have originated in a lab in Wuhan without providing enough evidence to support the claim. China strongly rejects the allegation.

Scientists and the US intelligence agencies have said the virus emerged in nature.

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Weatherford International has been awarded an exclusive four-year contract with Eni. The contract will provide a minimum of 30 Non-Umbilical Downhole Deployment Valves (NU-DDV) that will be deployed in Enis critical wells, improving their operational safety and reservoir performance.

This award is the result of two years of R&D collaboration with Eni to launch a downhole casing isolation valve with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device), said Dean Bell, President, Drilling, Evaluation and Intervention for Weatherford.

The goal was to develop an innovative solution capable of providing an independent downhole safety barrier to supplement the conventional barriers already in place, assuring control of unwanted formation influx while tripping.

During MPD or UBD applications, the NU-DDV addresses operators need to improve process safety by mechanically isolating the surface from the reservoir during tripping, thereby eliminating the need to kill the well. The RFID-enabled valve eliminates external control line and clamping operations, thus providing increased system reliability, decreased installation time and removal of personnel from the red zone. This NU-DDV also eliminates swabbing effects and reduces tripping time for improved operational efficiency.

Bell added, This contract aligns with both the Weatherford and Eni pursuit of continuous improvement in operational safety and environmental performance across the start-to-finish drilling and completion process. --Tradearabia News Service
(Reuters) - Schools across Canada were shuttered in March to curb the spread of COVID-19, impacting some 5.5 million children. Planning is underway to get children back into classrooms in the fall and many provinces are considering a hybrid model: part-time in school and part-time online learning

(Reuters) - Schools across Canada were shuttered in March to curb the spread of COVID-19, impacting some 5.5 million children.

Planning is underway to get children back into classrooms in the fall and many provinces are considering a hybrid model: part-time in school and part-time online learning.

Here's what Canada's provinces are planning:

ONTARIO

Canada's most populous province has been leaning toward a hybrid return - part-time in class and part-time online learning at home - to allow for smaller class sizes.

The provincial government has also asked school boards to prepare for an online-only return and for the possibility of a full return. A final decision will be made in August.

QUEBEC

Many elementary schools in Quebec reopened in May, though schools in the hard-hit Montreal region remained closed.

The province said students up to grade 9 will be back in school full-time in the fall, with each class split into a few bubble groups. High school students will alternate between in-person and online learning.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

British Columbia reopened some schools in late March for the children of essential workers. The province on June 1 reopened to all students, with younger children attending half-time, and older students attending one day per week.

The province is preparing for younger students to return full time in the fall, with children in grades 8-12 in class part-time.

ALBERTA

Alberta is favoring a full return in the fall, unless COVID-19 cases begin to rise. Then class sizes would be restricted, likely with hybrid learning.

SASKATCHEWAN

Saskatchewan schools will fully reopen in September with new sanitation measures, "air-fives" instead of hugs, and students and staff not allowed to mix outside their groupings.

MANITOBA

In Manitoba, schools reopened in a limited capacity for small groups on June 1. The province is favoring a full-time return in the fall, but also considering a hybrid model.

ATLANTIC PROVINCES

The Atlantic provinces are favoring in-person learning, with limited class sizes and some online learning for older kids. Nova Scotia has not yet provided its plan.

(Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa, Allison Lampert in Montreal and Moira Warburton in Toronto; Editing by Alistair Bell, Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Medical information is considered to be among the most personal and private of information under California law, says Keller Grover LLP attorney Eric A. Grover. For that reason, healthcare providers are required to give patients timely notice of data breaches and the negligent release and disclosure of medical information can, under certain circumstances, give rise to claims by affected individuals for money damages.

Similar medical data breaches involving the failure to properly secure medical information have given rise to class action lawsuits. Recently, for example, St. Joseph Health Systems finalized a class action lawsuit settlement valued at over $30 million involving St. Josephs alleged failure to properly secure its network, allowing patient information to become publicly accessible on the internet.

If you have any information about the American Medical Technologies data breach or are a California resident that has been affected by the data breach and have questions, contact Keller Grovers attorneys at 888-535-5291 or by email at info@kellergrover.com.

Keller Grover LLP is a leader in the field of medical information privacy litigation and has represented clients in numerous medical data breach class action cases, including lawsuits against Golden Valley Health Centers, Tandem Diabetes Care, St. Joseph Health Systems, Stanford Hospitals and Clinics, Health Net and 21st Century Oncology. Keller Grover will not charge you for reviewing your information and all information that you provide to Keller Grover in the process of seeking legal advice will be held strictly confidential. (Attorney Advertising)
Kandakadu COVID cluster: Major contact-tracing ops underway View(s):

A search for those linked to the Kandakadu Drug Rehabilitation Centre in the Polonnaruwa district was expanded yesterday with the detection of two more COVID-19-infected instructors.

One instructor who is from Rajanganaya in Anuradhapura tested positive after he was admitted to the Anuradhapura hospital. Two of his children have also been afflicted with COVID-19, while his wifes PCR report was due last night.

Another instructor at the Kandakadu centre infected with COVID 19 was detected yesterday. He is a resident of Habaraduwa, Galle and has been admitted to the NIID.

The first Kandakadu rehab centre instructor to be infected with COVID-19 was a resident of Marawila.

More than 300 Rajanaganaya residents in the area were put on self-quarantine yesterday while further contact tracing was underway.

Separate operations were being carried out to track down others who had contacts with the inmates of the Kandakadu drug rehab centre where there are more than 1,000 inmates.

The health authorities were yesterday searching for more than 100 people, including relatives who had visited the inmates.

The first to be diagnosed with COVID-19 on July 6 from the Kandakadu cluster was an inmate in his thirties. He had been brought to the Welikada Prison on June 27 for a court hearing. He was found to be positive when tested before being sent back to Kandakadu. He is being treated at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) in Angoda.

The contact tracing is being carried out with major support from the State Intelligence Service (SIS), while extensive RT-PCR testing is also being conducted, Health Services Director-General Dr. Anil Jasinghe told the Sunday Times.

Around 472 with links to the Kandakadu inmate have been tested with 339 being confirmed positive, the Sunday Times learns.

Explaining that the Kandakadu cluster had mushroomed quickly, unlike the navy cluster, Dr. Jasinghe said that this cluster had a positivity rate of 71 percent.

When asked how the infections could have started at the Kandakadu centre, the Health Ministrys Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said that drug addicts from Suduwella, Ja-ela cluster, were sent to this centre after their quarantine period.

We are suspecting that some must have not been detected then and it started to spread from there, he said.

The Kandakadu quarantine centre in the vicinity of the Drug Rehabilitation Centre has been turned into a field hospital for those testing positive in this cluster.

Dr. Jasinghe said those confirmed cases who are asymptomatic at the Kandakadu field hospital would be transferred to the Welikanda Hospital if they develop symptoms.

As of Saturday morning, there were 339 confirmed cases at this field hospital.

The Kandakadu cluster erupted as many health experts expressed serious concerns over the non-adherence to the four major preventive measures of hand hygiene, social distancing, wearing of face masks and avoiding public gatherings.

Another Welikada Prison inmate who had been in contact in the same ward with the first positive case between June 27 and 30 also tested positive on Friday and was sent to the NIID, the Sunday Times learns.

As this 58-year-old prisoner had been assigned cleaning duties at the Welikada Prison Hospital, all hospital inmates and staff are now being subjected to RT-PCR testing, it is understood.

Officials, meanwhile, requested people not to panic over rumours but get their information from trusted government sources, as talk of a lockdown in Pettah and COVID-19 positive cases being detected in a suburb of Colombo spread like wildfire on Friday evening.

These rumours are unfounded, officials added.

(See Page 8 for related stories.)
Cyber experts have urged the federal government to become less reliant on overseas businesses, technologies and expertise for its defences against hackers as it puts the finishing touches on the nation's new cyber security strategy.

Foreign providers are responsible for most of the cyber security products and services in Australia, with no local companies among the 15 largest software providers in the local market.

Australia has experienced a wave of cyber attacks from a sophisticated state-based actor. Credit:Kacper Pempel

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age can reveal that the government's panel of industry experts will hand down advice as early as this week urging it to invest in the local cyber industry to boost the nation's defences.

The government has been awaiting the report of the Industry Advisory Panel, chaired by Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn, before finishing its new four-year cyber security strategy. The industry panel's report, expected to urge the government to invest in more training, will be released in the coming weeks, according to senior government sources.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said said that Dharavi slum in Mumbai had emerged as a global role model for controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus. "Asia's largest slum & densely populated area like Dharavi has not only shown the World that through collective effort Corona can be controlled but has also made a name for itself globally as a role model in the fight against Corona," Thackeray said. "The recovery rate has risen to 82 per cent and the number of active cases is only about 166.

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As many as 48 people from the Telangana Raj Bhavan tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday. However, Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and her family members tested negative for the disease.

Those who tested Covid-19 positive include 28 security personnel and 10 from other departments in the Governors office, the rest being their family members, an official from Raj Bhavan familiar with the development said.

On Sunday, Telangana reported 1,269 positive cases for Covid-19, besides eight deaths, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 34,671 and the death toll to 356. Greater Hyderabad alone reported 800 cases, while neighbouring Ranga Reddy and Medchal districts registered 132 and 94 positive cases respectively.

According to the Raj Bhavan official, a total of 395 people from Raj Bhavan, including the Governor and her family members, underwent tests and of them, 347 people tested negative and the remaining 48 tested positive. While 20 patients were sent to the government Ayurveda hospital for treatment, the others were advised treatment in home isolation, the official said.

The Governor tweeted that she had tested negative. I got tested today for Covid-19 and negative. I appeal to people who are in Red Zones or with contact history to kindly get it done at the earliest. Early diagnosis not only protects us but also others. Dont hesitate! Test yourself Motivate others! Follow 4Ts TEST TRACE TREAT TEACH (sic), she tweeted.

For the last few days, the Governor has been personally monitoring the situation in the state and visiting medical facilities. Last week, she visited Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), where doctors were affected and were under treatment.

Several elected representatives, staff of ministers have tested positive in the last few weeks in Telangana. A few security personnel at the chief ministers official residence also tested Covid-19 positive.

Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh recorded 1,933 positive cases, the highest-ever number in a single day so far. The state also reported 19 deaths, the highest ever single-day toll. In all, the state has reported a total number of 29,168 positive cases and a death toll of 328 till date.

So far, 15,412 coronavirus infected patients have recovered in the state, leaving 13,428 active cases. The gross 29,168 positive cases included 26,336 locals, 2,403 from other states and 429 foreign returnees.

Kurnool has the highest number of 3,405 positive cases, followed by Anantapur with 3,290 cases and Guntur with 3,019 cases. The state so far tested 11,53,849 samples with a positivity rate of 2.53 per cent, however, the recovery rate slumped to 52.84 per cent.
Amid the border tension with China, NCP president Sharad Pawar has said China is a "bigger threat to India" than Pakistan.

China's military might is "ten times greater" than India, the former defence minister said, adding that Beijing has "weaned away" India's neighbours to its side.

The Centre should try to put international pressure on China through negotiations and diplomatic channels, Pawar said in an interview to Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The second of the three-part interview series was published in the Marathi daily on Sunday. "When we think of an enemy, the first name that comes to our mind is that of Pakistan. But we need not worry about Pakistan. In the long term, it is China that has the power, vision and programme to act against Indian interests. China is a bigger threat to India," Pawar said.

The "real threat to Indiais from China" which has become economically strong, he added. "By creating a picture of camaraderie, you can't resolve issues between two countries," he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handshakes and hugs with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the latter's India visit.

Asked about the clash between Chinese and Indian soldiers at Galwan Valley in Ladakh last month, Pawar said, "When I say there should be no politics over the issue, it is because we can attack them. But the entire country will have to pay a heavy price when there is retaliation to the attack."

"Instead of striking, we should try to put international pressure on China through negotiations and diplomatic channels," he said.

Pawar said China had turned not just Pakistan, but even countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka against India. "When Modi became prime minister for the first time, he went to Nepal to offer prayers at the Pashupatinath temple.

Modi praised Nepal, calling it India's friend and the first Hindu nation. Now Nepal is not with us, but on China's side," the former Union minister said.

India took the lead to liberate Bangladesh, and now the neighbouring country has signed a treaty with China, he said. "China has weaned away all our neighbours to its side. This is the contribution of the recent period, Pawar said in an apparent reference to the Modi government.

He said Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi are always blamed for their handling of China and Pakistan. "But, during the tenure of Nehru, India and China shared warm relations," he said.

Nehru was of the view that China will become a superpower some day and that India should maintain a cordial

relation with it since tensions were notbeneficial to either of the two countries, he said.

Nehru introduced the Panchsheel treaty with China and there was peace in the region, the NCP chief said. "Unfortunately, the Chinese leadership tooka different stand and there was a conflict. This aspect cannot be ignored, he said.

Speaking on the present state of the Indian economy, Pawar said Prime Minister Modi should consult economists and experts like Manmohan Singh to revive the economy. "When Manmohan Singh was the Union finance minister, he gave a new direction to the Indian economy. I was also part of that Union cabinet. I credit Singh and late P V Narasimha

Rao for the turnaround of the economy from crisis," he said.

"Modi should also take the help of experts. The country will support him in all the steps taken by him, he said, adding that the "country needs another Manmohan Singh".

To a question on Modi calling him a "political guru" (political teacher), Pawar said there is no such thing as guru in politics.

Targeting the Centre, he said there is no dialogue between the Modi government and leaders of other parties. When Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram were finance ministers, they would constantly in touch with experts and political leaders cutting across party lines to ascertain their views on various issues facing the country.

"This is not happening now," he said.

Speaking about the performance of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government, Pawar, who played a key role in the formation of the ruling alliance comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, said it would not be right to judge the government on its performance in six months.

"The written exam is over. Practicals are pending. The student is working hard. So there is no need to worry about the result. In the six-month exam, the student has passed. I am confident the student will clear the next exam easily," he said.
A half-dozen GOP county organizations in western and southwestern Ohio are unhappy with Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. In a way, that would be a bigger deal if those same Republicans said they were happy with how DeWine, of Greene Countys Cedarville, does his job.

Draw a north-south line through Columbus. Except for Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo and (depending on the year) Dayton, western Ohio is reliably Republican.

Columbus, too, was once reliably Republican. But Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan wrecked Northeast Ohio, and scads of its younger natives moved to Columbus. The state income tax, enacted in 1971 by a Republican-run General Assembly, funded more state services  hence, more state jobs.

Earlier, though, President John F. Kennedy, speaking at a 1962 Ohio Democratic dinner, wryly said, There is no city in the United States in which I get a warmer welcome and less votes than Columbus, Ohio!

Statewide, there are Republicans and Republicans. Its socialism if the federal and state governments provide health care to low-income Ohioans via Medicaid expansion  one of then-Gov. John Kasichs lasting accomplishments. But the ocean of federal tax money that subsidizes Ohio agribusiness and factory farming? Hey! Thats The American Way.

And at least since the 1960s, GOP voters in the suburban crescent around Cincinnati (Butler, Clermont and Warren counties) seem to live in a permanent state of discontent. That regions General Assembly delegation is among the most newsworthy in the Statehouse because of the sometimes edgy (the nice word) bills those legislators propose, especially pertaining to guns and abortion.

One thing southwest Ohios not is wine-and-cheese country. In 1968, when Hubert H. Humphrey, Richard M. Nixon and Alabama segregationist George C. Wallace ran for president, race-baiter Wallace drew just under 12 percent of Ohios statewide vote. But Wallace drew 25 percent of the presidential vote in Warren County (Lebanon), the biggest share that Wallace drew in any Ohio county, and 19 percent in Butler County (Hamilton).

Moreover, western Ohio Republicans have sent to Congress such robustly conservative Republicans as the Marion super-isolationist, Dr. Frederick C. Smith; Middletowns Donald E. (Buz) Lukens, once president of the Young Republican National Federation; and Urbanas Jim Jordan. Things didnt end well for Lukens, born in Warren Countys Harveysburg; he eventually landed in prison. But fans of Jim Jordan think he could reach the White House, not as a visitor, but as its tenant..

In separate developments last month, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, five Republican county parties in western Ohio approved a letter criticizing DeWine for his stewardship of the state during the coronavirus pandemic: Darke; Mercer; Shelby; Van Wert; and Williams. (Williams is where Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, DeWines running mate, grew up.) Warren Countys ever-simmering GOP later chimed in.

Its hard to figure why Republicans in heavily Catholic Mercer, one of just two Ohio counties that supported Catholic Democrat Al Smith for president in 1928, have a big problem with Mike DeWine. Without demagoguing the issue, hes sincerely, consistently, opposed abortion.

In any case, none of those counties is likely to support any Democrat who might challenge Republican DeWine for re-election as Ohios governor in 2022. Yes, then-Gov. Richard F. Celeste, a Democrat from Lakewood, was able to peel some of western Ohios usually Republican voters from the GOP in 1986, when four-term Republican ex-Gov. James A. Rhodes challenged Celestes re-election.

But in 2016, pro-Donald Trump margins in the six counties whose GOP organizations groused about DeWine ranged from 69 percent (Williams) to 80 percent (Mercer). Voters in those counties arent going to prefer a Democrat for governor over Mike DeWine.

The grumbling, of course, will continue; its a regional tradition. Last week, to fight the pandemic, DeWine ordered people to wear anti-coronavirus masks in a number of counties. Among them: Cuyahoga, Summit, Lorain and Trumbull  and Hamilton County (Cincinnati) plus two simmering Cincinnati suburbs, Butler and Clermont counties. (The village of Bethel, where Black Lives Matter protesters and counterprotesters clashed in June, is in Clermont.)

DeWines order wont win him fans among Republican voters predisposed to complain. But it will save lives  including the lives of Ohioans who will survive to gripe another day.

Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens.

To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@cleveland.com, 216-408-9474

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Don Follis counsels pastors and consults with a wide array of churches. He blogs at donfollis.com, where you can subscribe to his posts. He can be reached at donscolumn@gmail.com.
NA Standing Committee to convene 46th meeting on July 13

The 46th meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC) will take place at the NA Building in Hanoi on July 13-14.









The 45th meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee (Photo: quochoi.vn)

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan will attend and deliver an opening speech. Ngan and vice chairpersons will alternately run the agenda of the session, according to a release by the NA Office.



Regarding law building, NASC members are scheduled to consider and comment on a number of issues in the draft revised law on Vietnamese guest workers with contracts; the explanation, acquisition and revision of the draft law on International Treaties; the implementation of new amended regulations in the Law on NA Organisation; the promulgation of a decree on micro-insurance for socio-political organisations; and the promulgation of a decree on art performances.



The committee will also consider and approve a draft Resolution of the NASC on environmental protection tax on jet fuel.



Other issues to be considered during the meeting are the adjustment of the 2020 state budget expenditure estimate of the Vietnam-Korea Friendship IT College, which is being passed from the Ministry of Information and Communications to the Ministry of Education and Training; the addition of administrative and non-business expenditure estimates in 2020 (from foreign sources) to the State Audit; personnel work; and the review of the NAs ninth session with initial comments on preparations for the 10th session./.
The Kshetra Bajaja Committee of Agra has been known for conducting the last rites of people who lost their lives and the bodies remained unclaimed. With passing time, that role changed to performing the last rites of people who lost their lives in road mishaps and their bodies were not claimed.

Amid these pandemic-ravaged times, the organisation continues to serve the city quietly and selflessly to grant dignity to the dead.

For three years, urns containing the ashes of the unknown are preserved with the organisation before they are immersed in the Ganga at Soron, near Kasganj. Even for Covid-19 fatalities, Kshetra Bajaja retains the ashes of the dead so that if a bereaved next of kin turns up, they may be handed over the ashes of their loved one.

Also read: Kejriwal says Delhi is able to minimise Covid-19 deaths due to protective shield

Kshetra Bajaja Committee is a body active since 1885. At that time, the cloth merchants of Agra gathered together and decided that instead of doing charity on a small, personal level, the society would benefit more if a collective effort, channelled towards a single cause was made. And thus, was born the Kshetra Bajaja Committee.

Over the years, so concerted and well-directed have the efforts been that they were asked to manage the traditional crematorium, and in 1996, when the electric crematorium was built, the Agra district administration immediately handed over affairs of its functioning to the Kshetra Bajaja Committee.

Today, its members - some 700 cloth merchants of Agra - contribute to arrange for the requirements of the electric crematorium and wood for the traditional crematorium and other requirements, like the running of the five vehicles used to take bodies to the crematorium.

And it is not just the crematoriums the organisation runs but also an ayurvedic hospital in the city and is also actively involved in meeting the needs of the impoverished sick in the citys hospitals, like providing medicines, arranging for oxygen cylinders, etc.

At the electric crematorium, there are 15 to 25 bodies cremated every day in its three furnaces. Sometimes, the number goes up to 30 as bodies of Covid-19 patients are also brought for cremation, said Kshetra Bajaja Committee president Sunil Vikal.

Our members are selflessly contributing to this service despite them facing a tough time themselves in these times. In such a situation, we do expect the administration to extend a helping hand to the Kshetra Bajaja Committee in serving mankind, Vikal added.

He said that when the lockdown was imposed, there was a restriction on vehicles which drastically brought down the number of fatalities in road mishaps and the number of unclaimed bodies coming for cremation dropped.

We have been preserving the ashes of those unknown or unclaimed bodies which we cremated and immerse them in Ganga at Soron near Kasganj after every three years. In these times of the pandemic, family members of a deceased Covid-19 patient are in quarantine and are unable to attend the last rites or collect the ashes. We have been preserving ashes in such cases also and wait for family members to come and collect them.

There are 50 to 60 urns of such Covid-19 cases cremated at the electric crematorium and we have saved the ashes with dignity with a condolence message wrapped around them, awaiting family members to come and collect them. Many came in the unlock phase and took the ashes, thanking the committee, Vikal said.

The acceptability of the electric crematorium among citizens has seen a surge in these times of the pandemic, he said.

However, this acceptability is new-found. In the beginning, no one was prepared to cremate their dear departed in the electric crematorium even though it saved precious trees from being felled. There were various awareness campaigns launched to make the electric crematorium acceptable among people but that acceptance was slow to come, Vikal said.

There was a time when only the socially aware and environmentally concerned would come to the electric crematorium but slowly and steadily, people have begun to opt for the electric crematorium without any bar of caste or economic status. That acceptability has been enhanced due to the pandemic as the cremation here at the electric crematorium is less cumbersome and manageable by a few, he said.

With the pandemic raging, cremations at the electric crematorium have exceeded those in traditional crematoriums as our staff extends help to the few next of kin accompanying the body while wearing personal protective equipment. Otherwise too, cremations in the electric crematorium are less cumbersome and get over faster as we have three separate furnaces operating at 800 degrees Celsius, Vikal said.

The number of cremations at the electric crematorium is thrice the number of traditional cremations where family members have to carry wood and prepare funeral pyre on their own. Now, only a limited number of family members accompany the dead, even if its a non-Covid death and thus, the utility of electric crematorium is being realised by Agra residents, he added.

The Kshetra Bajaja Committee also working toward creating eco-awareness among Agra citizens by organising seminars and talks about the utility of an electric crematorium while listing the ecological damage in preparing for a traditional cremation. With that aim in mind, it also organises walks for school children. However, it is left to family members whether to opt for the traditional method or use the electric crematorium. The committee never contacts bereaved families but has its staff at the electric crematorium which arrives to work the furnace if a body is brought in.
The Buffalo Bills made their feelings known on unruly tailgating and table smashing in 2019 when announcing the introduction of Tailgate Village.

The viral videos on social media, its embarrassing when we see that, Andy Major, the Bills vice president of operations and guest experience, told The Buffalo News in May of 2019. It affects the community, affects the team negatively. We know our fans arent like that. Thats whats disappointing for us.

Do players feel the same way about the viral videos?

Josh Allen recently appeared on Mark Sanchezs 4th & Forever podcast and the topic of Bills fans tailgating and smashing tables was discussed. Allen opened by saying he didnt condone breaking tables, but couldnt help himself as he watched YouTube videos of Bills fans diving through tables.

I do not condone any of this table smashing in these videos, Allen says with a smirk. Im legally obligated to say that, but its freaking awesome.

According to Allen, he gets several requests to incorporate table smashing into his autograph sessions.

You dont understand how many When I do autograph signings how many have to say, Lets smash some tables.

Allen wasnt lying. A quick Google search shows several Josh Allen signed items with the phrase.

Everybody wants, Lets smash some tables though. Love it.

Allen went on to explain to Sanchez why he opened by saying he cant condone it.

We cant condone this because its technically illegal now. Theyre not allowing it because of violence and people hurting themselves.

You can watch Allens segment on table smashing (42:00) and the entire episode of 4th & Forever below.

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As Chinese and Indian troops move to disengage in eastern Ladakh after a tense standoff, the chief of ITBP and BSF on Sunday said all the countrys land is under full possession of our security and defence forces.

SS Deswal, Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Border Security Force (BSF), was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a plantation drive held at a BSF camp in Bhondsi.

All the countrys land is with us. Our land is in full possession of our security forces, Deswal said, responding to questions on the current military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

All our borders are safe, be it the eastern, western or northern. The security forces of the country are very active, capable and dedicated. They are capable to protect the borders against any kind of enemy with all their might and efficiency, the 1984-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer said.

The morale of the troops of the army and border guarding forces is very high. Since independence, the security forces have made numerous sacrifices to protect the countrys borders and for security of the country whether is is external threat or internal security, he said.

You can see our forces are quick and alert to ensure protection, Deswal said.

All the security arrangements are in place at the borders and we can say that the countrys security is ensured, he said.
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Ahmedabad, July 12 : After pursuing KHAM for more than three decades, the Congress in Gujarat has made a change in its focus and now plans to woo the Patel community into the party-fold.

As per the change of strategy, the party has appointed Hardik Patel, leader of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), as working president.

Hardik Patel thanked the party for his appointment, here on Sunday, and said he had been given the opportunity despite being from a humble background.

"As the working president of the Gujarat Congress, I have been given a challenging responsibility. It also shows the party promotes people with humble background," he said.

"I pay my gratitude to Sonia Gandhiji and Rahul Gandhiji and the Congress. Will fight to save democracy and the Constitution. All issues related to Gujarat will be given priority and in 2022 the Congress will come back to power with two-thirds majority," Patel tweeted.

The tactical shift towards the Patel community could be attributed to failure of the pro-KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) stand, piloted by then Chief Minister Madhav Singh Solanki, to yield the desired political result. They party failed to return to power as the Patels, who account for 12-14 per cent of votes, sided with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In the last Assembly elections, the Congress fought with zeal and help of three youngsters -- Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakore and Jignesh Mevani. Thakore later joined the BJP, but lost his seat in the by-election.

While the BJP has put at the helm Vijay Rupani, a non-Patel leader, the PAAS agitation for reservation for Patels didn't earn much votes for the Congress.

The Congress tally in the House increased, the BJP swept Surat, the epicentre of the agitation.

The change in strategy may also have hassled many Congress stalwarts, like Ahmed Patel who is from Bharuch, Bharat Singh Solanki from Anand and Arjun Modwadia from Porbandar.

To get along with them is a challenging task for Hardik Patel.
New York, 11 July 2020 (SPS) - The Polisario Front on Tuesday called in New York to extend the MINURSO mandate to the Human Rights Monitoring, adding that the UN mission should be no exception in this regard.



"Although the Security Council has included a human rights component in UN peace missions mandates since 1991, the United Nations Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) remains an exception in this regard," regretted the Polisario in a press release issued in New York during a Security Council debate on peace operations and human rights.



The Polisario Front stressed that after 29 years of deployment, the mission created in 1991 to ensure the organization of a referendum in Western Sahara, failed not only its initial mandate but also the protection of the human rights of the Sahrawi civilians in the occupied territories.



Moreover, Morocco continues to commit massive violations against the Sahrawis. This repression has been documented by NGOs such as the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.



All the occupied territories are under siege and subject to media blackout. Western Sahara remains so far a prohibited exclusion zone to international media and human rights monitors," he said.



The Polisario noted that it had repeatedly asked the Security Council to extend the mandate of MINURSO to human rights monitoring in accordance with the fundamental principles of United Nations peacekeeping operations.



This demand was also raised to the UN Security Council by numerous African and international organizations for human rights defense that have urged the United Nations main body to act in this regard.



Without naming it, the Polisario Front accused France of having prevented the Security Council from making recommendations on human rights monitoring in Western Sahara, mainly to ensure that Morocco's appalling human rights record is not examined.



He recalled that the UN chief had repeatedly insisted on "impartial, comprehensive and sustained" monitoring of the human rights situation, necessary for the protection of the Sahrawi people.



"It is unacceptable that MINURSO remains an exception at a time when the promotion and protection of human rights becomes a priority in all United Nations peace operations," reiterated the Polisario in the same press release. (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
Saudi crown prince prime suspect in Khashoggi murder case: UN official

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 12 July 2020 9:43 AM

A senior UN official says Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is a prime suspect in the murder of well-known Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul back in October 2018.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Turkey's official Anadolu news agency, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Execution Agnes Callamard said MBS is considered the chief suspect in terms of ordering and inciting the killing.

"Look, I think he is a prime suspect in terms of determining who ordered or who incited the killing. He is in the picture," Callamard said.

She noted that circumstantial evidence suggests that a crime of that nature could not have taken place without the contribution of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler.

"I believe that according to the information that was provided more than a year ago, the CIA may have this information," the distinguished human rights lawyer pointed out.

She noted that Turkey's trial of nearly two dozen Saudi nationals over the killing of Khashoggi is being held "in absentia" because everyone knows that the Riyadh regime will not allow the defendants to appear at the court.

"Nevertheless, I think it is important. I want to note that the defendants are represented, that they have been assigned state-assigned lawyers," Callamard said.

On July 3, the main court in Caglayan district of Turkey's most populous city of Istanbul opened a trial in absentia of 20 Saudi nationals indicted for the murder of the 59-year-old Washington Post columnist.

His Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz told the court that Khashoggi had been lured to his death through "a great betrayal and deception," and asked that all people responsible for his killing be brought to justice.

Khashoggi, who fled Saudi Arabia in September 2017 and went into self-imposed exile in the US, was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, after he entered the premises to obtain paperwork for his planned marriage.

Turkish officials say his body was dismembered by the killers and his remains are yet to be found.

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Maharashtra on Sunday recorded 7,827 fresh Covid-19 cases, its third highest single-day spike, taking its tally to 254,427. Active cases in the state now stand at 103,615, while the recovery rate touched 55.15%, after 3,340 more patients recovered in the past 24 hours, pushing the tally of recovered patients to 140,325.

The state also recorded 173 new fatalities, pushing the toll to 10,289. Mumbai recorded 1,243 new cases and 44 fatalities, which took its tally to 92,988 and toll to 5,288. Active cases in Mumbai stand at 22,540.

After crossing the 1-lakh case mark on June 12, the state reported 153,286 cases at a daily average of 5,110 cases. In 30 days, state saw 6,572 fatalities at a daily average of 219 cases. Though the case fatality rate (CFR) has reduced during the period, the daily death rate has increased. There has been addition of 53,900 active cases in the past 30 days.

Pune city continued to record the second-highest number of cases after Mumbai and reported 990 infections in the past 24 hours, taking its tally to 29,048. Pune district, including also the urban part of Pimpri-Chinchwad, recorded 1,749 cases in 24 hours, taking the tally to 39,145. Kalyan-Dombivli retained its second position in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), in terms of new infections and reported 779 cases as its tally rose to 14, 611. The MMR, which comprises nine civic bodies and semi-urban parts of Thane, Raigad and Palghar, reported 4,475 cases on Sunday (57.18 % of the states daily infections), taking the tally to 173,060. Thane city recorded 465 new cases, followed by 321 new cases in Navi Mumbai.

Of the 173 fatalities , 44 were in Mumbai, 22 each in Pune city and Thane city, 10 each in Pimpri Chinchwad and Navi Mumbai.

States CFR stands at 4.04%, much below 4.8% reported on June 16, after the state government added 1,328 deaths on a single day as part of the reconciliation of data. States CFR was 3.25% on May 25 and 3.37% on May 31. The national CFR is 2.67%.

Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Nashik and Solapur continue to report high number of cases with addition of 222, 209, 182 and 277 cases.

The rising number of cases in MMR has forced civic bodies to extend the stricter lockdown by a few more days. Bhiwandi-Nizampur civic body extended its ongoing lockdown by a week till July 19, after a similar order was issued in neighbouring Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Mira-Bhayander.

The districts with a high number of cases, too, have extended their lockdown with stricter norms.

The state government has asked civic bodies and district administrations to concentrate on reducing the number of cases and the CFR.

As seen across the globe, the peak of cases shifts from metropolis to smaller cities and then to towns and rural parts. After Mumbais infection stabilised, neighbouring cities and even Pune and Pimpri-Chichwad are witnessing the peak. We expect the spread to stabilise in next few weeks, said an official from the state government. The government has set the target of bringing the infectivity (positivity) rate below 10% from current rate of 19.3% and the CFR below 1%, by going for aggressive tracking, tracing and treatment of suspected cases.

The rise in smaller cities and a few districts is constant because they do not have the required infrastructure and manpower has been exhausted. Civic bodies like Mira-Bhayander, Ulhasnagar, Bhiwandi or the districts in which the number is high have no health infrastructure in back-up.

The spread of the virus is from big cities to smaller ones, because of the migration of the people after the lifting of lockdown.

But it remains to be seen if these cities could contain it like Mumbai did, said Dr Sanjay Pattiwar, public health consultant.

State has 886,150 under home quarantine, while 47,801 are under institutional quarantine.

Meanwhile, the state government has constituted a four-member committee to recommend the utilisation of rapid antibody test kits. The committee headed by Dr Sudhakar Shinde, CEO, state health assurance society, will recommend the choice of test regimes and the kits suggested by the ICMR. It will also recommend whether to conduct the test on frontline workers from health services, police personnel, sanitisation workers or a particular class of people. The committee, which is expected to submit its report in ten days, will also draft the expression of interest for the test protocol and the kits, the notification has stated.

Meanwhile, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that there will be laboratories in every district for RT-PCR tests in near future.

After inaugurating a lab in Jalna, home district of state health minister Rajesh Tope, Thackeray said the temporary facilities being set up at the district level to treat the virus will be converted into permanent infrastructure.

With the help of the facilities, we will have to put in comprehensive and collective efforts to keep the mortality rate in check, he said.

Tope said that laboratories at district level help early detection of the viral infection, and in turn, it facilitates effective tracing and testing of the close contacts of patients.

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Voters wearing protective masks queue to enter a polling station during the general election on July 10, 2020 in Singapore. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)

By Philip J. Heijmans, Faris Mokhtar and Michelle Jamrisko

Most political parties around the world would be thrilled to win 89% of seats in an election. Not in Singapore.

The worst showing for the ruling Peoples Action Party, or PAP, since independence in 1965 prompted analysts to declare a vote for change that will trigger soul searching among the countrys leaders. Supporters for the main opposition Workers Party  which took 10 of 93 seats up for grabs  waved flags, blew whistles and beat drums like they were about to take office.

Much of that reaction reflects just how tightly the PAP has clenched the levers of power over the decades. Its a very high bar for it to continue winning so many seats in every election even with an electoral system that has built-in advantages for the ruling party, and this vote was held when a global pandemic helped trigger the city-states worst-ever economic slump.

Potentially more concerning for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, however, was that the result upended the conventional wisdom that traditionally risk-averse Singaporeans would strongly back the PAP in an emergency. That alone could have a big impact on policy, raising questions about how leaders positioned to succeed Lee handled the virus and why more young voters are said to have embraced opposition calls for both a stronger social safety net and a more open democracy.

Look at this population  the youngsters  they are prepared to vote against the government in times of a crisis, which is very unprecedented, said Bilveer Singh, associate professor at the National University of Singapores department of political science. It has never happened.

In the early hours of Saturday, Lee said the PAP had won a clear mandate even though its 61.2% share of the popular vote  slightly more than its all-time low in 2011  was less than he had hoped. He vowed to take Singapore safely through the crisis and beyond before handing over power to the so-called fourth generation of leaders.

Story continues

The results show also a clear desire for a diversity of voices in Parliament, Lee said, while adding that the outcome reflected the pain and uncertainty caused by a loss of income, anxiety over jobs and virus-related disruptions.

Lee hinted at some changes ahead, saying government policies must reflect the younger generations significantly different life aspirations and priorities compared with older Singaporeans. Still, he implored the youth to heed lessons hard won by their parents and grandparents so that they dont have to learn them all over again and pay a high price.

As one of the most trade-reliant economies in the world, Singapore has taken a severe knock during the pandemic. Officials are predicting that gross domestic product will contract as much as 7% this year. Data on Tuesday will probably show the economy already entered a recession in the second quarter.

There may be a greater need to think out of the box for economic strategies in a post-Covid world, said Selena Ling, head of treasury research and strategy at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., citing debates over fiscal sustainability and accountability, minimum wages, foreign worker policy and reliance on multinational corporations.

(Source: Bloomberg)

The Workers Party had campaigned on a slew of policies aimed at helping lower-income Singaporeans, including unemployment insurance, a minimum wage and incentives to hire locals over foreigners. Party chief Pritam Singh, who will become Singapores first official opposition leader, said he was humbled by the gains even though its still not exactly a quantum leap.

Im not feeling euphoric at all, Singh told reporters. In fact I think theres a lot of work to do.

The election results will likely spur the government to enact measures to strengthen the social safety net and recalibrate its foreign worker policy even while it stresses to the business community that its not turning insular, according to Leonard Lim, Singapore country director for regional consultancy firm Vriens & Partners. The government had already tightened restrictions on foreign labor in industries such as retail while allowing imported talent for higher-skilled roles.

Plenty of opposition candidates have rammed home the point that the PAPs long-standing openness to foreign labor means less good quality jobs for citizens, Lim said. Its low-hanging fruit and a very strategic tactic, especially when many citizens, especially middle-class white-collar workers, are losing sleep about job issues amid COVID-19.

On the campaign trail, Prime Minister Lee had emphasized the governments moves to stabilize the economy and limit job losses through massive wage subsidies, pledges to create 100,000 fresh work and training opportunities, and re-skilling workers toward next-generation industries. His government allocated S$93 billion ($67 billion) in special budget support to cushion the economic blow, and dipped into its reserves for only the second time to finance the spending.

In addition, the government is investing for research and development in areas such as artificial intelligence and biomedical sciences, supplementing ongoing digitization efforts that include building Singapore into a fintech hub and getting the islands food stalls and wet markets to adopt e-payments.

Still, Lee has repeatedly said Singapore needs to attract investments from multinationals to generate sustainable economic growth over the long haul. He blasted opposition proposals for a minimum wage and universal basic income as fashionable peacetime slogans, not serious wartime plans.

For Lee, who has run Singapore since 2004, the election was personal. He has signaled he intends to step down by the time he turns 70 in 2022, with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat set to take over.

Yet the election saw the prime minister being attacked by his own brother, Lee Hsien Yang, who criticized the governments handling of the pandemic and the capabilities of the next generation of the PAPs leaders. Singapore has been one of the hardest hit places in Asia, with cases topping 45,000 -- mostly migrant workers residing in dormitories -- even though the fatality rate remains low.

Lee Hsien Yang also called for an overhaul of the political system, a view shared by the Workers Party. It has sought a range of political reforms, such as abolishing the group-representative constituency system that it says has helped the PAP maintain its lock on Parliament. It advocates single-member constituencies, an independent Elections Department and court reviews of government directives under a so-called fake news law passed last year.

The extent to which the PAP will change hinges on internal discussions and some form of leadership transition that will happen before Singaporeans are scheduled to vote again in 2025, according to Bridget Welsh, an honorary research associate at the Asia Research Institute of University of Nottingham Malaysia.

If anything, she said, the pandemic has taught Singapore that the PAP needs to listen to alternative voices.

 2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Yikes

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Why are they traveling when they had covid19 in March?

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How are they allowed to enter Greece in the first place? I thought Americans weren't allowed anywhere.

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that rule only applies for americans that aren't rich. americans that don't give a shit and have money to burn have been traveling all over the world.

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She became a Greek citizen (or maybe a honorary citizen, is that a thing?) last year after donating a pile of money to the Mati fire. Tom too, I think.

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you know why...

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They are Greek citizens.

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Hanks became an honorary Greek citizen in December 2019



Also, a lot of rich people have multiple passports, or at least buy residency in other countries. And they're letting in people with longterm visas.



Basically, the rich people who spread this around in the first place (I mean, there's a reason Milan, New York, and Paris were slammed hard early on) are free to travel, but regular grody American tourists are banned so the public feels safe.

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They're no longer a risk dir themselves or others

Thet have citizenship



They're rich

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it says in the post he's a Greek citizen... but you know, reading...

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If I were to get over a bout of coronavirus last thing on my mind is traveling. I'd probably even be paranoid of doing anything that could re-infect me again.



That said Greece is a place I'd like to visit.



Edited at 2020-07-12 11:10 pm (UTC)

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I read an interview where Tom said he only felt normal flu symptoms while Rita had it much worse. :/

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I mean... at least they have antibodies and can probably be sure they don't have it again so they're not spreading it? I'm also going to guess that since they're rich they had access to testing before traveling.

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antibodies ain't shit. there's people that have had it four times already. they're just rich and don't care.

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damn, really? I've heard talk about reinfection but nothing concrete. where did that happen?

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Holy fuck. I hadnt heard about cases like this.

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There's actually no proof that someone can get infected again, for now.



Some people simply didn't got over the virus for complete.

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four times? what the hell kind of bad luck (slash no common sense?) do you have to have to get it FOUR TIMES

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I am genuinely shook. Is this like hidden from everything we are supposed to know? Bc it lingers on cardboard package boxes for 24 hours. So whats next? Lawd

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https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/studies-report-rapid-loss-of-covid-19-antibodies-67650 You only have antibodies for a few weeks to a few months

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He was on Conan O'Brien's podcast this week and he talked about giving plasma for therapy with patients who were currently sick and right after that he said that his doctor called him recently and said, "Hey Tom, if you want to know about the new research around your antibodies, I can fill you in. Hint: it's not good news." But then he said that he was still waiting to find out what the news was - the worst cliffhanger, lol.

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lol why are these two idiots traveling? yes, we know it doesn't matter if you get covid again and again and again since you are rich and have access to great medical care, STAY THE FUCK HOME.

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WHAT THE FUCK, TOM?!



never thought I'd write this about hanks tbh. It's usually cruise

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https://travel.gov.gr/#/



reece is ready once again to welcome the world. Here is how:

1st July onwards



Residents form EU+ countries are allowed to travel to Greece. EU+ consists of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland.



Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, China*.



*subject to confirmation of reciprocity.



Other countries citizens are allowed to travel to Greece only for essential travel.



Edited at 2020-07-12 11:06 pm (UTC)

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Do they hold Greek passports?

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Rita is Greek on her mother's side so she most likely does.

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Apparently they both have honorary citizenship.

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The article says:



Hanks, who became an honorary Greek citizen in December 2019



Idek.

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Essential travel. For exactly what? What yall do there?

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one of the first things i would do if i was a multi-millionaire is purchase maltese or cypriot citizenship. it's possible many wealthy americans have done something similar.



*edit. i believe both countries have programs for path to citizenships for somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000



Edited at 2020-07-12 11:33 pm (UTC)

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Not surprised since my company has charter flights to Greece coming back and some countries care more about the traveler $$$ they make over anything else.



Essential travel is so vague, that will require customs in the airport to be hard asses and if you have a place to quarantine or fill out that you have a place to stay for 14+ days on your customs forum, theyre likely to let you in. I cant quite remember what I had to fill out online in order to travel to Hawaii and I ended up not needing it anyway. They never checked any of my paper work and agriculture ONLY looked at the top of my bag for fruit and the like and that was as I was leaving. If youre not landing in a major airport (so for example landing in airfields that arent real airports and accept charter, military, private planes, aircrew, aka no TSA a place where you dont actually have to go through customs, you can legitimately get into anywhere. Ive been many different places during covid shut down as a flight attendant. Before and after my May leave. I think hotels are more strict than airports and I legitimately was not allowed to leave my hotel room, had all my food delivered to me while I was in Suriname and even then they eventually let us walk around resort grounds. So resorts will take people, especially if you stay on resort property which is easy when some are on beach fronts and basically everything you need right there. Even during lock down in places that took it seriously I was allowed to get food and come back.



How strict customs is will really depend. Tbh right now or even the last few months, if I wanted to travel internationally to ANYWHERE even closed countries, all I would have to do is walk through customs in my uniform OR business casual clothes and my known crew/airlines badge and Id get through. So I can only imagine how much easier it is for people with money.



Edited at 2020-07-13 02:11 am (UTC)

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This man reminds me of Miles Teller.

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I always see Edward Norton and maybe someone else.

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Please don't insult Shane like that

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i see sid from ice age

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I hate to say it, but he kind of looks like the father in The Witch. Still love Shane though.

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Yes a BuzzFeed Unsolved gif 

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My fiance loves to watch this before sleep and it always creeps me out. But, I love the stringbean for not giving a fuck. 

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hey if greece wants them and they want greece. let them greece.



but rich people suck.

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They mustve missed the opportunity in either Animal Crossing Pocket Camp or New Horizon bc like yall can build or "visit/travel" to an island based on Greece and keep it real cute but nope they just up and go.



So we no longer have him scolding problematic white peoples. Covid-19 Cases Boomin. Nobody listenin 

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It's been reported that they arrived via private jet.

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That's how I assume all rich people are traveling by.

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yeah that is how all americans are traveling

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yes, and theyre going to their house they own in Greece.

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Yes, and their massive carbon footprint is destroying the environment.

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WTF. They both got and recovered from Covid. And they are in the high risk categories. Dumbasses.



Edited at 2020-07-12 11:07 pm (UTC)

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I wonder if they ever went back to the US. I know I won't be going there for a long time.

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I think they were in California after they recovered because I *think* it was mentioned that Tom had some checkups done.

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yeah, after they were in australia they went home to cali and now they're back on the move

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These arseholes actually had it lmao???! Oh my fucking god. Americas sweetheart is just as much of a dickhead as any other rich person.



Edited at 2020-07-12 11:10 pm (UTC)

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Lol yeah it was big breaking news that we all were genuinely shocked. They did a mouthpiece and confirmed everything else, and rightfully scolded bad white peoples. But then like they went and did this.... Lol I cant.

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this is what bothers me so much. they are telling people to wear their facemasks and then go and do this??? the idiots that think this is a hoax are definitely gonna use this to further prove their asinine theory

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He literally scolded people last week...probably did so while on the plane to Greece!

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Southampton, July 12 : Former England captain Michael Vaughan feels Joe Denly, who has been struggling for form, should make room for Joe Root when the latter returns for the second against the West Indies.

Denly could manage only 18 and 29 in the first Test against the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl. He has not passed the 50-run mark in his last eight innings. Before the Southampton Test, Denly failed to hit a single hundred in the 14 Tests that he played for 'The Three Lions'.

On the other hand, Zak Crawley top-scored for England with 76 in the second innings of the Southampton Test.

"It's not even a conversation," Vaughan told BBC Sport. "You could argue that Denly was very lucky to have played 15 Test matches. There are a lot of players who have played only eight Tests and got hundreds.

"He has missed his chance and they have to stick with Crawley. I'm sorry for Denly - he's just not good enough." "England have a decision to make on Denly. Crawley surely has to stay in the side," added Vaughan.

Former captain Nasser Hussain had earlier advised Denly to change his technique in order to score big runs or else he could lose his spot in the team.

"Perhaps he can look at the example of his captain in this game. Ben Stokes has clearly tinkered with his technique, despite having the year of his life in 2019," Hussain wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.

"He has opened up his stance and has got a big trigger movement across his stumps towards the off side. I'm not sure why he has done it, but it shows even when you are in form you can always improve your alignment.

"Denly has to believe that a tweak can be made, even while he accepts the risks that come with it," Hussain added.

The second Test of the ongoing three-match series between England and West Indies will be played at the Old Trafford from July 16.
Abu Dhabi, July 12 : UFC Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman on Sunday retained his title after he defeated Jorge Masvidal via a unanimous decision at the UFC 251 Fight Island.

Usman successfully defend his belt with a gritty display to earn scores of 50-45, 50-45, 49-46 from the three judges after five gruelling rounds during the clash.

"Masvidal is the biggest, baddest dude out there right now. I had to switch gears and prepare for him on a week's notice. ... I had to make a mental shift. I trained for Gilbert. I had a completely different game plan," the 33-year-old Nigerian told UFC play-by-play announcer Jon Anik after the fight.

Usman's victory helped him to improve his record to 17-1 and extended his winning streak to 16 fights in the UFC.

Meanwhile, Alexander Volkanovski retained his featherweight title by edging a split-decision verdict against former champion Max Holloway.

The Emirates' Yas Island had been transformed into 'UFC Fight Island', a closed-off region where four UFC events are set to be held during the course of this month.
Srinagar, July 12 : The J&K Police have arrested the two terrorists who lobbed grenades on a Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) deployment, which did not explode, just four hours after the incident.

According to the police, the terrorists lobbed two grenades on the security forces near Sail Charsoo in Awantipora on the National Highway on Sunday afternoon.

The grenades, however, did not explode. The bomb disposal squad was called in and both the grenades were picked up safely by it after following security drill.

An FIR has been registered in the matter. The police said that during the course of investigation, it came to the fore that the two persons were riding a white Apache bike at a high speed from which they lobbed the grenades.

"The area was cordoned off immediately and during the search of the Sail village, the suspected white Apache was traced at about 100m from the place of the incident," the police said.

On further search of the area, both the terrorists were arrested from the village.

"They have been identified as Umer and Zahid Yusuf Pala, both residents of Aloora Shopian," the police said.

Further investigation and questioning is going on.
Roch Kabore, who embodied Burkina Faso's hopes for change when he became president five years ago, must now overcome growing doubts he can defeat a jihadist insurgency when he runs for another term in the November elections.

Seen as a consensus figure by some and an opportunist by others, the affable and burly Kabore, 63, once governed under ousted strongman Blaise Compaore but turned his back on the old regime before it cracked under the pressure of a massive popular revolt.

In 2015, a year after Compaore was ousted after 27 years in power, Roch Marc Christian Kabore won the presidency with 53.49 percent of the vote in the first round and raised hopes for development and change in Burkina Faso, which means "the country of honest men" in the local language.

On Saturday, when the People's Movement for Progress (MPP) backed Kabore for re-election in an empty field of candidates, those hopes were fading in the west African nation.

Burkina Faso has descended into chaos, with almost daily attacks from jihadist groups that have killed more than 1,100 people in five years.

With whole swathes of the country falling outside the state's authority, the security forces appear unable to quell the spiral of violence.

Fond of wearing traditional clothing, Kabore's speeches verge on the surreal. He announces victories when attacks come one after the other and resorts to lofty patriotic language that appears from another era.

Kabore's MPP likes to showcase achievements in building roads, improving health and providing access to clean water.

But this strikes a discordant note in a nation where one million people have fled their homes because of the jihadist violence and thousands of schools have had to close.

'Lazy king'

Roch Kabore "is a kind of lazy king who holds plenty of meetings and listens from his arm chair without taking decisions," a diplomat said in Abidjan, the main city in the neighbouring Ivory Coast.

Security sources said the Kabore government, fearing a military coup, "has not given the army the means to respond" to the jihadists.

An insider described as "intelligent and consistent," Kabore is praised by his supporters for his wealth of political experience and organisational abilities.

The former banker was appointed minister several times and prime minister in 1994, making him one of the main figures in the Compaore regime, but ultimately he became one of his leading opponents and helped oust him from power.

Blaise Compaore was ousted from the presidency in 2014 and now lives in exile in Ivory Coast. By ISSOUF SANOGO (AFP/File)

His win five years ago showed he could bring together supporters of the old leader as well as backers of the October 2014 uprising that saw the end of Campaore.

But his detractors say he lacks a grip on the country and that events have outpaced him.

They also say he was "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" and sources close to the minister's son have described him as a man who enjoys the good life.

A devout Roman Catholic in a majority Muslim country, Kabore served as premier from 1994 to 1996, steering Burkina through hardship caused by the devaluation of the CFA franc currency.

Studied in France

For over a decade he led the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party and was seen as Compaore's likely heir, even counting himself among the group that in 2010 began amending the constitution to keep the strongman in power.

But Kabore abruptly fell out of favour in 2012 and was thrown out of the leadership to become a mere "political advisor" -- a move that eventually proved to be a blessing in disguise.

Early in 2014, Kabore broke with the CDP to form the opposition Movement of the People of Progress (MPP), catapulting him to power in the vote that was widely seen as sealing the transition to democracy.

Kabore was a follower of Burkina Faso's former President Thomas Sankara who was killed in 1987. By OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT (AFP/File)

As a student in the French city of Dijon, Kabore was a committed leftist, and when Burkina's revered Marxist leader Thomas Sankara took power, he became the director of the International Bank of Burkina before he had even turned 30.

When Sankara was gunned down in 1987, Compaore took the reins.

In Kabore's first campaign for president, he pledged to fight youth unemployment, improve education and modernise the health system with a promise to make healthcare free for children under six.
Sub-inspector KK Sharma, one of the two police officers arrested by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) police for tipping off gangster Vikas Dubey regarding a police raid at his house on July 3 leading to the murder of 8 policemen, moved the Supreme Court on Sunday alleging the possibility of a police encounter against him and seeking protection.

The petition filed by Sharma and his wife Vinita Sirohi, sought a CBI probe into the incident besides asking for protection citing the encounter killings of six other accused including the main accused Vikas Dubey.

Extra-judicial killings of other accused shows volumes about the conduct of Uttar Pradesh police department.It is clearly evident that the institutions tasked with the protection of law and order in the state have taken the law into their own hands and have been killing the accused as soon as arresting such people, the petition said.

ALSO READ | Dubey aide Arvind Trivedi sent to judicial custody, will be taken to UP for interrogation

Sharma, the beat-in-charge on July 3, and Chaubeypur station house officer Vinay Tiwari are alleged to have passed on information to Dubey about the police operation which was being planned against him at Kanpurs Bikru village.

Dubeys men ambushed and killed eight policemen on July 3 before fleeing Kanpur. Dubey was gunned down on the morning of July 10 by the Uttar Pradesh Police when he was being brought from Ujjain in MP, where he was arrested the day before, to Kanpur.

The police said that the convoy in which Dubey was travelling met with an accident. It was claimed that Dubey tried to escape after one of the vehicles which was part of the convoy overturned.

ALSO READ | Vikas Dubey was hit on his chest, arm as he tried to escape from police: Report

After being chased by the police team, he was asked to surrender but he did not and started firing with the intention of killing them. The police team fired back in self-defence after which Vikas Dubey was injured. He was taken to a hospital, where he died during treatment, Kanpur Police said in a statement.

On July 3 - the day eight policemen were killed - two of Dubeys associates, Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey, were killed by the police in an encounter in Kanpur. On July 8, the police killed another aide, Amar Dubey, who carried a reward of Rs 50,000, in Maudaha village in Hamirpur district.

On July 9, two more aides, Prabhat Mishra and Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey, wanted in connection with the Kanpur ambush, were killed in separate encounters in Kanpur and Etawah districts.

Sharma and Sirohi submitted before the Supreme Court that an investigation by UP police will not be fair and impartial and has asked the top court to transfer the case to CBI or any other independent investigating agency.

The petitioners also prayed that a direction should be issued to the UP Police that interrogation of Sharma should happen at Mati Jail, Kanpur Dehat in UP where Sharma is currently lodged and that he should not be taken outside the Mati jail.

Rule of law is supreme in the country and every accused has a right to fair trial guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Thus, the petitioners are seeking protection of their fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, the petition said.
THE finishing touches are being put to detailed drawings for the new traffic management plan in Abbeyfeale which will cost in excess of 5 million to complete, it has been revealed.

While there were initial reports in the media that the plan would cost 3.7m, that figure then rose to 4.8m, and at a meeting of the Newcastle West Municipal District last week it was revealed that the plan is to now cost in excess of 5m.

When weve finished these detailed drawings we are going to provide some costings of them and start our discussions with the TII and the council in terms of finding the funding to deliver the scheme, explained Kieran O'Gorman, Senior Executive Engineer at Limerick City and County Council.

It is hoped that the new plan will improve traffic flow through the town, provide more convenient parking and, in turn, result in the town being more attractive for new businesses to set up in.

Speaking on the issue of off-street parking, Mr OGorman, who gave a detailed report on the progression of the plan, said they have engaged with Innovate who own the bank building, David Goode who owns the pharmacy and the five or six people who own the properties to the rear of the proposed car park.

We are doing those legal agreements to acquire and lease land there in order to provide more off-street parking, but right beside the main street, he explained.

The meeting heard that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) have insisted traffic surveys are completed to work out the crossing points of pedestrians. These were postponed due to the lockdown.

Cllr Liam Galvin expressed his frustration in waiting for detailed drawings in relation to the plan. He requested detailed drawings for a number of areas in and around the town including the main street, ORiordans car park, and The Cellar Bar and junction.

Im disappointed that since January nothing has really happened, Cllr Galvin said. Now I know Covid has been here but there was a commitment that we would have a set of drawings in January or February but nothing came to us and obviously Covid came since. All Im asking is can we get a set of drawings, he said.

Before we meet the working group again I do think we need a set of final draft drawings.

Cllr Francis Foley, chair of the municipal district, echoed Cllr Galvins calls for work to be progressed, particularly at ORiordans Bar.

We need to get parking before we start taking away parking on the main street. All Id be afraid of and hopefully it won't happen is that because of Covid-19 wed lose funding and thats why Im anxious wed progress this as soon as possible, he said.

Councillors were informed that a study of Joys Corner for the introduction of traffic lights has been completed.

Mr OGorman said that the lights at Joys Corner wont be an obstacle to the traffic moving through the town. But concerns were raised by Cllr Galvin.

We are on the primary route heading for the capital of tourism here in Ireland, Kerry. How is that going to work for the summer months and the fine weather, the Ballybunions, the Listowel Races, the Dingles, the Killarneys - how is that going to work for all those? Are we going to end up getting a John Deere tractor to pull them down again?

Mr OGorman said that the traffic lights would be regulated back to the control centre in Limerick.

From the calculations that have been done, the capacity of the lights is greater than the volume of traffic that can come down the street. If you have a huge tailback currently, the lights wont make it worse, he said.

Ill hold you to it, said Cllr Galvin.

The meeting heard that there is a pedestrian crossing earmarked for near SuperValu and a pelican crossing to be located next to Collins Pharmacy on the Killarney Road.

The Tesco roundabout is to be changed back to a T-junction and there are proposed footpaths for both sides of the road going down Colbert Street. The public toilet is proposed to go in the grounds of the new car park. My next jobs are to get the legal agreements signed for the land, finish off some of these details, talk to the TII about the funding and then come back with the pedestrian surveys and then I can bring you back the completed scheme. You are talking two months, said Mr OGorman.

When asked by Cllr Francis Foley what amount of funding is required, Mr OGorman said: With a scheme like this you are over 5m.

I have had good involvement in it and with yourselves we have had great buy-in with the TII. The TII road safety officer and the TII landscape architect have had huge input into the design of the scheme - they have both committed to high quality footpaths and high quality finishes for the scheme.
Jourdan Vian Reporter Jourdan Vian is a reporter and columnist covering crime and courts for the La Crosse Tribune. She can be reached at 608-791-8218. Follow Jourdan Vian Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

A group of local high school students this week organized a glow-in-the-dark protest to call for justice for Black men and women killed by police in the U.S.

The theme this last time was glow in the dark because even though we are marching and protesting for justice for all the innocent lives, we want the community to come together and have fun doing it, said one of the organizers, Tabokie Robinson of Black Student Leaders.

The group started at Riverside Park, then walked through downtown La Crosse to City Hall, which houses the La Crosse Police Department.

The idea behind walking in the street is to give people a small inconvenience to make them think about the larger issues Black people deal with on a regular basis, Robinson said.

They march in the road to show people what it feels like to be powerless and try to make that perspective sink in. When people are powerless, they feel impatient and angry, they lash out.

Activists accept that the people in traffic arent going to be happy with them. But blocking traffic is a peaceful way to make an impact.

Being stuck in traffic doesnt cause you any serious harm, especially in a place like La Crosse where you can turn off and take another road, just like you would if it there was road work on that block.

But when protesters are in the road, they force people who would otherwise look away to deal with them, and in doing so, get their message out there.

While they were out and about, someone took a video of them walking down the road and published it on a public Facebook page. In and of itself, theres nothing wrong with that. The whole point of protesting is to get people to pay attention, after all.

But then the comments started to roll in.

This is what happens when you give poors a voice, said one person.

Mow em down with fire hoses, said another.

Others called for running them over, literally saying they should be killed for walking in a street. It got so bad the page administrator deleted it Thursday, and then a different person started commenting on a protesters page.

A semi-truck driver told a protester that he would assume the protester was violent and run him over with a semi if he had been there.

This is unacceptable.

While there were some adults there to support them, for the most part these are children whose crime, if you want to call it that, is jaywalking. And people who live in our community feel comfortable saying they should shut up or be killed.

People brought up hypothetical ambulances as if the kids cant hear sirens coming and clear a path, and hypothetical employees going to work as if there arent multiple ways to get to any place in this city.

Those same people swear up and down that they arent racist, but, Ive got to be honest, threatening to kill Black children for jaywalking while objecting to the murder of Black adults suggests otherwise. As a white child, I walked down the middle of my neighborhood streets hundreds of times and no one suggested I should be murdered for it.

Robinson was pretty levelheaded about the threats. He keeps them in mind, but focuses on his work.

He told me Thursday, To me I think its a scary thought that I try to push back in my head (I guess), because I know why Im out here and my goal but that thoughts going to keep popping up.

I can almost hear people telling me not to take it seriously, saying, Its just Facebook. People always pretend to be tougher than they are on social media.

I have to say, I would be more willing to write it off as internet tough guys if it werent for the fact that people have been killed that exact way while doing the same exact thing. The image of James Alex Fields Jr. ramming his car into Heather Heyer is one I will never forget.

To think we have people in La Crosse willing to do the same thing to our young people makes me sick. It just goes to prove that this is exactly the right place for activists to be standing up against racism.

Jourdan Vian can be reached at jvian@lacrossetribune.com or follow her on Twitter at @Jourdan_LCT.

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12.07.2020 LISTEN

The Electoral Commission's (EC) has assured the public that it would do everything possible within its powers to keep the public safe from the coronavirus pandemic.

This comes after the EC was heavily criticized on social media when a video emerged that some registration officials at certain centres do not clean fingerprint scanners before and after their use.

But a statement from the Commission has assured that they have taken the issue up and investigation have begun.

It said the EC would not hesitate to take the necessary action against any official found to be negligent in the observance of the COVID-19 protocols.

The statement said the EC has alerted its monitoring teams to put that agenda on their radar as well as re-echo the precautionary measure to its temporary staff.

It recalled that the Commission as part of anti-COVID-19 protocols instructed officials to sanitize the hands of all applicants before and after every process.

According to the statement the officials had been directed to also clean the fingerprint scanners with a wet wipe after every use during the intensive training organized for them before the exercise began.

It said the safety of applicants was foremost in the registration process and the Commission would go to any length to observe the measures outlined by the Ghana Health Service.

The statement encouraged applicants to draw the attention of registration officials to any anomaly to ensure the safety of everybody participating in the registration exercise.

The Commission reiterates its commitment to the safety protocols and urges applicants to collaborate with registration officials by observing the safety protocols, which include wearing face masks, washing hands, checking temperature, and sanitizing hands before and after the registration exercise to keep safe.

---GNA
At least ten people were killed on Sunday in landslides caused by incessant rains across Nepal, taking the total number of fatalities due to landslips to 54 in last three days.

Landslides and floods triggered by continuous heavy rains for the past three days have hit 19 districts across Nepal.

Seven persons were killed in Myagdi, two in Jajarkot and one in Sindhupalchowk district on Sunday, according to Home Ministry sources.

In total, fifty-four people have been killed and 39 are missing due to landslides in different parts of the country in the past 72 hours, an official at the Home Ministry said.

About 40 people have sustained injuries.

At least 11 people are missing after a massive landslide triggered by incessant rainfall swept away eight houses in Nepal's eastern Sankhuwasabha district.

The Nepal government has mobilised the Army and the police to carry out rescue operations.
Police will not proceed with fining a Ferntree Gully woman for breaching COVID-19 restrictions while she was travelling to feed her pet horse.

Some 119 other people were issued $1652 fines over the past 24 hours, up from 83 the previous day in Victoria's second lockdown.

Karen Evans told Seven News on Friday that a police officer issued her a postal fine for being 13 kilometres from her home to feed her horse kept at another property.

Ms Evans said no one else could feed her horse Lily.
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The search for missing Glee actress Naya Rivera has expanded to cabins surrounding the California lake where she disappeared.

On Sunday the Ventura County Sheriff's Office announced that cabins on the banks of Lake Piru will be searched after social media users theorized that Rivera could have ended up in one, but officials do not believe she is.

'In todays search for Naya Rivera, cabins and outbuildings in the surrounding area will be checked once again, as well as the shoreline. This has been part of the ongoing search effort since her disappearance on Wednesday afternoon. Boat crews continue to scan the lake,' the office announced Sunday afternoon.

They also warned people about trying to search for her themselves and tweeted: 'For those intent on searching for Naya Rivera on your own, 1. The lake is closed. 2. Temps are already in the 90s. 3. The terrain around the lake is very steep and rugged. Our teams are well equipped and highly trained. We dont want to have to rescue you.'

Rivera, 33, disappeared while out boating on the lake with her four-year-old son Josey on Wednesday. Josey was found alone in a rental boat with no sign of his mother, who is now presumed dead.

Authorities say theyre confident that Rivera is in the water but a search team will still walk to cabins nearby and deputies will knock on doors to ask if they know anything about Riveras whereabouts.

Scroll down for video

The search for missing Glee actress Naya Rivera has expanded to cabins surrounding the California lake where she disappeared. Several boats combed the lake north of Los Angeles for the remains of the actress and mother on Saturday above

The search for the Glee star, 33, (pictured) entered its fifth day on Sunday following her disappearance while out boating at Lake Piru in Ventura near Los Angeles with her four-year-old son Josey (together right) on Wednesday

A view of Ventura County Sheriff's Office helicopters searching for Rivera above

If a cabin is not occupied, then deputies will look inside for any signs of the actress.

The search has been difficult due to extremely poor visibility due to debris in the water, prompting searchers primarily rely on sonar technology to search the waters.

On Saturday Rivera's heartbroken family was seen on the banks of the California lake where she disappeared.

Her father George Rivera was seen running into the lake and splashing water over himself in an emotional moment as he tried to connect with his missing daughter.

Rivera's distraught mother was also pictured crumpled on the banks of the lake where her daughter vanished as the search continued for a fifth day.

The distraught family was seen sharing a moving moment where they came together and hugged each other.

Naya Rivera's ex-husband Ryan Dorsey was seen at the banks of Lake Piru on Saturday

At one point Naya Rivera's father George Rivera sat alongside his former son-in-law Ryan Dorsey

Naya's father George entered the waters fully clothed as the search for his daughter's body went on for a fifth day

Naya Rivera's brother, Mychal, and cousin are pictured together left at Lake Piru on Saturday. Rivera's brother Mychal and his father George can be seen together right walking with their arms around one another as they made their way over to the lake

Naya Rivera's distraught mom is seen above with Rivera's brother on the banks of the lake as the search for the missing Glee star entered its fourth day Saturday and authorities released footage of the nightmarish underwater hunt

Naya Rivera's mother Yolanda and brother Mychal are seen embracing on the edge of the lake as the search for Naya continues

The entire family put their arms around one another as the horrible nature of what unfolded appeared to be slowly sinking in

The horror of what might have occurred out on the waters of Lake Piru struck Ryan Dorsey as he placed an arm around Naya's brother Mychal

Ryan Dorsey is hugged by one of Naya's Rivera's family members in the lake in a moment of grief

Naya's brother and dad George appeared to lead the way in some type of respect to connecting with Naya one more time by jumping in the water for what looked like a spiritual moment for the family

Ryan Dorsey could be seen wiping away tears as he walked around the banks of the lake close to the Rivera family

Dorsey, 36, would be seen walking along the docks close to patrol boats at the side of the lake

Naya's mom Yolanda Rivera was pictured kneeling with her arms outstretched in a moment of desperation in front of Lake Piru in Ventura near Los Angeles on Saturday alongside Naya's brother Mychal as the duo joined in the recovery operation for the missing star's body.

Yolanda and Mychal put on life jackets and joined the Ventura County Sheriff's search team as they scoured the lake. The pair were seen embracing along the banks of the lake.

At other points during the day, younger members of the family were seen playing on a beach at the lake.

'They're obviously devastated, grieving,' Sgt. Marta Bugarin, a public information officer with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said. 'Our goal is to try and bring some closure to the family today.'

The recovery operation will resume first thing on Sunday morning. The Ventura County Sheriff's Office was assisted with their search efforts by members of the Tulare and San Luis Obispo sheriff's agencies as well as a private contractor, Bugarin said.

Footage has been released showing the nightmarish underwater hunt for Rivera's body as authorities warn she could be found 'five minutes from now or five days from now' and her devastated family say they 'need closure'.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department shared footage of the 'difficult' search for the missing actress on Twitter Friday night, which has been hampered by the poor visibility of the lake's murky waters.

George Rivera, is pictured coming out of the lake after venturing into the waters in moment of grief. His son Mychal was there to greet him

Naya Revira's brother, Mychal, also went into the waters of Lake Piru at the recovery operation went on nearby

Brother Mychal Rivera together with his father George, right, and a cousin, left, were all seen on the shores of Lake Piru

All those present waded into the waters and ended up splashing one another. There were even a few smiles raised

George Rivera initially charged into the water alone and could be seen running back to shores carrying a pair of shoes

Naya Rivera's former husband, Ryan Dorsey, was seen playing in the lake along with a couple of children belonging to other family members

Naya Rivera's father appeared to take a moment to relax with some younger family members in the lake on Saturday

Mychal Rivera, Naya's brother, could be seen with his partner and their child as they supported other members of the family

Ryan Dorsey took a moment to collect his thoughts and could be seen standing on the jetty at the edge of the lake

George Rivera, Naya's father, took some time to stand at the edge of the lake and collect his thoughts as he looked at the waters

Naya Rivera's mum, Yolanda, brother Mychal and father George take a few moments together at Lake Piru

The video shows the images picked up around 30 feet below the surface of the water.

The lake itself is 1,200 acres and can reach depths of up to 130 feet.

In it, authorities point to a barely visible tree limb highlighting the challenges divers are facing in trying to find the missing mother-of-one.

'Here's an example of the underwater visibility at a 30-foot depth in Lake Piru,' the Sheriff's Department tweeted.

A second social media post shows footage of the a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) being lowered into Lake Piru and details that specialized equipment including sonar, divers and dogs have also been deployed in the hunt.

'Here's the ROV used by @TulareSheriff in the search for Naya Rivera at Lake Piru today,' the Sheriff's Department wrote.

Searchers from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department were seen out on the waters looking for signs of the actress

Naya Rivera's mother, Yolanda and her son, Mychal, far right, along with a police officer were pictured walking along the jetty

Naya's mom Yolanda and the Glee star's brother Mychal are seen getting off of the Ventura County Sheriff's boats after joining in the search for Naya

Footage has been released in the underwater hunt (pictured) for Rivera's body as authorities warn she could be found 'five minutes from now or five days from now'. Authorities point to a tree limb which looks like nothing more than a long dark shape given the water's poor visibility, highlighting the challenges divers are facing in the search

A second social media post shows footage of the ROV being lowered into Lake Piru

With almost zero visibility, human divers are resorting to searching by feel, meaning it could take several days before crews can locate her body, Eric Buschow, Ventura County Sheriff's Office spokesman said at a press conference Friday evening.

'We don't know if she's going to be found five minutes from now or five days from now, so we're still going to be continuing this effort,' he said. 'The visibility in the water is one to two feet,' Buschow added.

Buschow said 'promising' images had shown up on the sonar Thursday night but when the ROV was dropped into the water the objects turned out not to be Rivera's body.

'What they do is they go out and they tow these devices in the water that scan the bottom of the lake for any objects that might look like a body.

'Last night, they had a couple of images that showed up on the sonar that they thought might be promising to investigate,' he said.

'This morning, they sent an ROV, or a small robotic device, down into the water to examine those objects. Unfortunately, they did not locate Naya Rivera. They are still searching.'

Buschow admitted the conditions of the lake made the search 'difficult' but said he is confident Rivera's body will be recovered.

It could take several days before crews can locate her body, Eric Buschow, Ventura County Sheriff's Office spokesman said at a press conference Friday evening (pictured)

'It's very effective,' he said of the sonar system.

'They get a really detailed image and they can go down and focus on specific things rather than putting divers in the water where they're literally feeling around because they can't see.'

The search resumed at 6am Saturday morning, with authorities now focusing on the north and east sides of the lake, based on where the boat was found and the currents of the water.

A specially-trained dog is also being used in the search to sniff above the water's surface and alert handlers to a body beneath.

Authorities confirmed the mission had shifted to a recovery Thursday as hope of finding Rivera alive vanished.

The actress's distraught family said they just 'wish' she could be found so they could get some 'closure' over what is believed to have been a tragic drowning accident.

A man thought to be 65-year-old Arnold Dorsey, the father of Rivera's ex-husband Ryan Dorsey and the grandfather to Josey, told The Sun the whole family was 'sad' and were rallying around Rivera's son.

This diagram shows where Naya Rivera and her son rented a boat on Lake Piru before the four-year-old was seen alone. The map in the top left shows the location of the lake in relation to Los Angeles where Rivera lives

A man thought to be 65-year-old Arnold Dorsey (pictured above with Josey), the father of Rivera's ex-husband Ryan Dorsey and the grandfather to Josey, told The Sun the whole family was 'sad' and were rallying around Rivera's son

'We are sad, we just wish they could find her so we can have some closure,' he said outside Rivera's mother Yolanda's home in Valencia.

He said Josey was having some 'good days' after the four-year-old's terrifying ordeal.

'We still have good days [with him], I can't make any other comment at this time.'

Josey was found asleep and alone on the rental boat Wednesday evening.

He told police his mother had 'jumped' into the water to go swimming and never came back, but police admitted it was 'challenging' to interview a four-year-old.

The lake was said to be a 'sanctuary' for Rivera and somewhere she had been going to for years.

However, the waters are also known for their rip currents and for being full of debris, and eight people have drowned there since 1994.

Authorities have said there is no evidence of foul play or suicide and that everything points to the young star accidentally drowning.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office released CCTV footage showing Naya Rivera and her four-year-old son arriving at the dock on Lake Piru on Wednesday
Social distancing requirements and other measures put in place during the pandemic have created no end of headaches - and delays - across the countrys judicial system. Victorias second lockdown has now thrown a slew of border-related complications into the mix.

Helen Rosamond and Rosemary Rogers Credit:Joe Benke

Just ask Local Court magistrate Roger Clisdell who teed off at his boss, NSW Local Court chief magistrate Graeme Henson, in a reply-all blast in response to a routine court update on Thursday.

Henson had emailed his charges last week with a rather routine update for all Local Court magistrates on the practical implications of a second lock-down in Victoria. The gist? Cases involving Victorian residents can be adjourned or continued on a case-by-case basis, at the magistrates discretion. For everything else, follow the rules already outlined, because any deviation comes without the authority or approval of the Court.

This, apparently, did not sit well with Clisdell. I cant believe what I have just read. Am I an independent Judicial Officer, or am I a pawn required to obey all orders from Sydney? he shot back, in an email - for reasons unknown - he also sent to all of his colleagues.
After actors Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan were tested positive for coronavirus, their residence Jalsa was visited by BMC workers who carried out sanitisation work. Jalsa has been sealed and declared a containment area. Both the actors have been admitted to the hospital.

However, Jaya Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Aaradhya have been tested negative for the virus.

Nanavati Hospital where the actors are admitted have issued a statement and said that they are stable. "Mr Amitabh Bachchan is stable with mild symptoms and is currently admitted in the isolation unit at Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital, Mumbai. He has confirmed that he will keep updating via Twitter," it said.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Police has tightened security outside the hospital as well as outside Jalsa. "We have beefed up security to avoid assembling of people outside the hospital. Other COVID-19 patients are also in the hospital, they should not face inconvenience. Our officers are outside the hospital and not allowing anyone to assemble," Senior inspector Shriram Koregaonkar said.

On Saturday, both Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan took to Twitter to confirm that they were tested positive. Amitabh Bachchan urged people who had met him recently to get themselves tested.

"Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic," said Abhishek Bachchan.

Also read: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan test positive for coronavirus; admitted in Nanavati hospital
California, which has tax rates higher in just about every category of taxation than just about every other state, wants a bailout from Washington D.C.

In typical progressive tone, California essentially demands the bailout, which is to say, California insists that taxes paid by all 50 states expressly to the federal government instead be sent to California.

Why? Because California, despite its gargantuan GDP and despite its onerously burdensome tax rates, needs another $54 billion to plug a hole in the state budget. Perhaps thats because of its squandering of tens of billions of dollars on utopian frivolities like a high-speed rail that hasnt rolled a single mile or carried a single passenger after 12 years and billions of dollars of spending. That $54 billion is equivalent to about a third of the states entire budget.

How does such a huge government entity in such a resource-, commerce- and technology-rich state manage to get in such dire financial straits? A big first step is to be progressive. And California is to progressives what Al Capone was to gangsters, ruthlessly excessive and blind to consequences.

The Golden States unabashedly progressive governor, Gavin Newsom, insists the federal government has a moral and ethical obligation to hand over billions to states like his.

Gavin Newsom (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

We should stop here and let that thought sink in. Newsoms sense of morality goes to the heart of what it means to be progressive, which is the description that the far-left, aspiring Marxists and would-be socialists give themselves, perhaps thinking it provides them cover.

So-called progressives believe other peoples money belongs to them  they being the progressives, not the other people. To justify this inversion of reality requires redefining many aspects of life that most people instinctively understand. Progressives either dont get it or refuse to.

All people can agree that charity is a good thing. Its good for the recipient when the recipient is truly needy. Its good for the giver, who gives freely out of a sense of love, duty or morality. Both are blessed by the transaction.

As with all things economic, progressives must redefine the term to conform charity to their vision of reality. Charity becomes government confiscation of money from the people it belongs to, with or without their consent, so that it may be given to people that progressives decide should have it instead, whether they need it or not.

Under progressive charity, the giver need not participate freely or out of a sense of love, duty or morality. Progressives will decide if the giver must give, and how much. The giver may even  and often does  disagree with the taking of his money in taxes, in most cases without consulting him or seeking his approval. The giver also usually has little if anything to do with selecting to whom his money will go and consequently often disagrees with the recipients alleged worthiness to receive this largess.

This is the Robin Hood school of charity. Robin being the progressive government that, like the fictional hero, has sole determination of who will benefit from the wealth redistribution. (Its worth noting that despite the romantic appeal of the archer from Sherwood Forest, Robin was essentially a thief, taking what belonged to someone else and giving it to whomever he decided should get it instead. Perhaps the first progressive.)

Gov. Newsoms frame of mind is revealing. Politics always has involved deal-making and even groveling to extract something of value from those who have it. Progressivism has turned a corner. Now the petitioner no longer comes ready to make a deal or on bended knees feigning submission. Newsom demands.

Politics also always has involved rough and tumble trade-offs and compromises. Though distasteful, those functions provided checks and balances. To get something, something else had to be given up in trade or concession. Weve turned the corner from Traditional Politics Boulevard onto the New Way Expressway.

As is typical of progressive thinking, it seems no one thought ahead to where this new path will take us. But it doesnt take much imagination to see that the first stop will be bankruptcy.

If Newsom gets what he demands of the US government, he will just be the latest. Already this year an extra $3 trillion have been paid out based on little more justification than people simply demanded it. More billions are being queued up in Congress even now.

At what point will the check writing and printing of money to prevent the checks from bouncing end?

Perhaps progressives have thought ahead after all.

Barack Obama said out loud that he intended to fundamentally transform America. Dont believe it. Something far more sinister is intended.

The far left and socialism, which spawned it, and Marxism, which spawned it, all are based on the same premise: a new economic system. Since Marx and Engels this has never been predicated on modifying what exists to fashion a new, improved version. At best, such a transformation would be a waystation, not the destination.

The goal of socialism is communism, said Vladimir Lenin, who ought to be considered an authority.

What Newsom and his ilk are advancing always has been about tearing down and destroying capitalism and the free enterprise system, then replacing it, not transforming it.

To do that, bankruptcy will be a mere stop en route. Unless this route is changed, the New Way Expressway will be a road to hell, paved with taxpayers money.
Iran warns of effective measures if Europe yields to US pressure over arms embargo extension

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 July 2020 4:21 PM

Iran has warned it will take "effective measures" if European countries cave in to the US pressure aimed at extending an arms embargo on the Islamic Republic that is legally bound to expire under an international 2015 nuclear agreement.

"We have warned the European countries that if they give in to the US political and diplomatic pressures and trigger the restrictions, Iran has envisaged effective measures [to take in kind], but we hope that things would not end up like that," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in an interview with Tasnim News Agency on Saturday.

"We advise independent states not to make unwise decisions about international peace and security under the US pressure," he added.

He said the lifting of the arms embargo is Iran's legal right under the nuclear deal -- officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses it.

Under the JCPOA, the restrictions imposed on the purchase and sale of arms should be lifted in October, the Iranian spokesperson added.

He noted that the US is spreading lies and waging smear campaigns against Tehran to prolong the ban, saying, "They (the Americans) seek to form a new consensus against us and portray the Islamic Republic as a factor disrupting security, but it is the US forces who are disrupting peace, stability and security in the region."

The US is currently exerting pressure on the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo against Iran as part of Washington's so-called "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran.

France, Britain and Germany -- the three European signatories to the JCPOA  have argued against the lifting of the arms embargo against Tehran, resonating the US claims.

Tehran, however, has firmly rejected Washington's plans as the US is no longer a party to the nuclear deal ever since it withdrew from the multilateral agreement in 2018.

China and Russia, which are both signatories to the JCPOA, have echoed Tehran's position.

The US recently served the UNSC with a draft resolution on extension of the arms embargo, with American Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft saying Washington will push the Council to vote on the draft as soon as mid-July.

Amid the US' unashamed drive targeting the 2015 nuclear agreement, the United Nations secretary general has urged exhaustion of all possible means to prevent "destruction" of the historic accord.

"Our position in relation to the JCPOA has always been the same. We consider [that] the JCPOA was a very important step forward in relation to the question of nuclear proliferation," Antonio Guterres told an online press conference on June 25 in response to a question posed by IRNA.

Iran says it will not remain indifferent and will show suitable reaction if the US tries to prevent lifting of the arms embargo against the Islamic Republic.

"The termination of the arms ban [on Iran] ... is one of the important achievements of the JCPOA and if Americans want to question this achievement, other big countries know what our reaction will be," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last month.

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The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday declared the 12th results on its official website. Students can check their results online on various official websites, IVRS telephone numbers and mobile apps.

Follow CBSE 12th Result live updates here

CBSE will host its results on net with the technical support of National Informatics Centre (NIC), Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Govt. of India. Students can access their results through these websites:

cbse.nic.in,

www.results.nic.in or

www.cbseresults.nic.in.

Moreover, the schools will automatically get the results of their students on the registered Email IDs.

Also Read: CBSE Board 12th Result 2020 declared at cbse.nic.in

IVRS Facility

CBSE will also provide results through IVRS (interactive voice response system). NIC will provide the telephone numbers on the day of result, through which the students will get to know their marks. Last year, NIC had provided a separate telephone number for local subscribers in Delhi and another number for rest of the subscribers in the country.

Read More: Important things you need to know about CBSE 10th, 12th Results 2020

Students will also be able to check their scores on various other apps. Some of the apps include, DigiLocker, Umang app and Digiresults app. Students must have a smartphone and an active internet connection to check their scores online.

This year, students need not visit their schools or zonal office to collect their results. The students will get igital marksheet this year that can be downloaded from DigiLocker app.

DigiLocker App

The board will provide CBSE Class 10 digital academic documents (Marksheets, Migration Certificate and Pass Certificate) through its own academic repository Parinam Manjusha which is integrated with DigiLocker at digilocker.gov.in. The DigiLocker account credentials are being sent to students via SMS on their mobile number registered with CBSE.

Read More: CBSE 10th, 12th Result 2020: Students to get digital marksheet this year

UMANG App

Students can also view their results on UMANG Mobile Platform which is available for android, iOS and Windows based Smart Phones.

DigiResults App

The CBSE Class 10th results will also be available via Android mobile app DigiResults. The app can be downloaded from Google Play Store.

The author tweets @ NandiniJourno
Michael Gove will announce today he is spending more than 700 million to secure borders after the UKs Brexit transition period finishes at the end of the year with or without a deal.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has authorised 470 million to be spent on infrastructure such as border control posts, and a further 235 million for computer systems and extra staff, including 500 more Border Force personnel.

The announcement comes after the Government said that significant differences still remain in Brexit talks between Britains negotiator David Frost and the EUs Michel Barnier over the terms of a trade deal, leading to the revived prospect of a No Deal Brexit if the differences are not resolved in the coming weeks.

Michael Gove, above, will announce today he is spending more than 700 million to secure borders after the UKs Brexit transition period finishes at the end of the year

And it follows a row over a leaked letter from International Trade Secretary Liz Truss to Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Mr Gove last week in which she said that plans to phase in customs and health checks for goods imported from the EU over a six-month period risked a rise in smuggling and legal challenges from the World Trade Organisation.

But last night Mr Gove struck an upbeat note, saying the investment would ensure that our borders were secure and the UK was ready to take full advantage of its newly sovereign status.

Mr Gove said: We are taking back control of our borders and leaving the single market and the customs union at the end of this year, bringing both changes and significant opportunities for which we all need to prepare.

It follows a row over a leaked letter from International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, above, to Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Mr Gove last week

'With or without further agreement with the EU, this 705 million will ensure the infrastructure, tech and border personnel are in place so that our traders and the border industry are able to manage the changes and seize the opportunities as we lay the foundations for the worlds most effective and secure border.

Sources said that Government officials had been working closely with industry leaders to help them prepare for the changes and would be setting out in detail how the GB-EU border will operate. A new public information campaign will ensure the UK is ready to seize global opportunities at the end of the transition period.

The Home Secretary will also release more details tomorrow of the points-based immigration system which comes into effect from January 1, including a new visa for health professionals and a new graduate route to allow international students to stay in the UK once they have completed their studies.

Priti Patel said: Now that we have left the EU, we are free to unleash this countrys full potential and implement the changes we need to restore trust in the immigration system.
RTHK: Florida's Covid-19 cases top New York record

Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours on Sunday, as the Trump administration renewed its push for schools to reopen and anti-mask protests were planned in Michigan and Missouri.

If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for the most new cases in a day behind the United States, Brazil and India, according to a Reuters analysis.

Florida's daily increases in cases have already surpassed the highest daily tally reported by any European country during the height of the pandemic there. It has also broken New York state's record of 12,847 new cases on April 10 when it was the epicenter of the US outbreak.

The latest rise was reported a day after Walt Disney World in Orlando reopened with a limited number of guests who were welcomed with a host of safety measures, including masks and temperature checks.

Anti-mask activists in several states, including Florida and Michigan, have organized protests against local mandates, arguing that the measures infringe upon individual freedom.

Coronavirus infections are rising in about 40 states, according to a Reuters analysis of cases for the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks. Nationally, the United States has broken global records by registering about 60,000 new cases a day for the last four days in a row, according to a Reuters tally. Hospitalizations and positive test rates are also rising in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas.

Facing a battered economy as he seeks re-election in November, President Trump has pressured states to reopen shuttered businesses and schools.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said on Sunday that her department did not have its own safe reopening plans to promote, and each school district and state must devise their own plans based on their local coronavirus infection rates.

Health officials have pleaded with the public to wear masks to limit the spread of the virus, but the issue has become politically divisive in the United States unlike many other countries that have seen far lower rates of infection and death.

Seven months into the pandemic, Trump wore a mask for the first time in public when he visited a Washington DC-area military medical centre on Saturday. He had previously refused to wear a mask in public or ask Americans to wear face coverings, saying it was a personal choice.

Many Americans still refuse to wear a mask, which health experts say help stop transmission of the virus that has killed more than 134,000 Americans.

Anti-mask activists organized a protest on Saturday at a grilled cheese restaurant and bar in Windermere, Florida, which is in Orange County about 19 kilometres from Walt Disney World.

The restaurant, 33 & Melt, has become a focal point of tension after owner Carrie Hudson said she was not requiring customers to wear masks. County officials have mandated the use of masks in public since June 20.

During Saturday's protest, no customers wore face coverings inside the restaurant. Agents from the state's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco arrived during the rally and served Hudson with a warning, according to a video.

"This is a virus that is very well contained," said one of the demonstrators, anti-mask activist Tara Hill. "Everyone is responsible for their own health care decisions ... We want our choices respected as well."

In addition to a record 15,000 new cases on Sunday, more than four dozen hospitals in Florida reported that their intensive care units are full due to a surge in Covid-19 patients.

Hundreds were expected to attend a demonstration at the Michigan state capitol on Sunday, according to a Facebook event, to protest against Governor Gretchen Whitmer's order that everyone must wear a mask in public, except when outdoors and able to maintain social distance.

Protesters were also planning to gather outside city hall in Springfield, Missouri on Monday, where the city council was due to vote on a mask mandate in response to rising cases and a more than fourfold increase in Greene County's Covid-19 hospitalizations in the last month. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2020-07-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Management & Science Institute (MSI) 2020 Academic Excellence awards ceremony View(s):

Management and Science Institute (MSI), Colombo affiliated with Management Science University (MSU), Malaysia recently hosted the Academic Excellence Awards Ceremony for year 2020.

The event was to celebrate and to recognize the outstanding academic achievements of the students in Hospitality & Tourism Management, Biomedical Science, Business Management, International Business and Event Management programmes. President of MUS/MSI, Professor Dr.Mohd Shukri Ab Yajid was the Chief Guest of the event gracing with the presence of Professor Dr.Junainah Abd Hamid, Vice-Chancellor of MSU, with the senior Management staff members of MSU and MSI.

The outstanding students, who performed with excellent achievements in their studies were awarded the President and Deans Awards for the Academic Excellence in past academic year.

In addition, at this event, the MSI has recognized the lecturers who has contributed on co-curricular activities, soft skills developments and industry exposure to the students in Market and Industry Interactive Research and significant positive impact on the University community engagements of MSIs presence in globe.

The students from Diplomas and degrees of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Biomedical Sciences, Business Management and International business were awarded the president and deans listed awards for their academic excellence for semesters for the period of 2018-2019 as well. More specifically, the students with extraordinary achievement in scientific research publications, cooperation in extra-curricular activities and outstanding leadership representing as the leaders of Student and their councils were awarded.

The President of MSU/MSI, Dr.Mohd Shukri stated To be successful in life there must be the desire to set goals and work towards achieving them and congratulated the awardees with blessings from the main campus MSU, Malaysia. It was a memorable and proud event for all.

MSU Malaysia is 551st QS world ranked University and as one of the best Malaysian teaching and learning university, MSU gives priority to quality education and the importance learning experiences towards producing quality and holistic graduates.

Also recently MSU Malaysia Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Management programme has become 28th in the world. Besides the incorporating international exposure in the students learning experience, extensive industrial training components and personal enrichment competency elements are also blended into all study programmes to ensure the graduates employability.

MSU graduates remain a popular choice among employers. A study conducted by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education shows a 98.6 % employability rate of graduates entering the working environment. This rate is the highest among all higher learning institutions in Malaysia.

All MSI programmes are directly administrated and accredited By Management & Science University (MSU) Malaysia. MSU is recognized by more than 40 Universities worldwide including those in the United Kingdom, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and many more.

Through MSU Malaysia, MSI gives the priority to quality education and the importance of creative teaching methodologies towards producing quality and holistic graduates. Besides incorporating international exposure in students learning experience, extensive industrial training components and personal enrichment competency elements are also blended into the programmes of study to ensure graduates employability.MSI graduates remain a popular choice among employers, with higher employability rate for its graduates entering the workforce.

MSI currently offers diploma programmesleading to the Bachelors (Hons) Degree through MSU. These include:

Hospitality & Tourism Management

Biomedical Science

Business Management

Event Management

Accounting,

Investment Management

Human Capital Management

Industrial Management and Management & Science Institute also offers Advanced Certificate porgrammes including

Digital Marketing

Business Analytics

Retail Management

for anyone who is interested in particular areas to fulfill the industrial skills need.

Pathways

MSI students are given many valuable choices to complete their Bachelors (Hons) degree either MSI in Sri Lanka or MSU Malaysia or MSUs partner universities worldwide including, Australia, UK, Japan and Germany.

For more information about MSU & MSI programmes and special on our Mar 2020 intake, kindly contact Management & Science Institute , on enquiry@msi.edu.lk telephone Tel: 011 257 6900 / 011 257 6700 Hot line 077 0777 880, or visit MSI at No 300, Galle Road Colombo 03. www.msi.edu.lk or www.msu.edu.my
KYODO NEWS - Jul 12, 2020 - 08:50 | World, All, Coronavirus

Hong Kong's coronavirus epidemic is at its worst phase as infections in recent days have spread across the community, a health official said Saturday, with 29 new cases being reported.

"The epidemic is at its worst, as compared with (the previous surge of cases in) March," Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Center for Health Protection, told a press briefing.

"The epidemic had yet to spread into the community in March, now there are more people infected, like taxi drivers, public estates residents, even schools and an elderly home," Chuang said.

"We are in the midst of a community outbreak, which could get worse if we do not tighten up infection control measures," she said.

While nine of 17 locally transmitted cases are connected to previously reported cases that involve two local restaurants and a home for the elderly, the other eight cases have no known source of infection.

Chuang also said 33 more preliminary positive cases are pending confirmation, including an immigration department officer who worked at the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint near the mainland Chinese border.

Having stayed in the single digits for weeks in June, locally transmitted cases have sprung to 111 in the last five days.

The government has announced the reinstatement of some social distancing measures, including limiting restaurants to 60 percent of capacity with a maximum of eight people per table, in light of the rise in cases.

Kindergartens, primary and secondary schools will close from Monday, effectively starting summer break slightly earlier than usual, the Education Bureau has announced.

The tally of infections in the territory has reached 1,432, with seven deaths.
Humans have been consuming alcohol since ancient times, and perhaps even before. The earliest evidence we have of people drinking alcohol is in wine jars that date back to 7000 BC in ancient China. Did they have a legal drinking age back then? This is unknown, but what is suspected is that those drinking this early rice wine probably liked to indulge in it as much as wine lovers of today love a glass full of rich, old, expensive Chardonnay.

People now drink alcohol made from wheat, rye, potatoes, rice, grapes, berries, sugar cane, and everything in between. In the US, the legal drinking age is determined at a national level. At the time of this writing, it is 21 years of age.

In all European countries, the legal drinking age is less than this, running from about 15 years old up to 20. Here is a look at the legal drinking age in European countries in more detail, and whether a younger drinking age or an older one is generally beneficial for society.

European Drinking Ages

Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich, Germany. Image credit: Anandoart/Shutterstock.com

The legal drinking age varies across Europe. Some places have a variety of legal ages in relation to alcohol, depending on the type of alcohol being consumed, where it is being done, and whether or not a person is simply purchasing the alcohol or also drinking it. The youngest legal age associated with alcohol in Europe is in Germany. Here, a minor can drink undistilled alcohol like wine or beer at 14 years old, if they are accompanied by what is called a Custodial Person, (ie their parents or another adult who is in charge of their welfare). You need to be 18, however, to drink spirits in Germany, and 16 to drink beer and wine on your own.

In Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, and Denmark, you can also drink beer and wine at 16 years, and you must be 18 to drink harder alcohol such as distilled spirits. In Denmark you also must be 18 to be served in a restaurant, pub, or bar.

In the UK, you can consume alcohol on private property at 15 years of age, and you must be 18 to drink in public on your own, and to buy alcohol.

In Cyprus, Greece, and Malta the legal drinking age is 17.

Countries with a legal drinking age at the top end of the scale include Lithuania and Iceland at 20.

Italys official legal drinking age is a bit of a mystery. Many people allow minors to have a sip of wine at meals. Some sources say the legal age is 16 others, 18. If you are somewhere around these ages, you are probably OK to consume wine or beer in moderation in this country.

Interestingly, in Sweden you can actually consume legally alcohol at any age at home, but you must be 18 to order it in a restaurant or bar, and 20 to actually purchase it.

In all other European countries, the legal age to drink alcohol is 18. When in doubt, ask the locals of course, or the person serving you.

Is Older Or Younger Better?

Caption

There is some debate over whether a younger legal drinking age is better in the long run for the wellbeing of youth and others, or if it is more beneficial to delay it. Some say that by allowing youth to drink at 18 (or even 16) that parents and community members end up playing a greater role in teaching youth how to drink responsibly. When the legal drinking age is delayed until someone is 21 years of age, some argue that the individual is left more to their own devices. This can present a large learning curve, and result in more dangerous drinking.

People have also argued that when countries or states have a legal drinking age of 21 that it breeds disrespect for the law, as many youth want to break it by drinking alcohol before their 21st birthday. Finally, some research shows that when the legal drinking age is 21, fewer youth are drinking but those who are are indulging in dangerous binge drinking at higher rates.

All this being partially true, statistics present a strong case in favor of a delayed legal drinking age. A legal drinking age of 21 has been shown to reduce the number of people who develop an alcohol dependency later in life. A later drinking age also protects youths and adolescents from the negative impact alcohol can have on the developing brain. And most importantly, a late legal drinking age saves lives. When the legal drinking age is 21, there are fewer alcohol-related traffic fatalities in general, and specifically for 18 and 20 year-olds.

The Drawbacks Of Heavy Drinking

When you are in your teenage years, your brain is still developing. Engaging in heavy drinking at this time can affect how the brain develops. It can cause cognitive impairment and deficits, as well as memory problems. In fact, while youths have better motor control when they have had too much to drink compared with adults, teens and young adults have more learning and memory problems when inebriated. This happens because in adolescence and into your mid-20s, your brain is maturing in the areas of decision-making and memory. This happens in the brains frontal lobe, which is the last area of the brain to mature.

Research shows that over 90% of the alcohol young people consume happens when they are binge drinking, or bringing their blood alcohol level up to 0.08% or higher. Studies also show that the more economic wealth a country has, the more alcohol they consume, and the more heavy drinking there is. In some circles, Europe has a reputation for promoting responsible drinking in its youths, but many engage in heavy drinking there. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than one-fifth of the European population aged 15 and older reported drinking heavily at least once a week.

In 2016, the country with the highest percentage of 15- to 19-year-olds reporting heavy episodic drinking was Luxembourg, with 54%, according to WHO.
Reuters

Nepal began giving COVID-19 vaccine booster shots on Monday as coronavirus infections surged due to the spread of the Omicron variant, officials said. The booster shots will be restricted to frontline workers for one week from Monday, the Health Ministry said, after which they'll be offered to people 60 and older. The booster shots will be given to those people who have completed six months after getting a second vaccine dose, the government said in a statement.
Barbara Wilson says anyone who likes learning about history will enjoy living in the city known as the Little Alsace of Texas. Castroville has a rich mixture of German and French ancestry. Many traces of the Old World remain in this small community that's about 26 miles west of San Antonio in Medina County. One of the things it's known for is its Historic Walking Tour that features more than 50 homes and structures originally built in the mid to late 1800s. Wilson made one of those historic houses her home for 23 years. The house, built in 1846, is next to the Landmark Inn State Historic Site. Over the years, Wilson and her late husband, Fred, hosted numerous family reunions at their house on Florence Street. The mature trees, view and walkway to the Medina River are among the things Wilson loves about the property. However, she recently decided to put the three-bedroom house on the market so she could live closer to her children.

Q: When you first saw the house, what was your impression?

A: I loved the house, although it needed some additions because it was not big enough. It had three rooms in the front and a kitchen. So, we added on to that. The guest house had been renovated, but I redid it again because it had gotten kind of old. Instead of the wooden floors it had, we poured a concrete floor and stained it. I loved it because I loved the history of Castroville.

Q: Did you make any other renovations?

A: We added a big room and a bathroom and a big closet. And the house itself has a guest house that at one time they told us was a chicken house. So, we had a plaque next to the door that called it the chicken house in French. The kitchen was just updated in 2015, plus the bathrooms. I moved a wall between the kitchen and the porch, so it opened up that whole area. We put in new cabinets, all new appliances.

Q: Do you have a favorite room?

A: I guess the kitchen, although I'm not a great cook, the kitchen is wonderful. And I like the porch because the porch is glassed in so you can see the whole backyard and everything that's going on from the porch. We have a sitting area there and an eating area. So, all the places that give you the view of the backyard and the river area were my favorite.

Q: What Castroville eateries or shops do you like?

A: There's a wonderful Alsatian bakery you wouldn't believe. There is a great meat market. My children still go to Dziuk's. There are several good cafes. And of course, they've built several shopping centers not too far away.

Q: What will you miss the most?

A: Well, I'll miss the history of the house. I'll miss the closeness of the doctor's office and the pharmacy across the way. I'll miss my friends, the meetings with the Castroville Conservation Society, the Christmas Tour which we were on for two years, which shows you all the old houses in Castroville. And they're decorated for Christmas. I'll miss all my family reunions that we used to have. Whoever gets the house, I hope they have time to have reunions with their family because it's the perfect place.

Lisa.harrison@express-news.net
A Republican congressman not wearing a facial covering at a mask-optional GOP state convention in Wisconsin began coughing uncontrollably when he first addressed a crowd of attendees in Green Bay Saturday.

Rep. Glenn Grothman gave a high-five to an announcer who praised his work attending numerous events, stepped on a stage and began choking on his words the moment he spoke.

'Let's talk about Donald John Trump,' Grothman said when he suddenly was overtaken by his coughing, captured in video footage which has gone viral online.

'Ok... yep... Ok,' he said to the crowd as he unbuttoned his tie and became red-faced. Grothman regained his composure shortly after and did not comment about his coughing.

Scroll down for video

Republican Congressman Glenn Grothan, not wearing a facial covering at a mask-optional GOP state convention in Wisconsin, began coughing uncontrollably when he first addressed a crowd of attendees in Green Bay Saturday. Grothman gave a high-five just before he spoke

Grothman, after he stepped on a stage, began choking on his words the moment he spoke

'Let's talk about Donald John Trump,' Grothman said when he suddenly was overtaken by his coughing, which was captured in video footage which has gone viral online

This is @RepGrothman *today* at the Wisconsin Republican convention (which was held in-person) pic.twitter.com/MnsVlJryLE  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2020

The coughing fit was witnessed by a fellow Republicans and others in attendance at the convention, which was scaled back due COVID-19 safety measures, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Despite efforts to protect attendees, the wearing of facial coverings was optional.

Few people at the convention were seen wearing masks as many were seated near each other.

'Ok... yep... Ok,'Grothman said to the crowd as he struggled to briefly regain his composure

The congressman unbuttoned his tie as his coughing subsided

Grothman was left red faced (pictured) after the coughing spell

The coughing fit was witnessed by a fellow Republicans and others in attendance at the convention, which was scaled back due COVID-19 safety measures. Despite efforts to protect attendees (pictured), the wearing of facial coverings was optional

Grothman, a 65-year-old who is in the high-risk category for COVID-19, continued on with his speech after the unnerving coughing spell. He praised Trump's performance since being elected in 2016 and his record on support for cops.

'Donald Trump stood with the police after an administration that talked about the police being racist, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,' Grothman said, referring to President Barack Obama's administration preceding Trump's.

'We finally had a president who stood with the police. And what was the result of standing with the police? Drops in murders.'

Grothman, known for his optimism over the virus, has been spotted at previous public events without a mask during the pandemic.

Pictures he tweeted from his attendance of Fourth of July parades in Manitowoc, Green Lake, and Marquette show him not wearing masks at any of the events.

Grothman, known for his optimism over the coronavirus, has been spotted at previous public events without a mask during the pandemic. Pictures he tweeted from Fourth of July parades in Manitowoc, Green Lake, and Marquette show him not wearing masks at any of the events

Grothman tweeted an image of himself at a Wisconsin farmer's event Saturday, again not wearing a mask and standing with an older man and woman who also were unprotected

The video footage, which has been shared close to 4 million times after it was posted by Milwaukee Sentinel reporter Patrick Marlley, drew numerous reactions from people who viewed it online.

Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan, also from Wisconsin, responded to the tweet by writing, 'Just wow'.

Chris Larson, a state senator from Milwaukee, fired criticism at Grothman and supporters of President Donald Trump, who has resisted wearing masks until he publicly came out wearing one during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Saturday.

The video footage, which was shared close to 4 million times after it was posted by Milwaukee Sentinel reporter Patrick Marlley, drew numerous reactions from people who viewed it online. Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan responded to the tweet by writing, 'Just wow'

So far, there have been more than 39,000 cases in Wisconsin of the coronavirus, which has been blamed for 829 deaths.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services Saturday reported more than 900 new cases of the virus, marking the third consecutive day of record-setting increases, as states around the country are seeing new spikes in COVID-19.

Across the US, there have been more than 3.2 million cases and 135,066 deaths.

Among the states worst hit was Florida, which set a record for new infections after reporting 15,300 coronavirus cases on Sunday - the highest single-day total for any state.

Meanwhile, three Arizona teachers who shared the same classroom each caught the virus before one of them died. Kimberley Chavez Lopez Byrd, 61, who worked at the Hayden Winkelman School District for 38 years, died on June 26, according to CNN.

She had been hospitalized a little less than two weeks before her death. Arizona health officials have reported more than 119,000 cases of the virus with at least 2,151 deaths.

Kimberley Chavez Lopez Byrd (pictured with her husband Jesse), 61, who worked at the Hayden Winkelman School District for 38 years, died on June 26

Two other teachers, Jena Martinez and Angela Skillings, were also diagnosed with the virus last month. They both shared a summer classroom with Byrd and said they are still struggling with the effects of COVID-19.

All three teachers wore PPE, which included masks and gloves. They also used hand sanitizer and made sure to social distance, but they still ended up getting sick.

Arizona is one of several states, including Florida, California and Texas, that has seen a significant increase in cases within the past few weeks.

Nearly 69,700 confirmed cases over the last seven days came out of Florida, which now has a total of 269,811 cases and at least 4,346 deaths.

The US as a whole recorded an additional 61,000 confirmed cases within the last 24 hours.
As of Monday, July 6, 2020, high school educators throughout the country received the tag: frontline workers.

Many an educator had their hands on the deck, availing themselves as health care workers: scanning workers temperatures, filling the strenuous screening tool and sanitiSing learners at the point of entry in the school before the typical line of duty commenced; that of facilitating the process of effective teaching and learning. This week began on a higgledy-piggledy status in schools with a number of learning institutions visibly not equipped to welcome learners and educators back since schools were closed in the wake of the COVID-19 scare. March 17, 2020, the Prime Minister (Ambrose Dlamini0 invoked Section 29 of the Disaster Management Act No.1 of 2006 to declare a National Emergency.

Reopening

The subsequent reopening of schools received varying sentiments and reservations from a plethora of quarters with the SNAT filing an urgent application in the Industrial Court on same.

Two months ago, April 28, 2020, on the occasion of International Workers Memorial Day 2020, the global trade union movement (Council of Global Unions), which includes the Education International 9 (EI), where the SNAT affiliates, called upon governments and occupational health and safety bodies around the world to recognise SARS-CoV-2 as an occupational hazard, and COVID-19 as an occupational disease. We unreservedly concur.

With a third of the population around the world currently living under various forms of lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19, millions of workers, including those in health and social care, emergency services, agriculture, food and retail, transport, education, infrastructure and construction work and other public services, continue to work hard to keep society functioning. Yet the vast majority are doing so without the comprehensive protection required when exposed to a recognised occupational disease caused by a biological agent. This poses a profound risk to workers, their families and the communities in which they live.

The global Unions posited that workers [including teachers in Eswatini] urgently need official recognition of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus as an occupational hazard. Like any threat, it is the responsibility of employers to protect their workers from it as far as practicable.
It took months for Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens to cobble together a Government. It took days for them to turn it into a laughing stock.

When they haven't been mugging one another, the politicians have been adding little extras to the goodies that these days go along with the job.

Hardly had the current Taoiseach appointed his Cabinet when the in-fighting began, and the back-stabbing.

This went beyond the usual laments about which county, townland, village or street didn't get its own minister.

It's hard to believe that adults are involved - with some of them whinging openly about how the position they were given was not the one they wanted.

I'm almost convinced that these creeps see the jobs not as positions of public service but opportunities for career advancement.

Fianna Fail seems to have entered one of its vicious periods, in which factions queue up to knife one another.

Since they have to share the goodies with Fine Gael and the Greens, there are fewer goodies for each party. The resulting dashed hopes and fresh grudges have ramped up the hostility already existing between competing factions.

Someone squealed on Barry Cowen about his drink-driving record. So, of course, political lifers set out, their lips trembling in anger, to uncover which snitch had betrayed what faction.

The natural-born enmity for their political opponents has been sharpened by the paucity of actual political rewards.

And, since there's little of political substance dividing them, the competition is over personal loyalties and perceived betrayals.

Last week, in the Irish Independent, Philip Ryan explained how, "names are being passed around among TDs, senators, councillors and members about who they believe is responsible for Mr Cowen ending up in the headlines".

To be honest, I like it when these bruisers start kicking the bejesus out of one another. It's not only entertaining, it diverts them from doing even more damage to the rest of us.

One Fianna Failer publicly threw a truly extraordinary accusation of backstabbing at a prominent party member.

And if you think I'm going to quote what yer man said about the other fella, you've got another think coming.

This year has been quite exciting enough, thank you. I don't want to spend most of 2021 coughing into my mask down at the Four Courts.

As a result of our generous libel laws, writing frankly about the political state of the country is difficult.

It's like we're all standing in a small room, having a chat, and someone's let off the mother of all farts. We chat away, keep straight faces, pretend we don't get the stink.

Barry Cowen did a stupid, reckless thing and was caught. Barry is smart enough to know that one of those patently false apologies that are all the fashion these days would merely antagonise people. So, he said the right words about his own stupidity and walked away free and clear.

Significant questions arose from his case - but an effort by Paul Murphy to have Mr Cowen answer TDs' queries on these matters was voted down by the Fianna Fail/Fine Gael crowd and their camp followers.

Outside the Dail, Alan Kelly, leader of the Labour Party, called for Cowen to address the unanswered questions.

It goes without saying that the same Mr Kelly voted in the Dail against providing time to question the minister.

They never let me down, the Labour Party. Always good for a laugh.

The Barry Cowen controversy was a side issue compared with the greedy, grab-all mood that now dominates politics. Pocketing anything not nailed down, the incoming shower have descended on their new domain like a team of shoplifters heading into Arnotts.

It used to be that TDs were appointed as ministers, and they did the job along with the appropriate civil servants. These days, each minister comes with an entourage of advisers and consultants, press briefers, speech writers and sneaky leakers.

They claim it's all necessary, but the accumulation of hangers-on seems to be as much about status as it is about work. And once a position is beefed up, it stays beefed up in perpetuity.

There were, according to Micheal Martin, about 20 politically appointed people protecting Leo Varadkar from reality. Mr Martin wasn't complaining, he was merely preparing to justify similar levels of nonsense for his own set-up.

It seems, according to Mr Martin, that we now have "a tripartite Government" - with three party leaders. And Mr Martin assures us that, "the three parties will retain the same number of staff, roughly, as the former Taoiseach had".

Now, I'm not exactly sure what that means.

I want it to mean Micheal and Leo and Eamon will share out the 20 jobs of those who used to hold Mr Varadkar's hand.

I don't want to even imagine it might mean that there'll be 20 Fianna Fail people to hold Micheal's hand. And 20 Fine Gael people for Leo, and maybe a few for Eamon - just so he doesn't feel left out.

With every new position to be filled there are backsides to kiss and ribs to slip knives between. The decisions on each position generate fresh animosities.

And, of course, there have to be what we might call Special Arrangements Just Because He's Leo.

Mr Varadkar is now Tanaiste, but that wasn't enough. As Taoiseach he had an aide-de-camp, and he wanted the same in his new gig, so he's beefing up the position.

This seems to be part of his strategy of acting as though he merely gave Mr Martin a loan of the Taoiseach's office for a little while, in return for Fianna Fail keeping Fine Gael in power.

You'll have noticed that Mr Varadkar likes a bit of pomp. It used to be, for instance, that a Taoiseach would go to a TV studio, sit behind a desk, face the camera and "address the nation".

That procedure emphasised the message - the announcement, without distractions.

Mr Varadkar, though, has adopted a US presidential tone. He has a podium, various props and careful lighting. The camera is positioned to see him march towards the podium. The production values emphasise the marketing of the messenger, rather than the message.

It has been very, very effective in promoting Mr Varadkar's image.

Since Mr Varadkar couldn't swagger on without a special title, Simon Coveney had to be turfed out of his old job as Tanaiste.

Which, of course, didn't do wonders for Simon's ego. So, his people wondered if his position would, in turn, be beefed up.

The lads went into a huddle, and they've allowed Simon to hold on to his State car and Garda driver, for some reason that escapes me, but I'm sure it's all legit.

Has there ever been a government that has had no time to actually do anything, but has attracted the dislike of so many?

The Fianna Failers hate the Fine Gaelers. And some of them hate even more the Fianna Failers who have tied them in with the Fine Gaelers.

The Fine Gaelers look down on the Fianna Failers, and everyone looks down on the Greens.

Seldom has the business of governing a country been so definitively trivialised. The words of Maya Angelou come to mind: 'When people show you who they are, believe them.'

Mind you, it'd be worse if we were in the middle of a life-and-death situation, with a wrecked economy, where open governance, truth, transparency and a frank assessment of reality is required.
Primary polls were held by pro-democracy parties in Hong Kong on July 11 to choose candidates for upcoming legislative elections in September this year. The polls were held despite warnings from government officials that it may be in breach of the new security law imposed by China last week. However, thousands queued in the intense summer heat at unofficial polling stations across the city to cast their votes. Voting in the two-day primary poll will continue until July 12.

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1 / 9 Gwyneth Ho (C), a candidate of New Territory East, together with social activists Lester Shum (R) and Anthony Wong (L) campaign during primary polls in Hong Kong on July 11. Pro democracy parties in Hong Kong held primary polls on July 11 to choose candidates for upcoming legislative elections despite warnings from government officials that it may be in breach of the new security law imposed by China. (May James / AFP)

2 / 9 New Territory East candidate Gwyneth Ho addresses the gathering during the primary polls in Hong Kong on July 11. (May James / AFP)

3 / 9 People queue up to vote during the primary polls in Hong Kong. Thousands queued at unofficial polling stations across the city on June 11, hours after police raided an opinion pollster helping to conduct the vote. (Vincent Yu / AP)

4 / 9 Joshua Wong, activist and founding member of pro democracy party Demosisto, hands a pamphlet as he speaks outside MTR Corporations Lam Tin station during the primary polls in Hong Kong on July 11. According to an AFP report, more than 137,000 people had cast their votes until 6pm on July 11. (Lam Yik / Bloomberg)

5 / 9 A voter gets her temperature checked as she queues up to vote during the primary polls in Hong Kong on July 11. China imposed the new security law on Hong Kong last week targeting acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, in response to huge and often violent democracy protests that erupted last year. (Tyrone Siu / REUTERS)

6 / 9 A view of a temporary polling station set up inside a bus (C) during the primary polls in Hong Kong on July 11. The new security law is the most radical change in Hong Kongs freedom and autonomy since Britain handed the city back to China in 1997. (Lam Yik / Bloomberg)

7 / 9 Voters queue up to vote during the primary polls on July 11. Late night on July 10, Hong Kong Police raided the office of Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), a prominent opinion pollster that was helping the pro democracy camp to conduct the primary, reported AFP. (Tyrone Siu / REUTERS)

8 / 9 A voter scans a QR code at a polling station for New Territory East candidates during the primary polls in Hong Kong on July 11. The police raid raised concerns over the primary but PORI president Robert Chung said the voting system was safe and its operation was legal and transparent, reported AFP. (May James / AFP)
The Lands Commission in Accra has taken delivery of some Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) donated by licensed surveyors to aid in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The Licensed Surveyors Association of Ghana (LISAG) considers this gesture to be their own small way of helping to boost preventive measures against the COVID-19.

Other items donated also included soaps, alcohol-based hand sanitizers, veronica buckets and tissue papers.

Mr. Gustav Kplom Asamoah, the Executive Director of LISAG, presented the items on behalf of the Association in Accra.

He expressed optimism that the donation would help the Lands Commission's comprehensive strategy in curbing the spread of the virus.

Mr Jones Ofori-Boadu, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, who received the items, expressed appreciation to LISAG and believed that the fight against COVID-19 would succeed with a strong collaborative effort from all stakeholders.

He said the gesture by members of LISAG was worth emulating by all and sundry.

Madam Gertrude Sackey, the Head of the Client Service and Access Unit (CSAU), also expressed her gratitude to the Association.

She expressed concerns about some challenges the CSAU was facing and believed that the Unit's productivity would be enhanced as soon as the ongoing digitisation of the manual records is completed.

---GNA
Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has reiterated his administrations commitment towards making environmental sustainability the cornerstone of its development agenda.

The governor stated this at the flag-off of 2020 Gombe Goes Green (3G) Tree Planting Campaign in Wajari district of Yalmatu Deba Local Government Area of the state, with the theme Greener Gombe for Greater Gombe.

He said his government will continue to enhance and protect the ecological system upon which all lives and livelihoods depend.

The governor explained that the overall launch of the Gombe Goes Green (3G) initiative on August 28, 2019, was aimed at addressing some of the pressing ecological problems facing the state.

He said the determination of his administration to address these environmental challenges led to the launching of the 3G project which targets the planting of 1 million trees annually over a period of four years.

The governor said through aggressive afforestation and reforestation, the 3G project seeks to combat land degradation, desertification, erosion, loss of soil nutrients and rehabilitate degraded land.

He explained that since the launch of the 3G project, the state has achieved significant milestones in the establishment of eight 20-hectare woodlots in nine local government areas of the state and planted over 20,000 trees along the major roads within Gombe metropolis.

He said Gombe State has over the years spent huge amounts of its resources in controlling gullies that are threatening social life and physical infrastructure in the metropolis and other local government areas.

He said the unwavering commitment of his administration to environmental sustainability has inspired the state to initiate the largest and most comprehensive environmental restoration project in the North East subregion, the 3G.

He said his administrations resolve to prioritise and preserve the environment was necessitated by the realisation of the severity and diversity of the environmental challenges confronting the state.

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It is common knowledge that Gombe is one of the frontline states that is threatened by rapid desert encroachment. Available evidence shows that about two-thirds of our entire state is facing various forms of land degradation such as desertification, deforestation and other negative effects on agricultural productivity leading to declining crop yield.

Deforestation is major driver of both desert encroachment and erosion in Gombe State. During the past 4 decades, it is estimated that we have lost between 65 and 96 per cent of our entire forest cover largely due to firewood and charcoal extraction, agricultural expansion and urban growth among other factors.

As a result of years of unabated deforestation, our state has lost exotic indigenous tree and animal species, witnessed dangerous disruption of carbon and water cycles and loss of livelihoods, especially in our rural communities that depend directly on those resources.

The governor said he had already approved the distribution of 200,000 seedlings to some selected groups and members of the public who are interested in joining governments efforts to combat the menace of of environmental decline as a way of intensifying and expanding the tree planting exercise to include social forestry and agroforestry.

He said government will commence extensive tree planting in schools, hospitals and public buildings across the state in addition to planting along major roads and areas threatened by erosion as well as in barren and degraded lands.

Earlier speaking, the state Commissioner of Environment and Forestry Resources, Hussaina Goje, said 3G is a pet project of Governor Yahaya which aims at tackling the wide-ranging environmental challenges facing the state.

She added that during the last one year, the governor has kept the project close to his heart by giving her ministry all the needed support and resources to actualize its mandate.

She disclosed that Gombe State has secured a partnership with Forest Research Institute of Nigeria to plant 2 million trees in one year.

In his vote of thanks, the project coordinator, Gombe Goes Green, Muazu Shehu, thanked Governor Inuwa Yahaya for being a honest friend of the environment.

He disclosed that over 22,000 economic trees will be planted in the wood lot plantation site in Yamaltu Deba Local Government Area.
Vanessa Guillen's mother has slammed Fort Hood officials for lying to her as her family breaks their silence for the first time since the soldier's remains were identified last week while hundreds gather for a 13-mile convoy in San Antonio to demand justice for the 20-year-old's murder.

The remains of Spc Guillen, who investigators say was bludgeoned to death at Fort Hood by a fellow soldier, were found two weeks ago in a shallow grave not far from the Army base.

She was last seen in April and was listed as missing for six weeks before the Army released details.

The soldier suspected in Guillen's slaying, Spc Aaron Robinson, died by suicide on July 1 as police were trying to take him into custody. Authorities also arrested Robinson's ex, Cecily Aguilar, 22, who admitted to helping dismember and dispose of Guillen's body.

Just before Guillen's remains were confirmed as being hers, the soldier's family accused Fort Hood officials of lying to them since April, when Guillen went missing.

In an interview with ABC 11, Guillen's mother, Gloria, slammed Fort Hood officials for lying to her, calling them 'clowns in a circus'.

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Vanessa Guillen's mother, Gloria (pictured), slammed Fort Hood officials as being 'clowns in a circus' who lied to her about her daughter's disappearance

The remains of Spc Guillen (left and right), who investigators say was bludgeoned to death at Fort Hood by a fellow soldier, were found two weeks ago in a shallow grave not far from the Army base

She told the station that she wants Congress to investigate Fort Hood's handling of her daughter's disappearance.

Vanessa's sisters, Mayra and Lupe, also spoke out about their sister's murder.

'She was taken away from me in the most horrible way, yet they take it as if it was a joke,' Lupe told ABC 11.

'My sister is no joke. My sister's a human being just like me, her, all of us.'

Mayra told the station that she will continue to speak out about her sister's murder 'because we cannot let this happen again'.

'My sister was taken away. She could have been your sister, your friend,' Mayra added.

The family's heartbreaking interview came as hundreds gathered in San Antonio on Saturday to demand justice for Guillen.

The massive convoy consisted of cars, trucks, and motorcycles and was meant to raise awareness of Guillen's murder.

'We are behind their family and we support them 100 per cent,' Nina Ramos, who helped coordinate the event, told News 4 SA. 'We want her to get the justice that she deserves.'

The family's heartbreaking interview came as hundreds gathered in San Antonio to demand justice for Guillen. The massive convoy (pictured) consisted of cars, trucks, and motorcycles and was meant to raise awareness of Guillen's murder

The soldier suspected in Guillen's slaying, Spc Aaron Robinson (left), died by suicide on July 1 as police were trying to take him into custody. Authorities also arrested Robinson's ex, Cecily Aguilar (right), 22, who admitted to helping dismember and dispose of Guillen's body

According to the station, the convoy traveled 13 miles and ended at a Mexican restaurant with a memorial dedicated to Guillen.

On Friday, US Army officials announced that they will begin an independent review of the command climate at Fort Hood following calls from members of Congress and community activists for a more thorough investigation into the killing of a soldier from the Texas base.

Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy said he was directing the review and that it will be conducted by an independent panel of congressional representatives selected in collaboration with League of United Latin American Citizens.

The panel will examine claims and historical data of discrimination, harassment and assault.

'The Army is deeply saddened and troubled by the loss of one of our own,' McCarthy said Friday during a press conference.

In a separate press conference Friday, US Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, said McCarthy had also agreed to back calls for the Department of Defense to conduct an inspector general's investigation into the death of Guillen.

She said the independent review of Fort Hood's climate showed military officials were listening.

The Texas congresswoman and others met with McCarthy after dozens of lawmakers joined a letter demanding a full accounting of the circumstances surrounding Guillen's murder.

'We are behind their family and we support them 100 per cent,' Nina Ramos, who helped coordinate the event, said. 'We want her to get the justice that she deserves'

Hundreds gathered for the event on Saturday to demand justice for Guillen

'This is the military "me too" movement,' Garcia said.

President Donald Trump acknowledged Guillen's death in an interview with Noticias Telemundo on Friday. He said he had heard of the sexual harassment and assault allegations in the Army and was expecting a report by Monday, when he said he would say more.

'I thought it was absolutely horrible,' Trump said.

Natalie Khawam, who is representing the Guillen family, said Friday that she hopes to find support in members of Congress and Trump for the I Am Vanessa Guillen bill that she will be presenting this month.

If passed, the bill would allow for active duty service members to file sexual assault and harassment claims to a third party agency, instead of their line of command.

'Vanessa Guillen dedicated her life to serving our country,' Khawam said. 'America looks forward to Congress passing our bill and the president singing it into law so this injustice never happens to another soldier ever again.'

Questions over Guillen's disappearance still loom. Guillen's family has said Robinson, the soldier accused of killing her, sexually harassed Guillen at Fort Hood, but they have not given specifics of what they were told.

Guillen was assigned to work in an armory room at Fort Hood on April 22, when she was last seen walking to a parking lot, according to the Army.

On April 23, the US Army Criminal Investigations Division learned of her disappearance and began investigating.

Members of #TeamVanessa and FIEL Houston gather demanding justice for Guillen on the Dunlavy Street bridge that goes over the Southwest Freeway in Houston on July 8

Veronica Carbajal places a candle at a mural for Guillen in Austin, Texas, on July 6

Investigators began interviewing people who had been in contact with Guillen on April 28, according to a timeline provided by the Army.

That day, Robinson, of Calumet City, Illinois, was identified as a 'person of concern' based on information that he provided investigators during his interview, Army officials said.

The Army was receiving 20 to 30 tips per day about Guillen's whereabouts, officials said, and it took more than a month to get cell phone records requested for the investigation.

Phone records helped lead investigators to Aguilar, a civilian now charged with one federal count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence.

Investigators believe she helped Robinson hide Guillen's body. Aguilar, of Killeen, Texas, near Fort Hood, is currently in custody at the Bell County Jail.

The Army said a contractor not involved with the investigation found human remains June 30 in the woods near the Leon River. The remains were later identified as Guillen's.

Later that day, Robinson, who had been confined at Fort Hood for reasons that were not related to the Guillen investigation, ran away unnoticed from the barracks, according to the Army.

After being confronted by police later that night, Robinson died July 1 by taking his own life. The Army says the gun Robinson used was not issued by Fort Hood, but it's unclear where he got it.

Army officials said 52 agents from multiple military and civilian law enforcement agencies have conducted more than 300 interviews investigating Guillen's killing.

That has lasted for more than 170 days, and Army officials say that has led to forensic examinations of more than 50 phones.
July is Michigan Beer Month, and its the perfect time to get out there and explore some of the over 300 breweries and brew pubs that our beautiful state has to offer. The I-96 corridor from Grand Rapids to Detroit has a plethora of great places to stop for a beer or some mouthwatering food.

According to the Michigan Brewers Guild, Michigan ranks fifth in the nation in breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs, which means we make quite a lot of beer. With all these choices, it can be hard to keep up. We put together a list of just a few of the breweries that youll find along this route, and what each one offers that makes it unique. While we dont recommend hitting every spot in a single trip, this compilation should inspire you to maybe try something new the next time you are traveling across mid-Michigan.

It should go without saying, but heres a gentle reminder to always drink responsibly, and never drink and drive.

At the Grand Rapids taproom you can enjoy all of Founders flagship beers, as well as special brews that you can only find here.

Founders Grand Rapids

235 Grandville Ave. SW

Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503

(616) 776-1195

Home to what might be called the coolest patio in Grand Rapids, the Founders tap room features an inside area with soaring ceilings, views of the experimental tap room, a stage that hosts national acts, a serpentine bar, and a kitchen that offers up some pretty fantastic house-made sandwiches. Outside, cozy up next to a warming fire with friends, grab a seat at a picnic table, or go one-on-one at a high top. Anywhere you sit, youll be able to enjoy a fresh-from-the-tap Founders beer, from flagships, to one-offs that youll only ever be able to find on site. All the beers are arranged by tiers, and your server is ready to guide you through the list. Be sure to stop by the company store, they have everything and anything Founders you might want as a souvenir. Founders is one of the best gathering spots in all of Beer City.

Arvon Brewing in Grand Rapids is a new brewery to check out.Courtesy Photo, used with permission.

Arvon Brewing Co.

1006 S. Division Ave.

Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507

(616) 340-9372

Brewer Jake Stanko co-owns the brewery with his wife, Abby, along with Brett and Lauren (Stanko) Bristol. They just recently opened their new tasting room in downtown Grand Rapids and focus on making full-flavored IPAs, with styles ranging from New England, double and single-hop varietals. They also offer other styles, like stouts and a saison. In addition to their beers, when the tap room is open, Arvon partners with a local food truck to also offer food to-go.

Two Guys Brewing makes everything from scratch in their kitchen.

Two Guys Brewing

2356 Porter St. SW

Wyoming, Michigan 49519

(616) 552-9690

A newer entry into the Beer City scene, Two Guys opened in 2018, occupying a former 7-Eleven that owners Thomas and Amy Payne completely remodeled into a bright, welcoming spot. They decided to locate the brewery in their hometown of Wyoming Park, and have worked hard to create a true community gathering spot. Lots of beers to choose from, and home to the first hard seltzer brewed in GR. The scratch kitchen puts out some delicious, creative dishes, including some sizzling chicharrones that come sprinkled with pig dust, and are the perfect pairing with a cold beer. A recently opened outdoor patio awaits your visit.

Railtown Brewing's owners Gim Lee, left, and Justin Buiter, right, got a visit from the Michigan's Best team of John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman. This was taken at their original location, the brewery has since expanded to a new facility across the street.

Railtown Brewing, Dutton

3595 68th St SE

Dutton, Michigan 49316

(616) 881-2364

Owners Gim Lee and Justin Buiter opened Railtown Brewing in late 2014, south of Grand Rapids in Gaines Township, and built a brand new pub with a kitchen in 2018. Stop by for the light and refreshing Bike Ride Blonde, or go big and bold with the tasty Citra Warrior, a double IPA brewed with honey. Food wise, you can choose from burgers, salads, loaded tots and fries, mac and cheese bowls, and some creative taco mash ups, like a Gogi beef taco loaded with marinated ribeye steak, sesame seeds and kimchi.

Brickhaven Brewing in Grand Ledge offers fresh brews and sandwiches to enjoy.Courtesy Photo, used with permission.

BrickHaven Brewing Company

200 E Jefferson St

Grand Ledge, Michigan 48837

(517) 925-1319

Offering hand crafted beer, wine, hard cider and soda, BrickHaven is located inside a former church. Head up to the large, red oak bar to order a drink, or something to eat. Start off with a charcuterie board to snack on, or maybe the hummus trio to share. Grilled paninis are the speciality here, try the Cubano or the flavorful Chicken Brie with fig jam and arugula. Small friends might like the PB&J, a classic offering that never gets old.

The patio at Sanctuary Spirits in Grand Ledge.Courtesy Photo, used with permission.

Sanctuary Spirits

902 E Saginaw Hwy

Grand Ledge, Michigan 48837

(517) 925-1930

Another former church in Grand Ledge where you can enjoy a cold one, Sanctuary Spirits offers cocktails, wine, cider, and at least 10 beers on tap. There are couches and squishy chairs to lounge in, and outside is Panchos Taqueria truck where you can grab tacos, sopes, nachos, tortas and more. Enjoy the spacious outside patio if the weathers nice, its got plenty of space to spread out in.

Horrock's Market is a must stop for craft beer lovers.

Horrocks Market

7420 W Saginaw Hwy

Lansing, Michigan 48917

(517) 323-3782

Its not a brewery, but it has one of the finest rotating tap lists in the state, and is a must stop if youre driving by. Horrocks Market is a full service grocery store, complete with both beer and wine tasting bars, where you can grab a glass from close to 50 draft choices, and dozens of bottles of wine.Enjoy your selection at the very social bar, or outside on the patio. Like what you tried? You can get a growler to go, or make a selection from the thousands of bottles and cans they offer.

EagleMonk's owner Dan Buonodono serves up a pizza at the pub.

EagleMonk Pub and Brewery

4906 W Mt Hope Hwy

Lansing, Michigan 48917

(517) 708-7350

Stop by the low-key EagleMonk Pub for a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere, delicious pizzas, and hand crafted beers. Try the Red Eye Rye, a flavorful brew with Centennial hops, a nice malt bill, and a distinct flavor from the addition of rye. Its the brewers signature beer. Other styles from the rotating tap list include a refreshing, but not bland, Czech Pilsner, and a unique hybrid style the Bruder Kolsch, which is brewed with a lager yeast, but fermented at ale temperature. Wine, cider and sodas are also on tap here.

Ellison Brewery in East Lansing has tap handles carved to look like the state capital.

Ellison Brewery + Spirits

4903 Dawn Ave

East Lansing, Michigan 48823

(517) 203-5498

Ellison opened its doors in 2015. Located in an industrial area of East Lansing, dont be alarmed if on your first time you think youre in the wrong spot. Just keep going to the end of the road and turn right. Look for the grain silos to know that you are in the right place. Theyre constantly updating and expanding brewing operations here, and youll see the crowded tanks at work right behind the bar. Crescent Fresh is a friendly little beer, one that is full of lovely hop flavors, without a cloying bitterness at the end. Dawn Street Pale Ale is refreshing and bright, while the Tiramisu Stout is a black beauty, rich and deep. Ellison also has a distillery license so you can grab a cocktail if thats your jam, and theres usually a food truck on site to fix your munchies.

Old Nation Brewing is best known for their super popular New England IPA M-43.Courtesy Photo, used with permission.

Old Nation Brewing Co.

1500 W Grand River Ave

Williamston, Michigan 48895

(517) 655-1301

In the summer of 2017, Old Nations M-43 New England style IPA took Michigan by storm, and sold out on shelves across the state. In a crowded beer market here in Michigan, M-43 certainly set Old Nation apart. The brewery uses lots of high quality ingredients, from oats to hops, in order to achieve that super juicy flavor that M-43 has, and the distinct opaque haze that this style is known for. Making a trip to the brewery to try it extremely fresh right off the taps is a right of passage for true craft beer fans.

Aberrant Ales in Howell has a beautiful tap room, fresh beers and tasty food.

Aberrant Ales

219 W. Grand Rvier

Howell, Michigan 48843

(517) 518-8699

Open for a few years in the charming town of Howell, Aberrant Ales is another brewery that got its start around the home brew kettle, and morphed into both a passion and a business. The bright and open tasting room, featuring a rotating list of regulars and speciality beers. Try Hazy D and the Boyz a NE IPA featuring tangerine and fruit punch notes, or the light and easy Cream Ale, a gateway beer that everyone will like. Food wise, choose from some tap room favorites like sliders, burgers, boneless wings, and one delicious sandwich, the Challenger, which features stacked turkey on naan bread, along with Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pesto aioli.

Block Brewing Company

1140 S Michigan Ave

Howell, Michigan 48843

(517) 540-0300

Known for their hand crafted barbecue, Block Brewing also offers a large variety of beers to choose from. They typically have upwards of 20 different beers on tap, from lighter offerings like their Braided Blonde or their raspberry infused Razzle Dazzle, to darker ales like Blackout Stout and Wired Coffee Porter. In addition to barbecue staples like pulled pork and brisket, the menu features Blocks hand-cut french fries, which come topped with parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper. A super easy on/off from I-96, Block is popular with locals and travelers alike.

Eternity Brewing has some of the best named beers in the state.Courtesy Photo, used with permission.

Eternity Brewing

4060 E Grand River Ave

Howell, Michigan 48843

(517) 295-4904

Stop by Eternity for the creative beer names alone, stay for the welcoming atmosphere at this sleek, family friendly spot. Theres a small snack menu, or you can bring in your own, sometimes there are food trucks on site as well. Beers rotate frequently, a few to try: What the Pils?,Brick Had a Trident, Exs and Oats, Pretty Fly For a Wheat Chai, Teenage Ryeot.

Brewery Becker

500 W Main St

Brighton, Michigan 48116

(810) 844-0225

Youll find some unique offerings at Brewery Becker, where they take inspiration from historical ales and lagers. Blue Spruce Stout gets hit with the traditional colonial America bittering agent of spruce tips, Dopple Stick Alt is a dark and heavy version of the Alt beers of Dusseldorf. The brewery often does collaboration brews with both breweries and homebrewers. There are snacks like popcorn and charcuterie boards available, or you can bring in food from local restaurants.

Draught Horse Brewery offers quality brews paired with American comfort food.Courtesy Photo, used with permission.

Draught Horse

57721 Grand River Ave

New Hudson, Michigan 48165

(248) 617-3000

Offering a sophisticated barn feel, along with American comfort food and quality beers, Draught Horse is a popular local hangout. Order up a Foundation IPA, a super smooth brew, or a Prickly Pear Shandy for something a bit fruity. You can create your very own mac and cheese, choose from a variety of different cheeses, veggies and proteins. Or grab a flatbread pizza, sandwich or salad, everything is made fresh in house.

Ascension Brewing

42000 Grand River Ave

Novi, Michigan 48375

(248) 308-2093

Youll find some pretty awesome food at Ascension. Burgers come topped with fun things like bacon jam or mango jalapeno sauce, pulled pork spends 14 hours luxuriating in Ascensions beer before getting nestled on a bun and topped with Siracha BBQ sauce, or loaded onto their famous nachos. Pair your meal with the big and juicy Isometrical Double New England IPA, or maybe the easy drinking Fifth Stop Pale Ale. Guests consistently rave about the great atmosphere and awesome staff.

Liberty Street Brewing Company

149 W Liberty St

Plymouth, Michigan 48170-8001

(734) 207-9600

Known for having the best IPA lineup in Plymouth, Liberty Street caters to hopheads, offering the full range of the style, from classic, to a DIPA, and a NEIPA. Not into beer? No worries, they make their own hard cider, hard seltzer and wine as well. You can bring in food from area restaurants, and enjoy it with a drink, and a smile from the friendly staff. Liberty Street has been serving the Plymouth community since 2008.

SuperNatural Brewing and Spirits

36685 Plymouth Rd

Livonia, Michigan 48150

(734) 469-2251

SuperNatural was started by three friends who all had a science background, and who now combine both science and art into the brewing process. The beers here have some super interesting ingredients. Passage to India is a coconut curry IPA, Fluffy Realm is a stout brewed with graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallow, while I Am A Jelly Doughnut is a weisse brewed with both raspberries and lactose. Hearty classic pub food like fish and chips, a juicy Slamburger, and warm pretzels with beer cheese await you here.

Founders Brewing taproom in Detroit is ready to welcome you to the Midtown neighborhood.

Founders Taproom-Detroit

456 Charlotte St

Detroit, Michigan 48201

(313) 335-3440

Founders first foray outside of Grand Rapids took them to the up and coming Midtown neighborhood, where they opened the pub in 2017. All the flagship beers that youve come to love are on tap here, like KBS, Solid Gold, All Day, and Reds Rye. They also have a four barrel brew system on site, so you can try special one-offs that youll only see at the Detroit tap room. The pub offers deli style sandwiches to enjoy, salads, appetizers, as well as their excellent chili featuring Dirty Bastard ale in it. The taproom is a bright, airy space, with skylights and warm wood and brick accents, and is a great stop before or after a game or a show in Detroit.

Gonzo and Amy visited Short's production facility in Elk Rapids in 2019. With them are Joe Short, owner, and Tony Hansen, chief innovation officer.

More Beer of the Week coverage:

Defloured-Embrace the haze craze with this one from Witchs Hat (June 5)

Honey Lav-a spring time favorite from Blackrocks (May 29)

Professional Pilsner-Drink like a pro with this beer from Drafting Table (May 22)

Mango Gold-A tart refresher from Mitten Brewing Company (May 15)

Refreshin Session Pack-A new low cal, low ABV variety pack from Shorts Brewing Company (May 8)

Tree Love-A new low cal offering from Cheboygan Brewing (May 1)

Crescent Fresh IPA-A fresh and fun IPA straight out of East Lansings Ellison Brewery (April 24)

Monkey Mouth IPA - A tasty, balanced beer from Grand River Brewery in Jackson. (April 17)

Jai Alai - Another great springtime beer from our friends at Cigar City in Florida. (April 10) Its our nod to Spring Break, which we didnt get to enjoy this year.

Rainmaker - A pale ale from Stormcloud, our pick for Michigans Best New Brewery in 2016. (April 3)

Oberon - A summer classic from Bells. (March 27).

Gonzo and Amy at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain in Marquette, overlooking the actual Blackrocks during their shoot for Michigan's Best Day.

Follow our Michigans Best adventures on social media:

@mlivemibest on Twitter

@mlivemibest on Instagram

Facebook at MLiveMIBest.

Join in by using the hashtag #mibest

In addition:

Amy Sherman is on Twitter @amyonthetrail, as well as Facebook and Instagram @amyonthetrail.

Email: asherma2@mlive.com

John Gonzalez is on Twitter @michigangonzo, as well as Facebook and Instagram @MichiganGonzo.

Email: gonzo@mlive.com
NEW YORK - Hedge fund Chatham Asset Management plans to buy newspaper publisher McClatchy out of bankruptcy, ending 163 years of family control.

The companies did not put a price on the deal in an announcement Sunday. The agreement still needs the approval of a bankruptcy judge; a hearing is scheduled for July 24.

McClatchy is one of the largest newspaper companies in the U.S. It owns 30 papers including the Miami Herald, the Charlotte Observer and the Sacramento Bee. It filed for bankruptcy protection because of a heavy debt load stemming from its $4.5 billion purchase of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain in 2006, just as the newspaper industry went into steep decline.

Chatham was McClatchys largest shareholder and debt holder. It beat out a bid from Alden Global Capital, another hedge fund that has taken a leading role in the U.S. newspaper business.

Chathams other media holdings include the Canadian newspaper chain Postmedia and National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. But industry expert Ken Doctor has noted that it doesnt make financial sense to combine those with McClatchy in order to cut costs, as newspaper dealmakers like to do. And the emergence of Alden Global Capital as a bidder has given rise to speculation that Chatham will try to combine McClatchy with Aldens holdings or with another big newspaper company, like Gannett.

While national newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are adding digital subscribers that help them navigate advertising declines, many local outlets have had a difficult time. That has contributed to a string of bankruptcies and consolidation, much of it involving investment firms, deepening concerns about declining quality as newsrooms shrink and papers close.

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated ad-revenue declines and prompted furloughs, pay cuts, layoffs and more newspaper closings.

Several mayors of cities where McClatchy has a paper wrote to the bankruptcy court, asking the judge to consider the civic value of the paper.

We want our newspaper to emerge from this bankruptcy with owners who are willing to invest in our community, and provide us with journalism at its best, Lexington, Kentucky, mayor Linda Gorton said of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

McClatchys origins date to 1857, when it began publishing a four-page paper in Sacramento, California, following the California Gold Rush. The company remains headquartered in Sacramento.
Mali's embattled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced the dissolution of the constitutional court late Saturday in an attempt to calm the deadly civil unrest gripping the vulnerable African country, as more opposition leaders were arrested.

The court has been at the centre of controversy in Mali after it overturned provisional results for a parliamentary poll earlier this year, triggering protests in several cities that on Friday descended into violence.

Keita said he had repealed the licences of all remaining members of the constitutional court so that new judges could be appointed from next week.

"The reformed court can quickly help us find solutions to the disputes arising from the legislative elections," he said in an evening television address.

Following a long-delayed parliamentary poll in March  which Keita's party won  the court overturned the provisional results for about 30 seats, a move that saw several members of Keita's party elected and is widely viewed as having ignited the latest crisis.

Teens killed in clashes, opposition leaders arrested

Clashes raged again in the capital Bamako on Saturday as demonstrators  angered by a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption  demanded Keitas resignation.

Four people, including two teenagers, were killed in violence that raged in Bamako on Saturday and through the night, according to a hospital official.

"Among the four dead civilians we have two minors aged 15 and 17," a senior emergency room official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile Malis opposition coalition said security forces detained two leaders of anti-government protests and raided its headquarters on Saturday.

The opposition coalition M5-RFP said Choguel Kokala Maiga and Mountaga Tall, two senior figures in the movement, were detained along with other activists on Saturday. Another protest leader, Issa Kaou Djim, was arrested Friday.

Story continues

In addition, security forces "came and attacked and ransacked our headquarters", M5-RFP spokesman Nouhoum Togo said.

The arrests represent a new low in relations between the opposition and the authorities, who did not crack down after two large-scale, peaceful protests against the president in June.

Authorities say six opposition figures have been detained in two days as the government cracks down on an alliance known as the June 5 Movement.

'Open to dialogue'

During a visit to a Bamako hospital Saturday, Prime Minister Boubou Cisse called for calm. "The president and I remain open to dialogue," Cisse said, adding that he would quickly form a government ready to deal with the country's problems.

But almost as he spoke, a June 5 Movement spokesman told reporters that gendarmes had arrested Maiga and Tall.

Later Saturday, security forces turned up at the house of another opposition leader, Sy Kadiatou Sow, but were unable to find him, said a member of his family who did not want to be named.

Fears of influential imam's arrest

Led by influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, the movement is channelling deep-seated frustrations in the West African country.

Friday's protest was the third such demonstration in less than two months, significantly escalating pressure on the president.

As flaming roadblocks appeared around Bamako on Saturday, the atmosphere was electric around the mosque where Dicko preaches, with his supporters seemingly afraid that the imam would be arrested.

Security forces used live ammunition as clashes broke out, seriously wounding several men, according to associates of Dicko who published photos of the injuries.

'Step up' pressure

Keita warned Saturday that security would be maintained "with no signs of weakness", while indicating his willingness "to do everything possible to calm the situation".

Meanwhile the alliance called on the public "to maintain and step up this mobilisation until the aim is achieved, which is the resignation of the president".

The opposition's call for civil disobedience includes the non-payment of fines and blocking entry to state buildings.

Demonstrators attacked parliament and ransacked the national television station on Friday, only dispersing when the security forces opened fire.

This level of violence is rare in Bamako, which has been spared much of the unrest that is routine across swathes of Mali.

The country has struggled to contain an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012, before spreading to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
Len Vaughn-Lahman / Knight Ridder 2003

Classrooms in the Santa Clara Unified School District will not reopen for in-person instruction when the school year begins next month, district officials announced in a reopening plan released Friday.

The decision was made out of concern over the regions surge in coronavirus cases.
Former special counsel Robert Mueller sharply defended his investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, writing in a newspaper opinion piece Saturday that the probe was of 'paramount importance'.

He asserted that a Trump ally, Roger Stone, 'remains a convicted felon, and rightly so' despite the president's decision to commute his prison sentence.

The op-ed in The Washington Post marked Mueller's first public statement on his investigation since his congressional appearance last July.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller sharply defended his Russia investigation and asserted Roger Stone, 'remains a convicted felon, and rightly so' despite the president's decision to commute his prison sentence

Trump (left) commuted the sentence of Roger Stone (right), the longtime former Republican strategist who worked as an adviser on his presidential campaign

It represented his firmest defense of the two-year probe whose results have come under attack and even been partially undone by the Trump administration, including the president's extraordinary move Friday evening to grant clemency to Stone just days before he was due to report to prison.

Mueller said that though he had intended for his 448-page report on the investigation to speak for itself, he felt compelled to 'respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office.

'The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so,' Mueller wrote.

Mueller did not specify who was making the claims, but it appeared to be an obvious reference to Trump, who as recently as Saturday derided the investigation as this 'whole political witch hunt and the Mueller scam.'

Stone was in a celebratory mood as he posed at the doorstep of his home Saturday. The convicted conservative political strategist is still on house arrest, so was unable to go further than his front gate

The mere publication of the op-ed was striking in itself for a former FBI director who was tight-lipped during the investigation, refusing to respond to attacks by the president or his allies or to even make public appearances explaining or justifying his work.

In his first public appearance after the conclusion of his investigation, Mueller had said that he had hoped his report would speak for itself. When he later testified to House lawmakers, he was similarly careful not to stray beyond the reports findings or offer new evidence.

But that buttoned-up approach created a void for others, including at the Justice Department, to place their own stamp on his work. Even before the report was released Attorney General William Barr issued a four-page summary document that Mueller said did not adequately capture the gravity of his teams findings.

The op-ed traced the basis for the Stone prosecution, with Mueller recounting how Stone had not only tampered with a witness but also lied repeatedly about his efforts to gain inside information about Democratic emails that Russian intelligence operatives stole and provided to WikiLeaks, which published them in the run-up to the election.

The Republican strategist who has been friends with Trump for 40 years - was convicted of crimes pertaining to Robert Mueller's Russia investigation

Those efforts, including his discussions with Trump campaign associates about them, cut to the heart of Muellers mandate to determine whether anyone tied to the campaign coordinated with Russia in the hacking or disclosure of the stolen Democratic emails.

Stone was particularly critical, Mueller writes, because he claimed inside knowledge about WikiLeaks release of the stolen emails and because he communicated during the campaign with people known to be Russian intelligence officers.

'We did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities,' Mueller wrote. 'The investigation did, however, establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome. It also established that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.'

In a statement on Friday evening White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump 'signed an Executive Grant of Clemency commuting the unjust sentence of Roger Stone, Jr.  Roger Stone is now a free man!'
This is the emotional moment that Jenna Coleman split from Tom Hughes after four years together.

The actress, 34, and her Victoria co-star, 35, who fell in love on set while playing the lead roles of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the ITV period costume drama, are said to be 'terribly sad'.

Snaps show the star handing over keys to her ex at the door of her new pad five miles from their home.

Pictured: This is the emotional moment that Jenna Coleman split from Tom Hughes after four years together

She had previously been deep in conversation after he helped carry bags into the new home.

An insider told The Sun that the pair have since met up in an attempt to keep things 'as friendly and civil as possible.'

The source said: 'They are trying to salvage a friendship but obviously these are trying times, and it's not easy.

'Both Tom and Jenna are terribly sad, but the relationship ran its course. There was no third party involved.

Heartbreaking: Snaps show the star in deep conversation with her ex as he helped her move into her new pad five miles from their home

Helping out: The actor helped carry Jenna's bags to her new pad as they ended their romance after four years

Still friends? It's claimed that Blackpool native Jenna is 'trying to salvage a friendship' with Tom (Pictured August 2017)

'Jenna's career is going from strength to strength, she's being offered increasingly more roles abroad, especially Los Angeles, and she wants to focus on this while she's still young.'

MailOnline has contacted Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes' representatives for comment.

Last year, the Dr Who actress revealed she and her now-former beau Tom never took their characters from Victoria home with them when the cameras turn off.

Jenna stars in the ITV historical drama as Queen Victoria in the series while Tom plays her husband Prince Albert.

All eyes on Hollywood? The source claimed that Jenna is 'being offered increasingly more roles abroad, especially Los Angeles, and she wants to focus on this while she's still young'

Their romance was a case of life imitating art for the pair who began dating in 2016 after they met on set.

Speaking to The Telegraph, the thespian said: 'No, I definitely do not go home and play Queen Victoria, I want to make that clear.

'But I really enjoy the company of her, if that makes sense. There's a lovely familiarity, and getting to know them as a couple has been a real joy.'

Quizzed whether Tom kept up his German accent around the house, Jenna looked horrified and exclaimed, 'No... No, no.'

On-screen to real life: Last year, the Dr Who actress revealed she and her now-former beau Tom never took their characters from Victoria home with them when the cameras turn off (pictured)

Jenna and Tom's romance almost never happened, as the actress revealed she turned down the role of the iconic monarch twice before finally accepting the part.

Speaking to Radio Times, Jenna said of the near-miss: 'I had just finished doing nearly four years on Doctor Who and I didn't want to do another long TV project.

'I wanted to do lots of different things, but now I'm doing Victoria, I find her quite addictive.'

Prior to dating Tom, Jenna's last high-profile relationship was with Bodyguard actor Richard Madden, 34, with the pair dating on and off for four years before ending things for good in 2015.
Thanks to a ground-breaking commercial partnership with Canadian telecommunications firm Quanta Networks, the $135 million dollar Destination Mariposa project  which includes two luxury hotels, private residences and eco-tourism amenities  will boast one of the most advanced communications infrastructures in the Caribbean. The Ontario-based company has been engaged to design, install and maintain a climate-proofed digital infrastructure across the 145-acre Caribbean resort.

Quantas facility-free network will provide high speed connectivity to guests at Destination Mariposa without having cell towers and radio antennae disturbing the Belizean rainforest environment. In a part of the world where natural disasters and extreme weather can seriously disrupt traditional telecommunications services, this advanced infrastructure will provide the resorts residents and visitors, with facility-free wireless communications at all times, under any circumstances.

Quanta Networks will reduce the resorts local environmental footprint by integrating smart monitors and sensors, while introducing an intelligent video and perimeter Intrusion security network. This will ensure the safety of residents, guests and the resorts ecologically sensitive surroundings, focusing on sustainability.

Humberto Varela, CEO at Quanta Networks said: We are proud to be a major partner in this exciting project. There is a real need for climate-resilient technologies in the Caribbean and the robust infrastructure were building at Destination Mariposa, will keep guests connected while enjoying their time in the rainforest. We look forward to the positive tourism impact that Destination Mariposa will have on this beautiful region of Cayo, and the country.

Wayne Thomas, CEO at Destination Mariposa said: Destination Mariposa will be a one of a kind lifestyle destination for people who are passionate about improving their lives through health and wellness. Surrounded by the beauty of the Belizean rainforest, the resort provides a haven for people looking to connect with nature, while remaining connected to the outside world. We are grateful to Quanta Networks for their ground-breaking work to ensure the safety and comfort of our future guests.

About Mariposa

The $135 million Destination Mariposa project  which includes two luxury hotels, a full-service luxury spa, a high-end villa complex, adventure park, lagoon and fitness centre  will boast one of the most advanced communications and control infrastructures on the planet in the Caribbean, thanks to a ground-breaking commercial partnership with Canadian telecommunications firm Quanta Networks

Contact: Destination Mariposa, Susan Thomas - Susan@Destinationmariposa.com

About Quanta Networks

Quanta Networks Inc. is comprised of a global team of network technology and Blockchain professionals that possess close to 200 years of combined experience in the Telecommunications Networking industry. Based in Toronto, Canada, the company was founded in 2017 with the vision and to create Alternative and Hyper-secure telecommunication networks.

Contact Quanta Networks  info@quantanetworks.ca
Bongani Sibeko was just a toddler when he and his family were forced to flee their home in apartheid South Africa, as Black men, women and children were dying at the hands of authorities upholding the country's legal system of racial segregation.

As the son of revolutionaries, he found things weren't much different in the United States when they moved to New York City in the 1970s. Although apartheid wasn't the law of the land there, he said he grew up as a Black man knowing that if he encountered police on the streets, "there was a very good chance I would not make it home."

"Cops [in New York City] used to drive around at night looking for young Black folks to beat the hell out of," Bongani Sibeko, now 59, told ABC News in a recent telephone interview. "I was a victim of that and so was a majority of my friends."

Promised as the land of opportunity, America has long heralded itself as the world's beacon of democracy, freedom and progress. But many Black Africans and African Americans alike see the United States in a different light, saying the country's racist past is still very much a part of its present and that the recent death of George Floyd in police custody is a global tipping point for systemic racism. Africa-based experts also point out close parallels between the plight of Black people in America and in southern Africa.

"The distinction between first-, second- and third-world countries is no longer a stable set of distinctions, because from the founding of the United States to the present there's always been an excluded, dehumanized population," Dr. Joel Modiri, a senior lecturer in jurisprudence at South Africa's University of Pretoria, told ABC News in a recent telephone interview. "Apartheid and Jim Crow are really no different."

While some are holding out hope that the groundswell of support from millions in the United States will propel systemic change through the Black Lives Matter movement, others are looking beyond America's shores to Africa for fresh perspective and in some cases a fresh start.

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Apartheid vs. Jim Crow

American history is a violent one. When European explorers and settlers arrived hundreds of years ago on the shores of what they called the "New World," they claimed the land as their own and slaughtered Indigenous tribes in the process. The Atlantic slave trade was born when European colonizers kidnapped Africans and began selling them as slaves to the British colonies in North America in 1619.

The United States abolished slavery in 1865, after the American Civil War had ended. But the racial segregation and economic discrimination of Black people was enforced openly in the South until the mid-20th century through state and local legislation known as Jim Crow laws.

PHOTO: A woman bars the way as a group of African Americans were about to enter the lunch counter of a department store in Memphis to protest the segregation policy of the establishment, June 9, 1961. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images, FILE)

Experts said racial inequality remains deeply entrenched in American society today, as a lingering legacy of slavery and segregation.

"My view is that the United States has structural racism," Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim, a political scientist and senior fellow at the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja, Nigeria, told ABC News in a recent telephone interview. "The whole society is structured against basically the Black community, that has a very high level of incarceration and has very brutal policing."

PHOTO: NA large gathering of protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street Movement attend a rally in Union Square on Nov. 17, 2011, in New York, attempting to shut down Wall Street by blocking roads and tying up traffic in Lower Manhattan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images, FILE)

For instance, Black adults make up just 12% of the U.S. population but represented 33% of the country's sentenced prison population in 2018, according to a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the statistical agency of the U.S. Justice Department.

And though there is little research on police violence and racial bias, a peer-reviewed study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine in November 2016, which examined data from a public health surveillance system on the use of lethal force by on-duty law enforcement officers from 2009 to 2012 in 17 U.S. states, found that the victims were disproportionately Black -- 32% -- with a fatality rate 2.8 times higher among Blacks than whites.

PHOTO: Protesters take part in the civil disobedience campaign, in June 1952, in Johannesburg, by occupying places for white people. (AFP via Getty Images, FILE)

Experts said South Africa shares many of the features of structural racism that are found in the United States. When the National Party gained power in South Africa after the 1948 general election, its all-white government immediately started implementing its apartheid policy of racial segregation and economic discrimination against non-whites in the country as well as in the territory of South West Africa, the name for modern-day Namibia when it was under South African rule.

"South Africa really is unique because it's the place where we've had the most sustained period of white supremacy," Modiri told ABC News.

PHOTO: A South African police officer charges after a United Democratic Front demonstrator with a sjambok whip during a demonstration in Johannesburg, circa 1985. (Gideon Mendel/Corbis via Getty Images)

The system of apartheid was dismantled in the early 1990s through a series of bilateral negotiations between the National Party and the African National Congress, the leading anti-apartheid political movement at the time. Nelson Mandela, president of the African National Congress party, was then elected as the country's first Black head of state during the 1994 general election, the first in which South African citizens of all races were allowed to vote. The African National Congress has been the ruling party of post-apartheid South Africa ever since.

MORE: Inside the all-white 'Apartheid town' of Orania, South Africa

However, experts said white South Africans have retained economic, social and cultural power, enjoying a far better standard of living and quality of life than their non-white counterparts. National Transfer Accounts data from 2015 shows the average lifetime work-related earnings for whites peaks at over 300,000 South African rand per year, while for non-whites the peak is 70,000, according to a recent paper by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research.

"So in a way, Black South Africans here -- although a numerical majority -- are nonetheless still a political, social and economic minority," Modiri said, "not unlike African Americans."

PHOTO: People swim and sunbathe near a notice board with the rules under which blacks were barred from swimming at the 'Whites Only' section at a beach in Durban, South Africa, Jan. 5, 1987. (Walter Dhladhla/AFP via Getty Images, FILE)

Police brutality also remains an issue in post-apartheid South Africa as well as in other African nations, including Kenya and Nigeria.

"This brutality is not structured racially but it is structured against the poor in society," Ibrahim told ABC News. "The African police systems never succeeded in making the transition from the colonial to the post-colonial police and retained a lot of the brutality and illegalities associated with colonial police."

Experts agreed that the only major distinction between the apartheid system and Jim Crow is the fact that Black people make up a majority of the population in South Africa, while they are the minority in the United States.

"Black South Africans and Americans are bound together in a long history of racial segregation, and it has not ended" Modiri said. "The struggle against white supremacy is a transnational one."

From Johannesburg to New York City

The year was 1963 and Bongani Sibeko's father, David Sibeko, was a rising member of the Pan Africanist Congress, a Black South African political movement that had broken away from the African National Congress. Both groups were working to end racial segregation and white majority rule in South Africa, and they had taken up arms in the wake of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, when the national police force opened fire on a group of unarmed Black protesters, killing 69 of them.

As commander of the Pan Africanist Congress' paramilitary unit in the Vaal area, David Sibeko devised a plan to sabotage a train carrying South Africa's then-minister of justice, who had allegedly ordered the secret hangings of more than a dozen anti-apartheid activists. But he was captured on the night of the operation and held in detention for months.

David Sibeko was ultimately acquitted of the charges, and the Pan Africanist Congress leadership advised him to go into exile with his wife and children. Bongani Sibeko was 3 at the time.

PHOTO: South African police beat black women with clubs after anti-apartheid protesters raided and set a beer hall on fire in Durban, South Africa in 1959. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images, FILE)

The family was smuggled out of the country via a train from Johannesburg. When they eventually arrived at a refugee camp in Botswana, a bomb allegedly planted by South Africas apartheid regime tore through the offices. So they had to stay on the move.

They were after my father," Bongani Sibeko told ABC News.

From there, they traveled to Zambia and then Tanzania. They moved to London in 1968, when David Sibeko was appointed head of the Pan Africanist Congress' mission to Europe and the Americas. A few years later, he became the group's permanent observer at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, in association with the U.N. Special Committee Against Apartheid.

The family put down roots in a predominately Black neighborhood on the Upper West Side. Bongani Sibeko, who was 13 at the time, recalled knowing that he was South African but still feeling amongst my own. Both his parents became involved with African American grassroots movements.

PHOTO: Protesters march outside of the courthouse during the trial of New York City Police Officer Thomas Shea, who shot Clifford Glover, 10, and was acquitted in New York, June 12, 1974. (The New York Times via Redux, FILE)

As a young Black man growing up in the United States, Bongani Sibeko said he had to quickly learn the rules of survival when dealing with law enforcement. He said his first brush with New York City police happened just after they had moved there, when his mother sent him out to buy groceries on Broadway.

"As I got onto Broadway, I saw a lot of people gathered around, police were everywhere," he recalled. "I saw this one cop and, you know, I basically asked him, 'Officer, what's going on?' He looked at me, spat at me and he said, 'F--- you n----! Get the hell out of here!'"

MORE: Blacks account for nearly half of all NYC arrests 6 years after end of stop-and-frisk

That encounter set the tone for the rest of his young adult life in New York City, he said, including one instance when he was beaten up in the street by seven white officers who he said had baited him into a confrontation.

"There's that moment that your life is at the cop's mercy, and if there's more than one you know that you're in serious trouble," he told ABC News. "One thing you have to understand is, your life is on the line."

How Africa reacted to George Floyd

Over the years, there have been several high-profile cases of police using deadly force against Black people that have energized America's debate on racism and inequality. The most recent was George Floyd.

Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man, died in Minneapolis on May 25 after a white police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck as three other officers watched. His death has sparked anti-racism protests and calls for police reform across the United States and around the world, including in Africa. The continent voiced its anger in a statement released on May 29 through its regional bloc, the African Union, describing Floyd's death as an act of "murder."

The chair of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned Floyd's killing and urged "authorities in the United States of America to intensify their efforts to ensure the total elimination of all forms of discrimination based on race or ethnic origin."

PHOTO: South Africa's Economic Freedom Fighters supporters gather in front of the United States Embassy in Pretoria, on June 8, 2020, in solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement. (Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images)

Then in June, Burkina Faso's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva penned a letter on behalf of 54 African nations, asking the U.N. Human Rights Council for an "urgent debate" on "racially inspired human rights violations, police brutality against people of African descent and the violence against the peaceful protests that call for these injustices to stop."

Although the letter called for a debate on racism around the world, Ambassador Dieudonne Desire Sougouri highlighted the situation in the United States, saying that Floyd's death "is unfortunately not an isolated incident, with many previous cases of unarmed persons of African descent suffering the same fate due to unchecked police brutality."

"The protests the world is witnessing are a rejection of the fundamental racial inequality and discrimination that characterize life in the United States for Black people, and other people of color," Sougouri wrote.

PHOTO: Protesters hold signs as they demonstrate against the death of George Floyd in the U.S., and Collins Khoza, who died after a confrontation with South African security forces, outside the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, June 5, 2020. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)

Experts said the widespread outrage over Floyd's death and the ensuing global support for the Black Lives Matter movement give reason for cautious hope, but substantial and meaningful change in the United States would be difficult. The same is true for post-apartheid South Africa.

"When a system becomes so deeply entrenched, it becomes harder and harder to uproot it," Modiri told ABC News. "The nature of the racial antagonism and racial conflict, and the trauma and the damage that racism has done in both the United States and in South Africa is fundamentally irreparable. It's unlikely that we can ever come out of it the same."

MORE: What do terms like systemic racism, microaggression and white fragility mean?

Still, Modiri added that "we should always be hopeful when communities of people refuse to accept the way things are."

Experts noted how the widening rift between liberals and conservatives in the United States has made legislative reform a challenge.

"I've seen many such demonstrations in the past and they never led to reform," Ibrahim told ABC News. "It's important for the Black Lives Matter movement to forge alliances with liberal Americans so they can sustain movement for a longer time, create more traction and, above all, ensure that the protests would be sustained up to the level where reforms are introduced."

Some 'look to Africa to find our roots'

When the coronavirus pandemic hit earlier this year and countries around the world began closing borders, Rashad McCrorey found himself at a crossroads.

The 40-year-old New York City native was in Ghana for a trip organized by his tourism company, Africa Cross Culture, which specializes in bringing Black Americans and the African diaspora to visit the continent. He could either return home immediately or stay in Ghana indefinitely. He chose the latter.

"I did some soul-searching," McCrorey told ABC News in a recent telephone interview. "I felt like I could run my business remotely and not only survive in Ghana but thrive out here."

MORE: Africa sees steep rise in coronavirus cases

Ghana, a former slave trading hub, has long advocated for Africans and those of African descent abroad to return to the continent. Many Black Americans, such as civil rights leader W. E. B. Du Bois, settled there in the 1960s. Last year, the West African nation launched the "Year of Return, Ghana 2019" on the 400th anniversary of slaves being brought to the United States with the goal of encouraging visits.

Reports estimate thousands of African Americans live in Ghana's capital of Accra, some looking to escape racism and other strife in the United States.

PHOTO: Rashad McCrorey poses for a photo along the coast of Elmina, Ghana, in June 2020. (Rashad McCrorey)

As civil unrest unfolds back home in America, McCrorey said he's confident he made the right decision to stay.

"Its the same merry-go-round," he said. "I saw the same thing in 2014."

In 2014, McCrorey was among thousands of protesters who took to the streets following the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed 43-year-old Black man who famously shouted "I can't breathe" as a white officer was filmed putting him in a chokehold while arresting him in the New York City borough of Staten Island. Black Lives Matter demonstrations soon spread across the country and the globe.

PHOTO: Marchers approach the West Side Highway after a Grand Jury decided not to indict the police officer who placed Eric Garner in a chokehold, Dec. 4, 2014, in New York. (Yana Paskova/Getty Images, FILE)

Although the officer involved in Garner's death is no longer patrolling the streets, McCrorey expressed frustration that there has been no real reform or structural change.

"Over time, things calm down, people go back to their regular lives until the next outrage happens," he told ABC News.

MORE: This woman in Ghana is helping to protect front-line workers, 1 face mask at a time

McCrorey visited Africa for the first time a few weeks after Garner's death. He fell in love with the country of Ghana and its people, and the trip inspired him to start his back-to-Africa travel company.

PHOTO: Rashad McCrorey (center) is welcomed by the royal family of Iture, a suburb of Elmina, Ghana, on June 20, 2020. (Rashad McCrorey)

McCrorey described the experience of returning to the continent as an African American as healing and revitalizing, even if it's only for a visit. He said it's empowering to be surrounded by people who look like you in all aspects of society, from street vendors and shop owners to doctors, lawyers and politicians.

"We look to Africa to find our roots," he said. "We can look at Mother Africa as a rehab center to kind of get out of this systematic oppression."

'Without the world, we would have never been freed'

Bongani Sibeko had not yet turned 19 when his father was murdered.

David Sibeko had risen through the ranks of the Pan Africanist Congress, becoming a leading member of the group's central committee and being appointed director of foreign affairs. Meanwhile, he was doing important work for the U.N. Security Council and investigating South Africa's apartheid regime -- all of which put a target on his back.

On June 12, 1979, David Sibeko was assassinated during a meeting in Tanzania by sleeper agents of the apartheid regime who had infiltrated the Pan Africanist Congress, according to Bongani Sibeko. He was 39, leaving behind his wife and their four children.

PHOTO: Activists hold placards as they march from the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, during a protest against the death of George Floyd, June 6, 2020. (Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images)

Nearly 15 years after his father's death, Bongani Sibeko left New York City and moved back to South Africa when apartheid had ended. He has lived there ever since and said he is a proponent of Africans and the diaspora returning to the motherland.

"Our continent has been robbed of its people, and they should be welcomed back home," Bongani Sibeko told ABC News.

He expressed hope in the global momentum and support of America's Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of Floyd's death, recalling how the world in the same way backed the fight against apartheid in South Africa.

"This is a very emotional time for me because it reflects the global support that's happening for George Floyd and the plight of African Americans, it's very similar to the struggle we faced in that we did not struggle alone," he said. "Without the world, we would have never been freed."

'Apartheid and Jim Crow are really no different': Why George Floyd's death reverberated in Africa originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
M&C Saatchi, one of the most iconic advertising agencies in London, is preparing to deliver another blow to investors with a profits slump.

The firm, set up by Maurice and Charles Saatchi after a spat with shareholders at their previous company, has been in the spotlight following an accounting scandal last year that prompted four directors to leave.

The accounts, which are being redrafted, so far have no scheduled release date. But there is growing speculation that auditor PwC could mark down 2018 profits to almost zero.

There is growing speculation that auditor PwC could mark down 2018 profits to almost zero

The latest bad news is likely to place beleaguered chief executive David Kershaw, who helped to launch the firm in 1995, under renewed pressure.

There is speculation the company may be forced to carry out an equity capital fundraising to prop up its finances and even that Kershaw may step down.

In March last year, the company originally said it had generated post-tax profits of 21million from revenues of 255.3million in 2018.

But by December, following the departure of the previous finance chief, it announced 'the misapplication of accounting policies' that resulted in an 11.6million charge.

The accountancy scandal has triggered an 80 per cent share price crash and a boardroom bust-up in December that led to the departure of senior board directors, including Lord Saatchi, Lord Dobbs, the author of House of Cards, Sir Michael Peat, who is the former private secretary to Prince Charles, and City stockbroker Lorna Tilbian.

At the heart of the resignations was a row about responsibility for the hole in the accounts, with Kershaw being left to resolve the matter. The company, whose creative mantra is 'brutal simplicity of thought', has also recently issued a series of profit warnings following weak spending by customers.

PwC has been carrying out an independent review of the agency's accounts after KPMG, the firm's auditor since 2012, resigned last September after clashing with the agency over fees.

Kershaw founded M&C Saatchi with Jeremy Sinclair, now the chairman, Bill Muirhead, Charles Saatchi and Maurice Saatchi 25 years ago after the brothers were pushed out of Saatchi & Saatchi.

M&C Saatchi said: 'As we said in our market updatethe 2019 audit  which has been a very thorough process conducted by PwC  is nearing completion and we look forward to engaging with our shareholders when the results are published.'
The Pope to donate 100,000 to help migrants on border of Belarus and Poland

Fourth vaccine against COVID-19 is not enough for Omicron

World is on verge of country defaults

French Foreign Ministry considers unacceptable Azerbaijan statements about Pecresse

US to return two valuable artifacts over 4,000 years old to Iraq

Germany may consider halting Nord Stream 2 if Russia attacks Ukraine

Israel successfully completes test of anti-ballistic missile system

Plane landing in Sochi struck by lightning

Putin and Aliyev discuss Ukraine situation

Greek PM Mitsotakis threatens Turkey with sanctions

Handelsblatt: US and EU abandon idea of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT international payment system

Artsakh President meets representatives of non-governmental organizations

Avalanche kills person in Iran

Erdogan says he is pleased with decline in volatility of lira

NEWS.am daily digest: 18.01.22

Turkey and Azerbaijan to start laying gas pipeline to supply Nakhichevan

UK begins to supply Ukraine with anti-tank weapons

Armenian PM holds meeting on Armenia's Transformation Strategy until 2050

Nagorno-Karabakh: Remains of another Armenian soldier found in Jrakan region

Tehran to not accept any border change in South Caucasus

Dollar holding relatively steady in Armenia

Armenia special representative: Future process depends on Turkeys constructiveness degree

Erdogan: Gas from Mediterranean to Europe can only be pumped through Turkey

Iranian Consul General discusses customs cooperation in Nakhijevan

Inecobank brings Apple Pay to customers

Parliament vice-speaker says he is familiar with Armenia proposals on border demarcation commission work

US Secretary of State to visit Kyiv

Russia, Iran and China to hold joint naval drills

OSCE Chairmanship on Aliyev statement: We reiterate our full support to Minsk Group Co-Chairs

Artsakh NSS denies rumors about penetration of Azerbaijanis into Karabakh villages

Indonesian parliament approves bill to relocate capital

Armenia PM to Bulgaria colleague: Our interstate relations are marked by continuous development of cooperation

Armenian President meets Abu Dhabi Crown Prince

Azerbaijan to ban foreigners from visiting Nagorno-Karabakh occupied part

European Parliament new speaker elected

Armenian National Interests Fund participates in Abu Dhabi Sustainable Development Week summit

North Korea fires missiles for fourth time this year

ECHR recognizes violation of Armenian PM's rights after 2008 elections

Turkey reveals plans to produce combat aircraft

Karabakh official: Azerbaijan presidents impudent behavior is due to OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs silence

Azerbaijan special services force Artsakh resident to intelligence work

Copper price is stable

Minister of State: OSCE MG Co-Chairs must accept exercise of Karabakh people's right to self-determination

Armenia President, UAE Minister of State discuss possibilities of cooperation in science and technology

Investigation into criminal case of several Armenia soldiers returned from Azerbaijan captivity is over

Canada sends detachment of special forces to Ukraine

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan, former deputy PM now MP Gevorgyan case trial resumes

2 more persons die of coronavirus in Artsakh

Armenia family has 10th child

Converse Bank brings Apple Pay to customers

Gold is getting weaker

Lacote: French institute to operate in Armenia (PHOTOS)

Ardshinbank Brings Apple Pay to Customers

Armenia President in UAE, meets with Emirati environment minister

Armenia legislature approves changes to several laws

Differences in data on coronavirus deaths in Armenia are corrected

360 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Norway to begin Breivik early release hearing

Economy minister to head Armenia side of commission on economic cooperation with Kazakhstan

Mexico crime photojournalist killed

Newspaper: Criminal case against Armenia archbishop dropped

Newspaper: Opposition Armenia Bloc in parliament to toughen its tactics

Scientists discover large breeding colony of icefish in southern Antarctica

China creates low-gravity artificial moon

Tehran welcomes normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations

Russian and Iranian Foreign Ministers discuss regional issues

UN Secretary-General: Vaccinate whole world to end pandemic

Giant asteroid to fly past our planet

Armenian President meets with Executive Director of Mubadala Investment Company

UAE counting on Turkey

Indonesia to move capital by 2024

Passenger traffic at Armenian airports decreased by 30%

Armenian Investigative Committee: Six soldiers captured in November arrested

Turkish government to discuss Rubinyan-Kilic meeting results

German FM threatens Russia in case of aggression against Ukraine

Armenian MFA senior staff meets with ambassadors to European countries

Turkish court acquits German journalist Mesale Tolu

Turkish UAV intercepted over Greek island

Protest in front of Armenian Health Ministry

France introduces vaccine passes

Bitcoin begins to lose out competitors

Exchange rates in Armenia

Safari browser caught leaking user data

Xi Jinping: Confrontation between major powers can have disastrous consequences

Lukashevich: Russia concerned that OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs may not be able to visit Nagorno-Karabakh

Court obligates Armenia ruling force MP to prove ex-President Sargsyan lost more than $100M in casinos

Ex-ruling party official: Armenia authorities may renounce Genocide, Karabakh

Armenian PM's party decides to provide free textbooks to non-state schools

Times: Johnson prepares cadre purge to save his own skin

Pecresse accuses French government of inaction after Aliyev's statements on her Karabakh visit

Armenia President attends Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week forum opening

Armenia legislature ruling majority member: It is possible for us to have neighborly relations with Azerbaijan

President approves Artsakh government decisions on provision of financial assistance

Armenia parliament opposition faction leader on canceling US visit: We must fulfill our international duties

Fire in Abu Dhabi kills three people

ANIF Anti-Crisis Fund to invest in Armenia cargo transportation

Azerbaijan to soon open bus routes to Artsakhs occupied Shushi

Armenia ruling force MP, businessman: Turks will be able to use our medical services in Gyumri, Yerevan

Erdogan wants to save Turkish economy with oil production in the Black Sea

Copper rises in price
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New Delhi: In a major crackdown on jailed mafia-don-turned MLA Mukhtar Ansari's illegal business, the Uttar Pradesh Police has booked at least 20-25 members of his gang in Ghazipur under the Gangster Act.

The police also seized properties worth Rs 58.91 lakh of Ansari's shooter Brijesh Sonkar Section 14 (1) of Gangster Act and arrested seven people, believed to be his accomplice, confirmed UP DGP (Law and order), Prashant Kumar.

The Police has also suspended arms licenses of four of his aides. On 8 July 2020, a report was given to the District Magistrate on behalf of Inspector-in-Charge Police Station, that the verification of weapons of 3 associates of Mukhtar Ansari has not been done regularly. Acting on the report, the Ghazipur District Magistrate suspended the arms license of three aides of Ansari.

"In an action against mafia and top criminals here, the arms licenses of aides of Mukhtar Ansari were suspended on the orders of District Collector, Ghazipur. The arms have been deposited in the police stations', armoury," Superintendent of Police Ghazipur OP Singh was quoted as saying by ANI.

"An intense operation is also ongoing against over 20 mafia gangs and their aides in Ghazipur. It is being conducted against criminals, land mafia, mining mafia here," he added.

On July 5, the Ghazipur district administration had demolished a godown, built on grabbed public land, and probing into some irregularities involving a hotel, with both the properties jointly owned by the Ansari's wife. The godown was built in place of a pond by M/s Vikas Construction in which Ansari's wife Afsa Begum and his brother-in-law Aatif Raja besides three others -- Zakir Hussain, Ravindra Narayan Singh and Anwar Shahzada-- are partners, said Ghazipur DM OP Arya.

The firm's owners fudged the records of the pond in Fathepur village, measuring over five bighas, and got the land registered in their names, he said, adding they later built a godown over it and rented it out to the Food Corporation of India, the DM said. The godown was demolished on Saturday along with its boundary wall and the administration has initiated action in the mater, he added.

Ghazipur Sub Divisional Magistrate Prabhas Kumar said the district administration has also issued a notice to the owners of Gajal Hotel built in Mahubagh locality of the city over some irregularities involving it.
(Newser)  A race horse with a seven-length lead in the home stretch gave West Virginia fans quite the surprise Thursday night, NBC News reports. River Crossroad Rvf, a 3-year-old in only his second race, bolted off the track at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. The colt left via a cutout where horses usually exit after morning races. "So best guess is that the horse just thought he was going back to his barn," said track Vice President Erich Zimny. "They certainly can be creatures of habit."

story continues below

Track announcer Paul Espinosa Jr. posted a video on the track, saying he wanted to explain the "wildly run" race to "conspiracy theorists." Espinosa Jr. offered a few possible explanations, including the horse's youth, personality, and the altered position of the starting gate. Whatever the reason, River Crossroad Rvf had 9-5 odds and was second-favorite to win. Trainer Jeff Runco said the departure came as a surprise to him, too: "He's a great little horse with all kinds of energy," he told NBC News. "He was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning like, 'So what happened last night?'" See the wild finish here. (Or read about champion race horses that died in a terrible crash.)
OTTAWAWE Charity hired 465 people to help administer the federal governments student volunteer grant program. And then a political scandal hit.

The charity organization laid off 450 contract workers across the country last week and told them not to speak about their work with WE. The charity told the Star that the 15 other new hires were given full-time positions within the organization.

The workers were hired as contractors  some fixed-term, others independent  to deliver the Canada Student Service Grant, the Liberal governments $900-million program to pay students for volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau initially said WE was selected to run the program because it was the best and only organization capable of doing it.

But as the government faced persistent questioning about Trudeau and his familys personal relationship with WE, and the decision to give the charity $19.5 million to administer the program, the Liberals and WE announced a mutual decision to nix the deal.

Now hundreds of people caught in the middle of the unfolding political scandal are out of work as the global pandemic stretches on.

While we were hopeful that we might continue to work with a number of these individuals, the circumstances we are facing as a result of the (program) made this impossible, WE Charity wrote in a statement to the Star on Saturday. Due to the transition of the (program), we had to make the incredibly difficult decision to end the contracts for those hired in that capacity.

WE said that, since handing the program back to the government, the charity did not take any of the funds that were allocated to pay for the work to date or remaining work.

All sunk costs and remaining payments to staff and vendors are being paid for by WE Charity.

Two sources told the Star that WE originally indicated it would honour the contracts, most of which were set to end Aug. 31, according to the organization. But on Tuesday, the sources said, WE let them go. The organization told the Star that workers were given additional compensation based on how long they had worked with WE.

Asked about the confusion over WE honouring the full contract, the charity said: We apologize if any of our communications with these employees felt incomplete.

One of the clauses of the termination agreement with WE instructed its former contractors not to speak to the media about their work with the charity.

The clauses in the contracts for fixed term and independent contractors related to intellectual property and maintaining confidentiality are standard across the organization, WE wrote in a statement.

The WE deal has become a significant political scandal for Trudeau and the Liberals. While questions were immediately raised about the prime ministers participation in WE-hosted events, and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeaus connections to the charity, it was revealed last week that WEs for-profit corporation paid Trudeaus mother and brother a combined $282,000 in speaking fees between 2016 and 2020.

On Friday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau was drawn into the scandal after his office admitted that his daughter was employed by the charity.

Neither Morneau nor Trudeau recused themselves from cabinets decision to award the contract to WE. Trudeau is now facing his third ethics investigation as prime minister, and the opposition NDP is urging ethics commissioner Mario Dion to launch a similar probe into Morneau.
A teenager is facing charges for a would-be armed home invasion robbery in Florida in which his two accomplices were shot and killed and he was wounded.

Jeremiah Trammel, 19, was shot after his accomplices, Luis Casado, 21, and Khyle Durham, 21, had already been shot dead during the alleged break-in.

The person who shot the two men was the homeowner who was using a gun to defend himself in Wesley Chapel, near Tampa.

The two intruders who were shot and killed by a Wesley Chapel homeowner were identified by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office as Luis Casado, left, and Khyle Durham, both 21.

Casado and Durham were shot dead as they were walking along a narrow hallway towards the owner of the house.

Both had their faces covered with black masks and had guns drawn according to Fox35.

According to Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco, Trammel was then able to make a quick escape from the home after the homeowner's gun suddenly jammed allowing for a pause in the shooting.

Trammel was caught by a next door neighbor who also had a gun and held him on the spot until the police arrived.

He was taken to hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound.

Casado and Durham were 'extremely violent' criminals, according to Sheriff Nocco, while Trammel had a previous arrest for other charges.

'The victim in this case was exercising his Second Amendment right to protect himself in his home,' Nocco said.

The homeowner who was alone at the time and playing video games realized something was amiss after hearing glass smash.

Casado and Durham were 'extremely violent' criminals, according to Sheriff Nocco, while Trammel had a previous arrest for other charges. Durham is pictured here

Further investigation revealed Trammel, Casado and Durham knew the homeowner personally and he knew them, although no more details were revealed. Casado is pictured here

He grabbed his gun and went to investigate.

The sheriff believes that the owner may have been targeted because he had recently posted pictures of a large gun collection he owned on social media.

Further investigation revealed Trammel, Casado and Durham knew the homeowner personally and he knew them, although no more details were revealed.

Trammel has been charged with home invasion robbery but also faces the murder charges for the deaths of Casado and Durham.
Authorities are probing the cause of a serious accident in which a passenger bus plunged off a cliff in Vietnams Central Highlands early on Saturday morning, killing five people and injuring 35 others.

The sleeper bus fell off a 20m deep cliff along Ngoc Vin Pass in Ro Koi Commune, Sa Thay District, Kon Tum Province at around 4:00 am, according to preliminary reports.

The vehicle was carrying a total of 40 people, including the driver, four employees of the bus line, and 35 passengers.

Five of them were killed and 35 others injured following the crash. The wounded are being treated at a general hospital in Kon Tum Province.

The identity of the deceased victims has not been revealed.

Initial investigation showed that the bus might have been traveling at speed prior to the accident, while several passengers recalled hearing the driver shouting that the brakes had failed.

However, the driver told authorities that the vehicle was running at only 35km per hour.

One of the four bus line employees tested positive for narcotics.

A sleeper bus is damaged after plunging off a cliff in Kon Tum Province, Vietnam, July 11, 2020. Photo: Huynh Cong Dong / Tuoi Tre

According to Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Man, an official from the provincial Department of Police, the sleeper bus was traveling from north-central Thanh Hoa Province to Ho Chi Minh City, and Ngoc Vin Pass was not included in its original route.

Khuat Viet Hung, vice-chairman of the National Committee for Traffic Safety, has requested Kon Tum authorities to provide necessary assistance for the injured victims.

Local authorities have also been tasked with thoroughly investigating the case and specifying the responsibility of the driver and transport firm in the serious crash.

Injured victims are treated at a hospital in Kon Tum Province, Vietnam, July 11, 2020. Photo: Tran Thao Nhi / Tuoi Tre

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The niece of Lady Diana has shared throwback childhood pictures of herself and her sisters to mark their birthday.

The daughter of Charles Spencer, 29, who is thought to be isolating in her Cape Town home, was celebrating the 28th birthday of her twin sisters lady Amelia and Eliza, and dedicated a tender message to them on Instagram.

Sharing adorable snaps from their toddler days as well as a more recent selfie of the twins, she admitted to missing them during the coronavirus lockdown, which they spent in different locations.

Kitty is sister to twins Lady Amelia and Elisa and Louis Spencer, 26,and and Louis Spencer, now 26, and shared a rare childhood picture with her parents in front of Althorp House. She also has four younger half-siblings through her father Earl Charles Spencer's second marriage and third marriages.

Kitty Spencer, 29, seen, who is thought to be isolating in her Cape Town home, was celebrating the 28th birthday of her twin sisters lady Amelia and Eliza, and dedicated a tender message to them on Instagram

'Happy 28th birthday to my beautiful angel sisters,' she wrote on her social media.

'I hate being far away from you and I miss you every day, but especially today - I would do anything to give you hugs and be together celebrating,' she added.

'Im so grateful to have the most compassionate, intelligent and FUNNY sisters in the whole wide world'.

'Nobody makes me laugh like you two do when we are together! I love our unbreakable bond and I love you both with all my heart forever,' she concluded.

Eliza and Amelia grew up with their sister and brother in Cape Town, South Africa.

Lady Kitty shared sweet childhood snaps of her sisters with herself and their parents, Earl Spencer and Victoria Aitken in front of Althorp House

The twins Eliza and Amelia, seen, Lady Kitty said, were 'beautiful angels.' She paid tribute to their 'unbreakable bond' in her post

The model, who is believed to be in South Africa, admitted she missed her siblings during lockdown

In May, the stylish socialite had already paid tribute to her siblings in another Instagram share.

She had posted a black and white snap of herself with Amelia, Eliza and Louis as children.

'Siblings. Best friends forever!! I miss you guys so much x', she wrote in the post, which racked up over 6,000 likes.

Kitty boasts 515,000 followers on Instagram, where she usually posts endless photos showcasing her glamorous modelling career and glitzy social life.

Lady Kitty shared several pictures of the twins with their mother Victoria Aitken, including this snap

Pictured: Lady Kitty with Lady Amelia and Eliza as toddlers, with Viscount Louis Spencer as a baby

The twins (pictured) grew up in Cape Town with Kitty and Louis before their parents' separation in 1996

The socialite grew up in South Africa, reading psychology, politics and English at the University of Cape Town.

After Christmas she appeared to confirm her engagement to South African millionaire Michael, after she stepped out wearing a diamond ring on her wedding finger.

And she could be set to make up to 2million a year if she continues to secure lucrative contracts with fashion brands, a branding expert revealed before the lockdown.

She is on warm terms with William and Harry, and is an ambassador for homelessness charity Centrepoint - of which William is patron - but is not in their inner circle.

The lockdown will be a stark change for the Tatler cover girl, who last year travelled to countless locations including New York, Italy, South Africa, Mexico and Spain, attending a never-ending reel of celebrity parties and society weddings.
The Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Azerbaijan has issued an official statement, according to which the Azerbaijani army has suffered two casualties and five wounded from "shooting from the Armenian side" in the direction of Tovuz.

With the same statement, the Azerbaijani side claims that "the Armenian side has casualties, too."

But the MOD of Armenia had earlier denied that there were casualties from the Armenian side.

As reported earlier, the Azerbaijani army on Sunday made two unsuccessful attempts to violate the state border of Armenia and seize a border position of the Armenian Armed Forces.
It's a flashback Sunday for actress Mrunal Thakur as she went down the memory lane and recalled shooting for Super 30, which was released a year ago.

Taking to social media, Mrunal wrote: "Don't believe it's been a year! What a fantastic journey ! Thank you Team Super 30 for making it so special.Love you all !12.07.2020."

Along with it, she shared a few images and stills from the film.

Directed by Vikas Bahl, Super 30 is a biographical drama. It is based on the life of mathematician Anand Kumar and his educational program Super 30. Actor Hrithik Roshan played the lead role in the movie.

Theres it is! My audition for Super30 @CastingChhabra thank you for this opportunity . https://t.co/NtIXoAuNPL  Mrunal Thakur (@mrunal0801) July 12, 2020

Speaking of upcoming projects, Mrunal will be seen opposite Farhan Akhtar in Toofaan and Shahid Kapoor in Jersey respectively.
"As a country, when you compare us to other countries, I don't think you can say we're doing great. I mean, we're just not," Fauci said in a podcast interview with FiveThirtyEight. A White House official released a statement saying that, "Several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr Fauci has been wrong on things," and attaching a lengthy list of the scientist's comments from early in the outbreak. Those included his early doubt that people with no symptoms could play a significant role in spreading the virus  a notion based on earlier outbreaks that the novel coronavirus would turn on its head. They also point to public reassurances Fauci made in late February, around the time of the first US case of community transmission, that "at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you're doing on a day-by-day basis." Fauci's supporters acknowledge those early mistakes, attributing them to the challenges posed by a new, largely unknown pathogen. They agree he downplayed the possibility of the virus spreading from person to person in January and early February even as it quietly seeded itself in communities on the East and West coasts. And, like several other public health officials, he initially said the public shouldn't wear masks, but now strongly recommends it, especially when individuals can't maintain distances of at least six feet from other people. Fauci has said he was worried early in the outbreak about a shortage of masks and wanted to reserve them for health care workers. And he has said from the start that scientists' knowledge of a brand new virus would evolve and recommendations could change based on new information.

'Don't get yourself into false complacency' The tension between the White House and Fauci was on full display last Sunday, when CBS host Margaret Brennan told millions of viewers that Face the Nation had tried for three months to interview him. White House communications officials, who must approve television appearances related to the coronavirus, responded by allowing Fauci spots this week on PBS NewsHour, a CNN town hall with Sanjay Gupta and NBC's Meet the Press during the prime Sunday morning slot, according to one person familiar with the situation. Then Fauci joined a Facebook Live event on Tuesday with Democratic senator Doug Jones, disputing Trump's assertions that a lower death rate showed the country's progress against the pandemic. Fauci called it "a false narrative" and warned, "Don't get yourself into false complacency." Fauci did not end up making any of the scheduled appearances. The White House cancelled them after his Tuesday remarks, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to relate behind-the-scenes conversations.

The episode underscores the deteriorating relationship between a scientist and a president who once bonded over their shared New York City roots and love of sports, but whose rapport has long since disintegrated over their differences on face mask policy, state reopening strategies and the use of anti-malarial drugs to treat COVID-19. A senior administration official who requested anonymity to reveal internal deliberations, said the White House has asked Fauci to do certain media appearances, but is not approving all of his requests. "Our bigger issue with Fauci is stop critiquing the task force . . . and try to fix it," the official said. But that may be an impossible order given his strong differences with the White House over how the federal government should respond to the accelerating infection rate that's pushing up the death toll after months of decline.

Fauci has argued that parts of the country experiencing surges should shut down, "but there is no buy-in for that," said an official with direct knowledge of the conversation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Four months ahead of Election Day, Trump wants to "reopen and move on," said another senior administration official who requested anonymity to reveal internal deliberations. Those who disagree with that approach are out of favour, the official said. Fauci has also expressed concern about the administration's plan to reopen schools, but White House officials see keeping children home as having even more deleterious effects. Fauci has also called on state and local officials to mandate that people wear masks in public. Even though his suggestions have been largely ignored, Fauci has not complained that he does not get in to see the President, according to one of the officials. Trump is also galled by Fauci's approval ratings. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll showed that 67 per cent of voters trusted Fauci for information on the coronavirus, compared with 26 per cent who trusted Trump.

'He's going to continue being himself' The internal turmoil and troubled national response have taken a toll on Fauci, those close to him say. He is exasperated that states and individuals are not following the recommendations of experts, such as social distancing and wearing face coverings, said David Barr, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist who has known Fauci for 30 years. Three or four weeks ago, Barr said, he and Fauci spoke about the troubling signs they were seeing as cases began to tick upward. "You could just feel from Tony . . . how unsettled it made him," Barr said. "He didn't know what to do to change that, to stop it, but if the leadership isn't there, and it's clearly not there, then it's really difficult to set the tone for the country." "What he cares most about is not his influence, but what's happening  that things are going so badly and it's going to cause so much disease and death," Barr added.

People who are close to Fauci say the public undermining of scientists and public health experts has frustrated and saddened him because it adds to the chaos the country is already experiencing from the pandemic. Despite the repeated pushback from Trump and the White House, however, Fauci has told those close to him that has no plans to do anything differently. "For somebody like Tony, who tries to deal with people honestly and in a very open and generous way - that's how he's tried to approach his personal interactions with the President  it's immensely frustrating and depressing. And there's not much he can do about it," said Peter Staley, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist who has known Fauci for more than 30 years. "He's going to continue being himself, which is always talking honestly about a public health crisis and a new infectious disease," Staley added. "If things are looking more in conflict, it's because this administration is going further and further adrift from a pro-science approach." Obstacles from the Oval Office

White House communications officials say they have told government scientists and doctors that their job is to educate the public by talking about best practices to contain the virus and what the administration is doing to help the states. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo, a longtime Trump ally, approves Fauci's television appearances, with input from the White House, said one of the senior administration officials. Several White House aides view Fauci's interviews as unhelpful and say they're frustrated he has expressed interest in appearing on programs such as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, which are hostile to the administration. "The speculation game doesn't serve the public in any particular way," the same official said. "When it gets to handicapping and what's going to happen next, get a cable news gig. We've conveyed that down to all the doctors." Peter Navarro, director of the National Trade Council, is a critic of Fauci in Trump's administration. Credit:Bloomberg White House officials generally favour White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx, one of the senior administration officials said. Both Birx and Fauci have expressed frustration that their concerns have not gotten to Trump, although Birx is working with White House Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, to ensure better communication, the official said.

The administration also plans to have Brett Giroir, an assistant HHS secretary, and FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor do more appearances related to coronavirus. Among those crusading against Fauci internally is Peter Navarro, the president's trade adviser, who has clashed with Fauci over his opposition to adopting the use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, to treat COVID-19 before its effectiveness had been proven. When Trump and Navarro repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for coronavirus, Fauci pushed back both internally and at task force briefings, arguing there was only anecdotal evidence about the drug's efficacy. The Food and Drug Administration eventually revoked its temporary authorisation after evidence showed it was not effective against COVID-19 and could be dangerous for some patients. "Dr Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public but he has been wrong about everything I have ever interacted with him on," Navarro said. "Now Fauci is saying that a falling mortality rate doesn't matter when it is the single most important statistic to help guide the pace of our economic reopening. So when you ask me if I listen to Dr Fauci's advice, my answer is only with caution."
Karachi:

A series of explosions rocked an unused oil tanker at a shipbreaking yard in Pakistan's southern Balochistan province. At least 10 persons have been killed and over 50 others have been injured.

The fate at least 30 other workers remains unknown following the explosions at the Gadani shipbreaking yard, where over 100 people were working on the ship at the time, local media reported quoting officials.

At least 10 people have been killed and 50 others wounded in the explosions.

Some workers remain trapped inside the ship while others who were able to exit the ship from above threw themselves into the sea, reports said.

About eight explosions have occurred in the oil tanker due to gas welding work, and more explosions are feared.

Rescue workers are limited in the area and a single fire engine present at the scene has been unsuccessful in putting out the fire, reports said.

A loud blast rocked a ship docked in the shipbreaking yard, setting the ship on fire, a news channel reported.

More than 25 of the injured have been rescued so far, it quoted rescue sources as saying, who added that tanks on the ship caught fire, setting the entire ship ablaze.

The fire is spreading fast, hampering rescue work, it said.

The injured are being brought to hospitals in Karachi and fire brigades summoned from Hub and Karachi are in the process of putting out the fire but with little progress so far as the flames are spreading fast, the report said.

President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives.

Sharif directed authorities to extend best possible medical treatment to the injured besides ordering an inquiry into the incident.

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The 'Sholay' actor shared the news on his Twitter handle on Saturday, and said he has been admitted to Nanavati hospital here where he is being kept in an isolation ward.

Mumbai [India]: Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek have tested positive for COVID-19, according to separate tweets by the two.

T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 11, 2020

Shortly afterwards, Abhishek Bachchan also confirmed the news and revealed that he and his father both had "mild symptoms."

"Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you," he tweeted.

Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you.  Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

The Big B said he has been shifted to a hospital, and the other family members and staff have undergone tests for the virus. However, the results are awaited.

The 77-year-old actor also requested those, who have been in "close proximity" to him in the last 10 days to get tested for COVID-19.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan among others wished the "iconic star" a quick recovery.

"Dear Amitabh ji, I join the whole Nation in wishing you a quick recovery! After all, you are the idol of millions in this country, an iconic superstar! We will all take good care of you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery! @SrBachchan @juniorbachchan#AmitabhBachchan #COVID," the Health Minister tweeted quoting Amitabh Bacchan's tweet.

Dear Amitabh ji, I join the whole Nation in wishing you a quick recovery!



After all, you are the idol of millions in this country, an iconic superstar!



We will all take good care of you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!@SrBachchan @juniorbachchan #AmitabhBachchan #COVID https://t.co/NHeY7e2mjC pic.twitter.com/CsVKlvCJeG July 11, 2020

Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, wished the senior Bachchan a speedy recovery.

A slew of filmstars and celebrities including Kailash Kher Sonam Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Paresh Rawal, Pariniti Chopra Adnan Sami, Mahesh Babu etc were among those who wished the Bachchans a speedy recovery.
The Asene Manso Akroso District Assembly is to acquire equipment to add value to agriculture produce under the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) produce.



The aim is to increase the incomes of farmers and create new opportunities and jobs for the youth in the District.



The equipment, to arrive in the District soon, include oil palm digester, oil palm boiler, a cracker, winnowing machine, rice mill and destoning machine.



This was disclosed by Mr Prosper Klu, the District Director of Agriculture at the Research Extension and Farmers Linkage Committee (RELC) session at Akim Manso in the Eastern Region.



The RELC session is held annually to bring actors on the agriculture value chain including farmers, food processors, input dealers and consumers to meet Agriculture Extension Agents and Researchers to address challenges on the various fields in the agriculture value chain.



Mr Klu explained that the session helped the department to draw its annual work plan.



The meeting observed that, climate change, worm infestation and poor farm management were the major causes of low productivity in the District.



Mr Francis Ampofo, the Assistant Agricultural Officer in Charge of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Eastern Regional Agriculture Directorate, urged the participants to seek advice from the Agriculture Extension Agents in the District to improve upon their farm maintenance.



Mr David Nyavor of the Eastern Regional Agriculture Engineering Department, said his department has mechanic planters, tractors, cassava harvester, multi-crop thresher, rice reaper, among others to enhance farming activities at the Agriculture Engineering Services Directorate in Accra.



He said Farmer Based Organisations (FBO), individuals or Non-Governmental Organisations could purchase them at subsidised prices by the government.



Madam Comfort Anim, Leader of Ideal Women's Group, an oil palm processing group in Akim Asuboa, called on food processors to abide by hygienic protocols in their work to ensure good health and safety during and after the corona virus pandemic.

Source: GNA









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Residents leave a memorial altar in front of Seoul City Hall, Sunday, after offering their condolences over the death of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon. The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to hold an online funeral ceremony for the late mayor at 8:30 a.m. Monday amid persisting concerns about the spread of COVID-19. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Public split over evaluation of late Mayor Park, General Paik



By Jun Ji-hye



The recent deaths of two prominent national figures  Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and Korean War hero Paik Sun-yup  have seen the emergence of polarized public opinion, focusing society on the deeply dividing and complex issues that the country already faces.



The conflict comes amid different assessments of the lives of the two leaders  some argue that their accomplishments should be honored, thus they deserve respectful treatment in their funerals; while others claim that people should not overlook the wrongdoings they committed.



Park, a former civic activist and human rights lawyer, and three-term Seoul mayor, had been considered a potential candidate for the 2022 presidential election. But he took his own life Thursday, a day after he was accused of sexual harassment by a female former secretary.



Paik, the South Korea's first four-star general, led the 1st Infantry Division that played a critical role during Korean War in stopping North Korean troops from taking over the entire peninsula. But he was also regarded as a controversial figure due to his "pro-Japanese" activities before the Korean War broke out.



The late mayor, a member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), was found dead on a path on Mount Bukak in Seoul at 12:01 a.m. Friday, a few days after his former secretary filed a complaint with police, Wednesday, over alleged sexual harassment since 2017.



Expressing condolences over his sudden death, the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced Friday that it would hold a five-day mourning period for Park at Seoul National University Hospital, in accordance with official guidelines, and also place a memorial altar in front of Seoul City Hall for the public to pay their respects.



Immediately after the announcement, some members of the public and politicians raised the question of whether it was appropriate to hold a "public funeral" for the late mayor who faced sexual harassment allegations.



A citizen posted a petition on the website run by the presidential office, Friday, calling on the memorial and funeral service plans to be cancelled.



"Because of Park's death, the police are on course to officially close an investigation of the sexual harassment complaint raised against him before it could even begin," the petitioner wrote.



"Why should citizens watch the lavish five-day funeral of an influential politician who apparently killed himself over the sexual assault allegation? What kind of message do they want to send to the public? I believe Park's funeral service should be held quietly among family members."





More Koreans disapprove of President Moon Controversy continues even after Seoul mayor's death 'Park Won-soon was odd man out in ruling camp' Recollections of remarkable Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon Mourners say goodbye to late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon [PHOTOS] The petition has been signed by more than 510,000 citizens as of 1 p.m. Sunday.



Cheong Wa Dae is required to give an official response to a petition that generates more than 200,000 signatures in a month.



Amid a wave of angry comments in online communities, some politicians including Ahn Cheol-soo, head of the minor opposition People's Party, decided not to offer their respects to the late mayor.



"High-ranking officials and leading politicians in this country should take some time for self-examination regarding their behavior," Ahn wrote on Facebook.



On the other hand, there have been many supporters of Park who expressed condolences over his death, paying their respects to his accomplishments.



More than 9,000 residents have visited his memorial alters as of 10 a.m., Sunday, while more than 620,000 have offered condolences at an online memorial run by the SMG.



DPK Chairman Lee Hae-chan said, "The DPK pays tribute to the deceased in honor of his life dedicated to civic rights."



Yoo Yong-hwa, a visiting professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said that what drove Park to kill himself remains unknown, but it is true that many people presume he committed suicide because of pressure following the sexual harassment complaint filed against him.



The professor added that it was also true that Park played many important roles as Seoul mayor for the best part of a decade.



"An objective assessment of what he has done well and what he has done wrong while he was in office should follow after his funeral," Yoo said. "And then, discussions about the victim in the alleged sexual harassment case should also follow to come up with proper countermeasures."



The death of Paik Sun-yup, Friday, has also been causing a confrontation between conservatives and progressives.



While the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs decided to bury his remains at Daejeon National Cemetery, the conservative opposition United Future Party called for him to be buried at Seoul National Cemetery considering his accomplishments.




Former Air Force base in Gettysburg on market for $4.5 M

A former air force base near Gettysburg is up for sale. The base is listed as having 50 beds and 15 bathrooms on a 42-acre parcel of land.
Comet C/2020 F3, better known as NEOWISE, is being talked about a lot lately as it continues to dazzle sky watchers and astronomy buffs with its brilliance.

The good news for those of us here in India wanting to observe the comet is that the wait is over!

NEOWISE can be observed in the north-western sky from July 14, and that too, with naked eyes, according to the deputy director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium in Odishas Bhubaneswar.

From July 14, C/2020 F3 will be clearly visible in the north-western sky. It will be visible after sunset for around 20 minutes for the next 20 days. People can observe it with naked eyes, Dr. Subhendu Pattnaik told news agency ANI.

From July 14, C/2020 F3, a comet discovered on March 27, will be clearly visible in the north-western sky. It will be visible after sunset for around 20 minutes for the next 20 days. People can observe it from naked eyes: Deputy Director, Pathani Samanta Planetarium #Odisha pic.twitter.com/to1ajvv7cc  ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2020

NEOWISE, which was visible in the hour before dawn sky till about the middle of the month, can be best viewed as an evening object from mid-July onwards, according to NASA.

A far better viewing perspective will be available in the evening sky starting around July 14, when it will appear low in the northwest sky (20 degrees from the horizon) for around 20 minutes. In the evenings to follow, the comet will rapidly climb higher in the sky and will be visible for a longer period, said Dr. Pattnaik

He recommended a pair of binoculars to have a better viewing experience.

Around 30th July it can be seen near Ursha Major (Saptarshi Mandal) at an altitude of 40 degrees and will be visible for an hour. After July it will fade away very fast and will not be visible to the unaided eye. A pair of binoculars or a small telescope will enhance its visibility, he told ANI.

Discovered in March this year by NASAs NEOWISE mission, NEOWISE will make its closest approach to Earth on July 22 when it will be at a distance of about 103 million kilometres from our planet.

It is already headed back toward the outer solar system. So, catch a glimpse of this rare celestial phenomenon and share the photos on social media just like astronaut Bob Behnken recently did from the International Space Station.

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By Trend

Since the start of its operations in Turkmenistan, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested 272 million euros through 70 projects in a wide range of countrys sectors, the representative of EBRD Anton Usov told Trend.

In particular, these investments enabled more than 200 small and medium-sized enterprises in the country to access business advice, Usov added.

Talking about EBRD's future investments, Usov said the bank will allocate a loan to Turkmenistans Ak-hunji company, which is engaged in the production of building materials.



"The loan will be allocated at the end of July 2020," the representative said while not specifying the loan amount.



Usov added that EBRD may provide similar loans to other Turkmen companies if the right opportunities emerge.



Earlier this year, EBRD and the European Union have supported the growth of Turkmenistans dry cleaning business.



Furthermore, the bank allocated a loan worth $1.3 million to support a private Rysgally El company that produces hygienic goods.



Usov added that EBRD plans to continue supporting private sector development, both directly and indirectly via local partner banks including provision of funds to privately-owned companies focusing on food processing and distribution, logistics, transport services, packaging, furniture, and hospitality.



The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development pays special attention to expanding private sector activities in Turkmenistans corporate and financial sectors, he noted.
Lupin warns of more pricing pressure as fourth-quarter profit halves | Reuters By Zeba Siddiqui | MUMBAI MUMBAI Indian drugmaker Lupin Ltd expects to launch over 30 products in the United States this year, but warned revenue growth would remain muted due to growing pricing pressure and competition in the world's largest healthcare market."We've talked about medium single digits of price erosion in the past and I think we are now (seeing) high single digits," Managing Director Nilesh Gupta told Reuters after Lupin reported a quarterly profit that halved from a year earlier.The country's third-largest drugmaker has been working on building a pipeline of high-value complex generic drugs in the United States to offset growing competition in plain generics. But a consolidation among drug distributors has hit generic companies' ability to negotiate on prices, and price hikes have also become harder to justify amid regulatory scrutiny."Competition is increasing and (distributors) are getting more powerful than ever before," Gupta said. The company expects to launch more than 30 drugs this year, most of which would be small to medium-sized opportunities, with bigger, more lucrative launches planned for 2019, he added
The 6th edition of Google for India event is slated to be held tomorrow and Google CEO Sundar Pichai will also be a part of the event. Here is what you need to know about the Google for India 2020 event.

Google will host its sixth edition of Google for India event on July 13. This year, the event is going to be held online and the highlight of the India-focused event will a special keynote from Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

What to expect from Google for India 2020?

India has continued to be one of the top markets for Google. Over the years, Google for India events have been the launchpad for the company's new localised services and features.

Last year, Google introduced Hindi support for Google Assistant, a new Bengaluru-based AI research centre and support for new Indian languages on Google Discover. Other key announcements included more language support for Bolo. Google Pay also received a bunch of new features.

Were expecting similar announcements at the Google for India 2020 event. There is likely to be a big focus on empowering the digital economy and Indian SMEs which have also been part of the governments efforts to revive the economy.

Over the last six years, we have consistently invested in building helpful products and services that extend the full potential of the internet, and make it truly helpful for everyone in India. Especially in these exceptional times, we are deeply committed to building on this momentum, and unlocking new opportunities as India heads into a new, digital-first future, said Google in its invite for the event.

At the 6th edition of #GoogleForIndia, our product & business leaders will share their vision on building a helpful Internet for a billion Indians.



Livestream starts on 13th July, at 2:00 PM.

Set a reminder  https://t.co/WMfUGpuo8k#G4IN pic.twitter.com/6s1upfnqrC  Google India (@GoogleIndia) July 10, 2020

Join us as Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google and Alphabet, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Honble Minister of Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Government of India, and many of our leaders share the vision and path ahead to solve for Indias needs, and bring the benefits of the digital economy to all, it added.

When, how to watch Google for India 2020

The Google for India 2020 event is scheduled to start at 2:00 PM IST on July 13. You can watch the live stream on the companys official YouTube channel. For real-time updates, you can also follow the companys official social media handles. We will also bring you live updates and breakouts from the event. Stay tuned.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Covid-19 infection through local contact continues to increase in Kerala signalling that the state could be moving towards community transmission.

Of the 488 fresh cases reported on Saturday, 234 people contracted the infection through primary or secondary contacts, while the sources of infection of 20 people remain unknown.This is for the second time in a row that contact cases have crossed the 200 mark.

The state has come out with special strategies and action plans for districts like Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Malappuram, Ernakulam, Kasaragod, Kollam and Wayanad, where the spread of infection is a cause for grave concern.

The state is dealing with a high-risk situation. It will be only a matter of time for the state to enter the stage of community transmission. At this time, the Opposition outfits should self-introspect on the propriety of organising protests. The government is not against protests, but in the time of a public health emergency, by holding such protests, the outfits not only jeopardise the life of protesters but society as a whole, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Mentioning the special strategies/action plan for some districts, the chief minister said that in Thiruvananthapuram, a 150-bed Covid First-Line Treatment Centre will be set up at Poonthura on a war footing.

Awareness campaigns in containment zones are also on. In the case of Ernakulam, following confirmation of Covid cases, wide-scale testing was conducted at Chellanam and 13 positive cases were identified.

The CM added that as two persons associated with the Aluva market got infected, the market is being considered as a cluster.

Detailing the measures taken in Alappuzha, which recorded the highest cases on Saturday (87), the CM said the government has directed the officials concerned to give special attention to and enforce restrictions in Thamarakkulam-Nooranad areas and Kayamkulams coastal areas.

With a spike in cases, Cherthala taluk was declared a containment zone on Saturday. According to the CM, a high alert has been declared in Malappuram as various places in the district reported cases due to contact.

He added that a total lockdown has been declared in Ponnani taluk on Sunday after considering the situation there.

In Kasaragod, five got infected from shops that sell vegetables/fruits. Due to the same, restrictions have been imposed on market places till July 17. Special pass has also been made mandatory for vehicles which bring vegetables from Mangaluru. For Wayanad, a special action plan has been readied for tribal dwelling areas. And for Kollam, the areas where they live and are doing business have been brought under surveillance, said the CM.

three health workers infected

The total Covid-19 cases crossed the 7,000 mark, after the state recorded yet another highest single-day spike of 488 patients on Saturday.

This is for the second consecutive day that positive cases have crossed the 400 mark.

Of the cases reported, three were health workers (Alappuzha, Kottayam and Idukki), four Defence Security Corps personnel in Kannur, two Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel in Alappuzha and one BSF jawan each in Thrissur and Palakkad.

The highest number of positive cases on Saturday was 87 in Alappuzha, followed by Thiruvananthapuram (69), Pathanamthitta (54), Malappuram (51), Palakkad (48), Ernakulam (47), Thrissur (29), Kannur (19), 18 each in Kollam and Kasaragod, Kozhikode (17), Kottayam (15), Wayanad (11) and five in Idukki.

On the day, the test samples of 143 patients turned negative.

They were 43 from Pathanamthitta, 26 from Kollam, 17 from Thrissur, 15 from Malappuram, 11 from Alappuzha, seven from Palakkad, six each from Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam, four each from Idukki and Kozhikode, three from Ernakulam and one from Kannur.
A 30-year-old man has been knifed to death in south-east London, just hours before another was fatally shot in a weekend of bloodshed in the capital.

Paramedics rushed to help the man in his 30s who had collapsed with gunshot wounds in Penge, south London in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The man - whose identity is still unknown - was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out and a crime scene remains in place.

It came not long after a man, 30, was fatally stabbed in Kennington at around 10pm last night.

Police rushed to the Black Prince Estate where they found a man - who has not yet been formally identified - with stab injuries.

Despite the paramedics' best efforts, he was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.

That same night, another man, 26, took himself to hospital to get treatment for stab injuries that police believe he received during the same attack.

The attacks are the latest incidents in a weekend of horrific violence in the capital in which three people - including a police officer - were knifed on Friday.

This morning police charged 26-year-old Erin Inniss from Bromley with murder three days after 18-year-old Donnell Rhule was run down by a moped and fatally stabbed on the Kingswood estate, West Dulwich.

Elsewhere in the country, a ten year-old boy was stabbed in Greater Manchester yesterday in a horrific assault. His injuries were not life threatening.

And a man remains in a 'life-threatening' condition in Leicester Royal Infirmary after a fight with four knife-wielding men in a pub on the city's outskirts.

A 30-year-old man was knifed to death in Penge, south-east London, yesterday. Pictured: Forensic tent at the scene this morning

The man was pronounced dead at the scene and a crime scene remains in place

A 30-year-old man has been knifed to death in south-east London as a second man, 26, takes himself for hospital for stab injuries. Pictured: Police at the scene

Police rushed to Kennington, south east London, (the scene, pictured) where they found a man suffering stab wounds at around 10pm last night

The family of the 30-year-old man, who was stabbed in Kennington last night, have been informed but police are yet to formally identify the victim.

DCI Whellams, the officer in charged of the investigation, said: 'A man has lost his life and a family has been left suffering unimaginable grief because of the callous use of a knife to inflict fatal injuries.

'Officers who were called to the incident and then paramedics worked to save him, but tragically he died at the scene.

'I will do all I can to get justice for this family, and, along with colleagues from my homicide teams, I will use every available tactic to find whoever is responsible for this terrible attack.

Despite the paramedics' best efforts, the was tragically pronounced dead at the scene on the Black Prince Estate (police at scene, pictured)

'Our investigation is at an early stage, but we are already building a picture of what happened.'

Officers have not made any arrests and are asking for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward.

He added: 'I would urge any witnesses who have yet to speak to police to call my officers or contact Crimestoppers anonymously to share what they know.

'Officers from the Met's Central South Command are supporting the investigation, and there will be additional patrols in and around the estate and the Kennington area.

Police arrested a 26-year-old this morning after a three day investigation into the murder of 18-year-old Donnell Rhule (pictured), who was stabbed on the Kingswood estate, West Dulwich. Erin Inniss, from Bromley, was arrested and charged with murder

London was rocked by three stabbings in the space of just ten hours on Friday

'I ask local people to speak with those officers to tell them anything they know about this incident or more broadly about criminals who are active in the area.'

A Met Police spokesperson said: 'A murder investigation has been launched following the death of a man in Lambeth.

'Police were called shortly after 10pm on Saturday, July 11, to a man stabbed on the Black Prince Estate in Kennington, SE11.

'Officers attended along with London Ambulance Service and found a 30-year-old man suffering stab injuries. Despite the efforts of officers and paramedics, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

'The man's next of kin have been informed. Formal identification awaits and a post-mortem examination will be arranged in due course.

'A short time later, a 26-year-old man presented himself at hospital suffering stab injuries, believed to have been sustained in the same incident. These have been assessed as not life-threatening.'

Armed police were called to Leicester Royal Infirmary yesterday after four men carrying knives were spotted on the premises

Man was rushed to hospital after he got 'life-threatening' stab wounds in a pub in Earl Shilton

Yesterday, an 18-year-old was arrested on suspicion of assault following the stabbing of a ten-year-old boy in Greater Manchester.

Officers were called to a street in Bolton at around 1.20pm to reports that a 10-year-old boy had been attacked.

He has been taken to hospital, where he remains in a stable condition and it's believed he will be discharged later this evening.

Police believe this is an isolated incident with 'no wider threat' to the public.

In Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, police were called to a pub at 7pm yesterday after four men with knives started a 'fight' with another man.

The victim was rushed to hospital with 'life-threatening' injuries.

Armed police were called when the attackers came to Leicester Royal Infirmary and set up a police line at the medical centre.

Three men aged 25, 31 and 31 have been arrested on suspicion of affray. Police say they are not looking for anyone else.

A spokesman for Leicestershire police said two other men injured in the incident were treated for minor injuries at the scene.

Forensic officers at the scene of a murder investigation after a man was stabbed to death in Poplar on Friday

Despite emergency services carrying out first aid the man was pronounced dead at the scene in Poplar on Friday

On Friday, London was rocked by three separate stabbings which saw a young man killed in Poplar, a police officer knifed in Hendon and another man left fighting for his life after an assault in Haringey.

The Poplar attack, near Crossharbour DLR station, is being treated as murder, and is the 60th in the city this year.

Police were called to Alexia Square shortly after 6pm and found a man believed to have been in his late teens or early 20s with stab wounds.

Despite emergency services carrying out first aid the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A second man, believed to be in his late teens, was rushed to hospital by London Ambulance Service.

The attack came less than five hours after a police officer was stabbed chasing a man suspected of having a knife.

Police cordoned off an area close to Crossharbour DLR station on Friday to investigate the fatal stabbing

Scotland Yard said officers were called at around 1.15pm to reports of a man seen in possession of a knife in Hendon Way, north-west London.

After tracking down the suspect, the man fled from officers who gave chase and one was stabbed in the arm, the force added.

Then at around 10.40pm last night, another man was knifed in Westbury Avenue, Haringey.

The 23-year-old has been taken to hospital where his condition has been assessed as critical.

Elsewhere in the country, beach parties erupted in violence as fights broke out and people were stabbed at popular tourist hotspots last night.

Police in Devon and Cornwall raced to reports of knife attacks in Plymouth and Dawlish on another weekend of 'mayhem' in the south west.

Thugs brawled in Teignmouth and a man was carrying a weapon in Exeter as officers dealt with at least 2,700 incidents since Friday - more than on a busy New Year's Eve.

Cornwall saw serious crime and disorder with beach parties getting out of hand in the surfing resorts Polzeath and Falmouth, as well as violence flaring up in Looe.

A police probe has been launched following the Plymouth stabbing, where a man was left in a life-threatening condition after being knifed multiple times.

The 42-year-old was attacked by a gang of men and was rushed to Derriford Hospital.

Two men, 27 and 30, both from Plymouth, were arrested on suspicion of GBH. The 27-year-old was released without charge and the 30-year-old remains in custody.

The rest of the group drove away from the scene, with the car located a few miles away.

A 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy from Saltash were arrested on suspicion of assault GBH with intent.

An 18-year-old from Saltash was arrested on suspicion of assault GBH with intent, drink driving and possession of a Class A drug. Four men remain in custody.

A man was also attacked in the fishing port of Looe after reports of a group of men fighting. He was taken to Derriford Hospital and is said to be in a stable condition.
DIMO Agribusinesses expands footprint in Sri Lanka with third Agri Techno Park View(s):

DIMO Agribusinesses, the agriculture arm of DIMO, recently officially unveiled its third Agri Techno Park in Lindula establishing its presence in the upcountry region.

Located on the Hatton-Nuwara Eliya main road, this 25 acre multi-purpose property is equipped with tea plantation, cultivation tunnels, mushroom and vegetable production/processing facilities, a well-equipped tissue culture laboratory as well as dry and cold storage, DIMO said in a media release.

The existing two DIMO Agribusinesses Techno Parks are located in Dambulla (mid-country) and Nikaweratiya (low country) which mainly carry out research and development, seed production, farmer education and training activities. Having successfully ventured into the Agri inputs market, DIMO Agribusinesses established these Agri Techno parks as collection, processing and storage hubs to enter into the value adding business in the agriculture sector.

Expressing his views, Ranjith Pandithage  Chairman and Managing Director of DIMO, said: This is a proud moment for DIMO as we are making another footprint in the value addition segment of the agriculture sector while changing the agriculture landscape in Sri Lanka.

A few decades back DIMO entered the agriculture sector introducing agriculture machinery to the local market and then ventured into the agriculture inputs market. There is an immense potential for the agriculture sector in Sri Lanka and it is important for DIMO to make its presence in the agriculture value chain in the country, he said.

Outlining his plans, Priyanga Dematawa  General Manager  Agriculture Special Projects of DIMO stated, The new Agri Techno Park will commence seed production, hybrid seed production, tissue culture plant production, mushroom production, production of vegetables, fruits, flowers and tea production soon.

These Agri techno parks act as regional model farms for optimisation of technology in the agriculture sector and as technology transferring hubs for the farmer community in the respective region. They will be developed as research and development centres in the agriculture sector while introducing latest technologies in crop management and farming methods to the farmer community, providing farmer training/engagement to promote good agriculture practices.
People on a white sand beach at the southern coast of Barbados, an island in the Caribbean.

Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

Secondary passports are in high demand as the coronavirus pandemic causes travel restrictions around the world.

In the Caribbean, some nations are offering steep discounts to bring in extra revenue amid a cash crunch.

Passport buying has shifted from simple vacations to riding out the virus, experts say.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Caribbean island countries have long offered passports to wealthy foreigners in exchange for a  sometimes steep  monetary investment, but facing a cash crunch and a surge in interest, there are deals to be had.

Through December 1, the island nation Saint Kitts and Nevis is selling a four-person family package for $150,000  down from $190,000, in exchange for a minimum real-estate purchase of $200,000 that must be held for at least seven years.

The Caribbean country's passport ranks roughly in line with Mexico's, according to the world Passport Index. And, perhaps more intriguing for Americans currently barred from Europe, the passport's good for visa-less travel to the European Union and the UK, among others.

Related: 6 months of coronavirus in the USA, reviewed in 6 minutes

"In these days of Covid, when tourism is not happening, we have to find ways to create revenue to sustain our economy," Les Khan, CEO of Saint Kitts and Nevis Citizenship Investment Unit, told Bloomberg News.

Other island nations in the region  including Saint Lucia, Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, and Dominica  all offer similar programs, some at a new discount, as they hope to cash in on the increased interest ,too. According to Henley & Partners, a London-based passport broker and "identity management" firm, there's been a 42% uptick in citizenship applications. What's more, the US currently has a 1.5 million-passport backlog in its processing queue because of the pandemic.

Anyone hoping for easier travel to the United States, however, can expect to pay a lot more. Malta, whose passport power ranks just under Italy, Canada, and Norway in terms of travel, will sell you citizenship that includes EU and US travel  though there are more strings attached. The Mediterranean island nation has long been a hotspot for the world's ultra wealthy.

Story continues

Still, the more expensive option may be a better choice as people shift passport strategies from vacationing to riding out a global pandemic that some countries have been far more successful in mitigating than others.

"'Investment migration' has shifted from being about living the life you want in terms of holidays and business travel to a more holistic vision that includes healthcare and safety," Dr. Christian Kalin,an executive at Henley & Partners, told Robb Report.

This year's discounts might not last forever.

"In the past there has been a tendency toward lowering prices, but the current cuts seem to be temporary and Covid-19 related," Beatrice Gatti, a legal manager at CS Partners, which helps ultra-wealthy clients find second-citizenship, told Bloomberg.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A full reopening of schools, colleges and universities this fall would pose the highest risk for the spread of the coronavirus, according to an internal document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings are significant in that they clash with President Trumps stated desire to have schools and universities resume in-person instruction despite the raging pandemic that has so far claimed more than 134,000 American lives.

The 69-page CDC document obtained by The New York Times is marked For Internal Use Only.

The purpose of the document was to aid federal response teams that were deployed to coronavirus hotspots nationwide.

But the document was circulated the same week that Vice President Mike Pence said that he expected the CDC to revise its guidelines next week so that they wouldnt be too tough.

Pence and Trump have been eager to send students back to school so that parents would be free of the burden of virtual home instruction and thus could focus on re-entering the workforce and propping up the economy again.

Dr. Robert Redfield (left) has said that the agency he leads, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will not revise its guidelines on reopening schools despite the wishes of President Trump (right), who wants in-person learning to resume

A full reopening of schools, colleges, and universities this fall would pose the highest risk for the spread of the coronavirus, according to an internal document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

But health officials in the administration have warned of the dangers of prematurely sending large groups of students back to classrooms and campuses while the virus is still spreading in most parts of the country.

In light of the stated wishes of Trump and Pence, it is unclear if the CDC document will factor into the administrations policies.

The document includes reopening plans drafted by several states, school districts, and individual universities.

It provides critical analysis of reopening plans a section marked talking points.

While many jurisdictions and districts mention symptom screening, very few include information as to the response or course of action they would take if student/faculty/staff are found to have symptoms, nor have they clearly identified which symptoms they will include in their screening, according to the talking points.

In addition, few plans include information regarding school closure in the event of positive tests in the school community.

The head of the CDC said on Thursday that federal health officials won't revise their coronavirus guidelines for reopening schools despite criticism from Trump.

What they will do, he said, is provide additional information to help states, communities and parents decide what to do and when.

'Our guidelines are our guidelines,' Dr. Robert Redfield declared.

President Trump has pushed for schools to reopen this fall as part of his economic plan - if kids go back to school, parents can go back to work

In draft CDC documents obtained by The Associated Press, the agency says there are steps that schools can take to safely reopen but that it 'cannot provide one-size-fits-all criteria for opening and closing schools or changing the way schools are run.'

'Decisions about how to open and run schools safely should be made based on local needs and conditions,' the documents say.

They also include a checklist that encourages parents to carefully consider whether they should send their kids back to school in person or seek virtual instruction.

Many districts nationwide are offering parents a choice of either mode of instruction.

New York City, among other school districts, has announced that students will only return part-time in the fall.

That runs counter to Trump's messaging.

He has been repeatedly pressuring state and local officials to reopen schools this fall, even threatening to withhold federal funds from those that keep teaching and learning remote.

Trump on Wednesday criticized the CDC's guidelines as 'very tough and expensive' and said the agency was 'asking schools to do very impractical things.'

Speaking of CDC officials, he tweeted, 'I will be meeting with them!!!'

But in an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America, Redfield firmly stuck to the existing CDC guidelines.

'It's really important, it's not a revision of the guidelines, it's just to provide additional information to help schools be able to use the guidance that we put forward.'

Asked about the apparent discrepancy between Redfield's and Pence's statements, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said they were on the same page.

She said 'supplemental guidelines' would be forthcoming.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said that schools will be failing kids if they don't provide full-time, in-person instruction.

But the draft CDC documents, which have yet to be released publicly, say decisions like that should be left to local officials.

They say, 'Each school and each community will have different needs and should implement the strategies best designed to meet them.'

The documents say that in-person schooling will lead to at least some infections but that there are steps schools can take to lessen the risk.

A graph of the CDC's disease modeling indicates there's likely to be significantly more virus spread if all students attend school five days a week.

The graph projects alternate schedules could cut infections by as much as 80 per cent, although the agency acknowledges there is much more to learn about the disease.

'Scientists are still learning about how it spreads, how it impacts children and what role children may play in its spread,' the introduction to the parent checklist states.

Redfield said the upcoming reference documents in part would cover how to monitor for symptoms and use face masks in schools.

The CDC's current guidance recommends that students and teachers wear masks whenever feasible, spread out desks, stagger schedules, eat meals in classrooms instead of the cafeteria and add physical barriers between bathroom sinks.

When asked about the documents AP obtained, CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes wrote in an email that the agency would distribute additional guidance next week and pointed to what has already been released.

The White House declined to comment on the documents.

The 30-question parent checklist asks about a child's health, use of special education services, comfort with local school plans and whether parents can facilitate at-home learning.

It warns that if parents check multiple items on the 'stay-at-home' column, that 'could be an indicator that your family should consider alternative learning formats other than in-person schooling.'

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany argued at her press briefing on Thursday that students will fall behind and some may drop out if schools don't reopen in the fall

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said children must not be put at risk to go to school

Her claim came after the president warned schools on Wednesday morning that he would 'cut off funding' if they did not return to in-person classes in the fall

The checklist says parents should evaluate school district plans, including how districts are 'preparing for when someone gets sick.'

'If your child, members of your household, or individuals with whom you interact frequently are at increased risk for severe illness, the best way to reduce risk of getting sick is to limit your interaction with other people,' it states.

In his tweet on Wednesday, Trump did not clarify which of the CDC guidelines he opposed.

But McEnany said, for example, that the president takes issue with the CDC's suggestion that students bring their own meals to school when feasible.

'There are 22 million children in this country who depend on these meals at schools, who depend on access to nutrition in schools,' she said.

Democrats have warned Trump to keep out of the CDC's work.

Senator Patty Murray of Washington, ranking Democrat on the Education Committee, said the agency needs to be trusted to make decisions based on scientific evidence, 'not on President Trump's Twitter outbursts.'
The closure of the local watering hole - maybe temporary, maybe not - started with a bright yellow T-shirt inscribed with three words: "I can't breathe."

Daryl Rollins bought the shirt in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis police custody. Rollins, who is black, said he had never personally experienced discrimination until a recent Friday, when he wore the shirt while waiting in line at the Fish Market of Maryland in Clinton.

"You can't wear that shirt in my establishment," Rollins said owner Rick Giovannoni, who is white, told him, insisting he take the T-shirt off or turn it inside out.

The episode struck a nerve in Prince George's County, a majority-black suburb of Washington where residents have long complained that they do not have the high-quality restaurants and retail establishments that thrive in neighboring jurisdictions.

After an account of the June 26 incident went viral, residents launched daily protests, a boycott of the restaurant and a demand that it be sold - preferably to owners who are African American.

"We deserve better," said Rachel Sherman, a nurse practitioner who is organizing the daily protests outside the Fish Market, located near Joint Base Andrews. "It's not just this one isolated incident - this is about serving notice to other business owners that this is what is going to happen if we are not respected."

Neither Rick Giovannoni nor his wife, Sherry Giovannoni, a co-owner, responded to requests for an interview. The restaurant has been closed since June 28.

Rollins, a 43-year-old father of two who grew up in Prince George's, said Sherry Giovannoni apologized to him a day after the incident and attributed her husband's behavior to a mental health condition. Rollins said he appreciated the gesture but did not think it made up for her husband's actions.

"If you can't appreciate your patrons, why should you have a business?" he said.

Rollins had never been to the Fish Market before that Friday in June. He said Giovannoni first approached him to say he had seen the video of Floyd's death and thought it was "horrific." He then told Rollins that he could not wear the shirt inside.

Black employees persuaded Giovannoni to allow him to enter and be served, Rollins said. As he walked outside again, he recalled, he heard Giovannoni say he wanted to "smack the guy in the yellow shirt."

"I looked around, and I was the only guy wearing a yellow shirt," said Rollins. "I was surprised. I never thought I would have to live through this moment."

Rollins was headed to his car when Anthony Bethea asked whether he could take his photo and post about what had happened.

Bethea, a 55-year-old Metro supervisor, lives in Clinton and had long thought of the Fish Market as "our 'Cheers' bar" - a neighborhood joint that hadn't been renovated in years but was a spot for friends to gather.

He'd heard rumors over two decades, though, about how Giovannoni had made racist comments, including a racial slur that some regulars said they heard him use when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008 and 2012.

And he said he saw a parallel between what he witnessed at the Fish Market and reports he read about a Baltimore restaurant denying service recently to a young black boy for wearing shorts, even though his mother took a video that showed a white boy in similar apparel who was allowed to eat there.

The morning after he saw Giovannoni clash with Rollins, Bethea posted his photo of Rollins in the yellow T-shirt to Facebook, writing: "At this moment in our nation's racial unrest, inequality, and injustice, this guy was told by the owner of the Fish Market that he could not wear his 'I can't breathe' T-shirt into their establishment. I guess maybe only our Black dollars matter."

The post has been shared more than 1,600 times and sparked the creation of "We The People of P.G. County," where activists coordinate the protests, which both Rollins and Bethea have joined.

Beginning about 3 p.m. daily, dozens of people, young and old, gather across the street from the Fish Market.

They come with lawn chairs and signs: "The fish market is cancelled" and "Black lives matter." They raise their fists in the air when cars pass, many of which pull over on the side of the road to thank the protesters for being there, said organizer Joseph Tolbert, 44, who carries a microphone and often declares: "If you don't respect black people, you're not going to get our money."

Tolbert said protesters - some come after work and others are furloughed because of the coronavirus pandemic - are not begging for respect, but demanding it. Among them is Carla McClinton, a 61-year-old real estate agent and Fish Market regular who said she is ashamed that it took so long for her and other longtime customers to take a stand.

McClinton said two of her children worked at the Fish Market as teenagers. She likes the Giovannoni family personally. But she said customers have long known that Rick Giovannoni makes racist comments, which they often brushed off. Once, in the early 2000s, she said, he used the n-word when he was talking to her, then told her that he was only joking when she objected. She boycotted the restaurant for six years after that, until friends persuaded her to return.

"It doesn't give me great pleasure to do this," McClinton said of joining the protests. "But he did this at the wrong time."

Bethea said he and his friends initially considered trying to pool their money to buy the Fish Market. "We got to own more stuff out here," he said. "Blacks need to open more businesses in their neighborhoods so they don't experience this."

Protesters say their efforts are linked to the history of Prince George's, a once white, working-class suburb that grew more affluent as a generation of African American professionals moved in and whites left.

Some black- and Latino-owned businesses have thrived in the county, but few residents believe there are enough, said Marcus Daniels, a 32-year-old real estate broker and lifelong resident who has been attending the protests.

"We need more," Daniels said. "We need to encourage more entrepreneurship in the African American community and think about how the community can start to reinvest in itself."

Prince George's Executive Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat who grew up in the county, said her parents live near the Fish Market and told her that they stopped going years ago because the establishment was notorious for "disrespect and the racial comments."

"We work hard for our money here," Alsobrooks said. "We don't have to patronize businesses that don't respect us. This is a new day."

David Harrington, president of the Prince George's County Chamber of Commerce, said businesses need to be seen as assets to their communities.

"Here is democracy in action," he said. "Businesses have to be a lot more sensitive to where they are located."

Prince George's County Council member Mel Franklin, a Democrat who has worked to promote black-owned business for more than a decade, said the national reckoning over racial inequity has given new momentum to old conversations about the need to break down barriers for business owners in a county that is 64% black and 19% Latino.

He said part of the burden falls on lawmakers to invest public dollars where they say their priorities are, noting that a disparity study showed that 14% of the more than $2 billion that Prince George's spent on contracts between 2010 and 2018 went to black-owned businesses.

"You have to ask the question: Why is that still the case in 2020? There is no easy answer," Franklin said. "We as a county haven't made it a big enough priority to spend our dollars with people of color."

Alsobrooks said that since she took office in December 2018, one of her top priorities has been boosting support for small and minority-owned businesses, including making the procurement process for contracts more transparent.
The start of construction on a $200 million upgrade to Sydney's aged Circular Quay ferry wharves and waterfront land is not expected until 2023, four years later than originally planned and with the revamp still needing final government approval.

Almost five years after then NSW Premier Mike Baird unveiled plans, the state's transport agency has given the go-ahead for two shortlisted consortia  Plenary Group and CQC Partners  to develop early designs for the Circular Quay renewal.

Construction work on the Circular Quay renewal project was originally due to start in 2019. Credit:James Brickwood

Transport for NSW said the upgrade process was exploring the potential for new finger wharves, an upgraded train station, renewed public spaces and new shops and places to eat.

But the agency's expected start date for construction for 2023 is much later than the original plans for it to have begun last year, and is contingent on the project gaining planning approvals.
Sun Belt states already struggling with rising COVID-19 infections and deaths are having to suffer through an extensive heat wave through the weekend and into the early days of the week.

As states like Florida, California and Texas set records on Thursday for the surge in coronavirus, Americans living in the states and others nearby grappled with whether they risked being out in the heat. As of Friday, 10,000 Texans were hospitalized with the disease.

According to the Weather Channel, searing heat will move from the Desert Southwest and Southern Plains and into the Midwest and East into the next week.

Americans living in the Sun Belt are having to tackle extreme heat as well as a surge in COVID-19 cases. Hermosa Beach in California

Parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi have received excessive heat warnings

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued an excessive heat warning from southern and western Arizona into southern Nevada and southeast California. This includes Las Vegas and in Phoenix.

'Dangerously hot conditions' will continue into next Monday for these areas, the NWS shared.

Parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi also received excessive heat warnings.

And heat-related illnesses add to an already stressful time for American's health, as heat stroke and other illnesses are more common during times when people spend extended time outside.

The NWS issued an excessive heat warning from southern and western Arizona into southern Nevada and southeast California

Searing heat will move from the Desert Southwest and Southern Plains and into the Midwest and East into the next week

The heat index neared 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Houston on Friday, Bloomberg Quints reports. Harris County testing sites were forced to close as a result.

'How do you balance the need to keep people cool when it's 100 degrees, versus keeping people safe from the virus?' said James McDeavitt, dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine. 'As it gets really, really hot and as people start to move indoors and into confined spaces, we know that the virus spreads more in confined spaces than out in the open.'

The county currently classifies its virus risk level as 'Level 1: Stay Home' and has told residents to stay in air conditioning to stay away from the intense heat.

'Remember to wear your face covering and social distance from others when cooling off,' the county's office of emergency management said on Twitter.

The heat index neared 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Houston on Friday, causing testing sites in Harris County to be closed

Harris County has named areas like libraries, shopping malls and community centers as places of refuge.

'This will be next-level sort of heat, even for us,' Matt Lanza, a forecast meteorologist for Space City Weather in Houston, wrote Friday.

Lanza encouraged residents to check on their older neighbors and loved ones.

In Texas, several hospitals -- including in Houston's huge medical complex - say their coronavirus wards are at or near capacity, amid fears of a further influx of patients in coming days.

Central Arizona is currently under an 'excessive heat warning.' Phoenix is expected to reach 111 degrees Fahrenheit.

Harris County currently classifies its virus risk level as 'Level 1: Stay Home' and has told residents to stay in air conditioning to stay away from the intense heat

Arizona has seen a steady rise since March in the use by hospital intensive-care units of artificial breathing machines.

On Saturday, Disney World in Orlando, Florida, reopened two of its four parks -- Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom - after four months of closure. Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios will open on Wednesday.

The state of Florida is one of the hardest-hit by a new wave of cases and deaths in the United States, already the most affected country in the world in terms of infections and fatalities.

On Saturday, Florida reported its third-highest daily increase in cases, with 10,360 new infections, as well as 95 deaths.

Overall, the US has seen nearly 135,000 deaths out of 3.2 million cases.

Several hundred people queued in the Florida heat ahead of the park's reopening -- some sporting Mickey ears but all wearing masks, part of the park's new guidelines requiring them for both guests and employees.

On Saturday, Disney World in Orlando, Florida, reopened two of its four parks. Florida reported its third-highest daily increase in cases on Saturday, with 10,360 new infections, as well as 95 deaths.

Saturday's visitors reserved their tickets in advance, allowing Disney to control the number of people in the park and accommodate for social distancing. Tickets are already sold out through July.

The park was carrying out temperature checks at the entrance and hand sanitizer was widely available. Disney said it was enforcing social distancing of six feet (two meters) at attractions and inside shops.

'By visiting Walt Disney World Resort you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19,' the park said on its website.

Gone are the park's famous parades which allow mingling with Disney characters; also absent are the evening fireworks shows.

People stand in line to get tested for COVID-19 at a free walk-up testing site on July 11, 2020 in Atlanta. Some other states have had to close testing for the virus due to the heat

In Georgia, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Friday ordered a return to the southern city's Phase 1 lockdown, telling nearly all residents to wear masks, a retreat after having partially reopened the city. Bottoms herself has tested positive.

Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, registered 435 new cases of the disease in the latest 24-hour period.

As many as 122 daily heat records are expected to be tied or broken in the upcoming week across the country, according to Lara Pagan, a U.S. Weather Prediction Center forecaster.

Some 54 million people are expected to have temperatures reach 100 degrees or more.
In this April 27, 2020, file photo, a worker passes public school buses parked at a depot in Manchester, N.H. As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher.

They're urging a more cautious approach, which many local governments and school districts are already pursuing.

But U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos doubled down on President Donald Trump's insistence that kids can safely return to the classroom.

"There's nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous," she told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday."

Still, health experts say there are too many uncertainties and variables for back-to-school to be back-to-normal.

Where is the virus spreading rapidly? Do students live with aged grandparents? Do teachers have high-risk health conditions that would make online teaching safest? Do infected children easily spread COVID-19 to each other and to adults?

Regarding the latter, some evidence suggests they don't, but a big government study aims to find better proof. Results won't be available before the fall, and some schools are slated to reopen in just a few weeks.

"These are complicated issues. You can't just charge straight ahead," Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday during an online briefing.

In this undated photo provided by Zahrah Wattier, Wattier, back left, a high school teacher, poses for a photo with her husband, her 4-year-old and 2-year-old twins in Galveston, Texas. As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. Her district had been considering options many others are reviewing: in-person education, full-time online teaching and a hybrid mix. (Courtesy of Zahrah Wattier via AP)

Children infected with coronavirus are more likely than adults to have mild illnesses, but their risk for severe disease and death isn't zero. While a virus-linked inflammatory condition is uncommon, most children who develop it require intensive care, and a few have died. Doctors don't know which children are at risk.

"The single most important thing we can do to keep our schools safe has nothing to do with what happens in school. It's how well we control COVID-19 in the community," Frieden said. "Right now there are places around the country where the virus is spreading explosively and it would be difficult if not impossible to operate schools safely until the virus is under better control."

Zahrah Wattier teaches high school in Galveston, Texas, where cases and deaths have been spiking. Until the state recently said schools must reopen to in-person classes, her district had been weighing options many others are considering, including full-time online teaching or a hybrid mix.

Wattier's school has mostly Hispanic and Black students, many from low-income families; almost 70% qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches and many have parents who work in "essential" jobs that increase potential exposure to the virus. Online education was hard for many with limited internet access, and Wattier knows in-person classes can help even the playing field.

But she's worried.

"My school has over 2,000 students. That's over 2,000 exposures in a day," said Wattier, whose parents live with the family and are both high-risk. "It's a lot to think about. It's my job. It's something I choose to do, it's something I love. Now it comes at a really high risk.''

The American Academy of Pediatrics, whose guidance the Trump administration has cited to support its demands, says the goal is for all students to be physically present in school. But, it adds, districts must be flexible, consult with health authorities and be ready to pivot as virus activity waxes and wanes.

"It is not that the American Academy of Pediatrics thinks this is a done deal because we have put out guidance," said Dr. Nicholas Beers, a member of the academy's school health council. "But what we do know is that we need to have a more realistic dialogue about the implications of virtual learning on the future of children. We have left whole swaths of society behind, whether it's because they have limited access to a computer, or broadband internet," or because of other challenges that online education can't address.

Des Moines Public Schools custodian Cynthia Adams cleans a desk in a classroom at Brubaker Elementary School, Wednesday, July 8, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

DeVos said local school officials are smart enough to know when conditions are not right.

"There's going to be the exception to the rule, but the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall," she told CNN's "State of the Union."

"And where there are little flare-ups or hot spots, that can be dealt with on a school by school or a case by case basis."

Following CDC and academy guidelines would mean big changes for most schools. Mask-wearing would be strongly encouraged for adult staff and students except the youngest. Desks would be distanced at least 3 feet apart; the CDC recommends 6 feet. Both suggest limiting adults allowed in schools, including parents, and canceling group activities like choir and assemblies. Staggered arrival and dismissal times, outdoor classes, and keeping kids in the same classroom all day are other options.

President Trump has threatened federal funding cuts for districts that don't fully reopen.

DeVos defended that stance, saying, "American investment in education is a promise to students and their families."

"If schools aren't going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldn't get the funds, and give it to the families to decide to go to a school that is going to meet that promise," she said on "Fox News Sunday."

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called DeVos' comments "malfeasance and dereliction of duty."

A bottle of hand sanitizer sits on a cart as Des Moines Public Schools custodian Tracy Harris cleans a chair in a classroom at Brubaker Elementary School, Wednesday, July 8, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

"They're messing, the president and his administration are messing with the health of our children," the California Democrat told CNN's "State of the Union."

While most funding typically comes from state and local sources, experts say schools will need more federal funding, not less, to reopen safely. Masks, extra cleaning supplies or janitors, additional classroom space, and mental health support for students and staff traumatized by the pandemic are among potential costs. And with more parents out of work, more children will qualify for federally funded school lunches.

Lynn Morales, 49, teaches 8th grade English at a high-poverty public school in Bloomington, Minnesota, that is considering several options including in-person classes; a final decision is expected Aug. 1.

Some colleagues are considering not returning to the classroom because their children's day care centers aren't reopening. Some say they won't come back until there's a vaccine.

"I am concerned and it's because of the age group," Morales said. ''Middle school students ... are lovely and I love them, but they touch, they get close, they roughhouse. It is their nature. They're 13 years old. They are defiant."

"If masks are required and a kid isn't wearing a mask, is my job description going to be to chase down this kid and insist they wear a mask? And what if they don't?''

Dr. Emily Landon, a University of Chicago infectious disease specialist, is helping the university and a campus preK-12 school decide how to reopen safely.

"Things are evolving from, 'We can't do it unless it's perfectly safe' to more of a harm reduction model, with the caveat that you can always step back" if virus activity flares, Landon said.

In this June 10, 2020, file photo, Olivia Chan's father helps her with a new mask she received during a graduation ceremony for her Pre-K class in front of Bradford School in Jersey City, N.J. As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Single-occupancy dorms, outdoor classes, socially distanced classrooms and mask-wearing by students and faculty are on tap for the university. Face coverings will be required at the school too. Policies may change depending on virus activity.

She dismisses complaints from some parents who say masks are a loss of personal freedom.

"It's not harmful for your child," she said. "If you see wearing masks as a loss of personal freedom, then you have to think the same of pants."

Dr. Tina Hartert of Vanderbilt University is leading a National Institutes of Health-funded study to determine what role children play in transmitting COVID-19. Almost 2,000 families are enrolled and self-test every two weeks. The idea is to find infected children without symptoms and see how easily disease spreads within families. Results may come by year's end.

"If we don't see significant transmission within households, that would be very reassuring," Hartert said.

She noted that in other countries where schools have reopened, evidence suggests no widespread transmission from children.

In France, public schools reopened briefly before a summer break, with no sign of widespread virus transmission. Masks were only required for upper grades, but students stayed in the same classroom all day. A better test will be when the new school year starts Sept. 1.

In Norway, schools closed in March for several weeks. Nursery schools reopened first, then other grades. Children were put in smaller groups that stay together all day. Masks aren't required. There have been only a few virus cases, said Dr. Margrethe Greve-Isdahl of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, but she noted virus activity is much lower than in the U.S.

In this July 7, 2020, file photo, a teacher holds up a sign while driving by the Orange County Public Schools headquarters as educators protest in a car parade around the administration center in downtown Orlando, Fla. As the Trump administration pushes full steam ahead to force schools to resume in-person education, public health experts warn that a one-size-fits-all reopening could drive infection and death rates even higher. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP, File)

Kati Spaniak, a realtor in Northbrook, Illinois, says her five teenage daughters have struggled to cope with pandemic fears, school closures and deficits of online learning. She strongly supports getting kids back in the classroom, and all her girls will return to some form of that in the fall.

It's been hard for her high school senior, Kylie Ciesla. Prom, graduation and other senior rituals were canceled, and there were no good-byes. "Just to get ripped away from everything I've worked for 12 years, it's really hard," Kylie said.

At college, classes will be in person, masks mandated and a COVID-19 test required before she can move into her dorm. Kylie isn't sure all that is needed.

"I hate that this thing has become so political. I just want the science. I want to know what we need to do to fix it," she 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.


By Lee Min-hyung





Naver headquarters in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province



Financial stocks are losing more ground to fintech stocks amid a rapid rise of the latter's contactless financial platforms.



Naver and Kakao, the nation's dominant portal and mobile app operators respectively, are two of the largest emerging threats to top-tier financial holding firms here, such as Shinhan, KB and Woori.



It was not until recently that the emergence of such online players began to present a serious threat to traditional banks.



But with leading internet firms starting to aggressively expand their financial foothold this year, financial companies are facing a growing dilemma over how to deal with the potential threats.





Kakao headquarters on Jeju Island
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Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, July 12, 2020 17:47 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665b61b1 1 City COVID-19,COVID-19-Jakarta,Jakarta-governor,anies-baswedan,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,PSBB,Jakarta-administration,PSBB-Masa-Transisi,large-scale-social-restrictions,Transitional-PSBB Free

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has announced that the capital had recorded 404 new confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Sunday morning, the highest one-day spike since the outbreak began in the city.

The spike comes not long after Jakarta registered its previous record highs of 359 cases on Saturday and 308 cases on Wednesday.

This spike is a warning to us all, Anies said in a video statement posted to the administrations official YouTube channel on Sunday afternoon.

The former education minister said that while most of the new cases were the result the administrations massive active case finding efforts, the city's increasing positivity rate  the number of people who test positive divided by the total number tested  was cause for concern.

Anies said that since the beginning of June, Jakartas weekly positivity rate had consistently been below 5 percent, which is one of the World Health Organizations requirements for region's seeking to enter the new normal.

But today, the positivity rate has risen to 10.5 percent, a two-fold spike, he said. That is why I want to tell all Jakartans: do not take this lightly. Do not feel like we are free of the COVID-19 outbreak.

He added that around 66 percent of new cases detected since June were people who were asymptomatic.

So we have to be extra careful [] because if this continues, we may have to return to [social restrictions], he said.

Read also: Dont be satisfied with numbers: Doubts remain as Jakarta officials claim epidemic under control

Anies urged residents to wear face masks at all times, maintain a distance of at least 1 meter from each other, wash their hands regularly and ensure rooms were filled to only 50 percent of capacity.

Do not let this situation reach the point where we have to pull the emergency brake, he said. If that happens, we all have to go back home and economic, religious and social activities will be halted.

Earlier this month, the administration extended the city's large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) to July 15 but the restrictions have been relaxed since June 4, with businesses and offices reopening under new health protocols.
 Flash

The representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in China on Saturday applauded the country for battling the COVID-19 outbreak, working with the global community, and sharing its experience.

"China has made great efforts in containing the COVID-19 outbreak, and is watchful of its resurgence," said Babatunde Ahonsi, a UNFPA representative in China, at a press conference held in Beijing.

The UNFPA provided the government of China with assistance in the fight against the epidemic in China's Hubei Province, including offering diapers and sanitary pads, to assure the dignity of women and female health workers, Ahonsi said.

Speaking of the collaboration with China's National Health Commission, Ahonsi said the UNFPA also organized two online seminars on sharing China's experience in helping with sexual and reproductive health and newborn care and services in areas affected by COVID-19. The seminars were well-received by more than 400 professional participants from around the world, he said.

Saturday marks the 31st World Population Day, and the global theme this year is "Putting the brakes on COVID-19: How to Safeguard the Health and Rights of Women and Girls Now."
Robin Howington (pictured in mugshot) was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday

A Tennessee mother is suspected of fatally shooting her five-year-old daughter in the chest before giving investigators conflicting stories about the incident - including blaming her two-year-old toddler son for the death.

Robin Howington, 37, has been indicted by a grand jury of first-degree murder, child neglect, false reporting, tampering with evidence and attempted tampering with evidence from the September 14, 2019 death of her daughter, Destiny Oliver.

She was arrested by the Knox County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday and held on a $500,000 bond.

Last year, authorities dispatched to Howington's Fountain City neighborhood home to find the young girl had been shot, according to Knoxville News Sentinel.

Destiny was taken to University of Tennessee Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

Deputies with the Knox County Sheriff's Office dispatched to Howington's Knoxville, Tennessee, home to find five-year-old Destiny Oliver (pictured) with a gunshot wound

Destiny (left), pictured with Howington (center), succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at a local hospital

When questioned by investigators, Howington would try to pass blame on four other individuals.

First, she told investigators that a unidentified man broke into their home and shot Destiny once in the chest before fleeing in a black Chrysler 300.

Howington later claimed the girl's father, Antoine Oliver, was the culprit who shot their daughter before escaping in a black Chrysler 300.

She said the violent incident happened after a tense argument between them,

Around this time, authorities discovered a handgun hidden in a bush outside Howington's home.

Howington (right) first told investigators that Destiny (left) was killed by an unidentified man, but later said it was the girl's father, Antoine Oliver

Howington claimed her boyfriend Daniel Hensley, who is not Destiny's father, had hidden the handgun in a bush outside her home

Pictured: Robin Howington in Knox County General Sessions Court on Thursday, October 17, 2019

She then alleged her boyfriend Daniel Hensley, who is not Destiny's father, of stashing the handgun.

But surveillance footage from a neighbor actually showed Howington hiding the firearm among the shrubbery.

Howington (pictured in mugshot) claimed her two-year-old son shot dead her daughter, according to court documents

The mother allegedly admitted to hiding the weapon on the bushes, but she claims it was out of maternal instinct.

Howington, in her most shocking claim, then told investigators that she wiped down the gun and stashed it after her two-year-old son discovered the weapon in a closet.

The two-year-old, she said, shot dead her daughter.

Howington's boyfriend later told investigators that he witnessed her brandish a gun at Destiny's father the day of the shooting.

The father reportedly took the gun away from Howington.

Howington 'did unlawfully kill [Destiny Oliver] during the perpetration of aggravated child neglect,' the indictment reads, People reports.

The tampering charges stem from Howington reportedly trying to destroy her cell phone and moved furniture around the night of Destiny's death.

Howington 'did unlawfully kill [Destiny Oliver] (pictured) during the perpetration of aggravated child neglect,' according to indictment documents

While at the hospital after Destiny's shooting, Howington allegedly tried to destroy her cell phone to hid illegal marijuana sales she had participated in

It' s unclear what events led up to the shooting and, subsequently, the death of Destiny Oliver (pictured) on September 14, 2019

She told authorities she did not want investigators learn of illegal marijuana sales she had conducted.

WATE reports that Howington tried to disable the cell phone by running it under water at the hospital.

A witness claimed that Howington tried to pass off the cell phone to her and even offered her money to take it.

Howington has not yet entered a plea to the charges
Baramullla, Jul 12 (UNI) A top foreign Lashkar-e-Taiba militant was among three ultras killed in an encounter which ensued after security forces launched a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) in the apple township of Sopore in this north Kashmir district on Sunday.

Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar said that a Pakistani LeT militant, identified as Usman -- who was involved in killing of a CRPF jawan and a civilian in Sopore in Baramulla -- was gunned down in the encounter.



He said it is a big success for security forces.



Meanwhile, mobile internet service has been suspended in Sopore as a precautionary measure to prevent rumours.

Defence Ministry spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia said that following specific information about presence of militants, a joint CASO was launched by Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir, CRPF and Rashtriya Rifles (RR) at Rebban, about 2 km from main Sopore town, in the wee hours of Sunday.

However, he said when the security forces were moving towards a particular area, militants there, opened indiscriminate fire with automatic weapons. The security forces retaliated ensuing in an encounter, he said, adding a militant was killed in the exchange of fire in the morning.



He said two more militant was killed later in the afternoon. One of the slain militant has been identified as Usman, Mr Kumar said.



A CRPF Head Constable (HC) Deep Chand and a civilian, identified as Bashir Ahmad Khan, were killed while three other personnel were injured in a militant attack on security force patrolling party in the apple township of Sopore in north Kashmir district of Baramulla on July 1.



Mr Kumar had said that LeT militant Usman Bhai was involved in the attack on security forces.



The bodies of the militants were recovered under the debris of the house, where the ultras were hiding, sources said, adding three AK rifles have been recovered from the encounter site.



Sources said all the residents in the nearby houses were rescued and taken to safer places.

Additional security forces and police personnel have been deployed in the adjacent areas to prevent any law and order.

UNI ABS SHK2144
Over WhatsApp from Tunisia, Taheyya has watched her grandchildren grow up in Syria, where her son joined a jihadist group.

She hopes one day to be able to hold the three surviving siblings in her arms, but for now they are stuck in a displacement camp in the war-torn country.

"These are our grandchildren. All we are asking is to be able to take care of them, for them to live somewhere other than in war, poverty and ignorance," Taheyya said.

Like others AFP spoke to, she preferred not to provide her surname for fear of reprisals against the children.

For three years, Taheyya has done the rounds of ministries and NGOs to try to repatriate her three-year-old granddaughter and two grandsons, aged five and six.

Their father left for Syria in 2012, where he joined the Islamic State group and was killed.

She said the eldest grandchild needed treatment for a head injury, and two other siblings have already died because of a lack of medical care.

In a folder, Taheyya carefully keeps a bundle of documents that sums up their torturous lives: pixelated photos, identity papers issued by the fleeting IS caliphate.

The children now live in a camp on the Turkish-Syrian border with their mother, a young Syrian who was married when she was not yet 14.

Tunisians have constituted one of the largest groups of foreign jihadists in Syria, Iraq and Libya since 2011, with almost 3,000 departures, according to the Tunisian authorities.

Like Taheyya, dozens of other families are trying to repatriate at least 140 Tunisian children stuck in conflict zones, where their parents are suspected of joining jihadist groups.

- 'The will exists' -

No specific figures were available for the number of Tunisians currently at Al-Hol /  AFP/File

The Observatory of Rights and Freedoms of Tunis, which is in contact with the families, counts 104 children in Syria, almost all of them in camps. Three quarters were born there and are under the age of six.

Another 36 are in Libya, either detained by militias or being looked after by the Red Crescent.

While public opinion at home is hostile towards the return of jihadists, President Kais Saied raised families' hopes in January by bringing back six orphans from Libya and promising to "speed up the repatriation" of the others.

But since then, there have been no further returns.

From a middle-class family in central Kairouan, Taheyya's son was one of the first in his neighbourhood to leave for Syria.

A cook in the merchant navy, he survived a hostage-taking by Somali pirates and later joined groups fighting the regime in Syria.

He opened a restaurant in the city of Raqa, once the de facto capital of IS in Syria, and was killed in late 2018 while trying to flee, according to his family.

"He had asked me to take care of his children," his younger brother said, adding that he himself had travelled to Turkey twice but had failed to obtain their return.

"We talk to them every two or three days, when the network allows, but we have gone for several months without news," Taheyya said.

"I have never been able to hug them."

Officials at the Tunisian foreign ministry said that "the will exists" for repatriations, pointing the finger at foreign authorities and the novel coronavirus pandemic that has slowed down discussions.

- 'How can you sleep?' -

The foreign affairs bureau of the Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria denied the Tunisian government had contacted them about repatriations.

AFP correspondents in Syria said they saw many Tunisians leaving the former IS bastion of Baghouz during the final battle of 2019.

People there were taken to the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp, now home to thousands of IS wives and their children.

No specific figures were available for the number of Tunisians currently at Al-Hol.

Taheyya is pictured with her other grandchildren, whose cousins are stuck in Syria. 'I have never been able to hug them,' she says /  AFP

Like Taheyya, Fethia is also looking for her grandchildren.

Her daughter was taken to Syria in 2013 by her husband, who had joined groups fighting against the regime.

She was killed in bombing in 2019, leaving two children, aged four and seven, in a displacement camp.

"They don't go to school and struggle to eat. It is making me ill," said Fethia.

She said she had not received any photos of the children for two years.

"How can you sleep?" she asked.

According to a journalist who contributes to AFP in northern Syria, Tunisians were also among Arab jihadists' families who have been moved to a camp near the Turkish border in northern Aleppo.

Mohammed, meanwhile, is worried about his sister and nephew.

According to the last information he had, they were held by a militia in western Libya.

He wants her to be repatriated to Tunisia, even if it means being tried for belonging to a jihadist group.

Mohammed said she had been a nurse in a Libyan hospital and had tried in vain to flee the country in 2016 after she saw her husband become radicalised.

He said he hadn't had any contact with her since January last year.

"She couldn't complain, but she let us understand things," he said.

He said she would keep olive pits to stave off hunger and had even been driven to exchanging sexual favours for food.

"These women and their children are suffering," he said.

"They are victims, but our elected officials are cowards."
Sumi Sukanya Dutta By

NEW DELHI: The largest cohort study of COVID-19 patients in India so far, carried out in Kota, may have an explanation for why hospitals in cities seeing a surge in cases are getting overwhelmed and running out of beds. The study documented details related to 406 patients in the Government Medical College, Kota, and hospitals associated with it. It has revealed that a majority of the patients, 244, who were hospitalized, had no symptoms at all and less than 5 percent had severe respiratory issues requiring ICU or mechanical ventilation.

Experts, including those guiding the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfares response to the pandemic, have been saying that there are unnecessary hospitalizations, leaving those Covid-19 patients who are really in need of medical care in the lurch. A cohort study analyses a group of people with common features without any interventional trial. The study titled Covid 19: Clinical Profile, Radiological Presentation, Prognostic Predictors, Complications and Outcome: A Perspective from the Indian Subcontinent, published in the Journal of The Association of Physicians of India, said that the disease was milder as compared to other regional reports especially from foreign countries.

It said of the 406 patients enrolled for the study, only 4.4% patients required ICU or ventilators, eight of whom who died. The rest with symptoms were treated with standard therapies or oxygen in some cases and most of them recovered within six days on an average.The study, which documented case details from April 5 to June 2, also underscored that shortness of breath and chest pain was not common but was usually associated with ICU admission or requirement for oxygen inhalation.

On April 28, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had recommended that confirmed Covid-19 cases with mild or no symptoms can opt for home isolation under certain conditions but the study indicates that in most states there have been unnecessary hospitalisations happening.

There is need to rigorously enforce home isolation

This paper confirms my suspicion that Indian hospitals are busy admitting a large number of asymptomatic patients, said epidemiologist Dr Jammi N Rao, who has worked with the Indian Council of Medical Research in Hyderabad and the National Health Service in the UK.During the peak in Delhi and Mumbai and now in cities such as Bengaluru, there have been numerous reports of serious patients struggling to secure hospital beds.Raos views were echoed by a senior member of the operations research group of the National Covid-19 Task Force.

We have been worried about it and the main concern is that the situation could be worse off in private hospitals which would be deliberating taking on mild cases for commercial reasons. Hospitals may also be taking advantage of panicked patients, said the member who did not want to be quoted. Therefore there is a need to rigorously enforce home isolation of full households to ease pressure on hospital bed capacity.

Meanwhile, the study on Kota, which had seen a major outbreak in April and May, said only 210 patients had a history of contact with positive patients while only 16 had a history of travel to disease hotspots and/or attending mass gatherings, indicating that the majority picked it from the community.Nearly 65 per cent of the patients were brought to the hospitals by the rapid response teams deployed for contact tracing and 79 patients had associated comorbidity, most commonly hypertension closely followed by diabetes mellitus-2.

Those symptomatic at the time of presentation mostly had fever, dry cough and body ache but some patients also had complaints suggestive of rhinitis, headache, nausea, vomiting and occasionally diarrhoea. Researchers also said that every Covid-19 positive patient was treated with anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and antibiotic azithromycin, barring those who had any contraindications or side effects.
Washington, July 12 : Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has won the primary in the state of Louisiana, a media report said.

The former Vice President won with 82.2 per cent of the vote, leading Senator Bernie Sanders, who received 5.3 per cent, with 1 per cent of precincts reporting, The Hill news website quoted the New York Times as saying on Saturday.

The win on Saturday comes as he continues to march toward his formal nomination at the Democratic convention in August.

The Louisiana primaries were delayed twice from their original April 4 date, first to June 20 and finally to Saturday, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Louisiana will award 54 pledged delegates.

The state is not likely to be competitive in 2020, with President Donald Trump beating Hillary Clinton by about 20 points in 2016.
A couple with Down's Syndrome have married under the new post-lockdown guidelines after spending three months away from each other amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Heidi Crowter, 25, and James Carter, 26, were finally able to tie the knot at a socially-distanced wedding ceremony at Hillfields Church in Coventry on July 4 after the Prime Minister gave permission for weddings to recommence on the very same day.

The newlyweds, whose wedding has since been viewed by more than 11,000 people on YouTube, were joined by 30 guests who had to abide by strict distancing rules.

In March, the couple were forced to isolate from each other due to the pandemic, with James staying at his family home in Weymouth and Heidi living in Coventry.

Heidi Crowter, 25, and James Carter (pictured together on their wedding day), 26, were finally able to exchange their vows at a wedding ceremony at Hillfields Church in Coventry on July 4

Disability activist Heidi said that while it was not the wedding they had planned it was the 'greatest day of her life'

The couple, who met two years ago, were able to get married on their original wedding date

However after the government's announcement that weddings in the UK would be able to go ahead,disability rights activist Heidi, who also wrote a letter to the Prime Minister to ask if the wedding ban could be lifted, was able to marry her partner after months of uncertainty.

Speaking to The Mirror Heidi said: 'It wasn't the wedding we planned, but it was the greatest day of my life.

'When I walked into the church, I was so emotional and excited. I nearly started crying because James looked so handsome in his suit. I had dreamed of that moment since I was born.'

The couple, who were able to get married on their original wedding date, had to cut their 220 guest list down to just 30 and were not allowed to sing hymns at the ceremony.

James, who has now relocated to Coventry to be with his wife, described being 'excited' as he watched his bride walk down the aisle on their big day.

He added: 'I was so excited waiting for Heidi. Watching her walk down the aisle was the highlight of the day, she looked so amazing.'

The couple, who crossed paths two years ago, are now planning to have a big gathering next year.

The couple had to cut their 220 guest list down to just 30 and were not allowed to sing hymns at the ceremony

The newlyweds, whose ceremony has been viewed by more than 11,000 people on Youtube, plan on having a big gathering in celebration of their wedding next year

Earlier this year, Heidi presented a petition to Downing Street demanding that MPs do not pass a Bill endorsing regulations that allow the abortion of babies with non-fatal disabilities until the point of birth in Northern Ireland

The disability activist (pictured with her mother, Liz Crowter, left, and DUP MP Carla Lockhart, right, outside Downing Street) said the law made her feel like she would be 'better off dead'

At a glance: What are the rules for weddings? Members of different households must maintain social distancing, so fathers cannot walk daughters arm-in-arm down the aisle

Couples must wash their hands before and after exchanging rings

Receptions are limited to two households indoors, or up to six people from different households outdoors

Up to 30 people are allowed at the ceremony, including the couple, witnesses, officiants and guests, and staff not employed by the venue

No food or drink is allowed to be consumed 'unless required for the purposes of solemnisation'

There should be no singing during the service or use of instruments which have to be blown into

Spoken responses should 'not be in a raised voice'

If a small child is involved, they should be held a parent, guardian or member of that child's household

Couples should consider using recordings instead of singing

Organs music is allowed but they must be cleaned before and after

Books, reusable and communal resources such as service sheets, prayer mats, or devotional material should be removed from u Advertisement

Under the new post-lockdown rules, which came in force on July 4, fathers cannot walk their daughter's arm-in-arm down the aisle and couples must wash their hands before and after exchanging rings.

Members of different households must maintain social distancing and receptions are limited to two households indoors, or up to six people from different households outdoors

The new guidelines also state that up to 30 people are allowed at the ceremony, including the couple, witnesses, officiants and guests, and staff not employed by the venue

No food or drink is allowed to be consumed 'unless required for the purposes of solemnisation' and spoken responses should 'not be in a raised voice'.

Earlier this year, Heidi and 18,000 signatories presented a petition to Downing Street demanding that MPs do not pass a Bill endorsing regulations that allow the abortion of babies with non-fatal disabilities until the point of birth in Northern Ireland.

Under the regulations, which came into effect in March, abortions are permitted at any time up to birth when there has been a diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality or where the child is likely to suffer severe mental or physical impairment, including Down's syndrome.

A majority of Stormont Assembly members voted to support a motion rejecting this 'imposition' of abortion regulations by Westminster on June 2.

Speaking at Downing Street last month, Heidi said: 'I'm asking them (MPs) to respect the vote of Northern Ireland and make sure that it stands, and to allow equality in the womb for every baby.

'I want this to happen because I'm someone who has Down's Syndrome and I feel that the law makes me upset, it makes me feel like I'm better off dead.

'I think it sends a really negative message. And in the words of a classic song, you are amazing just the way you are.'
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: A day after constituting three-member Special Investigation Team to probe into the empire of slain gangster Vikas Dubey and ascertain the reasons for massacre of eight cops in Bikru village on July 2, the Uttar Pradesh government, on Sunday, appointed single member judicial commission to probe into the Kanpur ambush and subsequent incidents including six encounters between the police and gangster Vikas Dubey and his aides.

After the massacre of eight cops by dreaded slain gangster Vikas Dubey and his aides on July 2/3, UP STF and police carried out a series of encounters killing five close associates of the Dubey. Even Dubey was also eliminated in the police action when he allegedly tried to flee from police custody while being brought back to Kanpur from Ujjain on Friday. Dubey was arrested from Mahakal temple on Thursday morning.

A spokesperson of the state government said the commission, to be headed by retired Justice Shashi Kant Agarwal, will conduct a thorough probe into various incidents that took place between intervening nights of July 2-3 and July 10, including encounters between criminals and police at various spots. The commission will submit its report within two months, he said.

The judicial commission which has been set up under the provisions of Inquiry Commission Act -1952 (Act number 60, 1952), will be headquartered in Kanpur.

The one-member judicial commission will probe into the ambush on the police team by Vikas Dubey and members of his gang on the intervening nights of July 2-3 in which eight policemen were killed and several others were injured, the government spokesman said.

It will also probe into the nexus between the Vikas Dubey, members of his gang with policemen as well as the personnel of other government departments and people. The Commission in its report will also give its recommendation to the state government to check the repeat of such incidents, the spokesperson said.

Moreover, the panel would also include the points which will be spelt by the state authorities from time to time during the investigation.

As the Commission has been given a deadline of two months, any change in the time period would be

carried out only through the government order, said the spokesman.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will participate in a mega tree plantation drive of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in Gurgaon on Sunday, officials said.

They said Shah will visit the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers' training academy in Kadarpur village at 9.30 am.

The chiefs and some personnel of the five CAPFs and other central forces will be present during the event, and the home minister will also address them.

All the CAPFs will also undertake a drive in their respective organisations to achieve the collective target of planting more than 1.35 crore saplings by this month, the officials said.

A senior CAPF officer said that these forces have planted about 20 lakh saplings till now and out of this, around 10 lakh have been done by the CRPF.

"It is our resolve to plant 22 lakh saplings at all our locations in the country by July end. This is part of our commitment to enhance the country's green canopy," CRPF spokesperson Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Moses Dhinakaran said.

A BSF officer said the force will plant about 2.5 lakh saplings as part of the campaign.

The five CAPFs are the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB, and two other central forces under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are the NSG and the NDRF.

These 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 under the command of the MHA.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday re-imposed a night curfew and suspended alcohol sales as coronavirus infections spiked and the health system risked being overwhelmed.

Coronavirus infection numbers had in recent days skyrocketed with at least 12,000 infections recorded daily, translating to around 500 infections every hour, severely straining health care resources.

South Africa is the worst-affected country on the continent with 276,242 registered cases including 4,079 deaths as of Sunday.

"As we head towards the peak of infections, it is vital that we do not burden our clinics and hospitals with alcohol-related injuries that could have been avoided," Ramaphosa said in a televised address to the nation.

"We have therefore decided that in order to conserve hospital capacity, the sale, dispensing and distribution of alcohol will be suspended with immediate effect," Ramaphosa said.

South Africa's first booze ban, implemented in March was lifted on June 1.

But on Sunday Ramaphosa rescinded the move, saying "there is now clear evidence that the resumption of alcohol sales has resulted in substantial pressure being put on hospitals, including trauma and ICU units, due to motor vehicle accidents, violence as well as trauma that is alcohol-induced."

He also ordered a curfew from 9pm (1900GMT) until 4am (0200GMT) starting Monday.

Ramaphosa also outlawed family and social visits which have been blamed for helping the virus spread.
12 Christians arrested by Iran's Revolutionary Guard in 3 cities: report

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At least a dozen Christians in Iran were reportedly arrested, some of whom were allegedly beaten, by Revolutionary Guard intelligence officers last week in three cities, according to a human rights monitoring group.

Article 18, a London-based nonprofit that promotes religious freedom and tolerance for Christians in Iran, has reported on the arrests of Christians in three operations in the cities of Tehran, Karaj and Malayer that took place on June 30 and July 1.

Along with the 12 Christians who were arrested, dozens of other Christians were forced to provide their contact details for future questioning, the organization noted.

According to Article 18, the first arrests occurred around 8 p.m. last Tuesday in Tehrans Yaftabad district when 10 intelligence officers raided the home of a Christian convert where 30 Christians were gathered.

The agents reportedly were polite at first when they were video recording the incident. But after the cameras were off, the Christians were said to have been mistreated.

The agents read out a list of names that were written on an arrest warrant.

Included on that reported list were Joseph Shahbazian, an Armenian-Iranian Christian, and five Christian converts named Reza, Salar, Sonya, Mina and Maryam, who were present at the gathering.

The six of them were reportedly handcuffed, blindfolded and transported. The families were not immediately told where their loved ones have been transported to, Article 18 explained in a statement.

Others at the gathering who were not arrested had their cell phones taken and required to fill out forms stating that their phones had not been confiscated by agents.

The intelligence officers drove the six arrested Christians and some others to their homes in Tehran and Karaj to search their properties for Bibles and Christian literature and any communications devices.

Witnesses told Article 18 that some of the Christians were beaten along with their non-Christian family members.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is illegal for a Muslim to convert to Christianity.

The agents also went to the homes of three converts who were not present at the gathering but whose names were on the arrest warrants and arrested two of them.

Three other Christian converts in the city of Malayer were arrested by the Revolutionary Guard the next morning. They were detained but released the next day after posting bail of about $1,500.

All that is known about the fate of the other arrested Christians is that two of them had their bail set at 50 million tomans (around $2,500), and are currently seeking to raise the amount to secure their temporary release, Article 18 said.

It is believed that the raids were coordinated with the help of an informant, who had infiltrated the group within the past few months and gained their trust.

Open Doors USA, an international Christian persecution monitoring organization that is present in over 60 countries, including Iran, called for Christians to pray for the believers in Iran who were arrested last week.

Ask God to calm their fears, that they would know that theyre not alone and that the worldwide Church is standing with them. Pray that they would be treated well and for quick release to be back home with their families.

Iran ranks as the 9th worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USAs 2020 World Watch List. Converts from Islam in Iran often face persecution from the government and face the threat of arrest for attending an underground church. It is illegal to hold church services or produce Christian literature in Farsi, the main language.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh and Maryam Rostampour, two women who were born into Muslim families who went on to lead house churches and evangelized to Muslims, are examples of converts who have been arrested for their faith.

The women spent a total of 259 days in Irans notorious Evin Prison in 2009. Since departing from Iran in 2010, they have often shared their experiences as converts in Iran.

We know firsthand how difficult it is for those who attend house churches because they risk their lives to attend house churches, Amirizadeh said at an event in February hosted by the Family Research Council. Any time if the government find out, they can raid the gathering, arrest people, torture them and confiscate their property.

Open Doors USA reports that 169 Christians were arrested in Iran during the organizations 2019 reporting period  Nov. 1, 2018, to Oct. 31, 2019.

According to Iran Human Rights Monitor, the Iran Revolutionary Court in southern Iran sentenced last month seven Iranian Christian converts for the alleged crime of spreading propaganda against the state." The converts were sentenced to prison, exile, a financial penalty, and a ban on work and social activities.

In addition to being one of the worlds largest state sponsors of terrorism, Iran is also listed by the U.S. State Department as a country of particular concern for tolerating and engaging in systemic and severe violations of religious freedom.
Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel said around 45 tons of aviation fuel has spilled from its pipeline in the Arctic.

The incident is the latest in a series of environmental disasters to hit around the Far Northern city of Norilsk, which is located above the Arctic Circle.

In May, some 21,000 tons of diesel fuel was spilled from a Norilsk Nickel-operated power plant in Norilsk.

"A pipeline owned by Norilsktransgaz was depressurized while pumping aviation fuel in the area of Tukhard settlement," Norilsk Nickel said in a statement on July 12.

"According to the preliminary data, as a result of the depressurization, which lasted about 15 minutes, there was a spill of up to 44.5 tons of fuel."

Earlier, Norilsk Nickel's subsidiary Norilsktransgaz said the amount of spilled fuel was 20 tons.

Tukhard settlement is situated some 100 kilometers from Norilsk and around 70 kilometers from Norilsk Nickel's Arctic port of Dudinka.

The company said the pipeline has been shut down and measures were being taken to collect the spilled fuel.

Norilsk said it had launched an internal investigation and informed the Emergency Ministry.

Norilsk Nickel, the worlds largest producer of nickel and palladium, is controlled by Russia's richest man, Vladimir Potanin, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $23.5 billion.

On May 29, in what was described as the worst environmental disaster to impact the Arctic, more than 21,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled into the soil, two rivers, and a downstream lake after a storage tank at a Norilsk Nickel-operated thermal power plant near the industrial city of Norilsk collapsed or sank due to what the company said was the thawing permafrost soil.

Two plant managers and two top engineers were arrested on suspicion of violating environmental-protection rules. The mayor of Norilsk and a government inspector were also charged with negligence.

President Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency after the incident and Norilsk Nickel promised to pay the costs of the cleanup, estimated at 10 billion rubles ($145 million).

With reporting by Reuters and dpa
Anupam Kher's mother Dulari, his brother, and sister-in-law have tested coronavirus positive. The Bollywood actor on Sunday shared a video on Twitter and informed his fans about the same.

Bollywood actor Anupam Khers mother Dulari, his brother, and sister-in-law have tested coronavirus positive. The 65-year-old actor on Sunday shared a video on Twitter and informed his fans about the same.

In the video, Anupam Kher said that he has tested negative for the virus, but some of his family members were not as lucky as him. He also revealed that his niece has also tested positive for the disease.

Anupam added that all of them are stable. They have been found mildly COVID positive. He also said that his mother had not been feeling well in the last few days. She had experienced a loss of appetite.

Also read: 18 staff members at Maharashtra Raj Bhavan test positive, Governor in self isolation

Also read: Another Drowning: A Sad Story

Anupam tweeted that his mother Dulari has found Covid+. They have admitted her into Kokilaben Hospital. His brother, bhabhi & niece despite being careful tested mildly positive. He got himself tested as well & he was tested negative. They have informed BMC.

Anupams brother and his family have self-quarantined inside their house.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan also tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday. The actor informed about it through social media posts.

He wrote he has tested CoviD positive and shifted to Hospital. The hospital is informing authorities. His family and staff have undergone tests, results are awaited. He requested all those people who have been in close proximity to him in the last 10 days to get themselves tested. The superstar has been admitted to the Nanavati Hospital.

Also read: Intel warns forces of Pakistans intentions to carry out BAT action in 2 J&K sectors

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is expected to file the second prosecution complaint in the Yes Bank money laundering case on July 13.

The agency may file the complaint against 13 individuals and entities including Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan.

The Wadhawans were arrested by the ED on May 14.

Earlier this month, the ED provisionally attached properties worth Rs 2400 crore belonging to Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor and the Wadhawan brothers. Kapoors attached properties are located in South Mumbai, 40 Amrit Shergill Marg in Delhi, London and New York. Wadhawans properties are in Mumbai, Pune, Australia and London.

The investigating agency has also raided the premises of travel company Cox and Kings and recorded statements of its founder Peter Kerkar and media baron Subhash Chandra in this case.

According to the prosecution, Kapoor and members of his family and the other accused laundered the proceeds of crime. The estimated size of fraudulent deals is around Rs 5,050 crore, and members of the Kapoor family or family-owned entities received Rs 600 crore in kickbacks in lieu of extending loans through the bank, which later turned into non-performing assets. The amount appears to have been further utilised for procuring more properties.

Yes Bank had sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore to Belief Realtor Pvt. Ltd, a company controlled by the DHFL group. The loan was sanctioned on June 18, 2018, by the Management Credit Committee (MCC) headed by Rana Kapoor, who was then the MD and CEO of Yes Bank.

The loan was disbursed on September 27, 2018. Prior to that, in August 2018, the MCC had approved an additional loan of Rs 950 crore to Belief Realtors. Since the loan amount of Rs 1,700 crore required a Board Credit Committee (BCC) approval, this item was required to be placed in the BCC, scheduled for August 28, 2018. But, the subject was not discussed in the meeting. On August 29, 2018, a separate loan of Rs 950 crore was sanctioned by the MCC to RKW Developers Pvt Limited.

The loan was shifted to RKW Developers instead of increasing the loan amount to Belief Realtors as sanctioning Rs 950 crore was within the powers of the MCC. While the documentation for the loan to RKW Developers was underway, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) started a special audit and, on the basis of that, the sanction to RKW was cancelled.

As per the statement given by Kapoor to the ED, in 2018, DHFL issued retail senior public debentures worth Rs 8,000-10,000 crore, and approximately Rs 3,000 crore was allocated for purchase by Yes Bank as per the BCC approval. He also stated that a loan of Rs 1,200 crore had been given by Yes Bank to Aadhar Housing Finance, a DHFL group company.

Another loan of Rs 600 crore against property was sanctioned by DHFL to Doit Urban Ventures India Ltd, a company wholly owned by Morgan Credits Pvt. Ltd. (MCPL). MCPL, in turn, is owned by Kapoor's three daughters, Radha K. Khanna, Rakhee K. Kapoor and Roshni Kapoor.

Kapoor further stated that two earlier loans of Rs 300 crore each had been given to Doit by DHFL, which were duly closed in August 2018. Later, a renewed loan of Rs 600 crore was granted. Against this loan, Doit mortgaged five properties, though Kapoor was not sure if the valuation of these properties was carried out at the time of its mortgage.

The Wadhawans have put up a proposal for a loan of about Rs 1,700 crore from Yes Bank in the name of Belief Realtors PVT Limited (BRPL) for the redevelopment of slums at Bandra Reclamation.

Dheeraj wanted to pay DHFL standing in the name of RIP Developers. By that time, the company for which the loan had to be applied was not decided. At that time, for the Bandra Reclamation project, there was a deed of assignment between RIP Developers and Wizard Constructions (India) Pvt Limited. RIP Developers was owned by Gopal Dalvi, a very close friend of Dheeraj Wadhawan.

On this Bandra Reclamation Project, they took a loan of Rs 725 crore from DHFL which was invested by the Wadhawans for purchasing the preference shares of Kyta Advisors Pvt Limited. It was never used for the declared end use. Yes Bank never intended to give the loan to RIP Developers as it was not declared as their group company.

Therefore, the Wadhawans decided to obtain the loan in the name of BRPL as it was beneficially owned by them.

Yes Bank bifurcated the loan into two parts as they were getting some problem in sanctioning the loan in one entity. Accordingly, Rs 750 crore was sanctioned in the name of BRPL and Rs 950 crore in the name of RKW Project Management Private Limited.

However, the loan to RKW could not be disbursed as it was cancelled by Yes Bank. The loan of Rs 750 crore, after disbursement, was ultimately transferred to DHFL after several layering.

The earlier prosecution complaint named eight persons and entities which included Rana Kapoor, his wife Bindu Kapoor , daughters Rakhee, Roshni and Radha and three entities namely Morgan Credit Pvt Ltd, Yes India Capital Pvt Ltd and Rab Enterprises, owned and controlled by Kapoor's family.
Google's Senior Vice President Neal Mohan made the comments during a videoconference with Han Sang-hyuk, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC).

Seoul, July 12 (IANS) Google's video-sharing platform YouTube will cooperate with South Korea to closely monitor and prevent the spread of fake news and illegal content.

The remarks came after Han requested such cooperation, considering fake news surrounding Covid-19 and a recent high-profile digital sexual abuse case in South Korea, in which such illegal materials were distributed across social media platforms.

The regulator has kept a close watch over the tech giant this year.

Last month, Google voluntarily corrected subscription practices on its YouTube Premium service in the country, after the KCC found they were unfair for users.

The regulator also imposed a fine of $720,000 on Google for violating local telecom laws, as it did not properly notify users of YouTube Premium's charged service.

In March this year, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company has taken down thousands of videos on YouTube related to dangerous or misleading coronavirus information using its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technology.

In a blog post, Pichai said that since January, Google has blocked hundreds of thousands of ads attempting to capitalize on the coronavirus pandemic.

--IANS

wh/na
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In the borough of Eric Garners 2014 police-custody death -- a catalyst of the national Black Lives Matter movement -- where a new wave of young Black leaders are building a reputation as civic organizers, and where thousands of uniformed officers have made their homes for decades, there are six elected officials who represent the communitys disparate points of view and diverse constituents at the state Capitol in Albany.

Staten Islands six state representatives were faced last month with voting on a flurry of police reform legislation, some that had been introduced years earlier and stagnated, and all in response to massive protests and intensifying calls for a systemic tackling of institutional racism in the justice system.
Back in May, there were understandable nerves in the country's tourism hotspots.

Bookings at hotels and restaurants had been wiped out. Pubs were shut.

And as well as the health impact on some customers, at least one of their own - popular Kinsale publican Seamus O'Connor - died from Covid-19.

All most businesses had in the face of uncertain future was hope domestic tourists would save them from financial ruin as the country struggled to cope in the aftermath of Covid-19 outbreak in February.

That has turned out to be well-placed hope, and business from tourism in Clonakilty, Kinsale, and Youghal in Co Cork, Killarney in Co Kerry and Kilkee in Co Clare is back.

But while things are looking up, there is still a nervousness across the region.

These are fears Covid-19 could shut everything back down again.

While the Covid-19 figures for Clare remain unchanged this month so far, according to the latest available statistics, they are very slowly creeping back up across Cork.

According to the latest available official figures for July up to July 8, there have been nine new confirmed cases.

Visitor Responsibility

That it has happened in the town has annoyed many, not least those businesses in Killarney who signed up to the recently-launched Safe Destination Kerry Programme.

Laura Tangney, Killarney Jaunting Cars pictured in Killarney at the weekend. Picture: Don MacMonagle

Laura Tangney, who runs Killarney Jaunting Cars Ltd said we just need some common sense.

"As a business, we are very wise on Covid-19. Now we just need the people.

A single case could just wreck everything. We are very safe and you can see our numbers are holding. But we are all watching that number.

As a business community, we are all trying our best and we are learning. But the visitors must remember, that they need to be responsible.

And its very hard to say: You need to be responsible for our livelihood. You are wondering: Will they be responsible to let us survive?.

People dont realise all our livelihoods are at stake.

Covid-19 Closures

Youghal pub landlord Michael Farrell, of Farrell's Bar in Summerhill, has invested a lot of money in reopening.

He is lucky enough to own a large pub with plenty of open space in and around it.

My one big fear is the numbers. If they keep going up, our biggest worry is the Government will just close everything down. And that will be disastrous.

Many businesses are on their knees and the last thing they need is to be punished for the mistakes of a small minority of people.

Hes especially concerned because landlords like him have had to restock their bars.

Depending on the size of the bar, that can cost anything from 10,000 to 40,000.

But so far, he is pleased with how things are going.

Its going very well and much better than I expected, he said.

And I would be very optimistic about the future. Business is on a par with last year - thats how busy I am at the moment.

Kerry hotelier Patrick ODonoghue, CEO of the Killarney-based Gleneagle Group, said allowing hotels to open on June 29th instead of the original date of July 20th was a huge bonus.

And in this climate every single day counts. Occupancy levels have been increasing steadily since we opened.

Our occupancy levels are down by 50% compared to this time last year. Demand is down across the hotel sector mainly because we are catering for reduced visitor numbers due to the fall off in overseas visitors.

Laura Tangney reopened her familys jaunting car business on June 29. The first week was dismal but by the second week, things started to improve.

I knew they werent going to be flooding in our gates from week one, she said.

And to be honest, I dont know what we were going to expect. Its all very unknown. Its changing every day.

Councillor Cillian Murphy at Kilkee Beach, Co Clare. Picture : Eamon Ward

Clare County Council council Cillian Murphy, who lives in Kilkee, said the town is up and running again.

The tourists are back and they are almost all Irish. At times, it is busier than what it would normally be for this time of the year.

Its difficult to get accommodation anywhere.

The only let down appears to have been the weather.

Its the ultimate irony, he said.

We had gorgeous sunshine during lock down but as soon as it was lifted, it has rained every since.

Ciaran Fitzgerald, who runs Kinsales Blue Haven Hotel, is happy with the way things are going.

He was one of the leading lights behind the west Cork towns recovery plan.

Signs of Hope

That included increased pedestrianisation, on street dining and a huge promotional effort under the campaign banner, the Kinsale Comeback Campaign.

The former chair of the towns Chamber of Commerce and Tourism said retail is being well supported.

Food and beverage has been strong since opening (on June 29) and building very well.

The outdoor dining is making a huge difference on the fine days.

He said accommodation started slowly given the date change from July 20th back to June 29th which meant a short lead time in room bookings but these are - he said - again rebuilding strongly.

He said bookings are looking good from July 30 onwards.

Hotelier Dena ODonovan of ODonovans Hotel said she is almost entirely booked out for the summer.

Although all her bookings were cancelled with the lockdown in March, people are re-booking and plan to return.

Things are going good, she said. I hardly have an empty room.

And in the restaurants we have, we could be busier but we are having to turn people away because we are limited in how many we can have in at any one time.

Martin Shanahan, of Kinsale restaurant Fishy Fishy, is also recording increased bookings since he opened.

Weekends are, he says, very strong.

Its been very positive, he said. To be fair, the Irish people have responded and have stayed at home and are coming out to dine with us, which is brilliant.

While business is definitely back up and running, it is still down around 70% of what it was last year.

People have to realise that the 14 weeks that we were closed in the restaurant business, you cannot get that back, he added.

No matter what we do for the next three or four months, well never get that business back. However as he and other businesses in the town and indeed other tourist towns around the region, one of the next worries they have is a worry none of them thought they would ever have again: congestion.
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A police officer has allegedly assaulted a woman at one of the centres for the ongoing voters registration exercise organised by the Electoral Commission (EC).



In a video making the rounds on social media, the officer is seen in a heated altercation with the woman who is a queue with dozens of others, waiting for their turn to register.



If you want to show that you are a boss I will also show you that I am a boss If you will display arrogance, I will not let you in here, he is heard saying amid responses from the latter.



It is unclear what triggered the argument, but both parries seemed to be unready to let it go.



As a concerned man at the venue decides to hold calm tensions, the amateur footage shows the yet-to-be-identified officer as he reaches out and slaps the middle-aged woman to the amazement of onlookers.



Others intervene to restrain the woman from restrain her from confronting the policeman as he he pulled away by some men at the site.



The incident which occurred at an unidentified registration centre has generated uproar on social media.





The Ghana Police Service is yet to comment on the matter.









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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She has been keeping up her workout regime in lockdown.

And Georgia Harrison put her toned physique on display as she headed for dinner at London's VyTA restaurant on Sunday. ay.

The Love Island star, 25, turned heads as she went braless in the plunging black one piece which boasted silken pink lapels and black button fastening.

Blazer glory: Georgia Harrison turned heads in a thigh grazing blazer dress as she stepped out for dinner at London's VyTA restaurant on Sunday

The influencer teamed her dress with a pair of stylish black knee boots and a vivid pink handbag which complemented her blazer's bright collar.

Blonde beauty Georgia wore her honey locks in a tousled bun with soft tendrils framing her glamorously made up face, complete with full lashes and a nude lip.

The business owner completed her ensemble with a pair of pearl encrusted hoops, several statement rings and a delicate silver chain which drew the eye to her bronzed decolletage.

Georgia had every reason to celebrate as her fine dining experience came just hours after announcing she had gained an incredible one million followers on Instagram.

Sizzling: Blonde beauty Georgia wore her honey locks in a tousled bun with soft tendrils framing her glamorously made up face, complete with full lashes and a nude lip

The TV personality marked the occasion by sharing a snap of herself on a bed festooned with custom made cakes and pair of silver helium balloons in the shape of a one and the letter M.

Georgia grinned widely in the pic and appeared to have matched her dusky pink lace lingerie set to the pink bottle of bubbly she was clutching.

The reality star couldn't contain her delight in the post which read: 'To say its been a good week is an understatement. Thankyou for every single one of you I am so grateful for you all and to all of the amazing companies that have sent me congratulations gifts.

Glamourpuss in boots: The influencer teamed her dress with a pair of stylish black knee boots and a vivid pink handbag which complemented her blazer's bright collar

'Its also milestones like this that make you realise how much support you have all of my friends have been so proud and so excited for me and its been so beautifully overwhelming.'

The internet sensation finished the post with a string of red love-hearts and grateful shout outs to the companies who had supplied her goodies.

With her mass following and her sportswear brand GHX Style going from strength to strength, Georgia has achieved great things since being homeless in her late teens.

Congratulations: Georgia had every reason to celebrate as her fine dining experience came just hours after announcing she had gained an incredible one million followers on Instagram

Speaking to The Sun about her experience, she said: 'I was living in Marbella with a friend and this guy who would have really crazy parties with strangers coming in and out of our room in the night. It was scary.

'In the end after a massive argument we had to leave but we had just given him a whole month's rent. We didn't have enough money to live somewhere else, so we literally moved into my car.

'We had to wash in a nearby hotel. At one point security even caught us and said "we know you don't stay here" and they chased us out, it was crazy.

'I would go to work in a club all night, it was so stressful. One time I came back to the car to sleep and it had been towed with everything we owned inside. That's the point I was at but I turned my whole life around within a year.'

The TV personality said she ended up using a self-help book, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, to turn her life around.

'When I first got The Secret my life wasn't in the best place,' she added.

Georgia, who believes that you get out of the universe what you put in, said she used the law of attraction to visualise what she wanted to achieve in life.

Georgia first found fame with a brief stint on The Only Way Is Essex in 2014 before becoming a household name with an appearance on 2017's Love Island.
At least three Azerbaijani soldiers were reportedly killed and several others wounded in heavy fighting that broke out at a section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Sunday.

The spokeswoman for Armenias Defense Ministry, Shushan Stepanian, said Azerbaijani forces shelled an Armenian army outpost in the northern Tavush province during a failed attempt to seize it. Stepanian said they suffered casualties while being repelled by Armenian soldiers stationed there.

There are no casualties on the Armenian side, she wrote on Facebook.

According to Stepanian, earlier in the afternoon a military vehicle carrying Azerbaijani soldiers tried to cross into Tavush for reasons unclear to us. The soldiers fled and left the vehicle behind after warning shots fired from the Armenian side, said the official.

For its part, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that Armenian forces backed by artillery fire attacked its border posts in Azerbaijans western Tovuz district bordering Tavush. It said two Azerbaijani servicemen died and five others were wounded as a result.

The ministry reported a third Azerbaijani combat death later on Sunday.

The fighting reportedly continued into the early hours of Monday. The Defense Ministry in Yerevan said Azerbaijani troops are using a battle tank and mortars to continue shelling the same Armenian army post.

Gunfire is periodically continuing with various intensity, Stepanian, the ministry spokeswoman, said shortly after midnight. No Armenian soldier has been killed or wounded, she added.

The Azerbaijani military claimed, meanwhile, that Armenian forces are firing mortars on not only at Azerbaijani border positions but also a nearby Azerbaijani village.

Stepanian insisted in another overnight Facebook post that Armenian army units are targeting only Azerbaijani military facilities.

Each side blamed the other for the escalation. Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry accused Yerevan of heightening tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and seeking to seize more territory.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian, insisted that the fighting was sparked by the Azerbaijani attempts to infiltrate into Armenian positions.

Naghdalian also tweeted that Armenias foreign and defense ministers are in constant contact with the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group over the latest escalation.

The mediators urged the conflicting parties to strengthen the ceasefire regime during a June 30 video conference with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers. In a joint statement, they reiterated that there is no military solution to the conflict.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev rejected that assertion and lambasted the Minsk Group co-chairs last week. He also threatened to pull out of pointless negotiations with Yerevan.

Both conflicting parties had reported deadly ceasefire violations in the same border area early this year. In March, the Armenian military claimed to have thwarted two incursions attempted by troops from Azerbaijans State Border Guard Service. No major incidents were reported there in the following months.
LNA spokesman says oilfields and ports closed until the orders of the Libyan people are implemented.

Renegade military commander Khalifa Haftars self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) has said it would maintain a blockade on oil production and exports that the National Oil Corp (NOC) says has cost the country $6.5bn in lost revenue.

Fridays loading of a first tanker since January with oil from storage had led NOC to lift force majeure on all exports, though it warned that damage to fields meant it would take a long time to fully restore production.

However, LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari on Saturday said in an online statement the countrys oilfields and ports are closed until the orders of the Libyan people are implemented, laying out conditions to lift the blockade.

Mismari demanded that oil revenue should flow into a new bank account outside Libya to be distributed between regions; that it should not fund what he called terrorists and mercenaries; and an audit of central bank accounts to investigate past spending.

Libya has been split since 2014 between the Turkey-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, which is recognised by the United Nations, and the LNA in the east, supported by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Egypt.





Under existing arrangements backed by the UN, oil is produced and exported by the NOC with revenues flowing to the Central Bank of Libya.

Both institutions are based in Tripoli, but the money funds public sector bodies and the salaries of state employees in all parts of the country across front lines.

The oil production has almost come to a standstill in Libya after pro-Haftar groups shut down oil facilities in eastern parts of the country in January.

Libya has the largest oil reserve in Africa and can produce 1.2 million barrels of crude oil a day.

But the production has fallen below 100,000 barrels a day due to the interruptions by the pro-Haftar groups over the past six months.

The LNA routinely describes pro-GNA forces as terrorists and Turkish forces that back the Tripoli government as mercenaries.

The UN has decried a flood of foreign fighters and weapons into Libya to support both sides of the war in violation of an arms embargo.

The two sides are poised to square off near Sirte, where some of its largest fields and export terminals are located.
Two Pakistani nationals were among the three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmirs Baramulla district on Sunday, officials said.

Two of the killed terrorist were foreigners and have been identified as Abu Rafia, alias Usman, and Saifullah, both residentsof Pakistan. Abu Rafia, alias Usman, was active in the Valley since year 2016, a police spokesperson said. The third terrorist is yet to be identified, they added.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, confirmed that Usman was involved in an attack on security forces at Sopore, in which one CRPF jawan and a civilian were killed. Pakistani LeT terrorist Usman killed in encounter. He was involved in recent terror attack at Sopore in which one CRPF jawan was martyred and a civilian was also killed. Big success for Police & SFs, he said.

A joint party of police, army and CRPF launched a search operation at Rebban area of Sopore around midnight following a tip-off, a police official said.

A cordon was laid and contact established (with militants) which led to a gunfight, an army spokesman said. The gunfight continued throughout the day, killing three terrorists, the official added. Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition recovered. Searches were going, Kashmir Police Zone tweeted later in the day.

Meanwhile, suspected militants hurled two grenades on a team of security personnel in Pulwama on Sunday, but they didnt explode, an army spokesperson said. Terrorist attempted an attack on CAPF at 1645 hours today at Chersoo, Awantipora. Suspects moving on a bike threw 2 grenades on CAPF (who were) deploying without taking out pins. Grenades didnt explode. Attackers have been arrested.
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Linkedin Todung Mulya Lubis (The Jakarta Post) Oslo  Mon, July 13 2020

The year 2020 may be remembered as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year marks two important milestones between Indonesia and Norway.

As we commemorate 70 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, we also observe 10 years of bilateral partnership in combating deforestation and climate change. Ten years ago in May 2010, Indonesia and Norway were committed into a partnership by signing a bilateral agreement (LOI) to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) under the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Through this agreement Indonesia aimed to reform its forest management and reduce its carbon emissions with the support of Norway, which pledged to provide financial assistance of up to US$1 billion for Indonesias policies and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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New Delhi, July 12 : Even as the opposition Congress grappled with an intra-party crisis to save its government in Rajasthan, silence loomed over party interim President Sonia Gandhi's residence at 10 Janpath on Sunday as no senior Congress leader had arrived to discuss the matter.

According to party sources, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot had arrived in Delhi on Saturday evening to meet the party high command and had sought a meeting with Sonia Gandhi.

The sources said that at least 25 MLAs said to be from Pilot's camp are staying put in NCR-Delhi region at various places. On the other hand, the Ashok Gehlot camp claims support of 103 MLAs.

The Congress is trying to pacify both the camps in the state, the sources said.
Researchers at IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) discovered a novel chemical compound, which has the potential to became a new drug for the treatment of core symptoms of brain disorders like Down syndrome and autism. These results are obtained in preclinical models where the new compound ameliorated difficulties in cognitive tasks, as well as social interactions and repetitive behaviors, which are present in neurodevelopmental and possibly neurological disorders. Researchers now aim to create a dedicated start-up company with the support of interested investors in order to further develop this compound and make it a treatment for patients. The study has been published in the scientific journal Chem: https://www.cell.com/chem/fulltext/S2451-9294(20)30298-9

These breakthrough findings are the result of a joint effort of two Italian research teams guided by Laura Cancedda and Marco De Vivo, at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genova (Italy). Laura Cancedda is head of the IIT's Brain Development and Disease Laboratory and also an assistant scientist at the Dulbecco Telethon Institute. Marco De Vivo is the head of the IIT's Molecular Modeling and Drug Discovery Laboratory. The research study has been funded by Fondazione Telethon and partially benefited of a grant of the European Research Council (ERC).

The two groups worked on complementary aspects of the research study: the De Vivo's group designed the new molecules with the aid of computational methods, and synthetize them whereas the Cancedda's lab focused on extensive biological tests of such compounds. The final result represents the development of a promising chemical compound, which is usually referred in pharmaceutical industry to as 'drug candidate' because of its potential to become a clinical drug in the forthcoming years.

Co-first authors of the research article are Annalisa Savardi (Cancedda's Lab) and Marco Borgogno (De Vivo's lab) who worked synergistically to identify the novel chemical compounds and investigate their biological consequences in the brain of preclinical models of neurodevelopmental disorders. Such models are the first experimental steps to verify the benefits and safety of the new drug.

In particular, researchers focused on the effect of the molecules on the protein NKCC1, a very promising target for drugs to treat brain disorders. NKCC1 is a transporter of chorine (and other) ions in the brain, and the correct concentration of such ions is crucial for brain function. In several brain disorders like Down syndrome, autism and epilepsy, the concentration of such ions in the brain is dysregulated due to NKCC1 abnormal function. These newly discovered compounds can potently and selectively block NKCC1, without undesired side effects (excessive diuresis) caused in fact by other existing drugs which are non-selective NKCC1 inhibitors.

This study and exciting results come at a time where neuroscience drug discovery in industry struggles to deliver novel breakthrough classes of effective molecules. As a matter of fact, therapeutic options for most of neurodevelopmental disorders have remained scant, or not highly effective over the last decades. This is mainly due to a poor understanding of the mechanisms underlying these challenging pathological conditions. This discovery follows several years of work on NKCC1 function and inhibition at IIT and will possibly bring us closer to the development of sustainable therapeutics for the treatment of a number of brain disorders" Laura Cancedda, Head of IIT's Brain Development and Disease Laboratory

"At this point, our most promising compound could enter into clinical tests in hospitals in less than two years from now. This additional step toward making of this compound an approved drug, however, requires further work and more funds. For this reason, we plan to launch a new start-up company dedicated to this project. It would be wonderful to see our discovery impacting on those in needs" - adds Marco De Vivo.

The newly discovered and promising drug candidate is now undergoing advanced preclinical studies to move it forward and hopefully reach soon clinical studies. Additional studies will allow defining the overall safety profile of the molecule and other key parameters, such as pharmacokinetics, formulation and dosing, necessary to fulfill the regulatory requirements to access clinical studies.
U.S. beef and pork exports trended lower in May, due in part to interruptions in slaughter and processing, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Beef exports dropped well below year-ago levels and recorded the lowest monthly volume in 10 years. Pork exports remained higher than a year ago but were the lowest since October 2019.

As protective measures related to COVID-19 were being implemented, plant disruptions peaked in early May with a corresponding temporary slowdown in exports, said USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom. Unfortunately the impact was quite severe, especially on the beef side. Exports also faced some significant economic headwinds, especially in our Western Hemisphere markets, as stay-at-home orders were implemented in key destinations and several trading partners dealt with slumping currencies.

Halstrom said the recent rebound in beef and pork production will help exports regain momentum in the second half of 2020. The global economic outlook is challenging, but he looks for export volumes to recover quickly in most markets as U.S. red meat remains an important staple, not only in the United States but for many international consumers as well.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 08:36:47|Editor: huaxia

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RIO DE JANEIRO, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Former Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou has not joined Botafogo for a holiday and is focused on winning titles with the Brazilian club, according to the agent responsible for his move to Rio de Janeiro.

Kalou will arrive in Brazil next week to undergo a routine medical and sign an 18-month contract, having parted ways with Germany's Hertha BSC in June.

"He is very focused. He's not coming to Rio de Janeiro to take a vacation," Kalou's representative, Marcos Leite, told Globo Esporte. "He wants to create history at Botafogo."

Kalou is the second high-profile signing for Botafogo in less than six months following the arrival of Japanese playmaker Keisuke Honda in February.

According to Leite, Botafogo were able afford the pair because of contract structures offering an ample share of commercial revenue and generous performance incentives.

"The negotiation with Kalou was in line with the agreement reached with Honda," Leite said. "He will be entitled to a percentage of the sale of products under his name and a salary that corresponds to the financial reality of the club. Kalou came in much the same way as Honda," he added.

Kalou's 17-year professional career has included spells at Feyenoord, Chelsea and Lille. The 34-year-old has been capped 97 times for the Cote d'Ivoire national team, scoring 28 goals.

The Brazilian Serie A season is scheduled to begin on August 9, having missed its scheduled May start because of the coronavirus pandemic. Enditem
Photo credit: Christopher Polk - Getty Images

From Harper's BAZAAR

Angelina Jolie has spoken about her pride for daughter Zahara, describing her as "an extraordinary African woman."

During a video conversation with Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate for TIME 100, the star discussed the Black Lives Matter movement and how to amplify voices from Africa.

"One of the things thats been interesting is the education," the actress said. "I dont know about the schools in Uganda, but I know in the United States theres a very big question... My daughter is from Ethiopia, one of my children. And I have learned so much from her. She is my family, but she is an extraordinary African woman."

The mother-of-six continued, "Her connection to her country, her continent, is very  its her own and its something I only stand back in awe of. But what I see in, for example, American history books and how limited they are they start teaching people who are Black about their lives through the Civil Rights movement, which is such a horrible place to begin."

Photo credit: Mondadori Portfolio - Getty Images

In 2005, Angelina adopted Zahara, her second eldest child, from an orphanage in Ethiopia when she was six months old. The actress was already mother to her adoptive son Maddox, who was born in Cambodia. She later adopted another son, three-year-old Pax Thien, from Vietnam. The actress also has three biological children - Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne - with ex-husband Brad Pitt.

The 45-year-old recently told Harpers Bazaar that she feared for her daughter growing up as a Black woman in the US. "There is racism and discrimination in America. A system that protects me but might not protect my daughter  or any other man, woman, or child in our country based on skin colour  is intolerable," she said. In June, Angelina donated $200,000 (158,530) to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund which is the US' leading civil and human rights legal organisation.

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Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.

With over 7,000 fresh infections in 24 hours, Maharashtras Covid-19 tally tops 2.5 lakh

With an addition of 7,827 fresh coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, Maharashtras Covid-19 tally has jumped to 2,54,427, state health department bulletin stated on Sunday. The state has reported 173 coronavirus fatalities in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 10,289. Read more

At loggerheads with Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot is angry. Heres why

The buzz in the state bureaucratic circles is that Pilot has differences with bureaucrats in his departments, especially in the public works department (PWD). Political appointments are also due in the state and Pilot, obviously, wants some of his people accommodated. Read more

UP cop accused of tipping off Vikas Dubey moves SC for security, CBI probe

The petition filed by Sharma and his wife Vinita Sirohi, sought a CBI probe into the incident besides asking for protection citing the encounter killings of six other accused including the main accused Vikas Dubey. Read more

Ganguly came to our dressing room and asked us not to create an issue: Sangakkara recalls incident regarding Dada

Ganguly entered the Sri Lankan dressing room after the match to check whether everyone was on the same page regarding a particular incident. Read more

Sushant Singh Rajputs sister Shweta thanks fans for support: Lets have faith in God and his justice

Late actor Sushant Singh Rajputs sister Shweta Singh Kirti has expressed her gratitude for the love and support received from his fans during this difficult time. She said that she was overwhelmed by the love and thanked everyone. Read more

Heres why the ban against the 59 Chinese apps may not be lifted any time soon

According to reports, the government has also stopped these apps from obtaining an injunction to block the ban order. Read more

Covid-19: Heres how you can help your children cope with pandemic stress, according to the WHO

Considering how young and unaware they are, the responsibility to educate, nourish and protect them falls on the adults they live with. WHO has issued a guideline to aid you in better providing for your children. Read more

WATCH | Anubhav Sinha: Insider-outsider debate superficial, starkids have their share of difficulties

The director of the recent Thappad in a freewheeling chat on his films, his take-no-prisoners approach on social media and the nepotism debate that was reignited after actor Sushant Singh Rajputs death. Watch the video here.
The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA), Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI) and Drinks Ireland are calling for a temporary reduction in the hospitality VAT rate, and extending it to apply to alcohol sales in the on-trade (pubs, restaurants and hotel bars) until December 31 as part of the July stimulus package promised by Government.

The rate is currently 23%, which is high by EU standards.

Approximately one third of Dublin pubs have not reopened, while outside of the capital more than 60% of pubs have remain closed  these are businesses that do not serve food so remain closed.

A reduction in the VAT rate on alcohol, which is currently 23%, is being sought to safeguard 22,500 jobs, dominated by large numbers of young workers, as pubs are on track for a 50% decline in business for the remainder of 2020, according to a report authored by DCU economist Anthony Foley published this week.

The report found that on-trade pub alcohol sales will decline by 50% or more for the second half of 2020 and this figure was the most optimistic market expectation.

"A reduction is the hospitality VAT rate is not enough. It needs to be extended to alcohol as this is the only measure that will support the pubs that are still closed and have been for four months. The reduced demand due to social distancing, limited customer visits and lower consumer demand will impact the employment potential of pubs and their ability to bring staff back," said LVA CEO Donall OKeeffe.

The drinks and hospitality industry is one of the largest employers of young people right across the country and according to the LVA and VFI, in the majority of pubs, young people account for over half the workforce.

"A huge portion of those employed in drinks and hospitality businesses across the country are young workers. Equally, the nature and model of hospitality businesses means we rely heavily on part-time staff to cover the busy periods such as evenings, weekends, seasonal periods and holidays such as Easter, Summer and Christmas. Those staff tend to be younger workers.

"We must ensure that Covid does not unfairly and unnecessarily disadvantage our younger generation, like what happened in the recession, by helping drinks and hospitality businesses to maintain jobs in the sector," said Mr OKeeffe.

An amended European Directive gives the Government power to apply and extend a lower hospitality VAT rate to on-trade alcohol sales. "Our members employ huge numbers of our younger generation and we need support to keep our heads above water as we reopen with reduced demand and increased costs," said VFI chief executive Padraig Cribben.

"We cant have a situation where any job losses would have a substantial impact on one demographic in society  one which both work in and enjoy the drinks and hospitality industry, so it would mean a double blow.

"Equally, for an industry that is regional and employment intensive, a VAT cut to boost pubs would have a disproportionately high impact on under-invested regions and we estimate that cutting VAT on on-trade alcohol would be highly effective and go a long way to secure over 22,500 jobs in the sector."

In his address this Thursday, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar said the Government is planning for "radical and far-reaching" proposals in the July stimulus package due to be announced next week.

According to Drinks Ireland director Patricia Callan, "we can make this a very short-term recession with ambitious policy. Our proposal is both radical and far-reaching and its effectiveness is unquestionable. It will have an immediate effect by reducing costs for 7,000 small businesses across the country. Such a policy measure has not been implemented in Ireland before and we now know it can be done."

The group said the sector could, with the right support, help drive Irelands economic recovery after the Covid lockdown. Despite pubs being one of the hardest and longest hit sectors during the lockdown, and one of the highest taxed, they are working hard to get back up and running as soon as possible.

The policy ask is part of the Protect our Pubs campaign by LVA, VFI and Drinks Ireland, which seeks to highlight the important social and cultural role that the drinks and hospitality industry play in our communities and to demonstrate the loss that would be felt should some pubs not reopen due to Covid-19.

Follow the Protect our Pubs campaign at #NewGovProtectourPubs
By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans.

Federal district court judge Vince Chhabria last Monday effectively torpedoed a controversial part of Bayers proposed $10.9 billion glyphosate settlement, which he must approve  thus effectively nixing the provision.Bayer wants, a panel of specially selected scientific experts to decide whether something causes cancer or not, taking that decision away from future juries.

According to the New York Times, judge Chhabria said:

he is skeptical of the propriety and fairness of the proposed settlement, and is tentatively inclined to deny the motion. He raised concerns about the creation of a scientific panel to decide whether the key ingredient, glyphosate, causes cancer and whether the agreement unfairly limits potential plaintiffs from suing.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in the world, Bayer acquired Monsanto in August 2018 and assumed its Roundup-related liabilities. Bayer now faces liability for about 125,000 lawsuits throughout the United States. Three multi-million dollar verdicts have been returned so far and Bayer is appealing each of these judgments.

Bayer is keen to cap its Roundup-related legal exposure not only for the 95,000 lawsuits that have already been filed, but also to bind the roughly 30,000 plaintiffs who have only got so far as to contact a lawyer but have yet either to file suit, let alone agree to any settlement offer.

The amount to be paid out for 95,000 existing lawsuits has been negotiated. The panels carcinogenicity determination would apply to and limit the options for those 30,000 potential plaintiffs. According to the NYT:

The settlement, announced two weeks ago after months of effort with the help of the veteran mediator Kenneth R. Feinberg, includes $8.8 billion to $9.6 billion to cover about 95,000 cases. In addition, $1.25 billion was set aside to finance the scientific panel and assist impoverished Roundup users with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

As I mentioned when I last posted on this topic, in Bayer Agrees to $10.9 Billion Glyphosate Settlement (quoting the Wall Street Journal), such a provision would be rare. Not only will the panel decide on whether glyphosate causes cancer and at what levels, but Bayer and other litigants would be bound by its determination in future proceedings.

You can see why defendants would want such a provision. Juries are unpredictable and tend to side with sympathetic plaintiffs, When a plaintiff gets sick, the jury wants to blame someone. What I think many fail to understand that a potential plaintiff does not just march down to the local court house and file a handwritten claim. That plaintiff must find a lawyer to help. For that task, plaintiffs law firms serve as entrepreneurs, sifting claims and bearing the costs for the litigation. Yes, they stand to make a lot of money for successful claims. Their contingency fees can top 35%. But heres the kicker: the claims must be successful. They get paid nothing for flaky claims.

And many meritorious claims do not get heard, by any court nor make it to a jury simply because it is not worth a lawyers time to pursue them. This is especially at a time when legal reforms and the rightward shift in the makeup of courts mean even plaintiffs who are right get denied justice.

What Next?

What happens next?

Bayer for its part is eager to settle. As well it should be. According to Successful Farming:

Juries awarded large sums of money to plaintiffs in the three glyphosate cancer cases that have gone to trial. The litigation has clouded Bayers financial outlook since it bought Monsanto. When it announced the settlement agreements two weeks ago, Bayer said it would be less costly to resolve the lawsuits than to face growing numbers of plaintiffs, upwards of 20 trials per year and uncertain jury outcomes, and associated reputational and business impacts.

The NYT reports that Bayer would address the judges concerns at the preliminary approval hearing, scheduled for July 24. In the meantime, Bayer has withdrawn the original settlement proposal, according to Fierce Pharma:

Bayer has taken its cue from a judge and decided to rework the portion of its proposed Roundup settlement that focuses on future lawsuits. On Wednesday, Bayer said lawyers representing a class of plaintiffs who claim the Roundup weedkiller caused their cancer had withdrawn a request for court approval of that $1.25 billion section of the settlement deal. The withdrawal will enable the parties to more comprehensively address the questions raised by Judge Vince Chhabria, the company said.

The company says it is optimistic about reaching a settlement and issued the following statement, as Fierce Pharma reports:

Bayer remains strongly committed to a resolution that simultaneously addresses both the current litigation on reasonable terms and a viable solution to manage and resolve potential future litigation, the company said in a statement. Now, its working with the plaintiffs on a plan B, and it might not take too long. Although the Court is not aware of any Plan B, it would be surprising if none existed given the stakes involved and the novelty of Plan A, Chhabria noted earlier.

Judge Chhabrias eyes are wide open as to what is at stake, as the NYT reports:

Judge Chhabria asked in his filing whether it was lawful to shift the question of whether Roundup caused cancer to a panel of scientists and away from judges and juries. He also pointed to the three previous multimillion-dollar verdicts and asked, Why would a potential class member want to replace a jury trial and the right to seek punitive damages with the process contemplated by the settlement agreement?

Exactly. That is the question.

So lets hope he remains vigilant as this drama continues to unfold.
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Linkedin Song Seung-hyun (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network)  Sun, July 12, 2020 18:04 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665bf69a 2 Lifestyle LINE,LINE-Friends,South-Korea,tableware,lifestyle,Kwangjuyo Free

On the surface of white pottery is an illustration of a bear and a duckling playing surrounded by mokbuyong flowers, a type of lotus. The illustration is painted with blue pigments.

The bear is a character named Brown and the duckling is Sally, both from global character brand Line Friends, while the lotus flowers represent Korean premium tableware brand Kwangjuyo. The blue and white color coordination stems from a traditional pottery style especially popular during the late Joseon era.

The dish was launched in June as part of the Kwangjuyo Brown & Friends Series collection, jointly produced by the two companies.

(Through this collaboration) I wanted to break the stereotypes against traditional products and show tradition can also be fun and easy, Kwangjuyo Chairman Cho Tae-Kwon told The Korea Herald via email. Also, my ultimate goal is to make traditional ceramics a leading cultural product of Korea by harmonizing it with pop culture.

He added that when producing the new collection the company focused on harmony between Kwangjuyos brand image and Line Friends characters.

Kwangjuyo, a traditional tableware brand, was established in 1963. The current chairman inherited the leadership in 1988, and since then the company has been working on reflecting trends while preserving the art of traditional Korean ceramics.

As a leading Korean traditional ceramic brand with 58 years of history, we are looking for diverse ways to become more familiar to the public, Cho said. To do so, we have been collaborating with leading artists from different fields. Also through this collaboration, we hope to broaden our customer base and strengthen our brand awareness globally.

Last year, the company launched a tableware collection inspired by K-pop sensation BTS. The brand also collaborated with popular Korean illustrator Nanan and launched a series of products in December last year and in May this year.

Read also: LINE launches new BT21 stickers to support vaccination initiative

Although the ceramics company is experienced with projects cooperating with artists, this is the first time for it to work with a character firm.

Cho said it decided to work with Line Friends due to the companys reputation in the global market and its wide customer base.

Line Friends and its original characters are culture contents that have bases in different parts of the world, Cho said. Line Friends characters also have a strong fan base regardless of age or gender, so we thought that we can appeal to a new customer base through this collaboration.

According to Line Friends, it currently has over 200 outlets in 14 countries. The character brand became especially popular worldwide with its BT21 collection, which was co-produced with BTS.

Line Friends also appeals to millennial and Generation Z customers -- collectively those born since about 1980 -- thanks to its online-to-offline service.

At the flagship store in Gangnam, there is a separate zone for the Kwangjuyo Brown & Friends Series. Next to the products, there are QR codes, which link to our online mall. Customers can experience the products at offline stores and purchase them online, a Line Friends official told The Korea Herald. The company added that since the ceramics products are heavy and can break easily, this system makes it more convenient for customers to purchase.

Cho added that further collaborations will continue as Kwangjuyo hopes to uphold openness as a core value.

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This article appeared on The Korea Herald newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
Police in the southern New South Wales (NSW) border city of Albury check cars crossing the state border from Victoria on July 8, 2020. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Virus Spike in Australian State Troubles Neighbours

The Victorian coronavirus spike continues to trouble its neighbours, with a Melbourne man testing positive in New South Wales and South Australia deploying the military to help guard its border.

The southern state recorded 216 new cases on July 11a sixth consecutive day of triple-digit risesand brought the national death toll to 107 after a man in his 90s died.

Community transmission is a major concern with outbreaks in public housing towers and a large school in Melbournes west driving a second surge in infections.

If youve been in Victoria in the last couple of weeks, dont mix with other people until two weeks have passed, NSW Health Minister Jeremy McAnulty said on Saturday.

One of seven new infections in NSW was a male in his 20s from Melbourne, who had towed his caravan up from Victoria on July 7.

South Australia does not have any active infections and has asked Defence Force personnel to help enforce its hard border closure with Victoria.

Soldiers will be stationed at Berri and Mount Gambier from Sunday, helping police ensure anyone coming across has essential traveller status or other exemptions.

An Adelaide hostel was on Friday fined $5,060 (US$3,517) for failing to safely house four travellers from Victoria whose test results are still not known, while a truck driver in Bordertown is in quarantine after contact with two confirmed NSW cases.

The number of confirmed cases across the country now stands at more than 9,580, with two more cases in Queensland and two in Western Australia.

The cases in the two states and five of the NSW infections are returned travellers in hotel quarantine.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has given provisional approval in Australia for the drug Remdesivir, which can improve the recovery time of the illest COVID-19 patients.

The U.S.-made intravenous drug is the most promising treatment so far to reduce hospitalisation time for those with severe coronavirus infections, the TGA said.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said the TGA approval was significant but warned it was no silver bullet.

He said a vaccine may not be available for up to two years.

In Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews said the latest lockdown of metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire needed peoples full compliance.

What Im asking Victorians to do is not to spend time trying to find ways to get around the rules but instead to follow them, Andrews said.

Victorians have been noticeably heeding advice to wear face masks when out in public, he said.

Andrews said he had accepted all offers of support from Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The federal government is halving international flight arrivals to ease pressure on hotel quarantine systems and returning Australians will be made to pay for their two-week stay in hotel quarantine.

By Andi Yu
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 10:18:15|Editor: huaxia

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SHANGHAI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai reported two new imported COVID-19 cases and no increase in domestically transmitted cases on Saturday, the municipal health commission said Sunday.

The imported cases were Russian sailors who departed from Russia on June 28 and arrived in the city on July 9. Showing symptoms, they were sent to a designated medical institution for isolated observation and were confirmed as COVID-19 patients.

All of the 19 close contacts on board with them have been put under quarantine.

As of Saturday, Shanghai has reported 382 confirmed imported cases and 342 locally transmitted cases. Enditem
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NEW DELHI : Fear of deportation in the middle of a global crisis, unpaid loans, rising risk of COVID-19 infection, dropping out a semester and the possibility of never being able to return to campus are among the concerns of Indian students in the US after announcement of the new visa regulations.

In a move that is expected to adversely impact thousands of Indian students, the US immigration authority has announced that foreign students will have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only classes in this fall semester due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Johns Hopkins University have filed a lawsuit seeking to revoke the order, some universities, including Princeton University, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Cornell University have announced their support for the lawsuit.

India's foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla also raised the issue with US under secretary of state for political affairs David Hale during an online meeting earlier this week stating there is a need to keep in mind the role of educational exchanges and people-to-people relations between the two countries as they played a key role in development of the overall ties.

However, the students continue to be gripped with anxiety waiting for further updates.

"This will be a big blow to students who came to the US with long term plans. I stayed back in the country when the campuses shut in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. I did not want to travel as well as different time zones would have made it miserable to attend online classes. But suddenly my stay here is now legally invalid," Shobhna Mukherjee, a student at Duke University told PTI.

"What happens to the semester, what happens to the education loan, what happens to the work I was doing here at the university to aid my tuition fees? And most importantly if I am deported, will I ever be able to get back? There are no answers to these questions," she added.

A student at University of Illionis in Chicago, who refused to be identified said, "Nobody saw this coming. I was shocked to hear this, something which was not imagined in the wildest of our dreams. When one moves to a country it is never a short plan, it has been thought through before. With this, the plan I had in mind for the next five years will also go for a toss. It is a situation where I don't know what to fear about more -- disease or deportation."

"I arrived in Boston in January only. Right now my university is deciding to conduct classes in hybrid mode, which may be changed to completely online if the coronavirus cases rise further. What happens then? Will my stay here turn illegal?," Kosha Thakur, an Indian student in Boston, said.

Vatsala Thapar, who is pursuing a degree in Computer Science at University of South California, came back to India in March when the university suspended on-campus classes.

"Threatening to deport students while they are already living in the middle of a global crisis shows their hostility towards non-citizens. Many of those students do not have the means to travel back to their home countries and some stayed back only to secure their visa status. How does their staying in the US while studying at an American university and contributing to their economy affect anyone else?" Thapar said in a social media post.

Pallav Upadhyay, an Indian student in Atlanta said, "For universities operating in a hybrid system and holding some classes in person, international students who are enrolled in those are allowed back into the US. "

"However, if the status of those classes changes at any point, which is likely if cases rise on campus, we would be sent back. Alternately, if we choose to pursue classes online and the university switches to in-person teaching, we are expected to travel back to the US to preserve our student visas," he said.

According to a recent report of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), there were 1,94,556 Indian students enrolled in various academic institutions of the US in January this year. Of these 1,26,132 were males and 68,405 were females.

Universities in the US were forced to shift classes online in mid-March in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The country is the hardest hit by the pandemic with more than 3.3 million confirmed cases and 137,403 deaths.

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San Francisco, July 12 : Microsoft founder Bill Gates has warned about a deadlier pandemic if successful drugs or a COVID-19 vaccine, when developed, go first to the highest bidders and not reach the common people who need it the most.

Addressing a remote COVID-19 conference hosted by the International AIDS Society on Saturday, Gates said democratizing the vaccine must be the goal, reports CNBC.

"If we just let drugs and vaccines go to the highest bidder, instead of to the people and the places where they are most needed, we'll have a longer, more unjust deadlier pandemic," he said.

"We need leaders to make these hard decisions about distributing based on equity, not just on market-driven factors," Gates added.

There are at least 21 vaccines currently under key trials, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The fear is that once the vaccine is developed, the rich and the powerful people would grab it first.

However, despite encouraging preliminary data coming from some research labs, a Covid-19 vaccine is nowhere near while new corona cases are mounting in several countries including in India.

No vaccines have yet started their large and critical Phase-III trials in the US.

WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan has said that AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine candidate is currently the most advanced vaccine in terms of development.

AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, developed by researchers from the Oxford University, will likely provide protection against the disease for one year, the British drug maker's CEO told Belgian radio station Bel RTL recently.

The vaccine developed at the Oxford Jenner Institute is currently on trial in the UK, where over 4,000 participants have enrolled and additional enrollment of 10,000 participants is planned for the clinical trial. The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine has been licenced to AstraZeneca.

"Global cooperation, a resolve to invent the tools and get them out where they're needed most is critical," said Gates at the virtual event.

Gates in May said the vaccine development may take at least nine months to two years.

"Most of the drug candidates right now are nowhere near that powerful. They could save a lot of lives, but they aren't enough to get us back to normal," the Microsoft co-founder wrote in his GatesNotes blog.

In the absence of an "almost perfect drug to treat COVID-19", it becomes imperative that every person on the planet gets vaccinated against coronavirus.

"Realistically, if we're going to return to normal, we need to develop a safe, effective vaccine. We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible," he said.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has refuted a report which claimed that he purchased a multi-million Naira Abuja mansion for his son who recently got married.

Speaking on Saturday, Malami described the report as fabricated allegations that had become the trade of his traducers.

The report published on an online news medium (not THE WHISTLER) had also claimed that the Attorney-General was planning a second leg of wedding for his son and had allegedly chartered private jets to convey guests to the purported venue.

Responding, Malami said: God knows not a rented house was secured for my son in Abuja because he has no plan to live therein.

He added that, It is one of such libelous publications of which the newspaper is commonly known for. It targets a selected few for unsubstantiated fabricated allegations while overlooking more serious reasonable allegations visibly open against its favoured sectional kinsmen.

The AGF challenged anyone with evidence on his alleged purchase of the said mansion and charter of private jets to make such public.

Who is the vendor of the purported house bought for my son in Abuja at N300m? Where is it located? Where are the title documents? he queried.

Malami further said on the alleged chartered jets: It is common knowledge that I have neither a father nor mother anywhere in Nigeria to convey to Kano for the wedding.

Who then am I using the chartered flight to convey? Which jets are chartered? Who paid for the charter? Through which means was the money paid? he further queried.
Scindia had left the Congress a few months back and joined the BJP as he believed that he was being marginalised by senior party leaders in Madhya Pradesh.

As media reports on alleged infighting in the Congress government in Rajasthan, BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia took a swipe at his former party, saying talent and capability find "little credence" in the Congress party.

He claimed that Rajasthan''s Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot was being "sidelined and persecuted" by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, @SachinPilot too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM, @ashokgehlot51 . Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the @INCIndia .  Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) July 12, 2020

Scindia had left the Congress a few months back and joined the BJP as he believed that he was being marginalised by senior party leaders in Madhya Pradesh.

More than 20 MLAs supporting him also left the Congress, leading to the collapse of the the Kamal Nath government in March following which the BJP returned to power in the state. Speculations are that Pilot, too, has been facing similar issues in Rajasthan.

According to News18, Pilot has reached Delhi with some of his loyalist MLAs, including three Independents, on Sunday and is likely to meet the state Congress leadership. Pilot also met senior party leader Ahmed Patel on Saturday, where he was assured that injustice will not be allowed to happen to him.

This comes a day after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that BJP was indulging in horse-trading ahead of the 10 June Rajya Sabha elections. "We keep hearing talk of money being offered to MLAs to switch sides. Some have been promised up to Rs 15 crore and some have been assured of other favours. What they first did covertly, they now do overtly. You saw this in Goa, Madhya Pradesh and the north-eastern states," Gehlot told NDTV.

Pilot, who has been engaged in a power tussle with Gehlot, continues to be incommunicado, leading to anxiety in the state unit.

Congress general secretary in-charge for the state Avinash Pande told PTI that he had not spoken to Pilot for the last two days and had left a message with him.

"All Congress MLAs are in touch with me and the government in Rajasthan is stable and will last its full term," he said.

The Congress general secretary said party chief Sonia Gandhi has been updated on developments in Rajasthan.

"I have not talked to Pilot for the last two days and I''m trying to reach out to him. I have left messages for him," he said.

With inputs from PTI
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The Congress government in Rajasthan stared at a political crisis on Sunday with a number of its legislators loyal to deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot camping in the National Capital Region amidst apprehensions over a possible split in its ranks.

The Congress called a meeting of all its Rajasthan legislators on Monday and rushed two central observers  Randeep Singh Surjewala and Ajay Maken  to state capital Jaipur in a bid to iron out differences between Pilot and chief minister Ashok Gehlot, who have differed on a number of issues since the formation of the partys government in 2018.

In a late-night statement released on WhatsApp, Pilots camp said the deputy chief minister has the backing of about 30 legislators in the 200-member assembly. The Ashok Gehlot government is in minority after over 30 Congress and some independent MLAs have pledged their support to Sachin Pilot, said the statement released by Pilots media office.

Also read: Amid political turmoil in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot to skip key party meet

But the Gehlot camp appeared confident about the governments stability. A large number of Congress and other legislators supporting the government met the chief minister at his residence amid hectic parleys. There is no danger to the government. All our MLAs are with us, said Congress legislator Ashok Chandana, who is considered close to Gehlot.

Separately, five Congress lawmakers considered close to Pilot held a press conference at the chief ministers residence in Jaipur, saying they are soldiers of the Congress even as they ruled out the possibility of leaving the party.

We have full faith in the leadership of CM Ashok Gehlot. Our identity is because of the party and we are committed to it, said Congress legislator Chetan Singh Choudhary, one of the five MLAs.

He was accompanied by Danish Abrar, Rohit Bohra, Pratap Singh Khachariywas (who is also the transport minister) and Harish Choudhary. We are soldiers of the Congress party and we had gone to Delhi for personal issues, Abrar said.

In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has the support of 125 MLAs, including 107 of its own legislators. The party has the backing of 13 independents and five from other parties. The majority mark is 101. The BJP has 72 legislators and has the support of three of Hanuman Beniwals Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RPL).

Pilots supporters said he has raised issues against the functioning of Gehlot over the past fortnight with the partys state in-charge and general secretary, Avinash Pande, Congress organisation secretary KC Venugopal and senior Congress leader Ahmad Patel in Delhi.His concerns were not addressed, said a party leader considered close to Pilot.

Another Congress functionary familiar with the developments said Surjewala and Maken have been given the mandate to bring about a lasting truce between Gehlot and Pilot, who is also the Rajasthan Congress president.

Worried for our party. Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables? former Union minister Kapil Sibal tweeted.

His views were echoed by the Congresss Rajya Sabha member, Vivek Tankha. Kapil ji your worry is every party members concern. Its time to strengthen the party to fight forces, who have only 1 agenda - weaken Congress and our democratic values and institutions, he said on Twitter.

Also read: Sidelining of Pilot in crucial decisions behind the turmoil?

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, too, took a swipe at the Congress, saying talent and capability find little credence in the party.

Sad to see my erstwhile colleague Sachin Pilot, too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the Congress, Scindia, who quit the Congress earlier this year, tweeted.

The ongoing crisis erupted after Pilot received a notice from the special operations group (SOG) of Rajasthan police to record his statement regarding the alleged attempt to topple the Congress government in the state. Though the Congress said a similar notice was sent to Gehlot as well, leaders close to Pilot called it a joke since the chief minister is also in charge of the home department that oversees the police force. Pilots camp said the July 10 notice is yet another move to humiliate the deputy chief minister and undermine his authority.

Gehlot alleged on Saturday that the BJP is trying to topple his government, a charge vehemently denied by the opposition party.

With Pilot rushing to Delhi on Saturday, some Congress legislators backing him and a few Rajasthan BJP MLAs are said to be staying in a five-star hotel in Manesar on the outskirts of Delhi.

For the Congress, the developments in Rajasthan could be reminiscent of what happened in Madhya Pradesh in March, when 24 legislators owing allegiance to Scindia resigned from the party and the state assembly, reducing chief minister Kamal Naths government to a minority. Scindia resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP.

As the Congress numbers in the Madhya Pradesh assembly dwindled, the BJP regained power with Shivraj Singh Chouhan becoming the chief minister for a record fourth time.

Last month, the Congress in Rajasthan had to swing into action just before the Rajya Sabha elections to three seats from the state. At that time too, the ruling party alleged that the BJP was trying to poach its legislators.

At that time, Gehlot himself supervised the efforts to guard the party legislators and the independents supporting his government. While the Congress won two seats, including the one by Venugopal, the BJP bagged one seat in the June 19 polls.

Pilot is under pressure from his supporters to take his ongoing power tussle with Gehlot to a logical conclusion, people familiar with the developments said.

A legislator close to Pilot said the Rajasthan police notice is actually legitimising the official surveillance on the deputy chief minister. This is sheer humiliation and nothing else. Pilot can be called for questioning anytime on one pretext or the other, said the legislator.

Pilots supporters said Gehlot has been undermining his deputys authority to the extent of not involving him in the state governments handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and other important decision-making processes.

They also said Pilots views are not being considered in political appointments in corporations and boards. Also, the CM has not held any meeting of the coordination committee set up by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss issues of governance and implementation of manifesto since its constitution in January 2020, they said.

Rajasthan Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Satish Poonia said there is intense infighting in the Congress and chief minister Gehlot is trying to hide his failures by blaming the BJP for trying to topple the government. If government falls, it would be because of infighting in the Congress. We [the BJP] have nothing to do with it, he said.

Political analyst Narayan Bareth said it is a big political setback for any political party if a state president rebels. I think the chief minister has anticipated this situation ...He might be having a Plan B to deal with this, but as of now the Congress in Rajasthan is in turmoil, he said.
The decision by the leadership of the Actors' Guild of Nigeria (AGN) to visit Regina Daniels has received some harsh bashing from Nollywood actress Lala Akindoju.

According to her, the AGN is turning into a shameful selective parade after they paid a visit to Regina Daniels after giving birth.

Regina Daniels has become the new mum to her billionaire husband, Ned Nwoko, according to a report by Daily Post Nigeria.

Led by AGN President Emeka Rollas, the group presented a gift to the new mum and declared Regina's baby Nollywood baby of the year.

However, Lala opposed the visit, criticizing the guild for its priorities at a time like this.

She described the visit as shameful, urging the guild to show leadership on pressing issues like navigating the industry with Covid-19 pandemic and creating structures to stop sexual harassment.

Her post via her Instagram page read, This visit is actually shameful. In these Covid-19 times when the Actors' Guild should show leadership on pressing issues like navigating the industry with Covid-19 and creating structures to stop sexual harassment in the industry.

This is their priority. Even if you visit your member, must you film and post? The video we need to see is about future and safety of practitioners. Yet, they abuse us and insist that we join.

---Daily Guide
Flights were canceled, people stayed at home instead of traveling, and import/export activities became stagnant because of the pandemic. As a result, insurers experienced tough days in the first half of the year.

The products sold to businesses such as aviation, tourism and cargo insurance became even more difficult to sell during the pandemic.





Do Truong Minh, CEO of Bao Viet, the biggest Vietnamese insurer, said the performance of the insurance sector depends on the health of other business fields, so the poor performance of insurance companies was anticipated.

Airlines canceled flights, travel firms stopped providing tours, and import/export activities were suspended.



The managers of Pjico, a subsidiary of Petrolimex, the countrys largest petroleum product distributor, also complained that it faced big difficulties. The decrease in demand for petroleum products, lower demand for travel, and the sharp fall of petroleum product prices affected the sale of insurance products.



If the pandemic ends by the second quarter of the year, Pjicos revenue from cargo insurance in 2020 may be 20 percent lower than initially planned.

Other wholesale insurance products, including asset, engineering and project insurance, which does not make up a large proportion of total revenue, also saw low growth rates because of the declines in FDI capital and other types of investment.

Other wholesale insurance products, including asset, engineering and project insurance, which does not make up a large proportion of total revenue, also saw low growth rates because of the declines in FDI capital and other types of investment.



As for aviation insurance, insurers had to reimburse insurance premiums because airplanes were not used during the social distancing period.



Poor business performance not only occurred with wholesale operations, but also with motor vehicle insurance, which brings 40-50 percent of total insurance premiums of many insurance companies.



Since people had financial problems in Covid-19, they cut big expense items, which resulted in the slow sale of vehicle insurance. Pjico estimated that revenue from car insurance would decrease by 8 percent.



A senior executive of Bao Minh Insurance complained that some clients decided to cancel contracts or asked for premium payment extensions because their financial situation became worse.



However, not all non-life insurance products have been affected. Health insurance, which makes up a large proportion of insurance companies revenue, has continued to grow.



Analysts said that Decree 100, which sets heavy fines for road and railway transport violations, helped insurers collect more motor vehicle owner civil liability premiums. Some insurers even halved the insurance premiums to attract more clients and expand their market share.



In general, insurance companies are cautious about setting business targets for 2020. Bao Viet Group hopes it can get post-tax profit of VND1.2 trillion this year, or 5 percent lower than the previous year.

Thanh Lich

Vietnam life insurance market sees large claim settlements made In recent years the life insurance market in Viet Nam has seen an increasing number of claim payouts. Recently Korean life insurance company, Hanwha...
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 12)  Instead of letting personal issues prevail, lawmakers in Congress should have well reminded themselves of their roles as representatives during the voting on the ABS-CBN franchise, Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday.

"Kaya nga representatives ang tawag, ikaw dapat ang nagrerepresent ng mga constituents mo....pero ito talagang nakakadurog ng puso," Robredo said in her weekly radio show.

[Translation: This is why you're called representatives, you're supposed to represent your constituents...but this incident is really heartbreaking.]

Robredo added that she herself has experienced unfair reporting from the broadcast giant in the past, but this does not justify the decision to deny them of a fresh franchise to serve the people amid the pandemic.

"Na-mention sa hearing na kahit ako maraming ads na hindi na-air. Maraming pagkakataon na, lalo kaming naninilbihan sa taongbayan, nararamdaman namin na hindi fair. Maraming mga taga-ABS-CBN ang hindi naging fair sa akin," she said.

[Translation: It was even mentioned in the hearing that I also had political ads which weren't aired on the network. There were many instances, that even we, public servants, felt that it wasn't fair. Some people from ABS-CBN were not fair to me.]

She added: "Pero hindi ito panahon para magsingil ng personal na hinanakit. May mas malaking dahilan, may mas malaking interest tayong pinaglalaban, interes ng lahat ng taong umasang magtrabaho sa ABS."

[Translation: But this is not the time for them to take advantage of personal grievances. There are bigger reasons here, bigger interests that we should be fighting for, interest of the people who work for ABS.]

In an overwhelming 70-11 vote on Friday, the House Committee on Legislative Franchises adopted the report of its technical working group not to grant ABS-CBN a new franchise, claiming that the media giant does not deserve to resume broadcast operations due to numerous violations on ownership, labor practices, and tax obligations, among others.

READ: House panel denies ABS-CBNs bid for fresh franchise

The panel, dominated by allies of President Rodrigo Duterte, had maintained that the decision was in no way related to the freedom of the press," but rather a denial of a privilege granted by the State because the applicant was seen as undeserving of the grant of a legislative franchise.

Despite Duterte publicly threatening the network of a shutdown the past years for refusing to carry his 2016 campaign ads, Malacanang insisted that it had no hand in the decision of the committee.

Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta, one of the lawmakers who staunchly criticized ABS-CBN over the past congressional hearings, recently noted that the frequency previously assigned to the Lopez-led network might not even be available by 2022 if the government decides to give the franchise to another media company.

Cayetano, who was Duterte's vice presidential running mate in 2016, insisted that the hearings on ABS-CBN were "fair, impartial, thorough, and comprehensive."

Anakalusugan Partylist Rep. Mike Defensor previously said they spent over a hundred hours in the franchise deliberations overall. However, some congressmen used the time to accuse the network of "cyberbullying" and "unfair reporting" of the network against them.

Social Weather Stations recently released results of a national survey which showed that 75 percent of Filipinos want to renew ABS-CBN's franchise, while another 56 percent said the non-renewal of the franchise was a "major blow to press freedom."

Over 11,000 regular and non-regular employees will be rendered jobless following the denial of the franchise.

READ: TIMELINE: ABS-CBN franchise

The network said they will continue to deliver news through the limited platforms available to them.
As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the US, New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this spring - while also trying to prepare in case another surge comes.

New York's early experience is a ready-made blueprint for states now finding themselves swamped by the disease. It could also come in handy at home, as the region readies for a potential second wave of infection that experts predict will likely come at some point.

Gov Andrew Cuomo has offered advice, ventilators, masks, gowns and medicine to states dealing with spikes in cases and hospitalizations and, in some places, rising deaths. Some health care workers are heading to other states to help fight the virus, reciprocating the influx that gave New York hospitals some much-needed relief just months ago.

At the same time, the Democratic governor has ordered travelers from more than a dozen states to quarantine for 14 days, while urging New Yorkers not to let up on wearing masks or social distancing.

Yet with the virus tearing through the South and West, Cuomo warned Friday it would eventually rear up again in New York.

"We're doing everything we can," he told WAMC radio, but "I can feel it coming." A widely cited University of Washington model doesn't project spikes - at least through its Nov. 1 time frame - in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, whose Democratic governors have coordinated on traveler quarantines and, earlier, some shutdown policies. But that doesn't mean the densely populated tri-state area is in the clear.

"We expect the virus to return in all of those states," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the university's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

"The question is one of timing. As cases spiked in March and April, New York became the nation's coronavirus nightmare, with New York City at the crux of it. Statewide, over 18,000 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals at one point in April. Daily deaths peaked at 799 in April, and have totalled over 24,000.

Now, as states from Florida to Texas to California see new confirmed cases soar, hospitals fill up and daily death tolls hit new records, numbers have dropped precipitously in the tri-state region. New York reported six new deaths statewide Saturday, when hospitals were caring for a total of about 800 coronavirus patients.

While New York has been gradually reopening, it also has been quietly preparing to handle another surge if it comes.

After health workers in New York and elsewhere grappled with shortages of masks, gowns and other protective gear this spring, Cuomo said he would order hospitals to have a 90-day supply on hand.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would build its own reserve of ventilators, protective equipment and coronavirus test kits, identifying local suppliers and manufacturers rather than looking to federal authorities or global markets.

"We've learned a tough lesson that we have to create, and we have to protect ourselves," said de Blasio, a Democrat, who also said the city would stockpile as many as 18 million shelf-stable meals. Others are preparing, too.

Mount Sinai Hospital expanded from 94 intensive-care beds to 235 and converted an atrium and lobby into wards for less-critical patients at the height of the crisis. Now, it's developing a coronavirus playbook of sorts, so clinicians will have how-tos immediately at hand, said Dr. Roopa Kohli-Seth, who oversees intensive care.
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One of the myths that China has sedulously perpetrated about its current pugnaciousness with its neighbours is the century of humiliation that it ostensibly endured from the commencement of the First Opium War in 1839 till the establishment of the communist state in 1949.

Xi Jinping, while speaking at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in 2017 bemoaned the fact that Ancient China, once a great empire, was plumbed into the dimness of domestic turmoil by foreign aggression. Its prosperous people were reduced to penury, torn asunder, and compelled to subsist in destitution and despondency for over 100 years.

A bit of history may just be in order. Chinas Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) actively engaged the outside world. It dispatched huge maritime fleets on expeditions across Asia and right down to the coast of Africa.

However, Ming China later retreated into seclusion for two centuries. Consequently, it missed the great intellectual renaissance and industrialisation that swept Europe and later the Americas.

In 1839, China declared war on drugs by impounding over 1,000 tons of opium from British dealers in Canton (modern Guangzhou). The British drug cartels pressured London into demanding that Beijing recompense them the full street value of these narcotics.

The Chinese emperor naturally snubbed this egregious extortion attempt. In 1840, British warships laid many Chinese coastal towns to waste. British troops slaughtered even non-combatants along the coastline. Thus, commenced the First Opium War.

British traders were also flustered as a grave trade imbalance subsisted between the Qing China and Great Britain due to the latters astronomical demands for tea, porcelain, and silk. Tea import alone amounted to over 23 million pounds in 1800.

The annual tab was 3.6 million pounds paid in silver. To offset this imbalance, the British started pushing opium into China that they sourced from India. With their defeat in the First Opium War, the Chinese were compelled to cede Hong Kong to the British and open five other treaty ports to international trade.

They soon had to offer the same terms to the other western imperialists.

During the Second Opium War in 1860, the British chastened the Chinese by raising Beijing's Summer Palace to the ground.

The ruthless pillage of the palace that contained a gargantuan number of priceless artifacts was to psychologically bludgeon the Chinese into submission.

The decades that followed seared the Chinese ego further. China lost one third of of its territory to invasions and tens of millions Chinese perished in internal conflict. The second World War left another thirty-five million Chinese dead.

Many scholars hold that the Chinese Communist Party has cynically perpetuated the shame narrative to subserve its own ends.

However, the fact is that this ignominy was painfully felt even by the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, who inscribed the words avenge humiliation on every page of his diary for twenty long years.

Therefore, a failure to discern how central the spectre of humiliation is to the whole idea of modern China would entail making strategic and tactical miscalculations.

However, no country can base its present on historical injustices and humiliations, howsoever traumatic they might have been. If China suffered one hundred years of humiliation at the hands of Western imperialists, India experienced 1300 years of dishonour at the hands of foreign invaders, beginning with Muhammad bin Qasim in 705 AD and ending with the British in 1947.

Can or should this become Indias raison d'etre in its dealings with its neighbours? The answer is no. India has not even been vociferous in demanding reparations from the British for 200 years of rapaciousness if you take the Battle of Plassey in 1957 as the inflection point.

China needs to come out of its persecution complex. There is another problem of how China perceives itself vis-a-vis India. From 1911 to 1949, China went through a murderous civil war and a brutal conflict with the Japanese before the Communist Shangri-La' could be established.

Subsequently, it went through the murderous experiments of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural revolution.

Conversely, the establishment of a liberal democracy in India was a relatively less bloody experience. It perhaps makes Chinese strategic planners wrongly assume that they are more resilient as a people in terms of their ability to take punishment as compared to us.

It often makes me wonder what would have been the trajectory of our liberation movement if our overlords were the Japanese rather than the British. Imperial Japan was the most tyrannical power in the first 45 years of the 20th century before two atom bombs tamed them. However, we shall leave that for another day.

Returning to the present: Are there any lessons that we need to draw from Chinas self-flagellation narrative to fine tune our border strategy? The foremost is that even a weak China did not except the British overtures in 1899 when C M McDonald attempted to delineate Indias northern and Chinas western border respectively.

In 1913, they refused to sign off on the McMahon Line at the Simla Conference. From the Chinese point of view, the borders have remained fuzzy for over a century now. They have the patience to play the long game. We must be tenacious enough to go toe to toe and nose to nose.

In 1993, an attempt was made in the Sino-Indian Peace and Tranquility agreement to establish the concept of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Its non-delineation on the map and non-demarcation on the ground, however, has rendered it virtually useless today.

How then would this impasse substantively end even if the Corps Commander-level talks are temporarily able to arrive at a modus vivendi? It would only recede when the Chinese are made to realize by a concert of Asian powers that there will be no Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century. China cannot rise alone.

The author is a lawyer, Member of Parliament and former Union information and broadcasting minister. The views expressed are personal. Twitter handle @manishtewari
Foxconn plans to invest up to $1 billion to expand a factory in southern India where the Taiwanese contract manufacturer assembles Apple iPhones, two sources said.

The move, the scale of which has not previously been reported, is part of a quiet and gradual production shift by Apple away from China as it navigates disruptions from a trade war between Beijing and Washington and the coronavirus crisis.

"There`s a strong request from Apple to its clients to move part of the iPhone production out of China," one of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Foxconn said it does not comment on matters related to customers, while Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Foxconn`s planned investment in the Sriperumbur plant, where Apple`s iPhone XR is made some 50 km west of Chennai, will take place over the course of three years, the second source said.

Some of Apple`s other iPhones models, made by Foxconn in China, will be made at the plant, said both sources, who declined to be identified as the talks are private and details have yet to be finalised.

Taipei-headquartered Foxconn will add some 6,000 jobs at the Sriperumbur plant in Tamil Nadu state under the plan, one of the sources said. It also operates a separate plant in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it makes smartphones for China`s Xiaomi Corp, among others.

Foxconn Chairman Liu Young-way last month said it would ramp up its investment in India, without giving details.

STATUS SYMBOL

Apple accounts for about 1% of smartphone sales in India, the world`s second-biggest smartphone market, where its pricey iPhones are often seen as a status symbol.

Building more phones in India will also help Apple save on import taxes that further push up its prices.

Apple assembles a few models through Taiwan`s Wistron Corp in the southern tech hub of Bengaluru. Wistron is also set to open a new plant, where it plans to make more Apple devices, Reuters previously reported.

"With India`s labour cheaper compared with China, and the gradual expansion of its supplier base here, Apple will be able to use the country as an export hub," Neil Shah of Hong Kong-based tech researcher Counterpoint said.

India is also working to boost electronics manufacturing by firms such as Foxconn and last month launched a $6.65 billion plan, offering five global smartphone makers incentives to establish or expand domestic production.

Having Apple widen its local presence is likely to be a boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s flagship "Make In India" drive, aimed at creating new jobs.

South Korea`s Samsung has already said it will make smartphones for export from its plant outside New Delhi.
The reassuring message from James Marshall is: dont worry too much if you fail all your GCSEs. He did. He dropped out of school aged 17 before he could fail his A-levels too. It would be fair to say I was not overly academic, he says. And now he is CEO of Pupil and doing for the interiors of houses what Google Street View has done for the exteriors. All floor plans are wrong, says Marshall. His venture Spec aims to fix that.

Two and half years ago Marshall walked into the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors headquarters in London and had a meeting with the director of international standards. He said: We believe everyone has been mis-sold properties because they are being mismeasured. Especially in London. To which the standards supremo replied, Yes, we know.

Marshall, born in 1984 near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, initially went into hospitality after leaving school, then into finance, and acquired a grounding in real estate (losing his shirt on a piece of land in Herefordshire  a good learning experience). He met his co-founder Oliver Breach (equipped with A-levels and a degree in religious studies) through friends in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis and they eventually joined forces. But their breakthrough moment occurred in 2014 when they encountered virtual reality for the first time.
You have to wonder where the idol-bashing will stop. Its understandable that statues of Robert E. Lee, leader of Confederate troops in the Civil War, the bloodiest in American history, should no longer have places of honor in the American South, homeland of the Confederate states that rebelled against the union in defense of slavery. I always sort of wondered why Lee, having been defeated by the Union Army led by Ulysses S. Grant, should have been so honored or, for that matter, why major U.S. army bases in the South should bear the names of Confederate army officers rather than heroes from Americas foreign wars.

Theres no end to calls for bashing statues. In Korea, protesters over the years have demanded the destruction of the statue of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, a 10-foot-tall image in bronze atop an 18-foot concrete base in a park not far from where U.S. troops stormed ashore in Incheon in September 1950. It was that bold strategy that drove out the North Koreans three months after Kim Il-sung had ordered his troops to invade the South, promising victory within weeks. Police have to keep a watchful eye on the statue while activists of opposing persuasions call for tearing it down or preserving it for the ages.
Let the facts speak for themselves-Was President Buhari aware of a DSS report indicting embattled EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu of hobnobbing with criminals and even living in a N20M per annum house they paid 2 years for?. Yes, he was. Was he also aware that the Police Service Commission found Magu guilty in 2010 of offences including withholding and unlawful removal of EFCC files?.Yes, he was.The DSS at that time was headed by a kinsman he brought out of retirement, Lawal Daura and their findings were made known to the senate when Magu's name was brought for confirmation as Chairman of the EFCC. Magu was not a known associate of Buhari prior to 2015 like Lawal Daura was and the million dollar question is why did Buhari insist so much on having such a man as head of the EFCC and even go to war with the senate over it?.

Only one answer appears plausible-Buhari needed a man like Magu for what he had in mind. There would be no courtship stage to be sure of what he would or would not do, a man with such 'proven' antecedents will hit the ground running. Magu's nemesis from what some sources say, stems from an altercation he had with the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN and his subsequent refusal to go and lobby Buhari to ensure Malami doesn't get him to act solely on his version.

Malami was able to convince Buhari that Magu had grown too much wings and even when he wrote a recommendation that he be fired for corruption, Magu didn't try to meet Buhari then or after. As a matter of fact his first response was to leak a letter from the Ministry of Justice (Malami's office) requesting the ICPC, EFCC, DSS and the Police to stop investigating the Managing Director of Nigeria Incentive-based Risk-Sharing System For Agricultural Lending, Aliyu Abdulhameed for a N1bn fraud. Abdulhameed is also being accused of fraudulently awarding a N2bn ICT contract to his son.

Make no mistake about it, Buhari and Malami knew perfectly well who Magu was maybe with the exception of his stubborness. He fitted into Buhari's plans till he felt he shouldn't be bossed around by the AGF and didn't care what the President thought about that.

Now Magu has been held way past the constitutionally stipulated 48 hours without any court order granting the authorities any power to hold him past that; only being ferried to face the Presidential panel and back to police custody. He is hesitant about approaching a court of law to demand his release because it would appear confrontational and disrupt his chances of getting a soft landing. He has also not had any of his cronies leak anything to the press and all that may in the end prove a very wise call.

The Buhari administration has a reputation for threading cautiously with friends it decides to turn its back on. There is the case of Sani Baba-Inna, Aisha Buhari's former ADC who was accused of defrauding people of N2.5bn in her name. His family confirmed what many suspected to be the case when they told popular activist, Deji Adeyanju that they knew he stole her money and that he had been a front for her, even buying a house in Abuja for one of her daughters. Baba-Inna was handed over to the police about 2 years ago and till date, has not been prosecuted in court.

As a matter of fact, no one has heard anything since and that is likely due to either the man having a story they don't want told or them having a troublesome conscience. There is also the case of former DSS Chief, Lawal Daura, the man under whom the damning report on Magu was prepared en route his rejection by the senate. Questions started being asked of Daura when proof that he was listed as an APC committee member prior to Buhari being President became public.

There were also the suspicions that he was helping Buhari carry out a fulani supremacist agenda when his DSS announced that 5 fulani corpses had been found in a forest in the east and that they were kidnapped and killed by IPOB members. It is really saying nothing out of the ordinary to say that no security agency talk more the secret police would make such remarks publicly without having apprehended the culprits. Why were they looking to start trouble?.

First, how did they know the buried corpses they unearthed were fulanis?. Secondly, how did they know the IPOB was responsible?. Weeks later, heavily armed herdsmen attacked Nimbo town in Enugu and killed 46 people. Daura was Buhari's right hand man and when he shut down the national assembly which was locked in a bitter feud with the presidency, it was obvious on whose orders he was acting. That lock down had foreign countries scared and Buhari who was in the UK at that time for treatment was feeling the heat like his Vice and then Acting President,Yomi Osinbajo who was being beseiged with calls and visits by envoys of countries who were scared a coup was taking place.

Daura was made to take the fall and despite being handed over to the police 2 years ago, he has still not been prosecuted. Like Baba-Inna, nothing has been heard ever since though there have been a few rumours of him now living overseas with some members of his family. Buhari's handlers ridiculously tried to insinuate that he was working with then Senate President, Bukola Saraki to give the Buhari administration a bad name.

The thing is just weeks before the invasion, the entrance of Saraki's house and that of his deputy were blocked by the DSS and police. Buhari couldn't claim to have suddenly woken up to Daura's excesses just like he can't claim not to know what Magu was capable of. He saw his record and decided, infact insisted that he needed a man like Magu to work with.

Judging from the treatment of those that have helped do their dirty job have gotten, Magu may end up with just a sack if indicted or worst case, be remanded in police custody till he is secretly let out when everyone has forgotten. Under Buhari shame has left us.

Umar Sa'ad Hassan is based in Kano - Twitter:@Alaye_100 - Email:[email protected]
Voters in northern Spain wore face masks and used hand sanitizer gel before entering polling stations on Sunday as Galicia and the Basque Country held regional elections while fighting localised outbreaks of COVID-19.

The polls are the first in Spain since the country began a strict lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus in early March. Both were postponed from April because of the pandemic.

Bilbao, the Basque region`s largest city, has increased the number of polling stations by 25% to ensure social distancing can be maintained. Voters and polling station workers are required to wear facial protection and wash their hands.

Authorities have said more than 460 people across the two regions who recently tested positive for the coronavirus will be unable to vote. People awaiting test results are also barred from leaving their homes.

"People with active coronavirus infections ... cannot attend activities in person. They would be breaching public health laws," Basque regional health chief Nekane Murga said on Saturday.

Local health officials have confirmed at least 161 COVID-19 cases in the Basque Country and more than 300 in Galicia.

While postal ballots are allowed, authorities could not say how many people in isolation had made such arrangements.

Fresh coronavirus outbreaks have triggered local lockdowns in the Basque Country, Galicia and Catalonia.

Andalusia, one of Spain`s top holiday destinations, will on Monday consider making it compulsory to wear a face mask in public, regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno said on Saturday, citing "fear" of tourists who were not wearing masks.

He said there were 109 cases of COVID-19 in the region and the situation was "under control".

Catalonia recorded nine deaths and 361 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, health authorities said.

The region made face masks compulsory on Wednesday, a move that was followed by the Balearic Islands and Extremadura.
Express News Service By

NEW DELHI: Only seven of the total 691 deaths in the last fortnight in Delhi occurred in home isolation, a government study has shown, proving that the policy is working in reducing deaths. No death has occurred in home isolation in July till now. The findings announced by the government on Saturday point out that home isolation also helped in reducing burden on hospitals, in terms with bed capacity and other health infrastructure.

As per the study, the most crucial point in the treatment cycle of Covid-19 patients in Delhi, is testing facilities. Delhi currently is doing atleast 20,000 tests daily, but this was not the case until a few days ago. After the intervention from the Centre testing in Delhi increased exponentially, so did the number of cases.

Difficulty in getting oneself tested in time led to death of some serious patients earlier. This has now been resolved with increased testing, said the government statement.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed the health department to examine practices of hospitals which are reporting lower number of deaths to learn from them and improve other hospitals and overall system. Government will study functioning of each hospital in detail. According the report submitted by the health department, Delhis overall death rate has come down to 3.02% from 3.64% in June. However, daily average is roughly around 2.5% with average daily number of deaths being less than 50 and daily number of fresh cases being around 2000 since two weeks.

Slow admission process, has been identified as a major bottleneck in fight against the pandemic. The government decided last month to depute officials at the reception of hospitals to sort out the bed availability issues. Increasing number of beds and ICUs was identified as crucial steps taken by the Kejriwal government in the last two weeks in improving the health system. According to the Delhi government, augmenting the ambulance fleet has also played a crucial role in saving lives as it ensured timely transportation of patients to hospitals.The Delhi government, which has been saying that the recovery rate is above 70 percent among the best in country, said that situation is under control.


The unusual substance known as antimatter may have appeared in many films about space and the future.

But it is what real scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, work on almost every day. Their research is part of efforts to find out what the universe is made of -- and how it works.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, CERN has 23 member nations and includes scientists and other employees from many more countries.

Their research laboratory is a ring-shaped underground structure. It is 27 kilometers around and crosses the border between Switzerland and France.

In the structure lies the Large Hadron Collider. In this huge machine, the parts of atoms called protons are made to crash into one another with extreme force. This creates antimatter and other elements.

But just because physicists can make antimatter does not mean they understand everything about it. Antimatter is as old as the universe. It is part of its creation, in an event often called the Big Bang.

Ludivine Ceard is a physicist with CERN. She discussed one of the theories behind the research.

We have this theory that says that right after the Big Bang, there was creation in equal amount between matter and antimatter, she told VOA. If the difference between the two is only the charge, they should have just recombined and left nothing but radiation.

Ceard added, However, we are hereSo it means at some point, matter took over the antimatter.

This, Ceard said, shows scientists that there are differences between matter and antimatter that they do not yet know.

Searching for those differences is one of the tasks for the people at the Compact Muon Solenoid, or CMS. That is one of four main experiment sites around the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

A muon is one of the so-called elementary particles, one with no smaller parts. It is similar to an electron, but heavier. And although it is extremely small, the machine built to study it is very large.

To create muons and antimatter, groups of protons race around a circular structure in two beams, moving in opposite directions at almost the speed of light. When the physicists are ready, the beams are focused and made to hit each other in just the right place.

Rende Steerenberg leads the group in charge of seeing those crashes happen. On either end of the experiments we will switch on focusing magnets so that the beam squeezes, he said.

This increases the chances of the beams hitting each other.

Even with 100 billion protons in a group moving in one direction and 100 billion protons moving the other way, only 50 protons are likely to connect.

Right now, however, the chance of a collision is zero. That is because the machine and the experiments around it are in the middle of a two-year work suspension for repairs and improvements. This happens every three years.

But there is still plenty of work to do.

The CMS project includes about 4,000 scientists from more than 50 countries. Patricia McBridge is a representative of the CMS project. She said the suspension does not mean scientists get free time.

I would say that for us its an opportunity, she said. Were looking at ways of making the detector better, repairing things, putting in new detectors, and preparing for the future runs which  will be running until, we hope2035.

Im Pete Musto.



Penny Dixon reported on this story for VOANews.com. Pete Musto adapted this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

antimatter  n. molecules formed by atoms consisting of antiprotons, antineutrons, and positrons

ring  n. something that is shaped like a circle

proton(s)  n. a very small particle of matter that is part of the nucleus of an atom and that has a positive electrical charge

site(s)  n. a place that is used for a particular activity

electron  n. a very small particle of matter that has a negative charge of electricity and that travels around the nucleus of an atom

beam(s)  n. a line of energy or particles that cannot be seen

focus(ed)  v. to cause something, such as attention, to be directed at something specific

squeeze(s)  v. to press together the parts and especially the opposite sides of something

opportunity  n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done

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A superhero needs to stay in shape.

And so it was only fitting that Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland showed off his insanely muscled torso on his Instagram Stories on Saturday, with a shirtless mirror selfie in what looked to be a makeshift gym area.

The British actor, 24, is seen center frame in black pants and nothing else, his chiseled abs catching the light perfectly.

Jacked Spidey: Tom Holland showed off his insanely muscled torso on his Instagram Stories on Saturday, with a shirtless mirror selfie in what looked to be a makeshift gym area

'When working with @markwahlberg you gotta get after it' Tom captioned the shot.

The actor is set to work with Mark Wahlberg in the upcoming Uncharted, based on the video game of the same name.

Holland, set to play main character Nathan Drake, is sure to more than hold his own opposite action veteran Wahlberg in the film that will serve as an origin story set before the video game.

Action star: The actor is set to work with Mark Wahlberg in the upcoming Uncharted, based on the video game of the same name; seen here in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming

In spite of his moderate stature at 5ft8in, Holland is a commanding presence, as evident in his latest selfie... not to mention his Marvel Cinematic Universe character.

Tom debuted his iteration of Spider-Man in the MCU in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, playing a boyish yet lithe and quick-footed version of the superhero.

He's gone on to appear in both concluding films to the Avengers franchise, Infinity War in 2018 and 2019's Endgame, along with two standalone movies  Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, and last year's Spider-Man: Far from Home.

In spite of his moderate stature at 5ft8in: Holland is a commanding presence, as evident in his latest selfie... not to mention his Marvel Cinematic Universe character; seen in February

Tom debuted his Spider-Man in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, and has gone on to appear in the concluding films to the Avengers franchise, Infinity War (pictured) and Endgame

And coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding, Tom looks to be quite busy in addition to making Uncharted with Transformers star Wahlberg.

Holland has wrapped the dark postwar thriller The Devil All The Time opposite Robert Pattinson and Riley Keough, along with the drama Cherry, directed by Avengers: Endgame helmers Anthony and Joe Russo.

Another big title on Holland's IMDb page currently in post-production is the sci-fi thriller called Chaos Walking, costarring Daisy Ridley of Star Wars fame.

If that weren't enough, Tom is also slated to return with Zendaya for a third go-round in another Spider-Man film, currently targeting a November 2021 release date.

Coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding: Tom looks to be quite busy in addition to making Uncharted, with several titles in post-production or development; seen here in June 2019
Three Congress MLAs, who had left for Delhi and were being counted among those in Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot's camp in the power tussle in Rajasthan, on Sunday said they will follow the party line.

Addressing a press conference at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home, Rohit Bohra, Danish Abrar and Chetan Dudi called themselves "soldiers" of the party and said they will do whatever the top leadership tells them.

The legislators said their visit to Delhi was a routine affair and the media should not speculate over it. They added that it was the media that had created the Ashok Gehlot group and the Sachin Pilot group.

"We are with the Congress party which gave us tickets. The media trial, which is going on, has no sense. We are soldiers of the party and will remain so for lifetime," Bohra said.

He said they had long association with the Congress and the media should not indulge in speculation.

Taking a taking a swipe at the media, Danish Abrar said, "I have been going to Delhi since childhood. Visiting Delhi is a normal affair, but, this time, it was made special."

He underlined that Sachin Pilot is the deputy chief minister and the Rajasthan Congress president and, therefore, meeting or talking to him is also a normal thing. "We are the soldiers of the Congress party at any cost," he said.

The three legislators, who were in Delhi on Saturday, held the joint press conference with state ministers Harish Chaudhary, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Raghu Sharma.

They asserted that the Congress government would complete its five year term. Chetan Dudi said they have full faith in the leadership of Gehlot.

Asked about the rift between Gehlot and Pilot, Dudi said it was the media that is speculating. "There can be differences in any party, but when it comes about the interest of the party, all remain united under the party flag," he said.

"The Congress gave us tickets and we are with the Congress party. We remain with the decision of the party high command and it is the media which talks about groups," Dudi said.

Bohra said none of them had been approached by the BJP, wondering why would the MLAs not have confidence in Gehlot when the Congress legislature party had elected its leader.

Revenue Minister Harish Chaudhary said all the party MLAs would attend the Congress legislature party meeting on Monday. Health Minister Raghu Sharma alleged that the BJP was trying to topple the state government, but the Congress was alert. He said all the party MLAs are united and have confidence in Gehlot's leadership.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexicans collecting unemployment because of coronavirus are about to lose the extra $600-a-week benefit.

The benefit provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act will expire July 31 unless Congress passes an extension.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House included an extension of the unemployment insurance through Jan. 31, 2021, in the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, but the legislation has not been seriously considered in the Republican-controlled Senate.

According to the Department of Labor, most New Mexicans will receive their last $600 benefit on top of their state unemployment on July 25, because the language in the legislation requires that the last checks be issued on the weekend before the 31st.

Those who have applied but have not yet been approved for unemployment may still be eligible for retroactive payments of the extra $600, dating back to their date of eligibility, DOL guidance said.

According to a Thursday DOL report, 6,113 New Mexico residents filed an initial claim for unemployment insurance during the week of July 4. And New Mexico Workforce Solutions spokeswoman Stacy Johnston said the state has recorded more than 156,000 certifications to receive the benefit.

This number includes people receiving benefits and others who are in the system and awaiting determination, she said.

U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., was one of more than 100 members of Congress who sent President Donald Trump a letter Thursday asking his administration to extend the benefit.

Cutting off enhanced unemployment benefits while the economy is still in crisis would ignore the millions of Americans who are still suffering, the lawmakers wrote. We hope that you will support this measure in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to put the HEROES Act to a vote in that chamber.

It is deeply concerning that while New Mexico families are struggling, Mitch McConnell has refused to bring this legislation up for a vote to protect the lives and livelihoods of Americans, he said in a statement to the Journal.

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said the bill would get additional individual relief payments, and those who are out of work will continue to receive unemployment insurance.

Extending the benefit is expected to face opposition in the Senate, which returns from recess on Friday.

Some Republicans delayed passage of the CARES Act in March because they felt the extra $600 encouraged people not to work, with many receiving more in unemployment benefits than they were on the job.

According to a report by The Hill, McConnell and other Republican senators oppose the extension for that reason.

I could not disagree more with Senate Republicans position that there is no need to extend expanded unemployment relief. To get back to normal  and to protect the health and economic security of families all across New Mexico  we must take bold legislative action immediately, Udall said.

U.S. Sen, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have sponsored a bill to extend the benefits for the duration of the pandemic.

And U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, is proposing a back to work bonus of $450 a week that has support from the Trump administration.
The most vulnerable residents of the nation's 10th most populous state say their health improved significantly after they enrolled in Michigan's expanded Medicaid program, a new study finds.

Michiganders with extremely low incomes, those who live with multiple chronic health problems, and those who are Black, got the biggest health boosts year over year among all those enrolled in the safety-net health coverage program, the study shows.

But participants of almost all ages, backgrounds and in all geographic regions reported improvements in health over time.

Writing in the new issue of JAMA Network Open, a team from the University of Michigan reports the results of a survey that asked more than 3,000 enrollees in the Healthy Michigan Plan about their health, at two time points a year apart.

The new paper adds to a growing body of evidence about the impacts of Michigan's Medicaid expansion, compiled by a team from the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation with funding from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The IHPI team just unveiled a summary of findings based on the final report from the first five years of their evaluation of the Healthy Michigan Plan. The new paper is the latest in a series of peer-reviewed, data-driven articles that the team has published in academic journals based on their evaluation work.

Michigan's experience might inform states where Medicaid has not yet been expanded, or is about to be - including Missouri which has a ballot proposal up for a vote in early August, Oklahoma, whose voters just approved expansion last week, and Nebraska, which is preparing to start its program this fall. Twelve other states have not expanded their Medicaid programs.

Reductions in poor health

The new paper's lead author is Minal Patel, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate professor at the U-M School of Public Health who analyzed data from the longitudinal survey of participants who had been enrolled in the Healthy Michigan Plan for at least a year before the first time they were surveyed.

The percentage of respondents who called their health fair or poor dropped from nearly 31% in 2016 to 27% in 2017. Larger decreases were seen among those with the very lowest incomes, those who were Black, those who had two or more chronic conditions, and those who live in the Detroit metropolitan area.

Additional survey data contained in a new report showed that the percentage who said their health was fair or poor dropped further, to 25.6% by 2018.

The average number of days in the past month when the respondents said they had been in poor physical health dropped by more than a day in many groups, including those with two or more chronic health conditions. But there was no significant change in days of poor mental health or days when respondents said their health interfered with their usual activities.

Nearly one quarter of respondents who answered in 2016 were no longer enrolled in the program when surveyed in 2017.

Enrollees had incomes below or just above the federal poverty line, but 57% said they were employed or self-employed. Just over half had incomes less than 35% of the federal poverty level, which was $11,880 for a single adult in 2016.

Our study showed that sub-groups who would benefit the most from greater access to care through Michigan's Medicaid expansion reported improved health over time. Better access is indeed translating to better health." Minal Patel, Ph.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor, U-M School of Public Health

The emphasis that the Healthy Michigan Plan places on primary care and prevention, as well as the inclusion of dental and vision care that can address long-unmet needs, likely played a role, she adds.

"It is rare to find a change in health policy that actually improves health of a target population in merely one year," says Susan D. Goold, M.D., MHSA, M.A., study co-author and professor of internal medicine at U-M. "The Healthy Michigan Plan model of expansion, which emphasized both insurance coverage and primary care, built on what we have learned from health systems around the globe."

Five years in, some key findings

The economic effects of COVID-19 have likely led more Michiganders to seek coverage from the safety net of the Healthy Michigan Plan. As of this week, more than 751,000 people are enrolled in the plan, up from 675,000 in February before COVID-19 struck Michigan.

"This new study adds to the large body of evidence on Medicaid expansion that our team at the University of Michigan has developed over the past five years," says IHPI director and study co-author John Z. Ayanian, M.D., M.P.P.

Some other key findings documented in the five-year summary brief:

Before enrolling in the Healthy Michigan Plan, half of those surveyed said they had a doctor or clinic they could see for regular care. By 2018, that had climbed to 83%.

The percentage who said that emergency rooms were their usual source of care dropped from 12% to 3%.

85% of enrollees had seen a primary care provider in the last year, 84% had received a preventive medical service such as a cancer screening, and nearly half had seen a dentist.

40% of enrollees surveyed said their dental health had improved since enrolling

85% of enrollees said they had fewer problems paying medical bills since they enrolled

The percentage of enrollees who said they were employed or enrolled as a student grew to 61% in 2018, up from 55% in 2016.

43% of enrollees said they had completed a Health Risk Assessment, a special feature of the Healthy Michigan Plan. Of these, 91% said it motivated them to be more responsible for their health.

Enrollees with incomes above the poverty level pay a contribution of 2% of their household income for their Healthy Michigan Plan coverage. Some services have co-pays. 88% of enrollees said that the amount they pay for their coverage seems fair. Among those who were billed for contributions or copays, the average quarterly statement amount was $16.85.

The IHPI team continues to study the impacts of Medicaid expansion on Michigan's enrollees. Learn more about IHPI's Healthy Michigan Plan evaluation: https:/ / ihpi. umich. edu/ featured-work/ healthy-michigan-plan-evaluation
(Natural News) Today we look at the NASA data from 6 stations from the US southeast region. In every case the trends were warmed up by what NASA calls adjusting.

(Article by Kirye and P. Gosselin republished from NoTricksZone.com)

Four of the 6 stations showed a clear cooling trend, which were then altered by NASA to show warming. Another station saw its flat trend turned into warming, and a another station had only modest warming but was altered to show stronger warming. This is how NASA tells us the US has been warming over the past century, when in fact it really hasnt warmed much.

NASAs own data tell the story.

First we look at Greensboro, Alabama. Here we see how warm it was in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, but look what happened once NASA GISS scientists got their hands on the data:

Data source: NASA GISS

in Newnan Georgia, NASA simply dropped all the inconvenient warm readings of the early 20th century, see below. A cooling trend disappeared Orwellian style:

Data source: NASA GISS

In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, cooling was also altered to produce warming. It has nothing to do with CO2, but instead has everything to do with fudging historical data:

Data source: NASA GISS

If these types of people are capable of unabashedly rewriting history, imagine what they wouldnt think twice about at the ballot boxes this coming November. Look at what they did to the data from the Little Mountain station in South Carolina:

Presto! First you see the cooling, now you dont. Its all been doctored. Data source: NASA GISS

Well, at least there wasnt any cooling recorded at the station of Cullowhee, North Carolina, as the next chart shows. But NASA insists that it has to be some warming, and so cooled the early data so that we get a warming trend.

Data source: NASA GISS

Finally we look at what NASA did to the temperature data from Lake City, Florida, below. A clear cooling trend was altered to show warming. NASA GISS scientists obviously have no scruples about turning historical records into modern lies. Anyone else would be put on the dock for such deceit  at least intensely investigated.

Data source: NASA GISS

But NASA GISS scientists get away with it because theyre experts, we are told, and so who are we to question them  no matter how fishy it all appears? Theres no one to really police them. Unless this stops, very dark tyrannical times lie ahead for us. The alterations are systemic.

UPDATE; And heres the plots for a station in Tennessee (no surprise here either):

GHCN V4 Unadjusted data show Waynesboro, State of Tennessee, has had a cooling trend since 1885!

But NASA changed the data.

I wonder why this kind of scientific deceit is accepted silently by many media?https://t.co/tSJN3Sdq9S

~#? # # #ClimateChange pic.twitter.com/97qgDo8Mrt   (@KiryeNet) June 20, 2020

Read more at: NoTricksZone.com
Mr Kwami Ahiabenu II of Technology Innovation Experts has postulated that in the era of global COVID-19 pandemic, the new digital technologies are now indispensable for the conduct of Election 2020.



Ghanaian politicians desirous of reaching out to the electorate with their campaign messages must turn to the use of technology in order to reach out to voters. Today COVID-19 has raised the issue of Public health and the need to follow preventive restriction.



Limiting face-to-face contact plus the need for adhering to physical distancing means face to face interactions are being replaced with virtual opportunities  Virtual Campaigns, Mr Ahiabenu stated at a public political education forum in Accra.



The Public Education Platform: webinar was on the theme: Using the Virtual Public Space for the 2020 Elections Campaign, was created by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) to discuss the usage of the virtual space for campaign.



The main objective of the IDEG virtual forum is to promote responsible virtual election campaigning and contribute to achieving peaceful elections with credible outcomes in the face of the restrictions brought about by COVID-19.



Mr Ahiabenu, who was a panelists, noted that COVID-19 has brought significant changes across all spectrums of our lives, democracy is being tested, as over 50 countries have postponed local or national elections with more to follow.



He said in spite of the restrictions, technology was creating opportunities for coping with this pandemic, though it comes with challenges which include how to police, control and regulate this growing virtual electoral space.



He said the power of the Internet and social media as a tool for political mobilization was now established as a means to locate and communicate with voters, fundraising, virtual events ( campaign rallies, town hall meetings) door to door (target one to one interaction/messaging), call to action, and debates.



Mr Ahiabenu noted that despite the mass movement towards all media strategy, current regulatory framework in the country was not up to the task, stressing that digital platforms were not subject to the current rules.



Any formal regulation of online/social media spaces is very complex- underlying structure of the Internet is premised on openness and inherent lack of a central control.



Trade-off between regulation, censorship and maintaining freedom of speech remains a thorny issue, he stated.



He therefore urged civil society to instigate a process, culminating in political parties, and candidates pledging to adhere to best practices in virtual spaces throughout the electoral cycle, while advocating for self-regulation.



He charged civil society to mount campaigns  to protect freedom of speech in the light of any regulations or laws.



Mr Ahiabenu also called on regulatory agencies, to investigate ways they could extend and support regulations in virtual spaces through public discourse, whiles the Electoral Commission should have a policy of zero tolerance for inappropriate behaviour by candidates/parties.



He also charged the media to work towards setting good examples and providing education and information, hold political parties, and candidates to account and ensure self-regulation.



Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, IDEG Executive Director, noted that the virtual media space have now become a safer, powerful and more important medium for political party campaigns for Ghanas 2020 national elections.



He said COVID-19 had knocked out large size public campaign rallies amidst political parties and election candidates will now have to rely extensively on the media, both traditional and new media to carry their messages across to the voting public.

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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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday again attacked the government over the Ladakh face-off, and asked what happened that China "took away" India's land when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is at the helm.

He also tagged a news report quoting a defence expert, alleging that the Government is "misleading" the media on the Chinese disengagement along the LAC and that disengagement at the Galwan Valley is disadvantageous to India.

"What has happened that under Modi ji rule, China took away Mother India's sacred land," he asked in a tweet in Hindi.

Gandhi has been attacking Modi and his government on the standoff in Ladakh and has accused the prime minister of "surrendering" India's land to China.

The Indian and Chinese armies are locked in a bitter standoff in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for the last eight weeks. The tension escalated manifold after the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15 in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed.

What Happened That China Took Away India's Land During Modi's Rule? Rahul Gandhi Asks Govt
Australias national security agencies have secured very significant powers in recent years to meet new threats such as foreign political interference as well as help fight the older problems of terrorism and espionage.

There is no doubt these threats  old and new  are very serious, particularly at a time when traditional alliances and rules-based orders are at risk.

But that does not mean Australia should shy away from a very robust debate on whether the new powers strike the right balance between protecting civil liberties and protecting citizens. Two examples that emphasise the fundamental point have come to light in the past week.

First, in a long-awaited report released on Friday, now-retired Independent National Security Legislation Monitor James Renwick recommended much stronger checks and balances on the power to access encrypted messages that was rushed through in a bill before the last federal election. He said it should not be left up to agency heads or the Attorney-General to decide who to hack or if hacking is technically possible. He recommended that intrusive surveillance of the digital world should require a warrant issued by a judge.

Second, there are concerns about a bill before Parliament which would give the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation a range of new powers including lowering the minimum age for compulsory interrogation of detainees from 16 to 14. ASIO could also limit the right to legal representation in cases where lawyers unduly disrupt questioning. They could continue questioning detainees after they have been charged, potentially undermining the privilege against self-incrimination and the right to remain silent. ASIO's interrogation powers will be extended to cover foreign political interference and political violence, raising concerns about whether they can be used as a political weapon.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday demanded a transparent probe into the death of young PCS officer Mani Manjari Rai, who allegedly died of suicide a few days ago.

In a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, she said the young and honest officer posted in Ballia had raised several questions on the functioning of her department.

"The facts coming to the fore have pointed to the deep-rooted corruption in the system. A thorough and transparent investigation in this matter is very necessary for providing justice to Mani Manjari's family and all those officers working with honesty," Gandhi said in the letter.

In a Facebook post, she said the family of the officer was upset over the sudden tragic incident.

"The family members say that there should be a transparent investigation. I have written to the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and requested him to conduct a transparent probe and bring all the facts to the fore. I hope Mani Manjari Rai's family will get justice," she said in the post written in Hindi.

Rai, 27, allegedly died by suicide by hanging herself at her rented accommodation last Monday, with her father claiming that she was "murdered".

The officer's brother, Vijayanand Rai, alleged that "people put undue pressure on her for payments and tender for new work".

The officer's family stays in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh.

In her suicide note, which was recovered from the spot, Mani Manjari Rai said she was "cheated and had to do some wrong work".

Rai was the executive officer of the Maniya Nagar Panchayat and this was her first posting to Ballia.
Anupam Kher said his mother has been admitted to Mumbai's Kokilaben Hospital

Anupam Kher, in a social media post, shared that his mother Dulari, brother Raju, sister-in-law Rima and niece Vrinda had tested positive for the coronavirus. The actor said his and nephew Pranit's tests were negative.

(Click here for LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak)

Kher said his mother is displaying mild symptoms of the virus and has been admitted to Mumbai's Kokilaben Hospital, while other family members are quarantining at home. He also shared that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had been informed of his family's diagnosis so their house can be fumigated and sanitised.

Here is Kher's post

This is to inform all that my mother Dulari is found Covid + (Mildly). We have admitted her into Kokilaben Hospital. My brother, bhabhi & niece inspite of being careful have also tested mildly positive.I got myself tested as well & I have tested negative. @mybmc is informed.! pic.twitter.com/EpjDIALft2  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) July 12, 2020

Kher said his mother experienced loss of appetite for a few days, following which they visited the doctor who recommended routine tests. A CT scan confirmed that she had contracted COVID-19.

Yesterday, Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek were hospitalised after testing positive for COVID-19. Kher extended his best wishes to the veteran actor saying he was confident that Amitabh would win the fight against coronavirus just as he had faced life's challenges with strength and courage.

Actress Rekha's bungalow in Bandra was sealed by the BMC after her staff tested positive for the virus.

India on Sunday reports a rise of 28,638 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 8,49,553. The reported active COVID-19 cases in India stand at 2,92,258, according to the Union Health Ministry. As many as 5,34,620 COVID-19 patients have been cured and discharged so far, the health ministry has said in its latest update.
Ahead of the December 7th General Elections, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has sought spiritual blessings from National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr Osman Nuhu Sharubutu to pave way for NPP victory 2020.

Dr. Bawumia visited the National Chief Imam on Sunday to pray for the renewal of the NPP mandate for another four years.

Dr. Bawumia also used the opportunity to officially inform him about his nomination as the running mate of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the New Patriotic Party for 2020.

Dr. Bawumia told the National Chief Imam, at his Old Fadama Residence, that he was mindful that: It is Allah who gives power to any individual to serve the nation in any capacity, therefore it is imperative to seek his prayers and to invoke Allah's blessings and protection as he seeks the mandate of the people.

The Akufo-Addo-led Government over the three and half years, he said, had embarked on various infrastructural development projects in Zongo Communities.

These included the provision of water facilities, school blocks and places of convenience through the Ministry of Zongo and Inner Cities Development, while the Zongo Development Fund was to alleviate poverty and transform lives, he said.

Through the Zongo Development Fund, the Vice President said, the Scholarship Secretariat and his Office, had sponsored 40 students from Zongo Communities across the country to study Medicine in Cuba.

He assured of the Government's determination to continue prioritising the provision of education in its developmental agenda.

In addition to its implementation of the Free Senior High School Policy, the Government would, next year, construct 16 Model Senior High Schools across the country as part of its efforts to transform lives and empower the youth.

"I believe that prioritising education will reduce poverty and transform lives in the Zongo Communities and so over the past three and half years, the Akufo-Addo government has been providing the real needs of the people.

The National Chief Imam, through his Spokesperson, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaib, expressed gratitude to the Government for seeking the welfare of Muslims and all Ghanaians.

He lauded the Vice President for his humility and prayed for Allah's continuous guidance and blessings for him as he sought the mandate of Ghanaians.

"Allah should continue to help you and not disgrace you, increase and honour you," he prayed.

The National Chairman of the ruling NPP, Mr Freddie Blay, lauded the Chief Imam for being an embodiment of unity and peace in the country.

He expressed gratitude to him for his wise counselling over the past three and half years and assured that the Government and the Party would continue to drink from his fountain of wisdom as they sought four more years to serve the people.

Vice President Bawumia was also accompanied by Mr Patrick Yaw Boamah, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Okaikwei Central Constituency.

---GNA
We must put the lives and well-being of our citizens first.

Any incarnation of the staging of Carnival 2022 must make that statement paramount to its planning, says event promoter Randy Glasgow.

Glasgow, CEO of Randy Glasgow Productions (RGP), said recent calls by promoters and artistes to stage safe zone concert events around next months originally scheduled Carnival dates is premature at best and irresponsible at worst. Carnival 2022 was scheduled to be held on Monday, February 28 and Tuesday, March 1.
Actors Sumeet Vyas and Ekta Kaul welcomed their first child together, a boy named Ved, last month. Now, they have shared the first photo of their baby boys face. In the picture, shared by both of them on their respective Instagram accounts, Ekta is seen cradling Ved in her arms, as he sleeps blissfully.

Being a mother isnt an easy job but its definitely the best job one could ever have.. And theres no greater honour, love and blessing. #maahood #merabeta #ved, she wrote in her caption. Sumeet shared the same picture and wrote, Mamas boy... #ved #vedvyas.

Fans could not stop gushing over the little one in the comments section. Awwww. God bless the little man, one Instagram user wrote. Such a sweetheart...both of them, another commented. Fills me up with soooo much love!! My little ray of sunshine, another wrote.

Also read: Abhishek Bachchan tests positive for Covid-19 after Amitabh Bachchan, says they are hospitalised with mild symptoms

In an interview with Hindustan Times last month, Sumeet said that he was enjoying fatherhood to the hilt. So far, it has been good and lovely. My wife Ekta and I are discovering something new every day. Im still quite clueless and so is she. We dont know what the baby really wants when he cries, he said.

Sumeet said that he wants to let Ved make his own decisions and learn from them. He also wants to share an easy bond with his son. I hope Im well equipped to help him out when he comes to me to discuss anything  emotional, financial or anything else. Also, one thing that Id like him to learn from me is to never give up in any situation in life, he said.

Sumeet, who rose to fame with web series such as Permanent Roommates and TVF Tripling, has also acted in films such as English Vinglish, Veere Di Wedding and Made In China. Ekta, a television actor, is known for her roles in shows such as Rab Se Sohna Isshq, Bade Acche Lagte Hain and Mere Angne Mein.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 21:41:25|Editor: huaxia

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HANOI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam reported two new cases of COVID-19 infection on Sunday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 372 with zero deaths so far, according to its Ministry of Health.

The latest cases were two Vietnamese women, aged 31 and 36, who recently returned to the country from Russia, Vietnam News Agency reported, noting that they were quarantined upon arrival.

Meanwhile, as many as 350 patients in the country have recovered from the disease, according to the report.

Vietnam has recorded no local transmission for 87 straight days while there are over 11,000 people being quarantined and monitored in the country, according to the report. Enditem
The BMC has put a board outside the premises declaring the place as a containment area

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sealed actor Rekha's bungalow in suburban Bandra after a security guard there tested coronavirus positive, a civic official said on Sunday.

The guard at the 65-year-old 'Umrao Jaan' actor's bungalow 'Sea Springs' tested positive on Tuesday, the official said.

The BMC has put a board outside the premises declaring the place as a containment area.

The security guard has been hospitalised at the BMC's COVID-19 care facility in Bandra Kurla Complex, he said.

As the bungalow is a standalone one, only a portion of it has been sealed, he said.
A Meal With Russell Distance Russell

We live in very unusual times and so I thought I would have supper with a Phuket resident who boasts one of the most unusual occupations on the island.

DiningCommunity

By Baz Daniel

Sunday 12 July 2020, 11:00AM

Flamboyantly-named Russell Distance Russell is the regions leading Dog Psychologist (in fact may be our islands only Dog Psychologist!) and is the owner/manager of the Canine Point Academy dog boarding and training centre located near Ban Don Village in Thalang.

Russell has made his home in the Andaman region from 2005 when, as he puts it, the Beagle landed in Phuket after growing up in a Hong Kong apartment full of puppies.

His mother, Athena Cant, is a well-known local resident, who founded the Phuket Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), so perhaps a career among boxers, bulldogs and beagles was always on the cards.

However, never one to be a conventionalist, Russell made his way toward future canine capers via an eclectic career route featuring adventures in Andaman property, management training and becoming a wedding celebrant  a role he still performs to this day, and not always featuring four-legged nuptialists.

In 2009 more adventures brought Russells dulcet tones to Phukets burgeoning radio scene as he presented firstly a regular rock music show and then became the well-recognised voice of a breakfast show.

Despite loving being a DJ with its thrill of being on air and in the moment, the Hounds of Destiny were still baying deep within Russells subconscious and in late 2009 he had the opportunity of attending the largest canine training facility in the US for a course, leading into an internship, which he seized, like a doggie grabbing a big, juicy bone.

Back in Phuket from 2011, Russell dallied with dog training and canine security, but found the going extremely tough, so he also continued with local radio DJ-ing and worked with Coral Seekers to supplement his income.

In July 2016, Russell made the decision to go full time with his dog training academy, saying, It was my go big, or go home moment and while it was tough to begin with, I quickly built up a brand and reputation and the business showed good growth over the years. In 2019 I opened a brand-new Canine Training Resort on three rai of land, near in Ban Don Village, with state-of-the-art training facilities and luxury resort rooms for our canine guests. We even have a couple of sport fields and a swimming lake for our barking bathers.

Russell, his Black Labrador Sassy, and I enjoyed a delicious supper sitting on the iconic wooden decking alongside the Boat Lagoon Marina at Bart Duykers recently-opened The 9th Degree bistro, wine shop and tapas bar.

Here the breakfast, lunch and supper menus are packed with fresh, healthy dishes and tapas and the extensive beverage selection benefits greatly from Barts expert guidance and vast wine knowledge credentials.

In these virally-challenged times, The 9th Degree was a superb choice, as socially-distanced, fresh-air, indoor/outdoor dining is a doddle here, and they even have live music at the weekends.

I asked Russell about his basic philosophy for boarding and training his canine guests. We treat each dog as a member of our extended family enjoying the spacious, beautifully-designed air-conditioned resort rooms, covered patio and secure outdoor exercise fields and water park. Our kitchen provides home-cooked, fresh food and room-service delivers a hearty breakfast and a sumptuous dinner. We also offer an extensive range of training programmes, from basic obedience, through to CGC certifications, using private, or group classes, or through our unique residential training facility.

Our goal is always to bridge the communication gap between pets and their owners, to help prevent unwanted behaviour (canine and human) and help people build lifelong bonds with their dogs.

When we broached the inevitable topic of COVIDs impact on his business, Russell said, Clearly 2020 has smashed all of us a bit sideways, but since weve been allowed to reopen, things have been ticking over and Im hopeful well continue with that trend, maybe seeing a return to normal towards the end of the year.

As mans best friend (sorry ladies!) dogs are perhaps looked to for support in these troubling times, so I asked Russell if getting a doggie while we are socially constrained was a good idea.

Not really, he said, Dogs thrive on consistency, routine and clear-messaging in their training, so if they enter a household where, say, the children are at home all day and so the puppy receives far more attention than they will get when things return to the new normal, they will suffer accordingly.

Clearly, Russell understands a great deal about the doggie psyche, but he also makes a very interesting point about we humans. I always try to meet a new dog with its owners, as I am totally convinced that training a dog well starts with training its handlers well too!

As we strolled away from the charming waterside idyll of The 9th Degree under a star-filled sky, I couldnt help thinking that some of our political leaders  especially now claiming to be as fit as a Butchers Dog  would do well to listen to Russells wise words about consistency and clear-messaging.
Arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations of launching a military offensive using artillery fire along their shared border on Sunday, with Baku reporting two troops killed. Azerbaijan's defence ministry said Armenia's "offensive" from its northern Tavush region was met with a "counterstrike" and retreated. "Two Azerbaijani servicemen were killed and five more wounded," it added. Yerevan, on its part, accused Baku of "using artillery in an attack aimed at capturing (Armenian) positions." "They were repulsed, suffering losses in manpower. There were no casualties among Armenian servicemen," Armenia's defence ministry spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanyan, said in a Facebook post. Fighting resumed late in the night with Azerbaijani forces shelling Armenian positions from trench mortars and tanks, according to Stepanyan. "Azerbaijan's political and military leadership will bear the responsibility for the consequences of the escalation," she said. The two former Soviet republics have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway territory which was at the heart of a bloody war in the 1990s. But the Sunday clashes were far from Karabakh, and directly between the two Caucasus states, which happens rarely. Since a fragile 1994 ceasefire, peace talks between Baku and Yerevan have been mediated by the "Minsk Group" of diplomats from France, Russia, and the United States. - Spectre of war - Sunday's clashes erupted days after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev raised the spectre of a fresh war with Armenia and denounced stalled peace talks. On Tuesday, Aliyev threatened to withdraw from Karabakh negotiations "if they yield no results." He did not provide details. Citing the right to self-defence enshrined in the United Nations Charter, he rejected the negotiators' premise that "there is no military solution to the conflict". An all-out war between the two countries could potentially envelop the entire Caucasus, dragging in regional powers -- Armenia's military ally Russia and Azerbaijan's patron Turkey -- which compete for geopolitical influence in the strategic region. Commenting on the clashes on Sunday, Aliyev said "Armenia's military adventure is aimed at dragging into the conflict the military-political organisation of which it is a member." He was referring to the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Aliyev accused Yerevan of military buildup along the two countries' border and of "regularly" shelling civilian targets in Azerbaijan. Ethnic-Armenian separatists seized Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a war that claimed 30,000 lives in the early 1990s, but the international community still views the region as part of Azerbaijan. Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending exceeds Armenia's entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to take back the breakaway territory by force. Moscow-allied Armenia has vowed to crush any military offensive. In 2016, deadly clashes in Karabakh nearly spiralled into full-scale war.
Yadav Singh, the tainted chief engineer of Noida with five cases of corruption and money laundering against him, is out on bail as the CBI has failed in proving the agency had no court where it could submit its chargesheet against the suspended engineer.

The Allahabad High Court has trashed the agency's contention that it could not file its chargesheet against Singh within 60 days since the CBI court was locked due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It is not the case of the CBI that during lock down period, no offence had taken place in the country nor any arrest or remand has been made. Therefore, the CBI is not justified in citing the closure of the courts," the High Court held in its order on July 8. Singh came out the next day.

The court further noted that there was nothing on record to suggest that CBI made any effort was for filing the chargesheet during the lockdown.

"Even assuming that the CBI court was closed, magistrates of some other courts were functioning and the district judge and special judge CBI were available in town to meet such exigency, but there was no effort on the part of the CBI to file chargesheet," maintained the court.

The bail order highlighted that the CBI had not even argued that it had completed its corruption probe against Singh within the stipulated time period of 60 days and then the agency could not submit the chargesheet.

"There is no pleading or documents on record to suggest that any effort was ever made by the CBI to file charge-sheet within 60 days, as provided under Section 167 (2) of Cr PC," said the order while giving bail to Singh.

Singh was dramatically arrested on February 10 from outside the Ghaziabad court in Uttar Pradesh when he had come to attend a hearing in connection with another case.

A new case was slapped against him by the CBI under several charges of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

With this, Singh stood booked under five cases  three by the CBI and two by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

But one after the other, Singh got bail in these cases, making the CBI book him yet again on February 10.

However, it is clear that the alacrity shown by the CBI in booking Singh in a fresh case did no it continue till concluding the investigation against him.

And the Allahabad High Court was emphatic that when the agency did not conclude the probe in time, it was not fit the CBI to claim the court was shut.
A murder investigation has been launched after a young man was stabbed to death during a "terrible attack" in south London.

Police were called to the Black Prince Estate in Kennington, Lambeth, just after 10pm on Saturday to reports of a man suffering stab wounds.

The 30-year-old victim was treated by officers and paramedics, but was pronounced dead at the scene.

The mans next of kin have been informed, but he has not yet been formally identified.

A short time later, a 26-year-old man went to a hospital suffering stab injuries, believed to have been sustained in the same incident. Police said the injuries are not life-threatening.

DCI Dave Whellams from the Metropolitan Police appealed for witnesses to come forward as he condemned the "callous" knife attack.

He said: A man has lost his life and a family has been left suffering unimaginable grief because of the callous use of a knife to inflict fatal injuries. Officers who were called to the incident and then paramedics worked to save him, but tragically he died at the scene.

I will do all I can to get justice for this family, and, along with colleagues from my homicide teams, I will use every available tactic to find whoever is responsible for this terrible attack."

He added: Our investigation is at an early stage, but we are already building a picture of what happened. I would urge any witnesses who have yet to speak to police to call my officers or contact Crimestoppers anonymously to share what they know.

Officers from the Mets Central South Command are supporting the investigation, and there will be additional patrols in and around the estate and the Kennington area. I ask local people to speak with those officers to tell them anything they know about this incident or more broadly about criminals who are active in the area.

There has been no arrests.

Witnesses or anyone with information are asked to call the incident room on 020 8345 3775 or contact police via @metCC. To remain anonymous, please contact the independent charity Crimestoppers.
Joe Bidens troubled niece Caroline Biden was arrested last August for driving under the influence and driving without a license in a Philadelphia suburb, it has been revealed.

It's the latest run-in with the law for a member of the extended Biden family - none of whom have served time in prison.

The 33-year-old daughter of the former vice presidents younger brother, James Biden Sr, was taken into custody last year by law enforcement officials in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, according to the New York Post.

The case, which is still active, was never made public.

Caroline Biden, 33, the niece of former vice president Joe Biden, was arrested last August in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, for driving under the influence and driving without a license, it has been reported. She is seen above in Brooklyn in October 2019

In July 2018, Caroline Biden scored a sweetheart plea deal in Manhattan court following her arrest in 2017 that resulted in a felony conviction for a $100,000 credit card scam

Caroline Biden, decked in a fitted black dress and ankle booties, was sentenced to two years probation after accepting a deal to plead guilty to the lesser charge of petit larceny. She is seen above in Manhattan Criminal Court on July 26, 2018

In 2018, she was sentenced by Manhattan Criminal Court to two years probation after pleading guilty to taking part in a scam in which she borrowed a credit card to buy more than $110,000 worth of beauty products at Bigelow Pharmacy in Greenwich Village.

Prosecutors previously said Caroline Biden asked to borrow a credit card from a victim, who was not identified in court documents, to buy a single item for $672.

But instead Biden opened an account at Bigelow Pharmacy and spent more than $110,000 between April 2015 and June 24, 2016, buying the store's lavish products.

On May 5, 2017, police arrested her and initially charged her with grand and petit larceny.

'I not only acknowledge my conduct and take responsibility but deeply regret the harm caused,' she told the judge during sentencing in July 2018.

'I can assure you that I have made amends, full restitution, completed community service and that nothing like this will ever happen again,' Biden said.

In 2013, Caroline Biden was arrested by the New York Police Department for harassment, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice after she got into a fight with a roommate who demanded that she pay rent for living in their Tribeca apartment.

Joe Biden, the former vice president and presumptive Democratic Party nominee, is seen above last month in Darby, Pennsylvania. Members of Biden's family have had a history of run-ins with the law, but none of them have had to serve time in prison

Caroline Biden is the daughter of Joe Biden's younger brother, James Biden Sr (right), a financier. Joe and James Biden are seen above in October 2008

James Biden is seen right with his wife, Sara Biden, at the White House in October 2011

While she was taken into custody, Caroline Biden allegedly took a swing at a police officer, resulting in the obstruction charge.

During her arrest, Caroline Biden was heard telling police: 'I shouldn't be handcuffed! You don't know who you're doing this to!'

As officers removed her from a precinct after her arrest, she covered herself up in a blanket and had police wheel her out on a gurney.

Caroline Biden, who was reportedly in and out of rehab for anger management and a drug addiction, also managed to escape jail at the time when the court ordered for her charges to be dropped if she behaved for six months.

In 2009, Caroline Biden was briefly detained by Amtrak police because of a 'misunderstanding over a train fare,' an Amtrak spokeswoman told the AP at the time.

The Biden family has had a history of arrests and scandals in recent years.

When asked if Joe Biden used his position of influence to intervene on behalf of relatives who have been arrested, a campaign spokesperson told the Post: No he didnt, and this entire story is garbage.

Bidens daughter, Ashley Biden, 39, was arrested for possession of marijuana when she was a 17-year-old student at Tulane University.

Court records from New Orleans do not list any conviction for Ashley Biden.

The New York Post reported in 2009 that Ashley Biden was known for her hard partying during her college days.

The newspaper reported that it was offered footage shot from a hidden camera which purported to show a woman resembling Ashley Biden snorting cocaine.

In 2002, it was reported that Ashley Biden was arrested for making intimidating statements toward a police officer after a brawl at a Chicago bar.

Joe Biden's youngest brother, Frank Biden, has reportedly been arrested several times for driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license, and petty theft

DailyMail.com reported earlier this year that Frank Biden (seen left with his brother, Joe, and with Mindy Ward, Frank's partner, in November 2017) has failed to pay nearly $1million as part of a civil judgment against him after he was involved in a 1999 vehicular collision that caused the death of a California man

Victim: Michael Albano was killed in August 1999 when the high-powered Jaguar driven by Frank Biden's friend hit him while it was driving at speeds nearing 80mph on a California highway. His daughters Nicole (right) and Lorraina have fought for Biden to pay compensation since then and have received nothing.

Powerful: Frank Biden rented a 1999 Jaguar XK8 like this, a 4-liter V8 capable of 154mph. He was in the passenger seat when he allegedly shifted it to manual and urged the driver to 'punch it' moments before the fatal collision

The charges of obstructing a police officer were dropped after she apologized in court.

Ashley Biden is the youngest of three siblings. She is the only one born to the vice president and his second wife, Jill.

Joe Bidens first wife, Neilia, and their 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, died in a 1972 car crash.

Her two half-brothers are Beau Biden and Hunter Biden, 50.

Beau Biden, a former attorney general of Delaware, died in 2015 from brain cancer. He was 46 years old at the time of his death.

Beau Biden was survived by his wife and two children.

Joe Bidens youngest brother, 66-year-old Frank Biden, was arrested in August 2003 when police pulled him over after he made a wide left turn in Fort Lauderdale.

According to the Miami New Times, Frank Bidens eyes were red and his speech was slurred. Officers said he smelled of alcohol.

Police also reportedly noticed an empty bottle of Popov vodka in his car.

When police gave Frank Biden a field sobriety test, he kept losing his balance and was unable to touch his finger to his nose, according to the New Times.

Police then ran a scan of Frank Bidens license, which revealed that it had been suspended four times up to that point.

Frank Biden was arrested and charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. He pleaded no contest, according to the New Times.

A court sentenced Frank Biden to six months of probation and an additional six months of having his license suspended.

Just two months later, before his drunk driving case was taken up in court, Frank Biden was arrested on charge of petty theft for allegedly trying to steal DVDs from Blockbuster Video.

The alleged incident took place at the now-defunct Blockbuster location in Pompano Beach, where employees began arguing with Frank Biden after they observed him stuffing his pants with two DVDs.

Frank Biden was taken into custody by a sheriffs deputy, but he reportedly failed to show up for a court hearing in the case.

There is no available documentation on the outcome of the case.

In November 2004, Frank Biden was arrested a third time - this time by law enforcement officials in Juno Beach, Florida.

Ashley Biden, 39, Joe Biden's daughter (seen far right with her father and TV host Sunny Hostin in April 2018), was arrested when she was a 17-year-old college freshman for possession of marijuana

In 2002, it was reported that Ashley Biden was arrested for making intimidating statements toward a police officer after a brawl at a Chicago bar. She is seen with her father in New York City in February 2017

Ashley Biden is the youngest of three siblings. She is the only one born to the vice president and his second wife, Jill. Her two half-brothers are Beau Biden and Hunter Biden, 50. From left: Ashley Biden, Hunter Biden, and Beau Biden, who at the time was attorney general of Delaware. They are pictured in September 2012

Beau Biden (seen second from right with his wife, Hallie, far right, and his parents, Joe and Jill Biden, in 2012) died in 2015 of brain cancer. He was 46

He then pleaded no contest to driving with a suspended license. Instead of the mandatory 30-day jail sentence, Frank Biden was allowed to check into a rehabilitation center in Delray Beach, where he stayed for three months.

In 2011, Frank Biden told the Miami New Times: I was an alcoholic. I'm a sober person. I'm very proud of that fact.

Before Frank Bidens criminal troubles, he was also on the wrong end of a costly civil judgment.

In February, DailyMail.com revealed that Frank Biden was found legally responsible for the death of Michael Albano in August 1999.

Albano was killed when he was struck by a Jaguar XK8 convertible that was driven by Jason Turton, who was then 25 years old.

Frank Biden, who was in the passenger seat, shifted the 290hp car into manual and told Turton to punch it. The vehicle reached speeds of 80mph even though the legal limit in that section of HIghway 101 in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, was 35mph.

Albano, who was crossing the highway, was struck and killed. Frank Biden is alleged to have told Turton to keep driving and flee the scene after the collision.

Another passenger in the car is said to have told police that everyone in the vehicle was drinking.

Frank Biden fled California leaving a trail of unpaid bills and never even turned up in court when Albano's family sued him, according to court documents.

After failing to turn up for a single court hearing in the case, Frank Biden was found to be liable by way of a default judgment. He was ordered to pay the Albano family nearly $1million.

To this day, Frank Biden has not paid the family a cent. When Joe Biden, then a senator from Delaware, was tapped to be Barack Obamas running mate in 2008, the family appealed to the future vice president to get his brother to pay.

But the family was told that Frank Biden was broke.

After Joe Biden became vice president, Frank Biden reportedly earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from a series of positions that appear to trade heavily on his family name.

Frank, 66, describes himself as a senior adviser to his brother's political action committee, and lives in Florida.

Hunter Biden was cited for drug possession by law enforcement officials in New Jersey in 1988

Biden had fought tooth and nail against traveling to Arkansas for his legal battle with Lunden Roberts (pictured). The former stripper first filed suit against Biden in May 2019, but Biden denied the baby was his, although DNA testing proved he is indeed the child's father

Hunter and Hallie began dating after the death of her husband Beau Biden - former Vice President Joe Biden's elder son. Beau passed away from brain cancer in 2015 at age 46 (pictured together left in 2011). Then in 2017 she began to date Beau's brother Hunter who was still married to his then-wife Kathleen (pictured together right in 2016)

Hunter Biden settled his child support case and recently had a baby with his 33-year-old wife, Melissa Cohen Biden

Hunter Biden, Joe Bidens 50-year-old son, was arrested in 1988 for drug possession.

I was cited for possession of a controlled substance in Stone Harbor, NJ, Hunter Biden said in 2006.

There was a pre-trial intervention and the record was expunged.

Last December, it was revealed that Hunter Biden was linked to several criminal investigations involving fraud, money laundering and a counterfeiting scheme.

The allegations were filed by a private-eye firm, D&A Investigations, in relation to Hunter's paternity case involving his baby mama Lunden Roberts.

They seek to lay bare his finances in an attempt to recoup child support.

Among Hunter's assets, as claimed by the documents, is a $2.5million home in the Hollywood Hills.

One of the claims involves Burisma, the Ukrainian oil company that was at the center of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

Trump came under fire for a phone call with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urging him to investigate Hunter's work with Burisma, while withholding some $400million in military aid.

The new allegations accuse Hunter and business associates of establishing 'bank and financial accounts with Morgan Stanley  for Burisma Holdings Limited  for the money laundering scheme'.

D&A claimed that the accounts showed a value of nearly $6.8million between March 2014 and December 2015, according to the Post.

In addition, the documents allege that Hunter and three associates attempted to con Sioux Native Americans out of $60million through the sale of tribal bonds.

It's unclear what agencies are allegedly investigating Hunter. But shortly after the allegations were filed, a judge struck them down because they were filed by an 'intervener,' according to the New York Post.
Joe Russo, co-producer and writer of Netflixs Extraction, has provided an update about the films follow-up. Extraction, starring Chris Hemsworth, broke viewership records for the streaming service upon its release in April.

Russo, who co-produced the action film with his brother Anthony, told CinemaBlend, I started writing the sequel (prequel?) three weeks ago. Its a great character to write for, with a fantastic performance from Hemsworth. So it makes my job easier. I think the mission is to up the scale on this one, both emotionally and physically.

The first film featured Hemsworths mercenary Tyler Rake, on a mission to rescue the kidnapped son of an Indian crime lord. Netflix quickly greenlit a sequel, following the films success. Russo spoke to Collider about how the discussions about the follow-up went. I think there were preliminary conversations prior to release. Everyone was very happy with the movie and very excited about it. There was good energy going into the release. And certainly the release cemented it. But yeah, it had been a conversation thats been going on for a little over a month, he said.

After the release of the film, Hemsworth in a recorded message for fans had said, Theres been a lot of talk and questions about sequels and prequels and all sorts of things, and all I can say is who knows. He added, But with this amount of support, its something I will be pretty stoked to jump back into.

Also read: Extraction review: Breakneck and bonkers, Chris Hemsworths Netflix film is the shot of adrenaline we need right now

Directed by Sam Hargrave, the film also starred Randeep Hooda, Pankaj Tripathi, Priyanshu Painyulli, and Rudraksh Jaiswal.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Shares in Malaysias AirAsia Group Bhd were halted on Wednesday after its auditor said there were material uncertainties that cast doubt on the budget carriers ability to continue as a going concern. In an unqualified audit opinion on the airlines earnings results for 2019, Ernst & Young PLT said the financial statements were prepared on a going concern basis, which is dependent upon a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the success of fundraising efforts, according to Reuters.

In response, the airline said in a statement that Malaysias stock exchange had granted it 12 months relief from being classified as a financially distressed firm - a classification that would require it to submit a business improvement plan.

Malaysia has also extended the relief to other companies who may face a hit to business from the pandemic. Like airlines around the world, AirAsia has been hit hard by the coronavirus which has decimated travel demand. It posted a first-quarter loss of 803.3 million ringgit ($188 million), its biggest loss for the quarter since its listing in November 2004. The company said last month it was evaluating proposals for raising capital to strengthen its equity base and liquidity.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 07/12/2020



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[ Spoiler Warning: This report contains spoilers on whether Kalani and Asuelu have split or are still together since the blowout fight they had over Kalani's job as a mom on : Happily Ever After?].

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Did Kalani and Asuelu's relationship end or is the couple still together today?

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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Asuelu Pulaa was shown walking out on Kalani Faagata after a fight over gender roles on Season 5 of : Happily Ever After?, so did the couple split or did they work through their issues -- and are they still together now?Kalani, a 31-year-old from Orange County, CA, and Asuelu, a 24-year-old from Samoa, first appeared on Season 6 of in 2019.Kalani met Asuelu in July 2016 when she traveled to his island and stayed at a resort where Asuelu worked as the activities director.The couple kept in touch and after dating a bit long distance, Kalani returned to Samoa and lost her virginity to him, which resulted in an unplanned and unexpected pregnancy.The surprise pregnancy rocked and initially disappointed Kalani's Mormon family because they never really approved of Kalani dating Asuelu and weren't sure Asuelu could provide for a wife and family.But Kalani and Asuelu went forward with the K-1 visa process anyways so Asuelu could move to the United States and become a hands-on father to their son Oliver, who was five months old when Asuelu arrived in America.Although Kalani and Asuelu had their fair share of struggles -- such as Asuelu having to adapt to life in the United States and the responsibilities of being a new father -- the pair got married in September 2018.'s sixth season ended with Kalani and Asuelu's wedding as well as Kalani learning she was pregnant again.Kalani and Asuelu found out they were expecting their second child together less than a year after she had given birth to Oliver, which was another big surprise!Kalani reacted to the pregnancy news poorly at first as shown on an episode of 's sixth season and was the target of criticism as a result."I had antepartum depression while pregnant with Oliver, to the point that I wanted to kill myself," Kalani explained in her defense in December 2018."Once the baby came, I had postpartum depression: I wasn't bonding with him, I cried all the time and wanted to die again. Please know that I was concerned about the well-being of my son because of my mental state when I'm pregnant, not that I was ungrateful to be pregnant."Kalani and Asuelu are now parents of two sons: Kennedy, who was born in May 2019, and Oliver, whom the couple welcomed in January 2018.But life with two young children has proved to be very difficult for Kalani, who feels she has taken on most of the care, cooking and cleaning at home.In September 2019, Kalani took to her Instagram Stories and posted a poll about gender roles and married life.While she did not name Asuelu directly in her post, she made it clear she was venting about her husband's alleged laziness and his unrealistic expectations of her as a wife and mother of two."Do all husbands expect their wives to pay bills, clean the whole house, do all the laundry, feed/watch the kids 24/7 (unless said husband is in public or wants a selfie)?" Kalani asked in the poll."Asking for my gottdamn self. Is this normal?" she added.Apparently 70 percent of Kalani's followers who participated in the poll answered "No."However, the couple appeared to be a very happy family at Christmas time in December 2019.On : Happily Ever After?'s fifth season, Asuelu was shown at work passing out free samples at a frozen yogurt shop.The couple had been married for one year and three months at the time of filming.Kalani suggested her marriage was suffering and she was exhausted all the time, so her parents moved in with the couple to help them out with Oliver and Kennedy, which made Asuelu feel a bit uncomfortable since he could no longer be the man of the house.Kalani said she wanted Asuelu to help out more with the babies and also help out more around the house, but Asuelu grew up believing those are the wife's responsibilities.Kalani argued Asuelu would rather play volleyball or video games after work than assist her and spend time with his family."If you're not contributing to our household, you don't have the right to leave for hours at a time," Kalani vented to the cameras.Kalani also complained she and Asuelu hadn't been on a romantic date in four months."I just wish that Asuelu and I could get back to the point where we were in the beginning of our relationship, where we loved to be around each other. I just miss that, and if Asuelu refuses to change, I don't know if I can keep doing this anymore," Kalani said in a confessional.Kalani's dad was "still waiting" for Asuelu to "step up" and told Asuelu there's "no more f-cking around" and he'd get his "ass whooped or sent back to Samoa" if things didn't change for the better.Asuelu therefore brought Kalani out on a date, but he broke the news that he wanted them to travel to Samoa as a family -- which would cost thousands of dollars in plane fare alone -- and Kalani wasn't thrilled about the idea.Kalani didn't like how Asuelu's family always allegedly asked for money, and the couple came to discover there was a Measles outbreak in Samoa at the time and children were dying from it.Asuelu and Kalani's son Kennedy wasn't vaccinated and wasn't supposed to get that MMR vaccine until 12-24 months old, according to his doctor.Given Kennedy was only seven months old at the time, Kalani was worried and decided to postpone the trip until a later date, which left Asuelu feeling angry, resentful and unsupported.Instead of going to Samoa, Kalani drove her family to California in order to celebrate Oliver's second birthday, but Asuelu was noticeably in a bad mood.Kalani said if Asuelu is mad at her or things don't go his way, he'll criticize her and try to make her feel bad about everything she does.During the car ride to California, Asuelu called Kalani's job as a mother "easy" and then admitted he thinks American women's jobs in general are easy. Asuelu rattled off a list of chores such as cleaning, loading the dishwasher and laundry. He said the kids can watch TV while the mother cooks and cleans."Then why don't you do it, if it's so easy?" Kalani asked."Because [there's] other stuff I do," Asuelu replied, later adding that women in Samoa don't complain about the tasks they must do. "I think Kalani can't do what mother in Samoa do."In the car, Kalani told Asuelu that she was the one up all night with both of their sick kids when she was sick too, and Asuelu called her out for being a "lying b-tch.""I'm the one that planned Oliver's birthday. I do everything for them. It's nowhere near fair, and if it's so easy, why don't you do any of it then?" Kalani asked."Because that's a woman job. And the sound of your voice is so f-cking annoying too," Asuelu countered.Kalani's mother was driving the car and scolded Asuelu for talking to her daughter that way, which only made Asuelu more frustrated."I don't know how your husband talk to you when you guys been together. But it's my wife; I can talk whatever," Asuelu said. "Your daughter asks stupid questions."Kalani's mother called Asuelu "disrespectful," and Kalani felt Asuelu was trying to sabotage the weekend and ruin it for everyone as a way to get back at her for canceling their trip to Samoa."It just shows me that he doesn't really care about me and the boys and he's just No. 1 to himself," Kalani complained in a confessional.Once Kalani, her mother and her husband arrived at their AirBnB in California, Asuleu was quiet and Kalani vented about how she'd never be "subservient" to a man, nor would any other woman in her family.Kalani wanted everyone to get along for her son Oliver's birthday weekend, but Asuelu was annoyed with everyone and essentially pouting.Kalani argued that Asuelu basically suggested American women are worthless, but Asuelu said Kalani didn't appreciate what he did either, such as picking weeds around the house.Kalani pointed out Asuelu's yard work was once a week and she took care of their babies every day, around the clock."You're a manipulator. The second I start talking about something and you can't back your way out of it, you change the subject to something else," Kalani told her husband.Asuelu had trouble understanding such large words, so Kalani said she wanted him to change from a boy into "a man." She was tired of making excuses for Asuelu, such as telling people he was the product of his environment.Kalani said she longed for "an equal partnership" because she was "doing everything" herself with Asuelu "critiquing" every little thing she did. The pair couldn't reach a resolution, and Asuelu was struggling to express himself.Asuelu therefore took off with his suitcase and left the house. Oliver followed Asuelu out the door, but he just kept walking.After walking all the way down the road, Asuelu hopped on a random bus that was apparently heading to Utah, and he said he was going to find a place to stay. Kalani called Asuelu "ridiculous."Based on the couple's social-media activity, they definitely appear to still be together and married.In early July, Asuelu wished Kalani a happy birthday on his Instagram account by posting a video of his wife and son. He wrote over the video "love of my life."And in the caption, Asuelu gushed, "My wife's birthday. Cheers for 32nd years my love @kalanifaagata and many more to come."Not only has Kalani also posted recent photos with Asuelu on Instagram, but the couple has additionally shared two YouTube videos on their channel in the last month after not uploading anything on their channel for almost a year.As recently as June 30, Kalani posted a sweet photo of Asuelu cuddling with their boys on Instagram Stories.One week earlier, Kalani posted a smiling selfie with Asuelu, a video of Asuelu laughing in a massage chair, and brief throwback clips of the couple's axe-throwing date.Kalani uploaded the photos and videos shortly after the June 21 episode of : Happily Ever After? aired on TLC, and she captioned the slideshow, "BTS of tonight's episode. What'd y'all think?"On May 24, Kalani posted a video clip on Instagram of Asuelu and herself talking about how they had once walked through a jungle in Samoa and explored a cave together.The couple was promoting a video they had posted on YouTube."In honor of #samoanlanguageweek, we posted a YouTube video where I butcher basic Samoan, and we talk about our dating life in Samoa (pictures included)," Kalani wrote on Instagram.A couple of weeks earlier on May 8, Kalani and Asuelu posted a YouTube video of how they celebrated Kennedy's first birthday.Kalani and Asuelu enjoyed many laughs as Kennedy was spoiled with a fun pool day, gifts, cake, bubbles and a pinata.On April 27, Kalani posted a slideshow of photos with Asuelu and captioned the post, "Pretending we're in Samoa."And going back to March 1, Kalani uploaded a photo of the married pair, revealing they had met Robyn and Kody from TLC's Sister Wives.The two couples met each other while enjoying brunch at a restaurant and Kalani mentioned they should double-date soon.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
DUBAI, July 12 (Reuters) - Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation blamed a misalignment of a radar system and lack of communication between the air defence operator and his commanders for the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January that killed 176 people aboard.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight with a ground-to-air missile on Jan. 8 shortly after the plane took off from Tehran,in what Tehran later acknowledged as a disastrous mistake by forces who were on high alert during a confrontation with the United States.

"A mistake in aligning the radar system had caused human error. An operator had forgotten to re-adjust the direction on the radar system after moving to a new position, an error that contributed to misreading the radar's data," an interim report on the Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO) website said.

The CAO report, which was published on late Saturday, said the missile battery that targeted the passenger plane had been relocated and "was not properly reoriented".

The downing occurred at a time of high tension between longtime foes Iran and the United States. Iran was on alert for attacks after it fired missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. forces in retaliation for the killing on Jan. 3 of its most powerful military commander, Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. missile strike at Baghdad airport.

"A failure occurred after the relocation of one of the air defence units of Tehran ... It occurred because of a human error," the CAO report said, adding that the plane was detected by the system as a target approaching Tehran.

The operator of the air defence system "lacked awareness of the relocation of the air defence unit", and fired the two missiles without authorisation from the command centre, the report said.

When the first missile was fired, the passenger plane was flying at a normal altitude and trajectory," the report added.

Last month, Iran said the black boxes of the Boeing 737-800 airliner will be sent to France, to be analysed starting July 20. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi Editing by Frances Kerry)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 11:01:32|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Saturday adopted a resolution, with 12 votes in favor and three abstentions, on the mandate renewal for the cross-border humanitarian mechanism in Syria.

Resolution 2533 decides to renew the border crossing of Bab al-Hawa for 12 months, until July 10, 2021. China, Russia and the Dominican Republic voted in abstention. Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, made remarks in explanation of China's vote.

Zhang stressed that it is China's consistent position that the international community should increase humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people on the basis of respecting Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

China always has reservations about the cross-border mechanism, he said. Considering the actual situation in Syria, China does not object to retaining the cross-border mechanism at this stage, and at the same time, China believes that the cross-border mechanism should be adjusted accordingly in light of the developments on the ground, the envoy said.

He pointed out that years of illegal sanctions have been exacerbating the economic and humanitarian crises in Syria, devastating livelihoods, and bringing untold sufferings to innocent civilians.

The sanctions have also seriously undermined Syria's ability to respond to COVID-19, Zhang said, adding that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, lifting unilateral coercive measures has become more important and urgent for improving the humanitarian situation in Syria.

"We urge the United States to lift its unilateral coercive measures on Syria immediately, stop causing more harm to the lives and livelihoods of the Syrian people, stop politicizing the humanitarian issue and putting up hypocritical political show, and demonstrate responsible attitude and spirit of humanitarianism with concrete actions," he said. Enditem
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Emirates will be operating special repatriation flights to five Indian cities from Sunday to bring back Indian nationals stranded abroad. The mission, which will continue till July 26, will witness schedules being operated to Bengaluru, New Delhi, Kochi, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram in the following frequencies: Kochi, Bengaluru and New Delhi will have daily two flights, Thiruvananthapuram one and Mumbai three. Flights to Bengaluru and Mumbai are yet to receive the approval of the respective state governments.

Prospective travellers can book their tickets through travel agents, Emirates sales offices, contact centres or by visiting emirates.com.Only Indian citizens stuck in the UAE will be allowed to fly from Dubai. Similarly, flights from India to Dubai will be available only for UAE nationals and residents with prior entry approval from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs (GDFRA) for residents of Dubai and Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) approval for residents of UAE.Passengers travelling from airports in India to Dubai are also required to carry a negative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) certificate from a lab recognised by the Centre.

16 flights to bring in 3,190 expats

Kochi: The Kochi airport is scheduled to receive 16 repatriation flights on Sunday. As many as 3,190 expats are expected to arrive by these flights. Among the repatriation flights are two Air India flights from London and New York and an Air Asia flight from Indonesia. The flights scheduled include an Indigo flight from Riyadh, Air India Express from Sharjah, Spice Jet from Ras Al Khaimah, Go Air from Dammam, Air Asia from Kualanama t in Indonesia, Emirates flight from Dubai, Saudia from Abha in Saudi Arabia, Air India from London, IndiGo from Dubai, Etihad from Abu Dhabi, Fly Dubai from Abu Dhabi, Air India from New York, Spice Jet from Riyadh, Air India Express from Dubai, Spice Jet from Ras al Khaima and an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah. The airport received nine repatriation operations on Saturday.
A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. Fortunately, she will recover, but the medical bills she had for an emergency room exam and 24-hour hospital stay were more than $25,000. That doesnt include the ambulance transportation from Scranton to Lehigh Valley or the weekly doctors visits that followed.

That is absurd! Worse, her insurance company made a mistake, which put her at risk of losing coverage. After weekly battles and countless arguments on the phone, the insurance company agreed to pay.

Health care should not put families at risk of financial ruin like it did my friend. I believe that health care is a human right and that is why I am voting for Tara Zrinski for state representative in this years general election. She is fighting to make sure that all Pennsylvanians receive the health care they need and that the well-being of people comes before corporate profits.

Shorav Kaushik

Bethlehem Township, Pa.
Microsoft Power BI is a powerful Business Intelligence (BI) tool that lets people with a limited technical background perform complex analysis in just a few clicks. Big data is how you can empower your team to discover insights hidden in your data.

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Power BI Training: This course will start by looking at Power Query, and how to use this tool to organize and clean our data. If youve used Power Query in Excel, then youll find it simple moving to Power BI. You will then move on to Data Models, DAX, charts, graphs, and more.

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Bill Gates transformed his career from technology to philanthropy with his move a dozen years ago from running Microsoft Corp. to working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But the billionaires belief in innovation and optimization remained unchanged from the business world to charitable missions.

Started by Gates and wife Melinda in 2000, the Gates Foundation has become the worlds largest private foundation with $46.8 billion of assets. It is playing an increasingly prominent role in global health. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, the foundation donated $531 million to the World Health Organization, making it the United Nations groups second-largest supporter behind the United States.

The Gates couple and billionaire Warren Buffett are the foundations only trustees, providing the foundations funding.

The group backs a large number of organizations and partners working in a vast range of global health initiatives, including the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which are leading the development of vaccines for the Covid-19 pandemic.

In January, the Gates Foundation provided $5 million of emergency funding to China as the first global organization to do so. Since then, the foundation has made commitments of more than $350 million to fight against the global pandemic and protect vulnerable populations.

Since he stepped down from Microsoft management, Gates has shifted his focus to philanthropic works and become deeply involved in the foundations operations. He describes what he does as optimization to ensure that limited resources can help as many people as possible

We still believe that everyone deserves an equal chance to live a healthy and productive life and that innovation is critical to making that happen, the 64-year-old business magnate told Caixin.

The Gates Foundations network covers 138 countries and regions, making about 1,700 donations every year to research institutions, companies, government organizations, nonprofit entities, U.N. agencies and others, focusing on public health, education equity, environmental protection, gender equality and agricultural innovation.

Bill Gates and wife Melinda

The foundation has been active in China since 2007, focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention, tuberculosis (TB) treatment and tobacco control. As a growing power, China has contributed to global development, and its increasing global engagement has benefited people in other countries, Gates said.

According to Li Yinuo, China director of the Gates Foundation, the organization is seeking more cooperation with China to bring the countrys advanced agricultural technology, malaria control solutions and more China-developed medicine and medical equipment to the world while helping China to close the gap between its medical system and international standards.

In a recent email interview with Caixin, Gates explained how the foundation sets priorities and deals with unexpected results. He assessed the foundations response to the Covid-19 outbreak and his engagement in the foundations operations. Although five years ago he predicted that the next big global crisis would most likely be a pandemic and started investing in preparedness, he acknowledged that the world wasnt ready.

Heres a transcript of the interview:

Philanthropic strategy

Caixin: The Gates Foundation, jointly with the governments of Norway and India, the Wellcome Trust, and the World Economic Forum, launched CEPI in 2017 aiming to accelerate the response to epidemics and quicken the creation of vaccines once an outbreak occurs. Do you think what CEPI and Gavi are doing now for the Covid-19 pandemic meets your expectations? If you could have done it all over again, what else would you push the Foundation and its main grantees to do in responding to the pandemic?

Bill Gates: One of the things that has impressed me in the Covid-19 response is the way governments, business, and global organizations are working together to solve problems quickly. CEPI and Gavi are an important part of this international collaboration, and they are doing an excellent job.

CEPI has been critical in the quest to find a Covid-19 vaccine. The very fact that an organization dedicated to developing vaccines for epidemic diseases was ready to step in right away is new in the history of global health. And its encouraging to see governments stepping up in recent months to donate to CEPI. Im optimistic we will have a vaccine in the first half of next year, which is phenomenal and shows what a big game changer CEPI can be. Its important that we continue to fund the organization even after this pandemic ends so it can continue bringing successful vaccine candidates forward.

Gavi was created 20 years ago precisely to make sure vaccines get to children in developing countries. Once a Covid-19 vaccine is ready, Gavi will be a key partner in delivering it to the people who need it. At the recent Gavi replenishment meeting, donors actually pledged more than the organization asked for. This means that it will be able to continue helping countries run routine immunization programs in safe ways while it also prepares to distribute the eventual Covid-19 vaccine.

How has the foundation set its donation priorities over the past 20 years and what is its approach to evaluate and review projects? Has the foundation made significant adjustments to its strategies?

Our overall goal of equity is the same. We still believe that everyone deserves an equal chance to live a healthy and productive life and that innovation is critical to making that happen.

A lot has changed over the last two decades, though, even if our high-level mission is the same. We have adjusted many of our strategies based on lessons learned from our work. We used to focus narrowly on health; now we also focus on other areas of development like agriculture and financial services. We began by looking at health in terms of individual diseases; now we see it more as an interconnected set of issues. We began with a focus on discovering and developing new products; while that is still a key aspect of our work, we concentrate just as much on the challenges of delivering those products to the people who need them. As digital technology has taken hold in the past decade, we have increasingly factored these advances into our work. We have invested in data to understand how gender inequality blocks progress and the role we can play to help women and girls gain power and influence.

Are there projects that received the foundations funding but didnt deliver expected results? If so, which one impressed you most and why?

Over the years, weve had a number of projects that didnt go as expected but still delivered important results. Our work with partners on polio, for example, has brought the world extremely close to eradication, but it has taken longer than I thought it would to finish the job.

When you get down to a very few cases  there have been about 100 cases per year in the past couple of years  the work gets increasingly difficult; the strategies that worked to reduce the disease by 99.9% dont work for the last 1%. However, we have learned many lessons that will help us do better, not just on polio eradication but also on many other global health challenges, including Covid-19. We have learned how to identify and monitor the spread of a virus with phenomenal precision. We have learned how to organize public health campaigns that reach virtually every single child in large and remote areas. We have learned how to build trust with communities experiencing violent conflict. When our partners encounter a problem, they innovate to find solutions, and many of those solutions have applications beyond polio.

We will eradicate polio. It will have taken much longer than we hoped, but the struggle has made the global health community better at all of its work.

The foundation has become a uniquely important player in the global health system and outperformed many other private organizations in similar areas with its clear goal-setting and achievements. What are the experiences and lessons you can share with other foundations or philanthropists that also want to contribute to global health?

The global health ecosystem is complex, and we all have distinct roles to play. What matters is not how much money an organization has but how their resources align with their strategies. That is why we work together with businesses, governments, and community organizations, among others, because each partner brings important skills and perspectives.

Still, we are learning lessons every day, and we share them whenever they may be relevant to our partners. Take the example of using data and evidence to design strategies and track results. Its not just our foundation that does that, its everyone. We are just as eager to learn from our partners experiences. Studying what others do well and adapting those lessons to your unique context is a good way to get better.

Editors note: Optimization and innovation are the key words Gates emphasized for the Foundations strategy. The goal is using limited resources to help as many people as possible, he said. Under the principle set by the three trustees, the foundation is obliged to spend at least $4 billion every year for charities. About 60% of the funds go to support global health projects.

One of the main focuses of the foundation is to promote the coverage of childhood vaccines. Saving childrens lives is the best deal in philanthropy, the Gates couple said in their 2017 Annual Letter. And if you want to know the best deal within the dealits vaccines. That led to the creation of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in 1999 with an initial investment of $750 million from the foundation.

According to the letter, more than 122 million children under age 5 have been saved since 1990. And vaccines are the biggest reason for the drop in childhood deaths.

But not every project runs as expected. The initiative to eliminate polio has gone back and forth. Since 1988, the number of global cases of the disease has been reduced by 99% after large-scale vaccinations. In 2015, the WHO announced that polio is no longer a public health threat. But sporadic outbreaks have never been fully eliminated. In 2018, 33 polio cases were reported, all from Pakistan and Afghanistan. Gates described the remaining work against the disease as a game of whack-a-mole.

Some of the projects we fund will fail, the Gates couple wrote on the website of the foundation. We not only accept that, we expect itbecause we think an essential role of philanthropy is to make bets on promising solutions that governments and businesses cant afford to make. As we learn which bets pay off, we have to adjust our strategies and share the results so everyone can benefit.

Gates said he has been passionate about tasks to eliminate polio, address climate change and improve global health. To make effective changes, it is important to bolster cooperation among professionals from academic, government and many other fields. You wont succeed unless you can reach a broader audience and reshape peoples mindset, he said.

But in the face of rising protectionism and inward-looking strategies among countries, forging global cooperation to deal with public health challenges is becoming increasingly challenging, he said.

Tech mogul-turned philanthropist

As the founder of a private foundation, youre unique because you play a key role in the organization and administer a lot of projects in person, while most other foundations are run by professionals instead of the founder. Why are you able and willing to do this?

Almost 25 years ago, Melinda and I read an article that said 500,000 children were dying every year from a disease wed never heard of called rotavirus, almost all of whom lived in low-income countries. Children in high-income countries got rotavirus, it said, but didnt die from it. We were blown away. We kept asking ourselves how so many children could die from a disease that was easily treated. And how had this brutal inequity lasted so long without our even knowing about it? So we committed to learning about and eventually investing in global health even while I was still at Microsoft. We thought if our money and our ideas could help save and improve lives, then we had a responsibility to contribute.

As our work evolved, I got increasingly passionate about it. I believed we had an opportunity to do something important, and I wanted to spend more time on the work.

So, in 2007, I stepped down from my full-time role at Microsoft and started working full time with the foundation. In many ways, my careers in technology and global health have been similar. Both have been focused on innovating to solve the worlds toughest challenges and improve peoples lives.

When the foundation was established, was there a picture in your mind about how the world would be in 20 years? What changes did you expect to bring at that time? Is there a gap between your expectation and the reality now?

When we started the foundation 20 years ago, we hoped that investments in vaccines and other medical supplies  and ways to deliver them  would help more kids survive and grow up healthy. And while we have a long way to go in the fight against extreme poverty and disease, the data do show things have gotten better.

Since 2000, the number of children who die before the age of 5 has fallen by nearly half, even as the population has gone up by approximately 25%. Many of our foundations partners have been extremely successful. Gavi has immunized more than 760 million children since 2000. The Global Fund, which helps countries tackle HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, has saved more than 30 million lives since 2002. Unfortunately, this progress is likely to slow down temporarily because of Covid-19.

Back in 2000, when we started the foundation, I didnt expect that our work would intersect with the worst global health crisis in a century. We started our foundation before SARS, before MERS, before Ebola. And so, I did not see the looming threat of pandemic disease, and it wasnt a major part of our strategy. We started talking about the issue, and our foundation started investing in preparedness about five years ago, but the world wasnt prepared enough to prevent a pandemic.

Bill Gates warned risks from a pandemic in a TED Talk 2015

Editors note: In a 2015 TED Talk, Gates prophetically warned that the next big disaster to strike humanity would be due to microbes, not a nuclear war. He said that the world would be underprepared for such a viral disaster. Unfortunately, he was proved right by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a tech superstar, the Microsoft co-founder is known for many anecdotes illustrating his relentless eagerness for learning and working as well as his hyper-competitive personality. The skills he learned at Microsoft including deep understanding of technology and organizational operation has helped him in his philanthropic career, Gates said in a 2016 interview with Caixin.

But years of involvement in philanthropic works focusing on disease control and poverty relief have also transformed him. I have mellowed. Thank god, Gates said in Netflixs three-episode documentary series last year, Inside Bills Brain.

At the early days of the Gates couples philanthropic efforts, they mainly focused on using technology tools to improve fair education, such as donating computers and education resources to African countries. Since the late 90s, they started shifting to efforts to control disease and improve global health, especially for children.

Building bridges

The foundation has been in China since 2007. How has its knowledge about China and about what it can achieve together with China evolved?

When we started our work in China, it was to help the country address major domestic public health challenges: HIV prevention, tobacco control, and tuberculosis control.

Last year, I visited China to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the TB prevention and control program with our partner, the National Health Commission. The scale and scope of the effort have been impressive, with breakthroughs in diagnostics, treatment, and backend solutions like insurance reimbursement and information management benefitting 90 million people.

China has become an increasingly important partner in helping the world achieve global health and development goals. Thats a clear trend over the past 20 years: China has transitioned from being a recipient of health and development support to being a donor of it. The country is responsible for providing all sorts of antimalarial products for people in sub-Saharan Africa, like bed nets, and helped develop the latest Japanese encephalitis vaccine, which is now in 12 countries and has protected more than 400 million children.

In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is great to see China continue taking a leading role in global cooperation, with pledges of support for the WHO and Gavi as well as $2 billion to help affected developing countries with Covid-19 response.

What role does philanthropy play? Whats your observation of Chinas philanthropy development?

As a percentage of the economy, philanthropy in China is still fairly modest, at less than 0.2% of GDP. But Chinas remarkable growth has created new wealth for a generation of entrepreneurs  wealth that can benefit people in China and around the world.

At its best, philanthropy takes risks that governments cant and corporations wont. Business doesnt generally invest in products for people who cant afford to pay for them. Government can provide a safety net by offering services the market doesnt. But its hard for any government to justify big investments in research that may only benefit people in far-off countries, and some countries simply dont have enough money to invest in R&D. These are the kinds of gaps Chinas new philanthropists can fill.

After all, the Covid-19 pandemic is showing us that the worlds biggest problems cant be solved by any single entity alone. They require cooperation from governments, businesses and nonprofits. Gavi is a good example. It not only helps immunize millions of children against preventable diseases; it has also pledged that once a Covid-19 vaccine is ready, it will help deliver it to low-income countries. When Gavi needed more funding this year, the Chinese government made a contribution. But so did a collection of Chinese institutional donors, technology firms and vaccine manufacturers.

Investments in multilateral health institutions like Gavi are smart bets, and by contributing to them, China and its philanthropists wont only accelerate the end of this pandemic; theyll help create a better world after.

Editors note: The Gates Foundation opened its first overseas representative office in Beijing in 2007, but its engagement in China started much earlier. Between 2002 and 2007, Gavi partnered with the Chinese government to launch a $76 million project to develop and promote hepatitis B vaccine in rural China. Over the years, the foundation has been involved in many projects in China including fighting against tuberculosis, improving childhood nutrition, preventing HIV and tobacco control. The foundations work approach in China has also evolved from direct donation to more diverse patterns and partnerships.

The foundation also helped link China and other countries in development cooperation as China evolved from charity recipient to contributor. In 2013, a Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine developed by China National Biotec Group was prequalified by WHO, and later

selected by Gavi for its vaccination program for developing countries. Between 2014 and 2018, a total of 30 million China-made JE vaccine doses were donated to Laos, Nepal and Cambodia through Gavi. To date, more than 400 million children from 12 countries have benefited from the vaccine, and millions of lives are saved.

In 2015, China for the first time donated $5 million to Gavi to support its global childhood vaccination initiative after years of support from the organization helped China bring hepatitis B under control. Last month, the Chinese government offered additional $20 million to Gavi during the Global Vaccine Summit and pledged to encourage Chinese research institutions and vaccine manufacturers to strengthen collaboration with Gavi.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)

initiative to control TB has gone back and forth. It should be the i

nitiative to eliminate polio.
The year 2020 seems to be in no mood to end the adventure-filled ride for all of us. On Saturday, Bollywood's megastar actor Amitabh Bachchan took to his Twitter handle to inform that he has tested positive for coronavirus and has been shifted to the Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai.

The 77-year-old actor took to his Twitter handle to share the news. He tweeted, I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested!

T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 11, 2020

Not only that, even Abhishek Bachchan has tested positive for coronavirus.

In another tweet Abhishek wrote, "Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you."

Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you.   Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

According to reports, senior Bachchan had recently shot promotional content for the upcoming season of his popular quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati and other projects at his home because of which he had to come in contact with the production crew who visited him at his house.

Other than Big B and Abhishek, the rest of the Bachchan family members, including Jaya Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have also undergone tests for COVID-19 and their results have reportedly come back negative.

Both #AmitabhBachchan and Abhishek Bachchan underwent Antigen test & they have tested positive for #COVID19. Other family members including Jaya Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were also tested, their results will come tomorrow: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope pic.twitter.com/iXpuFJR1xQ  ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2020

Fans and Bollywood celebrities like Taapsee Pannu, Neha Dhupia, Rajkummar Rao and Manoj Bajpayee among others took to social media to wish Big B and Abhishek a speedy recovery.

Taapsee tweeted, "And you shall be back to health n happiness soon! Champ!"

Neha wrote, "Sending you tons of love and best wishes...Please take care... you ll be okay very soon!"

Check out some of the reactions of Bollywood celebs here:

Praying for your speedy recovery Sir. Love and prayers   Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) July 12, 2020

Get well soon amit uncle. All my love and prayers..  Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) July 11, 2020

Get well soon sir, my sincere prayers for your speedy recovery  Dhanush (@dhanushkraja) July 11, 2020

Wish you a speedy recovery Bachchan saab   Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) July 11, 2020

Wishing you and @juniorbachchan a speedy recovery sir ! Pl get well soon. This too shall pass 

Our wishes and prayers are with thee always   Vinay Pathak (@pathakvinay) July 11, 2020

Get well soon sir. Prayers for your speedy recovery!!  Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) July 11, 2020

Praying for your speedy recovery Sir Durga Durga  Bipasha Basu (@bipsluvurself) July 11, 2020

People also wished Abhishek Bachchan for his speedy recovery:

Get well soon brother. Lots of love   Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) July 12, 2020

Get well soon ab.. lots of love  Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) July 11, 2020

Take care bro @juniorbachchan our prayers are with you and your family  sulaiman merchant (@Sulaiman) July 11, 2020

Abhishek sending you and the family much love   barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 11, 2020

Watching you rule the screen so brilliantly in Breathe as I write this. Take good care of yourself and your Dad.Nothing can keep the Bachchans down. You will both be fighting fit in no time at all.  vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) July 11, 2020

Get well soon brother  Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) July 12, 2020

Wishing you a speedy recovery   kiku sharda (@kikusharda) July 11, 2020

Heres how their fans across the places are rooting for them:

You will get well, very soon, Sir ji.



      .. pic.twitter.com/TF9wYL3w3t  Film History Pics (@FilmHistoryPic) July 11, 2020

Sir, wish u and @juniorbachchan very fast recovery.....Get well soon.  Sourabh raaj jain (@saurabhraajjain) July 12, 2020

Get _Well_Soon...Sir  Mohsen Khan (@MohsenK96901437) July 12, 2020

Get well soon sir ! Wishing you a speedy recovery...  suraj mishra (@surajmishra02) July 11, 2020

Get well soon sir  Debadipta Barik (@BarikDebadipta) July 11, 2020

Sir we are with your family get well soon @sirBachchan  Babita Tade (@BabitaTade) July 12, 2020

Get well soon @juniorbachchan ji  Dheeraj yadav (@Yadav_Dheeraj_) July 11, 2020

On the work front, Amitabh Bachchans upcoming films include "Chehre", "Brahmastra" and "Jhund". He was last seen in Shoojit Sircar's comedy-drama "Gulabo Sitabo" alongside Ayushmann Khurrana. Abhishek Bachchan on the other hand has forayed into the digital world with Amazon Prime Video's thriller series, Breathe: Into The Shadows.
By Rupert Cutler

Remember Donald Trump saying he believes it was Ukraine  not Russia  that meddled in the 2016 election because Russian President Vladimir Putin told me? Even Trumps biggest fans on Capitol Hill dont believe that whopper. The facts say otherwise.

John Cornyn and Tom Cotton usually are cheerleaders for President Trump. According to the Texas Observer, Cornyn, the senior senator from Texas has proved to be an immutable Trump ally (and) eagerly took on the role of a top Trump surrogate during impeachment proceedings. Jeffrey Toobin, in The New Yorker, quotes Stephen Bannon, once Trumps top strategist, as describing Cotton, the junior senator from Arkansas, as the one most supportive of us (the Trump campaign), up front and behind the scenes, from the beginning.

But Cornyn and Cotton (and every other committee member, Republican and Democrat alike) signed the April 21 report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence confirming that Russia and not Ukraine used social media big time to help Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election.

A little dissonance in the Trump Fan Club? Dare we hope that the truth always comes out in the end?

The latest Senate Intelligence Committee installment examines the sources, tradecraft, and analytic work behind the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that determined Russia conducted an unprecedented, multi-faceted campaign to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In summary, heres its conclusion: The St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) sought to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election with an information warfare campaign directed by Vladimir Putin that harmed Hillary Clintons chances of success and supported Donald Trump. The Committee found that IRA social media activity was overtly and almost invariably supportive of then-candidate Trump, and to the detriment of Secretary Clintons campaign.

The Putin-led campaign included the posting of thousands of false, misleading and socially divisive messages--month after month throughout the presidential campaign--on platforms read by millions of Americans every day, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Reddit, Tumblr and LinkedIn. Among its goals was the undermining of confidence in the reporting by the so-called mainstream news media such as this newspaper youre reading.

IRA operations to support Trump also involved activities inside the United States:

IRA operatives were able to organize and execute a series of coordinated political rallies titled Florida Goes Trump, using the Facebook group Being Patriotic, the Twitter account @March_for_Trump, and other fabricated social media personas. Masquerading as Americans, IRA operatives communicated with Trump Campaign staff, purchased advertisements promoting these rallies on Facebook and Instagram, contact grassroots supporters of then-candidate Trump, solicited U.S. citizens to participate in these events, and even paid select participants to portray Hillary Clinton imprisoned in a cage that had been constructed on a flatbed truck for this purpose.

Virginias own Mark Warner is vice chairman of the committee. He contributed a personal statement printed at the end of the April 21 report that, as his constituents, I think we should read and appreciate:

The (Intelligence Community Assessment) summarizing intelligence concerning the 2016 election represented the kind of unbiased and professional work we expect and require from the Intelligence Community. The ICA correctly found the Russians interfered in our 2016 election to hurt Secretary Clinton and help the candidacy of Donald Trump. Our review of the highly classified ICA and underlying intelligence found that this and other conclusions were well-supported. There is certainly no reason to doubt that the Russians success in 2016 is leading them to try again in 2020 and we must not be caught unprepared.

The Putin-directed disinformation campaign on social media to support Donald Trump is being cranked up again to try to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. With the 2020 presidential election approaching, the Senate committee report concludes, its more important than ever that we remain vigilant against the threat of interference from hostile foreign actors.

Or, as Darren Linvill, a Clemson University communications professor quoted in the committee report, puts it, theres been too much focus on Russian interference in our election. Its much more than that. Its interference in our society, in our culture, in our political conversation.

Cutler was an assistant secretary of agriculture in the Carter Administration and is a former member of Roanoke City Council. He lives in Roanoke.
New Delhi, July 12 : As the Congress found itself amid a crisis over the survival of its government in Rajasthan, senior party leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday wondered aloud if the party leadership will wake up once the damage has been done.

"Worried for our party. will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables?" the former Union Minister tweeted.

The party is facing its second political crisis within months of a revolt led by Jyotiraditya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh, which ousted the Kamal Nath government in that state.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had called a press meet on Saturday, where he termed the BJP a "shameless party trying to topple the Congress government when it is busy tackling the Covid-19 crisis in the state".

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot reached Delhi on Saturday, triggering more speculations about the state government's fate.
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Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be the "face of the party" in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu said on Sunday.

He also made it clear that the Congress will not enter into a tie-up with any political party, but will forge an alliance with the "public, democracy, youth, farmers, poor, Dalits, oppressed and deprived people".

"UP is her land. She (Priyanka Gandhi) hails from this place. She and her family have an affection for the soil of UP, and for the crores of people of UP. She resides in the heart of crores of people of the state. And undoubtedly under her leadership, the party will contest the UP Assembly elections," he told PTI in an interview.

Priyanka Gandhi will be the face of our party. The party will become the voice of the people and they will shower their blessings on us, he said.

The UP Congress chief asserted that the public sentiment of UP is that "we should form the government under her 'dekh-rekh' (monitoring)".

To a question on forging any pre-poll or post-poll alliance during polls, Lallu said, "Congress will not enter into an alliance with any political party in UP. We will forge an alliance with the public, democracy, youth, farmers, poor, Dalits, oppressed and deprived people."

On some BJP leaders dubbing Priyanka Gandhi as a Twitter leader, Lallu said, "This (UP) government is afraid of Priyanka Gandhi. She took to the streets, and fought for tribals of Sonbhadra despite being detained by the state government. The way she is cornering the government on almost every issue, it seems it is feeling afraid (sarkaar darri hui hai) and entangled (phansi hui hai). Hence, it is speaking in this manner."

When asked as to whether the Congress is lagging behind as far as preparations for the 2022 UP polls are concerned, the UP Congress chief said, "The Congress is continuously raising issues, which directly and indirectly impact the public of the state. We are consistently strengthening our voice. The Congress is becoming the voice of the people on various issues, even as the state government is engaging itself in anti-people activities."

He also claimed that since 1989, the time from which the Congress has been out of power in UP, the development of the state has significantly declined.

"You can see for yourself the condition in which the SP, BSP and BJP have ruled this state. In the past (during the Congress rule), UP was known by its industries, small-scale industries and sugar mills. Today, on the contrary, a large number of sugar mills are lying closed.

"The traditional industries associated with a particular district are also in a bad condition, be it the glass bangles of Firozabad, locks of Aligarh, leather of Kanpur, brass of Moradabad or carpets of Bhadohi. The condition of weavers in the state is very bad," Lallu said.

He claimed that hospitals and medical colleges built during the Congress rule in the state are proving their utility in the current time.

"If voted to power, the Congress will strive to make a developed UP and a prosperous UP (vikasit UP, samriddh UP). This is what we are telling the people of the state," Lallu said, and added that farmers are forced to commit suicide in the state.

When asked to comment on the UP Government's One District, One Product programme, the UP Congress chief said, "ODOP is an eyewash. The UP Government is organising investors summits, but not even a single project has been implemented on the ground".

To a question as to whether there is any leadership vacuum in the UP Congress or shortage of workers, Lallu said, "Congress workers have hit the street on a number of issues which affect the public including the hike in the prices of petrol and diesel".

"Cases were registered against more than 100 party leaders in every district of the state. We were caned, and picked up by the police. The Congress is now becoming the voice of the Dalits, backwards, deprived and oppressed sections of the society," the UP Congress chief said.
Drawing from the latest editions of Fortune and Forbes US and global lists, the Indiaspora Business Leaders List includes more than 50 executives who are serving at the helm of their respective company in the role of Chief Executive Officer, President, or Chairman of the Board.The list includes immigrants from India as well as professionals born in countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia, England, and the US. The companies that the executives lead are headquartered in ten different countries, including the US, Canada, England, and Singapore."This inaugural list shares so many shining examples of the quintessential immigrant story," said Indiaspora Board Member Rajan Navani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Jetline Group of Companies."Hardworking, enterprising, and innovative, these executives have achieved the highest success in their respective fields, often drawing on their Indian heritage to help guide and ground them along the way. No doubt they will inspire generations to come," added RajanCompanies on the Indiaspora Business Leaders List collectively employ more than 3.6 million worldwide and account for a combined USD 1 trillion in revenue and USD 4 trillion in market capitalization.The companies' collective shares also outperformed the stock market, averaging 21 percent returns during the tenures of the leaders on the list, compared to the S&P 500, which offered 9 percent returns during the same time frame."It is gratifying to see the growing impact of individuals from the Indian community on business on a global scale," said Indiaspora Board Member Arun Kumar, Chairman, and CEO at KPMG India, who also served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the Obama administration."I have had the opportunity to work with several of the individuals on our 2020 Business Leaders List in a professional and personal capacity and can attest to their dynamism as leaders not only of their companies but also for the larger diaspora community. In addition, many of them bring a remarkable sensitivity to issues relating to social change," added Arun.The 2020 Indiaspora Business Leaders List represents 56 executives and 57 companies, as Raj Gupta, an Indiaspora member, serves as Chairman of two companies on the list, Aptiv, and Avantor."I'm amazed to see how far we've come in terms of representation in business. There used to be only a handful of us leading corporations," said Raj Gupta, former CEO of Fortune 300 company Rohm and Haas, and one of the first executives of the Indian diaspora to join the ranks of corporate leadership along with pioneers such as Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo and Dinesh Paliwal of Harman International."Now that we are reaching prominence, I am eager to see how the next generation leaves its own legacy," added Raj.Several executives on the list have led their companies in advancing social change by addressing racial injustice, climate and sustainability justice, and the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 through policy and financial commitments.Tech industry leader Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, for example, has announced new goals for racial equity, including improving leadership representation of underrepresented groups at Google, and an "economic opportunity package" for the Black community.Ivan Menezes, CEO of British multinational beverage alcohol company Diageo, also led his company in creating a USD 20 million social justice fund in America.Several leaders' companies have created or contributed to funds in response to COVID-19. In addition, Sunny Verghese's Singapore-based agribusiness and supply chain company Olam International donated COVID-19 testing kits to the government of Ghana.Francis deSouza, head of gene analysis company Illumina, is developing a test for the novel coronavirus using sequencing technology."It's inspiring to see so many leaders of Indian heritage playing a significant role in business and in society," said Ajay Banga, President, and CEO of Mastercard."Our culture and our values are a common starting point (any chance we can get a bit more color here?). But it's what we do with the opportunities presented to us that make a difference. And, when we lean into our diverse experiences to deal with challenges like the pandemic or racial injustice, we can have an even greater impact on the lives of those around us," added Ajay.The Indiaspora Business Leaders List also calls attention to the presence of a glass ceiling in which women, including Indian women, still face. Out of 1,000 companies represented on the Fortune 500 list, only 61 have women CEOs; the Indiaspora List has a marginally higher percentage of women, yet only accounts for five women out of more than 50 leaders.For more information about the Indiaspora Business Leaders List, including information for each of the honorees, actions that the executives and their companies are undertaking in response to COVID-19, the current racial justice movement, and climate and sustainability needs, please visit here: https://lists.indiaspora.org/businessleaders/2020The following lists were used to identify honorees: Fortune 500 (which features 1,000 companies), Forbes Global 2000, Fortune Global 500, and the Forbes Largest Private US Companies.This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
Faced with empty churches and an unprecedented drop in weekly donations, all five of New Jerseys Catholic dioceses used a special exemption to apply for taxpayer-funded loans through a federal program designed to help keep small businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Archdiocese of Newark and the dioceses of Metuchen, Paterson, Trenton and Camden received loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program to help pay employees in their parishes, schools and administrative offices, church officials told NJ Advance Media.
In the semi-arid Texas High Plains, growers and producers are concerned about the sustainability of beef and dairy industries, which rely heavily on irrigated corn for feed-grain and silage. A main source of irrigation--the Ogallala Aquifer--is declining rapidly. The aquifer's decline emphasizes the need for producers and growers to find alternative, water-efficient forage crops for sustainable beef and dairy production in the region.

In a new study published in Crop Science, researchers from Texas Tech University investigated the potential of forage sorghum and pearl millet as alternatives to corn for forage production. The 2-year study evaluated the physiological responses of multiple varieties of all three crops under various irrigation regimes, including dryland. The team collected data on leaf water potential, stomatal conductance, and canopy temperature. They also studied the influence of these responses on biomass production and nutritive values.

The study reported that sorghum showed better physiological responses and produced greater biomass under water-stress conditions compared to pearl millet and corn. Though the nutritive value of sorghum was lower than corn, sorghum could provide growers with an alternative to produce higher biomass with less water. As a management option, forage sorghum could be mixed with high nutrition supplements to achieve desirable feed quality and increase profitability.

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Adapted from Bhattarai, B., Singh, S., West, C.P., Ritchie, G.L. and Trostle, C.L. (2020), Effect of deficit irrigation on physiology and forage yield of forage sorghum, pearl millet, and corn.
A leading expert on the immune system has warned of 'tremendous deaths' from COVID-19 across the United States unless lockdowns are reimposed in states currently seeing a surge in cases.

More than 70,000 Americans tested positive for the virus on Friday - the fourth consecutive day that the number of confirmed cases broke a new record.

On Saturday, five states and territories set a record for coronavirus-related hospitalizations: Puerto Rico, North Carolina, Alaska, Florida and California.

A doctor is pictured in Houston, Texas, informing relatives of a patient who died. Texas is among the states to have a soaring toll from the coronavirus

The number of new infections broke another record on Friday - the fourth consecutive rise

Medics try unsuccessfully to save the life of a COVID-19 patient in Houston, Texas

California is averaging 91 reported deaths per day while Texas is close behind with 66.

Florida, Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey and South Carolina also saw sizable rises.

And 33 states have this week seen their number of cases rise, Axios reported.

The U.S. is the world's hardest-hit country

Dr Robert Lahita, clinical professor of medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, urged states with increasing caseloads to rethink their reopening.

He told CBS on Friday that there will be 'tremendous deaths' in those areas and said it was a 'very good idea' to impose new lockdowns.

He said: 'I'm hoping that the governors use some common sense and close up again.

'It comes close to irresponsible, reopening, until we have absolute proof that the disease is under control.'

He said that he fears doctors and experts have been 'pushed to the side' and re-openings have become an 'economic issue'.

'I understand that some of these meetings at the governors' mansions have included eight businesspeople versus one epidemiologist or one doctor,' he said.

'Prioritization for a lot of the governors are to get the economy rolling again.'

Donald Trump has emphasized the need to re-open the economy, ahead of the November election.

Yet even he had to accept the reality of the virus on Saturday, and wear a face mask during a visit to the Walter Reed medical center.

It was the first time he'd been seen in public wearing a mask.

Donald Trump on Saturday wore a mask in public for the first time, at the Walter Reed hospital

Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, reopened on Saturday to welcome guests

Wearing face masks, guest could once again enjoy rides such as Thunder Mountain

Walt Disney Worlds Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom reopened on Saturday, despite a surge in the number of Floridians testing positive for the coronavirus.

The state set a record of nearly 500 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 this week.

The latest data means that, with more than 3.2 million cumulative cases in the United States, more people are infected than the population of 21 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, according to data from the US Census Bureau.

More people in the U.S. now have COVID-19 than live in Chicago, the country's third-largest city.

Texas, Arizona and South Carolina are now being buffeted by the pandemic.

The three states have all seen their death tolls rise by more than 100 per cent in the past four weeks, according to an analysis of state and county health data by The Washington Post on Friday.

Four more states - Mississippi, Tennessee, California and Louisiana - have seen at least a 10 per cent jump in that time span.

Texas set four records on Saturday: new single-day cases, seven-day average of cases, seven-day average of deaths and hospitalizations.

The Corpus Christi fire department conducts COVID-19 test for first responders Wednesday

Gravediggers hard at work in Avondale, Arizona, on Wednesday, as COVID-19 ravages the state

Motorists lined up to be tested for COVID-19 in a parking lot at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

Houston area hospitals are reaching capacity, with some patients being treated in ICU wards.

In Arizona, Phoenix is bringing in refrigerated morgue trucks as the existing facilities overflow.

After mid-April, the daily death toll declined as shutdown orders took effect across the country and the virus curve began to flatten.

The low point came July 5, with 217 recorded coronavirus deaths - the lowest toll since March 24.

Since then, amid record-breaking case numbers in several states, the death count has begun to rise, surpassing 800 deaths each of the past four days to Friday.

Nicholas Reich, a University of Massachusetts biostatistician who aggregates more than 30 epidemiological models to create a forecast of the coming weeks of the pandemic, on Wednesday predicted that by August 1, the country would see its death toll rise to 147,466.

That would mark an increase of about 16,000 over two and a half weeks.

'The model's best guess is that we will see a slow and steady increase in new #COVID19 deaths in the US over the next four weeks, between 3,800 and 5,000 per week.

'This captures declines in some states, and increases in others,' Reich wrote on Twitter.

A woman in Arizona has her temperature checked on Friday before a COVID test
By Agencies

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has arrived in Delhi to meet party high command and has sought time for a meeting with Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, sources said on Sunday.

The sources said that at least a dozen MLAs said to be from Pilot's camp are also staying put in NCR-Delhi region at various places. Pilot had come to Delhi on Saturday.

There is no meeting confirmed between the Congress chief and the Dy CM as of now.

No meeting between @INCIndia chief Sonia Gandhi and @SachinPilot scheduled as of now @NewIndianXpress  richa sharma (@richa_TNIE) July 12, 2020

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Gehlot called a meeting of his Ministers at his official residence in Jaipur late Saturday and asked all party MLAs to give a letter of support to him. Senior ministers have been roped in this regard.

However, ministers from the Pilot camp did not attend this meeting.

Gehlot, sources said, has spoken with Sonia Gandhi, Rajasthan party affairs incharge Avinash Pandey, and Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal to apprise them of developments in his state.

CM Ashok Gehlot on Saturday accused the Centre of trying to topple the Rajasthan government.

Accusing BJP, CM said that the opposition is offering Rs 15 crore to Congress MLAs.

"While during the Corona crisis, the government is working for the people, BJP meantime is causing problems for the people. BJP is constantly trying to topple our government," Gehlot said.

The BJP has rejected all the allegations and has hit back that whatever is going on is the result of Congress infighting centred over the clash between the Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot.

State BJP chief Satish Poonia said, The BJP has nothing to do with all these allegations. During the Rajya Sabha elections, they had Covid-19 crisis and that is why they are just trying to divert public attention."

Sources said a crisis is brewing within the Rajasthan Congress with deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and his supporting MLAs not sharing good ties with Chief Minister Gehlot.

The flash point between the two top leaders in Rajasthan was a probe ordered by the state police into "poaching" of MLAs and a notice sent to Pilot, which has not gone well with him.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday was the first to go public on the crisis saying he he was worried for the party.

Seeking a quick resolution of the "crisis", he asked when would the party leadership "wake up".

"Worried for our party. Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables," he said on Twitter.

Worried for our party



Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables ?  Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) July 12, 2020

(With inputs from IANS, PTI, ENS)
Unrest in Lunawa over police shooting of fisherman By Rekha Tharangani Fonseka View(s): View(s):

There were scenes of anger and grief in the Lunawa area in Angulana yesterday after a 39-year-old father of four was shot and killed by police.

The victim, Amith Karunarathna, a resident of Lunawa, was a fisherman who had been on his way to sea from the Lunawa lagoon on Friday night. Two three-wheelers carrying him and four friends, along with their fishing gear, were stopped by three officers from the Angulana Police near the Lunawa bridge.

According to police and witnesses, an argument had erupted between the victim and the policemen when they attempted to check the vehicle revenue licence.

Police claim the victim tried to attack an officer with a rock, leading him to fire his weapon. At least four witnesses who claimed to have seen the incident, however, told journalists that while an argument did take place, police shot the victim as he turned to leave. The body was taken to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital where an autopsy is to take place.

A tense situation erupted after the shooting, resulting in extra police being deployed around the Angulana Police station as angry residents gathered to protest the killing. A riot squad unit was also brought into the area, but there was no violence.

Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG), Western Province, Deshabandu Tennakoon visited the area last afternoon in a bid to calm tensions. He visited the victims house and expressed regret over the incident. The SDIG also promised the victims family and residents of the area that a thorough and impartial investigation will be conducted into the incident, and that stern legal action will be taken against the officer involved in the shooting  if it is found that he had committed an offence.

One of the victims sons told SDIG Tennakoon that the policemen involved had abused his father in filth, and that his father had been struck several times by angry officers when the victim protested being addressed in such a manner.

He pointed out that his father was only making his way to work and urged the SDIG to ensure that his father received justice.

SDIG Tennakoon in turn, assured that justice will be served. He also claimed that drug dealers and other interested parties were planning to use the incident to stir up trouble in the area and urged relatives of the victim not to allow the matter to be used to incite a riot. He also stated that they intended to look into the welfare of the victims children.
Offaly TD and Minister Barry Cowen insists that he did not 'evade or attempt to evade a Garda' after he was stopped for drink driving in 2016.

A statement issued on behalf of the Minister for Agriculture was issued after a report that claims he did so.

The Sunday Times has today published an article referring to an incorrect Garda record dealing with the incident which occurred on 18 September 2016 despite the fact that my solicitors wrote to the newspaper in advance of publication.

I did not evade, or attempt to evade, a Garda. Such an act would constitute a serious criminal offence and I was not charged with such an offence. On being informed of its existence I sought a copy of this incorrect record and am taking steps under the Data Protection Act to have it corrected.

This incorrect Garda record can only have come into the possession of the newspaper through a criminal act. It is a criminal offence for a member of An Garda Siochana to disclose any information obtained in the course of his or her duties. I am informed that An Garda Siochana has commenced a criminal investigation into the source of this leak.

It is obvious that the disclosure of this information at this time in flagrant breach of the criminal law and my rights under data protection law is a disgraceful attempt to cause me the maximum personal and political harm," he said.

The statement concluded by saying that he would be instructing his lawyers to take 'all necessary steps to vindicate my good name and data protection rights'.

Minister Cowen was put off the road for drink driving after he was stopped on his way home from the All-Ireland Final in Dublin in 2016.
Los Angeles, July 12 : Actor Tom Holland showed off his abs in a mirror selfie before starting shoot of his upcoming film "Uncharted".

The "Spider-Man: Homecoming" star flaunted his muscled torso on his Instagram Stories, with a shirtless mirror selfie, reports dailymail.co.uk.

He took the selfie from a place which looks like a makeshift gym area. The actor, 24, is seen in black pants and ditches his shirt to show his chiseled abs.

"When working with @markwahlberg you gotta get after it," Holland captioned the shot.

The actor is set to work with actor Mark Wahlberg in the upcoming "Uncharted", based on the video game of the same name. Holland is set to play main character Nathan Drake in the film, which will serve as an origin story set before the video game. For Holland, the path towards showbiz began getting carved when he was a child. The son of English comedian Dominic Holland studied dance when he was in school, and went on to do "Billy Elliot The Musical".

He featured in films like "The Impossible", "How I Live Now", "In The Heart of the Sea" and "The Lost City of Z". But his big ticket to Hollywood came with a role as the iconic web-slinger.Holland was introduced as Spider-Man in "Captain America: Civil War" in 2016. He got his first solo movie with "Spider-Man: Homecoming" -- which took the superhero back to school. He was back as the superhero with his second solo movie "Spider-Man: Far From Home".
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An exhibition dedicated to classic film star John Wayne will be removed following student protests over the actors history of racist remarks.

The exhibit, at the University of Southern Californias School of Cinematic Arts, featured photos and memorabilia from Waynes film career, but has been dogged by controversy since it was installed in 2012.

In a statement, the schools assistant dean of diversity and inclusion Evan Hughes confirmed that the exhibit would be placed in the universitys archives.

Conversations about systemic racism in our cultural institutions along with the recent global, civil uprising by the Black Lives Matter movement require that we consider the role our school can play as a change maker in promoting anti-racist cultural values and experiences, Hughes said. Therefore, it has been decided that the Wayne exhibit will be removed.

Wayne, who attended the school in the 1920s and died in 1979, made racist remarks in an interview with Playboy Magazine in 1971. Quotes from the interview resurfaced in 2019, and led to a number of campus protests against the exhibit.

The Playboy interview quoted Wayne as saying: I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.

He also said that there was nothing wrong with settlers stealing Native American land, adding that great numbers of people needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.

The Wayne exhibit will be replaced by a new one that incorporates elements of Indigenous filmmaking, feminism and critical race theory through interactive displays, said campus newspaper The Daily Trojan.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Movement of people from the State Capital to Covid hotspots has emerged a new challenge for Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) which is already struggling in its battle against coronavirus.

Eleven of the 38 persons of Bhubaneswar who tested positive in the last 24 hours, had a travel history to Covid hotspot districts. Three positive persons of a family in Ganganagar in the city had visited the worst-hit Ganjam district.

Similarly, another three infected persons of Niladri Vihar had travelled to Ganjam that has turned into a hotbed of coronavirus transmission, BMC authorities said.

This apart, a person from Kargil Basti in Pokhariput, two persons of a family from Chandrasekharpur, a person from Bhimtangi and one from Nayapalli, who tested positive, also have travel history to other Covid hospot districts.

Bhubaneswar had recorded 21 local cases in the last five days between July 7 and 11 and all the infected persons had travelled to Covid hotspots of Ganjam, Gajapati, Cuttack, Balasore and Jajpur.

There is a provision for mandatory quarantine for people returning to the city after 72 hours of their travel, but the norm is meant for those travelling outside Odisha.

For inter-district, there is no such provision although the Municipal Corporation has mandated 14 days institutional quarantine for those returning to city slums from Covid-19 hotspots, said an official.

Citys Covid tally reaches 640

With detection of 38 new cases in the last 24 hours, Covid tally of the Capital has increased to 640.

Apart from 12 local cases that include a case from Kalinga Vihar whose source of infection is not known, 26 cases are related to home quarantine.

The number of active cases stand at 317. Death toll has gone up to eight after death of one patient in the last 24 hours.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 00:48:16|Editor: huaxia

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A visitor is interviewed by media at the reopened Colosseum in Rome, Italy, June 1, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)

"The lockdown is over but the crisis continues," commented Confturismo-Confcommercio President Luca Patane, who called on the government to do more for the hard-hit tourism sector.

ROME, July 11 (Xinhua) -- A summer season without foreign tourists will cost Italy 12 billion euros (13.6 billion U.S. dollars) in lost revenue for hotels, restaurants, transportation firms and retailers, according to a new report from the National Confederation of Farmers (Coldiretti) on Saturday.

Last year, over 16 million foreigners spent their holidays in Italy during July, August and September. However, Italy is currently off limits to many key markets due to ongoing travel restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, said the report.

June 2020 saw domestic and foreign arrivals drop by 10 million and this had a "drastic impact on the economy and on jobs in the Made-in-Italy holiday sector, which is made up of 612,000 businesses employing 2.7 million workers," Coldiretti noted in a recent report on July 9.

People wait in line to have their body temperature checked before entering the reopened Colosseum in Rome, Italy, June 1, 2020.(Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)

Also on Saturday, the Italian Confederation of Tourism Businesses (Confturismo), which is a division of the General Italian Confederation of Businesses (Confcommercio), cited a new survey that 93 percent of Italian respondents say they will likely spend their summer holidays in their home country, up 16 percent from last year.

However, 39 percent of the respondents said they are not sure when they will depart, and another 19 percent remain undecided as to whether or not to take a trip because they aren't sure they can afford a vacation after the lockdown.

"This is a scenario of great uncertainty, which is confirmed by the fact that just 36 percent of respondents who intend to take a holiday say they have already booked their trip," Confturismo-Confcommercio said in a statement. "This is an incredibly low percentage for this time of year."

A girl swings by Lake Bracciano in Anguillara Sabazia near Rome, Italy, on June 16, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)

"The lockdown is over but the crisis continues," commented Confturismo-Confcommercio President Luca Patane, who called on the government to do more for the hard-hit tourism sector.

Confturismo represents over 220,000 firms including hotels, tourist agencies, camping sites, tourist villages, as wells as bars, restaurants, night clubs, youth hostels, nautical hiring services, and B&Bs. Confturismo-Confcommercio also represents tourist guides and tour managers, according to the United Nations World Trade Organization (UNWTO). (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars)








It was a grovelling apology. Posting at 4am on the Chinese social network WeChat, Zhang Yiming confessed that he was "filled with remorse and guilt, entirely unable to sleep". His company ByteDance, he explained, had failed to respect the "guidance" of China's powerful state censors and betrayed a "weak" understanding of the theories of Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader.

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming at the company's headquarters in Beijing. ByteDance owns TikTok. Credit:Bloomberg

"All along, we have placed excessive emphasis on the role of technology, and we have not acknowledged that technology must be led by the socialist core value system," he wrote.

Thirty-eight year-old Zhang, the founder of viral video app TikTok's $US100 billion ($144 billion) parent company ByteDance, is China's 10th richest man with a wealth of $US16.2 billion, after TikTok was downloaded more than two billion times. His company is the most valuable start-up in the world.

Zhang announced in his 2018 apology that he would shut down ByteDance's first app, a social network for jokes called Neihan Duanzi, after the Chinese government accused him of hosting "vulgar" content.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Sunday said that 83 illegal immigrants have been rescued by the Libyan coast guard off the country's western coast, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

"Today 83 migrants were returned to Libya by the coast guard," IOM tweeted.

"While our staff provide emergency assistance to migrants in detention and disembarkation points as a lifesaving measure, we maintain that Libya is not a safe port, and that the detention system must be dismantled," IOM said.

Encouraged by the state of insecurity and chaos that plagued the country since the 2011 fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime, illegal immigrants choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya towards Europe.

IOM estimated that more than 5,700 illegal immigrants have been rescued and returned to Libya by the Libyan coast guard so far this year, while more than 9,200 illegal immigrants were rescued and returned to Libya in 2019.
Admild, a Haitian immigrant in the U.S. illegally, was feeling sick as he approached the deportation plane that was going to take him back to the country he had fled in fear. Two weeks before that day in May, while being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Louisiana, he had tested positive for the coronavirus  and he was still showing symptoms.

He disclosed his condition to an ICE official at the airport, who sent him to a nurse.

She just gave me Tylenol, said Admild, who feared reprisals if his last name was published. Not long after, he was back on the plane before landing in Port-au-Prince, one of more than 40,000 immigrants deported from the United States since March, according to ICE records.

Even as lockdowns and other measures have been taken around the world to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, ICE has continued to detain people, move them from state to state and deport them.

An investigation by The New York Times in collaboration with The Marshall Project reveals how unsafe conditions and scattershot testing helped turn ICE into a domestic and global spreader of the virus  and how pressure from the Trump administration led countries to take in sick deportees.

We spoke to more than 30 immigrant detainees who described cramped and unsanitary detention centers where social distancing was near impossible and protective gear almost nonexistent. It was like a time bomb, said Yudanys, a Cuban immigrant held in Louisiana.

At least four deportees interviewed by the Times, from India, Haiti, Guatemala and El Salvador, tested positive for the virus shortly after arriving from the United States.

So far, ICE has confirmed at least 3,000 coronavirus-positive detainees in its detention centers, though testing has been limited.

We tracked over 750 domestic ICE flights since March, carrying thousands of detainees to different centers, including some who said they were sick. Kanate, a refugee from Kyrgyzstan, was moved from the Pike County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania to the Prairieland Detention Facility in Texas despite showing COVID-19 symptoms. He was confirmed to have the virus just a few days later.

I was panicking, he said. I thought that I will die here in this prison.

We also tracked over 200 deportation flights carrying migrants, some of them ill with coronavirus, to other countries from March through June. Under pressure from the Trump administration and with promises of humanitarian aid, some countries have fully cooperated with deportations.

El Salvador and Honduras have accepted more than 6,000 deportees since March. In April, President Donald Trump praised the presidents of both countries for their cooperation and said he would send ventilators to help treat the sickest of their coronavirus patients.

So far, the governments of 11 countries have confirmed that deportees returned home with COVID-19.

When asked about the agencys role in spreading the virus by moving and deporting sick detainees, ICE said it took precautions and followed guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of last week, ICE said that it was still able to test only a sampling of immigrants before sending them home. Yet deportation flights continue.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 18:27:29|Editor: huaxia

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by Julia Pierrepont III

LOS ANGELES, July 11 (Xinhua) -- "The barn is on fire!" Will Humble, a former Arizona Department of Health Services official, said early this month.

Humble predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic in the Grand Canyon State could get worse, but he did not imagine that half a month later the state would become one of the hotspots for the fatal disease in the United States.

According to data updated by the health department Saturday, the state added 3,038 confirmed cases in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 119,930 with 2,151 deaths.

Moreover, a report from The New York Times which analyzed Johns Hopkins University data indicated that the number of confirmed cases had been growing more rapidly in Arizona in the past week than in any other state in the country, and faster than in any country in the world.

"Arizona has had more new virus cases (per capita) over the last week than any country in the world," the report said.

Kate Gallego, the Democratic mayor of Phoenix, has sharply criticized Arizona Governor Doug Ducey's haste to reopen Arizona, a scant six weeks after his reluctant and late shutdown on March 30, and weeks after California's shutdown, saying the Republican governor's early reopening caused the dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases sweeping across the state now.

However, though the number of residents testing positive for COVID-19 in Arizona has soared from 5 percent to a staggering 12 percent in the last two weeks, Humble felt it was not strictly the early reopening that had caused problems, but also the governor's failure to enforce the minimum social distancing and mask-wearing regulations, so businesses that complied were at an economic disadvantage to the businesses that flouted the restriction order.

The state is further hampered by a shortage of medical personnel, testing facilities, and an ineffective contact-tracing program, both Humble and Gallego agreed.

Arizona Governor Ducey, who has consistently followed the Trump administration's lead to underestimate the strength and seriousness of the virus, is also under attack from the public, and from the business community -- but for completely different reasons.

The public is clamoring for better containment of the virus and blames the governor for his "too little, too late" approach to containment and his ignorance about the severity and dangers of the virus -- especially in a state that has a larger-than-average population of elderly retirees and Hispanic residents who have been hit hard by the pandemic.

Kristin Urquiza, an Arizona resident grieving for her father's death from COVID-19, laid the blame squarely at the governor's and U.S. President Donald Trump's feet last week, and her grief went viral.

She publicly accused Governor Ducey of misleading the public to believe the virus crisis was over by beginning to reopen the state in early May.

She explained that her father, Mark Urquiza, had carefully obeyed the stay-at-home order, except to work in his "essential" manufacturing job. But believing Ducey and Trump when they announced that it was safe for people to resume their normal lives, he began going out again with friends until he was struck down by the virus and died last month.

"His death is due to the carelessness of the politicians," she wrote in her father's obituary carried in a newspaper last Wednesday, criticizing "a clear lack of leadership, refusal to acknowledge the severity of this crisis, and inability and unwillingness to give clear and decisive direction on how to minimize risk."

Yet due to the massive spike in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, the governor has ordered gyms, bars, movie theaters, water parks, and other businesses to shut down again for 30 days on Monday.

However, many businesses are lobbying against a longer lockdown. In fact, dozens of high-end bars, gyms and real estate landlords have filed suits against the governor, trying to force him to reopen more, not less, despite more COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state.
With 1,781 new coronavirus cases and 34 deaths in the last 24 hours, the national capital on Saturday saw its total tally reach 1,10,921 cases and toll climb to 3,334.

According to Delhi government's daily health bulletin, as many as 87,692 people have recovered, more than four times the number of active cases which stand at 19,895. A total of 2,998 patients recovered in the last 24 hours.

"Delhi on path to recovery; only 20 per cent of total coronavirus cases are active," the Delhi government said in a statement.

On June 23, the city had witnessed the highest single-day peak of 3,947 cases, but the number has come down steadily since then despite the number of tests increasing.

Testing numbers in the city have also gone up since the commencement of rapid antigen tests last month.

Over 9,767 RT-PCR and 11,741 rapid antigen Covid-19 tests were conducted on Saturday. In total, 7,68,617 tests have been conducted so far in the national capital.

Currently, 4,502 beds are occupied in the hospitals out of a total capacity of 15,253 beds, 1,857 in the dedicated Covid Care Centres out of 9,217 and 157 beds in the dedicated Covid Health Centres as against the availability of 544 total beds. Over 11,598 people are under home isolation.

The number of containment zones in the national capital stood at 639, recording an increase of 180 over three days. The number shot up after the city government decided to break existing hotspots into smaller clusters for better surveillance.
Bir-Lahlou, 14 June 2020 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Mr. Brahim Ghali, congratulated his Russian counterpart, Mr. Vladimir Putin, on the occasion of his country's National Day



I am pleased to present to you on my own behalf and on behalf of the Sahrawi people, the warmest and sincerest congratulations to you and to the Russian people in general, wishing you good health and success and to the great Russian people more peace, progress, and prosperity," said the President of the Republic.



The President of the Republic expressed his gratitude and deep appreciation for the principled and advanced Russian position at the level of the United Nations and the Security Council, praising Russia's role in emphasizing the need to adhere to international legitimacy in the search for a just and lasting solution, consistent with the Charter of the United Nations, enabling the people of Western Sahara to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.



He expressed his sincere desire for the Government of the Sahrawi Republic and the leadership of the Polisario Front to strengthen the relations of friendship and cooperation with the Government and people of the Russian Federation. (SPS)



062/SPS/T
I must say at this stage that the refusal by criminal Courts either through the learned Magistrate or through their office staff to accep...
In the last three months the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) intensified its activities to provide food and medical help to migrant workers during the coronavirus pandemic and relief to those affected by Cyclone Amphan as it made a political point that the ruling Trinamool Congress failed to manage the two simultaneous disasters.

RSS, the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has around 1,800 sakhas (branches) in West Bengal. It could not hold daily assemblies because of nationwide lockdown that started in March but its members have tried to help people during the crisis.

The Covid-19 pandemic is the worst thing that has happened in India. Helping people should be our sole objective, Jishnu Basu, general secretary of the RSS state unit, said while speaking to HT.

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the RSS trade union arm, in a bid to provide work to migrant workers has set up help desks to provide employment opportunities in the eastern state as well as in others like Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The BMS claims it is contacting local employers as well.

We are operating 38 help desks across Bengal. According to our estimate, 80% migrants will leave the state again. We are preparing records of these people and helping them to get work, said Ravi Singh, the BMS state working president.

Our 121 active unions in Bengal have distributed food and sanitisers among 1.62 lakh families at 665 locations in 23 districts. Tarpaulins, food and relief materials were distributed in Amphan-hit areas as well, Singh added.

The National Medicos Organisation (NMO), an organisation of doctors and volunteers of the RSS, along with two other outfits, have so far held 80 medical camps in East Midnapore and the South and North 24 Parganas, the Amphan impacted districts.

We have treated about 25,000 people so far, thanks to 80 doctors, 250 volunteers and help from the BJP medical cell. Masks and medicines have been distributed. We are preparing a list of people who need surgery, said Dr Prabhat Singh, state president of NMO.

Sahakar Bharati, a nationwide cooperative movement backed by RSS, has in recent years set up multipurpose, agricultural and fisheries cooperatives depending on location and requirement, said Vivekananda Patra, its organising secretary in West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha and the Andamans.

These cooperatives are now helping people affected by lockdown.

Basudeb Sarkar, who is associated with Sahakar Bharati, said he has been able to help the families of many of his neighbours who went to other states for work and faced crisis during the lockdown.

Sarkar is a resident of Nandangram village of North Dinajpur district in north Bengal.

Around 2.24 lakh people from North Dinajpur were stuck in other states. We helped some of them through the Sahakar Bharati network in those states. Now our main objective is to help women whose husbands have not returned. We are inducting them in cooperative societies for packaging and marketing organic farm products, said Sarkar.

Political fallout:

Political observers say that with RSS cadre working on the field helps the BJP for the crucial 2021 assembly polls.

The humanitarian work, they say, gives the BJP the same strong platform that the RSS ensured for the party in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam and other states.

The BJP bagged 18 of Bengals 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, unsettling the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the districts. The partys leaders are now publicly saying that they will win 200 of the 294 assembly seats in 2021 assembly polls.

Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, former principal of Presidency College, said the RSS was doing a great job for people affected by the lockdown and Cyclone Amphan.

I dont support the RSS ideology but TMC activists are not doing anything of this kind. They are more interested in robbing the money that has come from the government as a grant, said Mukhopadhyay.

Because of these welfare activities the BJP is trying to have its strongholds, particularly in the rural areas that represent the majority of the voters. If RSS continues this work it will surely help the BJP do much better in the coming election, he added.

The outreach of the RSS could hurt the TMC, a senior minister, who did not wish to be named, admitted.

In 2011, we could overthrow the Communist Party of India (Marxist) despite its phenomenal cadre-based organisation because voters turned against the Left. In the coming war, our main weapon against the BJP is the TMC governments performance, the minister said.

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The Palestinian Authority on Sunday imposed a night-time and weekend curfew on the occupied West Bank for the coming 14 days to try and rein in rising coronavirus numbers. "Travel will be prohibited daily from 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) to 6:00 am in all governorates," as well as from Thursday evening to Sunday morning, Palestinian government spokesman Ibrahim Melhem told a news conference. In the addition to the general dawn-to-dusk curfew, major cities Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus and Bethlehem, will be under total lockdown until Thursday evening, he said, while travel between districts will be banned for two weeks. Only pharmacies and bakeries will be allowed to open. "It is strictly forbidden to organise weddings, funerals and parties," said Melhem, adding that Palestinians were also barred from going to work in Israeli settlements. The West Bank, occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Day war, is home to over 2.8 million Palestinians with another 450,000 Israelis living fenced off from them in settlements. In its daily report, the Palestinian health ministry said Sunday that there have so far been over 6,150 confirmed cases of COVID 19 infection, with 33 dead. The Palestinian Authority imposed a full West Bank lockdown after the first coronavirus cases were identified in early March, lifting it at the end of May. It was reimposed on July 3 and since extended in light of the rising infection data. In Israel, with a population of about nine million, the number of confirmed infections was given Sunday as more than 38,600 and just over 360 were reported dead. he/cgo/scw/hkb A man prays at Al-Khadra mosque in the old quarter of the West Bank town of Nablus; The Palestinian Authority has imposed a night and weekend curfew on the occupied West Bank for the next 14 days due to COVID-19
BEIRUT (AP)  Hospitals in Syria's overcrowded opposition-held enclave are suspending non-emergency procedures and outpatient services following the detection of the first case of coronavirus, a leading doctor in the area said Friday.

The regional education department also announced it was closing all schools.

The first case of COVID-19, a doctor in the area, was reported on Thursday in Idlib province, the last opposition-held part of Syria in a sliver of land bordering Turkey. The doctor was isolated and the hospital he worked in was shut down. The patients and medical staff he came in contact with have been quarantined.

There have been major concerns of an outbreak in northwestern Syria, an area packed with more than 3 million people, many of them living in tents and encampments, and where health facilities have been devastated by Syria's long civil war.

The first virus case in Idlib comes as moves by Russia, a major ally of the Syrian government, are threatening to shut down border crossing between the rebel-held enclave and Turkey.

A vote on a resolution that would determine the fate of two border crossings with the enclave, and how long they remain open, is expected later Friday in the U.N. Security Council. Aid groups and residents of the enclave have warned of dire consequences of limiting or reducing U.N. cross-border aid to the area, already devastated by displacement and destruction from frequent government attacks.

Russia, which argues that aid should come through Damascus, wants to shut down one of two crossings with Turkey. Western nations are pushing to keep the two existing ones open.

On Friday, hours before the initial Security Council resolution on the aid was to expire, 31 trucks carrying medicine and other supplies crossed into northwestern Syria from Turkey through the crossing Russia wants to shut down. U.N. agencies have been stocking up aid and relief supplies in the enclave in recent few weeks, a sign of nervousness over continued access.

Story continues

As the trucks were crossing into Syria, U.N. Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Cutts said 5,000 trucks had crossed the border in the last six years, monitored by the United Nations, and expressed hope the aid flow would continue.

It is crucial that we keep this aid operation going, he said in a video message. He later told reporters that the first case of COVID-19 in the opposition enclave is a very big worry for us.

This has been a vital lifeline that has kept thousands and thousands of civilians alive for the last few years. This is not the time for us to be reducing the aid operations. We have to increase the access not reduce it, Cutts said. He said 11 of the trucks were carrying medical aid.

Munzer Khalil, the head of the Idlib health directorate, said the measures to suspend non-emergency procedures and reduce services in Idlib were taken to raise the medical staff's level of readiness and show the public how serious the matter is. The measures will last at least a week.

The doctor diagnosed with the virus is a 39-year old who works in both Idlib and rural areas in neighboring Aleppo province. He had seen several patients, so contact tracing and testing is underway, Khalil said.

Fadi Hakim, of the Syrian American Medical Society, said the infected doctor is in isolation in Bab al-Hawa hospital but his symptoms remain mild.

Schools in the area will close as of Saturday until further notice, suggesting a return to remote learning, which had been in place until earlier this month.

Testing has been a major issue in the aid-dependent region, where one lab is in charge of carrying out virus tests. Some testing has been also done through Turkey, which has troops inside the enclave.

In government-held areas in Syria, authorities have recorded 394 cases, including 16 virus-related deaths. In Kurdish-held areas in Syrias northeast, where testing facilities are limited, about half a dozen cases have been reported.

People have been lax" when it comes to taking precautions, Khalil said of the area's residents. We want to use this period to raise awareness and to show how serious it is and to finish the preparedness of hospitals."
A government-dubbed landmark Domestic Abuse Bill is set to create the first statutory definition for domestic abuse, but charities argue it deliberately excludes migrant women.

On Monday, the Commons voted against "life-saving" amendments to the bill proposed by campaigners to protect migrant victims. The ruling has prompted fierce criticism from the Step Up Migrant Women coalition, a collection of more than 50 BAME specialist frontline services, migrant and human rights organisations.

Here, we break down the intersections between domestic abuse and immigration, and the campaign for policymakers to address them.

MPs approved an amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill on Monday, July 6, but voted against amendments which would have given extra support to migrants / PA

How are migrant victims of abuse excluded from protection?

Certain immigration visas - such as work, study or spousal - include a condition called "no recourse to public funds" (NRPF), which bars the holder from state support. This means they can be turned away from refuges when seeking sanctuary from abuse.

Southall Black Sisters - one of the charities plugging this gap - argue this forces survivors to choose between their abusers and the streets.

The British husband of Somiya Basar put her to work in the family business abroad, but barred her access to earnings. She says he bought himself expensive cars while refusing to buy their children speech therapy or swimming lessons; he eroded his wifes ties to her family and friends, forbade her form using a phone for many years, and created a situation of desperate dependency. Taught patriarchal subservience her whole life, Ms Basar did not even understand she was being abused.

Now in the UK, and legally unable to work, Ms Basar has depended on charities such as Southall Black Sisters to sleep in safety and to fund the legal battle for her children, who were kept from her for almost half a decade.

Economic dependency on abusers is compounded by a fear of immigration authorities. Abusers weaponise womens insecure immigration status, withholding their documents and lying about the application process so that women are deliberately made undocumented, said Janaya Walker, Campaigns Officer at Southall Black Sisters.

In other cases, said Jess Phillips, Shadow Secretary for Domestic Abuse, those who take the brave step to come forwards are thrown into detention centres like the notorious Yarls Wood," .

MP Jess Phillips is calling for the condition of 'no recourse to public funds' to be removed / Getty Images

For many, said Ms Basar, deportation is not a safe option. She comes from a culture where divorce is not acceptable, and women bear the humiliation for a failed relationship, never men.

But there is another reason that compels many survivors to stay: children. After Ms Basars husband divorced her, took her children to the UK, exploiting her immigration status to keep her away.

Neither motherhood to British children, nor victimhood to a British man, were enough to get Ms Basar a visa. She did not meet the financial requirements and the Home Office rejected her successive applications for four years. This, to her, was the pinnacle of abuse: They stole my motherhood.

What measures are there for migrants?

Domestic abuse is a complex issue, policymakers stress. Over lockdown, the government has accelerated measures to combat it. Some of these extend to migrant women.

A total of 1.5 million has been pledged to prop up charities supporting migrant survivors, and an awareness campaign has been translated into 16 languages. The government also point out that women on spousal visas can apply for public funds via the DDVC (Destitute Domestic Violence Concession). This has been a lifeline for many women, but according to Southall Black Sisters data, it covers fewer than half.

What now?

All the experts - be it in the police force or the charity sector - agree on one recommendation as the single best solution, said Ms Phillips: Removing no recourse to public funds." But she fears it is highly unlikely this amendment will go through, having been rejected in the Commons already.

Public pressure has reversed such rulings in the past. This happened with the Upskirting Bill in 2018, and the Female Genital Mutilation Bill in 2019. In hope of this, Ms Phillips petition calls for a Domestic Abuse Bill that leaves no victim behind.

As for Ms Basar, after five years of fighting, she obtained limited leave to remain eight days ago. A court has granted her 13 days per month with her children, and she is taking them to Birmingham this week.
As a single female, the moment you step into the life of a Christian you become no stranger to the concept of finding your Boaz. It is an extraordinarily romantic expectation of what Christian women should strive for in a godly man.

Let me address what a modern day Boaz is: He is a man who is worthy; has a good reputation and humbles himself before God. He is a protector, a provider, observant, compassionate, and he is a man of integrity. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, this all sounds pretty perfect to me.

Boaz is the desired Christian dreamboat, the expectation for how men should be and what single Christian women should strive for in a man. For a long time, I prayed for my modern day Boaz, until recently when I deeply reflected on the Boaz concept.

Perceptions

This ideal perception of a man of God is absolutely and rightly what I should be expecting to find. Every Christian girl has a different perception and expectation of what her modern day Boaz actually looks like. The thing is, Boaz is hard to find. He is really hard to find.

There is a bit of a reputation over Christian women that their expectations are too high, but they are always desperately seeking a man. I have never been desperate for a man, but once upon a time, I desired to find my Boazwhenever that would be.

It is easy to get caught up in the church conversations about finding your Boaz, however, my perception of Boaz changed, and I started to question why Christian women idolised finding Boaz rather than developing a deep and fulfilling love and relationship with Jesus.

Boaz VS Jesus

What if instead of seeking a man and fulfilling the hopes and dreams of finding him and getting married, Christian women focused on Jesus? I knowit seems like common sense, right? In saying this, I do get tired of hearing women say, Im dating Jesus. Because not only is this completely wrong to say, but it also shows more desperation than admiration and trust in Jesus.

Most Christian women believe that they are already focusing entirely on Jesus, when in actual fact they are praying and worshipping God, but are desperately praying for a man and keeping an eye out for him.

Dont get me wrong, it is perfectly okay to keep an eye out for your man; however, God will open your eyes at the right time. So, take a breath, and trust in him.

Desperation can overshadow trust, and that trust must remain solely in God at all times. It is my responsibility to always stay focused on Jesus and when the time comes, I will not miss the moment.

It can become such a focus that we may as well worship in church with a sign on our head saying, I need to find my Boaz. And let me tell you, it is very obvious when someone is thinking this way. But in all seriousness, we must forget this obsessive quest of finding Boaz and focus on the only relationship that truly mattersour relationship with Jesus.

Boaz may comfort you, but he will not heal your heart. He may provide for you and protect you, but he will never provide for you or protect you the way God does. He may try to make your dreams and desires come true, but God is the one who gives you the desires of your heart and can just as easily take them away. Only God fulfils the heart, not man, and not even Boaz.

Settling

Christian dating is a tough game. You want what is good, and you want what is from God.

There is a sad reality that Christian women become so discouraged in their journey of finding a man that they focus on themselves and begin to question what is wrong with themselves. Since when has the acceptance of a man become the reason a woman should believe in her worth?

Daughter of God, no one is truly worthy of love, but it is Jesus who makes us worthy of love. We dont need anyone else to validate our worthiness of love, because Jesus is the only one who validates us. This fact should never be chastised. The moment we let others validate our worthiness is the moment we choose to focus on man rather than God.

The moment a woman puts aside her worth to lessen herself to get what she desires most is the moment she has decided that God cannot help her, and her situation is hopeless.

Song of Solomon chapter eight verse four says, Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. If I awaken love when it is not ready, it will become a difficult journey that God never desired for me, and it will never end well.

God allows things to happen at the right time, but the one thing Christian men and women MUST remember is to never settle out of fear of being alone. I would prefer to be alone for the rest of my life but have an incredibly strong relationship with God, then to marry the wrong person because I was fearful that I would never find him.

Where to go from here

Not all of us are meant for the life of marriage, but for the ones that are, you will know that kind of life is meant for you, and it will happen. God does not tell you one thing and then forget to address it or ignore it. God always keeps his promises.

As single Christian women, we cannot afford to settle for anything less than what God wants for us. He has a perfect plan specifically designed for us, and having this knowledge, we must not intervene with our own understanding.

While we patiently and trustingly wait for the unravelling of His wonderful plan for our life, whether we marry or not, our focus must be entirely on Jesus.

So, daughters, stop idolising this perfect man, but start seeking the love that is worth everything! Start seeking Jesus and desiring Him. Focus on what He is telling you and what He wants from your heart. And if marriage is for you, Jesus wont show you your man until you make Him your utmost priority, so keep your focus on him.

Dont shallowly seek Jesus just to receive his promises. Fall deeply in love with Him, read His word, and seek Him in all you do. Make Jesus your complete and eternal love before you find the love of your life.

As wonderful as your earthly love will be, Jesus is absolutely more worthwhile, and I would prefer to chase His heart over Boazs any day.

Matthew chapter six verse 33: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Tehran, July 12 : Iran vowed retaliatory measures if Europe gives in to the US pressures for extending a UN arms embargo on Iran, Tasnim news agency reported.

"We have warned the European countries that if they give in to the political and diplomatic pressures from the United States, Iran has effective measures in response," Abbas Mousavi, spokesman of the foreign ministry, told Tasnim.

Washington wants to portray Tehran as a threat to security in the region when the US forces are the real threat to regional peace, stability and security, Mousavi said, Xinhua news agency reported.

The United States has recently pressed the UN Security Council for the extension of the UN arms embargo on Iran that will expire in October.
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Linkedin Norman Harsono and Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Makassar, South Sulawesi  Mon, July 13 2020

Chinese-backed mining company PT Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry (VDNI) has promised to hire 5,000 locals amid protests over the employment of 500 Chinese workers for nickel smelter projects in Konawe regency, Southeast Sulawesi.

VDNI signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the matter with the Konawe administration on Wednesday. The company agreed to absorb the workforce while the administration agreed to headhunt workers, who will start working once the smelter installation was finished.

We are committed to employing local workers. But recruitment will be done in stages, as needed, VDNI spokesman Indrayanto told The Jakarta Post from nickel-rich Southeast Sulawesi on Thursday.

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Head of Communications at Ghana Gas company, Ernest Owusu Bempah says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama's Running Mate will be measured by the same treatment the party meted out to wife of former President Jerry John Rawlings when she contested late President John Evans Atta Mills' Presidential candidacy.



Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, in 2011, nursed interest in becoming Presidential candidate on the ticket of the NDC but failed to beat the late President in the party's Congress.



Mr. Atta Mills clinched an overwhelming victory as he polled 2,771 votes representing 96.9% while Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings got 90 votes representing 3.1%, out of 2,866 total valid votes.



In an open letter, Ernest Owusu Bempah reflected on the strong opposition from the NDC leadership and members that characterized the candidacy of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.



''There's no woman in this country that has been insulted and humiliated for standing up for women than Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings. She remains the touched bearer for women empowerment and political participation for women. Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has been reviled, lied about, called names and faced more obstruction and hate than anyone. And yet she persisted in her message of inclusiveness, and it is a huge insult to our sensibilities for anyone to say that Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman is the best thing that has ever happened to gender empowerment, he wrote.



According to him, the NDC has no moral right to play gender card with the nomination of Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang as Running Mate to John Mahama.



Let no one get it slanted, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang's nomination is not about inclusiveness, neither is it about gender empowerment. It is a nomination for political patronage, policy imprecision, corruption, horizontal apathy and to a very large extent serve Mahama's own agenda. But it certainly cannot make up for Mahama's inadequacies as the flagbearer of the NDC.



The same derision for Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and the lack of patience to even listen and savour her substantive interpersonal communication which is actually an epitome of the pervasiveness of our ill training within Ghana's body politics will be served Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang. She will be treated with the same disdain that the likes of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings was served.



Read full letter below:



Open Letter To All Feminist Groups



Re: Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang's Nomination - A Victory for Inclusive And Participatory Democracy



In many of the commentaries that followed the nomination of Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as John Mahama's running mate, one message stood out - and it is the fact her nomination is seen as victory for inclusiveness and gender empowerment.



While the upper-level leadership of the NDC is quick to attribute this nomination to women empowerment, most of the congratulatory messages from Feminist groups has expose our stark hypocrisy as people. The ill mannerism and lack of verbal articulation on basic issue of this singular nomination of Jane Opoku-Agyemang by women's groups speak volumes.



The belief that, by allowing a woman to run with a man will empower women is so absurd and utterly disgusting. We know better as a nation, and people. Dont we? In my personal opinion, to invite the marginalized to be part of the centre does not pollute the centre by any means. Rather, it adds to the wealth of solution-driven ideas, but then again, let's roll back the years and interrogate the conversations that met Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings' quest for leadership role in the NDC.



I feel exasperated by the stupidity and ignorance of people who think we should elevate their petty parochial partisan interest above the constitution of the republic.



I feel exasperated because the people who are today rejoicing and engaging in praise singing, not long ago called Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings names and even attempted to emasculate her when she stood up for gender empowerment, and made a compelling case for leadership in the NDC. Grown ass men including some so called women empowerment advocates in the NDC join hands together in mocking Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings because she's not one of them.



Today these same people are preaching something they laughed about not long ago.



Why didn't these same support not extended to Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings when she challenged late former President John Atta Mills in 2011 for the presidential candidate position of the NDC?



To the extent that these hypocrites are not discussing what particularly Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman can bring on board, all the arguments seem to centred around the fact that shes a woman; clearly explains our emotional intolerance and how we just consume everything forced down our throats without any independent thinking.



There's no woman in this country that has been insulted and humiliated for standing up for women than Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings. She remains the touched bearer for women empowerment and political participation for women.



Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has been reviled, lied about, called names and faced more obstruction and hate than anyone. And yet she persisted in her message of inclusiveness, and it is a huge insult to our sensibilities for anyone to say that Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman is the best thing that has ever happened to gender empowerment.



Let no one get it slanted, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang's nomination is not about inclusiveness, neither is it about gender empowerment. It is a nomination for political patronage, policy imprecision, corruption, horizontal apathy and to a very large extent serve Mahama's own agenda. But it certainly cannot make up for Mahama's inadequacies as the flagbearer of the NDC.



The same derision for Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and the lack of patience to even listen and savour her substantive interpersonal communication which is actually an epitome of the pervasiveness of our ill training within Ghana's body politics will be served Nana Jane Opoku-Agyeman. She will be treated with the same disdain that the likes of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings was served.



We will ask legitimate questions of her. Questions that is infected with post-colonial arrogance, impressionism and rigidity, about her public records.



The December elections is going to be fought on the public records of both President Nana Akufo-Addo and John Mahama. And since the NDC has elevated Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman to the frontline and pushed Mahama to the backstage, we will ask questions relating to her public records. No one should be swayed by her meek act, inflated titles and individual incompetence. Are the public records of Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang worth the mandate she is seeking?



I shall be back



Yours truly

Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah

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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Chinese envoy calls for de-escalation of China-India tensions to restore ties to right track

Global Times

By Hu Yuwei Source: Global Times Published: 2020/7/11 17:50:14

China's Ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, said on Friday that friendship and cooperation between China and India need to be emphasized in order to defuse suspicion over sensitive issues such as last month's border clash and bring bilateral relations back on the right track for a sound and steady development.

The ambassador made the remarks during a video speech on Friday and against the background that the front line troops of China and India are disengaging on the ground in accordance with the consensus reached by the Military Corp Commander talks.

On Friday, the 16th Meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on China-India Border Affairs discussed steps to ensure complete disengagement and de-escalation in a timely manner.

The consensus on peacefully resolving current frictions was formed after telephone talks between special representatives of the two sides, and follow-up action to further implement the consensus will be accelerated, said experts.

Sun's remarks and the bilateral meeting on Friday show China's efforts in cooling the dispute and regaining mutual trust, Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Resolving the conflict and stabilizing bilateral relations can only be achieved by following the principle of mutual understanding and accommodation, Zhao Gancheng, director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times on Saturday.

China and India have a 2,000-year history of mostly friendly exchanges. Sun said for both China and India, achieving development and revitalization is the top priority where they share long-term strategic interests.

"I have noticed some emerging opinions in recent days which repudiate the essence of China-India friendship due to the border-related incidents, make false assumptions about China's intentions, exaggerate conflicts and provoke confrontations, and regard a close neighbor over thousands of years as 'enemies' and 'strategic threats.' It is not the fact. It is harmful indeed and not helpful," Sun said.

"China hopes itself will develop well and wishes India the same. Cooperation benefits both while confrontation serves neither," said Sun.

China and India's boundary question is left over from history and is sensitive and complicated, said Sun, calling on the two sides to find a fair and reasonable solution that is mutually acceptable through peaceful negotiation.

"Pending an ultimate settlement, we both agree to work together to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas," said Sun.

Noting that some people have been trumpeting a so-called "decoupling" of China-India trade relations and attempting to completely exclude "made in China" products, Sun said that the business community and people of India are the beneficiaries of China-India economic and trade cooperation.

Any self-protection, non-tariff barriers and restrictive measures against China are unfair to Chinese enterprises, unfair to Indian employees who have lost jobs, and unfair to Indian consumers who can't get access to the products and services they deserve, Sun argued.

"China-India relations should move forward rather than backward," Sun said.

"At backdrop of the current international landscape, China-India relations have gone far beyond the bilateral scope and have global strategic significance Now the China-India relations are facing a complex situation. We should take a broader and far-sighted view, work together to overcome and turn it around as soon as possible," Sun said.

Senior diplomats from both sides agreed to continue to de-escalate in the conflict area and maintain peace and tranquility in the border area during the 16th meeting of the WMCC on China-India Border Affairs on Friday.

But experts warn that the border dispute is a long-standing issue that cannot be resolved quickly, especially given that India continues to send additional troops and equipment to the border area.

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President Donald Trump wears a mask as he visits Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on July 11, 2020. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump Wears Mask During Visit to Military Hospital in Maryland

President Donald Trump wore a mask during a visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland on Saturday.

The president was seen walking in the hallway of the military hospital with a navy blue face covering. Staffers from the White House and the hospital were also wearing masks.

Trump was not wearing a mask as he departed the White House via helicopter to visit the medical center. He also was not wearing the mask when he stepped off the helicopter at the facility.

He visited Walter Reed to meet with wounded soldiers as well as health care professionals caring for patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

He indicated that he may wear a mask when departing from the South Lawn of the White House.

Ill probably have a mask, he told reporters. I think when youre in a hospital, especially in that particular setting, where youre talking to a lot of soldiers and people that, in some cases, just got off the operating tables, I think its a great thing to wear a mask.

Ive never been against masks, but I do believe they have a time and a place, he added.

According to the medical centers policy, visitors are expected to wear a cloth face covering over their nose and mouth upon entering and while moving about the facility or waiting rooms and when they are not able to maintain six feet of social distancing.

The president called the wounded soldiers being treated at Walter Reed heroes and the frontline medical staff warriors.

So were going to Walter Reed Hospital, and were going to be seeing soldiersour great heroes, our wounded, and some badly wounded. And theyre incredibly brave and great people.

And were going to see also the warriors on the frontline of COVID[-19], and quite a few of them. he said. Were going to spend some good time with them, and I look forward to doing it. And itll be my honor to be there.

In 2017, my husbands teammate was shot multiple times in Afghanistan. Without any media present, @realDonaldTrump showed up & sat with him at #WalterReed . The media will never share this story but I will. @POTUS cares. pic.twitter.com/6Imceq0zyd  Anna Paulina Luna (@realannapaulina) July 12, 2020

The only time Trump has been known to wear a mask was during a private part of a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan.

Trump acknowledged earlier this month that its appropriate for people to wear mask if theyre in an indoor setting where people are in close proximity.

Im all for masks. I think masks are good, Trump told Fox News Business, adding that he doesnt necessarily support a nationwide mandate for Americans to wear masks. There are many places in the country where people stay very long distance from each other, Trump said.

He made the remarks after senior Republicans called on Americans to start wearing masks as infections being to rise again as lockdown measures across the country become less restrictive. Some health experts have said that the pandemic will persist for months.

The wearing of masks has become another political dividing line, with Republicans more resistant to implementing government policy for mask wearing than the Democrats, who prefer a top-down approach.

Jack Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to the report.
Britain will be flooded with pork that may contain cancer-causing substances under a new trade deal with the United States, experts in America have warned.

More than 60million pigs in the US are treated every year with the carbadox antibiotic, which is banned here but used in the US to prevent disease and promote growth in animals.

Four years ago, the US governments Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that the drug may leave trace amounts of a carcinogenic residue in pork.

Britain will be flooded with pork that may contain cancer-causing substances under a new trade deal with the United States, experts in America have warned (file photo)

It warned that eating pork treated with carbadox increased the risk of getting cancer, adding: Removal of the product from the market will reduce the lifetime risk to consumers.

But Phibro Animal Health, which produces the drug, still supplies the antibiotic, saying it will provide evidence that it is safe.

Food safety experts in the US believe that pork containing carbadox will undoubtedly be part of a trade deal with Britain.

Steve Roach, food safety director at the US Food Animal Concerns Trust, claimed pork containing carbadox was mixed with pork that wasnt treated with the substance, making it impossible to distinguish between the two.

He said: For years, we have seen the erosion of animal-welfare standards in America. What we have seen with carbadox is how those lower standards can harm the consumer. You have to ask yourself, why are we adding a carcinogenic to the food we eat?

Why would we want to give consumers pork that increases their risk of cancer?

More than 60million pigs in the US are treated every year with the carbadox antibiotic, which is banned here but used in the US (file photo)

I hate to say it, but if the UK buys pork from America, its consumers will undoubtedly be buying products pumped with carbadox.

Mr Roach said American farmers could use other antibiotics, but carbadox did not need a veterinary order, making it much easier to obtain.

But Larry Miller, Phibro Animal Healths chief operating officer, said: New studies leave no doubt about the safety of carbadox. Its benefits in preventing animal suffering and disease are well documented.

We believe allowing it to remain a treatment option is the reasonable course. We stand ready to work closely with the FDA and answer any questions.

More than one million people have signed a petition launched by the National Farmers Union and backed by The Mail on Sunday to demand that the Government ensures all food imports are produced to the same high standards as in Britain, with laws to ban products from abroad that would be illegal here.




Former police boss Augustine Chihuri must not be allowed to use his feud with President Emmerson Mnangagwa to evade justice, prosecutor-general (PG) Kumbirai Hodzi has argued.





Hodzi was responding to an appeal by Chihuri against an unexplained wealth order issued by the same court as part of a process to seize the ex-top cop's business empire, which the government says was built through proceeds of corruption.





In his appeal, the exiled former cop said moves to forfeit his wealth were motivated by Mnangagwa's determination to fix him over personal differences that started during the liberation war.





Chihuri claimed the president snatched his then-pregnant wife and tried to force her to abort the child.





"The relationship between the head of state and the first applicant has nothing to do with the unexplained wealth order neither did it influence the first respondent (Hodzi) in seeking an explanation from the applicants as to their interest in US$32 million and their illicit enrichment," Hodzi argued in the court papers.





Chihuri said Mnangagwa hounded him out of the police force after he refused to support the 2017 coup that toppled long-time ruler Robert Mugabe. Chihuri said Mnangagwa hounded him out of the police force after he refused to support the 2017 coup that toppled long-time ruler Robert Mugabe.





The PG, however, said the issues that the ex-Zimbabwe republic Police (ZrP) boss raised had nothing to do with the legal processes to force him to account for his wealth.





He said allegations raised by Chihuri against his successor Godwin Matanga, including that he had no ordinary Level qualifications, were irrelevant and did not make sense.





"It is incredulous for him to accuse his former deputy of 20 years tenure of being unqualified for such a lofty job when he was the one who appraised him annually for the stewardship of the administration department of the police," Hodzi added.





"It is equally ironic to note that having had four deputy commissioners since his tenure as head of the ZRP, the first applicant presided over the retirement of other three deputies, who included Messrs Black, George Kundeya and Ngwenya, whilst remaining with deputy commissioner Matanga till his retirement, the first applicant now casts aspersions on the competence and moral probity of his successor simply because he is now faced with an unexplained wealth order."




As many as 18 staff members of the Raj Bhavan in Maharashtra have been tested positive for coronavirus. Raj Bhavan is the official residence of the Governor. Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has gone into self-isolation upon this development. Some more test results are expected as around 100 staff members were tested.

"At least 18 people tested COVID-19 positive at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai, after they got tested on their own. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will get them tested again," said BMC sources to news agency ANI.

This development comes after actor Amitabh Bachchan said he was tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday. His son and actor Abhishek Bachchan has also tested positive. Jaya Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aaradhya have tested negative. The actor took to social media to urge people who met him in the last 10 days to get themselves tested.

Maharashtra is one of the most severely impacted states in the country. So far the state has reported 2,46,600 cases including 99,499 active cases, 1,36,985 discharged and 10,116 deaths.

India currently has 8,49,553 cases with 2,92,258 active cases, 5,34,620 discharged and 22,674 deaths.

Also read: 'Do not despair or panic,' says Amitabh Bachchan; thanks doctors, nurses at Nanavati hospital
A major oilfield in the Middle East, already productive for several years, recently underwent a further, significant expansion. In a departure from strategies for existing wells, the operating company decided to bring another provider on board rather than simply procure the automation components according to a one-stop-shop principle.

Key criteria in this process included the interoperability of the existing systems with the new providers solution and effective remote management. Integration of controllers (RTUs) from Schneider Electric (SE) with the FF gateway from SE Technology Partner Softing resulted in a secure and reliable solution.

An increasing number of projects in process automation are now aiming to achieve best-in-class solutions, in which the most suitable components from a range of vendors are utilized. This is being driven by a reluctance on the part of facility operators to rely on one-stop solutions from a single provider that may not meet requirements in all applicable circumstances.

If parts from multiple companies are deployed, however, facility operators must ensure they can be integrated and work together as a combined solution.

A number of years ago, French automation specialist Schneider Electric launched a Technology Partner program with the aim of ensuring this kind of effective integration. This programwhich has created an ecosystem of providers whose products complement each other perfectlyalso counts Softing Industrial Automation among its members.

The Softing and Schneider Electric partnership focuses on data communications, with a key emphasis on fieldbus technology. Together, the two companies won a major contract in the oil and gas sector.

The customer was an operator of oil wells in the Middle East. The project aimed to achieve a major expansion of these facilities as well as the pumping capacity for the seawater used to force the oil to the surface. The tender documents published by the oil company specified Foundation Fieldbus (FF) as the automation technology to be used in the expansion project for this oilfield. Improving IT security was another key specification for the project.

To date, the client had worked with Yokogawa, and the plan was to maintain deployment of the latters SCADA system. To optimize the clients cybersecurity operations, however, best-in-class products were to be used from several manufacturers.

Schneider Electric successfully outbid several other process automation companies to win the contract. For the initial expansion phase in 2015/2016, SE supplied 70 Foxboro SCD2200 controllers (RTUs), which were to communicate with the existing master automation system, Yokogawa PRM.

The success of this initial phase was also due to Schneider using its partner program to make Softings gateway products part of the solution.

The name Softing has long been synonymous with FF solutions, especially since most of the FF field devices on the market have Softing FF stacks.

While Schneiders exceptionally reliable controllers are a trusted solution in the oil and gas sector in particular, the Softing gateways were essential for their deployment in this expansion project. This was because the Foxboro controllers offered by SE since its acquisition of Invensys in 2014 communicate via Modbus/TCP and so do not speak FF.

With Softings gateways, the OT systems were integrated via FOUNDATION Fieldbus inexpensively and with minimal effort.

The FG-110 FF gateway was deployed in the first project phase. This gateway connects the new facility components via an FF-H1 interface to ensure fault-free data exchange, while also supporting the FF-specific communication options used for device configuration, monitoring and diagnostics, for example. As a result, controllers utilizing the Modbus protocol can also be used in an FF environment. In the second phase of the project, the successor model FG-200 FF was brought in. It offers up to four FF-H1 links in controllers with Modbus support while also supporting device redundancy and deployment in explosion hazard areas.

FG-200 FF also enables fast access to process data and exploits FF benefits such as reduced cabling effort, centralized field device parameterization, comprehensive diagnostic options, or links with intrinsically safe devices.

Communications between the Yokogawa SCADA, the Schneider controllers, and the Softing gateways has been working without a hitch. As a last step, the operator opted for MTL power conditioners, as a finishing touch to this best-in-class solution.

During the project, Softing also provided training to Schneider Electric employees as well as the clients operator/maintenance team, whose previous focus had naturally been the Yokogawa systems. The deployment of an additional local technical support team during project commissioning ensured the successful acceptance of this proof of concept involving several different manufacturers.

The remote maintenance options offered for field devices by FF technology is an especial benefit for maintenance technicians, whose assignments would otherwise involve driving hundreds of kilometers around the extensive oil field to fix a problem. Facility operators also benefit from the user-friendly solution, which includes browser-based parameter setting. Since the gateways can process commands sent using Modbus/TCP and FF protocols, control engineers can complete monitoring and diagnostic work from the comfort of the control room.

Both of the teams at Schneider Electric and the oilfield operating company were very happy with the gateway technology and the support provided by Softing, comments George Melico, Lead Engineer at Schneider Electric. So when the next expansion stage was due in 2018, we once again chose Softing gatewaysthis time picking the new FG 200 FF version. This lets the facility operator continue to deploy its preferred Foxboro controller solution from Schneider while also exploiting the low-cost, operator-friendly FOUNDATION Fieldbus technology in the field.

Thomas Hilz, Vice President Strategic Accounts at Softing: Projects on this scale demand outstanding flexibility and customer focus. Were proud to call these qualities our own, and we are very happy to have been a contributor in this projects success story. --Tradearabia News Service
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 21:47:16|Editor: huaxia

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Shao Zhongru, secretary of the Shaowan village branch of the Communist Party of China, checks the flood situation on the dyke in Legang Township of Leping City, central China's Jiangxi Province, July 9, 2020. Shao, 56, has worked together with other villagers on the dyke for six days and nights. They patrol on the dyke and monitor the flood situation every half hour. Shao himself almost sticks to his post on the dyke all day long, having no time to harvest the mature rice in his own farmland. "To protect the dyke is to protect the villagers' crops and home," said Shao. (Xinhua/Wan Xiang)
More than 700 million is to be spent on building new infrastructure, hiring staff and developing technology to ensure Britains border systems are fully operational when the UK leaves the EU at the end of the year.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the major investment would ensure traders and the border industry are able to manage the changes and seize the opportunities when the transition period ends in December.

The 705 million package includes 235 million for staffing and IT systems, and 470 million for port and inland infrastructure to ensure compliance with new customs procedures and controls.

New border infrastructure will be built inland where there is no space at ports, while ports will get one-off financial support to ensure the right infrastructure is in place.

Of the 235 million for staffing and IT systems:

 100 million will be used to develop HMRC systems to reduce the burden on traders.

 20 million will be spent on new equipment to keep the country safe.

 15 million will go towards building new data infrastructure to enhance border flow and management.

 10 million will be used to recruit around 500 more Border Force personnel.

The funding relates only to the implementation of the GB-EU border, and the Government is expected to publish specific guidance and measures for Northern Ireland in the coming weeks.

Mr Gove said: We are taking back control of our borders, and leaving the single market and the customs union at the end of this year bringing both changes and significant opportunities for which we all need to prepare.

That is why we are announcing this major package of investment today.

With or without further agreement with the EU, this 705 million will ensure that the necessary infrastructure, tech and border personnel are in place so that our traders and the border industry are able to manage the changes and seize the opportunities as we lay the foundations for the worlds most effective and secure border.

Expand Close Michael Gove said the investment would ensure that the necessary infrastructure, tech and border personnel are in place (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Michael Gove said the investment would ensure that the necessary infrastructure, tech and border personnel are in place (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The transition period is set to end at the end of December 2020, when the UK will leave the single market and customs union.

The funding package comes ahead of a public information campaign in which guidance will be given to traders and hauliers explaining what they may need to do to prepare for the end of the transition period.

Mr Gove said progress is being made on a trade deal with the EU, but that differences between the two sides still remain.

He insisted that Britains borders would be ready by the end of the transition period, despite concern expressed by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss.

Mr Gove told BBC Ones The Andrew Marr Show: Everyone in Government wants to make sure that our departure from the European Union is a success.

And whether or not we secure a Canada-style trade deal with the EU during the course of the negotiations that we are carrying out, we will be outside both the single market and the customs union come what may.

And that means that business needs to take some steps and Government certainly needs to take some steps in order to make sure that were ready and thats the basis of the announcement today.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is poised to introduce tax cuts and an overhaul of planning laws in up to 10 new freeports.

Mr Sunak is said to be planning to open bidding for towns, cities and regions to become freeports  where UK taxes and tariffs will not apply  in his autumn Budget.

The paper said the ports will be fully operational within 18 months of the UK leaving the customs union and single market at the end of this year.
Prince Charles had plans to 'expand' Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's role in the monarchy before they moved to Los Angeles, a royal expert has claimed.

Royal author Nigel Cawthorne has told that Charles, 71, was 'delighted' when Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, tied the knot in May 2018, and was 'undoubtedly planning on increasing their role in the royal family.

However, those hopes were dashed when the royal pair decided to step down as senior royals in March and move with their son Archie to LA - as there's 'no such thing as an absent HRH'.

He told Express.co.uk : 'He was delighted with Meghan and, undoubtedly, would have continued to draw the Sussexes in more and more and would have tried to expand their role within the Firm as much as could be expected.

Prince Charles had plans to 'expand' Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's role in the monarchy before they moved to Los Angeles, a royal expert has claimed. Pictured, Duke and Duchess of Sussex attending the Mountbatten Festival of Music at Royal Albert Hall in March this year

Royal author Nigel Hawthorne has told that Charles, 71, pictured attending engagements in Gloucester last week, was 'delighted' when Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, tied the knot in May 2018

While Charles has always been an advocate of a leaner monarchy, Cawthorne claimed the royal couple were never part of his plans to slim down The Firm.

He believes their decision to emigrate from the UK meant their position in the royal family 'had to come to an end'.

He said: 'Of course, when they decided to emigrate all that had to come to an end as there is no such thing as an absentee HRH.'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to step back as senior royals in January, originally planning to split their time between the US and UK.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, pictured in London this year, decided to step back as senior royals in January, originally planning to split their time between the US and UK

However, the royal pair headed to LA at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and have since been staying with son Archie at Tyler Perry's $18million Beverly Hills mansion.

The royal author went on to alledge that while Meghan and Harry are well-loved by the British public, The Firm must not rely on the popularity of it's members alone.

The Prince of Wales has long preferred the idea of a smaller Monarchy, looking to European royals as an example of a royal structure which will 'dampen a sense of entitlement' among younger members.

Pictured, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019 in Cape Town

Furthermore, Charles believes HRH status comes with responsibility not suited to every member of the royal family.

Earlier this week is was reported that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will benefit from a cut down monarchy as it means they'll be able to focus on their 'important' work.

Royal commentator Duncan Larcombe suggested Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 's decision to step back as senior royals may give Prince William and Kate Middleton 'space to focus on the job they've got to do.'

Royal commentator Duncan Larcombe suggested the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 38, will benefit from a cut down monarchy as it means they'll be able to focus on their 'important' work. Pictured, visiting Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn as part of the NHS birthday celebrations on July 5 in Norfolk

Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, attend the Commonwealth Day Service 2020 on March 9 in London

'Despite all the noise around Harry and Meghan, the reality is William and Kate have got a pretty important job to do,' he said, speaking to True Royalty TV .

'This is giving them space, and to some extent the Prince Andrew ongoing Epstein saga, it is giving William and Kate the space to focus on the job they've got to do. 'And I think at the moment, they are doing very well.'

Prince William and Kate have since been at the forefront of the Royal Family's response to the global crisis, continuing to operate behind closed doors.

They have conducted virtual engagements via video call, while homeschooling their three children Prince George, six, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, one, at their Norfolk Home, Anmer Hall.
Navy says Indian fisherfolk smuggling drugs By S. Rubatheesan in Jaffna Northern fisherfolk accuse Navy patrols of turning blind eye to bottom trawling by Indians View(s): View(s):

As Southern India is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent days, Northern fishermen alleged the Navy has turned blind eye to the Indian fishermen who trespassed into Sri Lankan territorial waters to engage in bottom trawling  a fishing method prohibited in Sri Lanka.

Northern fishermen alleged the Indian fishermen who were prohibited to engage in fishing by the Tamil Nadu State Government due to the annual breeding season from April 14 onwards started to venture into the Northern sea, even closer to Kayts in recent weeks to engage in fishing.

Kayts Fisheries Cooperatives Federation Leader Annalingam Annarasa, told the Sunday Times 75-100 Indian trawlers entered into Sri Lankan territorial waters in the Northern sea three days a week to engage in fishing while the Navy was on patrol.

Our fishermen are experiencing hardships in their livelihood due to Indian poaching on the one hand and the COVID-19 pandemic situation on the other,  Mr Annarasa said.

He said that despite complaining to the fisheries authorities in recent past, no action had been taken to ensure their livelihood options were protected.

No Indian fishermen had been arrested since the COVID-19 pandemic cases started to rise early this year.

Earlier Indian fishermen, through the Tamil Nadu State government, requested the Indian Central government to lift the breeding seasonal ban early as May 23 considering the COVID-19 lockdown in the Southern Indian state and livelihood difficulties.

Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda told the Sunday Times that the matter was taken up at the Cabinet recently and with the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka to resolve the issue based on a proposal he submitted to the Indian government earlier but the coronavirus pandemic caused delay in bilateral discussions.

It is understandable that the Navy is also concerned about arresting Indian fishermen who are fishing in our waters considering the recent surge of COVID-19 among Navy personnel. Rather than arresting them, they can be forced to leave the international maritime boundary line, Minister Devananda said.

A joint initiative of Palk Strait  Mannar Gulf Joint Fisheries Committee with the participation of the two countries representatives was proposed by the Fisheries Minister to resolve fishing disputes between the fisherfolk communities of the two countries.

Minister Devananda who accompanied Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to New Delhi early this year said the mechanism was welcomed by Indian officials and the two parties were engaged in discussions, but were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Minister Devananda expressed hopes that if the joint mechanism he proposed was implemented properly, an amicable solution could be reached between the fisherfolk communities of the two countries in a win-win situation.

Countering allegations leveled by the Northern fishermen, the Navy said it had adopted a soft approach in dealing with Indian fishermen while stressing that this dispute between the fisherfolk communities should be resolved at Government level using diplomatic ties.

Navy Spokesman Isuru Sooriyabandara told the Sunday Times the Navy was adequately armed with the necessary health gear and additional precautionary measures in place to arrest Indian fishermen who violated the countrys sovereign borders.

If the Navy patrolling units want to arrest them, we could do so.

Lt Commander Sooriyabandara said, claiming that some of the local fishermen who mingled with Indian fishermen on the border lines were engaged in illegal transactions of narcotics and illegal gold at the sea borders.

There has been limited assistance from Northern fishermen when the Navy is tackling illegal activities in the Northern sea. We request them to assist us, Lt Commander Sooriyabandara said, while noting a fresh Navy operation was carried out at sea yesterday and a haul of narcotics seized.

This year alone, the Navy seized 2.327 kilos of Kerala ganja and other drug substances in the Northern sea. Security authorities in the North said local gold slabs were being melted and transported as exchange for drug substances on the countrys borders.
In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin said, New Jersey is like a beer barrel, tapped at both ends, with all the live beer running into Philadelphia and New York.

Those twin pulls still persist today. The Giants and Jets may play in the Meadowlands, but they are still considered New York teams. And Manhattan and Philadelphia television stations cover northern and southern New Jersey, but there is no statewide television station.

And for the Catholic church, the five New Jersey Roman Catholic dioceses are headed by bishops not native to the dioceses they lead. In fact, four of five arent even from New Jersey. (Bishop James Checchio is from Camden but heads Metuchen.)

And for the most diverse state in the union, four are of Irish ancestry.

If theres any doubt that Franklin was right, consider what happened last month in the Diocese of Paterson. Bishop Arthur Serratellis retirement was accepted by Pope Francis, who appointed a Brooklyn priest, Bishop Kevin Sweeney, to succeed him.

There is a score of able Paterson priests who could have succeeded Serratelli, himself a Newark priest.

So what does that say to the local presbyterate not only there but among the some 2000 priests in the five dioceses: You are not good enough. Thats a morale buster, not booster.

The New Testament says little about the modern process of selecting bishops for a local church, but tradition has it that it would be a priest who comes from that region. In his letter to Titus, St. Paul writes: This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.

Someone from the region knows the people and the lay of the land, and it takes years, if ever, for an outsider to acclimate.

At first, New Jersey was considered, well, what else, part of the New York diocese. Then in 1853, the entire state became its own diocese, Newark.

The first bishops and archbishops alternated between New York priests and native Newark priests with the last being Thomas Boland. But since 1974, they have all be outsiders: Peter Gerety, a native of Connecticut; Theodore McCarrick, New York; John Myers, Illinois; and now Joseph Cardinal Tobin, Michigan.

The last Paterson diocese native was Frank Rodimer, who retired in 2004. For Trenton, it was John Reiss, their only native bishop ever, retiring in 1997. Camden and Metuchen have never had a native priest as bishop.

The selection of bishops is very secretive, lacks transparency and appears to be influenced by an ole boys network.

For example, Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn may have influenced getting one of his own priests, Sweeney, to come to Paterson. Sweeney could have remained in Brooklyn and perhaps have become their bishop since DiMarzio is past retirement age.

A church scholar told me that we elect the Bishop of Rome, the pope, so why cant local representatives be called on for the election of a local bishop. That certainly would open up the process.

Under John Paul II, conservative, traditional priests would be selected so it was an ideological emphasis. Its now the opposite under Francis with more pastoral men appointed at times but outsiders dominating in appointments. Early in his papacy, Francis warned about careerism in bishops but it has crept back in. Last month, a Florida priest born in Louisiana was made bishop in Texas.

In the U.S., Cardinals OConnor of New York, Law of Boston, and Krol of Philadelphia used to be kingmakers, from the 1980s on. McCarrick was behind the appointments of Newark priests James McHugh (Camden, Rockville Centre), Paul Bootkoski (Metuchen), Michael Saltarelli (Wilmington, Delaware), Mort Smith (Pensacola and Trenton), and DiMarzio (Camden, Brooklyn).

But Cardinal Egan of New York trumped McCarrick to put Myers in Newark over McCarricks choice, Smith, an Orange, New Jersey, native.

The selection of bishops seems tied into a particular model of church, remaining silent on certain litmus test issues,' the scholar said. Few chosen, if any, would ever publicly promote inclusion of women in ordained ministry and promotion of optional celibacy.

So, the system hasnt changed much.

Today, Camdens bishop, Dennis Sullivan, was born in the Bronx and Trentons David OConnell in Philadelphia, which strengthens Franklins keg theory.

Tobin, though, is a bird of different feathers: the first cardinal to ever head a diocese in New Jersey breaking the Franklin curse.

He is a smart, savvy, social individual who could very well become the first pope from the U.S. He has been well received. And he probably is the closest ally of Francis in the U.S. hierarchy. Having him in the state outweighs the local choice in this instance and perhaps gives him a chance to influence changes in the process of selecting bishops in the future.

The Rev. Alexander Santora is the pastor of Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph, 400 Willow Ave., Hoboken, NJ 07030. Email: padrealex@yahoo.com; Twitter: @padrehoboken.
Like baboons showing their rears to zoogoers, the election of President Trump caused the rotting institutions of America to reveal their least attractive features. The press has engaged in nonstop lying without remorse. The premier educational institutions have revealed their Marxist colors and disdain for the sifting and winnowing of ideas that once were their reason to be. The FBI, Department of Justice, and the courts have tipped their partisanship, and to their dishonor, the ethical grounding that once made them worthy of respect.

Not for the first time Conrad Black has accurately summarized the nightmare campaign of outright idiocy weve faced since Trumps election.

Its nice to know that he believes I am not the only one considering the country has gone mad. He says a very large number of us share that view. And he goes on to show us why.

Among his targets are the lying press and the violent crime rate in New York City and Chicago as the mayors of those cities reduce police budgets and attack law enforcement. The absurdity of #NeverTrumper Mitt Romney marching with BLM, whose leader threatens to burn down the country if it doesnt get its way. Black tags Joe Biden a waxwork dummy hiding in this basement who considers BLM, which has revealed itself as a white-hating Marxist urban terrorist organization, as a valuable political ally. The lefts continued effort to prolong the economic shutdown of the country as the fatalities from the Wuhan virus have declined by nearly 90 percent and increased testing shows large numbers of those who contracted it had none or minimal symptoms. (A wag online notes it is such a frightful malady most of us never knew we had it until tests showed we did.)

He accurately describes the Democratic political campaign:

With less than four months before the election, this is the campaign: a constant media carpet-bombing of defamatory lies about the president on behalf of a comatose candidate, propagation of unfounded hysteria over a fading pandemic, self-induced and redundant economic depression, open borders to admit and give free medical care to the unskilled peasantry of the world, and national self-abasement before militant African Americans demanding minority rule and the renunciation and degradation of those who founded the United States and led it to a pinnacle of influence in the world unequaled in all history. And this ludicrous, almost unimaginable, mockery of a quest for the worlds highest office is, in the perversity of these times, apparently leading in the polls. It is impossible and it will blow up.

I know that many of our readers are dispirited by all this insanity, and it does seem never ending. The conduct of people like the mayors of NYC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle, add to our growing feeling of national chaos. For a lot of political organizations, the Constitution and its promise of anti-discrimination, protections for property, and liberty seem to have no meaning. To pick just one example of this lunacy -- and there certainly are many -- look at the city of Seattle:

Last month, the City of Seattles Office of Civil Rights sent an email inviting white City employees to attend a training session on Interrupting Internalized Racial Superiority and Whiteness, a program designed to help white workers examine their complicity in the system of white supremacy and interrupt racism in ways that are accountable to Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Hoping to learn more, I submitted a public records request for all documentation related to the training. The results are disturbing. At the beginning of the session, the trainers explain that white people have internalized a sense of racial superiority, which has made them unable to access their humanity and caused harm and violence to people of color. The trainers claim that individualism, perfectionism, intellectualization, and objectivity are all vestiges of this internalized racial oppression and must be abandoned in favor of social-justice principles. In conceptual terms, the city frames the discussion around the idea that black Americans are reducible to the essential quality of blackness and white Americans are reducible to the essential quality of whitenessthat is, the new metaphysics of good and evil.

Adding to our great unease was the report this week on Fox News, about the latest White Knight prosecutor, John Durham (whom we believed would investigate the sabotage of Trumps campaign and presidency as to which there is plenty of documented evidence already on the public record). Fox notes news that Durham will punt it until after the election if he cannot finish his work in the next few weeks.

I think Julie Kelly speaks for many of us when she says we are enraged by the possibility that this account is accurate:

It appears Trump, like his supporters, are fed up with the delays and inaction. The president lashed out Thursday in a series of tweets blasting the totally corrupt Obama administration and the inept overseers of justice. This crime was taking place even before my election, everyone knows it, and yet all are frozen stiff with fear, Trump raged. No Republican Senate Judiciary response, NO JUSTICE, NO FBI, NO NOTHING. Major horror show REPORTS on Comey & McCabe, guilty as hell, nothing happens. Catch Obama & Biden cold, nothing. Hard to argue with that. Ironically, Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) last week expressed the same frustration with Durhams probe. The former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, now led by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), whined on Twitter that it would be SAD SAD if there were no indictments related to the scandal until after the election.[snip] Trump has every right to be enraged that four years after Barack Obamas top henchmen concocted and executed the biggest political scandal of all time, not one person has been held criminally responsible while trials against his associates drag on. Further, the president been betrayed by the leadership of his own party. It was a matter of nanoseconds after Democrats took control of the House before they leveraged every ounce of their new power to savage Trump and Republicans. Republicans, on the other hand, have sat frozen stiff while wielding powerful gavels and making empty promises. (I wrote a partial list of the Senate GOPs failures here.) Something could change in the next week or so but for now, between Trumps tweets and Fox News reporting on a possible delay until November, it looks more and more like justice for Trumpand the country -- will be denied.

With Democratic sanctioning of the mayhem in the streets and the latest indication that these saboteurs will not face the music before the election -- or maybe never if Trump loses -- its no wonder that people are arming themselves in defense.

The NSSF works with gun distributors, ranges and retailers across the country. they also conduct research on whos buying firearms. Oliva told WAVE 3 News NSSF research shows about 40 percent of Americans whove purchased guns in 2020 were first-time buyers. People are seriously taking stock of how theyre going to be able to provide for the safety of their own families," Oliva said. "So theyre buying firearms to make sure they can protect themselves and protect their families. As more people attempt to buy firearms, gun retailers are performing more background checks. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Instant Background Check System, firearm background checks soared over 3 million in March and May of 2020. According to the data, the last time the FBI recorded 3 million checks was December of 2015. Anderson told WAVE 3 News he doesnt see the demand slowing in the coming months, especially considering a presidential election is around the corner. He said as long as demand is there, he will fight to upkeep the supply. The wholesalers dont even have what I need to get in here to fill the shelves," Anderson said. "Thats whats scary. And people are still coming in still wanting to buy guns.

It seems only prudent in the absence of the rule of law for people to look after their own safety. After all, they, unlike the politicians who condone the thuggery, do not have government paid-security at their disposal.

Adding to the feeling of madness for those of us watching this collapse of our orderly society is the repeated mantra that Joe Biden is far ahead in the polls. Unless voters are dopier than I believe they actually are, I think this is more wishful thinking on the left. Conrad Black says society will wake up and banish the arsonists, and recent evidence is that hes right. The left has so revealed its true aims that voters are waking up.

Democracy Institutes new poll shows Trump surpassing Basement Joe in the Electoral College 309 to 229, indicating hes on course to win the crucial swing states including Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin where he outpolls Vice President Biden by 48 percent to 44 percent.

This is in line with the prediction of Professor Helmut Norpoth of Stony Brook College.

The Primary Model gives Trump a 91 percent chance of winning in November, Norpoth said. "This model gets it right for 25 of the 27 elections since 1912, when primaries were introduced." As Mediaite noted, the two elections the model failed to predict were the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy and the 2000 election of George W. Bush. Norpoth's model examines the results of presidential primaries as the strongest indicator as to the outcome in the general election, not the polls that dominate the political discussion. According to Norpoth, Biden is in a much weaker position than Trump because of his poor showing in the first two primary races. Before making the stunning comeback in the South Carolina primary and carrying the following races, Biden came in fourth place in Iowa with just 15.8 percent of the vote and came in fifth place in New Hampshire with just 8.4 percent. Norpoth stressed that enthusiasm is key. The terrain of presidential contests is littered with nominees who saw a poll lead in the spring turn to dust in the fall, Norpoth told Mediaite. The list is long and discouraging for early frontrunners. Beginning with Thomas Dewey in 1948, it spans such notables as Richard Nixon in 1960, Jimmy Carter in 1980, Michael Dukakis in 1988, George H.W. Bush in 1992, and John Kerry in 2004, to cite just the most spectacular cases."

Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin seems to agree that Trump is a strong pull in her home state, Michigan. She thinks the polls are inaccurate:

When I started to run and I had to hire a pollster, I interviewed a bunch of different folks and I decided to do what we do sometimes at the Pentagon, which is to take a bad cop approach to the interview It was five or six folks that I interviewed, and I said, You got something wrong. You screwed up in 2016. What did you get wrong? And how are you going to fix it? Only one pollster, Slotkin says, admitted that he got it wrong. That was the person -- Al Quinlan of GQR, a large Washington-based firm -- she hired. He told me that they fundamentally undercounted the Trump vote; that the Trump voter is not a voter in every single election, that they come out for Trump, so theyre hard to count, she explains. On a survey, if someone says, Im not sure Im going to vote, you dont usually continue the conversation. And some of them didnt have any desire to be on those poll calls; they didnt have the 20 minutes to talk to somebody. They didnt want to do it. And so, they were fundamentally undercounted. Slotkin, ever the intel analyst -- identifying trends, compiling a report, presenting a conclusion -- tells me, with a high degree of confidence, I believe that same thing is happening right now. [emphasis in original]

Shes not the only Democrat to caution about the present polls.

Democrat strategists Ariek Wierson and Bradley Honan also have their doubts about the present polls:

Summertime polls are not predictions of November results Polls conducted over the summer can be unreflective of the general election's outcome. Recall that in July 1988, then-Vice President George H. W. Bush was trailing Michael Dukakis by 17 points and went on to win the election by eight points that November. In early September, President Harry Truman was down about 13 points against Thomas Dewey, a race Truman would go on to win. And four years ago, polling in June 2016 showed Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump by 12 points, a similar lead to what Biden enjoys today. What's the takeaway? Polls are nothing more than a snapshot in time -- they are neither a forecast, much less a prediction. Strong economic marks for Trump More than any issue voters choose a president on the state of the economy -- and this is the one place where Trump remains strong. According to a Gallup poll, about half of the country approves of his handling of the economy. The New York Times/Siena College poll also shows that in battleground states, Trump's economic approval number is 56% -- hardly an argument for showing him the door. Biden is lackluster Democratic pundits love to fill the airwaves with praise for Biden who has been running a campaign that is mostly about letting Trump be Trump and not getting in the way of things like his botched US Covid-19 response, refusal to wear a mask in public and his threats against those protesting systemic racism. The other way to read that is that the Biden camp seems to have settled on the 2020 election being a referendum on Trump -- Biden simply doesn't need to promote or advocate for his agenda for change. The Lincoln Project -- a coalition of Never Trump GOP consultants -- is running a far more effective campaign to sway public opinion against Trump than the Biden camp at this point. Based on Biden's current performance and how he nearly lost the Democratic primary and especially given his poor debate performances. Biden isn't a strong enough candidate to win by himself -- he still needs a big assist from a flailing Donald Trump. For Democrats there is a lot at stake these days -- but counting Trump out is a mistake. Democrats need to be ready for the Trump machine to pull out all stops to stay in power. From voter suppression to an October surprise, anything is possible -- and this race is a long way from over.

My advice for those of us distraught at what is happening is this: Do not be dispirited but do not be overconfident either. With colleges and professional teams cancelling this falls season, it might be a good idea to volunteer to work on the Trump campaign if you, as do I, see the Marxist takeover of the Democratic party spearheaded by the man Black describes as a waxwork dummy a significant threat to you, your family, and your country.
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said he had launched an investigation into violence committed during a mass anti-government protest on Friday, which saw at least one person killed and 20 wounded. Thousands initially rallied in the capital city Bamako to demand that Keita resign over a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption in the fragile West African state. But the protest later descended into violence -- a rare occurrence in the capital -- as demonstrators blocked main thoroughfares, attacked the parliament and stormed the premises of the state broadcaster. "We have recorded one death," said Yamadou Diallo, a doctor in Bamako's Gabriel Toure hospital, adding that 20 people had been wounded. An official from the prime minister's office also confirmed the death. The circumstances under which people were wounded and one person was killed were not immediately clear. The protest, organised by a new opposition coalition, is the third such demonstration in two months -- significantly escalating pressure on the 75-year-old president. Led by influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, the so-called June 5 movement is channelling deep-seated frustrations in the country. The opposition alliance said in a Friday evening statement that, pending further details, it held the government responsible for the violence. It also urged security forces to protect "the bare-handed protesters who are only defending democratic, secular and republican values". Keita, in a statement on Friday evening, said the scale of "human and material losses" remained unclear but that an investigation was underway. He also bemoaned the violence and suggested that some opposition leaders had incited it. Friday's demonstration came after the president unsuccessfully floated reforms intended to appease opponents this week, having rejected their calls to dissolve the parliament and form a transition government. -- Barricades, burning tyres -- Many protesters on Friday carried placards bearing anti-government slogans and blew vuvuzela horns, AFP reporters saw. "We don't want this regime any more," said one of the demonstrators, Sy Kadiatou Sow. Protesters later erected barricades and set tyres alight on two of the main bridges in the city, AFP journalists said, and entered the courtyard of state broadcaster ORTM, whose television channels later went off air. National guardsmen also fired tear gas at demonstrators hurling stones at the parliament building. Such unrest is rare in Bamako, which has been spared much of the violence that is routine across swathes of Mali. The country has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012, before spreading to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes. -- 'Civil disobedience' -- On Friday, opposition leaders published a ten-point document calling for civil disobedience. Recommendations in the document included not paying fines, blocking entry to state buildings, and occupying crossroads. After weeks of growing political tension, Keita had made a speech on Wednesday in which he offered to appoint new judges to the constitutional court. The court has been at the centre of controversy in Mali since April 29, when it overturned provisional results for March's parliamentary poll for about 30 seats. That move saw several members of Keita's party elected and triggered protests in several cities. It is also widely seen as having ignited the country's latest political crisis. Keita, who was first elected in 2013, had suggested that appointing new judges would mean the constitutional court could revisit its earlier decision. But the speech fell on deaf ears among Mali's opposition leaders, who had been demanding that the president dissolve the parliament and form a transition government. Issa Kaou Djim, a member of the political opposition, said that efforts at dialogue had failed. "Now, no one considers him the president. But everything we are going to do will be done within a democratic and republican framework," he added. Keita is on increasingly shaky political ground as protests continue, alarming the international community which is keen to avoid Mali sliding into chaos. Under pressure: Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, pictured at a Sahel summit in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott on June 30
Louisiana is set to start taking applications this week for its $250 hazard pay checks for frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The checks will go out to eligible essential workers, ranging from cashiers, bus drivers, sanitation workers, law enforcement, health care workers and more, who performed jobs during the early months of the pandemic.

Workers who performed essential activities for at least 200 hours outside of their home from March 22 through May 14 and make $50,000 or less annually are eligible.

Applications for the payment will be open from Wednesday, July 15, through October 31, as outlined in its legislation, House Bill 70. The checks, however, will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis and will only be sent to the first 200,000 people who apply and meet the state's criteria.

The proposal to send checks to workers will use a fraction of the state's federal coronavirus aid  $50 million of more than $1.8 billion available.

Louisiana families have received $3.6 billion in stimulus payments; see where that ranks More than $3.6 billion in Economic Impact Payments (EIP) have gone to the state of Louisiana during the coronavirus pandemic, according to num

It won unanimous approval in both chambers of the Louisiana Legislature before being signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards during the recent special session.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: People need not go to banks for non essential services and must make use of technology wherever possible, Corporation Commissioner G Prakash told reporters on Sunday.

We have asked banks in the city to suspend non essential services like updating pass books, the Commissioner said. Small withdrawals can be made through ATMs. People may go to banks only when absolutely necessary, he added.

Over 1500 banks and their branches are estimated to be operating in the city.

He also said that all shops that violate operational guidelines including enforcement of social distancing and usage of masks will be placed under lock and seal.

The aim is not to close down shops. This is for the greater good. We have set up 32 market management committees to monitor the 81 markets in the city, he said.

Usage of masks in the city is about 70-80%. However, youngsters need to be proactive in following the rules and refrain from thinking that they are immune to the virus, he added.

In the last one month, around 7.67 lakh people have been brought into the quarantine cycle of which around 2.87 lakhs have completed the 14-day quarantine, he said.

Although the city is seeing a dip in cases for the 12-13th day now, there will be no reduction or relaxations in the intensity of containment operations for the 44,000-strong-team that is at work, he said.
Hyderabad, July 12 : Family members of Telugu poet and writer Varavara Rao, who is currently lodged in Navi Mumbai's Taloja jail in the Bhima Koregaon case, on Sunday appealed to the government for his immediate release in view of his deteriorating health.

Rao's wife P. Hemalatha and their three daughters urged the government to save his life by shifting him to a hospital or allow them to provide him with immediate medical care.

We want to remind the government that it has no right to deny the right to life of any person, much less an undertrial prisoner," they said.

His family members said they were very much worried about his deteriorating health. They said his health condition had been scary for over six weeks, ever since he was shifted in an unconscious state to JJ Hospital on May 28.

"Even as he was discharged from the hospital and sent back to jail three days later, there has been no improvement in his health and he is still in need of emergency healthcare," Hemalatha said.

"The immediate cause of concern now is that we are very much perturbed at the routine phone call we received from him on Saturday evening. Though the earlier two calls on June 24 and July 2 were also worrying with his weak and muffled voice, incoherent speech and abruptly jumping into Hindi. But the latest call, on July 11 is much more worrisome as he did not answer straight questions on his health and went into a kind of delirious and hallucinated talk about the funeral of his father and mother, the events that happened seven decades and four decades ago respectively," Rao's wife said.

She said her husband's co-accused companion took the phone from him and informed her that he is not able to walk, go to the toilet and brush his teeth on his own.

"We were also told that he is always hallucinating that we, family members, were waiting at the jail gate to receive him as he was getting released. His co-prisoner also said he needs immediate medical care for not only physical but also neurological issues. The confusion, loss of memory and incoherence are the results of electrolyte imbalance and fall of Sodium and Potassium levels leading to brain damage. This electrolyte imbalance may be fatal also." Stating that Taloja Jail Hospital is not well equipped to handle this kind of serious ailment, they demanded that he be shifted to a fully equipped super specialty hospital to save his life and prevent possible brain damage and risk to life due to electrolyte imbalance.

"At the present juncture we are leaving aside all the pertinent facts like, that the case against him is fabricated; he had to spend 22 months in jail as an undertrial with the process turned into punishment; his bail petitions got rejected at least five times now and even the bail petitions with his age, ill-health and Covid vulnerability as grounds were ignored. His life is the top most concern for us right now. Our present demand is to save his life," the family said.
Jews are now commemorating what is known as the Three Weeks. It is when Jews express grief for the destruction of the Holy Temple in ancient Israel. The Temple was breached by the Romans in 69 C.E. The mourning period concludes with a fast to remember when both Holy Temples were set aflame. Thus, Tisha B'Av (Ninth of Av) is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar.

These calamitous events, among others, came from outside the Jewish world but have impacted it for centuries. What is happening today in America and abroad is that Jews are deliberately working against themselves. Why are so many Jews joining forces with a known anti-Semitic group such as the Black Lives Matter?

In his 2015 book titled Jews Against Themselves, Edward Alexander examines the various strains of thought that many Jews have adopted. The ultimate aim of each strain is the hollowing out of Judaism and the obliteration of Israel. These approaches pit Jewish particularism against Jewish universalism, the latter which results in undermining Jewish interests and lives. In essence, it is "Jewish suicidalism [sic]."

For example "Judith Butler who urges progressive people to fight anti-Semitism ... maintains that it is 'wildly improbable that somebody examining the divestment petitions signed by herself and her co-conspirators might take them (as hundreds on her own campus already had) as condoning anti-Semitism.'" In short, Butler dismisses actions such as BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) and cannot comprehend that they are overtly anti-Semitic. She is wearing blinders while maintaining the alleged moral high ground.

Thus, while Jews have faced variations of anti-Semitism throughout the centuries, the latest manifestation occurs when the "new anti-Jewish Jew embraces his Jewishness [sic] by attacking Israel" either directly or indirectly. Consequently, "he claims to be more authentically Jewish than those ... fellow Jews who somehow fail to follow him in his tireless efforts to delegitimize and thus destroy the only Jewish state."

These Jews are "great moralizers," using Jewish concepts in a perverse way to delegitimize Israel and other Jews who will not join the chorus of support for groups who are publicly anti-Semitic. For example, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice "claims it is inspired by Jewish tradition to dismantle racism and economic exploitation [and] on its website, the organization highlights its work with Black Lives Matter and its efforts to fight Islamophobia and dismantle ICE." In fact, this group is letting anti-Semites be its guide.

Thus, we see more than 400 Jewish organizations and synagogues signing on to a letter that asserts "unequivocally: Black Lives Matter." Do these folks know that Black Lives Matter was

"founded by Marxist revolutionaries in 2013, [and] Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a movement that depicts the United States as a nation awash in racism, sexism, and homophobia"?

Demonstrators at BLM events have been known to smear white police as trigger-happy bigots who are intent upon killing innocent, unarmed black males; taunt, and direct obscenities at, uniformed police officers who are on duty; throw rocks at police and threaten to kill them; and celebrate in the streets when a police officer is killed." At a BLM march in August 2015, protesters chanted : 'Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon.' ('Pigs' was a reference to police officers, and 'blanket' was a reference to body bags.)

On a BLM-affiliated radio program ... the hosts laughed at the ... assassination of a white Texas deputy; boasted that blacks were like lions who could prevail in a 'race war' against whites; happily predicted that 'we will witness more executions and killing of white people and cops than we ever have before'; and declared that 'It's open season on killing white people and crackas.' ... BLM was established as an online platform in 2013 by Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi. In a July 2015 speech at the annual Netroots Nation convention in Phoenix, Cullors exhorted fellow blacks to 'rise the fuck up,' 'shut this shit down,' and 'burn everything down!' In 2015 as well, Cullors openly acknowledged BLM's revolutionary Marxist objectives, proclaiming on video: 'We actually do have an ideological frame. Myself and Alicia [Garza] in particular, we're trained organizers. We are trained Marxists.

In fact, they applaud "Eric Mann, a communist revolutionary and a domestic terrorist who in the 1960s and '70s was a member of the Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Underground, whose shared objective was to launch a race war against the 'white' United States on behalf of the nonwhite Third World. Mann trained Cullors in Marxist-Leninist ideology and the tactics of political organizing."

In short, the murder of white people of all ages is the BLM approach to ending racism! For those Jews who are so concerned with slavery, please note that some corporations that are pouring in money to support Black Lives Matter "are using modern day slave labor." Tikun olam, anyone?[1]

Zoe Strimpel explains how Black Lives Matter, which claims to be an anti-racist movement "often fosters anti-Semitism. This is because the most committed anti-racists see Jews [as] part of an imperialist racist Zionist conspiracy, represented by Israel." Consequently, Strimpel "was dismayed, but far from surprised to see, that the Black Lives Matter protests have gone on producing potent outbreaks of anti-Semitism."

A few weeks ago, rioting in Los Angeles following the murder of George Floyd saw a number of Jewish shops destroyed, synagogues vandalised with 'Free Palestine' graffiti, and a statue of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from being murdered by the Nazis, daubed in anti-Semitic slogans. Back in America, Ice Cube, the rapper, chose to advance the cause of George Floyd by posting a caricature of Jewish figures with the caption: 'All we have to do is stand up [against them] and their little game is over.' The image was nearly identical to one used by Nazis in the 1930s to incite hatred and violence against Jews. Ice Cube also praised Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan, one of the world's most rabid anti-Semites. All in the name of racial justice, naturally.

Alex Winston explains how "Black Lives Matter UK called several times for parliamentarians and governments to implement 'sanctions, effective measures and an end to Israel's impunity.'" Thus, a "major UK Jewish watchdog has called out the UK chapter of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement for anti-Semitism after a series of anti-Israel tweets[.]"

The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA) responded to the tweet, writing that 'Black Lives Matter movement should embrace solidarity from Jews. There have been calls for violence against [Jews] from prominent BLM supporters with no official condemnation. Now from the official UK BLM account, we hear ... that fighting anti-Semitism has 'gagged' legitimate debate.

CAA "wrote on its website. 'BLM is treading a well-worn path walked by many extremists and abhorred by real civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who once told a student in Boston who had made a comment attacking 'Zionists': 'When people criticize 'Zionists' they mean 'Jews' You're talking anti-Semitism!'"

So while Jews think they are engaging in a Martin Luther King march for civil rights, they are in complete denial about the true nature of BLM.

And it should never be forgotten that the Marxist BLM and the radical Islamic forces are allies.

This is not the first case where what may be a jihadist attack took place amidst a larger anti-police Black Lives Matter narrative being pushed by the radical left. Following protests in Ferguson, MO in response to the death of Michael Brown, Islamist groups played a public role in organizing and spreading propaganda. Multiple incidents targeting police involved individuals with Islamist links, like Zale Thompson, Jaleel Abdul-Jabbar, and Ismaaiyl Brinsley.

As the goals of the left and the radical Islamists are similar, it is no surprise that they have joined forces. Jews, wake up!

Why have so many Jews forgotten the words of Emma Lazarus, who said, "A study of Jewish history is all that is necessary to make a patriot of an intelligent Jew"? How have Jews become so naive that they do not see that they are the pawns of a group that will use them and then discard them as useful idiots?

Some Jews are beginning to be roused. According to Yair Rosenberg, "... an alliance of groups affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement unveiled their first official platform. The 40,000-word manifesto contained many recommendations, including concrete policy proposals, for rectifying the wrongs perpetrated against America's African-American citizens in the past and present. Unfortunately, the platform also contained a vicious bigoted slur against the Jewish state, which the document's foreign policy section accused of perpetrating 'genocide' against Palestinians. (The platform also labeled Israel an 'apartheid state' and joined with the BDS movement in calling for the total academic, cultural, and economic boycott of the country  a demand made for no other state.)[2] This did not go over well with Jewish groups  including some of Black Lives Matters' hitherto staunch progressive allies."

In 1988, Aharon Appelfeld wrote that "[t]he Jewish ability to internalize any critical and condemnatory remark and castigate themselves is one of the marvels of human nature." Appeasement by any nation leads to its demise. That Jews in this day and age abandon their own self-interest and give anti-Semitism a pass is breathtaking. That these Jews under the mantle of self-righteousness would permit the defamation, abandonment, and harm of their own people whether here or abroad means they need to better heed the prophet who wrote, "Awake, awake, Put on thy strength, O Zion" (Isaiah 52:1).

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com.
A Policeman captured in a viral video on social media slapping a woman at a voter registration centre at the ongoing exercise has landed himself into trouble.

This follows the launch of investigations into the incident by the police administration who have vowed to get to the bottom of the issue.

The video shows a woman who was in a queue at an unknown centre being slapped by a police officer after a banter.

They were later separated by other registrants at the centre.

The attention of the Police Administration has been drawn to a video circulating on social media in which a police officer is seen slapping a woman at a place believed to be a Voters Registration Centre.

The Police Administration wishes to assure the public that it has commenced an investigation into the matter and will provide facts of the matter to the public in due time, all should be assured, the statement said.

There have been pockets of the violence at some centres since the EC began its registration exercise.

Two men who were recently engaged in a fight with machetes at the E.P church registration centre at New Town in Accra have been re-arrested after being freed by some sympathizers

DSP Afia Tenge said all arrested persons have been arraigned.

On 7th of July, two persons were arrested at the EP registration centre in Accra Newton for engaging in a fight and wielding machetes.

An action security detail on the ground suspect was likely to cause a breach of peace. On their way to the Police station for proper custody, some young men suspecting to be sympathizers of these suspects crossed the Police vehicle and impunity and forcibly the two persons. They have all been arrested and arraigned. 

---CitinewsRoom
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 21:46:02|Editor: huaxia

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COLOMBO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday informed the ruling political party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), to temporarily halt election rallies following a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases from a drug rehabilitation center in Sri Lanka's north central province.

Following the prime minister's announcement, the ruling party in a statement said that all election rallies to be held on July 13, 14 and 15, which were to be attended by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa have been canceled until further notice to comply with health guidelines.

Founder of the SLPP, Basil Rajapaksa, in the statement requested all party candidates to limit their meetings and scale down small rallies as well.

Sri Lanka will hold a parliamentary election on Aug. 5 which will elect a new 225-member parliament. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Elections Commission has said several new health guidelines will be in place to enable voters to cast their votes on polling day.

The number of positive COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka surpassed 2,511 on Sunday after 43 new patients were detected mainly from a drug rehabilitation center in the north central part of the country, the government information department said.

The Health Ministry said that a sudden spike in the number of cases was because of the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Center which has now become a cluster with over 300 inmates from the center and three counselors testing positive on Friday and Saturday.

The Health Ministry said the situation was well under control but said the number of patients could rise in the coming days.

Sri Lanka has reported 11 deaths from the virus. Enditem
While the global efforts to develop a safe and affordable coronavirus vaccine are going on in full swing, a big question remains unanswered: how and when India, one of the world's most populous countries and is only behind the United States and Brazil in infections numbers, will be able to make it available to the public.

Since the government is yet to announce a national policy on COVID-19 immunisation, public health experts believe that Ayushman Bharat, the central government's flagship health insurance scheme, to be the way forward to undertake the vaccination programme for the poor with possible price control on the vaccine for people outside the government's universal healthcare programme.

However, this massive and potentially multi-year immunisation programme, which is expected to start with the elderly and the other vulnerable segments, including frontline workers, needs to have a proven vaccine before addressing other uncertainties like timelines and availability.

In India, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Pune-based Serum Institute have initiated human trials on their respective vaccine candidates, which are among close to 170 vaccines currently under various stages of clinical development globally.

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

Bharat Biotech is working on an initial capacity of 200 million vials of the vaccine while the Serum Institute said it would be able to produce 400 million doses of the vaccine before December 2020 for India and other markets licensed from its European partners. Like any potential COVID-19 vaccine, the regulatory approval for these vaccines and their entry into the government vaccination programme ultimately depend on the degree of intended outcomes that the Phase-3 trials would establish in terms of safety and efficacy.

While the developed countries like the US, the UK and Germany have made advance purchase agreements with vaccine makers in order to stock up the potential COVID-19 vaccines to make them available to their people at the earliest if proved successful, the approach of India largely remained open-ended, leaving scope for different possibilities.

With no benefit of funding or prior orders unlike their European and American counterparts, Indian companies largely remain on their own when it comes to the risk of failure.

The Public Health Foundation of India president K Srinath Reddy said that even if India was unable to produce a successful vaccine for COVID-19 initially or ran third or fourth in bringing a vaccine, it did not matter much owing to the country's capability as a low-cost manufacturer of medicines and vaccines. "As we are a low-cost producer of vaccines globally, it is likely that other countries also seek our help to produce a vaccine for them," Reddy told Moneycontrol.

On the early timelines of a particular vaccine candidate in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his recent address categorically said the country would produce the vaccine in large volumes when it was ready.

One of the possibilities, according to a vaccine industry spokesperson, could be the ongoing efforts of the GAVI (formerly Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation towards funding the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing across geographies for equitable distribution and overcoming logistics issues. "These agencies have been in the process of identifying 10 vaccine companies in 10 different countries to produce COVID-19 vaccines for which they have raised about $4 billion. It is even going to be a challenge to find vendors capable of supplying billions of glass vials and other packaging material to support the vaccine production," the spokesperson said, while refusing to elaborate on whether India was on their radar.

The scale of production is as important for India as for the global agencies considering the size of the countrys population and many people have already experienced the adverse effects of low supply of the prescription COVID-19 drug Remdesivir in the market. Reports suggest that a Rs 5,400-priced Remdesivir was sold for as much as Rs 1 lakh in the black market. Thankfully, other Indian generic drug makers, who had signed a similar non-exclusive agreement with the innovator company, Gilead Sciences, have also started launching the drug to help increase the supply of the antiviral medication.

"Instead of looking at the price, you should focus on ensuring adequate supplies in the market, which would in turn take care of the problems associated with the availability. The same would apply to the future vaccine," said Madhukar Gangadi, founder and CEO of pharmacy chain Medplus. If there is enough supply of the product in the market the companies would eventually approach pharmacy chains like Medplus to use them as their retail distribution channel and keep the product available at every nook and corner of India, according to him.

The question of when the vaccine is expected to be available for Indian people is still unclear as the timelines of these vaccines have become a subject matter of big debate all over the world, not just in India, even though a reasonable time frame of 12-18 months was indicated by many at the beginning.

When the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) hinted at August 15-timeline for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, which is now considered as a remote possibility, Serum Institute's Adar Poonawala said they do not want to rush anything. "We are confident of a safe and good vaccine for India and the world; we would certainly announce it when we are licensed by the Drug Controller (DGCI), but that is still at least six month away," Poonawalla said at a recent press conference.

Bharat Biotech chairman Dr Krishna Ella also clarified that they would go ahead with all the regulatory trials before concluding the safety and efficacy for the use of the vaccine. Only late last month, the company had announced that it has successfully developed India's first candidate for coronavirus vaccine in collaboration with ICMR and also received DGCI approval for Phase I and Phase II clinical trials.

Noted virologist Dr T Jacob John goes a step ahead and warns against creating false hopes about the vaccine. "We don't expect a vaccine until the first or the second quarter of 2021. Therefore the vaccine should not be there in the equation of COVID-19 management. Creating false hopes is nothing but hiding behind good stories," he says.

Speaking to Moeycontrol, Dr John said high hopes about the vaccine would particularly push the country's senior citizens into the brink of depression if they do not find one as had been promised. "While facing the pandemic, we are looking backwards," he noted.

The pandemic vaccine is not expected to be included in the country's universal immunisation programme (UIP) schedule, which is basically meant for the children's immunisation programmes involving BCG, MMR, etc. Last year the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had released a multi-year immunisation plan with an estimated budget of Rs 52,220 crore for the period between 2018 and 2022, a 52 percent increase over the budget of 2013-17 period, as the external funding was unlikely to continue, according to reports.

A potential Covid-19 vaccination would add more to the government's healthcare expenditure on top of testing and treatment costs, depending on the price and the policy. However, it would be a little early to guess the price of a potential vaccine even though an Indian vaccine maker earlier indicated a price of up to Rs 1,000 per vial.

Apart from the crucial safety and efficacy aspects, the vaccines would also require a number of other studies to determine the parameters like the exact quantity of a dose, the shelf life of the vaccine, need for a single or a double dose among other things, according to an industry expert. "The shelf life of a vaccine should remain at least one year. If the shelf life is enhanced using excipients, there is a danger of side effects also," he observed.
New Delhi, July 12 : During the COVID-19 pandemic the focus has been on women supporting each other to help build financial security. In these uncertain times and an economic slowdown, women and working harder than they ever did, both at home and at work.

Kool Kanya is a digital platform for women to network professionally, exchange opportunities, share opinions and ask questions. The digital space also offers career guidance, mentorship and opportunities for women to help them build careers they love and want to explore.

IANSlife got talking with Vanshika Goenka, CEO and founder to know more and get an the idea behind the platform. Read excerpts: What's your primary goal with the platform?

Goenka: We are on a mission to help every woman out there create a career she loves. Our platform provides extensive career resources and community support from peers and experts. We are also launching a marketplace for independent women professionals and freelancers. The vision is to build the perfect ambition destination - a one stop solution for everything that has to do with a woman's career.

We also want to go regional soon. The dream is that every time a woman thinks of her career she should think of Kool Kanya.

What was your motivation for starting Kool Kanya? Goenka: I am from a business family. I was only five years old when I overheard a conversation between my father and his relatives. 'You have only two daughters,' they said. 'Who will manage the business later?' This conversation left a deep impression on me. I wondered why this question even needed to be asked. 'What about me?', I wondered.

Many years later, I was working for a company that manufactured sanitary pads. I realised that I was the only woman in the room, working with an all men team to create a product for women. It was then that it hit me that there were just not enough women in workspaces. I started delving into this skewed ratio. This is what led to the start of "Kool Kanya".

What kind of challenges did you face in your entrepreneurial journey? Goenka: In the beginning, when we spoke about building a product that helps women in their careers, we were immediately seen as an NGO. This also made hiring challenging. I started off with freelancers until we had the content to attract people to the company.

Another challenge that I faced was having people a lot older and more experienced than me on the team. It took me time to trust my own decisions and to always keep my vision in mind when making decisions. I have also learnt to not chase perfection, especially for a digital product. We did this a lot in the beginning which slowed us down. Now we launch as soon as the feature is ready, learn from user interaction and feedback and then re-iterate.

What's your approach towards consistently delivering relevant content that resonates with and is valuable to a diverse audience? Goenka: We are constantly studying trends- analyzing what is working and not working. We also monitor conversations that are happening in our community to understand pain points we can cover. Along with this, we have monthly calls scheduled with users to understand what we can do to help them more effectively.

How do you work to understand and cater to the needs of a market as diverse as India? Goenka: While there is a lot of diversity, there are also universal issues that all women face. A working woman in Punjab or Bangalore could both be experiencing similar issues with their careers- looking for a career change, exhaustion from having to manage both house and work etc. We started with a focus on tier 1 cities, and are slowly expanding to tier 2 cities as we add more languages.

Our audiences are from all over the country so what is really important is to make sure that the content is accessible. If you see our videos or content a lot of them are in "hinglish" and address issues that are universal to most professional women.

What has your strategy been towards facilitating meaningful peer-to-peer mentorship and interactions on the platform? Goenka: Our objective is that every user finds relevant guidance, community support and answers to their career questions that are meaningful and helpful. If a user finds advice that is helpful and she feels like she is supported she is more likely to help someone else on the platform. We also want to encourage our users and their efforts, and every week we showcase the best answers. Users who we see are experts in areas also have the chance to hold zoom sessions and write articles. We also have an anonymous feature where users can post queries that they would otherwise shy away from. Moreover we have mental health experts, digital marketing experts and other industry experts to also pitch in to help users with their career questions.

Do you have any tips for other founders to be more conscious about representation (especially at higher levels)? Goenka: Three aspects are important: inclusion, retention and development.

In inclusion, what is important is to bring more women into the workforce. The government has set a ruling of increasing women in the workforce by at least 30 percent. Large and mid-size companies need to join the bandwagon to make this happen.

In terms of retention, women tend to leave the workforce because of household reasons, pregnancy, lack of child care etc. While culturally this might take time to change, it is important for companies to provide support at work and improve work culture. Introducing paternity leave can help as they improve mutual appreciation for work between new mothers and fathers, and also reduces gender stereotypes and gender based work inequalities. Some other no cost programs can be activities like "bring your mother in law to work" like what General Electric did. This helps shift mindsets at home.

Additionally, development is also important. Investing in employees, training them is always helpful, especially after maternity. Companies could look into having mentors post pregnancy to guide women. Also, having more women leaders in key positions also sets up role models for others. Women leaders are more likely to also set up practices to retain women in the workforce for longer.

Having said that, we focus on women entrepreneurs and freelancers because while there is still conversation about women in the formal economy, independent women professionals often get left out of the conversation completely. By creating a space for conversations around the issues faced by independent entrepreneurs and giving them a platform to showcase their work and find opportunities, we are making sure that we represent them as well.

(Puja Gupta can be contacted at puja.g@ians.in)
Two labourers were buried alive when a big chunk of earth came down on them while they were digging land for laying a sewage line in Daad village on Pakhowal road on Sunday afternoon.

The deceased were identified as Gobind, 20, and Kapil Dev, 42. A third labourer was rescued by the locals and rushed to a private hospital where his condition is said to be stable.

As the area falls outside the municipal corporation limit, the work was being carried out by the panchayat through a contractor.

The workers began digging at 9am. Eyewitnesses said the monsoon downpour had softened the soil, and when the three labourers started digging, the earth came down and all of them were buried under it.

Sukhdev Singh, one of the eyewitnesses, said the locals began a rescue operation immediately and were able to help one the three labourers get to the hospital. Gobind and Kapil Dev were stuck deep under the earth and it took the locals one and a half hour to rescue them. The doctors, however, declared them brought dead.

WORKING WITHOUT PROTECTIVE GEAR

The locals said that the labourers were working without safety gear, and that if they were equipped properly, the mishap could have been averted.

Charanjit Singh, former sarpanch of the village and the contractor, was also in the trench when tragedy struck, but he escaped unhurt.

Assistant sub-inspector Harmesh Singh said that as per the preliminary investigation, it was an accident and the kin of the victims have not filed any complaint. The police have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC.
In an email from his prison in eastern Texas, Young said he would like the president to know, Not only could I be the best example for those who are coming from dire circumstances like I came from, but I could be the best example for those who wonder if they should they have compassion & sympathy for those in situations like me.
A decision from the bloc is still pending.

The German government has officially proposed that the European Union impose sanctions on Russian individuals responsible for a large-scale hacking of the Bundestag five years ago, the German Press Agency reported Sunday.

If agreed, the plan, which was recommended by Berlin last month, would be the first use of an EU cyber sanctions regime adopted in 2017, Deutsche Welle reported.

Read alsoRFE/RL: U.S deports Russian hacker convicted of stealing almost US$1 mln

The details of the proposals were revealed in response to a parliamentary inquiry filed by Germany's socialist Left Party and reviewed by the news agency.

The German government believes Russian intelligence was behind a 2015 network hacking in which an estimated 16 gigabytes of data, documents, and emails were siphoned off from the Bundestag's IT network, including thousands of emails from Merkel's Bundestag office.

It was the largest cyber hacking ever carried out against the Bundestag.

In May, Germany's attorney general issued an arrest warrant against Russian citizen Dmitry Badin, who is "strongly suspected of being responsible" for the attack and who is a "member of the group APT28," the response to the inquiry said.

Germany also believes a hacker from the Russian military secret service GRU was involved.

On June 3, 2020, the government "substantiated sanction proposals within the EU framework by presenting a comprehensive package of evidence based on the results of German investigative authorities and on intelligence information as well as publicly available sources."

This information was sent to the other EU member states for consideration. A decision from the bloc is still pending.
World Trade Organization (WTO) is currently staging a contest to replace their out going Director General, at a time when the institution is going through a deep identity crisis.

The current Director General, Ricardo Azevedo from Brazil, revealed that he will leave the WTO on August 31, one year before his mandate was due to expire. Saying that it would be good for the organization to have a new and different leader that with proffer new ideas that will help in tackling the post effect realties of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The eight candidates that are vying for the position of Director General of the association are individuals who are proficiently experienced in different fields of knowledge and institutions. They are:

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

Dr. Iweala, 65, hails from Nigeria and she is a member of the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and the African Risk Capacity (ARC); the Nigerias candidate is a global finance expert, who has served as the countrys finance minister on two occasions. In 2014, she made Time magazines list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Dr. Jesus Seade Kuri

The oldest contender, 73 years old, happens to be an economist who has been working for the Mexican foreign affairs ministry since 2018, Kuri was the countrys chief negotiator for the United States, Mexico and Canada Trade Agreement, known as USMCA.

Tudor Ulianovschi

The youngest nominee, 37 years old, served as Moldovas minister of foreign affairs between 2018 and 2019, and has been a diplomat for 15 years. He is also a chairman of balance of payments committee of WTO.

Amina Mohamed Jibril

Amina Mohamed, 58, from Kenya, served as the countrys foreign affairs and international trade minister between 2013 and 2018. In this role, she chaired the 2015 WTO ministerial conference in Nairobi the first African to lead the highest WTO forum. She ran for the office of Director General in 2013.

Liam Fox

Liam Fox, 58, is a former United Kingdom secretary of state for international trade and currently a lawmaker at the U.K. Parliament. He supports updating and reforming the WTO, while occupying various positions in international trade, defence and ministry.

Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri

From Saudi Arabia and is currently a minister advising the royal court on international and local economic strategic matters in Saudi Arabia. Prior to becoming a minister, 60-year-old Mohammad worked in banking from Saudi Arabia, the head of risk management, and also in charge of managing balance sheet mismatches and liquidity at Saudi British Bank (SABB).

Miss Yoo Myung-Hee

Myung-hee, 53, is the minister for trade for Korea. She was the first female to have the job and has held different positions that cover the same area. Back in 1995, she was in charge of WTO affairs at the Korean trade ministry.

Abdul-Hameed Mamdouh

Mamdouh, a 68-year-old Egyptian, has been working as a consultant since 2017, but had previously worked at the WTO. He was the then director of the trade in services and investment division of the institution between 2001 and 2017. He also played a key role in trade policy and diplomacy for the Multilateral Trade System (MTS).

What was surprising is that in mid-May, the outgoing chairman Azevedo 62, made an announcement that he would terminate his second four-year term early for reasons known only to him This decision, forced the Geneva-based WTOs 164 member states to come up with a successor that would replace him in a three months period, instead of the usual nine.

While the world seeks to recover from the shared challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of free and fair trade has never been more paramount, which is why the current British Prime Minister Boris Johnson lamented in his letter to the WTO, nominating Fox, saying that the former defense minister, could implement the necessary reforms to ensure the global trading system truly delivers for all members of WTO.

Johnson stated that the new chief must revive in a skilled manner impending trade talks, as well as lay the ground for the 2021 ministerial conference, which is one of WTOs major events.

Meanwhile, the United States of America is threatening to withdraw from the WTO, and has proved their seriousness, by blocking the organizations dispute settlement appeal system since December. They also want China to be moved up from the developing economies category.

Rather than conducting elections, the selection procedure however relies on finding consensus, with involves the elimination of candidates in turn. WTO currently faces a rising tension between the United States and China, and if the process charades with too much political interests, things could go real bad for WTO.

If they fail on reaching a consensus is in time, one of the four deputy directors-general will take the reins in September on a caretaker basis.

Furthermore, the Chair will inform WTO members of their nominations as soon as they are received. Once the nomination period closes, candidates will be invited to meet with members at a special General Council meeting from in mid July. During the meeting, members will have the opportunity of acquainting with themselves, present their views, while taking questions from the membership.
The minister says he is confident that the pandemic would not delay the targets set or lead to any funds crunch. Edited excerpts: How has Covid impacted the pace of work of the Jal Jeevan Mission? Covid impacted everything and to some extent affected us as well, but as soon as the lockdown-1 was over, ...

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New Delhi, July 12 : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman has reviewed the progress of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat economic package's implementation in matters related to the Finance and Corporate Affair Ministries.

The latest review has shown that as of July 9, banks have disbursed Rs 61,987.90 crore to MSMEs under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). A total of over Rs 1.20 lakh crore have been sanctioned so far.

To provide relief to the businesses, additional working capital finance of 20 per cent of the outstanding credit as on February 29, 2020, in the form of a term loan at a concessional rate of interest is provided under the scheme. This would be available to units with upto Rs 25 crore outstanding and turnover of up to Rs 100 crore whose accounts are standard.

The units will not have to provide any guarantee or collateral of their own. The amount will be 100 per cent guaranteed by the government of India providing a total liquidity of Rs 3 lakh crore to more than 45 lakh MSMEs.

Regarding the Rs 45,000 crore Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme 2.0 for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), the Finance Ministry statement said that banks have approved purchase of portfolio of Rs 14,000 crore and are currently in process of approval or negotiations for Rs 6,000 crore as on July 3, 2020.

As per the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package, the government had announced to revamp the existing Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme (PCGS) and extend it to cover the borrowings of lower rated NBFCs, HFCs and other Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs). Government of India would provide a 20 per cent first loss sovereign guarantee to public sector banks.

Further, NABARD has sanctioned the new front loaded special refinance facility of Rs 30,000 crore sanctioned to regional rural banks and Cooperative Banks. This special facility to benefit three crore farmers, consisting of mostly small and marginal farmers in meeting their credit needs for post-harvest and kharif sowing requirements.

The statement said that when kharif sowing is already on its full swing Rs 24,876.87 crore out of Rs 30,000 crore has been disbursed as on July 6, out of this special facility.

Sitharaman had announced a Rs 30,000 crore Additional Emergency Working Capital Funding for farmers through NABARD under the package.

On the Rs 30,000 crore Special Liquidity Scheme for NBFCs, HFCs and MFIs, the official statement said that SBICAP has received 24 applications requesting about Rs 9,875 crore of financing as on July 7, 2020 which are being processed. The first application in this regard has received its approval and the remaining are also being considered, it added.

It also said that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has raised the threshold of default under Section 4 of the IBC, 2016 to Rs 1 crore -- from the existing threshold of Rs 1 lakh. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is finalising a special insolvency resolution under section 240A of the Code, to provide relief to the MSMEs and the same would be notified soon.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 has been promulgated on June 5, 2020 thereby provided for insertion of Section 10A in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 to temporarily suspend initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) under Section 7, 9 & 10 of the Code for a period of six months or such further period, not exceeding one year from such date.
Only five years ago, then-British Prime Minister David Cameron was celebrating a golden era in UK-China relations, bonding with President Xi Jinping over a pint of beer at the pub and signing off on trade deals worth billions.

Those friendly scenes now seem like a distant memory.

Hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent days over Beijings new national security law for Hong Kong. Britains decision to offer refuge to millions in the former colony was met with a stern telling-off by China. And Chinese officials have threatened consequences if Britain treats it as a hostile country and decides to cut Chinese technology giant Huawei out of its critical telecoms infrastructure amid growing unease over security risks.

All that is pointing to a much tougher stance against China, with a growing number in Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Conservative Party taking a long, hard look at Britains Chinese ties. Many are saying Britain has been far too complacent and naive in thinking it could reap economic benefits from the relationship without political consequences.

Its not about wanting to cut ties with China. Its that China is itself becoming a very unreliable and rather dangerous partner, said lawmaker and former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. He cited Beijings trashing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration  the treaty supposed to guarantee Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy when it reverted from British to Chinese rule  and aggressive posturing in the South China Sea as areas of concern.

This is not a country that is in any way managing itself to be a good and decent partner in anything at the moment. Thats why we need to review our relationship with them, he added. Those who think this is a case of separating trade from government  you cant do that, thats naive.

Duncan Smith has lobbied other Tory lawmakers to cut Huawei out from Britains superfast 5G network. Not only that: He says all existing Huawei technology in the UK telecoms infrastructure also needs to be eliminated as soon as possible.

The company has been at the center of tensions between China and Britain, as UK officials review how the latest US sanctions  imposed over allegations of cyber spying and aimed at cutting off Huaweis access to advanced microchips made with American technology  will affect British telecom networks.

Johnson decided in January that Huawei can be deployed in future 5G networks as long as its share of the market is limited, but officials have since hinted that that decision could be reversed in light of the US sanctions. A new policy is expected within weeks.

Huawei says it is merely caught in the middle of a US-China battle over trade and technology. It has consistently denied allegations it could carry out cyber espionage or electronic sabotage at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.

Weve definitely been pushed into the geopolitical competition, Vice President Victor Zhang said Wednesday. US accusations about security risks are all politically motivated, he said.

Nigel Inkster, senior adviser to the International Institute for Strategic Studies and former director of operations and intelligence at Britains MI6 intelligence service, said the issue with Huawei was not so much about immediate security threats. Rather, he said, the deeper worry lies in the geopolitical implications of China becoming the worlds dominant player in 5G technology.

Its less about cyber espionage than generally conceived because, after all, thats happening in any place, he said. This was never something of which the UK was lacking awareness.

Still, Inkster said hes been cautioning for years that Britain needed a more coherent strategy toward China that balances the economic and security factors.

There was a high degree of complacency back in the 2000s, he said. There was always less to the golden era than met the eye.

Britain rolled out the red carpet for Xis state visit in 2015, with golden carriages and a lavish banquet at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II. A cyber security cooperation deal was struck, along with billions in trade and investment projects  including Chinese state investment in a British nuclear power station. Cameron spoke about his ambitions for Britain to become Chinas best partner in the West.

Enthusiasm has cooled significantly since. The English city of Sheffield, which was promised a billion-pound deal with a Chinese manufacturing firm in 2016, said the investment never materialized. Critics have called it a vanity project and a candy floss deal.

Economic and political grumbles about China erupted into sharp rebukes earlier this month when Beijing imposed sweeping new national security laws on Hong Kong. Johnsons government accused China of a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and announced it would open a special route to citizenship for up to 3 million eligible Hong Kong residents.

That amounts to gross interference, Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming said. Liu also warned that a decision to get rid of Huawei could drive away other Chinese investment in the UK, and derided Britain for succumbing to US pressure over the company.

Rana Mitter, an Oxford history professor specializing in China, said that the security law  combined with broader resentment about Chinese officials handling of information about the coronavirus  helped set the stage for a perfect storm of wariness among Britains politicians and the public.

Mitter added that Britain has careened from uncritically accepting everything about China to a confrontational approach partly because of a lack of understanding about how China operates.

Some have cautioned against escalating tensions. Philip Hammond, the former British Treasury chief, warned that weakening links with the worlds second-largest economy was particularly unwise at a time when Britain is severing trade ties with Europe and seeking partners elsewhere. Hammond also said he was concerned about an alarming rise of anti-Chinese sentiment within his Conservative Party.

Duncan Smith rejected that, saying concerns about Chinas rise are cross-party and multinational. He is part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a newly launched group of lawmakers from more than a dozen countries  from the US to Australia to Japan  that want a coordinated international response to the Chinese challenge.

We need to recognize that this isnt something one country can deal with, he said.
The Texas Attorney Generals Office sided with Mayor Sylvester Turner in a legal dispute over the state Republican Partys in-person convention, arguing that the Texas Supreme Court at a hearing set for Monday should reject the partys attempt to proceed with the event.

In a brief filed Saturday with the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins, the states top appellate lawyer, said that despite the partys troubling factual allegations, the court should deny its petition for failing to properly invoke (the courts) mandamus authority.

The legal proceedings began earlier last week after Turner ordered Houston First Corp., the city nonprofit that manages the convention site, to cancel the event over concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republican Party sued Turner and Houston First, but a Harris County judge denied the partys request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked Turner from canceling the event. The party then filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Texas Supreme Court.

In its petition, the party invoked a section of Texas election code that allows the court to issue orders that compel the performance of any duty imposed by law in connection with the holding of an election or a political party convention. In Hawkins brief, he argued that the partys convention contract with Houston First does not apply because the convention was to be held under a contract, not a law.

Prior Supreme Court rulings have distinguished a duty created under (a) contract as legally distinct from a duty imposed by law, Hawkins wrote.

The attorney generals office also argued that the court should deny a separate petition from Steve Hotze, a Houston Republican activist who also is seeking to allow the convention to proceed. Hawkins wrote that Hotze and the other activists in his lawsuit are neither parties to nor third-party beneficiaries of the convention contract.

It thus is unclear whether or how (Hotze) could have standing to challenge the performance of other parties contractual obligations, Hawkins wrote.

Still, Hawkins acknowledged that the Texas Republican Party could win the right to proceed with the convention at the hearing scheduled for Monday. The convention was set to take place from next Thursday to Saturday at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

James Dickey, chairman of the Texas GOP, was not immediately available for comment.

Hotze attorney Jared Woodfill blasted the brief, pinning the legal maneuver on Gov. Greg Abbott.

It is time for Gov. Greg Abbott to change parties, Woodfill said in a statement. A Republican governor who joins a liberal Democratic mayor, Sylvester Turner, to trample on the First Amendment rights of the Republican delegates who worked to get him elected is the height of political arrogance. It seems Gov. Abbott has abandoned the Constitution and is actively working to take away our God-given liberties.

A spokesman for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The brief marks the second time the attorney generals office has sided with a Houston Democrat in the past week. The office also asked a Harris County judge Thursday to deny Hotzes attempt to block County Judge Lina Hidalgos order requiring masks inside businesses.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
Banks have been told to provide cash machines within a 'reasonable distance' of every UK home after lockdown shut 7,200 ATMs.

The Treasury has laid out its expectations after more than 10% of the country's 60,000 cash machines were shut during lockdown.

It has not been established what exactly the government means when it refers to a 'reasonable' distance, but the Sunday Times has reported it may be around three miles.

Banks will need to open cash machines within a 'reasonable distance' of every home in the UK. Around 7,200 ATMS are currently open out of 60,000 nationwide due to the coronavirus pandemic

The Sunday paper claims cash usage has dropped by around 90% in some parts of Britain, as businesses opt to use contactless card payments to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The pandemic only fueled warnings that Britain could be heading toward a cashless society, after the contactless payment limit rose from 30 to 45 in April.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak made a promise in his budget on March 11 to pass laws so that everyone who needed cash could get it.

Some of the cash machines to close between April and June were too close to open machines, meaning they could not be used without breaking social distancing rules.

Many others were inside premises that had been shut during the lockdown, The Sunday Times reports.

Rishi Sunak served a promise at his March budget to pass laws so that everyone who needed cash could get it

Gareth Shaw, head of money at the Which? consumer champion, said: 'Millions of people have had no choice but to rely on cash during lockdown. It is vital that banks do all they can to ensure customers have access to the services they need and that people's ability to pay for goods and services with cash is not permanently lost.'

Pensioner Johnny Hammond, 82, from Lulworth Dorset, has to drive up a hill on his mobility scooter three miles away to withdraw his state pension in cash.

He told the Sunday Times: 'It looks to me that they want to do away with cash altogether so they can keep a check on your money at all times.'

The Treasury said: 'We're co-ordinating work across government, regulators and industry so we can protect access [to cash] for everyone who needs it, and have committed to bring forward legislation.

'This work includes investing over 2bn in the Post Office since 2010, giving people local access to everyday banking services.'
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Sitashwa Srivastava

Millennials have a different world view as this generation has grown up with the internet and smartphones. Adapting to new technology and adjusting to any shifts in society and economics, comes easy to these young investors on the lookout for hot investments.

Hence, even with the current pandemic across the globe and stocks plunging to the lowest low in India, millennial investors have quickly made investment debuts in the US stock markets.

According to data available with Stockal millennials account for about 37 percent of our customer base while typical investment is in the range of $1,500 to $2,000 (about Rs.1 lac to 1.5 lac) for millennials.

Like everything else, millennials have chosen online platforms as an easy and convenient way to invest in US stock markets and build their portfolios in different geographies and relatable sectors and themes.

Some of the top trends that are seen in the way millennials are investing are listed below:

1. While millennials take the initiative, Gen X has the money:

While millennial investors are large in number, Gen X actually drives the volume of investments. While we might assume that millennials have more spending power, their appetite for risk investing is low, given low savings and increased expenditure.

Millennials also are cautious about investing their money in one basket and diversify by exploring various investing options.

2. Social media drives money decisions 

Millennials like to do their own research and not rely on financial advisors for investing in stocks. However, the tools for research have evolved from newspapers and journals to social media. Millennials often rely on peer reviews from family and friends.

Such reviews and opinions quickly find their way through social networking platforms. Additionally, influencers like financial experts, mentors, also act as a key source of information for millennials.

3. Socially aware investors -

Millennials seem to be extremely well informed and aware about the choices they make when it comes to investing. They not only look at returns but also the nature of companies they are investing in.

Smart energy technology, clean tech companies, companies fore-fronting social causes like poverty eradication, gender biases, etc. are preferred by millennials.

Finally, being a generation molded by technology, they are very enthusiastic about investing in innovative companies that are making a difference in the way we live their lives.

4. DIY culture of investing -

Taking Control of Investing with Online Tools and Apps - Millennials have become accustomed to using technology for every aspect of their lives, so it only makes sense that digital technology has become a significant component in their investments, as well.

With such tools, investors are able to take greater control, reviewing their portfolios anytime they desire rather than waiting for reports to arrive in the mail on a quarterly basis.

However, with continuous monitoring of investments, millennials can sometimes be impatient and expect quick results, which is not ideal for investing in any stock market.

[The author is CEO & Founder, Stockal]

: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Every name on the BrandBucket marketplace is exclusively listed with BrandBucket. That means that all of our sellers are very responsive, making for quick domain transfers.

A dedicated BrandBucket agent will manage your domain transfer from beginning to end, ensuring a secure and easy transaction. They will manage the receipt of the domain into one of BrandBuckets secure registrar accounts and then complete the transfer to you.

1. Verification and registrar choice

After we receive the payment and verify it, we will reach out via email to confirm which registrar you want the domain transferred to. We also provide a link to our tracking system, where you can communicate with us, check on the status of your transfer, view your invoice, and download your logo files.

In most cases, if a domain is moved between accounts at a single registrar, the transfer is quick and usually completes within 48 hours. If a domain changes registrars (in other words, you would like to move it away from where it is currently registered), the transfer is slower. The total transfer time can then be anywhere from 48 hours to 7 days.

BrandBucket has vetted and supports the following registrars:



GoDaddy

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2. We request the name from the seller.

Once we know where you would like the domain transferred, BrandBucket will request the domain from the seller. All of our sellers are very responsive, making for a quick process.

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4. Verify with the buyer that the transfer is complete

Once we confirm that you have received the name, we consider the escrow process to be complete. Only then do we release payment to the domain seller.
StacyBlackman wrote:

Dont: Apply to too many schools  usually six or more  believing that hedging your bets in this way will guarantee admission somewhere. While that strategy sounds logical, in reality your efforts will become so diluted with each successive application that there just wont be enough passion there to sway the admissions committee.



StacyBlackman wrote:

Unsuccessful applicants sometimes dont realize that they were rejected because their letters of recommendation came across as weak endorsements at best.



Do: Make sure whomever you ask is willing to write a very compelling recommendation for you. Since its not a given that youll see the letter once its written, its perfectly OK to come right out and explicitly ask for what you need.



StacyBlackman wrote:

Finally, take comfort in knowing many people in business school right now were dinged the first time they applied. The MBA admissions process requires resilience, so take some time to recover, reassess and dive back in.



I see things differently. If you invest more overall resources into the application process, you can apply to more schools without sacrificing quality. Also, unless you have a paid seat or a recommendation from POTUS, the selection process at top schools is a random crapshoot depending upon who reads your app and what mood they are in given that the number of qualified applicants they could admit far exceeds the number they can admit. Worse, if you are a super star, some schools will put you on the waitlist instead of admitting you to manage yield (total dick move but they supposedly do it). Given this, each additional school you apply to slightly increases the cumulative probability that you will get in. The burn gets more efficient over tip such that the more you do this sort of thing, the better you get at it and the more easily it will come to you. If you can do more schools in a later round, I highly recommend it.I applied to twelve schools between R1 and R2 this past cycle and would it do again in a heartbeat. How did I do it? I worked my ass off and skipped schools with too many or weird essays prompts (like Fuqua) and recommendation forms that are not consistent with other schools.Recommendations:- My direct supervisor wrote a recommendation to all twelve schools. He is amazing. I am lucky to work with a lot of supportive senior management so I was able to diversify my other recommenders from school to school. This mitigated the real risk of someone writing a damaging mediocre recommendation (I think one of my recommenders did this) and allows you to ask an alum to write an essay specifically for their school without asking them to do essays for any other programs (otherwise they have to write two or it becomes generic). Asking many different people for recommendations gave me a lot of insights into how I could improve myself professionally. I wouldnt recommend this for everyone. Your options for recommenders may be a binding constraint on how many schools you can apply to, especially if you dont have a lot of experience. You definitely want the best recommendations possible, but I recommend looking outside the box.- I did NOT write my letters of recommendation despite a lot of recommenders asking me to. I provided meaningful background regarding my past interactions with them, my accomplishments vis-a-vis our professional relationship, my strengths/weaknesses according to my 360, and potential superlatives adjectives they could use. Shortly after they submit the recommendation, I recommend asking them to also submit a condensed less candid version on LinkedIn. This was about the same time suck for me as the school essays but well worth it. I also found it strengthened my relationship with my recommenders (if you write an original recommendation for someone you may start to find yourself believing what you wrote  go figure!). A worthwhile investment to strengthening the stronger chain links in your network.Essays:- While I am a very slow writer when it comes to memoirs / personal nonfiction, I found the incremental time to complete additional applications and essays relatively modest vis-a-vis one-time investments required to apply to business school (GMAT/GRE, prepping your recommenders, crafting a career plan). This assumes you have a relatively consistent story and do the thorough deep dive introspection that the applications are designed for you to do. I thought the Stanford app is great for this, even if you dont hit the submit button. I had to slowly bleed the first few essays out, but by R2 I was cranking out UNIQUE essays in under 1 day per school. While it sucks to throw away another $200-300 per application, the time I invested was immensely valuable in crafting my personal story and motives. The essay writing process for me was integrated with a lot of soul-searching about what I REALLY want to do after school. For many, essays are terrible to do in the moment but the quality of the energy you put into it will be proportional to personal growth you will receive from the process independent of the decision if you are accepted or not into that school. There definitely was a synergistic element at play here where content I wrote for one essay would show me a new perspective regarding a separate essay with a different topic.Interviews:- With the exception of Tuck, I did alumni interviews in my area and did not visit schools for budget reasons. I found my ability to connect with the person interviewing me improved as I did more interviews. I recommend mock interviews with friends who are MBA grads.- You can also apply in a late round a cycle early as practice. Do it for a school that interviews nearly everyone and doesnt mind re-applicants (like Kellogg) way to practice your interview (and the rest of the app) before the real cycle begins. This increases grind for adcoms, but they are charging you a ridiculous fee and will treat you like an unemployed vagabond until you are admitted so go for it if you are willing to spend the money.- Practice & outreach: Before interviewing, email current students and schedule phone calls to learn about their experience. Ask them how to succeed in the interview and what sets their school apart from others (why they like it). Some of them will talk to admissions on your behalf in addition to whatever feedback your official interviewer says about you. From what I can tell, these unsolicited recommendations can make the difference between being admitted and a WL or ding. I got waitlisted or into every school I did outreach with and wish I did it with the other schools I applied to. This is one area where you might get spread too thin. I would rather invest a day of time conversing with current students at a school you are applying to than completing another schools application in a day. Generally there is only upside here since people students wont say anything negative about you to admissions unless they are being asked to evaluate you (which often makes them more critical than if you are just calling for help). It will also give you a sense if that school is right for you. I decided against a few schools after some of these conversations.I didn't hire a consultant. I have a feeling that it may have helped with crafting my essays for particular schools given that consultants are the few people outside of admissions staff who sees what makes the cut by school and what doesnt. If I were to do it again and had more money, I might have paid for some essay feedback.Agree fully.Agreed, but easier said than done. Don't discount the emotional impact of being accepted / dinged. Unless you have a paid seat at a particular program (in which case there is no reason for you tor read this), you're going to pour a lot more of your life into this than you expected. I recommend applying to a safety school in round 1 so you'll get some good news early. It will help with R2 apps. WashU is a good option since there is no application fee.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to open the union territory for tourism in a phased manner starting July 14 and has issued a set of guidelines for the same. The first phase will see tourists arriving by air only. In the view of the Covid related measures, it is felt imperative to put in place a protocol to be followed by the tourists as well the persons/authorities engaged in the hospitality sector, the release read.

RT-PCR testing of all tourists will be compulsory on their arrival and travellers will need to have a confirmed hotel booking, the J&K government said in its order on Sunday.

Tourism in Jammu & Kashmir to open in a phased manner from 14th July; Govt of J&K issues guidelines for entry of tourists. In this phase, tourism limited to those arriving by air only. RTPCR testing of all tourists compulsory on arrival &tourists to have confirmed hotel bookings. pic.twitter.com/YeRmMjVDHH  ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2020

Till the test result shows a negative result for Covid-19, a tourist will remain in the hotel where the booking has been made and shall not be allowed to move out. A form to this effect shall be signed at the airport, the release stated. Those tourists coming with a Covid-19 negative report will not be required to remain in their hotel rooms. However, RT-PCR testing will apply to them as well.

The incoming tourists must also have a confirmed return air ticket from Jammu and Kashmir. Taxi, transport facility will need to be pre-booked by the travellers through hotels or travel agencies. The procedures for the same will be put in place by the J&K government and mentioned on the official tourism department website.

Also read: First time in history, Jammu and Kashmir gives skip to martyrs day

The government has urged the elderly, those ageing 65 years and above, to avoid travelling. The tourists will be asked to produce the booking details of their accommodation upon arrival.

All tourists are required to have the Aarogya Setu mobile application installed on their smartphones and make regular updates regarding their health. The hotel administration or travel agents are required to provide the travellers with a pick-up facility from the airport and also drop them on their departure.

This comes on a day when authorities on Sunday ordered a partial lockdown in Srinagar by designating over 60 containment zones amid a surge in coronavirus cases over the past week.

The lockdown will be imposed in 68 containment zones of the city from Monday and no movement would be allowed in these areas without permission, they said.

In view of the major spike in Covid-19 cases, we will have to carve out containment zones for effective restrictions in different areas of Srinagar. Local cooperation is solicited in best interest of public health, District Magistrate, Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 10,156 coronavirus cases till date of which 5,895 patients have recovered while 169 have succumbed to death.
If only it was that simple.

There is no question Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams tough measures to combat COVID-19 have kept New Mexicos death toll relatively low  although we collectively mourn the tragedy of more than 500 lives lost to the virus. There is no question the measures have helped keep the states hospitals operating well within their capacity for treating COVID patients. That was a key goal of measures taken since March to flatten the curve.

And there is no question that continuing an aggressive lockdown in which bars and select other businesses remain closed  even reversing course and re-imposing some restrictions that had been lifted, like re-banning indoor restaurant dining come Monday  will keep those numbers down.

But its not that simple. There is another side of the ledger. And it cannot simply be dismissed as trading dollars for lives.

Masks and social distancing make sense. The governor is right to push hard on both. But the economic devastation wrought by the lockdown is real. Thousands of people are out of work. Tourism for all intents and purposes has been decimated. Economic bellwether events like the Balloon Fiesta, State Fair and Sante Fe Opera have been canceled. Businesses have shuttered. Many of those that remain open are hanging on by a thread or facing serious headwinds.

The Baca family owns Bueno Foods, which has been in business since 1951. In comments to the Albuquerque City Council, the company wrote that its sales to restaurants  its biggest business category  were down 80% and many of our restaurant friends in this industry have closed their doors forever, losing their lifes work.

Shutting down schools to stop the virus spread also has had serious consequences. Kids are falling further behind  in a state with such dismal academic performance we can hardly afford to backslide even more. We have no idea how many cases of child abuse are going undetected because the mandatory reporting by school personnel is gone.

The mental health consequences are also significant.

One of those cases, the suicide of Landon Fuller, as reported in last Sundays Journal by reporters Ryan Boetel and Elise Kaplan, is illustrative. And heartbreaking.

Landon was an outgoing 11-year-old from Hobbs who enjoyed sports, making people laugh, riding his bike around the neighborhood and going to school and church. On April 23, almost six weeks after his last day in a classroom, Landon took the gun his father carried to protect himself from rattlesnakes in the oil fields. He rode his bike to a nearby field and killed himself.

His mother later found a diary in which Landon wrote, Im going mad staying at home all the time and not being able to go to school and play outside with my friends.

Landons is not an isolated case.

His death was one of more than 2,300 unexpected deaths being analyzed by the Office of the Medical Investigator since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in New Mexico in early March. That is a spike of nearly 20% (about 460 deaths) in that category, which includes car crashes, suicides, homicides and some natural deaths. Dr. Heather Jarrell, interim director of OMI, attributed the increase to indirect causes of COVID.

So yes, while COVID is killing people, the lockdown is, too.

Anxiety, depression and other mental health struggles have been exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak, and the stress that comes from precarious employment situations that many are enduring can be a lot to handle, said Dr. Lawrence Weinstein, chief medical officer of American Addictions Centers. Many people are turning to alcohol (and drugs) to cope with their newfound hardships, compounding their difficulties.

Jarrell said people putting off seeking medical care also could be a factor in the rise in unexpected deaths. People with serious health problems either avoided seeking medical help or were unable to get procedures done until the governor relaxed her ban on non-emergent medical procedures. The delay has led to higher-acuity patients in hospitals now. And it will take hospitals around the state a long time to  if they can ever  dig out of the financial hole not being able to treat non-COVID patients put them in (even while they had virtually no COVID patients). Thats another long-term cost.

Another entry on this side of the ledger is the loss of a wide range of services for hundreds of New Mexicans with developmental disabilities. Under state orders, clients under the DD waiver program havent been getting essential services they need and rely on.

During her news conferences, the governor has expressed concern over businesses plight and the pain families feel when they cant visit their loved ones in nursing homes. But the harm being inflicted on New Mexicans  financially, emotionally and physically  goes much deeper and creates its own casualties.

Saving lives by limiting the spread of a pandemic is important. No one should envy the governor having to make these incredibly difficult decisions.

But at the same time it is reasonable to ask that she take both sides of the ledger into account as we move forward. Lives  on both sides  depend on it.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
The first pilot to land a plane on Brisbane's transformative new airport runway was a civilian flying a 1945 British Spitfire rescued two years ago from a Texas museum.

Pilot Cameron Rolph-Smith was one of four WWII "warbird" pilots who flew electrifying 500km/h passes over the long-awaited parallel runway at Brisbane Airport from 11.30am on Sunday as plane spotters, guests and journalists gathered below.

Spitfire pilot Cameron Rolph-Smith poses in front of a restored Spitfire on Brisbane's new runway. Credit:Glenn Hunt/Getty

"It was an amazing opportunity to be the first guy to land at the runway," he said.

"It feels very, very good."
<! Doctors attending to Coronavirus patient >

Doctors under the aegis of the Medical Guild in Lagos State are set to begin three days warning strike from Monday, over issues that affect their safety and welfare.

The Medical Guild is the Association of Medical Doctors under the employment of the Lagos State Government.

Dr Oluwajimi Sodipo, Chairman of the Guild, made this known to newsmen at a press briefing on Sunday in Lagos.

Sodipo said that the strike, which would run from Monday, July 13 to 16, would exempt members working in the states COVID-19 isolation centres.

He said that Congress of the Guild had on June 27 extended the two weeks ultimatum to the state government, after the expiration of its initial 21 days ultimatum to resolve the issues.

The guild leader noted that the grace period was given to the government to meet 70 percent of the doctors demands in order to avert the strike.

He, however, said that the Council, after its meeting on July 11, observed that some of the demands were unresolved by the government.

According to him, wage disparity between the Federal and Lagos State doctors is not being given necessary attention by the state government.

The issue of COVID-19 hazard allowances and inducement allowances Memorandum of Understanding approved by the Federal Government to the doctors has not been approved by Lagos Government to her doctors.

Doctors working in COVID-19 isolation centres are still being owed two months salaries which has remained unpaid at the moment.

They are also being unceremoniously disengaged without recourse to their welfares, he said.

The chairman stressed that the issues of doctors getting infected and re-infected on daily basis was not getting the required attention from the government.

Our members are putting themselves on the line daily to provide care, and we need to do everything to protect our colleagues, Sodipo said.

He maintained that adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), prompt testing of health workers and insurance should be provided.

Sodipo added that issues of shortage of doctors in health facilities have yet to be resolved with no visible substantive action taken by the government to resolve it.

The congress will reconvene after the three days warning strike to review the progress made and plan for further actions.

We call on the Lagos State Government to do all within its power to resolve the impasse, he said.

Also, Dr Babajide Saheed, former Chairman of the Guild, said that the government could still avert the strike within 24 hours if the needful was done.

Related
The head of the Northwest Territories Medical Association says he is feeling very positive after meeting with the territory's chief public health officer and other officials on Friday.

The meeting came after a letter from the association, representing 84 doctors in the territory, which argued the territory should end physical distancing measures. It said the N.W.T. should accept the risk of more cases of COVID-19 but rely on testing, tracing and self-isolation to contain them.

Dr. Andrew Kotaska, president of the N.W.T. Medical Association, said the letter was written and the meeting was requested because physical distancing measures are causing harm.

The six-page letter includes a long list of those harms including increased substance abuse, financial stress, and increased domestic violence. Kotaska wrote in the open letter that "detrimental health, social and financial effects of social distancing are mounting."

At Friday's meeting with association members and public health officials, Kotaska said there was agreement that optimizing the health of people in the N.W.T. is a priority. But he added that this needs to include "mental, spiritual, cultural, physical health as well as ... straightforward damage from the COVID-virus."

He said right now is a good time to have these conversations, as the territory has gone three months with no confirmed new cases.

"It was actually a very productive meeting; you know, there's clearly a lot of common ground," Kotaska said.

"I think that provides us now with a good opportunity to pause and re-examine where we're at and start to individualize and tailor our approach."

Open letter to PM reiterates concerns

The letter from the association wasn't the only one they referenced at Friday's meeting.

A similar type of open letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and all of the country's premiers dated July 6, says aiming to prevent or contain every case of COVID-19 is not sustainable at this stage in the pandemic.

Story continues

Submitted by Dr. Andrew Kotaska

It is signed by public health and infectious disease experts who are pressing for governments in Canada to shift toward minimizing and not eradicating COVID-19, while allowing society to resume functioning.

Dr. Kotaska said the letter coming out just days before the meeting was serendipitous because it reiterates many of the association's concerns.

The statement that accompanies the national open letter has 12 recommendations, including the assessment of physical distancing recommendations from a risk-benefit perspective. This balance, as it pertains to the unique needs of the territory, is also something that officials discussed on Friday, said Kotaska.

The statement also recommends the individualizing of approaches to different circumstances, after assessing the risks on particular settings and communities, something that Kotaska said is of importance to the territory.

"We in the Northwest Territories are an interesting example of a jurisdiction that needs to individualize its approach because of our geography and our lack of COVID[-19]."

Opening up a dialogue

Kotaska said the public has to be ready for the fact that COVID-19 "is going to be with us for a long time."

"Cases are going to arrive in the N.W.T. and we have to be prepared for that and not take that as a failure, a failure of public health measures or anything else. ... Pretending that we can avoid that entirely is going to be too costly."

Overall, he said he's looking forward to having another meeting and continuing the dialogue.

"[We left] with a commitment to work together along with other stakeholders to try and see what that best balance would be to minimize the overall harm ... both from the virus itself and the measures that have been instituted."

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola was not immediately available for an interview after the meeting on Friday but a spokesperson said Kandola and the public health team will be providing any comments next week.
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was backed by most countries in the region, who shared the goal of ousting the extremist Taliban regime and eliminating the allied Al-Qaeda terrorist network.



The governments in Tehran, Moscow, and Islamabad readily helped the United States fight the extremist groups.



Iran provided crucial intelligence to support U.S. special forces and CIA teams orchestrating the invasion.



Russia supplied Soviet-era maps and intelligence and later allowed the U.S. military to send supplies to Afghanistan through its territory.

The stage has already been set, with many key actors -- including Russia and Iran -- increasing their ties with both the Afghan state and the Taliban."



Even Pakistan, the chief backer of the Taliban, offered its assistance in helping hunt down Al-Qaeda militants and became the main supply line for NATO forces.



But in the intervening 19 years, the regional consensus favoring the U.S. troops in Afghanistan has eroded.



Though the U.S. military swiftly overthrew the Taliban and eliminated Al-Qaeda safe havens in Afghanistan, many feel it got bogged down in mission creep.



Meanwhile, Washingtons ties with many regional players -- including Pakistan, Iran, and Russia -- became toxic.



With U.S. forces scheduled to exit Afghanistan next year as part of a framework peace deal with the Taliban, Washingtons rivals see an opportunity to step in and expand their footprint in the war-torn country.



Those efforts have intensified since the United States and the Taliban signed a deal in February aimed at negotiating an end to the war, which began way back in 2001.



Under that agreement, U.S. forces will withdraw from Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which has pledged to negotiate a permanent cease-fire and power-sharing deal with the Kabul government.



The delayed intra-Afghan peace talks are expected to be complex and protracted, and will likely take years.



Impatient to end the costly and unpopular war, President Donald Trump is considering fast-tracking the exit of American troops ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, according to U.S. media reports.

Experts say that in the absence of a peace deal, a U.S. military withdrawal could ignite a free-for-all that involves regional powers pursuing often competing interests in Afghanistan.



The stage has already been set, with many key actors -- including Russia and Iran -- increasing their ties with both the Afghan state and the Taliban, says Michael Kugelman, South Asia senior associate at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.



The objective is to develop more influence and generate more leverage with key actors across the board, so that they will be in a better position to pursue and achieve their goals in a post-America Afghanistan -- a place we can expect to be increasingly unstable and complex.



Iran, Pakistan, and Russia -- with long histories of meddling in the country -- are hedging their bets. The three countries have sought to improve their relations with the Western-backed government in Kabul, while also reaching out to the Taliban in case it gains a role in a future Afghan government.



Islamabad has retained its long-standing ties with the Taliban and shelters the groups leadership, while Tehran and Moscow have been tacitly working to bolster their ties with the militants, with the goal of expanding their own strategic interests in Afghanistan.



'Make The Taliban Even Stronger'



Pakistan has long been accused of playing a double game in Afghanistan, sheltering and aiding the Taliban while receiving billions in U.S. aid to clamp down on the militants.



Pakistan's ties to the Taliban date back to the 1990s, when it provided arms, training, and intelligence to the militants. Islamabad was one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government when it took power in Afghanistan in 1996. After the regime's fall in 2001, many Taliban leaders took shelter inside Pakistan.



Observers say Pakistan sees the Taliban as an insurance policy for reaching its long-standing strategic goals in Afghanistan -- installing a pro-Pakistan government in Kabul and limiting the influence of its archrival India, which has close ties to Kabul.



Experts say Pakistan stands to be the biggest beneficiary of a U.S. military pullout from Afghanistan.



If a withdrawal leads to a peace process that results in a settlement, then Pakistan would benefit as this would likely entail the Taliban holding a fair share of power, says Kugelman. If the peace process collapses and the U.S. withdrawal ushers in a period of extended destabilization, Pakistan would still benefit because it would make the Taliban even stronger.



'Buffer Zone'



Iran has supported its traditional allies in Afghanistan -- the Shiite Hazara minority and the Persian-speaking ethnic Tajiks -- while recently establishing contacts with the Taliban, a predominately Pashtun group.



Iran and the Taliban were on the verge of war in 1998 -- when the group controlled most of Afghanistan -- after the deaths of eight Iranian diplomats in the Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif.

Tehran backed the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance before the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. But in recent years the Islamic republic and the Taliban have forged closer ties, with militant leaders even visiting Tehran.



The relationship between Shiite-majority Iran and the Taliban, a fundamentalist Sunni group, is complex. Iran officially opposes the Taliban, but experts say it provides some military support to the mainstream Taliban and even rival breakaway factions.



Analysts say that while Iran does not want the Taliban to return to power, Tehran is looking to maintain influence with the group as a hedge in case the Taliban becomes a political player in Afghanistan or it forcibly seizes control of the country.



These initiatives serve the purpose of securing Iran's sphere of influence in Afghanistan and perhaps even creating a buffer zone on Afghan soil to protect parts of Iran's eastern borders from infiltration by forces hostile to Iran, says Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.



'A Great Power'



For more than a decade after the U.S.-led invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Washington for taking on the burden of fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and urged it to carry it to the end.



But since 2014, the Kremlin has attempted to undermine the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, fueled by Moscows desire to be an international power broker and its rivalry with the West in Ukraine and Syria, where Russia joined Iran in supporting President Bashar al-Assads regime.



Moscow said it has established contacts with the Taliban in recent years because of the common threat posed by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Afghanistan. Washington has accused Russia of arming the Taliban, which it denies.

In the past two years, Moscow has hosted two international conferences on the Afghan peace process, inviting Taliban leaders and Afghan opposition members.



Earlier this month, U.S. media reported that a Russian military intelligence unit had offered secret bounties to the Taliban if they killed U.S. or NATO-member troops in Afghanistan.



Moscow and the Taliban have denied the reports, which are based on U.S. intelligence assessments. But the revelations have served to highlight Moscows murky dealings in Afghanistan.



Russia's interests in Afghanistan are twofold: to avoid an explosion of chaos on the borders of what it considers its sphere of influence, and to use it as an opportunity to demonstrate and assert its claim to be a great power, says Mark Galeotti, a Russia analyst and a senior associate fellow at the British-based Royal United Services Institute.
Bengaluru, July 12 : Karnataka has recorded 2,627 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 38,843 in the state, while the death toll mounted to 684, a health official said on Sunday.

"New cases reported from Saturday 5 p.m. to Sunday 5 p.m., 2,627," added the official.

In the past 24 hours, a record number of 71 patients succumbed to COVID-19, majority of them in Bengaluru Urban as fever, cough and breathlessness emerged to be the most common symptoms. The total deaths in the state now stands at 684.

Bengaluru continues to be the ground zero of coronavirus in the southern state with 1,525 cases on Sunday, raising its total number of cases to 18,387.

However, the city is currently grappling with 14,067 active cases and accounted for the highest number of deaths, 274, in Karnataka.

As many as 62 per cent of all the active cases are centred in the city.

Among the new infections, excluding Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada accounted for 196 infections, followed by Dharwad (129), Yadgir (120), Kalaburagi (79), Ballari (63), Bidar (62) and others.

On a positive note, 693 patients have been discharged, 206 in Bengaluru Urban itself, raising the total number of discharges to 15,409.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in ICU rose up to 532.

Of the total 38,843 cases, 22,746 are active in the state.

In case of home isolation of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases, the health department has mandated that a team will visit the home to assess the suitability of a house.

"Health teams from the district health authority or the civic body shall visit and assess the suitability of a house for home isolation," said the official.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Ramin Rahimian / Special to The Chronicle

Sonoma County restaurants, wineries and bars will no longer be able to serve patrons indoors starting Monday  the latest example of Bay Area counties being directed by state officials to take strong efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The state ordered the restrictions, which take effect Monday morning, after the rate of infections in the county continued to climb over the weekend. The new rules  which also affect movie theaters, museums and card rooms  will be in force at least until August 2.
Sure, it might be warm Wednesday, but what about the rest of the week?
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jul. 11, 2020 | MARSHALL COUNTY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 11, 2020 | 01:54 PM | MARSHALL COUNTY

Two men were arrested after a man was allegedly held against his will, physically assaulted, and two of his vehicles were stolen.



Deputies and detectives with the Marshall and Graves County Sheriffs Offices served a search warrant on July 8th at a home on Hancock Lane in Marshall County.



Earlier that day, detectives interviewed the owner of two vehicles who said he had been held against his will at the home for several hours, physically assaulted, and both of his vehicles stolen.



During the search, both vehicles were located. Deputies said they also located suspected methamphetamine, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia.



Police charged 37-year-old Jared N. Mallory of Benton with first degree unlawful imprisonment, theft by extortion over $500, first degree possession of controlled substance-methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.



Also arrested was 31-year-old Trevor L Tucker, of Dawson Springs, on charges of first degree unlawful imprisonment, and theft by extortion over $500.



Mallory and Tucker were taken to the Marshall County Jail.
On March 28, the cranes, heavy-duty delivery trucks and forklifts that carry out work on sites the length and breadth of the country were stopped in their tracks. Covid-19 and the ensuing pandemic meant Ireland's construction sector was told to down tools for an indefinite period of time.

The construction sector, a vital component of our economic engine responsible for building the roads we drive on, the houses we live in and the places in which we work, had finally stalled. It was one of the last sectors to go into temporary hibernation.

For many businesses, the impact was immediate. Matt Gough, innovation director at construction firm Mace, said he had never seen anything quite like it throughout his career. "We're not sure the sector has experienced anything like the impact of Covid-19," he said. "Our workforce went from 1,400 people on site to zero during the lockdown.

"Across the entirety of Mace projects in Europe, we went from 100pc to 10pc of output overnight as a result of lockdown. We talk about that as the shock. The next risk is the time-bomb. The impact of project delays, cost overruns, acceleration measures - which are generally held by the supply chain, which is already operating on thin margins and low cash balances - is yet to be understood."

As the lockdown hit, the industry was concerned. With the pounding sounds from productive building sites replaced with the sound of silence, the outlook for the sector looked bleak.

Last month, industry forecaster Euroconstruct released figures showing that it expected the Irish sector to suffer a contraction that would surpass any single-year decline during the financial crisis. It predicted that Irish construction output would fall by 37.7pc this year due to both the enforced shutdown and the impact of new safety measures on productivity, worse than the most significant fall during the financial crisis of 33.6pc in 2009.

Others have also predicted declines. Last month, Steve Bowcott - chief executive of Ireland's largest construction firm, Sisk - warned the construction sector could enter recession next year. Plans by Sisk, which grew turnover to almost 1.4bn last year, to hire an additional 250 staff this year were reported to have been shelved.

Even with much of the sector getting back to work on May 18, Bowcott has not been alone in the industry to report challenging times ahead.

The first to know of pending downturns in construction are those behind the plans for future projects - the architects. Orla Hegarty, a lecturer and assistant professor in architecture at UCD, said she had already heard anecdotally about concerns regarding redundancies.

"There is a feel of 2009 about it from my side, though it is still early days," she said. "Generally, we are heading into a recession, which is always awful. The construction sector was by far the worst hit in the last recession. It had the highest unemployment, the highest emigration, the highest mental health and suicide instances, and it was never helped to recover.

"Even by this year, we were back up to around 150,000 people employed," she added. "That number was 275,000 before the recession, and it has never been helped back. Some sectors, particularly in the regions, have been limping over the past few years and have been hit with another body blow."

The multi-faceted construction sector has many different arms. From companies focussed on building roads to those developing apartments and offices, not all will share the pain equally.

Declan Lowry, preconstruction director of Collen Construction, which works across most areas of construction, said that as some sectors of the economy, such as tourism, hospitality and retail, have been hit harder than others, the construction services which specialise in these areas will also suffer.

"It has had an impact; it has added cost," he said. "Some developers may have to re-evaluate whether or not they are going ahead. A lot of projects would be quite tight, whether or not they are financially feasible to do. This has pushed one or two back to re-evaluate where they are."

Lowry said that the international arm of Collen, which predominantly works on data centre construction in Europe, had been critically important to the business through Covid-19. Out of around 15 projects in Ireland, only two or three were allowed to continue through the lockdown leading to a collapse in revenue here. Collen had about five sites across Scandinavia and Germany which were allowed to continue, with the income helping the Irish business.

"That is how we see the industry in Ireland; it is very cyclical," he said. "It is very hard to get it to an optimum position. We are either very busy or very slack. We tend to go from one to the other very quickly.

"That's one of the reasons why we have operations in Europe, as it acts as a second point for Collen in Ireland."

Not all of Ireland's construction businesses, which are predominantly SMEs, have international arms that can cover any slowdown here.

Shane Dempsey, director of communications at the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), said the impact of Covid-19 and the two-month shutdown is still to be quantified. Based on average annual turnover, he estimated the two-month break in construction could have equated to near 2bn worth of activity for the sector.

"We also saw 150,000 employees effectively put out of work for that period," he said. "Construction companies are now redoubling their efforts to make up this lost time in terms of output by the end of 2021."

"Doing this, whilst incorporating new Covid-19 measures deserves recognition, I think, and support from Government. That's why we're proposing that the industry is used as a vehicle, a force multiplier, an economic accelerant to drive recovery throughout 2020 and 2021."

The significant hit to revenue from the lockdown is not the only area that is hitting the industry in the wallet.

Colin Sheridan, an analyst with stockbroker Davy, said that new Covid-19 measures and associated fixed costs could also affect profitability.

The sector currently has to operate a two-metre social distancing rule, which has reportedly hit productivity. Sheridan shared estimates from those in the industry which suggest that, if you were doing 100 units before the pandemic, you could now only do 80 under the current rules.

Some in the industry have estimated build costs for homes could increase by up to 10pc based on new safety measures and the associated costs. With margins already tight, Sheridan said increased costs could put developers off future projects, while these safety measures are in place.

"If a developer can't generate some kind of a profit, it is less likely to build on the next site and is less able to reinvest in growth in the business," he said. "That is a 2021 or 2022 impact - it is less obvious, but needs to be considered."

Despite the potential hit to builders' wallets, many in the industry have said that the return to work has been far better than expected. Indeed, CIF's Dempsey said that members had reported a "very positive" return to work, with the industry group's Covid-19 online induction programme having been utilised by over 180,000 people.

Stephen Garvey, chief executive of listed housebuilder Glenveagh Properties, said the company had a mostly positive experience since tools were picked up again. In May, the company introduced a phased return on 80pc of its sites, primarily focussed on completing units which are signed or reserved and are capable of completion within a short time frame.

Garvey believes the company's staff know their responsibilities and have been working well under the new safety measures, with the big open housing sites they work on lending themselves to social distancing measures.

"In fairness to the workforce, they have adapted to this really well," he said. "What we have really noticed is that the housing sites can get up to production, but the apartments are slower to get up to the same output because you can't physically get the same amount of people on to those developments. That has been a bit of a hindrance, but the majority of the stock we are delivering across the board is housing."

Garvey added that the innovation shown by the sector had been a real positive. Glenveagh has used technology to help manage some of its developments offsite, as well as utilise its offsite construction facility to build timber frames.

The housebuilder has been carrying out virtual showings of homes for interested buyers. It is also rolling out a new system where people can physically view a property by entering a code at the door allowing them to enter and see the home.

The positivity regarding the reopening was also included in industry consultant Mitchell McDermott's Covid-19 Construction Industry Update, published last week, which looked at 42 live sites with a build value of around 1.8bn. The report said some subcontractors had reported less interruption to their work area due to fewer subcontractors working in the same space.

Mitchell McDermott's report pointed out the high level of return to sites. Across its sites, 96pc were "fully operational", with the remaining 4pc having stopped for "funding reasons".

It also said that resource levels had ramped up faster than anticipated. 45pc of its sites, mostly those at an early stage, were reporting 100pc of resources being back on site. The majority of the other sites, mainly those at the finishes stages, were down 5-15pc.

The report added that, while the majority of sites might be back to 90-100pc of pre-Covid levels, the productivity number may prove to be "more allusive". It said this was "not surprising" as it is "intertwined with current and impending contract claims for extensions of time".

Despite the positivity, it also pointed out some concerns regarding the pipeline of projects. Looking at the pre-planning stage, it said those in areas with a supply-and-demand imbalance, such as residential, were still moving ahead at pace. At the same stage, it pointed out that some projects in sectors hit by Covid-19, such as hotels, may have stalled or are now under review.

At the tender stage, the update also stated that it had noted a "renewed hunger" developing among contractors, noting that the pipeline in some affected sectors had stopped or stalled due to funding or reassessment.

Looking at the sector, Collen's Lowry is sure that the construction industry has enough work to keep it busy for the next six to nine months. Looking past that time frame, however, he believes there may be some projects that inevitably end up shelved.

While this is concerning for the industry, Lowry still holds out hope that the doom and gloom that has clouded this period for the sector won't be as bad as some fear.

"We don't know if there will be some sort of a bounce back," he said. "There are certain areas of construction that are buoyant and will stay buoyant while others won't bounce back to where they were in 2020, particularly in hospitality and retail.

"The industry will level off or drop in some areas," he added. "I personally would be hopeful that in six months it won't be as extreme as people think it will be and that there will be that bounce back. It could keep the industry on an even keel."

Needing support

As the construction sector bears the brunt of Covid-19, industry bodies are looking to the Government to take action.

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF), the industry group for the sector, believes if the right moves are made, the industry can help to drive Ireland's economic recovery.

Shane Dempsey, director of communications at CIF, called on the Government to introduce supports this month. He said new policies such as a shared equity scheme in housing, bringing forward public projects to keep contractors working, investing in water infrastructure and utilising EU funding to help Ireland's sector innovate and export could drive construction forward.

Hardware Association Ireland (HAI) also has a plan to help the industry get back on its feet.

The group, which represents over 400 members nationwide and 26,000 staff in the sector, has launched the Rebuilding Our Future plan. It includes a call for the Government to reintroduce the Home Renovation Incentive scheme from 2020-2023 to encourage homeowners and landlords to renovate their properties.

Martin Markey, chief executive of the HAI, said the plan could deliver a "badly needed shot in the arm" for the economy and the construction sector.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan is a Salman Khan starrer comedy-drama film also featuring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Nawazzuddin Siddiqui in the lead roles. The plot of the film revolves around a man who finds a little Pakistani girl near a temple. When things go out of control he decides to take matters in his hands and goes all the way to Pakistan to drop her back home.

The film Bajrangi Bhaijaan received positive reviews from the critics and Salman Khans fans loved his character as Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Plus the little girl in the movie portrayed by the then 6-year-old actor Harshaali Malhotra stole the viewer's hearts with her acting skills. Take a look at some of the behind the scenes from the movie featuring the child actor Harshaali Malhotra along with Salman Khan.

ALSO READ| Daisy Shah Shares Fun Video As She Joins Hands With Salman Khan's Being Human For An Event

Salman Khan's BTS from Bajrangi Bhaijaan

In the BTS of the movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Salman Khan can't stop expressing how adorable Harshaali Malhotra is and how he had a wonderful time working with the little actor. Director Kabir Khan talks about how it was essential for the movie to cast a perfect Shaida/Munni. Kabir Khan speaks about how the little girl went on to do perfect scenes in the film and how she was loved by everyone on the sets.

Kareena mentions that Harshaali is definitely the star of the film for her. Salman adds on saying that the 6-year-old actor has the working acumen of the modern actors and is very sensible as compared to her age. Take a look at the whole video.

ALSO READ| When Salman Khan Revealed That He Often Wondered Why He Has Such A Fan Following

ALSO READ| 'Aarya': Sushmita Sen Has An Adorable Reply For Salman Khan's Special Message On Series

Salman Khan's upcoming movies

After Dabangg 3, which saw Salman Khan in his last movie before the lockdown started, director Prabhu Deva is also directing Salman's next flick titled Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai. The film stars Disha Patani, Randeep Hood and Jackie Shroff alongside Salman Khan in pivotal roles. The film is a remake of the South Korean film titled Veteran.

Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai was earlier slated to release on May 22, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the release date of the film has been postponed. Apart from this, the actor has also announced yet another film titled, Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali. The makers of the film have roped in Pooja Hegde as the lead actress for the film.

ALSO READ| Salman Khan's 'Bharat' Was Inspired By THESE Two International Movies?

Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.
An elderly man with coronavirus 'died alone' in hospital quarantine while cut off from his loving family who desperately wanted to say goodbye.

Alf Jordan, 90, took his final breath in a Melbourne hospital on Friday after contracting the disease at Glendale Aged Care in Werribee, in the city's south-west, where 10 other cases have also been detected.

Mr Jordan's granddaughter Gabrielle Cordwell and her family were not able to properly say goodbye to him since COVID-19 patients are required isolate.

Ms Cordwell spoke about her grandfather's final moments on Sunday after being denied the chance to say her last goodbyes - and also revealed 'a pig' of a person was trying to profit from his death with a fake fundraising page.

Alf Jordan, 90, and two of his great-grandchildren. Mr Jordan died of COVID-19 on Friday and was sadly alone in his final moments as family were unable to visit him

'From Tuesday to Friday, he was alone. We knew he was alone when he died because the doctor said so. When he came back, he was dead,' Ms Cordwell told Daily Mail Australia.

'There was no-one there to comfort him if he was frightened.'

The last person who was able to visit Mr Jordan was his stepdaughter and carer Helen Webb, who is also Ms Cordwell's mother.

'Mum was able to visit him on Tuesday before he went into the ward but while she was there, his COVID-19 diagnosis came back,' Ms Cordwell said.

'She was told to leave straight away and isolate in case she had it. She's waiting for her results, so we can't even mourn with her.'

Ms Cordwell wasn't even able to call her father before he passed 'because it all happened so quickly'.

'By Sunday night, Monday morning, we still didn't think it was going to happen, we still thought we had time. But then on Tuesday, he was diagnosed,' she said.

Gabrielle Cordwell, her husband (left) and her son (right). Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Ms Cordwell said it has been 'tough' for her family since they couldn't visit their father and now can't have a funeral for him either

Ms Cordwell said her large family 'can't mourn' Mr Jordan's death since only 10 people can attend funerals in Victoria due to COVID-19 restrictions.

'There are 12 children alone so we won't be having one. It feels like we don't get to mark his life has ended,' Ms Cordwell said.

'Normally when someone dies, family can get together and celebrate their life, but we're not even allowed to visit each other.

'It's like we're moving on without moving on.'

Mr Jordan's family plan to hold a memorial for him once COVID-19 restrictions ease to allow for larger gatherings.

While the family is still mourning Mr Jordan's death, a scammer pretending to be his stepdaughter Helen set up a fake fundraising page.

Mr Jordan Fenjoys a beer at a pub. He contracted COVID-19 at Glendale Aged Care in Werribee, where nine staff members and a 85-year-old female resident have also been infected

'I was getting message from friends saying "your mum's sent me a friend request and asked me to donate to this page",' Ms Cordwell said.

'Straight away I knew it was wrong because my mum wouldn't ask for money.'

Ms Cordwell later warned her friends on Facebook, saying: 'We have not and would not ask for money from anyone! Some pig is trying to profit from his death!'

She has since reported the matter to Victoria Police and Donorbox has stopped the fundraiser.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Victoria Police for comment.

Mr Jordan contracted the disease at Glendale Aged Care in Werribee, where nine staff members and a 85-year-old female resident have also been infected.

While the family is still mourning Mr Jordan's death, an opportunistic scammer pretending to be his stepdaughter set up a fake fundraising page

Ms Cordwell later warned her friends on Facebook, saying: 'We have not and would not ask for money from anyone! Some pig is trying to profit from his death!'

He was the 107th person to die in Australia from the COVID-19 when he passed away on Friday.

Another 70-year-old man died on Saturday night in Victoria, bringing the national death toll to 108.

There are 57 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19, including 16 who remain in intensive care, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Sunday morning.

Victorians living in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are currently in the midst of a second lockdown.

The reimposed measures in parts of the state mean people can only leave their homes for four essential purposes - groceries, daily exercise, to give or receive care and to go to school or work.

Mr Andrews implored people to follow those orders, telling the public on Sunday it was currently a 'very dangerous' situation.

'This is a dangerous time,' he said.
TORONTO - In its 26 years of existence, officers with Canada's largest Indigenous police force have never shot and killed anyone and no officer has died in the line of duty, despite a grinding lack of resources and an absence of normal accountability mechanisms.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/7/2020 (555 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation Police Service detachment is seen in Fort Severn, Ontario's most northerly community, on Friday, April 27, 2018. In its 26 years of existence, officers with Canada's largest Indigenous police force have never shot and killed anyone and no officer has died in the line of duty, despite a grinding lack of resources and an absence of normal accountability mechanisms. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel

TORONTO - In its 26 years of existence, officers with Canada's largest Indigenous police force have never shot and killed anyone and no officer has died in the line of duty, despite a grinding lack of resources and an absence of normal accountability mechanisms.

It's a record of which the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service is proud, especially in light of the recent uproar in North America over police killings and brutality involving Indigenous, Black, and mentally distressed people. It's a record achieved in communities frequently in social distress, places where hunting rifles and shotguns are ubiquitous.

The key difference from urban, non-Indigenous policing, insiders and observers say, is the relationship building between officers and the people they serve.

"In the past, you might have been the only officer in there," Roland Morrison, chief of NAPS says from Thunder Bay, Ont. "You would have no radio, you've got no backup, so you really effectively have to use your communication and talk to people. You have to develop relationships with the communities in order to have positive policing."

Inaugurated in 1994, NAPS is responsible for policing more than 38,000 people in 34 communities, many beyond remote, across a vast, largely untamed swath of northern Ontario. Currently the service has 203 officers, about 60 per cent of them Indigenous, Morrison says. Its mandate is culturally responsive policing.

Erick Laming, a criminology PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, says people from First Nation communities  many with an ingrained suspicion of police given the brutal realities of generations of enforced residential school attendance  have a higher level of trust when officers are Indigenous.

In contrast, he said, new RCMP recruits with no such background might find themselves in Nunavut or Yukon confronted with significant language and cultural barriers.

"If you're from the community, you have those lived experiences. You can relate to people. You just know how to deal with the issues," says Laming, who is from the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation north of Kingston, Ont.

"If you don't have that history, you can have all the cultural-sensitivity training in the world, you'll never fully be able to fully integrate into that situation."

Another example, he said, is the service in Kahnawake, Que., which calls itself the Kahnawake Peacekeepers rather than a police force.

While all officers in Ontario undergo the same basic training, the province's nine Indigenous police services are fundamentally different from their non-Indigenous counterparts.

For one thing, they are not deemed an essential service, although federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said last month that policing First Nations communities should be. Nor are those in Ontario subject to the provincial Police Services Act, which mandates standards, including for an extensive oversight framework.

Now, the process for filing complaints against members of an Indigenous police force is ad hoc, although NAPS does have a professional standards branch and will on occasion call in Ontario Provincial Police. Officers have been disciplined, charged or even fired for excessive use of force.

Another difference is that Indigenous forces are completely reliant on the vagaries of government program funding  with Ottawa footing 52 per cent of the bill and provinces 48 per cent. The current operations budget for NAPS, for example, is around $37.7 million  more than its peers  with expenses approaching $40 million.

The upshot, particularly in years gone by, has been a dire shortage of officers and even of basic facilities and equipment that urbanites can scarcely imagine. In more than a dozen cases, Indigenous self-administered police services in Canada have simply folded.

Now retired, Terry Armstrong, who spent 22 years with Ontario Provincial Police as well as five years as chief of NAPS, says people would be shocked to find out just how poorly funded First Nations policing has been.

Armstrong recounts how a few years ago, in the Hudson Bay community of Fort Severn, Ont., a NAPS officer found himself dealing with a homicide. Besides having to secure three crime scenes and the body, the lone officer had to arrest the suspect and deal with a separate gun call. Bad weather prevented any forensic or other help flying in until the following day.

One thing he always stressed to newcomers as chief, Armstrong says, is the importance of treating people respectfully.

"Some day, they're going to be your backup. When stuff goes south, you're going to need people to support you," he says. "If you're going to be a dick ... when you need help, they aren't going to be there for you."

One frigid afternoon in February 2013, the only on-duty NAPS officer in Kasabonika Lake First Nation in Ontario's far north detained Lena Anderson, an intoxicated young mother upset over the apprehension of her daughter. The new detachment portable was unheated. The old holding cell was unusable because prisoners could escape through holes in the floor.

The arresting officer left Anderson, 23, in the caged back seat of his Ford 150 police truck for warmth while he went to get help from his off-duty colleague. Alone for 16 minutes, Anderson strangled herself.

The tragedy, combined with a threatened strike over working conditions by NAPS officers, caused an uproar. The situation, says Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, prompted his Nishnawbe Aski Nation to take a stand. Governments, he said, had to do better or face the far more daunting prospect of doing the policing themselves.

As a result, Fiddler says, a new funding agreement was reached in 2018 that allowed the hiring of 79 new officers over five years and critical infrastructure upgrades to detachments and poor or non-existent communication systems. Most importantly, he said, the deal set in motion pending Ontario legislation that would finally allow First Nations police services to opt in to the Police Services Act, putting in place solid standards and accountability mechanisms.

"That's something our communities and citizens deserve." Fiddler says. "If they have an issue with NAPS, there should be a forum for them to pursue their grievance."

However, giving investigative authority to the province's Special Investigations Unit or Office of the Independent Police Review Director must come with cultural safety built in, he says.

Stephen Leach, current review director, says his office is not yet involved in the opt-in process.

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"My expectation is that once the Community Safety and Policing Act is proclaimed and the opt-in process is further along, then I would be involved in explaining how the public complaints process works, and listening to how it might have to be adapted to meet the needs of First Nations communities," Leach says.

Stephen Warner, a spokesman for Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, confirmed the government was working on regulations to the new act. Part of the work, he said, was to set clear and consistent standards for policing delivery "informed by, and responsive to, the views of the communities that police are both a part of and serve."

Toronto-based lawyer Julian Falconer calls the new legislation a game changer. Despite having devoted much of his career to holding police accountable, he says he has no qualms in representing NAPS.

Despite, or perhaps because of, their chronic lack of resources, Falconer says Indigenous police behave much differently from their urban counterparts. He cites the dearth of police killings and racist behaviours that have sown deep mistrust of policing among Indigenous, Black and marginalized groups.

"Mainstream policing has a lot to learn from Indigenous policing," Falconer said. "The relationship between community and policing is so dramatically different."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 12
Ethiopia had said it would review alternatives proposed by Egypt

For the tenth day in a row, negotiations on Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan took place without reaching an agreement, the Egyptian irrigation ministry said.

The ministers of irrigation of the three countries began the meeting by discussing the technical and legal discussions of Friday, when Egypt had suggested alternative agreements for the convergences of views on the points of disagreement. Sudan and Ethiopia also today suggested alternative draft agreements for points of legal and technical disagreement, but the discussions continued to reflect continuing disagreement on major issues, read a statement by the ministry.

The ministry added that the legal and technical committees will continue their meetings on Monday, followed by a trilateral ministerial meeting which will generate a final report to be presented to South Africa, the chair of the African Union.

The AU is sponsoring this round of virtual talks.

On Friday, an Egyptian irrigation ministry statement said that Egypt has proposed several draft agreements converging views on procedures to deal with rules on the annual operation of the dam, on periods of extended drought and on refilling of the reservoir.

Ethiopia had said it would review alternatives proposed by Egypt, according to the Egyptian statement.

Egypt, which relies on the Nile for 95 percent of its fresh water, fears the mega-dam will significantly reduce the rivers flow, especially during the filling stages, and in periods of drought and dry years. Ethiopia, on the other hand, says its massive $4.8 billion megaproject is key to its development efforts.

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An envoys quest to regain dignity for Lankas African community By Yomal Senerath-Yapa View(s): View(s):

The Afro-Lankan community is scattered across the island, mainly in Puttalam but also in pockets of Matara, Negombo and Batticaloa. Altogether there are some 350 families. Descendants of about 15,000 individuals brought in by colonisers, they are known as Kaffirs.

When Robina P. Marks first heard the word she was aghast. At home it would have been a serious offence that would have led to imprisonment. She enlightened the community that the term was a racial slur and its Sinhalese equivalent- Kapiri- carried very derogatory connotations.

This experience was one of the many that pushed Robina, currently High Commissioner for South Africa in Sri Lanka, to pen Tell us our story, Grandma, a childrens book that has the distinction of being renowned artist Sybil Wettasinghes last work as illustrator.

Robina herself has a rich cultural heritage. Her father comes from the Xhosa people (the people of Nelson Mandela), but her mother is Khoi- which makes her a true child of the land- for these include the Bushmen who are the oldest of peoples in Africa.

The book, launched on June 30, narrates how the Africans came to Sri Lanka. It is not my story, says Robina. It was the tale she heard from young Afro-Lankans when she visited them and gathered them around her- of how their ancestors came in great slave ships to Serendib.

These Afro-Lankans still hold dear an oral tradition from the old continent, which helps them to hold on to a unique cuisine, culture and music.

Published in English, Sinhala and Tamil, the book is an attempt to recognize and honour a community brought here as slaves, against their will, and helped build Sri Lanka.

The book conjures a verdant Africa (though many would have come from the drier savanna) and how they settled down here. It is full of the ebullience and lively joy that Aunty Sybil so effortlessly creates.

But behind the delight lies a grim story- one of colonialism and forced labour. Robina insists that we look at the trauma caused by colonialism full in the face.

Despite claims that the Europeans developed infrastructure, this was at a massive cost to the natives- as witnessed by the heavy taxes imposed on the Ceylonese.

Once, driving into the Galle Fort, Robina was deeply moved to hear that the large car park by the ramparts was built on a place where many slaves were buried. It felt as if her soul was being crushed- for Africans never walk on graves and not to acknowledge a burial site was a serious breach.

She also visited the Moon Bastion dungeons near the lighthouse where the slaves were kept shackled.

There you feel a heavy sadness- speaking of the pain and the enormity of the sadness and torture of men and women brought forcefully from home.

So that those ancestors could rest in peace, Robina organized to burn sage in the dungeons- a ritual of consecration- like the Christian ritual of sprinkling holy water.

We said to them that we acknowledge you, we honour you, we see you- we have not forgotten you, but you can now rest in peace.

And I could feel a sense of sadness being lifted.

Sybil pairing up with Robina for the book happened quite accidentally. Visiting Sybil (whom Robina had long admired for her work) Robina had mentioned her book and Sybil exclaimed that she would very much love to draw for the project.

Robina- though tempted- could not agree to foist work on the 92-year-old artist.

But Sybil would insist and later confided that her enthusiasm for the project sprang from a childhood experience, where her friends would shun her for being dark, calling her kalu. She wanted no child to be discriminated for the colour of their skin.

Sybils contribution went far beyond the writing. Robina got advice from her on some fine points in metaphors. At first glimpse the white men to the Africans were the colour of yams after they are peeled.

As for the hair of the Sri Lankans when they first landed in the island, they looked long and straight like coconut leaves.

The book- Robina hopes- will strengthen ties between Sri Lanka and South Africa even more, while teaching Sri Lankans about this vibrant community from Africa.

While they today remain Sri Lankan, millennia of atavistic memory binds them to Africa. This is why Robina says that through 400 years they have lost much but what hasnt been lost is the yearning of the spirit to respond to the beat of Africa and where they come from.

But finally, she has this to say on why we must dig up and address the trauma our ancestors- from Africa, Asia or America, went through as colonies:

Because, (as one of the) interesting studies that have been done around the impact of colonialism says, that colonialism lives in the trauma and the DNA of succeeding generations- and until and unless you face the original trauma that had happened to your ancestors many, many, years ago, you will not understand why your lifes not ok.

The book will not be sold, but will be distributed free of charge to all school libraries in Sri Lanka. It will also be available to be downloaded free.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Over the past four days, messages of Defund Police, Simp and Fascist have been found stenciled and spray-painted at a Grand Rapids City Hall parking ramp and in driveways of some city officials.

Grand Rapids Police are seeking help identifying the individuals responsible for the acts.

Stenciled graffiti reading Defund Police was found Sunday, July 12 outside the homes of both appointed and elected city officials, according to a news release from the police department.

The graffiti was found on driveways and sidewalks at or near the residences, the release states.

If you are viewing this on the Facebook app, click here for the photo gallery.

This followed similar vandalism targeting elected and appointed officials found Thursday, July 9 in the Government Center Ramp at City Hall, according to police.

These bullying and intimidation tactics are unacceptable and wont be tolerated. This crosses the line, Grands Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne said in a statement. There is a process in place for determining our departments budget, and we must let that process play out. There are more productive ways to exercise your right to free speech and have your voice be heard. Vandalism and violating the law are not the answer.

We are committed to mutual respect and trust as we work with the community to build stronger relationships. If were all in this together, lets show it.

Police have released photos of the vandalism, as well as a suspect getting into a vehicle outside one of the homes.

Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to call 616-456-3400. Anonymous tips may be made to Silent Observer at 616-774-2345 or silentobserver.org.

Also on MLive:

Defunding police conversations wont stop with thwarted budget amendment, commissioner says

Campaign to defund Grand Rapids police ramps up as budget deadline nears

Question over process derails discussion of $9M police cut in Grand Rapids

Protesters gather in Grand Rapids for Close the Camps immigration rally

Grand Rapids leaders approve plan expediting recreational marijuana sales after initial delay
Home Secretary Priti Patel has warned illegal Chanel crossings 'cannot go on,' as she struck a deal with France to crack down on migrants arriving in the UK - hours after the coastguard stopped as many as 100 people trying to make the journey.

Unconfirmed reports suggest up to 100 people were stopped in 'several' inflatable boats travelling from France to England overnight during calm, clear conditions, hours before Ms Patel met with counterparts on the other side of the Channel.

Speaking this afternoon, Ms Patel said: 'I have been in France today seeing first-hand the significant work undertaken on that side of the Channel to address the unacceptably high levels of small boats, alongside the efforts of Border Force and the National Crime Agency in the UK.

Home Secretary Priti Patel met with France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and police in Calais today to work on clamping down on the number of illegal migrant crossings over The Channel

Unconfirmed reports suggest up to 100 people could have tried to make the crossing from France to England on Sunday morning, during calm conditions on the English Channel

'But despite all of the action taken by law enforcement to date - intercepting the boats, making arrests, returning people to France and putting the criminals responsible behind bars - the numbers continue to increase.

'This simply cannot be allowed to go on.

'Today, I have signed an agreement with the French to create a joint intelligence cell which will crack down on the gangs behind this vile people smuggling operation and impressed on my French counterpart the need to stop these illegal crossings for the benefit of both our countries.

'This is the start of a new operational approach with the newly appointed French Interior Minister.'

The Home Secretary said illegal crossings 'simply cannot be allowed to go on,' hours after up to 100 people tried to make their way from France to England in small inflatable boats

On one day in June, 166 asylum seekers managed to reach Britain's shores in eight boats

A Home Office source said: 'Priti is incredibly unhappy with the number of small boats making this journey and impressed on the French the need to stop these illegal crossings for the benefit of both countries.'

Ms Patel's comments came hours after HM Coastguard said it was coordinating a search for 'several' separate incidents in the English Channel on Sunday morning.

The coastguard was joined by Dover's RNLI, Border Force officials and French officials a day after 27 people attempted to make the same crossing on Saturday.

Three boats carrying 21 people were taken back to France after they got into difficulty in the Channel. But six people made it to a beach near the Port of Dover.

The Coastguard's fixed-wing aircraft, Dover lifeboat and the Border Force vessels Speedwell and Hunter have been involved in this morning's operation, working with the French authorities.

On July 7, 10 people were detained - the first time migrants have crossed the Channel since June 27 - with a spell of bad weather making it too dangerous to attempt.

Ms Patel wore a protective face mask as she met the French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, in Calais on Sunday

More than 2,400 people have made the illegal Channel crossing so far in 2020, with 702 refugees reaching the UK on small boats last month alone

This weekend's crossings follow a spell of bad weather that deterred people smugglers from making the voyage

Last month, 702 refugees reached the UK on small boats - after 741 landed in May.

Home Secretary Priti Patel arrived in Calais today to discuss plans to curb illegal crossings over The Channel

So far this year, a total of 2,438 people have made the illegal Channel crossing.

The last crossing on June 27 saw 25 migrants arrive in two boats.

There were migrant crossings on 16 days of last month - including eight days in a row from June 14.

June also saw a single-day record of 166 asylum seekers reach the UK in eight boats.

It comes despite Home Secretary Priti Patel repeatedly vowing to stamp out small boat crossings since she took up her post last year.

And the life-risking Channel crossings from France have continued even after the Government pumped millions of pounds into security measures to tackle them.

The most recent crossings follow reports that French authorities have dismantled a migrant camp near Calais, resulting in more than 500 people being moved on.

Clare Moseley, founder of humanitarian charity Care4Calais, said: 'These continual evictions increase health risks - destroying possessions removes people's ability to keep warm and dry, sleep properly or cook for themselves.

Sources say the Home Secretary is 'incredibly unhappy' with the number of illegal crossings

RNLI crews from Dover were out in the English Channel to try and intercept migrants crossing into the UK on Sunday morning

Eyewitnesses claim there could have been up to 100 migrants trying to make the crossing

Border Force officers were out assisting the coastguard and local lifeboat crews near Dover

The most recent crossings follow reports that French authorities have dismantled a migrant camp near Calais, resulting in more than 500 people being moved on

Priti Patel said migrant crossings are a 'complicated issue' and the English Channel has become 'far too viable for criminals'

'The effect on their mental health is equally stark, causing depression, self-harm and suicide.

'Evictions are pointless and simply don't work. This approach has been followed for 10 years with no perceivable impact.

'It was claimed that the demolition of the large Calais jungle in October 2016 would stop people coming to Calais to cross the Channel, but it did not.'

Instead, Ms Moseley said the eviction was a 'direct response' to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel's calls for action following recent Channel crossings.

Speaking to the PA news agency on Monday, Ms Patel said migrant crossings are a 'complicated issue' and the English Channel has become 'far too viable for criminals'.

She also said that there is no new target for when illegal migrant crossings should have become an 'infrequent phenomenon', when asked about comments made in a document last year.
Newly-limited humanitarian aid will continue flowing to northwest Syria under a U.N. Security Council Resolution passed Saturday that appeared to satisfy no council member and led to harsh recriminations among them.

Under a compromise reached after days of negotiations and failed votes, only one of two existing border crossings through Turkey will remain open for the next year.

A majority of 12 members, led by Germany and Belgium and including the United States, had argued, along with the United Nations and aid agencies, that closing the second crossing will deprive 1.5 million people between the city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, a third of them children, of their only lifeline for desperately needed food and medical assistance.

Russia and China, which had vetoed earlier resolutions for expanded aid and unsuccessfully proposed language critical of Western sanctions against the Syrian government, abstained in the final vote.

Given the divergent positions, the "council had no choice but to make yet another decision that is not reflecting the humanitarian needs on the ground in order to find compromise," Germany's U.N. ambassador, Cristoph Heusgen, said after the vote.

"Today is yet another sad day," he said. "The council had to make a decision to compromise" to allow at least one of the crossings to continue funneling aid to nearly three million civilians in Idlib province.

"Let's not be mistaken," U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft said. "This is not what the United States and the majority fought for."

Although neither directed their remarks specifically at Russia and China, Russia's deputy ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, responded sharply.

Accusing the resolution's sponsors of "clumsiness" in handling the closed-door debate, Polyanskiy said that the "hypocrisy and double standards of our Western colleagues attained unprecedented heights during this process."

"The discussion today is not about humanitarian deliveries to Syria," he said. "Our discussion is about politics, and I want to make it absolutely clear."

Russia, along with Iran, is the primary backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Western nations blame them, and the scorched-earth campaign they have conducted against Syrian opposition forces for the past nine years, for the humanitarian crisis.

Assad, along with Moscow and Tehran, have long charged that the opposition is largely terrorist forces, and that the West's only goal is to drive Assad from power.

The U.N.-coordinated international assistance program was begun in 2014 to aid millions of Syrians in opposition-held areas and those driven from their homes by the fighting. As Assad's forces, aided by Russian air bombardment and Iranian-backed militia ground forces, have regained most of the country's population areas, internal refugees have been driven into Syria's northwest corner.

After a similar debate late last year, it was agreed that two of what were four approved border crossings, both in the northwest, would remain open for six months, a period that expired at midnight Friday. The council majority had initially proposed that at least three should remain open for at least another year, while Russia proposed only one for six months.

China, which often sides with Russia on the council, maintained that its primary interest in the issue was its opposition in principle to "unilateral coercive sanctions" of the sort imposed against the Assad government. The Dominican Republic also abstained in the final vote, explaining that it was strongly in favor of continuing the aid, but objected to the "politicization" of the debate.

In response to the Russian and Chinese remarks, Heusgen said that he understood "that we all act on instructions" from governments. "But when you report home . . . just tell them that the German ambassador asks those people who gave the instructions, cut off the aid of 500,000 children, if they are ready to look into the mirror tomorrow?"
Prime Minister Xavier Bettel delivered a speech via Twitter to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre.

Between 11 and 22 July 1995, a militia of Bosnian Serbs carried out a genocide of more than 8,000 Bosniaks in the village of Srebrenica, in what is now eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The massacre took place during the Bosnian War, one of the series of conflicts in the Balkans that followed the collapse of Yugoslavia.

The 25th anniversary of the genocide has been marked across the globe this week.

Prime minister @Xavier_Bettel stresses that we should never forget what happened 25 years ago #Srebrenica25 The responsibility to remember rests on all of us ! @SrebrenicaMC pic.twitter.com/stnPcbWUcG  Embassy of Luxembourg in  (@LUinW_Balkans) July 11, 2020

During and after the Balkan Wars, thousands of refugees fled the region, including many who settled in Luxembourg.

The full text of Bettel's speech can be read below.

'There are celebrations we would prefer not to have to celebrate. We thought that 50 years after we discovered Auschwitz, Birkenau, Dachau, we never would have again something like that on our continent.

That's what we all said and believed. And we discovered 50 years later, 25 years ago, what happened in Srebrenica. 8,000 people died in a week. Why? Why? We still have no answer to all the questions. We even don't have the names of all the people who killed or have been killed there. Not yet. 25 years later, still some family members are missing.

I hoped that we learnt from the Second World War, but realise that still politicians on our continent, two hours flight from my country, did what we said would never happen again on our continent. Deciding to kill others because they were different: ethnicity, religions, political opinions, sexual orientations.

And we realise that still today, in some countries, not that far away from here, some politicians try to divide us, try to be popular by blaming others. We should never forget what happened 25 years ago.'
By Trend

Chinas Huawei Technologies has requested a meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to work out a deal to delay its potential removal from the countrys 5G phone network, Trend reports citing Reuters.

The Chinese telecoms equipment maker is seeking to delay its removal from the from the country's 5G telecoms networks until after elections in June 2025, in the expectation that the new government may reverse the decision, the newspaper reported. bit.ly/3iTYDRi

Huawei will in return pledge to maintain its equipment in the UK, which is also used in the 2G, 3G and 4G networks, the report added.

Britain granted Huawei a limited role in its future 5G networks in January, but ministers have since said the introduction of U.S. sanctions on the company means it may no longer be a reliable supplier.

Johnson has faced intense pressure from the United States and some British lawmakers to ban the telecommunications equipment maker on security grounds.
Marine life in the Mediterranean off Italy flourished during the coronavirus lockdown as water quality improved and species moved into spaces vacated by people and ships, the Italian coastguard has found.

The strict rules halting business and movement for two months offered an unprecedented opportunity to monitor the impact of human activity on the sea that surrounds Italy.

Since April, the coastguard has used water samples, underwater footage filmed by remotely operated vehicles and its own divers, and a census of unusual sightings of marine species close to heavily populated areas to monitor the sea.

In the Secche di Tor Paterno, a protected marine reserve 8 km (5 miles) off the coast of Rome, moray eels and colourful fish crowd a forest of gorgonians, or sea fans and corals.

"We were able to ascertain a significant improvement in the transparency of the waters and a significant reduction in suspended material," Lieutenant Alessandro Mino, commander of the coastguard diving unit of the Campania region, told Reuters, speaking from a boat off the coast of Lazio, near Rome.

Even before the full results of the study are published in late July, improvements have been tangible.

A pod of sperm whales was spotted in the blue waters of the Sicilian sea near the port of Milazzo and dolphins replaced container ships in ports in northwestern Liguria.

The marine environment and marine life have regained spaces that human activity had eroded, Mino said.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic is posing new threats, with masks, gloves and hand sanitizer bottles increasingly found in the sea.

The so-called "COVID waste" is adding to marine pollution made up of microplastics - tiny particles from the breakdown of everything from shopping bags to car tyres.

Since July 2019, the coastguard has recovered 75 tonnes of plastic and 5 tonnes of abandoned plastic nets.

Coastguard spokesman Cosimo Nicastro said he was optimistic the lockdown had given people more understanding of how fragile the environment is.

"This patrimony of beauty has been given to us on loan from our parents and we must preserve it and give it to our children and future generations. It is not something that belongs to us," Nicastro said.
Evidence is emerging that the coronavirus spreads even further and lingers longer in the air than we feared, but it was already obvious that only an absolute jackass would enter a public building without a mask.

Evidence also mounts that there is no shortage of absolute jackasses here or in the rest of America. Still, there are signs that common sense may be staging a belated comeback. As the national case total passes 3 million, governors hitherto wedded to President Donald Trump's obscurantist policies are being forced to confront reality, close various venues that were just reopened and mandate masks.

Local governments are following suit, although, if Orleans and Jefferson Parishes are any guide, violations are common. Cops have so far been content to issue warnings, but sterner measures, up to a spell in the pokey, may later come into play.

Imagine if mask violators ever are subject to prosecution. So widespread is the hostility to science in the age of Trump, and so childish is his disciples' idea of what freedom entails, that jackasses will line up to play martyr under the illusion that resistance is a patriotic duty. They seem to think that all those Americans who died on the battlefield were out to defend posterity's right to enjoy liberty without responsibility and spread deadly contagion.

Such is the level of ignorance that not everyone realizes that the main function of a mask is to protect those with whom the wearer comes into contact, for the virus is spread via droplets exhaled by the infected, who may be asymptomatic. Now the World Health Organization is assessing evidence submitted by 239 distinguished scientists that suggests the potentially fatal droplets do not fall to the floor within six feet after all, and previous social distancing advice may not have gone far enough.

The danger posed by airborne droplets has been in practically every report since day one. Yet another columnist on this very page recently inveighed against masks, arguing that they made no difference to anyone but the wearer, and that mandating them infringed his precious freedom. We can only hope that nobody swallows this twaddle and spreads more death in the metro area.

People are keeling over from COVID-19 at an alarming rate. More than 130,000 Americans are dead, more than 3,000 of them in Louisiana. Trump's chaotic and belated response to the virus, coupled with his repeated attempts to downplay the threat amid the usual lies and empty boasts, must have raised the death toll. He nevertheless had the nerve to blame the WHO for dragging its feet on the virus when he announced his decision to cancel America's membership last week.

In fact, the WHO's first warning came only four days after the virus was discovered in Wuhan. Trump was nowhere near that much on the ball, settling instead for denial and misinformation.

Trump is still at it, clearly driving the eminent epidemiologist who advises him, Dr. Anthony Fauci, up the wall. The latest Trump fatuity that Fauci was obliged to correct was the assertion that 99% of COVID-19 cases were harmless. When Fauci termed that observation unfortunate, Trump accused him of having said numerous things that were untrue.

As if to underline what a grotesque example that was of the pot calling the kettle black, Trump went on thus: We've done a good job. I think we are going to be in two, three, four weeks, by the time we next speak, I think we are going to be in very good shape. But wishing won't make it so, and the infection rate continues its disastrous rise.

Nobody is better placed than Trump to arrest that rise by encouraging the citizenry to accept that mask mandates are not a constitutional outrage. Partly no doubt because of the example Trump sets for his followers by always appearing bare-faced in public, Republicans are much less willing to mask than Democrats. Turning masks into a partisan issue can only encourage the scofflaws and give the virus more legs.

Still, if you venture into a store in Orleans and Jefferson, you find that most people are happy to observe the masking mandate. Maybe we'll soon have the jackasses on the run.

Email James Gill at Gill1407@bellsouth.net.
(Newser)  Update: Families of six of the Canadians killed in a January 2020 shooting down of a Ukraine International Airlines flight in Iran have been awarded $107 million Canadian (approximately $84 million), plus interest, in compensation. A Canadian court awarded the money, and it's not clear how it will actually be collected from Iran, but a lawyer says Iranian assets such as oil tankers could potentially be seized in Canada or abroad, the BBC reports. All 176 people on board died, including 55 Canadians and 35 permanent residents of Canada. The same court ruled in May that the plane's downing was an intentional act of terrorism, the CBC reports. Our original story from July 12, 2020, follows:

story continues below

Iranian investigators are blaming a misaligned missile battery and miscommunication between soldiers and their commanders for the Revolutionary Guard shooting down a Ukrainian jetliner in January, killing 176 people. The report released late Saturday by Iran's Civil Aviation Organization comes months after the Jan. 8 crash near Tehran, which authorities for days denied having hand in. The shootdown happened the same night Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting US soldiers in Iraq, reports the AP, its response to the American drone strike that killed Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad. At the time Iranian troops were bracing for a US counterstrike and appear to have mistaken the plane for a missile. The report detailed a series of moments where the shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 could have been avoided.

The report said the surface-to-air missile battery that targeted the Boeing 737-800 had been relocated and was not properly reoriented. Those manning the missile battery could not communicate with their command center, they misidentified the civilian flight as a threat and opened fire twice without getting approval from ranking officials, the report said. If each had not arisen, the aircraft would not have been targeted, the report said. Western intelligence officials and analysts believe Iran shot down the aircraft with a Russian-made Tor system, known to NATO as the SA-15. The report notes that the Ukrainian flight had done nothing out of the ordinary up until the missile launch, with its transponder and other data being broadcast. At the time of firing the first missile, the aircraft was flying at a normal altitude and trajectory, the report said.

(Read more Iranian Revolutionary Guard stories.)
Yemen's Huthi rebels have given UN inspectors the green light to inspect a decaying oil tanker abandoned off the coast with 1.1 million barrels of crude on board which experts say could rupture at any time. A breach of the vessel would have disastrous results for Red Sea marine life and tens of thousands of impoverished people who depend on fishing for their livelihood. The 45-year-old FSO Safer is anchored off the port of Hodeida under the control of the Iran-backed Huthis, who have previously blocked efforts to send inspectors to assess its condition. The UN Security Council will hold a special meeting on July 15 to discuss the crisis, after water entered the vessel's engine room "which could have led to disaster", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday. Dujarric said prospects had been revived for an inspection team to conduct light repairs and determine the next steps, and a UN source said Sunday that the Huthis had agreed to the visit. "They officially approved the visit of the UN assessment and repair team to the tanker," the source told AFP on Sunday. Effectively a floating storage platform, the Safer has had virtually no maintenance for five years since war broke out in the country where the Huthis have seized much of the north from the internationally recognised government. The Yemen government has warned the Safer could explode and cause "the largest environmental disaster regionally and globally". Top Huthi leader Mohammed Ali al-Huthi said on Twitter last month that the rebels want guarantees the vessel will be repaired and that the value of the oil on board is used to pay salaries of their employees. The market value of the oil is now estimated at $40 million, half what it was before crude prices crashed, although experts say poor quality could push it even lower. Like other economic and aid issues in Yemen, the plight of the tanker has become a bargaining chip, with the Huthis accused of using the threat of disaster to secure control of the value of the cargo. Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed on Thursday said the money for the oil should be spent on health and humanitarian projects. - 'Ticking time bomb' Apart from corrosion to the ageing vessel, essential work on reducing explosive gases in the storage tanks has been neglected for years. Experts said the latest problem emerged in May with a leak in a cooling pipe. "The pipe burst, sending water into the engine room and creating a really dangerous situation," said Ian Ralby, CEO of IR Consilium, a global maritime consultancy which follows the vessel closely. A team from Yemen's Safer Exploration and Production Operations, a public oil company partly controlled by the Huthis, sent divers in to fix the leak, narrowly avoiding the ship sinking, Ralby said. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned last week that if the tanker ruptures "it will devastate the Red Sea ecosystem" and disrupt key shipping lanes. "The Huthis must grant access before this ticking time bomb explodes," he said. Hodeida port is a lifeline for northern Yemen with 90 percent of all supplies coming through it. Any disruption would inflict further hardship on a country which is again on the brink of famine after long years of conflict. If the vessel ruptures "you're going to have two catastrophes", said Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Yemen. "There's going to be an environmental catastrophe that's bigger than almost any other similar kind ... and it's going to be a humanitarian catastrophe because that oil will make the port of Hodeida unusable," she told AFP. Independent Yemen-based environmental group Holm Akhdar -- Arabic for "Green Dream" -- warned an oil spill could stretch out from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and into the Arabian Sea. The region's ecology would need over 30 years to recover from an oil spillage of that size, it said in a recent report, adding that about 115 of Yemen's Red Sea islands would lose their biodiversity and natural habitats. In a country where the majority of people already rely on aid to survive, an estimated 126,000 fishermen, including 68,000 in Hodeida, would lose their only source of income. IR Consilium said any salvage operation after an oil spill would be greatly hampered by the coronavirus crisis. "In the midst of a global pandemic and on the edge of a conflict zone, the chances of an early and adequate response are vanishingly small," it said in a report. Doug Weir, research and policy director at the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory, said that without an independent assessment "it is impossible to determine when an incident might occur, or its form and severity". "However the risks are clear, and the longer the dispute continues, the greater they become, and the more complex and expensive any salvage operation will be."
She has been getting reacquainted with life in the Big Apple, after having spent a large chunk of her quarantine in Los Angeles.

And Emily Ratajkowski had her NYC style on full display when she was spotted taking a stroll around Tribeca on Saturday afternoon.

The 29-year-old model slipped her slender frame into a strapless, black maxi dress that showed off her impressively toned arms.

Feeling the vibes: Emily Ratajkowski had her NYC style on full display when she was spotted taking a stroll around Tribeca on Saturday afternoon

Emily's bleach blonde hair was parted down the middle and flowed down to her chest in an array of soft waves.

Though she was spotted donning a cloth face mask at the start of her outing, the Inamorata founder, eventually, removed it.

Ratajkowski hid her brown eyes behind a pair of chic black sunglasses that perfectly coordinated with her mask and dress.

She kept accessories to a minimum by rocking a pair of gold hoops in her ears and a dainty gold bracelet around her wrist.

Strapless: The 29-year-old model slipped her slender frame into a strapless, black maxi dress that showed off her impressively toned arms

Change of heart: Though she was spotted donning a cloth face mask at the start of her outing, the Inamorata founder, eventually, removed it

Emily gave her look a major pop of color by carrying an orange designer handbag.

She appeared more than content as she trekked down the NYC sidewalk in a pair of white sneakers.

Emily uploaded a video to her Instagram Story during her outing that revealed her precious pup Colombo has been sitting in the backseat of her parked vehicle.

In the short clip, the model had her once flowing hair pulled back into a ponytail as she slowly zoomed in on her dog's adorable face.

Shady lady: Ratajkowski hid her brown eyes behind a pair of chic black sunglasses that perfectly coordinated with her mask and dress

Pop of color: Emily gave her look a major pop of color by carrying an orange designer handbag

Earlier in the day, Ratajkowski - who is married to producer Sebastian Bear-McClard - gave her 26.6million followers on Instagram a peek at her spacious NYC apartment.

'Saturday,' wrote the Gone Girl star, who also included a precious picture of Colombo cuddling with her in bed.

Emily's apartment featured a plenty of pieces of modern art, various flower arrangement, and a cozy blush toned couch.

Emily and Sebastian originally caught a flight out of NYC in April, shortly after the CDC issued an advisory, asking 'residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately.'

Travel companion: Emily uploaded a video to her Instagram Story during her outing that revealed her precious pup Colombo has been sitting in the backseat of her parked vehicle

Precious: In the short clip, the model had her once flowing hair pulled up back into a ponytail as she slowly zoomed in on her dog's adorable face

Sneak peek: Earlier in the day, Ratajkowski - who is married to producer Sebastian Bear-McClard - gave her 26.6million followers on Instagram a peek at her spacious NYC apartment

'You know, [my husband and I] have been a little bit on the fence. My parents are in California, but as we know the responsible thing is to not travel right now,' explained Emily in an interview with British GQ.

'But eventually we would like to make it out there just because, well, New York is the epicenter, although my bodega is still open. I live in Tribeca and it is already very quiet.'

Emily and Sebastian, who were longtime friends, wed in 2018.

Day in the life: 'Saturday,' wrote the Gone Girl star, who also included a precious picture of Colombo cuddling with her in bed
Kanpur, July 12 : In a bizarre incident in Uttar Pradesh, four people were injured when two groups clashed with each other here amid a debate over the encounter of dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place in Derapur area of Kanpur Dehat on Saturday.

Police said that members of the two groups were debating over Vikas Dubey's encounter.

While, one group was justifying the encounter, the other opposed to it, leading to verbal exchanges which took a violent turn.

Separate FIRs have been lodged against people from both the sides, while those injured have been admitted to hospital.

"We have lodged separate FIRs in this regard and further investigations are on. Three persons from both the sides were detained and their questioning is underway in this connection," said ASP Anoop Kumar.
After 10 years as a Victoria's Secret Angel, she is still one of the most highly sought after model's in the world.

And Candice Swanepoel put her good looks on display during an errands run around New York City on Sunday.

The 31-year-old beauty sported a statement jumpsuit and wore a mask for added protection amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Candice Swanepoel put her best off-duty model look on display while running errands on Sunday

Candice's jumpsuit featured a black and white gingham design and was held up with spaghetti straps.

Her ensemble was cinched in at the waist and she teamed the look with a pair of black ballet flats.

The mom-of-two styled her blonde hair into a ballerina bun and accessorised with a dainty necklace, rings and a mask.

Stylish: Candice's jumpsuit featured a black and white gingham design and was held up with spaghetti straps

No stress look: The mom-of-two styled her blonde hair into a ballerina bun

Candice appeared to be wearing very little to no makeup and was seen out alone.

The South African native also shared a sultry shot of her bikini body on social media on Sunday.

Lounging around in one of her designs from, Tropic of C, she sported a green bikini top and red bottoms.

Last week saw the beauty share some more sizzling shots from her latest range.

Bikini babe: The South African native also shared a sultry shot of her bikini body on social media on Sunday

Angelic: Candice Swanepoel showed off her supermodel credentials as she posed up a storm in a meadow for Instagram

For her latest look Candice had selected the $60 coco top in green check, in combination with the matching $80 curve bottom.

The South African bombshell let her blonde hair flutter free in the breeze as she shot her best smoldering stare at the camera.

She stared pensively off into the distance and held a small white flower in her hands in one picture, styled by Inge Fonteyne.

Sleek and chic: In a sizzling new album she posted this Tuesday the 31-year-old could be seen sunning herself in a green gingham bikini from her own line Tropic Of C

Inge has styled a slew of celebs for photo-shoots including Heidi Klum, Tina Fey, Claire Danes, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Nicole Kidman.

'Aesthete: someone with deep sensitivity for the beauty of art or nature,' wrote Candice in her Instagram caption.

The leggy Afrikaner started her swimwear line Tropic Of C back in 2018 and has been busily plugging it on social media ever since.

Entrepreneur: The leggy Afrikaner started her swimwear line Tropic Of C back in 2018 and has been busily plugging it on social media ever since

Candice and Brazilian model Hermann Nicoli share two sons - Anacan, three, and Ariel, two - but she said she was single on an Instagram Q&A last year.

The couple were reportedly together for 12 years before their purported split last year, and she picked up Portuguese during their relationship.

She told British Vogue in 2017 that in the wake of new motherhood 'I cant watch movies, or even commercials, where kids are in any kind of danger now.'
US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Hanoi  US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo has issued a statement on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States (1995-2020), according to the US Embassy in Vietnam.

July 11 marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, he said in his statement.

Over the last quarter century, our two countries have built a partnership and friendship founded on shared interests, mutual respect, and people-to-people ties. Our everyday interactions are highlighted by increasing trade and investment ties, strategic cooperation, and collaboration on humanitarian and legacy of war issues, including the solemn duty of accounting for our wartime missing.

In recent years, he said, the two countries have strengthened and expanded the Comprehensive Partnership, based on a shared vision of a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific region, as well as respect for each others independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political systems.

The US commends Vietnam for its outstanding Chairmanship of ASEAN this year, especially in coordinating ASEANs response to the COVID-19 pandemic and issues related to economic recovery, he added.

Pompeo stressed the ties between the American and Vietnamese peoples grow deeper every year. Americas vibrant and engaged Vietnamese-American community makes our country strong and prosperous.

The US values the cross-cultural role played by the nearly 30,000 Vietnamese students studying in the United States and more than 1,200 Americans studying in Vietnam annually, he said, adding we look forward to Fulbright University Vietnam graduating its first class of undergraduates in 2023.

We also look forward to the imminent conclusion of an agreement that will bring Peace Corps volunteers to Vietnam for the first time ever, fostering stronger ties between our peoples, he said.

The US is committed to making the next 25 years of bilateral ties a model of international cooperation and partnership, the Secretary affirmed.
Fortifying Galle Fort By Smriti Daniel A massive project aims to restore the defence works from our colonial past View(s): View(s):

As restrictions around the pandemic eased this month, a team of workers returned to Galle Fort. They are in the middle of a two-year restoration project that has them clambering over the great bastions, excavating echoing underground chambers and clearing out an ancient drainage system  all part of an ambitious effort to restore this UNESCO World Heritage Site to its full glory.

By the time theyre done, sometime in early 2021 the Fort will welcome visitors to explore areas that have been locked away for decades, and will include exacting replicas of some 36 cannons in 21 sites,extensive new signage and planned walking trails, as well as carefully restored ammunition bunkers and vaults from the British, Dutch and Portuguese periods. At night, a system of lighting will set the entire Fort glowing like a jewel  a testament to its status as one of Sri Lankas most visited attractions.

Nilan Cooray, a conservation specialist and team leader for the consultancy team, explains that the project falls under the national effort known as the Strategic Cities Development Program (SCDP) which is led by project director K. A. D. Chandradasa. SCDP is focused on revitalising major urban centres outside Colombo. Drawing on World Bank funding, the project at Galle Fort has two components, which are essentially the conservation of the defence works, and what they are calling interpretive visitor presentation.

Work began in 2019, as teams went in to evaluate the Forts 14 bastion walls. Some of these date back to the 16th century, when Portuguese rulers erected the first of the fortifications. Subsequently, in the 17th century, the Dutch added to and extended these fortifications, creating a formidable rampart. When the British followed, they added their own structures and weapon systems, and renamed the Triton, Aeolus, Neptune and Aurora bastions in honour of the Royal Navy ships which helped them seize Ceylon during the Napoleonic Wars.

Today, the bastions still loom over the cobbled streets of the Fort and you can trace their length from the Zwart bastion (believed to be the only surviving remnant of the original Portuguese fortifications), to the Point Utrecht bastion (where youll find the lighthouse) and on to the Aeolus and Star bastions, which are now part of a military base.

Its amazing to think that they built these monumental ramparts without the technology and materials we take for granted today, says Cooray, painting a picture of the logistical challenges the builders faced. They were also working under pressure  having to stay vigilant for attacks from the sea, where other European powers rode the ocean waves, waiting for an opportunity to attack.

Having not only outlasted the colonialists, but survived a civil war and a raging tsunami, the bastions are now a little worse for the wear, Cooray explains, adding that as part of the project they will be restoring collapsed sections associated with the Star and Akersloot bastions, as well as the underground drains that run through the ramparts, which have long since collapsed or been blocked up by debris.

The team will even go outside the Fort to shore up the ramparts from the sea side, stacking boulders against their bases to prevent ongoing erosion. Cooray says this last measure is critical as climate change is already seeing sea levels rise along our coast. Some might wonder whether we should be putting in all this effort and money to preserve construction done by invaders, says Cooray, but in truth the materials were all from here, and the people who actually built this were Sri Lankan, so this is also part of our heritage.

There is also value for the local economy in drawing tourism dollars. A UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988, the Galle Fort consists of many historical layers explains Cooray. We think of this as a Dutch Fort, but of course you still have elements remaining from the Portuguese period, and the British also added new constructions including military installations such as bunkers as well as the lighthouse and clock tower. We want to highlight this aspect of it as well.

These distinctions are reflected in the construction and military equipment deployed in the Fort. Powder magazines, ammunition bunkers and vaulted passages were built underground to ensure that if something did explode, it wouldnt do too much damage. Those built by the Dutch tend to be large, reflecting the size of the weaponry at the time. By the British period, the ammunition bunkers had shrunk, with modern weapons requiring less in the way of space. Builders also had new materials, like cement, at their disposal.

The actual weaponry has long been missing. Cooray says that despite extensive research they have been unable to locate the original cannons and some of the only traces remain in photographs from the period. Perhaps they were moved to alternate sites in the pre-independence years. However, the circular rails that were installed to rotate coastal artillery guns remain.

Working with the British embassy and accessing their archives, Charmikara Pilapitiya, SCDPs consultant on historic cannons and artillery guns, was able to identify the original models. The goal now is to cast faithful replicas using a mix of fibre resin and dolomite chips to recreate the granular details, including the colour, texture and even the weight of the weapons, to give visitors a convincing glimpse of history. They will also be fashioning models of gun powder barrels, tools used in the process of firing the cannons, cartridges, swards, hand guns and other accessories, and placing them in the underground bunkers. Visitors to the new site will be provided plenty of context and information.

This will be the first time in Sri Lanka that such a programme is being implemented to provide the general public about the wide range of cannons and artillery guns that were used during Portuguese, Dutch and British Period, says Cooray.

The team hopes to cross the finish line by February next year. For Cooray, the project has brought with it many pleasures, but he is particularly pleased to think of what it will mean for the local community. The last time he visited, he went up onto the ramparts. Looking around he saw their green terraces crowded with children flying kites and families taking in the stunning views. This sense of living history is what makes this place special in Coorays eyes. Now, he says, he wants to ensure it stays that way: If we can conserve this historical site well, it will add value for these people, and give this area a new lease of life.
UP reports 1,388 new Covid-19 cases, 21 deaths in last 24 hrs

Brazil reported more than a 1,000 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24-hours showing that coronavirus continues to cripple the largest nation in South America. US Prez Donald Trump donned a mask for the first-time as cases spike in several states.

Click here for the complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic

Reintroduction of lockdowns are leading to protests in Serbia. Israels Tel Aviv and Jerusalem also saw widespread protests against the Netanyahu govts response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Poland will go to vote today. In India, Bihars politicians start making preparations for the first election which will be held under the shadow of the pandemic.
Seoul, July 12 : Google's video-sharing platform YouTube will cooperate with South Korea to closely monitor and prevent the spread of fake news and illegal content.

Google's Senior Vice President Neal Mohan made the comments during a videoconference with Han Sang-hyuk, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC).

The remarks came after Han requested such cooperation, considering fake news surrounding Covid-19 and a recent high-profile digital sexual abuse case in South Korea, in which such illegal materials were distributed across social media platforms.

The regulator has kept a close watch over the tech giant this year.

Last month, Google voluntarily corrected subscription practices on its YouTube Premium service in the country, after the KCC found they were unfair for users.

The regulator also imposed a fine of $720,000 on Google for violating local telecom laws, as it did not properly notify users of YouTube Premium's charged service.

In March this year, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company has taken down thousands of videos on YouTube related to dangerous or misleading coronavirus information using its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technology.

In a blog post, Pichai said that since January, Google has blocked hundreds of thousands of ads attempting to capitalize on the coronavirus pandemic.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday that the government is looking to further ease foreign direct investment (FDI) norms. Investments are being allowed in certain sectors that have constraints. He said that the government will soon come out with a new industrial and forest policy.

The minister was speaking at the India Global Week 2020 Summit. He said that some reforms in the economic policy are being considered. "We are looking at further reforms in the mining sector. Also, we are looking to open up FDI in certain sectors where there still are some constraints, foreign investment will be permitted," Goyal said.

He added that the government is considering the banking sector and capital market reform. Goyal said that the government is working on further improving ease of doing business. The ministry is working on simplifying domestic approvals and bureaucratic processes, he added.

In early 2019, the Centre had decided to draft a proposed industrial policy -- two years after it had announced that the policy framework could be overhauled.

The minister said that the pandemic has thrown a 'spanner in the works' but the timeline of reforms remains firm. Goyal said that this was supported by resiliency and a fast past of recovery.

Goyal spoke about the railways and said that it was moving commodities at a faster pace. Transportation of coal, food grains, milk, fertilisers, petroleum products, and other goods has increased to 92 per cent from a year ago on a weekly basis. Electricity and receipts from goods and services tax has reached 90 per cent levels of the usual. Consumption is also likely to increase in the next 3-4 months, he said.

Also read: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das advises banks, NBFCs to build buffer, raise capital

Also read: Coronavirus worst crisis in 100 years, unprecedented impact on jobs, output: Shaktikanta Das
Before Birmingham and Mobile were requiring residents to wear masks, Terry Williams announced the approval of an ordinance that is believed to have been the first time an Alabama city enacted a mask mandate.

We saw how things were going, said Williams, mayor of Mt. Vernon, a small town of around 1,500 residents in north Mobile County. We thought we could be in trouble. No one wants their town to be in a hot spot. I had been reading quite a bit how masks can reduce the spread. The whole council was in agreement.

The Mt. Vernon City Council voted April 18 on a stay at home public curfew that included a subsection called, protective face covers requiring all employees and customers at the citys businesses to wear masks and/or face covers.

Mt. Vernon, by approving its ordinance, became a leader in the state to mandate people wear a face covering or face potential fines. Birmingham, 10 days later on April 28, adopted its mask-wearing mandate.

But like most cities with similar ordinances, compliance in Mt. Vernon has been mixed. Police, like in other cities in Alabama, are not issuing citations or fines to violators. The Mt. Vernon ordinance carries a hefty penalty of no less than $50 to no more than $500 or 90 days in jail, or both, at the discretion of a municipal judge.

We are trying to enforce it, but we are not aggressively enforcing it, said Mt. Vernon Police Chief Ira Bridges. We find it most productive to pass them out to citizens. We passed out 600 masks and another two cases to the Mowa (Band of Choctaw Indians) reservation.

He added, My officers and firefighters are trained not to aggressively approach a citizen about donning a mask.

Wear a mask, period

Fines appear to be a last-resort measure for police as cities around Alabama struggle with how to convince the public to wear face coverings to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The wave of mask ordinances  adopted in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Mobile, Prichard, Selma, Tuscaloosa, Decatur, Madison County and Montgomery  comes as the state is experiencing a soaring number of coronavirus cases.

Alabama finished Friday with 8,530 cases over the course of seven days, capping off a record-shattering week for number of COVID-19 confirmations since the pandemic began in March. The state also eclipsed 50,000 COVID-19 confirmations since March and has recorded 1,086 deaths related to the disease. Daily hospitalizations reached a record of 1,201 on Friday and were down slightly on Saturday to 1,068.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since last month, has urged people to wear a face covering to stop the spread of coronavirus, but federal and state officials are weary about imposing mandates. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, last month, dismissed the notion of issuing a statewide mask mandate because folks are not following the restrictions weve offered. But in recent days, the mayors of Alabamas 10 largest cities are pushing for Ivey to support a statewide face covering requirement.

More than 20 states in the U.S. have some sort of mandate requiring face coverings in public. Alabama, like hard-hit Florida and Arizona, leaves the fate of mandatory mask requirements up to cities and counties.

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci arrives testify before a House Committee on Energy and Commerce on the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. (Sarah Silbiger/Pool via AP)AP

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading expert on infectious disease in the country, said on Tuesday that he doesnt believe an authoritarian mandate from federal officials would be appropriate. He said that at the local level, as well as from governors, that a mandate could be very important.

Individual mandates, wherever they come from, are important, said Fauci during a live stream press conference with Democratic U.S. Senator Doug Jones of Alabama. When people get a signal that you may or may not wear a mask, which means it may or may not be important, is a signal. If you say it doesnt matter whether you put it on or take it off, you get the wrong signal. The signal should be wear a mask, period.

Dr. Jodie Dionne-Odom, assistant professor of infectious disease at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said rural communities in Alabama need to remain aware of the importance of wearing masks.

If you are on a farm in the middle of nowhere and dont want to wear a mask and youre not traveling at all, your risk is low, said Dionne-Odom. But if you have contact with people traveling, I think that is where the risk has to come in. The ideas that make sense for the urban areas make sense for the rural areas. The rural areas, if you get the mail or go to the grocery store, there may be people with asymptomatic infections and wearing a mask makes sense.

She added, When we get back to a place where our case counts are low  it will be a different discussion. Our case counts are so high. I dont want to give folks a false sense of security that since they are in rural areas, there is not a risk.

Mobile County Health Officer Dr. Bernard Eichold issued a July 3 health order that requires people to wear face coverings. But the order applies to unincorporated areas only, leaving individual cities to determine whether to mandate masks.

The Mobile City Council, following two days of intense discussions, voted on a 30-day mask-wearing mandate on July 2. The ordinances carries the potential for $50 fines for first-time offenders, but Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said that fines were unlikely. He said that police were distributing masks to people who need them.

Prichard adopted its ordinance on Wednesday. Violators face a warning upon the first offense, with the potential of fines for subsequent violations.

Other cities in Mobile County have been holdouts. Officials in Chickasaw, Saraland and Semmes are not planning to vote on similar mask mandates.

Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier said he reached out to Williams in Mt. Vernon weeks ago to learn more about their ordinance. Dauphin Island, which is a popular summer destination because of its beaches, wildlife and historic sites, is not planning to adopt an ordinance requiring mask wearing.

My recollection was that he didnt raise any red flags about what they were doing, said Collier. He said that it wasnt wonderful or horrible.

We need to be more vigilant

The historic train depot in downtown Mt. Vernon, Ala. The small north Mobile County city became the first in Alabama to institute a mandatory requirement for people to wear face coverings while out in public. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

Williams is a mild-mannered mayor of a city that is about 74% Black, 23% white that is known more as a pass-through community along U.S. 43 for people working at nearby steel or power plants. Searcy Hospital, a state-owned psychiatric hospital that once employed 400 people, has sat abandoned on the west side of the city since 2012.

Williams said the ordinance surfaced when he learned through community scuttlebutt about four cases that had occurred within the community.

I was told they were symptomatic and that if they see this person and that person in the store here, they may be asymptomatic, said Williams. It was a wake-up call for us. If you have asymptomatic people going into businesses, you have to do something.

Bridges, who was hired as the citys police chief last year, said one of the concerns was the potential of having to shut down the citys only grocery store  Piggly Wiggly  if an outbreak occurred, forcing residents to drive a greater distance to shop for groceries.

It would shut the town down if we had an outbreak, said Bridges. We had to be more vigilant.

The ordinance has been received with mixed reaction. At Piggly Wiggly, manager Kay Daw and her employees show up to work daily wearing masks. Last week, most customers arriving to the store were wearing a face covering. But there are others who do not, and Daw has had to referee some angry outbursts.

A lot of people are for it because they are looking out for themselves and loved ones, said Daw. Some people are getting really mad because they dont want to wear one. There have been a few people who left the store. But a majority have understood.

Daw said there has been more adherence to the ordinance in recent weeks, especially after Mobile addressed the issue. A sign reminding Piggly Wigglys customers about the ordinance is taped to the front door.

They are used to it by now, she said.

Alabama unmasked: Mask-wearing debates a microcosm of polarized issue

A similar sign is not posted at the front of Eddie Jordans Fresh Seafood Market, which is a less than a mile north of Piggly Wiggly on U.S. 43. The small seafood market restricts its capacity to no more than three people inside at once.

Anthony Jordan, whose father owns the seafood market, said Mt. Vernon was the first city in Alabama to issue the ordinance but he was confused as to why since no other city in the state was following the citys lead.

It was ridiculous, he said. Mt. Vernon is one mile wide, one mile long and was making you wear a mask. Then you go two minutes this way or two minutes that way, and you dont need it.

Williams said he was unaware whether Mt. Vernon was the first to issue the mask mandate in Alabama. The citys ordinance says it will remain in effect until the states COVID-19 public health emergency expires. Ivey, on July 2, extended the states public health emergency until Sept. 9.

The virus has already hit home for the mayor. He said his 28-year-old grandson is recovering from COVID-19.

Hes young and going to the gym and Im thinking that may have been it, said Williams. I dont think we are ready for things like that yet. Im sure the gym is doing everything they can sanitizing everything. But its a risk.

He added, The older people, the more mature people, they get upset when people are not wearing a mask. No one wants to get this disease. They still dont know what is going on with it. There is still ugly stuff coming out about it.

Alabama cities left to go it alone as governor urges, but doesnt require masks

Mobile releases FAQ sheet on mask ordinance

Many Alabama voters will need to wear masks to the polls this month
Its a thoroughly unromantic name. Lot 302.

Yet the 20-acre parcel of timber symbolizes the achievement and ongoing battle by a tiny coastal community to protect as much mature forest as they can on their remote B.C. island.

We just couldnt bear to see yet another clearcut, said Read Island resident Lannie Keller of the Surge Narrows community, which managed to raise $150,000 inside of four months to protect 20 acres of forest earlier this year.

And the community is working to buy another parcel with an important riparian zone to complement their recent acquisition and further protect Read Islands ecologically sensitive areas. This time, its a spot where the forest intersects with streams and swampy areas critical to salmon and amphibian habitat.

There is a remaining 128 acres of wetland and mature trees in the middle of the island, which would extend our protected area in a lovely and significant way, said Lannie, who along with husband Ralph, sparked the communitys most recent efforts to conserve their forests.

Approximately 80 residents live full time on Read Island  one of several outer islands wedged between Vancouver Island and the B.C. coast in the northern reaches of the Straight of Georgia  which is only accessible by boat or float plane.

And the community of Surge Narrows  which boasts not much more than a public dock, a small post office, a small school, a community hall, and an abandoned, ramshackle clapboard store  is tucked into Read Islands northwest flank.

Despite its small size, Surge Narrows acts as a community hub for Read Island, as well as for residents of surrounding Maurelle, North and South Rendezvous, and Sonora islands.

So when nearby Lot 302 went up for sale last summer, and the Kellers heard the mixed mature forest was drawing the interest of a logging company, the couple knew they had to act fast.

It was a beautiful piece of treed land along the main road where people travel to get mail, to the school or the dock, Lannie said.

The parcel was also adjacent to the islands John Kim Ecological Sanctuary and would create a green corridor from the Surge Narrows dock to the boundary of the islands existing Fish and Forest Reserve at the headwaters of two important salmon streams, Ralph added.

We thought, Oh man, we better do something right now, so we went back and wrote them a cheque, Lannie said.

Lot 302s owners, long-term residents, were willing to sell the land to the community at a reduced price.

So the Kellers, through their local kayaking business, Coast Mountain Expeditions, offered a $50,000 down payment and guaranteed the entire $150,000 purchase price if the community decided not to come on board.

But the community was all in.

The Kellers presented the idea to the Surge Narrows Community Association (SNCA), representing about 130 permanent residents on the surrounding isles.

The response was super enthusiastic, said Lannie, who wasnt surprised by the tight-knit communitys response, but rather by the speed at which the remaining funds were raised.

We were astounded. It just happened so fast, Lannie said, adding the community, which doesnt have deep pockets, gave generously.

Sometimes it was to the point where we said, You cant do that. You dont have that much to give, said Lannie, noting one resident was donating half her limited pension to the project.

But what really shocked the community was the response from the outside world, the Kellers said.

The funding came from near and far, said Lannie, adding people donated from across Canada and even internationally.

Some had distant links to Read Island, but some had absolutely no connection at all but said (forest conservation) resonated with them.

Protecting remaining intact forests strikes a deep chord with people around the globe, Ralph said.

Most people today love living forests. The wilderness and the feeling they exude, he said.

As soon as you clear-cut it, lay it all to waste and destroy the wildlife habitat, nesting sites and the wetlands, it threatens us personally. Whether its British Columbia or Brazil, a clearcut has become the international symbol of the destruction of the environment.

Read Island, like most of British Columbia, has a long, history with clearcut logging, Ralph added, noting the practice is ongoing on the islands woodlots.

In the mid-1980s, just a couple of years after the couple arrived on the island, 1,200 acres of mature low-elevation rainforest was razed to the ground, he said.

To be able look across the island for several kilometres and not see a single tree was pretty impactful for all of us, Ralph said.

It led to the community working together for the first time in 1992 to purchase a lot from Raven Forest Products to create the islands first reserve to try to protect the salmon streams.

But in that instance, the effort took three years to raise $78,000 for the 20-acre lot, Lannie said, adding people had relatives kids knocking on doors in Vancouver for spare change.

We were exhausted afterwards, she said.

But this last time around, an international conservation organization arrived on Read in February to explore whether it would back the purchase of Lot 302, only to find the fundraising was already done, Lannie said.

Now, the Germany-based Wilderness International is partnering with the Surge Narrows community to provide the bulk of the funds to try to purchase the wetland Lot 309, Ralph said.

Wilderness International has promised $150,000 to help the SNCA purchase the lot, said David MacDonald, Canadian director with the organization.

Were waiting on the decision of the landowner, after which well draw up a co-operative agreement, he said.

Wilderness International purchases private lands with intact rainforest to protect biodiversity and capture carbon dioxide to prevent climate change, he said.

German society is passionate about protecting the worlds forests because they have so little of their own wilderness left, MacDonald added.

Aside from occasional visits from biologists or student groups to study the ecosystems at their sites, not much else will happen other than the foundation paying taxes in perpetuity, he said.

Essentially, the concept is: We buy the forests and leave them alone.

The Kellers said the Surge Narrows community is also waiting to hear from the landowner to move forward.

Were all waiting with bated breath, Lannie said.

With the experience gained through their kayaking company, they know the wilderness on and around Read Island is precious, the Kellers said.

This environment is so incredible, and weve had thousands of people visit from all over the world over the years. And theyve said theyve never been anywhere so beautiful, Lannie said.

Its special, and it deserves protection.

Read more about:
Here are todays leading news stories:

Politics

-- A source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper stated on Saturday that police officers had arrested and initiated legal proceedings against Phan Truong Son, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Architecture, for his role in the violations at the state-owned Saigon Agriculture Incorporation.

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has signed a decision to suspend Tran Vinh Tuyen, vice-chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee, for 90 days over violations during his time in office.

Society

-- Authorities are carrying out an investigation to determine the cause of a serious accident in which a passenger bus plunged off a cliff in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum on early Saturday morning, killing five people and injuring 35 others.

-- A Scottish man who was once Vietnams most seriously sickened novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient was brought back to his home country on Saturday evening, following his 115-day treatment at two major hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City.

-- The body of a 17-year-old girl, who went missing after attending the school years closing ceremony on Friday morning, was found in a ditch in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on Saturday evening.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Council on Saturday passed a resolution on the charging of automobile drivers when they enter downtown areas in 2021-25.

-- Two men were killed after crashing their motorbike into a trailer truck while traveling in an automobile lane in Thu Duc District on Sunday.

World News

-- More than 12.8 million people have gone down with COVID-19 and more than 567,500 have lost their lives to the disease around the world, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health's statistics. Over 7.4 million people have recovered from the disease.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
File photo taken on Oct. 14, 2018 shows the campus of the Harvard University in Cambridge of Massachusetts, the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

The extraordinary number of colleges and universities pooling together so quickly is indicative of the serious nature of the opposition to the brash move.

DENVER, the United States, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Some 180 academic institutions in the United States joined the avalanche of opposition to the Trump administration's controversial visa policy for int'l students, according to an amicus brief document filed to the Massachusetts federal district court and released to the public on Friday.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a new visa policy for international students and this move prompted Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to launch a legal action against it.

The 22-page document issued by the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration representing 180 higher education institutions showed a nationwide support for rescinding the guidance.

"ICE's new policy serves only to severely disrupt international students' educational attainment, and our country is worse off for it," said Miriam Feldblum, executive director of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration in a statement posted on the group's official website.

"This quasi-international student ban represents another unfortunate assault by the administration against immigrants and higher education," she added.

Policemen patrol on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Boston, the United States, April 19, 2013. (Xinhua/Zhang Jun) (lyx)

The Alliance is composed of over 450 presidents and chancellors of public and private colleges and universities, representing over 5 million students in 41 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

The extraordinary number of colleges and universities pooling together so quickly is indicative of the serious nature of the opposition to the brash move, academic pundits said.

The ICE announced on Monday that students currently in the United States on F-1 and M-1 visas must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status, if their schools' classes are entirely online in the fall semester.

The measure also stipulated that those in violation would risk "immigration consequences, including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings."

The White House defended the action Wednesday. In academic circles, the decision hit a stone wall.

Two Chinese students walk on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, the United States, June 3, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

As of Saturday, hundreds of thousands of signatures have been collected online from supporters of several open letters and petitions that slammed the Trump administration's decision.

The University of Southern California (USC), where a total of 12,265 international students were enrolled during the 2019-20 academic year with around 7,000 from China, announced on Wednesday it had joined an amicus brief strongly supporting the lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT.

The University of California (UC) also announced plans to file suit against ICE. The UC's 2019 fall enrollment data showed that 27,205 of the university's 226,125 undergraduate students are non-resident international, while 13,995 of the university's 58,941 graduate students are non-resident international.

"I am deeply concerned about the timing, motivation, and substance of this government action," said Alan W. Cramb, president of Illinois Institute of Technology in the statement released by the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.

"Our university, our city, and our nation are profoundly enriched by the contributions of international students. We stand with them and higher education institutions across the nation to ensure that America continues to be a place where all are welcomed and encouraged in their pursuit of educational excellence."

People attend the Cal Day event at the University of California, Berkeley Campus in Berkeley, California, the United States, on April 21, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling) (zf)

The public health danger was highlighted by Danny J. Anderson, president of Trinity University, in the statement.

"While so many people in the United States are suffering and recovering from COVID-19, it is even more important that campuses protect and ensure the health and safety of their students," he wrote.

"By issuing such ill-advised guidance, the administration is in effect pressuring campuses to reopen prematurely, thereby endangering their students' health; or to deport their international students, placing their international students' health in danger. "

"This ICE policy will have far-reaching detrimental effects on our students and communities," noted Wake Forest University President Nathan O. Hatch, who urged more schools to join the movement and to "resist new federal restrictions that threaten the education and wellbeing of international students."

The harshest assessment of the new restrictions came from Dwight A. McBride, president of The New School, who was quoted by the statement as saying "The proposed ICE guidelines are cruel, unnecessary and deeply flawed - for students, for higher education, and for the country."

"Caught in the crosshairs of politics, dedicated scholars and future leaders who contribute mightily to U.S. culture and the economy could be exiled from the country they have seen as a haven. We need to be building educational bridges for our students right now, not bureaucratic trap doors." he concluded.
At a time when India and China are locked in a tense border dispute in eastern Ladakh, the Indian Army is laying the groundwork to buy an additional 72,000 Sig Sauer assault rifles for its troops from the United States, people familiar with the development said on Sunday.

This proposed purchase follows an order for 72,400 assault rifles placed with the US last year, and is expected to be made by invoking a key clause in Indias arms buying rules that governs speeding up purchases to meet urgent requirements, said one of the officials cited above.

India signed the previous order worth Rs 700 crore in early 2019 and the deliveries of all the rifles have been completed. That order was also made through the fast track procedure (FTP) prescribed in Indias defence procurement rules.

ALSO WATCH: Explained | Missiles, fighter jets: How Indias boosting forces amid China row

The Sig Sauer rifles are being bought to meet the armys requirement of a total of 8 lakh assault rifles, said a second official. The new assault rifles will gradually replace the flaw-ridden 5.56mm INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) rifles inducted around 22 years ago.

The remaining requirements of the army will be met through a Make in India project for the local production of AK-203 assault rifles at Amethis Korwa, and this procurement is in its final stage with a committee ironing out pricing issues, said a third person.

The FTP can be invoked in cases where undue/unforeseen delay in buying weapons is seen to be adversely impacting the militarys capacity and preparedness.

According to rules, weapons sought under the FTP should already be in the militarys armoury, have been trial evaluated or be in service in foreign militaries so that the time required for evaluation is minimised.

India has also ordered more stocks of Excalibur precision guided munitions from the US for its artillery guns, while Russia assured swifter delivery of weapons and ammunition during defence minister Rajnath Singhs visit to Moscow last month.

Indian, Chinese commanders to meet this week

A fourth meeting between senior Indian and Chinese commanders is expected to take place along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh this week. Both sides are working on finalising the date, officials said. The military talks between corps commander-ranked officers are expected to focus on the critical Finger Area and the strategic Depsang plains. The next phase of the complex disengagement process is expected to begin after the fourth round of talks, the officials said. Previous military talks on June 30, set the stage for disengagement in Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Gogra.
Greenwood Village is 84% white, less than 3% Black and about 5% Hispanic. But on Thursday, the latest edition of Black Lives Matters protests came to this community of just over 15,000, where the median income is more than $127,0000 and the median home price is just shy of $900,000.
Representative image

Anwar Thakur, an aide of notorious wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim, was reportedly arrested by the Delhi Crime Branch on July 10 for 'knowingly reviving gang activity'.

According to police, Thakur is a life convict serving his sentence for murdering a police informant in Delhi. He had brazenly shot dead an informer inside the Sadar Bazar police station in Delhi. He was out for parole since March 17 and was knowingly reviving the gangs in North East Delhi, police told ANI.

Originally from Meerut, Thakur was arrested from the national capitals Chand Bagh area in possession of a Brazilian make semi-automatic pistol worth Rs 22 lakh. In Delhi, he resided at Pandav Nagar, Mayur Vihar, Phase I, police added.
In Washington Post op-ed, Mueller attacks Trump ally and rejects White House claims he was out to get the US president.

Donald Trump may have commuted Roger Stones prison sentence but the US presidents longtime ally remains a convicted criminal, former special counsel Robert Mueller has said.

Stone, 67, had been set to begin serving a 40-month prison term on Tuesday after his conviction on seven felony charges originally brought by Mueller as part of the Russia collusion probe.

The charges include tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to help him win the 2016 election.

In an op-ed piece published in The Washington Post on Saturday, Mueller defended his probe as being of paramount importance, dismissing White House claims that he was out to get Trump and those who worked with him.

Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so, Mueller wrote as Democrats  and two Republican senators  piled on Trump for again intervening in the justice system to help an ally.





Senator Mitt Romney, who infuriated Trump when he became the only Republican to vote to convict the president in his impeachment trial, pulled no punches on Saturday.

Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president, he tweeted.

Another Republican senator, Pat Toomey, also criticised Trump but in milder terms, saying that as Stone has been duly convicted, it was a mistake to commute his sentence.

Trump defended his Friday night move to commute Stones sentence, saying Stone and others convicted of crimes in the Russia probe were caught up in a witch-hunt.

Theyve all been treated unfairly, and what I did, I will tell you this: people are extremely happy, because in this country, they want justice, Trump told reporters.

Staggering corruption

Most Republicans have remained largely mute on the matter, while Democratic critics led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unanimously condemned Trump.

President Trumps decision to commute the sentence of top campaign adviser Roger Stone, who could directly implicate him in criminal misconduct, is an act of staggering corruption, she said in a statement.

Pelosi called for legislation to ensure that no president can pardon or commute the sentence of an individual who is engaged in a cover-up campaign to shield that president from criminal prosecution.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden weighed in without mentioning Stone by name.

Ive said it before, and Ill say it again: Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in modern American history, he tweeted.

Every day that he remains in office, he further threatens the future of our democracy. We have to vote him out this November, Biden wrote.

Ive said it before, and Ill say it again: Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in modern American history. Every day that he remains in office, he further threatens the future of our democracy. We have to vote him out this November. https://t.co/FuoAnNzgHG  Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 11, 2020

Stone, a longtime political activist and consultant, is easily recognised by his trademark dark glasses and bowler hat. He and Trump were introduced in the 1980s and were said to have hit it off immediately.

Trumps action instantly brought new accusations that the president has intervened freely in the US justice system to help friends and allies, and to punish critics and perceived enemies.

In a highly unusual move in May, the US Justice Department moved to dismiss its own case against Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser to Trump, though he had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. A federal judge has demanded a further judicial review of the matter.

Stone was the first person directly involved in Trumps campaign to receive clemency.

Indictment papers said a top Trump campaign official had dispatched Stone to get information from the WikiLeaks organisation regarding thousands of emails hacked from Democratic accounts  a leak that fuelled Republican attacks on Trumps 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Trump has denied knowledge of any such outreach to WikiLeaks.
For reasons that are beyond my comprehension, he still has some favorability in these districts, and so the question is: In the last election, did people stay home because he wasnt on the ballot and now turn out because he is on the ballot and they support him? Pelosi said. Its the strangest phenomenon I have ever seen in politics.
Hyderabad: Every time a question is asked about the Telangana governments management of the COVID-19 pandemic, or when uncomfortable queries are raised about the disease data that it reports, the states Health Department wraps itself tighter in its cloak of secrecy.

Over the past four months, several changes have been made to the daily COVID-19 bulletin, be it relating to testing, number of cases, or the number of people discharged (the government still does not explain in the bulletin how many of those discharged daily are actually cured).

And on Saturday evening, the very home page of the Telangana Governments health department went offline. Attempts to get to the website http://health.telangana.gov.in/ were met with a message: The requested service is temporarily unavailable. It is either overloaded or under maintenance. Please try later.

Deccan Chronicle first reported on Saturday morning that an associated webpage of this site -- http://124.124.103.93/COVID/statistics.htm -- which provides real-time updates on COVID-19 cases in across the state, disappeared from the online world. And by evening, the home page of the health department itself disappeared.

It was this website -- http://124.124.103.93/COVID/statistics.htm -- that was in the middle of a serious controversy in the first week of July when it was discovered that the number of COVID-19 cases displayed on the website was vastly different from the ones released every day in the COVID-19 bulletin by the health department. The question was about the two very different sets of data, with the bulletin showing a nearly 3,000 difference with the website showing a higher number.

The difference in numbers instantly became controversial with not just the reports on it shared very widely on social media platforms but with opposition political parties jumping on the issue and claiming that this issue yet again highlighted the lackadaisical approach of the Telangana government to COVID-19 control and management.

The health department subsequently claimed that the numbers on the website were not added to the COVID-19 bulletins owing to confusion over the validity of tests conducted by some private labs that showed abnormal rates of disease positivity. There were also official claims that the bulletin has a cut-off time of cases reported till 5 p.m. while the website reflected live updates.

However, the website where live updates could be checked has since been taken down as has the homepage from where the page on statistics could be accessed.

The website of the health department  health.telangana.gov.in  when last checked and found functional on Friday evening, showed a link COVID-19 with the word New blinking next to it. It was upon clicking on this COVID-19 link that one would be taken to the website  124.124.103.93/COVID/home.htm  which displayed a tab that said statistics. However, this tab was never activated but by substituting the word home, with statistics in the webpages url, one could access the statistics page with regular updates on COVID-19 numbers in Telangana.

As on Friday evening, the COVID-19 link on the health.telangana.gov.in was no longer active and clicking on it took a person to a page that says the requested resource in not available, instead of the page with the url 124.124.103.93/COVID/home.htm, that was the home page for the Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of Telangana, COVID-19 which also displayed a picture of chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao and health minister Etala Rajendar.
Monitoring for methane emissions throughout the Permian Basin oil patch has not slowed during the current economic downturn.

One way I look at it, we have three times the business as we did last year, and counting, Steve Deiker, chief executive offer and co-founder of Kairos Aerospace, said in a phone interview. The company, which had two airplanes flying monitoring equipment over the Permian, now has four planes in the air and plans to have six airborne within the next month.

Weve had a massive impact, Deiker said. In 2019, our customers fixed leaks that prevented 3.9 billion cubic feet of methane emissions. Thats the equivalent of 425,000 cars off the road. I look at it as, Tesla made 370,000 cars last year, so our oil and gas operators had more of an impact than Tesla.

Kairos, which numbers ExxonMobil and Pioneer Natural Resources among its customer base, said operators have been pushing hard to monitor emissions and take action to prevent those emissions.

The company has just announced an initiative with DCP Midstream in which Kairos will provide its airborne methane monitoring and data analytics to survey DCPs portfolio of natural gas assets in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, the largest geographic footprint undertaken by an industry-led initiative. The surveys will be conducted at least twice a year.

Deiker said his company had been working with DCP for the last two years. The company just finished its first survey and is getting ready for a second round.

Were always concerned about methane emissions and looking for new ways to manage our system and evaluating our systems to ensure there are no leaks, Bill Johnson, chief transformation officer at DCP said in a phone interview.

With more than 15,000 miles of pipe in the Permian Basin, he said the company wants to make sure the natural gas it gathers remains in the pipe and that the pipe is in good shape.

This is a way to use new technology and do it more frequently and efficiently and cost-effectively, he said.

The advanced technology will also allow the company to put its people who would normally travel the pipeline right-of-way to look for leaks and asses the conditions of the pipe to better use fixing issues identified by the surveys.

Kairos planes can cover quarter mile- or half mile-wide sections, which lets DCP cover a lot of ground more quickly and more frequently.

We think this is the right way to look at our system, look for leaks and make sure were on top of things and dont have emissions we dont want, he said. This is above and beyond normal compliance, but its the right thing to do.

Deiker said he hopes the initiative with DCP will inspire other midstream companies to undertake similar efforts and take advantage of the data available from Kairos surveys to detect, quantify and reduce their methane emissions.

With just a few repairs we can impact methane emissions quickly, he said.
"You must reside in Ward 3, and have been a resident in Ward 3 for at least a year," said borough Manager Christine Hart.
The provinces Special Investigations Unit has cleared a Toronto police officer who shot a suspect in the hand when the alleged stolen car driver accelerated at the cop in December.

It was clear that the officer who shot the driver was at risk of serious injury or death based on footage of the incident, SIU director Joseph Martino wrote in his report released Friday.

On this basis, as supported by the video, I accept that the (officer) genuinely and reasonably believed that shooting the (driver) was necessary to protect himself, or his colleagues, from loss of life or grievous bodily harm, Martino wrote.

The incident took place on Dec. 8 at around 1:30 a.m. after a parking enforcement officer spotted a stolen Toyota Sienna minivan, according to the SIU report dated June 22.

Toronto police officers followed the minivan with their emergency lights flashing as the driver was travelling east into a laneway off of Vanauley Street, near Queen Street and Spadina Avenue.

The driver, a 43-year-old man, suddenly put the minivan into reverse gear and crashed into the front bumper of one of the police cruisers before driving forward again, the report said.

Police officers continued to follow the minivan until the driver reached a dead end.

The SIU said an officer on foot ran toward the minivan with his gun drawn and fired his weapon after the minivan driver made a U-turn and began to accelerate towards the officer. The officer also jumped to his left to avoid being struck.

The minivan driver continued to accelerate towards the officer, who was forced again to move quickly and fire his gun at the driver a second time, the SIU said.

The driver subsequently crashed into the front bumper of another parked police cruiser, almost hitting a second officer.

The driver attempted to flee on foot before being tackled to the ground and placed under arrest. He was then taken to St. Michaels Hospital, as one of the officers bullets had fractured his hand.

After the arrest, the officer who fired his weapon can be heard on the in-car camera footage saying He ran into us . . . I turn around, hes turning right toward me. I fired two shots. I almost got run over!

Martino concluded that there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the suspects arrest and injury.

I am unable to form reasonable grounds to believe that the actions of the (subject officer), in resorting to a use of lethal force, were excessive in these circumstances and there is, therefore, no basis for the laying of criminal charges, Martino wrote.

The SIU is an independent provincial agency that investigates incidents involving police resulting in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

TY Tom Yun is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @thetomyun

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 10:57:16|Editor: huaxia

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BAMAKO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Death toll of the two-day violent protests in Mali's capital Bamako has increased to three, and at least 74 others were injured, local hospital authorities told Xinhua on Saturday afternoon.

There was also significant material damage, particularly in the country's National Assembly which was looted by protestors.

At least six leaders of the demonstrations were arrested Friday night and Saturday, said the 5 June Movement -- Rally of Patriotic Forces (M5-RFP), organizer of the protests.

In a message published by the Malian presidency Friday night, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita regretted the scenes of violence, and reaffirmed his "wish to continue the dialogue" with the protesters.

To ease the tension in the country, Keita has made several proposals to end the crisis, which the protesters rejected and called for the appointment of a prime minister in its ranks and the resignation of Keita.

The capital were largely paralyzed since Friday when the demonstrations turned violent. Enditem
Calgary's Stampede may be the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth for its rodeo, but it's also a chance for federal, provincial and municipal politicians to parade around the city.

Like many aspects of the annual 10-day event cancelled and hampered by a global pandemic, Stampede didn't draw a crowd of political party leaders, backbenchers or councillors.

An election year or not, Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt says that for some politicians, Stampede is the one time of year they make a stop in Calgary.

"It's probably better that there's no election on the horizon," Bratt said. "[Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau used to always come to Stampede. Now, granted, he had seats here and had events here. Now he doesn't. So he's probably, as I said, not going to regret having to come to Calgary."

Bratt said it's not just an opportunity for face time with constituents, but a big fundraising opportunity too  and likely part of the reason some parties had to apply for federal funding assistance to keep staffers employed.

Politics has always been a big part of Stampede in the past, with all eyes on photo-ops and fashion faux-pas  like showing up in loafers instead of cowboy boots, Stephen Harper's critically panned fashion choices, or when NDP Leader Rachel Notley donned her cowboy hat backwards in 2015.

"One of my other memories during the Stampede parade, back when Joe Clark in his comeback was an MP in Calgary, his vintage car stopped working so he and his people had to push it," Bratt said. "Of course that's the photo that showed up in the paper. So, the opportunity for screwing up has been removed."

Last year, Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer flipped pancakes the same weekend former Green Party leader Elizabeth May made an appearance, both as a push for the 2019 federal election.

Trudeau turned up later too, making two stops: one at a Laurier Club event for donors and another community breakfast. He didn't visit the grounds themselves.

Story continues

In the same 10-day span, five like-minded Canadian premiers stood elbow-to-elbow flipping flapjacks, invited by Premier Jason Kenney to meet ahead of the Council of the Federation meeting.

Helen Pike/CBC

This year stands in contrast.

Without a parade to kick things off, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi didn't ride a horse this year and his first pancake flip was Friday, days before the scaled-down celebrations were set to wrap up.

He said typically he's got back-to-back events, hundreds throughout the week  this year his total will be under 10.

That kind of connection with constituents, Nenshi said, can't be replaced with zoom calls.

"We've got to figure out ways that we can continue to make sure that politicians are hearing the voices of the people because they're sure not hearing them on Twitter," Nenshi said.

Kenney marked Stampede with a video on his Facebook.

And while there may have been drive-thru pancake events with politicians attending, they weren't well advertised this year.

On Saturday, a number of constituents and politicians attended Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan's Stampede breakfast in partnership with MaKami College at Marlborough Mall.

Hallan said most of the events planned for his Stampede circuit had to be cancelled. He's still trying to be there for constituents virtually and over the phone, but in-person events are best.

Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

"Obviously all the Stampede events this year look a lot different than in the past, but we're so glad to see the spirit is still alive," Hallan said.

"It's so important to know what's happening, what are the issues on the ground."

Nenshi made a stop at the breakfast, along with Leela Aheer, Alberta's minister of culture, multiculturalism and status of women.

"It's one of those amazing times where you get to meet folks from absolutely every walk of life and everybody's out enjoying each other together," Aheer said.

"You don't realize how lucky you are, how important that is until you just can't do that anymore."

Helen Pike/CBC

A spokesperson from Alberta's NDP wrote Stampede has always been a time for MLAs to connect with Calgarians.

"Like many events and festivals, COVID-19 has forced the Stampede to shut down and we know that will be hard on Albertans, particularly business owners, and the arts and culture sector," the spokesperson wrote. "That's why one of the things Alberta's NDP Caucus will be doing is a virtual arts showcase to support local artists and performers."

CBC News tried to reach the Conservative Party of Canada and did receive a response.

In a statement to CBC News, the Liberal Party of Canada wrote while Stampede is cancelled, they are still working to make a better future for Calgary families.

"Stampede is a chance to celebrate our province's history and cultural traditions," said Morgan Breitkreutz, the director for operation in Alberta, Saskatchewan and North. "Even though we won't be together in person this year for pancake breakfasts or the parade, we'll still be celebrating what Stampede is all about."
Western Australia accounts for nearly all production of Australias most valuable export - iron ore - which the government expects to be worth more than $100 billion this financial year. Since July 2010, miners have submitted more than 460 applications to disturb or destroy sites of potential cultural significance in the region, according to state parliament records, including Rios Pilbara request. All but one of those applications were approved. Now there are signs of change - the sole request to be declined occurred last month. The decision came after the Rio blasts at Juukan Gorge, which destroyed a site that showed 46,000 years of human occupation and focused attention on the heritage laws. The site at Juukan Gorge before it was legally destroyed by Rio Tinto. Credit:

Rio acknowledged that it had blasted two caves as part of its expansion of the Brockman 4 iron ore mine and apologized for the distress it caused the traditional landowners, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people. In addition to the detonated caves, Rio was cleared in 2013 by the state government to destroy four additional rock shelters at Juukan, according to government records, as part of its application to disturb the ancient gorge. Artefacts had previously been found at or near the sites, records show, and permission was granted before more extensive archaeological work could be conducted, with no ability to review that decision later. Loading Mapping data that Rio filed with the states Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage and viewed by Reuters indicate two of the caves were within metres of the ones blasted in May. The other two are about 170 metres away.

Reuters could not independently verify whether the four additional sites have been damaged. Rio declined to comment on the four additional sites and referred to its May 31 statement saying it was reviewing all work in the area since the May 24 blast. Power imbalance The Rio case highlights the power imbalance in the worlds biggest iron ore precinct between miners and indigenous Australians who have no legal veto over development projects on their ancestral land, said indigenous academic Marcia Langton. Unlike their title suggests, traditional owners dont own the land and are only sometimes considered stakeholders in its management. Marcia Lynne Langton holds the foundation chair in Australian indigenous studies at the University of Melbourne in the Faculty of Medicine. Credit:Arsineh Houspian

The missing ingredient in all of these arrangements is the right of the traditional owners to consent or refuse requests to destroy their sites, she said. Under state rules, miners can destroy heritage sites like the ones at Juukan Gorge - where archaeologists had previously salvaged part of a 4,000-year-old belt made of plaited hair that provided a direct genetic link to the present day PKKP - for mine development by applying for an exemption to its Aboriginal Heritage Act. As part of the state exemption process, a review is made by a departmental committee, which considers the economic value of the project rather than acting solely on behalf of traditional owners who have no right of appeal in the process. Loading The inclusion of indigenous voices in the heritage legislation is potentially an improvement, if it includes relevant local groups, said land rights barrister Greg McIntyre, who said he has was yet to see the details.

But the new legislation wont affect existing agreements with miners where there is a clause that prohibits traditional owners from filing any formal objections with state or federal authorities. After the event, there is no remedy for Aboriginal people if the site is damaged, said McIntyre, who led a historic case in the 1980s and 90s that recognised land rights of traditional owners had existed since before British settlement. The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia said it supported a review of current legislation. Rio declined to comment on clauses in its contracts. Credit:Louie Douvis CME and its members remain committed to working with Government towards reforms to the Aboriginal Heritage Act that will provide positive, mutually-beneficial outcomes for both industry and Indigenous Australians, it said in a statement.

Rio declined to comment on clauses in its contracts but referred Reuters to an earlier statement. As a company with strong ties and a long history of partnership with Indigenous Australians we are committed to updating our practices and working together so that we can co-exist for mutual benefit. Demolition of sites The decision to go ahead with the blast has confounded industry watchers given Rio had developed a strong reputation in the industry for its work with indigenous communities. High standards that Rio had set in the past have been eroded by departures of senior archaeologists as social responsibility reporting has become a largely tick-the-box exercise that can be done from an office, said Glynn Cochrane, an anthropologist and former senior advisor for Rio Tinto for nearly two decades.

Theyve lost their base. Theyre not dealing with communities anymore. Theyre not interested in these folks at village level, said Cochrane, who left Rio Tinto in 2015. Rio said its iron ore team had around 100 people doing communities work in the Pilbara, many of whom have been with Rio Tinto for years. We employ anthropologists, cultural heritage experts, archaeologists and many Indigenous people, many of whom are based at our assets and embedded in our operations, it said in a statement to Reuters. To be sure, many miners have spent years developing relationships with traditional owner groups. And, besides royalty and tax benefits for governments, mining also drives employment. Loading
For proper disposal of sanitary napkins, funds of 34 lakh have been sent to 140 senior secondary schools across the state to get incinerator machines installed in girls toilets.

Ludhiana district has received 5.7 lakh from the state and the amount, 24, 871 each, will be transferred to 23 senior secondary schools by Monday for the installation of the incinerators.

The step was taken by the director general of the school education (DGSE) office to promote better hygiene practices in government schools. A letter in this regard was issued by the school education secretary, Krishan Kumar, to the districts and funds were transferred to districts, which will be e-transferred to the schools to purchase the machines.

There are 342 government senior and high schools in the district out of which 100 senior secondary schools of Ludhiana already have the incinerator machines, either donated by NGOs or businessmen in the last two years.

SCHOOLS WITH MOST GIRL POPULATION SELECTED

According to the DGSE office, the authorities selected those schools which are either girls schools or the ones who have more strength of girl students. The school principals have been instructed to spend the funds by maintaining a record and take two years annual maintenance contract to get the machines serviced.

The incinerator burns sanitary napkins into ashes and this way basic sanitation facilities can be provided to female students.

Manju Bhardwaj, a smart school coordinator, said, I will send the names of schools without incinerators to the head office for approval. The funds will be sent to these schools once we receive consent from the higher authorities.

The school principals have stated that this way the toilets can be kept clean because sanitary napkins are normally thrown in washrooms by students which is unhygienic. Female teachers and girls will be trained to use the machine.

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After a four-month operation, South Korea's mask ration system ended Sunday as the supply of face masks designed to help fight the new coronavirus has stabilized.







As prices of protective masks skyrocketed amid the COVID-19 outbreak here, the country introduced the mask rationing scheme in early March in a bid to smooth out high demand.







Under the scheme, citizens were allowed to buy a limited number of protective masks every week at pharmacies for 1,500 won (US$1.24). The weekly limit started with two masks and was raised to 10 masks.







With the termination of the scheme, citizens will be able to buy an unlimited number of masks at market prices.







Demand for masks sharply stabilized recently as the country has successfully flattened the virus curve, while the mask supply has continued to rise, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.







Weekly outputs of protective masks have reached more than 100 million since the first week of June, according to the agency.







Last month, the government decided to extend the mask rationing scheme, supposed to end on June 30, to July 11 in an effort to help people easily buy masks.







In case of an emergency, the government will maintain mask stockpiles large enough to meet a sudden rise in demand.







Meanwhile, the country has decided to keep restrictions on exports of masks for their stable local supply, but it will raise the permissible volume of outbound shipments.







Previously, mask producers were allowed to export up to 30 percent of their total output. But the government decided to adopt the monthly exports quota system, under which the total amount of permissible monthly exports should not surpass 50 percent of total production.







But the country will continue to ban overseas shipments of surgical masks and thinner anti-saliva masks to meet local demand for such products in the summer. (Yonhap)


Johnny Depp is embroiled in a legal fight to clear his name, and his dirty laundry with ex-wife Amber Heard is airing out.

Previously unknown details about his marriage to Heard are coming out, and some of them are making fans gasp. Revealing testimony paints a vivid picture about the former couple, but one unpleasant episode gave the internet something to talk about.

Johnny Depp at Royal Courts of Justice, London | Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images

Johnny Depp is tied up in libel case

For the past week, Depp and his legal team have been in London for his libel lawsuit against the News Group Newspapers-owned Sun.

The U.K. tabloid referred to Depp as a wife beater in a 2018 headline and accused him of abusing Heard during their marriage. Depp and Heard started dating in late 2012, married in 2015, and filed for divorce in 2016.

The Sun is defending itself against the actors suit by claiming the allegations of Depps abuse are true, citing more than one dozen accusations leveled against him by Heard. Heard asserted Depp physically assaulted her, was verbally abusive, and hurled objects, insults, and threats at her.

He denies all claims of domestic abuse and is countering the Suns claims by stating that Heard was the aggressor in their relationship, and that she is lying.

In a separate case, Depp filed a defamation suit against Heard in 2019 after she wrote an op-ed implicating him as an abuser. That one is set to be heard in a U.S. court in August.

RELATED: Is Disney Making a Huge Mistake If Johnny Depp Isnt in Pirates of the Caribbean 6?

Depp accused Amber Heard of leaving feces in bed

The trial is supposed to last for three weeks, but Depps first week of testimony wrapped on July 10. He spoke about what put the nail in the coffin for their marriage.

After at least a year of turmoil, the last offense that Heard committed was putting feces in their martial bed. A cleaning crew found the mess the day after Heard held her 30th birthday party in their Los Angeles home.

Depp stated either Heard or one of her friends did it, and when he called her out about it (via phone), she denied it and blamed it on the couples dogs.

According to The Associated Press, Depp said, It was not left by a three- or four-pound dog. I was convinced that it was either Ms. Heard herself or one of her cohorts involved in leaving human feces on the bed.

When he learned about the incident, he laughed it off at first and texted a friend about it. In the text message, he jokingly referred to Heard as Amber Turd.

But Depp realized the relationship was over after that moment. The AP noted he told the court, I thought that was an oddly fitting end to the relationship.

Depp fans seized on Amber Turd comment

Fans who are keeping up with Depps case are learning about mutual accusations between the couple, but the turd reference riled people up. The jokes and judgements are all over Twitter.

One person wrote, Johnny Depp calling his wife Amber Turd after she defecated in his bed is one for all the old romantics out there. Another added Johnny Depp calling Amber Heard Amber Turd for sh*tting in his bed is the content twitter was missing today.

Others couldnt stop laughing over the fact Daily Mail called Depps revelation Breaking News. Some are defending Depp and taking his side against Heard.

Johnny Depp, after being falsely accused of dv, said that Amber was begging for total global humiliation and that she will get it. Now Amber Turd is trending in the UK, I think she is getting it right now. Thats what happen to people that lied about domestic violence.

Back in February, Justice For Johnny Depp was trending as a Twitter hashtag after alleged audio leaked where Heard admitted she physically abused Depp.

A woman presumed to be Heard could be heard saying no one would believe him if he spoke out. A number of Depps fans are rooting for him in the case against the Sun and the one against Heard.

RELATED: Why Justice for Johnny Depp is Trending Right Now and People Want Amber Heard To Pay
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

One person died and one person was injured Sunday morning from a two-alarm residential fire at 3740 Sacramento St., the San Francisco Fire Department said.

The fire at the three-story home in the Presidio Terrace neighborhood was reported about 11:20 p.m. and was under control around noon.

The injured person was in stable condition, the San Francisco Fire Department said.

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.
Jehovahs Witnesses, their associates, friends and well-wishers in Ghana on Saturday began an annual three-day regional convention, going virtual this year, in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic.



Portions of the three-day convention themed Always Rejoice! are being released incrementally in six segments, starting July 6, 2020, on jw.org.



The theme is based on the Bible Book of Philippians 4:4, which reads: Always R ejoice In The Lord. Again I will say, Rejoice!



After showing videos of Witnesses enduring arrests, imprisonments, torture and other forms of persecution for their neutrality in world affairs and Kingdom preaching work, conventioneers applauded and thrilled to films of the disabled taking part joyously in the Kingdom evangelization work.



Witnesses and their associates, tied in via zoom from various locations, joined in singing beautifully, expressing their reasons for joy from the hymnal Sing Joyfully to Jehovah.



With warm greetings from the world headquarters, Mr Kenneth Cook and Stephen Lett, both members of the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses took turns in welcoming delegates to the assembly, meant to equip them to find joy even when life is hard.



As a result of the Covid-19 the hitherto large assemblies have been cancelled, and the two Governing Body members commiserated with conventioneers on their various losses, including dear ones, assuring them of the prayers of the hierarchy of the religious organization.



Featuring talks, video and drama, and dramatized Bible readings, the programme is encouraging delegates on the application of Bible principles in learning what true joy is, ways to promote it in the family; the role of husbands, wife and children and the Christian brotherhood and in the evangelization ministry.



Well learn what true joy is, how to cultivate it, how to maintain it. so that we can serve as beacons of light, Mr Lett said.



He added: May this convention become a milestone in your development as a joyful imitator of our happy God.

In a telephone interview, Mr Nathaniel Gbedemah, Communications Officer and Spokesman of the Public Information Desk at the Ghana National Headquarters of Jehovahs Witnesses, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the decision to hold the conventions online was made in the interest of public health and safety.



He said: The decision to hold our conventions online was not made lightly. Millions of people benefit from these public gatherings, which are always free of charge, around the world each year.



But in the interest of public health and safety, it was clear that cancelling our gatherings was the right course, even in places where they would have been permitted.



Our Creator values life highly, and we believe this arrangement honours that high standard.



With reference to a letter from the Governing Body to the media, Mr Gbedemah, said for the first time, since 1879, no large venues for gatherings of Jehovahs Witnesses have been scheduled.



He quoted from the letter that: For the first time in our history, the grand-scale, multi-day conventions that Jehovahs Witnesses have hosted each year at numerous large venues across the globe will not be held. This year, conventions will be virtual in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic.



Portions of the three-day Always Rejoice! programme will be released incrementally in six segments, starting July 6, 2020, on jw.org. The convention will be available in whole in over 360 languages and in part in nearly 120.



According to the letter, each member of the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses will present two discourses during the convention. The program will be presented in a variety of formats, including brief discourses, interviews, short videos, and a full-length video Bible drama.



The letter observed that city executives, many of whom have welcomed Jehovahs Witnesses conventions for years, are aware that not having the Witnesses convention this year will impact the hospitality industry.



According to Mr Gbedemah, last year, 144,570 Jehovahs Witnesses convened in Ghana for the convention, injecting millions of Ghana Cedis to the countrys economy. Smaller conventions reportedly still generated millions in revenue.



Despite facing economic losses, venue executives have expressed their respect and appreciation for Jehovahs Witnesses cancelling their in-person events.



Each year, many who are not Jehovahs Witnesses attend the annual conventions.



There are over 8.6 million active Witnesses worldwide, yet the 2019 conventions had a peak attendance of over 14 million. With the program available online, in hundreds of languages, this may be the most attended convention of Jehovahs Witnesses to date.

Source: GNA









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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will file the second chargesheet in the Yes Bank case on Monday. The ED is investigating suspicious loans granted by Yes Bank and alleged quid pro quo. The chargesheet will be filed against around 13 accused persons and entities.

The agency had arrested the promoters of DHFL Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan in the Yes Bank case on May 14. Apart from the Wadhawans, the entities used by Rana Kapoor and his family members for offering and borrowing loans would be named in the chargesheet as accused, say sources.

The ED had also attached properties worth Rs 2,500 crore of the Wadhawans and Rana Kapoor in connection with the case. According to sources, properties worth Rs 1,100 crore belonging to Rana Kapoor and family are located across Mumbai, Delhi, London and New York. Properties of Kapil and Dhiraj Wadhawan in Mumbai, Australia, London and Pune worth around Rs 1400 crore were attached by ED.

The Wadhawans were arrested by CBI in the Yes Bank case on April 26 from Mahabaleshwar. They were found violating lockdown norms and were hence booked. The CBI took them into custody on April 26.

ED filed the first chargesheet in the Yes Bank case in May and revealed the alleged quid pro quo and kickbacks received by Rana Kapoor in exchange for suspicious loans extended to DHFL. The agency named Rana Kapoor, wife Bindu Kapoor, daughters Roshni, Radha and Rakhee along with three of their entities as accused in the case.

ED had provisionally attached 168 bank accounts of Rana Kapoor and his family members and their network companies. The accounts had Rs 52 crore. The agency had also attached 59 paintings worth Rs 4 crore including a MF Hussain portrait of Rajiv Gandhi and a mutual fund worth Rs 3 crore. The Rajiv Gandhi portrait bought by Kapoor from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for Rs 2 crore has been shown as proceeds of crime by ED in the chargesheet.

Also read: Yes Bank case: ED attaches Rana Kapoor, Wadhawans' properties worth Rs 2,500 crore
After Britain's announcement of unilateral restrictions that it has imposed against the Hermit Kingdom for the first time ever, North Korea retaliated and warned the British government that there is a price to pay for doing so.

Under the new global regulations on human rights, the British government stated that two North Korean organizations that received the sanctions are both involved in torture, forced labor, and murder inside prison camps in the country.

According to Dominic Raab, Britain's Foreign Secretary, the sanctions that we announced were directed to 49 organizations and individuals who were accused of abuses against human rights on the 6th of July. He also added that the latest sanctions regime will be focused on people who are responsible for the worst violations against human rights globally, Daily Mail reported.

The two North Korean organizations that were named by the British government for the said violations against human rights were the Ministry of People's Security Correctional Bureau and the Ministry of State Bureau 7.

Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, North Korean state media KCNA reported that a spokesperson from the North's foreign ministry called the move by Britain as a political plot to jump into the US's ill-disposed policy bandwagon against the rogue nation. He further added that the state rejects the move of the UK to impose such sanctions on the organizations which are responsible for the security in their country. He also emphasized that the actions of the UK are strongly condemned and are considered as violent interference on the nation's domestic affairs.

The imposed sanctions will enable British ministers to impose travel bans and even freeze assets of several officials of the state and also some non-state actors.

Aside from North Korea, the other organizations and individuals that were sanctioned included those coming from Russia, Myanmar, and Saudi Arabia.

Read also: Australia Suspends Extradition Treaty With Hong Kong in Fears of China's Retaliation

North Korea's relationship with the US

Meanwhile, the United States has also failed to find a compromise with the Hermit Kingdom regarding the nuclear weapons program of North Korea and the international sanctions that were imposed on Pyongyang.

Based on recent reports, North Korean leader Kom Jong-un's sister Kim Yo Jong released a statement which reiterated and stressed the objections of the regime to what she referred to as self-serving policies of the US.

Moreover, Kim Yo Jong added that any talks between the two nations at this point will only be beneficial for the US. However, she noted that Pyongyang has no intention of threatening Washington. She also said that she believes that any summit between US President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un may not happen this year.

On the other hand, Mike Pompeo, US's Secretary of State stated that he is very hopeful that the talks between the US and the North will soon resume. He also left the possibility of another summit involving Trump and Kim Jong-un happening soon open.

Related article: Neo-Nazis and Far-Right Groups are Urging Followers to Deliberately Infect Jews and Muslims with COVID-19

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This week US President Donald Trump made good on his threat to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organisation (WHO) by sending a formal letter of withdrawal to the UN Secretary-General. In so doing, the president has initiated the Congressionally-mandated 12-month countdown to withdrawal that will take effect in July 2021.

That is, unless it is over-turned, as presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has immediately pledged to do if elected. But if the United States exit goes ahead, it will be a hit to global health cooperation and place lives at risk in the US ...
A group of around 50 people gathered in front of the County Courthouse on Sunday morning said they were protesting the mandatory mask mandate that went into effect on Friday. Some of them bore signs such as Its not about a virus, its about control.

Organizer Kristina Charles, a prominent speaker at the event, said, I organized it because I kept seeing the onslaught of unconstitutional overreach, because its criminal to tell people what they can or cant do and put on their own body. It says in our Tennessee Constitution that they cant be doing this. I will not tell my kids when they grow up, that I did nothing for their freedom.

She and many of the other protesters said there are alternative and non-mainstream sources or studies to support their viewpoint.

I believe they need to do their own research, and theyre only following what the media is telling them to do instead of actually going in and digging and researching on your own what the masks protect you from and the side-effects of wearing a mask, said Ms. Charles.

One vocal protester handed out statistics about the virus, which showed what were purported to be numbers involving the virus.

She said that she believed people should have a choice over whether or not they want to wear a mask. She personally said she did not want herself or her children to wear one, and would not be frequenting any businesses that requires a mask to enter.

Eugenio Jorge, a Cuban immigrant who has lived in America for decades, said he believed this mandate would contribute to a gradual erosion of liberties, and compared it to what Fidel Castro did in Cuba in the 50s.

What I see is the same thing Castro did in Cuba, said Mr. Jorge. The first thing he did was take away the weapons, and the second thing he did was using the media to brainwash the population. Thats what theyve done here. Most people are ill-informed through these channels that are lying and lying about the best president we have ever had since Lincoln.

Ms. Charles said this protest is just the first of what will be many.

We are wanting to put together weekly demonstrations, here or in Knoxville or anywhere in Tennessee.
Since the start of July, nearly 2.5 million new infections have been reported

Hundreds of thousands of Catalonia residents were ordered back into lockdown on Sunday as coronavirus cases spiked in the Spanish region and new figures showed infections accelerating in many other parts of the world.

Since the start of July, nearly 2.5 million new infections have been reported, a record level since the first outbreak of the disease in China last year, according to an AFP tally.

In just a month-and-a-half the number of cases worldwide has doubled, according to the count based on official figures.

The government of Catalonia region told residents in and around the northeastern town of Lerida to go back into home confinement.

"The people must stay at home," regional health official Alba Verges said.

The area, with a population of more than 200,000, had already been ordered isolated from the rest of the region last weekend.

It marks the first time that Spaniards have been kept in their homes since the hard-hit country exited confinement on June 21.

'Never been against masks'

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, wore a face mask in public for the first time, apparently dropping his resistance to the protective item.

He opted for a dark mask bearing the presidential seal during a visit Saturday to wounded veterans in a hospital outside Washington .

US President Donald Trump says he believes masks 'have a time and a place'

"I've never been against masks but I do believe they have a time and a place," he told reporters.

Surveys show most Americans are unhappy with how Trump, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of the November election, has handled the public health crisis.

The US posted yet another daily record of confirmed cases Saturday with more than 66,500 new infections, while the death toll rose by almost 800 to nearly 135,000.

Mickey masks

In hard-hit Florida the Walt Disney World theme park partially reopened after four months of shutdown, with some visitors combining Mickey ears with their mandatory face masks.

Across the planet, the pandemic has infected nearly 13 million people, killed over 565,000 and triggered massive economic damage in the seven months since it was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

In hard-hit Florida the Walt Disney World theme park partially reopened after four months of shutdown, with some visitors combining Mickey ears with their mandatory face masks

The latest-high profile personality to test positive for COVID-19 is Bollywood superstar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai.

India, a country of 1.3 billion people, is the third-worst infected in the world after the United States and Brazil where President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive last week.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday called on countries to adopt an aggressive approach to tackling the virus, citing successful efforts in Italy, South Korea and elsewhere.

'Everything's dead'

Despite Sunday's lockdown move in Spain, life in parts of Europe has been returning to some semblance of normality, although the continent remains the worst affected with more than 202,000 deaths from 2.8 million cases.

Elections were held in Spain and Poland Sunday after being postponed because of the virus, with strict hygiene measures in place.

Aishwarya Rai caught the virus

But the tourism industry across Europe has been battered, with many businesses forced to shut because of the impact of punishing lockdowns.

"Everything's dead," said Jesus Maldonado, owner of the Santos Bar just across from the Mesquite, the mosque-cathedral in the Spanish city of Cordoba.

In neighbouring France, where reopened bars and restaurants are bustling in the summer heat, officials have warned of rising cases as the death toll topped 30,000.

'Truly tragic'

The French government said it plans to introduce systematic testing at airports for visitors from so-called category "red" countries where COVID-19 is still prevalent.

In Paris, demonstrating nightclub workers demanded a re-opening of their venues, arguing that strictly-controlled club visits would be safer than unregulated beach parties.

Strict hygiene measures were in place for regional elections in Spain

In Paris, demonstrating nightclub workers demanded a re-opening of their venues, arguing that strictly-controlled club visits would be safer than unregulated beach parties

Across the border in Germany, Berlin offered financial help for the city's famous nightclubs which have remained shut for four months.

In Iran, the supreme leader said the situation was "truly tragic" and urged all citizens to help stem what has been the Middle East's deadliest outbreak.

"Let everyone play their part in the best way to break the chain of transmission in the short term and save the country," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.

Explore further Virus death toll hits 500,000, LA shuts bars again as US struggles

 2020 AFP
The pandemic is far from over; 300 positive cases in a day at Kandakadu drug rehab centre; reminder of the need to follow health guidelines at political rallies

Major parties say manifestoes are coming soon, but opposition hit by lack of campaign funds

Elections chief assures polling booths are safe for voters, seeks gazette notification on health regulations There is a strange paradox to the August 5 parliamentary elections over the unseen but deadly virus that is dictating all events.

It continues to batter the economy and causes vast unemployment. Adding to it are more returnees from jobs abroad. The date for the polls, the most important event for Sri Lankans this year, has been pushed back at least twice.

Amidst this, crowds at meetings are mingling shoulder to shoulder as VIP candidates turn up. This has become all too common. The near normalcy set in motion after months of lockdown seems to have spawned a high degree of complacency. Though Covid-19 is still prevalent not only in Sri Lanka but to an extremely high degree in most other countries, most Sri Lankans behave with the apparent belief that the pandemic is now over. The fear in them has gone but the scourge remains. Adding to this irony is that now most people are not wearing face masks.

Alarm bells rang on Thursday when it transpired that just more than 200 people were confirmed as new cases of Covid-19  all in a day, since the pandemic hit Sri Lanka. Even the Government Department of Information appeared hesitant to break the bad news of such a high toll. Hence, it took the safeguard of saying, at the time the news release was being issued, 56 confirmed cases were detected that night. By Friday morning, it said, there were 196 cases. Later on, Friday, the figure rose to just over 300 confirmed cases. Almost all of them were from the Kandakadu drug rehabilitation centre. Yet, the health machinery, geared since the outbreak, is coping with the new spike. Consequently, the return of Sri Lankans from overseas has been delayed due to accommodation facilities at quarantine centres.

Thursdays spike is only a reminder that the deadly disease is far from over. It comes as a grim reminder that it takes only one infected person to spread the virus and force hundreds into quarantine. A female employee from Kandakadu centre travelled in three different buses to reach Marawila. She was found to be positive. Tracing passengers in the buses has become an arduous task. In Ambalantota 15 persons from three families have been placed on self-quarantine in their homes. In Pelmadulla, ten families have also been placed on self-isolation in their homes. Thus, political meetings where social distancing is not practised, and face masks are not worn pose a dangerous public hazard. That it is happening despite a high-pitched public campaign to urge people to follow health guidelines is ironic. Making it worse, it comes when lukewarm poll campaigns are showing a marked increase with some degree of political activity.

Manifestoes next week

Next week, the main contenders for the elections will declare their manifestos. Speaking for the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB), now the veritable main contender, its Campaign Manager and former Minister Harin Fernando said the partys manifesto would be released tomorrow (Monday). According to Ravi Karunanayake, Assistant Leader of the United National Party (UNP), the partys manifesto would be made public tomorrow.

It will focus mainly on strengthening the economy, particularly the home economy, said Sagala Ratnayake, a former Minister and a party front-liner.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led ruling alliances manifesto would be the programme of work spelt out at the November presidential election by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, now President. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna which goes as National Peoples Power will also release a manifesto, its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.

Significant enough, parties which are the main contenders, appear to have no major national issues to raise. The only key issue which has assumed some controversy was raised by UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. That was a query to the government  tell us whether you will sign the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact. Wickremesinghes Yahapalalana government went to great lengths to make the deal with United States a reality. In fact, a staffer from the MCC in the United States, a government body, spent considerable time working from Temple Trees towards achieving this goal.

The MCC compact is twofold. It seeks to assist the Sri Lanka government to improve inadequate transport logistics infrastructure and planning. The other is a land project for agriculture, the services sector, and industrial investors. In its final report, an experts committee headed by Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan noted that the previous government chose to sign the compact without conducting a thorough assessment of such conditions, mechanisms and their impact.

If the Government of Sri Lanka wants to sign the agreement, the experts committee noted, that all clauses in the MCC Compact and all associated agreements and project proposals that harm the countrys sovereignty. its economic, political and social future as well as its independence must first be removed and the agreements and project proposals amended accordingly. The US Embassy, however, has declared that the compact was a transparent arrangement which is beneficial to Sri Lanka. The Cabinet of Ministers has been given two more weeks to study the report before a decision is made. There is still a likelihood of it coming before the parliamentary polls. The government mood appears to be one of not rejecting the compact in toto, but for a call to re-negotiate.

Addressing the UNP Maharagama Balamandalaya (a body that carries out political work for the party in an electorate), from the residence of a candidate, Wickremesinghe said, The Government should not be afraid to letting the people know its plans for the MCC Compact within the next two weeks. That can bring about a public dialogue. If people want money in their hands, he declared, they should vote for the UNP. Despite a few other UNP candidates speaking in favour of the MCC compact, the issue has not gained any traction in their political campaign. The reason is simply because the issue is so complex, and the people are still unaware of the intricacies or the nuances involved. Also, for the UNP, any deal with a foreign country or entity, is viewed with greater public suspicion.

Other than that, Wickremesinghe re-iterated at several small meetings so far that there is a huge economic crisis in the country. He told the Maharagama meeting that the crisis occurred in January and was not the result of Covid-19. The SLPP-led alliance changed the taxation system in November 2019, just after the presidential election. Revenue fell and the first indicator was the stoppage of allowances that the Yahapalana Government promised to pay from January, this year.

We are here to offer you money. We are going to create a huge plan, he added pointing out that a week after we are elected, we will discuss how to find the money. We will go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and friendly countries, he said.

Yet, according to ex-minister Sagala Ratnayake, the party is already facing a crisis over election funding. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the businessmen are unable to make large donations, he told the Sunday Times.

For Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa, it was a string of political promises during meetings. He has promised a Fiscal Stimulus Package if an SJB government is formed. Whilst strengthening manufacturing industries, he also offered Rs 20,000 each for poverty-stricken families. SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara said the partys pledges would be contained in the manifesto. During a visit to the north last week, Premadasa said he would set up a Development Task Force under his charge to develop that area. As its limited campaign is underway, in-fighting over campaign issues has reached a new high.

It is known that the SJB in particular is also badly in need of money for expenses related to its campaign. Several leading businessmen who funded the SJB during the presidential election campaign have cited financial difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and expressed their inability to help. The SJB leadership approached a onetime prominent member and urged him to use his good offices the way he did for the UNP. There is no way I can do anything when donors are now asking the government for loans, he had replied.

To a lesser degree, though, the UNP is also facing a similar situation. Whilst some of the better-off candidates are coping with their campaigns, others have sought to resort to pocket meetings. This is one of the contributory factors to the party leaning on the social media for most of its campaign. This has been successful because we were able to reach the people who are reluctant to attend public gatherings, said Sagala Ratnayake, who is involved in the UNP campaign. We have also planned 60 main political meetings to be addressed by our leader, he said.

A response of sorts to Wickremesinghes assertions as well as Premadasas came from Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa when he addressed a meeting in Pannala. He said the state of affairs in the UNP, the countrys oldest party, was pathetic. Sajith Premadasa broke the party in such a way that it would never be able to recover the colossal political losses it suffered.

Premier Rajapaksa declared, They are not contesting to grab power and form a government. Their fight is to establish power at Sirikotha, (the UNP headquarters in Pitakotte). Wickremesinghe wants to keep power for himself and Premadasa is fighting for it. This is their polls contest. After the elections, many members of their party will come to us, he said. During the previous government, he pointed out, the President and the Prime Minister disagreed on many issues. One was unaware of what the other was doing. That caused great harm to the country. They did not think of development. Already, one of their former ministers, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, has made revelations in this regard. They only had anger and jealousy to claim he was the owner if they saw a coconut plantation. If there was a new building under construction, they claimed it was President Gotabaya Rajapaksas.

Unlike during the presidential election, this time so far, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa have been campaigning separately. The former was in the Polonnaruwa district when Premier Rajapaksa was first in Hambantota and later in Kurunegala districts. Noticeably, President Rajapaksa did not make any speeches during his tours. He mingled with the crowd helping them take selfies and talked to candidates before leaving.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) dominates the campaign in the Northern Province which encompasses Jaffna and Vanni electoral districts. The two districts will return 13 members. The number of parties and independent groups contesting is unusually high  35 political parties and independent groups from the Jaffna electoral district. In the Vanni district 46 parties and independent groups are contesting.

The Tamil National Peoples Front led by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and the Tamil Peoples National Front led by former Northern Province Chief C.V. Wigneswaran are describing themselves as an alternative to the TNA. As the campaign heats up, there are indications that they would eat into some of the TNA votes. The TNAs theme is development with (Tamil) rights. The UNP voters are split. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is fielding a separate team. Former state Minister Vijayakala Maheshwaran is leading UNPs campaign while social activist Velautham Ganeswaran is leading the SJB campaign.

Election Commission and its challenges

The biggest challenge for the Election Commission, its Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said was the conduct of parliamentary elections under the health guidelines. During a lengthy conversation with the Sunday Times, he explained how polls arrangements have been made, bearing in mind the pandemic. Our polling booths are safer than any other public place. No one has to worry that they will be affected, he said. Here is what the voter is required to do and some of the comments made by Chairman Deshapriya.

Every voter, turning up at a polling station, will be required to wear face masks and maintain a one metre distance from each other in the queue. They will be put through a sanitisation process thrice  (1) at time of entry to the polling station. (2) When he or she stands before an election official with a poll card or official identification before the ballot paper is issued, and (3) when he or she departs. Election officials will wear face masks and where considered vulnerable they will also wear a face shield. In view of the time it would take, the Election Commission has extended voting hours by one hour, to end at 5 p.m. instead of 4 p.m.

A health sector worker will be assigned to every polling station. Some may have even two. Yet others may oversee two booths. It will most probably be a Family Health officer or a trainee Public Health Inspector (PHI). Observations, if any, will be made by PHIs and MoHs (Medical Officer of Health).

The ballot paper for the Colombo district, for the first time, will be in two columns. In the Colombo district, there are 24 political parties and 24 independent groups. In Ampara, the total number is 54, again with the names in two columns. In Batticaloa and Vanni the ballot papers will also be two columns each.

There is a serious anomaly in this situation. An independent candidate wishing to contest parliamentary elections is required to pay a deposit of only Rs 2,000. This is in terms of the Elections Act of 1981. This requires immediate change. When the law came into effect, an SLAS (Sri Lanka Administrative Service) officer was paid a salary of around Rs 950. Since then, the basic salary of a cadet SLAS officer has increased to Rs 47,750. However, the disparity is clear. There is no proportionate increase now. Even for political parties, it should be around Rs 50,000 for every candidate.

COMPLAINTS

Most complaints relate to the media. Earlier, it was only the Lake House, ITN, SLRC and SLBC which were under government purview. We have to be careful to ensure that national print media reports accurately and in a balanced way. People tend to believe what they read, hear, and listen. These publications are also read out every morning on television. Television and radio frequencies belong to the people. Some tend to read only headlines and gossip and not proper political columns.

The social media does not belong to the public. But the frequencies (of TVs and radios) belong to the public. (Note: They also cater to the public despite the assertion and are playing an extended role in the election campaign. This appears to be the reason why the Election Commission has left out the social media when issuing guidelines to the others). The environment, air and the jungles that belong to us. So, we have to control them. In the 1960s, in order to win the elections, some persons used poles, iron rods, bottles filled with sand etc. In our period it was burning houses, taking revenge, transferring opponents, use of T56 assault rifles. Now there is nothing of that nature. It is violence in the form of printed letters and opinions aired. There was an allegation that the Mahaweli Authority was using an official vehicle and staff for propaganda purposes. There is one on a Samurdhi officer engaging in politics besides an official of the Road Development Authority.

So far, complaints have been fewer. This may be because election activities just started last week. Therefore, the next three weeks will be vulnerable. For the presidential election, we only had political parties. That too there were less than 10 serious candidates. But in this case, there are five parties which are contesting island wide. There are seven parties which have fielded over 200 candidates each island wide. For instance, in the Colombo district, there are 22 candidates on the list of each party or independent group. There is a competition among them. Therefore, we expect a heated environment in the next few weeks. The politicians and the general public can reduce this. The people must complain to us as soon as they see a violation.

They can use our WhatsApp (071 9160000) to complain. The Police operation room is also operative. The police are continually active, except for a very few like those in the notorious narcotic team. If they are useless and harmless it is not a problem. But if they are useless and harmful it is not good. If they are not going to implement the law, it is harmful to the others.

VOTER TURNOUT

There is a tendency that people will be reluctant to come to vote. We have noted that the elderly people, particularly Tamil speaking in the North, have less interest.

So, the Election Commission will tell the people that the vote is your right, the vote is your power, the vote is your voice and the vote is your future. If you do not vote, the people have their own people and they will elect them. From birth to death we must have a good government. For a good state we need a good government. The government can be elected by our vote. Come to the polling station and vote wisely.

We will try to bring the people. Usually we have a turnout of over 80 percent. If we are below 75 percent this time, it will be a failure for us. The Elections Commission must encourage the people to come and vote. We cannot advice people to come and cancel the vote. Some youth hold the view they would write none of the above candidates is fit. This system to reject all candidates is available in India.

COUNTING OF VOTES

Counting Centres will receive the ballot boxes after the voting ends at 5 p.m. on August 5. Usually the ballot boxes will come with seals and stickers. This time we will call two agents each from every political party or independent group to the issuing centre. We will issue passes and the counting will begin on August 6 morning. Agents present will observe the ballot box receiving process. After receiving the boxes, we will pack everything and tell them to place their seals.

They will close the doors and windows of the room and again they can place their stickers and seals. One officer will be placed outside the room. We will allow a maximum of ten persons from one political party or independent group for one counting station. They can stay on and observe. We will also deploy the police and STF. The parameters will be guarded by the STF while the police will remain inside. Police will also be deployed in civvies. Intelligence officers also will be placed.

On the August 6 morning we will instruct officers in charge to report at 6.30 a.m., normal officers at 7 a.m. and the agents at 7.30 a.m. The counting will start at 8 a.m. We hope we can complete by 4.00 p.m. The national results will be issued before midnight of August 6. The results of the preference vote will be issued before noon on August 7.

RESULTS

The Chief Counting officer will inform the District Secretary. For instance, in Homagama there will be 35 counting centres. All 35 need to be added to give the Homagama results. They will fax it to the Election Commission. They will be tabulated manually and by computer as well. To the results centre, it will be sent manually through fax and via internet. Both will be calculated separately. The results will be tallied to ensure they are accurate. Checked by senior officials and thereafter signed by one of the Commission members, it will be formally released.

Thereafter, the gazette notification of the elected members will be issued. A presidential proclamation giving the date and time when Parliament would meet for the first time will be gazetted. After these gazettes are issued with the names of the winners, the President can summon Parliament. He has not fixed the date. We hope it will be announced after August 5. We hope there will be no re-poll. The Director General of Health Services has changed the number of participants at political rallies. It will be 300 persons for a rally at every polling division. If the party leader is coming they can have 500.

CHANGES TO POLLS LAWS

We met the Attorney General on Thursday. We hope he will do the needful to issue the gazette on health guidelines.

The Elections Commission is of the view that there should be a permanent Select Committee in Parliament to amend certain laws such as on overseas voting, advance voting. This time we permitted the medical staff to vote early because they are fighting the COVID19. There are other groups such as harbour, health sector, security persons, media, and even drivers and staff of hotels, who cannot obtain leave and also natameys (those who carry or load goods to vehicles). For elderly persons, those in remand prisons, those in hospital can be given advance voting rights. The other is the introduction of the Electronic Voting system. We also need changes in the law regarding cut-outs and display of numbers. We have added another aspect to the code of conduct for politicians. We have told them not to endorse violence and crime.

The parliamentary elections have also given an opportunity for international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and their local counterparts to play a role. Western governments and organisations which are not too well disposed to the ruling SLPP alliance have funded these groups for a plethora of tasks. Some will monitor polling to ensure there is no rigging, others will ensure there is no misinformation and yet others will monitor the enforcement of laws without bias. They have won even before the voters elect their MPs. There is a profitable role for them whilst all candidates have to spend for their campaigns.
Along the Delaware River in South Jersey, where heavy industry has long contributed to polluted water, air and ground, scientists have raised the alarm over a new contamination.

A scarcely studied group of chemicals can now be found in soil across Gloucester and Salem counties, according to new research by scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Lankas BeWaxed goes to Male View(s):

Sri Lankas homegrown waxing salon chain BeWaxed, recently made its foray into the international market with the launch of its first overseas franchised branch in the Maldives. The ladies only salon is located in Male and will offer a range of waxing and skin care services that are available on the website www.bewaxed.lk

Founder and Managing Directress Durga Kenny noted, Completing seven years in Sri Lanka seemed like the ideal time to take a homegrown brand international. We did a lot of research and considering that Maldives is about sun, sand and sea, waxing is an essential service that we hope to provide to both locals and the multitudes of tourists from around the world who visit the islands. We also felt Maldives would be a great stepping stone to other countries in Asia and beyond.

BeWaxed currently operates six salons in Sri Lanka at Nawala, Colombo 3 and Colombo 7, Kandy, Negombo and the latest BeWaxed Exclusive salon at the One Galle Face Mall. Plans are also underway to open the 7th branch in the network at Battaramulla.

Work is also underway for their second international branch in Bangalore, India.

BeWaxed is also the only waxing salon to provide VIP home waxing services for those who prefer to have their treatments done in the comfort of their homes. Durga and her team also recently developed and launched their own skin care range.
But other year levels  some 700,000 students  will return to remote learning for at least six weeks, following an extra week of school holidays this week. Mr Andrews said there was "simply no alternative but to go this footing" if the lockdown is to achieve its goal of suppressing transmission of the virus. "We can't have the best part of 700,000 students, as well as parents moving to and from school, roaming around the community as if there wasn't a stay at home order or as if there wasn't a lockdown," Mr Andrews said. "That'll put at direct risk us achieving our aim and that of course is to drive these numbers down at the end of the six-week period." Mr Andrews said he expected that Catholic and independent schools would follow the same remote learning regime.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it would have been irresponsible of him to send all students back to schools, given the state faces the biggest health crisis since the Spanish flu pandemic a century ago. He said the pandemic had not yet peaked in Victoria. We have to throw absolutely everything at it; its the biggest public health challenge of our lifetime, Professor Sutton said. It would have been irresponsible of me to have gone into a phase where we might even have increasing numbers day on day, to have kids going back to school. He said masks were useful in classrooms, but all students should stay home if they feel sick.

I would make it clear that students who are unwell shouldnt be in the classroom, Professor Sutton said. Professor Sutton said it was not recommended for teachers to wear masks while in the classroom. Teaching is pretty tough with a mask on, they require those facial expressions, they need to be heard clearly," he said. Early childhood education will remain open as normal. Schools outside of lockdown zones will also open as normal this week.

Any student with special needs who attends a mainstream school will be permitted to attend school, where they will learn remotely. All teachers and school staff will attend schools this week, and from July 20 the default setting will be that staff will attend school, flipping last term's arrangement where most teachers worked remotely. "The default will be staff at school but each school will have the flexibility to have a number of teachers and staff working remotely," Education Minister James Merlino said. The principal of a leading non-government school in Melbournes eastern suburbs said he feared some kind of revolt coming from teachers over the requirement to be in the classroom with year 11 and 12 students. The principal said social distancing cannot happen in a classroom environment and that, after the outbreak at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina, few teachers would accept the official line that schools are a low-risk environment.

Senior students at the college are believed to be a major contributor to the cluster, which reached 134 people on Saturday, making it the states largest cluster. There is a time bomb starting on Monday, the principal said. Weve got community transmission, were putting 20 to 25 adults together in a room all day. I dont know why they are not looking two or three weeks down the line. The union for Catholic and independent school teachers argued teacher numbers on site should be minimised rather than expecting most teachers to work at school. Independent Education Union general secretary Debra James said schools should set on-site staffing levels at a minimum required to teach year 11 and 12 students and run supervision programs for the children of essential workers.
(Natural News) Introduction:

(Article by Prof Michel Chossudovsky republished from GlobalResearch.ca)

There is an ongoing battle to suppress Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a cheap and effective drug for the treatment of Covid-19. The campaign against HCQ is carried out through slanderous political statements, media smears, not to mention an authoritative peer reviewed evaluation published on May 22nd by The Lancet, which was based on fake figures and test trials.

The study was allegedly based on data analysis of 96,032 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between Dec 20, 2019, and April 14, 2020 from 671 hospitals Worldwide. The database had been fabricated. The objective was to kill the Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) cure on behalf of Big Pharma.

While The Lancet article was retracted, the media casually blamed a tiny US based company named Surgisphere whose employees included a sci-fi writer and an adult content model for spreading flawed data (Guardian). This Chicago based outfit was accused of having misled both the WHO and national governments, inciting them to ban HCQ. None of those trial tests actually took place.

While the blame was placed on Surgisphere, the unspoken truth (which neither the scientific community nor the media have acknowledged) is that the study was coordinated by Harvard professor Mandeep Mehra under the auspices of Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) which is a partner of the Harvard Medical School.

When the scam was revealed, Dr. Mandeep Mehra who holds the Harvey Distinguished Chair of Medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital apologized:

I have always performed my research in accordance with the highest ethical and professional guidelines. However, we can never forget the responsibility we have as researchers to scrupulously ensure that we rely on data sources that adhere to our high standards. It is now clear to me that in my hope to contribute this research during a time of great need, I did not do enough to ensure that the data source was appropriate for this use. For that, and for all the disruptions  both directly and indirectly  I am truly sorry. (emphasis added) Mandeep R. Mehra, MD, MSC (official statement on BWH website)

But that truly sorry note was just the tip of the iceberg. Why?

Studies on Gilead Sciences Remdesivir and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) Were Conducted Simultaneously by Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH)

While The Lancet report (May 22, 2020) coordinated by Dr. Mandeep Mehra was intended to kill the legitimacy of HCQ as a cure of Covid-19, another important (related) study was being carried out (concurrently) at BWH pertaining to Remdesivir on behalf of Gilead Sciences Inc. Dr. Francisco Marty, a specialist in Infectious Disease and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School was entrusted with coordination of the clinical trial tests of the antiviral medication Remdesivir under Brighams contract with Gilead Sciences Inc:

Brigham and Womens Hospital began enrolling patients in two clinical trials for Gileads antiviral medication remdesivir. The Brigham is one of multiple clinical trial sites for a Gilead-initiated study of the drug in 600 participants with moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and a Gilead-initiated study of 400 participants with severe COVID-19.

 If the results are promising, this could lead to FDA approval, and if they arent, it gives us critical information in the fight against COVID-19 and allows us to move on to other therapies.

While Dr. Mandeep Mehra was not directly involved in the Gilead Remdesevir BWH study under the supervision of his colleague Dr. Francisco Marty, he nonetheless had contacts with Gilead Sciences Inc: He participated in a conference sponsored by Gilead in early April 2020 as part of the Covid-19 debate (France Soir, May 23, 2020)

What was the intent of his (failed) study? To undermine the legitimacy of Hydroxychloroquine?

According to France Soir, in a report published after The Lancet Retraction:

The often evasive answers produced by Dr Mandeep R. Mehra,  professor at Harvard Medical School, did not produce confidence, fueling doubt instead about the integrity of this retrospective study and its results. (France Soir, June 5, 2020)

Was Dr. Mandeep Mehra in conflict of interest? (That is a matter for BWH and the Harvard Medical School to decide upon).

Who are the Main Actors?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, advisor to Donald Trump, portrayed as Americas top infectious disease expert has played a key role in smearing the HCQ cure which had been approved years earlier by the CDC as well as providing legitimacy to Gileads Remdesivir.

Dr. Fauci has been the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since the Reagan administration. He is known to act as a mouthpiece for Big Pharma.

Dr. Fauci launched Remdesivir in late June (see details below). According to Fauci, Remdesevir is the corona wonder drug developed by Gilead Science Inc. Its a $1.6 billion dollar bonanza.

Gilead Sciences Inc: History

Gilead Sciences Inc is a Multibillion dollar bio-pharmaceutical company which is now involved in developing and marketing Remdesivir. Gilead has a long history. It has the backing of major investment conglomerates including the Vanguard Group and Capital Research & Management Co, among others. It has developed ties with the US Government.

In 1999 Gilead Sciences Inc, developed Tamiflu (used as a treatment of seasonal influenza and bird flu). At the time, Gilead Sciences Inc was headed by Donald Rumsfeld (1997-2001), who later joined the George W. Bush administration as Secretary of Defense (2001-2006). Rumsfeld was responsible for coordinating the illegal and criminal wars on Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003).

Rumsfeld maintained his links to Gilead Sciences Inc throughout his tenure as Secretary of Defense (2001-2006). According to CNN Money (2005): The prospect of a bird flu outbreak  was very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [who still owned Gilead stocks] and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences.

Anthony Fauci has been in charge of the NIAID since 1984, using his position as a go between the US government and Big Pharma. During Rumsfelds tenure as Secretary of Defense, the budget allocated to bio-terrorism increased substantially, involving contracts with Big Pharma including Gilead Sciences Inc. Anthony Fauci considered that the money allocated to bio-terrorism in early 2002 would:

accelerate our understanding of the biology and pathogenesis of microbes that can be used in attacks, and the biology of the microbes hosts  human beings and their immune systems. One result should be more effective vaccines with less toxicity. (WPo report)

In 2008, Dr. Anthony Fauci was granted the Presidential Medal of Freedom by president George W. Bush for his determined and aggressive efforts to help others live longer and healthier lives.

The 2020 Gilead Sciences Inc Remdesivir Project

We will be focussing on key documents (and events)

Chronology

February 21: Initial Release pertaining to NIH-NIAID Remdesivir placebo test trial

April 10: The Gilead Sciences Inc study published in the NEJM on the Compassionate Use of Remdesivir

April 29: NIH Release: Study on Remdesivir (Report published on May 22 in NEJM)

May 22, The BWH-Harvard Study on Hydroxychloroquine coordinated by Dr. Mandeep Mehra published in The Lancet

May 22, Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19  Preliminary Report (NEJM)

June 5: The (fake) Lancet Report (May 22) on HCQ is Retracted.

June 29, Fauci announcement. The $1.6 Billion Remdevisir HHS Agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc

April 10: The Gilead Sciences Inc. study published in the NEJM on the Compassionate Use of Remdesivir

A Gilead sponsored report was published in New England Journal of Medicine in an article entitled Compassionate Use of Remdesivir for Patients with Severe Covid-19 . It was co-authored by an impressive list of 56 distinguished medical doctors and scientists, many of whom were recipients of consulting fees from Gilead Sciences Inc.

Gilead Sciences Inc. funded the study which included several staff members as co-authors.

The testing included a total of 61 patients [who] received at least one dose of remdesivir on or before March 7, 2020; 8 of these patients were excluded because of missing postbaseline information (7 patients) and an erroneous remdesivir start date (1 patient)  Of the 53 remaining patients included in this analysis, 40 (75%) received the full 10-day course of remdesivir, 10 (19%) received 5 to 9 days of treatment, and 3 (6%) fewer than 5 days of treatment.

The NEJM article states that Gilead Sciences Inc began accepting requests from clinicians for compassionate use of remdesivir on January 25, 2020. From whom, From Where? According to the WHO (January 30, 2020) there were 82 cases in 18 countries outside China of which 5 were in the US, 5 in France and 3 in Canada.

Several prominent physicians and scientists have cast doubt on the Compassionate Use of Remdesivir study conducted by Gilead, focussing on the small size of the trial. Ironically, the number of patients in the test is less that the number of co-authors: 53 patients versus 56 co-authors

Below we provide excerpts of scientific statements on the Gilead NEJM project (Science Media Centre emphasis added) published immediately following the release of the NEJM article:

Compassionate use is better described as using an unlicensed therapy to treat a patient because there are no other treatments available. Research based on this kind of use should be treated with extreme caution because there is no control group or randomisation, which are some of the hallmarks of good practice in clinical trials. Prof Duncan Richard, Clinical Therapeutics, University of Oxford.

It is critical not to over-interpret this study. Most importantly, it is impossible to know the outcome for this relatively small group of patients had they not received remdesivir. Dr Stephen Griffin, Associate Professor, School of Medicine, University of Leeds.

The research is interesting but doesnt prove anything at this point: the data are from a small and uncontrolled study. Simon Maxwell, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Prescribing, University of Edinburgh.

The data from this paper are almost uninterpretable. It is very surprising, perhaps even unethical, that the New England Journal of Medicine has published it. It would be more appropriate to publish the data on the website of the pharmaceutical company that has sponsored and written up the study. At least Gilead have been clear that this has not been done in the way that a high quality scientific paper would be written. Prof Stephen Evans, Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Its very hard to draw useful conclusions from uncontrolled studies like this particularly with a new disease where we really dont know what to expect and with wide variations in outcomes between places and over time. One really has to question the ethics of failing to do randomisation  this study really represents more than anything else, a missed opportunity. Prof Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics, University of Bristol.

To review the complete document of Science Media Centre pertaining to expert assessments click here

April 29: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Study on Remdevisir.

On April 29th following the publication of the Gilead Sciences Inc Study in the NEJM on April 10, a press release of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Remdevisir was released. The full document was published on May 22, by the NEJM under the title:

Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19  Preliminary Report (NEJM)

The study had been initiated on February 21, 2020. The title of the April 29 Press Release was:

Peer-reviewed data shows remdesivir for COVID-19 improves time to recovery

Its a government sponsored report which includes preliminary data from a randomized trial involving 1063 hospitalized patients. The results of the trial labelled Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT) are preliminary, conducted under the helm of Dr. Faucis National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):

An independent data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) overseeing the trial met on April 27 to review data and shared their interim analysis with the study team. Based upon their review of the data, they noted that remdesivir was better than placebo from the perspective of the primary endpoint, time to recovery, a metric often used in influenza trials. Recovery in this study was defined as being well enough for hospital discharge or returning to normal activity level. Preliminary results indicate that patients who received remdesivir had a 31% faster time to recovery than those who received placebo (p<0.001). Specifically, the median time to recovery was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received placebo. Results also suggested a survival benefit, with a mortality rate of 8.0% for the group receiving remdesivir versus 11.6% for the placebo group (p=0.059). (emphasis added)

In the NIHs earlier February 21, 2020 report (released at the outset of the study), the methodology was described as follows:

 A randomized, controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the investigational antiviral remdesivir in hospitalized adults diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) 

Read more at: GlobalResearch.ca
TRIP REPORT

INDEX

Belgrade Airport was relatively quiet for early July, although there was lots of construction going on both inside and out. Terminal 1 is currently not in use, so all airlines, Flydubai included, were conducting check in at Terminal 2. At the time I arrived at the airport, passengers were checking in for a Wizz Air flight to London, Aegean Airlines flight to Athens, Aeroflot to Moscow and the Flydubai flight to Dubai. The Air Serbia check in desks were empty as most of their flights were departing right at that moment.





There was a delay at check-in as there was an issue with processing passports, so all had to be scanned, sent to Flydubais office in Belgrade and then apparently approved by the UAE, however, the issue was quickly fixed and passengers were able to complete their check-in formalities. It was interesting to hear many foreign languages at check-in for this flight - Russian, Macedonian, Hungarian and Arabic, along with Serbian of course.

Belgrade Airport was very quiet at midday, with the departure board already displaying flights for the following day. There was a lot of construction work going on inside the terminal so some areas were closed off as a result.











Masks inside the terminal are mandatory. The Flydubai flight landed on time and a lot of passengers seemed to disembark. However, our flight was delayed around 45 minutes, apparently due to more stringent cleaning measures of the aircraft. Masks inside the terminal are mandatory. The Flydubai flight landed on time and a lot of passengers seemed to disembark. However, our flight was delayed around 45 minutes, apparently due to more stringent cleaning measures of the aircraft.

Business class passengers and those with small children were invited to board first. The crew were wearing a protective gown, masks, glasses and gloves. Boarding was completed quickly and as the station manager walked in before the doors were closed she told the crew member there were 47 passenger on board. There were four of us in business class plus two pilots who were at the controls on the outbound service, so each passenger had a free seat next to them. Interestingly, the three other passengers in business were all continuing to Abu Dhabi. Just before pushback, a Transavia B737 parked next to us.













Service began shortly after takeoff and I was surprised that there were no cuts whatsoever. In fact, all economy passengers even received a complimentary meal, which was not the case before. The tv screens were not working, although this was indicated in an e-mail from the airline before the flight, which suggested you bring a book. They didnt work before either, so its no big difference. However, the on board Wi-Fi worked really well and was fast, although a bit pricey.

The leather seats are comfy and there is sufficient legroom. Furthermore, there was a packaged blanket on each seat. The crew sprang into action immediately after the seat belt sign was switched off. Of course, everyone had to wear masks throughout the flight, except while eating and drinking. The crew first issued a Covid form that had to be filled out and handed in Dubai. Then, snacks such as crisps and nuts were offered, and the menu was distributed. There were three meal choices. I chose the chicken and it was tasty. A sanitizing wipe was also provided to all passengers, as well as a bottle of water. There was a full drinks menu too, with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

The meals were cleared quickly after each passenger finished and I spent most of the flight reading. The crew asked if passengers wanted coffee or tea during the flight. Around an hour and a half before landing, a second meal service began. Passengers were offered a hot wrap with chicken, chicken and moussaka, or vegetables, along with drinks. Not bad for a hybrid airline. An immigration fast-track card was also issued.

We landed in Dubai almost on time, despite the delay in departure. It was quite sad to see so many parked planes around. As we were taxiing to the stand, I even noticed Flydubais B737 MAX jets parked with their engines fully open.

There was a bus for business class passengers, and we were taken to the terminal which was deserted. There was no one there other than staff. After immigration, all incoming passengers were directed to an area in the baggage claim hall to register their details such as name, passport and phone number. We were then given a small test tube and asked to proceed to Covid testing. Despite almost all passengers on the flight having already taken a test in Belgrade or their home city, we were told that it didnt matter (they didnt even ask for those). Although it might sound like a logistical nightmare, the process was amazingly quick and easy. There were at least thirty people working at the testing area. They took a nasal swab and passengers were free to proceed to pick up their luggage. Upon exit passengers are to leave the form they filled out on the plane and are told to stay at their accommodation until they are informed about their covid test result. You get an SMS but you can also check the result online. Our plane arrived at around 21.45 local time. The next morning I received the message of my negative test.





The experience with Flydubai was surprisingly hassle free and comfortable even in the era of corona. The light loads and empty airport probably helped make it a more seamless journey.

Share your travel experience by submitting a trip report to exyu@exyuaviation.com
Travellers returning to New South Wales from overseas will pay upwards of $5,000 to complete mandatory quarantine inside secure hotels.

Up until this point, any international arrivals have been put up in accommodation free of charge to wait out the two week incubation period for coronavirus.

But New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Friday announced the funding would draw to a close given how long Australians had to return home.

'Australian residents have been given plenty of time to return home, and we feel it is only fair that they cover some of the costs of their hotel accommodation,' Ms Berejiklian said.

Travellers returning to New South Wales from overseas will pay upwards of $5,000 to complete mandatory quarantine inside secure hotels. Pictured: Returned traveller in mandatory isolation in Travelodge

Returned travellers will be paying for the accommodation and their food, but the travel costs to and from the hotel and security will be covered

Families will be charged $3,000 for one adult, $1,000 for each additional adult and $500 per child over three, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

All children under three will not be accounted for in the total bill.

That means a family of four - two adults and two children - will fork out $5,000 to quarantine for the two weeks.

The changes will come into effect for anybody who purchases their flights home after 11.59pm on July 12.

For people who purchased their flights before the cutoff day, they will not have to pay no matter when their flight actually lands in Sydney.

Passengers off a Melbourne to Sydney flight arrive at Sydney domestic airport on July 7

Returning overseas travellers are ushered into the InterContinental Hotel for the beginning of their 14-day imposed quarantine. They will now have to pay for their own stay

The money will cover costs of the hotel stay and all food, while the government will still foot the security bill.

Queensland has already started charging returned travellers, and Victoria has temporarily suspended flights into the state carrying overseas arrivals in order to redeploy resources into fighting the current COVID-19 outbreak.

Families will be given the invoice at the end of the quarantine period and special consideration will be given to those who encounter financial hardship.

Stuart Ayres,the New South Wales minister responsible for hotel quarantine, said most of the new cases in the state had come from returned travellers.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Friday announced the tax funding would draw to a close given how long Australians had to return home

Passengers from Cambodia pictured boarding buses to take them to isolation in April at the height of the crisis

Five of the seven cases identified in New South Wales on Saturday were in returned travellers.

'NSW Police, NSW Health officials and the accommodation industry will continue to work together to provide the nation's leading hotel quarantine system,' he said.

It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced he would slash international flights into the country by half to stop the spread of coronavirus and ease the pressure on the hotel quarantine program.

He announced the cap following a National Cabinet meeting on Friday, and said it would reduce the amount of people arriving in Australia by about 4,000 per week.

'Flights will be cut by just over half across all the various ports that are taking those residents returning to Australia,' Mr Morrison said.
John Lewis is expected to follow Primark in rejecting a government grant of 14 million to bring furloughed staff back to work.

Under a scheme introduced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, firms are being given 1,000 for every worker they bring back into work, even if the company is already up and running following the coronavirus lockdown.

John Lewis, which furloughed 14,000 staff during lockdown, is now set to reject the government's bonus scheme, potentially missing out on millions.

The scheme pays out 1,000 each furloughed employee who returns to work and is paid the lower earnings limit of 520 per month between the end of the furlough scheme in October and the end of January 2021.

It comes after the retailer confirmed that eight of its stores will not be reopening after closing for lockdown.

The ailing department chain will permanently close major sites in Birmingham and Watford, as well as smaller outlets at Heathrow airport, St Pancras train station in London and four At Home shops in Croydon, Newbury, Swindon and Tamworth.

Earlier, Primark also announced it had rejected around 30million in 'bonuses' from the government for bringing back furloughed staff, it was revealed today

The firm had furloughed 30,000 staff and is said to have burned through 800million of cash during the coronavirus crisis - but made profits of more than 900million the previous year.

John Lewis, which furloughed 14,000 staff during lockdown, is set to reject the goverment's bonus scheme, potentially missing out on millions

Primark will reportedly shun the huge payout unveiled by Rishi Sunak last week as he desperately battles to avoid a wave of redundancies

The move will heap pressure on other businesses to turn down the 9billion handouts from the Treasury, which the Chancellor admits will go to many companies that are already back up and running after lockdown.

According to the Sunday Times, William Hill is also set to reject the bonus payments.

MailOnline has approached some of Britain's biggest businesses to find out whether they'll be accepting the government grant.

McDonald's and Wetherspoons are both currently assessing the chancellor's announcement, while other businesses have yet to indicate where they stand on the policy.

McDonald's is thought to have furloughed 135,000 employees and, under the chancellor's scheme, could be in line for a 135 million grant.

Wetherspoons furloughed 43,000 staff, meaning it it could be in line for a 43 million grant.

Other firms could also be in line for a significant amount of money, including Greene King at 38 million, Greggs at 25 million and the Arcadia Group at 14.5 million.

However, they have yet to confirm whether they'll take up the money.

Mr Sunak used his mini-Budget last week to announce more extraordinary steps to prop up the economy.

Every business that brings back one of the 9million furloughed employees on a decent wage and keeps them on the books until January will also get 1,000 - even if they were already back at work before the policy was introduced.

Some of Britain's biggest firms furloughed thousands of staff, meaning they could be in line for millions from a government grant. However, most have yet to indicate whether they would be accepting the grant, after Primark already rejected it

Mr Sunak (pictured visiting a Wagamama restaurant in London last week) admitted there would be some 'dead weight' of wasted public spending from the bonus scheme for businesses who bring back fuloughed workers

VAT is being slashed from 20 per cent to 5 per cent for the hospitality industry until January in another huge intervention - and stamp duty is being axed on all homes worth up to 500,000 until March.

There is also a 2billion 'kickstarter' scheme to pay wages for young people, and the government is subsidising up to 50 per cent of people's meals out at restaurants from Monday to Wednesday during August, to a maximum of 10 per head.

A spokesman for Primark's parent group ABF said: 'I can confirm that Primark does not intend to take advantage of support under the Job Retention Bonus announced by the Chancellor this week.

'The company removed its employees from government employment support schemes in the UK and Europe in line with the reopening of the majority of its stores.

'The company believes it should not be necessary therefore to apply for payment under the Bonus scheme on current circumstances.'

Sources stressed that the decision was based on the company's individual position, and was not intended as criticism of other businesses, or the government's bonus scheme.

TUC head Frances O'Grady praised Primark today and suggested other employers who could afford it should consider its example.

She told Sophy Ridge On Sunday: 'I think what we are worried about is that there is a risk of getting into gimmicks rather than giving the targeted support that industries need.'

She suggested that government, industries and unions need to talk about national recovery plans and to help sectors that are 'in real trouble' due to the crisis.

She told the programme: 'We have to have targeted plans and support to keep them on their feet. The autumn will be too late.

'We are looking for flexibility and targeted support to get us through this tough period.

'It is a lot easier to hold on to good jobs that we have already rather than to try and create them later down the line. The biggest threat we face now is mass unemployment.'

In interviews after his mini-Budget last week, Mr Sunak admitted there would be some 'dead weight' of wasted public spending from the bonus scheme for businesses who bring back fuloughed workers.

He said 'there has been dead weight in all of the interventions we have put in place'.

'Throughout this crisis I've had decisions to make and whether to act in a broad way at scale and at speed or to act in a more targeted and nuanced way,' Mr Sunak said.

'In an ideal world, you're absolutely right, you would minimise that dead weight and do everything in incredibly targeted fashion.

'The problem is the severity of what was happening to our economy, the scale of what was happening, and indeed the speed that it was happening at demanded a different response.'

The respected IFS think-tank said the majority of the bonus scheme was likely to go to businesses who did not need it.

'A lot, probably a majority, of the job retention bonus money will go in respect of jobs that would have been, indeed already have been, returned from furlough anyway,' director Paul Johnson said.

'This money will go even in respect of jobs which were briefly furloughed, are already back at work and can expect to be still back at work in January, the employer still gets 1,000.

'Much of the VAT cut and the stamp duty cut will be deadweight; but that may be fine if they have a significant behavioural consequence.'

MailOnline has contacted both Primark and William Hill for comment.
Disgraced fund manager Neil Woodford last night sparked outrage after staging a comeback despite leaving 300,000 investors out of pocket.

Woodford, once described as the man who made Middle England rich, was forced to shut his funds last year after angry investors demanded their money back following a series of bad bets.

But last night, it emerged that Woodford has made an audacious return to the investments world  even though savers in his disastrous funds are still waiting for 450 million to be returned to them.

Fund manager Neil Woodford (pictured), once described as the man who made Middle England rich is back in business despite leaving investors 450million out of pocket last year

News of his comeback is likely to anger those who ploughed vast amounts of their savings into his funds.

Lord Mann, the former Labour MP who served on the Treasury Select Committee, said: Investors will be shocked and hugely unhappy at what they will perceive as a huge injustice.

Self-styled maverick Woodford and his right-hand man Craig Newman are advisers to a company investing in start-up firms.

Sky News reported that the duo were helping Juno Capital build a portfolio of private healthcare investments.

One of the reasons for Woodford Investment Managements collapse was that he ploughed too much money into loss-making biotech companies that were not listed on the stock market  meaning the investments were hard to sell.

A source close to Woodford, whose main home is a 14 million mansion in Gloucestershire, said his role at Juno Capital was advisory and that he is not managing clients money.

Juno is a little-known London-based company led by City grandee Sir Nigel Rudd, the former chairman of high street chemist Boots.

It describes itself as a company aimed at wealthy investors rather than those targeted by Woodford Investment Management. It is unclear whether Woodford is being paid for advising Juno.

Woodford continued to charge millions of pounds in fees after his main fund was suspended last year and clients were blocked from withdrawing their savings. The controversial move triggered a backlash from investors, MPs and campaigners.

The former funds guru built up a reputation as a star investor over a number of years at Invesco Perpetual before he and Mr Newman launched their own firm, Woodford Investment Management, in 2014.

Woodford made his name as a star investor over a number of years before he and right-hand man Craig Newman (pictured) set up Woodford Investment Management in 2014

Woodfords flagship fund was worth more than 10 billion in 2017, but collapsed below 3 billion last year as panicked investors rushed for the exit.

About 300,000 investors are still waiting on around 450 million to be returned to them, with half invested in risky, hard-to-sell assets. It means investors will get significantly less back than they put in.

Woodford and Mr Newman pocketed nearly 14 million in dividends from the investment business in the year before its implosion.

A spokesman for Woodford declined to comment. Juno did not respond to requests for comment.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its partnering organizations are forecasting a less severe Harmful Algal Blooms season on Lake Erie compared to last year.

Officials are projecting the bloom will measure a 4.5 on the severity index, but could range between 4 and 5.5. Thats compared to a bloom that measured a 7.3 on the severity index in 2019.

The severity index of 2018s bloom measured a 3.8. This years bloom is estimated to be one of the smaller blooms since 2011. An index above 5 indicates the more severe blooms, according to NOAA officials.

In recent times, Lake Erie has typically seen less severe bloom seasons in even years and more severe seasons in odd years, but NOAA oceanographer Rick Stumpf said that is coincidental. Stumpf was among the presenters during a July 9 web broadcast unveiling the 2020 Lake Erie Harmful Algal Blooms forecast.

Lake Erie blooms consist of cyanobacteria, also known a blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria is capable of producing the liver toxin microcystin which poses a risk to human and wildlife health, according to NOAA.

These blooms can result in higher costs for cities and local governments that need to drinking water, prevent people from enjoying fishing, swimming, boating and visiting the shoreline. The blooms can harm the regions summer economy.

According to NOAA, the effects vary in location and severity to winds that may concentrate or dissipate the bloom.

The severity index is based on the blooms biomass (amount of algae) over a sustained period. The largest blooms occurred in 2011, which was a 10 on the severity index, and 2015, which was a 10.5.

NOAA, the Environmental Protection Agency, Environment and Climate Change Canada and its other partners have set a goal of 3, which was last seen in 2012.

While we are definitely better than last year, we are forecasting that we will be above the target, Stumpf said. That means we will see some noticeable bloom out on Lake Erie this year.

Stumpf said that the mild rainfall this spring compared to last year will lead to a much smaller bloom.

NOAA officials stated that the size of the bloom isnt necessarily an indication of how toxic it is.

For example, the toxins in a large bloom may not be as concentrated as in a smaller bloom. Each algal bloom is unique in terms of size, toxicity, and ultimately its impact on local communities, NOAA stated. The agency is developing tools to detect and predict how toxic blooms will be.

Stumpf said much of the lake will be fine most of the time this year.

The blooms are mostly in the western basin, but even there they loop around a lot with the wind, he said.

There is a strong risk of scum, however, when winds are calm in areas with high concentrations of algae. Stumpf said keep kids, pets and yourself out of scums.

In 2019 and 2020, Lake Erie has set several monthly lake level records and is well above its long-term average. Stumpf said they get asked a lot if the lake levels are a factor in the bloom. He said that based on last year, they dont have any evidence that it is a factor.

We will be keeping track of that as well, but right now we dont see that as an indication, he said.

With cool lake temperatures in May and early June, the cyanobacteria only started growing in the last week, NOAA stated July 9. The agency expects a more typical start of the visible bloom in mid-to-late July. Duration of the bloom depends on how windy September may be, which NOAA stated cannot be predicted this far in advance.

The bloom will remain mostly in some areas of the western basin and most of the rest of the lake will not be affected.

Ohio State Universitys Ohio Sea Grant,which hosted the web presentation, stated Harmful Algal Blooms are fueled by excess phosphorus and nitrogen, two nutrients found in fertilizers and sewage treatment plant discharge, for example. Excessive amounts of nutrients in the water that runs from rivers into Lake Erie lead to excessive algal growth.

About 325 tons of total bioavailable phosphorus are projected to flow into the lakes western and central basins this year. Stumpf said a 30 percent reduction would be needed to reach the goal of 3 on the severity index.

A smaller bloom forecast for Lake Erie and the surrounding coastal communities is encouraging, but we cannot be complacent, Nicole LeBoeuf, NOAAs acting director off National Ocean Service, said in a statement. It is our hope that these science-based tools will help local leaders plan for the predicted bloom and best position the community and its visitors to deal with what comes.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, said that Harmful Algal Blooms have plagued the waters of western Lake Erie and its tributaries for the past decade and are a painful reminder that more has to be done at the federal, state, and local level to protect and restore our beloved Lake Erie.

While Im thankful that this years bloom will be less severe than in years past, we cannot be idle, she said. Thats why in Congress, Im fighting to secure significantly more funding for the invaluable Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Kaptur serves as a co-chair of the House of Representatives Great Lakes Task Force. U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge Township, also serves as a co-chair. Another co-chair, Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan, said they are hoping to increase the funding for the restoration initiative to $335 million for Fiscal Year 2021.

The initiative gives federal funds to the eight-state Great Lakes region for projects that have removed toxic wastes from industrial harbors, fought invasive species such as Asian carp, restored wildlife habitat and supported efforts to prevent harmful algal blooms.

We must prioritize a strong and coordinated federal response and robust funding for all the work related to harmful algal blooms, Dingell said.

Another push for restoration funding

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is pushing U.S. and Canadian officials to provide funding for water restoration priorities in any upcoming economic stimulus programs related to the novel coronavirus.

The organization is a coalition of roughly 100 U.S. and Canadian mayors and local officials working to advance the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.

In a July 7 news release, the organization stated that nearly one-third of U.S. and Canadian economic activity is centered in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region, so post COVID-19 economic recovery there will fuel the larger national recovery in the U.S. and Canada.

In addition to economic stimulus, funding will help safeguard coastal resources and mitigate future damage from erosion, flooding and severe storm events; modernize outdated wastewater infrastructure and prevent exposure to toxic pollutants in drinking water; reduce agricultural and urban runoff that feeds harmful algal blooms; and prevent beaches from being contaminated by sewage overflows during severe storms, the organization stated.
Retailers in Melbourne's popular open-air markets have questioned the Victorian government's decision to bar them from trading during the city's lockdown, claiming it's unfair they should have to close while shopping centre retailers can remain open.

Kate Vandermeer, who runs kids and homewares retailer TheSuperCool out of the South Melbourne Market's SO:ME design space, shut her store for three months during the initial lockdown in March, and will now close it again for the next six weeks as the city battles its second surge of COVID-19.

TheSuperCool store owner Kate Vandermeer Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

Under the government's directive only market stalls selling food and drink are able to trade.

"This isn't fair, it should be up to the individual retailer. If people want to pick up something while they're getting their fruit and veg, they should be allowed to," she said.
Australia's battle with coronavirus is showing no signs of letting down with a second wave of infections sending Melburnians into lockdown - and fears the outbreak has spread across the border.

Victorian police are cracking down on people breaking lockdown rules as the state recorded 273 new cases on Sunday.

A 70-year-old man also died in Victoria, taking the national death toll to 108.

Now, there are fears that bordering NSW will also face a second wave of infections after nine new cases were linked to The Crossroads Hotel in Sydney.

Here is the latest on the crisis around the country.

A couple wear face masks while shopping in Melbourne. Shopping, work or study, providing care and exercise are the four reasons people are allowed to leave the house in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire due to COVID-19 restrictions

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

A man in his 70s has died in Victoria, taking the national toll to 108, but the deputy chief medical officer has warned Australia's toll could rise even further given the increasing number of infections.

Four new cases linked to The Crossroads Hotel in Sydney include a staffer, one of their close contacts and two diners, leading authorities to warn all patrons from July 3 to 10 to self-isolate. Five cases were previously linked to the pub.

NSW will begin charging international arrivals for their mandatory 14-day stay in hotel quarantine.

Victorians are being urged to follow the latest lockdown rules, as the state recorded 273 new cases. In the past 24 hours, police have issued 119 fines to people breaking lockdown rules.

Prep to year 10 students in locked-down metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will learn from home from July 20 until at least August 19.

A vaccine developed by the University of Queensland is ready to be tested on humans.

A woman checks her phone while waiting for a tram on the empty streets of Melbourne. There are fears that bordering NSW will also face a second wave of infections after four new cases arose at The Crossroads Hotel in Sydney

ECONOMICS

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott says the economy needs to be opened up, businesses need to invest and governments will need to stimulate through infrastructure spending, tax cuts, and the extension of the JobKeeper and JobSeeker arrangements.

She believes about two million people will be looking for jobs in the next two years, but unlike the post-global financial crisis period, China is not growing at the same pace that helped to lift the Australian economy and there isn't the same population growth domestically.

SPORT

Former world champion boxer Jeff Horn will take on Tim Tszyu at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in August. Capacity will be capped at about 16,000.

KEY DATES

July 13 - Inbound international flights will be halved, with about 4,000 fewer people arriving each week to ease pressure on the nation's hotel quarantine system.

July 17 - All international arrivals to WA will have to pay for their 14-day hotel quarantine.

July 17 - NT will reopen its borders to all visitors, except Victorians.

July 20 - SA will lift mandatory quarantine for people from NSW and ACT.

July 31 - The soonest date Tasmania may open its borders to the mainland after delaying the move, previously planned for July 24, by at least one week.

August 1 - Tentative date for WA to lift all remaining restrictions, except border closures and access to remote Aboriginal communities.

A face mask-wearing man goes for a walk around Albert Park lake with the Melbourne skyline in the background. Another 70-year-old man died in Victoria on the weekend, taking the national death toll to 108

AUSTRALIAN CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS

Australia's total number of cases is now 9,797, with 1,961 cases active and 7,728 people recovered.

On Sunday, the national death toll rose to 108: NSW 49, Victoria 24, Tasmania 13, WA 9, Queensland 6, SA 4, ACT 3. (Two Queensland residents who died in NSW have been included in the official tolls of both states).

GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS

Cases: at least 12,856,236

Deaths: at least 567,913

Recovered: at least 7,487,895

Data current as of 1800 AEST July 12, taking in federal government and state/territory government updates and Worldometer.
Bill Cosby still owes $2.75 million in legal fees to California law firm, nearly a year after he attempted to challenge the bill but was ordered by a judge to pay up.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which represented Cosby from 2015 to 2016 following allegations of sexual misconduct, revealed in Manhattan Supreme Court papers that the comedian has not yet paid the hefty bill, according to Fox News.

Now the firm says the balance has increased to $2.98 million as result of the 10% interest the bill accrued.

Cosby attempted to challenge a California arbitration award that upheld nearly $7 million of a $9 million bill submitted by Quinn last year, but a judge ordered him to pay the remaining $2.75 million unpaid balance.

Bill Cosby still owes $2.75 million in legal fees to California law firm, nearly a year after he attempted to challenge the bill but was ordered by a judge to pay up (pictured 2018)

At that time, $4.3 million of the bill had already been paid by both Cosby and his insurer, AIG, according to CNN.

Cosby is currently serving three to 10 years in prison for a 2018 sexual assault conviction, but in a stunning decision that could test the legal framework of #MeToo cases, the comedian has since won the right to fight the conviction in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The 82-year-old Cosby has been imprisoned in suburban Philadelphia for nearly two years after a jury convicted him of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in 2004. He's serving a three- to 10-year sentence.

The Supreme Court has agreed to review two aspects of the case, including the judge's decision to let prosecutors call five other accusers to testify about long-ago encounters with the once-powerful actor and comedian.

Cosby's lawyers have long challenged that testimony as remote and unreliable. The court will also consider, as it weighs the scope of the testimony allowed, whether the jury should have heard evidence that Cosby had given quaaludes to women in the past.

Cosby, 82, is currently serving three to 10 years in prison for sexual assault

Cosby is taken out of the Montgomery County Courthouse to state prison in shackles after being sentenced to prison for a sexual assault conviction in 2018

Secondly, the court will examine Cosby's argument that he had an agreement with a former prosecutor that he would never be charged in the case. Cosby has said he relied on that agreement before agreeing to testify in the trial accuser's civil lawsuit.

Those issues have been at the heart of the case since Cosby was charged in December 2015, days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.

Prosecutors in Montgomery County had reopened the case that year after The Associated Press fought to unseal portions of Cosby's decade-old deposition testimony in accuser Andrea Constand's sex assault and defamation lawsuit against Cosby, which he had settled in 2006.

Dozens of other accusers had come forward since then to accuse Cosby, long beloved as 'America's Dad' because of his hit 1980s sitcom, of similar misconduct.

The criminal case against Cosby centered on the allegations of Andrea Constand (above) but five other women were allowed to testify about separate encounters with Cosby

Montgomery County Judge Stephen O'Neill allowed just one of them to testify at Cosby's first trial in 2017, which ended with an acquittal.

But a year later, after the #MeToo movement exploded in the wake of reporting on Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, the judge allowed five other accusers to testify at the retrial. The jury convicted Cosby on all three felony sex-assault counts.

Lawyer Brian W. Perry argued in the appeal that letting other accusers testify 'flips constitutional jurisprudence on its head, and the `presumption of guilt, rather than the presumption of innocence, becomes the premise.'

Spokesman Andrew Wyatt said Cosby was 'extremely thankful' the court would hear the case.

He said the decision comes as demonstrators across the nation protest the death of black people at the hands of police and expose the 'corruption that lies within the criminal justice system.'

'As we have all stated, the false conviction of Bill Cosby is so much bigger than him - it's about the destruction of ALL Black people and people of color in America,' Wyatt said in a statement.

Cosby arrives with his wife, Camille, for his sexual assault trial in 2018

Cosby's lawyers also challenged his classification as a sexually violent predator subject to lifetime supervision. The actor, who insists he had a consensual encounter with accuser Constand, has said he would never express remorse to the parole board.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been victims of sexual assault without their permission, which Constand has granted.

Cosby was denied early release from prison despite a COVID-19 outbreak inside the facility where he is housed.

In April, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf revealed a plan to 'temporarily relieve' at-risk inmates in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus behind bars.

The announcement sparked speculation that Cosby could be freed, but the state's Department of Corrections crushed any hope for the elderly star.

'Sex offenders are not eligible under the reprieve criteria,' a department spokesperson bluntly told the media.
Muslims offer their evening prayers outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, following Turkey's Council of State's decision. (AP)

Frankfurt: The head of the World Council of Churches has written to Turkeys president expressing his grief and dismay over Turkeys decision to change the status of Istanbuls landmark Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque.

As a World Heritage museum, Hagia Sophia has been a place of openness, encounter and inspiration for people from all nations, interim secretary general Ioan Sauca said in the letter released Saturday by the Geneva-based group.

The colossal Hagia Sophia was built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral and was converted into a mosque after the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 1453. The secular Turkish government decided in 1934 to make it a museum, and millions of tourists now visit the landmark annually.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally converted the building back into a mosque Friday and declared it open for Muslim worship hours after a high court annulled the 1934 government decision.

Sauca said the museum status had been a powerful expression of Turkeys commitment to inclusion and secularism. He urged Erdogan to reconsider the decision in the interests of promoting mutual understanding, respect, dialogue and cooperation, and avoiding cultivating old animosities and divisions.

The WCC says its membership comprises 350 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican churches with some 500 million believers.

Erdogan, a devout Muslim, has frequently used the debate over Hagia Sophia to drum up support for his Islamic-rooted party. The decision has provoked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians and strong criticism from neighbor and rival Greece.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also said France deplores Turkeys decision on Hagia Sophia.

These decisions cast doubt on one of the most symbolic acts of modern and secular Turkey, the minister said in a statement.

The integrity of this religious, architectural and historic jewel, a symbol of religious freedom, tolerance and diversity, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, must be preserved, he said. Hagia Sophia must continue to represent the plurality and diversity of religious heritage, dialogue and tolerance.

The U.S. State Department has said it was disappointed by the decision and looks forward to seeing how Turkey plans to keep the landmark open to all.
Air conditioning units that recirculate air in rooms and offices should be turned off or used only with open windows because of the risk of spreading coronavirus, experts advise.

They fear that any Covid-19 droplets in the air could be transmitted more easily to people in the room, even those who are socially distanced.

And they are advising office bosses to ventilate rooms with fresh air whenever possible.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said this week that coronavirus can spread through tiny droplets floating in the air in enclosed spaces, after scientists highlighted the risk.

The UK Health and Safety Executive says the risk of air conditioning spreading coronavirus in the workplace is extremely low as long as there is an adequate supply of fresh air and ventilation but adds: if you use a centralised ventilation system that removes and circulates air to different rooms, it is recommended that you turn off recirculation and use a fresh air supply.



Some air conditioners take in air from outdoors and expel it again, while others, called split units, recirculate the same air.

Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, a fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering, told the Telegraph: The recommended strategy now, if you have one of these split units, is to throw the window open and sacrifice your desire for a cold or cooler environment. If there is a modicum of wind it will move the air around. If you cant open a window, turn the unit off.

Guidance from the Chartered Institution of Building Service Engineers, which Dr Fitzgerald helped draw up, warns that split units that do not have a dedicated source of outside air supply into a room could be responsible for recirculating and spreading airborne viral particles into the path of socially distanced users.

The guidance says: It is recommended that any ventilation or air conditioning system that normally runs with a recirculation mode should now be set up to run on full outside air where this is possible.

Dr Fitzgerald said that opening a window while operating the unit was the best way to mitigate risk, even though it may go against conventional wisdom and be more expensive.

He said these kinds of wall-mounted units were often installed when people only needed air conditioning for a few days each year.

Harvard environmental health researcher Joseph Gardner Allen says ventilation systems with highly effective filters are a key way of filtering droplets from the air, according to CNN.

A study in China in April linked coronavirus transmission to an air-conditioning unit after a diner at a restaurant in the city of Guangzhou infected nine others.

We conclude that in this outbreak, droplet transmission was prompted by air-conditioned ventilation. The key factor for infection was the direction of the airflow, researchers from the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention said.

More than 12.7million people have been infected with the virus, and more than 565,000 worldwide have died, of whom more than 134,000 are in the US, where air conditioning is widespread.

Cases have surged in the American south and west, where temperatures are highest.
India has started trade talks with the European Union (EU) and is open to dialogue with the United Kingdom for a free trade agreement, the trade minister said on Saturday, as Asia's third-largest economy looks for new markets for its products.

Piyush Goyal said that India is open to engage with the UK for a preferential trade agreement with the ultimate goal of a free trade agreement.

He is also in dialogue with the European Union's trade commissioner for a deal that could start with a preferential trade agreement. He added that the ultimate goal here too would be to have a free trade agreement.

"We're talking to the EU and I am in dialogue with the EU trade commissioner. I am looking for an early harvest deal. Open to discussions on a variety of subjects. Its up to the UK and EU whoever picks up the gauntlet first," Goyal said.

Negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement between the EU and India were suspended in 2013 after six years of talks.

India pulled out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership last year due to fears over China's access to its markets and is looking for new ways to boost its exports.

The country has also been raising trade barriers to block cheap imports from China and replace them with locally made goods for domestic consumption and exports.

"Apart from pharmaceuticals, we have textiles, handicrafts, leather, furniture, industrial machinery, toys are areas where India can engage with UK & EU at competitive prices," Goyal said.

India's economic growth has largely been driven by local consumption and successive governments have struggled to expand exports.

In the last six years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been trying to push exports through various programs like "Make in India" but with limited success.
Former Russia special counsel Robert Mueller pushed back against President Donald Trump on Saturday, defending the prosecution of Roger Stone and the larger investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying the flamboyant political operative was "prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes."

"He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so," Mueller said in a column published Saturday in The Washington Post.

Mueller's remarks, prompted by Trump's commutation of Stone's 40-month prison sentence Friday, are the first since he testified before a House committee nearly a year ago after his team brought charges against at least a half-dozen former Trump aides during his campaign and after he took office.

'Abandoned the rule of law': Lawmakers react to Trump granting clemency to Roger Stone

'Unfair' conviction: Trump grants clemency to ally Roger Stone after railing against conviction, sentencing

Former special counsel Robert Mueller testifies on July 24, 2019.

Stone was the last person charged by the Mueller team during the nearly two-year Russia investigation.

"Russias actions were a threat to Americas democracy," Mueller wrote. "It was critical that they be investigated and understood."

Mueller said the FBI had evidence that the Russians signaled to a Trump campaign adviser that they could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.

"Stone became a central figure in our investigation for two key reasons: He communicated in 2016 with individuals known to us to be Russian intelligence officers, and he claimed advance knowledge of WikiLeaks release of emails stolen by those Russian intelligence officers," Mueller wrote.

"We also identified numerous links between the Russian government and Trump campaign personnel  Stone among them. We did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities," the former special counsel wrote, reasserting the team's conclusions. "The investigation did, however, establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome. It also established that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts."

Story continues

More: DOJ signals it will release a less-redacted version of Mueller report concerning Roger Stone

Mueller offered a detailed accounting of investigators' focus on Stone by federal prosecutors and Congress.

"He lied by denying he had communicated with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks releases," Mueller wrote. "He in fact updated senior campaign officials repeatedly about WikiLeaks. And he tampered with a witness, imploring him to stonewall Congress.

"The jury ultimately convicted Stone of obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress and tampering with a witness," Mueller wrote. "Because his sentence has been commuted, he will not go to prison. But his conviction stands."

Mueller said the "essential question" of whether those efforts involved the Trump campaign required investigation.

"When a subject lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the governments efforts to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable," Mueller said. "It may ultimately impede those efforts.

"We made every decision in Stones case, as in all our cases, based solely on the facts and the law and in accordance with the rule of law. The women and men who conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest integrity. Claims to the contrary are false," he said.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said Saturday night, "Mueller should keep his promise to the American people and let the report, which fully exonerated the president, stand instead of pontificating in the editorial pages with more spin.

Democrats and some Republicans, including Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, criticized Trump's intervention.

"Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president," Romney wrote on Twitter Saturday morning.

Romney: Roger Stone commutation 'unprecedented, historic corruption'

Trump granted Stone clemency days before he was to report to a Georgia prison to serve his sentence.

Trump has pardoned allies before, but Stone is the first individual directly connected to Trump's campaign to receive presidential clemency.

A statement issued by the White House on Friday called Stone "a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency," claiming that prosecutors made "process-based charges" in lieu of "finding evidence of collusion with Russia."

Romney was the only Republican senator who voted to convict Trump on an impeachment charge in February, becoming the first senator ever to vote against his own party's president in an impeachment trial.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Robert Mueller challenges President Trump: Stone 'committed crimes'
Unknown to Ibrahim Magu, President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate him as far back...





Unknown to Ibrahim Magu, President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate him as far back as 2018.





TheCable reports that the DSS, which has a financial crimes unit, played the central role in unearthing the allegations for which the suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is now facing a presidential probe.





The president was said to have been shocked when the DSS provided a comprehensive dossier on Magu which was damning.





If Magu was a man who can read the signs, he should have asked himself why the president did not re-present his name to the senate for confirmation as EFCC chairman since the new national assembly was inaugurated, a senior presidential source revealed.





The current senate has never turned down any nominee of the president, unlike the previous one which refused to confirm Magu.





However, it would appear Magu eventually got wind of the moves against him as he tried to ingratiate himself with the president.





He came to the mosque at the presidential villa to say Jumaat prayers along with the president on June 5, but the president was not very comfortable with it, the source said.





President Buhari prefers to pray with his family and personal aides, so he was not happy when Magu wangled his way to the mosque after the partial lifting of lockdown.





An instruction was then issued that he should not be allowed to come to the mosque.









The trigger for the DSS investigation, according to the source, was the report of the presidential committee on audit of recovered assets.





The three-member committee was inaugurated on November 22, 2017 by Buhari to audit all assets recovered by agencies of the federal government from May 29, 2015 when his government was inaugurated.





The committee was headed by Olufemi Lijadu, with Mohammad Nami and Gloria Bibigha as members.





Lijadu is now the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) while Nami was appointed chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).





Bibigha works in the office of the auditor-general of the federation.









The committee submitted its report six months behind schedule because of the extent of the work, and the aspect on EFCC took the president by surprise.





The report said the EFCC reported a total naira equivalent of N46,038,882,509.87, while the naira equivalent of the foreign currency lodgements were N37,533,764,195.66, representing a shortfall of N8,505,118,314.21.





These inconsistencies cast a serious doubt on the accuracy of figures submitted by the EFCC. It is the committees view that the EFCC cannot be said to have fully accounted for cash recoveries made by it, the report noted.





While EFCC reported total Naira recoveries of N504,154,184,744.04, the actual bank lodgements were N543,511,792,863.47. These discrepancies mean that EFCCs actual lodgement exceeded its reported recoveries by N39,357,608,119.43.





Buhari immediately asked the DSS to investigate Magu.





While DSS identified several properties allegedly owned by Magu in Dubai, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) played a major role in providing intelligence on his alleged financial dealings.




LAPEER COUNTY, MI -- Health officials in Lapeer County are advising anyone who recently traveled to an Imlay City restaurant to self-monitor for symptoms after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.

Kathy Haskins, director of the Lapeer County Health Department, issued a statement Friday, July 10 after officials learned the test result of an employee at the Luckys Steakhouse in Imlay City.

The business voluntarily closed Friday evening to ensure that a thorough cleaning of the facility can be accomplished, and employees who worked closely with the positive case will be quarantined, Haskins said.

The restaurant has since reopened for business.

Anyone who went to the restaurant at the intersection of M-53 and Newark Road on Thursday, July 9 or Friday, July 10 is asked by the health department to closely monitor themselves for the next 14 days and consider taking a COVID-19 test.

You should also take extra precautions to ensure that you do not transmit the virus to others. Remember that you may be able to spread the disease for up to 48 hours prior to symptoms, and a number of individuals will be asymptomatic, said Haskins. The virus spreads through respiratory droplets between people who are in close contact with one another. This generally occurs when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks.

Tips provided by the health department to help limit the spread of COVID-19 include maintaining a 6-foot distance in public spaces, wearing a mask, avoiding large gatherings, staying home when you are sick and monitoring for symptoms -- fever, cough, shortness of breath, changes in smell and/or taste.

The latest daily figures from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services released Sunday, July 12 show Lapeer County at a total of 268 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 30 confirmed deaths.

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The simmering tension between Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot reached a tipping point when Pilot was summoned by the police on July 10 in connection with an investigation into a suspected plot to destabilize the state government, HT has learnt.

It underlined, according to a senior Congress leader, the deep distrust Gehlot had of his deputy and was a bid to marginalise Pilot in the party and the government that was formed December 2018.

Although a similar notice was sent to Gehlot, asking him to record a statement, a Pilot loyalist said the deputy CM thought the probe was targeting him. Gehlot, after all, has retained the home portfolio and the police report to the home minister.

There have been several bids to undercut Pilot in the past two years. The Congress central leadership chose to ignore the warning signals until it , finally, formed a coordination committee for Rajasthan in January but that panel, so far, has held just one meeting.

Also read: Amid political turmoil in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot to skip key party meet

Pilot was not very keen to assume an organizational post in Delhi. So, the party should have secured his position in Rajasthan. But that overt backing was missing for a long time, said a central leader of the Congress.

The Congresss inability to nip such problems in the bud was articulated by senior party leader Kapil Sibal. Sibal tweeted, Worried for our party..Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables ?

Just four months ago, the Congress lost its government in Madhya Pradesh in a similar script played out when Jyotiraditya Scindia left the party which similarly ignored both him and the warning signals in the state. On Sunday, Scindia, now a Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP tweeted: Sad to see my erstwhile colleague @SachinPilot too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM. @ashokgehlot51. Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the @INCIndia.

To be sure, the start of the new Congress government in Rajasthan was not exactly a smooth affair. Pilot, who left his family in Delhi to sweat it out, led the Congress campaign as the president of the party in the state to victory, but Gehlot became chief minister primarily due to caste equations and perhaps because the Congress wanted someone from the old guard.

Party insiders added that for the past few months, the Gehlot camp has been demanding a change of guard in the Rajasthan Congress in a bid to remove Pilot from the state party presidents post. They started lobbying with Congress functionaries in Delhi that a new state chief is required (Pilot has been holding the position for six years) before panchayat elections in the state.

Another party leader, close to Pilot added, while he had four ministries under him as the deputy CM, Gehlot appointed bureaucrats in some of these ministries.

Even as then Congress president Rahul Gandhi met the two leaders over several rounds to hammer out a solution, the uneasy equation between the Congresss old generation and the new generation came to the fore.

Last year, the chief ministers son Vaibhav Gehlot lost the Lok Sabha election, and the senior Gehlot lost no time in blaming Pilot for the defeat. He publicly stated that Pilot should take responsibility even as many party leaders questioned the chief ministers inability to ensure a victory for his son.

Earlier this year, Pilot expressed concern about the deteriorating law and order situation in some areas of the stateseen as a comment on Gehlot who holds the home portfolio.

A few months ago, the Rajya Sabha elections too, saw tension rising between the two. Gehlot fielded Neeraj Dangi, a secretary of the Congress party, for the coveted Rajya Sabha seat. Pilot wanted a bigger, well-known name but Gehlot stuck to his choice. And then, ahead of the polls, Gehlot alleged that Congress MLAs were being lured, indicating the party might lose a seat. The results proved to be otherwise and the Congress secured seats for both its candidates.

Pilot, who was credited for the victory, said: Any kind of doubts and suspicions spread around earlier were baseless.

A party insider pointed out that Pilots people were not being rewarded. Many posts for political appointment are lying vacant and Gehlot is in no hurry to accommodate Pilot loyalists in these posts.

Last month, at a function at party headquarters to observe Sanjay Gandhis death anniversary, Pilot announced that as the party president in Rajasthan, he owes it to the Congress grassroots workers who had worked very hard for Congress and needed to be rewarded.

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Stamford 18-year-old Paula Welden has been lost in the woods since Dec. 1, 1946.

Its no wonder the Bennington College sophomore caught the attention of author Shirley Jackson. Jackson, best known for the short story The Lottery and the gothic/psychological horror of The Haunting of Hill House, would recognize the potential dread of being stranded alone in eternal New England woods as December light and temperatures waned.

In the new film Shirley, Elisabeth Moss channels the writers prickliness and fragility as she seeks inspiration for a second novel circa 1950. Jackson finds it in a Missing Person leaflet posted to a tree at Bennington. A young house guest becomes a stand-in for Welden (Odessa Young portrays both), and they jointly serve as Jacksons muse for Hangsaman. The movie burrows into a writers process, offering moments such as Jackson scrawling thoughts while perched on the edge of a clawfoot tub.

The film, like that book, toys with realities and perceptions. But at its root is Weldens legend, also immortalized in Jacksons short story The Missing Girl.

Seventy-four years after what was once called Stamfords greatest mystery, weve never reported the link between Weldens disappearance and Jacksons oeuvre in these pages. But then, aside from a flash of the girls Brookdale Drive address, Stamford plays no role in the film or the book.

Before her disappearance, every cameo Weldon made in The Stamford Advocate involved her youthful artwork, notably murals with a circus motif she contributed to the Stamford Hospital childrens ward. Her brief life left a lasting artistic footprint in Jacksons work, while gaps in the investigation into her disappearance prompted the formation of the Vermont State Police the following summer.

The film is largely as fictional as Jacksons novel. The true story of Paula Welden reads like storytelling as well, with searches through caves, gravel pits and 270 miles of woods. When a Vermont detective finally stopped hunting in 1961, five years after she was legally declared dead, he admitted I dont think we ever had a good clue.

Longtime Advocate columnist Len Massell wrote on the sixth anniversary of Weldens disappearance that her name has become synonymous with mystery, not only in Bennington and the East, but throughout the nation.

That was a year after Hangsaman was published (The Catcher in the Rye, which also has Stamford roots, also came out in 1951). Yet Weldens story faded from these pages. Her family moved to Florida. Lacking an ending, the mystery was largely forgotten.

It began after she finished working a Sunday cafeteria shift at the college and decided to take on Vermonts Long Trail, which was about 6 miles from campus. She hitched at least one ride, chatted with a group coming out of the woods, and vanished.

After her roommate reported her missing, the college shut down so faculty and students could help look for her. Her story shares a common theme with Greenwichs greatest mystery. Like Martha Moxleys murder, early missteps compromised the investigation.

Paulas father, William Archibald Welden, later complained that Vermont followed police procedures of a century earlier. Essentially, 600 people formed a posse.

A grim bounty, raised by family and friends, was offered with a deadline: Information leading to her discovery alive was worth $5,000; or $2,000 if her remains were found.

The Advocate drew attention for hiring a private detective to assist in the search. It wasnt just a local P.I., but Raymond C. Schindler, who was profiled in The New Yorker in 1943 and was later the subject of a biography, The Complete Detective, with a forward by Perry Mason author Erle Stanley Gardner.

Schindler found nothing.

William Welden had a friend fly over the Glastonbury Mountains.

Nothing.

Working off a tip from a gas station owner, they searched through 500 tons of gravel in a pit.

Nothing.

A Vermont clairvoyant prophesied Paula was in Mount Anthony Cave, which bore the legend of swallowing three children 30 years earlier.

Nothing.

When Christmas arrived, her father made a plea over radio station WSTC and in The Stamford Advocate.

Paula,

If this broadcast reaches you, know that we love you.

Whatever may have prompted you to leave us, if you have gone off of your own free will, be sure we will find a better answer to your problem by working it out together. 

Daddy

After the woods thawed in May, efforts finally became more methodical. Sixty members of the National Guard joined local woodsman in using U.S. Army methods to conduct a proper search. Welden joined them. So did Advocate Managing Editor E.R. McCullough.

Nothing.

The trolls of the day mailed false leads, sending investigators to Albany, Montreal, Chicago and Alabama. A headless body was found. It turned out to be a mans.

On June 1, 1947, a woman showed up at the Stamford police station and declared to the desk sergeant that she was Paula Welden. Police Chief John Brennan called McCullough. When the editor arrived, she exclaimed, Thats my daddy.

McCullough asked Brennan to call Paulas father. He arrived, looked at the young woman and said, Its just another false alarm.

The woman was identified and returned to the Hartford mental institution she had left days earlier.

Finally, a summit was held that I cannot fathom occurring today. McCullough gathered her father, Connecticut and Vermont police, the private eye and fellow journalists from Albany and Boston in The Stamford Advocates Atlantic Street office. After five hours, they conceded they had nothing to go on.

There were no women in the room. Another flaw in the investigation.

In the film, Paula gets into Jacksons head. The author wonders about suicide, or a secret pregnancy.

What happens to all lost girls? They go mad, she reasons.

The screen Shirley Jackson doesnt crack the mystery either. But she again summons the darkest horrors that lurk in the imagination. The Girl Who Got Lost in the Woods will never be found, leaving behind a perpetual trail of terrors for those haunted by contemplation of her fate.

John Breunig is editorial page editor of The Stamford Advocate and Greenwicih Time . Jbreunig@scni.com; twitter.com/johnbreunig.
The historic move reversed Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which was a legacy from British colonial rule. The change was welcome by Indian and global LGBTQ+ communities as a step towards acceptance and equal rights, but almost two years after the passing of this law, what is the state of LGBTQ+ rights in India? Global Voices author Filip Noubel asked Supreme Court advocate Saurabh Kirpal, who was also the lawyer for the petitioners in the case that led to the ...

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Incredible pictures have captured Melbourne's deserted streets as the city endures a second lockdown in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus.

The whole of Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are under stage three restrictions for six weeks after community transmissions of COVID-19 in Victoria have skyrocketed in recent weeks.

The reimposed lockdown measures mean people can only leave their homes for four essential purposes - groceries, daily exercise, to give or receive care and to go to school or work.

Strict sanctions have left normally bustling CBD streets eerily deserted as residents heeded Premier Daniel Andrews advice and stayed at home while the second wave of the pandemic grows across the state.

Melbourne's iconic Hosier Lane, Bourke Street shopping district and Flinders Street Station were all devoid of human activity on Sunday morning.

A lone pedestrian crosses the road on Bourke Street in Melbourne CBD on Sunday during stage three lockdown measures

Bourke Street has been reduced from a once bustling urban environment to a deserted landscape as Melbourne residents stayed home to stop the spread of coronavirus

People can only leave their homes for four essential purposes - groceries, daily exercise, to give or receive care and to go to school or work. Pictured: a lone man wearing a face mask crosses Bourke Street with shopping bags on Sunday

Flinders Street Station in Melbourne is completely devoid of any human activity on Sunday as Victoria recorded 278 new coronavirus cases

Street art on Hosier Lane saw no foot traffic on Sunday as locals heeded Premier Daniel Andrews advice and stayed at home

Victoria recorded 278 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday - a seventh consecutive day of triple digit rises, with the national death toll rising to 108 after a man in his 70s passed away.

By contrast, Queensland - which only last Friday reopened its borders after more than three months - reported another day of no new cases on Sunday. Three people are currently battling COVID-19.

NSW, the largest state in Australia, recorded five new cases to 8pm on Saturday, but authorities are concerned about community transmission, especially a cluster from a Sydney pub.

An 18-year-old staffer was confirmed as the sixth case in The Crossroads Hotel cluster, leading to the NSW chief health officer to significantly expand the self-isolation advice to all people who visited between July 3 and 10.

'Without using the obvious pun, we are definitely at a crossroads in NSW,' Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.

She said NSW had the opportunity to clamp down on community transmission or go the way of Victoria, which was why the number of flights from overseas would be capped and returned travellers would be charged for quarantining in hotels.

Collins Street in Melbourne with no traffic and pedestrians as residents keep away to stop the second wave spread of coronavirus

A lone pedestrian wearing a protective face mask crosses the footpath outside Flinders Street Station on Sunday morning

Residents are staying at home to stop Victoria's horror second wave outbreak of coronavirus from spreading further around the country. Pictured: an empty Hosier Lane in Melbourne

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement

'What we need to do is protect our citizens and put resources where they are needed most and that's in community tracing. I want our health officials to be focused on what they do best.'

Premier Andrews again emphasised the need to follow the lockdown rules in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell shire to try curb the spread of the virus.

'This is not an ordinary Sunday. These next six weeks are not an ordinary winter,' he told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.

'We all have to play our part, we cannot ignore the circumstances we face. Nobody wanted to be in this position, but this is where we find ourselves.'

Sunday's 278 COVID-19 cases followed on from 216 reported on Saturday and a record 288 infections on Friday. The state has recorded more than 1,000 cases in the past week.

Adding to the state's woes, 11 of the cases are linked to Brunswick Private Hospital, eight to the Alfred Hospital and two to Box Hill Hospital.

Eleven people have also tested positive at a single aged-care facility.

Mr Andrews also confirmed prep to year 10 students in the lockdown areas of metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell will return to online learning from July 20 until at least August 19.

'We can't have the best part of 700,000 students as well as parents moving to and from school, moving around the community, as if there wasn't a lockdown,' he said.

The national cabinet decide on Friday to halve the number of incoming international flights to ease pressure on hotel quarantine systems and that returning Australians will be made to pay for their hotel quarantine.

A lone pedestrian walks past closed businesses and boarded up stores at Centre Place in Melbourne in Sunday morning

A woman dressed wearing a protective face mask waits for a tram on Bourke Street on Sunday amid stage three lockdown measures

'We believe this is fair,' Ms Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

'Australian residents overseas have had three or four months to think about what they want to do. What we need to do is protect our citizens and put resources where they are needed most and that's in community tracing.'

Labor leader Anthony Albanese backs the national cabinet's decision on halving the number of incoming international flights, but hopes no one's health is put at risk by putting off a return to Australia because of the cost of quarantine.

'I'm sure that governments will apply a common sense principle there,' he told Sky News' Sunday Agenda program.
SAINT-APOLLINAIRE, Que. - The bodies of two girls who were the subject of an Amber Alert were found in a suburb of Quebec City on Saturday, in what Premier Francois Legault is describing as a "national tragedy."

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/7/2020 (556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A police officer drives his quad on a street, Friday, July 10, 2020 in Saint-Apollinaire, Que. Police are continuing their search around a Quebec City suburb after they issued an Amber Alert Thursday for two young girls and their 44-year-old father who investigators believe disappeared following a highway car crash. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

SAINT-APOLLINAIRE, Que. - The bodies of two girls who were the subject of an Amber Alert were found in a suburb of Quebec City on Saturday, in what Premier Francois Legault is describing as a "national tragedy."

Quebec provincial police said they found the bodies of Norah and Romy Carpentier, aged 11 and 6, in a wooded area of St-Apollinaire, Que., drawing to a close a days-long search that gripped the province.

"Like all Quebecers, I am devastated, without words. Losing two children, what we hold most dear in life, is incomprehensible," Legault said on Twitter. "It is a national tragedy."

He said that all of Quebec is grieving with Norah and Romy's loved ones.

A spokeswoman for the provincial police confirmed the news of the girls' deaths on Saturday afternoon, saying the investigation into the cause of death is ongoing.

But Ann Mathieu said the current priority is to locate the girls' father, Martin Carpentier.

Surete du Quebec officers block the road accessing a search area near Saint-Apollinaire, Que. on Saturday, July 11, 2020. Quebec provincial police believe they have found the bodies of two young sisters during a search for them and their father. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

"We think that he is still in the area, so the police operation is still on to find him as soon as possible," she said.

The girls had been missing since late Wednesday. Their disappearance has gripped people across the province who had hoped they would be found safe.

Police had said the girls and their father were believed to have been in a car crash on Highway 20 in St-Apollinaire on Wednesday evening.

Investigators said the car was heading east on the highway when it skidded into the median, flipped over and landed on the shoulder on the opposite side of the highway.

An Amber Alert was issued for the girls Thursday afternoon, and an extensive police search began in the rural area south of Quebec City.

That search had resumed Saturday morning, with police deploying a helicopter, as well as canine units, ATVs and on-foot search teams, to try to locate the three people.

Police believe Carpentier could still be in St-Apollinaire or the nearby town of St-Agapit, Que., Mathieu said.

"We ask the residents of St-Apollinaire and also St-Agapit to really be alert," she said.

Bernard Ouellet, the mayor of St-Apollinaire, said earlier Saturday that the tragedy touched the hearts of people across the province.

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"Everyone has tears in their eyes," Ouellet said in a brief interview. "It's not easy for anyone."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined the chorus of condolences, writing on Twitter that he's "devastated" by the news.

"My heart breaks for the family and friends of Norah and Romy  I'm sending you my deepest condolences," he wrote. "Know that all Canadians are keeping you in their thoughts tonight."

Mathieu said police are asking anyone who sees Carpentier or has any information on his whereabouts to immediately contact 911.

Police say the 44-year-old was wearing a grey T-shirt and jeans when he was last seen. He is listed as being five-foot-ten and weighing 130 pounds.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2020.
Former Chaubeypur sub-inspector KK Sharma, arrested on the charge of conspiring with gangster Vikas Dubey and his henchmen for the attack on the police team during a failed raid at Kanpur's Bikru village on July 3, moved the Supreme Court on Sunday seeking protection of his life.

Citing the spate of encounters in which the gangster and his aides were killed, Sharma said he apprehends danger to his life in police custody. He had earlier asked for a court-monitored SIT probe in the case.

The plea, filed through his wife Vinita Sirohi, apprehended that her husband Krishn Kumar Sharma may be eliminated through "illegal and unconstitutional means".

Kanpur's Senior Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar P had said that Sharma and suspended Chaubeypur station officer Vinay Tiwari had leaked information about the raid to Dubey, following which they were suspended on July 5.

Kanpur Inspector General Mohit Agarwal added the two police officers were present in Bikru village at the time of the raid and they ran away as the firing began.

Sharma, in his plea filed before the apex court, said he was arrested on the ground that he had informed the accused persons about the police raid at Bikru village.

Challenging the claim, Sharma, who is currently in jail, said he was directed by his in-charge Vinay Tiwari, Station Officer of the Chaubeypur police station, to remain at the police station.

Sharma said Tiwari told him in the night that he was going in a team to arrest a criminal as per instructions to him on the phone, with further instructions to conduct a cross-checking at the GT crossing road.

"It is further stated that the contents of the alleged General Diary Details itself is a proof and speaks volumes of the lies of the arresting of Petitioner no. 1 (Sharma) showing that he was trying to run away whereas it is a matter of record that Petitioner no. 1 was living in the quarters situated within the premise of the police station," the plea said.

Filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, the petition also alleged that death of an accused namely Amar Dubey in an encounter in Maudaha in Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh took place under "suspicious circumstances".

"It is submitted that the extra judicial killings of all of the above accused shows plentiful the conduct and modus operandi of all the investigative agencies responsible for investigation of the present FIR. It is clearly evident that the institutions tasked with the protection of law and order in the state have taken law into their own hands and have been killing the accused persons as soon as arresting such persons," the plea said.

The petition has sought protection of Sharma's life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution besides transfer of the investigation to an independent investigative agency.

Dubey was killed in an encounter on Friday after a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur reportedly met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in the Bhauti area. Four policemen, including an inspector posted in Nawabganj, were injured in the accident, Agarwal said.

Earlier, five members of Dubey gang were killed in separate encounters.

While on July 3, two of his associates, Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey, were killed by police in an encounter in Kanpur, on July 8 the police killed another aide, Amar Dubey, who carried a reward of Rs 50,000, in Maudaha village in Hamirpur district.

On July 9, two more aides of gangster Vikas Dubey, wanted in connection with the Kanpur ambush, were killed in separate encounters in Kanpur and Etawah districts.

While Kartikeya alias Prabhat was killed in Kanpur when he tried to flee from police custody, another aide of Vikas Dubey, Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey, was shot dead in an encounter in Etawah.

Kartikeya, who was arrested from Faridabad on Wednesday, was being brought to Kanpur on transit remand when he snatched the pistol of a policeman and tried to flee.

Vikas Dubey, who was carrying a reward of Rs five lakh on information leading to his arrest, was arrested from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday.

(With inputs from PTI)
BSF has been put on high alert after an intelligence input reports possible intention of Pakistan to infiltrate the Line of Control, presence of terrorists at Bhimber Gali and Naushera sectors.

Security forces at India-Pakistan border have been put on high alert after an intelligence input revealed that terrorists are trying to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir to carry out action.

According to the input, There is likely presence of armed terrorists in Bhimber Gali and Naushera sectors with an intention to infiltrate to carry out BAT (Border Action Team) action.

Sources in intelligence agencies have told ANI that input has been shared with forces and Border Security Force (BSF) to keep a close watch on activities in these areas.

Forces suspect that the BAT of Pakistan Army is facilitating terrorists to carry out action soon. There have been movements of terrorists towards the Indian side.

Also read: Vigilance increases at Delhi-Noida border amid rising Covid-19 cases

Also read: Security forces eliminate two terrorists in J&Ks Nougam

Pakistans BAT consists of its army commandos and terrorists belonging to various terror outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba etc. BAT has started targeting civilians as well.

In January, the group killed a civilian identified as Mohammad Aslam whose headless and mutilated body was found near the LoC in Poonch district.

There was no such input over the past few weeks but after the input which has come hours back, forces have been alerted, especially in two sectors. Patrolling has been enhanced and there will be extra deployments during the night. Any misadventures of Pakistan will be responded effectively, a senior BSF official told ANI.

During this season, BAT facilitates terrorists to infiltrate into India. After getting them trained at various known locations, BAT and other Pakistani agencies send them near the border and when they fail in multiple attempts, they plan action with these terrorists to facilitate them, a senior government official said.

Last week, the Indian Army on the basis of specific intelligence inputs from Jammu and Kashmir Police, in a joint operation, eliminated a terrorist close to the LoC in Keri area of Bhimber Gali sector in Jammu divisions Rajouri district.

Earlier today, two terrorists were killed in an ambush by the Indian Army at Nougam sector in north Kashmir along the LoC. The Army recovered arms and ammunition, along with Pakistani currency.

Also read: Kanpur Encounter: MP Police nabs 2 for hiding wanted criminals

For all the latest National News, download NewsX App
New Delhi: Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her daughter Aaradhya have also tested positive for coronavirus, hours after her husband Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law, megastar Amitabh Bachchan contracted the infection, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope tweeted this afternoon. However, minutes later, he deleted his tweet. Rest of the family members - Jaya Bachchan, Shweta Bachchan Nanda and her children Agastya and Navya Naveli - have tested negative for COVID-19.

"Smt Aishwarya Rai Bacchan & daughter Aaradhya Abhishek Bachchan have also been detected positive for COVID-19. Smt Jaya Bachhan ji is tested negative for COVID-19. We wish the Bachchan family to get well soon with a speedy recovery," read his now-deleted tweet.

Aishwarya and Aaradhya's first test report, which came last night, was negative but the final report found them to be infected with coronavirus.

Sources in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claim that Aishwarya and Aaradhya have been suggested to remain home quarantined as they are asymptomatic. However, it is now up to the family to take a call after consulting their doctor.

Amitabh Bachchan on Saturday night revealed about his illness via social media and minutes later, Abhishek too said that he has tested positive for coronavirus. The father-son duo is currently admitted to Mumbai Nanavati Hospital.

ALSO READ: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan test positive for coronavirus, admitted to Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital

Take a look at what they tweeted:

T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 11, 2020

Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you.  Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

A sanitisation drive was carried out at the Bachchans' Jalsa residence in the morning and a team of doctors also arrived to take samples of those whose tests were pending. Their home is now a containment zone and no one is allowed to enter or exit the place.

Meanwhile, at least 54 people work for Amitabh Bachchan in his office and home. Out of which, 28 are at high risk and their samples have been taken. They have been quarantined at Big B's Jalsa and Janak bungalows. Their coronavirus tests were done today, but the results are awaited. The other 26 people are at low risk and have asked to home quarantine themselves. Their tests will not be conducted.

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek married in April 2007. Aaradhya was born in November 2011. The couple and Aaradhya stay with Big and Jaya in Jalsa.
New Delhi: In what could be called a revolt, Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Sunday (July 12, 2020) in a message stated that he had the support of around 30 MLAs and some independent legislators as well.

The Congress government in Rajasthan is now in a minority. Furthermore, Pilot confirmed his non attendance at the meeting called by Congress leaders at Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's house in Jaipur on Monday.

The message was sent by Pilot on his WhatsApp group.

It is being speculated that Pilot alongwith his loyal MLAs, may join BJP.

Meanwhile, the Congress party has decided to send three senior leaders to Jaipur to meet with the MLAs in an effort to sort out the Rajasthan political crisis.

According to sources, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Ajay Maken and Avinash Pandey are being sent to Jaipur to with a message from the party high command hold a meet with the legislators to sort out the problems between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot.

A meeting was held at Gehlot's residence today and around 75 MLAs/ministers were present in the meeting. Currently Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Ajay Maken are meeting with Gehlot to chalk out a strategy for tomorrow's meeting of Congress Legislative Party (CLP), sources were quoted as saying by ANI.

It is likely that after the CLP meeting, a whip will be issued by the party and absentees will have to face the consequences but nothing has been finalized yet. Final decision will be taken after this meeting of Ajay Maken, Randeep Surjewala, Avinash Pande and Gehlot.

Congress leader Avinash Pandey seemed confident of reaching an amicable solution. He said, "All MLAs have trust and faith in the party and CM Ashok Gehlot."

Pandey accused BJP of trying to buy the MLAs and diverting attention of citizens from the present situation. "This conspiracy has been hatched by BJP & they have been trying this for one year. I can say that all Rajasthan Congress MLAs will work together and Congress government in Rajasthan will complete its five years of tenure," he was quoted as saying by ANI.

On the otherhand, Surjewala accused the ruling party at the Centre of trying to buy Congress legislators first in Madhya Pradesh and then in Rajasthan. He further claimed that the crisis is of a state but rather the entire democracy is in danger.

     ,

    29,000   ,

       ,



                  -

    ,

    #Rajasthan  Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 12, 2020

Pilot arrived in Delhi on Sunday morning to meet with Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi but she has not given him time for the meeting yet. However, Pilot met with another party leaders to apprise them about the situation in Rajasthan and spelt out his grievance.

Sources claimed Pilot feels that the party is planning to remove him from the state president post. Pilot is of the view that Gehlot wants to sideline him and the latter has made his displeasure known to the party high command too.

The clash between Gehlot and Pilot is also over the post of PCC Chief as Gehlot Camp wants the 'One Leader One Post' formula to be implemented in Rajasthan. Sachin Pilot is heading the PCC besides holding the Deputy Chief Minister post.

The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police has sent a notice to Pilot seeking his availability for recording his statement in connection with the alleged attempts to topple Congress government in the state.

Sources said that all 13 independent MLAs have also received SOG notice to appear for questioning.

Notably, Pilot has found support in former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who claimed that Sachin Pilot was being sidelined and persecuted by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

"Sad to see my erstwhile colleague Sachin Pilot, too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. Shows that talent and capability find little credence in Congress," he tweeted.

In March 2020, Scindia along with 22 supporting MLAs had left the Congress to join the BJP. He had alleged that he was being marginalised by senior party leaders in Madhya Pradesh.

His move led to the collapse of Kamal Nath-led government in Madhya Pradesh, following which BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan made his comeback as the Chief Minister of the state.
Iranian companies sign Development contract of joint oilfield with Iraq

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, July 11, IRNA -- Iranian companies on Saturday signed contract for development of Yaran joint oil field with Iraq.

The National Oil Company and Persia Oil and Gas Industry Development Company signed the contract to develop Iranian share of Majnoon joint oilfield with Iraq.

North Yaran oil field is located in Khuzestan Province, approximately 130 kilometers west of the provincial capital city of Ahvaz and close to Iran-Iraq border.

When the first phase of the field's development is over, it will produce 30,000 bpd of crude oil with a gravity between 16 and 18.

The signing ceremony of the contract for Yaran joint oil field development project was held in presence of Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh, and Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Masoud Karbasyan.

This contract aims to achieve an additional output of about 39.5 million barrels over the next 10 years with estimated direct and indirect capital costs of $ 294 million and operating costs of the facility during the contract period (including baseline and surplus production) of $ 236 million.

6125**1416

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MUCHO MUCHO AMOR: THE LEGEND OF WALTER MERCADO (2020) Stream on Netflix. Made in the months before his death, this documentary chronicles the larger-than-life existence of the Puerto Rican television and radio astrologer, Walter Mercado. Mercado became an icon  for his elaborate costumes, focus on positivity and as a gender nonconforming entertainer  and his show was broadcast to millions of viewers every day, until he somewhat mysteriously disappeared from public view. But the directors Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch were able to sit down with Mercado, as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda, the actor Eugenio Derbez and the television host Raul de Molina to discuss the entertainers life and legacy.

THE PROPOSAL (2019) Stream on Topic; Rent or buy on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, Vimeo, Vudu. Who owns an artists legacy? Thats one of the central questions in this documentary, which follows the conceptual artist Jill Magid from Brooklyn, to Mexico and Switzerland in her attempt to confront the couple who own the archives of the Mexican architect Luis Barragan. After Barragan died in 1988, his professional archive and the copyright to designs and images of his work were passed from his business partner and then sold to Rolf Fehlbaum, the chairman of an international furniture company, and his soon-to-be wife, Federica Zanco. Throughout the documentary, Magid writes to Zanco, requesting to view and study the archive  without luck  and those letters wind up becoming an integral element of her own exhibition about Barragans legacy. But the focal point of the project lies in the proposal Magid dreams up for Zanco. With the approval of Barragans surviving relatives, Magid transforms some of the architects remains into a diamond  which she sets into a ring, and presents to Zanco in exchange for her promise to move the archives back to Mexico. Detailing at once an art project and a rescue mission, a love triangle and an elaborate, outlandish bargain, the movie has a surface serenity that belies its fuming emotions, Jeannette Catsoulis wrote in her New York Times review.

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Coronavirus is transmitted through respiratory droplets that fly out of peoples mouths and noses when they talk, sneeze, cough or breathe, according to the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and others.

These droplets can be very small and some of them can even penetrate through the fabric of masks. But blocking most of those droplets is better than letting them all through.

A person is more likely to be infected when they are exposed to lots of droplets over a long period of time, leading public health experts to focus more on limiting extended close contacts with people who may be contagious than wiping down groceries or disinfecting every surface before you touch it.

Thats why settings where people are talking, drinking, singing, breathing heavily in enclosed spaces are the places where people are most likely to be infected. Those are the situations where you would most need to wear a mask to protect yourself and others.

What material is best?

Research is beginning to emerge at how effective different fabrics are at blocking droplets from coming in or going out. Its still early in these studies, but they do show that just about anything that blocks things from flying out of your mouth will help reduce the spread of virus-laden droplets, if you happen to be infected, and reduce the chances that youll breathe in enough droplets from someone else to become infected yourself.

Any covering, for sure, is better than no covering, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and a member of the White House task force on coronavirus said this week during a press conference with U.S. Sen. Doug Jones.

The best one is the one you dont want to use because it really should be saved for the healthcare workers, thats the N95. But the surgical masks that we have, the plain old cotton ones, the paper ones, they work fine.

The cloth masks we found also work, in many respects, as good as that.

Even single-layer fabric masks can block transmission of up to 80 percent of respiratory droplets, according a recent study from researchers at the University of Chicago and the Argonne National Laboratory.

Cotton, the most common fabric used to make masks, performed better at higher thread counts, or when multiple layers of fabric were used. Silks, flannels and chiffon also performed well under those tests, with the multi-layered masks performing the best.

However, those data were calculated for masks that were fitted and worn properly, covering both mouth and nose, with no large gaps. The authors found that ill-fitting masks can reduce effectiveness by 60%.

Properly fitted N95 medical masks will stop 95% or more of virus particles, according to the CDCs National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Even simple cloth or homemade masks can stop some of those virus droplets from getting into your nose and mouth, but theyre much more effective at keeping your droplets from getting out, according to the CDC.

How and when should you wash your mask?

Buying and using a mask is one thing, but how can you keep it clean and effective?

Start by washing your hands before touching your mask, and touching it as little as possible throughout the day. Make sure the mask completely covers your nose and mouth and fits snugly to your face with minimal air gaps under the fabric.

The CDC recommends you wash your cloth mask after each use. Buying several masks and limiting trips into the world make that more feasible.

To wash a mask, the CDC suggests using the highest temperature setting on your washing machine for the type of fabric youre using or hand wash with a bleach solution, if the fabric will take it. Cotton masks can be dried in a regular clothes dryer, or hung on a line to dry, preferably in the sun.

Dr. Rachael Lee, a physician at UABs Division of Infectious Diseases, demonstrates the best ways to care for your mask in the video below.

My mask protects me, but mostly you

People can transmit COVID-19 even when they dont know that they have it, said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, head of the University of Alabama at Birminghams Division of Infectious Diseases. And if you are wearing a mask, you are less likely to transmit the virus through coughing, through sneezing, or even through breathing, especially heavy breathing like you might do when you are exercising, running outside or that sort of thing.

Studies have shown that people can transmit the virus before they begin to show symptoms. A study in Singapore estimated that up to half of people who got COVID got it from someone who was not showing symptoms at the time. A similar study in China estimated nearly 80 percent of people who spread the virus showed no symptoms when they spread it.

So, wearing a face mask can somewhat reduce your risk of catching the disease, but dramatically reduce your risk of passing it along to someone else if you are an asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic carrier.

Doctors say wearing a cloth face mask reduces the chances you may spread COVID-19 to others even if you aren't showing symptoms.UAB

The more people who wear masks, the better it works. The University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that 1,700 COVID deaths in Alabama could be prevented if everyone wore masks in public.

When you combine the use of masks with physical distancing, meaning that you try to stay at least six feet away from people for less than 15 minutes, thats the parameter that we like to use, we know that we can really shut down community transmission of this virus, Marrazzo said. Weve shown that now in several places, places that have either never experienced big outbreaks or places that have conquered really scary outbreaks like Italy, Spain, New York City.

Its the most effective way that you can help to prevent transmission of the virus.

Masks arent new

While we are learning more every day about COVID-19, doctors have known for more than a century that community masking can help limit the spread of other respiratory diseases.

Weve known this at least since the Spanish flu of 1918, as shown in writings from the time by then-Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Judson Dowling.

Dowlings comments were highlighted in a recent op-ed by current Deputy Jefferson County Health Officer David Hicks.

We are convinced that the wearing of a simple gauze face mask is the most practical and efficient general method at our command to limit the spread of influenza, Dowling wrote. The cooperation of every organization and every person in the city of Birmingham and the entire community is requested in our efforts to popularize this movement. A person wearing one of these masks not only enjoys almost absolute protection, but the added satisfaction of knowing that he is not dangerous to his neighbor.
Rakesh Wadhawan, an accused in the 6,670 crore Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) bank scam and director of Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), lodged in the Arthur Road central prison, has tested positive for Covid-19.

Wadhawan was admitted to JJ Hospital last week after he complained of breathlessness. He tested positive on Friday and was shifted to GT Hospital, which is a dedicated Covid facility. Hospital sources said that his condition is stable now.

Deepak Pandey, inspector-general of police (south range) confirmed the development and said that the jail authority would now ask six inmates who were in close contact with Wadhawan in the Arthur Road jail, to undergo Covid-19 test. This includes Wadhawans son Sarang Wadhawan as well.

Wadhawan and his son Sarang were arrested on October 3, 2019, by the economic offence wing (EOW) in Mumbai after they were named in the FIR registered by Reserve Bank of India on September 30.

EOW in their charge sheet claimed that Rakesh Wadhawan is the key accused of the fraud as the patriarch of the HDILs business. He gradually plotted the fraud and obtained loans from the bank with the help of other accused, the agency alleged. The police investigation has revealed that HDIL accounted for 73% of the banks total loan book.

On September 23, 2019, the RBI had placed restrictions on PMC Bank and barred it from proceeding fresh loans or accepting deposits.

The EOW has arrested a total of 15 people in the case. All accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Rio De Janeiro: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says he is confident that he will swiftly recover from the new coronavirus thanks to treatment with hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that has not been proven effective against COVID-19.

Bolsonaro said he tested positive for the new coronavirus on Tuesday after months of downplaying its severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country.

The president told reporters he underwent a lung X-ray on Monday after experiencing fever, muscle aches and malaise. As of Tuesday, his fever had subsided, he said, and he attributed the improvement to hydroxychloroquine.

He stepped back from the journalists and removed his mask at one point to show that he looked well.

The 65-year-old right-wing populist who has been known to mingle in crowds without covering his face confirmed the results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters huddled close in front of him in the capital, Brasilia.

Im, well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I cant due to medical recommendations, Bolsonaro said.

Later Tuesday, he posted a video to Facebook of him taking his third dose of hydroxychloroquine, which has also been promoted by President Donald Trump.

Today Im a lot better, so certainly its working, Bolsonaro said, downing the dose with a glass of water. We know today there are other remedies that can help fight the coronavirus. We know none of them have their efficacy scientifically proven, but Im one more person for whom this is working. So I trust hydroxychloroquine. And you?

Brazil, the worlds sixth-biggest nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the outbreaks most lethal hot spots. More than 65,000 Brazilians have died from COVID-19, and over 1.5 million have been infected.

Both numbers are the worlds second-highest totals, behind those of the U.S., though the true figures are believed to be higher because of a lack of widespread testing. On Tuesday alone, 1,254 deaths were confirmed.

Other world leaders who have had bouts with COVID-19 include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Britains Prince Charles, Prince Albert II of Monaco and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Bolsonaro is the democratic leader who has most denied the seriousness of this pandemic, said Mauricio Santoro, a political science professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Him getting infected is a blow to his credibility. It will be seen as another example of the failure of his coronavirus response.

Bolsonaro has often appeared in public to shake hands with supporters and mingle with crowds, at times without a mask. He has said that his history as an athlete would protect him from the virus and that it would be nothing more than a little flu if he were to contract it.

He has also repeatedly said that there is no way to prevent 70% of the population falling ill with COVID-19 and that local authorities efforts to shut down economic activity would ultimately cause more hardship than allowing the virus to run its course.

For nearly two months, Brazils fight against COVID-19 has been in the hands of an interim health minister with no health experience before April. He took over after his predecessor, a doctor and health care consultant, quit in protest over Bolsonaros support for hydroxychloroquine.

Brazilian cities and states last month began lifting restrictions that had been imposed to control the spread of the virus, as deaths began to decline along with the caseload in intensive care units.

Bolsonaro supporter Silas Ribeiro said on the streets of Rio that the president is correct in saying the dangers of the virus have been exaggerated.

Our president is a popular man. He is showing that he isnt afraid to die, said Ribeiro, 59. He is going to have health and get through this sickness.

Speaking near recently reopened shops in Rio, Wesley Morielo said he hopes Bolsonaros sickness prompts him to reassess his stance.

I think everything he said before, of not giving importance to COVID-19, came back against him, said Morielo, a 24-year-old student.

The World Health Organizations emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, wished Bolsonaro a speedy recovery and said his infection brings home the reality of this virus by showing that it doesnt distinguish between prince or pauper.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly visited the hospital since taking office, requiring several operations to repair his intestines after he was stabbed on the campaign trail in 2018.

He said he canceled a trip this week to Brazils northeast region and will continue working via videoconference and receive rare visitors when he needs to sign a document.

Unlike Britains prime minister, who moderated his rhetoric after testing positive for the virus, Bolsonaro will probably not change his stance, said Leandro Consentino, a political science professor at Insper, a university in Sao Paulo.

Hes going down a path of trying to indicate to his base of support that COVID-19 is just a little flu and take advantage of the illness to advertise for chloroquine, Consentino said.

Over the weekend, the Brazilian leader celebrated American Independence Day with the U.S. ambassador to Brazil, then shared pictures on social media showing him in close quarters with the diplomat, several ministers and aides. None wore masks.

The U.S. Embassy said on Twitter that Ambassador Todd Chapman is not showing any symptoms but would be tested.

Bolsonaro tested negative three times in March after meeting with Trump in Florida. Members of his delegation to the U.S. later reported becoming infected.
A team of searchers is looking for Sandra Johnsen Hughes, 54, in the Sierra National Forest after family said they haven't heard from her since June 26.

Although clues have helped Madera County Sheriffs deputies to piece together the scene, Hughes remains missing. According to Hughes' niece, Hughes was on a solo camping trip near Johnson Meadows in late June. Her abandoned campsite was found by authorities, who contacted the family after finding identifying documents among Hughes' belongings.




While South Koreans are in shock and grief over the abrupt death of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon last week, the political community here seems to be split over the formalities of publicly mourning it.



The controversy is largely because he apparently took his own life in the face of a probe into suspicions that he had sexually harassed one of his female former assistants.



Critics call for mourning Park's death in a low-key manner, citing the human rights of the alleged victim, who filed a formal complaint with police against him.



They question whether Park deserves a five-day funeral officially held by the Seoul city government. Park, who died Thursday, is scheduled to be laid to rest Monday.



More than half a million people supported an online petition, posted on the website of the presidential office, against the city's move as of Sunday morning.



It pointed out that the suspected sexual harassment case has been closed without any investigation due to Park's death.



"Do the people have to watch the showy five-day funeral of an influential politician suspected of sexually harassing (a woman)? A family funeral is appropriate," it read.













Kim Chong-in, caretaker leader of the conservative main opposition United Future Party, had put a plan on hold to pay a condolence call to Park's family.



Ahn Cheol-soo, head of the smaller opposition People's Party, wrote on his Facebook account that "I have decided not to pay a separate condolence call," although Park's passing is a sad incident.



He added he does not agree with the Seoul city's five-day funeral for Park either, saying it's more needed than any other time to look back on "perceptions and behaviors" by senior public servants.



Two female lawmakers with the progressive opposition Justice Party -- Ryu Ho-jeong and Jang Hye-yeong -- earlier expressed their sympathy for the woman who had allegedly suffered sexual harassment and vowed refusal to pay respects to Park.



Choi Min-hee, a former lawmaker with the ruling Democratic Party (DP), accused the Justice Party of "politicizing" the issue of mourning the death of the liberal-minded mayor who was in office for a decade.



"Now is the time to mourn," Choi said in her Facebook message.



Last Friday, President Moon Jae-in sent condolence flowers and his senior Cheong Wa Dae aides, including Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, to the Seoul National University hospital, where the funeral home is established.



The DP has sought to prevent political disputes related to Park's death from escalating.



Rep. Kang Hoon-sik, the party's spokesman, urged some internet users to stop trying to identify the alleged victim and spreading unconfirmed information.



"Currently, no facts have been revealed," he said. "There shouldn't be another controversy being created." (Yonhap)
On June 28, St. Louis couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey drew national attention when they brandished guns at Black Lives Matter protesters walking down their street.

An article by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch revealed the McCloskeys, both personal injury attorneys, have "nearly constantly sued other people and ordered people off their property," threatened neighbors at gunpoint and more.

One incident in 2013 involved Mark, the neighboring Jewish Central Reform Congregation, and beehives that he smashed. He threatened to sue the synagogue, obtain a restraining order, and seek legal fees if the mess wasn't cleaned up.

The beehives were part of the Hebrew school's curriculum, and the congregation was planning on harvesting honey to partake in a Rosh Hashanah tradition. The children cried as a result, according to the temple's rabbi.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Patricia McCloskey and her husband Mark McCloskey draw their firearms on protestors.

Lawrence Bryant/File Photo/Reuters

The McCloskeys have been receiving more and more attention since they first went viral at the end of June for brandishing their guns at Black Lives Matter protesters who marched down their street  even the President retweeted a video of the couple.

Related: How 'white savior' films like 'The Help' hurt Hollywood

They claim they support Black Lives Matter, and instead blamed the actions of a few agitators for their fear. "The Black Lives Matters movement is here to stay, its the right message, and it is about time," Albert Watkins, their attorney, said in a statement.

"The McCloskeys want to make sure no one thinks less of BLM, its message and the means it is employing to get its message out because of the actions of a few white individuals who tarnished a peaceful protest."

A prosecutor is currently investigating if the McCloskeys broke state law. As Insider previously reported, Missouri law says a person "commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons" if "he or she knowingly exhibits, in the presence of one or more persons, any weapon readily capable of lethal use in an angry or threatening manner."

Story continues

The McCloskeys.

Associated Press

An investigation done by the St. Louis Dispatch-Post revealed that the McCloskeys have a long history of legal action, conflicts with their neighbors, and even threatened to obtain a restraining order against the Jewish synagogue next door.

The article explains that, in 2013, the Jewish Central Reform Congregation constructed beehives just outside the McCloskey's mansion's northern wall. Their plan was to harvest the honey with the congregation's children to partake in the traditional Rosh Hashanah tradition of eating apples and honey to ensure a "sweet new year."

However, these plans were ruined when Mark McCloskey destroyed the beehives and left a note stating, among other things, that the "structure constitutes a trespass," and threatened that, if the beehives were cleaned up, "a restraining order will be obtained, and we will seek damages and attorneys' fees."

"The children were crying in school," Rabbi Susan Talve told the Dispatch. "It was part of our curriculum."

The McCloskeys have also had various confrontations with other neighbors. Patricia was impeached from the neighborhood's trustee association in 1992 when the other trustees accused her of being homophobic. She was fighting to enforce a rule that prohibited unmarried couples from moving into Portland Place  her husband claimed it wasn't about gay couples, just any unmarried couple.

"They've always been part of the problem, never part of the solution," said one neighbor, Robert Dolgin.

Read the original article on Insider
One of the great California missions begun by St. Junipero Serra in 1771, Mission San Gabriel Archangel near Los Angeles, has burned almost to the ground. It was a 249-year-old church, as if California has a lot of those around, amounting to a huge destruction of the state's unique Spanish heritage.

According to Catholic News Agency:

A massive fire devastated an eighteenth century mission church in San Gabriel, in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, July 11. Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles called the fire at San Gabriel Mission church, founded by St. Junipero Serra, devastating. The fire began early Saturday morning around 4 a.m. and destroyed the roof and interior of the 249-year-old structure. Local firefighters said they responded to an initial alarm at 4:24. By the time they arrived, smoke and flames were visible from outside the church  which is a California Historical Landmark.

Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, kyrie eleison pic.twitter.com/72zT6ztQgF  Tommy Tighe (@theghissilent) July 11, 2020

And it wasn't just a museum - it was a live church, a special one, for generations, marking weddings, funerals, communions, Easter processions, and more, beloved to anyone who ever grew up here as well as most who came since from another Spanish-heritage country. It was a place of peace and beauty and serenity, even for those who aren't Catholic. Every little kid in California gets a tour of the missions and gets to build one in clay as a rite of passage.

To suggest there's nothing to be suspicious about, or ignore the possibility of leftist arson, is disingenuous.

Thus far, the press has not raised that possibility. In fact, they've generally ignored the story, except when they were running stories to take digs at the Missions.

Mission San Gabriel burns down and it isn't headline news. Why is it that Los Angeles news channels are not all over this? @ABC7 @KTLA @NBCLA . If this were any other denomination these stations would've blamed it on @realDonaldTrump supporters. Unbelievable  Jimmy C (@jimmyc714) July 12, 2020

Sure, they'll say it's important not to jump to conclusions, but to not raise a few questions for a loss this momentous is dereliction of duty ,given how big a target this Mission was.

Because here are some starter clues:

A statue of St. Junipero Serra, was toppled in another part of Los Angeles by leftist militants just three weeks ago. Another was toppled in San Francisco at the same time.

Mission San Gabriel itself removed its own statue of the saint (repeat: saint) presumably to keep it from being toppled, quite likely because of threats.

That wouldn't draw some curiosity from the press as whether there were threats, whether the people making the threats might believe the missions were totally deserving of destruction, and whether those same people might just be capable of vandalism? No questions for the militants?

Nope, just a lot of casual mendacious digs at the Mission, taken from the far-left's playbook, as if to lay the groundwork for the argument that some arson would be perfectly justified.

Look at this trashy editorializing casually embedded in a story purported to be fact from the Los Angeles Times, emphasis mine:

Founded by Franciscan Father Junipero Serra in 1771, the San Gabriel Mission has long been seen as an essential link to Californias past, as well as to the brutality and racism on which the state was founded. The mission system destroyed the lives of Native Californians and in recent decades has deeply tarnished the image of Serra, the architect of the system who has long been considered one of Californias founding fathers. Serra was made a saint by the Catholic Church in 2015, fueling outrage from Native American activists and others.

or this from NBC:

But Serra's legacy remains a flashpoint for many Native Americans and Latinos who condemn the colonization and brutalization of Indigenous populations in the region.

There were many other examples.

But not a mention of the destruction the left has wrought in recent weeks, or its willingness to attack anything, knowing it will get away with it, and maybe, just maybe, the Mission might be next.

It truly was NEVER about the statues............https://t.co/l0qzKMZyzy  Joe Wazowski (@JoeWazowski44) July 11, 2020

Which leaves a lot of people feeling suspicious. The press is repeating raw leftist lies about Serra, a tough little padre from Mallorca, Spain, who was toughest of all on himself. Serra walked to California from Mexico City with a wounded leg, and loved the Indians. Leftist lies say he was cruel but actual historic records say the opposite. His lifework was to help the Indians in the ways he knew best -- and he gave up a comfy earlier career in his middle age to do it. Serra was only happy when he was with the Indians, and he constantly fought with Spanish soldiers and bureaucrats who wanted to wipe out them out. The Catholic News Agency item above noted that Serra drew a gigantic funeral attended by Indians when he passed away. Abuses at missions did exist -- well after Serra was dead and buried. Serra is also the only saint I can think of whose legacy includes a distinct and beautiful architectural style, the California Mission style, marrying Spanish and Indian motifs to create something widely imitated throughout the state, simply because it looks so right. And he left a string of huge cities on the West Coast which retain the names he gave them.

Padre Serra is the founding father of California and critically important for understanding the history of the United States, To attack him is to attack all of us. If the church was attacked, it was a distinctly evil attack on the face of California itself, and a vile robbery of all its future generations' heritage. The press is trying to cover the whole thing up, pretending nothing is happening, and leaving just a grease spot of far-left lies.

Image credit: Twitter screen shot
Working from their kitchen table the past four months, Elizabeth Ranieri and Byron Kuth got to roughing out napkin sketches of lofty designs that might serve the needs of one of the countrys densest cities, potentially forever changed by coronavirus. They looked over San Franciscos perpetually beleaguered downtown corridor and saw an area ripe for redevelopment.

As we come out of this pandemic, well have changed how we live, how we work, said Ranieri, design principal at Kuth Ranieri Architects, headquartered in North Beach.

Companies are already mulling how to incorporate social distancing, new cleanliness protocols, workspace redesigns and improved ventilation into their offices. But Ranieri and her husband and business partner, Byron Kuth, are thinking bigger.

What if you took two blocks of office towers in the Financial District, closed off traffic between them and turned the street into a park? What if you converted one block to apartment housing and the other to green energy infrastructure, wastewater treatment and vertical agriculture? Youd have a self-contained, energy-independent community of the future.

Ranieri and Kuth call it a micro-hood.

More Information FEASIBILITY RATING Red light: Kuth and Ranieri are optimistic realists. That's what makes their micro-hood concept so intriguing: it's technically feasible. Logistically, however, they acknowledge that it's a political nonstarter in San Francisco. See More Collapse

The two have been proposing radical, speculative infrastructure concepts for two decades as a means of questioning the status quo of 21st century urban planning. Some of their proposals border on science fiction. In 2009, for example, they rolled out a vertical wetlands design that would transform and celebrate wastewater treatment in Mission Creek.

The pair work on real, practical projects too. They helped design the new Harvey Milk Terminal (Terminal 1) at SFO, which wrapped last year.

The coronavirus pandemic got them thinking about how the city might change, looking ahead.

They zoomed in on a two-block area between Mission, Market, Beale and Main streets. The site contains the soon-to-be-vacated 32-story office headquarters of PG&E, built circa 1925, as well as other pre-war office buildings whose structures lend themselves to feasible conversions.

Its up to us as designers to really understand how to repurpose these buildings, to evolve the downtown into a new neighborhood ecology, Ranieri said.

The guiding theory of Ranieris and Kuths micro-hood concept goes like this: With COVID-19 amplifying the health imperatives of personal space, and shelter-in-place proving that many companies can operate on full-time remote staffs, well have a permanent surplus of vacant office space in downtown high-rises. Itd be only natural then to put that space to new use  perhaps serving San Franciscos gaping need for low-cost housing and injecting lifeblood into the citys urban core.

Any new project should at least in part address our uncertain climate future by incorporating green features and amenities. Plus a self-sufficient community, they reason, may be better equipped to weather an earthquake or economic downturn.

Their micro-hood design could replicate that small-town model within the density of the city, Kuth said. If you could take on two blocks and its successful, that concept could proliferate through downtown, Ranieri says.

Bringing micro-hoods to fruition would require zoning and policy rewrites sure to be rejected by city planners and voters. But thats not the point, Kuth and Ranieri say. This is a thought exercise in better living.

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.

However, downtown San Francisco is already changing. Private vehicles were barred from Market Street in January  part of the citys plan to decongest the thoroughfare and make it more pedestrian-friendly. Proposals for glimmering skyscrapers and multi-use revitalizations  many of which integrate residential, office, retail, hotel lodging, parks and plazas  are flowing; some have already broken ground.

And then there is the sinking trajectory of office-space occupancy during the coronavirus pandemic. The overall vacancy rate of the citys office space was 8.8% in May  already 5.4% above what it was at the end of 2019, according to new figures from real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield.

Companies with downtown offices arent rushing workers back. Wells Fargo and Google have only begun reintroducing small numbers of employees into their spaces, and the newly minted Salesforce Tower development, which supports 9,000 office workers, has yet to issue a timeline for reopening. (When it does open, there will be temperature scans, mask requirements, social distancing, sanitizer stations and more.)

All of this gestures toward a future that de-emphasizes centralized office districts, alleviates rush-hour commute crushes and liberates white-collar workers from the 9-5 schedule.

In that scenario, the once-bustling streets and busy high-rises of downtown San Francisco might look more like blank canvases.

Gregory Thomas is The Chronicles editor of lifestyle and outdoor. Email: gthomas@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @GregRThomas
Australia's major and regional airports say Qantas, Virgin and Regional Express owe them at least $17 million in unpaid landing fees and other charges as they delay paying bills to preserve cash while trying to ride out the COVID-19 crisis.

Australian Airports Association chief executive James Goodwin said a survey of 34 of its members this week revealed that 24 regional airports were owed $10 million in unpaid fees and 10 large and capital city airports were owed $7 million.

Domestic air traffic is slowly starting to recover. Credit:Louie Douvis

Airlines are managing cash flow and one way to manage cash flow is holding out paying your invoices," Mr Goodwin said. "But the flow on effect is that it makes it very difficult for the airport to manage its cash flow and be able to provide those services for the community".

Mr Goodwin said that while airlines had received significant financial help from the government through support packages worth around $1.3 billion, airport's per-passenger landing fees and security fees were going unpaid.
Riot Police Fire Tear Gas To Break Up Anti-Government Protests In Belgrade

By RFE/RL's Balkan Service July 11, 2020

Police fired tear gas multiple times to break up a demonstration in Serbia's capital on a fourth night of anti-government protests sparked by the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Angry protesters threw firecrackers and stones at riot police guarding the parliament in Belgrade on July 10, breaking through a barrier to reach the building. Police used their shields to push back the demonstrators and then chased people through the streets to break up the demonstration.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the "thugs" who sparked incidents in front of the parliament building didn't cause any serious damage and he told Serbs not to worry.

"The perpetrators will be defeated, the majority of them will be arrested, and they will have to answer for all the crimes they committed," Vucic told Pink television in a live broadcast from Paris, where he is participating in normalization talks with Kosovo hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Vucic said arrests were made in Belgrade, including the son of an adviser to Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, but he did not name him and said his activity might not have had anything to do with Dacic.

Vucic also said that the police did not react until the protesters reached the door of the parliament building, only then starting to make arrests.

"Of course, there were normal people who wanted to protest and they are victims of bullies as well," he said.

Vucic noted that July 10 was the most difficult day for Serbia since the beginning of the pandemic, calling it a consequence of the previous five days.

According to data published on July 10, 18 people died in the previous 24 hours in Serbia. The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 17,000 people in Serbia and killed 370, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Protests also continued in Serbia's second-largest city, Novi Sad, where demonstrators temporarily blocked a highway leading to Belgrade. Vucic called the effort "pure terrorism."

"Do you think it is possible to harass the whole country? No one will come to power by violence, only through elections," he said.

Vucic appealed to people not to go out to protest because, he said, those who do will soon have to ask for help from a doctor, and hospitals are full.

Frustration has been mounting at the government's latest response against a resurgent coronavirus outbreak and the perceived politicization of the team that is leading efforts to stem the danger to public health in the Balkan state.

The rising discontent was sparked after Vucic on July 7 said a curfew would be imposed to stem an outbreak in the capital. The government later backtracked on any lockdown in response to a crescendo of criticism from people in the streets.

During an initial protest on July 7, a group of protesters broke into the parliament building while others threw stones, bottles, and other projectiles at police, prompting officers to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The protests have now morphed into larger anti-government protests caused by anger over mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis, and they have attracted leftist groups and right-wing organizations, each with numerous grievances against the government.

The protests come just weeks after Vucic's ruling Serbian Progressive Party swept parliamentary elections in a June 21 vote that was tarnished by an opposition boycott and accusations he pushed for the elections despite health risks posed by the coronavirus.

The global coronavirus pandemic and the pathogen's arrival in Serbia in March prompted a strict lockdown that interrupted over a year of weekly anti-government demonstrations.

Those protests targeted Vucic's tightening grip on media and the levers of power amid a spate of attacks on journalists and other government critics in the Balkan country of around 7 million people.

With reporting by AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/belgrade-protests-serbia -coronavirus-vucic/30720424.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 Ohio Air Force veteran has used biodegradable paint to transform his entire yard into a Trump 2020 banner ahead of the November election - earning praise from the President himself.

J.R. Majewski, of Port Clinton, used around 120 gallons of paint to create a 19,000-square-foot banner to cover his long, triangular front yard of of his Bay Township home.

This isn't the first time the yard was restyled by Majewski - last July he painted a massive American flag in his yard to honor patriotism and fellow military veterans.

J.R. Majewski, of Port Clinton, Ohio, painted a massive Trump 2020 banner on his front lawn in support of the President ahead of the upcoming election

Majewski said he used around 120 gallons of biodegradable, chalk-based paint to create the 19,000-square-foot banner

An aerial view shows the blue banner as a splash of color compared to his neighbor's green plots

President Trump praised Majewski on Twitter and thanked him for the 'beautiful job' he did in transforming his front lawn

J.R. Majewski (pictured) is an Air Force veteran who served in Afghanistan and now resides in Bay Township, Michigan

But this year he wanted to focus on President Donald Trump.

Photos of Majewski's lawn show the near entirety of his lawn has been painted dark blue with the phrase 'Trump 2020 Keep America ... Great!'

An aerial view shows the blue banner as a splash of color compared to his neighbor's green plots.

He used biodegradable, chalk-based paint to avoid harming his yard and then environment.

Initially, Majewski told Port Clinton News Herald that he planned to paint the National League of Families POW/MIA flag, but discovered there could be problems with the amount of black paint needed.

The inspiration to create a campaign-like Trump banner sparked after speaking with other members of a local veterans group, many of which are Trump supporters.

'You see and hear a lot from the president on his support of the military. New weapons, new equipment, new technology  all of those things matter,' said Majewski.

'I think as a veteran, its highly appreciated.'

The space was initially going to be a National League of Families POW/MIA flag, but he changed his mind after talking to his fellow veterans

Several neighbors and a state official have stopped by to see the display, which Majewski said has garnered positive feedback

Majewski said: 'You see and hear a lot from the president on his support of the military. New weapons, new equipment, new technology  all of those things matter'

Majewski, who served in Afghanistan, said he remembers going more than 40 days without a shower because they had no access to running water.

Since the banner was completed, Majewski said he's received overwhelmingly positive and even got a shout out from Trump.

'Thank you to J.R. Majewski, a great Air Force Veteran and Trump Supporter who did a beautiful job of turning his lawn into a giant Trump Sign,' Trump wrote on Sunday morning,

'Thanks also to your fantastic Ohio neighbors. We are making record progress on JOBS, etc. Big Silent Majority!!!'

He's also heard support from the Ottawa County Republican Party and Rep. Douglas Swearingen of District 89, who visited the mural.

Majewski was also featured on Fox & Friends 'Shot of the Morning' segment where he showed off the banner.

'I think he's going through a lot right now, trouble s and turmoils right now, and a lot of people like myself out here supporting him,' he told the station.

'And we've been silent, but it's about time we voice our support.

Majewski said that several of his neighbors have stopped by and he's received 'a lot of positive feedback.'

He also placed a few signs around the banner saying that he can still be friends with people on the other end of the political spectrum.

'YES I support TRUMP and YES we can still be friends even if you don't,' one sign read.

Majewski: 'YES I support TRUMP and YES we can still be friends even if you don't'

Majewski created a GoFundMe to raise money so the banner can remain in place through the November election

'We do not have to be vicious to one another, thats whats dividing us right now,' siad Majewski.

'Not that I wanted it, but I did anticipate a little bit more friction, but there has been absolutely none.'

Majewski created a GoFundMe on Saturday to keep the Trump banner on his lawn through the November election.

'I would like to maintain the TRUMP Flag through November but the costs are be too substantial for me as an individual,' he wrote.

'Donated funding would be used to purchase of environmentally friendly, non-VOC, organic field paint, application of the paint, and lawn maintenance of the flag.'
Laura Harrier is quickly becoming one of the hottest names in Hollywood. Shes had some real head-turning roles in some big-budget films during her young acting career. But theres one role that made her famous that she could come back to. Lets take a closer look at how Harrier, who starred in Spider-Man: Homecoming, could possibly make a return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Who is Laura Harrier?

According to her IMDB profile, Harrier was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1990. She starred in the revival of soap opera One Life to Live. Her big-screen debut came in 2013 when she starred in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Along with being an actor, Harrier is also a model posing for famous brands such as Garnier, American Eagle, Urban Outfitters, and LOreal. Elite magazines like Elle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Vogue have featured her as well.

Along with her MCU role, Harrier also received critical acclaim for her role as a civil rights activist opposite John David Washington in Spike Lees BlacKKKlansmen.

Who does Laura Harrier play in the MCU?

RELATED: MCU X-Men: Why Janelle Monae Is Actually the Perfect Choice to Play Storm in Phase 4

Spider-Man: Homecoming introduced many new elements to Spider-Mans cinematic mythos. For one, it was Spider-Mans first lone entry in the MCU after appearing in Captain America: Civil War. It also introduced a whole host of new (or reimagined) characters like Peter Parkers sidekick Ned, a younger Aunt May, and Zendayas MJ.

Harrier also had a prominent role in the film: the heros love interest, Liz. According to the MCU Wiki, midway through the film, its revealed in a twist that shes the daughter of Adrian Toomes, also known as the Vulture (played by Michael Keaton and the films main antagonist).

Shes a member of the schools academic decathlon team, making the trip with the team to Washington, D.C. Its there that shes saved by Spider-Man, nearly falling down an elevator shaft. She agrees to go to the homecoming dance with Peter, only to have him leave early to save the day from her fathers actions.

At the end of the film, the character leaves New York for Oregon in disgrace after her father is arrested. It seemed like a final sendoff for the character. She had a complete arc. All appearances indicated her run in the MCU was likely at a logical conclusion.

Or is it?

Could Laura Harrier return to the MCU to play a familiar character?

Laura Harrier | Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

Theres at least one additional Spider-Man film scheduled for the MCU, and the possibilities for the universe are endless. After Mysterio revealed Peter Parkers identity to the world at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, its likely that future films will involve Spider-Man dealing with even more of his classic adversaries.

One possible antagonist who could pop up is the Black Cat. In the comics, this character is typically known by the name of Felicia Hardy. One fan on Reddit speculated that Harrier could return as the Black Cat:

Liz was only there to be peters connection to the vulture. Although I love the idea of her surviving the snap and growing up to become black cat.

Could it happen? Absolutely. It would fit this version of Spider-Mans approach to the classic characters. In many cases, they play around with the identities weve come to know and love. For example, rather than be known as Mary Jane Watson, MJ in these films is named Michelle Jones. She has similar attributes of the character everyone knows but with a slight twist and a modern update.

Having Laura Harrier return would be a great move. For one, shes proven to be a solid performer. Secondly, her character returning would make sense from a storytelling perspective. Heres hoping this is one theory that comes true.
Mumbai, July 12 : The number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra crossed 2.5 lakh to reach 254,427, the active cases the 1 lakh-mark to touch 103,516, and the state reported 173 more deaths taking the Covid-19 toll to 10,289, according to officials here on Sunday.

The state recorded third highest single-day spike of 7,827 cases, down 312 from the peak of 8,139 (July 11), making it the fourth 7,000 plus rise in the past 11 days.

The number of fatalities dropped below the 200-mark, but went up from the lowest in July of 125 to 173 during the day. It was, however, considerably lower than the July 4's top toll of 295.

With Sunday's figures, there was one death roughly every 8 minutes and 326 new cases every hour in the state.

Against this, the recovery rate dropped marginally from Saturday's 55.55 per cent to 55.15 per cent, while the mortality rate stood at 4.04 per cent.

The health department said the number active cases was lower (favourable) vis-a-vis patients discharged, indicating a positive sign. On the positive side, 3,340 patients returned home, taking the number of discharged to 140,325, which is considerably higher 103,516 active cases.

Of the total 173 fatalities, Thane recorded 48 deaths, and for the fourth time this month, shot past Mumbai that reported 44 fatalities.

With this, Mumbai's toll went up from 5,244 to 5,288, while the number of Covid-19 patients shot up by 1,243 to touch 92,988.

There were 37 fatalities in Pune, 8 each in Palghar and Nashik, 6 in Aurangabad, 3 each in Solapur, Nanded and Jalna, 2 each in Raigad, Dhule, Jalgaon, 1 each in Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, Latur, Beed, Akola and Gondiya, and 1 from another state.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, son Abhishek Bachchan, daughter-in-law Aishwarya and grand daughter Aradhya tested Covid-19 positive and are under treatment at a private hospital, here.

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared Jalsa, residence of the Bachchans, in Juhu-Vile Parle as a containment zone with as many as 28 more suspected positive staffers. The BMC sanitized and fumigated two other family bungalows nearby.

The MMR (Thane Division) remains on edge as deaths spiral and cases pile up. While the toll has reached 7,281, the 4,475 new patients during the day pushed the number of cases up to 1,73,060.

In Thane, cases have touched 61,869 with 1,646 fatalities. It has become the second worst-hit district after Mumbai in the state.

Pune district continues to leap ahead by notching 39,125 cases and the toll increasing from Saturday's 1,060 to 1,097 till now.

In the Pune Division (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts), the number of deaths crossed the 1,500-mark to reach 1,509 and number of cases 44,812.

The next region of concern is the Nashik Division with 742 fatalities and 15,534 cases, followed by the Aurangabad Division with 392 deaths and 9,741 cases, and finally Akola Division with 162 fatalities and 3,694 cases.

The Kolhapur Division has reported 70 deaths and 2,847 patients, the Latur Division 76 fatalities and 1,837 cases, and the Nagpur Division 26 deaths and 2,707 cases.

All the eight divisions in the state recorded fatalities during the day. Chandrapur and Bhandara remained the only 2 of the 36 districts with zero Covid-19 deaths.

Meanwhile, the number of people in home quarantine increased to 686,150, and those in institutional quarantine to 47,801 on Sunday.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
By PTI

BHOPAL: A case was registered against an elderly journalist and his female accomplice in Bhopal on Sunday in connection with the alleged rape of four girls and a woman, police said.

The police have taken the accused woman into custody, while the man is absconding, an official said.

"A case was filed against Pyare Miya (68) and his accomplice Sweeti Vishwakarma (21) under relevant sections of the IPC, including 376 (rape), and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for alleged sexual exploitation of four girls and a woman," Superintendent of Police (SP) of Bhopal (South) Sai Krishna Thota said.

The case was registered at the city's Ratibad police station and it will be transferred to Shahpura police station, under whose jurisdiction the crime took place, he said.

"The police had received information that four girls and a woman were roaming around in Ratibad area in a drunken state in the wee hours of Sunday," he said.

The police called the child helpline and later questioned the girls, who told them that a man named Pyare Miya had invited them to a birthday party during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday in a flat under the Shahpura police station area of the city.

One of these girls told the police that she was raped there by the man.

The remaining four victims said that they had also been raped in the same flat by the accused on earlier occasions, Thota said.

Ratibad police station sub-inspector Sanjeev Jakhar said that Pyare Miya is a journalist.
It is no exaggeration to say that there is now no guaranteed safe place in Trinidad and Tobago.

We have moved from the stage of being prisoners in our homes behind metal bars to being afraid to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and even to sleep, for fear that if crime comes knocking we may have no recourse but to cower and beg for our lives. The society is being overpowered by the force of the criminal will with insufficient resources to resist and break that power.
Laredo police are investigating an incident where an elderly man died about seven weeks after being beaten and robbed of his bicycle, authorities said.

READ MORE: City told to exhaust local resources before state can lend COVID capacity assistance

The case unravelled at about 8:45 p.m. May 18 when the LPD emergency communication center received a call requesting police assistance, but no address was provided. A call taker was able to obtain an address in the 1900 block of Pinder Avenue.

Officers responded to the location and met with a woman identified as Alma Liendo, 61.

She stated that everything was fine and that an elderly person had broken the front window of her home, states the arrest affidavit. But she did not want press charges on the elderly male, according to the affidavit.

Dido

Officers then returned to service. As they were passing the 2000 block of Pinder, a woman told police that an elderly male needed assistance. Police identified him as Jesus Soto-Torres, 77. The woman stated that Jose Humberto Navarro Jr., also known as Dido, had assaulted Soto-Torres outside the 1900 block of Pinder. However, she refused to provide a statement due to fear of retaliation from Navarro, 25.

Soto-Torres was bleeding from his left elbow. He also complained of pain to his left arm and ribs. An ambulance was requested to aid Soto-Torres. Asked about the incident, Soto-Torres stated he was collecting aluminum cans along the sidewalk of the 1900 block of Pinder when an altercation broke out and a window from the home on Pinder was broken, records state.

Soto-Torres then saw two men come out of the residence upset. They accused Soto-Torres of breaking the window and began assaulting him. One of them used a wooden stick, authorities said. One suspect then grabbed Soto-Torres bicycle in the process of the assault. Soto-Torres gathered his strength to get up and walk away from the area, according to court documents.

Paramedics arrived to begin treating Soto-Torres. First responders then determined that he might have suffered a broken arm. Crews took him to Laredo Medical Center for further treatment.

Officers then returned to the 1900 block of Pinder to contact Liendo again. Asked about Navarro, she stated that her son was not home at the moment. Regarding the incident, she stated that Soto-Torres had broken her window and had fallen on his own by the sidewalk, records state.

READ MORE: Records reveal details in Laredo capital murder case involving death of 2 year old, family of 4

Police then located Soto-Torres bicycle on Liendos property. She could not explain how the bicycle had gotten there, according to police. Officers recovered the bicycle and returned it to Soto-Torres home. Officers then informed Soto-Torres daughter what had happened with her father.

Collapsed lung

Investigators tried to make contact with Soto-Torres during the investigation. Instead, they spoke to his daughter. She stated her father had undergone a surgery as a result of the injuries sustained during the assault and theft of his bicycle, which resulted in a broken arm and a possible collapsed lung. She later informed police that her father had been admitted into the intensive care unit as a result of minor complications post surgery, according to the affidavit.

On May 20, police tried to reach Navarro at his home in the 1900 block of Pinder. His sister stated Navarro was not there at the moment. An investigator left his contact information. Navarro never got in touch with him, according to police. The investigator returned to the home for a second time on May 23. Navarros mother, Liendo, told police that her son was not home. She went on to say that Soto-Torres was under the influence of alcohol, states the affidavit.

(Liendo) further provided that Mr. Soto-Torres was allegedly looking to purchase marijuana but became upset when he was told that they did not sell any there, at which time, he allegedly grabbed a metal pipe and broke her window, states the affidavit.

Liendo alleged that nobody had assaulted Soto-Torres and that he had fallen on his own twice. The investigator left contact information, but Navarro never contacted him, according to court documents.

Leave me alone

The investigator then spoke to a witness on the assault of Soto-Torres. She stated she noticed Soto-Torres collecting aluminum cans around the area. She then heard Soto-Torres yell in Spanish, Ya dejenme (Leave me alone), she told police, states the affidavit.

She then observed Navarro and another man assaulting Soto-Torres while the elderly man was on the ground, the affidavit states.

(The witness) was certain that Jose Navarro was kicking Mr. Soto-Torres while a heavier set subject, who she was not able to identify by name, was striking him with a wooden stick, states the affidavit.

On June 19, police arrested Navarro. He was served with warrants charging him with aggravated robbery and injury to an elderly. He remained behind bars at the Webb County Jail as of Saturday afternoon, according to custody records.

READ MORE: Gov. Abbott says failure to mask, COVID-19 spike could create 'necessity of closing Texas down'

Authorities later confirmed that Soto-Torres died on July 2. As soon as the autopsy is finalized, Navarro could face a murder charge if Soto-Torres death is ruled a homicide, according to police.
Britain will leave the EU at the end of this year. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images

More than 700m ($883.6m) will be spent on new infrastructure, hiring staff and developing technology to ensure Britains border systems are fully operational when the UK leaves the EU at the end of the year.

Cabinet office minister Michael Gove said this major investment would ensure traders and the border industry are able to manage the changes and seize the opportunities when the transition period ends in December.

The 705m package includes 235m for staffing and IT systems, and 470m for port and inland infrastructure to ensure compliance with new customs procedures and controls.

New border infrastructure will be built inland where there is no space at ports, while ports will get one-off financial support to ensure the right infrastructure is in place.

Of the 235m for staffing and IT systems, 100m will be used to develop HMRC systems to reduce the burden on traders, the government said.

READ MORE: With a bit of oomph, Brexit deal feasible in July, says UK's Johnson

Another 20m will be spent on new equipment to keep the country safe, while 15m will go towards building new data infrastructure to enhance border flow and management. 10m will be used to recruit about 500 more border force personnel.

The funding relates only to the implementation of the Great Britain-EU border. The government is expected to publish specific guidance and measures for Northern Ireland in the coming weeks.

Gove said: We are taking back control of our borders, and leaving the single market and the customs union at the end of this year bringing both changes and significant opportunities for which we all need to prepare.

That is why we are announcing this major package of investment today.

With or without further agreement with the EU, this 705m will ensure the necessary infrastructure, tech and border personnel are in place so that our traders and the border industry are able to manage the changes and seize the opportunities as we lay the foundations for the worlds most effective and secure border.

Story continues

READ MORE: Brexit  Cost of beef, cheese, and oranges to surge in UK without trade deal

The transition period is set to end at the end of December 2020, when the UK will leave the single market and customs union.

The funding package comes ahead of a public information campaign in which guidance will be given to traders and hauliers explaining what they may need to do to prepare for the end of the transition period.

Gove said progress is being made on a trade deal with the EU, but that differences between the two sides still remain.

The minister told BBC Ones The Andrew Marr Show: Everyone in government wants to make sure our departure from the European Union is a success.

READ MORE: U.K. Gets Brexit Break After EU Opens Door on Derivatives

And whether or not we secure a Canada-style trade deal with the EU during the course of the negotiations that we are carrying out, we will be outside both the single market and the customs union, come what may.

And that means business needs to take some steps and government certainly needs to take some steps in order to make sure that were ready and thats the basis of the announcement today.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph reported chancellor Rishi Sunak is poised to introduce tax cuts and an overhaul of planning laws in up to 10 new freeports.

Sunak is said to be planning to open bidding for towns, cities and regions to become freeports  where UK taxes and tariffs will not apply  in his autumn budget.

The paper said the ports will be fully operational within 18 months of the UK leaving the customs union and single market at the end of this year.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

More than 35,800 tons of wheat has been purchased from farmers in the East Azerbaijan Province (northwestern Iran) so far, Director of Government Trading Corporation (GTC) of Irans branch in East Azerbaijan Province Esfandiar Abolhassanzadeh said, Trend reports citing the corporations official website.

According to him, the value of purchased wheat was more than 946.9 billion rials (about $22.5 million).

He added that the purchase of wheat in the East Azerbaijan Province began on June 11 and will last until mid-September.

The director predicted that 400,000 tons of wheat will be purchased in the province.

"So far, 2,210 tons of rapeseed has been purchased from farmers in the East Azerbaijan Province. The value of the purchased rapeseed was more than 99 billion rials (about $2.35 million),he said.

The price of ordinary wheat to be purchased from farmers in the current planting year is set at 25,000 rials (about 59 cents), and of durum wheat - at 26,000 rials (about 61 cents) per kilogram in the current Iranian year (began March 20, 2020). The price of rapeseed is set at 46,600 rials (about $1.1) per kilogram.

A number of products, including wheat, tea, rice and other products are purchased from farmers by a state company under a guarantee in Iran.
Linda Davison is not surprised that more families are questioning whether to delay their child's start at school.

The early-education leader said the COVID-19 shutdown and recession had made many of us worried, and anxious parents tended to keep their child at kindergarten.

"COVID has raised anxieties, in parents in particular, and in some ways the natural reaction might be to hold back," said Ms Davison, who is centre co-ordinator at Clarendon Children's Centre in South Melbourne.

Linda Davison, centre co-ordinator at Clarendon Children's Centre. Credit:Eddie Jim

Inquiries about a second year of kindergarten are on the rise, the Victorian Education Department has said, as parents worry that choppy attendance will leave their child ill-prepared for school.
China takes reciprocal measures against US agencies, individuals over Xinjiang-related issues

Global Times

Source: Xinhua Published: 2020/7/11 0:24:51

China has decided to take reciprocal measures against US agencies and individuals with egregious practices on Xinjiang-related issues, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Friday.

Zhao told a daily news briefing that the decision was made in response to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's statement that the United States has imposed sanctions on multiple Chinese officials in Xinjiang.

Zhao said the US practice constitutes serious interference in China's internal affairs, severe violation of basic norms governing international relations, and grave harm to China-US relations.

"China firmly opposes and strongly condemns that," he said.

Zhao said Xinjiang affairs are entirely China's internal affairs, and the United States has no right and is in no position to intervene. The Chinese government is determined to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, combat violent terrorism, separatism and religious extremism, and oppose foreign interference in Xinjiang affairs and China's other internal affairs.

"We urge the United States to immediately rescind its wrong decision and stop making any remarks or moves that interfere in China's internal affairs and undermine China's interests," Zhao said, adding that the Chinese side will firmly fight back if the United States obstinately pursues such agenda.

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The Humane Society of Midland County and, in turn, local dog owners, got a huge gift on Thursday from Dow.

That gift came in the form of dog food  more than 12 tons of it.

Dow delivered more than 1,000 bags of Blue Diamond dry dog food  each weighing about 24 pounds  to MBS International Airport and then transported it to the HSoMC building on East Ashman and to two storage units.

"This is just such a gift," enthused Jesse Donahue, HSoMC board member and director of its Pet Pantry program. "This is huge  17 pallets of food. It's unbelievable. This is going to be just fantastic because we'll be able to give it to Midland County residents, who are struggling with the effects of COVID-19 and the flood."

Especially during such adverse times, the HSoMC wants to help pet owners provide for their pets, Donahue said.

"The last thing you would want to do is lose your beloved cat or dog during this time," she said.

It took two large truckloads for all the food to be delivered from MBS to Midland, where some of it was taken to the HSoMC and most of the bags were stored off site in storage units. Dry dog food has a long shelf life, Donahue said.

"Logistically, it was a challenge because we didn't have space for it all at the shelter. I spent the past week scrambling to find a place to store that much dog food," Donahue said. "Dow got the truck and loaded it and delivered it. We couldn't have done any of that. We don't have a fork lift."

In addition to dog food, HSoMC also provides cat food and cat litter to Midland County pet owners.

"Right now, people should make an appointment to drop by (the HSoMC building). You just need to bring some ID that shows you're a county resident, and you can pick up some free dog or cat food or kitty litter," Donahue said. (The HSoMC's phone number is 989-835-1877.)

In addition, HSoMC works with the Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network and West Midland Family Center, among other entities, to distribute pet food and litter.

Donahue said she handed out 60 bags of dog food in less than two hours at a recent Food Pantry Network distribution at Blessed Sacrament Church.

"It's something that food banks don't think about as much," Donahue said of pet food and litter. "Most people in the U.S. have companion animals, and dog food in particular is really expensive. So it's really nice if they don't have to shell out that money while trying to feed their families also."

Donahue also emphasized that many individuals and businesses in the community, including WalMart, regularly donate pet food and litter to the HSoMC.

"We have a really generous community in Midland," she said. "We so appreciate (the donations)."
Published on 2020/07/12 | Source

Hyundai has becomes the first automaker in the world to start mass production and export of hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks.

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It now has an impressive lineup of more eco-friendly vehicles ranging from electric to hybrid cars after starting mass production of hydrogen passenger cars in 2013.

Hyundai on Monday shipped 10 of the new XCIENT trucks to Switzerland, which will increase to 1,600 by 2025 including 40 more this year.

The 34-ton cargo trucks come with 476-horsepower engines and can travel up to 400 km on a full tank. They take only eight to 20 minutes to fully fill up.

Hyundai hopes to sell them to Austria, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands as well.

The recipient is Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility, a joint venture with Switzerland's H2 Energy.
On the last day of the mini lockdown imposed in Uttar Pradesh from Friday 10pm to Sunday 5am, the Gautam Budh Ngar district administration conducted a mega camps for rapid antigen kit testing at four places, besides the regular sampling drive at other places on Sunday.

District magistrate Suhas LY said that over 3,000 samples were taken from the camps held in Chauda village in sector-22, Kendriya Vihar in sector 82, Baraula and Mamura villages, which were identified by the administration as being prone to infection.

Around 50 people have been tested positive. Incidentally, Sunday was also the last day of 10-day massive surveillance drive. During the last 10 days, we have taken over 30,000 samples through rapid antigen kits and lab-based reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). While the number of rapid antigen kit sampling was around 24,000, the number of RT-PCR testing was around 6,000. Besides, some samples were also taken through TrueNat machines, he said and added that all the sensitive areas in the district are thoroughly being sanitized.

Meanwhile, with 64 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) reported in the district in the past 24 hours, the overall count to confirmed Covid-19 positive cases in the district has gone 3,410 cases on Sunday.According to the daily health bulletin released by the state control room, a total of 2,484 Covid-19 positive patients have been cured and discharged, including 88 on Sunday, in the district so far. So far, 33 Covid-19 positive patients have lost their lives in the district. As a result, the district now has 893 active cases, the bulletin stated.

The bulletin said that in the last 24 hours, as many as 21 Covid-19 patients in Uttar Pradesh have lost their lives and their death audit report is awaited.

According to the state health bulletin, the overall tally of the Covid-19 positive cases in the state has gone to 36,476 with 1,388 new cases in last 24 hours. While 934 patients have lost their lives due to coronavirus infection in the state so far, 23,334 patients have been cured and discharged from different hospitals in the state till the date, the bulletin stated.
The decision has come amid a spike in the number of coronavirus cases, which had crossed 35,000 on Saturday.

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to impose a stricter lockdown across the state on weekends to stop the coronavirus spread, a senior official said on Sunday.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issues fresh #UNLOCK guidelines for the state; all markets are allowed to remain open from Monday to Friday, sanitization process in markets will be done on weekends. pic.twitter.com/lpo48EnsdI  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 12, 2020

The decision has come amid a spike in the number of cases, which had crossed 35,000 on Saturday.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Information) Awanish Awasthi told PTI that the restrictions will be imposed from the coming Saturday and remain in place at least for July.

"The lockdown on weekends will be implemented from the coming Saturday and Sunday, especially in crowded areas. Markets and offices will remain closed on these days. However, banks will remain open," Awasthi said.

"This is being done basically to stop the spread of the infection through unwanted physical movement. Economic activities will, however, not suffer," he added.

Awasthi said the curbs will remain effective in both urban and rural areas of the state.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday directed officials to carry out special cleanliness and sanitisation drives in all markets on the weekends when all shops will be shut to contain the spread of COVID-19. He said all industrial units should also be sanitised on Saturdays and Sundays.

The chief minister was chairing a high-level meeting with officials of the state government at his residence. Adityanath also stressed on maintaining social distancing during construction activities.

Meanwhile, shops and business establishments, other than those dealing in essential services, remained closed in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The state government had on Thursday announced 55-hour-long restrictions from 10 pm on Friday till 5 am on Monday following a surge in coronavirus cases.

However, it kept essential services and religious places out of the ambit of the restrictions. Only vehicles carrying essential goods were seen plying as roads wore a deserted look, as tempos, taxis and government buses did not operate.

Policemen were posted at all prominent crossings of state capital Lucknow and other cities.

Markets in prominent areas of Lucknow such as Hazratganj, Aminabad, Chowk, Gomtinagar, Indiranagar, Latouche Road, Alambagh, Hewett Road, Aliganj and Gudumba remained shut. However, the shops selling essential items were open.

In Kanpur, Naveen Market, Somdutt Plaza, Civil Lines, Meston Road, Panki, Chamanganj, Kidwainagar and other areas remained closed.

In Allahabad, the main markets in the Civil Lines, Mutthiganj, Lukerganj, Badshahi Mandi, Ashoknagar and Nawab Yusuf Ali Road were closed.

"Most shops in the Civil Lines area (Allahabad) remained closed, and will open on Monday," said Abhilash Basak, who runs a tour and travels agency.
When China imposed a draconian new security law on Hong Kong recently, I grabbed my phone to call some young pro-democracy activists I'd met there in November.

Then I put the phone down because I realized that the old Hong Kong, where free speech and rule of law were allowed despite it being part of China, was over. It was ended by a new security law imposed by Beijing that destroys the rights Hong Kongers were promised by international treaty.

Those high school students, who passionately protested last year against Beijing's efforts to undermine Hong Kong courts, were now in grave danger. A call from an American journalist -- or even a WhatsApp message -- might get them arrested.

And make no mistake, Beijing's new Hong Kong security law has repercussions that go far beyond millions of pro-democracy activists, or the fate of a vibrant, iconic city that hosts thousands of international business people, scholars, and journalists.

"Beijing is laying down the gauntlet," says Human Rights Watch China expert Sophie Richardson, "not just to Hong Kong, but to the rest of the world."

Indeed, Hong Kong's fate has become a symbol of a more aggressive China's approach to global politics. And to the intentions of its increasingly authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping.

Seven million Hong Kongers were promised rule of law and other rights for 50 years after Britain's 1997 return of the territory to China, in an arrangement called "one country, two systems." It made Hong Kong the entryway for international businessmen into China, because the city's trustworthy legal system differentiated it from the mainland.

And, in the past, "one country, two systems" held out the promise that China itself might one day introduce political reforms.

But under Xi, China began to shrink Hong Kong's freedoms, producing months of demonstrations last year.

Rather than compromise with demonstrators, the Chinese leader has decided to crush them. This reflects Xi's efforts to strengthen Communist Party control at home, and China's influence abroad, at a time when relations with the United States are more tense, and the West is distracted by COVID-19.

I spoke with Nathan Law, 26, a leading democracy activist and former elected official, who fled Hong Kong last week in order to continue advocacy work abroad, including testifying before Congress. I asked him about the law's meaning.

"What is at stake," Law said, "is not just the safety of friends, but the survival of Hong Kong as an idea. The security police will now have sweeping powers and can threaten not only Hong Kong people, but (foreign) businessmen, journalists, scholars and even diplomats.

"Beijing wants full autocratic control, and it doesn't matter if demonstrations are peaceful. No one knows who is in danger, and Hong Kong's rule of law is destroyed."

But Xi's efforts to clamp down on the Hong Kong democratic idea doesn't mean this historic territory can be transformed into just another Chinese city.

Unlike residents of Shanghai or Shenzhen, young Hong Kongers grew up with democracy. "They are much more determined to resist Beijing's repression," points out Hong Kong democracy activist Victoria Hui, now an associate professor at Notre Dame. "How do you silence a majority?"

Moreover, if rule of law is shredded, international businessmen will face the very problems that led them to prefer Hong Kong. Nor can Hong Kong imitate Singapore, which lacks some freedoms but enshrines a strong legal system.

Rather, cautions Hui, the West must regard China's repression in Hong Kong as a harbinger of Xi's global intentions.

"No question, Beijing's attitude stems from a perception of (Donald) Trump's weakness," she contends. The U.S. president's failure to condemn China's vast "re-education" camps for Muslims in Xinjiang, and his hesitancy to critique Beijing's crackdowns on Hong Kong protesters, have convinced Xi he can act with impunity in Hong Kong.

If Beijing can act with impunity in Hong Kong, it will be emboldened to act similarly with Taiwan, and encouraged with expansionist moves in the region.

Both Law and Hui argue that the United States must stand together with allies in cautioning Beijing against crushing Hong Kong's autonomy.

Possible steps could include targeting mainland officials connected with repression in Hong Kong, or ending Hong Kong's special trade status, both already authorized by congressional legislation -- or even a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Also, U.S. visas for endangered young activists (who aren't covered by Britain's promise to take in many Hong Kongers).

No one questions Beijing's sovereignty over Hong Kong, but the new law sends warning signals about China's global vision for its future.

"How far Hong Kong goes down the road to Xinjiang depends on how the world reacts," Hui says. "If the world looks the other way, it could be much worse." And not just for Hong Kong.

Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may write to her at: Philadelphia Inquirer, P.O. Box 8263, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101, or by email at trubin@phillynews.com.

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The Franklin County School Board will hear plans Monday for a socially distancing start to the 2020-21 school year that will include a mix of classroom and online instruction.

Superintendent Mark Church said the plan consists of students attending classes on a rotating schedule, with some students being in school Mondays and Tuesdays and others attending on Thursdays and Fridays.

Wednesdays will be used for teachers to plan and connect with students online. There also will be a group of students, considered to be most in-need, who will attend school four days a week, he said.

Families also will have the option to keep students at home and do all online instruction under the proposed reopening plan.

We want our families to do whats good for them, Church said.

As guidelines are continuing to change rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Church said these plans could change.

The board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at the school board office at 25 Bernard Road in Rocky Mount. A livestream of the meeting will be available at frco.k12.va.us/Board_Meeting or facebook.com/FranklinCountyPublicSchools/.

The school board will have the final say on the reopening plan. Teachers will return Aug. 3 and the first day of school will be Aug. 10.

The meeting comes as school boards across Virginia are deciding when and how their students will return to school after the state-mandated shutdown in March.

Church said families will be kept on the same schedule so parents with children in different grade levels will be able to ride together to school and hopefully make planning easier for parents.

Not only will just half of the student body be attending classes at once, but at least for the start of school, classes are going to be different for students.

Class sizes will be approximately 10 to 15 students, depending on the size of the classroom. He said some rooms are smaller than others, and seating will be 6 feet apart.

At the high school level, Church said, classes will not rotate in the normal six-period days.

Students will be in classes longer and wont change classrooms four times, but twice, he said. Teachers will move instead of students.

This structure is designed to keep from having to disinfect the classrooms several times each day. Church said the division will follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Virginia Department of Health.

Face coverings will be required for bus riders. Church said there is no real way to maintain a 6-foot distance on the bus. He said staff will be asked to wear masks when the 6-foot guideline is not able to be met, giving the example of a kindergarten classroom, where teachers are in constant contact with students.

He acknowledged that asking students that age to wear a mask isnt feasible, but said the teachers will be asked to do so. Also, students who are working in groups or are in situations where the distancing guidelines cant be met may be asked to wear masks.

Church said he anticipates pushback from parents regarding face coverings, but said, Were hoping they will do it because it is the right thing to do.

Playground equipment will be closed because there is no way to disinfect the equipment after students touch it, Church said.

Physical education teachers are going to have to get more creative with activities and assign more activities for homework, he said, such as hiking and filming themselves on a hike or completing an assignment.

Clubs and extracurricular activities will look different this year as well.

Church said clubs will be able to meet while remaining socially distant, but groups such as theater or band will face challenges with performances and meeting Phase 3 guidelines regarding large gatherings.

To help with feeding students, Church said, students will be sent home with meals as an extension of the summer feeding program at least through August. He said the program is costly, and although federal funds through the coronavirus relief act have helped, they will run out.
Air conditioning units that recirculate the same air in a room need to be either turned off or used with the windows open in order to stop airborne transmission of COVID-19, according to experts.

British researchers say that those who use air conditioners that recirculate the same air are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 if an infected person was in the same space.

According to the Telegraph, there are two types of air conditioners - ones that take in air from the outside and expel it out again and the split unit, which recirculates the same air.

Air conditioning units that do not have a dedicated source of outside air supply into a room could be responsible for recirculating and spreading airborne viral particles into the path of socially distanced users, according to the Chartered Institution of Building Service Engineers.

Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald, a fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said that opening a window while having the air conditioning turned on may be the best way to reduce the risk.

British researchers say that those who use air conditioners that recirculate the same air are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 if an infected person was in the same space. The above image is a stock photo of a Daikin HVAC control panel and thermostat

The recommended strategy now, if you have one of these split units, is to throw the window open and sacrifice your desire for a cold or cooler environment, Fitzgerald told the Telegraph.

If there is a modicum of wind it will move the air around. If you cant open a window turn the unit off.

Researchers in April blamed the air conditioning unit for the spread of coronavirus among at least nine other diners who were eating in a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, in January.

A research paper which appeared in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases investigated the incident at an eatery in Guangzhou in January, where a family had arrived from Wuhan - the city where the Covid-19 pandemic began.

Researchers say one member of that family had an asymptomatic case, and barely two weeks later, the patient along with nine others, including members of their family, as well as two other groups on nearby tables in the restaurant, had all become ill with the virus.

The affected tables in the windowless venue were around three feet away from each other as the authors claim the most likely cause of this outbreak was droplet transmission.

However, they say that droplets only remain in the air for a short time and only travel short distances.

Therefore, they concluded, the air conditioner was likely to have spread the virus further between the affected tables.

As of Saturday, more than 3.2 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19. Of those, more than 134,000 have died.

The number of cases have surged in the American Sun Belt, where temperatures are usually highest.

Experts are divided as to whether coronavirus can be spread through floating droplets in the air, though the World Health Organization acknowledged this was possible. The above image shows a woman wearing a face mask in Miami Beach, Florida, on July 6

The conclusion reached by British researchers about air conditioners comes amid fierce debate among experts about how easily the coronavirus can be transmitted through the air.

The Geneva-based World Health Organization acknowledged this week that the novel coronavirus can spread through tiny droplets floating in the air, a nod to more than 200 experts in aerosol science who publicly complained that the United Nations agency had failed to warn the public about this risk.

Yet the WHO still insists on more definitive proof that the novel coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19, can be transmitted through the air, a trait that would put it on par with measles and tuberculosis and require even more stringent measures to contain its spread.

'WHO's slow motion on this issue is unfortunately slowing the control of the pandemic,' said Jose Jimenez, a University of Colorado chemist who signed the public letter urging the agency to change its guidance.

Jimenez and other experts in aerosol transmission have said the WHO is holding too dearly to the notion that germs are spread primarily though contact with a contaminated person or object.

That idea was a foundation of modern medicine, and explicitly rejected the obsolete miasma theory that originated in the Middle Ages postulating that poisonous, foul-smelling vapors made up of decaying matter caused diseases such as cholera and the Black Death.

'It's part of the culture of medicine from the early 20th century. To accept something was airborne requires this very high level of proof,' said Dr. Donald Milton, a University of Maryland aerobiologist and a lead author of the open letter.

Such proof could involve studies in which laboratory animals become sickened by exposure to the virus in the air, or studies showing viable virus particles in air samples - a level of proof not required for other modes of transmission such as contact with contaminated surfaces, the letter's signatories said.

For the WHO, such proof is necessary as it advises countries of every income and resource level to take more drastic measures against a pandemic that has killed more than 550,000 people globally, with more than 12 million confirmed infections.

For example, hospitals would have to provide more healthcare personnel with heavy-duty N95 respiratory masks - personal protective gear already in short supply - and businesses and schools would need to make improvements to ventilation systems and require wearing masks indoors at all times.

'It would affect our entire way of life. And that's why it's a very important question,' said Dr. John Conly, a University of Calgary infectious disease expert who is part of the WHO's group of experts advising on coronavirus guidelines.

Conly said that so far the studies have not shown viable virus particles floating in the air.

'In my mind, I want to see evidence in those fine mists,' Conly said.

The WHO's latest guidance document, released on Thursday, called for more research on coronavirus aerosol transmission, which it said 'has not been demonstrated.'

The agency also repeated a firm cutoff on the size of infectious droplets expelled in coughing and sneezing, noting that most larger droplets are unlikely to travel beyond one meter (3.3 feet) - the basis for their one-meter social distancing guidelines.

Milton and others have said larger particles have been shown to spread much farther.

Conly and others maintain that if the virus were truly airborne like measles, there would already be many more cases.

'Would we not be seeing, like, literally billions of cases globally? That's not the case,' Conly said.

WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris rejected the claim by critics that the agency is biased against the idea of aerosol transmission, saying it recognized the possibility of airborne transmission during medical procedures from early on in the pandemic.

Harris said it is 'quite possible' that aerosolization is a factor in some so-called super-spreading events in which one infected person infects many others in close quarters.

Many of these events have occurred in places such as nightclubs where people are packed together and are not likely to be careful about protecting themselves or others from infection.

'Most super-spreading events have occurred in indoor places with poor ventilation, with crowding, where it's very difficult for people to socially distance,' Harris said.

That is why, Harris said, the agency has called for urgent studies to figure out 'what really happened in these clusters and what were the big factors.'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed in an elaborate ceremony in May 2018, after less than two years of knowing each other. Some might say they rushed into it, while others believe that when you know, you know. Still, the decisions the two have made since marrying, including their massive royal exit, have led many people to question how much of a say Harry has had in his life over the past few years. And one royal expert hopes the prince soon comes to his senses.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Victoria Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle exited the royal family in March

Late last year, Harry and Meghan took a six-week hiatus from royal duties to spend some time in Canada as a family. Upon returning, the two decided that they no longer felt they had a place in the royal family and announced in January that they intended to step back. The couple continued living in Canada through mid-March; they later relocated to Los Angeles, presumably because Meghans mother was there and it was an area she was familiar with. Harry and Meghan officially left the family on March 31.

Despite that Harry and Meghan were doing what made them happy, there was a lot of backlash from royal fans, as it was suspected Meghan had encouraged Harry to pick up and leave.

RELATED: Prince Harry Royal Rift With Prince Williams Is Reportedly Rooted in Duke of Sussexs Sensitivity to Criticism

There have been reports that Harry isnt happy in LA

Now that Meghan and Harry have settled into LA, there are more stories circulating that the prince isnt adapting as well as he thought he would. LA is far different from London, and Harry supposedly has felt some guilt for leaving his family behind.

Recent reports suggest that Harry doesnt feel comfortable in California and is experiencing the same kind of outcast feelings that Meghan experienced while the two were living in the United Kingdom. However, Harry hasnt outwardly spoken about his new life, so the reports are mostly speculation.

A longtime royal photographer hopes the prince comes to his senses

Many people in Britain are unhappy with Harrys decision to leave. And royal experts fear that hes allowing Meghan to control his life and will eventually become unhappy with all of the changes. According to Page Six, longtime royal photographer Arthur Edwards feels that Harrys criticisms of the Commonwealth are only furthering the divide between him and his family.

Unfortunately for the last couple of years he has gone completely sour, Edwards said. Ive been photographing him since the day he was born I think the moment [Meghan] married Harry, [she was thinking,] Right lets get out of here as quick as we can. Edwards, who has followed the royal family for years, doesnt think the prince is making his own decisions. Hopefully he comes to his senses soon.

Harry and Meghan wed in 2018. | Aaron Chown/WPA Pool/Getty Images

RELATED: Queen Elizabeth Fears She May Never See Archie Again Amid The Escalating Row With Meghan and Harry Claims Expert

Will Harry and Meghan ever return to the United Kingdom?

Right now, there is nothing to confirm that Harry is unhappy in LA or that he has no say in the couples decisions. Royal experts have speculated on Harrys feelings based on their knowledge of the family. With that said, if Harry were unhappy, its possible the two would start splitting their time more evenly between the U.S. and the U.K.

Its unlikely that Harry and Meghan will permanently return to the U.K. or rejoin the royal family. The two spent months planning and finalizing their departure, and they certainly weighed their options to fully understand what theyd be leaving behind once they made the move.
The Pakistan Army shelled forward areas along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri and Poonch districts on Sunday evening, officials said.

The Indian troops also retaliated and the cross-border firing at Nowshera sector of Rajouri, and Kirni and Qasba sectors of Poonch was going on when last reports were received, the officials said.

"At about 1930 hours, Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms and shelling mortars along LoC in Nowshera sector. Indian Army is retaliating befittingly," a defence spokesperson said.

A police official said Pakistan also targeted forward villages and posts along the LoC in Kirni and Qasba sectors of Poonch. "The firing and shelling from across the border started around 1945 hours and was still going on," the official said.

There was no report of any casualty in any of the three sector, he added.
For thousands of years the Vietnamese bronze-cast ong Son drum has been beaten to celebrate fertility, harvest and rain. It was also an instrument of war: tribal leaders would bang the drum at the threat of invasion, sending a message to the next village up the mountain or down the lowlands to prepare to fight.

But now it has a new role. Reborn in virtual form, the drum will help break down the walls that separate us from the physical, interactive history sitting in silent quarantine behind the glass cases of museums.

James Nguyen is building a digital recreation of a 2000-year-old Vietnamese rain drum. Credit:Joe Armao

Melbourne artist James Nguyen and Sydney artist Victoria Pham have purchased a 2000- to 3000-year-old ong Son drum  sometimes called a rain drum  to allow audiences to play it online. Users will be able to trigger digital sound files by tapping on video and still images of the drums surface.

Creating their RE:SOUNDING project for the 10-week Biennial Live Event in the Everyday Digital (BLEED) festival, Nguyen and Pham want audiences to think about how musical instruments in museums might be activated rather than just displayed in glass cabinets  perhaps sent on tour to be played. But permanently returning such artefacts to communities is not their goal.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte attended and event organised by Italian State Police on Saturday night, where he thanked emergency workers as well of average citizens for their efforts at the hight of the coronavirus pandemic.

The event, hosted in front of the Interior Ministry, was an occasion to remember all the victims of the COVID-19.

During his speech onstage, Conte admitted that there were times when he felt the weight of his role as the country "lived moments of strong concern, moments of anguish."

But the Prime Minister added that he never felt that the state couldn't handle the situation, especially given the efforts of everyone working during the emergency.

On Sunday, Italy confirmed another 188 coronavirus infections, a third in the hard-hit Lombardy region

Public health officials say the outbreak remains under control in Italy, the onetime epicenter of the outbreak in Europe, but they are paying attention to clusters of domestic and international infections.

Italy halted all air traffic with Bangladesh and 13 other countries after more than two dozen cases were linked to charter flights of returning Bangladeshi immigrants.

On Saturday, eight of the 19 new infections in the Lazio region around Rome were linked to the Bangladeshi community cluster.

Another cluster has been identified in a TNT delivery company in Bologna, where 12 of the regions 47 new infections are linked. TNT has registered more than 40 total cases.

Another seven people with the coronavirus died in the past day, bringing Italys total confirmed deaths to 34,945.
The Trump administration on Sunday again pressed for full school reopenings in the fall, even as resurgent COVID-19 infections raised mounting criticism that a premature return to classes could pose a danger of greater spread of the disease. With the virus setting new records by the day in many parts of the country, a top health official warned that "everything should be on the table" and even US President Donald Trump wore a mask in public for the first time. But in two television interviews, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos insisted on the need for schools to reopen, even as several states were registering record numbers of coronavirus cases and hospitals in many cities were struggling to cope. "Kids need to get back to school, they need to get back in the classroom," DeVos said on CNN, while acknowledging that local conditions should be taken into account. "Families need for kids to get back in the classroom. And it can be done safely." Yet, another administration spokesman cautioned Sunday that some areas might need to return to lockdowns. Admiral Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health, said that with COVID-19 deaths continuing to rise, "everything should be on the table." "We're all very concerned," Giroir added on ABC's "This Week," as he called for the re-closing of bars, greater spacing in restaurants and the near-universal wearing of masks in the areas most afflicted, largely in southern states that reopened aggressively. - Pressure from Trump - The pressure to reopen schools has come from the top, with Trump threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that refuse to reopen -- a stance that DeVos reconfirmed. Trump has criticized guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control for the safe reopening of schools, saying they were too rigid and too expensive. But many school systems say the safety of millions of students, teachers and staff can be ensured only with some combination of remote and in-person schooling -- or in some cases remote-only teaching -- and that a fully in-person approach, to be safe, would impose extreme costs. DeVos was pressed as to whether the government would actually withhold federal funds from schools, which generally account for around 10 percent of local school budgets -- a substantial contribution at a time when reopening costs for larger school systems can run to the millions. "There is no desire to take money away," she said on CNN. "In fact, we want to see schools open and have been committed to ensuring the resources are there to do that." - 'Malfeasance' - But in a Fox News interview, she was more direct, explicitly saying that if school don't reopen, they should not receive federal funds. That drew a sharp retort from a top Democrat, House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called DeVos's remarks "malfeasance and dereliction of duty." "They are messing with the health of our children," she said on CNN. "We all want our children to go back to school. Teachers do, parents do, and children do. But they must go back safely." The surge in coronavirus cases has pressed some governors in hard-hit southern states to retreat from their earlier efforts to reopen their economies, with some now embracing the wearing of masks. Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, a Democrat, on Saturday imposed a mask-wearing requirement for most circumstances and ordered bars re-shuttered. President Trump on Saturday wore a mask in public for the first time during a visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, after downplaying the practice for months in defiance of his health advisors. But Surgeon General Jerome Adams, in a reversal of tone, wore a protective mask during a television appearance Sunday, and Giroir separately emphasized the importance of masks. "For this to work we have to have 90 percent of people wearing masks in public in the hot-spot areas," Giroir said. "If we don't have that we won't get control of the virus. "It's absolutely essential." The United States is the hardest-hit country in the world, with around 135,000 deaths and more than 3.2 million confirmed cases. Seven states set one-day death records this week. Intensive-care units in many hospitals are operating close to capacity, and there were reports in Arizona of local authorities procuring refrigerated trucks because morgues were being overwhelmed. Giroir stressed that progress is being made in some areas, with more testing and new treatments available. But amid the record-setting rise in cases, he acknowledged that "we expect deaths to go up over the next two, three weeks before this turns around." The administration is preparing for a challenging time in the fall, Giroir said, with the coronavirus likely resurging even as flu returns. "There are some data that you can get both at the same time," he said. "That's not really good."
Sydney:

Missing Malaysian Air flight MH370 appeared to be out of control when it plunged into the ocean, with the wing flaps not prepared for landing, a new report said on Wednesday.

The report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the plane's final satellite communications were "consistent with the aircraft being in a high and increasing rate of descent" when it vanished.

Analysis of the right outboard flap - which was found off Tanzania - showed it was "most likely in the retracted position at the time it separated from the wing", suggesting the plane was not configured for landing before it smashed into the ocean.

The bureau noted that the width of the defined search area was appropriate "to encompass all uncontrolled descent scenarios from the simulations".

"This report contains important new information on what we believe happened at the end of MH370's flight," Australia's Transport Minister Darren Chester said at the start of a three-day meeting in Canberra where experts will plan the final stages of the search.

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 passengers and crew.

Despite a massive underwater hunt far off Western Australia's coast, no trace of the jet has been found.

Investigators have however confirmed that three pieces of debris recovered along western Indian Ocean shorelines came from MH370.

More than 110,000 square kilometres of a 120,000-square-kilometre search arc have been scoured so far and the operation is due to wrap up in early 2017.

The findings of the ATSB's new report, which analysed satellite data, end-of-flight simulations, recovered sections of the plane and debris drift modelling, confirm extensive testing by US manufacturer Boeing and the Australian defence department.

Experts at the meeting will "review all the available data and analysis associated with the search to date", Chester said in a statement.

Their findings will "inform the remainder of the search effort, and develop guidance for any future search operations."

"There are currently more than 20 items of debris of interest to the investigation team which have been located on the coasts of Africa, Madagascar, the island of Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues," he added.

Ongoing drift analysis also suggested the search was in the right place, the ATSB said, noting it was "unlikely debris originated south of the current search area.

"The northernmost regions were also found to be less likely," it added.

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By Ayya Lmahamad

The volume of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Lithuania increased by 42 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2020, Azerbaijans Economy Minister Mikail Jabbarov said during the 6th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lithuania.

The two countries have signed about 40 documents in various spheres, including mutual protection and promotion of investments, as well as elimination of double taxation.

Moreover, mutually beneficial relations in such fields as investment, trade, agriculture, energy, information technology, tourism and culture have been developed, Jabbarov said during the meeting.

Jabbarov emphasized that both countries have the potential to develop cooperation in industry, logistics, small and medium business, innovation and digitalization, agriculture and tourism.

During the meeting, it was noted that the Intergovernmental Commission promotes the deepening of bilateral trade- economic relations, supports the implementation of projects in different spheres.

Additionally, in construction, trade, banking and insurance sectors of Azerbaijan there are 17 companies with Lithuanian capital.

Furthermore, minister underlined Lithuanias support in expanding cooperation between Azerbaijan and EU, especially under the Eastern Partnership Program, noting that Azerbaijan highly appreciates the technical and advisory support of Lithuanian institutions in the projects and initiatives implemented within the Mobility Partnership Declaration, signed with the EU in 2013.

Touching upon the negative effects of coronavirus pandemic, minister stated that these effects did not bypass Azerbaijans economy. Furthermore, he spoke of measures of social and economic support, new mechanisms for entrepreneurship development, an electronic credit platform, tax benefits and work to improve investment attractiveness, reminding that earlier this year it was decided to establish a branch of the 4th Industrial Revolution Center of the World Economic Forum in Azerbaijan.

In turn, Foreign Minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevius stressed the importance of cooperation and expanding economic ties with Azerbaijan, noting that November 2020 will mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Minister also informed about the measures taken by the country to eliminate the negative consequences of the pandemic.

Directions for expanding trade and economic cooperation were also discussed during the online meeting.

The parties discussed issues of trade, agriculture and food security, energy, transport, innovation and information technology, environmental protection, culture.

Following the meeting, a protocol was signed on the results of the 6th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on bilateral cooperation.
12.07.2020 LISTEN

Wole Olanipekun! Remember him? Yes! Everybody talks about him in glowing terms: he is gifted and God-fearing. As a matter of fact, everybody marvels at how the accomplished technocrat, who rose to the pinnacle of his career as Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) about three decades ago, is able to navigate between different camps without hurting them. Still, he gains their confidence! That, of course, speaks to the hallmark of the character of a man.

Recently, Olanipekun wrote a beautiful Tribute to Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua, who died on June 4. In the eulogy, published in The Nation, July 8, 2020, the legal practitioner detailed what the late politician and former governor of the old Ondo State did as well as what he did not do while he lived! Well, its a good thing that the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) put those things on record, if only to serve as motivation for those who will venture to serve in public space in the nearest future.

Without doubt, Olumilua has contributed his quota. Posterity will now be the fair judge! Similarly, Olanipekun has, by that singular act, helped in putting to Nigerians psyche what it means to serve diligently. Apart from refreshing the peoples minds about what the brilliant, witty, cerebral, profound, suave, civilized and cosmopolitan politician stood for, it will also serve as a reference point for generations yet unborn. It was so lovely, well-written and timely! However, while it takes a great man to acknowledge another person as great, part of our predicament as Nigerians is that we forget people and their deeds, so easily. Here, it is not part of our culture to remember the contributions of our heroes past to nation building. In civilized climes, things like this are even taken for granted, simply because they have National Libraries, archives and other places where one can go and find out about people. Had we imbibed the culture of documenting people while in public service, appreciating deserving leaders would have helped to influence leadership selection in this country.

Well, this intervention is not so much about Olanipekun, the legal icon and former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Ondo State. Instead, it is about Olumilua, the man with mesmerizing niceties, an exemplar par excellence  a man and a half, who led by example and practised what he preached. With Olanipekuns rich account of Olumiluas life and time, one is not in doubt of many lessons to be learnt. For instance, a man who described his happiest day in life as the day the OMPADEC Decree was ratified by General Ibrahim Babangida was a patriotic and an altruistic leader who never saw service from a personal point of view or as an avenue to covet and convert public till into personal use. That the late elder-statesman also extended an olive branch to Chief Aaron Komolafe and Chief Lawrence Agunbiade; even that veteran trade unionist, who eventually applauded the governors large-heartedness and immediately called off a lingering industrial action, showed a man whose fidelity to  a common goal was legendary.

Hear Olanipekun again: after gleefully and voluntarily retiring from public service, Olumilua ventured into business, warehousing assorted merchandise in different parts of the present Southwestern States. In the era where diplomats, when they end up, they still loiter around the corridors of power, seeking for more patronage, this career diplomat went into business! In the era where, after leaving office, politicians begin to beg for bread, less than three years after leaving office, simply because they never had a second address, this man of purpose - a necessary existence, both in terms of form and substance chose to be different! What then stops our current champions and leaders of tomorrow from going back to the lives of the likes of Olumilua?

Through Olanipekuns Tribute, Nigerians also learnt that, for the four years that his campaigns lasted, there was scarcely any town, village or hamlet that Olumilua did not visit twice. Impliedly, the politician did not just sit down in one corner of his room, ignorantly expecting manna to fall from heaven; or arrogantly banking on some unessential powers to deliver victory to his doorstep. Instead, he sought to have a clearer picture of the potentialities of Ondo State and the need to internally harness them for his developmental agenda. Olumilua eventually got what he wanted and he delivered on his promises.

In all, Olanipekuns paper touched on leadership selection in Nigeria. Unless, of course, the Nigerian state only exists in the abstract, power in this part of the world is about coming together of some few smart ones for the purpose of sharing the national commonwealth. Apart from allegations of rigging and impositions, most times, those who also emerge as leaders are not those who have ever excelled in their chosen professions, talk less of achieving anything in life! Before our very eyes, a young boy who has just left school is already thinking of having all the millions in the world and keeping everything to himself. He has seen, and heard from the elders, how it is done. But, can we ask the young man to repent when the elders have not repented? These are the issues! They show how bad the country has degenerated!

Nigerias Minister of Transportation recently said something and it has kept a lot of Nigerians worried. There was a time in this country when Rotimi Amaechi was unemployed; as such, was poor. And he dived into politics. Look at him today! For the Minister to have confessed that he went into politics as a result of unemployment was a dangerous confession from a leader. Its a careless Freudian slip. But, again, it is also good as an issue for Nigerians to understand the society in which they have found themselves. Now, see what Amaechi has made from politics: money, fame, power, and associated stuffs. Which means: his friends and classmates who did not join politics were foolish after all!

As 2023 nears us by the eyelid, Olanipekuns intervention is a wakeup call for Nigeria to develop. For this to happen, Nigerians must have, and imbibe a separate, indigenous, and totally Nigerian culture of socio-political development. Quite frankly, a system that carelessly empowers wrong hands and cronies who end up as political liabilities and traitors is not only politically counterproductive, it also engenders backward atavism.

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

*KOMOLAFE writes in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State ([email protected])
Aimed at reducing the cost of Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project and making it more in line with the 'Make in India' intiative, the Centre is in talks with Japan to explore the possibility of Indian companies taking some of the highly specialised engineering jobs.

With the government apprehending that post Covid-19 period, the economic situation may force it to cut down the cost on several big ticket projects, the Indian Railways is working on to reduce the cost of ambitious project of the NDA government.

The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSCRL), the implementing agency for the project, also held discussion with Indian industry to assess the requirement and capability of domestic players.

Recently, NHSCRL also hosted a online meeting with Indian companies and consultants to understand their capacity, mainly on laying track and building steel bridges.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, speaking at India Global Week on Saturday, hinted the government's plan to review the financial aspect of the project.

While insisting that the government is committed at implementing the project, the Minister said "Certainly Covid-19 has been a little bit of spanner in terms of the ambitions that we had around the bullet train project and we are relooking at all the projects in terms of the post-Covid world that will entail a lot of tightening of the belt, a lot of cost cutting and improving our efficiencies and aligning ourselves to how travel and transport will work in the after Covid-19 world."

Earlier, Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav during online media interaction said that the project is going on and acqusition of land is also in progress.

So far 60 per cent land has been acquired (about 77 per cent land in Gujarat, 80 per cent in Dadar Nagar Haveli and 22 per cent in Maharashtra). For the remaining land, a joint measurement survey of land required for the project is about to be completed, he said.

Though the deadline for build Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor is 2023, the project has faced number of issues including delay in land acqusition, increasing the cost of project.

The NHSRCL has already floated 68 per cent of its civil work tenders, covering 345 km out of the total 508 km, along with a separate tender for fabrication of 28 steel bridges for the corridor in Maharashtra.

The estimated cost of project was Rs 1.10 lakh crore and in which Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed to fund 81 per cent of the total project cost.
A family of 10 members were killed on Sunday when a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a house in Yemen's northern province of Hajjah, the Houthi rebels-run al-Masirah TV reported, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

Two others were injured and rescued from under the rubble of the house in Washhah district, said the television.

The victims were mostly women and children, local residents told Xinhua.

There was no comment yet from the Saudi-led coalition over the airstrike.

Yemen has been mired in civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the country's north, forcing the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in the Yemen conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.
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Linkedin Fiachra Gibbons (Agence France-Presse) Paris, France  Sun, July 12, 2020 10:07 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665a747e 2 Lifestyle fashion,fashion-show,fashion-week,coronavirus,video-streaming,digital-fashion-week,France Free

Video may have killed the radio star, but on the reaction to the first ever digital Paris fashion week, the queens of the catwalk can breathe easy.

Forced online for the first time in its history by the coronavirus pandemic, brands both in haute couture and the Paris men's fashion week presented videos of their collections instead.

Whle some had seen this as the advent of a long overdue opening up the cliquish salons of the fashion elite to the masses, the digital revolution has somewhat fallen flat.

"The runway can't reopen for business soon enough," quipped Bridget Foley of the industry bible Women's Wear Daily, who like many felt the online shows -- which end Monday -- lack the buzz and razzamatazz of the real thing.

"Oh Lord, how pretentious are some of these film shorts," she wrote. "This digital fashion week is making the live show model feel plenty relevant, and even essential."

Front row fixture Diane Pernet was not impressed by the early offerings either.

"I am sorry, I think they can do more," the Paris-based American critic and curator told AFP.

"I am all into digital, but it is not doing it for me," she added.

But Laurent Coulier, head men's buyer for top French department stores Galeries Lafayette and BHV Marais, could see upsides.

"The great advantage for us compared to a normal fashion week is the time we save," he told AFP.

Read also: First-ever online Paris fashion week clicks off

No more mad rush

Rather than the mad race across the French capital from one show to the next "we can see them all every half hour online. Sometimes in a normal fashion week with the transport and meetings, it is difficult to get a global view of what is going on."

He also liked how some labels, like Y/Project and the young Paris brand Egon Lab had used their films creatively to show the uniqueness of their clothes.

Coulier said the films were very useful calling cards "giving us a good view of brands that we have not been working with already... so we can go and see them in their showrooms".

Still even he admitted digital lacked the magic of a live show.

On the vexed question whether he would buy a collection on the back of an online show alone, Coulier was more careful.

"You can see how the garments hang and fall, but with digital you cannot touch or feel the material... that's what it lacks."

Pernet cannot see fashion shows being rendered obsolete, "and I am not one of those people who cry at shows," she said.

The the digital revolution has already happened to some degree, she argued. "We have had live streaming of shows for five years now at least there is lots of digital showrooms."

Read also: Paris fashion week to go ahead in September

Digital: 'Light years to go'

As for the designers themselves, Berluti's Kris Van Assche told AFP that you can't beat the drama and adrenaline of the runway.

"I really love the emotion of the show, the history you can tell with the place you hold it in, the music and the people" who come.

"But there is one thing in a fashion show you can't do, and that is to press pause and explain where things come from."

Van Assche said this was "a once in a lifetime opportunity" to give people the background of how he worked on his collection with the American ceramicist Brian Rochefort.

Even so, Foley said that early signs "indicate that digital has a long way to go -- light years -- before it can replace the live fashion event."

While she admitted that with the extraordinary circumstances labels did not have long to prepare themselves, she still found the digital experience lacking.

And that included acclaimed Italian director Matteo Garrone's lavish film for Dior haute couture -- which clocked up nearly 3.5 million Instagram views even as it was criticized for its lack of diversity in casting.

"Exquisite" as it was, Foley said, "the film veered toward fashion satire".

While others noted that the quality of the digital shows improved in the men's collections -- with heavyweights Louis Vuitton, Dries Van Noten and Rick Owens debuting their offerings Friday -- Foley said that for her, the digital experience did not have the "enjoyable intimacy of actually 'being there'."

There was one thing, however, that Coulier, Pernet and New York Times critic Vanessa Friedman all agree on -- digital has cracked fashion show's eternal tardiness problem.

"I'll say one thing... you don't have to sit there for the usual 20-30 minutes twiddling your thumbs and waiting for them to start," Friedman tweeted.

I'll say one thing for all these digital couture shows - you don't have to sit there for the usual 20-30 minutes twiddling your thumbs and waiting for them to start - https://t.co/ppm12EvZnV  Vanessa Friedman (@VVFriedman) July 6, 2020
A dark cloud has suddenly moved above next weekend's scheduled race in Hungary.

The talk in the Austrian paddock after qualifying on Saturday was that British drivers and team personnel risk jail for breaking draconian coronavirus protocols in Budapest next week.

"We have to be at the track or the hotel but I am happy with room service anyway," said McLaren driver Lando Norris. "It's just that I can't go out for a ride or a run."

World champion Lewis Hamilton has decided to stay inside the circuit grounds at all European races in a motorhome, but he said it's a different matter for other team members.

"It's challenging times," he said. "We definitely need to make sure we take it very, very seriously which I think everyone is."

There have been no positive coronavirus tests over the two weekends in Austria, but there have been protocol breaches.

For the second time so far in Austria, Sebastian Vettel was spotted breaching his 'bubble' again on Saturday, this time in conversation with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.

"We have to be more focused and vigilant," Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto admitted. "I think both drivers understand they did something wrong and that they have to abide by the rules in the future."

But with huge fines and even the risk of jail for non European Union citizens awaiting the F1 circus in Hungary, it is believed Chase Carey and Jean Todt are in touch with Hungarian authorities to seek exemptions.

If no exemption is given, it is rumoured F1 could call off the race in Hungary and instead simply stay in Austria for a third consecutive weekend.

"Chase Carey asked me what the drivers think of us driving at the Red Bull Ring three times," Grand Prix Drivers' Association boss Alex Wurz told Osterreich newspaper.

"I told him that if it's the only track we can go to, we can drive here ten times," the Austrian said. "So maybe we can react very quickly now.

"We know all the marshals and all the equipment is here already. If we can know within the next 24 hours, it may well be that we will be back here again next week," Wurz added.

(GMM)
BENZIE COUNTY - An Ohio pilot walked away unhurt from a crash landing at the Thompsonville Airport on Thursday night after Michigan State Police say the man forgot to engage the twin-engine Cessnas landing gear and the plane slid about 250 yards down the runway.

The incident occurred just before 8:45 p.m. Thursday at the airport in Benzie Countys Weldon Township. When troopers responded to reports of a plane crash, they learned the 57-year-old pilot from Swanton, Ohio, may have been distracted and forgot to put down the landing gear, police said.

The pilot was the planes only occupant. He was flying from the Pellston airport to Thompsonville when the incident occurred.

When the Cessna touched down about halfway down the runway, it slid before coming to a rest. The planes underside and its propellers were damaged in the landing, police said.

A report detailing the incident and photographs of the plane were submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration for review and investigation, authorities said.
New Delhi, July 12 : The National Commission for Women (NCW) has written to the Gujarat Police, seeking action against a man who gave open rape threat to a female comedian.

In its letter written to Gujarat DGP Shivanand Jha, the NCW chairperson said, "NCW is committed to create safe online space for women and ensure cyber security for women and is perturbed by the rise in the use of the cyberspace to instigate crime against women." The Commission has sought immediate action against the man under the provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act. It has also sought an action taken report from the Gujarat Police at the earliest.

"Considering the sensitivity of the matter, it is requested that immediate action be taken as per the Information Technology Act, 2000, against the miscreant and a feedback be apprised to the Commission by e-mail/fax," the letter read.

The man, who has been identified as Shubham Mishra, not only used filthy language, but casually threatened to rape standup comedian Agrima Joshua.

The matter came to light after actor Swara Bhaskar, comedian Kunal Kamra and many others shared the video of the man on Twitter. In the said video, the man could be seen abusing Joshua and also giving an open rape threat to the female comedian.

Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal also took to Twitter, appealing the Gujarat Police to take immediate action against the Mishra.

"A man is openly giving rape threat to a woman and it can be clearly seen in the video that he isn't afraid in doing so," Maliwal tweeted.
Firefighters in San Diego responded to a blaze aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard after an explosion on Sunday.

Approximately 200 sailors were on board the US Navy ship. CNN reports that there are 11 people injured, but everyone is safely off the vessel.

San Diego Fire Chief Colin Stowell said that the fire could burn for days "down to the water line" as there is no safe way at present to tackle the blaze.

The amphibious assault vessel was in port undergoing routine maintenance when the explosion happened at around 9am local time.

Video of the scene showed firefighters rushing into thick smoke billowing from the ship docked at the San Diego Naval Base.

Dramatic aerial footage show vast plumes of smoke reaching up into the sky above the base.

Local fire crews have since left the ship and pier due to the potential for explosions from oil and fuel stored on board.

Explosion with at least one injury at the USS Bonhomme Richard, the fire department wrote on Twitter, adding it was working with Federal Fire to account for all sailors and clear the area.

Fireboats were seen spraying the sides of the ship.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately apparent and the San Diego Fire Rescue Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With reporting from Reuters
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: It and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said that 35-40 per cent of medicines are currently being supplied to the entire country from Hyderabad. Rama Rao, who virtually launched CIIs Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Start-ups, said, Telangana continues to remain the largest hubs for the operations and research of pharma in India.

In fact, I am proud to share, since healthcare has become such an important topic, today 25-40 per cent pharma produced in India is from Hyderabad. He said out of the six companies, which were in the process of developing a vaccine for Covid-19, four were headquartered in Hyderabad. I hope the vaccine comes out soon and that it will come from India and Hyderabad, he said.

He said Remdisivir, the drug which was being used to combat Covid-19 was also being produced in Hyderabad. Rama Rao highlighted the opportunities in the life sciences sector, especially with the current situation.

MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao inspects the robot UVRova BR which will be deployed at the Gandhi Hospital Intensive Care Unit for disinfecting the recently vacated beds

The possibility of combining artificial intelligence, machine learning and convergence points of other important sectors such as healthhcare and life sciences present a brilliant opportunity, he said. He said samples of Switzerland based Novartis, whose centre in Hyderabad is the second largest in the world and is working on digital drug discovery. Apart from that, while congratulating CII on the start-up centre, said, There is significant scope (for Indias start-up ecosystem) to grow even further and stronger.

Nurses boycott duties, to continue protest

Hyderabad: More than 200 nurses working on an outsourcing basis at Gandhi Hospital boycotted duties on Saturday. The nurses staged a dharna on the hospital premises, near its entrance gate, from 9 am to 5 pm. One of the protesting nurses told Express that no one from the government has reached out to them, offering a solution.

We have decided to continue our protest and will boycott duties on Sunday as well, the nurse said. These nurses have been working at the hospital for the past 13 years, at present earning a take-home salary of Rs 15,000 per month. They demand that their services be regularised
Harris County Sheriff's Office

A 63-year old woman riding a bicycle died Saturday after being hit by a motorist who was allegedly driving while intoxicated in a northeast Houston neighborhood.

A man allegedly lost control of his vehicle and hit the woman on the bicycle at 7:55 p.m. Saturday on John Ralston Road, investigators said. The wreck killed the woman and landed the car in a drainage ditch.
Amid the looming fears of disastrous blast on the abandoned oil tanker lying off Yemen's coast with 1.1 million barrels of crude onboard, the UN has decided to hold talks to avert environmental damage after signing an agreement with Yemen's Houthi rebels on July 11. A threat to the Red Sea marine life as warned by UN sources and experts, the oil tanker has been stranded at Yemen's Ras Issa port terminal, north of Hodeidah port, for at least five years. In a press release, the UN Safety Council said that an assembly on July 15 would debate the disastrous outcomes from the 45-year-old FSO Safer after reports of water that entered the vessels engine room has come to notice of UN.

As per a news agency report, the Iran-aligned Houthi group, which controls the port, dispatched the letter to the UN to deploy a technical team to the tanker. The unclaimed oil tanker has been unattended as a result of thawed relations between Yemen's Saudi-backed government and the Iran aligned Houthi group in the war-torn country. In a live-streamed media conference, the UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the mission will carry out repairs and assess the risks into the decaying tanker which was deployed as storage and offloading vessel.

The Government of Yemen requests convening a UNSC special session to address the imminent threat posed by the decaying Safer oil tanker and avert an imminent environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen and the region. https://t.co/49C18Isybq  Yemen Mission to UN (@YemenMissionNY) July 4, 2020

Read: Two Yemeni Men Arrested For `duping' Recuperating Soldiers

Read: Yemeni President Addresses The Nation From Riyadh

Arranging sale of crude

According to reports, the UN has been in talks with both entities in Yemen about arranging the sale of the crude and dividing proceeds between the government and the rebels that dismantled the administrations command hold in the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014. Further, Yemen's oil output collapsed after the intervention of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen in March 2015. Yemen's oil-and-gas fields, most of which are located in eastern and southern areas are controlled by the Saudi-backed government.

The Iranian backed Houthis in Yemen are blocking the critical maintenance of an aging oil tanker in the Red Sea.

An oil spill could potentially have devastating consequences on Yemeni islands, the Red Sea coral reef, and the income of Yemeni fishermen. pic.twitter.com/Hyd2Fes0LY  Saudi Embassy (@SaudiEmbassyUSA) June 15, 2020

Recently, the UN had launched virtual talks for ceasefire agreement and confidence-building for peace negotiations between both the parties in Yemen. However, due to surge in violence since late May the meetings were stalled as situations complicated after a temporary truce owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic was violated, according to a report.

Read: Hunger Stalks Children In Yemen As UN Cuts Aid Programs

Read: Group Says Hundreds Tortured In Secret Prisons In Yemen

(Images Credit: Twitter/ MiddleEastInstitute)
Sybil Wettasinghe A tribute to Sybil Nenda By Yomal Senerath-Yapa View(s): View(s):

Sybil Nenda  or Aunty Sybil as we lovingly know her, passed away on July 1, but she has left us a treasure trove of books.

Sybil Wettasinghe was born in the beautiful village of Gintota in Galle on October 31, 1927, 92 years ago. It was the village and its serene beauty that made her first draw  and she drew naturally  it was how she expressed herself. If she was sad, she put it on paper with an easy flowing line; if she was hungry she would draw to let her mother know.

She called her village upbringing a long, beautiful dream. Then people seemed to live as warm-hearted human beings, giving out love and affection, caring for one another with a kindred togetherness.

When her family moved to Colombo, she was six, and Sybil entered

Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya. Her grandfather was a sculptor and her mother was an artist with lace-making.

Sybil was the apple of her fathers eye and it was to him she ran when friends teased her for being dark, calling her Kalu.

When only 17, Sybil would join the Lankadeepa newspaper as an illustrator. In 1952, she was recruited by Lakehouse Publications. As main illustrator of the Janatha newspaper she was the first Sri Lankan woman to work full-time as a journalist. She would later draw for Sunday Observer, Silumina, Daily News and Sarasaviya.

Also in 1952, Sybil dreamed up her famous Kuda Hora (The Umbrella Thief) for the childrens page. It was the story of a certain mischievous person who stole umbrellas from a whole group of villagers that became her first book, triggering more than 200 other beautiful volumes.

Among the most famous are

Little Granny, Monster in the Well and Magul Gedara Bath Natho. In 1995, she won the Gratiaen prize for Child in Me, which was a book that looked back at her blissful childhood, from where she drew so much happiness and from where come the ideas for all her books.

But the awards she won are so numerous. In 1965, her story Vesak Lantern won an Isabel Hutton Prize for Asian Women writers for Children. Her first book Kuda Hora was chosen for the Best Foreign Book Award in Japan in 1986. Kuda Hora alone was translated into English, Norwegian, Danish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Swedish.

Last year she produced Wonder Crystal, which has a Guinness World Record for the most alternative endings for a book with 1250 endings by children of Sri Lanka. The endings were of (prose) writings, drawings and poetry.

The beautiful, lively trademark art of Sybil Wettasinghe was enjoyed by many generations of children across the world. They will stay with us for long years to come, as they have for nearly seven decades. - Pix: Funday Times file photos
Democrats and their allies say they do not believe that any action before November by Senate Republicans will be enough to neutralize the issue, given the partys extensive history of trying to overturn the health care law without putting forth any alternative. They point to recent polls that show Democrats are far more trusted on health care than congressional Republicans or Mr. Trump.

And they are pressing their case in campaigns across the country through an array of ads aimed at Republicans. Last week, Protect Our Care began a $2 million advertising campaign in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin  all key battlegrounds  condemning Mr. Trumps response to the pandemic. One highlighted the toll the virus had taken on those in nursing homes and other older Americans.

This crisis did not have to be as bad as it was, a health care worker says at the end of one such spot.

On Thursday, Majority Forward, a group aligned with Democrats, began part of a $3 million ad campaign in Georgia accusing Senator David Perdue, the Republican incumbent, of siding with insurance companies over beneficiaries, even during a pandemic. The group began a similar seven-figure effort in Colorado against Senator Cory Gardner, the endangered Republican incumbent.

In one of his first ads after securing the Democratic Senate nomination to oppose Mr. Gardner, John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor, called it lunacy that the Trump administration would press a lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act during a pandemic. These efforts follow earlier health care attacks on Senators Martha McSally of Arizona, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Joni Ernst of Iowa, all incumbent Republicans.

Democrats say voter anxiety about health care has been exacerbated by the Trump administrations decision to again ask the Supreme Court to take the health care law off the books. The administration filed an extensive brief making its case in late June, joining Republican officials from 18 states in calling for action that could eliminate coverage for as many as 23 million Americans. Democrats are eager to pounce.

Health care is a major issue for voters and a liability for every Senate Republican on the ballot, said Lauren Passalacqua, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. She noted that Republican leaders were in court right now trying to tear down health care access in the middle of a pandemic. Its reckless and out of touch, and well make sure voters have the facts in November.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) produced Arvind Ramvilas Trivedi, a close aide of slain gangster Vikas Dubey and Trivedis driver Sushilkumar Suresh Tiwari in Thane court on Sunday and both the men were sent to judicial custody till July 21.

ATS officials said, the Uttar Pradesh police are on their way to Mumbai and will take them to Kanpur to investigate their roles in connection with the case of eight policemen killed by Dubey and his associates.

According to an ATS official, Trivedi and his driver fled from Uttar Pradesh soon after the killing of eight policemen at Bikru village near Kanpur, in the intervening night of July 2 and 3, by Dubey and his associates. Both went to Madhya Pradesh and from there they came to Pune hiding in a truck. After that they changed the vehicle and took another truck and arrived at the Kolshet area in Thane, he said.

ALSO READ | Vikas Dubeys close aide arrested from Thane by Maharashtra ATS team

The Juhu unit of the ATS received a tip-off regarding Trivedi, known by the alias Guddan. The Juhu unit under the guidance of superiors laid a trap at Kolshet Road, Thane and nabbed accused Arvind Ramvilas Trivedi and his driver, ATS officials mentioned in their statement.

Dubey, who was a history-sheeter and has approximately 60 criminal cases against him, absconded and was ultimately arrested in Ujjain on July 9. He was killed in an encounter on July 10, while being brought back to Kanpur by UP Police.

Trivedi is suspected of being involved in the murder of UP state minister Santosh Shukla, who was killed inside the Shivli police station in Kanpur, in 2001. Dubey was the main accused in the case, which saw 25 policemen, brought in as eyewitnesses to the murder, turn hostile in court. The UP state government had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 in exchange for information on Trivedis whereabouts.

Following Trivedis arrest, the UP Police issued a press statement confirming Trivedi was an associate of Dubey. Following the arrest made by Maharashtra ATS, it has come to light that Arvind Trivedi is an old member of Vikas Dubeys gang. Investigations are being conducted to ascertain if he was involved in the incident at Bikru village. Arvind has not been named in the FIR, the UP Police said.
So why did President Trump finally act? He was certainly prompted by Mr. Stones impending date with prison on Tuesday, but his own re-election prospects also likely played a part. When Mr. Stone was convicted in November, Mr. Trump was facing a close race with Joe Biden among likely voters in battleground states. Today, fewer than four months until Election Day, the polls point to a possible landslide defeat for Mr. Trump.

The stakes in 2020 are far higher for Mr. Trump than they were in 2016. Back then, few expected him to win, including Mr. Stone. (We were filming him on the morning of Election Day, when he told us that he had just registered ImpeachHillary.org.) And because of the global fame Mr. Trump had amassed as the Republican nominee, any result was a win for him.

This time if he is defeated, he will suffer global humiliation.

President Trump has reportedly lashed out at his re-election team for his floundering campaign. As he seeks to right the ship, Mr. Trump would surely want to turn to Mr. Stone, whose political acumen he has trusted for nearly 40 years and who has far more experience in presidential campaigns than anyone else in the presidents inner circle.

It wouldnt be the first time Mr. Stone rescued a Trump campaign from disaster, beyond whatever Mr. Stones involvement was with WikiLeaks. When Mr. Trumps 2016 campaign careered after the Access Hollywood tape revealed his crude remarks about women, Mr. Stone sprang into action. During the second debate between Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton, Mr. Stone helped orchestrate an indelible moment: Sitting in the front row were several women who had accused President Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct. The scene rattled Ms. Clinton and muddied the scandal.

After all theyve been through together, its fitting that Mr. Stone and Mr. Trump have arrived simultaneously at a moment of great need. Mr. Trump has now rescued Mr. Stone, but can Mr. Stone return the favor?

Mr. Stone has been through a damaging legal struggle, and its not clear whether his arsenal of dirty tricks can work anymore. While Mr. Stone once worked his dark arts from the shadows, his adversaries are now on to him. He is superb at creating inflammatory spectacle to gin up publicity, but what good is that talent during a pandemic? He is expert at manipulating people via social media, but hes been banned from virtually every major platform, and Facebook just exposed and deleted his clandestine network of fake accounts. He is a master of riling up the base, but Mr. Trumps core problem is reaching out to moderates.
A conference of rectors of member universities of Agence Universitaire de La Francophonie in the Asia Pacific region (CONFRASIE) was held on Friday at Hoa Sen University to listen to challenges and suggestions from AUF-member universities.  VNS Photo Gia Loc

HCM CITY  Universities in Viet Nam should start preparing different scenarios to adapt if the country experiences new COVID-19 incidences in the community, said Dr Nguyen Ngoc ien, rector of Hoa Sen University.

ien spoke at the conference of rectors of member universities of Agence Universitaire de La Francophonie in the Asia Pacific region (CONFRASIE) held on Friday at Hoa Sen University.

The Agence Universitaire de La Francophonie (AUF) is a society of universities offering training in the French language.

Though Viet Nam has controlled the spread of COVID-19, ien said that universities should identify opportunities and challenges at this time in case another outbreak occurs.

AUF should have programmes to help its member universities resolve these challenges, he said.

Nguyen Van Nam, vice rector of Tay Nguyen University, said: The current pandemic is forcing universities to develop different scenarios for training programmes, defining the percentage of time for teaching theory via online and the percentage for practice after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

Universities should also create software for teaching online, Nam said, adding that for practical lessons, universities need assistance from organisations to have virtual laboratories at which students can practice.

When teaching online, instructors can take two weeks to compile their lectures and they need software to help them do so, he said.

Other software for university governance is also needed to resolve the health crisis in the present time and the upcoming time, he added.

A representative of HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy suggested that AUF could give advice to member universities on how to assess students and the quality of online teaching.

ien said that besides taking initiatives in resolving challenges caused by the pandemic, Vietnamese universities should modernise their facilities, improve the capacity of lecturers, and implement modern governance.

Dr Nguyen Thi Minh Hong, rector of University of Education, noted that 35 per cent of the instructors at her university have a PhD degree, but the percentage is still lower than universities in other countries.

Dr Nguyen Tat Toan, vice rector of Nong Lam University, said the brain drain at public universities is a problem.

Nam of Tay Nguyen University said: Training according to societys demands and training human resources to serve the country is a problem that universities in agriculture and forestry face because majors in agriculture are not attractive to high school students.

The conference is part of AUFs global counselling programme in the French-language academic community, according to ien.

AUF said it was developing new strategies based on suggestions from its member universities.  VNS
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 20:00:50|Editor: huaxia

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- All of the 19 districts and counties in Three Gorges Project regions shook off poverty in May thanks to a series of supportive policies and local government efforts.

- The regions had been plagued by poverty long before the project was launched.

- Boasting a number of tourist attractions with beautiful natural landscapes, the regions have taken tourism as one of their pillar industries.

by Xinhua writers Xuan Liqi, Wang Jintao, Zhao Yufei

CHONGQING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- This year, people living in regions of the Three Gorges Project, the world's largest hydropower project, witnessed a historic achievement in bidding farewell to poverty.

Covering about 10,000 square km, the regions involved in the project are located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, China's longest waterway. With a population of about 30 million, they had been plagued by poverty long before the project was launched.

All of the 19 local districts and counties shook off poverty in May thanks to a series of supportive policies and local government efforts.

Photo taken on June 22, 2020 shows a photo wall displaying the happy life of people who have settled down after their relocation from the Three Gorges Reservoir area at the Three Gorges Migration Memorial in Wanzhou District, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

BOOMING TOURISM

Song Qinggui, a 47-year-old villager in Qingshi Village, Wushan County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, is busy running his agritainment business.

Song and his family moved to the village in 2002 because of the project. Living by the Yangtze River, the family previously managed to eke out a living by farming.

"I was worried about our future life when we moved to the village in the mountains," he said. "We could barely feed ourselves by farming on fertile land before. What were we going to do with the poor soil that was full of stones in the mountains?"

However, his worries were soon alleviated. Now Song can earn more than 200,000 yuan (about 28,500 U.S. dollars) each year by running his agritainment business, a marked improvement from the 30,000 yuan he previously earned. Boasting a number of tourist attractions with beautiful natural landscapes, the regions have taken tourism as one of their pillar industries.

Song Qinggui prepares lunch for tourists at his family-run hostel in Qingshi Village of Wushan County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, on June 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

After years of struggle, Song has continued to expand his business that now covers 1,000 square meters, becoming one of the most successful in the village.

"I never thought business would be so good," he said. "The rooms and dining hall are often fully booked especially in autumn and winter, which are the best seasons to see red leaves in the mountains, a famous attraction in the county."

Wushan County has built a 5A-level scenic area, China's highest level for tourist sites, three 4A-level areas and a 3A-level area. In 2018, the county received about 16 million tourists from home and abroad and raked in a comprehensive tourism income of 6.4 billion yuan, up 17.45 percent and 35.72 percent year on year, respectively.

SUPPORTIVE POLICIES

Besides tourism, local governments also adopted a series of supportive policies to build other pillar industries that can capitalize on the regions' many strengths.

Aerial photo taken on June 19, 2020 shows houses surrounded by navel orange trees in Santuo Village of Fengjie County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

Considering the local climate and terrain, Fengjie County promoted the farming of navel oranges, helping more than 7,000 poverty-stricken households shake off poverty with over 23,000 hectares of orange trees.

"My family has planted more than 200 navel orange trees, which can produce nearly 10,000 kg of oranges and help us earn over 40,000 yuan each year," said Li Shengmei, a 48-year-old villager in the county's Santuo Village.

Wanzhou District, under the administration of Chongqing, brought in investment and built a fruit planting base covering 100 hectares in its Xiazhong Village. "I can earn more than 10,000 yuan by working at the base combined with other income. My husband works at a construction site in the district and can earn 50,000 yuan each year," said Deng Xiuying, a villager in the district.

Deng Xiuying works at a longan plantation in Xiazhong Village of Wanzhou District, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, on June 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

Local governments also adopted other policies including reducing medical bills and other expenses for poverty-stricken households to ease their economic burdens.

STARTING POINT

Seeing shaking off poverty as a new starting point, people in the regions are looking forward to better lives.

Li Shengmei is planning to expand the planting of navel oranges. "I have mastered the planting techniques to produce higher-quality oranges with a higher yield," Li said. "I will plant an extra 100 orange trees next year and make more money for my family."

"We plan to move to the city in the future," said Deng Xiuying. Deng and her husband have bought a house in Wanzhou District, and their daughter has found a job at a school in the district. "We believe our lives will get better and better," she added.

Aerial photo taken on June 23, 2020 shows litchi and longan plantations in Xiazhong Village of Wanzhou District, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

A high-speed railway is under construction in the regions, which will connect most of the districts and counties and shorten the travel time between Beijing and Wushan County to less than five hours.

"More tourists will visit the regions when the railway opens," said Song Qinggui. "It is time to expand my agritainment business again."

(Xinhua reporter Wu Yanxia also contributed to the story; Video reporter: Zhao Xiaoshuai; Video editor: Chen Sihong)
As U.S. Moves To Exit Afghanistan, Rivals Prepare To Swoop In

By Frud Bezhan July 12, 2020

The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was backed by most countries in the region, who shared the goal of ousting the extremist Taliban regime and eliminating the allied Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

The governments in Tehran, Moscow, and Islamabad readily helped the United States fight the extremist groups.

Iran provided crucial intelligence to support U.S. special forces and CIA teams orchestrating the invasion.

Russia supplied Soviet-era maps and intelligence and later allowed the U.S. military to send supplies to Afghanistan through its territory.

The stage has already been set, with many key actors -- including Russia and Iran -- increasing their ties with both the Afghan state and the Taliban."

Even Pakistan, the chief backer of the Taliban, offered its assistance in helping hunt down Al-Qaeda militants and became the main supply line for NATO forces.

But in the intervening 19 years, the regional consensus favoring the U.S. troops in Afghanistan has eroded.

Though the U.S. military swiftly overthrew the Taliban and eliminated Al-Qaeda safe havens in Afghanistan, many feel it got bogged down in mission creep.

Meanwhile, Washington's ties with many regional players -- including Pakistan, Iran, and Russia -- became toxic.

With U.S. forces scheduled to exit Afghanistan next year as part of a framework peace deal with the Taliban, Washington's rivals see an opportunity to step in and expand their footprint in the war-torn country.

Those efforts have intensified since the United States and the Taliban signed a deal in February aimed at negotiating an end to the war, which began way back in 2001.

Under that agreement, U.S. forces will withdraw from Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which has pledged to negotiate a permanent cease-fire and power-sharing deal with the Kabul government.

The delayed intra-Afghan peace talks are expected to be complex and protracted, and will likely take years.

Impatient to end the costly and unpopular war, President Donald Trump is considering fast-tracking the exit of American troops ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, according to U.S. media reports.

Experts say that in the absence of a peace deal, a U.S. military withdrawal could ignite a free-for-all that involves regional powers pursuing often competing interests in Afghanistan.

"The stage has already been set, with many key actors -- including Russia and Iran -- increasing their ties with both the Afghan state and the Taliban," says Michael Kugelman, South Asia senior associate at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

"The objective is to develop more influence and generate more leverage with key actors across the board, so that they will be in a better position to pursue and achieve their goals in a post-America Afghanistan -- a place we can expect to be increasingly unstable and complex."

Iran, Pakistan, and Russia -- with long histories of meddling in the country -- are hedging their bets. The three countries have sought to improve their relations with the Western-backed government in Kabul, while also reaching out to the Taliban in case it gains a role in a future Afghan government.

Islamabad has retained its long-standing ties with the Taliban and shelters the group's leadership, while Tehran and Moscow have been tacitly working to bolster their ties with the militants, with the goal of expanding their own strategic interests in Afghanistan.

'Make The Taliban Even Stronger'

Pakistan has long been accused of playing a double game in Afghanistan, sheltering and aiding the Taliban while receiving billions in U.S. aid to clamp down on the militants.

Pakistan's ties to the Taliban date back to the 1990s, when it provided arms, training, and intelligence to the militants. Islamabad was one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government when it took power in Afghanistan in 1996. After the regime's fall in 2001, many Taliban leaders took shelter inside Pakistan.

Observers say Pakistan sees the Taliban as an insurance policy for reaching its long-standing strategic goals in Afghanistan -- installing a pro-Pakistan government in Kabul and limiting the influence of its archrival India, which has close ties to Kabul.

Experts say Pakistan stands to be the biggest beneficiary of a U.S. military pullout from Afghanistan.

"If a withdrawal leads to a peace process that results in a settlement, then Pakistan would benefit as this would likely entail the Taliban holding a fair share of power," says Kugelman. "If the peace process collapses and the U.S. withdrawal ushers in a period of extended destabilization, Pakistan would still benefit because it would make the Taliban even stronger."

'Buffer Zone'

Iran has supported its traditional allies in Afghanistan -- the Shi'ite Hazara minority and the Persian-speaking ethnic Tajiks -- while recently establishing contacts with the Taliban, a predominately Pashtun group.

Iran and the Taliban were on the verge of war in 1998 -- when the group controlled most of Afghanistan -- after the deaths of eight Iranian diplomats in the Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif.

Tehran backed the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance before the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. But in recent years the Islamic republic and the Taliban have forged closer ties, with militant leaders even visiting Tehran.

The relationship between Shi'ite-majority Iran and the Taliban, a fundamentalist Sunni group, is complex. Iran officially opposes the Taliban, but experts say it provides some military support to the mainstream Taliban and even rival breakaway factions.

Analysts say that while Iran does not want the Taliban to return to power, Tehran is looking to maintain influence with the group as a hedge in case the Taliban becomes a political player in Afghanistan or it forcibly seizes control of the country.

"These initiatives serve the purpose of securing Iran's sphere of influence in Afghanistan and perhaps even creating a buffer zone on Afghan soil to protect parts of Iran's eastern borders from infiltration by forces hostile to Iran," says Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

'A Great Power'

For more than a decade after the U.S.-led invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Washington for taking on the "burden" of fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and urged it to "carry it to the end."

But since 2014, the Kremlin has attempted to undermine the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, fueled by Moscow's desire to be an international power broker and its rivalry with the West in Ukraine and Syria, where Russia joined Iran in supporting President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Moscow said it has established contacts with the Taliban in recent years because of the common threat posed by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Afghanistan. Washington has accused Russia of arming the Taliban, which it denies.

In the past two years, Moscow has hosted two international conferences on the Afghan peace process, inviting Taliban leaders and Afghan opposition members.

Earlier this month, U.S. media reported that a Russian military intelligence unit had offered secret bounties to the Taliban if they killed U.S. or NATO-member troops in Afghanistan.

Moscow and the Taliban have denied the reports, which are based on U.S. intelligence assessments. But the revelations have served to highlight Moscow's murky dealings in Afghanistan.

"Russia's interests in Afghanistan are twofold: to avoid an explosion of chaos on the borders of what it considers its sphere of influence, and to use it as an opportunity to demonstrate and assert its claim to be a great power," says Mark Galeotti, a Russia analyst and a senior associate fellow at the British-based Royal United Services Institute.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/as-u-s-moves-to -exit-afghanistan-rivals-prepare -to-swoop-in/30721830.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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The Greens propose to spend $2 billion and wipe out the creeping costs of "extra-curricular' school fees paid by parents of Queensland state school students if they win - or hold the balance of power - after the 2020 state election in October.

The party will also re-direct an extra $5 billion of revenue from banks, developers and mining company royalty towards Queensland's public schools over four years in a major redistribution of revenue.

Greens MP Michael Berkman says state school parents are paying too much in extra-curricular fees. Credit:Tony Moore

State school parents regularly pay a voluntary contribution of around $500 (2018 figures), then extra fees for laptops, sports fees, musical equipment, sports equipment, uniforms, electronic devices, excursions, transport and extra tuition classes.

In an education policy to be launched on Monday morning, the Greens will argue parents of Queensland's state school students are paying an increasing share of education costs.
The report may signal a new phase in the investigation into the crash, as the aircrafts black box flight recorder is due to be sent to Paris, where international investigators will finally be able to examine it. It also comes as public opinion remains low over Irans government as it faces both crushing U.S. sanctions and vast domestic economic problems.
By Trend

Many Finnish companies are currently re-evaluating the internationalization plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a source in Finlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Trend.

The official said that focus areas for Finnish businesses in Kazakhstan are energy, cleantech, digitalization and education.

"For instance, in education, the last few years have seen an opening of an innovative school called High Tech Academy in Almaty, which is based on Finnish pedagogy, as well as implementation of education development projects in Kazakhstan by Finnish institutions of higher education. The economic cooperation in the field of education has successfully continued in 2020," the official said.

However, talking the measures that companies are planning on taking to further strengthen this economic cooperation the source said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Finnish companies are currently re-evaluating the internationalization plans.

Official also said that currently a number of Finnish companies are interested in participating in public tenders and project implementation in Kazakhstan.

The official also noted that the trade relations are supported on the political level by the Finland-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Commission, whose meetings are organized biannually.

"In addition, the interest of companies are represented at the EU-Kazakhstan High Level Platform, which was founded in 2019 to promote dialogue on economic and business matters. The platform brings together the EU Delegation, head of missions, European companies and the Kazakh government. Moreover, the Embassy of Finland in Nur-Sultan and the Business Finland office in Almaty assist Finnish companies working and interested in the Kazakh market in a number of ways," the official said.
Smoky ribs and 10-pound loaded baked potatoes, big enough to feed up to 15 people, typically attract large crowds at Burns Original BBQ in Acres Homes, but this past weekend there was even more of a draw.

Early Saturday, volunteers and community members painted a Black Lives Matter mural on the street in front of the restaurant, which has been a fixture of the community since 1973.

Cars slowed their pace down the street, as if the drivers were being careful not to smudge or ruin the already dried red and yellow-painted letters. Others pulled over, hopping of out their cars to record the mural and snap selfies.

This (mural) is one of the things that I always wanted for the community, said Cory Crawford, owner of Burns BBQ.

He was inspired by the Black Towns Matter street mural painted last month in Houstons Independence Heights. Acres Homes, a historically Black neighborhood, needed one of its own.

So many people come from all over to visit Burns BBQ, but when they see this, this attachment will bring more awareness to the whole situation going on right now, said Crawford, adding that the restaurant had already seen an outpouring of support on social media.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Black Towns Matter: Houston celebrates and observes Juneteenth

Justin Miles, 36, a longtime patron of Burns, said it was the perfect place for a street mural.

It has so much history, said Miles, who remembers coming to Burns every Saturday after church growing up. To have this in the forefront of an all-Black owned restaurant, its a sense of pride. It makes me feel like were behind our people.

To Miles, such a mural recognizes that the Black community has faced some unique struggles, particularly in cases of police brutality, and that African Americans and their allies stand together.

We support each other because we know how we feel. Everyones lives matter, but its Black people being targeted, Miles said.

Meanwhile, just miles away on Carver Road and South Victory Street, Angeanette Thibodeaux, council president of Acres Homes Super Neighborhood, joined community members in painting Acres Homes second Black Lives Matter mural, which will pay homage to the neighborhood.

Once finished, the paintings letters Land I will be creatively combined with two number 4s. The 44, most commonly pronounced as the fo-fo, is a nickname for Acres Homes that refers to the historical 44 Metro bus route that runs through the neighborhood and once served as one of the only forms of public transportation for its black residents, Thibodeaux said.

Thibodeaux, 48, said many members of the community were eager to see a mural like this happen in Acres Homes.

They were admiring Atlanta. They were admiring D.C., and every meeting, they were like, They really got it down pat. They stand for their people, Well, we hear you, Thibodeaux said. So, were going to stand, even if we have to break a rule or two to do it. And we did it.

Both murals, done without permits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are a big deal, said Arica Bailey, coordinator of planning firm CGES Bailey Planning, which helped organize both.

On HoustonChronicle.com: From Jim Crow to hotbed of diversity, 20 books that explore Houstons history of race and racism

Acres Homes is one of the Black communities in the city where this was the only place where they could live, and its still predominately Black, Bailey, 34, said.

According to the most recent city government data available, the Acres Homes neighborhood was 71 percent Black, 23 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent white in 2015.

Bailey, who said other individuals have already expressed interest in a mural in their area said the two new street paintings will help bring more exposure and pride to Acres Homes, where Mayor Sylvester Turner grew up.

Its important to keep them on the map, keep showing that theyre important, and we have to keep doing the work, Bailey said.

And if people didnt know about Acres Homes before, she added: Theyre going to know about them now.

brittany.britto@chron.com
Australians have overwhelmingly supported state and territory moves to close their borders with Victoria as concern about the coronavirus continues to rise.

A national survey by Newgate Research found 85 per cent of respondents supported the states and territories shutting off Victoria, with 6 per cent opposing the decision.

Support was slightly lower in Victoria than other states and territories, with 74 per cent of Victorians saying they thought the border closures were the right thing to do in the face of the second wave of infections sweeping their state.

Police enforce the hard border around Melbourne at a roadblock on the Hume Highway in Kalkallo. Credit:Jason South

NSW last week closed its border with Victoria, while all states and territories have severe restrictions in place for travellers from Victoria including mandatory 14-day quarantine.
The BBC is under fire for allowing three controversial critics of Rupert Murdoch to trash his reputation in a new documentary about the Australian-born media tycoon.

Corporation bosses have been accused of failing to be impartial by omitting crucial background details about contributors Tom Watson, Hugh Grant and Max Mosley in the three-part documentary.

Episode two of the series, entitled The Rise Of The Murdoch Dynasty, focuses on the phone-hacking scandal which rocked the moguls News International empire between 2009 and 2011.

Along with Alan Rusbridger, the then editor of The Guardian newspaper, and investigative reporter Nick Davies, Watson, Grant and Mosley are credited with exposing how News of the World journalists hacked the phones of celebrities and even murder victims, including Milly Dowler.

The BBC is under fire for allowing three controversial critics of Rupert Murdoch to trash his reputation in a new documentary about the Australian-born media tycoon. Pictured: Mr Murdoch at the Citymeals On Wheels' 33rd Annual Power Lunch For Women at The Plaza Hotel in New York last November

But the episode, entitled The Rebel Alliance, either fails to mention or glosses over details such as Mr Grants criminal record or the role Mr Watson played in promoting false allegations of a VIP child abuse ring at Westminster.

In the programme, to be shown on BBC2 on Tuesday, July 21, Mr Mosley can barely hide his contempt for Mr Murdoch.

The ex-Formula 1 boss successfully sued the now-defunct newspaper after it published a story claiming he had been involved in a Nazi-themed orgy.

In 2008, a judge ruled there was no substance to the claim of the Nazi theme which, Mr Mosley tells the programme, they completely invented.

He says the heartbreak unleashed by the publicity surrounding his private life encouraged his son Alexander to rekindle a drug addiction, which claimed his life in 2009.

Mr Mosley likens his battle to a war that was between good and evil.

The programme gives a brief background into Mr Mosleys family links to the far-Right, noting that his father Sir Oswald founded the British Union of Fascists.

But it fails to mention that in 1961, Mr Mosley published a highly racist election pamphlet for his fathers party, which claimed coloured immigrants spread diseases.

Corporation bosses have been accused of failing to be impartial by omitting crucial background details about contributors Tom Watson (left) and Hugh Grant (right)

The BBC show also features former MP Tom Watson but fails to mention Mr Mosleys 500,000 donation to the politician.

The former Labour deputy leader repeats an earlier claim that Murdochs business operated along the lines of the mafia and says: They broke the law on an industrial scale, they covered up and tried to silence their enemies who tried to investigate.

However, the BBC series fails to mention the recent controversy over Mr Watson, who stands accused of pressuring the police into investigating claims of a child sex ring.

The malicious allegations ruined the reputations of ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor, late former Home Secretary Leon Brittan and Normandy veteran Lord Bramall.

The programme gives a brief background into Mr Mosleys family links to the far-Right, noting that his father Sir Oswald founded the British Union of Fascists

Last year, fantasist Carl Beech was sentenced to 18 years for perverting the course of justice.

Mr Proctor last night said he believed Mr Watson had pursued the issue of phone hacking and then child abuse to further his own political career.

Similarly, the BBC programme does not dwell on the arrest of Mr Grant after he was caught in a lewd act with sex worker Divine Brown. Mr Grant brushes it off as an escapade and describes Mr Murdoch as a threat to the democratic process.

Last night, Tory MP Andrew Bridgen questioned the series impartiality, saying: For balance, the BBC should have pointed out their contributors are not without controversy themselves.

A BBC spokesman said: The programme includes interviews with a variety of contributors, from those who have criticised Murdoch, to those who count themselves as associates, to ensure there is a balanced factual portrayal of the events covered.
An 82-year-old motorcyclist from London, Ont. has died following a crash on Highway 401, Ontario Provincial Police say.

The accident happened on Sunday afternoon in Mississauga near Hurontario Street while the motorcyclist was heading east toward Highway 10, Sgt Kerry Schmidt said. The man was in the left lane of the collectors and lost control of his motorcycle after he tried to get into the express lanes, resulting in him crashing into a barrier.

He was rushed to hospital, where he soon died.

A collision reconstruction team is on site investigating, and eastbound traffic in the area is expected to be closed until 6:30 p.m. Traffic is being redirected onto Hurontario in the meantime.
Iran says to develop oil industry despite sanctions; local firm inks deal

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 July 2020 10:17 AM

Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh has expressed Iran's resolve to develop its oil industry despite US sanctions, overseeing the signing of a deal to domestically develop the Yaran oilfield in southwestern Khuzestan Province.

Speaking on Saturday, Zangeneh stressed that the Islamic Republic will never give in to the US restrictive measures and will rather pay special attention to shared oil fields.

"It is right that our production is low today, but we should increase capacities so that we can revive our market share whenever it is necessary. We will not surrender under any circumstances. Creating capacities is a strategic work in the oil industry," he said.

Zangeneh made the remarks before the signing of a $463 million deal between private joint-stock company Persia Oil and Gas Industry Development and the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to develop Yaran oil field that is shared with neighboring Iraq's Majnoon field.

According to the Iranian Oil Ministry's news agency Shana, the agreement aims to raise the field's output by almost 40 million barrels over a 10-year period.

The project needs $227 million in direct investment and a further $236 million in additional operating costs.

It also involves drilling new wells and repairing the existing ones as well as equipping wells with electrical submersible pump (ESP) systems and designing methods for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).

The US has unleashed the "toughest ever" sanctions against Tehran, notably targeting its key oil exports, since scrapping the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The White House terminated sanctions waivers for major buyers of crude from the Islamic Republic in an attempt to bring Iran's oil exports to "zero."

Under pressure from the United States, foreign companies pulled out of deals to help develop Iran's oil and gas fields.

Iran has, however, turned to domestic companies to advance its projects in the oil sector.

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File image of a woman posing for a portrait at Al-Hol camp, which holds families of Islamic State members, near Hasakeh, Syria - AP

A British Islamic State member from East London has died in a prison in northeast Syria, according to the BBC.

Ishak Mostefaoui is the first British IS-supporter to die in the custody of the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The British government refuses to allow its adult IS prisoner suspects to return to the UK for trial, believing that they should be tried in the region.

The year-long impasse between the Kurdish authorities and the UK, and other Western governments has led to dangerously over-crowded prison and camps of IS members.

According to one BBC source, Mostefaoui was shot when trying to escape the custody of the jail in Hassakeh which houses over 5,000 IS prisoners from 28 countries in cramped conditions.

Another BBC source said that he died during rioting in the prison.

Neither his death nor the circumstances surrounding it have been confirmed.

The rumours of Mostefaouis death appear to be circulating from pro-IS Telegram channels.

The 27-year-old from Leyton, who admits to joining IS, travelled to Syria to join the terrorist organisation in April 2014.

He was among seven students from the University of Westminster, where he was studying economics, who travelled to Syria. Also among them was Mohammed Emwazi, better known as Jihadi John.

Like many captured IS fighters, Mostefaoui admitted to doing administrative work for the group, but denied being a fighter, when interviewed by the Independent last year.

The prison, a converted school, was set up shortly after the last of IS territory, Baghouz, was captured in March 2019. He was one of a handful of the Brits who had travelled to Syria to survive.

Mostefaoui told the Independent that he had left Baghouz unconscious after being injured in a US-led coalition airstrike. His wife and children, he says, were killed in the strike and his skull left fractured.

His citizenship was revoked by the British government in 2018.

Mostefaoui was among an estimated 10 British IS members in the prison in northeast Syria and 30 women.

Story continues

Of the estimated 900 people who left the UK and travelled to Syria, ministers have said that 20 per cent have died, 40 per cent have returned to the UK and 40 per cent are still in the region. It is not clear how these numbers were reached.

Mostefaoui, like most other foreign fighters in IS prisons, wanted to be tried in a court at home.

If we go back home, and we get taken to court and we are found guilty of whatever crimes they see as a crime, Ill put my hands up and do my time for that. And Ill go out. This is what democracy is, he told the Independent in December.

The British government cites security concerns as the reason for not trying the adult men in the UK.

The security situation in the severely overcrowded Hassakeh prison is tense and riots break out frequently.

Mostefaouis family have been settled in London since they left Algeria when he was five years old.
Its not like a self-tan, more a dusting of sunbeam

Trust me, youre going to love these complexion boosters and highlighters as much as I do

Im always careful on these pages to write about products  both new and old  that I think really deserve your attention. But among these I have my own ultimate favourites and the new Victoria Beckham by Augustinus Bader Cell Rejuvenating Priming Moisturizer in Golden (92, victoriabeckhambeauty.com) is one of them. Yes, its a ridiculously long name, but its also a remarkably great product. Whether or not youre already a fan of the Augustinus Bader skincare line, all of Victoria Beckhams skincare has been created in partnership with him. This hybrid work of fabulousness is a tinted version of her very lightweight moisturiser and really is the business.

Not only does it leave skin feeling hydrated, plumped and generally a bit peach-like but the tint is perfect for giving a hint of glowiness  not like a self-tan, more a dusting of sunbeam. It comes in her signature faux tortoiseshell packaging which is arguably the most chic in the business. And although its at the pricier end of things, its one of those products I now never want to be without. Use it alone or as a great dewy base for make-up. On a simple skincare front, Dr Sams new Flawless Brightly Serum (44, drsambunting.com) is great for complexion freshening. Its formulated to work on everything from improving uneven skin tone to boosting collagen and clearing pores to leave skin fresher and happier.

Vitamin C is always a great glow booster and Sanctuary Spa Vitamin C 20% Daily Glow Serum (16.50, boots.com) is good stuff. This is a high percentage and suspended in silicone so it feels smooth, not grainy. I havent had any issues with pilling because of that silicone but I mention its presence because I know some people do not like it at all.

Make-up-wise, the new RMS Living Glow Face & Body Powder (37, spacenk.com) is another favourite. It might look very metallic in the pot but once its applied it just gives a wonderful golden hue to everything it touches and works brilliantly as a highlighter.

I love it on cheekbones and also dusted on shoulders for a bit of summertime glamour. And please dont let anyone tell you youre too old for this. Ive seen RMS founder Rose-Marie Swift, whos 65, wearing it and she looked marvellous.

Her RMS Kakadu Evening Beauty Elixir (40, spacenk.com) is a lovely night-time oil for a hydration and radiance boost.

But Rose-Marie also showed me a trick with it: if you feel youve applied too much highlighter take a small amount of oil, apply it on top of the powder and it will tone down the excess. Of course, you could always use a different brand, but her Kakadu is such a treat.

Scents of adventure

Left: N07 Mykonos Skin Softening Body Cleanser (13, wolfandbadger.com). Middle: fig and green olive (43, vonnorten.com ). Right: Antioxidant Face Balm (around 42, kearlife.com )

Oh to be on Mykonos now that summers here But whoever does not wake on a Greek island can take comfort in the theme currently running through beauty. In a very location-specific move, Heinrich Barth, the Turin-based brand named after a 19th-century explorer, offers N07 Mykonos Skin Softening Body Cleanser (13, wolfandbadger.com) inspired by the idyllic isle. Its delectable fragrance is made up of the kind of notes you might expect: fig alongside olive trees, rosemary and wild herbs.

Although its products are made in England, Von Norten is channelling similar aromas with the Black Candle Collection. Its Mediterranean offering is inspired by the southern Aegean island of Santorini and is a more simple blend of fig and green olive (43, vonnorten.com).

Greek brand Keap (or Kear) has the tag line Ancient Greek skincare reborn and offers products such as an Antioxidant Face Balm (around 42, kearlife.com) made from beeswax and super-fruit hippophae (sea-buckthorn berry) oil. I like the Mastic Herbal Soap (around 4.50, kearlife.com) containing essential oil from chios mastic (a resin derived from a Greek tree), which smells wonderful and can be used as a body or face cleanser.
(Natural News) If you dare mention vaccine injury, talk about the risks of vaccination, or point out corruption in the vaccine industry, you are quickly branded as an anti-vaxxer who is engaged in dangerous anti-vaccination activity.

Australias Sydney Morning Herald published a piece that called for a ban on the documentary, Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe. This documentary takes a closer look at the corruption in the vaccine industry, how vaccine injury and death is part of the sacrificial program set up to give vaccine makers legal immunity. Now this documentary and any discussion about vaccine risk could be censored in Australia. Who is behind this coercive push to conceal vaccine injury and prioritize pharmaceutical industry profits over the lives of innocent human beings?

The arrogant article is penned by a so-called leading immunisation researcher named Margie Danchin who is on a mission to stop anti-vaccination activity. Worshiping at the altar of vaccine science, Mrs. Danchin wants to shut down all discussion of vaccination policy and vaccine safety, while shutting her ears to the victims of vaccine injury. Because she is so adamant about shutting others down, its time to take a closer look at her expertise in immunization and disclose any conflicts of interest that control her.

Leading immunization researcher, motivated by conflicts of interest, tries to conceal vaccine injury for the benefit of the vaccine industry

Its time to pull the mask off the face of these academics and public health leaders who are behind this coercive push to conceal vaccine injury and stop any discussion about vaccine safety. Protecting the profits of vaccine manufacturers should never take precedence over protecting innocent human life. Moreover, it is abominable to accuse victims of vaccine injury as dangerous to public health, especially when these brave souls who have gone through hell are simply trying to give other parents another side of the story.

Parents arent getting the whole story on vaccination and are left in the dark about how the human immune system works. Informed consent has been replaced with vaccine industry propaganda that uses coercion to attain total vaccine compliance.

Mrs. Danchins article is titled: Dangerous: Researchers note massive uptick in anti-vaccination activity. The article is one of several in the Sydney Morning Herald that have come out suggesting that any discussion on vaccine safety is harmful anti-vaxxer misinformation.

Mrs. Danchin has no authority to decide what is right to inject into each and every adult and child. She has no expertise when it comes to all vaccine products and their combined side effects imparted by the National Immunisation Program Schedule. She is no expert in understanding the adverse events of vaccination nor does she understand immune system development and the toxicity of vaccine ingredients.

Independent journalist Elizabeth Hart wrote to immunisation expert Mrs. Danchin:

Do you think people should be forbidden from asking questions about the burgeoning number of vaccine products and revaccinations on the taxpayer-funded schedule? Do you think it appropriate that people who raise questions about vaccination policy are denigrated and marginalized as anti-vaxxers? Are you aware that children and adults have experienced adverse events after vaccination, for example as reported in the TGAs Database of Adverse Event Notifications? Are you aware that the TGA acknowledges that adverse events are likely to be under-reported?

Protective of vaccine products, Mrs. Danchin is a member of the industry-funded Immunisation Coalition. This coalition is not interested in educating families on how to raise healthy children with a strong immune system. This Coalition is funded by a bunch of vaccine manufacturers  CSL/Seqirus, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Merck and Sanofi, all of which want to shove their products into people. This conflict of interest was not disclosed in Mrs. Danchins article.

The most concerning conflict of interest is that Mrs. Danchin is associated with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. This Institute does not research how to keep children healthy; instead it is involved in vaccine development and fining people who dont comply. The Murdochs run the News Corp., and they share a corporate partnership with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. This is important because these groups were behind the coercive No Jab, No Pay media campaign which resulted in the No Jab, No Pay Law. This coercive mandate withholds the Child Care Benefit, the Child Care Rebate and the end-of-year Family Tax Benefit Part A for parents of children under 20 years of age who are not fully vaccinated.

This level of coercion must be held accountable to the law. Vaccine industry operatives who label any dissent to vaccination as dangerous anti-vaccination activity are pridefully trying to conceal vaccine injury/risk and could be financially motivated to do so. It is an affront to parental rights, personal autonomy and individual liberty for the information about vaccines to be so controlled and one sided.

Sources include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

VaxxedTheMovie.com

Vaccines.News
SYDNEY, Australia - The Australian government says it will offer around 10,000 Hong Kong passport holders currently living in Australia a chance to apply for permanent residence once their current visas expire.

Prime Minister Scott Morrisons government believes Chinas imposition of a new tough national security law on the semi-autonomous territory means pro-democracy supporters may face political persecution.

That means that many Hong Kong passport holders may be looking for other destinations to go to and hence why we have put forward our additional visa options for them, Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television on Sunday.

In order to obtain permanent residency, applicants would still have to pass the character test, the national security test and the like, Tudge said.

So its not automatic. But its certainly an easier pathway to permanent residency and of course once youre a permanent resident, theres then a pathway to citizenship there, he said. If people are genuinely persecuted and they can prove that case, then they can apply for one of our humanitarian visas in any case.

Morrison announced last week Australia suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and extended visas for Hong Kong residents from two to five years.

The move comes after China bypassed Hong Kongs Legislative Council to impose the sweeping security legislation without public consultation. Critics view it as a further deterioration of freedoms promised to the former British colony, in response to last years massive protests calling for greater democracy and more police accountability.

The national security law prohibits what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities or as foreign intervention in Hong Kong affairs. Under the law, police now have sweeping powers to conduct searches without warrants and order internet service providers and platforms to remove messages deemed to be in violation of the legislation.

Chinas foreign ministry said it reserved the right to take further actions in response to moves by Canberra. The consequences will be fully borne by Australia, spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily briefing on Thursday.
The conservative historian Wilfred McClay has argued that there are, at the very least, two distinct ways to love America. An American patriot can partake in both ways, of course, and both are equally relevant and profound; but they are not one and the same.

One way is to love America because of its ideals: equality, liberty, justice, self-government, democracy, and all the rest. The institutions, the heritage, the way of life: all are good things primarily because they are rooted in a general conception of justice and morality made real. Should these institutions betray these ideals, they are not worth our dedication, or perhaps the true dedication would be to shift our institutions back under the guidance of the ideals, however those ideals are defined.

The other way is to love America because of its heritage: the historical dramas of the Revolution and the Civil War and the westward movement; the storied histories of our universities, cities, churches, and businesses; and the passionate lives and achievements of great Americans from all backgrounds who, with all their human foibles, made the order weve inherited something better than it was before. The ideals of America are good things, in this conception, primarily because they have animated the life of our countrys story, a story that is admirable in itself.

These two ways of loving AmericaAmerica-as-ideals and America-as-heritageare not necessarily contradictory. But they often are in tension. The classic example, of course, is slavery, and its long, cruel shadow, its presence standing in stark contrast to our stated glorious ideals of freedom and equality. In the present moment, some contend that American ideals were false from the start; others, that American ideals are the only things redeeming a sordid historical reality; and others, that the American heritage must be reexamined and recast if it is to be acceptable to modern standards of morality.

All these perspectives have a valid point, as anyone who has studied and thought deeply about history will readily admit. But these perspectives avoid a more profound question: whether there is real value in patriotic devotion to ones country, despite that countrys sins, and the relation of American ideals to that devotion. Fortunately for us moderns, this is not a new question; American patriots have struggled with it for centuries, in times that bore more resemblance to our own than many of us would be comfortable admitting. So lets look back at some American patriots and what they had to say about this.

First, Abraham Lincoln delivered a eulogy on the legendary senator Henry Clay in 1852, extolling the Great Compromisers spirit of moderation and devotion to the Union. Lincolns immortal description of Clay lives on in relevance: He loved his country partly because it was his own country, but mostly because it was a free country.

Second, the now-forgotten immigrant-turned-general-turned-senator Carl Schurz, in a debate in the U.S. Senate in 1872, responded to a jingoistic interpretation of American patriotism with his own take: My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.

Finally, the late senator John McCains cryptic words describing the American puzzle, upon his receipt of the Liberty Medal in 2017, one of the greatest speeches delivered in our lifetime: the land with the storied past forgotten in the rush to the imagined future, the land that repairs and reinvents itself.

These three senators, in their own times and in various ways, were enchanted by the promise and richness of the American heritage and the American idea simultaneously. While living lives that gave homage to the best of American heritage, they also led distinguished careers advancing American ideals, often more effectively than their more vociferous and idealistic contemporaries. But there is tension in their words.

The American patriot who loves American ideals would see that tension between, on the one hand, the justice and righteousness of a splendid, transcendent causeredemption, equality, democracyand, on the other hand, the stubborn political realities of America, with Americas long traditional past and all its darkness dragging behind like a chain-ball.

The American patriot who loves Americas heritage would see that tension between, on the one hand, the grandeur and decency of the American experiencethe blood of patriots, the sweat of labor and reform, the nobility of democracyand, on the other hand, the raucous political temperaments of America, with Americas penchant for radicalism sweeping good inheritances away.

Senator Clay, Senator Schurz, and Senator McCain seem to have felt both tensions vividly. Each was a good man who spent his long career in service to America; each was near the center of the great controversies of his times and known as something of a maverick. They were alternately beloved and condemned by their fellow citizens, but they served on, anyway.

It might be nice to have a shared consensus on what American ideals should be, or how we ought to commemorate the American heritage, or any other number of subjective interpretations so crucial to nationhood. But as the three senators displayed, you dont necessarily need to find such a consensus if you want to be a patriotic public servant. It is possible to accept, appreciate, serve, and serve alongside those fellow Americans of ours whose conceptions of all this are antithetical to our own, building and ennobling the beautiful, cacophonous orchestra of America as we do.

Clay, Schurz, and McCain knew, probably as well as any president or poet, that their fellow Americans would always disappoint them and sometimes hate them. But they served them anyway. May we profit from their examples.

Luke Nathan Phillips is editor of The Conversation's opinion content at Braver Angels. He is based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 12)  The Department of Education admits that learning this upcoming school year will be different with students and teachers participating in their homes.

Education Undersecretary Tonisito Umali however, assured that teachers should not be worried about losing their jobs since their participation in distance learning is still highly required.

Parang wala naman po. Kailangang kailangan pa rin ang mga guro. Sa kanila nakasalalay ang tagumpay ng ating ginagawang ito. Wala po dapat ganong pangamba, explained Umali during an online press briefing on Sunday.

[Translation: It seems like it's nothing. We will need teachers. The success of our efforts relies on them. There is nothing to be afraid of.]

According to Umali, the opening of classes will push through on August 24 saying it can no longer be postponed to a later date.

Under Republic Act 7797, the school year shall start on the first of June but not later than the last day of August.

The Education department said they were holding simulations in different areas in the country to make sure that the distance learning modalities would be a success.

Distance Learning Modalities

Umali explained that these will be the alternatives to face-to-face classes.

The first one are self-learning modules (SLM) that require minimum intervention from teachers and parents. SLMs will be picked up by parents from the school or from their local government.

The local government can also deliver the modules to the homes of students.

The second one is online based learning or internet based learning. There will be learning packets made available online and teachers and students will participate in an online discussion using platforms such Facebook messenger.

The third mode is learning through television or radio. Umali said lessons were patterned as scripts and students can listen or watch their teachers.

The DepEd shifted to distance learning for the coming school year in compliance with President Rodrigo Dutertes directive for schools to postpone face-to-face classes until a vaccine for COVID-19 becomes available.

There is also a lower enrollment turnout this year compared to the previous year. DepEd said there are currently 18,532,000 public school enrollees and 964,445 enrollees in private schools.

DepEd said they already anticipated the lower turnout saying they understand that not all parents can enroll their children given the effects of the pandemic.education
Local residents recorded a video of the man struggling to breathe, and said they called the authorities several times

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya. BJP claimed that one more critical Covid-19 patient went missing from a hospital and his body was later found 200 meters away from the hospital. (PTI Photo)

Mumbai: The BJP on Saturday claimed that one more critical Covid-19 patient went missing from a hospital and his body was later found 200 meters away from the hospital. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya said that a 50-year-old Covid-19 patient, who was on oxygen support, went missing from the civic-run Shastri Nagar Hospital on Thursday night.

The Dombivali resident was found dead on a pavement nearby a few hours later. Local residents recorded a video, which went viral on social media, of the man struggling to breathe, and said they called the authorities several times.

By the time help arrived three hours later, the man was already dead, says a man in the video.

However, the hospital authorities have claimed that they rushed to the spot as soon as they became aware of the video. On duty medical officer, on condition of anonymity said, We are trying our best to save their lives.There is a severe staff crunch but we are trying our best to cater the needs of patients."

Demanding an inquiry and strict action against the authorities, Mr Somaiya said that the Thackeray government needs to find a solution for such incidents. The incident has raised questions about how the patient could flee despite guards being posted at the hospital.
CAIRO  Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Ati said July 1 that Egypt is ready to provide all necessary means to link electricity with Ethiopia, and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has tasked Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker with this plan.

Abdel Ati said in a phone call with the DMC Channel that Egypt was ready to share future development projects with Ethiopia, on condition that Addis Ababa abide by the international commitments and law.

This proposition comes after the escalation of diplomatic tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia, culminating in an urgent session at the United Nations Security Council June 29, to discuss the resumption of negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and the filling process during drought and extended drought seasons.

The Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources announced July 3 the resumption of talks on the GERD among the ministers of water and irrigation of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt. But the Egyptian ministry said the virtual meeting held under the African Union sponsorship failed to yield an agreement on both technical and legal levels.

On Dec. 11, 2019, Sisi had said in a speech at the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development that Egypt is ready to transfer 20% of its electrical power to African countries at low prices, reaching half the current price of $0.14 per kilowatt. Experts saw in Sisis speech a new step to compete with Ethiopia, which plans to generate and export electricity after the operation of the GERD.

Shaker had revealed in a speech at the International Forum on Power Interconnection  organized by the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization  back in September 2017 that Egypt is planning on establishing power grids with five new European, African and Asian countries, namely Greece, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Shaker noted at the time that there are ongoing studies on the establishment of power grids between Sudan and Ethiopia, as well as the Inga Dams in Congo. He said Egypts geographic location has made it the core of power linkage among African and Gulf countries, adding that his country is working on completing the power grid project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

On April 4, the Egyptian government announced the start of the operation of the power grid lines between Egypt and Sudan. It said that construction works ended in April 2019, and that the line is 100 kilometers (62 miles) long from the Egyptian side and 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Sudanese side.

The government added in a statement that the first phase of operation aims at supplying electrical power reaching 70 megawatts (MW) to Sudan, until the installation of equipment in the stations inside Sudan is completed. The second phase, which has already started, involves supplying Sudan with up to 300 MW of electricity, the statement continued.

After the completion of this line with Sudan, it seems the Egyptian government is trying to work on building power grid lines with Ethiopia, in light of Sisi tasking the Electricity Ministry to assess this possible project.

Adel al-Bahnasawi, a journalist focusing on electricity and energy affairs and editor-in-chief of Power News, said that Sisis commissioning of the minister of electricity with completing power grid lines with Ethiopia comes as part of Egypts strategy of achieving a complete deal. This means highlighting the gains and opportunities that Ethiopia will receive from Egypt, which include boosting economic cooperation and investment in the power sector, if Ethiopia shows leniency and cooperates with Egypt in the GERD negotiations, according to Bahnasawi.

Bahnasawi told Al-Monitor that the Egyptian government has reiterated its support for Ethiopias development projects and that it does not object to building the dam initially. But it does not want to put Egypt at risk of drought and water scarcity during drought and prolonged drought. Therefore, cooperation and partnership with Ethiopia to generate electricity is important, if Ethiopia commits not to harm Egypt, he noted.

Bahnasawi added that the power grid lines between Sudan and Ethiopia are not highly effective without adding Egypt to the equation. If Egypt links grid lines with that of Ethiopia and Sudan, Addis Ababa will be able to export power to Europe through Egypt, he said. Ethiopia and Egypt must cooperate in the GERD issue, in exchange for Egypts support for Ethiopia in its plans to generate and export electricity to Europe, he added.

Ayman Hamza, official spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity, told Al-Monitor over the phone that Egypt considers helping Ethiopia in its projects to generate and export electricity an important step for two reasons: First, Egypt has prior experience and technical skills in generating electricity from the Aswan High Dam, and it can transmit it to Ethiopia. Ethiopias cooperation with Egypt would ensure its rights in the Nile River without causing harm. Second, Egypt is the only outlet for Africas power exports to Europe. Ethiopia can export electricity to Europe through Egypt after the connection project between Egypt and Sudan is complete and Egypt is connected to Ethiopia on one side, and Egypt to Cyprus and Greece on the other. This project with Cyprus and Greece is currently underway and will be implemented in the next phase.

He said that the huge projects that Egypt is working on for power grid lines with Europe, Asia and Africa can be used to contain the huge electrical power expected to be generated from the dam. Ethiopia thus needs Egypt to export the potential surplus of generated electricity with the completion of the dam.

He concluded that the power grid lines project with Sudan was completed in April of this year, and work on connection lines with Ethiopia will start as part of a larger project of power grid lines in the eastern Nile Basin. He added that there are plans and studies to connect all grids of the Nile Basin under one grid to meet the needs of all countries and export the surplus to Europe through Egypt.
Nutson's Automotive News Wrap-up - Week Ending July 11, 2020







This Happened Last Week:"Wuhan Virus Forces More Auto Event Cancellations; Ford Bronco LIVE Video Reveal; Italy Cash For Clunkers; Court Says FCA Not Guilty; Big 3 CEO's Snub President Trump; 100 Activist Ford Employees Petition Company To Stop Selling Police Cars; US Retail Auto Sellers Happy (More New Car Inventory Will Make Them Happier); June US Fleet Sales Down 70%; FCA Recall; Hagerty Hot 6; Collector Car Appreciation Day Celebrated July 10; No Covid Worries At Indy Car and NHRA











Every Sunday Larry Nutson, Chicago Car Guy and Executive Producer, with able assistance from senior editor Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, compile The Auto Channel's "take" on this past week's automotive news, condensed into easy to digest news Nuggets.

LEARN MORE: Links to full versions of today's news nuggets along with a million pages of the past 25 year's automotive news, articles, reviews and archived stories residing in The Auto Channel Automotive News Library can be found by just copying and then inserting the main headline into the News Library Search Box.

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Nutson's Automotive News Review - Week Ending July 11, 2020; Important, Concise or pithy automotive news, opinion and back stories in expertly crafted easy to digest news nuggets.

* Ford officially launched the marketing campaign for its Bronco family of SUVs, aimed at taking a slice of the lucrative off-road adventure franchise that has made FCA's Jeep brand one of the most envied automotive franchises. Three Bronco models will include a 2-door Bronco, 4-door Bronco and smaller Bronco Sport.

* The all new 2021 Ford Bronco will make its debut on Monday July 13 at 8:00 PM EDT and you can watch the world reveal LIVE from the home page of The Auto Channel.

* Reuters reports the Italian government is proposing to include internal combustion vehicles in a new package of vehicle buying subsidies, extending a hand to national auto champion Fiat Chrysler. France and Germany have focused their cash for clunkers stimulus plans on electric or hybrid vehicles. But FCA has comparatively few electrified models to offer and Italian consumers so far have not embraced EVs. The proposed Italian C4C plan would give consumers 3,500 euros to trade in a 10-year-old or older vehicle for a cleaner running petroleum-fueled vehicle priced below 40,000 euros that complies with Euro 6 standards. Electric and hybrid models would get bigger subsidies as well.

* A federal district court judge has dismissed the General Motors racketeering lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The order follows a decision by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals not to reassign the case at GM's request though it essentially vacated Judge Paul Borman's earlier order that GM CEO Mary Barra and FCA CEO Mike Manley meet in person to hash out a resolution to the high-stakes case. The suit was tied to the ongoing corruption case involving the UAW, although the UAW was not a defendant. GM claimed FCA cost it billions of dollars by corrupting the bargaining process in an attempt to force a merger.

* Joe White for Reuters reports the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler were among the no-shows at what appeared to be a hastily-organized White House dinner with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to mark the launch of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. Coronavirus concerns kept some invitees away. Schedule conflicts kept auto CEOs away, the companies said.

* Approximately 100 employees of Ford Motor Co. have petitioned the automaker to reconsider building and selling police vehicles in light of controversy related to police brutality and social justice. Both Black and white employees have expressed concern. Ford as well as GM has taken steps to advocate for accountability. Ford CEO Jim Hacket is resisting employees' push to end police vehicle sales. Hackett sent a more than 600-word letter to senior staff in response to messages hes received both from within and outside Fords ranks to reconsider producing police vehicles.

* Cox Automotive reports year-over-year fleet sales continued a remarkable decline as the combined rental, commercial, and government purchases of new vehicles were down 69% in June. Total fleet volume was 85,104, down from 277,615 in June 2019. Rental units continue to lead the drop with a 94.5% decrease year over year in June.

* FCA is recalling 1.2 million older vehicles over faulty airbag covers. The recall covers 2007-11 Dodge Nitro SUVs and 2008-10 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans.

* Hagerty announced its 2020 Hot List naming six new vehicles that will still be popular, fun to drive and possibly worth a lot more decades from now. The 2020 Hot List includes: 2020 Shelby Mustang GT500, 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (C8), 2020 Polestar 1, 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, 2019/2020 Cadillac CT6-V, and 2021 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.

* On July 10 we celebrated Collector Car Appreciation Day. The SEMA Action Network (SAN) promoted the eleventh consecutive commemoration in what is now an annual event to raise awareness of the vital role automotive restoration and collection plays in American society.

* The 2020 Great Race has been postponed until June 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the recent spikes in cases in key states. The dates will be June 19-27, 2021, and the route will again be San Antonio, Texas, to Greenville, S.C., with all the same city stops we had scheduled for this year.

* The 2020 State Fair of Texas has fallen to Covid-19 and has been canceled. The September event is important to the pickup truck business. The increasing number of cases in Texas forced this decision.

* A much anticipated return to National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series racing takes place this weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis following a hiatus of more than four months. Following the suspension of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 12, just prior to the third event of the year at the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, the remaining 16-event shortened schedule kicks off with a pair of weekend events in Indianapolis. Race weekends will be shortened to two-day events with qualifying held Saturday only and final eliminations on Sunday. The TWO-day events taking place July 11-12 and July 18-19 will allow a limited number of spectators each day and the way in will be invite-only to NHRA Members and 2020 Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals ticket holders.

* IndyCar racing also has fans back. The REV Group Grand Prix at the magnificent Road America course in Elkhart Lake, WI was double-header this weekend with fans on hand tp view the race. It's the first IndyCar event this season held with fans. In other news, Racer reports NTT IndyCar Series owner Roger Penske says the quest to sign a new engine partner is focused on Ferrari, and Ferrari alone, as talks continue with Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto to have the manufacturer join the series when its 2.4-liter twin-turbo hybrid V6 engine formula arrives in 2022.

Stay safe. Be Well.
Smoke rises from the USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego after an explosion and fire on board the ship, on July 12, 2020. (Denis Poroy/AP Photo)

18 Injured, Explosion Reported During USS Bonhomme Richard Fire: Officials

Update at 5 p.m. ET: At least 18 people were hospitalized in the incident, Navy and fire officials have confirmed.

Naval Surface Force wrote that about 160 sailors were on board the vessel at the time, adding that 18 sailors have been transferred to local hospitals.

Their injuries were described as non-life-threatening.

The fire was called away at approx. 8:30 AM, July 12. Approx. 160 Sailors were aboard at the time. @LHD6BHR is going through a maintenance availability and has a crew size of approx. 1000. 18 Sailors have been transferred to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.  Naval Surface Forces (@SurfaceWarriors) July 12, 2020

Authorities said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, it was reported.

Additional details were not provided.



Fire officials in San Diego, California, said several people have been injured on board the warship USS Bonhomme Richard at the Naval Base San Diego following a fire and explosion.

Explosion with at least one injury at the USS Bonhomme Richard, the San Diego Fire Department wrote on Twitter. It added that authorities are assisting on this fire on board the USS Bonhomme Richard. We are in unified command (partnered) with Federal Fire.

San Diego Fire Department officials added that multiple agencies are responding to the scene.

Explosion with at least one injury at the USS Bonhomme Richard. #shipfire pic.twitter.com/HooWIRcjU4  SDFD (@SDFD) July 12, 2020

According to 10News, the fire department later said several sailors are being treated for injuries.

Images captured from live streams show billowing smoke emitting from the ship and rising into the air.

SDFD was requested by Federal Fire at about 9am. #shipfire pic.twitter.com/Ah6GRzpJHJ  SDFD (@SDFD) July 12, 2020

Its not clear how the fire or explosion started.

A witness told 10News that an explosion was heard right before the blaze occurred.

The USS Bonhomme Richard, which can deploy and land helicopters, smaller boats, and other vehicles, spent six years in Japan as part of the U.S. Forward Deployed Naval Force before it was sent to San Diego in 2018.

Naval Base San Diego spokesperson Krishna Jackson told The Associated Press that the fire was reported at around 9 a.m. local time. The cause of the fire is being investigated, Jackson added.

Jackson estimated that around 200 officers and sailors were on the ship Sunday morning.

Smoke rises from the USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego after an explosion and fire onboard the ship, on July 12, 2020. (Denis Poroy/AP Photo)
More than three quarters of a fund to expand preschools in booming areas was spent in electorates the Nationals held or were battling to win before the 2019 state election, under a program overseen by National Party minister Sarah Mitchell.

The Sun Herald can reveal $3.6 million of the $4.6 million in grants awarded in 2018  or 78 per cent  went to preschools in electorates belonging to the Nationals or its greatest electoral threat, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.

Nationals Minister Sarah Mitchell. Credit:Kate Geraghty

The pattern was replicated the following year when electorates belonging to those parties snared $5.3 million of the $8.3 million on offer, answers to questions on notice put by Labor show.

It means over the past two years they have scooped just under 70 per cent of the total $12.9 million funding pool from Start Strong Capital Works fund.
As to Kinnock, Kellyanne, I know a little something about that. That was my front-page Times story back in 1987. Biden, as he did on other occasions, got swept away with puffing himself up and sprinted over the factual line. He overidentified with aspects of Kinnocks life in Wales  fusing their backgrounds  and borrowed some Celtic lyricism.

I wrote another story at the same time about Biden lifting chunks of Robert Kennedy speeches. But that was the fault of his speechwriter Pat Caddell, who sprinkled in R.F.K. passages without Biden knowing.

Biden dropped out of the race. I ran into him on a back stairway in the Senate when he was getting ready for his news conference. We looked at each other but did not speak. I figured hed never speak to me again.

I was wrong. One of his top aides yelled at me and told me I wouldnt be allowed into Robert Borks Supreme Court confirmation hearings, which Biden was chairing. But Biden himself was friendly and fair to me afterward, even when I wrote pieces that were highly critical of the way he conducted the Anita Hill hearings and ripped on him for his hair plugs. He was so un-vengeful that I began to doubt he was really Irish. (His middle name is Robinette, after all.)

Biden has a talent for messes and has made some bad judgment calls  including voting to authorize the Iraq war.
In this image made from a video, Taiwan's Health Minister Chen Shih-chung speaks of the country's successful model in combating COVID-19 at a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Taiwan. The minister, a doctor and former director of Taipei Medical University, held daily briefings, keeping the public informed and aware. With an approval rating of 91%, he has become the countrys most popular politician, even more than President Tsai ing-wen. (Photo | AP)

In the fight to halt the coronavirus, several countries have been touted as models to be emulated. Chiefly, South Korea is oft cited, justifiably so. However, no country has met with as much success in holding off and beating back the virus as Taiwan, whose geographical and cultural proximity, literally next door, to China makes the feat all the more remarkable. Contained in this narrative are valuable insights for other countries such as India that are still in the throes of this pandemic.

Situated a mere 130 km off the coast of mainland China, Taiwan has 850,000 to 1 million citizens who live or work in China. Although Beijing and Taipei are adversarial regimes, numerous daily flights link the island to multiple major cities in China. Given such proximity, Taiwan would likely be the most affected by any epidemic with origins in China. In fact, it was the hardest hit when SARS broke out in China in 2003. Taiwan then had the highest mortality rate in the world.

That did not happen this time.

Taiwan's Covid-19 numbers have been surprisingly low, for a country that has 2.7 million visitors from the mainland annually and almost 12,000 daily just before the Lunar New Year. As of May 12, Taiwan has 440 total coronavirus cases, of which 372 have already been cured. There have been only 7 deaths. With less than 100 active cases, Taiwan has halted the virus at its doorstep. It managed all this in spite of not being a member of the WHO and while organising a national election on January 11.

How was this possible?

Led by Experts

Remarkably, Taiwans strategy to combat the novel coronavirus nCoV19 was led by experts and scientists who responded with urgency to the initial outbreak in China. Taiwans vice-president, Chen Chien-jen is a Johns Hopkins University trained epidemiologist, public health expert and national hero for his role as health minister during the SARS outbreak in 2002 and the H1N1 outbreak in 2009. Similarly, vice-premier Chen Chi-mai is a physician by training and former lecturer who collaborated with Minister for health and welfare Chen Shih-chung, a doctor and former director of Taipei Medical University. According to Channel News Asia (CNA), at 8 A.M on December 31, the latter was informed of at least seven atypical cases of pneumonia in Wuhan. Within an hour an inter-ministerial meeting was held to determine the measures to be taken to tackle the virus.

This response was as agile as the response in Wuhan itself. Over the next few days, suspected-case reporting and hospital infection control measures were strengthened, a level-1 travel notice to Wuhan was announced, and by January 15 all hospitals and the public were notified about the emerging infectious disease. By January 20, Taiwan activated the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to coordinate and lead the response to the virus. Daily briefings to the public conducted by health minister Chen Shih-chung, attended by nearly 100,000 people, were also important in keeping the public informed and aware. The health minister currently enjoys an approval rating of 91% in Taiwan and has become the countrys most popular politician, even more than President Tsai ing-wen.

Flight Screening and Border Controls

Allowing public health experts to direct the response to Covid-19 meant that Taiwan could make a crucial connection very very early: that air travel was the main pathway of virus transmission. So, Taipei acted quickly to restrict and monitor air travel.

On December 31, the very day China reported the outbreak to the WHO, Taiwan began sending healthcare officials into airplanes to check passengers arriving from Wuhan before they disembarked. Within a couple of days, these measures were expanded to include fever screening and full-scale medical examination of suspected cases. Within 10 days after the flareup of the mysterious new virus in Wuhan on January 21, Taiwan closed its borders to all Wuhan residents, and by 6 Feb extended the restrictions to all arrivals from China, six days before any other country did so. Taiwan also issued a ban on all port calls by international cruise ships on Feb 6, to prevent more cases like the Diamond Princess. To monitor all foreign arrivals into the country, passengers were required to sign and complete a health declaration form. As the virus began to spread outside China to places like Thailand and Singapore, travel advisories were issued to these places by February 11. By early March, all foreign arrivals without a residence permit were banned from entering the country.

By strange coincidence or premonition, nearly a fortnight before December 31,

on December 18, 2019, in fact, an awards ceremony was held in Taiwan for airlines with outstanding performance in disease surveillance and aviation safety. At the same event, Taiwan CDC, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced their joint collaboration in implementing the Program for Airlines on Disease Prevention, Preparedness and Response, and Emergency Management, the first of its kind in the world.

Central Command Coordinated Measures

Activated on January 20, the Central Epidemic Command Centre proceeded to implement a total of 124 measures so far, including but not limited to border controls and fever screenings. One of the most significant of these was, contrary to WHO advice, a ban on the export of face masks and a decision to increase the production of protective equipment. The ban came into effect on Jan 24, one month before any other country adopted the same measure. According to the Vice-President, by the end of January, Taiwan stockpiled 44 million surgical masks, 1.95 million N-95 masks and 1,100 negative pressure isolation rooms. A national mask team was set up and 92 additional production lines were installed and the government requisitioned a total of 73 manufacturing companies. The policy increased the average daily production of masks from 1.9 million in January to 16 million masks daily in April. The CECC also instituted a rationing system for masks, according to which every citizen could buy 3 masks per week, then raised to 9 every fortnight, and finally an online ordering system was instituted.

Taiwans lightning-quick reaction has undoubtedly saved hundreds of lives and prevented thousands more from becoming infected. The island managed this without ever announcing a lockdown and significantly disrupting domestic economic and social life. Taiwan is also able to avoid, to a certain extent, the economic slump that follows a lockdown. Agencies like S&P and other economists have revised Taiwans GDP for 2020, but by a smaller margin than any other industrialised country. Schools, offices, restaurants and malls have remained open through the outbreak, limiting the disruption to the economy. Additionally, the islands approach of involving the public in the fight against Covid-19 has the additional benefit of inculcating awareness in its public, making a transition to the new normal much smoother. With just 65 active cases left, Taiwan has turned its attention to other countries struggling to contain the virus, with the campaign TaiwanCanHelp, which donates masks and other resources.

Most of Taiwans measures to combat Covid-19 were announced in late January and early February, taking effect almost immediately. The credit for this accrues to experts and scientists holding political office, who lead the fight against Covid-19, calling the shots and responding to developments in China almost instantaneously. The promptness in enacting these measures has been shown by no other country. While some countries like India were busy hosting grand bilateral summits for foreign leaders and others like USA were turning the virus into a political weapon, Taiwan was preparing for the Covid-19 outbreak, which has held the country in good stead in the months following the initial stages of the outbreak.
AVON LAKE, Ohio  The replica of world-famous aviator Charles Lindberghs 1927 Spirit of Louis came back to Avon Lake on July 11.

Eagle Scout candidate Nicholas Zangas of Avon Lake Troop 338 took on the re-creation of the famous airplane that was a community favorite beginning in the 1930s.

It was stolen from the Kekic gas station which intrigued Zangas. The gas station was located on Lake Road about one-quarter mile west of the Bay Village border. The lot is private property now with a house on it.

The airplane has now been fully installed on a pole in Miller Road Park.

The Kekic gas station replica of Lindberghs Spirit of St. Louis airplane returned to Avon Lake July 11 with the help of an Eagle Scout and members of the community.

According to local author and historian, Sherry Spenzer, The (re-created) airplane is an exact, or as nearly as possible, replica of a model airplane that flew in front of the old Kekic filling station at Stop 43 on Lake Road in Avon Lake.

Following aviator Charles A. Lindberghs 1927 Spirit of St. Louis solo transatlantic flight, the Coca Cola Company erected 150 model airplanes around Ohio to commemorate the event. Kekics station was fortunate enough to be graced with one of those. Initially, the plane was maintained by Coca Cola for about 10-15 years then Gulf took over those duties. The Kekic model was the last of the little airplanes to survive in Ohio.

Installation took about 45 minutes and necessitated the use of a crane. A gathering of about 25 onlookers erupted in applause as the last bolt was turned, said Spenzer. The event was made particularly memorable with the attendance of several Kekic family descendants.

Spenzer noted a group of community members helped Zangas pull together the effort to reincarnate the icon. Many aspects of Zangas work, such as construction, design, sheet metal, artwork and installation crews involved local businesspeople who were willing to lend their talent to the preservation of Avon Lake history.

Included in that list is Tony Tomanek. Spenzer said, While this project came together as the result of many gracious community members, it was probably most meaningful to Avon Lake Historical Society President Tony Tomanek, who has for years been expressing a strong desire to see the little Lindbergh plane fly once again in Avon Lake.

Spenzer is on the same list as she contributed her writing talent for the inscription on the plaque at the airplanes new home. I feel very much a piece of this project, said Spenzer.

The official dedication of the Nicholas Zangas Eagle Scout project is scheduled for Saturday, August 15 in Miller Road Park.
<! Isolation Centre >

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Sunday disclosed that 56 Coronavirus patients have been discharged from the states isolation centres.

Those discharged include nine foreigners. Of the 56 patients discharged, 12 are female while 44 are male.

According to Sanwo-Olu, the survivors were discharged from its various isolation centres across the State.

This brings to 1,897 the total number of Coronavirus survivors discharged from the States isolation centres.

Good people of Lagos, today, 56 COVID-19 Lagos patients; 12 female and 44 male, including 9 foreign nationals were discharged from our Isolation facilities to reunite with the society.

The patients; 25 from Gbagada, 5 from Agidingbi, 8 from Eti-Osa (LandMark) 3 from Onikan and 15 from LUTH Isolation Centres were discharged after full recovery and testing negative to COVID-19.

This brings to 1897, the number of #COVID19 confirmed cases that have been successfully managed and discharged from our isolation facilities.

Remember, COVID19 is real! Lets continue to adhere strictly to all public advisories given by government, Sanwo-Olu said.

Related
A Malian protest leader called for calm Sunday after four more people were killed during demonstrations calling for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's resignation, the West African country's worst civil unrest in years. Bloody demonstrations rocked the capital Bamako on Friday and Saturday, with witnesses saying that security forces fired live rounds during clashes with protesters. The atmosphere remained tense on the streets of Bamako on Sunday, as hundreds of people converged on the Badalabougou district for the funerals of four people killed in the violence. In the face of the heightened tensions, Keita had announced he would dissolve the poor Sahel country's constitutional court, the focus of anger since it overturned provisional results for parliamentary elections earlier this year. Protests in several cities on Friday descended into violence in which at least three people were killed. Fresh clashes broke out on Saturday as protesters took to the streets of Bamako, angered by a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption. Four civilians -- including a 15-year-old and 17-year-old -- were killed overnight Saturday, a hospital official told AFP on condition of anonymity. An emergency official at a large hospital in Bamako, however, told AFP the actual death toll since Friday stood at 11 not seven. Six opposition figures have been detained in recent days, of whom one was released late Saturday, as the government cracked down on the June 5 Movement, an opposition alliance tapping into the deep-seated nationwide frustration. But lawyer Alfifa Habib Kone said around 20 opposition members had been arrested since Friday. - 'Calm down!' - The movement's leading figure, influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, tried to tamp down the tensions on Sunday. "I once again call on the youth of Mali to show restraint and calm," Dicko told AFP shortly before speaking at a funeral. "We can truly find and obtain what we want (through) patience (and) good behaviour," he said. "But the struggle continues," Dicko said, adding that Mali's "endemic corruption (is also) bringing our country to its knees." In a video broadcast earlier on social media, Dicko said: "Do not set fire to petrol stations or this district. Calm down, please! Calm down!" He had recorded the video at his mosque, the scene of especially violent clashes at the weekend. While the known death toll is currently seven, Dicko's supporters, echoing the emergency official, have said the total is higher, posting videos resembling scenes of war. In the videos, at least two dead men can be seen lying in pools of blood, while others have bullet wounds. Shots can be heard at regular intervals in the distance. "You are killing Malians in the mosque with live ammunition. The mosque is on fire," said a man in one the videos, which could not be independently verified. On Sunday, hundreds crowded around the mosque, walking over spent bullet shells, rubble and the remains of torched tires. Opposition leaders who have not yet been arrested now appear to be in hiding. Fearing that Dicko might be arrested like other leaders of the movement, his supporters erected barricades on Sunday "in case the police return," one of them said. Clashes have also been reported outside the home of the constitutional court's president Manassa Danioko, a focus of public anger. - Civil disobedience - Following a long-delayed parliamentary poll in March -- which Keita's party won -- the court overturned the provisional results for about 30 seats, which meant several members of Keita's party were elected. This ruling is widely believed to have ignited the crisis. The 75-year-old president, in power since 2013, said Saturday he had revoked the nominations of all remaining members of the constitutional court so that new judges could be appointed from next week. Since the outrage that followed the parliamentary election, a disparate group of religious leaders, political and civil society members have joined forces to ramp up pressure on Keita. Its leaders have called for "civil disobedience", including the non-payment of fines and blocking entry to state buildings. It blames those in power for the violence, a rarity in Bamako. The former French colony has struggled to contain an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012 before spreading to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Sunday that a joint EU special ops force formed to back Mali's fight against jihadist groups would begin to deploy on Wednesday. A first batch of around 100 French and Estonian troops will be joined later by contingents from the Czech Republic and Sweden, Parly told the French daily La Croix, adding that Italy may also take part. Protesters run from riot police after erecting barricades to block the Martyrs Bridge in Bamako on Saturday Hundreds gathered Sunday at the Salam mosque, where the influential Imam Mahmoud Dicko preaches Clashes raged again in Bamako on Saturday Opposition leader Mountaga Tall addressed supporters after having been released by the security forces Demonstrators are demanding the resignation of Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, seen here in Mauritania in June
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 20:36:26|Editor: huaxia

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A staff member displays samples of the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine at Sinovac Biotech Ltd., in Beijing, capital of China, March 16, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

"This virus lived in animals and at some point passed to humans," Vujnovic said.



MOSCOW, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The novel coronavirus could have existed in a dormant state long before its outbreak, Melita Vujnovic, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to Russia, has said.

"WHO has established a large team that will work together with Chinese scientists to analyze the origin of the virus," Vujnovic said in a recent interview with RIA Novosti news agency.

"This virus lived in animals and at some point passed to humans. It's hard to say when and where this happened. It's being investigated. Viruses can be found in waste water. But nothing can be said specifically," she said.

The novel coronavirus has existed worldwide and broke out whenever and wherever favorable conditions occurred rather than starting in China, Tom Jefferson, senior associate tutor at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford and a visiting professor at Newcastle University, said earlier this month.

Spanish virologists have discovered traces of the novel coronavirus in a sample of Barcelona waste water collected in March 2019, nine months prior to the virus outbreak in China.

According to the Italian National Institute of Health, samples of sewage water from Milan and Turin showed traces of the novel coronavirus on Dec. 18, long before the country's first confirmed cases.

Vujnovic said that scientists are studying these samples and if there is any "revolutionary result," the WHO will immediately announce it. 
Robert S. Mueller III, shown in 2013, broke a yearlong silence Saturday about his investigation into Russian efforts to help the 2016 Trump campaign. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

Former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III on Saturday fervently defended the prosecution of Roger Stone as part of his investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election, a day after President Trump commuted the prison sentence of his longtime friend and advisor.

Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so, Mueller wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that marked his most ardent defense of his two-year probe and his first public remarks since he testified to Congress last July.

Trumps decision to commute Stones 40-month prison sentence, which was scheduled to begin Tuesday, was widely expected in Washington as Trump had long telegraphed that he might offer clemency to his friend.

But it still represented a remarkable defiance of the norms of the Oval Office. A federal jury convicted Stone of seven felony charges, including lying to Congress and witness tampering, in what prosecutors saw as an effort to shield the president from scrutiny.

By contrast, President Nixon did not commute the sentences of his political allies during the Watergate investigation that ultimately forced him to resign in 1974.

Trump's decision was widely condemned by Democrats on Capitol Hill, who pledged to investigate, and by a handful of Republicans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) called Trump's move an act of "staggering corruption" and promised Democrats would pursue legislation to prevent a similar move in the future.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who led the House impeachment of Trump last year, said the decision was among Trumps most offensive to the rule of law and principles of justice.

With this commutation, Trump makes clear that there are two systems of justice in America: one for his criminal friends, and one for everyone else, he said. Donald Trump, [Atty. Gen.] Bill Barr, and all those who enable them pose the gravest of threats to the rule of law.

Story continues

The commutation even spurred a backlash from two Republican senators, many of whom have refused to go out of their way to criticize the president.

Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) wrote on Twitter.

Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) called it a mistake, adding that he understands Trump's frustration with the badly flawed Russia-collusion investigation but that presidential clemency authority should be used judiciously.

Trump on Saturday reiterated his long-held opposition to the Mueller investigation, saying Stone was "treated horribly" and "treated very unfairly" and that he had no regrets.

Roger Stone was brought into this witch hunt, this whole political witch hunt and the Mueller scam, Trump said. People are extremely happy because, in this country, they want justice, and Roger Stone was not treated properly. I'm very happy with what I did."

Trump did not answer a question about whether he would grant clemency to five other former advisors who were convicted or pleaded guilty as part of the Russia investigation.

They include Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was convicted of tax and banking fraud, and his former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

It was perhaps Trump's comments on Saturday that prompted Mueller to break his yearlong silence on the inner workings of his investigation.

Through two years of work and a year afterward, Mueller let go unchecked all of the political backlash from Trump and his allies.

The former FBI director spoke once before Congress last July and largely refused to say anything that wasn't in the report.

Mueller said in the op-ed that he felt "compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office. The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes."

Stone was ultimately convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation, making false statements to Congress and tampering with a witness. A jury found that he had lied to Congress when he denied communicating with the Trump campaign about the timing of the release of emails stolen from the Hillary Clinton campaign and posted on WikiLeaks, among other statements.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Sen. Charles Schumer announced Sunday that without specific federal funds, New York schools might not be able to safely reopen come fall.

Everyone wants our schools to reopen, but the federal government must lead the way by funding the safety measures that would open the doors of New York and the nations schools in a way that helps ensure the coronavirus does not needlessly spread or infect teachers, kids or staff, Schumer said in a news release.

Schumer said costs for personal protective equipment (PPE), physical barriers and other supplies at school, such as cleaning supplies, could drain local resources -- making it more difficult for districts in New York to reopen safely and ensure the protection of students and staff.

Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza outlined a plan for staggered and remote learning for students returning to classrooms in the fall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Under their plan, classes will be held in cafeterias, auditoriums, gymnasiums and in enclosed outdoor spaces and students and teachers will be required to wear face coverings while following strict social distancing rules. The city Department of Education (DOE) will supply schools with cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment, like face coverings, and schools will be deep cleaned every evening using an electrostatic disinfectant.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***

Schumer announced a new legislative push Sunday to include much-needed assistance in a Corona-4 legislative package that would work to substantially cover costs of reopening schools with federal dollars. He is pushing for $175 billion for kindergarten through 12th-grade schools across the United States -- and New York would see a massive amount of that allotment, he said.

Without federal dollars to cover the massive costs of PPE, barriers, cleaning supplies and more, local school budgets across the city, Long Island and beyond would be crushed, local taxes could rise and some schools might simply stay closed -- and we do not want that, Schumer said. Thats why we need to take action in COVID-4 and commit $175 billion to the goal of safely reopening K-12 schools for all.

The plan was crafted alongside Sen. Patty Murray and was introduced as the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act (CCCERA). It includes other efforts critical to supporting child care and education amid the pandemic.

Without major help from the federal government, Schumer said New York would be devastated and the country would risk losing $4.5 million in child care slots and $1.9 million in education jobs.

The bottom line here is that the coronavirus brought with it unprecedented health and economic challenges for students, families, educators, and learning institutions across the country -- challenges disproportionately felt by students of color, students from low-income families, students with disabilities, and more, Schumer added. So, action is needed now to save teaching jobs, preserve millions of child care slots, and ensure every student has access to a safe, quality education.

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WATERLOO  The statement is stark and devastating: The shameless, soulless people, who disrespected the commandment to love their fellow men, disregarded the laments, the cries of babies and women and men. They did not fear. They had support from the German police, the social consent to persecute Jews.

Tadeuz Markiels remark is prominently captioned on a photograph of an old farmstead in Some Were Neighbors: Choices, Human Behavior & The Holocaust, an exhibit now on display at the Grout Museum of History & Science. Markiel was recalling the events he witnessed as a 12-year-old non-Jewish resident of Gniewczyna, Poland, as violence was perpetrated against Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II.

The traveling exhibit, produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., is sponsored by UNIs Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education in Cedar Falls. The Grout Museum has featured annual Holocaust exhibits for more than five years, as well as Holocaust Remembrance Day events, said Alan Sweeney, director of facilities and exhibits at the museum.

An exhibit opening was originally planned for late spring, but was postponed due to COVID-19 closure. The museum reopened to the public in June with safety protocols in place, including a requirement to wear masks.

Sweeney said the display examines the motivations of ordinary people in Nazi-controlled countries during wartime, including Germany, Poland, Hungary and France, as well as the Soviet Union, through a collection of historical documentation, survivors commentaries and photographs.

The photographs are very powerful, along with the stories about why people collaborated with the Nazis, or who said nothing as their neighbors were rounded up and taken to death camps, said Alan Sweeney, Grout director of facilities and exhibits.

Many neighbors  workers, teenagers, policemen, religious leaders, business associates, teachers and friends  made individual choices to collaborate and comply with the Nazis, and sometimes individuals resisted. Reasons for both are explored in the exhibit, Sweeney said.

Influences ranged from fear, indifference, anti-Semitism and community standing, to peer pressure and a desire for money or material goods. In Slovakia, for example, Jews were turned over to the Germans for as little as a bag of sugar.

Everyones actions took place in a climate of licensed violence against Jews and pervasive Nazi propaganda that reinforced anti-Jewish hatred, according to one display. Trust between people eroded and an indifference to the suffering of others grew.

At the same time, some people made the choice to risk their own lives to help Jews hide or escape. In one panel, Holocaust survivor Esther Bem recalled how strangers helped her family survive in hiding: These were ordinary people that will never be in history books. In an era when goodness was very rare, they cultivated it. They didnt think of themselves. This is something I want the post-Holocaust generation to know, that people have choices.

A trunk belonging to Polish Jews and death camp survivors Jozef and Sonia Maidan was brought out of the Grout collection for the exhibition. The trunk held all their belongings when they traveled to the United States, sponsored by Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Waterloo. The one-of-a-kind trunk was rediscovered nearly a decade ago, Sweeney said, and the Maidan family donated it to the museum. A photograph of Jozef and Sonia accompanies the trunk.

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In Spain, for the first time since the easing of the Corona-measures in June, an output restriction is arranged. The people in the city of Lleida and seven surrounding municipalities are allowed to leave on Monday the house only to work, for shopping or for urgent matters, such as doctor's visits, reported the newspaper "La Vanguardia" on Sunday, citing the regional government of Catalonia.

This measures in the in the West of Catalonia the Region have been further tightened, the apply for a week for more than 200,000 people. So the area in which there is a rise in infection numbers was sealed already to a large extent from the outside world. Since then, the police controlled the access roads.

In the hospitals in the area of Lleida were now treated more than 100 Covid-19-patients, reported in "La Vanguardia". In the whole of Catalonia, where the new Corona is also available in the city of L'hospitalet de Llobregat just South of Barcelona, the number of cases, were the internal registers of the 24 hours on Sunday 816 new infections with the Sars-CoV-2 Virus. The were more than twice as many as on Saturday, as the 361 cases were reported.

Catalonia in the North-East of Spain is one of the most densely populated regions of the country. Since last Monday, a mask is mandatory in the Outdoors, according to media reports from Monday, also in the Balearic Islands with Majorca as well as in the course of the week in the regions of La Rioja and Navarra to be there. At the Ballermann on Mallorca hundreds of tourists for outrage, the celebrated in defiance of the precautionary measures provided.

Spain is almost 28.400 Corona dead and 250,000 are Infected one of the worst of the pandemic hit countries in Europe. Nationwide, the Numbers have declined since the middle of may strong. Since the end of the restrictions, however, local to new coronavirus outbreaks.

Updated Date: 12 July 2020, 14:19
July 3 (Reuters) - Construction of TC Energy Corp's oil pipeline project, Keystone XL, has begun in Canada, the premier of the Canadian province of Alberta announced on Friday, saying the government has started talking with U.S. Democratic lawmakers for support.

The pipeline project is supported by U.S. President Donald Trump, but faces opposition from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who has said he would rescind the permit for Keystone XL pipeline if elected.

"We will be reaching out, as we already have... to members of (Biden's) party, many of whom support the project," Alberta premier Jason Kenney told reporters on Friday.

He said labour unions with close connections to Biden's party, trade unions, steel workers and others will be approached for support of the project.

Construction of the pipeline, which would carry 830,000 barrels a day of crude from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest, has been delayed for more than a decade by opposition from landowners, environmental groups and tribes.

"If there is a change of administration next January, there will have been very substantial progress on this project in three U.S. states, across the Canada-U.S. border as well as north of the border," Kenney added.

The project has suffered various setbacks including the ruling by a U.S. court on April 15 against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' use of a permit that allows new energy pipelines to cross water bodies.

Earlier this year, Alberta had said it would invest $1.1 billion in Keystone XL and back TC Energy's $4.2 billion credit facility.

Alberta, home of the world's third-largest oil reserves, has had to deal for years with weakened prices due to congested pipelines, and has had to curtail oil production. (Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru Editing by Chris Reese)
The patient, an Illinois man in his 60s, spent 100 days on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life support machine that does the work of the heart and lungs.

New York: Surgeons led by an Indian-origin doctor have performed a double-lung transplant on a second patient whose lungs were damaged by COVID-19, within a month after the same team conducted what is believed to have been the first such surgery in the US.

The patient, an Illinois man in his 60s, spent 100 days on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life support machine that does the work of the heart and lungs.

He received the transplant last weekend at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the hospital said in a statement

"This procedure capped an extremely busy holiday weekend for our transplant team. We worked around the clock, performing multiple transplants on non-COVID patients before accepting new lungs for this COVID-19 survivor," said Dr Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of the Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Programme, who performed seven lung transplants in seven days.

"Performing back to back lung transplants on such complex patients is demanding work and I'm extremely proud of our team's dedication. It's a testament to the infrastructure and expertise of Northwestern Medicine's Lung Transplant Programme," the Meerut-born doctor said.

The patient contracted COVID-19 in late March and received the majority of his treatment at another health system before being transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for consideration of a double-lung transplant.

Within 72 hours of being listed, the life-saving procedure was performed on 4 July.

Before the patient's name was added to the transplant wait-list, he had to test negative for COVID-19.

"Coincidentally, the transplant happened to be on the 100th day of ECMO support. Being on ECMO and separated from the ventilator allowed the patient to participate in daily bedside rehabilitation which is important for lung transplantation," said Dr Bharat

Typically, a double-lung transplant takes 6 to 7 hours, but this surgery took about 10 hours due to lung necrosis and severe inflammation in the chest cavities resulting from COVID-19.

"Prior to his arrival at Northwestern Memorial, the patient developed an invasive infection which required a major chest surgery. This was going to make the double-lung transplant substantially more difficult," said Samuel Kim, MD, Northwestern Medicine thoracic surgeon, who assisted in the double-lung transplant alongside Dr Bharat.

"His lung damage was among the worst I've ever seen. When we opened the chest cavity there was a lot of evidence of infection; everything we touched or dissected started bleeding and one misstep could have led to catastrophic consequences."

Northwestern surgeons led by Dr Bharat in June performed what is believed to have been the first-known lung transplant on a COVID-19 patient in the US last month: on a woman in her 20s.

The surgeons performed their first on a woman in her 20s whose lungs showed irreversible damage from the virus.

She became the first known COVID-19 patient in the United States to receive a double-lung transplant.

"Our first patient continues to recover at an optimal pace," said Rade Tomic, MD, a pulmonologist and medical director of the Lung Transplant Programme. "Our second patient is already off the ventilator and is talking to his family. He's grateful for the care he received from all the health care providers, including those at his original hospital, who helped him get to this point. We're optimistic that both patients will make a full recovery and return to their daily lives."
Twenty years of audacity, twenty years of success. Twenty years of an incomparable watchmaking journey. From the outset, the J12 transformed ceramic into a precious material and rewrote two hundred years of history to redefine the standards of feminine watchmaking. Jacques Helleu, the artistic director of Chanel at the time, created this piece to fulfill his own desires. He wanted a beautiful yet different watch. Revolutionary, the J12 was immediately crowned the first watchmaking icon of the 21st century.

Since the beginning, the J12 has drawn its inspiration from this irrepressible desire to shake up the codes by combining a unique artistic approach and exquisite technical expertise, by being daring and innovative. The J12 captures the spirit of the time like no other. It craves innovation and inspiration and showcases it. The secret of its infinite creativity lies here in this initial act of design, in the perpetual back and forth to make it timeless, in the inherent science of movement.

Yet in 2011, the J12 takes the stage in titanium ceramic that is more lively than gold and more intense than platinum. Born in this completely unique material that transforms light into an array of vibrant rays of light, the Chromatic color propels the watch into another dimension. The J12 Chromatic dreams of becoming a watch of reflections, a mirror of an always changing time that only Chanel can capture.

J12-H2934-Chromatic-41mm  Chanel

2013 and the J12 is looking towards the stars. It wants to fly to the Moon. Chanels Swiss Manufacture at la Chaux-de-Fonds cannot deny its desire and embarks on this new journey. The J12 Moonphase is born with its mechanism displaying the different moon phases on a deep blue aventurine disc that glitters like a summer night. Feminine, elegant, different.

J12-H3404-Moonphase  Chanel

The following year, the J12 wants to dance, fly and dream. A flying tourbillon in the form of a comet? Yes, but fully set in diamonds, it feels like in a dream. This J12 is pure madness. Its movement is designed exclusively by Renaud & Papi (APRP SA). Bis repetita in 2015 with a J12 Skeleton Flying Tourbillon, designed once again by the experts at Renaud & Papi (APRP SA). The J12 wants to reveal all: its body, mind, and its soul. As though it never really had anything to hide. 2014, with the J12-G10 watch, Chanel takes an adventurous turn to feminine watchmaking by adapting an essential from the military world, the NATO bracelet. Like a secret code, the J12-G10 thus chooses a new identity by borrowing its name from this legendary military bracelet as well as replacing its large-scale alligator leather with nylon and the loops are set with brilliant or baguette cut diamonds. Resolutely modern, this bracelet blurs the lines and feminizes without losing its robustness and comfort, while offering a luxurious allure.

J12 Tourbillon Volant et J12 G10  Chanel

Go where you are least expected to be. Always be the first, but remember your roots. The J12 knows the rules, it dictates them. In 2016, discreet and silently curling around the wrist, the watch takes shape in a miniature 19-mm version, the J12XS. Designed by Arnaud Chastaingt - now in charge of the CHANEL Watchmaking Creation Studio - it features a classic ceramic bracelet or a cuff. A sheer beauty in itself. Another J12? Well no. Just always the J12: its dial is sometimes featured on a ring, in the fold of a glove, on a cuff, a large-size bracelet or it may also be found adorned with diamonds or Lesage embroideries, as if it were reimagining the fashion it has always loved. XSively feminine, surprising, paradoxical, sophisticated, contradictory, strong, unexpected, assumed, powerful, precious, determined and excessively excessive!

J12-XS Manchette Petit Modele et J12-XS Manchette Lesage Noire  Chanel

2017, a silhouette in the form of a hat, pumps and a braided suit spreading her arms on the dial to indicate the time. The J12 showcases Mademoiselle Chanel: playful, cheeky and joyful.

J12 Mademoiselle  Chanel

2018, Chanel presents a set of 12 one-of-a-kind watches, each decorated with an abstract composition produced in ceramic marquetry. The 12 pieces together form a polyptych, showcasing a graphic design by the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio. The J12 Untitled is a watch of its time, like never before.

J12 Untiltled - Set of 12 unique pieces  Chanel

2019, Arnaud Chastaingt, Director of the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio, gives the J12 a makeover without really touching the identity that created its legend and success. At the dawn of its 20th anniversary, the J12 wants to grow without losing any of its audacity. To be rejuvenated without abrading the identity that made all its successes. Its bezel is refined to open up the dial, the number of notches on the bezel is increased, the typography of its numerals is redesigned, the width of its crown reduced and the thickness of its case is ever so slightly increased. The silhouette of the J12 is transformed. Neither quite the same, nor quite another. Its profile is softened, its silhouette is stronger. This is the new J12, delicately redesigned by Arnaud Chastaingt. Its dress changes. Its heart too. The J12 now has a one-piece ceramic case equipped with a sapphire crystal so the new 12.1 caliber movement can be seen to be admired. The caliber 12.1 is exclusively designed and developed by KENISSI, a high performance Swiss Manufacture in which Chanel owns a stake. Chanel received an award the same year for the J12 caliber 12.1 watch, during the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve (GPHG) ceremony, in the Ladies category.

J12 Edition Noire  Chanel

The J12 is 20 years old. And it doesn't show. The new J12 speaks of modern classicism. Bezel, dial, and hands in intense black, Mademoiselles favorite color. The Edition Noire takes stage. Now already in 2020. In a sleight of hand which only this watch holds all the secrets, the J12 Paradoxe creates a new boundary by combining light and mystery - day and night. Its unique aesthetic is the result of a highly technical feat accomplished by cutting and fusing two ceramic cases of different dimensions - one white and the other black. Assembled together, they form one casing.

Continuing in 2020, the watch goes even further. Without forgetting its past, the J12 frees itself from the colour codes that have always been its triumph. It abolishes black, transcends white and goes beyond colour by choosing transparency. The new J12 X-RAY watch displays its watchmaking mastery in a unique sapphire crystal case that allows us to admire the incandescent purity of its forms. With a new movement that has been designed and assembled by the Chanel Manufacture the Caliber 3.1  the J12 X-RAY is all about transparency. The plate, timer bridge and cog bridge are made of sapphire crystal. They fade away to let the light in, revealing a delicately embroidered latticework of cogs. The assembly of the movement requires all the master watchmakers expertise, delicacy and patience. An operation that lasted a full week. The dial is also cast in sapphire crystal and set with baguette-cut diamond indicators, giving the illusion of 12 diamonds perfectly balanced in a state of suspension. For the first time in history, a watch is created with a strap composed of links cut from raw sapphires. As a limited edition of just 12 pieces, the J12 X-RAY watch initiates a new era in the history of colour.

J12-20 et J12 X-RAY  Chanel

For its 20th anniversary, the J12 wants to play. It takes twenty symbols and references from the Maison Chanel: a 2.55 bag, a camellia, a bottle of N5 perfume and even a tweed jacket. It becomes the J1220. Punctuated with 12 diamonds, these polished rhodium-plated motifs are found on its bezel and dial. Sublime irreverence to sign the absolute freedom of this edition, limited to 2020 pieces, and also available in an Haute Horlogerie enameled version, numbered and limited to 5 pieces.
In the past two weeks, six cases of arson have been reported to the Flagstaff Police Department across the city.

Police have made arrests in five of the cases, four of which were linked to the same subject. Police are still searching for a suspect in the case of arson that is believed to have been started by Molotov cocktails thrown at a garage on North Fourth Street.

The six cases of arson that were reported in the past two weeks equals the total amount of arson cases reported to Flagstaff police last year.

The structures that burned varied from dumpsters, cardboard compactors and unattached garages. No one reported any injuries due to the fires.

The citys fire restrictions were implemented early in the year to limit firefighter exposure to COVID-19 that could occur while they suppressed fires. Currently the city is in stage two fire restrictions, which stop permits for open burning and prohibit charcoal grills, open fire pits, and smoking on parks and trails.

Additionally, as the city enters July, temperatures rise and the forests continue to dry out, multiple red flag warnings have been issued over the past few weeks. Coconino National Forest lists fire danger as very high for each of its districts, and the Kaibab National Forest lists its fire danger as extreme.

In light of these warnings, the Flagstaff police and fire departments are increasingly concerned that people appear to be deliberately using fire to damage property, said Charles Hernandez, spokesman for the Flagstaff Police Department.

Given the fire ban and restrictions in place as a result of dry wildlands, any form of fire, including intentional arson, presents catastrophic danger not only to the community but by the responders sent to contain these fires. For these reasons, the arson cases are extremely concerning to the department and community safety, Hernandez said.

At this time, officers believe the cases are not linked because the targets did not appear to be related.

In these incidents, there has not been a correlation made to suggest these incidents are related, Hernandez said.

In Arizona, punishment for arson varies based upon the value of the damaged property. A more severe felony is used when arson cases involve property thats valued above than $1,000.

The six cases are a reported case of arson behind the jail on June 30, four reported arsons on Milton Road on July 5, and the Molotov cocktail incident on July 8.

In order to prevent these crimes from occurring, we are going to need the publics help in identifying individuals responsible for setting the fires, Hernandez said.

Arson cases

A string of four arsons are believed to have occurred in the early morning hours last Sunday, according to police reports.

An officer found one of the burns at the Michaels craft stores, and the others were reported near the Grand Canyon Brewery, Denny's and Circle K  all businesses with addresses near or on Milton Road.

An officer was initially responding to a burglary alarm at Bookmans at 2:54 a.m. when he saw smoke behind Michaels. After calling the fire department, the officer found Michaels' cardboard compactor, recently filled with cardboard, burning.

Firefighters at the scene told the officer there was a second fire in a commercial dumpster behind Grand Canyon Brewery. The fire in that dumpster was hot enough to cause the paint outside of the dumpster to curl off, one officer reported.

Officers responding to the scene found a can of paint thinner on a recycle bin nearby, which was taken as evidence as a possible source of igniter fluid.

At the nearby Circle K, officers found a partially melted gas can inside the burning dumpster. Police took the can as additional evidence of igniter fluid.

At the Denny's restaurant on Milton Road, burning cardboard was also found in the dumpster. Officers used surveillance cameras to find the fire was started by what appeared to be the same suspect.

The fire burned from 1:30 a.m. and went out naturally at 2:54 a.m., police reports show.

Video footage was also taken from the Grand Canyon Brewery and nearby Target. All of the footage showed a white man with a grey hoodie with the hood up and a hat on, carrying a bag in his right hand. In the Target footage hes seen looking into a trash barrel before continuing northbound off camera.

Lorne Arthur, 37, was arrested and booked two days later for four counts of arson and four counts of criminal damage.

Investigators had not identified a suspect in the case of arson involving the alleged Molotov cocktails as of Friday afternoon, Hernandez said. The case began early Wednesday morning when residents of an apartment complex on the 1400 block of North Fourth Street saw an unattached garage and a tree burning.

The fire was suppressed by Flagstaff firefighters without any injury. Unbroken bottles with gasoline liquid inside and burned paper inserted were found in the burn area, and are believed to be Molotov cocktails.

Additionally, Henry James, a 51-year-old man from Phoenix, was arrested for starting a wildland fire on the Flagstaff Urban Trail System behind the jail and police station near the end of June.

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Heather Hofman is a former Chicago area resident who now lives in Portland, Ore. When she learned about IIC she used it find an agent to sell her home in 2016 and buy another in February. She got the services she needed and $3,960 went to Waters Today, the fundraising arm of Chicagos Thomas J. Waters Elementary School where her nieces attend.
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Protesters outside City Hall in Los Angeles on June 2. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

Watching protesters fill the streets across the globe over the police killings of African Americans, I thought of the opening words of Freedoms Journal, the first Black-owned and operated newspaper in the United States: We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. Too long has the publick been deceived by misinterpretations, in things which concern us dearly.

These words were written in 1827, when most African Americans were enslaved, and most white Americans were fine with that. The Civil War was almost 40 years away, but the Black creators of Freedoms Journal already imagined a different world and insisted on raising their own voices to bring it into being.

For over 30 years, Ive been making documentary films on the African American experience, particularly misrepresented or forgotten histories, including about Marcus Garvey, the murder of Emmett Till, the Freedom Riders, Freedom Summer and the Black Panther Party. Spending time with the folks who lived this history made me keenly aware that those who have the power to tell the story create the meaning of that story.

The story shouting out at us today is one of national reckoning. The brutal killing of George Floyd may have ignited the protests. But it was the COVID-19 pandemic that re-arranged the firewood.

The pandemic doesnt show how we were all in this together. Rather, it shows that everything is connected: how centuries of forced labor, Black Codes, Jim Crow and segregation, along with housing, economic and education inequality, have created a form of American apartheid that is playing out in who lives and who dies from the coronavirus.

The cultural uprising now underway is the result of decades of Black people telling their stories. But were not there yet. The stories documentarians and journalists capture today  and that will emerge in the weeks and months ahead as definitive narratives  will not only shape how we remember this extraordinary period but also how future generations come to understand it. It is therefore critical that African Americans and other people of color who are at the center of this revolution tell the stories.

Story continues

It is not a foregone conclusion that they will be able to do so.

The industry most responsible for telling Americas stories, to the country and the world, is lagging behind. No American institution has perpetuated our racial hierarchy, racist attitudes, and myths that twist the truth of our history more than film and television. Halting production of the show Cops and adding context to broadcasts of Gone with the Wind are necessary but not sufficient. The industry, even the corner focused on documentaries, must more boldly take on the transformation that this moment demands.

I am one of the fortunate few Black documentary filmmakers who has received the support to build a career. That said, it took me six years to raise the funds for a film about the Black press. And each new film is a challenge to finance. Just this year, my film company started seeking funding for a film on the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, now famous because of President Trumps visit to Tulsa, originally planned on Juneteenth. Until recent events, we were told repeatedly by funding and production executives that they had never heard of it, that it was too unknown to have appeal. As everyone now recognizes, the Tulsa massacre is foundational to the African American experience in the 20th century.

In the documentary field, as in many others, decision-making is shrouded in secrecy, access is governed by close personal relationships and principal gatekeepers with the power to make or break careers are nearly all white. For many of the more than 100 filmmakers weve supported at Firelight Media Documentary Lab over the last decade, even winning the top awards in our field is not enough to break through.

Its time that film distribution companies, financiers and film festivals made a commitment to transformation of their leadership. White directors and producers who want to tell stories about people of color should instead help a filmmaker of color to tell that story. Production companies and sales agents who leverage long-standing industry relationships should examine how their practices marginalize filmmakers and audiences of color.

Most importantly, the industry must move resources to filmmakers of color to tell the stories we all need to hear. Stories by and about Black, Indigenous and people of color are woefully lacking financial support, in part because the businesses that market, distribute and broadcast films in the United States have shown scant interest in reaching this demographic and little if any confidence that larger audiences would watch their stories.

Perhaps, had funding been available, along with more support for filmmakers of color, stories that we recognize as valuable and just good stories  from slavery and emancipation to reconstruction and so much more  would have gained popular acclaim, helping to transform how we think of our larger history.

We need to create a funding stream now to ensure that this moment produces a new body of work, shaping how we cover what is happening and what has happened throughout our history.

As with other industries, the economic fallout from COVID-19 has made it particularly hard for filmmakers of color, most of whom were already struggling. The confluence of the pandemic and the racial and cultural reckoning does not guarantee that we will come out of this in a different place. Our industry has had a tendency to turn to sure things in times of crisis, finding solace in a nostalgic normal that perpetuates the white status quo.

Like the founders of Freedoms Journal, todays filmmakers know that those who tell the story wield the power. The stories and filmmakers we choose to support will determine whether we create a fuller, more accurate narrative of our country, one that will help us bring the future we all want into being.

Stanley Nelson is a filmmaker whose work focuses on African American history and culture. He is also the founder of the Firelight Media Documentary Lab, which mentors and supports filmmakers of color.




According to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, face masks should be worn at all times as the country gets back to work.

The Prime Minister was wearing a mask on Thursday and said he would enforce mask-wearing guidelines for indoors spaces, reported Stuff.

Government sources verify that masks are the protection for COVID and enclosed spaces as the most effective way to prevent viral infection.

Why the emphasis on wearing a mask is all about advice to workers and why mask-wearing in crucial.

Recently, there was a focus on remote work but it is time to return to the workplaces to jumpstart the economy

Everyone must work if they can but people visiting shops and other outdoor facilities should follow guidelines strictly, cited Telegraph.

Last Tuesday, Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, said that 30 billion (NZ$57.71b) will be disbursed to warn people to wear mask when visiting a pub and doing the usual activities they do before the lockdowns.

Boris Johnson's moves are aimed at returning life to normalcy before the pandemic and kick start the economy, mentioned UK Day to Day.

Wearing a 2 face mask when visiting local businesses in Uxbridge was done after some criticism to set the example for the public.

He added that wearing facemasks will be mandatory to prevent more infections of COVID-19, especially in enclosed areas.

They are looking for ways to ensure that the public will follow wearing face coverings in shops that are enclosed, with increased chances of getting infected.

In Scotland, Science has proven that wearing masks will lessen any infection by far. Wearing them is mandatory and effective to reduce COVID infection.

Also read: Cloth Face Masks Offer Zero Protection From Virus, Study Shows



Knowing that the COVID-19 can be spread in the air is proof that wearing a mask is smart in all public places.

Public health is important and measures to enforce mask-wearing in a shop or any enclosed place are important.

Even with the reduction of lockdown measures and the economy getting opened with mostly inactive town centers, most people are working at home.

The lack of commerce is threatening to shut down businesses because of no consumer activity. But firms have told their work staff that it will be a return to the office next year, Financial Times.

Boris Johnson is concerned that working from the home is not helping. The alternative is to return to work and start to regain a normal day to day life.

Matt Hancock says that people should have an option to choose to work from home. The government has an option to legislate it as a legal right.

Hancock added that working at home is a new normal which an employer must consider as standard working options.

When asked if it will be made into a law, he said yes, mentioning a study to delve into the benefits of remote working.

Another aspect of remote working is the benefit for women in the long run. One concern is how productive it is when working from home, and its effect on the individual.

Johnson stated that cases are low but they should remain vigilant to prevent horrific upticks again.

Wearing face masks in enclosed places is a start for now in getting everything back to normal.

Related article: 10 Most Common Mistakes When Using Face Masks

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
As the presidential panel investigating the suspended chairman of the anti-graft agency, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, continues to sit, Mr Magu has spent nearly a week in detention without bail.

Mr Magu, 58, was arrested in Abuja by a team of police officers, on Monday. He was taken to the State House to appear before the Justice Ayo Salami-led presidential investigative committee.

The panel was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate allegations of corruption and insubordination against him. The allegations against him were made by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami. Both men have had a running battle since Mr Magus appointment in 2015.

A day after Mr Magu was arrested, he was suspended from office, according to multiple sources briefed on the matter. His suspension was, however, not officially confirmed until Friday. On Tuesday, a combined team of police officers and operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) searched Mr Magus house in Karu, Abuja. Nothing incriminating was found during the search, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

While Mr Magu was being probed, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo described as false and baseless fabrications, allegations by a blogger, Jackson Ude, that he received money from Mr Magu.

Before Mr Magus suspension was officially announced, a PREMIUM TIMES review of Section 2(3) of the EFCC Act, showed that Mr Magus replacement would have to have 15 years experience as a security operative.

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Muhammed Umar, the EFCCs director of operations, was, on Friday confirmed as interim head of the anti-graft agency by President Buhari, pending the conclusion of Mr Magus investigation. The statement released by the attorney generals office, also formally announced Mr Magus suspension, saying it was to allow for an unhindered inquiry by the presidential panel.

On the same day, the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, ordered the withdrawal of mobile police personnel attached to the EFCC, thus effectively taking over security at the commission.

Revised 2020 budget

While the Magu drama played out, President Buhari, on Friday, signed into law, the revised 2020 budget of N10.8 trillion.

At the signing ceremony, Mr Buhari said the 2020 budget had to be revised because of the effect of coronavirus on the nations economy.

According to the revised budget, N422 billion was earmarked for statutory transfers, while N4.9 trillion was for recurrent expenditure. Capital expenditure will take N2.4 trillion while N2.9 trillion, about a quarter of the budget, will be used to service debt. About N500 billion was earmarked as intervention funds for the fight against COVID-19, while the health sector got N186 billion allocation.

Ondo 2020: 17 parties notify INEC for primaries

The electoral commission, INEC, announced that 17 out of the 18 registered political parties notified the commission of their intention to conduct primaries for the Ondo governorship election fixed for October 10.

It said details of the political parties and their primaries have been published on the commissions website and social media platforms.

For neighbouring Edo State whose governorship election holds on September 19, INEC said 14 political parties conducted primaries and nominated their candidates for the election.

It also reminded parties that going by the timetable and schedule of activities for the election, public campaigns would begin on June 21, and end on September 17.
Trailblazing U.S. Air Force pilot Charles Chuck Elwood Yeager made history in 1947 as the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight. His triumph inspired a book and a movie, while the decorated flight pilots career soared for seven decades.

Yeager enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941 and gained a solid reputation as a fighter pilot during the Second World War.

The young pilot was then chosen to test the Bell X-1 supersonic research plane in 1947 after completing Flight Performance School; Yeager named the craft Glamorous Glennis after his wife of two years at the time.

Yeager sitting in the Bell X-1 cockpit, from a print signed by Yeager at Edwards Air Force Base (Jack Ridley)

In October 1947, Yeager flew to 43,000 feet and hit 700 miles per hour over the Mojave Desert, becoming the first human ever to break the sound barrier, also known as Mach 1.

Amazingly, Yeager had broken two ribs in a horse-riding accident just days before the record-breaking flight. Yet, he was philosophical about his injury. If it became physically impossible to climb into the X-1, then Id scrub the mission, Yeager told Popular Mechanics in 1987, adding, If I could get into the pilots seat, I knew I could fly.

(Left to right) Captain Charles Chuck Yeager, Major G Lundquist, and Captain J Fitzger (Keystone/Getty Images)

Yeager went on to describe the record-breaking moment itself.

The airplane was allowed to continue to accelerate until an indication of .965 on the cockpit Machmeter was obtained, he said. At this indication, the meter momentarily stopped and then jumped up to 1.06, and the hesitation was assumed to be caused by the effect of shock waves on the static source.

The record-setting pilot had flown at supersonic speeds for 18 seconds. There was no buffet, no jolt, no shock, he recalled. Above all, no brick wall to smash into. I was alive.

Glamorous Glen III, Yeagers P-51D during the Second World War (U.S. Air Force)

After his historic achievement, Yeager ascended the ranks from captain to commander and trained military pilots to become astronauts. He retired from the Air Force in 1975.

Four years later, Yeager was featured in Tom Wolfes book The Right Stuff and its 1983 film adaptation, in which he played a cameo role as a bartender. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.

Yeagers feat became the subject of some controversy after the publication of Dan Hamptons 2018 book Chasing The Demon: A Secret History of the Quest for the Sound Barrier and the Band of American Aces Who Conquered It.

Yeager holding a model of the Bell X-1 aircraft in New York City on Oct. 18, 1962 (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Allegedly, war hero and test pilot George Welch broke the sound barrier just days before Yeager, but because he worked for aircraft manufacturer North American Aviation and not for the U.S. Air Force, his achievement was not recorded.

[First secretary of the Air Force, Stuart] Symington put out a directive to North American Aviation saying that the sound barrier will be broken first by the US Air Force, Hampton writes, as quoted by the New York Post. The subtext was, I dont care if you do it, but if you do and it gets publicized, you can say goodbye to these billion-dollar contracts.

Yeager attends a special 20th-anniversary screening of The Right Stuff at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California, on June 9, 2003. (Robert Mora/Getty Images)

Yeager attends The Country Music Hall of Fame 2015 Medallion Ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 25, 2015. (Rick Diamond/Getty Images)

Nevertheless, Yeagers achievement was unsullied by controversy. On the 50th anniversary of his breaking the sound barrier, he took to the skies and did it again, repeating the extraordinary feat over the Mojave Desert in 2012 at the age of 89.

That year, Yeager told CNN that he hit Mach 1.3 and laid down a pretty good sonic boom over Edwards [Air Force Base].

I really appreciated the Air Force giving me a brand new F-15 to fly, he said, adding that his team had to keep the plane below Mach 1.4.

If you want to go Mach 2, he added, you start breaking glasses and cracking roof.

We would love to hear your stories! You can share them with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.nyc
The Delhi government has been cautiously optimistic in its battle against deadly coronavirus as reports indicate that the city has been recording more than 70 percent recovery rate since the last few days.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating effects were unprecedented and sudden for India. However, the reality of any democracy is that such extraordinary times are the best times to perform in terms of crisis management and governance. India suffered but a mere fraction of the scavenging deaths worldwide. It is pertinent to acknowledge the leadership of our governments and the chief ministers, they have just saved us from total destruction. If we didnt learn from past pandemics it would have been history in crisis. One of the best examples of this is the Delhi government under the leadership of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The Delhi government has been cautiously optimistic in its battle against deadly coronavirus as reports indicate that the city has been recording more than 70 percent recovery rate since the last few days. In a public health emergency, mitigating public fear is as important as medical interventions. Delhi government's fight against COVID-19 from the frontlines which gave not only confidence to the citizens of Delhi but also gave strength to the doctors, nurses and other COVID warriors to fight this battle.

Delhi, with a population of over 20 million, and facing a stream of domestic and international passengers, faced the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic from the beginning. The key to controlling the number of cases is the strategy of aggressive testing, isolating the high-risk contacts, and quarantining them, to decrease the spread of the disease. Delhi fought to remove the stigma of COVID by breaking the psychological barrier and promoting home isolation. The Delhi government aggressively promoted home isolation, who were asymptomatic or mild symptoms, with public awareness campaigns to reduce the stigma.

Delhi was following a strategy of high testing from the very start. Even before the end of June, Delhi was testing more than any other state in India at about 10,500 tests per million on 31 May. From the first week of June, a strategy of aggressive testing was started, with a focus on areas that were becoming hotspots. In the first week of June, the Delhi government was conducting 5,500 tests per day. With the help of Centres support in providing antigen test kits, by mid-June, this figure stood at 11,000 tests per day and by the first week of July at 21,000 tests per day. The active cases began to plateau despite high testing, from 16 June onwards and new cases began to sharply decline 23 June onwards.

Till early June, there were only 8 private hospitals that were treating coronavirus patients and these had a sum total of 700 beds available. This was in addition to 2,500 beds in Delhi government hospitals. When the cases started rising in the first week of June, the aforementioned 8 private hospitals reached their capacity and when patients reached some of these hospitals they found no beds available.

Bed capacity was immediately expanded in private hospitals. COVID beds in private hospitals increased from 700 to 5000. In addition to this, hotels were linked to private hospitals thereby increasing the bed capacity of hospitals. With this hotel linkage, the number of beds in private hospitals went up from 5000 to 7000. Today, there are over 15,000 COVID beds in Delhi.

On the other side to ensure proper dissemination of information the Delhi government became the first to launch Delhi Corona App that displayed real-time availability of beds in every hospital of the city. Significantly in this whole journey, the Delhi government always stood beside the medical fraternity and even arranged counselling facilities for them.

A very important aspect of Delhi government's way of combating this pandemic was to mitigate the case fatality with early diagnosis and prompt interventions. For home isolation patients the Delhi government provided Oximeters which has helped the patient to monitor the oxygen level all the time.

The last but not the least is the decision to establish the first plasma bank of the country in Delhi which is helping thousands of patients to recover from the deadly infection.

As a doctor who has observed these developments thoroughly, I would like to recommend to the Delhi government to avoid the bad Cs - closed spaces, close contacts, crowds, clusters and follow the SMS Mantra  Sanitise + Mask + Social distancing.

I will also recommend that there is a need for grading private hospitals with regards to their infrastructure and other facilities and fair and transparent pricing policies in private healthcare a bit of which the Delhi government has already done. As a doctor, I also think that improving the pay scales of the junior resident doctors and nursing staff with uniformity is crucial.

These are unprecedented times and against many odds Delhi witnessed not only a battle against COVID-19 but also a story of mutual cooperation, a politics of welfare, unity of all the agencies, social responsibility of the citizens, and a CM who led the battle from the front.

The author is the chairman at Nephron and a Padma Shri and Dr BC Roy Presidential Awardee. Views are personal
Pilot, who had played a major role in reviving the party in Rajasthan, was sidelined after Gehlot was given a third chance to become the chief minister ahead of the 2018 state polls

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday sounded a note of alarm as Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot reportedly reached Delhi amid long-standing rumours of infighting and discontent within the state government.

Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables? Sibal questioned, even as News18 reported that Pilot reached Delhi with some of his loyalist MLAs, including three Independents, on Sunday and is likely to meet the state leadership. Pilot also met senior party leader Ahmed Patel on Saturday, where he was assured that injustice will not be allowed to happen to him.

Worried for our party Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables ?  Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) July 12, 2020

In a similar vein, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also appeared to take a swipe at the party's organisational style, although he did not directly name the party.

Why is @Google a successful company? Because it lets talent to become entrepreneurial within the organisation. Lessons to be learnt here.  Karti P Chidambaram (@KartiPC) July 12, 2020

This comes a day after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that BJP was indulging in horse-trading ahead of the 10 June Rajya Sabha elections. "We keep hearing talk of money being offered to MLAs to switch sides. Some have been promised up to Rs 15 crore and some have been assured of other favours. What they first did covertly, they now do overtly. You saw this in Goa, Madhya Pradesh and the north-eastern states," Gehlot told NDTV.

The Rajasthan Polices special operations group (SOG) arrested two persons and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) filed a preliminary inquiry against three Independent MLAs for alleged attempts to bribe Congress MLAs before the Rajya Sabha polls. The two persons who have been arrested are Ashok Singh and Bharat Malani, while the three MLAs against whom an inquiry has been initiated are Om Prakash Hudla, Suresh Tak and Khushveer Singh.

In an FIR filed on Friday, two mobile numbers intercepted over suspicion of smuggling illegal weapons were found to have conversations about toppling the state government. The conversations included a mention about taking advantage of the fights between Gehlot and Pilot, by breaking away Congress and Independent MLAs. The men said they could earn Rs 1,000-Rs 2,000 crore only if the chief minister is as per their wish, the FIR stated, according to The Wire. The men further said that their Rs 25 crore plan failed when the chief minister sent MLAs to a resort ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.

The SOG also sought time to record Gehlot and Pilots statements, and a 10 July notice to the effect angered the latter, India Today reported.

Special Operations Group (SOG) of Police also wrote to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on 10th July seeking his availability for recording his statement in connection with the case. https://t.co/peUgrBz2Ol pic.twitter.com/QDc8Q6g2Yf  ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2020

The inquiry against the three Independents was also a way to target the Pilot camp, sources close to the Rajasthan Congress chief told News18. This is among the latest reasons for contention between the two leaders. Pilot, who had played a major role in reviving the party in the state after a major drubbing in 2013, was sidelined after Gehlot was given a third chance to become the chief minister ahead of the 2018 state polls. Discontent further strengthened roots over portfolio allocation and a party ticket from Jodhpur to Gehlots son Vaibhav for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Rifts among the state leadership also comes months after another young Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia defected to the BJP in March, taking along with him 22 loyalists, toppling the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Gehlot called a meeting of his Cabinet on Saturday and asked all party MLAs to give a letter of support to him. Pilot was not present at this meeting. However, two Congress MLAs Brijendra Singh Ola and Rajendra Guda have not been traceable for a few hours.

The saffron party denied claims that it is trying to topple the Rajasthan government, with state unit chief Satish Poonia saying that the political situation in the state was the result of infighting within the Congress and the chief minister was just trying to shift the blame. Additionally, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) convener Hanuman Beniwal alleged that SOG was tapping phones of MPs and MLAs on the state governments directions. The Nagaur MP further alleged that Gehlot had attempted to poach three RLP MLAs before the 10 June elections.

The Congress holds 107 seats in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly and has support from 12 Independent MLAs. In addition, five MLAs from other parties - Rashtriya Lok Dal, CPM and Bharatiya Tribal Party - support Gehlot. In the aftermath of the Congress governments fall in Madhya Pradesh, the party had moved its Rajasthan MLAs to a resort ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls.

With inputs from agencies
Vietnams no-frills airline Vietjet was honored among the three best-performing firms on the Vietnamese stock exchange in 2019 at a ceremony organized in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday.

The carrier was celebrated alongside Mobile World, Vietcombank, and other major names on the list of Vietnams 50 Best-Performing Companies.

Vietjet's SR-CAGR and ROE are 23 percent and 45 percent, respectively, according to results announced at the ceremony.

With a market capitalization of US$2.23 billion, the carrier is among the largest capitalized enterprises on the local stock market.

Vietjet has always been among the three best-performing companies since being listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange in 2017.

Last year, Vietjet continued to maintain its leading position in Vietnams domestic market, transporting 25 million passengers.

After the domestic aviation market was restored post-coronavirus, the airline quickly launched the campaign Returning to the Sky and opened eight new domestic routes, expanding the domestic flight network to 53 routes.

The airline has been licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to start self-service ground operations at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi.

Vietnams 50 Best-Performing Companies is a prestigious and reputable ranking conducted annually in consultation with leading economic and business experts.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
My knowledge of the Wyoming tax system began 40 years ago when I was elected to the State Legislature and appointed to the Revenue Committee. Taxes in Wyoming were based on a three-legged stool principle. The three legs were sales tax, tourism and property taxes, of which mineral taxes was a large component.

Wyoming, because of its physical nature, does not lend itself to an organized community as most other states do. It is rather a group of widely separated communities tied together by the railroads and agricultural interests. Larger populations were in the southern tier along the UP railroad and a few communities in the central portion. These generally prospered, along with some others where oil and gas were discovered. Oil became a major contributor to the property tax portion and soon became a dominant portion of the property tax component. This caused large disparities of wealth within counties and especially in the school systems. The discrepancy has been mostly corrected by an equalization of the school portion of the tax. There is a problem with the way the property taxes on minerals were collected, because the taxes were not paid until about 18 months after the oil was sold. The operators were then able to use that lag for payment of their operations and to pay the taxes out of next years production. This process worked fairly well because of growth and stable prices. Problems could arise if an operator failed and could not pay last years taxes. This problem did make itself known in recent times because of the drastic increase in prices and also in the coal industry, which is subject to the same accounting.

I have spent my life in the oil industry and could see a problem arise. I have tried for some 30 years to get the Legislature to make a change in the way property taxes were collected on mineral production. This lack of change caused the loss of over $100 million in recent years, most of which would have gone to schools. The Revenue Committee finally did it this year, with thanks to the efforts of Mike Madden and Cale Case.

There are major changes which still need to be addressed, though. The people of Wyoming are beneficiaries of a welfare system from which they receive about $6,000 worth of service but only pay less than $2,000 in taxes. The people and the government are going to have to learn to live with a reduction of this 60% subsidy to their taxes. This discrepancy occurred because of the high prices for energy and the coal bonus prices, which are in a steep decline. We have built some of the finest schools in the nation but are starting to have trouble maintaining them. There is a need for value added industry but the basic nature of the state does not lend itself to that type of industry. The state spends large sums of money to entice companies to locate here but the state receives no revenue from these companies other than a little property tax, because of the way our system works. There is only one other source for increased funds and that is from the people. We could start with a business income tax. Many of the businesses in Wyoming are owned by out-of-state firms. Most of these firms are domiciled in states which have a business tax so they wind up paying tax on the money they earn in Wyoming to their home state. Mineral extraction companies would be exempt because they pay about 25% tax on their gross income without any exemptions.

The other main source could be a personal income tax starting at $100,000. An amendment in the constitution requires that lower income people would not pay income tax because their sales and property taxes would be a credit against any income tax.

Taxes are always unpleasant to discuss, but they are a necessary part of the world in which we live. The Legislature could return the power and duty of personal taxation to the city councils and county commissioners where it really belongs. The property valuation factor could be raised either in increments or all at once. The mandatory school levies would need to be adjusted for this to happen. The people of Wyoming have long been fortunate to have many of their services paid for by the mineral industry, but our needs and desires have outgrown the ability of that industry to carry us.

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Crowds gathered at Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast for the funeral of veteran republic Bobby Storey on June 30 (Liam McBurney/PA)

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has said it is important not to be "overly judgmental" of the attendance of senior Sinn Fein figures at the funeral of former senior IRA leader Bobby Storey.

Martin said Northern Ireland's institutions should not be damaged by the fallout from the scenes at the funeral earlier this month which was attended by Mary Lou McDonald, Michelle O'Neill, Gerry Adams and other senior Sinn Fein figures.

A PSNI investigation is under way into suspected breaches of Covid-19 public health guidelines after hundreds turned out for the funeral in West Belfast.

The Fianna Fail leader has been a strident critic of Sinn Fein's links to the IRA for the last decade, but adopted a noticeable shift in tone towards the party in an interview with BBC Northern Ireland's Sunday Politics programme which is being broadcast today.

Martin said he had lost good friends whose funerals he had not been able to attend in recent months and he understood "the anger and frustration of people" over the large turnout at the funeral in West Belfast.

However, he added: "As co-guarantor of the [Good Friday] Agreement, my overall perspective on this is to try and ensure that this doesn't damage, or undermine, the institutions within the North.

"We've had a long period without the Northern Ireland Executive and without the Northern Ireland Assembly. I think it's critical that now we have them back, that they're in a position to work in a cooperative and progressive way but also with momentum because of a lot of stuff that's signed up to by all parties.

"The one point I would make is we have to be careful not to be overly judgemental of people's behaviour. We all have to strive to do the right thing in respect of the public health advice, that is extremely important.

"We have to do everything we can to maintain social cohesion and solidarity in the following of that advice.

"If breaches occur, people should put their hands up and say I understand the anger, I understand where you are coming from in having a problem with what I did and I think we all learn lessons then from that and then we have to move on from that."

Martin said that "political competition or rivalry within the republic" as well as Fianna Fail's relationship with the SDLP, will not interfere with his approach as Taoiseach to implementing the Good Friday Agreement and "doing the right thing by the future of the island and the future of the North".

The Fianna Fail leader said he accepted and agreed with Sinn Fein's analysis that Brexit had changed the dynamic.

"The challenge now is how do we live together in a post-Brexit scenario and how do we manage to cooperate practically together in that scenario."

However, Martin said a border poll would be "unnecessarily divisive" and said he wanted to "move beyond the slogans" and get a more substantial proposition and understanding of the implications of a border poll.

Martin said he was a "passionate believer" in the Good Friday Agreement, but that the North-South dimension "needs resuscitation, needs a bit of extra momentum".

The Taoiseach said even a "normal Brexit" would have repercussions for the island of Ireland and North-South relations.

The Cork South-Central TD also defended his decision not to appoint a senator from the unionist background, rejecting as "unfair" and "disproportionate" the criticism of the decision by former senator Ian Marshall.
South Africa re-imposed a nationwide curfew on Sunday while Spain's Catalonia region forced hundreds of thousands of residents back into lockdown as coronavirus cases accelerated in many parts of the world. Since the start of July nearly 2.5 million new infections have been reported, a record level since the first outbreak of the disease in China last year, according to an AFP tally. In just a month-and-a-half the number of cases worldwide has doubled, according to the count based on official figures. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country faced a "coronavirus storm" that was "far fiercer and more destructive than any we have known before" as he re-imposed a night-time curfew and also a ban on alcohol sales lifted barely six weeks ago. "As we head towards the peak of infections, it is vital that we do not burden our clinics and hospitals with alcohol-related injuries," Ramaphosa said. New coronavirus infections have topped 12,000 per day -- or 500 per hour -- in South Africa in recent days, making it the fourth-biggest contributor to new worldwide cases after the United States, Brazil and India. - 'Must stay at home' - The government of Spain's Catalonia region on Sunday told residents in and around the northeastern town of Lerida to go back into home confinement. "The people must stay at home," regional health official Alba Verges said. The area, with a population of more than 200,000, had already been isolated from the rest of the region last weekend. US President Donald Trump meanwhile wore a face mask in public for the first time, during a Saturday visit to wounded veterans in a hospital outside Washington. Surveys show most Americans are unhappy with how Trump, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of the November election, has handled the public health crisis. The United States is the world's worst-hit country with 135,171 deaths from 3,301,820 cases. Despite the resurgent infections, the Trump administration is pressing for full reopening of schools, with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos warning that "families need for kids to get back in the classroom. And it can be done safely." London-based charity Save the Children warned that the pandemic has caused an "unprecedented education emergency" with up to 9.7 million children affected by school closures at risk of never going back to class. Across the planet, the pandemic has infected nearly 13 million people, killed over 566,000 and triggered massive economic damage in the seven months since it was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Mexico became the country with the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 fatalities in the world on Sunday, climbing to a total of 35,006 deaths and surpassing Italy. The latest-high profile personality to test positive for COVID-19 was Bollywood superstar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai. - 'Everything's dead' - Despite Sunday's lockdown move in Spain, life in parts of Europe has been returning to some semblance of normality, although the continent remains the worst affected with more than 202,000 deaths from over 2.8 million cases. Elections were held in Spain and Poland on Sunday after being postponed because of the virus, with strict hygiene measures in place. The tourism industry across Europe has been battered, with many businesses forced to shut because of the impact of punishing lockdowns. "Everything's dead," said Jesus Maldonado, owner of the Santos Bar just across from the Mesquite, the mosque-cathedral in the Spanish city of Cordoba. In neighbouring France, where reopened bars and restaurants are bustling in the summer heat, officials have warned of rising cases as the death toll topped 30,000. - 'Truly tragic' - The French government said it plans to introduce systematic testing at airports for visitors from so-called category "red" countries where COVID-19 is still prevalent. In Paris, demonstrating nightclub workers demanded a reopening of their venues, arguing that strictly-controlled club visits would be safer than unregulated beach parties. Across the border in Germany, Berlin offered financial help for the city's famous nightclubs which have remained shut for four months. In Iran, the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the situation was "truly tragic" and urged all citizens to help stem what has been the Middle East's deadliest outbreak. There is little chance of a 100-percent effective coronavirus vaccine by next year, a French expert meanwhile warned Sunday. "Of course, there is an unprecedented effort to develop a vaccine, but I would be very surprised if we had one that was effective in 2021," epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet said. burs-jh/bfm/bgs South Africa is in the middle of a 'coronavirus storm' Since the start of July, nearly 2.5 million new infections have been reported Donald Trump's mask carried the presidential seal Aishwarya Rai caught the virus Strict hygiene measures were in place for regional elections in Spain In Paris, demonstrating nightclub workers demanded a re-opening of their venues, arguing that strictly-controlled club visits would be safer than unregulated beach parties
Bengaluru, July 12 : Karnataka Tourism Minister C.T. Ravi on Sunday said he has tested positive for coronavirus, the first Minister in the state to get the infection.

"In a week's time I have undergone two Covid-19 tests; the first was negative but the second was positive," said Ravi, who is also the Minister for Kannada and Culture.

As one of his tests was negative, he has undergone a third test and is awaiting the result.

On Saturday, the Minister said he had no corona symptoms and was fine.

"I am in home quarantine. I have no symptoms. I am okay. Now, I am walking in my farmhouse," said Ravi.

Karnataka recorded 2,798 more coronavirus cases and 70 more casualties on Saturday, raising the state's total cases to 36,216 and the death toll to 613.
Amaravati, July 12 : Andhra Pradesh reported another record single-day tally of 1,933 new coronavirus cases in 24-hours ending 9 am on Sunday, the fourth consecutive day of an all-time high number of daily cases, and 19 more casualties -- another record.

The state tally of new cases was 1,814 on Saturday, 1,608 on Friday and 1,555 on Thursday.

Health Department officials said that the total corona cases in Andhra Pradesh were now 29,168.

As per the Covid bulletin, new cases were reported from all 13 districts -- East Godavari with highest 268, followed by Kurnool with 237 cases, Krishna with 206 cases, and Chittoor with 159. Guntur reported 153 new cases, and Srikakulam 145 cases.

In all, 17,624 more tests were done as against 20,590 in the cycle ending Saturday morning.

As many as 846 persons were discharged from hospitals and Covid treatment centres in the state.

By Sunday, active cases in Andhra Pradesh totalled 13,428, apart from 15,412 cured patients.

A total of 19 deaths were reported from different parts of the state, the highest reported on any day since the corona outbreak. Kurnool and Srikakulam reported four deaths each, Krishna and Visakhapatnam three each, Chittoor two, and Nellore, Anantapur, and West Godavari one death each. The total death toll now is 328.

Meanwhile, positive cases among returnees from other states to Andhra Pradesh fell by 16 over previous day's numbers. But returnees from Telangana continued to dominate this category, with 16 of the 18 new cases from among returnees from the neighbouring Telugu state. One case each was reported from Odisha and Karnataka returnees.

As of Sunday morning, 2,403 persons have so far tested positive among state returnees. This category's active cases total 559, with 1,844 recoveries.

Only one new case was reported from foreign returnees -- a patient with travel history to Kuwait. The total tally in this category is 429, with 323 cured patients. As of Sunday, 106 patients in this category are under treatment.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Rao has been in jail for over 22 months. His bail pleas, including those filed for relief on the ground of his age, ill-health and risk of COVID-19, have been rejected on multiple occasion

The family of Telugu poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, on Sunday claimed that his health is deteriorating in jail and that he needs urgent medical attention.

In a press note titled: DON'T KILL VARA VARA RAO IN JAIL, Rao's family said he has been in poor health ever since he was shifted in an unconscious state from JJ Hospital to Taloja jail on 28 May and that their concern was sparked by a routine phone call on Saturday evening in which he went into a kind of "delirious and hallucinated" talk about the funerals of his mother and father, which occurred 70 and 40 years ago respectively.

In prison since 2018, Raos interim bail plea citing ill health and susceptibility to COVID-19 was rejected by a special court on 27 June. Rao, currently lodged in Taloja jail on the outskirts of Mumbai, is one of the 11 political prisoners arrested in the controversial Bhima Koregaon case.

The following is the full text of the press note:

***

We, the family members of Varavara Rao, world-renowned Telugu revolutionary poet and public intellectual, who is incarcerated in Navi Mumbais Taloja Jail, are very much worried about his deteriorating health. His health condition has been scary for over six weeks now, ever since he was shifted in an unconscious state to JJ Hospital from Taloja Jail on May 28, 2020. Even as he was discharged from the hospital and sent back to jail three days later, there has been no improvement in his health and he is still in need of emergency heathcare.

The immediate cause of concern now is that we are very much perturbed at the routine phone call we received from him on Saturday evening. Though the earlier two calls on June 24 and July 2 were also worrying with his weak and muffled voice, incoherent speech and abruptly jumping into Hindi. As an eloquent and articulate public speaker and writer in Telugu for over five decades, a Telugu teacher for four decades and known for his meticulous memory, this fumbling, incoherence and loss of memory were in themselves strange and frightening.

But the latest call, on July 11 is much more worrisome as he did not answer straight questions on his health and went into a kind of delirious and hallucinated talk about the funeral of his father and mother, the events that happened seven decades and four decades ago respectively. Then his co-accused companion took the phone from him and informed us that he is not able to walk, go to toilet and brush his teeth on his own. We were also told that he is always hallucinating that we, family members, were waiting at the jail gate to receive him as he was getting released.

His co-prisoner also said he needs immediate medical care for not only physical but also neurological issues. The confusion, loss of memory and incoherence are the results of electrolyte imbalance and fall of Sodium and Potassium levels leading to brain damage. This electrolyte imbalance may be fatal also. Taloja Jail Hospital is not at all equipped to handle this kind of serious ailment either in medical expertise or equipment. Thus it is highly required that he be shifted to a fully equipped super specialty hospital to save his life and prevent possible brain damage and risk to life due to electrolyte imbalance.

At the present juncture we are leaving aside all the pertinent facts like, that the case against him is fabricated; he had to spend 22 months in jail as an undertrial with the process turned into punishment; his bail petitions got rejected at least five times now and even the bail petitions with his age, ill-health and Covid vulnerability as grounds were ignored.

His life is the top most concern for us right now. Our present demand is to save his life. We demand the government to shift him to a better hospital or allow us to provide required medical care. We want to remind the government that it has no right to deny the right to life of any person, much less an undertrial prisoner.

(The text has been reproduced in its entirety and has not been edited by Firstpost for style or content.)

***

Rao has been in jail for over 22 months. His bail pleas, including those filed for relief on the ground of his age, ill-health and risk of COVID-19, have been rejected on multiple occasions, the last such on 26 June by a special court in Mumbai.

Rao and 10 other activists were arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case which was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) by the Centre in January.

The case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Maharashtra's Pune on 31 December, 2017, which the Pune police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in the district.
Minimising waste through circular consumption By Joshua Surendraraj View(s): View(s):

People in general are used to a system of consumption in the sense of making, using and throwing away, despite the product still having its uses. This in turn is not the sustainable option. Wastage has constantly had an adverse impact on the environment and in turn our lifestyles. And perhaps one of the lessons we have to learn today, is the importance of sharing and reusing our products for a better tomorrow.

Towards this end, Ape the passion project of its founder, Himali De Silva, launched recently. The Ape platform strives to create awareness of Circular Consumption and provides a resale platform for the local community to help each other, ourselves and the planet. That is to consume wisely in a circular manner. But it doesnt stop there, because 50 percent of the profit made from every sale is donated to Amitsu, a home for abandoned children. This is a charity that is close to Himalis heart.

We conversed with Himali, who gave us an insight into the workings of Ape and its activities. Having worked as a Management Consultant for Deloitte & KPMG as well as in boutique consultancy in the United Kingdom, United States and Singapore for over a decade, Himali returned to Sri Lanka and joined Brandix, a renowned apparel manufacturer.

Today, she finds that working alongside the Brandix leadership team and colleagues who are all conscious and considerate of the community and environment, inspires her on a daily basis.

She explains that the choices consumers make, in terms of buying, consuming products, and what they do with them once it cant be used any longer makes all the difference.

In this sense, circular consumption aims at handling products in a more conscious and responsible manner. This in turn minimizes waste as much as possible. Currently Ape is run via Instagram (@apelk1010). Several pre-loved items are shared weekly. And potential buyers could message the Ape team, if they are interested in giving these products a new home.

Similarly, sellers interested could also contact Ape via the page and the agreed items will be listed online. The logistics would be handled anonymously for a helpers fee, out of which 50 percent is donated to charity.

Himali explains that Instagram was chosen, because its a great platform where one could easily reach and connect with a large group of people. Aside from this, the format of the app also allows Ape to promote and create awareness of the numerous benefits of circular consumption.

If one looks closely, every product in use on a daily basis would be of some value and quality, and the best aspect is that if youd have no use for it anymore, someone else would. Whats advantageous is that youd also be able to earn some extra money from an item that would have otherwise been thrown away.

Similarly, by making the conscious choice to buy pre-loved items, one could purchase them potentially at a much lower cost and thereby save. As Himali tells us, the other advantage to Ape is that if someone buys an expensive/ high quality product, they have the comfort of knowing they could potentially resell it on Ape when theres no use for it anymore and get some return from it. This reduces wastage at the same time and more people would get the chance to enjoy a good quality product that theyve always wanted, but couldnt have because of the price.

Hence, Ape ensures that products are handled in a responsible and conscious manner, by keeping them in circulation for as long as possible. On the broader perspective, as Himali views it, Ape is more of a community where everyone who supports or takes part in it, contributes towards its success.

As the founder, Himali takes care of the strategic planning, operations and relationship aspects of the initiative. She is joined by ShivaneWickramasekera, the creative consultant and Iman Cader  Miss Planet Sri Lanka 2020, who has come on board as a brand ambassador. Ape also collaborates with PR Sri Lanka, an online concept store that sells quality, timeless, non-mass produced items. This in turn enables these items to be kept in circulation for a long time since they dont deteriorate or go out of fashion.

As we close, Himali tells us her vision for Ape is for it to be a resale platform for anything and everything, ranging from clothing, accessories, electrical appliances, furniture to even unique pieces of art. She hopes to eventually extend Ape from the online platform it is, to physical events and eventually a physical space. With the impact of Covid-19 on global economies and the restriction on imports and exports, theres a bigger need for conscionable purchasing patterns. Ape is certainly a step towards that positive change.

For more information and to also be a part of the initiative, visit the Ape Instagram page on @apelk1010
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90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? star Nicole Nafziger might finally reunite with her daughter. After facing some intense backlash for abandoning her daughter, May, in the United States to be with Azan Tefou in Morocco, Nicole teased her return with a cryptic message on social media. Fans suspect that the comment means Nicole has booked a flight home and could be back in the states as early as next week.

90 Day Fiance stars Nicole and Azan

90 Day Fiance star Nicole finds herself stuck in Morocco without her daughter

Despite all of the travel warnings related to the coronavirus pandemic, Nicole decided to fly to Morocco to see Azan. Unfortunately, her trip abroad coincided with the countrys lockdown, which prevented her from returning home.

While Nicole was stuck in Morocco, her daughter, May, was living in Florida with her grandmother, Robbalee Fouraker. Nicole hasnt seen her daughter in person for over three months and has expressed how much she misses May on social media.

Nicole claims that she could not get a plane ticket to the United States because of the lockdown. She also told 90 Day Fiance fans that plane tickets out of the country were way too expensive and outside of her budget.

To make things even worse, Nicole cannot work while she is in Morocco. This has undoubtedly put a financial strain on her and her family, yet that hasnt prompted her to return home just yet.

What has Nicole been doing in Morocco?

With Nicole spending months in Morocco while her daughter is in Florida, 90 Day Fiance fans have been wondering what she is doing while living abroad. Unfortunately, Nicole has been very vague about her activities, but she has made it clear that she misses her family.

In a recent Instagram post, for example, Nicole thanked her mother for watching her daughter and reveal that she misses both of them very much.

Missing my mom so much, she wrote. She is the best mom and grandma out there. Thank you for taking care of my little girl since I cant come back home yet.

RELATED: 90 Day Fiance: Nicole Nafzigers Mom Claims Azan Tefou Is Adamant He Does Not Have a Secret Family

The 90 Day Fiance star went on to say that the plane tickets the government was offering to Americans were around twice the price of a normal ticket. Although the government was fronting the money, she didnt want to have to pay it back at that price.

While Nicole has taken a lot of heat for staying in Morroco, she might have a good reason for flying there in the first place.

Are Nicole and Azan filming 90 Day Fiance?

Nicole and Azan have previously stated that they are done appearing in front of the cameras. But that may have changed in light of the pandemic.

In fact, some fans have speculated that perhaps Nicole and Azan are currently filming for another appearance on the 90 Day Fiance franchise.

This would explain why Nicole hasnt revealed much about her stay in Morroco. She might be keeping things under wraps because she doesnt want people knowing that she and Azan are filming.

Regardless of why she is still in Morroco, Nicoles most recent post on social media left fans wondering if she is finally set to return home and reunite with her daughter.

Is Nicole finally returning home?

Taking to Instagram, Nicole recently shared a cryptic post, writing its done next to a picture of herself and Azan. She did not elaborate on what the post means, but fans were quick to speculate that it likely is a signal that shes returning home.

The American embassy in Morroco has arranged for another set of flights out of the country. This could be one of the 90 Day Fiance stars last chances to leave the country for quite some time, though the flights are not cheap.

RELATED: 90 Day Fiance Fans Blast Nicole Nafziger For Abandoning Her Daughter Despite Being Offered a Flight Home From Morocco

Nicole hasnt said whether or not she is coming home, but fans are hoping she is for the sake of her daughter. After all, it has been three months since they saw each other and this could be one of her final chances to get out.

New episodes of 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? air Sunday on TLC.
South Africa re-imposed a nationwide curfew on Sunday while Spain's Catalonia region forced hundreds of thousands of residents back into lockdown as coronavirus cases accelerated in many parts of the world. Since the start of July nearly 2.5 million new infections have been reported, a record level since the first outbreak of the disease in China last year, according to an AFP tally. In just a month-and-a-half the number of cases worldwide has doubled, according to the count based on official figures. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country faced a "coronavirus storm" that was "far fiercer and more destructive than any we have known before" as he re-imposed a night-time curfew and also a ban on alcohol sales lifted barely six weeks ago. "As we head towards the peak of infections, it is vital that we do not burden our clinics and hospitals with alcohol-related injuries," Ramaphosa said. New coronavirus infections have topped 12,000 per day -- or 500 per hour -- in South Africa in recent days, making it the fourth-biggest contributor to new worldwide cases after the United States, Brazil and India. - 'Must stay at home' - The government of Spain's Catalonia region on Sunday told residents in and around the northeastern town of Lerida to go back into home confinement. "The people must stay at home," regional health official Alba Verges said. The area, with a population of more than 200,000, had already been isolated from the rest of the region last weekend. US President Donald Trump meanwhile wore a face mask in public for the first time, during a Saturday visit to wounded veterans in a hospital outside Washington. Surveys show most Americans are unhappy with how Trump, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of the November election, has handled the public health crisis. The United States is the world's worst-hit country with 135,171 deaths from 3,301,820 cases. Despite the resurgent infections, the Trump administration is pressing for full reopening of schools, with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos warning that "families need for kids to get back in the classroom. And it can be done safely." London-based charity Save the Children warned that the pandemic has caused an "unprecedented education emergency" with up to 9.7 million children affected by school closures at risk of never going back to class. Across the planet, the pandemic has infected nearly 13 million people, killed over 566,000 and triggered massive economic damage in the seven months since it was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Mexico became the country with the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 fatalities in the world on Sunday, climbing to a total of 35,006 deaths and surpassing Italy. The latest-high profile personality to test positive for COVID-19 was Bollywood superstar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai. - 'Everything's dead' - Despite Sunday's lockdown move in Spain, life in parts of Europe has been returning to some semblance of normality, although the continent remains the worst affected with more than 202,000 deaths from over 2.8 million cases. Elections were held in Spain and Poland on Sunday after being postponed because of the virus, with strict hygiene measures in place. The tourism industry across Europe has been battered, with many businesses forced to shut because of the impact of punishing lockdowns. "Everything's dead," said Jesus Maldonado, owner of the Santos Bar just across from the Mesquite, the mosque-cathedral in the Spanish city of Cordoba. In neighbouring France, where reopened bars and restaurants are bustling in the summer heat, officials have warned of rising cases as the death toll topped 30,000. - 'Truly tragic' - The French government said it plans to introduce systematic testing at airports for visitors from so-called category "red" countries where COVID-19 is still prevalent. In Paris, demonstrating nightclub workers demanded a reopening of their venues, arguing that strictly-controlled club visits would be safer than unregulated beach parties. Across the border in Germany, Berlin offered financial help for the city's famous nightclubs which have remained shut for four months. In Iran, the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the situation was "truly tragic" and urged all citizens to help stem what has been the Middle East's deadliest outbreak. There is little chance of a 100-percent effective coronavirus vaccine by next year, a French expert meanwhile warned Sunday. "Of course, there is an unprecedented effort to develop a vaccine, but I would be very surprised if we had one that was effective in 2021," epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet said. burs-jh/bfm/bgs
Washington: Former special counsel Robert Mueller III has broken a nearly year-long silence to defend his office's prosecution of Roger Stone and his larger investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign, authoring an op-ed piece to publicly push back against attacks from the President and his supporters.

The piece, which will appear in Sunday's Washington Post, is a remarkable departure from Mueller's self-imposed silence as the political debate surrounding his work has continued to rage more than a year after he concluded his investigation of Russia's interference in the last US presidential election. And it underscores the degree to which the cases Mueller brought have been undone or undermined by the Trump administration and others since.

Mueller's 700-word piece recounts the high-stakes investigation that consumed the White House for the better part of two years, resulting in convictions of a number of Trump's confidantes, including Stone. Trump granted his long-time friend and confidant Stone a commutation on Friday evening, just days before Stone was due to report to prison to complete a 40-month sentence.

In announcing the commutation, the White House issued a lengthy statement blasting Mueller's work. Mueller has now used a highly uncharacteristic public statement to remind the public what his investigation found.
He also demanded international guarantees that oil revenues would not to be used to fund terrorists and mercenaries. He was apparently referring to the mercenaries, mostly Syrians, that Turkey brought in recent months to fight on the side of the Tripoli government, which is backed by an array of local militias as well as Turkey, Qatar and Italy.
(Natural News) A totalitarian cult is rising to power, swiftly and with bitter resolve. Its most loyal following trudges through the city streets, busting out windows, vandalizing, burning down buildings, murdering law enforcement, and taking over city blocks, while feeling justified in its crimes. It marches through the streets with no remorse, destroying monuments, churches and businesses, while demanding an end to white privilege and impugning that all white people are guilty of systemic racism.

This totalitarian cult is beholden to no rule of law. Its violent and destructive crimes, felt in cities throughout the country, throughout the world, are glorified by the Leftist media, as if the rest of us are expected to kneel to their lawlessness and criminal demands.

As Stanford University scholar Thomas Sowell points out, Have we reached the ultimate stage of absurdity where some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, while other people are not held responsible for what they themselves are doing today?

The totalitarian Left wants to forfeit the rule of law and make you kneel to their demands

This totalitarian cult is racially motivated, for it gains power by shaming an entire race. This cult is systematically destroying the rule of law and is expecting everyone else to pay reparations to their cause, to kneel in both physical and mental submission. Those who fall prey to this cult are only succumbing to false guilt, joining the cult in peaceful protest to appease its insatiable demands. As more followers succumb to false guilt, they give energy to a violent movement of totalitarian thought crime and physical punishment.

This totalitarian cult has weaponized its own shame, directing it toward the ones who dont kneel to them. This cult of thought snakes its way into the heart and soul of the young and the old, imparting feelings of guilt and shame, demanding that white silence is violence  that white man must pay for his racist crimes throughout history. The Left is the judge, jury, and executioner of racial intent and they want us to denounce our history, our heritage, our innocence, and our very essence.

The Lefts violent rise to power will only occur if we become complacent and submit to their public humiliation

We are being subjected to nightly riots, looting and arson, as endless accusations of racism and white supremacy are hurled upon us. Democratic leaders from Seattle to New York to D.C. are telling us to standby, as our history is toppled, as our property is destroyed, and as the virtuous ones are publicly humiliated online and in the streets. As we take the abuse, we are told to deconstruct our police departments and rid our law enforcement of the tools they need. This cult will emasculate their enemies in any way possible, and, as evidenced by the complicity of Leftist governors and mayors; they will ultimately come to take away our right to self defense, too.

As police precincts are boarded up, police chiefs are instructed to sit on the sidelines and watch as an endless stream of crime plagues their cities. A new wave of Brown shirts is rising to power, as the demands of the Left are carried out. The Brown shirts of today are emboldened by Leftists who already occupy positions of power within the government. They gain power by censoring and publicly humiliating their opposition, while destroying the rule of law and pinning their shame on those who do not kneel.

These new-age Brown shirts  a wicked brand of Antifa thugs, BLM rioters and media collaborators  are the army emboldening the Lefts mob-style rise to power. If their mob mentality is not stopped in its tracks, and their selfish race war not defeated, they will continue to destroy the country both physically and spiritually, persecuting their opposition with false guilt and public humiliation, then taking over cities kinetically until they achieve their totalitarian goals.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
Gospel music's favourite Caribbean worshipper Chevelle Franklyn returns with her new single 'Go In Your Strength' - the lead single is taken from her upcoming album 'South Wind Vol 1' which was recorded appropriately in South Africa.



'Go In Your Strength' delivers a strong Christian contemporary sound with driving rhythmic guitars combined with the distinct sweet yet powerful vocal that Chevelle is known for. Written over a span of five inspirational minutes while in South Africa, the single hails the release of 'South Wind Vol 1', which is all about worshipping God and features guest artists from South Africa. Chevelle co-produced the album together with Nqubeko Mbatha and Mojalefa Mjakes Thebe whilst Ntokozo Mbambo was a prominent collaborator. Those who know South African languages will get to hear Chevelle sing in Zulu, one of South Africa's most widely spoken indigenous languages.



When one thinks of an artist whose music career spans over three decades, has made stops along world tours in South Africa, the United Kingdom, The Middle East, Asia, Austria, Germany, Holland, France, the US, Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Kenya, and has collaborated with renowned artists like Donnie McClurkin, Israel Houghton, Micah Stampley, Lionel Petersen and, in her secular career, Shabba Ranks and Beenie Man. All this while winning multiple awards - then the name has to be none other than Chevelle Franklyn.



The highly respected Chevelle started her journey in music as a teenager when she recorded her first single called "Here I Am." By 1991, her career was blossoming, leading to her featuring on Shabba Ranks' worldwide hit, "Mr. Lover Man". She also recorded her hit single, "Dancehall Queen" with Beenie Man, which put her on the international reggae map.



Having started as a reggae artist, her turning point came during a live concert in 1998 where she was expected to perform "Dancehall Queen" but instead performed the gospel song, "Silver and Gold" by Kirk Franklin. She bravely made the fateful decision to use that moment to announce that she had become a Christian and will be singing and recording gospel music from that point on exclusively. She said, "I did not hear a message or anything, but I felt the calling of God. I just broke down on the stage and said, 'I can't do this anymore.' I knew there was something better out there." Chevelle gave her life to the Lord ending all her secular contractual agreements with Chris Blackwell's Island Records. In the process, she walked away from her international hit song "Dancehall Queen."

Tags : Chevelle Franklyn Chevelle Franklyn 'Go In Your Strength' Chevelle Franklyn new album Chevelle Franklyn news
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:

Many Finnish companies are currently re-evaluating the internationalization plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a source in Finlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Trend.

The official said that focus areas for Finnish businesses in Kazakhstan are energy, cleantech, digitalization and education.

"For instance, in education, the last few years have seen an opening of an innovative school called High Tech Academy in Almaty, which is based on Finnish pedagogy, as well as implementation of education development projects in Kazakhstan by Finnish institutions of higher education. The economic cooperation in the field of education has successfully continued in 2020," the official said.

However, talking the measures that companies are planning on taking to further strengthen this economic cooperation the source said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Finnish companies are currently re-evaluating the internationalization plans.

Official also said that currently a number of Finnish companies are interested in participating in public tenders and project implementation in Kazakhstan.

The official also noted that the trade relations are supported on the political level by the Finland-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Commission, whose meetings are organized biannually.

"In addition, the interest of companies are represented at the EU-Kazakhstan High Level Platform, which was founded in 2019 to promote dialogue on economic and business matters. The platform brings together the EU Delegation, head of missions, European companies and the Kazakh government. Moreover, the Embassy of Finland in Nur-Sultan and the Business Finland office in Almaty assist Finnish companies working and interested in the Kazakh market in a number of ways," the official said.

---

Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh
Mali's opposition says more figures arrested after anti-government protests

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 12 July 2020 5:33 AM

The opposition in Mali says security forces have detained two of its senior figures after anti-government protests that saw at least three people killed in the streets of the capital, Bamako.

Security forces raided the headquarters of the opposition coalition M5-RFP and detained two senior figures, Choguel Kokala Maiga and Mountaga Tall, on Saturday, M5-RFP spokesman Nouhoum Togo said.

"While our activists were in a meeting, they came and attacked and ransacked our headquarters," Togo said.

Another protest leader, Issa Kaou Djim, had been arrested on Friday.

Protesters took to the streets on Friday after the opposition rejected offers from President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita aimed at resolving a political standoff that began after disputed legislative elections in March.

Police fired gunshots and tear gas to disperse the protesters, who had occupied the buildings of the parliament and the national broadcaster.

Three protesters were killed and several others were seriously wounded, according to the United Nations (UN)'s MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in Mali, whose human rights division monitored the protests.

M5-RFP has blamed the president and security forces for the bloodshed and called on its supporters to remain mobilized, saying that the president must resign.

Late on Saturday, the president announced the dissolution of the constitutional court to calm the protests, saying that he remained open to dialog.

He said an investigation would be launched into the violence.

Keita said, however, that, "All tolerable limits were reached and surpassed" during the protests.

Meanwhile, Mali's neighbors have expressed concern about the violence, which could further destabilize the West African country.

Mali is already fighting widespread militancy. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict, while many more have been forced to flee their homes.

The conflict has spilled over to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 00:39:37|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's number of COVID-19 cases passed 10,000 mark on Sunday as the ministry of health intensifies measures to contain the spread of the respiratory disease.

Mutahi Kagwe, cabinet secretary in the ministry of health, said some 379 people tested positive for the COVID-19 from 7,050 samples which were tested in the country in the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 10,105.

In a statement issued in Nairobi, Kagwe said 376 Kenyans and three foreign nationals aged between two and 97 years old are among those who tested positive for the disease.

He said one person succumbed to the virus, bringing the total number of fatalities to 185.

Kagwe noted that 49 patients were discharged from various health facilities in the country, bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,881.

The official noted that so far Kenya has tested 215, 037 samples from various laboratories across the country. Enditem
Face masks will be required for all teachers and students more than 10 years old when schools re-open in August as long as Gov. Greg Abbotts mask order remains in place, according to new guidelines released by The Texas Education Agency.

In terms of other health and safety rules, the guidelines offer recommendations and general advice and leave policy decisions about social distancing requirements on buses and in classroom to district officials now working to implement large-scale online learning programs to accommodate parents who arent yet comfortable sending their child back into the classroom.

The TEAs guidelines, for example, instruct districts to screen students and parents before they enter schools with temperature checks neither required nor prohibited. Schools should attempt to have hand sanitizer at the school entrance and hand washing stations with soap and water in classrooms and districts should consider requiring students and staff to use hand sanitizer when boarding school buses, according to the new guidelines.

Related: Fort Bend ISD superintendent gives new TEA guidelines low marks

Overall, the lack of infection control standardized measures along with Abbotts and the TEAs mandate that schools must re-open despite a recent surge in COVID-19 cases across the state drew criticism from area superintendents and teachers association officials including Texas Associated Federation of Teachers president Zeph Capo, who shared his opinion with a group of member teachers Thursday, July 9.

Im sorry that we have a government that doesnt put your safety above their desire to make an extra buck. Im sorry they dont put the safety of our students above the idea of making an extra buck because what this has come down to be is a decision based on economics not necessarily based on the science, not necessarily based on the best interest of our students and our faculty and our staff, Capo said during a zoom teleconference.

If we could close schools at the levels of COVID-19 that we did in March, who the hell thinks its safe enough to open schools at the level of COVID-19 were experiencing in the State of Texas right now, particularly in the urban areas where we know many of our members are? Capo said and vowed to demand changes from state officials. We will continue to fight this issue and we will continue to push back against TEA.

On HoustonChronicle.com: With schools ordered to open next month, teachers ask, It is worth risking our lives?

Officials from the Association of Texas Professional Educators responded to the new safety rules in a statement saying, the responsibility for ensuring student and educator safety has been placed squarely on school administrators.

Too many questions are left unanswered in TEAs guidelines, Shannon Holmes, ATPE executive director, said in the release. We urge school district leaders to step in and fill this leadership vacuum to keep Texas children and educators safe, particularly as pockets of our state face rising COVID-19 outbreaks. All Texas students, parents, and educators deserve to be safe and have a firm understanding of the steps being taken to provide a safe learning environment.

TEA guidelines require districts to re-open schools for full-time in-classroom learning next year and allows virtual learning for students not comfortable returning to the classroom yet. The guidelines were released Tuesday, July 7.

knix@hcnonline.com
A row of Ambulances are seen lined up outside the North Melbourne Public Housing tower complex in Melbourne, Australia on July 8, 2020. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

New COVID-19 Cases Extend Melbourne Tower Lockdown

Residents of one of Melbournes public housing towers recently released from hard lockdown have been forced back into their apartments after a spate of new COVID-19 infections.

There are 145 COVID-19 cases linked to the Flemington and North Melbourne estates, but the states chief health officer on Sunday warned the number could be much higher.

A woman living at 120 Racecourse Road, Flemington told AAP a family who tested positive for the virus prior to the five-day lockdown have since been seen outside their flat, mixing with others, going to McDonalds and travelling to neighbouring Footscray.

She said a teenager in the family attends Al-Taqwa College, a large school in Truganina linked to a huge outbreak.

The woman says she saw health authorities speaking with the family on Friday night, reminding them to isolate at home.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) also called her on July 10 to let her know she had been in close contact with a different resident who tested positive to the virus. She was told to quarantine for two weeks.

The woman shares a small flat with her family and cannot isolate in her room, so she was told to wear a mask at all times, including when sleeping.

Just thinking about it, Im about to go crazy, she said.

A young father in the same building received a positive test result on July 10, having waited since his test on July 6.

By the time he received the result at midday, he had already left his apartment, spoke to police and fellow residents and bought a coffee.

He has shut himself in a bedroom, interacting with his wife and children via Facetime.

The DDHS asked him to isolate in a hotel but he preferred to be at home.

The department declined to comment on specific cases for privacy reasons but said there were strict procedures in place to protect the public when a person tests positive.

All close contacts are identified and notified that they need to self-isolate and seek testing, a spokesperson said.

By Andi Yu
The continuous chauvinistic attacks launched by the ruling NPP on the personality and integrity of NDC Running Mate for the 2020 elections, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, will not hold any water.

Prof. Jane Naana has solid and unblemished integrity that the NPP is finding really hard to contend with.

This is according to a private legal practitioner and member of the opposition NDC, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo.

Some bigwigs of the NPP subsequently criticised Prof. Opoku-Agyemangs nomination.

At a press conference in Accra, Communications Director of the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa said per the party's observation, we only conclude that the choice of Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman by Mr John Dramani Mahama is a clear indication that he does not take the Ghanaian electorate seriously.

Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also watered down any possible impact the nomination of the former Education Minister will make in the December 7 Elections.

However, speaking on The Big Issue on Citi TV, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo indicated that he was surprised by the statements made by some members of the governing party.

The reaction especially from our major political opponent, the NPP has been one that leaves much to be desired. If you have daughters you will begin to understand why some women activists fight the way they fight. Some of the statements [from the NPP] have been shocking.

I traced it from the President's statement from the SDGs conference because it is a DNA, and it tells you they are taking their source from somewhere. It tells you the structure of the party and their reaction to female empowerment and I hope Ghanaians are taking note. Last year there was a lot of fury when the President made that statement that he does not see enough dynamism and activism on the part of women in the country. This was the President at the SDGs conference making an observation, that in his opinion, women have not shown enough dynamism and activismSo should this not have been good news to them? he asked.

Mr Samoa Addo further described the comments by members of the NPP on Prof. Opoku-Agyemangs appointment as chauvinistic.

The first one was fired by the spokesperson of the NPP who categorically stated that Mahama does not take the Ghanaian electorates seriously. That was the most chauvinistic statement I could ever hear or imagine to come from my colleagues. He was very categorical that Mahama does not take the Ghanaian electorate seriously simply because he selected a woman his running mate. We thought that was the worst, then the majority leader comes to say that if the NDC should win power; in the absence of Mahama, Jane Naana is not qualified to be president simply because she is a woman.

---CitinewsRoom
Last night (July 11, 2020), both Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan informed their fans that they have tested positive for COVID-19. The father-son duo is currently admitted in Mumbai's Nanavati hospital and their condition is stable with milder symptoms of the novel Coronavirus. As a protocol, the other members of the Bachchan clan had also gone through the test. Earlier today, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar informed that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aaradhya Bachchan have tested negative in their swab report.

Aishwarya  Aaradhya  Amitabh Bachchan  Abhishek    Corona| FilmiBeat

However, according to ABP news, BMC commissioner has now informed that both Aishwarya and Aaradhya have tested positive for COVID-19 in their second test. We pray that the Bachchans get through this as soon as possible.

Fans have panicked after learning this news and are constantly praying for the Bachchan clan. Many celebrities have also urged the Bachchans to stay strong.

About an hour ago, Abhishek tweeted, "Aishwarya and Aaradhya have also tested COVID-19 positive. They will be self quarantining at home. The BMC has been updated of their situation and are doing the needful.The rest of the family including my Mother have tested negative. Thank you all for your wishes and prayers ."

Amitabh Bachchan Stable With Mild Symptoms Of Novel Coronavirus, Says Nanavati Hospital

On a similar note, today, actor Anupam Kher also informed his fans that his brother, mother, and his brother's wife and daughter have tested positive for the novel Coronavirus.

Speaking about himself, Kher wrote, "I got myself tested as well and I have tested negative. The family has self-quarantined themselves and we have informed the BMC. I would like to reach out to everyone with aged parents - please get your parents tested even if they show the slightest of symptoms. Despite the extreme amount of carefulness displayed by my brother and his family over the last few months, they still tested positive."

He further wrote, "So I urge everyone to take this seriously and understand that no amount of safety measures are enough. Friends, don't let your guards down. Let's be vigilant, let's be aware and let's fight the bad times together."
McAllen Police crime scene investigators seal off the scene where two police officers were shot dead while responding to a domestoc disturbance call Delcia Lopez/The Monitor/AP)

Two police officers were shot dead by a suspect who later killed himself in a South Texas border town after responding to a domestic disturbance call, authorities said.

McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez identified the dead officers as Edelmiro Garza, 45, and Ismael Chavez, 39. Mr Garza had been with the police department for more than eight years while Mr Chavez had over two years of experience.

We have lost two brave public servants who sought only to keep peace in our city, a visibly distraught Mr Rodriguez told The (McAllen) Monitor.

Today, 2 McAllen Police officers were killed in the line of duty. Our City extends its deepest condolences to McAllen PD & to the families of OFC Edelmiro Garza & OFC Ismael Chavez. McAllen is hurting & our hearts & prayers go out to them during this difficult time#McAllenStrong pic.twitter.com/SpwHe9yxii  City of McAllen, TX (@CityofMcAllen) July 12, 2020

The officers first met two people who reported that assaults had taken place inside a nearby home on the south side of McAllen at around 3.30pm on Saturday, Mr Rodriguez said.

But the alleged gunman, whom police identified as 23-year-old Audon Ignacio Camarillo, opened fire when the officers attempted to enter the home.

They were doing their job. That is what they were supposed to do. The person was a suspect of the incident, met our officers at the door, and shot at both officers, Mr Rodriguez said.

Both officers suffered fatal wounds, they have both passed away as a result. The officers never had a chance to suspect deadly assault on them, much less death.

Expand Close McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez (centre) speaks to reporters near the scene where two of his officers were shot dead (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez (centre) speaks to reporters near the scene where two of his officers were shot dead (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor/PA)

Camarillo shot himself shortly after opening fire on the officers, Mr Rodriguez said, adding that the suspect hid behind a vehicle after other officers responded to the scene.

Camarillo had had a few run-ins with police, starting in 2016 to his most recent arrest last month on assault charges, according to public records.

More details surrounding the domestic disturbance Mr Garza and Mr Chavez responded to were not immediately known. Mr Rodriguez said the attack happened suddenly and fellow police officers did not learn of their colleagues deaths until arriving in the area moments later.

Mr Rodriguez said: The next few days for us, moving forward as well, will be very, very difficult, for ourselves at the department and at the city of McAllen, but our strength will get us through.

We gather our strength from our police officers, and we gather our strengths from our colleagues, as you can see here.

Two of our finest were killed in the line of duty while working to protect residents in their community.



I've spoken with McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez and offered the full support of the State of Texas.



We unite to #BackTheBlue.#RGVhttps://t.co/lm5DWQJSVC  Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 11, 2020

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who spoke with Mr Rodriguez, offered the full backing of the state and expressed his support via social media.

Two of our finest were killed in the line of duty while working to protect residents in their community, he wrote on Twitter. We unite to #BackTheBlue.

Lieutenant Christopher Olivarez, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said DPS was among the agencies assisting McAllen police on Saturday.

He noted that DPS sent troopers to secure the scene after the McAllen Police Department requested their assistance. He said his agency received a call about the incident at around 4.30pm.

McAllen is located at the southern tip of Texas, about 70 miles (113 km) west of the Gulf of Mexico.

Our prayers and full support are with the valiant men and women of the #CityofMcAllen PD this evening. This office will provide any assistance requested in the days ahead. We are grateful for police in McAllen and around this great state.  Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) July 11, 2020

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted that his office will provide the McAllen Police Department with any help needed.

Our prayers and full support are with the valiant men and women of the #CityofMcAllen PD this evening, the tweet read. We are grateful for police in McAllen and around this great state.

US Representative Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen said in a statement that receiving news of the two officers deaths was devastating.

This is devastating news to our community. My heart breaks for these fallen officers and their families, he said. They served McAllen bravely and honourably and I will keep them in my prayers.

Expand Close People salute as the body of one of the McAllen Police officers is carried out of McAllen Medical Centre (Joel Martinez/The Monitor/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp People salute as the body of one of the McAllen Police officers is carried out of McAllen Medical Centre (Joel Martinez/The Monitor/AP)

Mr Rodriguez said that while the police are weakened for the moment, he expects a resilient law enforcement community to stand tall and persevere through it.

The strength and the resolve we have to serve our communities, all of us here, will allow us to do what we do every day, he said.

Law enforcement from several cities in Hidalgo County gathered at McAllen Medical on Saturday evening to honour Mr Garza and Mr Chavez.

More than 50 police cars were part of a procession that accompanied the bodies of the officers, which were taken to Hidalgo County pathology for post-mortem examinations.
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Wants to be released on bail

More petitions emerge against suspended EFCC boss

IG withdraws policemen attached to Magu, EFCC

Lawyer to the suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, on Friday pleaded with the Presidential Investigation Committee to grant him bail.

He said Magu needed the bail because the print and electronic media had taken undue advantage of his detention to launch a campaign of calumny against him.

He made six other demands including making the terms of reference of the committee available to Magu and giving him opportunity to know the allegations against him.

He said witnesses were being called and examined by the committee behind Magus back and at the same time disallowing him and his counsel from participating in the proceedings involving such witnesses.

Magus counsel, Mr. Wahab Shittu made the demands in a July 10, 2020 letter of plea to the panel.

He said: We act as counsel of choice to Mr. Ibrahim Mustapha Magu, the Ag. Chairman of the EFCC hereinafter referred to as our Client and on whose behalf and specific instructions we write as follows:

Our client has briefed and drawn our attention to the letter dated 6th of July, 2020 ref No. PIC/AR/VOL.1/01 wherein he was informed as follows:

The above-mentioned panel is investigating above listed offences in which you feature prominently, and the need to obtain clarification from you has become necessary.

You are therefore directed to with immediate effect accompany the Assistant Commissioner of Police ACP Gabriel Elaigwu and team to report to the Chairman and members of the Committee today 6th July 2020.

Ensure compliance and receipt of my warmest regards please.

Counsel said that Magu, on receiving the said letter followed the ACP Gabriel Elaigwu and team to the Banquet Hall, State House Abuja and has since then been in custody and appearing before your esteemed Committee.

Shittu said since his appearance before the panel, he had not been served petitions against him.

He added: Mr. Chairman, since the 6th of July, 2020 when our Client honored your invitation, he has been consistently applying to the Committee to be given the petitions containing the allegations of Conspiracy, Corrupt Enrichment, Abuse of Office/Power which request has not been honored or obliged till date.

Our client has also informed us that he remains unaware of the terms of reference of this distinguished Committee.

Sir, our client has also drawn our attention to the following:

 That he has been in detention and kept at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) of the Nigerian Police Force, Area 10 Abuja since the 6th of July till date without being informed of the allegations leveled against him and the deserved opportunity to timeously study and respond to same.

That witnesses are called and examined by the committee behind his back and without allowing him and Counsel of his choice to participate in the proceedings involving these witnesses.

He said Magu was being maligned in the media including alleged keeping of secret accounts, acquisition of properties in Dubai and giving N4billion to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

He added: That both print and electronic media have taken undue advantage of the detention of our client to launch a campaign of calumny against him spreading in the process consistently highly prejudicial, damaging and untrue allegations on a daily basis.

These unfounded allegations which never featured in the proceedings of the committee thus far include the allegation that our client gave the Vice President, Pro. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, the sum of N4billion and that our client maintains secret accounts, procured cronies to front for him and that he acquired properties in Dubai.

These campaigns of calumny have greatly affected the moral of our client and damaged his hard-earned reputation and that of the Commission. That our Client as a result of this campaign of calumny has been paraded like a common criminal and subjected to all manner of insults and embarrassment just for serving his nation diligently and efficiently as the arrowhead of the anti-corruption agenda of this Administration. This unfortunate development happening before the determination of the petitions by Honourable Committee with prejudicial consequences.

The counsel made seven demands from Salami panel.

He said: In view of our observations above, may we humbly request from your Lordship, the Chairman of the Committee and other distinguished members:

i) That our client will appreciate if afforded the privilege of the terms of reference of this distinguished Committee. ii) That the petitions containing the allegations be given to our client to afford him the opportunity of knowing the allegations against him, study same and prepare a robust defence.

iii) That our client will appreciate the intervention of the Committee in ordering the release of our client from custody to enable him defend himself adequately and attend to his deteriorating health in custody.

iv) That our client be given adequate time to respond to the allegations against him including providing necessary materials and evidence before this Honourable Committee. v) That our client be afforded the opportunity to confront the petitioners with his own defence. vi) That witnesses be examined in his presence and that of his counsel.

vii) That our client be guaranteed his right to fair hearing including his right to liberty in the course of the proceedings of this distinguished Committee.

My Lord, the Chairman of the Committee and Honourable Members, our client will appreciate your taking timeous steps in addressing the fundamental concerns of our client raised in this letter.

Whilst awaiting your urgent intervention on the issues raised herein please be assured my lord of our best wishes and professional regards.

Another lawyer writes IGP, demand Magus realease

One other Magus lawyers dispatched a separate letter to Police Inspector-General Mohammed Abubakar Adamu demanding bail for the suspended EFCC chairman.

The counsel, Tosin Ojaomo from Ojaomo and Ojaomo Chambers said Magu was ready to provide a good surety.

He said the application was based on the IGPs promise not to detain any Nigerian beyond 24 hours because of COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter was copied President Muhamnadu Buhari; the Chairman of the Presidential Investigation Committee; the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committe on Anti-Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay and the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in Charge of Investigaton, FCID, Area 10

The July 10, 2020 letter reads: We are solicitors to Ibrahim Magu, the acting Chairman of the Eonomic and Financial Crimes Commission and a Commissioner of Police who is currently under detention at your facility and whom we shall later refer to as our client. We humbly apply for his bail on self-recognizance.

It is our clients brief that he was invited by a team of security operatives with respect to an investigation into the activities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under his leadership.

Our client has consistently denied all allegations leveled against him by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and has provided both documentary and oral evidence to clear the air on all the allegations.

Sir, our client has been in your detention facility since the 6th day of July, 2020 hoping to be granted an adminstrative bail by your office.

Our decision to write this application to your office is premised in your declaration and avowed commitment at your inauguration as the Inspector-General of Police to ensure that the constitutional rights of all Nigerians is protected under your leadership.

This has been severally demonstrated by your recent directives to all police formations in Nigeria not to detain any suspect for any offence which is bailable in nature due to the Covid-19 pandemic that is ravaging the world which Nigeria is not an exemption.

In view of the bailable nature of the allegations leveled against our client, we hereby apply that you grant him an administrative bail pending the completion of the investigation for the defence of these allegations in accordance with the relevant provision of the constitution.

Finally, if our application for bail on self-recognizance is not acceptable, we are ready to provide a credible surety that will ensure the availability of our client anytime he is needed for the purpose of this investigation.

We thank you for the anticipated grant of this germane application in the interest of justice and fairness.

Police withdraw his security details, official vehicles

About 21 policemen attached to Magu were on Friday withdrawn, moments after President Muhammadu Buhari approved his suspension from duties and approved Mohammed Umar as replacement.

Also retrieved from Magu were all official vehicles. Late on Friday, the Inspector General of Police (IG) Mohammed Adamu directed the immediate withdrawal of all police operatives serving in the EFCC.

The directive which was contained in a signal to the Assistant Inspector General (AIG), Police Mobile Force (PMF), PMF Squadrons one to 79, Force Secretary and Commissioners of Police of all the state commands and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) also directed that the exact number withdrawn be replaced with new operatives.

According to the order, only staff of EFCC should be allowed access into the premises, while withdrawn police personnel from PMF 21, 44, 45, 46 and 50 must report to the Force Headquarters by 8am on Monday.

But it could not be immediately confirmed whether Magu and his family would be evicted from his official quarters in the highbrow Maitama District,Abuja.

There were indications last night that Magu might face fresh hurdles following submission of more petitions against him to the Presidential Investigation Committee headed by Justice Isa Ayo Salami (Rtd).

Magus lawyers are of the opinion that the fresh petitions are not part of the 22 allegations which the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) originally filed against him.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that Magus escort vehicles and policemen were recalled at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa when he appeared before the panel.

All the 21 policemen, including escorts, attached to Magu were withdrawn at about 4.30pm, a well- placed source said.

The official vehicles were recalled from the Villa to the pool on the spot.

Although we are awaiting signal we have been told that about 200 policemen in Abuja and Lagos offices have been directed to go back to their various formations.

It was also gathered that a shake- up is imminent in EFCC

A source said redeployment, swapping and restructuring are statutory whenever there is a change of guards.

Since Magu is on suspension, there are limited perks of office he can enjoy. He knows better as a Commissioner of Police.

There is a new Acting Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Mohammed Umar. And it is the responsibility of the police and other security agencies to provide full security apparatchik for the new helmsman.

Besides, Umar needs a new team of officers to work with to avoid a case of double loyalty.

Sources also said more petitions against Magu had been forwarded to the Salami panel.

Magus lawyers said the petitions fell outside the presidential mandate of the panel.

It could not be immediately confirmed whether the petitions would be referred to the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) by the panel.

One of the lawyers said: Why is it that nobody is asking for the propriety of the panel sitting without disclosing how many petitions are before it.

We just gathered that there are other petitions apart from Malamis allegations. The panel must disclose these issues in order to ensure fairness and justice.



Source: Nation
Midwife Asasiya Muhammad monitors the heart rate of a patient's unborn child during a checkup at Inner Circle Midwifery in Germantown on Thursday. Interest in home-births has increased during the pandemic, but not everyone who's interested can afford them because of licensure laws and insurance coverage. Read more

CLARIFICATION: A photo that earlier appeared with this story has been removed because it depicted a family that, while planning a home birth, does not require the financial assistance described in the story.

Abiola Osibodu wanted to give birth at home, no matter what. But she couldnt afford the full cost of a midwife.

So she pitched a novel plan to her midwife to cut her bill.

How about you just help facilitate through FaceTime while Im actually in labor? she asked only half in jest.

Osibodus midwife, Asasiya Muhammad of Inner Circle Midwifery, had never assisted a client like that before, but she understood why Osibodu felt so strongly about the matter. The problem is that with Black women, the rate of mortality for us is three to four times greater in the hospital, Muhammad said.

To help expectant mothers like Osibodu, Muhammad recently started the COVID-19 Philadelphia Birth Fund with other midwives and their helpful colleagues, known as doulas. The fund set a goal of raising $50,000 to help 20 low-income patients of color give birth at home. So far, its raised more than $35,000.

One of the first to receive financial help from the fund was Osibodu. Now 34 weeks pregnant, she is working with Muhammad as her delivery date approaches. She was overcome when she read the message that she would receive assistance: I cried and cried and cried when I received the email.

While the cash will help some women, Muhammad and other midwives say a larger and more systemic problem looms: Hospital deliveries are typically covered by insurance, while at-home care from certified professional midwives like Muhammad is not.

 READ MORE: Fearing coronavirus at hospitals, these pregnant women would rather give birth at home, despite risks

Most home-birth midwives in Philadelphia offer services priced in the range of $5,500 to $7,000, which covers prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care. While far less expensive than hospital births  hospitals can charge as much as $30,000  many potential clients still cant afford the midwife charges.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for at-home births has skyrocketed as pregnant women seek to avoid the risks they see in hospitals. Muhammad has seen her number of monthly deliveries double, from around three to six clients. While those numbers may seem small, Muhammad says her individualized approach to care, which includes 13 hour-long prenatal and post-birth appointments, limits her number of clients.

But Muhammad has also had to turn women away for financial reasons.

A lot of people are coming into care late, because they decided late, and its a deep financial burden in a short period of time, she said.

Even when Muhammad tries to lower her price to $3,000 for clients who truly cant afford her care, she still notes that not a lot of people are sitting on $3,000 right now, especially with the pandemic.

Muhammad and other home-birth midwives like Ray Rachlin of Refuge Midwifery see expanded insurance coverage as crucial to expanding their clientele.

Women who are most at risk for bad outcomes in hospitals, Black and brown pregnant people, are not able to access home-birth care, said Rachlin. Were not able to serve the people who need us most because of the current insurance structure.

 READ MORE: Uninsured pregnant women need support to confront coronavirus | Expert Opinion

Pennsylvania is one of only 15 states that wont license certified professional midwives, like Muhammad and Rachlin, who are credentialed by the North American Registry of Midwives, based in Georgia. (New Jersey does grant them licenses.)

Without licenses, certified professional midwives are not considered medical providers by most insurance companies and Medicaid, the federal program to provide health care to the poor, and thus are not reimbursed for their services.

The insurance industry backs the current system under which the only licensed midwives are those with nursing degrees and have completed an extra year of training in delivering babies. Such nurse-midwives rarely perform at-home births.

 HELP US REPORT: Are you a health care worker, medical provider, government worker, patient, frontline worker or other expert? We want to hear from you.

Sam Marshall, president of the trade group the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, said licensing had to set a high bar.

Delivering a child is a pretty serious business, he said. Everybody wants to make sure that when youre delivering a baby, its being done by somebody whos qualified to deliver a baby.

Even when some insurers offer coverage for home-birth care from certified professional midwives, Rachlin says its rarely enough to support her practice. Rachlin is treated as an out-of-network health-care provider - and sometimes is paid as little as $378 by insurers.

State Rep. Morgan Cephas (D., West Philadelphia) circulated a memorandum earlier this summer urging her colleagues to support temporary licensure for certified professional midwives. She calls for the midwives to be granted licenses for the duration of the pandemic, and for six months after it ends.

Cephas said she plans to submit a bill in September and hopes that the pandemic will help persuade legislators that change is needed.

A lot of whats happening with COVID-19, were forced to create a new normal, she said. And I do firmly believe that a new normal in maternal health will look at how do we incorporate these other professions into the health-care continuum.

But her proposal wont fix everything, Cephas acknowledged. Advocates still have to fight a separate battle to get Medicaid to pay for the midwives services.

Until insurance money becomes available, expectant mothers who want to work with Muhammad, Rachlin, and other midwives will have to turn for help to groups like the new birth fund. So far, the fund has received 25 applications and matched 10 with midwives.

But fund-raiser and doula Megan Mauger notes that the fund requires midwives to provide care at cost for $2,500.

Theyre not making money off of these births, she said. So its not going to be sustainable for them to offer this kind of care long term.
The bullion metal lost Rs 2,562, or 4.68 percent, for the week on MCX as investors booked profit (Image courtesy: Reuters)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on July 11 arrested Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair in Bengaluru, two of the accused in the gold smuggling case.

On July 5, customs officials at the Thiruvanthapuram airport seized 30 kg of gold that was addressed to the UAE consulate through a diplomatic baggage.

The NIA had on July 10 registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The first information report (FIR) names four individuals - Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair, PS Sarith and Fazil Fareed.

This is the first time the NIA is investigating gold smuggling, since the case has national and international linkages and it is suspected that the proceeds may have been used for terror financing.

Sarith and Suresh are former employees of the UAE consulate in Thiruvanthapuram. Sarith was arrested by the Customs (Preventive) Department shortly after the gold was seized.

When Suresh was first named in the case, she was working as the operational manager of the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited under the state IT Ministry. She was on the run for a few days before the gold smuggling incident came to light.

The Kerala High Court on July 11 deferred the anticipatory bail plea submitted by Suresh.

The case has political implications, with M Sivasankar being removed as the principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over alleged links to Suresh.

Opposition parties in the state, including the Congress and the BJP, have called for Vijayan's resignation. Youth wings of the Congress, Muslim League and BJP have held protests across the state, demanding the Kerala CM's resignation.

Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling for a coordinated investigation into the matter by all central agencies.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 19:50:00|Editor: huaxia

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KUWAIT CITY, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait on Sunday reported 836 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 54,894 and the death toll to 390, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Currently, 9,894 patients are receiving treatment, including 151 in ICU, the statement added.

The ministry also announced the recovery of 649 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 44,610.

Kuwait started on June 30 the second phase of restoring normal life, which will last three weeks.

Kuwait and China have been supporting each other and cooperating 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.

On April 27, a team of Chinese medical experts visited Kuwait to assist the Gulf country's anti-coronavirus fight, through sharing their experience and expertise in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. Enditem
WASHINGTON, July 11 (Xinhua) -- It was not rational for anyone to believe that China was complicit in the COVID-19 pandemic, a U.S. security magazine has said.

"Lost amid all this finger-pointing is a basic logic of agency; what would China hope to gain from using a viral weapon?" political scientist Erik Gartzke was quoted as saying in an opinion piece run by The National Interest on Wednesday.

Apart from the fact that U.S. President Donald Trump labeled the virus "China virus," a range of pundits and government officials also directly or indirectly accused China of causing the pandemic.

"There is little evidence that they planned a pandemic," said Gartzke, listing a few reasons.

First, the virus is too inconvenient to be used as a weapon to attack opponents.

"The most desirable weapons are generally quick, precise and effective. The coronavirus achieves none of these criteria," said the editorial.

As the probation period can be days or even weeks, the victims may not soon find they are infected, and the target group may not necessarily fall ill, the novel coronavirus is neither quick, precise, nor effective.

Second, China would not develop a weapon that would eventually hurt its own people or its economy. It has been obvious that since the outbreak was first discovered in the Chinese central city of Wuhan, many Chinese also fell victim to the virus. The following strict social distancing policy, while keeping Chinese safe from being infected, has hurt the Chinese economy.

Third, China would never wish to see the United States, Europe or any country to be plagued by the pandemic because disproportionate economic harm would and will still befall China.

"As world markets contract in response to the coronavirus, China is destined to incur economic pneumonia," said the author.

When the United States is at trade war with China, circulating such conspiracy that China is the mastermind of the global health crisis is completely off the point.

"Not every adversary is intentionally malicious," said the expert.
After killings of a number of political leaders by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, a sense of fear and insecurity has started creeping into politicians in the Valley.

And first to express it is BJYM president from Baramulla, Marouf Bhat, who on Saturday tendered his resignation.

I hereby resign from the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) as a member and from any post I held in BJYM. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to work for the Party, Bhat posted on his Facebook account. BJYM is the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

BJP leader Sheikh Waseem Bari, his brother and their father, and Congress Sarpanch Ajay Pandita were recently killed in the Valley.

Talking to HT over phone, Bhat said, We can sacrifice our life for the nation but not of our children. I have been attacked twice in the past but nothing has been done so far. I have not been given even a single PSO (personal security officer).

Bhat informed that he would send his resignation in due course of time to J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina.

They (the militants) are not only targeting us but our families also. We have not been given any security and accommodation in a secured place. Now, our families are at risk, he said.

Bhat claimed he has support of over 400 workers with him in Baramulla.

We have small children. God forbid, if something untoward happens to them, we wont be able to forgive ourselves, he said.

The BJYM president from Baramulla claimed that many BJP leaders like him in north and south Kashmir were scared after what happned to Bari and his family.

He urged the party high command to look into the matter in right earnest.

BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav is likely to visit Kashmir on Sunday to meet the family of Bari who was killed in Bandipora last week (July 8).

His visit was being seen as an attempt to boost the morale of the party leaders and cadres in Kashmir Valley.

On the evening of June 8, 40-year-old sarpanch Ajay Pandita was killed in Anantnag district by the terrorists. Pandita aka Bharti was associated with the Congress and belonged to the minority Kashmiri Pandit community that was first persecuted and then driven out of their homes by terrorists in 1990.

Following Panditas gruesome killing, over half a dozen Panchayat members - all Kashmiri Pandits - had fled the Valley and reached Jammu. They had sought security cover.

J&K lieutenant governor GC Murmu in a recent interview to Hindustan Times had said that security cover to Panchayat members could be thought of in cases where threat perception was more.

Following the killing of Bari and his family, the BJPs senior vice president Narinder Singh has also demanded an immediate security review and enhancement wherever required.
Women watch as one of the massacre victims is buried in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia. (AP)

Bosnia: Bosnians commemorated on Saturday the massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, marking the 25th anniversary of killings that shocked the world and have stood out as Europes only atrocity since World War Two constituting genocide.

Nine newly identified victims were buried at a flower-shaped cemetery near the town, where tall white tombstones mark the graves of 6,643 other victims.

After 25 years we succeeded in finding his mortal remains, so they can be laid to their final rest, said Fikret Pezic, who buried his father Hasan.

The remains of some 1,000 victims of the massacre in the eastern town during Bosnias 1992-1995 war are still missing.

Ifeta Hasanovic decided to bury incomplete remains of her husband, saying: We were aware they cannot be complete after 25 years, at least there are some, I did not want to make any new delays.

World leaders addressed the ceremony by video link, unable to attend because of coronavirus epidemic. Instead of the tens of thousands visitors who typically attend the commemoration each year, only a few thousand came after organisers banned organised visits.

During the Bosnian war, Bosnian Serb forces pushed non-Serbs out of territories they sought for their Serb statelet. Fleeing Muslims took shelter in several eastern towns, including Srebrenica, that were designated as United Nations safe zones.

On July 11, 1995, the Serb forces commanded by General Ratko Mladic overran Srebrenica, which was protected by lightly armed Dutch peacekeepers.

They sent women and children away and captured and executed the men and boys they found. The bodies were dumped into mass graves and later exhumed by U.N. investigators and used as evidence in war crimes trials of Bosnian Serb leaders.

We grieve with the families that tirelessly seek justice for the 8,000 innocent lives lost, all these years later, said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Washington brokered Bosnias peace deal months after the massacre.

Most people at the commemoration were Muslim Bosniaks, reflecting conflicting narratives about the bloodshed - which hinders reconciliation nearly 25 years after the end of war in which about 100,000 people were killed.

The U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted Mladic and his political chief Radovan Karadzic over Srebrenica genocide but they remained heroes for Serbs, many of whom deny that genocide happened.

On Saturday, the Serbs in the nearby town of Bratunac organised an event marking July 11 as the Srebrenica Liberation Day.

Sefik Dzaferovic, the Bosniak chairman of Bosnias tripartite presidency, called for legislation that would ban denial of genocide.

There can be no trust as long as we witness attacks on the truth, denial of genocide and glorification and celebration of executors, Dzaferovic told the commemoration gathering.
More than 28,600 cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), another record jump, and 551 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, which have pushed Indias tally past 8.49 lakh on Sunday, according to the Union health ministry.

The surge in numbers comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting to take stock of the Covid-19 situation in the country.

The Prime Minister cautioned that there was no room for complacency in the battle against the pandemic as he appreciated the efforts of the Centre and Delhi government in containing the Covid-19 outbreak in the Capital.

Priority is close monitoring and guiding the containment works in regions where the infection rate is high, the Prime Minister tweeted after the meeting.

Also read| Covid-19 state tally: Maharashtra nears 2.5 lakh-mark, Haryanas tally above 20,000

There were 28,637 Covid-19 cases between Saturday and Sunday morning and Indias infection tally is now at 849,553.

The recovered cases once again outnumbered the active cases of the coronavirus disease by 242,362 on Sunday, bringing the tally to 534,620. The recovery rate has further improved to 62.92% with the widening gap.

During the last 24 hours, 19,235 Covid-19 patients were cured and discharged, according to the health ministrys dashboard. There are 292,258 active cases of the viral disease in the country.

The cumulative number of recovered cases among Covid-19 patients had crossed the five lakh-mark on Saturday with effective implementation of containment zones, surveillance activities, timely diagnosis and effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases, the government said in a release.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are among states with high caseload of Covid-19.

The cases count in Indias worst-affected state of Maharashtra reached has reached 246,600, which includes 10,116 deaths due to the disease. It had recorded the highest single-day spike with 8,139 cases on Saturdaythe first time when the state crossed the 8,000-mark in a day.

Maharashtras Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has isolated himself after 16 members of the Raj Bhavan staff tested positive for Covid-19.

Officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation have said Koshyari will undergo the test for Covid-19, if required, in the coming days.

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan have tested positive for the respiratory disease and are in an isolation ward of a hospital in Mumbai.

Tamil Nadu, another state which has added to Indias caseload, has reported 134,226 and 1,898 deaths so far, according to the Union health ministry. In Delhi, there are 110,921 infections and 3,334 fatalities.

Several states across the country have put in new restrictions or extended lockdowns in areas which have reported an alarming surge in the cases of the coronavirus disease.

Also read: In a first, Donald Trump wears mask in public

The Centre had issued guidelines for the second of a three-phase plan to lift restrictions imposed in March around a fortnight back.

Global infections stand at 12,683,874 and 564,485 people have died, according to the Johns Hopkins Universitys coronavirus tracker.
Measures against COVID-19 View(s):

Kankesanturai

Four persons including two Sri Lankan-origin refugees from South India who arrived at Kankesanturai (KKS) yesterday, by boat are to be sent to a quarantine centre, Navy sources said.

Naval preliminary investigations revealed that two local fishermen organised the illegal passage to bring the two Sri Lankan refugees who had been living in temporary camps in Tamil Nadu for a decade. Further investigations are underway.

Vankalai, Mannar

Seven fishermen in Mannar were directed to self-quarantine in their respective homes yesterday, after they offered assistance to an Indian fishing crew whose trawler was damaged in mid-sea, Mannar Health Services Regional Director Dr. T. Vinothan said.

The seven fishermen from Vankalai, Mannar offered to help the fishermen from the neighbouring country. All of them were subjected to PCR tests by the regional health authorities and are awaiting the results.

Welikada prison

Meanwhile, a detainee who was released recently from Welikada Prisons was taken back to prison today after several other prison inmates tested positive. He was one of the 40 detainees who were released one week before the first positive case was identified inside the prison.
ReNew Power has given its employees up to 12 per cent salary hike and bonuses amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown. ReNew Power is giving these hikes even as companies across the board are looking for ways to cut costs.

Some clean energy firms in the private sector have given salary hikes to their staff but these are not extended to all employees. Hikes are very nominal for lower-income categories (like below Rs 10 lakh per annum).

"2020 has been a challenging year for everyone. ReNew Power also had its fair share of challenges but ReNewers have faced adversity with determination and have ensured continuation of operations," said Sumant Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director of ReNew Power.

Sinha said that the company had decided to gives hikes and bonuses so that the company's employees don't face any hardships on the monetary front during the coronavirus crisis. "With many sectors of the economy slowly recovering, I expect the Indian economy to be back on the growth path soon," added Sinha.

ReNew Power is one of India's leading renewable energy companies. It has given out salary hikes to around 1,100 of its employees. According to Sinha, the average increment given by the company range from 5 per cent to 12 per cent. Apart from hikes, the company is even giving bonuses to employees based on their performance. The company has not withheld promotions for its executives which were agreed upon before the pandemic started.

During the last couple of months, ReNew has bid and won a historic tender to supply 400 MW of energy Round-The-Clock, using only renewables. It also recently bagged another bid for 400 MW in SECI's ISTS auction (Solar Energy Corporation of India Inter state transmission system).

It has recently announced the acquisition of Climate Connect, an Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning company. The Climate Connect acquisition expands the portfolio of services, it can provide. As the Indian economy gets back on track, ReNew is ramping up construction activity at its under-construction project sites, which will further provide employment to skilled labourers.

(With PTI inputs)

Also Read: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aaradhya test positive for coronavirus

Also Read: Business environment to remain challenging this fiscal; delayed recovery for two-wheeler sector: TVS Motor
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RBL Bank on Sunday said it has repurposed one of its CSR programmes and trained aspiring low-income women entrepreneurs from Maharashtra and West Bengal to manufacture 70,000 face masks, which provided them economic support amid COVID-19 crisis.

Among other initiatives being undertaken as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the bank provided food relief to 1,500 underprivileged families in Mumbai, medical devices to an hospital, laptops and tablets to school children of low income families for e-learning, besides supporting migrant labourers, the bank said.

"During this COVID-19 pandemic, we have repurposed our CSR programmes to meet the current needs, be in education area, sustainable livelihood or women empowerment," RBL Bank Human Resources, CSR and Internal Branding Head Shanta Vallury Gandhi told news agency PTI in an interview.

For instance, the bank enabled repurposing of a CSR programme managed by the NGO Natarajan Education Society (NES) in Pune (Maharashtra), that gave astounding results, she said.

NES trains women on tailoring and fashion designing to help them set up small business and self-help groups. But the bank gave an opportunity to these women to manufacture three ply cloth masks for distribution to front-line workers, business correspondents and branch staff and customers.

"In a short duration of over two months, these women beneficiaries manufactured 60,000 masks distributed across the four zones in India," Gandhi said.

The women beneficiaries and NES in a short duration transited from classroom training to completely virtual environment in order to learn making high quality masks.

Similarly in West Bengal, women Self Help Group (SHG) called Anandadhara manufactured 10,000 masks which were distributed locally in the east and north eastern states.

The bank has partnered with the West Bengal State Rural Livelihood Mission (WBSRLM) managed women SHG Anandadhara.

"These activities hugely helped the women beneficiaries gain meaningful work and provided the much needed economic support that helped hike their overall family's income, especially during the lockdown phase of COVID-19," Gandhi said.

Sharing about its initiative to support migrant workers, the RBL Bank official said it already had partnership with an NGO Aajeevika Bureau (AB) which was working closely with migrant communities in South Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

But the support efforts were strengthened when a sudden lockdown was announced in March-end to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease, the official added.

Gandhi said employees contributed towards the cause by donating a portion from their salaries, especially during the lockdown period.

"All the funds were diverted towards Aajeevika Bureau's work in running an emergency helpline (Labor Line 1800 1800 999), provision of direct food relief to workers in distress and providing support to returning migrants back in the villages," she noted.

That apart, the bank has collaborated with PE firm Norwest Venture Partners for 'Campaign Gratitude' initiative and contributed Rs 50 lakh to two NGOs AB and Concern India Foundation Trust to help communities impacted by the pandemic.

Through Concern India Foundation Trust, RBL Bank has provided food relief to over 1,500 underprivileged families in Mumbai. It has also donated 100mA mobile, X-ray HF 3.5kw machine to the Khan Bhabha Hospital, Kurla which is one of the most severely impacted areas in Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

With Aajeevika Bureau Trust, the Bank said it aims to provide free legal aid, skills training and helpline services to migrant workers in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

"As migrant workers are often caught in a chain of contractors and middlemen, the free legal aid would help them navigate this adverse situation," Gandhi said, adding that the trust is also conducting skill development sessions to help migrant returnees build new employable skills.

In the education area, the RBL Bank has enabled education on virtual medium for Udbhav RBL School students during the COVID-19 situation. It also plans to hold its annual flagship event 'UMEED1000 Cyclothon' to create awareness about girl education virtually this year.
LONDON (Reuters) - Around 200 people employed to pick crops at a farm near Malvern in England's West Midlands region have been told to self isolate after 73 of them tested positive for COVID-19, Public Health England (PHE) and Herefordshire Council said on Sunday. The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases across Britain each day has been falling from a peak of more than 6,000 in April to 650 in the latest figures released on Sunday, despite wider availability of testing. However, there have been local outbreaks, with a significant number linked to meat packing plants

LONDON (Reuters) - Around 200 people employed to pick crops at a farm near Malvern in England's West Midlands region have been told to self isolate after 73 of them tested positive for COVID-19, Public Health England (PHE) and Herefordshire Council said on Sunday.

The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases across Britain each day has been falling from a peak of more than 6,000 in April to 650 in the latest figures released on Sunday, despite wider availability of testing.

However, there have been local outbreaks, with a significant number linked to meat packing plants.

The AS Green and Co farm site has been placed in lockdown to try to contain the outbreak, which follows other clusters of cases at food producers, PHE and Herefordshire Council said.

During the harvest season, workers who pick and pack vegetables, live in mobile homes based on the farm.

Katie Spence, PHE Midlands Health Protection Director, said the company had put infection control measures in place to try to reduce the risk of staff becoming exposed to COVID-19.

"Despite these measures, a small number of workers became symptomatic earlier this week and they and a few close contacts among the workforce were tested initially and found to be positive," she said.

"As we have seen a global trend of large food producers being subject to outbreaks, as a precautionary measure, the decision was made to test the entire workforce."

She said the initial results showed a significant percentage of positive cases, despite the individuals being asymptomatic.

Herefordshire Council said it was arranging food and essential supplies for the residents while they self-isolated.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The Northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh will witness heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours, the weather department has predicted.

The state is already battered by the heavy downpour due to the Southwest Monsoon which is running close to the foothills of the Himalayas.

Eight people, including an eight-month-old baby, were killed in landslides triggered by the heavy rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh on Friday.

The incidents took place in Tigdo village of Papum Pare district and Modirijo area, near the state capital Itanagar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed his condolences to the kin of those who lost their lives due to landslide. Saddened by the loss of lives due to heavy rains as well as landslides in Arunachal Pradesh. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly. All possible assistance is being provided to those affected, he tweeted.

Chief minister Pema Khandu has cautioned that as per India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast, there is a likelihood of heavy rain across the state in the next few days. He requested everyone to take precautionary measures and refrain from staying at vulnerable locations.

The death toll due to monsoon-related incidents in Arunachal Pradesh has climbed to 15.

Assam and the entire Northeast has been devastated by the heavy rainfall which has led to landslides and floods, damaging roads and houses and inundating low-lying areas.

Road communication has been badly affected and the water level in the streams and rivers in some states has risen.
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, risks being arrested on July 14...

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, risks being arrested on July 14.





Ize-Iyamu may be arrested if he fails to appear before a Federal High Court in Benin City, Edo State for allegedly laundering the sum of N700m.





EFCC had informed a Federal High Court in Benin City, that Ize-Iyamu and his fellow suspects took possession of about N700 million without any contracts.





However, the court had on July 2 adjourned the matter to July 14 due to the absence of Ize-Iyamu, who was said to be indisposed.

The trial had been delayed due to Ize-Iyamus absence, even as the presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Garba, had earlier validated the charges against him.





Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is the first defendant in the suit No. FHC/BE21C/ 2016 filed by the EFCC, who accused the defendants of conspiring among themselves to commit the offence in March 2015, alleging that they took possession and control of the funds without any contract award.





The judge rejected the oral request for a prolonged adjournment of the case by the counsel to Ize-Iyamu, who argued that his client will not disobey the order of the court.





Justice Garba stated that the last time somebody was here, he (the judge) made an order for the accused person to appear in court or face arrest.




Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 12)  The Armed Forces of the Philippines said it has submitted the names of candidates for the next chief of staff as well as the chairman of the joint chiefs to the Palace.

In a statement Sunday, the AFP said its Board of Generals convened and deliberated on who could potentially take the place of General Felimon Santos Jr. who currently holds both positions.

Santos is set for compulsory retirement on August 4 this year.

The list submitted to Malacanang through the Department of National Defense on the first week of June contained 10 names.

"There were about 10 names contained in the list that includes major service commanders, unified command chiefs, and other 3-star generals at the GHQ (general headquarters)," said the statement.
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Alumni criticized a vote by Lincoln Universitys Board of Trustees on Friday not to renew the contract of president Brenda A. Allen, alleging on Saturday that the board had violated its own bylaws and failed to be transparent.

After a private executive Zoom session that neared four hours, the board for the public, historic Black university in Chester County said 52% of the 21 trustees present had voted not to renew Allens contract, while 48% voted in favor of renewal. They did not give a reason for their decision. Two trustees were absent, the board secretary said.

The vote drew anger from the 250-person audience on an adjacent Zoom call, as well as the larger community, much of which had rallied behind Allen, a Lincoln alumna who became the schools 14th president in 2017.

My head is still swirling, if you will, Lennell Dade, a 1984 Lincoln graduate and the schools chair of the department of psychology and human services, said Saturday. Trying to comprehend it and take it in. She noted that a large crowd stayed on the Zoom call during the hours-long meeting. Over 200 of us remained on the line, mostly alum. We remained in that room for three hours waiting for them to come back  that level of commitment.

Former Lincoln University trustee Rosalie Hornbuckle said Saturday that the private vote was a violation of the boards bylaws and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvanias Sunshine Act, which mandates that all official actions must be taken during the public portion of a meeting.

If you are acting to remove the president, under Lincoln bylaws and the Sunshine Act, you cannot hold a vote in an executive session, said Hornbuckle, a 1983 graduate. That vote must be held in public session. You can go into executive session to discuss issues privately, but then you have to come out and have a roll call vote.

Five people that the commonwealth appointed to Lincoln Universitys Board of Trustees in January  and who Hornbuckle said were subsequently kept at arms length from participating in the boards business  were also excluded from the vote.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said a day before the trustees meeting that the board should allow the commonwealth appointees to participate.

After reviewing the Universitys Bylaws and the enabling statute, it is my expectation that the Board will promptly seat these new Board members and allow them to participate in the meeting and vote on any matters that should come before the Board, Shapiro stated in a letter Thursday.

Dimitrius M. Hutcherson, the boards vice chair, referred all questions to a press release from the university, which said the board would name an interim president within the next few days.

We thank Dr. Allen for her service, and I cant get into anything else, he said Saturday.

Hutcherson declined to name the boards commonwealth appointments.

It is our practice at Lincoln University of PA, to not reveal the names of the candidates who are going through the process of being seated on the Board of Trustees until the vetting process has been completed, he said. As a result, I cannot provide you the names of the candidates.

Theresa Braswell, the boards chairwoman, has not responded to requests for comment.

Dr. Allen is not the type of president you can just run over, Hornbuckle said. Dr. Allens focus is primarily the institutions best interest, and not a personal best interest.

The board, which on Friday also carried a motion, 14-7, to find an interim president, said that emphasis will be placed on new leadership with extensive executive experience in higher education, coupled with a strong background in business, finance, and entrepreneurship.

In her three-year tenure, the boards press release said, Allen had improved freshman retention and four-year graduation rates, earned back accreditation for the school in 2019, and raised the universitys ranking.

In the lead-up to Fridays meeting, Allen had received widespread praise, including an endorsement from Pennsylvania State Sen. Vincent Hughes, who called her the best person to be the president of Lincoln. More than 14,000 people had also signed a petition that implored the board to keep her as president. The Board of Trustees said Friday that her contract ended June 30.

Staff writer Maddie Hanna contributed to this article.
It would have been the most high-profile performance of her fledgling career so far. But Im sad to report we wont get to see Lily-Rose Depp performing on the steps of the High Court, where she had planned to launch an impassioned defence of father Johnny for the worlds media.

Im told the 21-year-old actress, whose mother is Johnnys ex-partner Vanessa Paradis, was adamant that she wanted to deliver a very public speech outside the court in London, only to be forced to stand down by her dads legal team.

Johnny, 57, star of Pirates Of The Caribbean, is suing The Sun newspaper over a 2018 article that claimed he beat ex-wife Amber Heard, with eye-watering claims made by both sides in the explosive legal battle.

Lily-Rose Depp, pictured right, with her father Johnny, left, wanted to talk to the media outside the High Court in London during his court case in London

Amber Heard, pictured, appeared in London's High Court during the libel trial

American actress and model Amber, 34, claims that Johnny attacked her 14 times during their turbulent marriage, which he strenuously denies.

My source says: In what was a highly unusual request, Lily-Rose was determined to publicly defend her father by addressing reporters outside the court. It was a very loving gesture, but unfortunately one that his legal team thought was not very prudent.

They had to step in and advise her that anything she said could jeopardise what has already become an expensive and complex trial. In other words, she could have brought the proceedings to a halt if she had inadvertently spoken about any of the evidence being given inside the courtroom.

She meant well but it was a naive gesture that could have backfired.

Lily-Rose, who has already won a handful of awards for her first few film appearances, which have included starring roles alongside Natalie Portman and Robert Pattinson, is not due to give evidence during the case. However, Vanessa and Johnnys ex-fiancee, actress Winona Ryder, are expected to appear.

While Amber last night enjoyed a dinner at a private London address with her girl gang, which includes pop star Kylie Minogue, its nice to hear that Johnny has his own loyal supporter.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 16:43:54|Editor: huaxia

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COLOMBO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of positive COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka surpassed 2,500 on Sunday after 43 new patients were detected mainly from a drug rehabilitation center in the north central part of the country, the government information department said.

The number of patients reached 2,511 on Sunday morning out of which 1,980 patients have recovered and been successfully discharged.

However, the Health Ministry said that a sudden spike in the number of cases was because of over 300 inmates from the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Center and three counselors testing positive on Friday and Saturday.

Hundreds of those who had associated with the patients had also been taken into quarantine while the Health Ministry said the army was continuing to trace further associates of the new patients so they could be put into a mandatory 14-day isolation. Those who have been put into quarantine include 70 school students.

Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasingha told journalists that the situation with the latest COVID-19 cluster in Kandakadu was well under control but also said the number of patients could rise in the coming days.

He said the authorities had the know-how and confidence to control a spread and said the chances of community transmission of the virus triggering due to the new patients were slim.

"We are continuing to monitor the situation and have taken all the preventive measures," Jasingha said.

Director General of the Government Information Department Nalaka Kaluwewa in a statement denied that a curfew or a holiday would be declared in the country with a sudden spike in patients.

"The widely spreading rumor which says that government has declared holidays in the coming days is totally false," Kaluwewa said.

Sri Lanka has reported 11 deaths from the virus. Enditem
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation will host virtual events in honor of President Fords 107th birthday on Tuesday, July 14.

Virtual events, due to coronavirus pandemic, will include Facebook Live videos of the annual wreath laying ceremony and a panel discussion for the first-ever childrens book about Ford.

The commemoration will start at 9 a.m. with a Facebook Live of the wreath laying ceremony at the Gerald R. Ford and Betty B. Ford burial site on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. The ceremony will be available to the public on the Foundations Facebook page.

The ceremony is a combination of two traditions: a long-standing tradition of observing each deceased presidents birthday, during which the sitting president sends a wreath to be presented by a military officer and the second is the presentation of a wreath from the Ford family.

President Donald Trumps wreath will be placed by Brig. General Paul Rogers. For the personal tribute from the Ford family, established by first lady Betty Ford in 2007, the familys wreath will be placed by President Fords nieces and nephews.

After the ceremony, the Army Chorus will perform a virtual choral tribute.

A childrens book about Ford will also be released to the public. Titled Truth and Honor: The President Ford Story, written by Lindsey McDivitt, the book is a biography about Ford from early childhood to his presidency in the 1970s.

The Foundation will host a Facebook Live panel discussion at 7 p.m. on the Foundations Facebook page. The virtual discussion features McDivitt and the Ford brothers, Mike and Steve, candidly sharing childhood memories of their parents and the lessons they learned from them.

McDivitt will speak on what inspired her to write Truth and Honor, and the importance of high quality childrens books that teach history and provide role models.

The panel presentation will later be archived on the Foundations DeVos Learning Center website to be viewed any time.

The book is now available online and in select bookstores, including Schuler Books. To purchase your copy of Truth and Honor online, visit Amazon.com and Sleeping Bear Press.

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By Trend

While discussing Armenias National Security Strategy at a meeting of the Security Council in Yerevan on July 10, the countrys Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan once again admitted the country's aggressive policy, which directly threatens peace and security in the region, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Armenia is still a big threat in the region, expresses unreasonable territorial claims against the internationally recognized lands of Azerbaijan and also reflects a policy based on military occupation in its national strategy, grossly violating the international law, the ministry said.

Aggressive Armenia, which, having occupied Azerbaijani territories, speaks about the self-determination of the Armenian community living in these territories and reflects this as a "national goal" in the security strategy, ignores the principles of the international law, including the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the ministry said.

The principle of self-determination of peoples in no way applies to the Armenian community living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, the message said. In general, paragraph 8 of the Helsinki Final Act stipulates that the principle of self-determination is expressed in accordance with the UN Charter, the norms and principles of the international law, especially the territorial integrity.

The Armenian leaderships statement on sovereignty in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the determination of the preservation of the results of the occupation policy as the goal of negotiations to resolve the conflict clearly show that the country impedes the settlement process and does not respect the international decisions and resolutions, the ministry said.

Azerbaijans retaliatory measures to ensure the internationally recognized territories, including the temporarily occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region and surrounding districts, as well as the return of Azerbaijani internally displaced people (IDPs) to their houses, are based on the international law, the UN Charter, UN Security Councils resolutions and on the basis of the law within the Constitution, the ministry said.

Aggressive Armenia is directly responsible for the growing tension in the region," the ministry said.
Dr. Natalia Echeverri, (R) prepares to use a swab to gather a sample from the nose of Silvia Stagg, who said she is homeless, to test her for COVID-19 on April 17, 2020 in Miami, Florida.

Florida on Sunday reported 15,299 confirmed coronavirus cases, the highest single day total of any U.S. state since the pandemic hit the nation, including New York at the peak of its outbreak.



The surge in infections brings Florida's total cases to 269,811, higher than the totals of several major nations with much larger populations such as Spain, Italy and France among others. Those countries, like New York state, passed the peak of their outbreaks months ago while virus transmission in Florida has escalated after a relatively quiet spring.

More than 18,000 people have been hospitalized in Florida since the pandemic hit the state. The Florida Department of Health also reported that 45 more people died, bringing the statewide death toll to 4,346.

Nearly 143,000 people were tested Saturday in Florida with 11.25% of the results coming back positive for coronavirus. That's Florida's lowest rate of positive test results since the end of June as more people receive tests. On Wednesday, the percentage of people tested who were positive for the virus was much higher at 18.35%.



Admiral Brett Giroir, who leads the Trump administration's testing efforts, said the rate of positive test results has leveled off this week even as it remains high in hotspot states. Giroir said he expects hospitalizations and deaths to increase over the next two to three weeks before also leveling off and then declining.

"We do expect deaths to go up. If you have more cases, more hospitalizations, we do expect to see that over the next two or three weeks before this turns around," Giroir told ABC's "This Week."



"We're not out of this at all, we're all very concerned," he said, "but we have seen this week a leveling of what we call the percent positive. That's our sort of first indicator, if that levels we're going to see emergency rooms drop, hospitalizations drop."



Giroir warned, however, that the trajectory of the virus depends on mitigation measures taken by state and local governments. To reverse the current trend, 90% of people in hotspot areas need to wear masks in public, he said.

Bars should close, restaurants need to reduce capacity and in some cases lockdowns should be on the table, he said.



Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams emphasized Sunday that Americans could turn the outbreak around by wearing masks. President Donald Trump wore a mask in public for the first time Saturday during a visit to Walter Reed military hospital, possibly signalling a shift in the administration's message on the issue. Trump has been resistant to wearing a mask in the past, and it has been a point of partisan contention across the country.

As the virus spreads in Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended on-premise alcohol consumption at bars but has rejected calls to issue a statewide mask mandate. Local authorities like the county governments in Miami-Dade and Broward, the state's two most populous counties, have stepped in and mandated masks in all public spaces.

Even as Florida continues to report record infections, the state is set to host the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville next month and has required schools to reopen in August for at least five days a week. The Trump administration has sought to pressure governors to reopen schools in the fall, arguing its important for children's health.



The superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the fourth largest school district in the nation, said science should drive how schools reopen, not politics. Miami-Dade is planning a mix of in-person classes five days a week as well as remote learning options when the district reopens in six weeks.



"It is quite possible if the social behavior and the restrictions in place, if people wear masks, if people exercise social distancing that conditions may be appropriate and healthy for students to return to the very best model of teaching and learning which is in-person," Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"But we need the community's collaboration," Carvalho said. "We need the science to drive the practice rather than politics influencing what is legitimately a community concern."

Disney also started a phased reopening of its theme parks in Florida, with leadership boasting of new safety measures and altered operations.

The state's testing supply is running low and some local officials are concerned that hospitals experiencing an influx of patients will soon reach capacity. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez told CNN on Sunday that "it won't be long" until hospitals in his county reach capacity.

Florida has become a major epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, as most infection surges are located in states in the South and West.

Florida, Arizona, California and Texas, all hotspots for the virus, have seen their average daily death tolls hit record highs in recent days, and health experts warn that deaths will continue to increase in the next several weeks.

In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb predicted that southern states will likely experience a peak in cases in the next two to three weeks, and warned of an "extended plateau" after that, comparing it to the situation in Brazil, one of the hardest hit countries in the world.

At least 134,000 people in the U.S. have died since the outbreak began in March, and more than 3 million cases have been reported across the country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has reported more than 60,000 new cases daily for three days in a row now.
Police in Boston are investigating an arson at a church in Dorchester after a statue of the Virgin Mary was set on fire.

Officers were called to the Saint Peter Parish on Bowdoin Street in Dorchester around 10 p.m. Saturday.

Police noticed the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary had been set on fire.

Officers spoke with members of Boston Fire Department Fire Investigation Unit who stated that an unknown suspect had set fire to plastic flowers, which were in the hands of the statue, causing the face and upper body of the statue to be burned, according to Boston police.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact detectives at 617-343-4335.
New Delhi, July 12 : Urging people to introspect on the life during the last few months of the coronavirus induced confinement, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said the pandemic needs to be looked at not only as a disaster, but also as a 'corrector' for making necessary changes in the perspectives and practices of living.

Referring to the over two-month lockdown to contain the deadly pandemic, Naidu asked if people have learned the right lessons and equipped themselves to deal with such uncertainties. Seeking to engage with the people on the causes and consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, Naidu posted on Facebook on Sunday 'Musings of Life in Corona Times'.

Writing in a conversational format, the Vice President posed 10 questions. This 10-point matrix, Naidu said would also help in knowing if the people have equipped themselves with the necessary understanding so as to help prevent recurrence of such adversities in the future.

The Vice President stressed that the pandemic needs to be looked at not only as a disaster, but also as a 'corrector' for making necessary changes in the perspectives and practices of living so as to live in harmony with nature and culture and the attendant guiding principles and ethos.

"Constant evaluation of the course of life in all its manifestations and in the totality of context is an essential pre-requisite for a higher living. One such opportunity is now as we live with coronavirus," Naidu said.

The thrust of Naidu's 'Musings of Life in Corona Time' is to properly define the purpose of life besides revisiting the course, nature and pace of modern life with suitable alterations for a harmonious and measured living.

The suggestions made by Naidu for anxiety free living include; thinking and acting right like looking at food as a medicine that sustains healthy life; acquiring a spiritual dimension to life going beyond material pursuits; adhering to the principles and practices of right and wrong; sharing with and caring for others; nurturing social bonds and repurposing the life for a meaningful living.

Dwelling on the causes of frequent disasters, Naidu said: "The planet does not need us while we need the planet. Claiming sole proprietor over the planet as if it is meant only for humans has upset the natural balance triggering adversities of different kinds." On the differential impact of the pandemic with some sections being hit the most, Naidu said: "We are born equal and end up being unequal as time flows. The pandemic has exposed the heightened vulnerabilities of some sections which are not of their making. They are more systemic and need to be adequately addressed. Your way of living could be one of the reasons for enhanced vulnerabilities of others." Alluding to the larva slowing down its life as a cocoon and emerging from it as a butterfly, the Vice President urged the people to emerge as butterflies by properly reflecting on the experiences of life during the current pandemic and drawing right lessons from them for a secure future.
By PTI

JAIPUR: Several ministers and MLAs visited Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home Sunday, indicating support to him amid speculation over a widening rift with his deputy Sachin Pilot.

Some Congress MLAs, considered close to Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, who also heads the state Congress unit, have gone to Delhi, sources said.

The posturing comes amid allegations by Gehlot that the BJP is trying to lure Congress MLAs to topple the state government.

The BJP has dismissed the claim, saying the developments reflect a power struggle between Gehlot and Pilot, simmering since the Congress leadership in Delhi picked the more senior leader for the CM's post.

Revenue Minister Harish Choudhary, Labour Minister Tikaram Jully, Health Minister Raghu Sharma were among those who visited the chief minister's residence here.

"We all are meeting the chief minister since yesterday to express faith and confidence in his leadership. The MLAs have confidence in Gehlot's leadership," independent legislator Babulal Nagar said.

The crisis surfaced on Friday when the Rajasthan Police issued notices to Gehlot, Pilot and the government chief whip, seeking time from them to record their statements over an alleged bid to topple the state's Congress government.

Sources close to Pilot said the letter from the special operations group (SOG) had upset the Rajasthan Congress chief, who apparently saw this as a snub.

In a tweet Sunday, Gehlot stressed that the notices had gone to several people.

He did not name Pilot in this connection, but said that a section of the media had interpreted the notices wrongly.

"The notices have been issued to the chief minister, the deputy chief minister, the government chief whip and some other MLAs. It is a part of the process," SOG Additional Director General Ashok Rathore told PTI on Sunday.

He said as the investigation proceeds, others could also be issued notices.

Babulal Nagar is among the legislators issued with the notice.

"The SOG has issued notice to me and has sought time. There are other MLAs who have received such notices," Nagar told reporters outside the CM's residence, where he had gone to meet him.

"We have faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and we have expressed this to him," he added.

Apart from the SOG action, the state's Anti Corruption Bureau has also begun a probe into the alleged bid to destabilise the government.

The Congress government has distanced itself from the three independent MLAs -- Khushveer Singh, Omprakash Hudla and Suresh Tak -- who were named in the preliminary enquiry (PE).

Earlier, the government had the support of all 13 independent MLAs, who also voted for the Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections last month.

At a press conference Saturday, Gehlot had blamed the BJP of trying to bring down his government and cited the FIR registered by the SOG.

The FIR is based on an alleged tapped phone conversation between two men, said to be BJP members.

The Congress has 107 members in the state 200-MLA state assembly.
A political blogger has sparked debate online after taking aim at Scott Morrison for going to an NRL game while Daniel Andrews worked at home.

Carrick Ryan took to Twitter to share two images of the politicians side by side with the caption: 'A tale of how two 'leaders' spent their Saturday night.'

The first image showed the Prime Minister cheering on his beloved Cronulla Sharks while waving a team scarf at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium in the city's south.

The second photo showed the Victorian Premier at his desk on a conference call as Melbourne went into total lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Comments on the post were divided, with not everyone agreeing with Mr Ryan's sledge against Mr Morrison.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison watches on from the stands during the Round 9 NRL match between the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Penrith Panthers on Saturday

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews during a conference call at his desk amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday night

Political blogger Carrick Ryan sparked a debate after comparing the PM with Daniel Andrews

'I'd say the PM has been doing more hours a week than me and you put together,' one of Mr Morrison's supporters wrote.

'You've had a bad weekend haven't you,' another said. 'Pity a man having a deserved night off!'

'This is really sad. Dan Andrews and team working their guts out day and night and getting nothing but criticism from what passes for media these days,' one critic of the PM said.

'The other one shuts parliament down, abuses trust by rorts galore, lies easily and often, goes on holiday,' wrote another man.

Mr Morrison found an unlikely supporter in Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.

'I have no objection to Scott Morrison having a bit of time off at the footy,' Mr Albanese, who is a huge South Sydney Rabbitohs fan, said on Sky News.

'I think we need a bit of common sense, and if he wants to go and cheer the Sharks then that's a matter for him, and if they're playing Souths then I hope they lose as they did in round one.'

Mr Albanese also backed Mr Andrews' work in dealing with the pandemic.

'We've had issues, but overwhelmingly Australians have done the right thing during this crisis. Daniel Andrews has been totally accountable during this whole process.'

Victoria suffered another coronavirus death on Sunday, and 273 new cases overnight

The debate comes just days after Mr Morrison revealed he would try to join his two daughters and wife Jenny on a family holiday outside of Sydney next week.

'I will not be joining them for that full-time. I will also not be standing aside from the tasks I have all day,' he said on Friday.

'We have technology where I can be with them and continue to take briefings, calls and meetings in dealing with the situation whether it be Victoria or the other situations in the country.

'I will be returning to Canberra next week where I am sure you will be able to see me again  just because I am not standing in front of a camera, it does not mean I am not behind my desk or doing what I need to do daily. I ask the people's understanding on that.'

Mr Andrews refused to weigh in on the debate, saying he had no opinion about Mr Morrison going to the footy or taking holiday leave with his family.

'I wouldn't begrudge anyone taking time off with their family, I don't think that's an unreasonable thing.

'And before you give me the footy question, I've got better things to worry about than who went to the footy in New South Wales.

'Just as back during the summer, I am not going to chip a bloke for spending some time with his family.

'As for who goes to the footy in other states, I don't have anything to worry about that. Nothing is gained by me offering gratuitous opinions on that.'

Shoppers wear face masks while buying groceries at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne on Saturday

But others were less forgiving, venting their frustration as the image of Mr Morrison circulated on Sunday after Mr Andrews was slammed for enjoying a birthday dinner with his family earlier in the week.

'Poor Dan copped sh*t for having a birthday meal at home with his family last week. This is disgraceful,' one person wrote online.

'No mask, no social distancing, no wife and kids, and his team lost,' another said.

'He's the PM for God's sake; he's had more holidays with his kids than most people in this country who are wondering how to feed their kids,' wrote a third person.

'No sign of ''Jen and the kids'' and imagine, just IMAGINE if Daniel Andrews was seen celebrating at the footy (with no mask might I add),' someone else pointed out.

The debate comes as Australia battles a growing outbreak of coronavirus that generated in Victoria in the last two weeks.

Victoria recorded 273 new cases on Sunday - a seventh consecutive day of triple digit rises. The national death toll rose to 108 after a man in his 70s died.

Sunday's figures now make Victoria the new coronavirus capital of Australia with the state's total number of cases eclipsing New South Wales.

Scott Morrison is spotted with cheering in the crowd at an NRL match just a day after he announced he was taking a holiday with his daughters

Victorians living in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are currently in the midst of a second lockdown in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus.

The reimposed lockdown measures in parts of the state mean people can only leave their homes for four essential purposes - groceries, daily exercise, to give or receive care and to go to school or work.

Mr Andrews implored people to follow those orders, telling the public on Sunday it was currently a 'very dangerous' situation.

'This is not an ordinary weekend. It is anything but that,' he said.

'We've seeing significant numbers out of the northern and western suburbs, but it's in other parts of Melbourne.

'I wouldn't want anyone in Melbourne to think this isn't relevant to you. It is relevant to your family, your street, your community and all of us. We've all got a part to play.'

'I want to thank every single Victoria who is doing the right thing for making sure that they are in their home except when they absolutely need to be out and only in accordance with those four (acceptable) reasons.'

Those reasons include essential shopping, work or study, giving or receiving medical care and daily exercise.

Community transmission is a major concern with outbreaks in public housing towers and a large school in Melbourne's west driving the second surge in infections.

Victorians have been urged to wear face masks in public to prevent any further spread.

Police officers walk residents' dogs who are not allowed to leave a public housing tower in North Melbourne on Saturday
July 16 of this year marks the 75th anniversary of the first nuclear bomb detonation. I dont foresee any dancing in the street to mark the occasion. In fact, I imagine your nightly newscast will ignore it entirely. Oh, well probably hear something about Hiroshima three weeks later. That first use of the weapon in malice has more historic significance. The two bombs dropped on Japan resulted in 214,000 deaths by the end of 1945.

Frankly, Im mystified that we hear so little about the threat of nuclear war today considering how consequential such an event would be. Its a danger far more clear and present than an errant asteroid, or an eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera. Currently, were all agog about the novel coronavirus. Weve lived with a nuclear Sword of Damocles hanging over our collective head for 75 years now, and we tend to think we experienced real danger of thermonuclear war for a period of only 13 days back in 1962. We survived that physically unscathed; thats probably it for one lifetime, right?


By Michael Shannon





You can add another item to the list of shortages in our current age of the China flu.



Political trust is harder to find than disinfectant wipes. With the suspicion level this high, one would think political leaders on both sides would be working hard to make sure the November election runs smoothly, and results up and down the tickets are reported quickly.



Unfortunately, this time suspense may be killing us before and after the polls close.



The Washington Post (better known here as the WoePost) once again has the bad news. In an analysis of the upcoming presidential election, the headline reads: "Barring a landslide, what's probably not coming on Nov. 3? A result in the race for the White House."



With the exception of the victory by Donald Trump in 2016, nothing could be better calculated to create suspicion among the losers of the presidential contest than delaying the final result for a week or more.



Voters want the results of elections to be clear, prompt and final. Waiting while ballots are counted in some backroom only creates suspicion that someone is monkeying with the count.



Our culprit here is mail balloting. Voting by mail doubles the cost of elections for candidates at a minimum and makes money  along with its handmaiden, wealthy candidates  all that much more important.



Before the advent of mail balloting and early voting, the greatest expenditures for candidates occurred in the final two weeks of the election, just prior to election day. That's when voters began to really focus on making their decisions.



Mail and early voting expands that highexpenditure window by at least two weeks and sometimes four. When the window for persuading voters doubles in length, so do the expenditures. I worked in the very first mailonly election in Colorado. Research showed in the past about 8 percent of the electorate voted.



The mail ballot upended that. Polling showed 17 percent were likely to cast a mail ballot and even worse, there was no way to predict which voters would be among the 17 percent.



Instead of concentrating communication efforts on frequent voters and new registrations, my client had to mail EVERY voter EVERY time we communicated. The cost to conduct the campaign exploded.



Mail balloting is also anonymous and atomized. Instead of meeting at the polling place on election day in a community effort to reaffirm our public commitment to democratic participation, voters are isolated, connected only by the glue on the back of a postage stamp.



Thanks to the Flu Manchu, this is shaping up to be an electionbymail and bureaucrats aren't prepared. "In Kentucky, nearly 1 million voters requested mail ballots, vastly more than the roughly 50,000 voters who usually vote absentee.



In New York, roughly 10 times the number of ballots mailed four years ago have been requested for Tuesday's primary," the Washington Post reported.



Beginning the mail count on election day is going to produce extraordinary delays in tabulating final results. As the WoePost says counting isn't easy, "for a process that includes opening envelopes, verifying voter identity and scanning ballots into machines."



The Democrat secretary of state in Pennsylvania identified the problem and convinced the legislature to allow her to begin counting mail ballots the morning of election day. It wasn't enough. It still took 10 days to complete the count.



In a primary election where the results are intramural this lengthy delay will cause grumbling, but not insurrection. In a general election, for all the marbles, this delay is courting disaster.



The real solution to the delay dilemma is to revert to inperson voting with limited absentee voting. The stopgap solution  which will require new law in state legislatures  is to make the final day for postmarking a mail ballot at least one week before election day.



Mail ballots should be counted on a daily basis as they arrive, thus avoiding a democracy cram session where all ballots are counted the night of the election.



The daily count must be absolutely secret  with felony penalties for leaking information  and the mail ballots retained in a secure location in the event of a recount.



That way on election night after in person ballots are counted, the mail totals are added and voters know the outcome that evening.



None of that will happen. Election bureaucrats are too hidebound and legislators aren't focused on the problem. Unless there is a landslide for either President Trump or Gropey Joe Biden, the nation will be hit with another divisive controversy that will further alienate an angry electorate.





Michael Shannon (mandate.mmpr@gmail.com) is a commentator and public relations consultant, and is the author of "A Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times." His article was distributed by Cagle Cartoons Inc.




smoking cigarette

Nopphon_1987/Shutterstock

Tobacco lobbyists are taking South Africa's government to court this week over a controversial ban on the sale of cigarettes implemented as part of its strategy for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

South Africa banned the sale of cigarettes in March as the coronavirus' spread intensified, in one of the most extreme public health measures introduced anywhere around the world in the pandemic.

A tobacco black market now thrives in South Africa as smokers find ways around the ban.

A lobby group called the Fair-trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) has already taken the government to court once to challenge the ban.

It lost that case, but will now bring an appeal to the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tobacco lobbyists are taking South Africa's government to court this week over a controversial ban on the sale of cigarettes implemented as part of its strategy for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

South Africa, Africa's second-largest economy, has effectively banned smoking by making the sale of tobacco illegal in one of the most drastic public health measures introduced anywhere around the world during the pandemic.

The unprecedented ban has been in place since March. It has already been subject to a legal challenge from the tobacco industry, with a lobby group called the Fair-trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) bringing proceedings against the South African government over the ban.

That challenge was rejected, but it will now be subject to an appeal from FITA on Wednesday July 15.

FITA, which has spearheaded anti-tobacco ban efforts in South Africa during the pandemic, is contending that cigarettes and other tobacco products are essential items, a point of view with which the South African government disagrees.

The lobbyists argue that their case against banning cigarette sales has been strengthened by plans to allow restaurants, casinos, and cinemas to reopen as South Africa gradually eases out of one of the strictest coronavirus lockdowns in the world.

Story continues

"It makes no sense," said Sinenhlanhla Mnguni, FITA's chairman, told the Associated Press (AP) earlier in July.

South Africa's government had also banned the sale of alcohol but has since eased that restriction, which according to an AP report, has led to an increase in "drunken brawls and traffic accidents, putting added strain on hospitals as they deal with the virus."

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Reuters

FITA is also arguing that by banning the legal sale of cigarettes, the South African government is encouraging a black market trade, and putting thousands of jobs at risk.

"The simple truth is that the current situation cannot be endured for much longer by the various role-players along the tobacco industry value chain without severe consequences for all," FITA said in a statement in April.

"Allowing the current situation to continue indefinitely will in all likelihood lead to job losses," it added.

According to numerous reports, the ban has led to a huge spike in the trade of illegal, often counterfeit tobacco products, as South Africa's 9 million smokers have been forced to innovate to get their nicotine fix.

AP also quoted analysts who said that cigarettes had become the most sought after illicit drug in South Africa, more profitable than cocaine and heroin.

In May, the BBC spoke to Michelle, who said she now buys cigarettes via an underground WhatsApp group.

"[The ban] allows all underground sellers and places that were already cheating on taxes to flourish," Hana Ross, an economist at the University of Cape Town, told the Financial Times earlier in July.

Nor is the ban encouraged smokers to quit. A survey of more than 12,000 smokers by the University of Cape Town found that 90% of them bought cigarettes illegally during lockdown, AP reported.

Alongside FITA's legal challenge, British American Tobacco  which owns brands including Dunhill, Lucky Strike, and Pall Mall  is also bringing court proceedings against the South African government. That case will not be heard until August.

Read the original article on Insider
A NEW tourism taskforce has been established to provide a co-ordinated response to the current challenges faced by the tourism industry as well as longer term planning for enhancing tourism development in Limerick.

In addition to Limerick City and County Council, the taskforce comprises of the tourism industry representative groups of Limerick city, Wild Atlantic Way Gateway Group, Ballyhoura Failte and West Limerick Tourism.

Failte Ireland and the local development companies Ballyhoura Development and West Limerick Resources are also represented.

The taskforce will act as a single unified voice for the tourism industry in Limerick, monitor, review and assist in the implementation of existing tourism strategies adopted by the taskforce members and develop and promote collaboration between local stakeholders across the tourism sector including the cross-selling of products.

The new taskforce will further develop and enhance collaboration with tourism stakeholders to promote Limerick as a destination to both domestic and international tourism ensuring that all the key agencies are represented and working together to positively promote Limerick as a destination and supporting the sector.

The Limerick Tourism Taskforce will be co-chaired by Denise Brazil from The Bedford Townhouse and Cafe on Bedford Row, Limerick and John Fitzgerald from The Kennedy Rooms in Bruff.

The Limerick Tourism Taskforce is a much needed representative body for Limerick Tourism across both city and county. In driving stronger communication and collaboration between the individual stakeholder tourism groups already in place, we can ensure that Limerick as a tourism destination is not only better connected and but has one voice, said Ms Brazil.

Gordon Daly, Director of Community Development with Limerick City and County Council added: Collaboration and partnership within the tourism industry and with key agencies such as Failte Ireland and the Council have never been more important. The establishment of the new Limerick Tourism Taskforce is a welcome development and will be strongly supported by Limerick City and County Council.

Miriam Kennedy from Failte Ireland has welcomed the establishment of the new taskforce:

Failte Ireland has been working closely with the tourism and hospitality industry to navigate the Covid-19 crisis and support businesses to re-open safely and effectively. As the National Tourism Development Authority, we support the new Limerick Tourism Taskforce which will ensure that we are all working as collaboratively as we can for the recovery of the tourism sector in Limerick, she said.
As part of measures to boost food safety and standards, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has introduced a new regime of licensing for food processors under the Cottage or Small Sized Food Processors (CSSFP).

According to the FDA, the Majority of these food processors are unable to meet the appropriate regulatory requirements and operate through unauthorized means.

It is for this reason that the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has launched the Progressive Licensing Scheme (PLS) for such food processors.

The Chairman of the FDAs Governing Board, Dr. Sammy Ohene, at the program launch, acknowledged that this program is being launched at a time when a number of cottages or small-scale businesses are being financially supported by the government. This strategy to improve the well-being of cottage or small-scale food processors without compromising food safety is a step in the right direction.

Dr Sammy Ohene

He asserted that hopefully, the launch of this licensing program will encourage every cottage or small scale food processor to comply with the rules and regulations of the FDA. The Scheme

The Progressive Licensing Scheme (PLS) is a risk-based approach scheme where three types of food manufacturing facility license certificates assuring the safe production of food will be given to qualifying applicants.

It is based on a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Standard where applicants get scored during an inspection and are awarded certificate ranges from pink (level 1) or yellow (level 2) or green (level 3) and hence the progressive nature.

The objective of this scheme is to help the local food industry grow to the extent that all grocery shops and supermarkets be stocked with at least 60% of made in Ghana food products.

Speaking at the launch of the scheme, the Chief Executive Officer of the FDA, Mimi Delese Darko, disclosed that about 50% of CSSFP were unsuccessful in the registration processes but had gone ahead to sell.

She said, 2019 statistics from FDA market surveillance showed that 661 locally manufactured products in the Greater Accra Region were not registered as per the Public Health Act 851 (2012) but were on the market.

Mimi Darko

She attributed some of the reasons for this poor practice to the cost of laboratory testing of products as part of registration requirements, the lack of adequate knowledge of required processes and documentation and the inability of many cottages or small scale to meet facility establishment requirements.

It is for these reasons that the FDA had to step in with the introduction of the PLS to support these small units, as they provide employment and generate income for their operators.

According to Mrs. Darko, the new licensing scheme which is based on high quality, transparent, and independent scientific advice following risk analysis, provides a high level of health protection for all. Furthermore, food products produced by cottage and small scale sized food processors can be traced and recalled when necessary.

On his part, the acting Head of the Food Division department, Roderick Daddey-Adjei outlined some of the benefits that come with the launch of the new licensing program.

He stated, The introduction of a Progressive Licensing Scheme (PLS) for Manufacturing facilities will help get more manufacturing about cottages or small status licensed facilities without compromising on the basic requirements of GMPs. As more cottage/small scale manufacturing facilities get registered the safety of food supplies in the formal and informal markets get assured.

He also noted that there will be a drastic reduction in the cost of laboratory analyses of food product testing with the launch of PLS.

---CitinewsRoom
As the fall semester draws nearer, Virginia Tech is sharing plans for its academic offerings, giving students a range of tools to track and customize their schedules, and supporting faculty in building the best academic experience possible in an extraordinarily uncertain environment.

I appreciate the diligence with which faculty have worked with department heads to design courses that optimize experiential learning through in-person and/or online modes of delivery while mitigating risks resulting from the pandemic, said Executive Vice President and Provost Cyril Clarke. Irrespective of how a course is delivered, Virginia Tech remains committed to academic rigor, active learning, and the safety and welfare of our university community.

We are looking forward to welcoming students back on campus, as we take very seriously our mission to prepare graduates for successful careers in service of their communities.

The Office of the University Registrar opened the Drop/Add site for students on July 13, weeks ahead of the usual open date in early August. Students will have an expanded window of time to adjust their classes, with the expanded site including new information about the modality of the classes  whether theyll be in-person, online, or a hybrid approach incorporating both.

The mode of delivery for each class  such as a course that was face-to-face and is now online  will be reflected on the site so that students can make their decisions, said Associate Vice Provost and University Registrar Rick Sparks.

A new feature in Hokie SPA also allows students to see a snapshot of their schedules, with information about each courses modality. Students will see one of four course modalities: online asynchronous (no set meeting days or times); online with synchronous meetings (meet at assigned days and times); hybrid (face-to-face and online); and face-to-face.

While modalities are listed on most courses, they will not show up on the majority of independent study, undergraduate research, research credits, and other administrative courses. More information on modalities can be found at the registrars site.

Students should be sure to view comments on each of their courses. This can be done by clicking on the CRN on the Hokie SPA schedule or through student registration. If the modality and comments are blank, please follow up with the department or faculty member to determine how the course will be delivered. Students should continue to monitor their schedules for the possibility of changes as faculty work to finalize plans and delivery modes for their fall courses.



The extent to which each students courses are online, in-person, or in a hybrid format will vary widely by individual, said Sparks. The number of students enrolled in a course, a students year (first-year to senior), and section availability could all impact individual scheduling processes. Students are encouraged to work with their advisors to discuss options that work best for them.

Every Hokie knows McBryde Hall 100 auditorium as a classroom, said Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs Rachel Holloway. In normal circumstances, McBryde 100 seats 560. Under our physical-distancing protocols and state requirements, and limiting the total number of people in a space at a time, the capacity of McBryde 100 will now be only 49.

The planning efforts for course listings in the fall semester has been driven by a desire to keep students on progress toward their academic goals.

These changes are about providing the best opportunity for students to maintain progress toward their degrees, Holloway said. Given that goal and the complexity of pandemic guidelines at the state and university level, we needed to take these steps to make sure everyone has the chance to attend the classes they need. Many of these larger classes have had to go online, simply because we dont have room capacity for those very large groups anymore.

Although the situation remains uncertain amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Virginia Tech is committed to providing the best possible experience for students while supporting faculty and staff. There will be challenges, but university officials will adapt while also accounting for special situations and circumstances.

Students want to know that were hearing that everything wasnt perfect in the spring  we know that, Holloway said. What were trying to do heading into the fall is to support faculty in building the best courses possible in whatever mode  face-to-face, online, or everything in between.

For more information about Virginia Techs plans for the fall 2020 semester, visit the universitys website.

Answers to more frequently asked questions follow.

When will students know how their fall courses will be delivered?

Course modalities are currently being adjusted and the vast majority of them should be completed by July 13. Students can view the modality of their courses in a number of ways, but the most complete will be a new schedule created in Hokie SPA.

How are decisions around classroom space being made?

Classroom guidelines can be found at this page on the registrars site.

How much in-person instruction can students expect?

This will differ from student to student, but a number of courses normally taught in the classroom have moved fully online at the undergraduate level.

Will add/withdraw deadlines be altered?

Yes, Virginia Techs Drop/Add site reopens on July 13.

What changes have been made to the fall academic calendar?

The starting date of Aug. 24 and ending date of Dec. 16 remain the same. However, on-campus instruction will end at Thanksgiving break, and the remainder of the semester, including final exams, will take place online.

Will I have to take classes in the evening or on weekends?

Students will have the opportunity to adjust their schedules beginning July 13. While many courses will be held during the daytime, some courses may require scheduling in the evenings.

Do freshmen have an option to defer enrollment until fall 2021?

A student offered admission may request a deferral of up to two years before entering Virginia Tech. The deadline for requesting a deferral is Aug. 14

Email appchange@vt.edu to make your request.

In order to be considered for a deferral, a student must first accept the offer of admission and pay the nonrefundable matriculation fee.

A deferred student may take college courses during the deferment period with the understanding that poor academic performance in those courses may negatively impact the offer of admission.

STUDENT STATUS: Completing 12 or more credit hours will change student status from "first year" to "transfer." The student does not need to take any action to complete this change, and it will not affect the offer of admission.

GUIDANCE: Please contact the Office of Undergraduate Admissions for guidance on recommended courses to fulfill major requirements.

Email: admissions@vt.edu. Phone: 540-231-6267

Deferred students will be given priority for housing and be given all opportunities that new students in that term are offered.

Transfer students are able to defer.

How will advising services be provided in the fall?

Advising services will primarily be offered online. However, details vary by academic department.

 Written by Mason Adams
Mr Anthony Kondobrey, the Hohoe Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said high School students turnout at the campuses registration centres showed their enthusiasm to reward government and the continuity of free Senior High School education policy.



He said the registration for the Voter card guaranteed their readiness to vote on December 7 general elections.



Mr Kondobrey in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after visiting some second-cycle institutions registration centres in the Hohoe Municipality commended the students, staff, Electoral Commission (EC) officials and party agents for a successful process.



He noted that policies of the Party in government, especially in areas of education and employment, were game-changers in the 2020 elections and optimistic students and graduates benefiting from these interventions would "say thank you," when the time comes.



The Chairman who described the registration exercise as peaceful said students would safeguard the free SHS policy for their siblings and posterity.



He said the policies had not only enrolled many students in the Municipality, region and nation as a unit but also reduced major financial burdens on parents.



Mr Kondobrey said the enthusiasm and patriotism of the students showed that they understood governance and felt its benefits, which showed the level at which they were enlightened.



At the Hohoe Evangelical Presbyterian Senior High School (HEPSS), a total of 128 students successfully registered at the three centres in the School, 39 at the St. Agatha SHS and 154 at two centres at the Afadjato Senior High Technical School as at the time the GNA visited the schools.



Mr Joseph Gottah, a Registration Officer at one of the three centres said the process had been smooth without hitches.



Master Christian Fiave, a student who had registered said he would serve as a guarantor for six of his colleagues who were yet to register adding that aside delay in the start of the process, he was happy to have a voter identity card.



Miss Ivy Ablorni, a student who was yet to register said she was using an ECOWAS identity card (Ghana Card) as a proof adding that the voter identity would enable her to vote as well as carry out banking services and acquire a passport.



Master Richmond Asare, a student commended the EC officials of ensuring that they observed the safety protocols to keep them safe after registration adding that there was no delay in the process.



Mr Nana Yaw Tetteh, a Registration Officer at the Afadjato Senior High Technical School told the GNA that the centres had not recorded any issues of temperature rise of students nor EC officials while students were made to adhere to precautionary measures.



He described the process as fruitful and noted that about 90 per cent of students had their Ghana cards and the remaining who had either left theirs at home had their colleagues serving as guarantors.



Mr Enoch Danso Agyekum, the Hohoe Municipal Electoral Commission Officer said all students were expected to be registered at the end of the exercise.



He said provision would be made for students who could not register to do so at a designated time while making sure they do not mingle with other registrants outside the school.

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.

Featured Video
Michigan coronavirus cases exceed 600 for third time in a week

Michigan reported 653 more confirmed cases of coronavirus Saturday, making it the third day this week the state has had more than 600 new cases.

The state reported 28 new COVID-19-related deaths  22 of which were identified during a vital records review  bringing the death toll to 6,067. In all, there are 68,948 confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the last four months.

Health officials recommend looking at seven-day moving averages to evaluate data trends during the pandemic. The state is now averaging 488 new cases and 14 new deaths per day.

As of July 10, hospitals in Michigan were treating 366 coronavirus patients, including 99 on ventilators. About 74% of in-patient hospital beds were reported occupied in total.

While deaths and hospitalization trends continue to decline, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the states chief medical executive, noted that those indicators are often lagging several weeks behind trends in case numbers.

Whats behind Kent Countys coronavirus death rate, one of states lowest?

Among counties, Kent County has the fourth most COVID-19 cases with nearly 5,800, trailing only Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties for case totals.

But hidden in the figures is what some consider a success story.

Surprisingly, the countys death rate is at 2.6 percent compared to the statewide rate of 8.8 percent since the pandemic began in March.

Local health leaders say its difficult to point to one factor, but they think a myriad of health-related practices have played a role.

Whitmer orders mask use in Michigan, violators could be fined up to $500

All Michiganders will be required to wear masks in public indoor and crowded outdoor spaces or could face a misdemeanor charge that comes with up to a $500 fine under an executive order issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday.

The heroes on the front lines of this crisis have gone hours without taking their masks off every day  doctors, nurses, child care workers, grocery store workers. We owe it to them to wear our masks when were on a trip to the grocery store or pharmacy, Whitmer said in a press release announcing the change.

West Michigan sheriff says he wont investigate violations of Gov. Whitmers mask order

Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott knew he would be causing a bit of controversy with his decision not to investigate violations of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers latest mask order.

It didnt take long to surface when Abbott, the top cop in the county sandwiched between Kalamazoo and Lake Michigan, came out with a public statement Saturday, July 11 about Whitmers order.

I knew there was going to be backlash, Abbott said.

Still, Abbott said its simply not practical for police to enforce the order, which requires masks in public indoor and crowded outdoor spaces.

Michiganders mostly have to mask up, but here are 9 exceptions

Per the governors order, though, there are still some situations where people dont have to wear masks.

Michigan attorney general warns of fake mask-exemption cards

Authorities are warning Michigan residents about fraudulent cards claiming to exempt the holder from wearing face coverings in businesses and other areas where masks are required.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Michigan & the Upper Peninsula jointly issued the warning on Friday, July 10.

They said groups such as the Freedom to Breathe Agency have made available Face Mask Exempt Cards to residents as an attempt to bypass health and safety measures at retailers and other establishments.

While the groups Facebook page and website are no longer active, Freedom to Breathe Agency was offering a downloadable PDF of the exemption cards. Some of these cards may have a logo for the Freedom to Breathe Agency, and even the U.S. Department of Justice.

The cards also contain an implied threat that any business that denies access for failure to wear a mask will be reported as having violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, Nessel reports.

The cards are not legitimate and related face mask-exemption flyers and similar information being circulated by such groups are not endorsed by the Department of Justice or other government agencies, Nessel said.

Michigan to require all medical professionals to undergo implicit bias training

Michigan medical professionals will need to undergo implicit bias training in order to be licensed by the state, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state leaders announced Thursday.

The state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs is in charge of licensing medical professionals. Under a new executive directive from Whitmer department will create new rules that make implicit bias training mandatory for people to qualify for licensure, renewal or registration. The new requirement is based on a recommendation from the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, led by Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II.

The coronavirus pandemic has shown that this inequity is particularly and dangerously true, said Gilchrist, who has lost 23 people in his life due to the virus.

Michigan Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun said 40% of the coronavirus deaths in Michigan have been Black people, which comprise 14% of the population.

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The training against implicit bias is a simple, but impactful way Michigan leaders can ensure clinicians are away of the biases they may have and have the tools to address them, Khaldun said.

Several people at massive Torch Lake July 4 party have tested positive for coronavirus

A Northern Michigan health department has said it was notified that several people who attended last weekends huge Fourth of July weekend party on Torch Lake have tested positive this week for COVID-19, leading health officials to label this years annual Torch Fest as a potential exposure site.

The Health Department of Northwest Michigan is urging anyone who attended the multi-day boat and sandbar party to monitor themselves for symptoms of coronavirus. If people develop signs of the virus - mild to severe respiratory illness with fever, cough or shortness of breath - they are urged to seek testing. People also should be tested if they put themselves at high risk of exposure there by being in close proximity to others, or not wearing a face mask, the health department said.

Thousands of people are estimated to have attended the Torch Lake festivities. Drone photos taken by the Michigan State Police show boats clustered around the long lakes famed sandbar area with hordes of people standing hip-to-hip in the water.

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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 MLive coronavirus coverage here.
All these improvements have helped us immensely during this outbreak, he said. Although put in place almost 20 years ago, each of these is used every day.

EVERYONE HAS A ROLE

Sharing information has been vital among members of the Rappahannock Emergency Medical Services Council because there are so many unknowns in the pandemic, said President Kevin Dillard.

The biggest is detecting the disease, because so many people either have mild symptoms or none at all. As a result, emergency workers have to treat each patient as a positive caseand wear the appropriate gear.

We certainly never imagined running critically low or even out of supplies and not having the ability to get these items to ensure the safety of all those responding, Dillard said.

Council members have trained together for years, and those with larger stockpiles of equipment shared with others who needed it. During virtual meetings, members discussed the best way to handle shift changes to avoid minimal exposure; how to communicate when people were quarantined; the best way to handle patients from long-term care facilities; and procedures when decontaminating ambulances.
A PILGRIMAGE TO ETERNITY: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith. By Timothy Egan. Viking. 384 pages. $28.

Today, America is having a serious crisis searching for itself and trying to better understand its complicated upbringing. Inward reflection is certainly a good thing now and then to better understand ourselves and our own past, as Timothy Egan reveals in his new book "A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith."

Egan, a Pulitzer-prize winner for his writing on race in America, says upfront that even though he was raised a Roman Catholic, he never had a prayer answered. Religion was an important part of his early life, but he had no real relationship with God. Even so, the ascension of Pope Francis, "the everyday mans pope," was an opening for this spiritual straggler to circle back to God.

Egan needed to exorcise the demons that were troubling him in his midlife. He struggled to understand why God allowed a trusted priest to abuse his brother many years ago, and why wonderfully good people like his mother had to experience painful suffering in their last days on Earth. So a self-described lapsed but learning Christian became inspired by the pope and his messages, such as Dont see life from afar.

Egan decided to try to find himself and his faith on the 1,000-mile Via Francigena, from Canterbury, England, to Rome. One of many routes of Christian pilgrimage, the Via Francigena has been walked by the faithful since medieval times. It took Egan to small towns and villages throughout France, Switzerland and Italy, and along the way he met fascinating people and places of the past and the present.

Egan learned about historical figures like Joan of Arc, Martin Luther, Napoleon Bonaparte and Benito Mussolini. He also discovered lesser known saints like Beniot Labre, the Vagabond of God, who spent his adult life on the streets healing the sick, and Aloysius Gonzaga, the patron saint of students and plague victims because he died at the young age of 20 while caring for the sick. Gonzaga (the original Zag of the famous northwestern university) is now the patron saint of AIDS patients and their caregivers. Perhaps today we can hope St. Zag is blessing COVID-19 patients, caregivers and first responders.

"A Pilgrimage to Eternity" is the chronicle of a journey, but Egan is no journeyman writer; he's a veteran whose observation and wordsmithing skills have been well-honed with decades of practice. Add in his natural wit, and the result is a book that is a pleasure to read.

But be warned: Sometimes Egan goes out of his way to accentuate negatives in the Christian past. Some readers may find it clever, and others may find it annoying. For instance, entering St. Peters Basilica in Rome, he paused to note that the great church was named for a man who denied Christ three times on the night before the crucifixion. Yes, Peter briefly stumbled in his faith, but we all fall short of Gods grace. Egan also dwells deeply, and sometimes cynically, on human tragedies, from the Spanish Inquisition to the Crusades. It is no secret that Christians have engaged in wars of conquest and performed inhumane acts of cruelty, despite the teachings of Christ.

Cynicism aside, Egans journey is fascinating and well worth taking, from the Russian physicist he encounters walking the route to atone for his role at Chernobyl, to the Swiss village that still has a promissory note from Napoleon for pillaged wine and cheese. We could all use a digital cleanse to get away from the screens of useless information we all consume.

A literary pilgrimage is not just a safe substitute for international travel during the pandemic, its a meaningful way to spend companionless days.
A young cruise ship cabaret dancer who is stuck in her fourth quarantine isolation after a nightmare journey home has lifted the lid on the conditions in her New Zealand hotel.

Lauren Marshall is halfway through her final isolation stint at the Crowne Hotel in her home town of Auckland after what should have been a 12-hour trip turned into a 12-week ordeal.

The 28-year-old, who has been trapped in tiny cabins on different ships as her employer tried to get her home while international travel came to a grinding halt, said the conditions in New Zealand are like being on holiday.

'Quarantine here in Auckland has been so comfortable and easy in comparison,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Lauren Marshall (pictured on a cruise ship) had already spent eight months on a boat when someone tested positive to COVID-19

She was forced to isolate on different boats across a 12-week period as she tried to get home to Auckland

'Two weeks of being looked after with free food, free Wi-Fi, a fantastic room and amenities and services. It feels like a nice little holiday,' she said.

The 400-strong group at the hotel have their temperatures checked every few days and are kept informed about the world outside with regular phone calls.

Her only complaint - that the slots for a 45-minute walk outside fill up too quickly - pails when compared with her conditions in isolation across three different ships.

Ms Marshall started working on the Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship as a musical theatre entertainer last July and was due to go home to Auckland.

But when it was announced there was an active coronavirus case on board in April, the crew were immediately confined to their cabins.

'We were given no further information as to how long it would be for,' she said.

Ms Marshall said she is happy to be back in Auckland and says her experience in quarantine in New Zealand has been the most positive so far

'We began getting meals delivered to our cabins, however this was a bit of a shambles as the ship figured out a consistent system,' she said.

'Sometimes meals wouldn't arrive and I would have to make some calls to sort it out, which was stressful.'

She was eventually moved to a room with a balcony so she had access to fresh air, but grew upset when her friends and colleagues were sent home within a few weeks - while Ms Marshall was left on the boat for a month.

As the virus spread across the globe, the situation changed 'hourly'.

Flights organised by her employer in an attempt to repatriate remaining staff were often cancelled as airlines grounded their planes and countries closed their borders.

She was moved from California to another ship in Barbados in the hopes it would be easier to fly home from outside the US - where the virus was gaining momentum.

The 28-year-old ended up booking her own flight home after she was told she wouldn't be home until August

Ms Marshall was told she would have to quarantine for three days on the new ship before catching a flight home, but it turned into another two weeks of isolation and no flight.

She then moved to a boat in Southampton, in England, after being told she had a flight from London on June 30.

'I spent three days in isolation there, to complete my third round, but the catch is the flights for June 30 that I had been told about never existed.'

'Until I found and booked my own to go home on June 29th, I was told I wouldn't be able to fly home until at least August.'

Despite her nightmare experience, Ms Marshall said she would love to continue performing on cruises.

'I think the way ships operate from now on will be a bit different. We know how to deal with this situation moving forward, but it was a shock for the industry at the beginning.'

For now, she is looking forward to a much-needed break and has been enjoying relaxing in her hotel room.

'There has been no panic or changes to plans, and time has flown. I feel really looked after here at my hotel. The food has been great, and lots of support from the staff and healthcare workers.'
It's hard to get a feel for a game in a couple of hours. It's even harder when your screen is filled with streaming artifacts, but such is life in 2020. Ahead of Ubisoft's Forward gaming event, the company offered us some remote demos of two of its AAA releases this year. While my colleague had no issues playing Watch Dogs Legion, my substandard internet connection meant my session with Assassins Creed Valhalla was taxing. But I like what I think I saw.

After losing its way with back-to-back-to-back releases in the early-to-mid 10s, 2017s Egypt-based Origins was a return to form for the Assassins Creed series, followed a year later by the similarly good Odyssey, which mapped mainland Greece and its many Aegean islands. For Valhalla, Ubisoft is jumping a millennium forward in time, and focusing on the Viking invasion of England.

As the leaks over the past week have suggested, the demo Ubisoft has been showing journalists, YouTubers and streamers is set entirely in East Anglia, a still-fairly-rural part of the UK, situated to the Northeast of London. Were in the late 9th century, when the Anglo-Saxons had already lost parts of the country to Viking colonists.

ACV

Much of the appeal of the past two Assassins Creed games, for me at least, has been in sightseeing; Ubisoft builds beautiful, if somewhat empty, sandboxes that I get lost in, exploring for hours. What little Ive seen of Valhalla appears to be much the same. I traveled across picturesque landscapes to historical renditions of Norwich, Thetford and Bury St Edmunds, with little to do between settlements but admire the scenery and gather some resources. Sightseeing was tough, given the aforementioned streaming issues, but viewing the local capture afterwards showed a truly stunning world.

Like Odyssey, you can choose between a male or female protagonist, in this case both named Eivor. The demo allowed for switching between protagonists on the fly, and your gender, at least from what I experienced, has no bearing on how characters interact with you, or your ability to romance them. While this, and the many gay encounters I had in ancient Greece, felt natural in the last game, it makes less sense in this time period. Itll be interesting to see how staunchly Christian Anglo-Saxons, who viewed any casual sex as sinful, deal with my advances. With that said, the intensely awkward silence after an otherwise-chatty Ubisoft rep watched me instigate some gay Viking sex was perhaps the most memorable part of my demo, and as the series has skewed more towards RPG, I appreciate being able to roleplay as I see fit.

Story continues

ACV

Enough about whats the same -- whats new in Valhalla? The big-ticket items are assaults and raids. Assaults are roughly analogous to Conquest Battles in Odyssey. I led a small army to attack a fort or castle, which, in the demo, this felt remarkably similar to a round of For Honor: managing crowds, supporting troops and taking down more powerful enemies as I battered my way to climactic one-on-one fight. Raids are a more freeform exercise. You can approach these stealthily, or just rush in with your army from the offset. I took out six or so guards without being detected, and then reached a door that required a second pair of hands to open. I then blew on a horn to summon the raiding party, forced my way in and killed the remaining enemies inside.

Being a Viking, your character is better-suited to all-out combat than past assassins. You have two weapon slots, which can be populated with a combination of items; you could dual-weild small axes, carry a weapon and a shield, or a larger two-handed weapon. There are also three distinct types of bows, all of which handle differently. This leads to a greater variety of options when approaching combat encounters, especially in the context of the assault battles.

ACV

Despite the raids and all-out combat elements, theres more of a focus on stealth than the past two games, which reduced the series signature mechanic to hiding in long grass and bushes. You can now put on a cloak, lower your hood and engage in some old-fashioned social stealth to blend into crowds and evade detection. Your feathered companion (a raven in Valhalla) is less powerful than in Odyssey, where you could effectively mark every enemy in an encampment in one pass. Youll still use your bird to get the lay of the land, and mark up to three targets  another thing nearly impossible in my demo thanks to streaming turning that land into a smudge  but youll typically be using your Odins Sight (the games name for eagle vision/animus pulse) to identify enemies to take down individually.

While not shown off in my preview, Settlements, as seen in Black Flag, are back, with a focus on constructing buildings and a community. Another returning feature is the hidden blade for assassinations  in time youll apparently be able to kill virtually any target with one stealthy hit. More recent features, like recruiting NPCs, are present. I recruited a cat during my demo, but presumably humans are similarly welcome to join your raiding party. There are also mythic creatures and enemies to fight, in keeping with the shift towards supernatural myth of the past entries. I came up against Black Shuck, a ghostly dog of East Anglian legend, roaming around a ruin in Suffolk.

ACV

Valhalla, on first impression, is less about new than it is about giving old concepts a Medieval lick of paint. For example, the game purportedly puts less of an emphasis on leveling up, but it seems more of a palette swap than a wholesale change. You unlock skill points, and put them in one of three categories, Wolf, Bear or Eagle, which align with the hunter, warrior and assassin categories in Odyssey. The points youve put in each category are then combined to form your overall power rating, and the map in my demo had a suggested power figure overlaid where recommended level used to be. So, swapping level gating for power gating.

Some features are more new than others, although you can still trace their lineage. In Odyssey, you could overthrow rulers to shift the balance of the war; in Valhalla, you can forge diplomatic partnerships by facilitating marriages between clans. The demo involved one such marriage, and the reception played host to a number of minigames, including drinking and archery contests. There seem to be plenty of minigames and activities to fill your time with in East Anglia; its already been confirmed that you can fish, and in Norwich (or Northwic, as the game calls it) I engaged in flyting, a poetic competition that sits somewhere between a rap battle and Monkey Islands insult fights.

ACV

Im looking forward to Valhalla, a lot. After the novelty of hearing lots of family members names in Odyssey (I am half Greek Cypriot), the choice in location this time around feels like the Assassins Creed team is directly targeting its games at me. Having lived in the UK all my life, I cant wait to explore some of its history, and am already planning a visit to some of East Anglias historical sites that featured in my demo. But while I know Im going to enjoy Valhalla, I still have concerns.

Odyssey was a huge game that demanded 65 hours of my time, when half of that would have sufficed. Ive heard plenty of arguments that the map was too big -- Valhallas is seemingly of a similar size, encompassing England and parts of modern-day Norway -- but I dont think thats it. The map can be as large as Ubisoft likes, so long as theres variety in what youre doing.

In my playthrough of Odyssey, the hundreds of sidequests, while well written, mostly involved the exact same gameplay, over and over again. And I spent hours fighting through extremely similar encounters to raise my character to a level where I could progress the story. Im all for borrowing elements of RPGs to expand a game, but grinding is not a feature that anyone is asking for. For me, the extra activities and fresh twists on old concepts could go a way to making the beautiful world that Ubisoft is crafting feel less shallow, but I hope theyre combined with compelling storytelling, gameplay variety and a runtime that doesnt outstay its welcome.

Assassins Creed Valhalla will be released on November 17th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Google Stadia. Its also coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but whether thatll be on November 17th isnt really up to Ubisoft.
For over a month now, the well at Assam's Baghjan oilfield that had caught fire on June 9, continues to spit fire. Operations to cap the Oil India Limited (OIL)-operated well have been hampered due to incessant rains and flooding in the region, the company has said.

A team of professionals consisting of members of OIL and Singapore-based Alert Disaster Control that had been roped in to assist in capping operations, have yet been unable to douse the fire.

In its latest update, Oil India said, "Baghjan area is severely hit by flood due to rising water in Brahmaputra river and reverse flow to Maguri Beel, apart from continuous rain."

The oil well had been leaking natural gas uncontrollably ever since the blowout which took place on May 27. Several mitigation efforts were undertaken following the incident to prevent the well from catching fire due to ignition from any source. A constant spray of water was being used as a coolant to this effect.

However, about a fortnight later, an explosion occurred at the site and a massive fire engulfed the Baghjan oil well. The fire had initially spread to quite a distance, forcing people in the region to move out. The state government and OIL also evacuated people who were at risk in the area.

The Baghjan oilfield in Assam's Tinsukia district is located in an ecologically precarious area, a region that is rich in biodiversity. It has on either side the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and the Maguri Beel wetlands, both of which are home to some of the rarest species of flora and fauna. Environmentalists fear that the explosion and the gas spewed by the well could have long-lasting, irreversible effects on the ecology as well as pose health hazards to residents of the area.

As per reports by local media, residents have also expressed concern over the increasing number of tremors being felt in the area.
Iran's National Oil Company Inks Deal With Outfit Controlled By Khamenei

Radio Farda July 11, 2020

An agreement between the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and an organization controlled by Iran's Supreme Leader was signed today to develop and expand an exisiting oil field.

Shana news agency connected with NIOC reported the deal, without mentioning that the contractor, Persia Oil and Gas Industry Development Company, belongs to Imam's Executive Headquarters, an organization operating under the control of the Supreme Leader.

Organizations and companies operating under the aegis of the Supreme Leader, the Revolutionary Guard and other regime-connected centers in Iran are not accountable to the parliament or any other institution.

The more than $500 million contract aims at the further development and expansion the North Yaran oil field to increase production by around 39.5 million barrels in ten years. The area is 130 kilometers southwest of Ahvaz, the capital of the oil-rich Khuzestan Province where most of Iran's oil fields are located.

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Iran's relations with Western countries have been tense and it has lagged behind in modernizing its oil production industry. Moreover, its inward-looking economic system is also not hospitable to foreign investors. U.S. and international sanctions have also prevented much needed technology infusion.

In recent years, military and state-controlled front companies have aspired to play a role in the oil industry, but Iran needs tens of billions of dollars in investments and an efficient economic system to be able to modernize the industry.

The contract is not a new deal, but today's signing ceremony signified the re-formulation of the agreement to correspond with new NIOC contracting format.

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-s- national-oil-company-inks-deal-with-outfit- controlled-by-khamenei/30721113.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 Real IRA bomber is a leading figure in a campaign to prevent a republican found responsible by a court for the Omagh bomb from standing trial on arms charges in Lithuania.

John Connolly (44) has spent the past week plastering parts of Fermanagh and Cavan with posters in support of Liam Campbell, who faces being extradited to the eastern European nation.

Connolly - who is now a member of Republican Sinn Fein and is believed to lead the Continuity IRA in the border area - was caged for 14 years in 2000 after being caught with a 220lb Real IRA mortar.

His friend Campbell was one of four men found liable by a civil court of causing the 1998 Real IRA Omagh bomb that killed 29 civilians and two unborn twins.



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Connolly, who is from Newtownbutler, has organised several recent roadside pickets in support of the leading dissident republican.

He was also in communication with independent Fermanagh and Omagh councillor Bernice Swift minutes after she succeeded in having a motion opposing Campbell's extradition passed by a council committee last Wednesday night.

In a social media message to Connolly, she wrote: "Hello John, delighted to report my proposal to stop the extradition of Liam Campbell succeeded tonight."

Real IRA bomber Campbell replied: "Great news breaking in Fermanagh tonight. The motion put forward by independent councillor Bernice Swift regarding the extradition of Liam Campbell to Lithuania was passed tonight at the council meeting."

Cllr Swift said yesterday her opposition to Campbell's extradition was on human rights grounds and that she unequivocally condemned the Omagh bomb.

"My proposal was strictly on humanitarian grounds and focused about human rights all of which was clearly explained several times at the start of the meeting and it was on that basis alone I was seeking the support of all councillor colleagues on the same," she said.

"For all those attempting to link this proposal in any way to the Omagh bomb tragedy is disgustingly shameful."

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She added: "I was contacted by several people throughout Ireland, England and the USA via social media asking how the meeting went and I responded with the same message to everyone that John Connolly received, I stand over that message. The contents as they are are a true reflection of what happened at the meeting."

She said the extradition of Liam Campbell takes no regard of the grave dangers that he will be exposed to once he is handed over to the Lithuanian authorities.

"In 2013 the Belfast Recorder's Court refused to order Liam Campbell's extradition to Lithuania on the basis that he was likely to be held in conditions which would be inhuman and degrading. Furthermore, a 2019 UN Committee Against Torture report on Lithuanian prisons expressed serious concerns about the conditions in which prisoners were held across the entire Lithuanian prison system."

The decision by Fermanagh and Omagh District council's policy committee to oppose his extradition will not be ratified by the full council after SDLP councillors who backed the original motion withdrew their support.

Donna Marie McGillon, who was among the dozens injured in the Omagh bomb, said she was "flabbergasted" that the motion could initially succeed.



Expand Close Liam Campbell posters in Fermanagh he and supporters erected / Facebook

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Whatsapp Liam Campbell posters in Fermanagh he and supporters erected

She added: "That our councillors should think more about the human rights of that man (Liam Campbell) than the human rights of the people who died in Omagh, or of the human rights of people like me who have been left to live with the daily pain and suffering, leaves me dumbfounded."

Arguments over Campbell's extradition came to the fore again last month after the High Court in Dublin ruled he should be extradited to Lithuania.

The 58-year-old is facing charges of attempting to smuggle weapons from there into Ireland on behalf of the Real IRA.

Campbell has been fighting extradition attempts since his arrest in the south more than three years ago.

However, all now appears lost with a judge set to formally make the order tomorrow.

The veteran republican's supporters argue he should not be transferred on human rights grounds as Lithuanian jails have been condemned internationally for the treatment of inmates.

They also point to how his younger brother Michael Campbell had his conviction for attempting to buy arms in the country overturned in 2013. The 48-year-old spent two years in prison in Lithuania before its courts quashed the guilty verdict.

During proceedings it emerged Michael Campbell had been snared in an MI5 sting, with a judge ruling there was insufficient evidence to deny his actions had been provoked by undercover agents.
The vice chairpersons of the legislature will alternately run the agenda of the meeting, according to a release by the NA Office.

Regarding law building, NASC members are scheduled to consider and comment on a number of issues on which different ideas still remain in the draft revised law on Vietnamese guest workers with contracts; the explanation, acquisition and revision of the draft Law on International Treaties; the implementation of new amended regulations in the Law on NA Organisation; the promulgation of a Decree on micro-insurance for socio-political organisations; and the promulgation of a Decree on art performances.

The committee will also consider and approve a draft Resolution of the NASC on environmental protection tax on jet fuel.

Other issues to be considered and addressed during the meeting are the adjustment of the 2020 state budget expenditure estimate of the Vietnam-Korea Friendship IT College, which is being passed from the Ministry of Information and Communications to the Ministry of Education and Training; the addition of administrative and non-business expenditure estimates in 2020 (from foreign sources) for the State Audit; personnel work; and the review of the NAs ninth session with initial comments on preparations for the 10th session.

Also, NASC members will consider and decide on the supplementation of textbook prices to the list of goods and services priced by the State in the form of a maximum price.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday reiterated his charge that the BJP has been trying to destablise his government by luring several Congress MLAs. In another major development, the state police's special operations group (SOG) has issued notices to Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot to record their statement in connection with the alleged attempts to topple their government.

The SOG on Friday had registered an FIR against two people, who have been detained for their alleged involvement in horse trading of Congress MLAs for toppling the Ashok Gehlot government. On the basis of the information that came up during the call interceptions, the SOG on Friday registered FIR under IPC sections 124-A (sedition) and 120-B (conspiracy).

The FIR mentions that two persons were allegedly talking about the rift between chief minister and deputy chief minister and toppling the Congress government by poaching MLAs. They also talked about the chances of earning Rs 1,000-2,000 crore by toppling the government, it stated.

On Saturday, while addressing a press conference, he alleged that amid the coronavirus pandemic, BJP leaders have "gone beyond humanity" and are engaged in toppling his government, but exuded confidence that the Congress dispensation will complete its five-year term.

"The government in Rajasthan is stable, will remain stable and will last five years," Gehlot said, and alleged that Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore and BJP state president Satish Poonia were executing the agenda of their party's central leadership.

Government deputy chief whip Mahendra Chaudhary added there is no infighting in the Congress. It is to be noted that reports of infighting have come at regular intervals since 2018 Assembly election, when both Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot were in the race for the chief minister's post.

Amid this political drama, movement of Congress MLAs have started at the chief minister's residence. The legislators and party leaders would meet Gehlot on Saturday.

On Friday night, over 20 Congress MLAs issued a joint statement alleging that BJP was trying to topple the Congress government in the state by "luring" legislators.

They also alleged that the top leadership of the saffron party was involved in the "conspiracy", while insisting that no temptation can shake their integrity.

The BJP, however, has rejected the allegations saying whatever is going on with Congress is the result of infighting between the chief minister and his deputy.

The party's state president Satish Poonia said, "The BJP has nothing to do with all these allegations. During the Rajya Sabha elections also, they had levelled such allegations which are baseless."

"The Congress government has failed to deliver and could not manage the COVID-19 crisis properly. Which is why the state government is just trying to divert public attention."
MBABANE  Parliamentarians are not happy, and have vowed to vigorously challenge the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA).

They believe the Act needed to be seriously scrutinised following that, as it is, it might cause unnecessary panic. Ten MPs who spoke to the Times SUNDAY believe the Act is unfair, unconstitutional, against human rights and malicious to humanity. The MPs, for now, do not want their names published until the matter has been deliberated on in Parliament on Wednesday. They believe addressing the matter in Parliament would be safe as they will speak on point of privilege. Giving an example, the discontented MPs have pointed out that currently there are no POCA regulations or guidelines yet people are punished using the Act. Referring to the SODV Act, the legislators have argued that this is the second time government uses an Act, without regulations. They indicated that even though people are charged using the SODV Act, there are no regulations.

Ranking individuals

The lawmakers have also pointed out that without the regulations, no person should be taken to court using POCA. They have argued that as it stands, POCA is used to target certain individuals. The parliamentarians suggested that the Act must be first tested on high ranking individuals, especially those who have confessed to be millionaires yet their source of income was wanting. We can give government a list of high ranking people whose income needed to be investigated and referred to POCA. Some of these influential people have promised to assist government build structures including roads from personal funds, one of the MPs argued.

Another MP told the Times that the Criminal Assets Recovery Committee (CARC) needed to be investigated first, before it could be allowed to make decisions regarding asset forfeiture.

CARC consist of Minister of Justice, Pholile Shakantu, Minister responsible for the Police, which is the Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg, Attorney General Sifiso Mashampu Khumalo, the DPP Phila Dlamini, SRA Commissioner General Dumisani Masilela, ACC Commissioner Dan Dlamini, Police Commissioner William Tsintsibala Dlamini and Director of Intelligence Unit Fitz Graham. Section 71 of the Act states all the functions and powers of the above committee. The section reads; (1) the committee may make recommendations to Cabinet concerning the  (a) policy to be adopted concerning the confiscation, forfeiture and realisation of property and the transfer of that property to the Fund in terms of this Act or any other Act; (b) allocation of property and moneys from the Fund to specific law enforcement agencies; (c) allocation of property and moneys from the Fund to any institution, organisation or fund contemplated in Section 70 (c) and (d) allocation of moneys for the administration of the Fund.

However, the MPs have argued that for fairness purposes, the above committee needed to have their assets checked, investigated and cleared.




Kazakhstan dismissed as incorrect a warning by Chinas embassy of a local pneumonia outbreak it claimed was more lethal than the coronavirus

Geneva: Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organizations emergencies programme, said on Friday that an outbreak of pneumonia in Kazakhstan, reported to be highly lethal, was certainly on our radar.

But he also said it was possible it might be COVID-19. The upward trajectory of COVID-19 in the country would suggest that many of these cases are in fact undiagnosed cases of COVID-19, he told an online briefing from Geneva.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan dismissed as incorrect on Friday a warning by Chinas embassy for its citizens to guard against an outbreak of pneumonia in the central Asian nation that it described as being more lethal than the coronavirus.

In a statement late on Thursday on its official WeChat account, the Chinese embassy flagged a significant increase in cases in the Kazakh cities of Atyrau, Aktobe and Shymkent since mid-June.

On Friday, however, Kazakhstans healthcare ministry branded Chinese media reports based on the embassy statement as fake news.

The ministry said its tallies of bacterial, fungal and viral pneumonia infections, which also included cases of unclear causes, were in line with World Health Organisation guidelines. The information published by some Chinese media regarding a new kind of pneumonia in Kazakhstan is incorrect, the ministry said.

Kazakhstan, which imposed a second lockdown this week to rein in the pandemic, has a tally of almost 55,000 COVID-19 infections, including 264 deaths. The number of new cases rose on Thursday to a daily record of 1,962.

On Tuesday, state news agency Kazinform said the number of pneumonia cases increased 2.2 times in June as compared to the same period of 2019.

In its statement, the Chinese embassy had said pneumonia in Kazakhstan killed 1,772 people in the years first half, with 628 deaths in June, including Chinese citizens. The mortality rate of the disease is much higher than that of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, it said.

It is unclear whether the penumonia it referred to was caused by a virus related to coronavirus or a different strain.

Kazakhstans health ministry and other health institutions were carrying out a comparative study, but no conclusions had yet been made, the embassy added.

The Global Times tabloid run by Chinas Peoples Daily has said Kazakhstans foreign ministry did not respond to questions about the Chinese embassys warning.
Sushant Singh Rajputs suicide case has become a mystery. While the Police confirmed that the cause of death as 'asphyxia due to hanging', several politicians have requested for a CBI inquiry into the matter calling it a murder.

In a rather bold and outrageous claim, Ex-RAW officer NK Sood has contended that Sushant Singh Rajput was "murdered" by Dawood Ibrahim's gang.

Twitter

In a video, Sood, without any evidence, has claimed Dawood Ibrahims gang threatened Sushant Singh Rajput over phone. He alleged this to be the reason for his mental illness. Furthermore, he states that Sushant's close associates were involved the planned "murder."

Twitter

According to him, the CCTV cameras going off a day before his death points towards a "pre-planned murder". He also claimed that Sushant changed his phone number 50 times to avoid threats from Dawood. He also alleged that he would sleep in his car.



Meanwhile, the Police has confirmed that the reason for death was 'asphyxia due to hanging'. They are also requesting the public to trust in them in finding the truth.

"The Police have been looking at every possible angle for reasons of Sushant Singh's suicide. If anything is discovered in the investigation, the Police will surely let you know. I want to appeal to everyone through this medium that a lot of speculations have been circulating about this case on social media. I assure all of you that Mumbai Police has been handling a case as sensitive as this one with the utmost professionalism. You have to trust the police to bring forth the truth in this case," Deputy Commissioner of Mumbai Police Abhishek Trimukhe was quoted as saying earlier.


Thandie Newton has revealed that she was groomed by an older film director when she was 16 and starting her career.

The 47-year-old actress opened up about her damaging experience with a filmmaker more than twice her age, and also revealed that she was asked to do sexually inappropriate things when she was 18.

'When I set out in the adult world, I was pretty young  16 was when I started working in movies,' she told Vulture's E. Alex Jung. 'I had no sense of myself. One of the reasons why is because I was not considered anything.'

Revelations: Thandie Newton has revealed that she was groomed by an older film director when she was 16 and starting her career. Pictured in March

The screen star continued: 'We didnt talk about it at the time but the damage was so done. It just made me super-vulnerable to predators. Theres so much about not having a sense of my value.'

Thandie's ordeal led to her feeling as though she was being 'passed around', adding: 'If youre a young black girl and you get raped, in the film business, no ones going to f***ing care. You can tell whoever the f*** you want and theyll call it an affair.

Until people start taking this seriously, I cant fully heal. There are so many problems to feeling disenfranchised. I keep finding myself alone.'

Exploited: The 47-year-old actress opened up about her damaging experience with a filmmaker more than twice her age. Seen in an undated photo taken early on in her career

In the same interview, the star also gave a candid insight into the dramatic nature of working with Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible II in 2000.

The British actress played Tom's character Ethan Hunt's love interest Nyah NordoffHall in the movie two decades ago, and she shed light on feeling 'terrified and insecure' on-set of the movie.

Thandie revealed she then called late director Jonathan Demme, who she worked with on Beloved and The Truth About Charlie, to seek advice after which he scolded her for not 'backing herself' and made her realise Tom wanted a 'alpha b***h'.

Vulnerable: The screen star said, 'We didnt talk about it at the time but the damage was so done. It just made me super-vulnerable to predators.' Pictured in 1991

However, while she admitted to feeling 'scared' of 'dominant' Tom Cruise, she also insisted that he wasn't a 'horrible' person, just 'really stressed' on the set.

Thandie's interview comes after the star revealed she is finally enjoying the kind of career boost she expected to have in her twenties.

The actress has become a household name thanks to the success of HBO's sci-fi drama Westworld, with her character Maeve taking on a pivotal role in season three. She divulged: 'Thanks to Westworld, I've become an action hero  at my age!...

'I'm flabbergasted! I feel like I'm in my prime, and my 40s are great, man, but why didn't this happen in my 20s? It's the complete reverse of what it should be'.

Tough times: Thandie also gave a candid insight into the dramatic nature of working with Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible II in 2000 (pictured at the London premiere in July 2000)

Way back when: The British actress played Tom's character Ethan Hunt's love interest Nyah NordoffHall in the movie two decades ago

Thandie, who is also known for her role in 2004's Crash, went on to describe the physical requirements of playing her character in Westworld.

Likening the experience to being in the military, the brunette explained that she has to remain as fit as possible throughout filming.

Thandie's character Maeve began the series as a robotic 'host' brothel-owner within the Westworld theme park.

Thanks to a glitch in her programming, the sassy saloon-owner begins to gain consciousness and eventually realises she's part of a scripted storyline.
At least 50 patriotically decorated cars and jeeps waving Thin Blue Line American flags formed a blue parade and delivered cookies and ice-cold coca cola to law enforcement on Saturday morning.

Wearing a mask, Oakridge Police Department Patrol Officer Kelly Kennerly, waved as children and community members shouted thank you to him and his fellow officers in the parade.

Its just nice to be supported, Kennerly said.

A group of Conroe residents said they wanted to show law enforcement some love and decided to host the parade.

Among them included Montgomery County resident Glen Chance, 68, who joined his family in the parade line which started near the White Oaks Estates subdivision.

We just need to ensure our law enforcement officers that we support them and that we are there for them, Chance, who helped deliver the sodas, said. Our neighborhood feels it is important to show the support to our area law enforcement.

Chance served the Houston Police Department for 40 years before he retired as a senior police officer.

I know there is a lot going on right now, but I think this event would have taken place if there were not anything else going on, Chance added. Its just a group of neighbors that just want to recognize our officers.

From noon to 2 p.m. the parade made its way through neighborhoods, down the Interstate 45 feeder road, and around the Lake Front Circle in The Woodlands to display the support, including to the Oak Ridge North Police Department, Shenandoah Police Department, the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office, and the Precinct 3 Constables Office.

As the line left the parking lot and headed to the next stop, Oak Ridge North Patrol Officer Ralph E. Craig III stood next to Detective Jim Ford. The two shared they were surprised to see so many vehicle come out and that the community, which they believe has been more vocal about their support, continues to make them feel appreciated.

I think we as law enforcement in this area are very fortunate, Craig said. We get the thumbs up; we get the thank yous.

Ford agreed.

I have had more meals bought for me in the last two years anonymously then I have in the 36 years that Ive been a cop, Ford said.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
DPRK Premier Inspects Chollima Steel Complex

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, July 11 (KCNA) -- Kim Jae Ryong, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, member of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and premier of the Cabinet, inspected the Chollima Steel Complex.

Making a round of the steel shop, he gave a pep-talk to smelters waging a drive for increased production and stressed the need to thoroughly meet the technical requirements in normal operation of the electric furnace and production.

At the 6 000-ton press shop, he stressed the need to direct primary efforts to ensure the quality of iron and steel and took measures to enhance the responsibility and role of officials and technicians and thus manage all production processes, as required by technical regulations.

He also inspected the Biomedicine Institute under the Academy of Medical Science and the Bioengineering Branch of the State Academy of Sciences. -0-

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A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan posted along the International Border in Jammu has been arrested by the Punjab police in a drug smuggling case, officials said on Sunday.

Arms and ammunition have also been recovered from the personnel, a resident of Gurdaspur district in Punjab.

The jawan, whose name was not immediately available, was posted with a BSF unit deployed in the Samba sector of Jammu.

A pistol, 80 bullets of 9mm calibre gun, 2 rounds of 12 bore rifle, 2 magazines and 3 mobile phones have been recovered from the jawan, they said.

The BSF guards the over 3,300 kms long border with Pakistan running across the states of Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Indian Army: About 300 Terrorists Waiting at Launchpads Across Border to Make Infiltration Bid

Sputnik News

09:27 GMT 11.07.2020

New Delhi (Sputnik): On Saturday morning, the Indian Army foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control by gunning down two terrorists in the TMG sector of Handwara in northern Kashmir's Kupwara district. In June, Jammu and Kashmir's Director General of Police Dilbag Singh accused Pakistan of trying to send more terrorists into the valley.

Soon after foiling an infiltration attempt along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Naugam sector of Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Army revealed that about 250-300 terrorists are waiting at launchpads across the border to infiltrate into India.

"Inputs indicate that their launchpads are fully occupied. If we've to guess, it could be anything between 250-300 terrorists presently occupying the launchpads opposite", said Major General Virendra Vats, GOC 19 Infantry Division, Baramullah, on Saturday during a press conference.

So far in 2020, Indian security forces have gunned down 138 terrorists in different infiltration bids and encounters in Jammu and Kashmir, as per data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Of the terrorists killed this year, officials have revealed that over 50 terrorists belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen, around 20 were from Lashkar-e-Taiba, 20 from Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the rest from smaller banned outfits like Al-Badr, Anssar Gazwatul Hind, etc.

The infiltration bids rise this time around due to the suitable weather in the valley, which reels under cold waves in the winters, resulting in areas used for infiltration being blocked.

Indian government officials have claimed that terror activities in the valley declined after the revocation of the temporary special status under Article 370, but security forces have been engaged in several gun battles in the past three months.

Pakistan has repeatedly dismissed Indian allegations of harbouring terrorists on its side of Kashmir.

 Sputnik

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On July 8, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a meeting with the foreign ministers of the African Union troika (South Africa, Egypt and the DRC). It was held to review and begin implementing some issues adopted in the declaration at the close of the first Russia-Africa Summit. At the initiative of African participants, a new dialogue mechanism  the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum  created. The foreign ministers of Russia and three African countries  the current, future and previous chairpersons of the African Union  to meet for annual consultations.

It was the first annual consultations with his African counterparts, the current, former, and future African Union chairpersons  Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the South African Republic Naledi Pandor, Foreign Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt Sameh Shoukri, and State Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Marie Tumba Nzeza. The consultative meeting was attended by Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Alexei Gruzdev, Deputy Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Vyacheslav Smolensky and Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, Alexei Likhachev.

According to the reports, the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum (RAPF) was established, a new mechanism for dialoguing aspects of multifaceted cooperation between the two parties. During the consultations, the participants discussed detailed ways of developing efficient cooperation between the RAPF Secretariat set up at the Foreign Ministry, with the foreign ministries of African countries and the secretariats of African regional integration organizations with a view to coordinating joint efforts on preparing for the second regular Russia-Africa Summit scheduled for 2022.

The Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum will, among others, coordinate daily contacts with the foreign ministries of various African countries and the mechanisms of the African Union and other integration associations in Africa. The Secretariat will oversee the organizational and practical preparations of new initiatives for the next Russia-Africa Summit scheduled for 2022 in accordance with the Sochi agreements. As part of the joint declaration in Sochi, the Heads of State decided that it was expedient to hold these summit meetings once every three years.

The issues formulated by African partners and initiatives on the best ways to develop investment, trade and economic ties were also discussed at the Association of Trade and Economic Cooperation with African Countries. Established in June, by the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum has large Russian companies are members of this association. They are interested in developing cooperation with African states. In addition to Rosatom, it brings together other companies such as ALROSA, Gazprombank, Transmashholding, and the Innopraktika development institute.

The association serves as a platform for helping Russian companies that want to work in individual African countries or with the integration associations on the African continent. It will review measures to increase industrial cooperation between Russia and Africa, both bilaterally and with the involvement of African sub-regional organizations, as well as to ensure simplified African exports access to the Russian market. It will further lay the roadmap towards the development of common economic, research and cultural roadmaps to promote Russian-African cooperation.

First, the ministers agreed to hold a second political consultation meeting of the Russian foreign minister with the three foreign ministers of the African Union in 2021. Second, it was agreed at the end of the meeting that the second Russia-Africa Summit will be held inside Africa in 2022. The Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum will have to work out specific dates and venues for the next round of political consultations following the election of the African Union chair for 2022. *Kester Kenn Klomegah frequently writes about Russia, Africa and the BRICS
Michael Gove today pleaded with Britons to go back to their offices amid fears of a looming jobs bloodbath on the high street.

The Cabinet minister insisted it is crucial to 'fire up the economic engines' again as the country emerges from lockdown.

The call came as the government prepares to relax restrictions on public transport in a bid to encourage the public out of their homes.

It is feared the collapse of the 'lunchtime economy' could deal another massive blow to the fortunes of the high street, with warnings that 250,000 jobs could be on the line

Echoing a rallying cry from Boris Johnson on Friday, Mr Gove told Sky News today: 'We want to see more people back at work on the shop floor in the office where they can be.'

A national survey has found just 12 per cent of people want life to return to the 'old normal,' while around 60 per cent still feel uncomfortable using public transport.

Michael Gove told Sky news it is crucial to 'fire up the economic engines' again as the country emerges from lockdown

Current lockdown guidance states that people in the UK should avoid public transport where possible, resulting in empty carriages

Just 12% of people want life to return to 'old normal,' survey says Research from BritainThinks, compiled in part by lockdown diaries written by surveyors, has found 12% of people want life to return back to the 'old normal,' as lockdown eases. The survey of people across the country found 59% of people are still uncomfortable with the idea of using public transport, while the public's priorities have shifted. According to The Observer, the survey shows three new priorities for Brits; better funding for the NHS, saving the economy nationwide, rather than focusing on London and improving pay and treatment for essential workers. Advertisement

'Of course in some cases it is appropriate and convenient for people to work from home, but we want to make sure that where people can add value, where the economy can benefit from people being at work, that they are at work.

'We want to make sure that the economic engines of this country are fired up again and that's why the Chancellor made the series of announcements that he made earlier this week in order to make sure that we are in a position to be able to provide people with safety and security at work, to protect their jobs and to guarantee jobs in the future.'

Mr Gove said the pandemic had shown that some roles can be effectively performed from home - and confirmed that civil service jobs may be moved outside London.

At the height of the crisis the government was telling the public to work from home if they can.

But Mr Johnson dramatically reversed that advice on Friday, saying it was time for people to go out to work if they can.

Ian Girling, chief executive of the Dorset Chamber of Commerce, said: 'Undoubtedly, remote working has worked extremely well for some businesses and there are opportunities for some firms to save money going forward.'

He added: 'Businesses can revert back to the way they were working pre-Covid but the bigger question is "do they want to?"'

Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics, said this was a 'critical' factor for businesses considering whether to return to the office.

Experts say some businesses may decide not to reopen offices with social distancing measures, and instead opt to keep employees working from home. Stock picture

Get back on trains and buses, workers told, as government prepares to ease coronavirus restrictions on public transport The UK Government is set to relax restrictions on public transport in order to convince the public to work in offices again, according to reports. Current UK lockdown regulations state that the public should consider other forms of transport before using means such as trains, buses and trams. But, according to the Sunday Telegraph, ministers are looking to change this policy and encourage the use of public transport, with the Department of Transport commencing discussions with transport operators about how commuters can travel safely. A Whitehall source told the report: 'It is costing a great deal of money to run all these train services with so few people on them. 'Different departments are looking at ways to ease in the message of avoiding public transport. The best way to do this, and when, is currently under discussion. 'There is some debate about how best to get the message across that the Government wants to allow more people to travel.' In May, the Government gave Transport for London (TfL) 1.6billion to continue running services in the English capital following a fall in revenue. At the moment, it is compulsory to wear a face masks on all means on public transport, with police monitoring train carriages and bus journey to find those not obeying these rules. Advertisement

He said bosses would weigh up whether the supposed productivity boost outweighed the savings which many have enjoyed during the pandemic.

The expert told MailOnline: 'That's an absolutely critical point - whether the levels of demand are sufficient enough to make it commercially viable enough to reopen. And that's a really difficult question to answer and lots just don't know.'

One employee at a central London firm which has over 200 staff told MailOnline they were told last week their workforce would not be returning to the office for the foreseeable future.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source said: 'The primary concern is that we don't need to be back so why rush?'

They said that the company would be waiting to see how other firms coped with the return to work before given the green light for their own staff.

Mr Lim said the crisis would have jolted a complete rethink for some firms who will keep some of their team working remotely to allow them to downsize and save money.

Explaining the mindset of such firms, Mr Lim said: 'We probably don't need the same amount of space as we did, out of necessity we managed to pivot our working way towards something which is much more digital focused and actually, given that rents are so expensive, if we have people coming in on average two-and-a-half days a week and people working from home two-and-a half days a week, we don't need the space and it'll make a significant saving for many companies.'

The Department of Transport is believed to be in talks with rail and bus operators about how larger numbers commuters can travel safely.

Current UK lockdown regulations state that the public should avoid public transport, with social distancing rules meaning they have been able to handle a fraction of usual capacity.

A Whitehall source told the Sunday Telegraph: 'It is costing a great deal of money to run all these train services with so few people on them.

'Different departments are looking at ways to ease in the message of avoiding public transport. The best way to do this, and when, is currently under discussion.'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured) issued a 'go back and work if you can' rallying cry on Friday in a bid to boost the economy

The UK Government is set to ease restrictions on public transport, such as buses, to encourage more people to go back into offices for work

A further 15 people have died from coronavirus in the second weekend since pubs, bars and restaurants were able to open their doors to lockdown-weary revellers

A further 15 people have died from coronavirus in the second weekend since pubs, bars and restaurants were able to open their doors to lockdown-weary revellers.

All 15 fatalities are in England, with no deaths reported in Scotland, Wales nor Northern Ireland, according to the preliminary figures.

This brings Britain's total death toll to 44,813 - however this is likely to be much higher once care homes death numbers are released.

Figures released on Sunday are usually smaller due to a delay in processing over the weekend.
https://www.aish.com/jw/me/Israel-Does-Not-Practice-Apartheid.html

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is wholly different from the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

Last week I had a public conversation with Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, hosted by The Jerusalem Post. We were talking about how to overcome the formidable challenge of racism, with a focus on how to actually address it at root. During the course of that discussion, the conversation drifted to the topic of Israel.

The chief justice expressed his view that the ANC governments approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was misguided; that in taking a one-sided approach to the conflict, ostracizing Israel, and failing to take into account the complexities of the conflict, we are denying ourselves a wonderful opportunity of being game-changers in the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng

Invoking the example of Nelson Mandela, he called for greater objectivity and a more balanced approach that would allow South Africa to engage in good faith with both sides and play an active role in peace-making  something that would be very welcome given South Africas history of overcoming a seemingly intractable conflict.

We know what it means to be at loggerheads, a nation at war with itself, he said. The forgiveness that was demonstrated  the understanding and big heart displayed by [former] President Nelson Mandela, and we, the people of South Africa  is an asset we must use around the world to bring peace when there is no peace and to mediate effectively based on rich experience.

As he made these remarks, I thought to myself that Justice Mogoengs position  his call for balance and objectivity, and deeper engagement  was actually an extremely judicious one. What could be more just than an insistence that both sides be heard? What could be more fair-minded than a call for both sides to work together to resolve this conflict?

I was taken aback at what happened next. The ANC released a blistering statement, savaging the chief justice for this position, for entering the arena of political commentary, and for supporting Israel. This statement then unleashed a media firestorm. Op-eds accused Justice Mogoeng of judicial overreach, of having failed to recognize that Palestinians also have human rights, of supporting a modern-day colonial genocide.

Incredibly, one writer even accused the chief justice, a stalwart of the Black Consciousness Movement and a fierce anti-apartheid struggle veteran since he was in high school, of being oblivious to the black rights movement. A complaint was lodged with South Africas Judicial Service Commission. And the ANC has now urged the Speaker of Parliament to hold high-level talks with Justice Mogoeng regarding his political views.

This extreme reaction  this vilifying and misrepresentation of a balanced position taken by the chief justice, which has spilled over into vicious personal attacks  is disturbing. The main pretext for these attacks, certainly by the ANC, is that it was inappropriate for a judge to speak out and pronounce a personal opinion on matters of public policy; that he should reserve his judgments and opinions for the courtroom.

The double standards are breathtaking.

Over the past few years, there are innumerable examples of judges  even Constitutional Court judges  speaking out on matters of public policy, sometimes on this very same issue. One example is a fellow Constitutional Court judge, Edwin Cameron, who has attacked Israel on multiple occasions on numerous public platforms. He even joined a very public visit to Israel alongside a group of anti-Israel activists with the clear purpose of vilifying Israel, meeting exclusively with Palestinian and anti-Israel activists without any interest in hearing the other side.

The political views of Justice Cameron and other judges are well-known and well-documented. The idea that judges do not have, and do not make known, their own political views is, indeed, a fallacy. Judges, like other human beings, have their own values and ideological views.

More to the point, it seems acceptable for judges to speak out publicly on these issues as long as they toe the party line, and their views are in accord with the positions of the political and societal establishment. Its only when those positions are challenged that there is an outcry over a judge having entered the arena of political commentary, and there is an attempt to shut down debate entirely. It is the attempt to silence and vilify any voices that dare offer a different perspective on issues that is most disturbing.

We need to be open to hearing the perspectives of both sides. Lets look specifically at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are divergent views on how to interpret this conflict, which makes it wholly different from the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

The National Party government in South Africa openly instituted a raft of legislative measures, to entrench race-based separation, and obliterate the economic, political and cultural freedoms of an entire race of people. It openly denied the right to vote to non-whites, and passed laws discriminating against people of color. The facts were clear, and never disputed, not even by the Nats themselves. This was the systematic oppression of a people and the denial of basic human rights on the basis of skin color. There was no moral ambiguity about the campaign against the apartheid government.

By contrast, with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there is a strong argument to be made for the justice of the cause of the State of Israel. It is an argument that I believe in passionately. I realize, of course, that I am biased, as a Jew, as a rabbi; but I also maintain my stance on this issue is reasonable and emerges naturally from a number of key indisputable facts  and it is a stance held by many other faith leaders and governments around the world.

The fact is, Israel is the only free democracy in the Middle East. Within the sovereign borders of the State of Israel currently exist 1.8 million Muslim and Christian citizens who are the equal of their Jewish compatriots in every conceivable way. They participate side by side in elections as part of one voter role, and hold high-ranking positions throughout the various levels of Israeli government, including Parliament and the Supreme Court. They serve in law enforcement and even in the army. There are none and have never been separate facilities for Jews and Israeli Palestinians; all across Israel, schools and universities, benches and beaches, buses and hospitals, are unsegregated in any way, and every Israeli citizen, no matter their ethnic or religious origin, has complete and full legal rights.

Israel has none of the apartheid legislative machinery designed to discriminate against and separate people. It has no Population and Registration Act, no Group Areas Act, no Separate Representation of Voters Act, no Separate Amenities Act, or any other of the myriad apartheid laws. On the contrary  Israel is a vibrant, liberal democracy, with the kind of imperfections you will find in any free society, nevertheless according full political, civil and other human rights to all.

There is, however, an ongoing and bitter dispute around establishing a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza (which, before they were under Israels jurisdiction, were Jordanian and Egyptian territory, respectively). These negotiations have been tortuous and protracted and currently are in limbo. Israel has tried desperately, over many decades, to make peace and to come to some kind of resolution (see Ehud Baracks offer at Camp David  91% of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip; Ariel Sharons unilateral disengagement from Gaza in 2005; Olmerts offer in 2008  93% of the West Bank, perhaps even more).

Unfortunately, all of these overtures were rejected and, indeed, met with terror attacks and mortar rockets. Israel wants nothing more than peace  and is willing to pay a huge price for it  but, tragically, there has never been a true peace partner on the other side. Just this last week, Benny Gantz, Israeli defense minister and incoming prime minister, offered to go to Ramallah to restart negotiations immediately.

The point is, no one who truly understands the brutality and the systematic racism and denial of basic human rights that made apartheid infamous, could possibly use the word in a discussion relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict  a territorial, political, religious, cultural dispute concerning national identity and borders.

Though I believe this analysis to be true and accurate, anyone is within their rights to disagree with me, and I would do nothing to silence that person. On the contrary, I would welcome an open, rational debate on the subject. Let us engage with the facts. Let us engage with the arguments. Let us have open dialogue. Let us hear all sides. Let us have real, good-faith discussions on all of these issues. Let us talk to and hear one another. Let us not silence those who disagree with us.

South Africans deserve to hear both sides of the debate. Unfortunately, with savage attacks like those on Chief Justice Mogoeng, and the ceaseless efforts of various organizations and lobby groups to silence dissenting voices and to shut down the debate altogether, many arent. Consider for a moment how extreme this is. The chief justice did not even express support for the policies or actions of the State of Israel. All he said was that we need a more balanced approach, and that the South African government should be engaging with both sides to make peace.

The suppression of any attempt to rationally engage with the subject and utter contempt for freedom of expression is such that even the most moderate view that doesnt utterly condemn Israel is totally rejected and deemed unacceptable.

Of course, much of the anger directed at Chief Justice Mogoeng is a reaction to his open profession of his Christian faith. He spoke of his belief in the Bible and his worldview is molded by it. He also spoke about the power of prayer and his belief in Divine providence. Such public demonstrations of faith have also been deemed unacceptable by the political establishment. Like political beliefs, religious faith, too, needs to conform to a pre-established narrative. It, too, must toe the party line.

Ironically, both his expressions of support for Israel and of his religious faith resonate deeply with the majority of South Africans, whose voices on these issues are also not heard.

There will never be a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict  or any other conflict  without a commitment to openness to hearing both sides, to real dialogue. If we are going to shut down debate and not allow one side to be heard, then we will never get to solutions.

Ultimately, this was all Chief Justice Mogoeng was asking for  a balanced approach to a complex problem, a fair hearing for both sides. Ironically, he was applying the approach of a fair judge, asking for both sides to be heard and giving all parties a chance to find a just and lasting solution. For that, he was savaged  a symptom of a wider, global malaise that imperils the democratic values we hold dear.

Freedom of expression, not only in South Africa, but around the world, is under siege. People are hounded and vilified for daring to challenge the prevailing establishment positions. Cancel culture has cost thoughtful, well-meaning lecturers, journalists and public servants their jobs and their reputations. Debates around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and other similarly complex issues, have been flattened by an intellectual tyranny. These efforts are an undemocratic suppression of dissent and open dialogue through the politics of vilification and intimidation.

To hold the world together, we need to rededicate ourselves to open dialogue, to the pursuit of peace. We need to rededicate ourselves to finding solutions  to giving people a fair hearing and listening to all sides of an argument. And in doing so, we will create the conditions for peace. This is the only hope for bringing peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Real peace. A sustainable, harmonious peace. The only way is through the unwavering commitment to justice and fairness for all.

All Chief Justice Mogoeng asked for was balance and a fair hearing for both sides in the pursuit of peace. If he is vilified simply for that, what chance does peace have?
Seoul

South Korea is in talks with China to increase the number of flights to the country to 10 a week mainly to meet travel demand from businessmen, the transport ministry said Sunday. Korean airlines currently serve three routes from Incheon to Chinese cities and plan to resume flights on four more routes to the neighboring country this month, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, South Korean News Agency (Yonhap) reported.

"The (Seoul) government is in talks with the Chinese authorities to resume flights on three additional routes to China," the ministry said in a statement. Korean Air Lines Co., Asiana Airlines Inc., and Jeju Air Co. have operated one flight a week, respectively, on the routes from Incheon to Shenyang, Changchun and Weihai despite the coronavirus outbreak.

This month, Korean Air, Asiana, Jin Air Co. and Air Busan Co. plan to resume services on routes to Guangzhou, Nanjing, Xian and Shenzhen, respectively, the statement said. China's aviation authorities have limited airlines to one flight per week since late March to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic through incoming passengers.

Seoul has been in consultation with its Chinese counterpart to increase the number of flights.The country has two full-service carriers, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines and seven budget carriers Jeju Air, Jin Air, Air Busan, Air Seoul Inc., Eastar Jet, T'way and Fly Gangwon.
The statistics of investors showing interest in investing in cryptocurrency is high in the past few years. Cryptocurrencies gaining a handful of popularity among new investors can play havoc with several top-level industries. At the same time, not all investors seem to be enthusiastic; some are still a little hesitant to invest in.

Investing in cryptocurrencies created an easier way of raising funds for businesses through initial coin offerings (ICOs). This takes a great hit on venture capitalists and holds them from initiating startup investments. In 2017, ICOs have delivered a capital to blockchain startups 3.5 times more than what venture capitalists have invested. It clearly states that startups need not depend on venture capitalists and worry about secure funding.

In emerging markets, nothing is better than investing in cryptocurrencies in startups. Moreover, it is a venture capitalist who gains more benefits to investing in startups. The need for fundraising seemed to be mandated for places like Latin America because they have had such a condition. Investing in cryptocurrencies through the Bitcoin Revolution can be a perfect way to fill the gap.

Here are some important reasons you cannot deny investing cryptocurrencies in blockchain startups:

The Silicon Valley model did not show great results in Latin America

When we talk about how cryptocurrency can help startups in hard times, we should also talk about what created the necessity of investing in cryptocurrency. Venture capital restricts the scope of investment for most of the companies since it has a big hand behind driving the Silicon Valley model, a 60-year traditional method. It follows the economic theory of clustering within a limited circle.

Irrespective of any investment ideas or new ventures, it was always shared between investors, companies, and universities together within limited geographical proximity to realize all financial and other benefits yielded from the collection of ideas. And the entire process was controlled by venture capitalists.

Acquiring/raising capital in Latin America is quite difficult because of its lower-income level. Also, you cannot find more firms of venture capitalists and even not enough support received from the government as well. The Silicon Valley model may not work out in Latin America because it takes its own sweet time to replicate. With its lower economic reasons also being on top of the list, the region cannot take a chance to keep hold of its breath until they see some fruitful results through VC.

As we have technology-induced everywhere in the world, it is now possible to take online classes and share knowledge about anything one would like to achieve. Even investment and starting business is also a kind of support that people across the world can receive online. You can make your first-time investment without depending on any physical advice or manual help. The same rule applies to VC as well for realizing investing in cryptocurrencies in Latin America, is a great place, to begin with.

Cryptocurrencies can equal up startup investments in Latin America

As a high-end funding method, ICOs has a lot to support startup companies. Venture capital can be a secured method but cannot get things to happen on time, especially for startups that too in Latin America. Cryptocurrencies can be a great alternative to endeavour and meet new entrepreneur's capital needs.

In the United States, a smart certified investor will want to invest in startups through ICOs. Be the amount be small or big, you will never be questioned for investing and is extended to everyone. This provides remarkable access to the capital amount needed to develop your business.

It also allows venturing capitalists to observe and estimate how the idea of ICOs has been accepted and realized by blockchain startups in Latin America. As the profit/loss is known very soon here, VC can easily gauge whether it will win or fail. Since cryptocurrency investment is not only for startup businesses but also for common investors like you and me as well.

Cryptocurrencies offer more liquid investment options to Latin American investors

Cryptocurrencies support not only the growth of startups but also act as a guide for investments. Like how less the scope for startup investments in Latin America, the less the scope for investment as well. Many regions in Latin America are still back laid in terms of meeting the required GDP. It is 40% less in value to meet the GDP, whereas the United States comes close to 140% of its GDP.

Investing in cryptocurrencies enables a new way for investors to liquidate their investments in no time and regain their capital. Whenever you find a cryptocurrency project is being launched, it appears to investors 24/7, providing them the option to sell off their stakes in any company of their wish.

This works great for VCs because they can anytime leverage their cryptocurrency investments to access more liquid investment opportunities along with other investments too.

Do you know that blockchain and smart contracts can easily combat corruption and weak central institutions? However, cryptocurrencies show a promising change and help hand to blockchain startups in Latin America; it also gives hope to investments that need a push to see more profits.
Community safety advocates are calling for action to address the root causes of gun crime after a violent weekend saw two young men killed and seven people injured in a spate of shootings across Toronto.

Im so angry, Louis March, founder of Torontos Zero Gun Violence movement said in an interview Sunday, saying hes worried about the threat of retaliatory shootings and a growing complacency in Toronto.

Theres a general aura now in this city, towards gun violence, that we cant do anything about it.

Deadly gun violence outside the Scarborough Town Centre Friday afternoon was the first of eight shootings across the city in less than 48 hours. That included a fatal drive-by shooting Friday night near Jane St. and Woolner Ave. that saw at least one gunman spray bullets from a car into a crowd of dozens gathered outside, enjoying a hot summer night.

The reason that this is so concerning is its a brazen shooting, Toronto police deputy chief Shawna Coxon told reporters Saturday at the scene of the drive-by, which saw more than a dozen rounds fired before the vehicle, described as a dark grey sedan, drove off.

Homicide detectives have now taken over the investigation after 21-year-old Mohamed Sow, one of five injured in the shooting, died in hospital Saturday night.

A Toronto police spokesperson also confirmed Sunday that a 26-year-old male victim, Jordon Marcelle, shot outside the Scarborough Town Centre on Friday, has since died of his injuries.

Hours after Coxon on Saturday called recent gun violence very concerning, police were summoned to two more shootings injuring three young men, one of whom suffered an eye injury when his vehicle was struck by gunfire near Islington Avenue and Lakeshore Boulevard.

In a statement Sunday evening, Mayor John Tory called this weekends gun violence deeply concerning and unacceptable.

I know the Toronto Police are working non-stop to find those responsible for these shootings, and I encourage anyone with any information to please come forward, Tory said.

Before this weekend, shootings in Toronto were already up 18 per cent over this time last year, with over 220 recorded in the city. Factoring in the recent gun violence, more than 100 people have been killed or injured in shootings in 2020.

The gun violence comes amid smouldering summer temperatures, when shootings tend to spike in the city.

In both 2018 and 2019, a rising number of summer shootings saw the creation of a special, multimillion-dollar police initiative aimed at cracking down on gun violence through increased enforcement. Criticized by some as a short-term, Band-Aid solution, the initiative failed to produce long-term results.

In 2018, after 200 extra officers were deployed throughout the city between July to September, the city nonetheless saw a record-breaking year for shootings. Last years $4.5-million Project Community Space, which saw increased guns-and-gangs enforcement thanks to funding from all three levels of government, equally did not result in a reduction in shootings, though Toronto police said it led to higher solve rates.

Tory said Sunday that gun violence could be reduced through both legal changes  including tougher sentences for repeat offenders  and programming to address the root causes of gun violence, such as the citys poverty reduction strategy. Tory also noted we must support the police as they carry out their difficult responsibilities concurrent with our efforts to bring about change in that area.

But March said the city is not doing what is necessary to address this issue, saying there is a need for municipal, provincial and federal leaders to make a joint commitment to tackle gun violence, including through engagement with key community stakeholders and investments in social programs to prevent crime.

This isnt a policing problem and its not a policing solution. The more money we put into policing, the bigger this problem gets, he said.

Tory also called on the provincial and federal government to step up to allow for increased investment in kids, families and neighbourhoods.

Josh Matlow, the city councillor who spearheaded last months failed attempt to reduce the Toronto police budget and invest in communities, on Sunday called for action to address the causes of gun violence, saying shootings have increased no matter how many police we hire or people (we incarcerate). Perpetrators must be held accountable. But theres a vicious cycle that can only be stopped by finally addressing the roots of violence.

Four of the shootings this weekend did not cause any injuries, though police found evidence of gunfire including shell casings, and in one case, a vehicle with bullet holes.

Three men suffered injuries in two separate shootings late Saturday and early Sunday. Toronto police got the call shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday, responding to shots fired in the area of Islington Avenue and Lakeshore Boulevard. A suspect vehicle was seen fleeing the area, described by police as a black four-door sedan.

Const. Edward Parks, spokesperson for city police, said Sunday that the two victims were inside a vehicle at the time they were shot.

Hours later, just before 4 a.m. Sunday, police were summoned to a report of gunshots in Torontos Junction Triangle neighbourhood, at Campbell and Wallace avenues. One man was transported to hospital suffering from gunshot wounds.

Officers with Toronto polices guns-and-gangs unit are investigating whether any of the shootings are connected.

Police are also asking the public to call them at 416-808-2222 if they have any information relevant to the incident.

Correction  July 13, 2020: This story has been edited to correct victim Mohamed Sows age, which Toronto police initially released incorrectly. He was 21.
Amid the border tension with China, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar has said China is a "bigger threat to India" than Pakistan.





China's military might is "ten times greater" than India, the former defence minister said, adding that Beijing has "weaned away" India's neighbours to its side.

The Centre should try to put international pressure on China through negotiations and diplomatic channels, Pawar said in an interview to Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The second of the three-part interview series was published in the Marathi daily on Sunday.

"When we think of an enemy, the first name that comes to our mind is that of Pakistan. But we need not worry about Pakistan. In the long term,it is China that has the power, vision and programme to act against Indian interests. China is a bigger threat to India," Pawar said.

The "real threat to India is from China" which has become economically strong, he added.

"By creating a picture of camaraderie, you can't resolve issues between two countries," he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handshakes and hugs with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the latter's India visit.

Asked about the clash between Chinese and Indian soldiers at Galwan Valley in Ladakh last month, Pawar said, "When I say there should be no politics over the issue, it is because we can attack them. But the entire country will have to pay a heavy price when there is retaliation to the attack."

"Instead of striking, we should try to put international pressure on China through negotiations and diplomatic channels," he said.

Pawar said China had turned not just Pakistan, but even countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka against India.

"When Modi became prime minister for the first time, he went to Nepal to offer prayers at the Pashupatinath temple. Modi praised Nepal, calling it Indias friend and the first Hindu nation. Now Nepal is not with us, but on China's side," the former Union minister said.

India took the lead to liberate Bangladesh, and now the neighbouring country has signed a treaty with China, he said.

"China has weaned away all our neighbours to its side. This is the contribution of the recent period, Pawar said in an apparent reference to the Modi government.

He said Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi are always blamed for their handling of China and Pakistan.

"But, during the tenure of Nehru, India and China shared warm relations," he said.

Nehru was of the view that China will become a superpower some day and that India should maintain a cordial relation with it since tensions were not beneficial to either of the two countries, he said.

Nehru introduced the Panchsheel treaty with China and there was peace in the region, the NCP chief said.

"Unfortunately, the Chinese leadership took a different stand and there was a conflict. This aspect cannot be ignored, he said.

Speaking on the present state of the Indian economy, Pawar said Prime Minister Modi should consult economists and experts like Manmohan Singh to revive the economy.

"When Manmohan Singh was the Union finance minister, he gave a new direction to the Indian economy. I was also part of thatUnion cabinet. I credit Singh and late P V Narasimha Raofor the turnaround of the economy from crisis," he said.

"Modi should also take the help of experts. The country will support him in all the steps taken by him, he said, adding that the "country needs another Manmohan Singh".

To a question on Modi calling him a "political guru" (political teacher), Pawar said there is no such thing as guru in politics. Targeting the Centre, he said there is no dialoguebetween the Modi government and leaders of other parties.

When Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram were finance ministers, they would constantly in touch with experts and political leaders cutting across party lines to ascertain their views on various issues facing the country. "This is not happening now," he said.

Speaking about the performance of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government, Pawar, who played a key role in the formation of the ruling alliance comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, saidit would not be right to judge the government on its performance in six months.

"The written exam is over. Practicals are pending. The student is working hard. So there is no need to worry about the result. In the six-month exam, the student has passed. I am confident the student will clearthe next exam easily," he said.
The International Energy Agency bolstered its outlook for global oil demand, but warned that the recovery could be derailed by the resurgence of coronavirus.

A collapse in fuel consumption during the second quarter was slightly less severe than previously estimated, and demand should rebound sharply over the next three months as economic activity resumes, the agency said in a monthly report. Bloated inventories will diminish as OPEC and its allies persevere with vast production cuts, it predicted.

Yet a flare-up of the virus, which is raging across several U.S. states and re-emerging in Asia, is casting a shadow over the outlook, the IEA cautioned. Oil fell 1.4% to $39.06 a barrel at 7:20 a.m. in New York, heading for a weekly loss.

PANDEMIC: Oil refineries in covid hotspot of Texas grapple with outbreaks

The large, and in some countries, accelerating number of Covid-19 cases is a disturbing reminder that the pandemic is not under control and the risk to our market outlook is almost certainly to the downside, the IEA said. The Paris-based agency advises major economies on energy policy.

International oil prices have more than doubled from the lows reached in late April, trading just under $42 a barrel in London on Friday, as fuel use picks up and crude supplies are reined in.

The shockwaves of the coronavirus crisis are, however, still being felt.

Global oil demand is on track to slump by 7.9 million barrels a day, or about 8%, this year as lockdowns and the economic contraction reduce the need for products like jet fuel and gasoline. While still a record loss, its not as bad as anticipated last month, when the agency projected a drop of 8.3 million barrels a day.

FUEL FIX: Get our energy news in your inbox each weekday.

The IEA boosted its demand assessment for the second quarter, the height of the crisis, by 1.5 million barrels a day - though that still equates to a 17% drop in the period from the same point in 2019.

Going into the third quarter, worldwide consumption should now pick up by about 14% from the previous three-month period, with the revival in economic activity, to average 94.3 million barrels a day, according to the agency.

The demand rebound, coupled with strict output cutbacks by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies alongside losses elsewhere, should temper some of the enormous inventory glut that piled up during the first half of the year.

Global oil supply dropped to a nine-year low of 86.9 million barrels a day last month as OPEC+ delivered all the curbs it promised, while investment cuts and reduced drilling hit output from the U.S. and Canada.

The 23-nation OPEC+ alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, has pledged unprecedented output reductions amounting to almost 10% of world supplies in a bid to rebalance markets and shore up prices. The coalition cut even more than promised in June as the Saudis made additional reductions to speed up the recovery process, the IEA said.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Most political parties around the world would be thrilled to win 89% of seats in an election. Not in Singapore.

The worst showing for the ruling Peoples Action Party, or PAP, since independence in 1965 prompted analysts to declare a vote for change that will trigger soul searching among the countrys leaders. Supporters for the main opposition Workers Party -- which took 10 of 93 seats up for grabs -- waved flags, blew whistles and beat drums like they were about to take office.

Much of that reaction reflects just how tightly the PAP has clenched the levers of power over the decades. Its a very high bar for it to continue winning so many seats in every election even with an electoral system that has built-in advantages for the ruling party, and this vote was held when a global pandemic helped trigger the city-states worst-ever economic slump.

Potentially more concerning for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, however, was that the result upended the conventional wisdom that traditionally risk-averse Singaporeans would strongly back the PAP in an emergency. That alone could have a big impact on policy, raising questions about how leaders positioned to succeed Lee handled the virus and why more young voters are said to have embraced opposition calls for both a stronger social safety net and a more open democracy.

Look at this population -- the youngsters -- they are prepared to vote against the government in times of a crisis, which is very unprecedented, said Bilveer Singh, associate professor at the National University of Singapores department of political science. It has never happened.

In the early hours of Saturday, Lee said the PAP had won a clear mandate even though its 61.2% share of the popular vote -- slightly more than its all-time low in 2011 -- was less than he had hoped. He vowed to take Singapore safely through the crisis and beyond before handing over power to the so-called fourth generation of leaders.

The results show also a clear desire for a diversity of voices in Parliament, Lee said, while adding that the outcome reflected the pain and uncertainty caused by a loss of income, anxiety over jobs and virus-related disruptions.

Lee hinted at some changes ahead, saying government policies must reflect the younger generations significantly different life aspirations and priorities compared with older Singaporeans. Still, he implored the youth to heed lessons hard won by their parents and grandparents so that they dont have to learn them all over again and pay a high price.

As one of the most trade-reliant economies in the world, Singapore has taken a severe knock during the pandemic. Officials are predicting that gross domestic product will contract as much as 7% this year. Data on Tuesday will probably show the economy already entered a recession in the second quarter.

There may be a greater need to think out of the box for economic strategies in a post-Covid world, said Selena Ling, head of treasury research and strategy at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., citing debates over fiscal sustainability and accountability, minimum wages, foreign worker policy and reliance on multinational corporations.

The Workers Party had campaigned on a slew of policies aimed at helping lower-income Singaporeans, including unemployment insurance, a minimum wage and incentives to hire locals over foreigners. Party chief Pritam Singh, who will become Singapores first official opposition leader, said he was humbled by the gains even though its still not exactly a quantum leap.

Im not feeling euphoric at all, Singh told reporters. In fact I think theres a lot of work to do.

The election results will likely spur the government to enact measures to strengthen the social safety net and recalibrate its foreign worker policy even while it stresses to the business community that its not turning insular, according to Leonard Lim, Singapore country director for regional consultancy firm Vriens & Partners. The government had already tightened restrictions on foreign labor in industries such as retail while allowing imported talent for higher-skilled roles.

Plenty of opposition candidates have rammed home the point that the PAPs long-standing openness to foreign labor means less good quality jobs for citizens, Lim said. Its low-hanging fruit and a very strategic tactic, especially when many citizens, especially middle-class white-collar workers, are losing sleep about job issues amid Covid-19.

On the campaign trail, Prime Minister Lee had emphasized the governments moves to stabilize the economy and limit job losses through massive wage subsidies, pledges to create 100,000 fresh work and training opportunities, and re-skilling workers toward next-generation industries. His government allocated S$93 billion ($67 billion) in special budget support to cushion the economic blow, and dipped into its reserves for only the second time to finance the spending.

In addition, the government is investing for research and development in areas such as artificial intelligence and biomedical sciences, supplementing ongoing digitization efforts that include building Singapore into a fintech hub and getting the islands food stalls and wet markets to adopt e-payments.

Still, Lee has repeatedly said Singapore needs to attract investments from multinationals to generate sustainable economic growth over the long haul. He blasted opposition proposals for a minimum wage and universal basic income as fashionable peacetime slogans, not serious wartime plans.

Singapore in survival mode looks to reinvent itself. Again

For Lee, who has run Singapore since 2004, the election was personal. He has signaled he intends to step down by the time he turns 70 in 2022, with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat set to take over.

Yet the election saw the prime minister being attacked by his own brother, Lee Hsien Yang, who criticized the governments handling of the pandemic and the capabilities of the next generation of the PAPs leaders. Singapore has been one of the hardest hit places in Asia, with cases topping 45,000 -- mostly migrant workers residing in dormitories -- even though the fatality rate remains low.

Lee Hsien Yang also called for an overhaul of the political system, a view shared by the Workers Party. It has sought a range of political reforms, such as abolishing the group-representative constituency system that it says has helped the PAP maintain its lock on Parliament. It advocates single-member constituencies, an independent Elections Department and court reviews of government directives under a so-called fake news law passed last year.

The extent to which the PAP will change hinges on internal discussions and some form of leadership transition that will happen before Singaporeans are scheduled to vote again in 2025, according to Bridget Welsh, an honorary research associate at the Asia Research Institute of University of Nottingham Malaysia.

If anything, she said, the pandemic has taught Singapore that the PAP needs to listen to alternative voices.

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TechnipFMC has signed a major engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract with Assiut National Oil Processing Company (ANOPC) for the construction of a new hydrocracking complex for the Assiut refinery in Egypt.

This EPC contract covers new process units such as a Vacuum Distillation Unit, a Diesel Hydrocracking Unit, a Delayed Coker Unit, a Distillate Hydrotreating Unit as well as a Hydrogen Production Facility Unit using TechnipFMCs steam reforming proprietary technology. The project also includes other process units, interconnecting, offsites and utilities.

The complex will transform lower-value petroleum products from Assiut Oil Refining Companys (ASORC) nearby refinery into approximately 2.8 million tonnes per year of cleaner products, such as Euro 5 diesel.

Catherine MacGregor, President of Technip Energies, stated: This award demonstrates TechnipFMCs long-standing relationship with the Egyptian petroleum sector and strengthens our expertise in the delivery of complex projects in the country. It comes after successful execution of the FEED(2), reflecting our selective approach and the importance of being involved at a very early stage of any development. Assiut is considered one of the major strategic projects needed to meet growing local demand for cleaner products, and we are extremely honoured to have been selected by ANOPC to contribute to the largest refining project to be implemented in Upper Egypt.

The company is working with ANOPC to complete the remaining conditions precedent to enable project work to commence. The company will include the contract award in its inbound when all the requirements are fulfilled.-- Tradearabia News Service
The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus has already spread to 224 countries with 334.656.351 infected. The disease is caused by a new virus that had not been detected in humans until a few months ago.

In Djibouti the figures released by the Ministry of Health record a total of 15.089, which marks an increase of 105 new cases compared to the previous day.

Djibouti ranks 172 in countries with reported Covid-19 cases, the viral pneumonia that affects the planet. The list of the top ten is as follows: EE.UU. 68.385.419, India 37.896.011, Brazil 23.215.551, UK 15.399.300, France 14.739.297, Russia 10.865.512, Turkey 10.591.757, Italy 9.018.425, Spain 8.518.975 and Germany 8.140.341.

In the last 24 hours, no deaths were reported and the number of fatalities remains at 189.

In contrast, it has been reported that 14.364 people have recovered in the country.

The president Ismail Omar Guelleh is closely monitoring the situation while the authorities continue to coordinate the actions of health personnel across the country.

Recommendations to minimize the transmission of the infection can be found at the World Health Organization (WHO)

Total infected New cases Total deaths Deaths in the last report Total recovered Total critical cases Djibouti 15.089 105 189 0 14.364 0 World 334.656.351 2.763.527 5.572.272 7.449 268.372.720 96.727
Jumbo death spurs call to shun plastic bags

The latest loss of a wild elephant which died with plastic bags in its intestines and stomach showed the public campaign to reduce plastic bags was falling on deaf ears, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa says.

animalspollutiondeath

By Bangkok Post

Sunday 12 July 2020, 11:44AM

Plastic waste found in the intestine and stomach of an elephant found dead at the back of the Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok campus in Chanthaburi province last week. Photo: via Bangkok Post

How many wild animals need to die in order to raise the conscience of some people, he wrote on his official Facebook Page in conveying his dismay towards the recent death of a wild jumbo.

Forest officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation on Wednesday (July 8) found a male elephant, weighing about 3.5 tonnes and aged around 20, dead at the back of the Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok campus in Chanthaburi province, reports the Bangkok Post.

Officials at the department found plastic bags inside the animal.

An initial investigation found it died from a severe intestinal infection. Further laboratory tests will be done to firmly establish the cause of death.

Mr Varawut lamented that people still turn a deaf ear to pleas to stop using plastic bags and calls to save wild animals lives from plastic was not reaching Thai people.

Mr Varawut said he was disappointed with the report of the elephants death in the Khao Khitchakut National Park in Chanthaburi province and dismayed to hear that plastic waste found in its stomach is likely to be the cause of its death.

Certain people who continue to carelessly dispose of plastic bags in the forest zone.

He said the ministry has launched a campaign to reduce the daily use of plastic bags after the loss last year of a baby dugong, widely known as Mariam.

The ministry later came up with the Mariam project to save the rare marine mammal species, together with a plan to reduce plastic bag consumption.

It also launched a campaign of Every Day Say No to Plastic Bags by banning the use of plastic bags in supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide.

The ministry said it was hoped the campaign would reduce the disposal of 3.75 billion plastic bags per month.

Its success has finally brought the country to a better position from 6th to 10th of the worlds largest waste distributors to the sea.

The female dugong who lost her family was found on a beach last year in Krabi province. Several months later the animal died after being treated by officials.

The autopsy found many pieces of plastic bag in the dugongs stomach, which is believed to be the main cause of death.

People are still being deaf to our campaign, he said. We have found the loss of other animals caused by the plastic bags, with the latest case of the poor wild jumbo. Please help us by not leaving any plastic waste inside the park.
V.Narayan Distinguished - BHPian

Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Delhi-NCR Posts: 3,088 Thanked: 37,742 Times

Re: Indian students in the USA are in big trouble; thousands would have to leave the country How did you go bankrupt? Bill asked.



Two ways, Mike said. Gradually and then suddenly.



The dialogue above is from Ernest Hemingways 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises.



Its often attributed incorrectly to Mark Twain or or misquoted as something like At first you go bankrupt slowly, then all at once. But the theme is the same.



Nations go bankrupt in the same way as companies - at first gradually and then suddenly. Bankrupt here need not just be limited to a financial definition. It could be politically, culturally, morally, resource wise and in many other ways - maybe all of them or only some of them or only one.



History is generous with examples of entire nations that have suffered this fate, from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to Argentinas millennial financial crisis in 2001. The warning signs are always there, even at the beginning. Over a period of years, sometimes decades, a tiny trickle of warning signs turns into a steady stream and eventually a great flood.



The United States is clearly well into this journey. A nation with 120 guns for every hundred people. A nation with a military expenditure greater than the GDP of 166 of the world's 186 countries. A nation that has the largest billionaires and cannot or will not pay for the healthcare of its poorest 20%. A lot is not well and it is systemic. I believe over the next 40 years we will witness tectonic shifts in influence and power of countries across the globe. The US is doing itself no favours. This new policy is but one more scar on a long term trend of decline due to parochialism. I hope they have a change of President in November but who knows what drama lies ahead. Last edited by Aditya : 13th July 2020 at 07:07 . Reason: Typo
A newly-formed Madhesi party officially registered with Nepals election commission on Sunday after all its documents were accepted by the poll panel.

The Janata Samajbadi Party of Nepal (JSPN) was formed on April 23 after the merger of Samajbadi Party Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal.

The party had applied for registration on June 7, but claimed that the process was delayed by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is facing turmoil within his ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

The certificate for registration was finally issued on Sunday.

With 32 seats in the Lower House, the JSPN has now become the third-largest party after the NCP with 173 seats and the main Opposition Nepali Congress with 60 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives.

Though it has supported the constitutional amendment bill passed by the Nepal government to change the countrys map, the JSPN has been against a new citizenship amendment bill being pushed by the Oli government which seeks to impose restrictions on people who are not the countrys citizens.

The Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, belong to this category.

They had launched a six-month-long agitation during Olis previous term in 2015-16 in which more than 50 people were killed. The agitation had also crippled the landlocked countrys economy as supplies from India were blocked.

The new Madhesi party can play a crucial role in Nepals political spectrum as pressure is mounting on Oli to quit the post of the prime minister.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has vowed to go after the traffickers who planned the trafficking of Temitope-Olamide Arowolo to the Republic of Lebanon.

Ms Arowolo, an indigene of Oyo State, was the Nigerian lady whose video of her ordeal of enslavement went viral on social media sometime in May and June.

Ms Arowolo had alleged that she was been manhandled and given inhuman treatment where she worked as a slave in Lebanon by her enslaver, a situation that brought on her so many allegations by her boss.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that Ms Arowolos refusal to allow the husband of her boss sleep with her inflicted some injury on him, and she (Arowolo) was charged for attempted murder and theft by the Lebanon police.

NAN also gathered that Ms Arowolo was in the custody of Lebanon police where she released her ordeal video, which later caught the attention of the Nigerian government.

NAN also gathered that the veracity of the video made the Nigerian government to contact its Lebanese counterpart and the country ambassador to Nigeria promised to ensure the release of the lady.

Meanwhile, while welcoming her at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the NAPTIP Director-General Julie Okah-Donli vowed to go after the traffickers.

She also said that the victim was going to be rehabilitated by the agency in its shelter and thereafter be empowered.

READ ALSO:

According to her, Ms Arowolo will first of all be quarantined for two weeks as the law stipulated for now, and thereafter, she will be taken to the agency shelter.

We have to counsel her and rehabilitate her and thereafter, empower her, the job of arresting her traffickers will be done after profiling her properly.

We will counsel her and get necessary information from her that will lead us to the arrest of her traffickers for prosecution, we will ensure justice for her, none of the traffickers will go scot free.

She is going to be an ambassador of NAPTIP, the director-general said.

Ms Arowolo, who spoke with journalists about her ordeal in Labanon, advised ladies to stay back in Nigeria.

Going outside there was like a hell, even not only Lebanon, but what I experienced at Lebanon, I pray for my enemy not to experience that, she said. (NAN)

Best Regards,
A British man has died at a Spanish hotel in a fall that killed another man, according to reports.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said officials were supporting the family of a British national in Spain after a death at the Melia Don Pepe Hotel in Marbella.

The spokesman said: We are supporting the family of a British man following his death in Spain, and are in touch with the local police.

According to the MailOnline, the British man was on holiday with family when he fell from a seventh-floor balcony at the five-star hotel in the early hours of Saturday and collided with a Spanish man who was on the terrace below.

National Police in Malaga told the website: I can confirm two men have died at a hotel in Marbella after one plunged from the seventh-floor and landed on top of another.

We are investigating.

Additional reporting by Press Association
KYODO NEWS - Jul 10, 2020 - 23:32 | All, World, Japan

Japan and the United States signed a document Friday for cooperation on lunar exploration led by NASA, with Japan aiming to send astronauts to the Moon in the latter half of the 2020s.

Koichi Hagiuda, minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, and James Bridenstine, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, signed the joint exploration declaration during a virtual meeting.

The document said the two sides would aim to provide Japanese crew with opportunities on the Gateway, a small spaceship that will orbit around the Moon, as well as on the lunar surface. The Gateway will be equipped with living quarters for astronauts, a research lab and ports for visiting spacecraft

"We've taken a big first step toward having the first Japanese landing on the lunar surface," Hagiuda said at a press conference.

The two sides will discuss details such as the number of Japanese astronauts and their lunar surface activities, ministry officials said.

The document describes planned cooperation for NASA's Artemis program, including Japanese contributions to the Gateway and lunar surface exploration, NASA said in a statement.

Through the Artemis program, NASA plans to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024 and establish sustainable lunar surface exploration with its commercial and international partners by 2028.

Japan plans to provide equipment such as power components for the Gateway's Habitation and Logistics Outpost module by 2022, according to the document.

Japan also plans to provide components for life support and environmental control as well as thermal control pumps for the Gateway's International Habitation Module, which will be delivered to NASA by the European Space Agency in 2025 for launch.
Unfortunately this simple lifesaving practice has become part of a political debate that says: If youre for Trump, you dont wear a mask. If youre against Trump, you do, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said last month during a Senate hearing. That is why I have suggested the president should occasionally wear a mask even though there are not many occasions when it is necessary for him to do so. The president has millions of admirers. They would follow his lead.
Qualcomm Ventures has invested  730 crore in Jio Platform making it the thirteenth investment in 12 weeks.

And the investment spree continues! Reliance Jio continues to attract investments with the latest one coming from Qualcomm Ventures, which is the investment arm of chipmaker Qualcomm.

Reliance Jio has bagged an investment of 730 crore in Jio Platform for an 0.15% equity stake in the company.

Today, I am delighted to welcome Qualcomm Ventures as an investor in Jio Platforms. Qualcomm has been a valued partner for several years and we have a shared vision of connecting everything by building a robust and secure wireless and digital network and extending the benefits of digital connectivity to everyone in India, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL, said in a statement.

12 global investors have invested in Jio Platforms so far. (Reliance Jio)

Here are top five things you should know about the deal:

1. The Qualcomm investment values Reliance Jio at an equity value of 4.91 Lakh crore and enterprise value of 5.16 Lakh crore.

2. This is the thirteenth deal in a span of mere twelve weeks.

3. With this deal, Reliance Jio has raised a total of 118,318.45 crore from leading investors such as Facebook, Silver Lake Partners, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, PIF and Intel Capital.

4. The Reliance Jio - Qualcomm deal is the largest continuous funds raised by a company anywhere in the world.

5. The Qualcomm deal comes shortly after Intel Corporation invested 1,894.50 in the company for a 0.39% equity stake in the company on a fully diluted basis.
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale had an unusual cameo in the president's first television ad of the year: Sandwiched among images of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, the bearded Parscale appears twice, taking a selfie with supporters and hugging girls in red ball caps.

It was an unprecedented use of an ad - one that cost $142,655, according to the firm Ad Analytics - to promote a campaign staffer. It sent a clear message to Trump's orbit: Parscale, a colorful and outspoken public face of Trumpism, was the leader of the campaign.

But the image concealed a more complicated reality. As Trump's re-election effort struggles, Parscale, despite his self-promotion, increasingly finds himself out of favor with his boss and hemmed in by newly hired staffers and recently promoted advisers, according to people familiar with the campaign.

A political novice who became a Republican celebrity after running Trump's online ad effort in 2016, Parscale has long operated without a campaign manager's usual autonomy, as Trump family members exert their influence.

Now Parscale's role is being further threatened. Trump has made clear his displeasure with Parscale, especially after a disappointing rally in Tulsa, and the campaign has expanded its senior team in ways that diminish his role, according to multiple campaign and administration officials.

Trump's new kitchen cabinet, a combination of White House and campaign employees led by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, includes Parscale's recently promoted deputy Bill Stepien and two communications aides from the 2016 campaign - Hope Hicks and Jason Miller, who was recently hired by the campaign and is increasingly seen as its principal strategist.

Miller and Stepien, who officially report to Parscale, were talking with Trump almost every day in the week leading up to Trump's pivotal July 3 speech at Mount Rushmore. Sometimes, Republican Party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Chris Carr, the party's political director, joined the conversations.

The advisers discussed polling, potential campaign events, organizing and other topics, officials said. Parscale, though, returned to his home in Florida after visiting Washington early in the week and continued to dial into conference calls, officials said.

Parscale, 44, has long occupied a unique spot in Trump's orbit. At 6-foot-8 with a dramatic red beard, he cuts a brash figure and is given to statements like comparing the Trump campaign to the Death Star, a superweapon in the "Star Wars" movies. In many ways, his self-promotion and aggressive style mirror Trump's.

In a statement for this story, Parscale denied any weakening of his position and rejected criticism of his performance.

"This is the same tired story being shopped every week by the same lowlife anonymous sources who are putting their own personal interests ahead of the president and his campaign, in a misguided attempt to weasel their way in to resurrect their failed and disgraced careers," Parscale said.

But campaign and White House officials say Parscale does not always appear to understand the political dynamics of crucial swing states. In a recent meeting at Republican National Committee headquarters, an official said, Parscale asked questions about the re-election budget that suggested he did not fully grasp it. Trump and Kushner have begun interrupting him more frequently when he speaks, this person said.

Allies of Parscale say he maintains the trust of the Trump family, including Trump son-in-law Kushner, continues to advise the president and travels weekly to the White House. Many on the expanded team, they said, work well with Parscale, and he is largely responsible for the massive re-election operation, with its million-plus volunteers, nearly $300 million in cash and extensive data operation.

"Brad is absolutely the right man for the job," said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. "His work ethic and command of what it takes to run a successful campaign in 2020 is second to none."

A senior Trump administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment on personnel issues, said Parscale "knows he screwed up" with the Trump rally last month in Tulsa, which featured numerous empty seats despite the president's predictions of an overflow crowd. But such occasional mistakes do not overshadow Parscale's significant accomplishments, this person said.

"He knows what his job is, and we are entering a new phase," said the official. "Brad's focus right now is really on management and data."

The official said the most important people in Trump's orbit still trust Parscale. "In this town, you have a lot of people who are the political consultants who are always trying to position things," the official said. "That is not Brad. We know he has the same intention as the family."

That confidence, however, has not prevented internal complaints about Parscale's frequent absence from campaign headquarters. Parscale lives in Florida, and the campaign is based in Northern Virginia, and staffers say that when they talk to him, he is often by his pool in Fort Lauderdale.

"You can't have a campaign manager who isn't even around the campaign," said another senior White House official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics.

Campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh defended the arrangement. "Brad has been in the office every week since we've been open, except the week after the Tulsa rally, when he was quarantined," he said. "There's no question at the campaign who's in charge. We all report to Brad."

Parscale added, "These anonymous cowards have no valid criticisms of the job I'm doing, so now they're attacking where I sit."

The dissent comes as several longtime Trump advisers are trying to lift the president out of his current dismay over the state of his campaign.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie recently sent Trump a lengthy memo explaining that the president could not run the same campaign in 2020 as in 2016 and offering various ways to improve his standing. Other informal advisers, such as Chris Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax, have counseled the president to change course in ways that would appeal to independent-minded voters.

Amid these struggles, Parscale's high profile has not gone unnoticed. One senior administration official told him that putting his face in a TV ad was not helpful. Parscale told his production team to stop including him in ads, a campaign official said.

But other novel promotions of the campaign manager continue. Parscale is listed as a "host" on invitations for Trump's high-dollar fundraisers, even ones he does not attend. Campaign managers typically leave such billing to party leaders and top donors.

A campaign official defended the invitations as appropriate, since the fundraisers are for a joint committee of the campaign and the Republican Party, and RNC Chairwoman McDaniel is also listed. "A lot of donors want to meet and talk to Brad," Murtaugh said.

The campaign, meanwhile, has placed $566,567 in campaign ads through Parscale's personal Facebook fan page.

It's an unconventional strategy that staffers describe as part of an experiment to increase voter response to the ads. "There is no financial gain for Brad," Murtaugh said.

The ads, which a senior campaign official said were not bought at the campaign manager's urging, place Parscale's name and image in voters' Facebook feeds, and they link back to his fan page. That page, in turn, included a link to Parscale's consulting company until recently, and it continues to offer dozens of photographs of Parscale in action - dining with the Trumps, in a Super Bowl skybox, flying on Air Force One.

Murtaugh said the campaign also advertised through Pence's Facebook page. After the Parscale Facebook effort was revealed by Mother Jones, the campaign began advertising through the page of Katrina Pierson, another senior campaign adviser. A campaign official said the practice would soon be expanded to the pages of other Trump surrogates.

The amount of money that Parscale has personally earned from the campaign is undisclosed in Federal Election Commission reports, because the reports do not distinguish between the money that goes directly to him and the payments that go to his firm, Parscale Strategies, for pass-through costs.

The reports show regular monthly payments to Parscale Strategies from multiple accounts - Donald Trump for President Inc., the Republican National Committee, the Trump Make America Great Again Committee and Trump Victory. (The last two are joint operations of the campaign and the GOP.)

Between September 2019 and May 2020, those accounts paid Parscale Strategies an average of $100,905 a month. Still, the payments included multiple salaries for other people, including campaign adviser Lara Trump, who is the wife of Eric Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a campaign fundraiser who is dating Donald Trump Jr., according to a person familiar with the situation.

In comparison, records show that Biden's campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, has been paid $11,486 a month since taking over in April. That number, which is low for someone in such a senior position, does not include any other undisclosed payments or bonuses she may have negotiated.

Trump's Republican opponents have seized on the Parscale payments in hopes of angering the president and exacerbating divisions within the campaign.

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC, has used ads to highlight Parscale's purchase of a Ferrari and a 32-foot boat, and released a digital spot recently that flashes repeated images of Parscale while alleging a "loyalty problem" in the campaign.

"We go after things that we know Donald Trump is sensitive to," said Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project. "He doesn't like people to be bigger than him, and he doesn't like people to make money off him."

The senior administration official said that members of the Trump family are familiar with Parscale's pay package and are comfortable with it.

Parscale's power in the campaign derives from the trust he has earned with the family, say people familiar with the operation, especially Kushner and Eric Trump.

Previously a San Antonio-based web designer, Parscale started building corporate websites for the family before Trump entered the 2016 race. Once the campaign started, he quickly became its top digital strategist.

Parscale has since become an iconic presence in the Trump universe, sometimes modeling Trump gear, such as an as-yet-unreleased Trump face mask. Earlier this year, he successfully pushed the president to pull back from an outright ban on flavored vaping products, which he believed would affect core Trump voters.

But he has struggled at times to steer the campaign, with the president delaying Parscale's April push to launch negative anti-Biden ads in favor of more positive spots. More recent campaign personnel moves, including the hiring of Jeff DeWit, a former chief financial officer at NASA, were announced by Kushner, not Parscale. Emails reviewed by The Washington Post show DeWit clashed with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine over spending decisions before his departure.

Trump's recent dissatisfaction with Parscale can be tracked in large part to his aggressive promotion of the president's first rally since the novel coronavirus crippled much of national life. Parscale boasted that there was enormous demand for tickets to the Tulsa event - "Just passed 800,000," he tweeted at one point - but the 19,000-seat venue was not filled on the day.

Trump advisers say Parscale made a fundamental mistake in setting expectations too high and disappointing Trump.

Afterward, Parscale blamed the low attendance on "a week's worth of the fake news media warning people away from the rally because of Covid and protesters." Six Trump campaign advance staffers tested positive for the coronavirus before the event, and two more afterward.

But at the rally itself, the campaign manager was more circumspect. As Trump spoke, Parscale sat in the back of the Tulsa arena alone in a blue suit, regularly checking his phone.

- - -

The Washington Post's Anu Narayanswamy contributed to this report.
The narrative of Boohoo is familiar. Modest beginnings on a market stall in Manchester to stock market star.

Marks & Spencer, Tesco and soft furnishings group Dunelm have similar inspiring back stories of rags to riches. Boohoo along with other breakthrough online retailers, Asos in fashion and Ocado in grocery, caught the zeitgeist in the lockdown.

When all is going well, investors are reluctant to look under the bonnet. But there are questions to be asked. Does too much power rest with co-founder Mahmud Kamani who is 'executive' chairman? Even with a reduced market value of 3.5billion, why is Boohoo still quoted on the less regulated AIM market?

Ethical practices?: On the supply front, the warning signs have been there for some time despite claims of creating 'a sustainable business that minimises the environmental impact'

Boohoo's 2020 report and accounts show a number of related party transactions and a restatement of past profits.

The firm's auditors Price Waterhouse Coopers are also employed as consultants on tax and remuneration, creating potential conflicts. And Boohoo's main domicile is, for unexplained reasons, in Jersey.

On the supply front, the warning signs have been there for some time despite claims of creating 'a sustainable business that minimises the environmental impact'.

There should be no surprise about the sweatshop conditions in their clothing factories which were chronicled by the University of Leicester as far back as 2015.

Why have such working conditions and poor wages been allowed to persist for so long under the eyes of enforcers such as Health & Safety and HMRC.

It is not much use government raising the national living wage to 9.30 per hour (outside London) if employers and regulators do nothing to make sure it is paid.

What is particularly disturbing in Leicester is that many of those in pitiful working conditions are drawn from the South Asian community.

Admiration for the entrepreneurship of Boohoo founder Kamani and his family and designer co-founder Carol Kane is undermined by alleged malpractice in the supply chain.

Until recent disclosures, there was a tendency to give Boohoo's claims of the highest ethical practices the benefit of the doubt. They say they did not know about the low wages or working conditions.

Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) is the first big battalion investor to head for the door, and one cannot imagine it will be alone. Boohoo's financial practices have also been under scrutiny during lockdown.

Hedge fund ShadowFall was critical of Boohoo's 200m fund-raising in lockdown, ostensibly to take advantage of opportunities.

The first big one to come up was for the chairman to spend 269.8m (it could rise to 328.8m) on buying out a 34 per cent stake in Pretty Little Thing from his son Uma.

Top Boohoo executives then put in place a 150m 'Persimmon style' potential bonus scheme.

If ever there was an ill-timed moment for bosses to be rewarding themselves, it was in a pandemic at a company with mean wages in the supply chain.

The independent review led by Alison Levitt QC will probe regulations, working hours and bookkeeping. Most of this corporate activity may well pass by consumers of 5 frocks from Boohoo. But we know from other diminished fashion brands such as Ted Baker how quickly it is possible to go from hero to zero.
Warsaw: Poland's incumbent Andrzej Duda has won the presidential election, results from over 99 per cent of polling stations show, with remaining uncounted votes unlikely to sway the final outcome, the National Electoral Commission said on Monday.

Duda, an ally of Poland's ruling nationalists, is expected to help the Law and Justice (PiS) party continue its reforms of the judiciary, which have been criticised by the European Union, and generous social spending programmes.

Incumbent Andrzej Duda, left, and his wife Agata Kornhauser Duda cast their votes in Poland's presidential election on Sunday. Credit:Getty

According to the latest results, Duda received 51.21 per cent of the vote, while opposition candidate Rafal Trzaskowski got 48.79 per cent of the vote. The difference in votes between the candidates amounted to around 500,000.

The re-election of Duda, an ally of the ruling nationalists Law and Justice, is crucial if the government is to implement in full its conservative agenda, including judicial reforms that the EU says are undemocratic.
South Africa has banned the sale of alcohol again and will reinstate a night time curfew in the fight against Covid-19.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country will immediately return to a ban on the sale of alcohol to reduce the volume of trauma patients so hospitals have more beds to treat coronavirus patients.

Confronted by surging hospital admissions due to the coronavirus, South Africa is also reinstating a night curfew to reduce traffic accidents and made it mandatory for all residents to wear face masks when in public.

South Africa has banned the sale of alcohol again and will reinstate a night time curfew in the fight against Covid-19. Above, a closed liquor store in Johannesburg on April 17 (file image)

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country will immediately return to a ban on the sale of alcohol to reduce the volume of trauma patients so hospitals have more beds to treat coronavirus patients. Above, a patient arrives at the Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth, on July 10

Before the coronavirus pandemic, alcohol was the cause of 40 per cent of hospital admissions in South Africa , with 34,000 trauma cases passing through emergency departments in any normal week. Above, an emergency paramedic wearing full COVID-19 coronavirus personal protective equipment (PPE) waits at the Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth

It comes after a two-month ban on the sale of alcohol was originally lifted on June 1, prompting people to line up outside liquor stores in their dozens.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, alcohol was the cause of 40 per cent of hospital admissions in South Africa, with 34,000 trauma cases passing through emergency departments in any normal week.

Mr Ramaphosa said that top health officials warn of impending shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen as South Africa reaches a peak of Covid-19 cases, expected between the end of July and September.

South Africa's rapid increase in reported cases has made it one of the world's centres for Covid-19, as it is ranked as the ninth country most affected by the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Customers queue to buy alcohol after a two-month ban on the sale of liquor was overturned on June 1. The ban has now been reinstated

A customer buys alcohol alcohol on day 66 of South Africa's national lockdown in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 1

The country has reported increases of more than 10,000 confirmed cases for several days and the latest daily increase was nearly 13,500.

South Africa accounts for 40% of all the confirmed cases in Africa, with 264,184, including 3,971 deaths, acccording to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday.

South Africa imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns in April and May, including closing virtually all mines, factories and businesses, and a ban on sales of alcohol and cigarettes.

The measures slowed the spread of the coronavirus but South Africa's economy, already in recession, contracted dramatically, increasing unemployment above 30%.

In June the country began relaxing restrictions to allow millions of South Africans to return to work.

The easing of restrictions allowed the sales of alcohol on four days a week. However, within a few weeks the country's numbers of confirmed cases and hospitalisations increased dramatically, prompting Mr Ramaphosa to reimpose the ban on alcohol sales and other restrictions.

More than 30% of South Africa's cases are in the economic hub of Gauteng province, which includes the largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria.

South Africa has carried out 2.1 million tests, on its population of 58 million. Above, a man walks beneath a Covid-19 sign advising precautions people should take in Cape Town

The tourist centre of Cape Town also has a high number of cases.

South Africa has carried out 2.1 million tests, on its population of 58 million.

Because of an international shortage of testing materials, South Africa in June experienced a long delay in the time to get test results, at one point reaching 12 days in government clinics.

The situation has improved and the average time to get test results is five days in public laboratories and two days in private labs, according to the latest figures issued by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

Africa's 54 countries have reported 577,904 cases, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The continent's confirmed cases are concentrated in four countries - South Africa, Egypt with 81,158 cases, Nigeria with 31,987 cases and Algeria with 18,712 cases - which together make up more than 65% of the continent's cases.

The number of actual cases in Africa is believed to be much higher, as the testing rate is very low in many countries.
Around 200 Polish police are hunting for an Afghan war veteran and his pet puma after he fled into the forest to avoid handing over the big cat.

Kamil Stanek is alleged to have threatened Poznan city zoo keepers with a knife when they turned up at his house in the southern town of Myslowice on Friday.

Poznan Zoo, which is around 200 miles away from the forest where Stanek has fled to, allege that the war veteran has been taking the puma around the country and charging 600 for people who want to pet her.

'It's not a cuddly toy. It's one of the most dangerous animals in the world and it could be a real threat to people's lives,' said Ewa Zgrabczynska, head of Poznan Zoo.

About 200 officers have been involved in trying to track down Afghan war veteran Kamil Stanek and Nubia the puma for three days

Poznan zoo, which is around 200 miles away from the forest where Stanek has fled to outside Myslowice, allege that the war veteran has been taking the puma around the country and charging 600 for people who want to pet her

The zoo alleges that when they went to Stanek's house they discovered the puma was living in a cramped, filthy cage.

Yesterday Stanek posted a video (pictured) on Facebook to update fans that he and Nubia were safe

It is claimed that Stanek - who was ordered to hand over the Puma to Poznan Zoo in January - has effectively been on the run with Nubia since then.

Stanek bought Nubia six years ago in the Czech Republic but keeping pumas is against the law in Poland.

Stanek, who purportedly runs an animal sanctuary with his wife and has tens of thousands of social media followers on his Projekt Puma Facebook page, posted an update for his fans yesterday.

In the post Stanek filmed himself stroking the big cat and wrote as the caption: 'Thank you for your messages and support. Let the media see what an army we have.'

Among his supporters, is the mayor of Myslowice, who suggested that Stanek should not have been forced into hiding.

'Love for the animal and a heartless court decision forced him to flee. He is hiding in the forest,' Mayor Dariusz Wojtowicz said on Facebook.

'Maybe someone could take a more humane look at this case.'

Stanek purportedly runs an animal sanctuary with his wife and has tens of thousands of social media followers on his Projekt Puma Facebook page which he regularly posts videos and pictures on

Nubia the puma with one of Stanek's dogs on the sofa at his home. Poznan zoo, which is around 200 miles away from the forest where Stanek has fled to, allege that the war veteran has been taking the animal around the country and charging 600 for people who want to pet the puma.

One of Stanek's legal pet cats with his illegal pet cat, the puma Nubia

According to the Coalition for Circuses Without Animals, a Polish animal rights group, Stanek has been moving the puma in a small trailer and keeping it outside his property in a cage.

They further allege that photos online showing Nubia living in a large enclosure are from Stanek's family home and date back to 2016, before his legal troubles began.

Police today declined to give details on the hunt, with spokesman Tomasz Grabos telling AFP only: 'We are continuing our operations.'

Poznan Zoo say that they have an enclosure prepared for the animal and expert veterinary care.
If residents were angry due to sudden announcement of lockdown in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was also quick in its response.

Several BJP leaders, including party national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, city MP Girish Bapat and Shivajinagar legislator Siddharth Shirole said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) led by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has no concrete plans to deal with the crisis.

Besides Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, other cities to go or already under lockdown are Thane, Aurangabad, Nanded, Solapur and Amravati.

Calling the lockdown as an ad hoc approach and confusion between opening up and restrictions, Sahasrabuddhe in his letter to the chief minister said the government is taking decisions arbitrarily with safe-play.

Many believe that this re-lockdown in just few days after declaration of Mission Begin Again smacks of utter confusion at various levels of administration. It is believed that these decisions are taken arbitrarily as they can be described as case of convenient safe-play, said Sahasrabuddhe.

Shirole said the city has reported maximum Covid-19 positive cases after Mumbai and Thane, but the CM is yet to visit the city or have not acknowledged the situation here. Leadership that is paramount in times of such crisis is missing.

Let alone a visit to #Pune, Hon CM @OfficeofUT ji has not had a single update or review call / video conference with elected representatives of the City who are working on the ground during this unprecedented Pandemic. Even emails from me are yet to receive a reply. Why is the leader of our state Hon. CM @OfficeofUT ji ignoring #Pune, a city closest to his home, and has one of the highest mortality & infection growth rates in India ? Why has the CM not visited #Pune or held a conference call with local representatives in past 100 days?, said Shirole in series of tweets.

The announcement of lockdown made in Pune by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar came just days after NCP chief Sharad Pawar advocated resumption of activity in the state. While taking the decision, Ajit did not consult any public representatives in Pune, angering many in the BJP.

Ajit Pawars decision is unilateral and makes no sense. He should have at least discussed the issue with MLAs and MP before going ahead with lockdown measure. People are already frustrated because of poor economic activity, said city MP Girish Bapat.

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By Online Desk

As Rajasthan politics gathers steam from the ongoing tensions between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot, an old party colleague turned BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia added his two cents, by saying that he was "sad to see Pilot too being persecuted" by the CM.

Taking to Twitter Scindia shared his thoughts on the ongoing Congress tussle in the western state. He said, "Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, @SachinPilot too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM, @ashokgehlot51 . Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the @INCIndia."

Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, @SachinPilot too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM, @ashokgehlot51 . Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the @INCIndia .  Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) July 12, 2020

Scindia, who felt that he was sidelined after the party's win in 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections, had recently quit the Congress party along with 22 MLAs, leading to the toppling of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in the state.

Both Scindia and Pilot have been colleagues working under the UPA government as junior ministers.

Congress tussle in Rajasthan

The political turmoil in Rajasthan Congress which began when the horse-trading charges in the Rajya Sabha polls last month came to light, has now turned into an open war between CM Ashok Gehlot and his Deputy Sachin Pilot.

Pilot is now especially upset over the recent summons for questioning by the Special Operations Group (SOG).

The SOG wrote to Pilot on Friday seeking his availability to record his statement in connection with the alleged attempts to topple the Congress government in Rajasthan - a move which has brought the rift between the two leaders out in the open.

Amid the deepening crisis in Rajasthan Congress, CM Ashok Gehlot has called for an 8 pm meeting with MLAs at his residence in Jaipur on Sunday, followed by another 9 pm meeting with his ministers.

Meanwhile, Deputy CM Sachin Pilot who was reportedly in Delhi to apprise the Congress high command of his discomfiture with Gehlot's style of functioning, has not been able to meet either Rahul or Sonia Gandhi. But, he has held a meeting with senior leader Ahmed Patel who has reportedly assured Pilot that the party will ensure that no injustice is done to him.

Sources say that Avinash Pandey, the AICC General Secretary Incharge for Rajasthan has already submitted a report to Sonia Gandhi in which he has assessed that there is no danger to the Congress government in the state.

(With inputs from ENS)
The clip can be found online and, quite frankly, is really funny because it makes fun of a government thats spending, what many taxpayers consider a lot of money, building a memorial for Shivaji. The clip in no way even hints at a joke about the man, only makes fun of the jingoism of his followers.

Chatrapati Shivaji is my favourtie character in history. I have been fond of him since I read about him in school. It amused me greatly, that at a time when the European Powers were roaming in India and the Mughal Empire was at its height, there was a ruler who decided to take them all on. The Maratha Empire doesn't find enough mention in our history books. This was an Empire forged in the Deccan that extended all the way to the to the North-West Frontier. There are living legacies of Maratha rule in the sub-continent even today and the Maratha Empire greatly shaped the history of that tumlutos period between the transition from Mughal to British Admistration of the Sub-Continent.

The man behind this phenomenal undertaking is an illustrious and legendary character in the history of India. His name is Chatrapati Shivaji Bhosale I or as we popularly know him 'Shivaji Maharaj' and his story is something that every Indian should learn and read. For it is quite simply not a story about religion or politics. It is a story of how one man united a people together and decided to stand up to those bullying him.

In the 1869, the great reformer Jyotirao Phule wrote a poetic work called Powada : Chatrapati Shivajiraje Bhosle Yancha. He took the story of Shivaji and used it to start a movement against the social evils of the caste system and later Lokmanya Tilak would use the story of Shivaji to inspire a spirit of resistance against the then British government. But like all leaders, Shivaji's legacy is controversial among some sections of the population. It was present at the time of Tilak and Phule and it is present even now.

There is, however, one aspect of Shivaji's legacy that is beyond controversy. It is that he tried to build a progressive state. Here, progressive means a State that would better the lives of its population rather than the lives of its ruling class. While, this was not a new concept in that era, we must remember that Shivaji's reign commenced and ended during Aurangzebs rule in India. The Mughal Empire under Shah Jahan was one that had indulged in lavish spending. Aurangzeb was not only conservative fiscally but also socially. His policies were beginning to have a direct impact on the day to day lives of people. The polices largely being taxation to fund further wars of conquest to expand the Empire. Shivaji's role as a leader assumed even more importance during this period as he believed citizen-centric approach focused on common welfare.

Which is why, Maharashtra today is one of the most industrialised and socially-progressive states in India. Shivaji's approach to the Maratha identity is one that is built on the concept of common welfare and distanced from jingoism. Yes, there is pride taken in the culture here but it is not an exclusionary pride (as it is found in some other parts of India) but an inclusive one.

This is what makes it overly concerning when Shivaji is appropriated by thugs and goons to serve their own perverse political agendas. The news cycle has been filled with the fact that a comedian called Agrima Joshua, has come under considerable social media fire and received threats against her life for a sketch she performed last year in Mumbai. In her sketch, she talks about the ridiculous answers she had read on Quora about the upcoming Chhatrapati Shivaji Statute in Mumbai.

The clip can be found online and, quite frankly, is really funny because it makes fun of a government thats spending, what many taxpayers consider a lot of money, building a memorial for Shivaji. The clip in no way even hints at a joke about the man, only makes fun of the jingoism of his followers.

The decision to build a memorial is one that should be subject to public scrutiny and the requisite ridicule. The government is spending about Rs 2,800 crore on a memorial, when a new Kolkata Class Destroyer for the Navy would cost about Rs 3,800 crores. Personally, I think, at least in terms of priorities, a naval destroyer capable of launching nuclear war heads is a better testament to Shivajis legacy than a memorial statute.

Right now, we do not have a naval ship named after him, just a naval station. Given the contribution of the Marathas in developing what would become the Indian Navy, it only seems fitting that we should have named a destroyer after him instead of building a statute that (at least to me) looks like a poor attempt to copy the concept of the Colossus of Rhodes.

However, this joke last year, offended people enough that they actually sent rape threats over to the comedian and the state home minister has requested the Mumbai police commissionerate to take strict and expeditious legal action against her. According to reports, Vadodara Police has registered an FIR against one Shubham Mishra for uploading a video on social media with alleged rape threats to Joshua.

Let us give the government the benefit of the doubt. Even if we assume that she had actually insulted or made fun of Shivaji, would there be cause to actually initiate a prosecution? Popular leaders have historically been leaders who could take a joke when one is thrown at them. It is a part of being in the popular memory. There are many instances when leaders in Parliament share a laugh at the expense of another colleague. Jokes are sometimes how society puts across the point. It can be a praise or sometimes it can be censure and sometimes it can just be for comic effect. The idea that there are leaders who are beyond ridicule is something that should be unacceptable to any society.

Which is what makes it extremely upsetting that the government of maharashtra has decided to try and prosecute the comedian rather than the thugs who have been sending her violent threats.

What Joshua said is protected speech under the Constitution of India and that protection exists for a reason. It is so that we do not become a society where we are scared to point to our leaders and laugh. If leaders are part of the community, why are they protected from ridicule? The same goes with the idea of historical figures.

There is no figure in India that by law is elevated to the point of immunity from ridicule. In fact, a comedian can even make a joke about Mahatma Gandhi, the celibate chap, who is supposed to have fathered this country.

The reaction to that clip, while on the surface looks like social media outrage, does not quite seem to add up. For Maharashtra and the Marathi culture has had a rich history of comedy and theatre. Where truth is spoken to power and social issues freely expressed and discussed. This culture of calling for censorship does not seem to be inline with this culture. The people of Maharashtra (who are the final inheritors of the legacy of this great leader) should speak up against people who are clearly jingoist thugs trying to culturally hijack a beloved figure. They may claim they want the comedian to be prosecuted to defend Shivajis legacy, but such prosecutions do nothing but take that legacy away, for they set a precedent to take away the power of the public to make fun of their leaders. A vital power to retain a free republic.
Earlier this week, megachurch pastor John Ortberg claimed his congregation had extensively investigated concerns about his youngest son and found no misconduct.

Now elders at Menlo Church, a Northern California congregation of 5,000, say their initial investigation fell short and have announced plans for an additional supplemental investigation.

While many of you know that the board took immediate action upon learning of these concerns, we understand our initial investigation could have gone further and included specific expertise in child safety and sex abuse issues, and it could have been informed by conversations with a wider group of people, church elders said in an email to the congregation Saturday, July 11.

Ortberg was placed on leave last fall after church leaders learned he had withheld information about his son from them, a move they described as poor judgment and a betrayal of trust.

In July 2018, Ortbergs son John Ortberg IIIwho volunteered with children at the church and in the communitytold his father he experienced what church leaders called an unwanted thought pattern of attraction to minors. The senior Ortberg did not tell church leaders or staff about what he had learned from his son. Nor did he act to prevent his youngest son from working with children.

Church leaders learned of Ortbergs decision after his older son, Daniel Lavery, wrote to them expressing concerns.

As reported by Religion News Service, the elders hired an investigator who talked to church staff and Lavery, among others, but never spoke with Ortbergs younger son, or with any parents of children who had contact with him. The elders also never officially acknowledged the family connection between Ortberg and the volunteer in question.

The church had consistently defended its investigation as independent and said no misconduct was found. After the identity of the volunteer became public in June of this year, congregation members began to push back against the elders.

After carefully listening to our community these last several days about the investigation into a former church volunteer, we want to first acknowledge the boards ownership in what we have done to contribute to the pain and distrust many of you are feeling right now, the elders said in the statement. Fundamentally, we did not provide the transparency that our community deserves and as a result have eroded the trust some of you place in our leadership.

Church elders said they would begin an additional investigation to be overseen by a committee including elders, parents, staff, and volunteers.

On social media, Lavery expressed disappointment in the churchs announcement and called for his father to be removed as pastor.

This plan is a non-starter, a confession of failure, and a disgrace, he said on Twitter.

During an online church service, Eugene Lee, an executive pastor at Menlo Church, acknowledged the recent controversy at the beginning of his sermon.

Lee did not specifically mention Ortberg in his opening remarks, instead mentioning a hard week for our church.

I have talked to so many of you who are hurting, disappointed, confused and heartbroken and I am so sorry you are feeling that way, he said. I want you to know that we are listening."

"We are listening and praying and we hear your concerns. We are listening to your questions and we understand your disappointment.

Lee also said church leaders were working on significant next steps which they hope to share with the church in the coming week.
Nearly six months after the Ukrainian jet was mistakenly downed by Iranian missile, Tehran has said that misaligned radar led to the fatal crash in January. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had previously called for 'national unity' after its military 'unintentionally' shot down a Ukrainian jetliner due to 'human error'. Boeing 737-700 crashed shortly after take-off outside Tehran killing 176 people reportedly including 63 Canadians. The Iranian Civil Aviation authority said in a report on July 11 that a failure occurred due to a human error in following the procedure for aligning the radar and leading to a 107-degree error in the security system.

According to international media reports, Iran has now revealed that the misalignment of the air defence units radar system was the key human error that led to the accident that had sparked the controversy at the beginning of 2020. It took place just days after United States-led airstrike at Baghdad international airport, killing Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organisation.

Read - Iran Wants 'national Unity' After 'unintentionally' Downing Ukrainian Jetliner

Read - Amid Claims It Downed Ukraine Airliner, Iran Says Its Black Box May Have 'technical Fault'

Man who posted video arrested

Iran on January 14 had reportedly stated that it had arrested the person who posted a video online showing missile attacking the Boeing jetliner last week. According to an international media report, the person, who was taken into custody by the elite Revolutionary Guards, will be facing charges related to national security. The Iranian judiciary also announced that they have also made the arrest of several people over the incident.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a televised speech further said that everyone responsible for the downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane must be punished. He further added that for the people of Iran it is very important that whoever responsible for the negligence at any level must be punished. After initially denying its involvement in the January 8 crash, Iran on January 11 admitted that it accidentally shot down the jetliner because of a human error.

Read - Ukraine At UNSC: It Is Now Upto Experts To Investigate The Cause Of Plane Crash

Read - Iran Aviation Chief 'certain' Boeing Plane Was 'not Hit By Missile'

(Inputs: Agency) (Image credit: AP)
Bengaluru: The financial stability as a consequence of the coronavirus-induced lockdown has led to more than 40,000 private school teachers losing their jobs across Karnataka.

Among the worst hit are the pre-nursery and primary schools, where no new admission has taken place. In pre-nursery schools, the government has banned online classes as well.

We have budget schools which charge somewhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per year and give quality education. In this lockdown, over 25 per cent of the parents have not cleared the last years fees. Even though the government has asked the schools to collect tuition fees, not even 2-3 per cent parents have come forward to pay the fees, D Shashikumar , general secretary of Karnataka Associated Management of English Medium Schools (KAMS), stated.

While the situation is worse in budget schools, a few premium schools, too, have slashed teacher salaries by 30 to 50 per cent. This, despite these premier schools having already collected the fees.

Both the teaching and non-teaching staff were paid from the schools reserves for the first three months after the lockdown but how long can one continue without the governments aid? We demanded the government to lend a loan Rs 1,000 crore or provide the remuneration for the teachers. All the while the government did not bother to spend much on the noble profession, Shashikumar lamented.

In Karnataka, over 54.5 lakh students are enrolled in private schools while 8 lakh students are with the government schools.

Several teachers have found themselves in an unusual situation after classes went online recently. While many managed to teach, non payment of salary has sullied their efforts.

It is not easy to take classes online. We have not done it before. A lot of effort goes into it and the end of the day we do not get paid. My school is owned by a powerful politician and despite collecting fees from the students our salary was slashed by 30 percent in the month of May. Moreover, we are risking our lives by going to the schools to take classes when there are no students turning up. If nothing we expect dignity from the management, schools and the parents a school teacher on the condition of anonymity told the Deccan Chronicle.

In one instance of schools being reluctant to pay full salaries to teachers, a private school teacher was told by the management that she would have to let go of her increment as her techie husband also earns a salary.

Commenting over the issue, S R Umashankar, principal secretary to the government, primary and secondary education has said that the government is aware of the situation and is trying to find a solution.

The principal of SSMRV PU college, Vasanthalakshmi, said that while her school has done every arrangement of online classes, teachers have been reluctant to come before the camera.

The cameras are placed in the classes and the editing is done by the computer department. The teachers are just asked to take the classes but initially they did face issues, she remarked.
Last year, 3,871 Emirati entrepreneurs benefited from the start-up advisory services of Dubai SME, with nearly AED170 million ($46.28 million) of exemptions and incentives to launch and grow businesses in diverse sectors.

Overall, local entrepreneurs received over AED630 million worth of incentives and support from Dubai SME since its inception in 2002. The total number of Emirati entrepreneurs supported to date by Dubai SME also increased to 38,565 by the end of 2019.

Dubai SME is the agency of Dubai Economy mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector and entrepreneurship.

It continued to expand and diversify its advisory and support programmes in 2019 with an added emphasis on enhancing SME competitiveness and strengthening Dubai as a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship, a WAM report said.

Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME, stated that 2019 was a challenging but remarkably successful year for Dubai SME in its efforts to align with the diverse SME capabilities and entrepreneurial talent available locally with the ambitious growth strategies in Dubai as well as the UAE, and the vision of the leadership to make the country an innovation-driven, knowledge-based economy.

"The year, in general, has been exciting for Emirati entrepreneurs considering the regional and global economic challenges, especially since it witnessed the launch of various initiatives by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, and economic incentives to support SMEs," Al Janahi said.

"Universities in Dubai are being transformed into economic and creative free zones to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, in line with the 50 Year Charter of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He has also unveiled a Future Lab for Entrepreneurship," Al Janahi said, also citing the success of the Hamdan Innovation Incubator, Hi2, in Dubai SME and the accreditation programme for Business Incubators and Accelerators in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship as a culture.

Hi2 has supported 651 start-ups to date, including 68 in 2019 alone and the past year also saw four new business incubators and accelerators being accredited in Dubai, including the first accredited incubator for students at the GEMS Modern Academy. The number of accredited incubators in Dubai now stands at six, and Hi2 is also working on developing a network of incubators to support innovative enterprise, particularly in the fields of design and technologies relating to sustainability.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Fund, the financial arm of Dubai SME provided financing to 75 SMEs in 2019. To date, 172 projects have received financing products worth over AED80 million from the Fund, 64 percent of which was facilitated through Beehive, the fintech partner of the Fund. Start-up subsidies were also given to 1,470 Emirati SMEs in 2019, bringing the total number of SMEs that have benefited from exemptions and incentives to 7,590.

The value of contracts facilitated by Dubai SME to its registered and qualified members as part of the Government Procurement Programme, GPP, exceeded AED973 million in 2019. Since its inception, Dubai SME has facilitated AED5.67 billion worth of contracts for its members under GPP, from government, semi-government and private entities.

Meanwhile, Dubai Entrepreneurship Academy, the educational arm of Dubai SME, also had a full schedule in 2019, training 6,862 entrepreneurs. The Academy offers training in diverse disciplines of business start-up, management, and development, and has so far trained 21,775 entrepreneurs.-- Tradearabia News Service
Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot allegedly met Ahmed Patel, senior Congress leader late on Saturday night. Sachin Pilot is in Delhi with some of his loyalist MLAs.

In the middle of a political slugfest over the BJPs alleged attempts to topple the Congress-led Rajasthan government, Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot allegedly met Ahmed Patel, senior Congress leader late on Saturday night.

Sachin Pilot is in Delhi with some of his loyalist MLAs. On Saturday, he came to Delhi to meet party high command and has requested time for a meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Congress interim President.

Both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have been informed about the situation. A party insider said that Sonia Gandhi will take a call on the issue.

Also read: Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu CM oppose UGC guidelines, write to PM Modi

Also read: NASA-discovered new comet to be visible to naked eye from July 14

On Saturday night, Ashok Gehlot held a meeting of the council of ministers at his residence to talk about the political situation in the Rajasthan.

Ashok Gehlot asked all party MLAs to give a letter of support to him. Sachin Pilot didnt attend the meeting. Gehlot claimed that PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah were planning a conspiracy as they were unable to endure him or his government.

Ashok Gehlot attacked BJP as the state polices special operations group arrested two persons and the Anti-Corruption Bureau filed a preliminary inquiry against three Independent MLAs for alleged attempts of bribing Congress MLAs ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls last month.

Ashok Gehlot said that BJP is trying to buy MLAs by offering them up to Rs 25 crore. BJP strike back at it and said that Ashok Gehlot was incapable to check the internal strife in the state Congress and therefore targeting the opposition party.

Sachin Pilot complained that he has been sidelined in the Ashok Gehlot government. Congress seems to be in a profound crisis in Rajasthan.

Three months before, Jyotiraditya Scindia swapped sides with 23 loyalist MLAs which resulted in Congress losing MP (Madhya Pradesh) to the BJP.

SOG also sought time from CM Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot to record their statements in the case. Sachin Pilot is allegedly furious after receiving the SOG notice.

Also read: Rekhas bungalow sealed by BMC after security guard tests positive for Covid-19

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Jemulpo Harbor in the late 19th century. Robert Neff Collection



By Robert Neff



At dawn, on July 4, 1886, the first American teachers in Korea started their journey to Seoul. Of course, it started out in confusion.



"Amid calling and shouting and with much bickering we secured sampans and were on our way to shore," Annie Ellers recalled. "As we came nearer, we could see miles of what seemed mud flats. Arriving at the landing, we found some large stones laid here and there.



"Before we were allowed to use these stones, our various pieces of hand luggage were seized by men who had waded out to be the first to get at our bags. Such a tugging and pulling! The only wonder is that the bags remained whole. My hand bag, I held on to like grim death, nearly losing it a time or two when my attention was attracted elsewhere."



Once ashore, they made their way to Steward's Hotel in the Chinese settlement. They were relieved to find their ponies and rickshaws waiting. Quickly mounting up, they started on their 42-kilometer journey to Seoul.





A rest stop in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Robert Neff Collection



In the beginning, despite the scorching heat, the journey was quite enjoyable for the women. Ellers was excited about traveling in a rickshaw but once they left the port and the condition of the road deteriorated, her enthusiasm rapidly ebbed.



"First the rickshaw runners were new to their job," she said. "They would release the handle bar suddenly and we as suddenly were feet up! They would not notice a ditch and slow up, but plump into it went the wheels with a resultant bump for the rider!



"After a sufficient number of these unpleasantnesses, an exchange was made, the baggage was put into the rickshaws and the ladies on the ponies. Now the pack-saddles on the ponies were made for carrying loads of unfeeling wood and not for sensitive humans! So after our arrival, one lady was in bed a week, the other three days! I leave to your imagination the reason why."



Rickshaws first arrived in Korea in 1883 when 50 of them were imported from Japan. They were fairly popular until most of them were destroyed following the Gapsin Coup in December 1884. I think it is kind of amazing the American party was even able to procure operable rickshaws in 1886.





A Korean ferry, circa early 20th century. Robert Neff Collection



Once the women were safely on the ponies, they were able to take in the scenery about them.



"All along the way the scenery was glorious, the low lying hills, the valleys, the small villages on the foot hills, the fine trees, pine, willow and oak, giving one's eyes a rest from the bright sunshine; the long coats of the pedestrian with huge sleeves, in reality pockets, holding any kind of a bundle," Ellers wrote. "I saw a chick, a live chicken in one! The queer hats, the shallow pipe bowls, the strange foot-wear, all these and more; the strange ways and manners all, all were so new, so strange that one felt as though one were in a vastly different world."



They stopped for lunch at "the half-way house." This was basically a small inn located  as its name indicates  about halfway between Jemulpo and Seoul. Travelers often stopped here for lunch going to or from Seoul. Westerners generally brought their own lunches and ate it in the courtyard while their pony-handlers ate Korean lunches in the inn.



In the mid-1880s, Westerners were still viewed as a curiosity and it wasn't uncommon for small groups of Korean villagers and travelers to gather "in on one pretense or another, to see the strange foreigner eat his stranger food."



Just a few years earlier, an American merchant named Charles H. Cooper had stopped at this very place to eat and had terrified the crowd when, after he had finished eating, "removed his false teeth for cleansing purposes." Pandemonium followed as the crowd rushed for the gate, afraid that the Westerner who was able to "dismember himself" might call down upon them a similar fate.

But it wasn't a curious crowd of onlookers terrified by false teeth that the English teachers had to contend with  their problem was they had no water.





The West Gate, circa 1900. Robert Neff Collection



Two of the men began searching the area for water and were relieved to discover a small pool near a large rock shaded by a large overhanging willow tree. They drank their fill and were getting ready to continue on with their journey when one of the men noticed that the pool was nothing more than the overflow from a very large earthenware pot set under the tree.



Throughout the day they continued their trek until and finally arrived at the ferry crossing on the Han River. It was not an easy task to get "the kicking, squealing ponies" and the rickshaws into the ferry, but somehow they managed.



But there was no time to congratulate themselves. The sun was rapidly setting and all remembered the warning  once the gates closed, they did not open again until the following morning. They spurred their ponies on and arrived just in time.



"We rode through the gates and halted; it was just dusk," Ellers recalled. "As my pony stopped I looked back at the huge gates. Two men were shutting one half; this done they went to the other side, undid the chain holding it and pulled it shut. Then the great iron hasp was pushed through into the lock and the gates were fastened, locked. Shut in! shut in! no way to get out, imprisoned inside with a people to whom we could not speak. Tired, dirty, sweaty  there was not a spark of enthusiasm left in me."



As Ellers looked around in the failing light she noticed "huddled forms  weaving back and forth as they wailed." Her initial impressions of the city were not positive.



"Houses low, thatched and tiled all around, open evil-smelling gutters in front and all down the sides of the streets; the streets narrow and covered with piles of dirt here and there."





A street scene, circa 1890s-1900s. Robert Neff Collection
A man who disappeared for five years has been confirmed to be dead after his remains were found. These remains were discovered under the floor board of the suspected murderer's residence.

Alaska Department of Public Safety reported that a suspect was charged for the murder of a missing man for the last five years. Discovery of the remains caused the suspect to attempt escape by dressing as his sister.

One of the major suspects in the disappearance of Daniel Roy Buckwalter, 46 is Jay Osmond Gardner, 55 since Buckwalter's car was found ner Gardner's home. He has been a person of interest in the eyes of the law for some time, reported Crimeonline.

The case was at a standstill for investigators until a recent development. He was arrested by Alaskan State Troopers when disguised, attempting to escape while dressed as his sister. This was the development needed to put together all the evidence that is needed to charge him for that murder. The outstanding warrant for Osmond got the ball rolling for the investigators.

The authorities got a legal search warrant on Gardner's property. On April 6, they ran through his lot and excavated the areas. But, there was no remains to be found on the property. Not deterred by not discovering any evidence to charge Osmond when another warrant was gotten. On the 20th of April, the house was looked over for critical evidence to connect the disappearance to Osmond.

Also read: Stepmom Who Tortured, Starved Little Girl Attempts to Fool Court to be Freed From Jail

Discovery of Daniel Buckwalter's remains

The Alaska Department of Public Safety is now more careful in searching for the remains of Buckwalter. All the floor board were taken apart meticulously. Discovered under it were the remains of an adult male that was already decomposing badly. The remains were found under the floorboards under a three-foot cover of dirt and rocks, cited Nation Editions.

After the examination of the remains, it was confirmed as the boy of Buckwalter. According to the state medical examiner's autopsy, Buckwalter died by strangulation and getting shot.

Decision of the court

On the 30th of June, Gardner is charged for both first-degree murder and second degree murder, with tampering of physical evidence to conceal any proof of murder that he committed.

Records state that Buckwalter was seen alive on August 4, 2015 but disappeared on August 12. His vehicle was found abandoned with no trace of him soon after.

The troopers who were on the crime scene where able to find blood and tissue that was in the missing man's car. Affidavit for the arrest of Gardner's cites this was one of the reasons for a murder charge.

Gardner said that Buckwalter owes him for drug money. The suspect got the victim to go to his place on August 4, 2015. He alerted unidentified men that Buckwalter was coming. The victim entered his house with Gardner and was shot by one of the men. He saw the victim running after getting shot.

Related article: Mom Goes Home Seeing Her Child and Estranged Husband Dead, While 8-Year Old is Seriously Injured

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U.S. President Donald Trump wears a face mask as he walks down a hallway during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Saturday, July 11, 2020. AP



U.S. President Donald Trump wore a mask during a visit to a military hospital on Saturday, the first time the president has been seen in public with the type of facial covering recommended by health officials as a precaution against spreading or becoming infected by the novel coronavirus.



Trump flew by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in suburban Washington to meet wounded servicemembers and health care providers caring for COVID-19 patients. As he left the White House, he told reporters: ''When you're in a hospital, especially ... I think it's expected to wear a mask.''



Trump was wearing a mask in Walter Reed's hallway as he began his visit. He was not wearing one when he stepped off the helicopter at the facility.



The president was a latecomer to wearing a mask during the pandemic, which has raged across the U.S. since March and infected more than 3.2 million and killed at least 134,000. Most prominent Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence, endorsed wearing masks as the coronavirus gained ground this summer.






From left, Alberta Douglas, Veronica Jurkiewicz, Ashley Vines, John Koen and Christine Mello. The string players will be joined by others for two candlelight vigils in Philadelphia for Elijah McClain, the young violinist who died last August in Colorado. Read more

It happened almost a year ago in Aurora, Colo. But like an echo growing paradoxically louder over time, the story of Elijah McClain and his horrific death has spread across the country.

Next week it lands in Philadelphia. A group of local string players is planning two candlelight vigils in his memory  one Wednesday at Malcolm X Park in West Philadelphia, and another July 19 on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The aim is to lift up voices of Black artists and musicians, and to hold the space for victims of systemic racism and police brutality, says instrumentalist Veronica Jurkiewicz, one of the organizers, who will play viola at the vigils.

Music has always found a way to bring peace and bring a calm to people when there is so much tragedy in their lives, says Alberta Douglas, a Philadelphia violinist who is another one of the planners. It has a way of conveying emotion that words cant always do.

McClain, a Black 23-year-old massage therapist, was walking home from a corner store last August when he was approached by three white Aurora police officers after a 911 call reporting someone who looked sketchy.

Police said McClain was uncooperative, according to a district attorney report. They struggled to handcuff him. A police body camera reveals McClain saying: I am an introvert. Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking. Leave me alone.

 READ MORE: I cant stop thinking about the beauty of Elijah McClain, and the banal evil of the cops who killed him | Will Bunch

Police placed him in a carotid hold, and paramedics injected him with the sedative ketamine. He suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and died three days later, according to news reports.

After an initial investigation, no charges in his death were filed.

The case has received renewed attention with the recent visibility of the Black Lives Matter movement. A change.org petition calling for justice has drawn millions of signatures. And late last month, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis ordered an investigation by the state attorney general.

McClains fate has especially drawn the attention of musicians, who see him as one of their own. He was also a violinist, and a photograph of him playing music for stray cats has been widely circulated.

The killing of an innocent person is tragic under any circumstances, says Douglas. But to see one of our fellow musicians just being murdered definitely hits different, she says.

 READ MORE: Colorado reopens inquiry into Elijah McClains 2019 death

Jurkiewicz, a teaching artist as well as performer, says she has thought about McClain through the lens of the 5- and 6-year-old violinists she taught this past year at Play On Philly. I had a lot of Black and brown boys in my studio and I was thinking about them and their paths as violinists. And then hearing about Elijah McClain hit me really hard, as I know it did a lot of other string players and just humans. There is definitely a connection there.

The music chosen for the candlelight vigils has significance. Lyric for Strings is by George Walker, whose 1996 Pulitzer Prize for music was the first to be awarded to a Black composer. The work was premiered in 1946 on a radio concert by the orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music, just after Walker graduated from the Philadelphia school. It was originally titled Lament.

He wrote it after someone in his life [his grandmother] passed away, says Douglas. In the piece, you can hear it goes in and out of happiness as if to remember all the sweet memories of the person and the sadness and longing for the person who you can no longer walk beside. It seems to me it has the gentleness of Elijahs soul and the spirit and sweetness of his smile. But also the sadness of this tragedy.

The string ensemble for the vigils, which includes Philadelphia Orchestra cellist John Koen as well as area teachers and emerging artists, is expected to attract one or two dozen players. Other works are being considered, like We Shall Overcome and Amazing Grace, and members of the community are invited to bring their instruments for an improv session.

Its so heartbreaking, says Douglas. This keeps happening. A Black person just going about their day, a random person sees something they say is suspicious, and the police react with as much force as possible. And an innocent person is killed at the end of the day. Police reform is just so necessary. There really needs to be an end to police brutality.

 READ MORE: At Art Museum protest of police brutality, this Philly cellist paid tribute to another: I saw myself in him

The two vigils are also intended to honor Mouhamed Cisse, an 18-year-old Philadelphia cellist and drummer fatally shot by an unknown assailant June 1 in West Philadelphia in a case thats under investigation by homicide detectives.

Both of these two young men seemed to be very sensitive and were people who made the world a better place, said Koen.

The Elegy for Justice, a candlelight and musical vigil, will be held 8 p.m. Wednesday. at Malcolm X Park, 51st and Pine Streets; and 8 p.m. July 19 on the Art Museum steps. The community is invited to bring musical instruments. Donations may be made to Musicopia, where Cisse was a member of the string orchestra; the Enterprise Center; and Philly Arts for Black Lives.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and former defence minister Sharad Pawar in an interview published by Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna on Sunday said that Indias main opponent is China and not Pakistan, but New Delhi cannot afford a direct war with Beijing.

He said that India must resolve all issues with China through dialogue and diplomatic strategies with the help of other nations and the United Nations (UN).

Pawar, in the second part of the three-part interview to Sena parliamentarian and Saamanas executive editor Sanjay Raut also said that the Modi government tried to take a different stand on foreign policy but it did not work.

We never changed our foreign policies and bilateral relations with other countries and they were in continuation since Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and even Atal Bihari Vajpayees regimes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to take a different stand by calling Chinese President Xi Jinping on friendly visits and made him sit on a swing [at Sabarmati riverfront]. Modi tried to portray that he has forged ties of friendship with our neighbours. But these efforts have not worked, the former Union minister said.

Pawar said that China successfully wooed all the neighbouring countries, including Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka against India.

Modis first visit after taking over charge as the prime minister was to Nepal, which was considered Indias friend and the sole Hindu nation, but the neighbour now stands with China. Pakistan had already shifted its loyalty. India played a major role in the liberation of Bangladesh, but the latter recently inked an agreement with China. Same is the case with Sri Lanka. This means all the countries surrounding India have started talking against us. The disagreement in relationship with the neighbours is the latest contribution [of Modi government], he said.

The NCP chief said that the issues with China cannot be resolved by war. Our military strength is just one-tenth as compared to that of Chinas and in such a backdrop we cannot afford to have a direct war with them. It is true that we have readied our forces and can have a war and are ready to pay the price if the need be. But instead of that we should try to solve the issues diplomatically through dialogue. We lost our territory to China more than 50 years ago and the dispute over it still persists. We should build pressure with the help of other countries and the UN to regain the territory, he said.

Pawar said that though Chinas first enemy, almost three decades back, was the United States and Japan, it has now started to pose a threat against India and this was its strategy all along.

When I visited China as the defence minister in 1993 and met the then president of China, he had hinted at this. He had said that his country did not want to have any clashes with its neighbours, as their prime rivalry at the time was the US. He had said that China will look at the neighbouring countries after about 25 years, said Pawar in the interview.

The veteran politician, while replying to a question on the countrys economic situation, said that the Modi government should consult with experts such as former PM Manmohan Singh to revive the Indian economy.

As the finance minister in the Narsimha Rao government, of which I was a part too, Manmohan Singh gave new a direction to the economy which was reeling under the crisis in the early 1990s. There is a need to take such similar steps with the help of economic experts. The Modi government lacks in dialogue with those belonging to different ideologies even during such challenging times when there is a pandemic. When Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram were finance ministers, they would constantly meet experts and political leaders across the party lines and get a sense of the issues faced by the country. It does not happen now, he said.

When the former Maharashtra chief minister (CM) was asked what he thought about PM Modi calling him his political guru, Pawar said such statements are convenient stands taken by politicians and there was no concept of political gurus.

Pawar also has praised CM Uddhav Thackeray for his performance in the first six months of the government and said that though the written exam is over and practicals are pending, he will pass the exam.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has congratulated President of Montenegro Milo ukanovic.

"Dear Mr President, It is on the occasion of the national holiday of your country that on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan I wish to convey my cordial congratulations to you and your people," the Azerbaijani president said.

"The ties of friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Montenegro are developing comprehensively and follow an ascending line. I believe the joint steps we take towards the strengthening of our relations in bilateral and multilateral format will continue to serve the interests of our peoples and countries," President Aliyev said.

"As the humanity continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic I wish to stress that the people of Azerbaijan are in solidarity with the friendly people of Montenegro. On this pleasant day, I wish strong health and success to you, and everlasting prosperity and peace to your country," the Azerbaijani president said.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
The current COVID-19 negative status of MP for Tema West, Mr. Carlos Ahenkorah, should serve as a good opportunity to put all propaganda against him to rest.

According to the Tema West Constituency Chairman, of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Dennis Amfo-Sefah, this new twist should also assuage the pain and agony he and his family, supporters, and loved ones had to go through during his days in isolation.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency after the declaration that the former Deputy Minister had tested negative for the virus, Tema West Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party said his clearance was bad luck for the detractors of the lawmaker and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He said his clearance had also mortified detractors of the MP and the government especially those who were calling for his prosecution in court and resignation as a Member of Parliament.

Now the balloon has burst and the propaganda against Mr. Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah and President Nana Akufo-Addo has crash-landed. Our MP is not a coronavirus carrier after all.

His detractors have been shamed, now that the allegations have become obsolete, let us see what the detractors will do. Mr. Amfo-Sefah, who is also known as Nana Boakye said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

Mr. Ahenkorah became the target of his detractors and some political thinkers when he allegedly mingled with members of the public after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Some members of the public took advantage of the development and promoted all sorts of propaganda against him, including; the shocking claims that Mr. Ahenkorah who was also the 2020 Parliamentary Candidate for the NPP, deliberately mingled with people after testing positive in order spread the virus.

In response to the allegations, Mr. Ahenkorah resigned his portfolio as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, but the detractors also continued to demand his prosecution and should also be stripped of the Tema West Parliamentary ticket for the NPP.

The Ghana Health Service on Saturday, wrote to Mr. Ahenkorah to inform him that two consecutive tests on his samples had returned negative and that he was not carrying the virus any longer.

For this reason, you are deemed to have recovered from Covid-19 infection and so can return to work, the letter from the Ghana Health Service said.

---GNA
By Lisa Shumaker

July 12 (Reuters) - As Florida posts the biggest surge of coronavirus cases in the country, Walt Disney World in Orlando opened to the public for the first time in four months and anti-mask activists held a rally at a nearby restaurant.

Walt Disney Co welcomed a limited number of guests to its two most popular parks in Orlando on Saturday with a host of safety measures including masks and temperature checks.

Coronavirus infections are rising in about 40 states, according to a Reuters analysis of cases for the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks. Nationally, the United States has broken global records by registering about 60,000 new cases a day for the last four days in a row, according to a Reuters tally. Hospitalizations and positive test rates are also rising in the states at the center of the outbreak -- Arizona, California, Florida and Texas.

Health officials have pleaded with the public to wear masks to limit the spread of the virus, but the issue has become politically divisive in the United States unlike many other countries that have seen far lower rates of infection and death.

Seven months into the pandemic, President Donald Trump wore a mask for the first time in public when he visited a Washington D.C.-area military medical center on Saturday. Trump had previously refused to wear a mask in public or ask Americans to wear face coverings, saying it was a personal choice.

Many Americans still refuse to wear a mask, which health experts say help stop transmission of the virus that has killed more than 134,000 Americans.

Anti-mask activists organized a protest on Saturday at a grilled cheese restaurant and bar in Windermere, Florida, which is in Orange County about 12 miles (19 km) from Walt Disney World.

The restaurant, 33 & Melt, has become a focal point of tension after owner Carrie Hudson said she was not requiring customers to wear masks. County officials have mandated the use of masks in public since June 20.

Story continues

During Saturday's protest outside the restaurant, no customers wore face coverings. Agents from the state's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco arrived during the rally and served Hudson with a warning, according to a video.

"This is a virus that is very well contained," said one of the demonstrators, anti-mask activist Tara Hill. "Everyone is responsible for their own health care decisions ... We want our choices respected as well."

Florida has posted record levels of coronavirus infections, with over 10,000 new cases five times in the last 10 days. In addition, more than four dozen hospitals in Florida reported that their intensive care units are full due to a surge in COVID-19 patients.

(Reporting by Octavio Jones, Deborah Lutterbeck and Njuwa Maina; Writing by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 27 times, Trend reports on June 29 referring to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

The Armenian armed forces were using sniper rifles.

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.
JOURNALIST: - Sir, will this wave of FDI investment be a golden opportunity for Vietnam?

Mr. DO NHAT HOANG: - In the last two years we have had such golden opportunities at least three times to attract very large scale FDI into Vietnam.

The first time was when Vietnam participated in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). At that time, many foreign investors came to Vietnam, some even from China. They come to invest in Vietnam with the intention of taking advantage of the CPTPP format when it came into force so as to fully utilize the preferential tariffs it offered.

The second time was when the US-China trade war broke out which affected international investors in both furthering their investments as well as the export markets, forcing most big investors to restructure their capital. Restructuring means transfering investment capital to the US market or other investment markets. When restructuring towards the United States, they also turned investments towards the Vietnamese market.

The third time we saw a wave of FDI movement was soon after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that suddenly paralyzed the global economy and investors felt vulnerable by being dependent on a market such as China where the virus actually erupted and thereby disrupting the global markets. At that time investors were compelled to restructure in order to diversify their supply chain and export markets. This time investors were surprised the most because the global supply chain was disrupted far too quickly.

- How do you assess the attraction to the Vietnamese market compared to other markets for foreign investors ?

- Foreign investors, after shifting their investment capital from the Chinese market, target specific addresses. In Asia, they tend to move towards India, Indonesia and Vietnam, while in Europe the move is towards Eastern European countries, and in the Americas it is towards Mexico. The question here is how can our economy absorb FDI inflow. In addition, we need to pay attention to what investors ask when they come to our market to seek investment opportunities.

Firstly, when shifting investment capital, production workshops and appropriately suitable premises for rent as factories are an essential requirement. The land used for factory premises must follow investor guidelines and not our current fragmented or speculative planning methods. Through promoting investment projects over the years, we have gained a lot of experience in this. For example, many foreign investors are willing to pour capital into Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces now, even though other provinces have land available. The current problem that needs to be overcome is that the industrial land price is rising too high, which is making investors hesitate in putting up projects.

Secondly, Resolution 50 of the Politburo mentions that local workers must be trained by businesses, but such training takes time. We are now interested in the overseas export workforce who have returned home. According to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, each year about 40,000 workers from abroad return back to Vietnam. We need to create a specific plan to connect with them, especially those who have worked in Japan, South Korea and Europe, and who are both skilled and familiar with the industrial labor culture. From there on, classification into regions and industries can be made for local labor sources to meet the needs of foreign businesses.

Thirdly, regarding the issue of framework and legal corridors for foreign investors, currently, two important laws passed by the National Assembly, the amended Enterprise Law and the amended Investment Law, can be a basis for foreign investors to invest in Vietnam and create opportunities for Vietnam to attract high quality investment capital flow.

- Sir, what do we need to pay attention to so as to improve our selection of best quality FDI capital?

- Lets take the example of constructing industrial zones for foreign investors to rent and set up their project. Now, even if we have the land and factory, it does not mean that the foreign investors will rent these premises. The general trend is that we must have intelligent industrial parks in accordance with modern ecosystems. Here, ecosystem is a combination of housing with services attached to meet the cultural requirements of the investors.

Vietnam's ability to integrate FDI capital smoothly has not been very successful in the past, especially high quality large capital flow with advanced technology. We have recognized this as a limitation but unfortunately so far we have not overcome it. The Politburo has issued Resolution 50, in which the focus is to attract selective investments only. Following this orientation, it is hoped we can attract more capital flow with quality projects. FDI inflow in projects must have high technology content, create a spillover and become a driving force to pull in domestic enterprises to develop with it.

The National Assembly has just passed an amended Investment Law, which includes provisions accompanied with tax incentives for FDI enterprises, with the criterion that when FDI enterprises invest, they must make commitments with domestic Vietnamese enterprises to join in the production chain. This commitment will link domestic production as well as improve on domestic human resource training.

- Thank you very much.

Luu Thuy (Interviewer)
Reno Omokri

Reno Omokri has warned against any form of attack on Joy Nunieh, a former Acting Managing Director of Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission, who recently made some damning revelations about the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Addressing the press after she appeared before the Senate ad-hoc Committee investigating NDDC, Mrs. Nunieh recounted her ordeal at the hands of the Minister before she was removed as the NDDC MD.

Among other claims, she said Nobody makes any payment in NDDC without Godswill Akpabios approval. When we first came, on the day of the inauguration, he said to me in the car, Madam MD, if you dont do what I say, the same pen with which I used to sign your paper is the same pen Ill use to remove you.

Following her many revelations, Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media believes Nuniehs revelations could put her life in danger.

In a tweet on Saturday, Omokri said, Nothing must happen to the ex-Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Corporation, Joy Nunieh, who has just made shocking allegations of corruption against @Senator_Akpabio, Festus @FKeyamo and Gen @MBuhari.

I have been informed of a threat to her life.
Rajasthan Congress MLA Rohit Bohra, one of the three MLAs who had visited the national capital on Saturday and is believed to be supporting Sachin Pilot, on Sunday said that he had visited Delhi for personal reasons, news agency ANI reported.

We went to Delhi due to personal reasons. If the media says we went there for this reason or that, then its not our problem. We dont want to be part of any controversy. We are the soldiers of Congress and will be with the party till our last breath, Bohra said.

The crisis in the Rajasthan Congress escalated on Sunday with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot at loggerheads, with the CM blaming the BJP for attempting to topple the state government by poaching MLAs.

ALSO WATCH | Rajasthan political thriller: Gehlot-Pilot tussle, SOG probe, resort politics

ALSO READ | Ashok Gehlot marginalised Pilot, Congress failed to settle issues in Rajasthan

Deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot is camping in Delhi to speak to the party leadership regarding the political turmoil in the state.

On Sunday evening, Rajasthan Congress MLAs said, The Congress stands united, at a press conference, which was also attended by Rohit Bohra. Bohra said that his visit to Delhi had been personal and he had happened to meet the other two MLAs in the capital.

The Congress Legislature Party is slated to meet at the Rajasthan CMs residence at 10:30 am on Monday. CM Gehlot has also called a meeting of Congress lawmakers in Jaipur tonight to discuss the political crisis.

ALSO READ | Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot to meet party lawmakers tonight

Earlier in the day, Gehlot said on Twitter that the special operations group (SOG) has sent notices to the Chief Minister, Deputy CM, Chief Whip, some other ministers and MLAs in connection with the Congress Legislative Partys complaint about poaching of MLAs by BJP.

In the 200-member Rajasthan assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and has support the of another 18, taking its tally to 125. The BJP has 72 legislators and is supported by three MLAs of Hanuman Beniwals RSLP. In the Rajya Sabha elections on June 19, the two Congress candidates got votes of all 125 legislators supporting the government.

Some disgruntled Congress MLAs are, however camping in Delhi, party sources have indicated.

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In the political ethics course I teach at university, I tell students that politicians and other public office holders could spare themselves a heap of trouble if they asked themselves a simple question: Do I want to read about this on the front page of the Globe and Mail?

And perhaps a second caveat: If I do it, will I be able to defend my action on the television news?

These simple questions can be applied in situations involving risky personal behaviour or conflicts of interest.

For example, they might have made Ontario Premier Doug Ford stop before trying to install one of his pals as the head of the provincial police. They surely would have kept Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from stumbling stupidly into a conflict of interest over the sole source contract that his government awarded to WE Charity, an organization with which the Trudeau family has been involved for several years.

Under the contract, now abruptly terminated, the charity was to receive roughly $14.5 million to administer a program that would distribute $900 million in federal grants to support summer jobs for students during the COVID-19 crisis.

There was something off about the WE deal from the outset. The government did not need an outside contractor to set up or manage the array of programs it created to pump out billions of assistance dollars during the pandemic  programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).

The government proved it is remarkably efficient at giving away money. Why then did it need WE to help it give away money through the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG)?

That question alone should have set alarm bells ringing in the corridors of power. And if  through careless indifference or some inexcusable failure of due diligence  it did not set off alarms, the Trudeau family connection with WE certainly should have.

Justin is close to his mother. It is inconceivable that he was unaware that she was collecting speaking fees from WE  $250,000 for 28 speeches between 2016 and 2020  and unlikely that he did not know his filmmaker brother Alexandre (Sacha) was drinking from the same well ($32,000 for four WE speeches).

He should not have touched the WE contract with a barge pole. He should not have brought it before cabinet and, if another minister proposed it, he was ethically obligated to recuse himself from the discussion and vote.

Now, the Commons ethics commissioner is investigating the prime minister for breaching the Conflict of Interest Act. It is Trudeaus third trip down that road, and it will produce his third slap on the wrist (following his Aga Khan vacation and SNC-Lavalin controversy). The WE Charity is the most blatant conflict of the three.

There is something missing in the Liberal DNA. They are great at preaching transparency and accountability. They campaign on these twin principles. The prime minister advocates them at every opportunity. Yet the Liberals keep acting as though transparency and accountability are guiding principles for everyone except themselves.

The Liberals are missing something else. It is the political equivalent of a drug-sniffing dog in the Prime Ministers Office  an official or (to be on the safe side) officials whose job it is to sniff every proposal that comes into the office for the telltale odour of conflict of interest or other variety of ethical spoilage.

We will call this person(s) the Principal Sniffer. If the Principal Sniffer were on the job, she/he/they would have thrown up a stop sign until Trudeau addressed the two questions at the top of this column.

As it is, he had to read it on the front page of the Globe and Mail, and he has been savaged on the TV news. Worse, he has put his minority government in jeopardy. There is no way any of the opposition parties can afford to be seen condoning Liberal equivocation on ethics.

Cambridge resident Geoffrey Stevens , an author and former Ottawa columnist and managing editor of the Globe and Mail, teaches political science at the University of Guelph. His column appears Mondays. He welcomes comments at geoffstevens40@gmail.com

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A special court in Mumbai on Sunday denied default bail to activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elghar Parishad case.

Navlakha had sought default bail under Section 167 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), claiming he had been in custody for over 90 days.

Navlakha, lodged in Navi Mumbais Taloja jail, had surrendered before the National Investigation Agency on April 14 this year.

Between August 29 and October 1 in 2018, Navlakha was kept under house arrest.

Arguing for Navlakhas bail, his lawyer submitted that the court should also consider house arrest as period under the custody of investigating agencies.

He also said the probe agency had not submitted its charge sheet within a stipulated period of 90 days.

Appearing for the NIA, Additional Solicitor General of India Anil Singh said the application for default bail was not maintainable.

The direction given by HC for house confinement would not be a custody within the meaning of section 167 of CrPC, the agency said.

Finding merits in the NIAs submissions, special judge Dinesh Kothalikar rejected the contention that house arrest period can be included in detention time.

The court further held that Navlakha was never under the detention of police for investigation during house arrest.

Navlakha was remanded to NIA custody for 10 days by the court after the probe agency sought his remand saying it needed to question him to unearth a conspiracy in connection with the case.

The court also accepted NIAs plea seeking extension of 90 to 180 days to file charge sheet against Navlakha and another accused activist Dr Anand Teltumbde.

Navlakha has been arrested along with others in the Elgar Parishad Maoist link case, which was transferred from Pune police to NIA in January this year.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017, which police said triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial.
The Hague:--- Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs arrived in the Netherlands on Friday morning to participate in the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting together with the Prime Ministers of Aruba and Curacao and the Plenipotentiary Ministers from the three Dutch Caribbean countries. The purpose of the visit was to defend St. Maartens position regarding the proposed Entity for the 3rd Tranche of COVID-19 liquidity support.

During the meeting, all countries stood their grounds in not accepting the conditions attached to the loan as presented by the Netherlands because it infringes on their autonomy. Prime Minister Jacobs spoke out concerning the legal basis and procedure in which a Consensus Kingdom Law should be handled and indicated that this was not the right way to carry out such.

Prime Minister Jacobs stated, The Government of St. Maarten will not politically agree to something that would normally require a full round of discussions, talks, and agreement before reaching this level of establishment. During the meeting, the Dutch Government had to accept that this was the case and, therefore, could not progress further with it as is.

This new entity, confirmed as 'the Caribbean Reform Institution,' is anchored in the proposed Consensus Kingdom Law to manage the liquidity support for COVID-19 and the Dutch Government has now also indicated the possibility for investment funds in programs and technical assistance. At the same time, the Dutch Caribbean countries admitted that there are things that need to be addressed on the islands, however, this reform should not be coupled with COVID-19 liquidity support, which is already being managed by local entities executing the Sint Maarten Stimulus and Relief Plan (SSRP) and assistance for the unemployed.

St. Maarten and Curacao still has the last requirements to fulfill by July 15 to receive the 2nd Tranche of COVID-19 liquidity support which relates to the adjustment of the SSRP program to the Dutch model. Aruba has fulfilled all the requirements and is in discussion to receive an advance on the 3rd Tranche pending agreements for all countries. However, Prime Minister Jacobs states, We will not be entertaining any further discussion about an entity that usurps the autonomy St. Maarten, Curacao, and Aruba have fought for. We remain open to have equitable discussions related to COVID-19 liquidity support, needed reforms, legislation, policy, projects and programs within the framework of our National Development Vision, while working with stakeholders and Parliament to find mutually agreeable solutions to mitigate our current challenges.

During the past three years, St. Maarten has experienced the negative effects of two major hurricanes and now this pandemic. Despite this experience and the small percentage of St. Maartens Trust Fund going into our economy via the World Bank, St. Maartens achievements where recovery is concerned has been successful thus far due to the resilience and hard work of the businesses and our people. Prime Minister Jacobs stated, It is not that things were great, but we were bouncing back before the COVID-19 pandemic and had COVID-19 not hit us, we would have been well on our way to being more able to stand on our feet financially.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Jacobs reiterated that one of the challenges St. Maarten has faced has been the role of the Board of Financial Supervision (CFT) in the decision-making process. Prime Minister Jacobs indicated that St. Maarten has lacked capital investments over the past years, due to the restraints by the CFT preventing investments needed to facilitate reforms and the Dutch Government not subscribing to the loans that were approved in 2018 and 2019.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Jacobs indicated that in the short and long term, the island's success requires collective actions for the continued development of St. Maarten. The recent and historical move of 15 parliamentarians in agreement, rejecting the new entity condition, is the beginning. Moving forward, all resources and technical knowledge available will be required to tackle our challenges and priorities. The diversification of our economy is one of our main priorities. Moreover, educating and empowering our people to become entrepreneurs, using local resources such as Qredits Microfinancing thereby growing and simulating our economy is another fundamental priority, concluded Prime Minister Jacobs.
It took nine years of planning and 11 years of construction, but its practically done.

The Interstate 94 megaproject that has disrupted traffic in Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee counties for more than a decade is substantially complete, said Michael Pyritz, Wisconsin DOT regional communication manager.

All of the roadwork from the Mitchell Interchange to the Illinois state line has been finished, with only a few more sound barriers that need to be erected, according to Pyritz. Total cost: about $1.9 billion dollars. It involved around 1,775 registered workers, 27 new bridges, 19 retaining walls, 45 sign structures and more than 26 linear miles of storm sewer. Not to mention 18.5 miles of new roadway in each direction, including expansions of up to four lanes throughout the majority of the 18.5 miles north and south.

Work on this scale shouldnt happen along this stretch of the interstate for at least another 50 years, perhaps 70 years, Pyritz said, although maintenance should still be expected. That means that bottle-necking of the sort experienced along the interstate over the past few years that led to a surge in crashes and road fatalities might not be seen again for decades.

The improvements that came out of the construction might make a positive difference for safety, according to the DOT, thanks to some crisscrossing scissor ramps being eliminated, improving frontage roads, added capacity at some of the interstates busiest stretches and getting rid of left-side exits at the Mitchell Interchange.

Theres always challenges,. Were always refining our processes to minimize impact.

A project a long envisioned

The origins of the megaproject  so named because of the 18.5 miles of road completed in little more than a decade  date back to a SEWRPC (Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission) study that was conducted from 2000-2003. Two years later, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation started following up on SEWRPCs suggestions and a FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) study was conducted between 2006 and 2008. Construction began the next year.

Pyritz said that this $1.9 billion investment has helped draw big businesses, and thus jobs and commerce, to the area. When construction began, few Wisconsinites had even heard of Foxconn, and now Foxconn is planning to build a highly publicized facility just east of the I-94 corridor. Amazon has also built facilities in Kenosha and Oak Creek in the past five years, and IKEA opened its first Wisconsin location along the I-94 corridor in Oak Creek in 2018.

Pyritz credits part of the reason those businesses are willing to invest in the area to the investment in road infrastructure, a resource that is especially important to mass manufacturers and distributors like Amazon and Foxconn.

Now, a similarly expensive, albeit smaller, project is being considered again. Gov. Tony Evers is working on investing $1 billion on a 3.5 mile stretch of Interstate 94 in Milwaukee, from 70th Street to 16th Street.

This project had been advocated by Evers predecessor Scott Walker, who was never able to get the funding needed to pull it off.

Investing in our infrastructure is critically important for our economy, Evers said in a Wednesday statement announcing the plans to restart the project.

Moving forward on the I-94 East-West corridor project will mean between 6,000 and 10,000 good jobs and will ultimately save lives, reduce travel times and help businesses across our state.

It will take 12 to 18 months to do the necessary preliminary work, including public comment periods, traffic analysis and environmental studies, before approval can be sought from the Federal Highway Administration, said Craig Thompson, secretary of the state for the Department of Transportation.

Scott Bauer of the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New Dorp Lane will not be closed -- allowing for outdoor dining -- Saturday evening, due to the weather, according to police.

The NYPDs 122nd Precinct posted the measure to its Twitter. Due to the unpredictable weather there will be no New Dorp Lane closure tonight for extra outdoor dining, the post said.

This comes after a flood advisory was issued for Staten Island, with expected thunderstorms.

In recent weeks, the Advance reported New Dorp Lane would be closed off since indoor dining is still off the table in New York City.

This portion of New Dorp Lane will continue to close to vehicle traffic during evenings every weekend -- Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays -- until Aug. 31.

On Fridays, New Dorp Lane, between Hylan Boulevard and South Railroad Avenue will be closed from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays it will be closed from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Millions of displaced Syrians in northwest to have only one border crossing to get aid as Russia prevails over UN vote.

The United Nations Security Council has approved aid deliveries to Syria from Turkey, but only after caving in to Russian pressure to close one of the two access points into the war-torn country.

Following a week of division and seven ballots, the UNSC on Saturday passed a proposal submitted by Germany and Belgium allowing the use of the Bab al-Hawa crossing point for one year.

Western nations say the closure of the second access point will cut a lifeline for 1.3 million Syrians in the countrys northwest.

Authorisation for the continued transport of aid to Syria, a system in place since 2014, expired on Friday night.

The 15-member UNSC had been deadlocked, with most members pitted against Syrian allies Russia and China over the issue.

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Russia and China, which hold veto power at the council, wanted to halve the approved Turkey border crossings to one, arguing that northwest Syria could be reached from within the country.

In the session, the measure was approved by 12 of 15 members in the councils fifth vote this week on the issue, with Russia, China and the Dominican Republic abstaining.

German UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen told his Chinese and Russian counterparts to report back to their capitals how those people who gave the instructions to cut off the aid of 500,000 children  are ready to look into the mirror tomorrow.

Fifth vote

For weeks, Russia, Syrias most important ally, had been demanding an end to the use of the Bab al-Salaam border crossing, which leads to the Aleppo region in northern Syria.

Council members had also been split on whether to renew authorisation for six months or one year.

Russia is consistently in favour of humanitarian deliveries to Syria with full respect of the countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity and with coordination of its legal government. This issue should not be politicised, deputy Russian UN envoy Dmitry Polyanskiy said after the vote.

The successful vote came after two failed votes on Russian proposals and two vetoes by Russia and China of resolutions drafted by Germany and Belgium.

British UN Ambassador Jonathan Allen says 1.3 million people have been cut off from humanitarian aid that they rely on [File: AP]

Acting British UN Ambassador Jonathan Allen said after the vote that the loss of aid access through Bab al-Salaam border crossing would deprive 1.3 million people in northwest Syria of cross-border humanitarian assistance that they rely on.

One border crossing is not enough, but no border crossings would have left the fate of an entire region in question, Germany and Belgium said in a joint statement after the vote.

Chinas UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said Beijing always had reservations about the delivery of cross-border aid, but given the current situation in Syria, it does not object to retaining it at this stage.

Aid agencies operating in Syria said in a joint statement on Sunday that the recent UN Security Council decision will cause loss of many lives in the region.

In northwest Syria, where a vital cross-border lifeline has been closed  Many will now not receive the help they need. Lives will be lost. Suffering will intensify, the agencies said.

With the first case of COVID-19 confirmed in Idlib, an area with a severely weakened health infrastructure, this is a devastating blow, the statement added.



Displaced people cut off aid

Vanessa Jackson, the UN representative and head of office for non-governmental organisation Care International, said the decision will affect the much-needed help for displaced Syrians.

People in northern Aleppo have the highest concentration of displaced people with over 60 percent [of them], she told Al Jazeera.

These are people who have been displaced multiple times in the course of the war over nine years. And they are overwhelmingly women and children. So, these are the very people that the UN was set up to serve.

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Al Jazeeras James Bays, reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, said the result of the vote is another example that humanitarian aid was increasingly politicised in the war in Syria.

In nearly a decade of conflict in Syria, starvation has been repeatedly used as a weapon of war. What we have seen here in the last week may well be another episode in the international communitys response to the Syrian crisis  that history will judge badly, he said.

When the UNSC first authorised the cross-border aid operation into Syria in 2014, it also included access from Jordan and Iraq. Those crossings were cut in January due to opposition by Russia and China.

Russia has vetoed 16 council resolutions related to Syria since Syrias President Bashar al-Assad cracked down on protesters in 2011, leading to civil war. For many of those votes, Moscow has been backed in the UNSC by China, which has vetoed 10 council resolutions.
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MI -- A mid-Michigan Walmart store has been listed as a potential COVID-19 exposure site.

The Shiawassee County Health Department issued a statement Friday, July 10 after being notified of an employee at the Owosso Walmart Supercenter, 1621 East M-21, tested positive for the upper respiratory virus.

This employee wore a mask during their shifts, the statement reads. Walmart Supercenter is working with the Shiawassee County Health Department during this time.

Information was not released on which department the employee had been working at in the store.

Shiawassee County Health Department has identified a possible exposure site for COVID-19. Please see the release below. Posted by Shiawassee County Health Department on Friday, July 10, 2020

The health department said it would release information on public exposure sites -- including large gatherings and high-traffic establishments -- when close contacts cannot be identified.

Anyone who visited the store from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, July 6 or 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, July 8 have been asked by the county health department to self-monitor for symptoms due to the possible exposure.

COVID-19 symptoms including fever, cough, or shortness of breath.

The health department recommends hand washing, wearing a mask while indoors in public, maintaining six feet of distance away from others, and staying home as much as they can for 14 days after the exposure date.

Its the second possible COVID-19 exposure site in Shiawassee County announced by the health department in recent days.

Two Clinton County residents in attendance at the Spirit of 1776 fireworks display at Immanuel Baptist Church, 2680 East M-21 in Corunna, have tested positive for the virus.

Fireworks show at mid-Michigan church was possible COVID-19 exposure site

A statement issued by the church added the individuals who tested positive were exposed prior to the event and attended the fireworks show not yet exhibiting symptoms and practiced social distancing.

Upon receiving a positive test, the individuals contacted Immanuel and shared that they came in proximity with one individual outside their household at the event, per the churchs statement. This person was immediately notified and has since self-quarantined and remained symptom-free for the past ten days.

The churchs statement points out the individuals did not attend any indoor services.

Services at the church will continue online, drive-in, and in-person, with participants encouraged to take part in the manner they feel most comfortable.

The church continued to hold in-person services during the stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Larry Johnson, health officer for the Shiawassee County Health Department, strongly encouraged residents to wear masks inside public places and maintain social distancing.

COVID-19 has not disappeared from our community, said Johnson in a prepared statement. We all must continue to do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The health department reported eight active cases between July 1 and July 8, along with seven recoveries.

Shiawassee County has seen 259 COVID-19 cases and 27 deaths since March.

Related news:

Sunday, July 12: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan

Grand Blanc tavern closes after employee tests positive for COVID-19

Employee indirectly exposed to coronavirus led Flint bar to close out of abundance of caution

Michigan coronavirus cases exceed 600 for third time in a week
Mumbai, July 12 : Actor Abhishek Bachchan tweeted on Sunday evening urging everyone to remain cautious and follow rules, in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

"My father and I remain in hospital till the doctors decide otherwise. Everyone please remain cautious and safe. Please follow all rules," he tweeted.

Abhishek and his father, Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan, were admitted to Nanavati Hospital after they tested Covid-19 positive on Saturday evening. In separate tweets, the Bachchans had confirmed being infected by the virus.

"T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited .. All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested!" @SrBachchan wrote on his verified Twitter handle.

Soon after the 77-year-old actor's tweet, son Abhishek had tweeted to confirm that he too had tested Covid positive.

"Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for Covid-19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you," Abhishek, 44, had tweeted on his verified account, @juniorbachchan.

According to Nanavati sources, both Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan are in stable condition.

Later, on Sunday afternoon, Abhishek shared that his wife, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and daughter Aaradhya had also tested positive for Covid-19.

"Aishwarya and Aaradhya have also tested COVID-19 positive. They will be self quarantining at home. The BMC has been updated of their situation and are doing the needful. The rest of the family including my Mother have tested negative. Thank you all for your wishes and prayers," Abhishek wrote.

Abhishek's mother Jaya Bachchan has tested negative for the virus.
James Stewart and Sarah Roberts tied the knot at Luttrellstown Castle on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland last year.

And the Home and Away co-stars looked every inch the loved-up couple while out in Sydney's Bondi on Sunday.

The TV personalities appeared carefree and relaxed as they strolled the beachside streets with a coffee in hand.

Out and about: Home and Away stars James Stewart, 44, and Sarah Roberts, 35, (both pictured) were every inch the loved-up couple while out in Sydney's Bondi on Sunday

Sarah, 35, covered up her trim figure in a peach-coloured top teamed with black skinny-leg jeans.

The actress coordinated with black-heeled boots and a leather jacket, and drew attention to her prized wedding rings.

Sarah styled her dark locks out, and looked to have gone makeup-free, allowing her natural beauty to shine through.

The Channel Seven star held hands with James, 44, after they picked up a coffee.

Casual stroll: The lovebirds held hands as they strolled the beachside streets with a coffee cup in hand

James cut a casually suave figure in a light blue collared shirt, navy sweater on top, dark blue jeans and brown leather boots.

The couple got engaged in November 2018, when James popped the question at the restaurant where they'd had their first date.

They wed at Luttrellstown Castle on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland in an intimate ceremony in July 2019.

The lovebirds revealed details from their big day in an interview with Now To Love in December.

Nuptials: James and Sarah wed at Luttrellstown Castle on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland in an intimate ceremony in July 2019

'It was really special. We got married in a castle, I think that's a dream come true,' Sarah told the publication.

'And we had all of our close friends and relatives around so I don't think I could've wished for anything more.'

James revealed his daughter Scout, eight, who he shares with ex-partner Jessica Marais, loved the wedding as much as her dad and stepmother did.

'She loved it. She met her new cousins, she got makeup on, she put on a pretty dress. Some of the photos I've seen of her are pretty special,' James said.
(Natural News) The president of the police union in Portland, Oregon, has slammed rioters and elected officials for demonizing the citys police officers.

In an open letter, Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner called out the rioters for taking attention away from an important message about social and racial equality that needs to be heard.

He called the rioters behavior destructive and chaotic and said it defined the meaning of white privilege. Turner, a black man, added that their total disregard for people, property, and the law embodies entitlement.

Turner also took the opportunity to criticize elected officials in the city, who he said were defending the criminal actions of the rioters while demonizing and vilifying the officers who were out there on the front lines protecting everyone. He said he has no confidence that the city council is going to stand up for the city and stop the rioting and looting.

He asked elected officials to do their jobs and close the divide between police and communities there.

The situation has been growing worse in Portland. Authorities recently stated that businesses in an around Portland have incurred $23 million in damages and lost business after weeks of daily violent protests. In a virtual news briefing, Portland Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis said that now, six weeks into the riots, those who walk downtown will be greeted by countless boarded-up windows and public property damage. So far, more than 100 people have been injured.

Davis also distinguished between peaceful demonstrations against police brutality by protesters associated with Black Lives Matter and agitators who he says are hijacking the message of the group and using it as a cover for their criminal activity.

Turners letter followed a week of increasing riots in and around the city. Although much of this began as peaceful protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd in late May, they have evolved into violent riots involving fires, damage to property and injured officers.

Earlier this week, federal officials announced that seven people who were arrested in nighttime riots in the city will be facing charges connected to assaulting federal officers, along with defacing the Hatfield Federal Courthouse.

Police resources stretched too thin as rioters overtake cities

On Thursday, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell spoke out about the challenges the police are facing due to the ongoing nightly protests. He said the bureaus resources are being stretched too thin. He added that the violence that was seen in North Portland last week cost the city more than $6.2 million in overtime for police officers.

Speaking to the media, Portland Police Officer Jakhary Jackson, who is black, labeled the hypocrisy hes been seeing from protesters disgusting, saying that that officers are being called racist even as they are helping black people and trying to save the lives of people who have been shot.

Since July 1, the Portland police report that there have been 29 shootings in the city, which is far more than the eight that were noted during the same period of time last year. Investigating the shootings has become more challenging now that the department has had to dissolve its Gun Violence Reduction Team due to budget cuts.

How can people continue to call for defunding the police when officers are already struggling to keep violence under control in cities like Portland thanks to budget cuts? Police officers are putting their lives on the line every day, often without proper equipment, to keep people and cities safe, and theres no telling how violent our streets could become if their budgets are cut even further.

Sources for this article include:

FoxNews.com

FoxNews.com

KOIN.com
First Minister Arlene Foster has expressed regret at sectarian messages displayed on some loyalist bonfires.

Fewer Twelfth of July events took place across Northern Ireland this year amid coronavirus restrictions.

However, there were significant crowds at several fires that did go ahead.

Meanwhile, in north Belfast, there was a second night of sporadic disorder near a community interface as police came under attack from petrol bombers in the nationalist New Lodge close to a bonfire in the loyalist Tigers Bay area.

The PSNI confirmed that bottles, masonry and a number of petrol bombs were thrown at officers throughout Saturday evening in Queens Parade and New Lodge Road.

Ahead of the Eleventh Night fires, politicians and community leaders had urged people to avoid mass gatherings and stick to Covid-19 regulations that limit outdoor gatherings to no more than 30 people.

Crowds well in excess of 30 were witnessed at a number of fires that were lit late on Saturday night.

Mrs Foster said she regretted that some people did not follow advice from the Orange Order to stay at home for the annual July 12 celebrations.

She also condemned the violent scenes in north Belfast, and criticised those who placed sectarian and offensive messages on the loyalist bonfires.

First Minister Arlene Foster said she regretted social distancing advice was not followed and criticised offensive messages on loyalist bonfires. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

I know certainly the one in which I want to live in, its one where we can all proudly celebrate but do so in a way that is not offensive and certainly not sectarian.

Meanwhile, Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill condemned the bonfires.

Political unionism must do more to challenge and confront the destructive and toxic issue of anti-social bonfires, she posted on Twitter.

These fires are not only detrimental to the environment, but also to community relations.

Sectarianism has absolutely no place in our society and must be rooted out.

In a statement on Sunday morning, PSNI Superintendent Lorraine Dobson said it was extremely disappointing that officers had come under attack again by youths throwing petrol bombs in the New Lodge area.

Damage has been caused to a number of our vehicles but, thankfully, none of our officers were injured, she said.

We are again today appealing to young people who are involved in this type of criminal and anti-social behaviour to stop. You need to realise the consequences of your actions, and the impact it has on the community.

I would also appeal to parents and guardians of young people to please ensure you know where your young people are, who they are with and what they are doing.

I would also appeal to those in the community to use their influence to ensure we do not see a repeat of this senseless activity we have witnessed over the last two nights again in the area. She added that police will seek to gather evidence to bring those responsible before the courts.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said crews responded to 24 bonfire-related incidents between 6pm on Saturday and 1am on Sunday  a 29.5% decrease compared with 2019.

The spokesman added that no attacks on personnel or appliances were reported.

Bonfires are torched in loyalist communities across the region every July 11 to usher in the main date in the Protestant loyal order parading season, the Twelfth of July.

While the majority pass off without incident, some are the source of community tension, with authorities previously having intervened to remove towering pyres on health and safety grounds.

Many of the fires were cancelled during the Covid-19 lockdown, with a number of sites cleared of wood by the local authorities.

However, the recent easing of restrictions in Northern Ireland led to some reversing the decision to cancel.

Some bonfire builders also appear to have been motivated amid loyalist anger over a controversy that saw hundreds of republicans acting in alleged variance with the regulations to gather in west Belfast last month for the funeral of IRA veteran Bobby Storey.

The Orange Order has cancelled its plans for traditional mass Twelfth of July parades and demonstrations, which were scheduled to take place on Monday July 13 because the 12th fell on a Sunday.

Some loyalist bands are planning to take part in localised events on Monday, urging people to stay in their homes while they parade past.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 12)  Four years after the Philippines won the arbitration case over the disputed South China Sea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. called on China to adhere to the ruling, saying the arbitration award is non-negotiable.

The Philippines, he said Sunday, reaffirms "its adherence to the award and its enforcement without any possibility of compromise or change.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague unanimously ruled in favor of the country and rejected Chinas sweeping claims over virtually the entire sea areas falling within the nine-dash line. The tribunal also found that China had caused "severe harm" to the marine environment because of its land reclamations.

Despite the milestone ruling, Beijing still refuses to acknowledge the Philippines' victory.

Compliance in good faith with the award would be consistent with the obligations of the Philippines and China under international law, including UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) to which both parties are signatories, Locsin wrote.

The DFA chief said the 2016 ruling clearly marks out who would be in the wrong to insist on claims contrary to [the] award. He added that the Hague pronouncement is a victory not only for the country, but for the entire community of consistently law-abiding nations.

RELATED: Philippines warns China of severest response if military drills reach PH territorial waters

Meanwhile, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario also urged President Rodrigo Duterte to raise before international organizations the countrys arbitration award.

In the remaining years of his term, we believe that our president still has the opportunity to fulfill his promise to the Filipino people to raise the Award: this time, not before the Chinese President, but before the world, del Rosario said Sunday.

The former DFA chief then cited surveys which found that the vast majority of the Filipinos want the country to assert its rights in the WPS, as well as to raise the issues to the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, among other international bodies.

After the decision was handed down in 2016, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has convinced Duterte to "shelve differences" to make way for joint oil and gas exploration with Beijing. The Duterte administration has also notably continued to nurture ties with China despite the latters continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
D onald Trump has worn a face covering in public for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak began.

The US president donned a mask during a visit to a military hospital on Saturday.

Setting out from the White House, he told reporters: When youre in a hospital, especially... I think its expected to wear a mask.

Mr Trump flew by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in suburban Washington to meet wounded service-members and health workers caring for Covid-19 patients.

Mr Trump previously declined to wear a covering for public appearances / AFP via Getty Images

The president was pictured wearing a black mouth and nose covering as he began his tour of the facility.

The move is significant owing to Mr Trump's longstanding refusal to wear a mask at news conferences, coronavirus task force updates, rallies and other public events.

Sources close to him have suggested he feared that a mask would make him look weak.

While not wearing one himself, President Trump has sent mixed signals about masks, acknowledging that they would be appropriate if worn in an indoor setting where people were close together.

At the same time, he has accused reporters of sporting them to be "politically correct", and has also retweeted messages deriding his Democratic rival Joe Biden for wearing one.

The wearing of masks has become a political dividing line in the country, with Republicans more resistant to wearing them than Democrats, according to nationwide polling.

Few masks were seen at recent Trump rallies in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Phoenix and South Dakotas Mount Rushmore.

The only time Mr Trump has been known to wear a mask was during a private part of a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan.
Yet another video has gone viral within the social media platforms frequented by Chinese Canadians about a customer refusing to wear a mask inside a store. At first blush, this video is no different from others as it depicts a white guy arguing with a clerk inside T&T, a Chinese supermarket, in Mississauga, over the wearing of a mask.

But 30 seconds into the video, the racist ideology of the customer rears its ugly head when he started to call mask-wearing a Chinese communist lie and that COVID-19 is a communist virus coming from Wuhan China . just like you, referring to the T&T clerk, who appears to be a Chinese Canadian man in his 60s. But the insults did not end there.

As the customer continued on with his racist rant and demanding to know where the clerk came from, the latter could be heard repeatedly stating, I am Canadian. In response, the customer said, with visceral contempt, you are as Canadian as my butt.

In total, the clerk repeated I am Canadian about 20 times, as if that was his only defence when confronted with unabashed, literally in-your-face, racism.

But then again, what else could we as Chinese Canadians say or do when words seem to fail to convey the anguish and profound sense of loss we feel when our very existence in the country we call home is being rejected?

Being a Canadian has not helped scores of Chinese Canadians and other Asian Canadians who have been attacked, both verbally and physically, on the street, in public transit, at work, and pretty much anywhere we go during this pandemic. Indeed, our very identify as Canadian is under attack, when our loyalty to Canada is being questioned, and our decision to wear a mask, or not, is being linked to our race.

Not only do we have to contend with racism because of the colour of our skin, Chinese Canadians also have to fight against xenophobia because no matter how long we have lived in this country, how many generations of our families have settled here and how much we have contributed to the building of our nation, we are still regarded as foreigners.

As long as this country has been around, starting with the first Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, who called us strangers in a strange land, our right to belong has never been fully accepted.

At times like this when systemic racism is being openly discussed and acknowledged by officials at all levels of government, there has been no outpouring of support for Asian Canadians battling anti-Asian racism. No celebrities coming to the aid of this T&T clerk, who was simply doing his job by following his companys policy and as of July 10, the order of his city, mandating all residents to don a mask while indoor.

This video was reminiscent of a similar incident back in March when a group of Asian Canadian women were kicked out of a Metro store in Toronto for wearing masks. They too were berated by a white customer, but with the support of the store employees. As in the case of the T&T clerk, the Canadian public turned a blind eye, while the demand from a Chinese Canadian advocacy group to Metro to explain their action has been left unanswered.

Since when has wearing a mask and requiring others to wear one become a crime? The answer: when you are Asian.

When I hear the T&T clerk declaring over and over again I am Canadian, I wonder how many more of us must do the same before the Canadian Government will hear our cries and take our issues seriously. How much hope do we have to achieve true equality when the very strategy that Canada has adopted to combat racism does not even acknowledge the existence of anti-Asian racism?

As more and more cities begin to make mask wearing mandatory, I fear there will be more attacks on our community. Just as Chinese Canadians have been blamed for bringing the virus to Canada, we will be blamed by the anti-maskers for being forced to wear a mask designed to protect all of us from getting the virus.

All I can do is ask my fellow Canadians, I am Canadian, but do you see me as one?
Nepal's COVID-19 cases jumped to 16,801 after 82 new infections were reported, while 38 people have succumbed to the coronavirus, a senior health official said on Sunday.

The number of recovered patients has gone up to 8,589 as 147 COVID19 patients recuperated from the infection in the last 24 hours, Health Ministry spokesperson Jageshwor Gautam said.

A total of 82 new infections have been reported, pushing the country's tally to 16,801, the official said.

Currently, there are 8174 corona active patients undergoing treatment at different health facilities across the country. Nepal's COVID19 recovery rate has reached 51.1 per cent, Gautam said.

The death toll remains 38 as there was no death reported in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry.

So far, 283,515 PCR tests have been conducted across the country, it said.

The novel coronavirus which originated from China in December last year has claimed over 5.6 lakh lives and infected more than 12 million people globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Bexar County increased by 535 on Saturday, and local officials reported nine new deaths, but stress on local hospitals eased slightly.

The total number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Bexar County stood at 19,137, according to figures released by Metro Health.

Still, two-thirds of people who have tested positive for the virus remain infected.

COVID-19 has a foothold in our community, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said in a social media post Saturday. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Practice physical distancing. If you have no need to travel to a public space, don't.

On ExpressNews.com: Heavy influx of COVID-19 patients threatens to overwhelm hospitals

Officials reported 1,221 people with COVID-19 are in the hospital, 19 fewer patients than on Friday.

There are, of course, people in the hospital for many other reasons; so, in all, 422 staffed beds were available Saturday, which is 11 percent of total capacity in Bexar County hospitals. That was up from 10 percent reported Friday.

Of those hospitalized, 401 were in intensive care, a decrease of 15 patients from the day prior, and 249 patients were using ventilators to breathe, one more than Friday.

The trend toward younger people dying with the novel coronavirus continued. Two of the deaths Saturday were Hispanic men in their 40s, and another was a Hispanic woman in her 40s.

Two Hispanic women, one Hispanic man and one white man all in their 60s also died with COVID-19. The city reported two other deaths, a white man in his 90s and a Hispanic man in his 80s.

All nine had underlying medical conditions, city officials said.

The death toll in Bexar County is at 175.

We cannot let up now, Nirenberg said. Please be safe this weekend, San Antonio. You just might save someone's life.

On ExpressNews.com: Governor signs order requiring most Texans to wear masks in public

The city received 29 calls Saturday, reporting violations of coronavirus restrictions. Two citations were issued at Highlanders Bar and Grill along Frederickburg Road, one to the restaurant owner and another to a person who was not wearing a mask.

Out of more than 8,400 calls for enforcement related to the local emergency order, the city has issued 87 citations.

More than half of the novel coronairus cases reported in Bexar County have been among people younger than 40.

In neighboring Comal County, the trend has also been toward younger people testing positive for the deadly virus.

Officials reported 37 new cases Saturday, of which seven are younger than 30 and 19 are in their 30s or 40s.

There was one more death reported; a Hispanic woman in her 90s who had been a resident of Kirkwood Manor in New Braunfels.

On ExpressNews.com: Get the latest update on coronavirus and a tracking map of U.S. cases

Statewide, Texas officials listed 10,351 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday, the most the state has reported in a single day since the onset of the pandemic.

Hospitalizations have doubled in Texas over the last 15 days; 10,083 patients with COVID-19 were in hospitals on Saturday, up 81 from Friday.

Across the state, health officials reported 99 new deaths. Over the last week, 504 people have died from COVID-19 in Texas, the states deadliest week of the pandemic so far.

Diego Mendoza-Moyers covers manufacturing, the automotive industry and the energy sector. To read more from Diego, become a subscriber. diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net | Twitter: @dmendozamoyers
President Donald Trump holds a roundtable on "Supporting the People of Venezuela" at Iglesia Doral Jesus Worship Center in Doral, Fla., on July 10, 2020. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Venezuelan, Cuban Refugees Call on Trump to Help Free Their Countries From Communism

Refugees talk about their firsthand experience with socialism, communism

Venezuelan and Cuban activists in Florida on July 10 urged President Donald Trump to help people oppressed by the regimes in their countries to regain their freedom and eliminate narco-terrorism.

Ernesto Ackerman, the president of civic group Independent Venezuelan-American Citizens, requested that Trump eliminate the germs of socialism from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and other countries in the region and to help the people of Venezuela to get rid of the narco-terrorists who have kidnapped our nation.

Ackerman, the son of a Venezuelan concentration camp survivor who still lives in the country, said his organization has lobbied the U.S. Congress for over 18 years to impose sanctions on narco-terrorists in Venezuela.

Cubans line up outside a bakery in Havana to buy bread on Dec. 13, 2018. (Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)

Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat, Cuban-born co-founder and spokesperson for the Cuban Democratic Directorate, said at the July 10 roundtable, Supporting the People of Venezuela, that there should be a task force [in the United States] to educate Americans about socialism and communism.

Gutierrez-Boronat shared key life experiences he had in communist Cuba that helped him to understand the nature of socialism and communism.

He recalled that church services in Cuba were attended by very few people, as churchgoers were persecuted and discriminated against by the communist regime for believing in God.

Everywhere communism and socialism have come to, the first freedom they strike at is religious freedom, Gutierrez-Boronat said.

The right to believe or not to believe, to have faith or not to have faith, thats fundamental, and thats one of the first things communism in Cuba tried to eradicate. They tried to wipe out Christianity in Cuba.

The strategic sanctions imposed by the United States and aimed at the military and the intelligence and security sectors [in Cuba] have weakened them, he said, adding that this was why protests erupted in Santa Clara in recent months.

Cuba was self-sufficient with a thriving economy, and even exported food, before the communists took over the country in 1959, he said, but Cuba today cannot feed itself without U.S. donations.

Gutierrez-Boronat criticized Hollywood and media outlets that spread false information about socialism, communism, and about what happened in Cuba.

Seven would-be Cuban emigres remain in a homemade boat moments before being arrested by Cuban military agents after their attempt to escape from the island nation was thwarted by the sea currents, on June 4, 2009 in Havana. (Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images)

He also urged Trump to consider indicting the Cuban regime for its 1996 killing of Cuban Americans who were helping people escape the island nation by raft in international waters, and for other crimes against humanity committed by the Cuban regime.

Trump said the United States has imposed historic sanctions on socialist dictator Nicolas Maduros regime in Venezuela and that it stands with the righteous and rightful leaders of Venezuela.

Trump added that his administration indicted Maduros regime for narco-terrorism and imposed sanctions on Nicaragua for human rights violations. He also ended the Obama administrations pro-communist policies that he said Joe Biden has pledged to reinstate.

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said that socialism and communism in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are not only disastrous for people there, but also pose a national security threat to the United States.

Venezuelan Communism Exposed

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, sitting at desk second from right, speaks with Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno at the Supreme Court before giving his annual presidential address in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 31, 2020. (Ariana Cubillos/File/AP Photo)

Lourdes Ubieta, a Venezuelan-born activist who has been working for media in Venezuela and the United States for over 25 years, said that her Cuban parents living in exile in Venezuela fled Cuba to escape Castro communist tyranny.

Venezuela was a prosperous and generous country until 1999, when Hugo Chavez took power and imposed socialism on the country.

Almost two decades of socialist rule has devastated Venezuela, Ubieta said, bringing 75 percent of Venezuelan families into poverty where they even cant afford the basic food basket.

Out of 7.8 million children in the country, 40 percent report difficulties [attending] school for problems with water supplies, blackouts, no food at home, lack of transport, or lack of teachers, she said, adding that the child mortality rate has also increased dramatically.

The socialist regime has damaged the countrys economy to the point where the food sector cant produce enough food and the oil industry cant produce enough gasoline, Ubieta said.

Venezuela generates most of its revenue from oil production, and its oil reserves are some of the worlds largest. During the 1970s, Venezuelas oil industry was nationalized. In 1989, oil prices plummeted worldwide, causing the countrys oil-reliant economy to fall. Food and gas prices jumped and peoples living conditions deteriorated.

Chavezs socialist policies made the country even more dependent on oil export, and his successor, Maduro, continued his policies.

An anti-Maduro protester is detained by security forces during clashes in Caracas on May 1, 2019. (Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images)

Transnational organized crime controls Venezuela, Ubieta said. Drug cartels, Colombian guerrillas, international mobs, and Iranian financed terrorists operate freely under the Venezuelan regime with the Cuban agenda. He added that Trump has been the only U.S. president who has stood firm against these criminals.

I ask you [Mr. President] not to leave Venezuela. Each minute that passes is one of the greatest sufferings for Venezuelans, she said.

Trump said: I will not forget what I heard today. Its very moving, its a very tough situation, and weve made a lot of progress as you probably have seen.

I have a feeling you wont be disappointed.

Democratic Party Roundtable

Earlier on the same day, ahead of Trumps visit, the Democratic Party organized a virtual roundtable on Facebook for Cuban and Venezuelan community leaders to condemn the Trump administration for broken promises to Venezuelan and Cuban communities, according to FloridaDems.org.

Hes going to sit down today with Venezuelan migrants, I saw his agenda. Is he willing to grant Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans?  We have 150,000 people here in this country with a vulnerable migration status, Leopoldo Martinez Nucete, a Venezuelan Latino Victory board member, said at the Democratic roundtable.

Look beyond what saysand assess and evaluate what he has done. He has done nothing to resolve this pandemic. Pretty much like he has done nothingjust talkabout Venezuela. He doesnt care about Venezuelans.

Frank Mora, a Cuban American and the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Western Hemisphere under the Obama administration, said at the Democratic roundtable: Why isnt he granting [Temporary Protected Status] for Venezuelans? Why increase the deportations of Cubans? Why are Cubans being detained without their cases being considered in Louisiana? Why are there so many Cubans in at the U.S.Mexico border without also having their cases heard? reported FloridaDems.org.

The TPS Act for Venezuelans was passed by the Democrat-controlled House in July last year but did not pass the Republican-controlled Senate. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said that while the current situation in Venezuela is exactly the reason the temporary program was created, its practically impossible to rescind the status, once granted.

The Trump administration tried to rescind TPS designations for six countries in 2018 and 2019 but was blocked by judges each time.
Manasquan has suspended its recreation programs for a week after several employees tested positive for the coronavirus, a borough official said in a video posted online Saturday.

A recreation counselor, junior guards counselor and several other employees tested positive for COVID-19, Councilman and Beach and Recreation Chair Michael Mangan said in the video. He did not provide details on their conditions.

Mangan said the town will pause its recreation programs to assess how many people were infected and who each person was in contact with. The beach will remain open, though Mangan reminded people to practice social distancing.

I know that the parents of young children in this town are all anxious to get their kids back involved in organizations where they socialize with each other. Thats crucial to their development. But we cant do that at the risk of public safety, Mangan said.

Right now, we can trace all the contacts for the cases we have, he said. If we have more positive cases, we will continue to release that information. As a parent, I can tell you the only thing I know is everyone wants to make sure they have all the information they need to make decisions for their own families.

To date, Monmouth County has reported 9,620 positive cases of coronavirus, 37 of which were in Manasquan. The state has slowly been allowing businesses to reopen in phases over the past month after the number of new cases hit its peak in April.

The boroughs decision not to shut down its recreation programs entirely was a measured approach, Mangan said. He said officials want to allow children to participate in activities while also keeping the population safe.

However, he said, if the health department cannot determine who was exposed and how many were exposed to the virus, then the programs would be canceled.

This virus is going to be with us for a while. This is not something thats going to go away this summer or even this fall as much as we want it to and we have to figure out a way to live with it and a way to deal with these cases as they come up, Mangan said. Were going o have to figure out a way to continue our society while seeing these cases of positive tests come back.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo.
What would you do for an upgrade? Trade your track pants for a suit? Throw yourself to your knees at check in? Pray to the gods of ergonomics? For most people, the answer is: anything but pay for it.

Now though, with the cheap domestic flight frenzy Australia is now seeing (even if experts say it wont last), flying business class domestically is a truly tantalising option (even if most people have no reason to travel right now).

But you already have a pretty good idea of what domestic business class looks like (especially after walking past it so many times on your way to your cattle class cell). What most people are in the dark about, however, is international business class (and not just because the lights tend to be dimmed when you walk in).

Chuck into the mix the pointy end policy changes that have come into effect of late, from killing off the lounge buffet to Hazmat suits that put Naomie Campbell to shame, and you have yourself a cocktail of luxurious ~mystery~.

What does flying international business class look like right now? DMARGE spoke exclusively with Jaynee Wehbe, global sales director at TRIANGL, who recently was granted an exemption to travel to Ibiza on business, to find out.

Jaynee set off two weeks back, on a work trip which involved a campaign shoot in Ibiza, then working on new collections, sourcing brands for TRIANGLs store and sorting everything out for the rest of the year with her boss in Monaco.

Jaynee travelled from Sydney to Ibiza, on Qatar Airways business class, with stopovers in Doha and (unexpectedly) Amsterdam along the way. First though, she had to seek an exemption to travel, which she told DMARGE was a straight forward process.

Theres a form on the DFAT website you fill out. I explained my work scenario  at first it was rejected as I didnt specify a return date. Youre able to resubmit with extra info and it was then approved in a few days.

You then need to check with the country youre flying into that you can actually fly there. I thought I could get into Spain on July 1 however they changed this to July 8th and made the announcement on July 3rd. Which is why I traveled to Amsterdam, Jaynee added.

I was meant to fly to Ibiza but they changed the restrictions without warning. So Im in Amsterdam (only place you can fly to from Australia with no restrictions) trying my luck to get through this morning, Jaynee told us two weeks ago.

Despite a last minute paperwork blip (Spanish government came out with a form you need to fill in to gain entry into Spain and of course the form doesnt work!) she made it to Ibiza with no dramas.

Got on the plane, filled in a hard copy, got to Ibiza airport and they didnt even look at the form!!

As for the onboard experience, this is what its like, according to Jaynee.

The hazmat suits are more confusing than creepy

It made me feel more confused than anything! I mean why is it necessary to cover your entire body? And if they think its necessary then why arent we doing it too? Jaynee told us.

It was really hard to communicate with them too as the plane is loud enough and then you couldnt see their mouth move or even their eyes!

Theyre also exclusive to business class

The hazmat suit was only in business class: the other attendants wore a robe, mask and goggles only (only!). Which is also confusing

The flight may be safer than the airport

Sydney international airport itself surprised me, Jaynee told DMARGE. From memory I didnt see any hand sanitizer stations, check in staff werent wearing gloves/masks nor was there any sanitizer even though they were dealing with our passports and documents.

Our temperature wasnt taken upon arrival to the airport or even before boarding the flight which I found weird as were getting our temperature taken at restaurants now!

Face shields may not prove as effective as you think

Another thing I found weird Jaynee told us, was that they were handing out face shields for the flight and you werent allowed to walk onto the plane without wearing one. But as soon as you walked past the flight attendant when youre on the plane, you could take it off and have it off for the whole trip.

I just found the whole process inconsistent. Measures in place just to say that measures are in place.

In terms of overall experience though, international business class on Qatar Airways remains much the same

Other than the above comments, business class was much the same!

This all comes in a context where international travel for leisure for Australians looks increasingly unlikely until at least mid-2021. So, despite the rumoured travel bubbles in the works, unless youre travelling on essential business, it looks like youll have to scratch your business class itch vicariously for some time yet.

Read Next
The right balance of preservation and reinvention will depend on things that are unknowable now, from the duration of the Covid-19 shock to whether changed consumer habits will prove durable. For now, policy makers are erring on the side of blanket support, even if some of the companies that get it turn out to be unviable.The idea that we can know with any kind of clarity who is solvent at this point, or who is going to be solvent, is really a stretch, said Jeremy Stein, a Harvard professor and former Federal Reserve governor. That could make what Stein called Americas bias toward indiscriminate liquidation of smaller firms a problem, rather than a benefit for the post-virus economy.
Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated, has committed to invest up to Rs 730 crore for a 0.15 per cent equity stake. The latest investment in Jio Platforms is at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore.

This is the 13th deal secured by Jio Platforms in a span of 12 weeks, bringing the total funds raised by the company to Rs 1.18 lakh crore. The digital arm of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has so far received investment from leading technology investors including Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, Silver Lake, ADIA, TPG Capital, L Catterton, and Public Investment Fund.

ALSO READ: Jio Platforms receives over Rs 73,600 crore for 16.12% stake from five of its investors

The investment will deepen the ties between Qualcomm and Jio Platforms, to support Jio Platforms on its journey to rollout advanced 5G infrastructure and services for Indian customers, a joint statement by the two companies read.

"Qualcomm has been a valued partner for several years and we have a shared vision of connecting everything by building a robust and secure wireless and digital network and extending the benefits of digital connectivity to everyone in India. As a world leader in wireless technologies, Qualcomm offers deep technology knowhow and insights that will help us deliver on our 5G vision and the digital transformation of India for both people and enterprises," said Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

ALSO READ: Jio receives Rs 43,574 crore from Facebook for 9.99% stake

"With our shared goal of extending the benefits of digital connectivity to everyone and everything, we anticipate Jio Platforms will deliver a new set of services and experiences to Indian consumers. With unmatched speeds and emerging use cases, 5G is expected to transform every industry in the coming years. Jio Platforms has led the digital revolution in India through its extensive digital and technological capabilities. As an enabler and investor with a longstanding presence in India, we look forward to playing a role in Jio's vision to further revolutionize India's digital economy," said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated.

Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Reliance Industries, and AZB & Partners and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal counsels. Trilegal acted as legal counsel for Qualcomm Ventures. The transaction is subject to customary conditions precedent.

ALSO READ: RIL becomes first Indian firm to cross Rs 12 lakh crore market cap
K eir Starmer is favoured by voters over Boris Johnson when it comes to their leadership qualities, a new poll suggests.

The latest Opinium poll for the Observer revealed that half of UK voters have formed a more favourable view of the Labour Party since Sir Keir became its leader in April.

The findings come as the new Labour leader is set to mark his first 100 days since succeeding Jeremy Corbyn.

From July 9 to July 10, Opinium interviewed 2,002 UK adults on their opinions of their two opposition party leaders. According to the poll, 52 per cent of voters said they could imagine Sir Keir inside Number 10.

Voters favoured Sir Keir Starmer when it came to which party leader was more decisive / PA

However when it comes to economic competence and whether Labour has the ability to run the economy, 42 per cent said they favoured Mr Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak over Sir Keir and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Anneliese Jane Dodds.

Laura Parker, the former national coordinator of Momentum, told the Guardian that more members of the Labour party were willing to work with Sir Keir.

She said: We are going to have to build a broad coalition to beat this lot [the Tories] and after four election defeats the party left, centre and right have understood that."

Keir Starmer: 'if you want me to answer lets swap places'

According to the Opinium poll, Sir Keir is now strongly favoured by voters over Johnson when people are asked about the two leaders qualities  such as their competence, their ability to take decisions and get things done, and their ability to represent this country abroad.

The scores, which were generated by looking at the percentage of those who believe the leaders are not competent and subtracting from percentages who say they are, Sir Keir scored a net positive result of +28 per cent against -4 per cent for Mr Johnson.

The Prime Minister scored a negative result of -2 when it came to the question of whether he was a strong leader, while Sir Keir scored +21.

The Labour leader also performed better than Mr Johnson when it came to who was at better at negotiating with the EU as he scored +4, double the score of Mr Johnson's +2.

It comes after a later Opinium poll in June found that 37 per cent of voters thought Sir Keir would be better at leading the country, compared to 35 per cent for the current PM.

The latest figures released by YouGov revealed voting intention polls were consistently showing a large drop in the Tory leads.
WILBRAHAM  When Mark K. Vuong boarded a China Airlines flight to Vietnam on Jan. 14, he never thought the three-week vacation would turn into a six-month stay  or that his girlfriend would quickly become his wife. Its all because of COVID-19.

The 35-year-old real estate agent and restaurateurs original plan was to visit family and friends and file paperwork to make Thao Nguyen, 34, his wife. Problems at the US embassy, however, made that impossible to accomplish in just three weeks.

Then, the coronavirus pandemic struck, and Vuong was stuck in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. That gave Vuong the time he needed to burrow through the bureaucracy.

It allowed me to do the paperwork to technically get married, he said.

A mutual friend introduced Vuong and Nguyen six years ago. They got to know each other online and on phone calls.

In the beginning nothing came of it, says Vuong. But we rekindled the relationship last year and decided to take our first steps that would get her to the US.

Nguyen has never been to America. Vuong has seen her on only three short trips to Ho Chi Minh City. His parents live in Western Massachusetts where they own and operate Pho Saigon restaurant in Springfield. They had never met their future daughter-in-law until last year on a trip to Vietnam.

They met her and said, Oh wow, shes really great. It was one of those things that fall into place with the right timing, said Vuong.

Vuong has tried and failed many times to get back to Western Massachusetts, but cancelled flights, travel bans, and municipal lockdowns have kept him away.

When he first arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vuong was living with his cousin while visiting family and friends. Hes since settled into a more routine lifestyle, dropping his wife off at work, then exercising, reading, riding a motorbike around the city, doing housework, and investigating real estate investment opportunities in Ho Chi Mihn City.

When hes in Western Massachusetts, he works at the family restaurant and sells real estate.

That income has all but dried up, except for a few referral fees from clients he cant help and passes on to his colleagues.

Vuong is still trying to get home but a five hundred dollar flight going to Vietnam has turned into a three thousand dollar return ticket. I havent spent that much money since Ive been here, he says. The flight to Ho Chi Minh City was just about 24 hours. Now with fewer flights and more transfers, the trip home could take three days.

I miss my parents very much. I talk to my mom on a daily basis if I can. Its tough not being able to hug them, he says.

Although Vuong worries about his parents, he says they are healthy. In the meantime, hes still trying to get back to the US, but it will be a bittersweet homecoming when it happens.

The extra time here is not something Im taking for granted, said Vuong. Once I leave, Im not going to see my wife for a very long time because of how long it takes to sponsor someone to come to the United States. Its super difficult.
A young white mother was murdered last week by a Black Lives Matter mob after she allegedly told them that All Lives Matter.

24-year-old Jessica Doty Whitaker was shot and killed in Indianapolis amid a confrontation with BLM thugs who were triggered when she told them All Lives Matter.

According to the victims family, the shooting started with an argument over Black Lives Matter and language. Eventually the two sides separated and walked away from each other, until witnesses claim the killer opened fire from a nearby bridge and ran away, Fox 59 reported last Monday.

It was squashed and they went up the hill and left we thought, but they were sitting on St. Claire waiting for us to come under the bridge and thats when she got shot, said the victims fiance Jose Ramirez.

Whitakers father Robert Doty told The Gateway Pundit that his daughter was shot in the head after responding to the BLM groups Black Lives Matter chants.

Doty also said the mainstream media never bothered to reach out to him.

From The Gateway Pundit:

Her father, Robert Doty, told the Gateway Pundit that the BLM supporters had walked by her and her fiance and said Black Lives Matter, to which Jessica responded that All Lives Matter.

The BLM activists had allegedly pulled out weapons during the argument, which prompted Ramirez to do the same. This lead to them backing off, but not for long.

An argument started and guns came out, but they worked things out. Unfortunately, they didnt drop it and waited for them to walk back through and she was shot in the head, Doty told TGP.

Doty confirmed that neither CNN nor Fox News has reached out for information about the case, despite the murderer being on the loose.

Police are still searching for the suspects, and have released footage from the area.
Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Pradyuman Singh Lodhi on Sunday resigned from the party and as member of the state Assembly, and joined the BJP before being appointed as the chairman of a state-run corporation with the rank of a cabinet minister.

Soon after he joined the BJP on Sunday afternoon, the party-led state government appointed Lodhi as the chairman of Madhya Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation.

Lodhi, who was a legislator from Bada Malhera seat in Chhatarpur district, joined the saffron party as its state headquarters here in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

State BJP chief VD Sharma announced Lodhi's induction into the party fold. Chouhan and Sharma welcomed Lodhi into the BJP.

Lodhi told reporters, "I have resigned as MLA. My resignation has been accepted. Only the BJP can develop Bada Malhera Assembly constituency and the Bundelkhand region. The chief minister also approved developmental schemes for my area."

"My constituency is among the most backward areas in Bundelkhand which has seen displacement of around 20,000 locals in search of work. I am trying for an irrigation project for my area which can transform the entire constituency," Lodhi said.

Asked whether he has been promised a ministerial berth, Lodhi smiled and said it is all depends on the chief minister.

In the evening, the state government issued an order saying that Lodhi has been appointed as chairman of MP State Civil Supplies Corporation. The government also accorded the rank of a cabinet minister to him, an official said.

In another order, the state government appointed Pradeep Jaiswal, independent MLA from Waraseoni of Balaghat district, as Chairman of Madhya Pradesh State Mining Corporation Limited.

Jaiswal has also given the status of cabinet minister rank by the state government, the official said. Jaiswal, a minister in the previous Congress

government, had extended support to the BJP after the fall of the previous Kamal Nath government in March this year.

Before joining the party, Lodhi went to Chouhan's residence on Sunday morning. He also met senior BJP leader and former Union minister Uma Bharti, who in 2003 represented the Bada Malhera seat in the state Assembly.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly's pro-tem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma said Lodhis resignation as MLA has been accepted.

He submitted the resignation on Saturday. I told him to reconsider it till Sunday. But, he again came to me today and requested to accept the resignation. So, his resignation has been accepted, he said.

BJP spokesperson Surendra Sharma said the Congress is a party based on some individuals and when it loses power in New Delhi, it tends to disintegrate in states.

Congress leader Bhupendra Gupta said the saffron camp is using corporate money to buy elected representatives which was not a good sign for democracy. "He (Lodhi) said he was switching over to the BJP for the development of Bundelkhand. Does he remember who was in power for 15 years and how the Bundelkhand package fell prey to massive corruption under the BJP government?" Gupta said.

With this, the Congress's strength in the state Assembly has been reduced to 91.

In March this year, 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the Congress after former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party and joined the BJP, resulting in the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Madhya Pradesh government. On March 23, Chouhan took oath as chief minister for a record fourth term.

Following the resignation of 23 members and death of two sitting legislators, the effective strength of the 230- member state Assembly at present is 205. The BJP currently has 107 MLAs in the state Assembly.

Besides, the House has four Independent MLAs, two from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one belonging the Samajwadi Party (SP).

(With inputs from PTI)
File image

The government is looking at reforms in various sectors like foreign direct investment, mining, banking and capital market to promote economic activities in the country, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said.

The government is also looking at simplifying domestic approvals and bureaucratic processes to make it easier for industry to do business, he added.

"We have significant items on the table. We are looking at further reform in the mining sector, we are looking at opening up FDI in certain sectors where there are some constraints, foreign investment will be permitted.

"We are looking at reform in terms of domestic approvals and bureaucratic processes to try and simplify it and make it easier to do business, we will soon be coming out with a new industrial policy, with a new forest policy and several other initiatives to promote economic activities in a variety of ways," he said at India Global Week 2020.

The government is also looking at banking sector and capital market reforms. Therefore, the agenda is pretty vast and it is open to new ideas, Goyal said.

Talking about economic revival, he said a number of indicators are showing that economic activity has ramped up over the last 30-40 days.

The minister said that power consumption is back to 90 per cent, GST tax collection has improved, "So, I believe that we will be able to recoup very quickly".

"To my mind, we will be able to bring back the economy over the next 3-4 months to last year level and then get rapid growth in the economy," he said.

Talking about investments in railways, the minister said both global and Indian companies bid for projects and the electrification of Indian railways.

The 20 GW clean energy programme is going to be bid out and any company from around the world can come in and invest in PPP mode, own the projects and supply the power to railways, he said, adding going forward the Indian railways is opening up new opportunities.

"My own sense is that we will have at least USD 500 billion (worth) of projects being bid out by the Indian railways over the next 12 years or so for PPP," Railways Minister Goyal said.

He said that it is now open up for bidding 150 routes for private trains.

On banning Chinese apps, he said it was more of a security concern and all the companies have been asked to furnish certain details, which is proper legal practice that is going on.

India is always open to fair trade on the basis of reciprocity as it can not be proper that domestic goods and services do not get equal access and equal freedom to operate in the other country, he said.
Soon after Bharatiya Janata Partys Yogi Adityanath had come to power in Uttar Pradesh, he had openly issued a death threat to criminals in a 2017 interview. The newly-elected Chief Minister had said: Agar aparadh karenge, toh thok diye jayenge (if they commit a crime, they will be shot).

It appears he stayed true to his words. With the encounter killing of dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey, the total tally of extrajudicial deaths in Uttar Pradesh since the time Adityanath has been in power rose to 119, as per an Indian Express report. There were 6,145 operations in the past three years, which ended in the encounter killing of 119 accused, while 2,258 others were injured.

As per Supreme Court guidelines, an FIR and a magisterial inquiry is a must in all encounter cases. However, in Uttar Pradesh, only 74 encounter killings underwent a magisterial probe. The court order read: A magisterial inquiry must invariably be held in all cases of death which occur in the course of police action. The next of kin of the deceased must invariably be associated with such inquiry. In every case when a complaint is made against the police alleging commission of a criminal act on their part, which makes out a cognizable case of culpable homicide, an FIR to this effect must be registered under appropriate sections of the IPC.

In December 2019, the UP Police had taken to Twitter to brag about the thok do policy and written that 5,178 encounters had taken place in the state in the past two years, in which 103 criminals died and another 1,859 sustained injuries. And to think that this went out in the same year that the Supreme Court had raised concerns about a spate of encounters in UP makes it all the more alarming.


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Saturn V swapped for SLS rocket on new Alabama license plate



July 11, 2020  Alabama has traded the glory of a past moon rocket for the promise of a new launch vehicle on the latest version of its space exploration-themed, specialty license plate.



The redesigned "Alabama Space Tag" replaces the depiction of the historic Saturn V booster which 50 years ago launched the first astronauts to the moon  with NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket. The new plate marks the first time that the Saturn V has not appeared on an Alabama plate in 15 years.



The Alabama Department of Revenue began issuing the new Space Tag in May. Like the "Save the Saturn V" plate that it replaced, sales benefit the state's home for one of the three remaining Apollo-era rockets.



"The net proceeds of the $50 are distributed to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Foundation to be used towards the Davidson Saturn V Center in Huntsville where the Saturn V is located," the department wrote on its website.



First introduced in 2005 after an almost year-long effort to garner the public interest needed to qualify for the new plate, the original Alabama "Save the Saturn V" tag was part of a successful $5 million fundraising effort that underwrote the restoration and housing of the rocket.



The dynamic test vehicle, Saturn V 500-D, had been exhibited outdoors at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center from 1970 through 2008, when the Davidson Center for Space Exploration opened to showcase the booster on horizontal display. A full-scale replica of the 363-foot-tall (110-meter) Saturn V was erected upright in the plaza leading into the Davidson Center.



The Space & Rocket Center, home to U.S. Space Camp, serves as the official visitor center for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where the Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun and his team of engineers.



The original "Save the Saturn V" license plate depicted the rocket launching towards the moon. A silhouette of the International Space Station and the tagline "First to the Moon and Beyond" completed the 2005 design.



A 2014 update to the plate added illustrations of Earth and Mars and revised the depiction of the space station. The slogan remained the same.



With the Saturn V "saved," the funds raised by the specialty plate's sales were redirected to supporting new exhibits, exhibit maintenance and educational programs, according to the Space & Rocket Center at the time. By 2014, the tag had brought in $1.2 million for the museum.



The new Alabama Space Tag substitutes the Space Launch System for the Saturn V set against both the moon and Mars. A red ribbon extends between the two in a design similar to the logo of NASA's Artemis program, under which the SLS will fly. The 2020 plate replaces "First to the Moon and Beyond" with "Dare to Explore."



The space tag is available to Alabama motorists for $15 to $890, depending on the type of vehicle being registered. The plate may be personalized.



NASA is targeting late 2021 for the first uncrewed flight of the SLS rocket. Artemis 2, the first SLS planned to carry astronauts on a circumlunar mission, is slated for 2023. NASA is aiming to land the next man and first woman on the moon by 2024.



Alabama is not the only state to offer a space-themed specialty license plate. Florida, which issued the country's first specialty plate to honor the fallen crew of the Challenger, still offers a tag depicting the space shuttle that memorializes the astronauts who lost their lives in the 1986 tragedy and the 2003 ill-fated crew of the space shuttle Columbia.



The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles also offers a specialty plate honoring Columbia's final crew that depicts the orbiter over Earth under seven stars (Texas previously included the shuttle on its standard plate from 2000 to 2009). Ohio and Virginia also offer tags with space themes, including one by the latter featuring the NASA insignia for the space agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton.



The new Alabama Space Tag offered by the Alabama Department of Revenue replaces the previous "Save the Saturn V" license plate and its depiction of the Apollo-era moon rocket with an illustration of NASA's new Space Launch System. (Alabama Dept. of Revenue)







Alabama's original 2005 "Save the Saturn V" license plate (at top) and 2014 revision raised funds for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, where one of the three remaining Saturn V rockets is on display. (Alabama Dept. of Revenue)



 2022 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved.
The coronavirus health crisis has led to delays for thousands of people wanting to become citizens of the United States.

The federal agency that processes citizenship requests, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS, suspended its in-person services in March. At that time, the agency said there were about 110,000 people waiting to complete the final steps to citizenship.

The process of becoming a U.S. citizen is known as naturalization. The final step in this process is to take an oath of loyalty to the country at an official ceremony.

Some individuals have been able to complete the process by taking part in an unusual drive-up ceremony.

The drive-up events are designed with physical distancing in mind to protect people from the coronavirus. Those taking part are required to wear face coverings. People remain in their vehicles while taking the citizenship oath. A government official stands a safe distance away to complete the swearing-in process.

One such ceremony took place recently in a parking garage near a federal office building in Detroit, Michigan. When 60-year-old Anita Rosenberger entered the garage, she was a British citizen. Thirty minutes later, after taking the oath, she drove away as a U.S. citizen.

It was a nice experience in spite of the fact that I was in the car by myself with a mask on, Rosenberger said. And I will say that I will remember this.

Similar drive-up ceremonies are being held across the country, but possibly not for much longer. USCIS says a budget crisis could force the agency to temporarily release nearly three-fourths of its workforce. If this happens, it could further delay the final citizenship steps for tens of thousands of people.

The citizenship agency has not explained how it will operate if it does not get $1.2 billion from Congress before August 3. It told The Associated Press that all USCIS operations will be impacted by the release of more than 13,000 workers.

USCIS receives nearly all its $4.8 billion budget from fees it collects from people who seek to live or work in the country. The agency is already getting less money after President Donald Trumps administration ordered restrictions on immigration. The agency said effects of COVID-19 had reduced the amount by half.

The administration also stopped some programs - including a recent halt on H-1B visas for skilled workers - that provide an important source of money for USCIS.

Some in Congress have pushed to permit virtual swearing-in ceremonies, but the agency has so far refused.

Citizenship groups have warned that the citizenship delays could limit the rights of thousands of voters in the countrys elections later this year.

Time limits for election registration are nearing in some states. Individuals seeking to vote must be citizens when they register or risk facing criminal charges or possible deportation, the groups say.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

oath  n. a formal promise

parking  adj. leaving a vehicle in a particular place for a period of time

garage  n. a small building used to keep cars in

in spite of  phr. although something exists or happens

mask  n. a covering for the face

impact  n. the effect an event or situation has on someone or something

fee  n. an amount of money people pay to do or get something

source  n. where something comes from

virtual  adj. using computer and internet technology to conduct activities normally carried out in person

deportation  n. the forced removal of a person from a country
Soldats du BIR Archives

Soldiers in Mozogo, a locality in Cameroons Far North region, have forced civilians to perform local night guard duty to protect against attacks by the armed Islamist group Boko Haram, Human Rights Watch said in a dispatch Friday.

The rights group says the incidents of this forced labour were rife from mid-March to late April 2020, with soldiers beating and/or threatening those who refused to perform the tasks.

Human Rights Watch reports that for now, following denunciations by local nongovernmental organizations and the National Human Rights Commission, the beatings appear to have stopped. However, people in the town report that they continue to live in fear of beatings resuming and that the forced labour and threats continue.

The Cameroon authorities should immediately stop forcing civilians to perform night guard duty and instead protect civilians through lawful means, said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. Cameroonian authorities should investigate the reported beatings, threats, and forced labour and members of the security forces found to be responsible should be brought to justice.

The Cameroon army started to forcibly mobilize civilians after a February 4 Boko Haram attack, during which its fighters burned an estimated 40 homes in Mozogo and killed 2 civilians, one of them a blind man, who was killed and then burned inside his home, the rights group said in Fridays presser.

Human Rights Watch said in April and May, it interviewed 15 people by telephone who have been forced to perform night guard duty under threat. Six had been beaten for initially refusing to join. Human Rights Watch also spoke with 12 Mozogo residents who witnessed but had not been subject to the forced labour, four victims and witnesses of other alleged military rights violations, and four representatives of local human rights groups, the statement read in part.

Minister of State Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic and Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, Director of Civil Cabinet at the Presidency were reportedly contacted by Human Rights Watch for comments on June 9. Human Rights Watch says it also followed up with a senior official from the Presidency on June 18, but no Cameroonian official had responded at the time the statement was published.

The civilians who were forced under threat to perform guard duty received no compensation and were put in harms way. They were not trained, were unarmed, and were told to run back to town to alert the army if they saw Boko Haram fighters approaching, said Human Rights Watch. Mozogo residents said the military unit based in Mozogo  the 42nd Motorized Infantry Battalion (BIM)  worked with local authorities to compile lists of about 90 men and at least one boy who was required to join the night guard duty and displayed these lists in public spaces. They identified at least 12 locations in and around Mozogo as posts for night duty and assigned nine civilians to each location.

Those who did not willingly comply were sought out in the neighbourhoods and threatened with death and beatings. Some were beaten in public. According to victims, witnesses, and residents, at least 40 people were threatened with death and beatings or were beaten for refusing to take part.

Boko Haram's decade-long uprising to establish a hardline Islamic state in Nigeria's northeast, which has killed more than 27,000 people and left 1.8 million homeless, spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.

An anti-Boko Haram force combining soldiers from Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria has since been set up but has failed to rout the group from the restive Lake Chad region.

The jihadist group has stepped up attacks in Cameroon and neighbouring countries. Human Rights Watch says since January, Boko Haram has carried out over 200 attacks and raids in the Far North region, killing at least 126 people.
AKRON, Ohio  An unidentified man and a female toddler were both found dead Sunday morning at a house in the citys University Park neighborhood, the Summit County Medical Examiners Office said.

Akron police were called about 10 a.m. to a house on the 400 block of Crouse Street, just a few blocks south of East Exchange Street and the University of Akron, a news release from the medical examiners office says. At the scene, officers learned that bystanders had found the bodies in the driveway.

Paramedics pronounced the individuals dead at the scene. The circumstances surrounding their deaths have not been determined, according to the news release.

The medical examiners office will perform autopsies Monday, the news release says.

Akron police have not released any information about the incident. This post will be updated Sunday if more details become available.

More Northeast Ohio crime news:

Man shot dead in early morning East Cleveland shooting, reports say

19-year-old man killed in Euclid shooting, juvenile shooter turns self in, police say

Akron man accused of breaking into Portage Lakes winery, attempting to steal boat
About 5,000 bricks await names to be emblazoned on a downtown Casper building to honor local essential workers and highlight the community with a mural that proclaims: Better Together.

The Casper Mural Project plans the Better Together Mural to span the Atrium Plazas west wall with local names on bricks available for purchase as a fundraiser to help the new nonprofit establish itself and commission four downtown murals, vice president Tony Elmore said.

With murals, what were once blank walls become beautiful works of art that draw people and create foot traffic along with economic and mental health benefits, he said. The upcoming mural, for instance, will draw the potentially 5,000 people whose names are painted on the wall along with others who appreciate public art.

It allows artists to be contributors of their community, which they can then take a little bit of ownership and have their artwork shared within public spaces. It allows visitors and the community to see what the community values in terms of their stories and culture.

People can buy bricks to feature their name or someone elses for $20 each through the Casper Mural Project website. Theres a spot on the form to indicate an essential worker, wholl be honored with a star painted next to their name.

Those whod like to recognize an essential worker but may not be able afford a brick can nominate the name for a brick provided by donors by filling out a nomination form with a description of the persons work during the shutdown.

We welcome and encourage people of the community to nominate these individuals that you saw who were working really hard to keep things moving, Elmore said.

People can buy one or multiple individual bricks, and donations of $500 or more will receive the equivalent in bricks and be featured on a metal plaque with the story of the mural. Any bricks not used by those donors or their companies or organizations may be donated for the nominated essential workers, Elmore explained.

Deadlines are midnight July 31 for the Wall Sponsor donations and midnight Aug. 9 to purchase individual bricks, according to the Casper Mural Project website.

Elmore, who last year created the James Reeb Memorial Mural downtown, donated his time to design the mural. He plans to begin painting Aug. 15 with the Casper Mural Project board and committee members and estimates the project will take two or three days.

The artist used a complimentary color scheme of reds and greens to contrast with the warm yellows and oranges with blues in the Reeb mural.

And I thought the typography kind of had that nice, like almost a little bit of a Western feel, he said. It kind of reminds me of the Lou Tauberts mural thats on the top of the building. So I thought that had a nice cohesion with what has already been established downtown.

The nonprofit earlier this year planned to start fundraising and organizing four downtown murals theyd hoped would be completed this summer, Elmore said. Then the pandemic hit Wyoming in March, and the group had to postpone the plans to next summer. They invite property owners to contact the organization if theyre interested in a mural on their building, he continued.

But the nonprofit team still wanted to do something this summer and continued to meet virtually. Amid closures and isolation, an idea sparked for a mural in honor of essential workers and to highlight the community, because people have longed for connection to friends, family and others, Elmore said.

...COVID was pretty much splitting everybody apart and making it so that we couldnt be together, and we were just yearning to be together.

The idea evolved into the Better Together Mural.

The phrase is a reminder, that when we work together as a team, we often can achieve more and conquer anything, Elmore said. So we wanted to have that as reminder to the community on a daily basis and for the visitors that pass by.

Follow arts & culture reporter Elysia Conner on twitter @erconner

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Published on 2020/07/12 | Source

A growing number of women in traditionally conservative Korea are willing to have children out of wedlock, suggesting that old taboos are fast eroding.

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In a straw poll of 389 single women in their 30s by pollster Tillion Pro, 34.2 percent said they want to get married and have kids, but 10.3 percent said they wanted to have children but definitely not marry. Another 7.5 percent of the respondents said they wanted kids whether they are married or not.

As the age of marriage climbs and climbs for various reasons, a growing number of women in Korea are considering alternatives to giving birth themselves. One option that has grown in popularity has been to freeze their eggs.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of women who froze their eggs almost tripled from 6,851 in 2014 to 22,614 in 2018. At CHA Medical Center, which offers such services, the number of cases rose from just one in 2000 to 493 last year.

Han Se-yeol at the clinic said most of the women are single, while married couples can opt to have embryos frozen, which is safer. "An egg can be frozen for an indefinite period of time, but many women never come for their eggs, so we charge a storage fee every few years", Han said. Experts say a healthy egg can be stored from a woman up to the age of 37.

But simply freezing eggs does not solve the problem. Sperm is required to fertilize it, and it is difficult for unmarried women to obtain it without sexual relations. Under the ministry's guidelines, no laws prohibit single women from receiving sperm donations, but it requires the submission of a copy of the family register and the consent of a spouse.

The CHA Medical Center said it offers its fertility treatments only to legally married couples, while common-law marriages require extra proof. "Some single women tell us they plan to obtain sperm from overseas, but we refuse to administer our services to them".

This is why instances of women trying to buy sperm from strangers or friends are growing. Because of the difficulties of in-vitro fertilization, some end up having sex with the putative father instead.

Do single men want to have children too? In another straw poll of 157 single men by Tillion Pro, 14.6 percent of male respondents in their 30s wished to have kids whether they were married or not, twice as many as among women. Also, 8.9 percent of the male respondents said they wanted to have children but not get married.

But for single men this can be even more difficult since someone needs to give birth to the child. "Men's sperm also deteriorates in quality and number as they age, but not as sharply as what happens to female eggs", Han said. "That's why hardly any single males want to have their sperm frozen".

But it is nearly impossible to find egg donors or surrogate mothers for single men even if they freeze their sperm. The number of sperm donors is increasing steadily, but the number of egg donors is much smaller.

According to Statistics Korea, 9,066 children are being raised by unwed fathers and 24,969 by single mothers.
WINNIPEGWanda Robson smiled wide as she clutched a $10 bill with a familiar face on the side  her sister, Viola Desmond, a Black woman and civil rights pioneer.

It was a momentous day in front of media inside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg in 2018, as a crowd celebrated Desmond, the first woman other than the Queen on the front of a regularly circulating bank note in Canada. The museum itself is featured on the other side of the bill.

The museum and its morals have been questioned recently as numerous Black and Indigenous current and former employees shared stories of racism, discrimination and censorship.

It is the latest controversy for the embattled institution.

The museum stands tall near the meeting place of two rivers, important ancestral lands for several Indigenous communities for thousands of years.

As people make their way to the buildings second floor, they see a round theatre covered with panels inspired by visions of Indigenous youth.

The museum was criticized for its approach to Indigenous history, even before construction began. Almost 600,000 artifacts were recovered during a yearlong archeological dig at the site, yet only two per cent of the fill removed was sifted.

(It was) the worst case of legal destruction of the rich heritage that I have had the misfortune to witness, Leigh Syms, a former archeology curator at the nearby Manitoba Museum, said in a book The Idea of a Human Rights Museum.

Co-author Karen Busby, a University of Manitoba law professor, said there were problems from the start, especially when it came to what would be displayed, how it would be, and who was making those decisions.

The issue starts at the very top, Busby said in a recent interview.

The museum was the brainchild of Winnipeg businessman and philanthropist Israel Asper, who wanted to create a Holocaust museum. He launched a private initiative in 2003 but died soon after, so it became a legacy project taken on by his daughter.

Former prime minister Stephen Harpers government announced in 2008 that the museum would have national status and Ottawa would pick up operating costs.

The museums first CEO, Stuart Murray, was a former leader of the Progressive Conservatives in Manitoba.

He had never even been on the board of governors of a museum, didnt know anything about human rights, Busby said. But he was appointed as the CEO in order to  keep a political check on the museum.

There were significant cost overruns, allegations of political interference and high staff turnover rates.

Concerns arose that stories about Canadas historic Indigenous policies such as residential schools would be softened. Clashes began over the use of the word genocide in regard to Indigenous people.

When the museum finally opened in 2014, at a cost of $351 million, only five of its 11 galleries could be viewed. Exhibits about Canadian and Indigenous human rights remained closed for a few weeks.

That marked the end of Murrays time as CEO.

He declined a request for an interview.

In the following years, there were more debates, including one about Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the plight of the Rohingya people.

Critics pointed to the makeup of the museums decision-makers. An article published in the journal Museum Management and Curatorship last year pointed to a lack of diversity. It was co-authored by former founding team member Armando Perla, who is originally from El Salvador and identifies as queer.

Increasing diversity in museum leadership; providing adequate anti-oppression and social justice training; openly discussing racism, implicit biases, whiteness and other forms of privilege; as well as adopting clear ethical guidelines for engaging with historically marginalized communities are a necessary starting point ... the article said.

Perla, now with the Swedish Museum of Movements, declined to comment further.

The museum is once again looking for a leader and is reviewing its hiring and retention practices. John Young resigned as president last month following a social media campaign by the group CMHR Stop Lying.

It was formed after the museum posted images of a Justice for Black Lives rally. Current and former employees quickly responded that it was hypocritical of the museum because of racism they faced at work.

Employees also said they had to censor displays about LGBTQ history at the request of some school groups who visited the museum.

Pauline Rafferty, interim CEO and board chairwoman, said in an emailed statement that it has become clear the museum has serious work to do to engage with staff. Initial steps, including an external review, have already begun, she said.

But those steps represent a starting point, not a destination, and there is much more we have to do.

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The American dentist who killed Cecil the lion is reported to have hunted another endangered wild animal.

Walter Palmer is said to have slaughtered a protected ram in Mongolia, paying up to 80,000 for the kill.

The hunter, who prompted a worldwide outpouring of fury when he targeted Cecil five years ago, was identified as one of two men in a photo with the dead Altai argali  the largest wild sheep in the world.

The image posted on social media shows the pair posing with their kill during a trip to Asia, although their faces are cropped from sight.

According to WWF, the argali is legally protected by Mongolian law, and hunting it is banned. Internationally, the species is officially classed as near-threatened.

Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale Show all 10 1 /10 Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale Pangolins confiscated from smugglers are put inside a container during a press conference in Medan, North Sumatra AP Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale A puppy being sold for food at a market in Vietnam We Animals Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale A bear under anaesthetic is strapped to a metal fram and taken away to have have its bile drained to be used in medicine AFP/Getty Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale Bears are caged before having their bile drained at a farm in China. Bear bile has been in use in Chinese traditional medicine for centuries. The active ingredient, ursodeoxycholic acid, is often used to treat liver diseases. It is available across the world as a synthetic drug Getty Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale Squirrels for sale at Chatuchak market in Thailand We Animals Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale A dog sits in a cage destined for the dinner table in Xin Yuan wild animal market in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou AFP/Getty Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale Pangolins are believed to be the worlds most trafficked animal. This pair were saved from local traffickers and kept at the Ugandan Wildlife Authority in Kampala AFP/Getty Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale Factory farming of tens of millions of mink, fox racoon dogs, chinchillas and rabbits in other countries "presents an unnecessary and unacceptable risk for both human and animal health,' Humane Society International says Yuri Tutov/AFP via Getty Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale Live birds for sale at Bird Alley in Taiwan We Animals Stop the Wildlife Trade: Live animals for sale A customs officer gives water to seized pangolins before a news conference at the customs department in Bangkok Reuters

Actor and wildlife campaigner Peter Egan condemned the depravity exhibited by the killers in the photograph.

The dentist travelled to Mongolia last August from his Minnesota home, the Daily Mirror reported, identifying the two men as Mr Palmer and his friend Brent Sinclair. It said they tracked their prey in the mountains with the help of local guides.

The newspaper said the two men have travelled the world together to kill animals for fun. Its thought the ram, a much older male, was killed with an arrow.

Recommended British hunters have killed at least 60 lions since Cecil

A source told the paper that Mr Palmer had several more trips planned, saying: At the time of Cecils death, Walter took a back seat. But hes been hunting ever since he was a boy. Its a way of life to him. Walter has undertaken several hunts since Cecils death.

The trip to Mongolia was his idea. The ram was on his list of hunts he wanted to complete.

Mr Palmer allegedly paid 32,000 to his Zimbabwean guides in July 2015 to be able to kill Cecil, and was suspected of luring the 13-year-old big cat out of its home in Hwange National Park to shoot it with a bow and arrow.

Cecil, who was being tracked by GPS satellite collar by Oxford researchers, was left bleeding and in pain before being shot dead the next day.

Of the Mongolia trip, Mr Sinclair wrote on Facebook: I have booked more hunting trips with this guy over the past 20 years than I can count. Together, we have travelled to many far reaches of the world.

The photo he posted of the dead ram was liked or loved by 79 people, and several friends congratulated him on the kill.

Mr Sinclair did not identify Mr Palmer on Facebook, instead calling him amigo. He talked about their once killing an elephant just 30 yards away, but said the trip to slaughter the sheep may be at the top of the pinnacle and hard to beat.

He has also posted photos of himself hunting turkeys, as well as other hunters posing with big cats including cougars they have targeted.

When confronted by a Mirror reporter, Mr Palmer refused to talk.

Teresa Telecky, wildlife vice-president at Humane Society International, said: For trophy hunters to travel to Mongolia to kill a beautiful and endangered ram is an absolute outrage.

The argali ram is a species in danger of extinction, so the idea that these animals can be killed for pleasure is abhorrent.

The killing of Cecil the lion five years ago caused international shock but clearly the killing for kicks continues.

Its time for the law to stop wildlife killers in their tracks by banning trophy hunting.

The UK government has suggested it will ban the import of animal parts killed for fun, after it ran a public consultation on the idea, but any announcement on it has been delayed.

After Cecils death, a high court in Zimbabwe cleared professional hunter Theo Bronkhorst of all charges.

The dentist said later that if he had known Cecil had a name and was important to a study, he would not have killed it.

Two weeks after Palmers trip to Mongolia, the US presidents eldest son Donald Trump Jr also travelled there to hunt the sheep, the Mirror said, costing American taxpayers 60,000 for secret service agents.

The Independent has contacted Mr Palmer to ask him to confirm the ram hunt and to ask for his reaction to the anger it has caused.
A top White House official said he expected President Trump to act firmly against the TikTok and WeChat social media apps, prompting an angry response from China on Monday. China dismissed White House trade advisor Peter Navarro's comments as "ridiculous and narrow-minded", and slammed the United States as "the world's real hacker empire" amid rising tensions between the two superpowers. "For a long time now, it (the US) has carried out indiscriminate and illegal cyber attacks, surveillance and theft of secrets on a global scale," said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a routine briefing. "The US continues to have strong values, but why is it so scared of a fun video-sharing social media network loved by young people?" Trump last week had said he is considering banning the wildly popular TikTok app as a way to punish China over the coronavirus pandemic. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Navarro argued that "what the American people have to understand is all of the data that goes into those mobile apps that kids have so much fun with... goes right to servers in China, right to the Chinese military, the Chinese Communist Party." He said these apps can be used to steal intellectual property. "So expect strong actions on that" by Trump, Navarro warned. TikTok belongs to the Chinese group ByteDance and has nearly one billion users worldwide. It has sought to distance itself from its Chinese owners, pointing out it has an American CEO and consistently denying allegations that it shares data with Beijing. WeChat, owned by Tencent, is a versatile app with more than one billion users in China who use it for text messaging, mobile payments and social media. Navarro also accused TikTok's new boss Kevin Mayer, former head of Disney's streaming platforms, of being a puppet. On Friday, Amazon said it mistakenly sent workers an email telling them to dump the TikTok mobile application from their cell phones because of security concerns. An Amazon spokesperson later told AFP "there is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok." Democratic campaign teams for the US presidential election have been asked to avoid using TikTok on personal devices and, if they do, to keep it on a non-work phone. The research firm eMarketer estimates TikTok has more than 52 million US users, having gained about 12 million since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. TikTok is especially popular with young smartphone users.
In recent years, when I have worried that Minneapolis might be the worst-governed city in America, I have taken comfort from the thought that however bad Minneapolis might be, Portland is even worse. Portland, whose Antifa chapter seems to have free rein in the streets and is constantly wreaking havoc. Portland, whose city governmentI thoughtwas even more left-wing than Minneapoliss.

Portland is bad, of course. Check out this roundup.

Every night for the past six weeks in Portland, Oregon, antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters, looters and vandals have turned what used to be a nice neighborhood in downtown into a war zone.

Six weeks! More on Portlands war zone:

My friend took these photos of Portland a few days ago. The downtown is boarded up.

My friend holds a concealed weapons license. Like so many people, he refused to get out of his car. pic.twitter.com/OCUDRr3G9W  Victoria Taft (@VictoriaTaft) July 9, 2020

This fits my stereotype. Portland, even worse than Minneapolis! Also this:



Although, to be fair, those gunshots are nothing compared with what happens in Minneapolis every day.

But them I came to this:

More than $23 million worth of damage has been done to downtown businesses since the antifa and BLM insurrection began in earnest.

A mere $23 million? In Antifas home base? Are you kidding me?! What pikers! The Minneapolis arson toll is around $500 million, pretty much all of it due to incompetent (if not frankly sympathetic) politicians, most notably the Boy Mayor of Minneapolis and the Governor of Minnesota.

The discrepancy is stunning. Portland, hand over your crown! Minneapolis is now number one when it comes to catastrophically incompetent left-wing governance.
Throughout the Charlton-Pollard neighborhood where Sheryl Jackson lives, she is renowned as being a mother figure to all - the young, the old, the displaced or those merely down on their luck. Shes been there for them all.

Whether you need clothes, a meal or cold drink on a hot day, her door is always open. And her heart is open to offer a listening ear, heartfelt advice and, when needed, tough love.

Jackson gives it all through her nonprofit organization, It Takes a Village. As she says, it doesnt just take a village to raise a child. It takes a village to raise a village.

The list of services she offers normally would include many free hugs, but when COVID-19 filtered into Southeast Texas, Jackson was torn. Shes always welcomed those in need, but that comes now with fear of what she might get in return.

Months before the coronavirus entered our lexicon, shed been hospitalized for an emergency appendectomy. That was followed by a bout of pneumonia. Her elderly mother, Thelma Richard, at her home daily to help with the charity work, had health issues to be considered, as did her great nephew, whom she has been raising for several years.

Worried for their health, as well as her own, Jackson ceased her open, drop-by distributions and focused on her family, staying healthy and promoting others to do the same.

I was one of the first people in Beaumont to wear a mask, she recalls, and people were laughing, pointing at me and videotaping, but I didnt care.

As the virus spread most insidiously among those with the least, Jackson couldnt ignore the growing needs of her struggling community.

Job loss and dwindling access to essentials, particularly those needed to maintain hygiene, presented a new level of threat to the communitys safety.

Jackson restarted her services, offering food to those in need and whatever essentials she could provide.

Her work caught the attention of a donor with a friend in the food industry. Jackson was contacted with an offer of daily deliveries of prepackaged meals, milk and produce for distribution from her home portico.

With that help, she has been able to provide daily meals to those in need.Verlis Johnson, a friend who also delivers for Meals on Wheels, stops by after finishing her shift to gather meals, which she will deliver to seniors throughout the area.

Theres always somebody who needs something, Jackson says, and a lot of the older people especially either cant get out or theyre afraid to go out.

As COVID-19 cases have spiked in Southeast Texas rise, Jackson has come to a second crossroad.

Shes recently suspended clothing distribution appointments, but will continue food delivery for the near future.

A sign hangs from the table where athe jug of cold juice still awaits those in need. It offers her phone number for those needing emergency assistance.

Out of an abundance of caution, and to serve as an example to others, she recently visited a free testing clinic set up at McCabe Roberts United Methodist Church, where she took a COVID-19 test that for months shed been afraid to get.

Jackson posted a status on her Facebook page. A flood of comments quickly followed. If you can do it, I can, someone posted; I just made an appointment, another replied.

It was just the inspiration shed hoped to ignite.

I know there are people right here that are positive, and I see them out walking the streets every day, not wearing a mask.

By setting an example, she hopes to throw a wrench in the spike of cases now besetting the community.

It isnt entirely unselfish.

I just want my life back. Im a people person, she says. And now, I dont feel complete. I really dont.

kbrent

@beaumontenterprise

.com
Representative image

Financials of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies are likely to see a significant impact in the first quarter (April-June) of FY21 due to impact of the COVID-19 enforced lockdown on supply chain and manufacturing, according to brokerage firms.

Most brokerage houses expect cumulative sales decline of 20.5 percent YoY, EBITDA decline of 30.5 percent and PAT decline of 28.9 percent YoY in 1QFY21.

Result season began with Tata Consultancy Services on July 9.

Among FMCG companies, Britannia will be announcing its first quarter results for FY21 on July 17, ITC on July 24, Marico on July 27 Nestle on July 28, and Dabur on July 30.

Hindustan Unilever and Godrej Consumer Products are yet to disclose their result dates.

The lockdown which started on March 22, has been extended until July 31.

Delhi and Maharashtra are highly affected states with most number of COVID-19 cases.

Channel liquidity issues and urban slowdown, particularly in the discretionary categories, may led to sales decline of FMCG companies.

Brokerage houses said most companies in the sector have curtailed ad spend and new launches due to persisting weak demand.

Both these factors are likely to check what would otherwise have been a much sharper EBITDA margin decline given the plunge in sales YoY, significant downtrading, and lower premium and discretionary product sales due to pantry loading.

As per brokerage reports most companies have indicated that there will be stronger recovery in small towns and rural areas compared with metros that are experiencing a slow recovery due to higher number of Covid-19 cases.

According to a Q1 preview report from Motilal Oswal Financial Services, In June 2020, near-normalcy was witnessed in several staples categories with some of the discretionary demand also surprisingly bouncing back in the month. However, whether this sustains given the worsening situation on the COVID front in several parts of the country  especially in large urban clusters  remains to be seen.

Brokerage firm Emkay believes staples were less affected, with food companies outperforming due to higher in-home consumption during the lockdown period. Britannia and Nestle may be beneficiaries of this trend.

The brokerage house sees some players benefitting from higher usage hygiene/healthcare products while most affected by restrictions on manufacturing and sale of non-essential personal care products in April as well as slower recovery in consumer demand thereafter.

The lockdown impacted alcohol and cigarette categories as sales were lost for the entire April and some parts of May as well.

The lockdown which started from March 22 has been extended to July 31 to curb the spread of COVID-19 that includes restriction on flights and other transport across states of India.

Presently, with nearly 6.5 lakh cases and average 20,000 new cases added per day, the peak is expected to be around the corner.

Despite Unlock 1.0 that began in the second week of June, a majority of manufacturing facilities are still operating below optimum levels.

A key reason for under-utilisation of capacities is the unavailability of skilled workers.

The impact of lockdown was also evident in January-March results detailed by FMCG companies.
Residents locked down at a public housing tower in North Melbourne say the temporary construction of exercise yards outside the building was dehumanising.

On Saturday morning fences were erected outside 33 Alfred Street in North Melbourne. Witnesses told The Age they were taken down on Sunday morning, shortly after midnight.

The Alfred St building is the only high rise in Melbourne that remains in hard lockdown. It is due to stay under tighter restrictions for another week, with fears up to 25 per cent of the 472 residents living there may have been infected with the virus. The hard lockdown was lifted on eight other public housing towers last week.

Fences were erected in front of and around 33 Alfred Street in North Melbourne on Saturday. They were later dismantled.

Betty Belay, a community volunteer who has been assisting at the public housing towers, said she attended a meeting on Saturday night that included representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services, Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria and Victoria Emergency at which the topic of exercise yard fencing was discussed.
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Victoria's Secret vet Alessandra Ambrosio commanded attention as showcased her supermodel strut around her neighborhood in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The 39-year-old Brazilian beauty cut a stylish figure in a chic striped Heartloom tank, which she partially tucked into a pair of fashionably frayed beige shorts.

Her barely-there denim bottoms drew emphasis to her shapely legs and bombshell figure.

Leggy display: Victoria's Secret vet Alessandra Ambrosio commanded attention as showcased her supermodel strut around her neighborhood in Los Angeles on Saturday

She paired her trendy ensemble with a number of layered necklaces, clear sunglasses and a wrist full of bracelets.

As she chatted away on the phone, she kept a white face mask in her hand, which matched her natural-looking manicure.

The mother-of-two kept her makeup minimal with her glowing summer tan on full display.

On the phone: The 39-year-old Brazilian beauty cut a stylish figure in a chic striped tank, which she partially tucked into a pair of fashionably frayed beige shorts

Dog walk: Her 11-year-old daughter Anja joined the stroll and could be seen walking the family's beloved chocolate lab

Her 11-year-old daughter Anja joined the stroll and could be seen walking the family's beloved chocolate lab.

Later on the stroll, Ambrosio took hold of her dog's leash and flipped her salon-worthy hair.

For her casual outing, she kept the top of her blouse unbuttoned to reveal a hint of cleavage.

Chatting away: Her barely-there denim bottoms drew emphasis to her shapely legs and bombshell figure

Bronze beauty: The mother-of-two kept her makeup minimal with her glowing summer tan on full display

Trendy: As she chatted away on the phone, she kept a white face mask in her hand, which matched her natural-looking manicure

Ambrosio, who also shares a eight-year-old Noah with ex Jamie Mazur, looked thrill to take in the fresh air, as she walked around in a pair of brown sandals.

Eventually, she covered her mouth and nose with a disposable surgical mask, amid the growing number of coronavirus cases in California.

The surge of cases recently led Los Angeles County to close down all indoor dining after previously allowing it.

CDC-recommended: Eventually, she covered her mouth and nose with a disposable surgical mask, amid the growing number of coronavirus cases in California

Doting dog mom: Later on the stroll, Ambrosio took hold of her pup's leash and flipped her salon-worthy, straightened hair

Protected: The surge of coronavirus cases recently led Los Angeles County to close down all indoor dining after previously allowing it

On Thursday, Alessandra and her former partner of 13 year, Jamie Mazur, visited a house for sale in Los Angeles' tony Brentwood neighborhood, not far from her residence.

While under quarantine, the model has also been using her various platforms to document her time with her two children and her fashion designer boyfriend Nicolo Oddi, 40.

Ambrosio often provides her 10.3 million Instagram followers with poolside bikini pictures, photos taken during her date nights with Nicolo and the various antics she gets into with Noah and Anja.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 00:57:48|Editor: huaxia

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JUBA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said on Sunday it will mobilize psychiatrists to provide counseling to frontline health workers dealing with COVID-19 related stigma and fatigue.

Mayen Machut Achiek, undersecretary ministry of health, said that a team of psychiatrists is on the standby to help counsel frontline health workers and their families amid emotional stress linked to the pandemic.

"We have a team of psychiatrists and psychologists to counsel our workers and even go forward to counsel their families," Achiek told reporters in Juba.

The decision to hire therapists came after eight frontline health workers quit work citing stigma and pressure from their families. Enditem
More than 250,000 High Street jobs could be axed as Britons shop online during the coronavirus crisis.

Experts have warned that a slew of store closures at John Lewis and Boots are 'just the start'.

The department store chain will shut eight sites, putting 1,300 jobs in peril, and 4,000 will be lost at the health and beauty retailer.

Industry insiders are monitoring Top Shop, New Look, Arcadia, Monsoon and Poundstretcher for similar announcements.

Experts have warned that a slew of store closures at John Lewis (pictured) and Boots are 'just the start'

The department store chain will shut eight sites, putting 1,300 jobs in peril, and 4,000 will be axed at the health and beauty retailer (pictured)

Retail expert Richard Hyman told the Sun: 'If you think there are 9.5million people on furlough, 250,000 redundancies is quite a reasonable number.

'Pre-pandemic online sales accounted for 30 per cent of non-food sales. That will rise to 40 per cent, which means hundreds of thousands of job losses.

'Lockdown has been the catalyst, not the cause. Big firms like John Lewis have needed to shut stores for years.

'Fifteen years ago online shopping wasn't really used, now it's worth 70billion. But in that time they have still opened more stores. It's not sustainable.'

Britain's jobs bloodbath gathered pace last week as more than 60,000 workers were axed or faced redundancy.

It was an immediate blow for Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who launched his desperate 30billion package to help keep people off the dole.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the Eat Out to Help Out scheme on Wednesday in a bid to help restaurants

John Lewis confirmed eight of its stores will not be reopening after closing for lockdown.

The ailing department chain will permanently close major sites in Birmingham and Watford, as well as smaller outlets at Heathrow airport, St Pancras train station in London and four At Home shops in Croydon, Newbury, Swindon and Tamworth.

Rolls Royce and Burger King said job cuts were still on the cards, with Boots one of the latest to announce redundancies.

The high street pharmacy said more than 4,000 posts will be axed  seven per cent of its workforce  due to the 'significant impact' of Covid-19.

The move is a humiliating reality check after Mr Sunak raided the Treasury once again to prop up Uk plc.

His mini-Budget included a 1,000 'jobs retention bonus' for business who bring workers back off furlough, and half-price meals out funded by the government.

A grim-faced Chancellor conceded he could not protect all workers, and the UK was on track for a 'severe' recession.

Unite chief Len McLuskey said Mr Sunak had 'failed' to prevent more redundancies on Britain's struggling high streets.

Around 4,000 jobs are set to go at Boots, with 48 of its opticians stores expected to close

Boots' announcement will hit staff at its Nottingham support office hardest, but redundancies could also impact some deputy and assistant manager, beauty adviser and customer adviser roles across its stores.

The restructuring will also result in the closure of 48 Boots Opticians stores.

Boots said the cuts represent an 'acceleration' of its transformation plans to improve profitably across the business.

Sebastian James, managing director of Boots UK, said: 'The proposals announced are decisive actions to accelerate our transformation plan, allow Boots to continue its vital role as part of the UK health system, and ensure profitable long-term growth.

'I am so very grateful to all our colleagues for their dedication during the last few challenging months.

'We recognise the proposals will be very difficult for the remarkable people who make up the heart of our business, and we will do everything in our power to provide the fullest support during this time.'

It comes after retail sales tumbled by 48 per cent over the past three months in the face of the pandemic, despite Boots keeping swathes of its stores open to customers.

Meanwhile, its opticians business saw sales dive by 72 per cent compared to the same quarter last year as people stayed at home.

Critics of Mr Sunak's mini-budget said employers may choose to wait until early next year to claim their bonus from the taxpayer and then sack their staff.

They said bosses may not see 1,000 as enough of an incentive to employ someone until January at all and make them redundant now.

Unite chief Len McCluskey said: 'Redundancy notices are already flying around like confetti so today was the day we needed the Chancellor to put a stop to this with policies as bold as the jobs retention scheme. This statement failed that test'.

John Lewis said it will permanently close eight of its department stores, putting 1,300 workers at risk.

The firm said it will shut two stores in Birmingham and Watford, four At Home shops in Croydon, Newbury, Swindon and Tamworth, and two travel hub outlets at Heathrow and St Pancras.

It said the eight shops were already 'financially challenged' before the pandemic, which has ramped up the shift towards online shopping.

John Lewis estimated between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of sales are set to be made online this year and next, compared with 40 per cent before the pandemic.

On the slide: John Lewis Partnership bonus payments through time

Profits: John Lewis Partnership profit numbers since 2010, provided by MarketLine

Weekly sales: John Lewis Partnership weekly sales figures over the last year, provided by MarketLine

Gross sales: John Lewis Partnership gross sales since 2009

John Lewis & Partners Here's how John Lewis & Partners has fared on the financial front in the last few years. This relates to John Lewis' performance and excludes Waitrose: January 2015 Gross sales: 4.43bn

Like for-like sales: +6.5%

Operating profit: 250.5m January 2016 Gross sales: 4.56bn

LFL sales: +3.1%

Operating profit 250.2m January 2017 Gross sales 4.74bn

LFL sales: +2.7%

Operating profit 231.4m January 2018 Gross sales 4.86bn

LFL sales: +0.4%

Operating profit: 232.9m January 2019 Gross sales: 4.89bn

LFL sales: +1.4%

Operating profit 114.7m Advertisement

Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership Sharon White said: 'Closing a shop is always incredibly difficult and today's announcement will come as very sad news to customers and partners.

'However, we believe closures are necessary to help us secure the sustainability of the partnership - and continue to meet the needs of our customers however and wherever they want to shop.

'Redundancies are always an absolute last resort and we will do everything we can to keep as many partners as possible within our business.'

Meanwhile more than 3,000 British workers applied for redundancy at Rolls-Royce, with many leaving in the next two months.

The company earlier announced a sweeping round of job cuts, with around two thirds of the workers to leave the business by the end of August.

It is also seven weeks after Rolls-Royce said it would slash 9,000 jobs across its global workforce, warning factories in the UK were set to be the worst hit.

The Derby-based maker of plane engines had already been facing problems before the coronavirus pandemic dealt a serious blow to the global economy.

It was forced to make changes to its Trent 1000 engines, grounding many of its customers' planes to perform maintenance work, after an engine fell to bits and rained metal on an Italian town.

The company said on Wednesday it was making 'good progress' on fixing the Trent 1000s, and had got the number of grounded aircraft to below 10.

But the virus put extra pressure on its customers, as so-called widebody engine flying hours were down by 75 per cent in the second quarter of the year.

Leaving: Over 3,000 British workers have applied for voluntary redundancy at Rolls-Royce

She's a fan: The Duchess of Cambridge officiates the launch of the first aero engine and fan blades produced in Singapore at the Rolls Royce Seletar campus in 2012

Chief Executive Warren East said: 'These are exceptional times. The Covid-19 pandemic has created a historic shock in civil aviation which will take several years to recover.

He added: 'We are taking steps to resize our Civil Aerospace business to adapt to lower medium-term demand from customers and help secure our future.

'This means we have had to take the very difficult decision to lose people who have helped us become the company we are and who have been proud to work for Rolls-Royce.'

'It is my first priority to treat everyone - whether they are leaving or staying - with dignity and respect.'

The business revealed cash inflow had dropped by 1.1billion and it had taken a further 1.1billion one-off hit as it stopped sending out invoices.

Yet the company still managed to stay on track for its target of producing 250 engines by the end of the year, getting through 130 in the first half, Rolls-Royce said.

Its defence business has held up better than elsewhere, and there are signs planes are starting to take off again, especially regional and business trips less likely to cross international borders.

It expects widebody engine flying hours to be down around 55 per cent over the course of the year.

Burger King UK's boss also warned more than 50 of its 530 UK branches could shut, putting up to 1,600 jobs at risk.

Burger King has said jobs could be lost with more than 50 restaurants at risk of closure in the UK

It follows similar cuts at other fast food chains such as Pret a Manger and Upper Crust.

More than 12,000 job losses were announced at the start of July at various restaurants, shops and businesses, including up to 1,330 at Pret a Manger, 5,000 at Upper Crust and 900 at management consultancy firm Accenture.

Casual Dining Group entered administration last week, costing 1,900 jobs at Bella Italia, Cafe Rouge and Las Iguanas.

Alasdair Murdoch told the BBC around 10 per cent of stores could close, putting up to 1,600 jobs at risk

With workers either furloughed or based remotely, fast food chains are losing out on office trade, while high street chains have suffered after months of lockdown.

Burger King, which employs around 16,500 people in the UK, has only reopened about 370 of its 530 UK stores have reopened since the nation went into lockdown.

Chief executive Alasdair Murdoch told the BBC's Newscast the economic damage stemming from the crisis could ultimately force the company to permanently close up to 10% of its stores.

He told Newscast: 'We don't want to lose any (jobs). We try very hard not to, but one's got to assume somewhere between 5% and 10% of the restaurants might not be able to survive.

'It's not just us  I think this applies to everyone out there in our industry.'

He added: 'We're in a slightly better situation than others, the classic in town high street restaurants, they're really struggling, we haven't opened all of those.

'We don't expect to get all of those open any time soon but we have a significant chunk. Those numbers are a long way down.'

Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Wednesday unveiled a 30billion support package to help boost the nation's economic recovery, which included plans to subsidise restaurant bills throughout August to encourage people to dine out.

On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in August, customers will be able to claim the reduction, up to a maximum of 10 per head, at participating businesses which will claim the money back from the Treasury.

How many jobs are at risk across the UK? Accenture - 900

Airbus - 1,700

Arcadia - 500

BA - 12,000

Beales - 1,052

Bentley - 1,000

Burger King - 1,600

Casual Dining Group (Bella Italia, Cafe Rouge and Las Iguanas) - 1,900

DHL at Jaguar Land Rover - 2,200

EasyJet - 4,500

Go Outdoors - 2,400

Harrods - 700

Harveys - 240

Links - 350

Mothercare - 2,500

Oasis Warehouse - 1,800

P&O Ferries - 1,100

Pret a Manger - 1,330

Ryanair - 3,000

SSP Group (Upper Crust, Caffe Ritazza) - 5,000

Ted Baker - 160

TM Lewin - 600

Tui - 8,000

Victoria's Secret - 800 at risk Advertisement

Mr Sunak hailed the scheme as a 'creative' solution to get the restaurant trade back on its feet.

Chief executive Alasdair Murdoch of Burger King UK described the scheme as 'innovative'.

But he added Government schemes do not do enough to compensate restaurants for the combination of fixed costs and lost sales throughout the pandemic.

He added on Newscast: 'I don't think you can ever get over the top of this problem.'

Last week it was announced up to 5,000 jobs are under threat at the group which owns Upper Crust and Caffe Ritazza following plunging passengers numbers at railway stations and airports amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The SSP group warned it expects to open only around a fifth of its sites in the UK by the autumn as travel is set to remain at very low levels amid the Covid-19 crisis.

It has launched a consultation on a restructure to 'simplify and reshape' the business in the face of the pandemic, which could lead to more than half of its 9,000-strong peak season workforce being axed.

It came in a wave of job cuts including 1,700 in the UK at Airbus.

That followed previous announcements by airline firms including Ryanair, EasyJet and British Airways, where a combined total of nearly 20,000 jobs are at risk, with consultations currently underway.

Elsewhere Harrods announced up to 700 jobs were at risk, Topshop owner Arcadia made 500 head office redundancies and Bentley said 1,000 were in peril.

Two in five of the entire workforce employed by DHL on the JLR logistics contract face losing their jobs, around 2,200 according to trade union Unite.

The cuts are set to fall on all of JLR's major factories in the North West and the West Midlands including Castle Bromwich, Ellesmere Port, Halewood, Hams Hall, Midpoint, Solihull and Tyrefort, will be affected by the proposed redundancies.

Fashion giant H&M confirmed on Tuesday it was closing 170 of its stores, putting hundreds of positions at risk.
A man has been charged with grievous bodily harm after a police officer was stabbed in the arm.

A police officer had to be treated in hospital after he was stabbed in Hendon Way, north-west London on July 10.

Ibrahim Gul, 37, of Finchley Road, north-west London, has also been charged with possession of an offensive weapon and possession of cannabis, the Metropolitan Police said.

Ibrahim Gul was charged with grievous bodily harm after a police officer was stabbed in the arm in Hendon Way, north-west London on July 10 (stock photo)

The police offer has now been discharged and is expected to make a full recovery, the police spokesman said.

Gul is due to appear at Willesden Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Officers were called to the scene after there were reports of a man with a knife in Hendon Way.

The man was reported to have stabbed a police officer while he was being pursued on foot.

The suspect was tasered and arrested before being taken to hospital as a precaution.

Pictured: A general view of Hendon Way. Police officers were called to the scene after reports of a man with a knife

Ibrahim Gul, 37, of Finchley Road, north-west London, is due to appear at Willesden Magistrates' Court on Monday

North West BCU Commander Roy Smith said: 'This is another example of the dangers our officers face on a daily basis as they go about their duty protecting the people of London.

'Knowing that there were reports of a man in possession of a knife, this police constable and his colleagues ran to challenge and apprehend him  these are truly brave actions.

'I have visited the injured officer in hospital and thankfully he should make a full recovery from his injury.'
Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Department of Education secretary, maintained on Sunday that American schools can reopen safely even as federal public health experts have warned that fully opening schools and colleges poses the greatest risk of spreading coronavirus.

There is nothing in the data that would suggest that kids being back in school is dangerous to them, DeVos said on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. Kids need to be in school. They need to be learning, they need to be moving ahead. And ... we cannot be paralyzed and not allow that, or not be intent on that happening.

"There is no desire to take money away," Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says when asked about the threat to school funding over reopening plans from the Trump administration #CNNSOTU https://t.co/G15h54QkmZ pic.twitter.com/nwjFTFGkAj  State of the Union (@CNNSotu) July 12, 2020

DeVos, President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials have pressed for schools to fully reopen in the fall, arguing that doing so benefits childrens educational, social and emotional wellbeing while also helping parents as businesses reopen and restrictions on social gatherings are lifted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for tight social distancing and safety measures such as closing dining rooms and playgrounds, keeping desks at least 6 feet apart, and for children to wear cloth face coverings or masks. Many school districts have said operating normally under the guidelines is not feasible, and they may implement new schedules as well as hybrid learning with some online and in-person classes.

But Trump last week branded CDC guidelines on school reopenings very tough and expensive, and he and DeVos threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that refuse to fully reopen.

I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2020

Public health experts, in federal guidance obtained by The New York Times, said the highest risk of coronavirus spreading is full-sized, in-person classes, activities and events. Less risk comes with social distancing, no shared objects and just one teacher, and hybrid virtual and in-person class structures, or staggered/rotated scheduling to accommodate smaller class sizes, the guidance states.

The lowest risk is in virtual-only classes, activities and events, according to the document, which compiled a host of CDC guidelines and was prepared by the Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force, the Times reported.

DeVos told CNNs Dana Bash Sunday that CDCs guidelines are meant to be flexible and meant to be applied as appropriate for the situation.

Schools should do whats right on the ground at that time for their students and their situation, DeVos added. There is no uniform approach we should take nationwide.

But asked several times whether schools should shift to remote learning if coronavirus cases increase in their districts, DeVos reiterated that the go-to needs to be kids in school, in person, in the classroom.

Where there are little flare-ups or hotspots, that can be dealt with on a school-by-school or a case-by-case basis, DeVos said.

While states and municipalities provide an overwhelming majority of funding to schools, Trump and DeVos last week threatened to withhold federal funds from schools that do not reopen.

On Sunday, DeVos said Theres no desire to take money away. We want to see schools open and have been committed to make sure the resources are there to do that.

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Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, who are the most admired people in America?

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SIOUX CITY  The Betty Strong Encounter Center will host Dr. Scott Culpepper July 19 at 2 p.m. His program American Judas: The Life and Times of Benedict Arnold" will be streamed on Facebook and YouTube.

Benedict Arnold rose to the status of an American hero at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 only to betray his comrades and his country three years later. His unsuccessful attempt to hand over the strategic fort at West Point to the British forever cemented his reputation as an infamous symbol of treachery. Culpepper will explore the man, his complex motivations, the pivotal role his wife played, and the mythologies that surrounded him in life and death.

Culpeppers teaching and research interests are the Atlantic world and American history, with particular emphasis on the intersection of faith, politics and popular culture. He holds a Ph.D. in religion and church/state studies from Baylor University; a Master of Arts in history from Northwestern State University of Louisiana; a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in historical and theological studies from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and religious education from Louisiana College.

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A trooper of the Border Security Force (BSF) posted along the International Border in Jammu has been arrested by the police from Punjab in connection with a case of drug smuggling, officials said on Sunday.

The BSF trooper, a resident of Punjabs Gurdaspur, was posted along the border with Pakistan in Samba sector of Jammu.

Officials said arms and ammunition have also been recovered from the personnel. A pistol, 80 bullets of 9mm calibre gun, two rounds of 12 bore rifle, two magazines and three mobile phones have been recovered from the trooper, they added.

BSF guards the over 3,300-km border with Pakistan across Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Police in Portugal are to search another 20 wells for the body of missing Madeleine McCann over fears prime suspect Christian Brueckner dumped her in a disused shaft in the Algarve, according to reports.

It comes after Portuguese divers began searching a well six miles from the Praia da Luz resort where Madeleine vanished 13 years ago - putting parents Kate and Jerry McCann, who are hopeful their daughter is still alive, 'on tenterhooks', reports suggest.

Detectives from the investigative Policia Judiciaria coordinated a search of the underground reservoir on Thursday morning and have searched two other wells.

Now a source has told the Sun that Portuguese police will check over a dozen more. wells.

The unnamed source told the paper said: 'Those well searches are unlikely to be the last.

This is the third well in the Algarve that Portuguese police have been searching for the body of Madeleine McCann

'They were the most obvious, close to Boca do Rio beach where Christian B stayed and next to the road.

'At least 20 more will need to be checked.'

A 15-strong team of rescue firefighters, including expert divers, spent 12 hours erecting a lower mechanism for the last well they searched, before they could plunge into the murky water to search for any trace of missing Madeleine.

They were acting on a tip-off that prime suspect Christian Brueckner's van was often in the area.

The well, on the outskirts of the village of Budens, in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, is just six and a half miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was last seen 13 years ago.

Overgrown by bushes and weeds, the pool is on an abandoned farm.

Madeleine's parents Kate and Jerry 'are on tenterhooks', their former spokesperson told the Sun this evening, adding the couple refuses to believe their child is dead until her remains are found.

British police, who are not involved in the search, are keeping the couple up to date on any developments.

File photo dated 30 April 2017, shows the parents of missing Madeleine McCann, Kate and Gerry McCann. The couple 'are on tenterhooks' after police began searching a third well for the remains of their daughter in Portugal today

Portuguese police have launched searches for Madeleine McCann's body on the Algarve. The searches are said to have been conducted in wells in Vila do Bispo, a 20 minute drive west of Praia da Luz where the British youngster vanished in May 2007

Portuguese police have launched searches for Madeleine McCann's body on the Algarve. The searches are said to have been conducted in wells in Vila do Bispo, a 20 minute drive west of Praia da Luz where the British youngster vanished in May 2007

It is close to a road just a short drive from the Ocean Club resort where the youngster was staying with her family

Overgrown by bushes and weeds, the pool is on an abandoned farm

The family's ex publicist Clarence Mitchell said: 'Kate and Gerry want answers more than anyone but while the Metropolitan Police are still treating Madeleine's abduction as a missing people's rather than a murder inquiry it gives them a glimmer of hope that she could still be alive.

'They continue to hope until there is incontrovertible evidence which proves she is dead. They are being kept informed every step of the way.'

The well, the third in the Portuguese police's search since Thursday, is close to a road just a short drive from the Ocean Club resort where the youngster was staying with her family.

Prime suspect Christian Brueckner is understood to have known the area well.

Portuguese broadcaster RTP claimed detectives have 'fundamental evidence' to be able to prove the 43-year-old German is responsible for Madeleine's disappearance.

News of the latest hunt comes after detectives undertook searches in wells in Vila do Bispo, a 20 minute drive west of Praia da Luz where the British youngster vanished.



Portuguese police have launched searches for Madeleine McCann's body on the Algarve. The searches are said to have been conducted in wells in Vila do Bispo, a 20 minute drive west of Praia da Luz where the British youngster vanished in May 2007

The German suspect had lived in a warehouse outside Praia da Luz for several years but moved into a campervan just before Madeleine vanished

Portuguese broadcaster RTP claimed detectives have 'fundamental evidence' to be able to prove 43-year-old Breuckner is responsible for Madeleine's disappearance

Investigators reportedly brought in a team of specialist rescue firefighters who included expert divers to examine the water wells in Vila do Bispo on the Algarve.

The broadcaster has also linked the German 43-year-old to another missing persons' case in the Algarve resort of Silves.

RTP reporter Sandra Felgueiras last week revealed Breuckner had been arrested on suspicion of exposing himself to children in a playground a short drive from Praia da Luz in 2017 when he was on the run from German authorities.

She also quizzed a couple the convicted paedophile used to live with in Portugal who claimed a Scotland Yard neighbour had been helping Algarve investigators probe Madeleine's disappearance.

There was no immediate official response from Portuguese police to the RTP well search claims.

The searches are said to have involved officers from Portugal's GNR force, which tends to cover rural areas, as well as PJ investigators and the fire rescue team.

However, Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha said no evidence Madeleine's body had been abandoned in the wells had been found.

Portuguese police have discovered 'fundamental evidence' to be able to prove suspect Christian Brueckner (right) is responsible for Madeline McCann's (left) disappearance

After the recent appeal which led to Brueckner being identified as a suspect, Portuguese police were said to be on standby to search wells and other areas German prosecutors pinpointed as possible burial sites once they had extra information.

The convicted child sex offender, who was born in Wurzburg under a different name believed to be Fischer, is currently behind bars in Germany and serving 21 months for dealing drugs in the German resort of Sylt.

His lawyers have reportedly filed a request for him to be released after serving two-thirds of his sentence, but prosecutors fear he may flee the country after his release.

The serial sex offender is also facing a separate sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.

During the attack, Brueckner reportedly bound, gagged, blindfolded and whipped his victim with a metal cane before raping her for 15 minutes.

In late 2008, the sex offender was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant while living on the streets of Milan for the rape of the American pensioner and taken back to Germany where he was charged.

In December 2019, a court in Braunschweig, near Hanover in north-central Germany, where he had lived before fleeing to Italy, convicted him of the rape after DNA from his hair was found in the woman's holiday home.

The house where German paedophile Christian Brueckner lived in Praia da Luz shortly before Madeleine McCann went missing

The house where German paedophile Christian Brueckner lived in Praia da Luz shortly before Madeleine McCann went missing

Madeleine McCann vanished from this holiday apartment in the popular Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz - Apartment 5a - while her parents were with friends nearby and regularly checking on their three sleeping children

The suspect, who is in prison in Germany, has been linked to an early 1980s camper van - with a white upper body and yellow skirting, registered in Portugal - which is seen here on the Algarve in 2007

What do we know about Maddie murder suspect Christian Brueckner and his criminal past? 1976: Christian Brueckner is born in Wurzburg under a different name, believed to be Fischer. He was adopted by the Brueckner family and took their surname. 1992: Christian Brueckner is arrested on suspicion of burglary in his hometown of Wurzburg, Bavaria. 1994: He is given a two-year youth jail sentence for 'abusing a child' and 'performing sex acts in front of a child'. 1995: Brueckner arrives in Portugal as an 18-year-old backpacker and begins working in catering in the seaside resorts of Lagos and Praia da Luz. But friends say he became involved with a criminal syndicate trafficking drugs into the Algarve. September 2005: He dons a mask and breaks into an apartment where he rapes a 72-year-old American tourist. The victim was bound, gagged, blindfolded and whipped with a metal cane before being raped for 15 minutes. She said afterwards that he had clearly enjoyed 'torturing' her before the rape. April 2007: He moves out of a farmhouse and into a campervan now linked to the crime. The farmhouse is cleaned and a bag of wigs and 'exotic clothes' is found. May 3, 2007: Madeleine McCann is snatched at around 10pm from her bed as her parents eat tapas with friends yards away. Brueckner's mobile phone places him in the area that night. He returns to his native Germany shortly after that. October 2011: He is sentenced to 21 months for 'dealing narcotics' in Niebull, in northern Germany. 2014: He moves to Braunschweig where he starts running a town-centre kiosk. He then goes back to Portugal with a girlfriend. 2016: He is back in Germany. He is given 15 months in prison for 'sexual abuse of a child in the act of creating and possessing child pornographic material'. May 3, 2017: Brueckner is said to be in a bar with a friend when a ten-year anniversary appeal following Madeleine's disappearance is shown on German television. He is said to have told him in a bar that he 'knew all about' what happened to her. He then showed his friend a video of him raping a woman. MailOnline understands the friend went to police shortly afterwards. June 2017: He heads back to Portugal and extradited again to Germany. The reason was a sentencing of the Braunschweig district court to 15 months' imprisonment for the sexual abuse of a child. August 2018: After his release from prison he lives on the streets. But he was jailed again for drug offences. September 2018: Brueckner is arrested in Milan, Italy and extradited to Germany and put on trial for raping the American tourist in 2007 after a DNA match to hair found at the crime scene. July 2019: He is jailed for 21 months for drug dealing in the northern German resort of Sylt. August 2019: Brueckner is charged with the rape of the American tourist in Praia da Luz in 2005. December 2019: He is convicted of rape of extortion of the tourist based on DNA evidence. He is given a seven year sentence, but this has not been imposed pending an appeal. June 3, 2020: Scotland Yard and the German police reveal that that they have identified a suspect in the Maddie McCann case June 4, 2020: Prosecutors in Braunschweig, where he lives, say they believe Madeleine McCann has been murdered, says spokesman Hans Christian Wolters. He is named in the German press as the prime suspect. Advertisement

However he is appealing the rape verdict on the grounds that his extradition from Italy was illegal, with Germany's Federal High Court due to rule on the case.

Brueckner was an 18-year-old backpacker when he moved from Germany to Praia da Luz in Portugal in 1995 after serving part of a two-year sentence for molesting a six-year-old girl in Wurzburg.

He began working in catering in seaside resorts before reportedly becoming involved in trafficking drugs into the Algarve, according to his friends.

Earlier this year, Brueckner was identified as the prime suspect into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann- who was three-years-old at the time she went missing.

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters claimed authorities had 'concrete evidence' that the three-year-old was killed, and insisted that he had shared this information with Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann in a letter.

'We have concrete evidence that our suspect has killed Madeleine and this means she is dead,' he said. 'The parents have been told the German police have evidence that she is dead but we have not told them the details.'

Prosecutors in Germany also labelled Brueckner a 'multiple sexual predator' and claimed that he had been convicted of a child sex offence in his native Germany when he was just 17.

Despite the new information, the drifter, who reportedly has as many as 17 criminal convictions, was apparently overlooked by Portuguese police.

Following his identification as a suspect in the case, he has further been linked to the disappearances of six-year-old boy Rene Hasse in the Algarve, 1996, and five-year-old girl Igna Gehnricke in Germany, 2015.

In June, it emerged Brueckner became a suspect for Scotland Yard in 2017 when he was said to have told a friend at a bar he 'knew all about' what had happened to Madeleine.

According to Sky News, Brueckner was prompted to make the comment when her face appeared on a TV screen in a German pub during a UK appeal for information on the tenth anniversary of her disappearance.

The convicted child sex offender reportedly went on to show his friend a video of him raping a woman.

It is understood that Brueckner lived in a remote farmhouse in Portugal from 1999 to 2006.

The remote property is surrounded by disused water wells and sits on a hillside which leads on to a footpath to the beach where the little girl played.

The farmhouse is also a 25-minute walk to the Ocean Club complex where Madeleine was on holiday with her parents and her twin siblings Sean and Amelie.

In 2014, detectives investigating the disappearance of the little girl sealed off an area of scrubland close to the farmhouse and used a ground-penetrating radar to examine whether there had been a disturbance in the soil.

Earlier this month, detective revealed a new mobile phone lead into the Madeleine McCann case after a viewer on Germany's Crimewatch recognised the phone number that suspect Bruckner is said to have phoned on the night the young girl vanished.

Details of a call involving a mobile number allegedly used by Brueckner were revealed on the German show Aktenzeichen XY Ungelost.

Police previously said a phone linked to Brueckner had received a 30-minute call between 7.32pm and 8.02pm on the night Madeleine disappeared from the Ocean Club apartment complex.

Last month the Metropolitan Police launched a fresh appeal into the disappearance of Madeleine and appealed for information about Brueckner and his movements.

DCI Mark Cranwell, from Operation Grange, said: 'Following our appeal for information yesterday, I want to thank those members of the public who have contacted us.

'As of 4pm today, Thursday June 4, 2020, we have received over 270 calls and emails into the incident room.

'We are pleased with the information coming in, and it will be assessed and prioritised.

'We continue to urge anyone with information to come forward and speak with us.'

Following their daughter's disappearance in May of 2007, parents Kate and Gerry McCann, who had been dining in a nearby tapas restaurant as their children slept at their apartment, were questioned by the Portuguese authorities.

However they were soon found to be innocent and have since continued their long battle in trying to find their missing daughter.

German authorities are now trying to track down Brueckner's ex-girlfriend Nakscije Miftari, who may hold key information about Madeleine's disappearance.
Midland County again dominated production inside Texas with more than 13.7 million barrels during the month of April.

The Railroad Commission of Texas released preliminary statistics in late June that showed Midland County accounted for 13.07 percent of the 104.81 million barrels produced across the state. Midland and neighbor Martin County were the top-two producing counties, combining for more than 22 million barrels, or 21.62 percent, of the oil produced.
Preparing for foreign tourists View(s):

As Sri Lanka and other tourist destinations prepare to open their borders for visitors amidst a resumption of normalcy vis-a-vis the COVID-19 pandemic, the global airline industry is keen to ensure less cumbersome quarantine requirements at the borders of entry into countries.

In a recent statement, Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents global airlines, urged governments to avoid quarantine measures when re-opening their economies. IATA is promoting a layered approach of measures to reduce the risk of countries importing COVID-19 via air travel and to mitigate the possibility of transmission in cases where people may travel while unknowingly being infected.

Imposing quarantine measures on arriving travellers keep countries in isolation and the travel and tourism sector in lockdown. Fortunately, there are policy alternatives that can reduce the risk of importing COVID-19 infections while still allowing for the resumption of travel and tourism that are vital to jumpstarting national economies. We are proposing a framework with layers of protection to keep sick people from travelling and to mitigate the risk of transmission should a traveller discover they were infected after arrival, said Alexandre de Juniac, IATAs Director General and CEO, in a statement.

As I pondered on the stringent protocols to be adopted closer home (Sri Lanka), and rightly so since the pandemic is essentially an imported one and could trigger a second wave of infections if a few affected tourists return to holidaying in the country, the phone rang on this bright Thursday morning. It was my jolly-mood economist friend, Sammiya (short for Samson) on the line, a call that was welcome as I hadnt spoken to him for several weeks.

I say, Sammiya how are you, I asked. Fine fine amidst this pandemic, he laughed, adding that he was interested in how tourism is to be revived in the country. Thats something I was also thinking about at this very moment, I said. The Government seems to be unsure as to the exact date of the opening of the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake to international visitors. Earlier they said it was August 1 and later the Tourism Minister said it would be in mid-August. Yesterday I saw a news item quoting Sri Lanka Tourism chairperson Kirmali Fernando as saying that the airport opening date is yet to be decided, he said. I believe the government wants to complete the repatriation of Sri Lankans seeking to return from abroad before announcing a date of opening, I said. We then discussed other aspects of the economy like the apparel industry which has been shattered by the COVID-19 crisis.

As I completed the call with Sammiya, I could hear someone giggling under the margosa tree where the trio had gathered for their now-routine Thursday gossip session. Amidst laughter, the conversation was also serious and centred on how the absence of tourism has hit villages in areas where tourists frequent.

Mage massinata jeevathvenna hari amarui me davas vala. Videshikayo nethi hinda eyage hastha karmantha bisness eka kada wetila (My brother-in-law has a shop selling handicrafts in Dambulla. For the past four months, there are no sales as there are no tourists. He is struggling to survive), said Kussi Amma Sera. Adding to the concerns, Serapina said a couple of friends from her village were tourist guides with no income for the past several months and had to do other odd jobs to feed the family. Mage nenata dakune hotelayakin katha karala thibba aappai kevum saha kokis hadanna. Eth den maasa keepayakata weda thibbe ne. Den nam tika tika hondai, lankawe aya hotal walata yananisa (My sister-in-law was hired by some hotels down south to make hoppers and sweetmeats. She has been without work for many months now. However the return of local visitors to hotels might help her get back her job), noted Mabel Rasthiyadu.

Indeed the resumption of operations at many hotels has seen a steady influx of local visitors particularly during weekends. Hotels have been offering some great deals ranging from Rs.5,000 per person full board to Rs.8,000 per person full board, depending on the class of hotel. However hotels have been empty mostly during weekdays.

The IATA statement states that travellers who are ill should not travel and to encourage passengers to do the right thing and stay home if they are unwell or potentially exposed, airlines are offering travellers flexibility in adjusting their bookings. Health screening using measures such as non-intrusive temperature checks can also play an important role. Although temperature checks are not the most effective screening method for COVID-19 symptoms, they can act as a deterrent to travelling while unwell, IATA said.

IATA said that mandatory quarantine measures stop people from travelling. Recent public opinion research revealed that 83 per cent of travellers would not even consider travelling if quarantine measures were imposed on travellers at their destination, it said.

In Sri Lankas case, the authorities are following a stringent set of health and safety protocols, proposed by the Ministry of Health and under WHO guidelines. These standards specify that visitors must have a prior booking for a minimum of five nights, with the first night booked at an accommodation establishment near the arrival airport until results of the compulsory on-arrival PCR tests are released. Tourists are required to obtain an online tourist visa before arrival for which a visa fee of US$100 will be levied per person. Visitors should also have valid travel insurance with health and hospitalisation coverage for the entire duration of stay, a valid return air ticket while any airline operating flights to Sri Lanka will check tourists for valid visas and negative PCR test reports before allowing them to board the flight.

A negative PCR report issued by an accredited laboratory within 72 hours prior to the landing in Sri Lanka is required for every visitor while multiple PCR tests will have to be taken depending on the length of stay. These tests are conducted free. If any tourist is tested positive for COVID-19, he/she will be sent to a hospital or a quarantine hotel and will be charged at the rate of $100 per night. At hotels, strict health safety guidelines will be in force including having isolation rooms in case of suspected COVID-19 cases.

As I awaited my second cup of tea being prepared by Kussi Amma Sera, I reflected on the challenges facing tourism and its large workforce which is unlikely to pick up  in the case of foreign tourists  until the first quarter of 2021 further denting Sri Lankas economic growth in 2020.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-11 22:48:39|Editor: huaxia

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A medical worker collects swab samples from a man for the COVID-19 tests at a school near Daryaganj in Delhi, India, on July 5, 2020. (Photo by Partha Sarkar/Xinhua)

As the total number of COVID-19 cases surpassed the 800,000-mark in India, experts attributed the rise of new cases mainly to intensified tests nationwide and people's carelessness in adopting precautions like wearing face-masks, maintaining social distancing, and regular use of hand-sanitizers.

NEW DELHI, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases surpassed the 800,000-mark in India on Saturday, reaching 820,916, as the total deaths stood at 22,123, according to the data released by the federal health ministry.

Experts attributed the rise mainly to intensified tests nationwide and people's carelessness.

According to the ministry data, 519 new deaths due to COVID-19 besides fresh 27,114 positive cases were reported during the past 24 hours across the country.

This is the highest single day spike in terms of new cases in the country so far.

At the present pace, the total COVID-19 cases in India are expected to cross the one-million mark in the next week, experts said, who attributed the sudden increase in the number of cases to an increase in daily testing, and also because the country decided to open up the manufacturing and trading activities, following the lockdown beginning March 25.

A health worker takes swab for the COVID-19 test in Chennai, India, on June 20, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)

As per federal health ministry's record, so far as many as 11,307,002 COVID-19 samples had been tested through the collective public and private labs under a diagnostic network of 1,180 labs in the country.

Besides 841 government-run labs, there are 339 private labs. The per day tests are demonstrating a steep upward trend, even as over 282,500 samples are tested every day. As on date, the test per million (TPM) for the country stands at 8,193, according to the federal health ministry.

Dr. Dhruv Chaudhary, the nodal officer for COVID-19 in northern state of Haryana, told Hindustan Times that the increased tests are vigorously conducted for active surveillance. "For this the central government conducted the sero-survey," he added.

"Sero-survey" involves testing blood serum of people to check for the prevalence of antibodies against coronavirus infection.

Another reason cited for the sudden spurt in cases is carelessness among the people in adopting precautions like wearing face-masks, maintaining social distancing, and regular use of hand-sanitizers.

Only on Friday, a large religious congregation was reported from the western state of Gujarat where social distancing norms were thrown to the winds.

In a bid to make it compulsory for people to wear face masks, the government of northern state of Uttar Pradesh increased the fine from 100 Indian Rupees (1.43 U.S. dollars) to 500 Indian Rupees (7 U.S. dollars) on anyone found roaming at a public place without face mask.

Photo taken on June 10, 2020 shows a view of a market area in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Partha Sarkar/Xinhua)

Presently the country has entered the Unlock 2.0 phase, though restrictions remain in full force inside the COVID-19 Containment Zones. Due to the reopening of several manufacturing and economic activities across the country, people have started moving out of their houses, even as usual crowds are once again visible at the market places.

Meanwhile, according to the federal health ministry, across the country the fatality rate has improved to 2.72 percent, which though is said to be lower than that observed in many other countries.

A day ago, federal health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan was quoted as saying that community spread of the virus hasn't been reported yet from any part of India.

The focus of COVID-19 management in India has been to keep the fatality rate low.

Last week, the country's civil aviation watchdog, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), announced that commercial international flights to and from India shall remain suspended until July 31.

Uttar Pradesh, the country's biggest state in terms of population, is observing a weekend lockdown from Friday night till Monday morning, to cut the chain of transmission of the virus.

Local governments at several other areas have too decided to impose a lockdown amid increasing incidence of the virus cases.

Patna, the capital city of eastern state of Bihar, will be observing lockdown from July 10 to July 16, and Pune, one of the major cities in southwestern state of Maharashtra, decided to observe lockdown from July 13 to July 23. 
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has called upon all travellers to don protective face masks to show they wear to care in the new normal of travelling.

As countries transition from lockdowns to reopening their borders, the wearing of face masks helps signal the return of safer travels while also providing personal protection for users as well as those around them.

The advice from WTTC in favour of mandatory mask wearing comes from evidence that countries which are recovering faster and avoid second Covid-19 spikes are those where the use of face masks have been widely enforced and encouraged.

Following medical guidance from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, WTTC advise the wearing of masks on all forms of transport throughout the entire traveller journey, as well as when visiting any interior venue or those with restricted movement which results in close personal contact of two metres or less.

WTTC has asked governments around the globe to enforce the wearing of face masks, as well as enlisting the support of the private sector to remind customers of their obligations to protect their health and that of fellow travellers.

Travellers around the world are being encouraged to join in the WTTC social media campaign which is launching with the hashtag #wear2care.

Embracing the use of face masks will reduce the risk of transmission, protect the user and those around them, as well as reintroducing a sense of normality as we learn to live with the virus until a vaccine is found.

The new recommendations follow in the wake of WTTC recently issuing its new guidelines for Safe and Seamless Travel including testing and tracing to ensure people can enjoy safe travels in the new normal.

Frequent handwashing and using hand sanitiser complement the use of face masks, which can significantly reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission.

Gloria Guevara, WTTC president and CEO, said: The safety and hygiene of travellers and those who work in travel and tourism is of paramount importance, which is why we now strongly recommend masks being mandatory. Wear to care promotes the protection of face mask users and visibly shows they care about the welfare and safety of their fellow travellers, which will help save lives and encourage the return of Safe Travels.

The wearing of masks should not be politicised. Wearing a mask needs to become part of everyday life to ensure everyone enjoys travelling in safety until a vaccine for Covid-19 is found. We implore the private sector and global governments to encourage their use so wearing a mask becomes the new normal.

Ramon Sanchez, principal investigator and research associate at Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said: Wearing face masks has been proven to provide the highest level of protection against transmission at 82%. Constant hand hygiene and surface cleaning, which kills more than 90% of viruses that are found on surfaces, also prevents the virus from reaching the face from the hands.

The public should keep a two metre distance whenever they can, however, if that simply isnt possible, people should increase the ventilation around them. Inside buildings this can be done by opening doors and windows, which decreases the viral concentration by more than 70%.

Mechanical ventilation such as air conditioning decreases it by 80%, while going outdoors proves more effective by decreasing the viral concentration between 90% and 95%.

WTTC has led a series of initiatives designed to rebuild global consumer confidence and encourage the return of Safe Travels.

Safe Travels Protocols were developed for the global travel and tourism sector, which focused on measures to drive business to car hire companies, airports, tour operators, attractions and short short-term rentals among many other travel sectors to enable them to follow strict health and hygiene regimes when reopening their businesses.

The welfare of travellers and the millions of people working across the travel and tourism sector is central to the protocols. In addition to being backed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), they were also widely embraced by thousands of businesses around the world.

Travellers around the world can get involved with the WTTC campaign by sharing pictures of the themselves proudly travelling with their masks and sharing the hashtag #wear2care.
In Delhi, there has been no awareness building around COVID-generated biomedical waste and how to safely deal with it.

Pre-COVID, Delhis crematoriums used to be littered with heaps of withered marigold, broken bits of earthen pots, tetra pak containers of ghee and mineral water bottles.

Today, even as COVID has made cremation of bodies a challenge and sharply restricted attendance at funerals, the garbage dumped at these sites  consisting mainly of biomedical waste as people carelessly strew their PPEs, masks, gloves, shoe covers worn to funerals  is becoming a health hazard.

Such are the proportions of the problem that on 22 June, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation slapped a Rs 50,000 penalty on the Arya Samaj, which manages the Lodhi Road crematorium in south Delhi, one of the five designated COVID crematoriums in the city.

The penalty itself was only a token move, considering that the SDMC had on that day pressed into service 12 trucks and staff who had to work till late into the night to clear the crematorium and its parking area of discarded PPE kits.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) estimates that Delhi generates at least 11 tons of COVID-related biomedical waste daily, with every possibility of this number increasing over the next few weeks.

From the street children at traffic signals to VVIPs, everyone in the city  as indeed in the country  knows the importance of wearing a mask, saying namaste instead of shaking hands, and maintaining do gaz ki doori. But few have seen yellow dustbins, let alone know why they are necessary, along with the blue and green ones at home or in public places.

The CPCB, in colour coding different types of garbage, has chosen yellow bags and yellow bins for the collection and trashing of biomedical waste.

While most big hospitals and labs have yellow bins, they are nowhere to be seen in public.

Dangers from mixed waste

There has been no awareness building around COVID-generated biomedical waste and how to safely deal with it. Households have an idea about the need to separate their wet waste from dry waste, with electronic waste forming a third category.

But municipal corporations have not informed the public of the need have a third bin to dispose of used masks, PPEs, shoe covers, and gloves.

At the best of times, managing the capitals mounting mounds of garbage has been a nightmare. Now, when the city is listed as a COVID hotspot, no one know hows much of the biomedical waste generated daily has ended up in landfills, though municipal corporation officials admit it has.

Their explanation is poor and tardy segregation of waste at source.

One statistic that points to the fact that contaminated COVID biowaste has been mixed with general waste is that over 45 sanitation workers have tested positive with 37 in hospital, and according to the Delhi Safai Karamchari Association, 15 have died. The association president Sanjay Gahlot said he has no doubt that these workers contracted the virus from handling contaminated waste.

Though there is basic awareness that containing the virus depends greatly on proper sanitation and hygiene, that the virus spread is also related to scientific waste management has not gained public attention.

Waste management comes at number one, said independent waste management expert Swati Sambyal. In her view, leaving aside the New Delhi Municipal Corporation area, that is Lutyens Delhi from where the Government of India governs the country, the rest of Delhi does not segregate its garbage.

With increasing instances of asymptomatic people testing positive, this kind of mixed waste can create havoc, say experts. Especially since many sanitation workers who collect household waste are not always wearing masks, or are wearing masks discarded by others or which they have picked up from the garbage. And hardly any of them wear gloves, let alone any PPEs.

Ideally they should be given a new mask every day, said Sambyal. They are directly exposed as they are dealing with mixed waste and sorting it. There are protocols in disposing such PPEs.

For instance, a mask should be ripped up, wrapped and given to the collector separately to ensure nobody uses them again.

Creating awareness on the dangers involved in handling such waste and how to correctly dispose of PPEs is the challenge.

A resident of West Delhis Punjabi Bagh who did not wish to be named said residents and their Resident Welfare Associations have not been informed of any new or different way of handing over household waste to the sanitation worker.

Earlier we used to segregate wet and dry waste, she said. Now the collector has told us not to bother, because he will bring the bag for wet waste one day, and one for the dry waste the next day. And they are in a great hurry to collect and leave.

Incidentally, they have not heard of a yellow bin, or the need to segregate masks and gloves from other waste. Nor are they aware that biomedical waste generated by COVID-related health protocols cannot be treated like other biomedical waste.

There are senior citizens using diapers, there are sanitary pads, cotton swabs and babies diapers, said Malini Sivaram a member of the subcommittee on waste segregation at the Azad Apartments adjoining the Delhi IIT campus.

Azad Apartments is one of seven societies chosen for focused segregation of waste. We dont know who is asymptomatic, who has mild symptoms and who is self-quarantining, Sivaram added.

Given the difficulties in getting tests done and finding hospital beds, Malini said many are trying to deal with flu symptoms on their own.

For her part, she has asked residents to discard the masks they have used separately and urged RWAs to get in touch with the SDMC for detailed information of waste segregation in the light of COVID. The guidelines we received last week were no different from what we had been following for over a year, she said.

As the government now clearly wants patients with mild or no symptoms to remain in home isolation, it is particularly urgent that a fresh set of guidelines to the public and sanitation workers on collection, segregation and disposal of biomedical waste be issued.

What municipal corporations say

The five local bodies  the municipal corporations of North Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi, and New Delhi Municipal and the Delhi Cantonment Board  said they have devised systems to manage this issue.

North Delhi Municipal Corporation deputy commissioner Ira Singhal said every time they receive information of a new positive case or a case of COVID care centre advised-home isolation, the address is conveyed to the garbage collection team.

A team of three in PPE kits collect the garbage in double-layered yellow bags as prescribed by the CPCB, said Ira Singhal. These bags are first disinfected with sodium hypochloride and then deposited in the processing facility. We have collected and disposed of almost 20 tons of biomedical waste.

The other municipal corporations said they too have similar arrangements, and collectors reaching different addresses said they follow the guidelines conveyed to them.

Though he has not collected biomedical waste so far, Shyam Sunder, who collects garbage from Parpatganj in East Delhi is aware of the yellow, double-layered bags in which garbage is collected from containment zones. But we dont have the time to tell people to segregate and cannot threaten them that we will leave their garbage, so we pick it up in whatever state it is in, said Sunder.

In containment zones, sanitation workers and garbage collectors enter wearing PPE kits. We collect and treat all waste as contaminated bio medical waste, said a door-to-door garbage collector at Shahdara in east Delhi.

The CPCB under the environment ministry first issued Guidelines for Handling, Treatment and Disposal of Waste Generated during Treatment/Diagnosis/ Quarantine of COVID-19 patients, on 18 March and revised it thrice since.

From a four-page document in March, the guidelines now run into 10 pages. But it is only in the latest revision of 10 June that the CPCB for the first time listed among the duties of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), a clause involving citizens.

Create awareness among citizens regarding segregation of municipal solid waste and biomedical waste (as part of Domestic Hazardous Waste) generated from homes/quarantine homes/home care facilities. A line that has so far remained on paper.

Needed, a decentralised waste disposal system

Delhis waste management is handled by a private company which has signed an agreement with the municipality to collect and dispose the waste, said Swati Sambyal.

An agreement with the common biomedical waste treatment company typically details the services sought and bought by the government which includes collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of the waste, bar coding, advanced tracking of the biomedical garbage from the point of generation to the final disposal, and integrated waste collection services including waste storage, manpower and PPEs.

The Delhi government has signed up with Biotic Waste Solutions Pvt Ltd which has six biomedical waste management facilities in north India.

It handles everything from collection to final disposal of the waste.

Delhi has two biomedical waste management facilities of Biotic, one each at Okhla and Neelothi, with an installed capacity of 13 and 19 tons a day respectively. Their work is overseen by the Delhi Biomedical Waste Management Cell formed under the Delhi governments Directorate General of Health Services. Ahead of the pandemic, the Delhi Pollution control Committee said 13,641.22 kg of biomedical waste was generated daily.

Cities that have decentralised collection, like in Bengaluru, have more active citizen and volunteers groups, NGOs, all involved in creating awareness, said Swati. In a centralised system, Delhis residents have nothing to do with their waste just hand it over to someone else, with little awareness of the changed circumstance. In cities where civic groups, NGOs and volunteer groups are active, they have more effective action to prevent contamination from the COVID-related waste.

While biomedical waste from hospitals and COVID care centres and quarantine facilities are collected and treated separately from the other biomedical waste, in Delhis residential areas, from the upmarket South Delhi to the very poor near the Gazipur landfill, no such segregation is occurring.

According to Swati, Neither the people nor the collectors seem to be aware of the need for a third bin  for hazardous household waste. According to the Central Pollution Control Board guidelines, used masks and gloves from households should be kept in a paper bag for at least 72 hours before being disposed of as general waste.

Few residents comply with this, even discarding used PPEs they buy to visit a hospital or attend a funeral in their home dustbins.

Incidentally, biomedical waste management is an important segment in the training being imparted to COVID Warriors  from doctors to nodal officers of the government, associations, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, ayush personnel and ASHA workers, everyone involved in the effort to track, trace and treat COVID patients.

In fact, four years ago, the administration came out with a 253-page SOP For Infection Prevention & Control in Healthcare Settings, which pretty much covers everything that the government is trying to do in its fight against COVID. From the use of PPEs and masks and gloves by people dealing with biomedical waste to their safe disposal, everything is already listed.

Except for creating awareness among people on this, especially now.
WASHINGTON - Test results for the novel coronavirus are taking so long to come back across the United States that experts say the results are often proving useless in the campaign to control the deadly disease.

Some testing sites are struggling to provide results in five to seven days. Others are taking longer. Outbreaks across the Sun Belt have strained labs beyond capacity. That rising demand, in turn, has caused shortages of swabs, chemical reagents and equipment as far away as New York.

The long testing turnaround times are making it impossible for the United States to replicate the central strategy used by other countries to effectively contain the virus - test, trace and isolate. Like catching any killer, speed is of the essence when it comes to the coronavirus.

"Instead of going from one step to the next, it's like you're already stumbling right out of the gate," said Crystal Watson, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins University. "It makes contact tracing almost useless. By the time a person is getting results, they already have symptoms, their contacts may already have symptoms and have gone on to infect others."

After attending a funeral, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and her family got tested June 29 as a precaution. No one in her family had developed symptoms.

ALSO Fauci is sidelined by the White House as he steps up blunt talk on pandemic

A week later, her test results still hadn't come back, but her husband started feeling ill. So they got a different, rapid test through Emory University. Within hours, Bottoms learned that she, her husband and one of the couple's four children had become infected.

It wasn't until the next day that their initial test results arrived. They showed that when the family first got tested, only one of them, a child, had the virus. While they waited for their test results, the boy possibly passed it to his parents.

"It really speaks to the failure of testing in this country right now," Bottoms, a Democrat, said in an interview Friday. "Had we known we had an asymptomatic child in the house, we would have immediately quarantined and taken all the precautions."

Instead, the mayor's husband, Derek Bottoms, 56, turned feverish and fatigued and experienced night sweats. He lost 20 pounds in a week, Bottoms said.

More efficient testing - such as in South Korea, where results are often given the next day - might have prevented the entire Bottoms family from getting the virus. But such turnarounds seem impossibly out of reach in the United States because of a lack of federal coordination, supply shortages and surging demand as outbreaks in some states spiral out of control.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, America has been plagued by testing problems. In the past four months, testing capacity expanded dramatically; about 40 million tests have been conducted. But the federal government never fixed fundamental infrastructure problems, experts say.

"Instead of building that out, our federal response was to do the very least possible. So each time the system is stretched now, it breaks down all over again," said Ashish Jha, who directs the Harvard University Global Health Institute. "It's frustrating because . . . it's not like 'Oh my god, we just figured out we need to do testing.' We've literally been talking about this for months."

Insurers must cover coronavirus tests under the Cares Act, and free tests are available at federal, state and local levels. As demand has surged, it has created backlogs and choke points at almost every step of the testing chain.

"It's not shortages of any one thing. It's now spot shortages of all of them," said Scott Becker, chief executive of the Association of Public Health Laboratories. "Clinical labs need more swabs, chemical reagents, viral transport media, test kits, machines to process the tests, staffing to run the machines."

Compounding the problem are logistical delays: collecting and transporting the rising number of samples, and returning the results to people and health agencies so they can start contact tracing - a process that involves seeking out the web of people who came into contact with someone who is infected.

In Yuma County - a rural swath of southwestern Arizona where infections have soared - local leaders say they need testing more than ever but are struggling to get it done.

Amanda Aguirre runs a group of nonprofit clinics and said delayed results and test kit shortages are thwarting attempts to fight the virus. The week of June 29, her clinics tested up to 1,000 people a day, she said. The following week, the number plummeted to about 500.

"Arizona is a hot spot, and it cannot stop testing," she said. Right now, about a quarter of tests in Arizona are coming back positive, an indication that many other infections are going undetected.

Aguirre said she believes long wait times for results - up to 14 days - have discouraged many from getting tested.

Nearly every step of the testing supply chain has failed Aguirre. In mid-June, the LabCorp warehouse that her group contracts with ran out of test kits. Weeks later, it was a delivery company failing to deliver tests as quickly as needed, she said.

On Thursday, Aguirre dispatched a clinic staffer to drive more than 100 miles to a rendezvous point in the desert to pick up 2,000 badly needed test kits from a LabCorp representative who had driven an hour and a half from Phoenix. Her test sites wouldn't have been able to stay open otherwise, she said.

"I feel totally alone," Aguirre said. "We're trying to bring health to our community, and our hands are tied."

Trump administration officials said Friday that testing has improved dramatically, and they blamed state and local officials for some missteps.

In a statement, the testing czar appointed by President Donald Trump, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, blamed some problems "on mismanagement and miscommunication at the state level, and a lack of flexibility to use resources." He noted that compared with mid-March - when daily tests numbered in the tens of thousands - "we are currently completing over 600,000 tests per day, and last week reached over 700,000 in one day, clearly demonstrating our efforts toward a million tests per day by the fall will be achieved."

Giroir was appointed in March to focus exclusively on testing but resumed his responsibilities this month at his regular job at the Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS spokeswoman Mia Heck said turnaround times at large commercial laboratories are "generally increasing." In about half of states, she said, it takes two to three days on average to get results, and in 24 states, it takes three to four days. Two states have average turnaround times as long as four to five days, she said. But that does not include further delays in getting the results to patients.

Heck said the Trump administration is investing in increasing testing at patients' points of care, such as nursing homes and physician offices, which would alleviate the burden on labs.

The nation's largest commercial lab companies said increased demand has increased turnaround time for results. Quest Diagnostics said results across the country are taking three to five days on average; LabCorp said it is taking four to six days.

But because testing is being conducted by a mix of commercial, public and hospital labs, the average waiting time is not known with state-by-state precision.

"Some labs have indicated that their turnaround time could be as long as 10 days," said Jason Mahon, a spokesman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Statewide, more than 11% of tests in Florida are coming back positive, but in hard-hit Miami-Dade County, it's 1 in 3.

What's still missing and urgently needed is a federally coordinated plan "assessing our testing capacity and identifying bottlenecks, forecasting what our future testing needs would be," said Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Health Security. Without that, Nuzzo said, the U.S. response remains "a kind of janky flotilla, that, you know, is put together with gum and duct tape."

This week, eight organizations representing those working in U.S. labs sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, requesting help with test supplies.

One of those groups, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, said it raised those concerns last month in a call with Giroir, who said he had designated an official in each state to oversee the test supply chain and promised to give the organizations a list of those officials so they could direct pleas for help to them.

But the group never received that list and has not heard back from the administration.

"Instead, we're all still competing against each other like the Hunger Games for critical supplies," said David Grenache, president-elect of the association and chief scientific officer of a lab in New Mexico.

In response to questions, the Trump administration did not acknowledge shortages of testing supplies exist. HHS spokeswoman Heck said, "At this time, HHS and FEMA are meeting all state testing needs." HHS noted the federal government has sent many testing supplies to states, and that states are responsible for distributing them to labs.

Some hospitals have begun producing their own chemical reagents - substances used to conduct laboratory tests - because they cannot find any on the market, experts say. States and cities have resorted to negotiating directly with foreign governments for supplies. And vast disparities have emerged in Americans' access to testing and the speed with which they receive results.

The federal government needs to develop a central database of supplies and commit to paying for tests, said Carlos del Rio, an epidemiologist at Emory University. In a report Thursday, Democrats on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions made a similar recommendation.

Sarah Cobey, an epidemiologist at the University of Chicago, said that if university and hospital labs could get funding to increase testing locally, delays that stem from shipping samples to commercial companies throughout the country would be eliminated.

Seattle, for instance, partnered with the University of Washington and has been able to maintain free, unrestricted testing with one- to two-day turnaround times.

Others are advocating for faster approval of rapid-result tests by the Food and Drug Administration, even if they are not as sensitive as nasal swabs. A group from the University of Colorado and Harvard University recently released research, not yet peer-reviewed, finding that test frequency and turnaround time is more important than accuracy when it comes to broad disease surveillance.

"We're really only going to get effective when we get into two-, one-, or even half-day turnaround," lead author Daniel Larremore said. But, he said, "The United States is not at the point with our testing where we can do any real surveillance and screening."

Experts express concern the lagging test times could discourage people from getting tested and socially distancing.

"If you're waiting to go back to work and test results are taking seven to eight days, getting people to stay home is really hard. You worry about people saying what's the point of even getting tested. That would be disastrous," said Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist at the University of Arizona.

Jaline Gerardin, an expert in disease modeling at Northwestern University, said "nationally, we'd likely save tens of thousands of lives" if test turnaround times were shortened.

In the absence of a coordinated federal response, Harvard's Jha said, states should band together - in European Union-like blocs - to solve supply problems.

"As a region, you could pool your dollars, sit down with national and international suppliers and tackle the problem," Jha said. "That said, there's probably a limit to what states can do. We as a country are just not designed to have absentee federal government."

As bad as the testing lags seem now, experts warn, they will almost certainly worsen in the fall once flu season hits.

"You're going to see so many more symptomatic people, who won't know if they have the flu or coronavirus and are going to need testing for both," said Kelly Wroblewski, infectious-disease director at the Association of Public Health Laboratories. "We're expecting a coming crush of tests, even more than we're seeing now."

- - -

The Washington Post's Reis Thebault contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 06:44:31|Editor: huaxia

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LOS ANGELES, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 21 people, including 17 sailors and four civilians, were injured Sunday morning in a fire on a U.S. Navy ship at Naval Base San Diego in California, authorities said.

The injured are being treated for non-life threatening injuries at a local hospital after the fire on board USS Bonhomme Richard, according to the Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet.

"The entire crew is off the ship and all are accounted," tweeted the Naval Surface Forces, adding that all inport ships have been contacted and directed to provide fire parties to possibly assist with firefighting efforts.

Around 160 sailors were aboard the ship when the fire was called away at approximately 8:30 a.m. local time, according to the tweets.

Officials said that local, base and shipboard firefighters are responding to the three-alarm fire and two military ships near USS Bonhomme Richard have shifted berths to a pier further away from the fire.

USS Bonhomme Richard is going through a maintenance availability and has a crew size of around 1,000, the U.S. Navy said.

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said that it is assisting on the fire on board the Navy ship, adding the department is working in unified command with federal firefighters to put out the blaze.

Pictures from the scene showed plumes of smoke rising up over the deck of the ship.

The cause of the fire is still unclear. Some people at the scene were quoted as saying by local news outlets that they had heard an explosion. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department tweeted earlier in the morning, "Explosion with at least one injury at the USS Bonhomme Richard."

USS Bonhomme Richard is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship home-ported in San Diego. Enditem
About 10,000 Hong Kong passport holders currently in Australia will be offered the chance to apply for permanent residence as concerns continue over Chinas imposition of a national security law.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said his country had suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and extended visas for the territorys residents.

An Australian immigration minister, Alan Tudge, said in an interview on Sunday that Hongkongers in Australia would be able to apply for permanent residence once their current visas expired.

Mr Tudge told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that applicants would have to pass character and security tests before gaining permanent residency.

He said: So its not automatic. But its certainly an easier pathway to permanent residency and of course once youre a permanent resident, theres then a pathway to citizenship there.

If people are genuinely persecuted and they can prove that case, then they can apply for one of our humanitarian visas in any case.

Mr Morrison announced on Thursday a range of visas that will be extended from two to five years and offer pathways to permanent residency visas.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, left, has suspended his countrys extradition treaty with Hong Kong (Neil Hall/PA)

The move comes after China bypassed Hong Kongs Legislative Council to impose the sweeping security legislation without public consultation.

The national security law prohibits what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities or as foreign intervention in Hong Kong affairs.

Under the law, police now have sweeping powers to conduct searches without warrants and order internet service providers and platforms to remove messages deemed to be in violation of the legislation.

Mr Morrisons announcement follows a similar move in the UK, with the country extending residency rights for up to three million Hongkongers, while Canada has suspected its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and is looking at other options including migration.

Australia last offered safe haven visas to Chinese people after the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters around Beijings Tiananmen Square in 1989.

More than 27,000 Chinese students in Australia at the time were allowed to stay permanently.
Do such talks strengthen party? Congress leader to Kapil Sibal after CWC meeting

Rajasthan crisis: Worried for Congress, says Kapil Sibal

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, July 12: As a crisis appeared to be brewing in the faction-riddled Rajasthan Congress, senior party leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday said he was "worried" for the party.

Rajasthan Govt in crisis:Sachin Pilot in Delhi with loyalist MLAs, what is happening?|Oneindia News

"Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables," he said on Twitter, a day after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP of trying to topple his government by bribing Congress legislators.

"Worried for our party," the former Union minister said.

Rajasthan crisis: Here is how the number stack up

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha said his worry is every party member''s concern.

"Kapil ji your worry is every party member''s concern. It''s time to strengthen the party to fight forces who have only 1 agenda :: weaken congress and our democratic values and institutions," he tweeted.

A power struggle between Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot, which has been on since the Congress'' central leadership picked the senior leader for the chief minister''s post, appears to have deepened with those in Pilot''s camp claiming that there have been repeated attempts to undermine his authority.

The latest flashpoint between the two is a notice issued to Pilot by the Rajasthan police''s Special Operation Group in a case related to alleged attempts to bribe Congress MLAs to switch sides in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Gehlot, however, has repeatedly pointed out that a similar notice has been sent to him, the government''s chief whip as well as some ministers.

Pilot, along with some Congress MLAs, is currently camping in the national capital and is seeking a meeting with top Congress leadership.

The SOG on Friday registered an FIR against two people, who have been arrested, after their call intercepts allegedly indicated involvement in horse-trading of Congress MLAs.

Gehlot had on Saturday accused the opposition BJP of trying to topple his government by offering his legislators large sums of money and said his administration is not just stable but will complete its five-year term.

The BJP had asked Gehlot to prove his allegation of horse-trading levelled against it or quit politics, and claimed he was targeting the opposition party as he was unable to check the infighting in the state Congress.

The opposition party alleged that the whole controversy has been "cooked up" by the chief minister to defame Pilot.

The trouble in Rajasthan comes nearly four months after the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh collapsed after a rebelling by Jyotiraditya Scindia following a similar power tussle.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 00:25:54|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on July 11, 2020 shows the national congress of Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party in Dodoma, Tanzania. The national congress of Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party on Saturday endorsed President John Magufuli as its candidate in the country's general election slated for October this year. On Friday, the ruling party also picked the Minister for Defense and National Service, Hussein Mwinyi, as presidential candidate for Tanzania's Zanzibar, which formed the union with Tanzanian mainland. (Xinhua)

DAR ES SALAAM, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The national congress of Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party on Saturday endorsed President John Magufuli as its candidate in the country's general election slated for October this year.

Magufuli, who is seeking to be re-elected for a second and final five-year term in office, garnered 100 percent of the votes from 1,822 CCM's national congress delegates at the Jakaya Kikwete Convention Center in the capital Dodoma.

"The 100 percent victory is a debt to Tanzanians that I will repay by working harder. I will not let down Tanzanians," he told cheering delegates.

Magufuli retained Samia Suluhu Hassan as his running mate saying she is hard working and respectful.

The CCM national congress was also attended by representatives from a handful of friendly countries, including China, Vietnam, South Africa, Zimbabwe among others.

The national congress was also attended by leaders from 18 political parties in the east African nation.

On Friday, the ruling party also picked the Minister for Defense and National Service, Hussein Mwinyi, as presidential candidate for Tanzania's Zanzibar, which formed the union with Tanzanian mainland.

"If I will be elected president of Zanzibar I will follow the footsteps of President John Magufuli in fighting corruption, indiscipline and misuse of resources," said Mwinyi.
<! JJC Skillz and Fuke Akindele >

By Taiwo Okanlawon

Producer and movie director, Abdul Rasheed Bello popularly called JJC Skillz has eulogized his wife and actress, Funke Akindele-Bello, describing her as an African woman who is a blessing to this generation.

JJC Skillz on his Instagram poured encomium on the movie producer and prayed for Gods strength to help her continue her mission on earth.

AFRICAN SUPERWOMAN @funkejenifaakindele You never TRY. Its either you DO or DONT

Your DRIVE is motivation for the Ambitious  Your FAITH is strength to the hopeless.

Your life is a TESTIMONY Work Hard/Pray Hard & All your dreams will come true  Youre a blessing to this generation my love. A Leader, Mother, Wife, Philanthropist, Actor, Writer, Director.

God is your strength & will continue to abide with you, he wrote.

JJC Skillz is a Nigerian songwriter, rapper, record and television producer that earned recognition in Nigeria after the release of his single We Are Africans, an afrobeat anthem.

Prior to the success of We are Africans, Skillz was a producer for the British hip-hop record company and musical group Big Brovaz. In December 2002, he released his debut album, Atide, an experimental album with lyrics in English and Nigerian languages and influenced by hip hop, African, and salsa musical styles.

He co-produced with his wife, Funke Akindele, Industreet a television show about the Nigerian music industry.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 12)  The Department of Health failed to release the latest data on the countrys coronavirus cases on July 12, as it explained that it has not yet finished validating Sundays numbers.

Due to significant volume of data gathered today as part of DOHs efforts to harmonize data with the cities of NCR (National Capital Region) and the different regions, the DOH Data Team is still currently in the process of validating todays numbers, the DOH said in a statement.

It also noted that based on initial findings on Sunday's figures, it is seeing an increase in the number of reported cases, recoveries, and deaths in the country.

We recognize the importance of providing real-time information, however in providing this information we also make sure that said information is accurate, it added.

The DOH said it will be providing a comprehensive report of the July 12 data on Monday at 8:30 a.m.

The department is expected to post daily COVID-19 updates at around 4:00 p.m. While it was the first time that the agency was not able to issue its daily case bulletin, it has been previously criticized over hours-long delays in its reporting of coronavirus figures.

As of July 11, the Philippines has 54,222 confirmed cases of the disease, with 14,037 recoveries and 1,372 deaths.
Just days are left to pass a new law to prevent a wave of evictions and homelessness as the coronavirus pandemic continues to bite, Labour is warning.

Ministers are accused of ignoring the threat facing renters, when a temporary ban on kicking them out lapses next month  even as second home-owners and landlords are handed generous tax breaks.

Labour also pointed to the broken promise of a permanent ban on no-fault evictions, seven months after it was made in Boris Johnsons post-election Queens Speech.

The Renters Reform Bill it pledged  also introducing a new lifetime deposit to ease the burden when tenants move around  has yet to be published, let alone put before parliament.

Meanwhile, a survey by the charity Shelter survey found 230,000 renters are at risk of eviction, while the Generation Rent group said 45,000 are at risk of homelessness this autumn.

Now Thangam Debbonaire, Labours shadow housing secretary, is arguing 16 July  this coming Thursday  is the last date for passing legislation to prevent the current evictions ban lapsing on 23 August.

While some will be looking forward to a holiday, a growing number will spend the summer worrying about where they will sleep this winter, she warned

The government's policies have helped property developers, second home-owners and landlords make money from housing, but they are doing nothing to help thousands in rented accommodation.

We urgently need better support to help people pay their rent, and legal changes to help good tenants keep their homes. Otherwise we will see huge numbers sleeping on the streets this winter.

Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Show all 12 1 /12 Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Marc Lyons ICU Consultant, East Cheshire NHS Trust PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Emma Kelly Critical Care Nurse, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Laura Arrowsmith COVID-19 Ward Cleaner, Leighton Hospital, Crewe PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Stuart Brookfield Paramedic, South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Claudia Anghel Midwife, University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Sarah Jensen Chief Information Officer, Barts Health NHS Trust PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Anne Roberts District Nurse, Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Ali Abdi Porter, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Jack Hannay Manikum 111 call handler, West Midlands Ambulance Service PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Ade Williams Superintendent Pharmacist, Bedminster Pharmacy in Bristol PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Farzana Hussain GP, Project Surgery, Newham PA Rankin unveils portraits of NHS workers on the coronavirus frontline Roopak Khara General Adult Psychiatrist, West London NHS Trust PA

Labour had called for a six-month evictions ban, but argues the gathering economic crisis sparked by Covid-19 means the measure is now needed for far longer.

It says any non-payment of rent due to economic losses caused by the knock-on effects of the pandemic should not be automatic legal grounds for eviction, instead giving courts discretion.

This law would cover eight and a half million households who rent their homes from private, council or housing association landlords, including three million households with children, Labour says.

In December, the new Johnson government announced an imminent bill to improve protections for short-term tenants by abolishing no-fault evictions and introducing a lifetime deposit.

However, landlords were also promised stronger powers to evict their tenants  sparking fears that the Conservatives will revive plans for fixed contracts in place of the ban.

Housing charities argued that would produce the same end result of vulnerable tenants being turfed out of their homes.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government refused to discuss why the bill has not been published, or a date for it to be enacted.

But a spokesperson said: We are working with the judiciary to ensure that arrangements are in place to give protections for those who have been particularly affected by coronavirus when proceedings start again.

We have also put in place a support package to prevent people getting into financial hardship or rent arrears during the pandemic.
A portrait of the late Paik Sun-yup, a famous Korean War hero and South Korea's first four-star general, is placed on a memorial altar set up at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul, Saturday. Paik passed away at the age 99 the previous day. Yonhap









By Jung Da-min







The death of Paik Sun-yup, a Korean War hero and South Korea's first four-star general, has brought an ideological controversy to the political and civic arenas over where he should be buried due to his record of service in the Japanese Army during Japan's colonial rule of Korea (1910-45).







While he has been highly recognized as a war hero by the South Korean and U.S. militaries, and his contributions during the war entitled him to be buried in a national cemetery, opponents claim he doesn't deserve the honor due to his alleged pro-Japanese activities.







After Paik passed away, Friday, at the age of 99, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and the South Korean Army said the next day that they decided to have his body buried at a graveyard for former generals at Daejeon National Cemetery, at the request of the bereaved family.







According to the relevant law, the nation's first four-star general is fully entitled to be buried in the cemetery.







But some liberal politicians and civic groups are claiming he should not be buried there, calling him a pro-Japanese collaborator.







In 1941 during Japan's colonial rule of Korea, he became an officer of the Manchukuo Imperial Army. Manchukuo was a puppet state set up by Japan in Manchuria. According to the Center for Historical Truth and Justice, the army fought against Korean independence fighters. In 2009, he was included on a list of pro-Japanese collaborators issued by a presidential truth-finding committee.







The liberal minor opposition Justice Party expressed regrets over the veterans affairs ministry's decision to bury Paik at the national cemetery.







"We would feel too ashamed to see independence fighters if we bury the person, who had been a puppet of Japanese imperialism and who suppressed the independence fighters, at the national cemetery. We expressed a great regret over the government's decision," Justice Party spokesman Kim Jong-chul said, Saturday.







An alliance of groups honoring independence fighters called on the government to cancel the burial plan. "Is it right for the country to bury a pro-Japanese collaborator, who suppressed independence fighters, at a national cemetery because of his service during the Korean War?" the alliance said in a statement. "If he was a hero who really dedicated himself to the country, we recommend he be buried at his family gravesite."







The liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) decided not to issue any official comment on his death or on the controversy over his burial.







But earlier this year, some DPK members submitted a bill to move the graves of people buried at national cemeteries if they have been proven to be pro-Japan collaborators or their national decoration has been annulled due to other reasons after the burial  a move partially targeting Paik even before his death.







The conservative main opposition United Future Party (UFP), on the contrary, has expressed condolences for his death, saying Paik should be buried at Seoul National Cemetery along with comrades, not in the Daejeon cemetery. The veterans' affairs ministry said there were no slots left at the graveyards for former generals at the Seoul cemetery







"Paik is a general who had led the South Korean military for 1,128 days from the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950. That was how he protected South Korea when it was on the edge of a cliff," UFP spokeswoman Rep. Kim Eun-hye said, Sunday. "It is a dishonor of the time that we are not letting him lie with his 120,000 comrades of the Korean War at the Seoul National Cemetery."







The party also said the five-day military funeral through Wednesday is not enough for Paik, requesting the government to raise the status to that of a national funeral.







President Moon Jae-in sent flowers to Paik's memorial altar at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, while his chief of staff Noh Young-min and other aides as well as Defense Minister Jeong Kyung-doo visited the altar to pay their respects.







Born in 1920 in Gangseo in South Pyongyang Province, which is now in North Korea, he joined the army in Manchukuo in 1941. He served in a unit known for hunting down Korean guerillas fighting for independence from 1943 to 1945 until Korea's liberation from Japan, although Paik later denied that he was ever directly engaged in fights with Koreans.







He was a first lieutenant when Korea was liberated and was recruited when the U.S. helped South Korea build a military after the division of the Korean Peninsula.







Paik participated in the Korean War as the 1st Infantry Division commander at its onset. He is especially credited for leading his division in the Battle of Tabudong, one of the fiercest in the war, in which the division played a critical role in preventing North Korean troops from breaching the Pusan Perimeter which would have won them the entire peninsula and the war.







When South Korean and U.N. forces charged northward pushing the North Koreans back, Paik later arrived at Pyongyang and planted a South Korean flag there. Paik became a four-star general in 1953 at age 32, the first in Korean history.







After the Korean War, Paik retired from the military and served in diplomatic posts before working as transportation minister from 1969 to 1971.







While Koreans are still divided over whether Paik is a war hero or a traitor to his people, the U.S. military has always treated him as "a living legend."







U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris, right, kneels and holds Paik Sun-yup's hands at Paik's birthday event held at the Ministry of National Defense Convention in Seoul, Nov. 21, 2018. / Captured from Harry Harris' Twitter





After Paik passed away, United States Forces Korea Commander Gen. Robert Abrams said in a statement, Saturday, "From his time serving in the Korean War to becoming South Korea's first four-star General to serving as the ROK Army Chief of Staff, General Paik is a hero and national treasure who will be truly missed."







Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris also said on his Twitter, "So saddened by the death last night of Republic of Korea's first four-star general, General Paik Sun Yup. Leader. Patriot. Fighter. Statesman. He shaped the modern U.S.-ROK Alliance. He wrote, 'Without my country, I cannot exist.' Deepest condolences to his family. He is already greatly missed."


Visakhapatnam: An investigation into a gas leak that killed 12 people at a plant run by LG Polymers in Andhra Pradesh in May found the company was negligent and warning systems were not working, the state government said on Monday.

Toxic styrene gas leaked from the chemical plant of Visakhapatnam in the early hours of May 7, choking many people who were sleeping, with hundreds having to be taken to hospital and 12 people later died.

LG Polymers is owned by South Koreas LG Chem Ltd.

There were no proper preventive mechanisms to avert such incidents and the warning siren facility was also not in order, the Andhra Pradesh state government said in a statement about the findings of the investigating committee, which it set up after the disaster.

The government said there had been a lack of adherence to safety protocols and timely emergency response measures at the plant.

LG Polymers did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment. After the incident the company apologised and said it would co-operate with authorities to investigate the causes.

Multiple witnesses had told Reuters in May that when gas began leaking from the plant, there were no warnings and no alarms.

The Committee in its report mentioned 36 (times) about how the alarm system did not function and the siren did not (sound), the state government said in its statement.

A clogged cooling system was the likely cause of a temperature surge in a storage tank which led to a gas leak at the plant, Reuters reported in May, citing three state government investigators.
White House adviser Peter Navarro said he expects President Donald Trump to take strong action against Chinese-owned social media apps TikTok and WeChat for engaging in information warfare against the U.S.

The Trump administration is just getting started with the two apps, and he wouldnt rule out the U.S. banning them, Navarro said on Fox News on Sunday. Even if TikTok is sold to an American buyer, it wouldnt solve the problem, he said.

If TikTok separates as an American company, that doesnt help us, Navarro said. Because its going to be worse  were going to have to give China billions of dollars for the privilege of having TikTok operate on U.S. soil.

President Donald Trump said last week his administration is considering banning the short video app TikTok in the U.S. The examination of TikTok was part of a broader effort to protect American citizens private data, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo had said. Navarro didnt specify which action the administration might take.

TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., is popular among teens in the U.S. WeChat, owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, is the top communication app in mainland China and used by Chinese users globally.

TikTok has drawn concern among U.S. officials and corporate America is looking into its use among staff. Wells Fargo & Co. asked employees to remove TikTok from their work phones due to concerns about the security.

Amazon.com Inc. told employees on Friday to delete TikTok from mobile devices they use to access company email, but later said the instruction was an error.

Navarro alleged that Amazons decision to back away shows the power of the Chinese Communist Party on corporate America.

American puppet

TikTok has repeatedly denied allegations that it poses a threat to U.S. national security. The company is mulling changes to its corporate structure to distance itself from China. TikTok is considering a number of locations for a global base, the person familiar with the plans told Bloomberg earlier. Its five largest offices are in Los Angeles, New York, London, Dublin and Singapore.

Navarro said TikTok is running the same playbook as Huawei Technologies Co. by hiring former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as new CEO. Putting an American puppet in charge is not going to work, he said.

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Station officer, Bithoor Police Station, and member of the team which had gone to arrest Vikas Dubey, recalled details of the sudden encounter that killed 8 of his colleagues in Kanpur.

Station Officer (SO), Bithoor Police Station, Kaushalendra Pratap Singh, a part of 35-member team which was sent to arrest gangster Vikas Dubey last week, recounted the events of the day when an unprecedented ambush led to the killing of eight police personnel in Kanpur.

Speaking to ANI, Singh said, On July 2, I received a call from SO Chaubeypur, Vinay Tiwari (suspended now) at around 12:00 am following which we went for the arrest. We parked our vehicles around 2-2.5 km away from the spot. While we were walking ahead, around 20 rounds were fired at us following which our force scattered, few of them who were without weapons tried to hide while the personnel with weapons took their position.

I was sitting behind the wall with two other police personnel. I had a pistol but the other two didnt have any weapon. Our constable Ajay Senghar told us that he was shot in the stomach. One more police personnel was shot in the hand. People were firing from the terrace so we couldnt see them, he added.

Also read: Intel warns forces of Pakistans intentions to carry out BAT action in 2 J&K sectors

Also read: Kerala gold smuggling: NIA nabs key accused Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair

He continued saying that a few people who were firing at the police were identified later when their pictures went viral.

We somehow managed to move away from that spot. We had no plans for encounterI didnt even know who was the person we went to arrest. If we had any idea, the situation would have been different. I took around 10 people with me from my police station, out of which four had weapons. So in total, including police personnel from other stations, we had around 15 weapons, said Singh.

The team which went to arrest Dubey consisted of almost 35 police personnel, he informed.

When we went for the arrest, it wasnt dark. Lights were there which proved out to be a drawback for us as the people on the terrace identified the positions of police personnel. There was a power cut later. Vinay Tiwari was with us only but when they started firing, Tiwari was left behind. Maybe he took his position, said Singh.

When I and my two constables were injured and we managed to escape the spot, we saw Tiwari on the way, he added.

Vikas Dubey was arrested by the police in Madhya Pradeshs Ujjain on Thursday morning. He was on the run and had allegedly come to the city to offer prayers at a temple, where he was identified by a security guard.

He was killed in an encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday after he attempted to flee.

The gangster was the main accused in the encounter that took place in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur last week, in which a group of assailants opened fire on a police team, which had gone to arrest him.

Also read: Kanpur Encounter: MP Police nabs 2 for hiding wanted criminals

For all the latest National News, download NewsX App
Trump Says Authorized Cyberattack on Russia's Internet Research Agency in 2018

Sputnik News

03:49 GMT 11.07.2020

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  US President Donald Trump confirmed to The Washington Post that he had authorized a cyberattack on Russia's Internet Research Agency in 2018.

Earlier this week, Trump told the columnist of The Washington Post, Marc Thiessen, that he had ordered the 2018 cyberattack on the Internet Research Agency, which is accused by the United States of spearheading the interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

"Correct", Trump told The Washington Post, answering the question, whether he had launched the 2018 cyberattack.

The US president stressed that nobody had been tougher on Russia than him.

"[Former President Barack Obama] knew before the election that Russia was playing around. Or, he was told. Whether or not it was so or not, who knows? And he said nothing. And the reason he said nothing was that he didn't want to touch it because he thought [Hillary Clinton] was winning because he read phony polls. So, he thought she was going to win. And we had the silent majority that said, 'No, we like Trump'", Trump added.

On 18 April 2019, the US Justice Department released the final report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into allegations of Trump-Russia collusion and Russian interference in the US election. The special counsel found no collusion between Russian officials and Trump's campaign but said that Moscow attempted to interfere in the election.

Russia has repeatedly refuted the accusations, saying it has never meddled in the US internal affairs.

 Sputnik

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Rajasthan government on Saturday imposed restrictions on inter-state movement of people, in view of a surge in Covid-19 cases in the State.

As per an order issued on Saturday, those going out of Rajasthan will have to obtain passes from authorities. People travelling by road shall be screened at check post to be established on state borders.

Those arriving at airports, railway stations and bus stands within Rajasthan will be screened. All persons who intend to move outside the State shall be required to obtain a pass from the nearby government offices, read the order by the states home department.

In case of personal emergency, persons shall be exempted from the requirement of a pass for travel outside the State, the order said.

Also, people travelling by scheduled flights, trains and state roadways buses on July 12, with a prior confirmed reservation, will be exempted from the requirement of passes, the order said.

Rajasthan reported 170 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday taking the total number of positive cases to 23,344, according to a health bulletin issued by the state health department.

Two deaths were also reported on Saturday, the health department said. So far, 499 people have lost their lives due to the virus. Currently, there are 5,211 active cases in the state.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

Trend:

First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva has held a phone talk with Honored Artist Bahram Baghirzade who is receiving treatment from COVID-19.

Mehriban Aliyeva wished the honored artist swift recovery. The First Vice-President praised Azerbaijani doctors` and medical workers` tireless efforts in the fight against COVID-19 and in treatment of patients.

Bahram Baghirzade thanked First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva for support and efforts concerning his treatment. Saying he believes in his soonest recovery, Bahram Baghirzade added that he had always felt President Ilham Aliyev`s and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva`s support.

The honored artist was hospitalized with severe complications after catching coronavirus. He is now recovering after receiving intensive care treatment.
These are the schools that have canceled classes for Jan. 18

Some school districts across the county are virtual today. Others will make up the snow day.
Rating Action: Moody's affirms ratings of Banese, negative outlook

Global Credit Research - 10 Jul 2020

New York, July 10, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's) has today affirmed all ratings of Banco do Estado de Sergipe S.A. (Banese). Banese has a Ba2/Not Prime for local currency, long- and short-term deposit ratings, and Aa3.br/BR-1 for long and short-term Brazilian national scale deposit ratings. Banese's has a ba2 baseline credit assessments (BCA), which was also affirmed. The outlook on Banese's Ba2 local currency deposit rating remains negative and is stable on the Ba3 long-term foreign currency deposit rating.

A full list of the affected ratings and assessments of Banco do Estado de Sergipe S.A. is provided at the end of this press release.

RATINGS RATIONALE

In affirming Banese's ratings, we acknowledge the bank's entrenched retail franchise in its regional market, which is supported by a stable market share of core deposits in excess of 30%, largely sourced from the state government's civil servants. Banese's ratings and assessments incorporate strong liquidity metrics as well as recurring earnings generation, which ensures the replenishment of its capital. The negative outlook on the ratings is maintained to reflect the challenges to Banese's asset quality and profitability deriving from rapid loan growth and exposure to business segments that are more vulnerable to the downturn.

The coronavirus outbreak will cause a sharp contraction in the Brazilian economy in 2020 and deterioration in asset quality and profitability of banks, including Banese. Banese's loan delinquency has gradually increased from a 2.5% average ratio reported between 2014-2018, to 3.5% in December 2019 and March 2020, the highest ratio in the bank's 10-year financial history. Because of its recent rapid growth and despite the 35% share of low-risk payroll loans in its portfolio, Banese's loans will season under more adverse credit condition, causing non-performing loans (NPL) to increase, including its SME loan book, which is already experiencing punctual delinquencies. In addition, Banese has deferred payments on 7% of its loan book to accommodate borrowers' repayment capacity during the pandemic. While this measure may defer credit losses, a prolonged economic disruption will likely weaken asset quality further with direct effect on profitability and capital, in the event Banese has to raise loan loss provisions materially.

Story continues

At the same time, Banese's Moody's adjusted tangible common equity to risk weighted assets returned to the 9% level by 4Q2019, after declining to 6.6% following material negative adjustments on equity made in June 2019, and which triggered Moody's negative outlook on the ratings. The adjustments reflected actuarial liabilities at Banese-sponsored private pension fund, Instituto Banese de Seguridade Social -- Sergus. Besides halving the amount of those negative adjustments, the bank's capital position was further reinforced by earnings retention in the period. Payout ratio in 2019 was only 24% in 2019, against 40% in 2018.

In 1Q20, the bank's net income dropped 13% over one year prior, due to higher credit costs and modest business growth. Results in 2019 were also affected by certain non-recurring gains related to insurance fees and recoveries. The 65% increase in credit costs resulted from a specific SME default, and any recovery on the loan will be used to increase provisions for credit losses that are expected to rise from the pandemic.

A key credit strength of the bank's ratings and assessments refers to its granular funding base with low dependence on market funds and strong liquidity ratio, historically above 35% of tangible banking assets.

Banese's Ba2 global local-currency deposit rating is aligned to a ba2 baseline credit assessment, and therefore, does not incorporate any support assessment from its shareholder, the State Government of Sergipe, nor does it benefit from systemic support, given its small size.

Moody's regards the coronavirus pandemic as a social risk under its ESG framework, given the substantial implications for public health and safety. Moody's does not apply any corporate behavior adjustment to Banese, as concerns about risk management and corporate governance are included in the financial scores. Corporate governance, however, remains a key credit consideration at Banese and requires ongoing monitoring. Please see Moody's Environmental risks and Social risks heatmaps for further information.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS

Banese's rating outlook could return to stable if the bank is able to preserve its profitability in its regional market, maintaining adequate capital and improving asset-risk metrics.

The BCA and ratings could be downgraded if the bank's asset quality weakens materially at the same time that profitability declines because of higher provisioning needs as new loans will season under a more difficult economic scenario.

METHODOLOGY USED

The principal methodology used in these ratings was Banks Methodology published in November 2019 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1147865. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.

Banco do Estado de Sergipe S.A. is headquartered in Aracaju, Brasil. As of March 2020, Banese had total assets of BRL 6.3 billion (USD 1.2 billion) and shareholders' equity of BRL 491 million (USD 95 million).

LISTED OF AFFECTED RATINGS AND ASSESSMENTS

The following ratings and assessments of Banco do Estado de Sergipe S.A were affirmed:

.. Long-term local currency bank deposit rating affirmed Ba2, outlook negative

.. Short-term local currency bank deposit rating affirmed at Not Prime

.. Long-term foreign currency bank deposit rating affirmed at Ba3, outlook stable

.. Short-term foreign currency bank deposit rating affirmed at Not Prime

.. Brazilian long-term local currency bank deposit rating affirmed at Aa3.br

.. Brazilian short-term local currency bank deposit rating affirmed at BR-1

.. Long-term local currency counterparty risk rating affirmed at Ba1

.. Short-term local currency counterparty risk rating affirmed at Not Prime

.. Long-term foreign currency counterparty risk rating affirmed at Ba1

.. Short-term foreign currency counterparty risk rating affirmed at Not Prime

.. Brazilian long-term local currency counterparty risk rating affirmed at Aaa.br

.. Brazilian short-term local currency counterparty risk rating affirmed at BR-1

.. Long-term counterparty risk assessment affirmed at Ba1(cr)

.. Short-term counterparty risk assessment affirmed at Not Prime(cr)

.. Baseline Credit Assessment affirmed at ba2

.. Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment affirmed at ba2

- Outlook negative (m)

Moody's National Scale Credit Ratings (NSRs) are intended as relative measures of creditworthiness among debt issues and issuers within a country, enabling market participants to better differentiate relative risks. NSRs differ from Moody's global scale credit ratings in that they are not globally comparable with the full universe of Moody's rated entities, but only with NSRs for other rated debt issues and issuers within the same country. NSRs are designated by a ".nn" country modifier signifying the relevant country, as in ".za" for South Africa. For further information on Moody's approach to national scale credit ratings, please refer to Moody's Credit rating Methodology published in May 2016 entitled "Mapping National Scale Ratings from Global Scale Ratings". While NSRs have no inherent absolute meaning in terms of default risk or expected loss, a historical probability of default consistent with a given NSR can be inferred from the GSR to which it maps back at that particular point in time. For information on the historical default rates associated with different global scale rating categories over different investment horizons, please see https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1216309.

REGULATORY DISCLOSURES

For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.

For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the credit rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.

For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit support from the primary entity(ies) of this credit rating action, and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action, the associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity. Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures, if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.

The ratings have been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agent(s) and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.

These ratings are solicited. Please refer to Moody's Policy for Designating and Assigning Unsolicited Credit Ratings available on its website www.moodys.com.

Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating review.

Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1133569.

At least one ESG consideration was material to the credit rating action(s) announced and described above.

The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt am Main 60322, Germany, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph 3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies. Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's office that issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.

Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued the rating.

Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.

Theresangela Araes Vice President - Senior Analyst Financial Institutions Group Moody's America Latina Ltda. Avenida Nacoes Unidas, 12.551 16th Floor, Room 1601 Sao Paulo, SP 04578-903 Brazil JOURNALISTS: 0 800 891 2518 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 M. Celina Vansetti-Hutchins MD - Banking Financial Institutions Group JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 Releasing Office: Moody's Investors Service, Inc. 250 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10007 U.S.A. JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653

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More than 600 businesses in Midland received $150,000 or more from the federal governments Paycheck Protection Program, according to data released by the Small Business Administration, with some of the largest recipients being oil companies, restaurants and schools.

Businesses that benefited from the program used their loans to retain more than 25,000 jobs, according to the data. They will not be required to pay back the funding they borrow  instead, the loans will be paid with taxpayer money.

The number of jobs saved is nearly equal to the 22,000 jobs lost between March and April when Midlands unemployment rate rose to 10 percent, according to a previous Reporter-Telegram article.

The oil and gas industry received the most loans of any sector, with 222 companies receiving funding for more than 8,000 employees salaries. Of those companies, four  Blackline Energy Services, Imperative Chemical Partners, Integrity Services and Wildcat Oil Tools  received loans between $5 million and $10 million.

AggieTech Energy Services, an oil field equipment supplier, received a loan between $2 million and $5 million but indicated the money was not used to save any jobs. AggieTech CFO Steve Berrones, however, told the Reporter-Telegram, Employees were paid supplemental pay in addition to their actual earnings from the PPP funds to bridge the gap in pre-COVID pay due to the downturn and the decrease in hours worked. We wanted to be certain as many dollars as possible were being passed along to our employees and that they were not incurring significant pay cuts.

The Paycheck Protection Program, intended to help small businesses affected by the pandemic keep their workers employed, has loaned more than $520 billion to nearly 5 million businesses nationwide.

Data released by the Small Business Administration does not include all businesses that received funding. The administration did not release data for businesses receiving loans less than $150,000, which means the identities of 85 percent of borrowers are unknown.

Another benefactor of the program was Midlands restaurant and hospitality industry, which used loans to save 2,500 jobs, according to the data. Local restaurants such as KDs Bar-B-Q and Venezia received funding, as did some national franchises, including Sonic Drive-in and Dominos Pizza.

Six private schools also borrowed money from the program. Midland Christian School and Trinity School received loans between $1 million and $2 million, Midland Classical Academy borrowed between $350,000 and $1 million, and Hillcrest School and Hillander School borrowed between $150,000 and $350,000.

The loans businesses received are presented in the data as ranges. For example, a business that received a loan between $1 million and $2 million had the option to borrow an amount between those two numbers.

The deadline to receive PPP loans, originally set for the end of June, was extended by Congress until Aug. 8, with about $140 billion in loans still available.
- Tema West MP declared COVID-19 negative by Ghana Health Service

- The GHS in a letter to the former deputy Trade Minister stated that he has tested negative twice after the initial positive

- He resigned a government official after he breached some COVID-19 protocols

- Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

The Ghana Health Service has declared Carlos Ahenkorah, the MP for Tema West and former deputy minister for trade and industry COVID-19 negative.

Mr. Ahenkorah recently resigned as a deputy minister after he was accused of breaching the COVID-19 protocols even when he had tested positive but Asymptomatic.

In a letter written to the Tema East MP dated Friday 9th July 2020 and signed by the director-general of the Ghana Health Service Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, he disclosed that Mr. Ahenkorah has obtained two consecutive negative laboratory test results for COVID-19.

NPP MP Carlos Ahenkorah declared COVID-19 negative by GHS. Source: YEN.com.gh

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Aspiring MP arrested for organising a rally in Assin South constituency

For this reason, you are deemed to have recovered from Covid-19 infection and so can return to work, the letter added.

The GHS has, however, cautioned the former deputy minister to continue to observe the precautionary measures since he is not immune from contracting the virus.

These include the use of a face mask at all times, especially in public places, frequent washing of hands with soap under running water and covering of mouth and noise with tissue paper when coughing or sneezing and disposing of the used tissue properly.

YEN.com.gh earlier reported Ghanas Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has revealed that the majority of his staff at the ministry has tested positive for COVID-19.

In an interview on Peace FM on 9 July, the member of parliament for Manhyia said mass testing was conducted at the Ministry of Education and results showed that 45 out of 50 people tested positive.

At my workplace, everyone has been tested. A lot of them tested positive for the virus. Assuming I have a total staff of 50, about 45 of them have the virus. None of them has been hospitalized but they are currently in self-isolation, he said.

Vox pop: Which team "Nana-Bawumia or Jane-John" will win the 2020 election? | #Yencomgh

READ ALSO: Ghanaians react as 200 health workers petition EC to halt voter registration

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STAMFORD - Black Lives Matter protesters who gathered in front of the Stamford Police station on Saturday to mourn the death of a 23-year-old Black man in police custody last year, had a message for national and local law enforcement officials.

Dont come out here and get on your knees when we dont need you, said Darnell Crosland, a Stamford attorney who joined the protesters. If you want to do something, do something for real.

Crosland said he wasnt interested in watching police officers take a knee in solidarity with demonstrators  as police officials have done in Stamford and elsewhere. He wants to see radical change within the law enforcement system, he said.

The group of about 100 gathered outside police headquarters Saturday afternoon to demand justice for Steven Barrier, a Black Stamford man who died in police custody in October.

On Oct. 22, 2019, Barriers sister had called the police to report that she was assaulted by her brother.

When officers arrived at their Stamford home, Barrier had already fled the scene. Police returned to the home hours later, when Barriers family members reported that he had returned.

Barrier led officers on a foot chase before he was apprehended. According to body camera footage, Barrier told police that he couldnt stand up and was too tired to walk to their nearby patrol car, so officers carried him toward the vehicle.

The video shows the officer driving the cruiser ask whether he should take Barrier to Stamford Hospital or the police department. The arresting officers tell him to take Barrier to police headquarters for booking on domestic assault charges.

On the drive to the police station, Barrier asks an officer to turn on the air conditioning, but rather, the officer rolls a window down. In the footage, Barrier can be heard moaning at times.

When officers remove him from the vehicle, Barrier is unresponsive. Inside the police department, officers joke that Barrier should win an award for playing dead.

My son Steven Barrier needed help, said Barriers mother, Valerie Jaddo.

Instead of receiving help, he lost his life, she said. I received the news that no mother, no grandparent, no parent at all, should ever have to hear. Im left with grief, emotional distress and thousands of questions (about what) happened to my son on that last hour.

Medics arrived more than five minutes after officers found Barrier unresponsive that day. He was pronounced dead at Stamford Hospital 85 minutes after he was taken into police custody.

Stamford Police leaders have said officers did not use force on Barrier. An autopsy determined the 23-year-old had died from suffering a heart attack  more precisely atherosclerotic coronary artery disease with contributing factors of bipolar disorder, according to the Chief Medical Examiners Office.

Barriers mother has said many times in the past, that she doesnt believe city and state officials version of events and that she still has not received justice for her son.

She stood with protesters on Saturday to demand more answers into the cause of her sons death, she said.

Why was my son taken to the police station when he should have been taken to the hospital? she said to the gathered crowd. All of this could have been prevented, knowing that the police officers duty was to protect us, the citizens of this community.

Barriers loved ones said Barriers mental health condition was well-known to local police, who they had called on in the past, for assistance.

Following the event, Stamford Police Chief Tim Shaw said he listened to what the protesters had to say.

Shaw started in his current position a few months ago after years leading another department. He said it is challenging to comment on a case that took place before his tenure, but that officers within the department feel awful that Barrier died in the event.

For the officers on the call, they feel awful too, he said.

Protesters expressed disgust that some officers had joked that Barrier was faking at the time.

Shaw said the officers responses were inappropriate. After Barriers death, Thomas Wuennemann, acting chief at the time, had convened an incident review panel to study how police handled the incident, Shaw said. The summary of those findings will be released in a report soon, Shaw said.

Wilner Joseph, of Stamford, told fellow demonstrators that Barriers death reminded him of an incident he had experienced years ago at 16. Joseph said he was beaten and pepper sprayed by Stamford police officers, who falsely accused him of selling drugs.

On that day it had been 85 degrees, he said. When he got into the police cruiser, the officer rolled up the windows. Joseph said he told the officer her could not breathe, but the officer said he didnt care.

I was praying to God that Id make it back to my family, Joseph said.

He and others at the protest are calling for the officers involved in Barriers death to be fired, saying the officers neglected to render immediate and appropriate aid to Barrier. They also called on Mayor Martin to take funding away from local police and move it to community social services programs, schools, affordable housing options and the health care system.

If this was anybody elses kid on the police force, I guarantee you we would not be out here marching, Joseph said. Someone would have been held accountable for it.

Local attorney Tricia Lindsay said the fight for justice is not over.

The case has been closed as far as what the police department has done, she said. But at this present moment, there has been no civil complaint that has been filed yet.

Attorneys are preparing to file a complaint, and through their discovery process, they will demand more information about the case, she said.

tatiana.flowers@thehour.com @TATIANADFLOWERS
Boston police are asking for the publics help in identifying two people after a Black Lives Matter art installation was vandalized in Allston.

On Saturday, police released a photo of a man and a woman standing next to the installation, which is bolted to a MassDOT fence in the area of 321 Lincoln St., police said in a statement.

Around 9:20 p.m. Thursday, the man in the photo was seen vandalizing the art display in the company of the woman, police said.

Police continue to investigate the incident. Anyone with information is asked to call District D-14 Detectives at 617-343-4256. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling he CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463).

Got a news tip or want to contact MassLive about this story? Email newstips@masslive.com or message us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also call our news tips line at 413-776-1364.
A Florida man was arrested Saturday after he allegedly drove his minivan into a Catholic church and then set it on fire while congregants were inside preparing for mass, authorities said.

Steven Anthony Shield, 24, was arrested after cops say he plowed his minivan into Our Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Ocala, on State Road 200 and set the sanctuary on fire before fleeing in his vehicle.

Occupants inside the church escaped unharmed and the flames were extinguished by Marion County Fire rescue. Sheilds was apprehended by a Marion County Sheriff's deputy after a motor vehicle chase.

Steven Anthony Shield, 24, was arrested after cops say he plowed his minivan into Our Queen of Peace Catholic church in Ocala, Florida, Saturday and set the sanctuary on fire before fleeing in his vehicle

Occupants inside the church escaped unharmed and the flames were extinguished by Marion County Fire rescue. Smoke is pictured still lingering inside the sanctuary after the fire was out

Hoses are pictured leading into the church's sanctuary after Marion County Fire rescue extinguished the flames of the intentionally set blaze

According to court documents, Shields told detectives he is mentally ill but had stopped taking his medication, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.

Shields said to cops that what he did was 'awesome,' and he smiled and laughed, the affidavit said. He told detectives he was 'on a mission,' called himself 'king' and that he has problems with the Catholic Church and referenced passages in the Bible's Book of Revelations.

He is being held by the Marion County Sheriff's Office on numerous charges, including one count each of attempted second degree murder, first-degree felony evidencing prejudice and arson to a structure (where persons are normally present).

Cops said they had reasonable grounds to believe Shields knew the church was occupied when he allegedly drove into the foyer.

Once inside, Shields allegedly poured gasoline on to the sanctuary and lit it on fire, before leaving in his minivan, according to a police account posted on Facebook.

Deputy Josue Gonzalez, the sheriff's office said, 'spotted the vehicle leaving the area and gave chase.'

'The defendant fled until Deputy Gonzalez was able to conduct a P.I.T. maneuver (Precision Immobilization Technique) and disable the fleeing vehicle in the 5900 block of South Highway 441, where the defendant was taken into custody,' the sheriff's office said.

A minivan is pictured that cops say Shields used to flee is pictured after it was disabled by a deputy who used a disabling technique to stop the vehicle

Services were being held Sunday in another part of the church.

Sheriff Billy Wood released a statement after the attempted arson, proclaiming that 'Our freedom of worship granted in the Constitution is a freedom that we all hold dear.'

'My deputies and I are sworn to protect that right and will always ensure our citizens can worship in peace,' the sheriff explained.

'I'm proud of my deputies for capturing this man so quickly and we appreciate the assistance from all of the state and federal agencies that worked alongside of us during this investigation.'
Greys Anatomy fans collectively mourned the day Sandra Oh left Cristina Yang behind. The actor portrayed the beloved character for almost a decade, marking her exit during the 10th season finale.

Now, its been six years since the major departure. However, viewers still miss the Cardio God and Meredith Greys (Ellen Pompeo) original person. Then recently, Oh discussed her epic journey on Greys Anatomy, including her decision to leave. And quite frankly, the Killing Eve stars remarks might make some longtime viewers a little emotional.

How did Cristina Yang leave Greys Anatomy?

RELATED: Greys Anatomy: Sandra Oh Reveals the Cristina Yang Storyline She Wanted to Explore, But the Show Didnt Want to Touch

In the Greys Anatomy Season 10 finale, Cristina left Grey Sloan Memorial to take over Preston Burkes (Isaiah Washington) facility in Zurich, Switzerland. But before she made her final exit, Cristina gave Meredith a few key instructions.

Cristina told her person to take care of Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers). She also reminded Meredith she was the sun of her story and to keep in contact. Then Meredith and Cristina danced it out one last time.

The moment was a heartwarming goodbye to Cristina. It also showed how much the character grew from the series premiere in 2005. When Cristina first arrived at Seattle Grace, her only concern was surgery. However, after 10 years, the Cardio God formed connections that truly changed her life.

Sandra Oh discusses playing Cristina Yang on Greys Anatomy for 10 years

Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang on Greys Anatomy | Craig Sjodin/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

RELATED: Greys Anatomy: Kevin McKidd Wants to Call Up Sandra Oh for Owen and Cristinas Reunion

On July 11, The Hollywood Reporter published its Awards Chatter podcast with Oh, who discussed her journey as Cristina on Greys Anatomy. And ultimately, the actor is grateful for the experience.

I think its one of the rarest opportunities for an actor to have, Oh said of playing Cristina for 10 years. Its taken up and it has been a burden. It has been difficult. I feel it has been a gift to be able to play a character and a characters growth in real-time is so rare.

Oh then explained Cristinas character development was believable because of her 10-year arc.

The person who she was at the beginning of the pilot, which was much less sensitive or aware of other people and only focused on her one ambition, Oh said. You can see the relationships, primarily with Meredith, and then the relationships she has with all the other people. At the end when she leaves, she has this skill but shes also opened up so much more as a person.

RELATED: Greys Anatomy: 3 Meredith and Cristina Moments That Will Make You Miss Their Friendship

She continued, Its not just like it happens in a scene. Its believable because people have been watching it for over 10 years. So you believe how the character has changed. Im eternally grateful for it because its just so rare to do.

Oh also touched on Cristinas friendship with Meredith on Greys Anatomy, acknowledging it was the heartbeat of the show.

The heartbeat really was the friendship between the two characters, Oh said of Meredith and Cristina. Blatantly, were here to elevate and really spend how many seasons of talking about the friendship between women. It was great.

Sandra Oh reveals what it was like to leave Greys Anatomy

RELATED: Greys Anatomy: Shonda Rhimes Opens Up About Sandra Ohs Exit and Itll Remind You the Killing Eve Star Is a Force of Nature

Still speaking on the Awards Chatter podcast, Oh discussed her decision to leave Greys Anatomy.

When the time came, it was really a deeply internal, creative knowing that I had, she said. When [creator Shonda Rhimes] checked in with me, she goes, What do you want to do? And Im like, I think Im ready to go.

Then the actor revealed the Greys Anatomy showrunners were able to give Cristina the exit she deserved.

We had a lot of discussions about it, Oh said. They so beautifully gave Cristina a year-long sendoff  They wrote it beautifully. It was a great year of work.

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Washington: It was just before dawn on a cold winter morning last week when I left my home in Australia to travel to the epicentre of the global pandemic.

As I nervously boarded a plane to the US, Melbourne was still in the early stages of its own collective panic.

Health authorities had noticed troubling spikes across parts of the city, and by Friday, Victoria had recorded 288 new coronavirus cases - the biggest daily increase in infections since the pandemic began.

But for all the angst back home, Australias COVID-19 response still looks pretty good from the perspective of someone who has just landed in Trumps America.
Assassination of Gen. Soleimani obvious example of state terrorism, violation of int'l law: Iran's envoy to UN

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 11 July 2020 / 12:42

Tehran (ISNA) - Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi stressed that brutal and cowardly assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani is another obvious example of State terrorism pursued in gross violation of the fundamental principles of international law.

Majid Takht Ravanchi made the remarks to the Virtual Counter-Terrorism Week under the theme of "Strategic and Practical Challenges of Countering Terrorism in a Global Pandemic Environment".

The full text of the ambassador's speech is as follows:

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Thank you, Mr. Vladimir Voronkov,

The coronavirus and terrorism have several astounding commonalities. Neither recognizes any border. Both kill innocent people in an indiscriminate manner. They spread easily and undermine the well-being of societies whilst bringing tremendous economic downturns. They spread fear and anxiety and can only be defeated in the spirit of global partnership, solidarity and genuine cooperation among all actors at the national, regional and international levels.

In the fight against terrorists, there is no choice but to harness the power of the multilateral approach through enhanced information sharing and cooperation to effectively and swiftly address the vulnerabilities, mitigate the existing challenges and find practical solutions for emerging problems.

Despite the vital importance of collective and coordinated responses to terrorism and its devastating impacts, certain challenges still exist emanating mostly from unilateral approaches. For instance, the unilateral coercive measures deny essential tools for a collective response to terrorism and hinder cooperation as well as genuine efforts in this endeavor, hence providing a breeding ground for terrorism.

The pandemic has even exacerbated the consequences of such a vicious approach.

The imposition by the US of its laws and regulations with an extraterritorial impact on my country and others is, by definition, tantamount to terrorism.

The coercive measures are manifestations of structural violence that violate inalienable human rights, inter alia, the right to peace, right to development, right to health and above all, the right to life.

The United States' maximum pressure policy against Iran is designed to deliberately and indiscriminately target innocent civilians with the sole purpose of causing pain and suffering among them. Therefore, these actions constitute terrorist acts and, in the broader context, economic terrorism.

The United States' brutal and cowardly assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani, the champion of fighting terrorists in the region, and his companions, while on an official visit to neighboring Iraq, is another obvious example of State terrorism pursued in gross violation of the fundamental principles of international law, entailing criminal responsibility of its perpetrators. This tragedy was a big gift to Daesh and other terrorist groups in the region who celebrated his assassination.

In other parts of our region, people continue to suffer from terrorism. The brutal suppression of Palestinian people by the Israeli regime is among the gravest forms of terrorism which should be condemned by the international community, especially in the time of emergencies.

On the other hand, we must not lose sight of the fact that foreign interventions and aggression in our region, especially in Iraq and Syria, have helped create the current violent extremist and terrorist groups.

Last but not least, the excessive and disproportionate use of military force, including drones, in the name of countering terrorists, has created fertile grounds for vicious cycles of violence and terrorism leading to disastrous results.

The recent decision of the International Criminal Court to authorize the opening of an investigation of the crimes committed in Afghanistan has opened the windows of hope for the administration of justice.

Mr. Chairman,

The U.S representative, in his presentation today, leveled unsubstantiated claims against Iran. It is common knowledge that Iran has been at the forefront of combating terrorist groups such as Al- Qaida and ISIS.

In fact, it is the US who is promoting terrorism not only in our region, but almost everywhere in the world. The United States' interventionist approach in our region has created chaos and an environment fertile for terrorism to grow.

Moreover, the US has been harboring the MKO, a notorious and dangerous terrorist organization responsible for the killing of at least 12,000 Iranians and many Iraqis.

Through providing the deadliest weaponry to the aggressors in the conflict in Yemen, the US is responsible for the continued catastrophe in that country resulting in terrorizing and killing of many innocent Yemenis.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.

End Item

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New Delhi:

Congress' poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday held a two-hour meeting with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is trying to cobble together an alliance of like-minded parties ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls due early next year.

Kishor, along with SP leader Amar Singh, met Yadav at his Delhi residence, apparently to discuss the possibility of an alliance before the poll dates are announced. Sources close to the development confirmed that Kishor met Yadav.

There was talk in political circles that Yadav spoke with JD(U) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is also in Delhi.

However, there was no immediate confirmation. Kishor had managed Nitish Kumar's successful assembly poll campaign last year.

Last week, Mulayam's younger brother and state SP chief Shivpal Singh had met JD(U)'s KC Tyagi and RLD chief Ajit Singh to invite them to SP's 25th anniversary in Lucknow on November 5.

Shivpal had said Lohiaites and followers of Charan Singh should join hands to beat BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

Samajwadi Party, which was initially part of Bihar's grand alliance, had walked out of it after it was offered only a handful of seats to contest the assembly elections there.

The grand alliance of JD(U), RJD and Congress had, however, scripted a glorious electoral victory, defeating the BJP-led NDA. Shivpal had recently blamed his estranged cousin Ram Gopal Yadav for Samajwadi Party's decision to walk out of the alliance in Bihar.

Ram Gopal, a Rajya Sabha member, has been backing chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in his fight against Shivpal.

Ram Gopal was recently sacked from the party amid escalating tension between the rival camps. Given the unusual belligerence shown by Akhilesh Yadav, the party apparently wants to fortify its position by bringing in new friends. The SP's main aim in the polls is prevent split of Muslim votes for which it is looking for an alliance with secular parties.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Eight polls released publicly and rated by FiveThirtyEight since the beginning of June indicate that President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are in a dead heat in Texas, with Biden up by an average of 0.3% with 114 days to go until the election, CNN reports.

Why it matters: The once-Republican stronghold has become more competitive in recent years and is likely to be a presidential swing state in November. A Democratic candidate for president has not won Texas since 1976.

Trump took Texas in 2016 with nearly 52% of the vote, according to The New York Times.

Hillary Clinton won 43% of the vote, but she was the first Democratic presidential candidate to lose the state by single digits since the 1990s.

Driving the news: A new battleground poll from CBS News/YouGov has President Trump polling at 46% and Biden at 45% in Texas, well within the margin of error.

Go deeper: The demographic shifts that will affect the 2020 election
Lebanons number of new coronavirus infections increased for a third consecutive day to a record 86, the government said on Saturday.

Lebanon has recorded 2,168 infections and 36 deaths since February.

Health Minister Hamad Hassan told Reuters on Friday the spike was partly due to expatriates who came after the airport was reopened on July 1. One infected 12 people at a wedding and another infected 12 at a funeral, he said.

A second cluster of infections had appeared among nurses and doctors and a third among refuse collectors, he said

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PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Jul, 2020 ) :Special Assistant to the Chief Minister KP for Information and Local Government, Kamran Bangash here Sunday said that a new state-of-the art centre was being established at Peshawar Institute of Cardiology (PIC) to provide quality treatment to patients of coronavirus.

In a media briefing, Kamran Bangash said that the centre was being established with the support of National Disasters Management Authority (NDMA).

Initially, he said it would have the facilities of 16 ventilators, 34 high dependency units (HDUs) and 50 beds, adding it would have a total of 300 beds for coronavirus patients.

After Nishtarabad hospital, he said it would be another hospital that would exclusively treat the patients of coronavirus.

In later stage, he said its services and capacity would be enhanced and upgraded to a full fledge hospital for coronavirus patients.

The health department was swiftly working on the centre and would be completed soon, he said.

He said cattle markets inside cities would be discouraged due to threats of coronavirus.

He said COVID-19 virus was being contained and people cooperation was imperative to eradicate the viral infection completely.

He said SOPs for cattle markets were prepared and its implementation would be ensured.

Prime Minister Imran Khan was personally mointoring coronavirus situation and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was tirelessly working on frontline against the pandemic and have visited different districts to review health services on ground to provide relief to people.

He urged people to adopt all precautionary measures while visiting cattle markets vital to combat COVID-19.
Some U.S. politicians are just doing everything to politically persecute China, and everything about China.

FBI Director Christopher Wray groundlessly fanned up the so called China threat in his speech delivered at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. on June 7 local time, shamelessly undermining the regular nation-to-nation relations with political lies.

When the world is seeing urgent demand for cooperation and mutual assistance, such Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice are extremely dangerous and alarming.

Anti-pandemic materials donated by Chinas Anhui province arrive in Maryland, April 17. Anhui and Maryland established a Sister State relationship since 1980. Photo courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S.

These U.S. politicians are obsessed with ideological confrontation and addicted to setting imaginary enemies. Its obvious to all that all the so-called crimes tarnishing China are lies and conspiracies. Wrays stigmatizing remarks once again showed the world that Pinocchios nose was growing even longer. Theres no doubt that the more these U.S. politicians lie, the more taints they leave in history.

It seems like that these U.S. politicians have recently turned paranoid on the stigmatizing game. They are taking turns to attack and smear China with fabricated crimes, without any rationality or sense of justice, breaking the bottom line of human civilization and morality.

Before Wray made his speech, U.S. Presidents National Security Adviser Robert OBrien and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had repeatedly staged similar farces, and U.S. Attorney General William Barr is also expected to do the same soon.

Such organized political persecution by these U.S. politicians is a weird practice in international relations. The ridiculous farces they staged are not only undermining China-U.S. ties, but also impacting international order.

Anti-pandemic materials donated by Chinas Liaoning province to Utah arrive at Utahs Salt Palace Convention Center, April 17. Photo courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S.

Chinas development is not a free lunch, or granted by others. It is achieved by the diligent, wise and courageous Chinese people of all ethnic groups under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

When assessing Chinas development, one should not only see what benefits the Chinese people have gained, but also how much hard effort they have put in, not just what achievements China has made, but also what contribution China has made to the world.

China pursues a path of common development through opening-up, and aims to benefit other countries and their people as much as possible while pursuing development at home. It is a fact well recognized by the world, and will not be changed no matter how these U.S. politicians are viciously and ridiculously labeling China.

The world is facing huge pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic, and a deep recession is inevitable. China and the U.S., as the worlds largest developing and developed countries, should properly handle their relations in a way thats responsible for the mankind, the history and the people. To make China-U.S. ties coordinated, cooperative and stable based on non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation conforms to the interests of the people from both countries and the rest of the world.

However, just like U.S. scholar Jeffrey Sachs has put it, The US is a force for division, not for cooperation. The unfriendly practices of the U.S. have seriously threatened the normal development of China-U.S. relations. The anti-China forces in the U.S. are kidnapping the diplomatic policies of the White House, trying to push China-U.S. relations toward the so-called new Cold War. They must pay huge price for such practices that go against history.

Morality makes a person stand and a country prosper. Those U.S. politicians obsessed with lying and Cold War mentality shall understand that political persecution will never work, but is only irresponsible for the future of the U.S. and the interests of the world and isolate the U.S. To bring back rationality and do more to promote China-U.S. ties remains the only way out.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by Peoples Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
A 21-year-old man has been arrested for stabbing a teenager to death in east London on Friday.

Police officers were called to an near Crossharbour DLR station in Poplar at around 6pm on Friday night, where they found two men with stab wounds.

A 19-year-old male was pronounced dead at the scene despite the best efforts of the emergency services, while a second man was rushed to hospital by the London Ambulance Service and is still receiving treatment.

A 19-year-old was pronounced dead outside Crossharbour DLR station in Poplar, east London on Friday (pictured) after being stabbed by a 21-year-old. Another man was rushed to hospital

Forensic officers attended the scene of the murder after officers were called at around 6pm on Friday evening

British Transport Police detectives arrested a 21-year-old man from Tower Hamlets, east London on suspicion of murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Langley said: 'We have been working around the clock to trace those responsible for his death and this is a positive step in the ongoing investigation.

'I'd like to thank the victim's family for their patience and strength and once again extend our deepest condolences to them. They are continuing to be supported by specially trained family liaison officers.

'I know the local community and many people across the country have been truly shocked by this senseless killing, and we will continue to work tirelessly to make sure those responsible face justice.'

Police cordoned off the area close to Crossharbour DLR station on Friday to investigate the fatal stabbing

The incident in Poplar was one of three London stabbings to have taken place on Friday.

Earlier in the day, a police officer was stabbed in Hendon, northwest London after chasing a man suspected of having a knife.

After officers were called at around 1.15pm, the suspect managed to flee from the scene, stabbing one policeman in the arm.

At around 10.40pm that evening, another stabbing was reported in Haringey, north London.

Officers found a 23-year-old who had been knifed and he was rushed to hospital where his condition has been assessed as critical.

Furthremore, another man, believed to be in his 30s, was stabbed to death on Saturday evening in Penge, south London.
China raised its flood response alert on Sunday to the second highest level as heavy rain battered regions along the Yangtze River, with the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Jiangxi among the worst hit, state media reported.

Flooding in the Poyang county of Jiangxi pushed water levels of Lake Poyang, China's biggest freshwater lake, to above 22.52 metres (74 feet), a historical high and well above the alert level of 19.50 metres (64 feet).

By Saturday evening, provincial military authorities had dispatched thousands of soldiers to help bolster nearly 9 km (6 miles) of the lake's banks, state television said.

China has a four-tier flood control emergency response system, with level one representing the most severe.

So far this year, some 141 people have died or gone missing in the floods, which have ravaged 3.53 million hectares (8.72 million acres) of farmland and flattened 28,000 homes. Economic losses total 82.23 billion yuan ($11.75 billion), state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, 212 rivers have exceeded alerting levels since early July, with 19 of them rising to historical highs.

China has blamed unusual weather conditions, including humidity carried from the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, as the immediate cause, but it has also said long-term changes in climate patterns have made it more vulnerable.
BENGALURU: An Indian court has directed consumer goods maker Emami Ltd to give bigger rival Hindustan Unilever Ltd seven days notice before initiating legal proceedings over the Glow & Handsome trademark, according to a July 6 order.

The Indian arm of global consumer giant Unilever said on July 2 it would rebrand its skin-lightening cream Fair & Lovely to Glow & Lovely.

The company said its skin cream for men will be called Glow & Handsome, but Emami said it had launched Glow & Handsome digitally one week before HUL announced the name change.

Hindustan Unilever first applied for the trademarks, Glow & Lovely and Glow & Handsome in September 2018, application for which was rejected in 2019, and re-applied in June 2020, the company said in a petition to the high court in Maharashtra.

Hindustan Unilever and Emami did not respond to requests for comment and the court has set July 27 as the next hearing date.

The decision to rebrand its line of skin creams came after Hindustan Unilever faced criticism that the name Fair & Lovely promoted negative stereotypes towards darker skin tones.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 15:13:10|Editor: huaxia

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NILI, Afghanistan, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 16 people including 12 militants and four policemen have been killed as clash erupted in Pato district of the relatively peaceful central Daikundi province in Afghanistan on Sunday, deputy to provincial police chief Naqibullah Malistani said.

A group of Taliban militants, according to the official, stormed security checkpoints in Tamzan area of Pato district early Sunday morning, triggering heavy battle and forcing the militants to flee after leaving 12 bodies behind.

Four policemen have been killed and another injured in the fighting, the official said.

Backed by fighting planes the security forces would continue to chase the militants in the area, the official added.

Taliban militants have yet to make comment. Enditem
Irishmen and women who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations were remembered at a special ceremony in Kilkenny today.

The regional National Commemoration Day ceremony for counties Kilkenny, Carlow, Laois and Offay took place in the grounds of County Hall. It was one of a number of regional ceremonies taking place around the country.

Commencing officially at 11.15am, the event involved a number prayers from the officiating clergy, readings from local and visiting dignitaries, while a number of hymns were sung. Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council Andrew McGuinness laid a wreath in honour of all those Irishmen and Irishwomen who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations. This was followed by a minutes silence.

Adressing those in attendance, Cllr McGuinness thanked everyone who had participated in and helped organise the event to commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Today is a day set aside to commemorate  a time out to reflect, and to consider complex historical events and their legacy, and of the multiple ideals and traditions which are part of Irish history and for the ultimate sacrifice which people made to honour and achieve those ideals, said the Cathaoirleach.

Our aim today is to broaden sympathies, without having to abandon loyalties. As an island, we have a common history but not a common memory of events which shaped our development. Some of our most significant historical events have a strong resonance with one community or place but not with another.

Cllr McGuinness said it was important to acknowledge and understand these differences and to respect divergent traditions.

Commemoration should not ignore differences and division but should act as a constant reminder of the futility of bitterness and division," he said.

As the ceremony neared its conclusion, Lieutenant Eamon Hennessy hoisted the Tricolour to full mast with Charlie Parsons sounding the Last Post on the bugle. Proceedings came to a close with the singing of the national anthem.

In previous years, such ceremonies have taken place in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle, but with Covid-19 restrictions, this was a greatly scaled-back event which was not open to the public and was instead streamed live on Kilkenny County Councils social media platforms. It saw key participants and a very small number of other guests including local and regional public representatives, members of the Defence Forces, An Garda Siochana and religious leaders.
NEW DELHI  When this countrys biggest film star, Amitabh Bachchan, announced Saturday night that he had contracted the coronavirus, a loud alarm bell rang across India.

Mr. Bachchan, known as Big B, is not simply an enormously successful actor. He is one of Indias most revered figures. His face and rich, avuncular voice, dripping with gravitas, are everywhere, deployed in ads for household products, voice-overs at museums and countless public service campaigns. He was recently roped into doing a campaign on  what else?  the coronavirus.

The worry was that if Big B could catch the virus, anybody could, and with India getting walloped by Covid-19, Mr. Bachchan, 77, said on Twitter on Saturday: All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested!

India is now racking up more new reported infections each day  about 30,000  than any other country except the United States and Brazil  and it is rapidly catching up to Brazil. India now has the third-highest total cases after the United States and Brazil.
The federal government on Sunday officially handed over the National Theatre complex in Lagos to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) a...





The federal government on Sunday officially handed over the National Theatre complex in Lagos to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and banks under the aegis of the Bankers Committee to commence the renovation of the facility.





The ceremony took place at an event held in Lagos, that had in attendance the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; the CEO, Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his deputy and other top officials in the state government.





Emefiele thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the handing over of the edifice and its adjoining land to the Bankers Committee.





The handover of the National Theatre to the CBN /Bankers Committee is indeed timely when one considers the external headwinds facing our economy today.

The impact of COVID-19 on the global economy and the containment measures that have been put in place to contain the spread of the virus, has led to a slowdown in global growth which has also affected the Nigerian economy.





In addition to the public health challenge, our country is faced with a revenue shock primarily driven by the 40 percent drop in crude oil prices between January 2020 and now.





Given our dependence on crude oil as a major source of government revenue, as well as for our foreign exchange earnings, these challenges have served to reinforce the need for stakeholders to promote policies and programs that will enable, he said.





In his remarks, Mohammed described the development as a win-win for every stakeholder, even as he assured workers at the theatre of the safety of their jobs.





We must transform the national theatre to its glory days. The facility is to be transformed to international standard. The new centre would comprise hub for fashion, music, ICT and will have commercial and retail facilities, among others, he added.





According to the Minister, no one is hijacking the national theatre, it remains our national heritage.




A Tennessee mother who narrated numerous conflicting stories about the September murder of her 5-year-old daughter has been arraigned for multiple charges. One particular charge is felony murder.

Thirty-seven-year-old Robin Howington is prosecuted for a 6-count presentment returned on the 1st of July 1 on the indictment that includes severe child neglect, tampering with evidence, attempted tampering with evidence, and filing a false report.

Destiny Oliver, her daughter, was gunned to death in their Fountain City house.

For tampering with evidence, she was indicted following investigators' claim that she altered her narrative many times as to what transpired, reported Khou.

The crime was first alleged to an unidentified man who broke into their house, next the daughter's father, and eventually her toddler son.

Police officials responded to the shooting incident in north Knoxville before 9 PM on the 14th of September, according to Crime Online.

Oliver was discovered with a gunshot wound by Knoxville police.

Howington was dubbed as the "world's worst mom" by Knewz.

Upon renouncing her right to a preliminary hearing, Howington was last present in court in December.

Arrest warrants displayed that she wiped and hid the gun and repositioned other items at the scene of the crime the night her daughter was gunned.

She declined to give her phone for investigators' inspection. According to investigators, Howington placed her phone underwater in hopes of demolishing it. Documents indicate that she was concerned her phone would have the backing of drug sales.

Also Read: New York Man Shot Dead While Walking With 6-Year-Old Daughter

Her daughter was transferred to the University of Tennessee Medical Center where she was declared dead.

Howington was prosecuted Wednesday on a $500,000 bond.

Knoxville police officials responded on Sept. 14, 2019 to their Balsam Drive home.

When police officials discovered a handgun concealed in a bush near the house, she said that her boyfriend named Daniel Hensley, not Destiny's father, stowed the gun in the said place. However, a neighbor's surveillance video displayed Howington concealing the gun, which altered her narrative.

She then went far as to accuse her daughter's killing on her two-year-old toddler son.

The mother the detectives that she concealed the gun in the bushes following her son shooting the girl in the chest.

According to a witness, Howington attempted to give her phone to her and offered her money to take the phone due to its documented drug sales.

Overall, Howington allegedly told police officials at least 3 varying versions of events that resulted in her daughter's death.

According to Hensley, he saw the mother pull the gun on Destiny's father in the shooting incident.

The girl's father, per the boyfriend, grabbed the gun away from her.

Knoxville police took Howington into custody a week after the crime and arraigned her with tampering with evidence, but she was released on bond that very day.

The indictment indicated that the grand jury found that Howington "did unlawfully kill (Destiny Oliver) during the perpetration of aggravated child neglect."

Related Article: Teenagers Share TikTok Video As They Find Suitcase Stuffed With Human Remains

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While David X. Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes may not agree on much, Sullivan  the endorsed Republican challenging Hayes for her seat  has called for an investigation and action into alleged discrimination against Hayes on Capitol Hill.

Hayes, in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media, said she has experienced racism in Washington, D.C., and that her husband, a police officer in Waterbury, has witnessed discriminatory policing there. In D.C., she said she has been stopped repeatedly by the same Capitol Police officer, asking for her identification every time she entered the U.S. Capitol Complex even eight months after she began work as a member of Congress.

Like all Americans, she and her family deserve respect and the rights and privileges protected by the U.S. Constitution, Sullivan said. I will not stand idly by while she suffers from racist and abusive discriminatory policing.

As Congress debates a reform bill named for George Floyd, whose death has sparked more than 40 days of protests across the country as well as calls to defund police, Sullivan, who spent 30 years as a federal prosecutor in Connecticut, said he supports some reforms because no country is perfect. Sullivan filed paperwork to challenge Hayes  his first run for elected office  three days after he retired in 2019.

Democrats and Republicans agree on 75 percent of criminal justice reform issues, he said. On the use of body cameras, for example, support is nearly unanimous.

Sullivan, a New Fairfield resident who was born and raised in Danbury, said he supports a national database for use-of-force incidents, so that officers who are regularly involved in using excess force wont be easily able to seek employment at other departments.

And he said he supports increased accountability and transparency for civilian complaints of officers. He did not say whether that includes subpoena power for an independent review board, a hot-button issue that has been proposed in the Connecticut General Assembly, as well as the U.S. House bill.

Hayes recently voted in favor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which among other things, would grant subpoena power to the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and create a grant program for state attorneys general to develop authority to conduct independent investigations into problematic police departments.

The bill would also remove qualified immunity for police officers, which Sullivan said he does not support. Hayes did not return an emailed request for comment on her support for those specific provisions in the legislation.

Qualified immunity should be reformed, Sullivan said, adding that without qualified immunity  which protects officers from civil lawsuits in most cases  he fears a chilling effect on officers, who would be unwilling to do their job for fear of being sued civilly.

Law enforcement officers have to have some degree of protection from civil lawsuits, he said. I think the standard can be revised, but you cant get rid of qualified immunity, Sullivan said. I think the standard right now is something along the lines that you have to demonstrate that an officer engaged in a willful disregard of someones civil rights, and I know theres discussions about perhaps a reckless disregard standard or a gross negligence standard. So I think thats open to discussion, and I think discussion is really important among all the people, whether it be members of Congress, members of the state legislature, members of the community and certainly our law enforcement community.

Sullivan said he believes police should receive more funding for training, and does not support reducing the number of officers in towns and cities in favor of other first responders  a centerpiece of the defund police movement. He believes departments need more funding for training and to revise best practices for emergency response.

Sullivan criticized the protests and efforts to remove statues of racist historical figures, calling it a mob. On the beheading of a Christopher Columbus statue in Waterbury over the July 4 holiday weekend, Sullivan said he hopes that the individuals responsible are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Theres a lot ot talk about and right now, were not getting that done with the desecration or destruction of statues, he said. The looting, the riots, the shootings, the killings. The rule of the mob should not drive the discussion, because there is no discussion. Its a soliloquy. Theyre going to tell us how were going to do things.

kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt
As their families settled in for the ceremony, Dr. Crespo Martinez appeared on camera wearing a long white dress with spaghetti straps from ASOS and clutching a bouquet of white flowers from Stems, in Brooklyn. Mr. Santiago Hernandez wore a Calvin Klein tuxedo. They held hands while Ms. VillaRamos reminded them of the journey they had taken together. Its been said that happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light, she said. Thats what this moment is all about.

After an exchange of vows and rings, during which Mr. Santiago Hernandez occasionally paused to brush tears from Dr. Crespo Martinezs cheeks, Ms. VillaRamos pronounced them married. Even though the ground is shifting beneath us, you are in this together, she said. With those words, the couple raised their joined hands in triumph, and a gallery of Puerto Rican households erupted in happy cheers.

On This Day

When June 27, 2020

Where West Harlem

Zoom Reception Dr. Crespo Martinez and Mr. Santiago Hernandez swayed for the camera to Amapola, by Juan Luis Guerra as a first dance before a series of toasts. Dr. Crespo Martinezs father went first, speaking through tears about his gratitude for the strength of their love. Before the camera turned off, the couple cut a wedding cake delivered from Millers & Makers in Ridgewood, Queens.

Homeward Bound The couple plans to return to Puerto Rico in July for a small group celebration. With any luck, well be able to go back and do a big party in 2021, Dr. Crespo Martinez said.

Back to Work Dr. Crespo Martinez finished her residency in June and is looking for a job as a dentist. Throughout the pandemic, Mr. Santiago has been working from home. We live in a small space, but Im lucky Erika and I get along so well and that I still have a job, he said.
Hundreds Protest For Second Day In Russia's Khabarovsk After Arrest Of Popular Governor

By Current Time July 12, 2020

Hundreds marched through Khabarovsk amid a second day of protests in the Russian Far Eastern city over the arrest of a popular regional governor.

The July 12 demonstration saw people marching to the regional headquarters of the Federal Security Service, chanting "Free Furgal" -- a reference to Sergei Furgal, who was arrested two days earlier on murder charges dating back more than a decade.

The street protests, and angry political sentiment against the Kremlin, were unusual given how far Khabarovsk is from the Russian capital, and given how the Kremlin has marginalized all political opposition in the country. The protests were also the largest in the country since a national vote that has set the stage for President Vladimir Putin to remain in power until 2036.

Videos posted on social media showed a crowd marching through downtown traffic, chanting and holding signs in support of Furgal.

A member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Furgal was elected governor of Khabarovsk in 2018 in a major upset of the ruling United Russia party, which is backed by the Kremlin and dominates Russia's political life.

Protesters questioned why prosecutors decided to arrest Furgal now, 15 years after the alleged crimes, and demanded his trial be held in Khabarovsk and in a transparent manner.

The state-run TASS news agency estimated the July 12 action included several hundred people. Activists affiliated with the corruption crusader Aleksei Navalny put the figure at 2,000.

A protest on July 11 saw around 5,000 people, according to official estimates, though local media said as many as 35,000 may have participated.

Smaller rallies were also held in the military industrial city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and other towns in the region.

On July 10, a Moscow court ordered the 50-year-old Furgal held in pretrial detention for two months. He has pleaded not guilty to ordering the murders and attempted murders of several businessmen in 2004 and 2005.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the outspoken nationalist leader of the party, told the State Duma on July 9 that the party's faction in parliament was "ready to resign in protest" against the arrest.

"Let the whole world learn what a mess this country is," Zhirinovsky told the parliament's lower chamber earlier this week.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/hundreds -protest-for-second-day-in- russia-s-khabarovsk-after-arrest-of- popular-governor/30721826.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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Ajay Kanth By

Express News Service

KOCHI: As early as from the 1960s, the potent mix of gold and hawala has financed illegal activities ranging from real estate, jewelleries, financial mafia and liquor business in the state, besides the campaign of political personalities. Though enforcement agencies, including the Customs, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), have conducted numerous inquiries to trace those reaping rich dividends from the proceedings of smuggled gold, other than the arrest of a few main agents of the smugglers, there has been no real breakthrough.

ALSO READ | Skilful hands behind Kerala gold smuggling network

The unholy nexus of gold smugglers with politicians and officials is not something new in the state. Numerous shady deals exposing the dark underbelly of this symbiotic relationship have emerged in the past 10 years. Hormis Tharakan, who had served both as RAW chief and DGP of Kerala Police, said the 1970s had been a testing time for enforcement agencies because the states coastal stretch between Thrissur and Kasaragod was dominated by several gold smuggling gangs.

It was only after the introduction of Conservation Of Foreign Exchange And Prevention Of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) in December 1974 that enforcement agencies could lock away many operatives of smuggling gangs led by dreaded criminals like Haji Mastan. Gold smuggling never ended due to the huge demand for gold in Kerala.

New rackets emerged and the operations continued, Tharakan told TNIE. According to Jacob Punnoose, former state police chief, Its obvious that money from the smuggled gold is being diverted to various sectors in Kerala like real estate and many have been enjoying its fruits. Punnoose said during his tenure as ADGP(Intelligence), he had submitted several reports to the government on the growing activities of gold smugglers in the state and how the proceeds were being diverted to various other activities. Earlier, it was through the sea route, but now it has shifted to air.

ALSO READ | Will golden ripple effect a shake-up?

It was the Calicut airport which had earned the dubious reputation as a smugglers paradise. But constant monitoring by different agencies, put the brakes on smuggling activities which later shifted to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram airports, he added. Intelligence officials said there have been specific reports on how local politicians were hand in glove with gold smuggling rackets from small towns like Koduvally and other places in Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kasargod districts. Its the money from the smuggled gold and hawala that funds election campaigns. Now that monitoring of hard cash transactions has been strengthened, gold has replaced cash, the officers said. In 2018, the agencies had been in for a surprise when two Kerala MLAs submitted a letter to the home department seeking the release a gold smuggler facing COFEPOSA charges.

Though the MLAs -- P T A Rahim and Karat Razak -- responded that the letter was a petition submitted to them by the father of the accused and since they are public servants, it was their responsibility to hand over it to the authorities concerned. But the Central agencies saw it differently and conducted an in-depth probe into it. According to the agencies, Shahbas Muhammed, Nabeed Abdul Khader, Abu Lais, T K Fayas and Karat Faisal are the major gold smugglers in Kerala and they are under the scanner ever since their release on bail following the arrest. When we heighten surveillance on established routes, new entrants emerge with the help of those in corridors of power, the officials added.
Philadelphia Police investigate in the 25th District a Triple Shooting Homicide Wednesday, May 27, 2020 District Officers responded to 2800 N. 5th St. for a report of a "Person with a Gun, Male shot". Upon arrival, Officers located the Decedent later identified as 28 year old Angel Concepcion from the 2800 block of N. 8th St. lying on the highway suffering from a single gunshot wound to his back left shoulder. Police transported the victim to Temple University Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced at 10:33 P.M. Two other male victims were hospital walk-in were treated and released. Read more

The summer of 2020 opened with tragedy. In the midst of a pandemic that is claiming the lives of a disproportionate number of Black Philadelphians, a spike in gun violence has left more than 200 victims  and at least 35 lives lost  since the beginning of June. Already this year, at least 75 Black children and teenagers were shot  including seven who lost their lives.

Philadelphia has lost about 1,000 of its Black residents to coronavirus and gun violence alone this year  more than double the number of white Philadelphians who were victims to these two causes of death.

There is no simple explanation for the 27% increase in the number of shooting victims and nearly 30% increase in homicides so far this year, compared with last year. The overall number of crime incidents is down  and so is overall violent crime. This peculiar dynamic is not unique to Philly. In cities all over the country, homicides and gun violence are rising while violent crime is low or even decreasing. Criminal justice experts warn about making long-term conclusions from year-to-year comparisons, but right now the city is without a doubt in crisis.

Philadelphia is at the center of a storm of factors that encourage gun violence: warm weather, economic crisis, curtailed social services, stress and uncertainty, and many people  including young people  without formal structures like work, school, or summer programs.

Added to these conditions are guns. Many guns. According to the Pennsylvania State Police, the number of background checks conducted before firearm purchase statewide was a staggering 317,319 between April and June  an increase of 100,000 checks compared with these months last year. Of those, only 5,801 were denied.

More guns lead to more homicides. And yet, the Republican-controlled state legislature refuses to consider gun-control measures that have proven efficacy  and shouldnt change anything in the life of responsible gun owners. These bills include requirements of safe storage of firearms when not in use, closing loopholes in the background-check system, and a bipartisan introduced red-flag law to allow courts to disarm people who are a danger to themselves or others. None got a vote.

One of the most effective gun-control measures  including preventing diversion of guns to the illicit market  is requiring a permit to purchase a firearm. That has also been proposed but never got out of committee for consideration. Instead of these measures, the state House passed a bill to exempt gun stores from emergency orders of the governor during crises like COVID-19.

State legislators who stand as a barrier to lifesaving measures should not be reelected.

There is more that could be done in the city as well. Gun violence is preventable  and its not all up to the police. Unfortunately, Philadelphia is disinvesting in such non-police approaches.

The budget passed by Council reduced Office of Violence Prevention funding by $1.4 million. A transitional jobs program, an effort that has shown success in Chicago, that was in the budget before COVID-19 hit was also scrapped. In contrast, Washingtons council diverted $9.6 million from the police budget to violence prevention, victim services, and restorative justice programs.

 READ MORE: Important lessons for Philadelphia from Chicagos three-year decline in gun violence | Editorial

The city has been planning to launch a Group Violence Intervention, formerly known as focused deterrence, in April  a plan derailed by the coronavirus pandemic and now will start in mid-July at the earliest. Critical elements of the strategy, such as how those most at risk will be identified and how they will be approached, are still undetermined. The last focused deterrence effort by the city was criticized for lacking investment in social services and only further criminalizing and surveilling Black Philadelphians, and there are valid concerns that this time wont be different enough.

Other programs  such as the Community Crisis Intervention Program, which deploys violence interrupters on the streets  continue to suffer from lack of evaluation.

Four months in, the pandemic can no longer be an excuse to delay scaling up the response to the other public health and racial justice crises that the city is facing. Getting all the details of any program right is critical for success, but when it comes to gun violence, so is urgency. When five people are shot every day on average, any delay in implementation of lifesaving programs is a tragedy.
A young Indiana mother was shot dead in front of her fiance after she reportedly told a group of Black Lives Matter supporters 'all lives matter' over Fourth of July weekend.

Jessica Doty Whitaker, 24, was taking a stroll with her fiance, Jose Ramirez, and two others near the Indianapolis Canal Walk around 3am on July 5.

Ramirez says that the four of them were hanging out when one of them used a slang version of the n-word, Fox 59 reports.

But a group of people nearby, reportedly comprised of four men and one woman, objected to hearing the phrase and a confrontation ensued between the two sets of strangers.

Jessica Doty Whitaker (pictured) was shot dead in the early morning of July 5 after she and a group of friends got into an argument with another group

Whitaker (pictured) was a home health nurse and had a three-year-old son named Greyson

During the argument, the offended individuals reportedly shouted 'Black Lives Matter', to which either Whitaker or someone else responded 'All Lives Matter.'

Robert Doty, the victim's father, confirmed with the Daily Wire that his daughter said 'all lives matter' during the exchange.

Ramirez said both groups brandished guns at each other, but eventually talked through the issues, fist bumped and walked away from each other.

'It was squashed and they went up the hill and left we thought, but they were sitting on St. Clair waiting for us to come under the bridge and that's when she got shot,' said Ramirez.

Robert Doty, Jessica Doty Whitaker's father, confirmed that she said 'all lives matter' during the confrontation after someone in the other group said 'Black lives matter'

Ramirez (pictured with Whitaker): 'Just justice. For us, mostly for [Greyson]. He's got a mom he probably won't even remember when he gets older'

Ramirez (left) said he was holding Whitaker (right) when a suspect allegedly shot at them from a nearby bridge before fleeing the scene

Whitaker (pictured) had plans to attend school in August and was going to marry Ramirez next year

A suspect reportedly began shooting from a nearby bridge and fled the scene shortly after.

Ramirez told WTHR that he had his arms around Whitaker when she was fatally struck.

'I was actually holding her when it happened. She just fell,' he said.

He admits that he opened fire back at the suspects, but said it was 'just a reaction.'

'I didn't see nobody. I didn't hopefully I didn't hit nobody.'

Whitaker was rushed to a local hospital where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead.

'I'm never going to get to hold her again,' the victim's mother, Arlena Doty, said. 'I just want the people who are responsible to be held accountable.'

Before her death, Whitaker was a home health nurse who planned to attend school in August and get married next year.

She leaves behind a three-year-old son named Greyson.

'Just justice. For us, mostly for him. He's got a mom he probably won't even remember when he gets older,' said Ramirez.

Ramirez, when speaking to Fox 59, was overcome with emotions and became tearful when speaking about his fiancee.

Pictured (left to right); Jessica Doty Whitaker, Jose Ramirez and Greyson

Ramirez: [Jessica Doty Whitaker]shouldn't have lost her life She's got a 3-year-old son she loved dearly, It's hard to tell him his mom is in heaven and if you want to talk to her you have to look up and say, 'I love you mom'

'She shouldn't have lost her life. She's got a 3-year-old son she loved dearly, It's hard to tell him his mom is in heaven and if you want to talk to her you have to look up and say, 'I love you mom.''

He added: 'We're going through a lot. The 3-year-old boy doesn't even understand really.'

Whitaker's is one of three deaths along the canal last week, and one of several that occurred at the hands of gun violence over Fourth of July weekend.

Indianapolis residents have called for city officials to make the area safer, and Ramirez questioned why a curfew hasn't been implemented at the downtown attraction.

'Our message is that the canal is still a safe place to go,' said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Jerry Leary.

Authorities released footage via Fox 59 of potential suspects at the scene that morning.

A GoFundMe page has been created to cover Whitaker's funeral costs and raising her son. It has already garnered nearly $35,000. The fundraiser has a goal of $1million.

'Jessica, was a wonderful mother, sister, daughter, fiancee, friend, aunt, cousin and coworker,' an accompanying message read.

'Loved by many and will surely be missed by many.. She made sure everyone around her was happy before she was . She does not deserve this.'

On Facebook, Robert Doty has shared several gut wrenching messages after his daughter's unexpected death, as well as #JusticeforJessica.

'Have you ever missed someone so much that event he thought of them made you cry?' one photo he shared said,

'I'm so emotionally lost,' another photo read. 'I love you, baby girl.'

On Tuesday, Doty revealed that he got a tattoo of his daughter's name on his upper right back. 'Ok I did a thing,' he wrote on Facebook.

Robert Doty, the father of Jessica Doty Whitaker, got a tattoo of his daughter's name last week after she died

Family members have called for the Black Lives Matter movement to labelled a terrorist group, echoing a similar Sunday statement from President Trump-loyalist Rudy Giuliani.

In one Facebook post, Doty responds to one woman's demand that 'BLM be labeled a terrorist organization,' by saying 'I totally agree.'

Anyone with information about the shooting should call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or (TIPS).

The Fourth of July weekend saw several shootings and deaths as gun violence overshadowed the typically joyful holiday.

In New York City at least four people were killed and 37 were injured in shootings during July 4th revelry. Police are pictured at the scene where a 23-year-old man was killed in Harlem

In New York City, at least 41 people were shot, six fatally, in shootings overnight, police said.

A 21-year-old man died after he was shot in the chest at about 12.45am Sunday in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Less than two hours later a 23-year-old man was shot in the back in Harlem before being rushed to the hospital.

A 40-year-old man was fatally shot in the chest on Sutter Avenue in Brooklyn.

In another incident, a 19-year-old was shot in the chest and a 27-year-old was shot in the shoulder in East Flatbush. The 19-year-old was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

NYC: Police officers and witnesses stand near where a 23-year-old man was shot dead in Harlem hours after Independence Day celebrations wound down

Meanwhile, one of the children killed in Chicago was identified by her family as seven-year-old Natalie Wallace.

The girl was playing outside her grandmother's house in the city's Austin neighborhood during a Fourth of July party when a vehicle pulled up and three men emerged and began shooting indiscriminately at about 7pm.

Natalie was shot in the head and rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to the Chicago Tribune.

'Chicago's heart is broke,' Chicago police Chief Fred Waller said. 'A 7-year-old girl was taken from us. She was here visiting family. Now she's gone.'

Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted: 'Tonight, a 7-year-old girl in Austin joined a list of teenagers and children whose hopes and dreams were ended by the barrel of a gun.

'We cannot grow numb to this. We are making progress in slowing shootings, but we have to do better, every single one of us.'
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi again trained his guns at the Prime Minister over the PM-CARES Fund saying why Narendra Modi was not sharing details when everyone knew which Chinese companies donated to it.

"Why is the PM so scared of disclosing the names of those who donated money to him for PMCares? Everyone knows Chinese companies Huawei, Xiaomi, TikTok and OnePlus gave money. Why doesn't he share the details?" he tweeted.

Why is PM so scared of disclosing the names of those who donated money to him for PMCares?



Everyone knows Chinese companies Huawei, Xiaomi, TikTok and OnePlus gave money.



Why doesnt he share the details?https://t.co/DLi8SrJ2Jy  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 11, 2020

His remarks came after the Public Accounts Committee, one of the most important parliamentary panels that scrutinises key reports by the auditor general and has taken up issues, like the 2G spectrum scam, in the past, failed to arrive at a consensus on Friday on examining the government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic or the PM-CARES Fund, set up to tackle the crisis.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which enjoys a majority in the panel led by senior leader Bhupender Yadav, blocked Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's attempt to name the PM-CARES Fund for examination, saying its funding was not sanctioned by Parliament and therefore it couldn't be taken up by the committee.

The Congress has also been critical of the BJP over the handling of border faceoff with China in Ladakh.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 00:27:26|Editor: huaxia

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LAGOS, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed and others in a road accident that occurred on Saturday in the southwest Nigeria's state of Ondo, local authorities said.

The driver of a freight truck lost control due to a brake failure and rammed into a car coming from the opposite direction along Ore and Ondo town road.

Ahmed Hassan, an official with the Federal Road Safety Corps, who confirmed the incident, told Xinhua that the injured were taken to the hospital.

Hassan cautioned drivers to always check their vehicles and avoid over-speeding.

Bad road conditions, reckless driving, and overloading are the most reported causes of road accidents in Nigeria, according to local road safety authorities. Enditem
Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchan have tested positive for Covid-19. They are both in the isolation wards in Nanavati hospital in Mumbai. Aishwarya Rai and Jaya Bachchan have tested negative for Coronavirus.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchan have tested positive for novel coronavirus- Covid-19. They are both admitted in the isolation wards of Nanavati hospital in Mumbai. Amitabh Bachchan was hospitalized on Saturday evening. Nanavati hospitals officials have informed that Big Bs health is stable as he has mild symptoms and is currently in the isolation unit of the hospital. The Gulabo Sitabo actor himself confirmed in a tweet last night that he has tested positive for coronavirus.

In his tweet, the actor requested all the people that have been in close proximity with him to get their tests done. He also informed through his tweet last night that all his staff and family members have been tested and the results were awaited.

T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 11, 2020

Abhishek Bachchan took it to twitter to tell that he and his father have both tested COVID positive. He also tweeted that both he and his father were hospitalized since they had mild symptoms. They have informed all the required authorities and their family members have also been tested. He asked everyone to stay calm and avoid panic. Also, he informed that the BMC is in touch with them and they are complying with it.

Jaya Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, on the other hand, have tested negative.

Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you.   Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

Also read: Arjun Kapoor resumes shooting, accepts new world order amid pandemic

Also read: Abhay Deol calls nepotism the tip of the iceberg

Union Health Minister, Dr Harshvardhan wished the Piku actor a speedy recovery and called him the idol of millions and an iconic superstar. Many other political people and Bollywood stars wished Amitabh Bachchan a quick recovery.

Dear Amitabh ji, I join the whole Nation in wishing you a quick recovery! After all, you are the idol of millions in this country, an iconic superstar! We will all take good care of you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!@SrBachchan @juniorbachchan #AmitabhBachchan #COVID https://t.co/NHeY7e2mjC pic.twitter.com/CsVKlvCJeG  Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) July 11, 2020

Also read: Sushant Singh Rajputs hometown honours actor by dedicating a road to his name

We all wish and pray for your speedy recovery!

Get well soon @SrBachchan ji ! https://t.co/RX8FrWWDx9  Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) July 11, 2020

Praying for your speedy recovery Sir. Love and prayers   Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) July 12, 2020

Praying for your good health and a speedy recovery sir. @SrBachchan https://t.co/XKMFvg6dvO  Lara Dutta Bhupathi (@LaraDutta) July 11, 2020

And you shall be back to health n happiness soon!  champ ! https://t.co/CgpoHvlgqe  taapsee pannu (@taapsee) July 11, 2020

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Tenino had become a ghost town, and small businesses were struggling to survive amid the coronavirus pandemic, so local officials revived an unconventional idea from the last century: printing the town's own currency on thin planks of wood.

"There was no trading, no selling and the city streets were dead. They looked the same at 3 pm as they did at 3 am," said Wayne Fournier, mayor of the town of 1,800 people in Washington state, in the northwestern United States.

"We were getting a lot of calls from businesses saying they were not sure if they would be able to hang on," he told AFP.

The town's museum had a printing press, so it was put to use to make $10,000 worth of bills on wooden rectangles, each nominally worth $25.

They feature a portrait of President George Washington and bear a Latin inscription that translates as "We've got it under control."

The money is being given as a grant to locals who demonstrate they have been economically harmed by the pandemic. Each resident is allowed up to $300 per month.

Known as "Tenino dollars," "COVID dollars" or, sometimes, "Wayne dollars" after the mayor himself, the bills are traded at almost all shops in the town at a fixed rate equivalent to $1.

The currency is good only inside the town limits.

Desperate times

The idea is not new: town officials last tried it during an even worse period of economic devastation, the Great Depression in the 1930s.

A national scarcity of dollars at the time prompted officials in Tenino to print money on spruce bark.

"The concept became 1930s viral," Fournier said, with other communities, businesses and chambers of commerce eager to emulate the town's example.

Media attention piqued the curiosity of investors, and over the years the wooden currency became a collector's item sold on eBay and Amazon.

The contemporary version of wooden currency, like the previous edition, aims to help the town through an economic crisis that forced businesses to close nationwide.

"It's more of an advertisement for the town itself," said Chris Hamilton, the manager of the town's main grocery store. "It brings a lot of people into town that may not even know about Tenino and want to check this place out that makes its own money.

"They might stop off here, buy an ice cream or go down the street and buy a hamburger."

Similar complementary currencies exist elsewhere in the US and Europe, aimed not at replacing the national money but supporting the local economy -- a key distinction since American authorities take a dim view of anyone trying to create a bill to compete with the almighty dollar.

The US Treasury declined to comment on its position regarding local currencies.

Switzerland's WIR system, created in 1934, is considered the oldest local currency in the world, used by thousands of small businesses every day.

Response to globalisation

Facing an unemployment rate of 11.1 per cent in June -- one of the highest rates since the Great Depression -- American advocates of complementary currencies say now is the time to consider them as a means to help residents.

"The crisis in municipal funding is pushing creativity. Administrators are exploring this concept of issuing their own currency instead of bonds to finance their COVID response," said Susan Witt, director of the Schumacher Center for a New Economics.

The research center developed BerkShares, a currency in circulation since 2006 in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts, which is distributed by local banks. Witt is advising several US municipalities interested in similar initiatives.

Advocates of local currencies also see them as a bulwark against unbridled globalization.

"People are starting to realize that we went too global, too fast and we lost our local skills," said Chris Hewitt, founder of Hudson Valley Current, a currency in upstate New York which operates as a mutual credit system.

Supporters hope to create a nationwide movement.

"If that happens across the country organically, that could be something that helps save us from a serious recession," Fournier said.
CASTLETON-ON-HUDSON  Testing has revealed that there are 30 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among residents at Riverside Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, a facility that sits overlooking the Hudson River on North Main Street.

Additional testing was done over the weekend after 12 residents came back positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The state's testing revealed that an additional 18 residents tested positive for the virus, in addition to nine employees. Four employees are Rensselaer County residents, four Albany County residents and one is a Columbia County resident.

The cluster is the first in weeks to be revealed in a Capital Region nursing home and comes just as the state decided to allow nursing home visitation again, with certain safety protocols in place. Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in New York got the go-ahead Friday to resume limited visitations for residents next week as long as they have gone 28 days without a new case of COVID-19.

The breakdown of ages of Riverside's positive cases are: six are 60 to 69 ; three are 70 to 79; six are 80 to 89; two are 90 to 99, and one is over 100 years old. County health officials did not say if any of the residents had symptoms of COVID-19, which includes fever and difficulty breathing.

A call to Riverside was not returned Sunday. The skilled nursing facility posted a statement on its website that as of last Tuesday, July 7 it had residents and employees test positive; it did not indicate how many.

"We are doing everything we can to ensure we stop the spread of this within our facility," Riverside said in a statement, saying it does health screenings of employees and vendors who enter the facility, as well as "use of personal protective equipment by staff for droplet and contact protection when appropriate."

At least 10 long-term care and senior facilities in Rensselaer County have had confirmed cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began to be tracked in March. Diamond Hill in Schaghticoke has had the most, with about 80 cases between residents and staff and 16 deaths.

Rensselaer County also has two residents positive who recently returned back from North Carolina, one of the 19 states where New York state has instituted a travel quarantine order. There were no additional cases reported that had any connection to three residents who unknowingly had the virus who flew in from Georgia last Monday.

The Riverside cluster has no doubt pushed the Capital Region into having the highest percent positive number in the state, at 2% of tests returning back positive Saturday. But Albany County also reported seeing 15 new cases Saturday, the highest number of single-day positives in more than a month.

Massarah Mikati and Bethany Bump contributed to this report
The weather department as predicted heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in a number of states in the Eastern and Northeastern part of the country.

According to the weather outlook posted on the India Meteorological Department (IMD) website on Sunday morning, the monsoon is running close to the foothills of the Himalayas passing eastward from Arunachal Pradesh to Punjab.

Under its influence, isolated extremely heavy rainfall is very likely over Bihar, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim and East Uttar Pradesh during the next 24 hours. Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is also very likely over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam & Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and West Uttar Pradesh during next 24 hours, the IMD said in its bulletin.

Further giving details of the states which will experience heavy rainfall, the IMD bulletin said, Heavy rainfall is predicted at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, north Punjab, north Haryana and Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, north Odisha, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Gujarat region, Konkan and Goa, Rayalseema and Coastal and South Interior Karnataka.

It also said that the monsoon trough is likely to shift southwards from July 13, which may revive active monsoon conditions over West, Central and Northern plains of India between July 13 and 16.

Heavy rainfall lashed north Bengal on Saturday, leading to flooding in low-lying areas. The IMD has issued a yellow warning for Himachal Pradesh for July 12.

Heavy rainfall across north and east Indian has led to several accidents and landslides. In Uttar Pradesh, two women were killed and four others suffered injuries in separate incidents of wall collapse in Sultanpur district on Saturday.

The incessant rainfall over the last five days has triggered landslides and floods in Arunachal Pradesh, damaging roads and houses and inundating low-lying areas. The death toll due to monsoon-related incidents in the state has climbed to 15.
Viewers have waited months for Bachelor in Paradise this year, after it was delayed several times due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, it will be worth the wait, as this year's season of the dating show is said to be the 'wildest' yet, with 'everyone hooking up with everyone'.

The racy program will also feature a 'bizarre' new twist, with reports claiming that 'three random intruders' who hadn't appeared in the franchise before gatecrashed the Fijian villa, leaving the contestants 'under threat'.

Worth the wait! This year's season of Bachelor in Paradise is said to be the 'wildest' yet, with 'everyone just hooking up with everyone'. Pictured: Brittany Hockley and Timm Hanly

While steamy hook-ups come with the territory, this year the Bachelor in Paradise contestants are set to take their racy antics to the next level.

Speaking of the 'wild' new series, a source told Woman's Day that the ex-Bachelor and Bachelorette stars had 'no strong desire to create any meaningful connections'.

In a further twist, the participants were left blindsided when three men, who had never appeared in The Bachelor franchise before, were added to the mix.

'They were unsuccessful [applying] for Angie [Kent]'s season, but then got fast-tracked to Paradise. It was so bizarre,' an insider told New Idea.

Having fun: While steamy hook-ups come with the territory, this year the Bachelor in Paradise contestants are set to take their racy antics to the next level. Pictured: Timm Hanly

Plot twist: The racy program will also feature a 'bizarre' new twist, with reports claiming that 'three random intruders' who hadn't appeared in the franchise before gatecrashed the Fijian villa, leaving the contestants 'under threat'. Pictured: Abbie Chatfield

'They wanted to rattle our cages': A male contestant alluded that the newbies were less than welcomed by those who had already cemented their star power on the show

A male contestant hinted that the newcomers hadn't received a warm welcome by those who had already been on The Bachelor or Bachelorette.

'We had no idea who they were when they walked in. They thought that bringing in three random guys would rattle our cages; they wanted us to feel threatened,' the source told New Idea.

Another contestant made a similar claim, telling the magazine: 'They couldn't join in our conversations because they had nothing in common with us. It was awkward.'

The reports come after a trailer for Bachelor in Paradise was released, hinting at a showdown between Abbie Chatfield, 25, and Ciarran Stott's ex Renee Barrett.

Here comes trouble! The reports come after a trailer for Bachelor in Paradise was released, hinting at a showdown between Abbie Chatfield (pictured) and Ciarran Stott's ex Renee Barrett

The promo begins calmly enough, with Abbie and Ciarran, 26, enjoying a romantic date by a waterfall as she says in a voice over: 'He and I are really compatible.'

The feelings appear mutual as Ciarran later admits: 'There's some strong chemistry there and I'm liking it.'

But chaos ensues when fellow contestant Brittany Hockley warns that Renee has arrived at the villa with a score to settle.

Ciarran and Renee, who both hail from Darwin, were in a long-term relationship before they broke up and she joined Matt Agnew's season of the Bachelor last year.

Romantic: The promo begins calmly enough, with Abbie and Ciarran (left) enjoying a romantic date by a waterfall as she says in a voice over: 'He and I are really compatible'

Guess who! But chaos ensues when fellow contestant Brittany Hockley warns that Renee has arrived at the villa with a score to settle (left). Right: Ciarran and Renee in happier times

To get back at his ex for being on a dating show, Ciarran successfully applied for Angie Kent's season of The Bachelorette, which aired months later.

In the new trailer for BIP, Abbie reacts angrily when she realises that Renee is back on the scene.

Fellow contestant Mary Viturino says: 'You can see in Abbie's face she is losing her s**t.'

Abbie then warns: 'She needs to stay away from my man!' Showing off her alpha female side, she later boasts that Ciarran was in her bed 'all night'.

Jealous: In the new trailer, Abbie reacts angrily when she realises Renee is back on the scene

Cheeky night: Showing off her alpha female side, she later boasts that Ciarran was in her bed 'all night'. Footage is then aired of Ciarran in Abbie's room

Being caught between two women proves stressful for Ciarran, however, as he is shown afterwards storming out of a group dinner party, saying: 'F**k this!'

It comes after Ciarran revealed he was likely going to be this year's 'villain' on Bachelor in Paradise.

He told the Manchester Evening News in April: 'I think I'll go from the sweetheart of Australia to the bad boy of Australia, so that won't be good.'

The tattooed hunk explained: 'My ex-girlfriend was on there as well, which isn't ideal, and I just thought I was on Love Island so was trying to get with every bird possible.'

Bachelor in Paradise premieres on Wednesday 15 July at 7:30pm on Channel 10
As we await New York states coronavirus reopening guidelines for schools, due out Monday, its clear from the planning already going on that education will not be returning to normal anytime soon.

This reality is crushing for students and teachers desperate to pick up where they left off in March. Its a calamity for working parents who face juggling a combination of staggered schedules and remote schooling.

According to reporting by Syracuse.com, in some districts, older students may not return to school at all. Others may go back part time to sparse classrooms, stripped-down curricula and strict rules about physical distancing, mask wearing and hand-washing. Lurking in the background is the knowledge that everyone could be sent home if there is an outbreak in the school or if the virus spikes in the community.

Its shaping up to be half a loaf, but well take it. Kids need to get back into schools, one way or another, for their educational and mental well-being. They cant afford to wait in suspended animation for a vaccine that may not be available for years, if at all.

Reopening schools would be an easy call if we had some definitive data to tell us it is safe to do so. We dont have that yet. What we do have are medical indications that children may be less susceptible to the virus, the lessons from other countries that have reopened schools, and the informed opinions of pediatricians, public health officials and epidemiologists.

Weighing the evidence so far, we believe schools should try to reopen for in-person instruction, as long as the community infection rate remains low. The educational, social, physical and emotional costs of keeping children at home far outweigh the risks of sending them to school.

There are risks, for sure. Some children do get seriously ill. Adults in school buildings face a higher risk of complications from the coronavirus. These concerns must be addressed. For most healthy children and adults, the risks are manageable.

The alternative also has risks: more children falling behind in school, a widening achievement gap based on race and family income, and a cohort of virtual dropouts who will face diminished prospects for the rest of their lives. To say nothing of the stress on kids and families.

For some, the risks of going back to school may be intolerable. Schools will have to provide a remote learning option for them  a track most schools already are on in preparing for potential quarantines, or hybrids of in-person schooling with remote schooling. Districts also will have to figure out a way to accommodate teachers with underlying health conditions.

Students and parents will have to meet the schools halfway. Anyone who cant or wont comply with mask, hygiene and physical distancing rules should plan on staying home. Sick children and adults cannot go to school, period. This is going to be disruptive.

Even if every precaution is taken and everyone follows the rules, coronavirus infections are inevitable. We are in the middle of a global pandemic, after all. We have to be prepared for the possibility that schools could close and reopen in waves.

All this uncertainty is deeply unsettling. Were counting on the Cuomo administration to provide clear guidance, based on data and science, that will reassure parents the safety of students and staff are the states No. 1 priority.

In the end, the virus will dictate whether schools can open at all. The decision cant be forced by presidents, governors, county executives, school superintendents or parents desperate to get back to work.

The wider community also has a responsibility to give schools their best chance to reopen. The level of coronavirus infections community-wide will be a baseline. What we do now and in the next few weeks will affect Gov. Andrew Cuomos decision, expected during the first week of August, about whether to reopen the schools at all.

The forecast is cloudy. We are seeing new disease breakouts as summer kicks into high gear, families burst their quarantine bubbles, and individuals flout face masks and physical distancing rules. This is not helpful.

Getting kids back to school will not be cheap, easy, stress-free or risk-free. But it is worth a try.

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To respond to this editorial: Submit a comment through the Google form above, or submit a letter or commentary to letters@syracuse.com. Read our submission guidelines.

If you have questions about the Opinions & Editorials section, contact Marie Morelli, editorial/opinion leader, at mmorelli@syracuse.com
1. Yes. Too many kids are staying home. They need a virtual learning option to keep up.

2. Yes. Teachers are out sick and subs cant handle the load. Online learning is needed.

3. No. Its too late in the school year to make a wholesale switch in teaching platforms.

4.No. Many parents arent in a position to stay home while their kids learn virtually.

5. Unsure. It may seem like a good idea from a health standpoint, but it has shortcomings.

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An FBI missing person flier regarding missing Amish teen Linda Stoltzfoos: FBI

The FBI is assisting local authorities in a search for a missing Amish teenager from Pennsylvania.

The agency is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading regarding the location of Linda Stoltzfoos, an 18-year-old Amish teen who disappeared after a church service in East Lampeter Township, Pennsylvania on 21 June.

The teen was last seen at a farm in the community of Bird-in-Hand, shortly after noon on the day she disappeared.

Lt Matt Hess, of the East Lampeter Township Police Department, told NBC10 that while teens do occasionally run away from Amish communities, there is no evidence indicating Ms Stotzfoos was considering a departure.

"She didn't indicate to anyone that she wanted to go take a trip, so it's very out of character for Linda to do this," Mr Hess said. "We want Linda to know that if she is watching or listening to this, she is not in any trouble. We are only concerned for her welfare."

Hundreds of volunteers have searched for hours for Ms Stoltzfoos since her disappearance.

Mr Hess said this is the first case of an Amish woman disappearing from the community since he began as a police officer.

"It's not a common occurrence," he said.

Lancaster County is home to the oldest Amish community in North America and is one of the two largest settlements in the US. Missing person fliers have been posted in Lancaster and the surrounding counties.

The Amish  a community of Christian church fellowships with Swiss German origins that shuns technology and lives a faith-based, agrarian lifestyle  are largely concentrated in the US states of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The region where the bulk of the US Amish live is known as "Amish Country." Despite the Amish being relatively private people, tourists from across the world visit Amish Country, both to see the group's unique culture and to purchase their handcrafted goods.

Read more

Little to no evidence that missing Glee star made it back to shore
Mr Johnson was pictured in a Tory-blue mask during a constituency visit on Friday - Parsons Media

Face masks should not be made mandatory in shops, Michael Gove has said, despite Downing Streets insistence the policy is still under review and could be introduced.

Mr Gove warned against introducing a binary divide by making masks obligatory in public, stressing that face masks are significantly less important outdoors...than indoors.

People should be allowed to use their own judgement to decide whether a mask is appropriate in different situations, he said, warning that some people could think they are invincible while wearing a mask.

I think people are intelligent, I think people can understand that this is a novel virus with specific challenges, he told Skys Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.

I think its quite right to treat people with the respect that their intelligence and judgment deserves.

It mustnt be the case that anyone thinks that wearing a face mask would make you invulnerable.

Mr Gove said the masks should be worn out of consideration for others, even if they are not made mandatory.

But Downing Street said the option to make masks compulsory was still on the table, suggesting the Prime Minister may think it will soon become necessary to force people to wear them.

The risk of transmission of the virus indoors is reduced between people who are wearing face coverings, evidence suggests.

It is something which is under review and if the decision to make it mandatory is taken that will be announced in due course, a No10 source said.

Speaking in a Facebook video on Friday, Boris Johnson suggested the Government had plans to increase the proportion of people wearing masks in public.

"We are looking at ways of making sure that people really do have face coverings in shops, he said.

The balance of scientific opinion seems to have shifted more in favour of them than it was, and we're very keen to follow that".

"We need to be stricter in insisting that people wear face coverings in confined spaces where they are meeting people they don't usually meet.

Story continues

Face coverings have been compulsory in shops in Scotland since July 10. The masks are also compulsory on trains, buses and the London Underground, but the British Transport Police said it preferred to enforce the rules by engaging with the public and explain the reasons why the protections are necessary and a lawful requirement.

Fines have been issued to repeat offenders and some arrests have been made, a spokeswoman said.

The Labour Party signalled its support for masks to become compulsory in shops, but not in bars and restaurants, which it said would be impractical.

Lucy Powell, a shadow business minister, accused the Government of showing a bit of leg by suggesting it would enforce face mask guidelines, but not announcing any change of policy.

"We do need to get a lot more confidence back in the system and if the mandatory wearing of face masks in shops will help to do that then we absolutely support it, she said.

"We think the Government - instead of just showing a bit of leg occasionally on these things by briefing newspapers or saying things that are not clear guidance in press conferences as the Prime Minister did on Friday - [should] get some clarity.

"That's really something that would get confidence back into the system and get people feeling that they can go to the shops, they can go to restaurants and go to bars."

On Saturday, Mr Johnson was pictured wearing a mask during a visit to a pub and barber in his constituency.

The Prime Minister chose to wear a light blue cloth mask that matched his partys branding.

It was the first time Mr Johnson has been photographed wearing a mask, following concern that Government ministers were discouraging mask usage by not wearing them in public.

Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, was criticised for not wearing one while serving food at Wagamama in a photo opportunity following last weeks budget announcement, while Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, did not cover his face while being photographed at a Brewdog pub.

Donald Trump, the US President, was pictured in a face mask on an official visit for the first time over the weekend, while Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has been seen wearing a Government-branded face covering.
South Africa: AmaRharhabe Queen Noloyiso laid to rest

The late AmaRharhabe Queen Noloyiso Sandile has been revered as a proud traditionalist who embraced modern leadership and championed the empowerment of women.

Delivering the eulogy on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said the queen understood that traditional and modern leadership are not mutually exclusive, but mutually reinforcing.

The empowerment of women was a cause that was dear to the Queen. She understood only too well, as we do, that enabling women to take their rightful place in all sectors of society is key to the health of any nation, said the Minster.

Queen Noloyiso, widow of the late King Maxhobha Sandile, passed away on 8 July 2020 due to COVID-19.

Minister Mantashe hailed Queen Noloyiso as a great leader and a steadfast matriarch of the most noble character.

The late Queen - who leaves behind her two children, Crown Prince Jonguxolo and Princess NomaRharhabe Sandile - was not a mother to her children alone, but considered a mother to the whole AmaRharharbe nation.

Her home was not enclosed by four walls, but was in the community, amongst her people.

Queen Noloyiso's life has been tragically cut short, but even in death she continues to impart a positive legacy to our nation, said the Minister.

With COVID-19 sweeping across the country, the Minister thanked the royal family for disclosing her condition.

At a time when so many of our people live in fear and uncertainty, we have to break any stigma that exists around Coronavirus, so that the ill and the vulnerable can be cared for, loved and supported.

COVID-19 is a real threat to us all. But becoming infected with this respiratory disease is nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it any reason to discriminate against others. As a family your actions will serve to encourage respect, tolerance and acceptance, he said.

Paying tribute to his mother, Crown Prince Jonguxolo said he would remember his mothers teachings.

You taught us to love and respect people. Your raised us to be God-fearing children. You were not ours alone, we shared you with the AmaRharhabe community.

Our stories are endless of laughing together, crying together and fighting through tough situations. We love you Mama and will forever love you. Your teachings will stay in our hearts forever, he said.

Delivering the vote of thanks at the queens funeral, Premier Oscar Mabuyane said Queen Noloyisos death comes when the community is in need of leadership.

She leaves us at a time when our people are really in need of leadership that understands the meaning of selflessness and sacrifice.

She has always been there for her people and we believe the kind of stability and systems she instituted in this Kingdom will actually continue sustaining this Kingdom and play an influential role in the bigger society, he said.

Mabuyane also took the opportunity to urge the community to adhere to the COVID-19 regulations by practicing social distancing, wearing masks and washing their hands.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-07-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The current COVID-19 vaccine trials in South Africa revealed that far more people are infected but asymptomatic than previously thought.

This is feedback from Professor Shabir Mahdi from the University of Witwatersrand, who is leading South Africas first COVID-19 vaccine trial.

Speaking to CNBC Africa, Mahdi said they faced an unexpected challenge because of the rapid rate at which the COVID-19 virus is spreading in areas where the trials are conducted.

Part of the enrollment process for the COVID-19 vaccine trial involves the screening of individuals to see if they are infected or have previously been infected with the virus.

To their surprise, the researchers identified a much higher-than-anticipated percentage of people who have been infected by the virus but who were asymptomatic.

He said between 50% and 66% of adults who are infected with COVID-19 are completely asymptomatic.

In children, this is even higher  around 80% of all children who are infected are asymptomatic.

The majority of COVID-19 infections are going unnoticed, Mahdi said, adding that only around 10% of all COVID-19 cases are officially reported.

He said they have now tailored their enrollment process to include stricter screening to ensure people who participate in the study did not have the virus.

This is needed to accurately assess the effectiveness of the vaccine which is aimed at people who have never had COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccine trial in South Africa

Mahdi explained in an article that the study in South Africa is for a non-replicating vector base COVID-19 vaccine that was developed by the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford.

Pre-clinical studies of this vaccine candidate have demonstrated initial evidence of its safety, as well as its ability to protect against COVID-19 disease.

Madhi reached out to the University of Oxford to include South Africa as part of the clinical development plan of the vaccine, and they agreed.

They are now busy with the enrollment process, and he highlighted that participation in the vaccine trial is completely voluntary.

Weve just reached the 200 mark out of the 2,000 participants that we plan to enrol. We expect to have completed enrollment of all the volunteers over the next three to four weeks, he said.

After eligible participants are identified they are randomly allocated to one of two groups. Half will receive the vaccine, and the other half a control substance, which in this case, is a placebo.

This methodology allows the researchers to provide robust data in terms of the safety profile of the vaccine.

The control group also makes it possible to determine whether the vaccine actually does have any impact on protecting against COVID-19.

The next steps

After the enrollment process, the vaccine will be given to half of the participants and the researchers will then keep in touch with all of the participants at least every two weeks.

This is done to determine whether or not experiencing any signs or symptoms of COVID-19. If they are, they will be asked to come in to be investigated to determine whether they are infected or not.

The endgame of the study is twofold. One is to evaluate the safety of the vaccine, which is something that is ongoing almost on a daily basis.

The second part is to do an analysis to determine whether the vaccine actually does protect against COVID-19.

Specifically, we will be testing if the vaccine efficacy is at least 60%  that is by being vaccinated your risk for developing COVID-19 will be reduced by at least 60% if not more, he said.

Madhi said they will probably be able to provide an answer as to whether this vaccine works and protects against COVID-19 by the end of November this year.

In the worst-case scenario, it might take us a bit longer  probably into the second quarter of next year.

Madhi cautioned that the fact that theyre embarking on a clinical trial doesnt mean that theyre going to have a vaccine thats going to protect against COVID-19.

Only about 10% of vaccines that go into clinical trials are eventually licensed for use.

Right now there are approximately 200 vaccines that are being developed for COVID-19, he said.

It would be a huge accomplishment if, over the next 12 to 18 months, we are successful showing that even one out of every 20 of the vaccines that go into human studies are safe and provide some protection against COVID-19.

He said at least for the next 12 months the only tools that weve got available to us to try to protect people is the non-pharmaceutical interventions which are widely publicised.
Magu and Buhari

Unknown to Ibrahim Magu, President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate him as far back as 2018, TheCable can report.

The DSS, which has a financial crimes unit, played the central role in unearthing the allegations for which the suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is now facing a presidential probe.

The president was said to have been shocked when the DSS provided a comprehensive dossier on Magu which was damning.



If Magu was a man who can read the signs, he should have asked himself why the president did not re-present his name to the senate for confirmation as EFCC chairman since the new national assembly was inaugurated, a senior presidential source told TheCable.

The current senate has never turned down any nominee of the president, unlike the previous one which refused to confirm Magu.

However, it would appear Magu eventually got wind of the moves against him as he tried to ingratiate himself with the president.



He came to the mosque at the presidential villa to say Jumaat prayers along with the president on June 5, but the president was not very comfortable with it, the source said.

President Buhari prefers to pray with his family and personal aides, so he was not happy when Magu wangled his way to the mosque after the partial lifting of lockdown.

An instruction was then issued that he should not be allowed to come to the mosque.

Magu prayed at the presidential villa on June 5  much to Buharis discomfort



The trigger for the DSS investigation, according to the source, was the report of the presidential committee on audit of recovered assets.

The three-member committee was inaugurated on November 22, 2017 by Buhari to audit all assets recovered by agencies of the federal government from May 29, 2015 when his government was inaugurated.

The committee was headed by Olufemi Lijadu, with Mohammad Nami and Gloria Bibigha as members.

Lijadu is now the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) while Nami was appointed chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Bibigha works in the office of the auditor-general of the federation.

The committee submitted its report six months behind schedule because of the extent of the work, and the aspect on EFCC took the president by surprise.

The report said the EFCC reported a total naira equivalent of N46,038,882,509.87, while the naira equivalent of the foreign currency lodgements were N37,533,764,195.66, representing a shortfall of N8,505,118,314.21.



These inconsistencies cast a serious doubt on the accuracy of figures submitted by the EFCC. It is the committees view that the EFCC cannot be said to have fully accounted for cash recoveries made by it, the report noted.



While EFCC reported total Naira recoveries of N504,154,184,744.04, the actual bank lodgements were N543,511,792,863.47. These discrepancies mean that EFCCs actual lodgement exceeded its reported recoveries by N39,357,608,119.43.

Buhari immediately asked the DSS to investigate Magu.

While DSS identified several properties allegedly owned by Magu in Dubai, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) played a major role in providing intelligence on his alleged financial dealings.

NFIU, the central national agency that handles disclosures and intelligence in the financial sector, used to be under the EFCC but was excised and made an independent body in July 2018 despite Magus opposition.

***

Source: TheCable
Chennai: Amidst all the hurly burly of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, has anybody thought about the struggle of young research students in various institutions in the country?

Highlighting the plight of research scholars, Rohit Jhunjhunwala, a scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), has started an online campaign that has struck a chord with over 2000 research scholars across the country.

The petition asks the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to extend the research period as well as fellowship to all scholars as their work has been affected by the pandemic and the lockdowns.

Due to the lockdown, all institutes were shut down and scholars were asked to vacate campus in March 2020. Due to the urgency and short notice period given by institute authorities, manny scholars left their valuables, laptops and research notes behind in the hope that they would be able to return soon and restart their research. However, that was not to be, says Jhunjhunwala.

"Educational institutes remained shut, leaving scholars with no access to research infrastructure. This has resulted in a lot of anxiety among scholars about the expiry of their fellowship.

"All experimental setups have already either degraded or unusable due to a long delay. Scholars now have their fellowships expiring in the middle of the nationwide lockdown leaving them without any means to survive. The financial pressure is a huge mental stress for us along with their health and future uncertainty, the petition says.

As per the procedure, it takes five years to finish a PhD degree in institutions. During the research period, a doctoral fellow in a national institution gets a fellowship of Rs.31,000 per month for the first two years and Rs. 35,000 per month for the remaining three years or till they submit their theses, whichever is earlier.

T. Pradeep, a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at IITM, told Deccan Chronicle that MHRD has to extend the tenure of research by at least 6 months along with the fellowship.

The pandemic has created an unprecedented situation in the education sector especially among the research community. Many who had been pursuing research programmes abroad have now returned without completing their work. They do not have new assignments, and even if they do, there is no way to proceed with them. They too remain unpaid.

Research fellows after completing the PhD programme often go for post-doctoral fellowships (PDF) for higher studies and independent research. Many of them are now stuck even if they have postdoctoral offers. They have no support from parent laboratories as well as institutional resources are limited.

In order to deal with the situation, the government must announce a package of Rs.200 crores to help the young scientific community. In addition to this, the MHRD must fast-track the filling up of scientist posts vacant in various institutions. The government has also to come up with the decision to create favourable atmosphere in research institutes lifting the restriction imposed due to the pandemic, said Prof. Pradeep
Jerusalem: Its hard to say what exactly will change in the West Bank if Israel follows through on its plans to annex parts of the occupied territory, but east Jerusalem, which was annexed more than a half-century ago, may provide some answers.

Israeli leaders paint Jerusalem as a model of coexistence, the unified, eternal capital of the Jewish people, where minorities have equal rights. But Palestinian residents face widespread discrimination, most lack citizenship and many live in fear of being forced out.

Rights groups say that in some aspects, Palestinians in east Jerusalem have even fewer legal protections than those in the West Bank, where its possible to appeal to international laws governing the treatment of civilians in occupied territory.

They point to Israels Absentee Property Law of 1950, which allows the state to take control of any property whose owner lives in an enemy state and was used to confiscate the lands and homes of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were forced out during the war surrounding Israels creation in 1948.

Rights groups say that in recent decades, authorities have abused the law to seize homes in sensitive parts of Jerusalem, evicting Palestinian residents and paving the way for settlers to move in.

The Sumarin family has been locked in a 30-year legal battle to prove ownership of their home in Silwan, an east Jerusalem neighbourhood coveted by Jewish settlers because of its proximity to holy sites.

When the original owner died in the 1980s, the property was deemed to have an absentee landlord because his four children lived in Jordan. The Israeli branch of the Jewish National Fund then purchased the property from the state in 1991. Last week, a court ordered the family to vacate the property by mid-August and to pay around $5,800 in court fees.

Family members say the original owner left it to his nephew, who was born and raised there, and from whom they are descended. The extended family living in the home, which now includes 15 men, women and children, says it will appeal the decision.

Whos absent? Were right here. Ive been here for 40 years, said Amal Sumarin, the wife of the nephews son. Where are the families with their children supposed to go? Every house built in Silwan is under threat.

The Israeli branch of the Jewish National Fund, which promotes Jewish settlement in the Holy Land and is known by its Hebrew acronym KKL, did not respond to requests for comment.

Rights groups fear that if annexation takes place, Israel will use the same law to strip Palestinians of privately held land in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annex all of Israels settlements and the strategic Jordan Valley in line with President Donald Trumps Middle East plan, which overwhelmingly favours Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians.

Its unclear when or even if Netanyahu will follow through on his pledge, but he has made clear that he wants to annex land but not people, leaving cities, towns and villages under limited Palestinian self-rule. Tens of thousands of acres of privately owned land would likely become part of Israel, potentially leaving the owners absent in enclaves outside its new borders.

Its not something that we will see the first day of annexation, and it wont be a big announcement, said Hagit Ofran, an expert on settlement policy at Peace Now, an Israeli rights group opposed to the settlements. But the potential is that Israel will not only prevent the owners from accessing their land ... but also take over their land.

Palestinians in the annexed territories are unlikely to be offered citizenship, due to Israels interest in preserving its Jewish majority, and many would refuse it so as not to legitimize Israeli rule. Instead, they are likely to get the same kind of permanent residency held by most Palestinians in east Jerusalem.

That form of residency grants Palestinians access to social services, freedom of movement in Israel and the right to vote in local elections  but not national ones. It can be revoked if Palestinians reside outside the city, as many are tempted to do because of the difficulty of building or expanding homes in east Jerusalem.

East Jerusalem Palestinians must apply for Israeli citizenship. Many refuse on ideological grounds, but those who do apply often encounter lengthy bureaucratic delays. In recent years, Israel has launched various efforts to narrow the gaps in east Jerusalem by investing in infrastructure, job creation and legalizing construction. But deep disparities remain.

Peace Now has found evidence of systematic housing discrimination and says around half of all Palestinian housing units in east Jerusalem have been built without hard-to-get permits, putting them at risk of demolition by Israeli authorities.

The inequities are on vivid display in Silwan, a crowded, run-down Palestinian neighbourhood spilling into a valley just outside the walls of the Old City. Its proximity to the bitterly-contested hilltop religious site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount has made it a focus for powerful settler organizations who have spent decades acquiring properties there.

Palestinians view the sale of properties to such groups as a betrayal of their national cause, so the transactions are often carried out in secret through Palestinian middlemen, leading to drawn-out legal disputes and in some cases the physical takeover of homes  or parts of homes  by settlers who claim to have bought them.

Jawad Siyams backyard is divided by a crude wall of corrugated steel. On the other side, a group of settlers live in a building that belonged to his family for decades. The settlers took control last year after a complicated 25-year legal battle that they won, in part by invoking the Absentee Property Law.

The two families dont get along.

Siyam says they shout at each other from their respective terraces. When the settlers held a party recently, Siyam responded to the loud music by dragging his speakers outside and blasting Arab pop.

He is not a settler that comes to be your neighbour, he comes to take the next house and the next house, Siyam said. These neighbours are coming to kick you out.

Daniel Luria, the executive director of Ateret Cohanim, one of the settler organizations that operate in Silwan, says Jews have as much right to live there as in Tel Aviv. For him and other ideological settlers, Jerusalem is the capital of the biblical homeland promised to the Jews, and the settlers are heirs to the pioneers who established Israel in the first place.

The Jews have a right, clearly, as the true sons of Abraham coming back home, to live in any neighborhood, he said. Especially if an Arab wants to sell, which is the case in 99% of the cases.

For many Palestinians living in the West Bank, which has been under Israeli military rule for decades, annexation seems like a grim formality. Siyam fears they will be in for a cruel awakening.

People think it will not change because they talk about the big image, he said. If you talk about the small image and details, it will change a lot.
People wait in a line in front of Eggslut restaurant in COEX mall, Seoul, last Friday, upon its very first store launch in the country. / Courtesy of SPC Group



By Kim Jae-heun



A former SPC Group Vice President Hur Hee-soo, who was dismissed from the company after being accused of smuggling and smoking liquid cannabis-derived products, may return to management in two years on the back of impressive sales of the company's recently launched Eggslut brand.



The growing in popularity California-based egg sandwich operator commenced business last week with the grand opening of its first Korean branch in the affluent Gangnam district. On the first day of its opening, more than 300 people lined up in front of the store at the COEX mall, southern Seoul. Founded by chef Alvin Cailan back in 2011, Eggslut is known for its egg sandwiches made with a brioche bun, coddled egg and sriracha mayo sauce.



The chain now operates stores in four different countries including the United Kingdom and Japan. Given its sandwich's fluffy texture and rich flavor with scrambled eggs and melted cheese, expectations are that Eggslut's popularity will rise, pushing SPC to open other Eggslut stores in downtown Seoul or other metropolitan and larger regional cities.



Former vice president Hur was known for securing contracts related to Eggslut's operations after he also helped the group introduce Shake Shack burger, here.



It also created a buzz around Shake Shack in the country when the burger chain launched, selling 90,000 burgers in the first opening year and drawing 3,000 visitors on average per day at its Gangnam branch in Seoul. Hur is said to have played a crucial role in ultimately signing a contract to earn the business rights for Shake Shack here after defeating 30 other candidates.



After launching Shake Shack, here, in 2016, SPC Group won the right to operate the U.S. burger chain in Singapore, where it was aiming to have more than 10 outlets by 2024. SPC brought Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin' Donuts brands to Korea. The country's leading bakery group secured the right to open Eggslut there too in 2021.



"It was Hur who made it possible for SPC Group to open Shake Shack restaurants here, having traveled back and forth to New York to win the deal over five years," a SPC official said. "We had so many competitors who wanted to sell Shake Shake here creating fierce competition."



Last November, Hur helped SPC Group to open its own snack brand City Deli in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, too. City Deli is a simple walk-in snack bar combining convenience store- and a restaurant-type service for customers to quickly grab ready-made food. There are over 200 menu items including fried rice, noodles, sandwiches and salads sold at the store.



The brand is a test bed for the group to expand its food business while creating a chance for it to diversify business portfolio.



"SPC's several new businesses that opened with assistance of Hur are meeting with favorable reviews but it is shame that he is completely excluded from the management from a one-time mistake," an industry source said.



It is likely that the group will bring back Hur who has been mentioned as the heir of the bakery giant before.



When SPC Group signed a deal with global food company Kraft Heinz last June, the company accredited the major accomplishment to Hur.



At the time of the Heinz contract, SPC Group said it was Hur who paved the way for the deal to exclusively supply Kraft Heinz products in local market.



"Hur met with the General Manager of Northeast Asia at Kraft Heinz offices and led the behind-the-scenes work before working-level discussions," an SPC Group official said.



In March this year, Hur also joined a meeting held relevant to the company's new business. However, SPC Group has denied that this indicates the former vice president will return to a management position.



"He only joined to give advice as a major shareholder and it is irrelevant to any possible comeback to a management position. There has not been a discussion about this return internally," a SPC Group official said.



While the group has successfully launched the popular burger and sandwich brands, it is now under pressure to convert the popularity of the brands into substantial profits as SPC's net income has slumped 77 percent since reaching a record in 2016 mostly because of heavy losses from overseas investments and costs incurred due to work status-related changes for its employees in order to meet labor regulations. In Korea, its share value also declined.



Food analysts dismissed the significance of SPC's lowered share value saying the group is "on track" to grow its brand recognition outside Korea. The spread of COVID-19 is forcing many restaurants to shut down their eat-in premises and lay off employees. But SPC Group recently said it will increase the number of the group's outlets, globally, to 20,000 by 2030.



SPC is better known as the operator of "Paris Baguette," a brand operating in many major global cities including Los Angeles, New York City and Shanghai.


Native Americans are pushing for the removal of statues memorializing conquistadors, particularly in the Southwest, as the country continues to reckon with systemic racism in the aftermath of George Floyd's death.

The big picture: Native Americans have long claimed the statues honor colonizers who ravaged their communities, enslaved their people and committed other atrocities, AP reports. Some Hispanic and Latino communities argue against removing the statues, however, claiming that doing so erases history and expunges Hispanic culture, The Guardian reports.

The other side: Some view the conquistadors as resistance in their own right against the "dominance that Anglos have often wielded," The New York Times writes.

The Spanish Embassy in the U.S. has said it will defend Spanish legacy in America and will continue educational efforts for the reality of our shared history to be better known and understood, per AP.

The state of play: Protestors in San Francisco and Los Angeles have toppled statues of Junipero Serra, according to USA Today. Serra founded many of California's missions, which were established to convert Native Americans to Christianity.

A statue of Diego de Vargas in Santa Fe, N.M., has also been removed. He reconquered areas of what today are New Mexico and Arizona following the Pueblo Revolt in the 17th century.

The statue of Juan Ponce de Leon was vandalized in Miami, covered in spray paint and rotten eggs. De Leon led the first European expedition to what is today Florida.

Zoom in: Controversy has clouded statues honoring Spanish conquistador Don Juan de Onate in Albuquerque, N.M., for years. The city recently ordered the statue to be removed and taken to storage after protesters threatened to topple it, AP notes.

The 16th-century conquistador came to America with the intention of colonizing the Southwest. He ordered the killing of 800 people in Acoma Pueblo, sent Indigenous girls to convents in Mexico City, enslaved adolescents and ordered his men to amputate a foot of at least 24 male captives, the Times notes.

For the first time in many years, we dont have to stare at Onate. The presence of that statue was an act of violence upon Pueblo people from the moment it was put up and now, finally, its gone.

 Elena Ortiz, a Red Nation leader, told the Santa Fe New Mexican

The bottom line: Chris Eyre, a Cheyenne-Arapaho filmmaker, told The New York Times, "Trump asked if all this stops with Washington or Jefferson. For me, that's actually where it starts because we need to go back a whole lot further to examine the crimes upon which these lands were claimed."
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Linkedin Dyaning Pangestika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, July 12, 2020 06:12 556 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406659ff94 1 City jakarta-archdiocese,COVID-19,church,Sunday-Service,COVID-19-Jakarta,coronavirus,PSBB-Masa-Transisi,large-scale-social-restrictions,Jakarta-Cathedral Free

The Jakarta Archdiocese has allowed three parishes to restart Sunday service after months of holding online services during large-scale social restrictions (PSBB).

The three parishes are Jakarta Cathedral, Harapan Indah in Bekasi, West Java and the Tangerang Parish in Banten.

Jakarta Archdiocese secretary Adi Prasodjo said the number of parishioners allowed to attend the Sunday service would be limited. They were also required to adhere to strict health protocols.

"We have granted the three parishes' request to resume service because they have followed our guidelines. We have also checked their readiness in resuming service," Adi said in a statement.

Read also: I miss praying at church: Christians celebrate lonely but hopeful Easter from home

He added that other churches were required to follow requirements implemented by the archdiocese in order to obtain permission to resume Sunday services, including a mitigation plan to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

The archdiocese would evaluate the first Sunday service conducted at the three churches while looking into the possibility of opening other churches as well, Adi went on to say.

During the transitional PSBB period, Jakarta allows houses of worship to reopen and resume holding religious rituals.

The city administration requires attendees to maintain a distance of 1 meter from one another and clean up before and after praying. Church capacity would be halved and opening hours restricted to activities considered routine.
Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong (R) hosted a reception for US President Donald Trump in February 2019 (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - Leaders of Vietnam and the US have exchanged congratulations on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries (July 12).

In his congratulatory letter to US President Donald Trump, Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong said the US is Vietnams leading partner in various areas. In recent years, the two countries have coordinated address bottlenecks, particularly in trade and finance, thereby consolidating and expanding the comprehensive partnership based on respect for the UN Charter, international law and each others political institutions, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Trong expressed his belief that the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership would be strengthened in an effective and sustainable manner, benefitting peoples of both nations and contributing to security, peace and prosperity in the region and the world.

Meanwhile, President Trump affirmed the US is committed to enhancing and expanding the bilateral ties based on a shared vision of a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific and respect for each others sovereignty and regulations.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc exchanged a message of congratulations with President Trump.

Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan also exchanged congratulations with President of the Senate Michael Pence and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh cabled a congratulatory message to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.
After Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP of trying to topple his government, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday was the first to go public on the crisis saying he he was worried for the party. Seeking a quick resolution of the "crisis", he asked when would the party leadership "wake up". "Worried for our party.

Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables," he said on Twitter. Sources said a crisis is brewing within the Rajasthan Congress with deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and his supporting ...
In a significant development, Indian Railways will export dry chillies to Bangladesh through a special parcel train for the first time, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced on Friday. The goods will be transported from Andhra Pradesh's Reddipalem to Bangladesh.

Taking to Twitter, Goyal stated that for the first time, the Indian Railways will transport dry chillies in a Special Parcel Train to Bangladesh

On the Forefront to Increase Exports: For the 1st time, Railways sends Special Parcel Train to transport chillies from India to Bangladesh. pic.twitter.com/CNTX5CVwJe  Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) July 11, 2020

In an earlier tweet, Railway Minister had said that the Indian Railways will continue to assist in the export of Indian products to other countries.

READ: Odisha govt requests railways to withdraw train stoppages in Ganjam district

READ: PM Modi has approved 100 percent electrification of Indian Railways: Piyush Goyal

Earlier, the farmers and merchants in and around Guntur area have been transporting dry chillies by road to Bangladesh in small quantities and that was costing around Rs 7000 per tonne. During the lockdown period, they could not move this essential commodity by road. Then Railway staff and officials approached the consignors and explained the facilities to transport by rail.

READ: COVID-19: Railways to convert 503 coaches into isolation wards for Delhi-NCR patients

To mitigate this problem and to facilitate the rail users to move their quantities in smalls i.e., up to a maximum of 500 tonnes in each trip, Guntur Division of South Central Railway took the initiative and moved the Special Parcel Express to Bangladesh. This has helped the farmers and merchants of Guntur to market their farm produce beyond the country border by transporting the dry chillies in small quantities through Special Parcel Express.

READ: 'Railways will not be privatised in any way': Piyush Goyal amid row over pvt participation

(PIB Inputs)
A human trial for a coronavirus vaccine is starting in Queensland today.

Some 120 volunteers in Herston, Brisbane will have the vaccine injected to see if it is safe and can generate immunity.

The vaccine, created by University of Queensland scientists in partnership with biotech company CSL, was tested successfully on animals in Australia and the Netherlands.

Clinical trials will run until the middle of next year - but, if successful, the vaccine could be rolled out at the start of next year for emergency use among the wider population.

There are 17 human trials for a potential vaccine happening around the world, including in the US, UK and China.

The Queensland vaccine has the advantage of being worked on in partnership with a manufacturer, CSL, meaning it could be mass produced quickly if successful.

A human trial for a coronavirus vaccine is starting in Queensland today. Pictured: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk

Medical staff at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic in Sydney where a pub has been identified as a hot-spot

More than 4,000 people volunteered for the trials but only 120 were required.

Professor Robert Booy, head of Clinical Research at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, said the animal trial would have 'ticked all the boxes' allowing the human testing to go ahead.

'There is no way the research team would be able to progress from animals to humans without a complete guarantee of safety and they would likely have a confidence in its effectiveness,' he said.

One of the Queensland University COVID-19 vaccine research leaders Professor Paul Young said the first human trial was about evaluating the safety and immune response of the vaccine in a group of healthy volunteers.

'The green light to move into this human trial follows extensive pre-clinical testing that the team has been conducting since first selecting the lead vaccine candidate on 14 February,' Professor Young said.

'This testing showed that the vaccine was effective in the lab in neutralising the virus and safe to give to humans.'

Professor Young said once human testing was under way, researchers expect to have preliminary results after about three months.

'We'll hold a collective breath while we wait to see how the trial goes,' he said.

Some 120 volunteers in Brisbane will have the vaccine injected to see if it is safe and can generate immunity

'But if all goes well, we can move to the next stage in the vaccine's development  a larger trial with a much bigger group of people from a range of ages to see if the vaccine works across the board.'

Associate Professor Keith Chappell, co-lead on the UQ project, said the pace had been relentless and it was a fantastic achievement to move so quickly into clinical trials.

'We have reached this important stage with help from our collaborators at the Australian National University, the Doherty Institute and CSIRO,' Professor Chappell said.

There are more than 130 vaccines in the works around the world but UQ's work is believed to have shown great success in the pre-clinical stage of development.

The vaccine, created by University of Queensland scientists in partnership with biotech company CSL, was tested successfully on animals in the Netherlands

The clinical batch of vaccine for use in the trial was a manufactured by a close partnership between UQ and CSIRO with technical assistance by Australian biotech company CSL, Brisbane based Thermo Fisher and Swedish company Cytiva.

The University of Queensland was tasked by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus in January, supported by an initial investment of up to $6.5million.

UQ and CEPI entered into a partnership in June with CSL to take the rapid response 'molecular clamp' enabled vaccine through clinical development and manufacture, if it proves successful.
The real estate market has not recovered well after COVID-19, but property firms are now in a position to buy land plots at reasonable prices.

Powerful real estate developers believe they should buy land plots when the market is cool and land prices are reasonable.





One of the biggest topics of discussion at shareholders meetings of real estate firms held in April and May was the expansion of land funds.

Shareholders agree that more land should be bought to be able to launch finished products when the pandemic is over and the market heats up.



Nam Long Investment JSC, which owns 680 hectares of land, is one of the real estate firms with the largest land fund. However, it is still expanding by spending VND2 trillion a year to buy more land.

The real estate market has not recovered well after COVID-19, but property firms are now in a position to buy land plots at reasonable prices.

Nam Longs president Nguyen Xuan Quang said at the meeting with investors in mid-June that the firm is gathering strength to enlarge the land fund, targeting large land plots in satellite localities in HCM City and Hanoi.



It is now the golden time for us to implement the expansion plan, he said.



Because of Covid-19, many real estate firms have land but cannot implement their projects as they lack financial capability. Therefore, they have to sell the land and it will be easier to negotiate with them, Quang said.



The board of management of An Gia Investment JSC at the recent 2020 shareholders meeting said An Gia would allocate a budget of VND5 trillion to expand the land fund. The firm will pay more to acquire land plots with "legitimacy", which will accelerate the implementation of projects.



In 2019, we spent VND2.8 trillion to buy land plots in localities around HCM City. The figure will be higher this year to take full advantage of the current golden opportunities, said An Gias president Nguyen Ba Sang.



Acquiring more land is also one of the to-do things listed in Thuduc Houses annual report.



Low-rise buildings, apartments, and office-shopping mall complexes are the major products of Thuduc House, and HCM City is its major market. However, the firm is also seeking to develop projects in neighboring provinces, including Can Tho, Binh Duong and Ba Ria  Vung Tau.



In general, it targets small- and medium-scale land plots (1-10 hectares) to develop housing projects at reasonable costs.

Mai Lan

Market stagnant, real estate firms struggle Real estate firms have had to struggle to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused the loss of trillions of dong and job losses to 75-80 percent of workers in the field.
Eugenia Marie Snell, or Grandma Jean as many called her, 91, of North Platte, formerly of Valentine, died on April 7, 2020, at her home. Jean was born on Oct. 1, 1928, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Eugene Alexander and Ida Marie (Hodges) Brown. At an early age, the family moved to Redondo Beach, California, where Jean grew up and graduated from Adolph Luezinger High School. In 1946 she was united in marriage to Bruno A. Schlueter of Valentine, where the two made their home. To this union two children were born, Bruno "Skip" Jr. and Donna Jean. Jean became activities director of Pine View Nursing Home in Valentine. She later moved to North Platte, where she married Samuel W. Snell. She and Sam loved traveling in their motorhome, meeting many friends along the way. When Sam became ill, Jean cared for him until his death in 1988. She was a devoted and caring wife until the end. Later, Jean worked for the County Juvenile Holdover and then the Boys and Girls Home for 17 years. She loved the job, and the youth, and was fondly called Grandma Jean by all who attended. She called them her angels. Jean was a regional counselor and worked as a substitute teacher in the classroom. She could be depended upon in any situation. She was fun, loving and never met a stranger. After retiring, Jean drove to California to be with her mother who was in a nursing home. Later in life, she did what she enjoyed, including white water rafting, hot air ballooning, panning for gold, riding her motorcycle and playing bingo at the VFW and the Senior Center in North Platte. Jean's real loves in life were her children. They always came first. She was a loving and kind mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Sam; son-in-law, Doug Sharp; sister, Rosetta Jackson; and brother-in-law, Harold Jackson. Survivors include her children, Donna (Mike) Dammann of St. Libory and Bruno "Skip" (Neila) Schlueter of the Philippines; five grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and many close friends. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the VFW 1504, North Platte, or to the family. Online condolences may be shared at adamsswanson.com. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 18, at Adams & Swanson Funeral Home. Lunch will follow at the D & N Event Center. The service will be livestreamed on Adams & Swanson Facebook page. Adams & Swanson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Photo credit: Olathe Ford

From Car and Driver

The 2021 Ford Bronco unveiling, happening on Monday, July 13, at 8 p.m., will be the occasion for viewing parties around the country, both online and at dealerships.

Dealerships will show off vintage Broncos and serve food while customers watch the event unfold on big screens.

Car and Driver was assured by two dealerships we talked to that they will follow social distancing rules during the events.

The Bronco is coming. After snippets of news, copious leaks, and a barrage of tiled Instagram posts, Ford will finally show the world its updated off-road beast set to challenge the Jeep Wrangler. People are hyped and Ford is doing its best to make sure that the SUV is in our thoughts and dreams until it pulls the sheet off a Bronco during an event on Monday night starting at 8 p.m. ET.

For some dealerships and enthusiasts, this event is a long time in the making ,and to mark the occasion they're hosting viewing partiessmall gatherings, under the circumstances, but ones that will be part nostalgia, part looking towards the future, and of course, part sales event.

Photo credit: Ford

In the Kansas City, Missouri, suburb of Olathe, Kansas, Olathe Ford is hosting a viewing party with food trucks, a chance to win prizes, and, of course, classic Broncos. "We've done some events in the past and thought it would be cool to get a bunch of like-minded car geeks to come out and watch the reveal," Matt Stowell, new-vehicle sales director, told Car and Driver.

The dealership will set up a projector with a 15-foot screen. It's likely to be showing the live stream instead of one of the three television broadcasts the automaker will have on National Geographic, ESPN, and ABC.



Stowell expects that they'll be hosting between 60 and 80 attendees. The dealership will have the event in its service area, where it says there will be plenty of space for social distancing and the doors will be open for ventilation. The crowd is expected to be excited. Stowell is.

Story continues

"I've been selling Fords for 18 years and this is the first car that you're super, super excited about. When they redid the Mustang in 2005, I mean that was something, but we had a Mustang already," Stowell said. "It's a game changer for Ford."

On the West Coast in Sandy, Oregon, about 45 minutes east of Portland, Suburban Ford is holding a viewing party, too. As in Olathe, the dealership will have a collection of old Broncos including a customized one from owner Jerry Jaksich sitting in front of the dealership. "We just love the Bronco and thought, why not make a thing out of it? Why not have some fun with it? Especially with everything going on in the world," Dominick de Landro, internet marketing manager for the dealership, told C/D.



Photo credit: Suburban Auto Group

The dealership will place a large TV in the showroom and will make sure attendees stay socially distanced. Food will be served, and the dealership is expecting enthusiasts to arrive with their own vintage and tricked-out Broncos.

The president of the dealership, Erinn Sowle, said they will definitely be cognizant of social distancing and wearing masks. "We want to make everyone feel as comfortable as we can."

Both dealerships will be ready to start taking reservations as soon as the event is over. For now, there will be a $100 refundable deposit for anyone interested in securing one of the three Broncos that will be unveiled.

On the internet, Bronco enthusiast site Bronco Nation will host a reveal watch party live-streamed event on its social channels that will feature exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive interviews. Chief outdoor officer (real title) of Bronco Nation Ben Dawson told C/D that it will be talking to Ford VIPs, "people that were heavily involved with bringing the brand and the product to life, as well as behind the scenes from the standpoint of how did this vehicle come about."

The site states its an "independent enthusiast community and the first to be nationally recognized and certified by Ford." It also happens to have a signup page for more information on Ford's upcoming "Off-Roadeo" events that'll take place in 2021 at four locations around the country. The two-day events will give the new owners of Broncos the chance to actually do some off-roading in the vehicle. There are no details on price, locations, or dates beyond sometime in 2021.

As for delivery events, with the pandemic making long-term planning difficult, dealerships will likely just rely on the buzz they get from having a Bronco in their showrooms ahead of customer deliveries. After that, any parties will likely be held in the houses of those who take delivery of their shiny new Bronco.

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"By submitting an inter-State application, the government is sharing all available and relevant information about the downing of Flight MH17 with the ECtHR," Xinhua news agency quoted the government as saying on Friday.

The Hague, July 11 (IANS) The Dutch government has decided to bring Russia before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) "for its role in the downing of Flight MH17" six years ago.

"The contents of the inter-State application will also be incorporated into the Netherlands' intervention in the individual applications submitted by the victims' next of kin against Russia to the ECtHR.

"By taking this course of action the government is offering maximum support to these individual cases," it added.

In a statement, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Stef Blok: "Achieving justice for 298 victims of the downing of Flight MH17 is and will remain the government's highest priority.

"By taking this step today -- bringing a case before the ECtHR and thus supporting the applications of the next of kin as much as we can -- we are moving closer to this goal."

The Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed in the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

All 298 people on board died, including 196 Dutch citizens.

A report published by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which comprises representatives from the governments of the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine, in September 2016 alleged that the plane was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile fired from a region in eastern Ukraine controlled by independence-seeking insurgents.

Russia has denied any involvement.

--IANS

ksk/
Global giants Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung, as well as Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE are the large players in the Indian telecom market where rapid digitisation and massive data needs are driving network scale-up.

New Delhi: Amid heightened anti-China sentiments in India, Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has said it hopes to win contracts in the Indian telecom market on the strength of its technology leadership, and added that as a practice, the company does not base business plans on matters not under its control.

Ericsson India head Nitin Bansal said that the company remains very confident of its technology prowess. Bansal was responding to a question on whether the anti-China sentiments in the country would provide a competitive edge to non-Chinese gear vendors in Indian telecom market, where data and voice consumption patterns are charting new highs.

We do not base our business plans on things which we cannot control... we believe in technology leadership. And, if you see globally, we have been winning on our technology leadership, Bansal told PTI.

Earlier this month, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) cancelled a multi-crore tender for 4G telecom network upgrade after the government asked the firm not to use any Chinese equipment. BSNLs notice for cancellation of the 4G tender came against the backdrop of a growing clamour against Chinese goods and services after the recent violent clash at the Ladakh border with China.

Other impact areas that are being keenly watched in the telecom space are 5G trials and the mega 5G networks that will be created in the future.

Global giants Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung, as well as Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE are the large players in the Indian market where rapid digitisation and massive data needs are driving network scale-up by telecom operators.

Whatever the decision the government takes (on participation of Chinese players in contracts)...we believe we will win on our technology leadership, we are very confident, Bansal said.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Fifteen property owners in the Willow Ridge subdivision have filed annexation petitions with the city-parish, asking to be included in the Baton Rouge city limits.

Bill Benedetto, one of the Willow Ridge residents seeking annexation, said the people who filed the petition dont particularly want to live in St. George.
To wear a mask or not to wear a mask  that seemed to be the question.

COVID-19 has absolutely brought out the best and the worst of our medical systems, health secretaries, our citizens and gubernatorial power.

Initially, wearing a mask was only for those who are medical professionals or those working with the sick. Dr. Anthony Fauci, in an interview in March 2020, dismissed the value of wearing a mask. His words resonated. They made sense at the beginning of the pandemic. It seemed like logical advice to follow.

He said: The masks are important for someone who is infected to prevent them from infecting someone else. Right now, people in the United States people should not be walking around with masks. When you are in the middle of an outbreak it might make people feel a little bit better  but it is not providing the perfect protection that people think.

A few months later, in June 2020, Dr. Fauci and others made a strong case for wearing masks. In an interview with Alexandra Kelly of thehill.com he states:

Masks are not 100 percent protective. However, they certainly are better than not wearing a mask. Both to prevent you, if you happen to be a person who maybe feels well, but has an asymptomatic infection that you dont even know about, to prevent you from infecting someone else,. But also, it can protect you a certain degree, not a hundred percent, in protecting you from getting infected from someone who, either is breathing, or coughing, or sneezing, or singing or whatever it is in which the droplets or the aerosols go out. So masks work.

The important thing is actually physical separation, Fauci said, adding that the combination of social distancing and face masks is the best way for the public to mitigate the spread and reduce transmission while maintaining some normalcy by venturing in public.

In a similar vein, the governor of Pennsylvania and the Secretary of Health put out a press release on July 1 mandating the wearing of facemasks or so one would think.

From the Secretary of Health: With this order, signed under Dr. Rachel Levines authority under the Disease Prevention and Control Act, masks must be worn whenever anyone leaves home. The order takes effect immediately.

There was an almost immediate public outrage and divide over the mandate. Social media exploded and a new crisis emerged.

The irresponsible way in which the press release was done gave the impression that there were no exemptions when in fact the exceptions were so numerous that the order was in fact a voluntary request for compliance rather than the mandate it was portrayed as.

The American people had become acclimated to being dealt like adults at least until the pandemic of 2020 tore through our communities.

Having become acclimated to second opinions in our own medical care, the public found themselves with no recourse to the various state secretaries of health. Doctors were relegated to comply with state mandates rather than communicate with their patients. A great divide was brewing.

An opportunity to build trust with the American people was lost and the potential negative impact on the relationship with the medical community and its patients may be irreparably harmed. Bedside manners of doctors, nurses and our health care community were replaced by a bureaucratic, insensitive, non-appealable, and seemingly non-caring faceless bureaucracy.

People with legitimate medical reasons for not wearing a mask were shamed into compliance and social media became the battleground. Effective medical decision making was replaced by group hysteria.

The canceling of elective surgeries in virtually all the states put the state in front of the physician who had no recourse or power to heal and do no harm.

Health care professionals who dared question the wisdom of a Secretary of Health had to worry that their license, their entire livelihood, would be subject to disciplinary licensing action should they not comply regardless of the impact on the patients health unless it was COVID-19 related.

Senior care, putting seniors lives at great peril, took back seat to executive decisions and unrestrained departments of health. Public trust, first in government and now in medicine, has been strained and is perhaps beyond repair.

Now is the time to get a second opinion of how to best handle the medical crisis of the future. The lessons learned from this panic of 2020 should not be lost on us or the medical systems that we have known to trust may no longer be trusted with untold health consequences for those who no longer believe.

Frank Ryan, CPA, USMCR (Ret), represents the 101st District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He is a retired Marine Reserve Colonel, a CPA and specializes in corporate restructuring. He has served on numerous boards of publicly traded and non-profit organizations. He can be reached at FRYAN1951@aol.com.
In an effort to strengthen womens rights, Sudan's Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari has announced that female genital mutilation (FGM) will be banned throughout the country, and women will no longer need a permit to travel. Non-Muslims will also be allowed to drink alcohol in private.

The relaxation of alcohol rules is major turnaround from nearly 40 years of hardline Islamist policies. The United Nations reports that some three percent of the population is not Muslim.

Muslims are still banned from drinking alcohol, which usually incurs a public flogging as punishment under Islamic law.

The prohibition was put in place in 1983 under President Jaafar Nimeiri, who introduced Sharia law. In a symbolic gesture, he kicked off the ban by throwing bottles of whisky into the Nile in Khartoum, the capital.

Now-deposed strongman Omar al-Bashir strengthened hardline Islamic law when he took power in 1989. The transition government that took over last year is pushing to lead Sudan to democracy, end discrimination and peacefully quell the rebel uprising in Darfur.

Apostacy decriminalised

In a victory for girls and women in Sudan, FGM, the practice where the external genitalia of girls is removed, has been banned. It is considered a violation of human rights by the World Health Organization.

Eliminating travel permits for women, especially if travelling with their children, is another positive step in securing womens rights in Sudan.

And in a major reversal, Sudanese will no longer be prosecuted for apostacy, or abandoning Islam. Sharia law forbid a Muslim woman from marrying outside of her religion.

A recent highly-publicised case was that of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, a Sudanese woman who married a South Sudanese Christian and was jailed in 2014 for her beliefs.

There is a community of Sudanese Christians who hail from the Nuba mountains near the South Sudan border or who live in Khartoum. Some Sudanese are Animists.
Ajay Kanth By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Even as murkier details emerge regarding Swapna Sureshs appointment to the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL) as the operations manager, none of the companies involved in her selection process are able to explain how a candidate with a fake degree certificate and dubious records secured a job in a Kerala government project.

According to insiders in the KSITIL, it was a well-orchestrated operation by a racket that enabled Swapnas appointment in the project. While the KSITIL passed the buck to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) claiming it was the multinational firm that deputed Swapna for the Space Park Project, the PwC too has refused to take the blame. The firm instead washed its hands of Swapnas appointment by putting the onus on Vision Technology and Staffing Solutions Pvt Ltd, one of its Gurgaon-based vendors.

Now, Vision Technology has pointed fingers at another Gurgaon-based firm called Knowy HR Solutions Pvt Ltd, with the claim that though they were the ones who selected Swapna, it was Knowy that conducted a detailed background verification on the candidate. When asked how the company got in touch with her, Vision Technology managing director Daleep Kaul told TNIE that they sourced candidates from the open market. We processed her application and forwarded it to the PwC. Her background verification was conducted by another firm and we just went by the report submitted by them, he said.

In an email query to Knowy HR Solutions seeking clarity on how the company verified her degree certificate with the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Vijaypal Singh of Knowy HR Solutions replied, We are a very small company based in Gurgaon. We dont have any written or verbal job contract with the PwC and never forwarded any such report to the firm. As far as the education verification is concerned, we follow all the norms set by the industry or client under the scope of the work. Our reports are for internal reference purposes only.
How do you explain COVID-19 to Spanish-only speakers during a time when many who are proficient in English struggle to fully understand the pandemic?

Thats the question health care providers are trying to answer as coronavirus cases are hitting the Latinx community in Milwaukee harder than other groups.

As of July 6, Hispanics and Latinx residents led Milwaukee County in cases with 4,384. According to the American Community Survey, there were about 41,000 Spanish-speakers in Milwaukee County as of 2016.

Never-ending updates on health guidelines, safety practices and more need to reach the Latinx community more than ever as providers in Milwaukee try to break the language barrier to save lives.

"Sometimes Ill see documents in the hospital where Im like, 'You know, I understand it,' but if I gave it to my grandmother, shes not going to understand that," Fabiola de Chico, a bilingual patient navigator at Ascension St. Francis Hospital, said.

"It takes a village to get the message across," de Chico added.

Can we talk?

Dr. Jorge Ramallo, an internal medicine specialist at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, said he tries to avoid medical jargon during visits.

"We do this for English-speaking patients all the time anyway," Ramallo said. "We try to avoid fancy words they may not know and keep it as simple as possible."

And Rosa Aguilar, a nurse practitioner at Ascension Angel of Hope clinic on Orchard Street on the South Side, said she tries to break down information about the virus in more practical terms.

Instead of telling patients the coronavirus is spread by droplets, Aguilar said she tells them: "The virus is spread when you talk."

"Instead of saying airborne, I tell them that, It floats in the air."

Despite their best efforts, it can still be difficult to get the message across. Ramallo said he has several patients who cannot read and write.

"We need to talk in a way that we dont make our community feel inferior or  uneducated," de Chico said. "We need to make them feel comfortable and make sure that they know that we care for them."

Dr. Zeno Franco, an associate professor of family and community medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, said its important for messaging to "meet the assumptions and realities" of people in the Latinx community. For instance, some subsets within the Spanish-speaking community are from entirely different backgrounds and countries. He notes the nuance in words between Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and South Americans.

Franco said there is a divide in public health messaging that needs to be addressed.

"They may not have heard the messaging in the same way because theyre fully Spanish-speaking or theyre not bilingual," Franco said. "So theyre not being exposed to the same level of public health messaging that an Anglo person would be."

Getting the word out

To get the message to as many people as possible, Ascension has aired information through Spanish-language radio, including Radio Caliente 97.9 FM, about testing sites and health guidelines.

Franco said we should not assume everyones situation is the same, adding that some Latinx people could not completely distance or separate as experts recommended during quarantine because they are "doubled or tripled up" in houses.

Ramallo said the rise in COVID-19 cases could be attributed to culture and socioeconomics. Many Latinx people have jobs that cannot be done from home, such as manual labor. Franco mentioned that it is important to tailor the messages to specifically address being safe at work.

"Its not just about being safe in general," Franco said. "Its about being safe as an essential worker in a restaurant or being safe as an essential worker in a food production facility."

In addition, the particularities of Latinx culture highlight the need for more Latinx providers who can relate to them.

Ramallo said there are "absolutely not" enough Latinx doctors in Milwaukee, following a national trend. Under 4% of doctors identified as Latinx in 2019, despite making up 18.5% of the population.

"Weve had an issue of underrepresentation of Latinx doctors in the entire county," Ramallo said. "Our medical schools are not admitting enough Latinx medical students, and were not actually creating that pipeline of clinicians that look like their community."

The importance of representation

Ramallo said representation is more important than just language. Studies have shown patients seeing a doctor of the same race has helped promote better health outcomes.

"They can relate more to their physician," Ramallo said. "In a subconscious way, they open up more to them and theyre actually more likely to take their advice."

Ramallo tries to spend extra time with Spanish-speaking patients for this reason. He also makes sure they have his card before they leave. He said that building that connection with the Latinx community will be important going forward.

Franco said he worries the Latinx community is not taking the virus seriously enough. He said he has seen older couples in grocery stores without masks; he attributes part of this to a lack of public health messaging but says it may also be "bravado."

"You know, people kind of view the need to be at work, and to kind of be fearless and get things done," Franco said. "Thats an important part of what it means to work in this country."

Franco said the Latinx communitys "social culture" can be an issue as well. With its heavy emphasis on family gatherings and togetherness, it can be difficult to convince people to socially distance.

Franco noted a number of other complicating features, including concerns about immigration status and lack of health insurance, can prevent patients from seeking health care. Franco said there is a "primary care desert" for the Latinx community, which also is an issue for the Black community.

"The city itself has a history of segregation of economic disenfranchisement for minority communities," Franco said. "Its easy for that to be under the surface most days until something like COVID-19 happens and then you see disproportionate deaths in one of the minority communities almost immediately. All of a sudden, those disparities are laid bare."
Until the last few months, the idea of disunion as anything but a historical relic had barely occurred to me. But lately, I have begun to wonder. Is there any basis on which we can share governance of America with people who hate our country and our traditions, institutions, culture and freedoms? Why, exactly, should we want to do so? Is there any set of shared assumptions and values that will allow normal Americans and leftists to work together as fellow citizens? One begins to wonder.

Last Friday, I filled in for Dan Proft on his late-night Salem network show. Dan has a great booker and producer who makes hosting easy. One of our guests was Frank Buckley, a professor at Scalia Law School and columnist for the New York Post.

We started out talking about Buckleys column America Held Hostage in the Spectator, where he connects the current madness to Novembers election. We then moved on to discuss Franks book American Secession: The Looming Threat of a National Breakup. With remarkable prescience, Buckley wrote the book last year, and it was published in January.

In the 21st Century, disunion wouldnt mean civil war. It would be much like Brexitdifficult, but not impossible. Such questions as how to divide the national debt would have to be negotiated. Population exchanges might need to be arranged, as many blue state residents would want to move to Free America (as one might tentatively call the potential red state union) and a smaller number would want to move the other way. What to do with Washington, D.C.? Free America would probably be willing to cede it to Leftist America, but it is full of monuments to American history, which leftists hate. So maybe we would flip a coin.

It is easy to see which way most states would go. Leftist America would include California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland. Free America would include Texas, the Rocky Mountain states, Florida and the Southeast, and the Midwest except for Illinois. In a few states, like Minnesota and Virginia, there might be bitterly fought plebiscites, but it would be nothing like Kansas in the 1850s. In some cases, states might be broken up. California from Orange County south, Illinois south of Cook County, upstate New York and eastern Washington and Oregon would want to join Free America, and maybe that could be negotiated.

What is the alternative to disunion? We can, of course, muddle along the way we are, but there is a serious risk of Americas irreconcilable minority of leftists dragging down the rest of us. Frank Buckley points out that one practical alternative could be a rebirth of federalism. If New York will give up on governing Nebraska, Nebraska never had any desire to govern New York in the first place. But that might be a pipe dream.

In any event, Buckleys is a provocative hypothesis. And once you begin thinking about it, it doesnt seem as outlandish as one might have assumed just a few months ago. Here is the audio of my two segments with Frank Buckley:
According to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, he arrived in the country on July 9 at Da Nang International Airport onboard a flight from Oman and was immediately quarantined upon arrival.

His samples were taken the same day and the result turned out as positive the next day. He is being treated at a quarantine centre at Dung Quat Industrial Zone in Quang Ngai province.

Among the confirmed cases, 230 were imported and quarantined immediately after arrival.

Up to 350 patients have recovered from the disease, and there are no deaths.

Of the active cases, two have tested negative for the virus once, and two others at least twice.

At present, 9,988 people having close contact with confirmed cases or coming from pandemic-hit areas are in quarantine, including six in hospitals, 9,509 in other quarantine sites, and 414 at home or accommodation facilities.
- Vice Ganda and his digital network, The Vice Ganda Network was supposed to be launching this year

- However, due to the current issue ABS-CBN is facing, the said launching of the network on July 17 was postponed

- Furthermore, the source revealed that Vice is also the producer behind TVGN

- TVGN is also said to be accepting guest artists to be able to provide an income to those who lost their shows under ABS-CBN

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Vice Ganda's digital network called The Vice Ganda Network was supposed to have launched this month on July 17.

However, KAMI learned that the said launching of the digital network was postponed due to the issue his home network, ABS-CBN is currently facing.

It can be worth noting that on July 10, the House Committee decided not to grant a new franchise to the media giant with an overwhelming 70-11 votes from the house panel.

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According to the report by Bandera (authored by Reggee Bonoan), the show of the comedian under The Vice Ganda Network was supposed to air online.

Furthermore, their source revealed that the Kapamilya star is the producer behind the digital network and is also in charge of the technical and marketing aspect of TVGN.

It was also shared that guest artists will be featured on TVGN in order to be able to provide a salary to those who lost their shows under ABS-CBN.

Aside from this, Koko Artadi, a lead dancer at Club Mwah shared a conversation he had with Vice over TVGN on his social media account.

Read his post below:

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Vice Ganda is a popular actor, comedian, television host, and recording artist in the Philippines. He starred in many blockbuster movies including Praybeyt Benjamin.

The Kapamilya comedian recently trended on social media after he walked out during the opening number of .

Aside from this, he and his boyfriend, Ion Perez buzzed the online community when a video of the Kapamilya artist 'shouting' and 'getting angry' at Ion over TikTok went viral on social media.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 09:33:54|Editor: huaxia

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by Sanaa Kamal

RAMALLAH, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Palestine can be a model in the battle against the novel coronavirus, despite its limited medical capabilities, senior Palestinian officials said Saturday.

Two Palestinian officials told Xinhua that Palestine has been confronted with a second wave of infections since mid-June, with a significant increase in COVID-19 cases.

Palestine has so far registered 6,688 cases of the novel coronavirus, with 34 virus-related deaths. Half of the confirmed cases were reported in the last couple of weeks in the Palestinian districts of the West Bank, particularly Hebron, the health ministry said.

Late on Friday, Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announced that her ministry would send more medical teams to help hospitals in Hebron, the epicenter of the latest COVID-19 wave.

Al-Kaila said that the ministry has been working "collectively and in partnership with the private sectors, specialists, regulatory powers and governors" to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The Palestinian government has formed several specialized committees to combat the pandemic, said al-Kaila, adding that the most important is the "epidemiological committee, based on the involvement of all health and academy sectors."

"With collective efforts, we have been developing strategic plans to submit the necessary recommendations to the higher authorities represented by the high emergency committee," the minister added.

"We are facing a hazardous second wave of the new virus, as we found many unknown epicenters, as well as medical staff infected with the coronavirus in hospitals," she noted.

However, the minister said doctors from the Palestinian Authority (PA), who have accumulated practical experience, have been intensifying efforts to contain the spread of the virus by arranging awareness campaigns and setting up precautionary measures.

The PA has learnt valuable experience from China in its fight against the pandemic, said al-Kaila.

On April 20, China handed over a batch of medical supplies to Palestine. In mid-April, Palestine received a shipment of medical aid donated by Chinese company Alibaba.

Since April 14, Chinese doctors and medical experts have held three video conferences with their Palestinian counterparts to share China's experience in containing the outbreak.

"China has (played) a great role in curbing the virus as it has provided medical aid as well as dispatched medical experts to teach the Palestinian staff how to deal with the unprecedented situation," al-Kaila added.

Al-Kaila's remarks were echoed by Ibrahim Milhem, spokesperson of the Palestinian government, who said China's anti-epidemic measures have inspired his country.

Since the first COVID-19 case in Palestine was reported in early March, the Palestinian government has adopted many measures similar to China's, said Milhem.

The spokesperson added that the PA should be used as an "example for other nations" on how to contain the spread of COVID-19.

He pointed out that the PA, just like the rest of the world, has gradually eased its strict measures to let people return to normal.

Given that the second wave of infections occured in several districts, Milhem said that the PA has not yet lost control of the health situation in the Palestinian territories, especially the West Bank, thanks to the government's pursuit of a multi-stage strategic plan aimed at besieging the disease faster.

He said it is possible to avoid more infections in the territories and reduce human and material losses by taking preventive and precautionary measures.

On July 5, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared an extension of the country's state of emergency by 30 days in a bid to curb the spread of the pandemic.

In a presidential decree, Abbas urged concerned authorities "to continue to take all necessary measures to face the dangers resulting from the coronavirus, protect public health and achieve security and stability."

The Palestinian government also renewed lockdown measures across the West Bank this week and imposed new regulations, including the shutting down of mosques, churches, and private establishments, as well as banning public gatherings.

"The Palestinian government will not, in any way, allow the restrictions imposed on the areas affected by the virus to be violated, and it will punish all violators," Milhem said.

Based on the current situation, the Palestinian health sector is capable of dealing with COVID-19 patients and providing them with necessary health care, Milhem added. Enditem
The UK is looking at a 'reset of its whole relationship' with China amid growing tensions, a former head of MI6 said today.

Sir Richard Dearlove insisted the government should be more 'assertive' in its interaction with the Asian superpower.

Amid mounting signs that Boris Johnson will announce a U-turn this week on Huawei's involvement in the 5G network, Sir Richard said the firm is an 'intimate part of the Chinese state'.

The comments came amid claims the company has been urging the PM not to ditch it from UK telecoms infrastructure until after the next election in 2024, reportedly in the hope that a new government could take a different stance.

Ministers are considering whether to axe Huawei amid fears the network could be used for spying by the Chinese state.

The comments came amid claims Huawei has been urging the PM not to ditch it from UK telecoms infrastructure until after the next election in 2024

Sir Richard Dearlove told Sky News the government should be more 'assertive' in its interaction with the Asian superpower

Ex-MI6 chief highlights 'threat' from China's cyber attack capability An ex-MI6 chief has warned China's cyber attack capability 'is a threat' to the UK amid fears of reprisals in spats over Hong Kong and Huawei. Asked what the risk to the UK was of a cyber attack orchestrated by the Chinese Government, Sir Richard Dearlove said: 'I wonder whether they would - as it were - go that far at the moment. 'But of course it is a threat. They have a significant capability in this area and they can probably do it in a manner where although you probably know who the culprit is they could... make it deniable and say 'oh well it wasn't us'. 'Of course, it's a threat and I think we've known quite significantly that the Chinese have developed this capability and are prepared to use it.' Advertisement

A recent intelligence report said the security implications were 'severe' and that US sanctions on the firm may make its equipment less reliable and safe.

There are also calls from dozens of Tory MPs to strip Huawei's technology from the wider telecoms network by 2024, and cut involvement in building nuclear power plants.

Sources told the Sunday Times that Huawei wanted the government to delay the removal of its technology from telecoms infrastructure until at least 2025, in the hope that a future government might reverse the decision.

As part of the compromise, Huawei would reportedly pledge to maintain its equipment, which is also used in the UK's other non-5G networks.

BT and Vodafone have warned of coverage blackouts if the kit is stripped out too quickly.

A poll for MailOnline by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, conducted on Wednesday, found 52 per cent would approve of dropping Huawei from 5G, including 28 per cent who felt 'strongly' on the issue.

Just 12 per cent disapproved of the idea, although a substantial 36 per cent did not say either way.

Speaking on Sky News' Ridge on Sunday, Sir Richard said: 'We are looking really at a reset of the whole of our relationship with China's leadership.'

He insisted the UK should become 'more assertive' with China as the country has become 'more aggressive'.

Asked if the Government will change its mind on allowing Huawei a role in the building of the UK's 5G network, Sir Richard said: 'That's certainly my expectation...

'The problem is we have had a close relationship with Huawei dating back, I think, to the year 2000, so getting Huawei out of the systems can't be done rapidly - it will have to be done cumulatively over time.

'But it looks to me now as though the Government have changed their view.

'There's a technical aspect to this because since the American embargo on Huawei was imposed it's not clear that they're going to be able anyway to provide the 5G equipment on which the system will depend.

A poll for MailOnline found 52 per cent would approve if Boris Johnson cuts Huawei out of the massive 5G project

'I've always believed that there is a strategic security reason for not allowing the Chinese that degree of involvement in the construction of our critical infrastructure.'

He added: 'I think the relationship between the Chinese state and Huawei is absolutely clear-cut.

'Huawei is not a sort of ordinary international telecommunications company, it's an intimate part of the Chinese state.

'And if you know anything about Chinese military strategy, they talk about the fusion of civil and military capabilities.

'There is a close linkage undoubtedly between the Chinese military capability and Huawei.'
Mrs Naana Eyiah Quansah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa Central, has cut the sod for the construction and tarring of a three kilometer road from Dahom to link Agona Swedru/Afransi main trunk road.



The MP who is also, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources said the declaration made by President Akufo-Addo that this year is the year of roads was not mere rhetoric.



Addressing the Chiefs and People of Dahom, Mrs Eyiah Quansah said the government would never disappoint or fail the inhabitants in the fair share of the national cake.



The Deputy Minister was accompanied by Mr Benjamin Kojo Otoo, District Chief Executive for Gomoa Central, Mr Kweku Nyakoh, Presiding Member of Gomoa Central District Assembly, Alhaji Omar Adams, Constituency Chairman of NPP and Other executives.



She refuted allegations that the construction and tarring of Dahom road contract was signed by the previous government, saying it was rather signed in May this year and not as some opposition Party members were circulating round.



The MP hinted that government would make sure it was done within the stipulated period to justify its truthfulness.



She called on the people of Dahom to vote for President Akufo-Addo and herself as MP in the upcoming December 7 polls, adding that there were massive infrastructural development in place to help raise their standards of living.



On the ongoing voter registration exercise, the MP asked the Chiefs and the people of Dahom to register since it was their power to vote to elect credible, visionary and competent leaders for Ghana.



She cautioned against the action of individuals or group of people who were bent on disrupting or disturbing the ongoing registration exercise and urged them to stop.



Oseadieyo Ayeboafo Atuah, Managing Director of Nana Kwame Atuah Construction Company, the Contractor, assured the people that the one year duration of the contract would be executed to perfection.



The contractor appealed to the people of Dahom not to take entrenched position of No road No Vote saying this would put pressure on them and could result in shoddy work.



Oseadieyo Ayeboafo Atuah said the construction works would not be compromised to ensure value for money and appealed to the chiefs and people to exercise greatest restraints as the contract would not be abandoned as perceived.



Nana Esilfuah III, Queenmother of Gomoa Dahom expressed appreciation to the MP for her concern and sense of responsibility to fulfill the promise she made at their annual Akwambo festival in January, this year, that the road would be constructed and tarred.



She said the chiefs and the people were firmly behind the MP and the President Akufo-Addo, adding that all eligible people and the youth have been encouraged to troop to voter registration centers to register.



She cautioned them to desist from acts of violence during and after the exercise.

Source: GNA









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In 1999, the Kargil War between India and Pakistan sent a wave of patriotism across the nation.

The war changed the course of the nation and with that, it changed the life of now 41-year-old security guard Jitendra Singh Gurjar, who like many other young men wanted to join the Indian Army and serve the nation.

Unfortunately, he was rejected due to a medical condition and was forced to helplessly watch the consequences of the conflict.

But his patriotic spirit persevered and pushed him to reach out to the families of those martyred and for the last 20 years, Gurjar has been writing letters to such families, his recent being the families of 20 soldiers killed during the China-India clash in the Galwan Valley.

The entire nation was talking about the Kargil war. People in my village used to walk miles and go to pay tribute to the martyrs. About 50 people would stand in a circle while one person would read the newspaper, recalls Singh, adding that every day, there was a casualty from his village and around. When the truck of the Indian Army would come into the village with the dead bodies of the soldiers, people would sing slogans for those who died on the line of duty, he says.

Filling the vacuum

The news of jawans getting martyred is short-lived for most people, but not for Singh. At the age of 19 when the war was well underway, Singh would collect newspapers from the railway tracks he had no money to buy them to gather the data about all the jawans.

After this, he would send letters to their families and acknowledge their sacrifice. He recalls the words of one of the martyrs fathers, who said, So what if my son died, my country is alive, which filled him with patriotism.

Soldiers used to write letters to their families about their wellbeing from the frontline, and at times the letters would reach after the dead body of the soldiers. It was double the pain for their families, and so I thought I would continue to write letters to fill the vacuum, he smiles.

Since the Kargil War, Singh has written over 4,500 letters to the families of martyrs, expressing his gratitude for their service. His heart-warming letters come with a sketch of a small flag of India and usually end with a self-composed poem celebrating the deceased soldier.

They treat me like their son. They respond to my letters and call me to meet them. If I cant be a soldier, at least I can be someone to pay tribute to the ones who gave up their life for the nation, he says.

Paying a heavy price

A security guard for over 17 years, Singh had changed seven uniforms and two cycles to commute from his one-room rented house in Surat to his place of work. When he started writing letters, a postcard would cost him 15 paise and would use flour glue to stick the newspaper cuttings that he would collect from the railway tracks onto his letters.

At present, one letter costs me `9 and 50 paise. I used to do two shifts as a guard so would spend one salary on my family expenses and with one salary I would buy postcards and stationery to keep the data and write letters, he says.

Singhs decision to write letters has taken away everything from him his health, family and youth but not his determination. With a salary of ` 10,400, he faces financial constraints as well as the responsibility of a school-going son with whom he does not share a strong emotional bond.

This comes alongside his deteriorating eyesight, a result of writing in dimly lit places, but it has not once deterred him from buying postcards and writing to the families.

I buy postcards every month. A few years ago, when the government increased the price of the postcard, I wrote many letters to the then Prime Minister but no one responded. Although the prices came down to 50 paise, Singh recalls, further sharing that even the lockdown and pandemic has not stopped him from keeping in touch with those soldiers families via phone calls.

A civilian soldier

Growing up in Bharatpur, Singh was surrounded by various families that had generations of soldiers who sacrificed their lives at the frontlines of war. He now takes great pride in writing letters and organising Kargil Vijay Diwas in his village, which he has been doing since 2000.

Initially, no one turned up, but later, when people became aware, they started coming and named that place Kargil Chowk. They now call me Major Sahab, gushes the civilian soldier. However, the government remains ignorant of his efforts.

Emotions have no role to play in power. I sometimes think that despite my work, I still dont have a permanent security guards job so I can earn a bit more and buy more postcards, he rues.

Talking about his future ambitions, Singh says that he wants to build a martyrs museum in his village for the next generation to remember their sacrifices. When asked about his moments of joy, he recalls his visit to the martyrs families and travelling by plane.

The airline staff made an announcement about my work and people clapped for me. The pilot called me the nations pride; I was in tears. This was the best moment of my life, Singh smiles, adding that one time, 500 students helped him with 11,000 postcards after seeing him writing letters while working at an IT institute. The post office didnt have that many postcards, they printed them on request and sent them to me, he laughs.
It's a letter which has now emerged as the last straw on the camel's back and created a desert storm. A notice served to Sachin Pilot to join investigations with the ATS, which was set up by Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot to probe attempts to topple his government.

While Gehot blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party for this, notice to Sachin Pilot drags him in and insinuates that the deputy CM who has never had a good equation with Gehlot is also hands in glove with the BJP to oust his government.

Pilot has been bidding his time and sources say he has watched the developments in Madhya Pradesh when Scindia carved a place for himself by leaving the Congress. Many in the grand old party dismissed Scindia's exit as a blow to him rather than the party. But while the wait may have been wrong, Scindia ensured that most of his supporters get a good place in the cabinet. It was also seen as a setback to Shivraj Singh Chouhan. In fact, in some circles, Scindia is seen as the Modi-Shah strategy to cut Shivraj to size.

It's a strategy which Pilot may now be forced to take up. Sources close to him say the notice to him, which has also been given to Gehlot, could be point of no return for Pilot. Who blinks first becomes critical.

The Gehlot issue has gone so far that for the deputy CM to maintain his grip over the party and supporters, it's important to show to Congress high command and others that he too can do a Scindia and dictate terms.

There are stark similarities between Scindia and Pilot story. Both have been close to Rahul Gandhi, and were seen as young people and those who could be the team for the senior Congress leader when he would take charge. But things have turned different over time.

As it became clear that the old guard would not cede space and Gandhi was building his own coterie, many like Milind Deora, Pilot, Jitin Prasad and Scindia began to wonder about their future. What binds all of them is the fact that each have carved a niche for themselves on their own preferring to build their own image.

Prasada has now floated Brahmin Samaj and ahead of state elections, it is slowly but surely, building a support base for himself as a Brahmin face for the Congress. But while Prasada has given no indication till now that he is disillusioned with the Congress, the fact that remains is the young aggressive face of the Congress may feel he is not being as used by the party as he perhaps should have been.

The story is similar for Milind Deora. Jyotiraditya Scindia has given a cue to few Congress leaders that it could pay not to be hanging around. Scindia has got a Rajya Sabha seat for himself and also his supporters have been adjusted in the cabinet much to the disdain of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. While many ask whether this was enough for him to quit the Congress, the counter is what could he have got by staying back?

The Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh duo would have ensured that Scindia be kept under their control. Scindia's grievance was pretty much similar to what Pilot has now  that he was not allowed to grow and he and his supporters sidelined and humiliated.

The power of a neta comes from the clout their supporters enjoy. The fact that Scindia could swing a good deal for his supporters, the ones who ensured the fall of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, has added to the might of Scindia. Slowly, if all goes well, Scindia can play himself as an alternative to Shivraj Singh Chouhan. A strategy which Pilot may be mulling as well.

As soon as the notice was sent to the deputy CM by ATS, while a similar one was sent to Rajasthan CM, one of Pilot's supporters called him to say this had to be an 'aar ya paar ki ladaai' and this time Pilot should not be silent.

Reality is this could be Pilot's Scindia moment. If this time Pilot doesn't put up a strong fight against Gehlot, he runs the risk of losing his supporters who may see him as a weak leader who doesn't have the courage to take on the mighty Gehlot. The comparison will be made to Scindia who took on the might of Kamal Nath and Digvijaya, who till the end underestimated Scindia and had to pay the price by losing their government.

For Pilot too it's a dilemma and a step back would be tough as it would mean he could run the risk of losing his supporters and that would leave him lonely and powerless. But Gehlot is known to be a shrewd player and isn't likely to be taking it lying down. And the Congress party doesn't like rebels or those who stand up for themselves. Certainly not at a time when demand is on for Gandhi's comeback. A neta with a mind and a clout of his own is the last thing on their priority.
Pope Francis has sent a video message expressing his closeness with priests who live and work among the people of poor neighbourhoods of the Argentine capital.

By Vatican News

Pope Francis has expressed his prayers, closeness and solidarity with the "Curas villeros", or priests who live and work in the "Villas miserias", the poor neighbourhoods or slums of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. In a brief video message, the Holy Father particularly expressed his closeness with three priests who have been hit by Covid-19 while carrying out their ministry.

"I want to tell you that I am close to you, that I am praying for you and that I am accompanying you right now. I know that you are fighting with your prayers and with the help of doctors", said the Pope in his video message posted by the "Curas villeros" on July 9 on their Twitter account.

Priests hit by Covid-19

He particularly mentioned Father Basilicio Britez, popularly known as "Bachi", calling him "a pioneer of Villa Palito", in what is known as Barrio Almafuerte today, one of the poorest neighbourhoods of the city. The Pope entrusted him to the Lord in this difficult moment. He invited all the faithful to "thank God for the testimony of these priests and pray for their health".

Started in the late 1960s, the group of "Curas villeros" received new impetus and encouragement in the 1990s from the Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis. Today, the group is made up of 22 priests who work in 8 different neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, inhabited by thousands of people.

Father Pepe a model

Among the best known faces is that of Father Jose Maria Di Paola, or "Father Pepe". During a meeting with the parish priests of Rome Diocese on March 2, 2017, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Pope held him up as a model.

During the encounter, the Pope recalled the story of a young drug addict and pusher who was undergoing rehabilitation at the Hogar de Cristo centre of Father Pepe in Buenos Aires. The man who was struggling against the urge to leave the centre was helped a lot by the priest. One day the addict told Fr. Pepe he could not take it anymore, that he was missing his family, his wife and two children a lot, and that he wanted to go back to them.

Fr. Pepe asked him whether he felt that way earlier when he was taking and selling drugs. The man just nodded in silence. The priest patted him on the shoulder and said, Go, thats enough, meaning to say, realize what has happened and what you are saying, and thank heavens that you are now missing them".
Rudolph Johnson, the up-and-coming Atlanta rapper known as Marlo, who loomed large among his citys rap heavyweights even as he remained an underground figure and ambivalent local celebrity, was shot and killed there Saturday night, police said. He was 30.

The Atlanta Police Department said that officers had initially responded to a single-vehicle accident on Interstate 285, west of downtown, around 11:30 p.m. and discovered the driver deceased, with gunshot wounds.

At this time, investigators believe the victim was the intended target of the gunfire, and they are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting, police said in a statement.

The Fulton County Medical Examiners Office confirmed Sunday that Johnson had been killed. The shooting came amid a rash of gun violence in Atlanta in recent weeks, following a turbulent period of protests against the police killings of Rayshard Brooks there and George Floyd in Minneapolis. It has to stop, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said last week.

Marlo, or Lil Marlo, who was also known locally as Young Rudy or Rude, turned to music relatively late in life, hoping to escape what he referred to as the streets  a world of guns and drug-dealing that had surrounded him as he was raised in some of Atlantas most neglected neighborhoods.

In 2017, he signed to Quality Control Music, the homegrown label that had minted stars like Migos and Lil Yachty, alongside his friend and collaborator Lil Baby, who went on to become one of hip-hops biggest new stars.

Two words, Pierre Thomas, the Quality Control executive, said at the time of the pair: Real Atlanta.

Marlo went on to release five mixtapes with the label, including his debut, 2 the Hard Way, with Lil Baby, followed by The Wire, 9th Ward God, The Real 1 and 1st and 3rd, from this year, which featured appearances by Future, Young Thug and Gucci Mane. Admittedly not a natural emcee, Marlo got by on the authority of his hard-boiled and hyperlocal street tales, delivering boasts, threats and regrets in a distinct, wheezing squeal that he was developing.

Though not a presence on the Billboard charts, he represented a distinct strain of cult-favorite regional rapper and connector, especially in Atlanta, commanding respect from his more established peers as he inched toward a breakthrough.

I aint tripping, Marlo said of his gradual rise toward the mainstream. I had to be new to the block before. So it just is what it is. As his partner Lil Baby racked up industry accolades, Marlo told his fellow rapper, No matter what Im doing, you keep going.

Rudolph Simmons Johnson was born on May 1, 1990, and raised in Bowen Homes, one of Atlantas most notorious and crime-ridden housing projects, which was demolished in 2009 after a string of killings.

I know how to survive in the jungle, said Marlo, who called his Bankhead neighborhood and the Bowen projects the home of the murderers and them drug dealers, and whose music told of witnessing violence and crack sales from a young age.

Thomas, who has worked to convince his Quality Control artists that music is a safer path, said in a 2017 interview, All of us come from the same background  I know the lifestyle, adding, I know what its like trying to get out the hood, trying not to make the same mistakes and putting yourself in the position to go back to prison.

Marlo called Thomas a real battery pack in me, an inspiration to try to choose the studio over the street.

So much potential that the world didnt get a chance to see, Thomas wrote Sunday on Instagram. Its really hard for me to say RIP.

Marlo is survived by his mother, Santresa Maxey; his cousin, Denise Hill-Love, who helped raise him; and his two sons, R.J. and Marlo Jr.

Lil Yachty said in an Instagram post announcing Marlos death that the two rappers had been recording Friday night. We just did a song [at] 4 this morning smh rip brother, he wrote.

Jacoby Hudson, a longtime friend and Atlanta defense lawyer, said in an interview that Marlo had just left a Bankhead block party late Saturday when he was killed.

Its heartbreaking, because I told Rudy it would end like this if he didnt change the people he was around, Hudson said in a phone interview. He didnt let the music save him. He still wanted to be in the neighborhood. He cared about people, and he took care of people. He loved too many people, and his loyalty is probably what got him killed.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are both set to shun foreign holidays this summer and instead favour 'staycations' in the UK, sources suggest.

Britons are able to stay overnight in self-contained accommodation - including hotels and bed and breakfasts - as well as campsites since coronavirus lockdown measures were eased on July 4.

And, in what appears to be a bid to boost Britain's hard-hit tourism industry, both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor will opt to spend their holidays at home, reports suggest.

The move is set to put pressure on other MPs to avoid travelling abroad as well - even though 67 countries were taken off the Foreign Office's 'non-essential travel' list earlier this month.

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are both set to shun foreign holidays this summer and instead favour 'staycations' in the UK, sources suggest. Pictured: Mr Johnson on holiday on the Greek island of Trikeri in 2016 - when he was Foreign Secretary

Mr Johnson has opted for luxury overseas holidays in the past, including spending Christmas in the Caribbean island of Mustique. It is there that he is believed to have proposed to have proposed to his now-fiancee Carrie Symonds (pictured together)

Mr Sunak (pictured) has a selection of four potential properties to spend the summer in, which he owns with his wife Akshata Murthy

A source close to the PM told The Sunday Times: 'He hasn't had much of a chance to think about holidays, but it will definitely be in the UK.'

Mr Johnson has opted for luxury overseas holidays in the past, including spending Christmas in the Caribbean island of Mustique.

It is there that he is believed to have proposed to have proposed to his now-fiancee Carrie Symonds.

Mr Sunak has a selection of four potential properties to spend the summer in, which he owns with his wife Akshata Murthy, including this magnificent Georgian manor in North Yorkshire

Mr Sunak with his wife, Akshata, and their two daughters Krishna and Anoushka

Mr Johnson and Miss Symonds are said to be deciding on where to go in the UK with their two-month-old son Wilfred (pictured) in the coming weeks

He was also pictured on holiday on the Greek island of Trikeri in 2016 - when he was Foreign Secretary.

Mr Johnson and Miss Symonds are said to be deciding on where to go in the UK with their two-month-old son Wilfred in the coming weeks.

He has a variety of options, including the PM's grace-and-favour homes Chevening and Chequers - where Miss Symonds isolated while pregnant during the pandemic - and his privately-owned farmhouse in Oxfordshire.

Mr Sunak has a selection of four potential properties to spend the summer in, which he owns with his wife Akshata Murthy.

These include a magnificent Georgian manor in North Yorkshire as well as a 7million property in London.

Mr Johnson's father Stanley earlier faced fierce criticism for travelling abroad to Greece when the Foreign Office guidance said Britons should not go abroad unless they have to.

He flew to Athens via Bulgaria due to a current ban on direct flights from the UK, before visiting his Villa Irene, on Mount Pelion, in central Greece.

The Prime Minister's father was seen checking his phone at a tavern in Horto village on Thursday

The Prime Minister's father (pictured) has faced fierce criticism this week for flying to Greece but protested his innocence when spotted by reporters yesterday on return from an afternoon swim in Pilion

But the Prime Minister's father said he was visiting on 'essential business' because he needed to 'Covid-proof my property' ahead of the letting season.

Referring to his residence in Greece, Mr Johnson told reporters: 'I came here to have a quiet time, to organise the house.

'I think I'm going to go back on July 10. So, I have just got one week to get everything organised. Got a whole lot of instructions about how to make the place Covid proof.'

By some local accounts, he arrived to the region by private car after documenting his controversial journey from the UK on social media, sharing a video taken from a plane and a selfie where his face was covered with a white mask.

Hounded by local and international media in Pelion, a visibly unnerved Mr Johnson said he was unaware of the outcry in Britain about his flight.

Still, he conceded scrapping pictures that he posted on social media accounts, tracking his journey.

'It is true I took the pictures down,' he said. 'But I didn't put them up in spirit of defiance. I certainly had no intention of provoking anyone.'
A deputy in a local Moscow council said a city contract to replace an elevator in an apartment building was written with disappearing ink, potentially allowing the company to inflate the price.

Elena Selkova, a member of the Council of Deputies for Moscow's Cheryomushki district, posted a video on Facebook on July 9 of a contract for 2,659,995 rubles ($37,500) to replace the elevator in a 12-story apartment complex built in her neighborhood.

When she placed the flame from a cigarette lighter near the contract, all the numbers except the first seemed to disappear. That, she said, would enable the company to increase the bill footed by taxpayers by nearly $5,000.

The contract was to be approved at a meeting of a local commission that includes members of the Council of Deputies.

Selkova said the contract was signed by all the other commission members except her before the meeting even began.

The deputy said the incident underscores the importance of independent members in city government.

The Moscow Election Commission last year banned several independent politicians from running for seats in the city parliament on claims that they submitted too many false signatures of support.

Their exclusion, which the politicians considered politically motivated to protect the ruling United Russia party, sparked the largest series of street protests in Moscow in seven years.
John Bolton abruptly departed as national security adviser to President Donald Trump in September 2019, after just under a year and a half in the pivotal, exceptionally demanding position. This was only one incident in a continuing series of departures of officials from this turbulent administration.

Now Bolton has published a memoir, titled The Room Where It Happened  A White House Memoir. His visible Washington D.C. career has involved regular appearances on Fox News, as well as service in the Reagan and both Bush administrations, including the Justice Department and the State Department. He brought that high-flyer style into the national security position, where a relatively low profile is often most effective.

White House efforts to prevent publication of his book have generated more attention and controversy. He strenuously denies circumventing standard national security review of the manuscript.

The book, just published by Simon & Schuster, is very much a discussion of personalities in the Trump administration. There is focus on the president but even more on Bolton, who is emphatic that he resigned and was not fired. However, he also provides extensive personal testimony that the relationship with the president had deteriorated badly by the time he departed.

Boltons exit was then only the latest in what is now a non-stop merry-go-round of senior administration officials coming and then going, often very quickly. Robert OBrien, Boltons successor, is a successful lawyer from California with extensive professional credentials, and active political campaign experience, but very little background in foreign policy.

In this administration, there has been relative stability at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a particularly influential player among our multiple federal intelligence agencies. This stands out especially in current turmoil. Mike Pompeo joined the current administration as CIA director, and then became secretary of state in April 2018.

Gina Haspel, his successor at CIA, is the first woman director and a career professional. Both qualities are major strengths, professionally and politically. She clearly has relevant experience, impact on policy, and a useful relatively low public profile.

Military dimensions remain vital policy challenges, for our nation as for others, and military officers have long been central to government leadership in intelligence and national security. During the Trump administration, two senior Army officers served as national security advisor before Bolton  Generals Michael Flynn and H.R. McMaster.

At CIA, established in 1947, the first four directors were all senior military officers: Rear Admiral Sidney W. Souers, General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, and General Walter Bedell Smith.

The U.S. has paid a high price for alienation between civilian and military agencies. During the Vietnam War, there was general lack of communication between our military and CIA. The latter proved notably accurate  and prescient.

Vietnam field commander General William Westmoreland encouraged conformity in outlook. He ordered military officers literally not to talk to CIA personnel. Late in that war, Congress acted to force cooperation.

Gathering and accurately assessing intelligence remain challenging. False intelligence that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction encouraged the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Bolton harshly condemns the president for last-minute cancellation of a planned air strike on Iran in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. drone. Trump warned of too many body bags.

Candidate Trump pledged to avoid overseas military involvement. Washington warrior Bolton regularly advocates force against Iran, North Korea and elsewhere. Personality plus policy made his departure no surprise.

Arthur I. Cyr is the Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College.

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The differences between Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot erupted soon after the 2018 assembly elections results that led to the ouster of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the seat of power, according to political experts.

Since then, the two leaders have had differences on several issues. The latest trigger was the post of the state Congress chief, said leaders close to both camps, on condition of anonymity.

Pilot has been the Rajasthan Congress president since January 2014 and theres talk of appointing someone else in that position. Leaders close to Pilot said he wants his supporter in the saddle or an important portfolio in the state government.

Also read: Rajasthan govt in crisis as Sachin Pilot leads rebels out

At present, Pilot holds the portfolios of Public Works Department. Rural Development & Panchayati Raj., Science & Technology, and Statistics

The buzz in the state bureaucratic circles is that Pilot has had differences with bureaucrats in his departments, especially in the public works department (PWD), where some key officers are not considered close to Pilot.

After the election results, while Pilots loyalists credited him for the victory, the party high command made Gehlot the chief minister and Pilot the deputy chief minister .

Before the municipal elections in October 2019, the state introduced a rule that even unelected members could stand for the post of mayor and head of municipalities. Pilot spoke against the move on many occasions, saying this will lead to back-door entry into civic bodies. Finally, the decision was rolled back.

Also read: Amid political turmoil in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot to skip key party meet

On the death of 107 of infants in Kota due to an alleged shortage of beds and lack of facilities in January this year, Pilot put his government in a spot, calling for fixing accountability. The health minister, Raghu Sharma, is considered a Gehlot loyalist.

And after the Congresss rout in the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan  the party won none of the 25 seats  Gehlot said Pilot should take responsibility for the defeat of his son, Vaibhav Gehlot, from Jodhpur because he was the party president.

Pilot also appeared to be critical of the government after the accused in the Pehlu Khan lynching case were acquitted in August 2019. He said had the Congress government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) earlier, the outcome would have been different.

Also read: Sidelining of Pilot in crucial decisions behind the turmoil?

The government formed the SIT to probe the mob lynching of Khan on the suspicion of cow smuggling in April 2017, when the BJP government was in power.

Political commentator Prakash Bhandari said the party has long ignored the crisis between its two leaders. Bhandari said the leadership should have sent KC Venugopal, general secretary in charge of organisation, to settle the issue. He was the one who brokered peace between them earlier and got them on one table. At this time, when differences between its two leaders are threatening to pull down the government, the party should have used him.

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Carl Sandburg. E.E. Cummings. Emily Dickinson. Each is a giant in the literary world.

Each is also a point of inspiration for Mary Oishi and her lifelong journey in poetry.

I grew up with people who never went passed the eight grade, Oishi says. I would read lots of poets and every chance I got to see poetry, I went to see them. It changed my life.

On July 1, Oishi began her two-year tenure as the Albuquerque Poet Laureate. She is the fifth person to hold the position.

Poetry is our human bond deeper than blood. Like the underground root of an aspen grove, it connects us where we all belong to each other. In a time of social distancing and isolation, poetry matters even more, Oishi says. I am honored to serve as Albuquerque Poet Laureate, to champion the unifying and healing power of poetry in these extraordinary times and in this amazing city, hometown of my heart.

Oishi follows in the footsteps of Hakim Bellamy, Jessica Helen Lopez, Manuel Gonzalez and Michelle Otero  a group she has learned to know very well over the course of two decades in Albuquerque.

Albuquerque is one of many cities  including Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Santa Fe  with poets laureate.

Forty-three states, including New Mexico, have a state-level poet laureate. Oishi will get a $5,000-a-year stipend for the position.

Shelle Sanchez, director of the Albuquerques Cultural Services Department, says the poet laureate program is a great example of community organizing partnering with the city. She has known Oishi for years.

(Mary is) the first poet laureate thats retired and shes in a different creative phase of her life, Sanchez says. Shes not originally from Albuquerque and I love the way she says Albuquerque is the hometown of her heart. Shes a great example of being very involved in the arts and cultural scene.

Oishi was notified of her new position but had to keep it under wraps until the July 1 announcement.

It was very difficult to keep quiet, she says excitedly. You want to run out and run down the street and tell everyone. I didnt call certain friends for fear that it would slip out. I only told my daughter and brothers and they live in California. They wouldnt say anything about it.

A scribes beginning

Oishi grew up in rural Pennsylvania where she lived with her uncle and his wife, whose parents met in the Ku Klux Klan.

Her elementary school was located in a sundown town, which meant Black people werent allowed to stay the night.

Being of mixed heritage  and of Japanese descent  she had a real struggle in that town.

The bus rides home (from school) were atrocious, she recalls. There were 65 kids shoving me around and throwing apples at me. It was nightmarish in elementary school.

Then she moved to a town nearby and things somewhat got better.

Teachers were much more open minded, she says.

At the age of 13, she found poetry. With the urging of a teacher, her confidence grew.

My ancestors on my mothers side are Japanese. Ninety-seven percent of the Japanese population wrote poetry, she says. When I go back to my roots, even though I was severed from them, I think that we can learn to see the beauty in language and bring it forth to others.

She found her voice in high school with poetry and was recognized as a stellar student.

Despite education being seen as a tool of the devil by her uncles wife, she blossomed.

I was named the first student of the month they ever named. I won it every single month in high school and they couldnt give it to me each time, she recalls. I won journalism awards with the high school paper. My uncles wife didnt want me to take the SAT because they didnt want the devil to control my mind. They said they would send me to Bible college.

After high school, she didnt immediately attend college.

Four years later, she went to take the SAT. She went to Penn State and got her degree.

Land of Enchantment

Oishi moved to Albuquerque in the late-1990s to work at KUNM and quickly became part of the poetry scene by performing, publishing her works and producing poetry events.

Oishi may be best known as a public radio personality since 1995 and for her 20 years at KUNM-FM Albuquerque where she served as development director and hosted The Blues Show. Currently, shes at KSFR-FM Santa Fe where she hosts a weekly blues show, Wang Dang Doodle.

Oishi recalls when she first moved to Albuquerque and began to become part of the poetry scene.

Producing poetry events also gave Oishi purpose.

Shes watched many a slam poet rise from humble beginnings to finding their voice.

Albuquerque gives you that standing ovation as a symbol of support, she says. The audience is patient and helps a young poet in developing their voice. Its a strong community.

Moving forward

Oishis community and organizational involvement includes serving as lead facilitator for the Common Bonds U21 Support Group for LGBTQ Youth, as well as an adjunct faculty member at the University of New Mexico, Valencia campus.

Outgoing poet laureate Otero has known Oishi for more than a decade.

Oishi was one of the first poets in Albuquerque to invite Otero to read with her.

At that reading I was struck by how she created space for so many other poets, Otero says. This is what Mary does  as a poet, as a friend, as a member of the community, she creates home for people finding their voice, for LGBTQ youth, for lovers of the blues, for those who work for justice. She is like the light on the Sandias, at once familiar and ever-evolving the more time you spend with her. And her work! Theres a muscular quality to her poetry, not that of a body builder, but of a ballet or flamenco dancer  with intention, patience, and years of practice behind every movement.

Oishi plans to spend her two years working with Albuquerque libraries.

Her project includes going to the institutions to collaborate with poets who live near each library.

Wed do a reading and then wed invite people from the neighborhood to get up and read, she says. I want to have events that involves the entire community. Some of these ideas will change due to the pandemic, but well find a way to get them done.

Sanchez is looking forward to working with Oishi on her libraries project.

She wants to focus on every area of the city and for us, thats really exciting, Sanchez says. The other thing I love about her project is that shes investing in the community. She has a different voice in terms of what she writes about. The program is focused on finding poets that want to be ambassadors of poetry.

Oishis writing is a healing process, which also serves as a conduit in building community.

Being poet laureate at this time, when there is so much division and so much stress and negativity, she says. I want to bring people together and give us a glimpse that were all part of the human family.
Normal life has been disrupted in several parts of Assam and neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh due to floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfall in the past few days.

According to a report issued by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Sunday, nearly 13 lakh people in 24 of the states 31 districts have been affected by floods. A total of 44 people have lost their lives due to floods till now.

Around 21,000 persons uprooted by floods have been taking shelter in 224 relief camps set up in 16 of the affected districts. Over 82,500 hectares of crop area was also submerged under flood waters in the affected districts.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal held a meeting with water resources minister Keshav Mahanta and other senior officials on Sunday to take stock of the flood situation in the state.

The CM directed ministers, MPs and MLAs to reach out to the flood-affected people in their respective areas and ensure adequate and timely relief. He instructed officials to repair damaged embankments on a war-footing.

According to a weather forecast issued by India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected from July 12 to July 16 in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and other states in the region. Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning is also predicted for several places.

According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), several rivers in Assam including Brahmaputra, Puthimari, Kopili, Jia Bharali, Pagladiya, Buridihing, Sankosh, Dhansiri and Siang in Arunachal Pradesh were flowing above the danger level on Sunday morning.

Nearly 80% area of the Kaziranga national park and tiger reserve in Assam spread over 430 sq km has been inundated with flood waters, according to a report issued on Sunday morning. Flood waters have inundated 125 of the 223 camps inside the park used for forest personnel.

A total of 41 animals in the park, the biggest habitat of one-horned rhinos, have died during this monsoon including 9 deaths due to drowning and 8 due to vehicle hits while trying to cross the nearby national highway to move to higher locations in Karbi Anglong district.

Flooding has also affected efforts to control the fire at Oil India Limiteds (OIL) natural gas well at Baghjan in Tinsukia district. The gas well had caught fire on June 9, a fortnight after a blow out, and claimed the lives of two firefighters.

Severe flood conditions in the Baghjan area continue to halt operations at the site. The approach road to site, equipment staging area and debris lay down area are still submerged in flood water. People of the relief camp from Guijan high school have been shifted to a government building, said an OIL release on Sunday.

In neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, heavy rainfall has led to landslides, damage to roads and loss of lives. On Friday, eight people were killed in two separate landslides close to the state capital Itanagar in Papumpare district.

Besides the deaths, there has been damage to roads due to rain and landslides. Two relief camps have been set up in Itanagar in two schools, said Yalik Jerang, information officer of Papumpare district.

Water level of Siang river has been flowing over the danger mark near Pasighat since Friday and East Siang district authorities have alerted people residing near the riverbank and low lying areas to be on maximum alert.

Flooding has also been reported from several places in Changlang and Namsai districts. According to a report in Arunachal Times, an important bridge over the Dibang river in Lower Dibang Valley district is also under threat due to rising water level in the river.
The German government has officially proposed that the European Union impose sanctions on Russian individuals responsible for a large-scale hacking of the Bundestag five years ago, DW reported Sunday, citing the German Press Agency .

The German government believes Russian intelligence was behind a 2015 network hacking in which an estimated 16 gigabytes of data, documents, and emails were siphoned off from the Bundestag's IT network, including thousands of emails from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bundestag office.

It was the largest cyber hacking ever carried out against the Bundestag.

In May, Germany's attorney general issued an arrest warrant against Russian citizen Dmitry Badin, who is "strongly suspected of being responsible" for the attack and who is a "member of the group APT28," the response to the inquiry said.

Germany also believes a hacker from the Russian military secret service GRU was involved.

On June 3, the German government "substantiated sanction proposals within the EU framework by presenting a comprehensive package of evidence based on the results of German investigative authorities and on intelligence information as well as publicly available sources."

This information was sent to the other EU member states for consideration. A decision from the bloc is still pending.

If agreed, the plan, which was recommended by Berlin last month, would be the first use of an EU cyber sanctions regime adopted in 2017.
Without fanfare, the New York Times announced this past week it decided to capitalise the "B" in the word Black when signifying "people and cultures of African origin".

Other journalistic influencers of writing style, the Associated Press and the Columbia Journalism Review already made the 'B' upgrade last month and shared the rationale of the Times to keep "white" lower case. "Black reflects a shared sense of identity and community. White carries a different set of meanings; capitalising the word in this context risks following the lead of white extremists," wrote the CJR.

The recent death of George Floyd and the global protests it sparked have prompted dramatic changes like NASCAR banning Confederate flags and Mississippi finally becoming the last in the US to eliminate the rebel emblem from its own state flag, so the simple CapsLock shift of a lowercase letter to upper case might not seem like a big deal.

But it is precisely within our lexicon inventory that we tell the narrative of ourselves and others.

1) Use inclusive language

Promoting new ways of writing and speaking reflect new ways of thinking and engaging with others in the world and in the workplace where diversity and inclusion programmes continue to expand. It's important to not only suggest, but also codify inclusive language as employees reap tangible and intangible benefits from improving co-worker respect.

Inclusive language aims to avoid words and phrases that exclude groups. Sayume Romero, a master's student in speech language pathology at Columbia University said: "Using gender-neutral and anti-ableist language is about allowing yourself to broaden your perspective."

2) Be open to adopting new changes

In the 90s I was working overnight in a Washington television newsroom as a writer. One night, our executive producer announced that "African American" was now to be used as a second reference when referring to a black person. It was the first time I'd heard the usage.

Fine with me, I thought. "Is it with a hyphen or no?" I asked. "Doesn't matter," came the reply. "We're TV."

Maybe the hyphen doesn't matter so much, but embracing changes in communications does. Changes in language can represent advancements in culture. It's not about being politically correct, but moving forward. Our complex history stays a part of us as we take steps toward a more inclusive future.

Right now, the word "Black" is being used to describe a collective culture, tribe, community and a people while the many shades of those people encompass a range of colours much broader than the single word suggests. Perhaps there will come a time when more colourful and accurate descriptors will become commonplace for all of us. Tones like ebony, mocha, copper, hickory, chocolate, buff, bisque, cream, tawny, mahogany, umber, beige or tan. Spray or natural.

We created our current descriptors, why can't we come up with new categories that function even better?

3) Reflect on what you tie identity to

We're not only tied to visual assessments. We make assumptions based on what religion, gender, sexual orientation or even simply the country someone is associated with.

I Zoomed a cultural diversity webinar recently and after the presenter rolled out a list of communications styles connected with various countries, a few of the participants objected. "I'm Indian," said a young man, "but I'm not at all like the India list." "I'm much more the German style than the Japanese," said a Japanese woman.

And yet we likely make sweeping generalisations about a person's character or values based solely on their home country, don't we?

Language, like attitudes, must continually evolve with understanding and acceptance of diverse people. With effort, we can move from group identity to individual identity. Six years ago this month, I visited Nigeria for the first time on a speaking tour. Like everywhere I travelled (back when I used to), someone asked me what I thought of their country. I answer the same way to everyone, "I learn about a country one person at a time".

Remembering my friend and mentor RDJ

During that first trip and for a dozen subsequent visits throughout Nigeria, I shared the speaking circuit stage with a Toastmaster champion and dedicated developer of professionals, Richmond Dayo Johnson.

RDJ, as we all called him, was Nigerian born and London educated. I marvelled at his seemingly effortless ability to story-tell and recite famous quote after quote - each perfectly suited to inspire our audiences. Over the years, he became a mentor and a friend.

Last Sunday, we were virtually reunited as we joined other global speakers for a live webinar on presenting and hosting video conferences. Again, I was struck by his powerful and moving speech: "What you do for yourself," he said, "you take to the grave. What you do for others, lives on."

The only thing larger than his physical stature was that clear, eloquent voice and his considerate heart. Sadly, it was that same heart that suddenly and incredibly failed him the very next day, just this past Monday.

RDJ, I miss you and recommit to doing for others. One person at a time.
Researchers diving into dark submerged caves on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula have found evidence of an ambitious mining operation starting 12,000 years ago and lasting two millennia for red ochre, an earth mineral pigment prized by prehistoric peoples.
The British ambassador to the US has launched an official complaint over the arrest of an Independent journalist covering protests in Seattle.

Karen Pierces protest was registered with senior levels of the State Department and the White House was informed, following the arrest of The Independents chief US correspondent.

Andrew Buncombe was shackled, assaulted and detained for more than six hours after being accused of failing to disperse in Seattle.

He denies committing an offence but now faces a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail and a $5,000 (4,000) fine.

Mr Buncombe was covering the police operation to clear the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest  where an area of Seattle had been occupied by demonstrators since early June.

The journalist wrote that he was arrested five minutes after arriving at Cal Anderson Park by an officer who told him to stop taking photographs and leave.

He was handcuffed, shackled and taken into custody at the West Precinct station, where he described crowded and unsanitary conditions despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Buncombe said he was assaulted by a guard, while other inmates said they had been threatened, mistreated or accused of crimes they did not commit.

He said he was alone at the time of his arrest, remained on the correct side of a police cordon, repeatedly identified himself as a journalist and showed his press badge issued by the State Departments Foreign Press Centres.

The arrest sparked international condemnation, amid concern over police action against more than 60 other journalists covering George Floyd protests in the US and Donald Trumps anti-media rhetoric.

The US correspondent was assaulted by a guard after his arrest

A member of Seattle City Council has written to mayor Jenny Durkan and police chief Carmen Best demanding action on Mr Buncombes unacceptable treatment.

Councillor Lisa Herbold said it violated the Seattle Municipal Code, which states that failure to disperse orders cannot apply to news reporters unless they are physically obstructing lawful efforts by police to disperse a group.

The city council also adopted a bill in 2017 that enshrined the right of public observation, recording or expression in the vicinity of police actions.

It is our job as elected officials to ensure the press remains free and is able to carry out its work, in accordance with the constitution and city law, Ms Herbold wrote.

The constitution and municipal code protections for the press, and observers, do not exist for the convenience of government, to be cast aside whenever they happen to be inconvenient.

The non-partisan councillor said first amendment protections for the press were a linchpin of American democracy, warning: Unless respected by government, the quality of our democracy is diminished and eroded.

George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Show all 30 1 /30 George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Police spray mace at protestors to break up a gathering near the Minneapolis Police third precinct after a white police officer was caught on a bystander's video pressing his knee into the neck of African-American man George Floyd, who later died at a hospital, in Minneapolis Reuters George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets A protester holds a sign with an image of George Floyd AP George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Protesters demonstrate against the death of George Floyd AFP via Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets A protester throws a piece of wood on a fire in the street just north of the 3rd Police Precinct Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets People in other US cities also protested the murder, like Los Angeles AFP via Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets AP George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Reuters George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets AFP via Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets AFP via Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets AFP via Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets A police officer lobs a canister to break up crowds Reuters George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets A protester is treated after inhaling tear gas Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Two police officers stand on the roof of the Third Police Precinct during a face off with a group of protesters Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Protesters outside a Minneapolis police precinct two days after George Floyd died EPA George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Protesters run from tear gas Reuters George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets AP George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Demonstrators gather to protest in Los Angeles AP George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Police remove barricades set by protesters AFP via Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets A fire burns inside of an Auto Zone store near the Third Police Precinct Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Flowers, signs and balloons are left near a makeshift memorial to George Floyd near the spot where he died AFP via Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets A policeman faces a protester holding a placard in downtown Los Angeles AFP via Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets A couple poses with a sign in Los Angeles AFP via Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets MINNEAPOLIS, MN - MAY 27: A man is tended to after sustaining an injury from a projectile shot by police outside the 3rd Police Precinct building on May 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Four Minneapolis police officers have been fired after a video taken by a bystander was posted on social media showing Floyd's neck being pinned to the ground by an officer as he repeatedly said, "I cant breathe". Floyd was later pronounced dead while in police custody after being transported to Hennepin County Medical Center. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) Stephen Maturen Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets A protester reacts after inhaling tear gas Getty George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Getty Images George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Protesters use shopping carts as a barricade Getty Images George Floyd death: Minneapolis protests erupt in the streets Protesters clash with the police as they demonstrate against the death of George Floyd AFP via Getty Images

Amnesty International USA said Mr Buncombe was one of at least 60 journalists arrested while covering protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in May.

The media have a right to attend and report on these protests, and law enforcement officials have a responsibility not to prevent or obstruct their work, said deputy director of research Justin Mazzola.

If not, human rights violations like the ones we have witnessed over the past two months will breed in the darkness.

Christian Broughton, editor of The Independent, described Mr Buncombe as an experienced and highly respected reporter.

As he writes in his article, the job of a journalist is not to disperse. Our job is to be present, he added.

It is imperative that democratic leaders everywhere stand up unequivocally for truly independent journalism. The arrest and appalling treatment of Andrew Buncombe must be condemned.
Plans to turn two former Bethlehem churches into apartments gained Bethlehem Zoning Hearing Board approval this week.

A developer wants to turn Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, 537 High St., into a 15-unit apartment building with 21 off-street parking spaces. DTMG 1165 VCP LLC sought four variances for rehabbing the five-story church, which were all granted during Wednesdays board meeting.

Ryan Dunn, principal with the development company, told lehighvalleylive.com the market-rent apartment project is in the design phase, with hopes to begin construction this year.

The exterior of the church will remain unchanged, WFMZ-TV 69 reported from Wednesdays meeting, citing the project engineer.

Also gaining approval was Monocacy General Contractings plan to redevelop the Zion First Hungarian Lutheran Church, 938 E. Fourth St. on Southside, and an adjacent lot at 949 E. Fifth St. into a 24-unit apartment building.

The developer plans to tear down a portion of the church and build a five-story addition that extends into a former parking lot, according to plans filed with the city. When finished, the project will have 42 parking spots. The developer sought a special exception and several variances.

The developer could not be reached Friday for additional details on the project.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.

Supervising reporter Kurt Bresswein contributed to this report. Reach him at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
Awantipora: The security forces in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday (July 12, 2020) apprehended two terrorists within four hours after the duo tried to hurl grenades at the security forces, that failed to explode.

The incident took place around 4:10 PM on Sunday, when the two terrorists lobbed two grenades at the security forces deployment near Sail Charsoo on the National Highway.

Police got a clue that two persons were boarding on the white colour Apache bike who had lobbed grenades and were driving very fast.

The area was cordoned immediately and during the search operation in the Sail village in Awantipora, the suspected white colour Apache bike was traced at about 100 meters from the place of incident.

During a further search of the area, both the terrorists were apprehended.

The arrested terrorists have been identified as:

- Umer from Aloora Shopian.

- Zahid Yusuf Pala from Aloora Shopian.

Further investigation and questioning were on at the time of publishing this copy.

Earlier in the day, the security forces killed at least three terrorists during an encounter in the Sopore town of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The 13-hour long gunbattle which started in the wee hours on Sunday, ended with this, whereas a search operation was underway when the latest report came in.

According to sources, one of the slain terrorists has been identified as Usman, affiliated with the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Toiba terror group.
Significant opposition is emerging as efforts to explore water diversion from Holy Cross Wilderness advance. Aurora and Colorado Springs are taking the lead on the plan, saying they have the legal right to develop the water and the obligation to ensure any development doesnt harm the fragile wetlands and fens in the area.
New Delhi, July 12 : A perfect storm appears to be gathering around China, brewed by growing internal dissent, wobbly external relations amid a global outcry for a through investigation on Beijings possible role in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At home, there are worrying signs that Beijing is now cracking down viciously against intellectual dissent. That, in turn, is evoking faint memories of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution era of the sixties and the seventies. During that infamous period, millions including the intellectual and cultural elite of China were huddled together, and sent for "re-education" to the countryside, to acquire "revolutionary" values befitting the chairman's dreams of a socialist paradise. An unknown number perished in the gulags meant to "de-class" minds, and attune them to a common social denominator of the countryside.

Some aspects of the cultural revolution horror are now rustling through Xi Jinping's China of the "new era", as the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) steps up hounding intellectuals and dissenters in the post-covid 19 era.

On Monday, Xu Zhangrun, a law professor at Tsinghua University, was picked up by police from his home at a Beijing suburb.

Xu had been earlier placed under house arrest for publishing an essay, which criticised Xi for marshaling one-man rule. The Chinese academic had diagnosed that the concentration of power in a single individual was the underlying cause behind the uncontrolled coronavirus cascade. In May, the outspoken professor slammed the Chinese leadership of "backtracking toward Mao Zedong's totalitarian rule". "It is high time for China to turn wrongs to rights and return to the path pursuing a modern constitutional democracy and a people's republic," he had observed.

President Xi's crackdown in recent months, following the novel coronavirus outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, is now on an upward spiral.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that in February, the Chinese academy of social sciences had fired Zhou Peiyi, a visiting lecturer from Hong Kong, following her critical response on social media of China's handling the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, Hubei University sacked professor Liang Yanping for publishing "incorrect speech" on social media related to Japan and Hong Kong.

Liang had initially attracted controversy for relaying views on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, which rejected the official narrative, radiating from Beijing, on the pandemic. The Chinese scholar had fallen out with the authorities for supporting Wuhan novelist Fang Fang.

Fang Fang's "lockdown diary" on the coronavirus is widely acknowledged as a truthful portrayal of the people's suffering in the city.

Amid the chorus abroad demanding a probe and accountability regarding the origin and spread of COVID-19, and the subtext that Beijing may have something to hide, China has gone ballistic in its response. Chinese envoys overseas have taken to "wolf warrior" diplomacy with a vengeance. That includes threatening host nations, as well as adoption of aggressive social media postings, with the intent of smothering contrarian opinions that appear to damage China's international reputation.

More ominously, China is literally on the warpath, adopting a forward deployed military posture in the South China Sea and Ladakh, facing India. In Ladakh, Chinese troops have moved en masse, along with heavy weapons to disrupt a strategic Indian border road that helps connect Leh, Ladakh's capital with the legendary Karakoram pass, the gateway to Xinjiang region. Unless repelled by a combination of force projection, dialogue and diplomacy, the Chinese troops can pour through the gates of Aksai Chin-territory claimed by India linking Tibet and Xinjiang-- and seriously threaten Indian defence lines in Kashmir.

In the South China Sea, the Chinese coast guard sank a Vietnamese fishing vessel on April 3, triggering an angry response from Hanoi as well as the rest of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

China's pushy and overbearing demeanour, has, however, evoked a potent military riposte. In Ladakh, India has stood up to China's military build up, and made it plain, that it would not be the first to blink.

In order to deter the China from militarily wresting its claims in the South China Sea, the United States has sent two aircraft carriers- the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Nimitz---along with their armed- to- the- teeth naval task forces.

These carriers have already shown their intent to use force, if required, to push back Chinese advances in key strategic areas of this zone. Of foremost importance is the Bashi channel. Located in the Luzon strait separating the Philippines from Taiwan, the Bashi channel seabed hosts a network of internet cables, forming a grand communication hub of Asia. In a clear message to Beijing, the two US carriers had exercised in the Philippine sea, before entering the South China Sea, after crossing the Luzon strait, which embeds the Bashi channel.

The proximity of the exercise close to Taiwan is also significant, signaling China that Washington will stand by the island in its time of adversity. China, intends to "reunite" Taiwan, even by using force if required, with the mainland, as part of the "one China" policy. But integration of Taiwan with the mainland also serves an immensely important strategic purpose. Once China has a hold over the Taiwan strait, it can "hide" its nuclear submarines in its deep waters, escaping into the wider West Pacific, undetected by U.S. surveillance.

The two US "floating airfields", currently on deployment in the South China Sea have set another unstated red line-dissuading China from taking over Scarborough shoal claimed by Philippines, which has signed a longstanding defence treaty with Washington, which will kick into life, in case Manila is attacked.

On the diplomatic front, the Chinese have also begun to feel the heat. On Tuesday, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party adopted a resolution for canceling the state visit to Japan by Chinese President Xi Jinping, in light of Beijing's enactment last week of a controversial national security law for Hong Kong. Suddenly the chill has returned to China-Japan relations, which were previously warming up following visits by President Xi to Tokyo, and by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Beijing.

Silently, along with India holding fort in Ladakh and taking the lead, the frontline has been activated in the Indo-Pacific, which has already taken its call not to fall in line with the diktat of the Middle Kingdom, intent on building, along its periphery, an impossible and anachronistic network of 21 st century tributary states.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 13:50:02|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has reported three new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking its total to 230, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Sunday.

"A total of 377 tests for COVID-19 were conducted across the country yesterday and three of them were positive," the NCCD's head Dulmaa Nyamkhuu told a daily press conference.

The newly confirmed cases are Mongolian nationals who returned home from Russia via Altanbulag border point on July 6, said Nyamkhuu.

Meanwhile, two more patients have recovered, raising its national count to 202, he added.

All confirmed cases in Mongolia were imported, the NCCD said, and no local transmissions or deaths have been reported in the country so far. Enditem
Sydney homeowners fear they will not find out about higher density developments in neighbouring properties until shortly before construction starts, under a new planning code aimed at fast tracking approval for "missing middle" housing such as terraces.

The government's medium density housing code came into force across NSW on July 1, following years of delays and widespread backlash from councils that argued their areas were ill-suited to more intensive development.

Rosebery residents James Lidis, left, and Wayne Moody fear the code risks destroying their suburb's streetscapes. Credit:Dean Sewell

The code makes medium-density housing, such as townhouses and dual occupancy homes, "complying" development.

It means developers who adhere to basic guidelines can bypass the usual development application process.
The health of prominent revolutionary poet and Maoist ideologue P Varavara Rao, who has been lodged in Mumbais Taloja Jail, has deteriorated, his family said on Sunday.

Rao is facing trial in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case of January 1, 2018, and also on charges of being part of a plot hatched by Maoists to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He was arrested in by Pune Police first in August 2018 and after he was released on bail following a court order, he was rearrested in November 2018. He was first lodged in Yeravada Jail in Pune and later moved to the Mumbai prison.

Raos wife Hemalatha and daughters Sahaja, Anala and Pavana said while speaking to reporters they were worried about his deteriorating health, as was evident from the phone call they had received on Saturday.

He appeared to be in a state of delirium and hallucination, as he was talking about the funeral of his father and mother, the events that happened seven decades and four decades ago respectively, Hemalatha said.

His co-prisoner took the phone from him and informed us that he is not able to walk, go to the toilet and brush his teeth on his own. We were also told that he is always hallucinating that we, family members, were waiting at the jail gate to receive him as he was getting released, she said.

Raos co-prisoner also told the family that he needed immediate medical care for not only physical but also neurological issues.

The confusion, loss of memory and incoherence are the results of electrolyte imbalance and fall of Sodium and Potassium levels leading to brain damage, Hemalatha said.

She pointed out that her husbands health has not been good for over six weeks now, ever since he was shifted in an unconscious state to the JJ Hospital from Taloja Jail on May 28.

Even as he was discharged from the hospital and sent back to jail three days later, there has been no improvement in his health. The earlier two calls on June 24 and July 2 were also worrying with his weak and muffled voice, incoherent speech and abruptly jumping into Hindi, which was quite worrying, she said.

The family said they were not bothered about issues like whether the case against the revolutionary writer was fabricated, that he had to spend 22 months in jail as an undertrial with the process turned into punishment and his bail petitions getting rejected at least five times now.

His life is the topmost concern for us right now. Our present demand is to save his life. We demand the government to shift him to a better hospital or allow us to provide required medical care, the family said in a statement.

We want to remind the government that it has no right to deny the right to life of any person, much less an undertrial prisoner, they added.

In April, around 40 prominent writers wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting Raos release in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Several members of Parliament, cutting across various political parties, also wrote to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray with a request to provide medical care to Rao and to shift him to a hospital.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 20:33:21|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Death toll of coronavirus in Australia has reached 108 after a man died in Victoria.

Authorities in Victoria on Sunday announced that the latest death is a man in his 70s. It followed the death of a man in his 90s a day before.

As of Sunday there had been 9,796 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, an increase of 243 from Saturday.

There were 273 new cases in Victoria, but 34 previously diagnosed cases were reclassified, resulting in a net increase of 239.

Nick Coatsworth, Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO), told reporters that the second wave of infections in Victoria was affecting younger people, and there was lower hospitalization rate than the first wave.

"The demographic of the second wave has dropped. They are younger," he said. He said that health authorities around the country were on "high alert" for a second wave in other states. Enditem
The Coast Guard ended its search Saturday for an 18-year-old swimmer who disappeared Friday evening in the rough surf off the coast of Ventnor City.

The swimmer, who was identified by Coast Guard officials as Jalan Alston, of New York, was swimming with two others at the beach off Victoria Avenue in Ventnor City when he went under the waves.

One of the two swimmers who made it ashore called 911 and said Alston helped them reach the beach by pushing them toward the lane after they encountered trouble in the water, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

A helicopter and a 47-foot boat from Coast Guard Station Atlantic City were deployed around 7 p.m. to help search the ocean along with Ventnor City Police Department, officials said.

The agencies searched 58 square miles over air, sea and land over a period of 13 hours but were unable to locate Alston so the decision was made to suspend the search pending the development of new information, according to the Coast Guard statement.

Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of Jalan, said Capt. Jonathan Theel, commander of Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay. Its always difficult to suspend a case and it weighs especially heavy on our hearts knowing that he was helping others.

The beach south of Atlantic City had been closed for about an hour and there were no lifeguards, Ventnor City Police Capt. Joe Fussner told NJ Advance Media early Saturday.

The ocean was extremely rough, Fussner said of the shoreline, which was pounded by Tropical Storm Fay Friday morning. There were rip currents and the conditions were extremely dangerous.

Fussner said the skies had cleared by the evening and that dozens of people were walking on the beach, possibly giving the false impression that the ocean was safe for swimming.

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.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, DMK president MK Stalin and MDMK general secretary Vaiko on Saturday paid homage to late leader VR Nedunchezhiyan, one of the senior leaders of the Dravidian movement, as his centenary year began.

The Chief Minister, in his tweet, recalled that Nedunchezhiyan, one of the senior leaders of the Dravidian movement during the days of Arignar Anna ((CN Annadurai), played a key role in the growth of the AIADMK. I pay my homage to him on his birthday, he added.

Meanwhile, at DMK headquarters, party president MK Stalin and other leaders paid floral tributes at the portrait of Nedunchezhiyan. MDMK general secretary Vaiko also paid homage to the late leader by garlanding his portrait at his residence. DK president K Veeramani issued a statement hailing the services of Nedunchezhiyan and his unstinted affinity to Dravidian ideals. In another tweet, the Chief Minister paid homage to freedom fighter Veeran Azhagu Muthukon. MK Stalin and TTV Dhinakaran also paid homage to the late leader.
Countries in Eastern Europe are facing rising waves of coronavirus infections, leading to new restrictive measures such as the mandatory use of face masks in Croatia and travel bans or quarantines to be imposed by Hungary. Hungarian authorities said Sunday that they would put countries in three categories  red, yellow and green  based on their rate of new coronavirus infections, and would impose restrictions, including entry bans and mandatory quarantines, depending from which country people were coming from.

We see worrisome signs about an increase in the number of cases in the neighboring countries, Europe and the whole world, said Gergely Gulyas, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff.

Foreigners from countries in the red category  those with a high rate of infections, including Albania, Ukraine, Belarus and practically all of Asia, Africa and South and Central America  are banned from entering, while Hungarian citizens arriving from those locations will have to stay quarantined for two weeks or until they test negative twice, 48 hours apart.

Both Hungarians and foreigners arriving from countries in the yellow category  which includes, among others, Bulgaria, Portugal, Romania and Sweden, as well as Britain, Russia, Serbia, Japan, China and the United States  will have to quarantine for two weeks, but will be allowed out if they test negative for the virus: once for Hungarians, or two negative tests 48 hours apart in the case of foreigners.

Gulyas said the new rules would take effect Wednesday and would be reviewed at least once a week.

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

Romania announced a new high of infections on Saturday, with 698, while 456 new cases were reported Sunday.

Serbia reported 354 new infections on Saturday, although there have been increasing doubts about the accuracy of the figures. Officially, the country has over 18,000 confirmed infections and 382 deaths since March, with health authorities warning that Serbian hospitals are almost full due to the latest surge in cases.

Croatia, whose Adriatic Sea coast is a major tourist destination, will make wearing masks mandatory in stores from Monday, while restaurant staff, but not patrons, will also have to wear face coverings.

Infections are also on the rise in India, which has the most cases after the United States and Brazil, with a record surge of 28,637 cases reported in the past 24 hours as authorities announced a weeklong lockdown beginning Tuesday in the key southern technology hub of Bangalore, where the offices of top tech companies like Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are located.

South Korea has also reported an uptick in infections around Seoul, its capital, and other major cities, with 44 new cases over the past 24 hours.

The pandemic is also affecting elections in Europe.

In Poland, which is holding a runoff presidential vote Sunday between conservative incumbent Andrzej Duda, and Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal, pro-European Union mayor of Warsaw, voters must wear masks and gloves, maintain social distancing and use hand sanitizer. They even can use their own pens to mark ballots. Ballot boxes are being disinfected regularly and the polling stations are ventilated.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 18:57:04|Editor: huaxia

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HANGZHOU, July 12 (Xinhua) -- East China's Zhejiang Province reported one new imported COVID-19 case on Saturday, the provincial health commission said Sunday.

The imported case was a Chinese national who departed from Ghana on July 10 by charter flight and arrived at the Xiaoshan International Airport in the provincial capital. He started to show symptoms, including fever and cough, on June 17.

He was transferred to a local hospital after arriving at the airport. He was receiving medical treatment after being confirmed as a COVID-19 patient. There were no close contacts with him in China.

As of Saturday, Zhejiang has reported a total of 1,270 confirmed cases, including 51 imported cases. Enditem
Mumbai, July 12 : It's a flashback Sunday for actress Mrunal Thakur as she went down the memory lane and recalled shooting for "Super 30", which was released a year ago.

Taking to social media, Mrunal wrote: "Don't believe it's been a year! What a fantastic journey ! Thank you Team Super 30 for making it so special.Love you all !12.07.2020." Along with it, she shared a few images and stills from the film.

Directed by Vikas Bahl, "Super 30" is a biographical drama. It is based on the life of mathematician Anand Kumar and his educational program Super 30. Actor Hrithik Roshan played the lead role in the movie.

Speaking of upcoming projects, Mrunal will be seen opposite Farhan Akhtar in "Toofaan" and Shahid Kapoor in "Jersey" respectively.
But she wants Democrats to challenge Trump, not those who voted for him. I think that there are ways that we can make the argument without any element of an I told you so reflection on the past, she said. There are many, many reasons why we should move forward with making a change. And I hope thats the argument that many of my colleagues will be making.
A lot of wealth rides on the back of systemic racism, Morales said. All of us who have the honor and privilege to be in our roles recognize the power we have and want to use that to amplify the voices of others who have historically not been heard.
More people than ever before are trying to access parks and beaches, says Krystyn Tully.

Because of the hot weather and limits on travel, we are seeing a huge surge in demand for access to the water and water quality information, said Tully, co-founder and vice-president of Swim Drink Fish.

Swim Drink Fish is a non-profit organization interested in and concerned about recreational water and works to connect people with water.

Last year the organization teamed up with Niagara College and Niagara Coastal Community Collaborative to create the Lake Erie-Niagara Hub  it looks at water quality  covering Port Colborne and nearby Fort Erie.

The hub would not exist without the collaborative, and Swim Drink Fish is happy to continue working with them and Niagara College, Tully said.

The collaborative manages the hub, the college hosts it and Swim Drink Fish runs it with funding from Environment and Climate Change Canadas Great Lakes Protection Initiative.

The initiative is a four-year demonstration project meant to engage under-served communities on the Great Lakes in water quality monitoring, data-sharing and stewardship, and will see $1.8 million put toward six hubs on the Great Lakes.

There is a lot of work to do to monitor water quality, share information with the public, and ensure that people are enjoying nature and still physical distancing.

We feel for the health units who are trying to juggle COVID-19 and beach health demands at the same time. Were trying to do anything we can as a non-profit partner to help connect people to nature safely, said Tully in an email interview.

She said the hub is back up and running and in pre-season preparations, completing environmental health and safety surveys and other setup tasks.

We expect to be sampling and sharing data in about two weeks.

Tully said there are some COVID-19-related logistical issues with the space used for the lab last year, and equipment temporarily relocated for now.

Last year the hub monitored six locations on Gravelly Bay in Port Colborne and at Waverly Beach and Windmill Point in Fort Erie.

We are making some changes because of the pandemic and because of some changes along the shoreline (erosion).

Water sampling at Gravelly Bay near Sugarloaf Marina in Port Colborne will continue, but sites will change to accommodate physical distancing guidelines.

We have a good relationship with Mark Minor, the supervisor at the marina, and he has been part of the logistics discussion. We plan to be sampling at Waverly, but in a different location because of the changing shoreline. Were in the final stages of confirming a third site and will know next week.

Tully said the goal is to ensure that sites monitored are relevant to people who are using the water, that staff can follow social distancing guidelines, and data collected is helpful to partners.

She said the overarching lesson from last years testing was just how important the waterfront is in the community and how deeply people care about access to the water.

It was just the first year, so there isnt enough data yet to highlight any major trends or explain why bacteria levels are sometimes high. We cant wait to get back to the water to learn more and to share what we find.

Tully said to help people understand where and how they can access beaches there are several resources on the Great Lakes Guide website at great lakes.guide.

Were also reporting beach results and COVID advisories on a beach by beach basis.

Those can be found at the Swim Guide: theswimguide.org.
Children's face masks are being charged at ten times more than adult ones as retailers seek to rake in profits on the lockdown essentials.

Dinosaur masks have been put on shelves at 13 each, while those decorated with Elsa from Disney movie Frozen are billed at 11 for two and masks showing figures from computer game Minecraft are at 14.

This compares to just 1 on average for adult face masks - and sometimes as little as 66p each.

The hefty pricing comes ahead of statements suggesting that the government may require face masks to be worn in shops.

Frozen face masks for children have been placed on shelves at 11 for two

And those showing dinosaurs, such as the one pictured, are priced at 13 each

Minecraft-themed face masks for children have been priced at 14. It comes as the government warns they may make it mandatory to wear masks in shops

Retailers have also placed Marvel heroes on children's face masks, making them 8.50, animal faces, raising the price to 10, and unicorns, at 6.99 each.

Mother-of-six Rebecca Jones, 40, from Newport, told The Sun on Sunday that she wouldn't be able to afford all these face masks.

'I have to take a ferry next week so have been trying to find a face mask for my 11-year-old,' she said.

'But I've only been able to find one shop that sells them, and at 5 they are double the price of the adult ones I can get in Asda.

'If I end up having to buy them for all my kids that will be way too expensive. Also, the two-year-old will keep taking his off.'

Masks with patterns put parents under pressure to pay far more for facial protection for their children.

There are plain children's masks available priced at 2.99 for four - or 74p each.

Adult face masks on the other hand cost 1 on average - and some as little as 66p each

Children's face masks adorned with Marvel heroes have been priced at 8.50 each

Many celebrities have been pictured wearing face masks as authorities call for them to be used to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Amber Heard wore a red face mask as she attended London's High Court. And dame Judie Dench donned an animal-patterned face mask as she visited the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey.

Boris Johnson warned on July 10 that the requirement to wear face masks on public transport may also be extended to shops.

'We need to be stricter in insisting that people wear face coverings in confined places where they are meeting people that they don't normally meet,' he said.

In England, rules state that anyone over the age of 11 should wear a face mask when on a ferry, bus, train or plane.

This has been extended in Scotland - where people are also required to wear the facial coverings in shops.

The World Health Organisation advises that face coverings should be worn by anyone under the age of 60 on public transport or in some enclosed work environments.

They said it could provide 'a barrier for potentially infectious droplets' where 'physical distancing of at least one metre is not possible'.
The Election Commission has written to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, seeking to know if state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, who is also the chairman of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Board, is holding two offices of profit.

In a letter to Sinha earlier this month, Vijay Kumar Pandey, one of the directors of the poll panel, also wanted to know why Hakim should not be dismissed as an MLA.

"Yes, we have received a letter in this connection. We are looking into the matter. We will reply once the time is right time," a top government official said.

The urban development minister, when contacted, said he does not take any salary or perks as the chairman of the civic body's board of administrators.

Secretariat sources said the EC, in its letter, has posed nine questions, two of which related to Hakim's responsibilities and remuneration as the KMC Board's chairperson.

The letter demanded details of Hakim's appointment procedure, a copy of the appointment order and information about the facilities provided to him as well as the exemptions granted to his office under any order or Act.

It also asked about the date on which a notification for the creation of the post was issued, and if it was done in view of a state government directive.

Government sources said the EC issued the letter after Satish Tiwari, additional chief secretary to the governor, wrote to the poll panel on June 22.

In the letter to the EC, the additional chief secretary said Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had received letters accusing Hakim of holding two offices of profit and sought his dismissal as an MLA, citing Section 191(1)(A) of the Constitution.

Notably, the state government had in 2007 included 115 posts in the list of offices of profit. In 2011, the list was amended and the number of such posts was increased to 126.

The office of the chairman of the KMC's Board of Administrators, which was created earlier this year after the municipal elections were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, however does not feature in the list.

Earlier, Hakim had held the post of Kolkata mayor.

Hakim, on his part, said the governor, in collusion with the BJP, was trying to create disturbances.

"I am not taking any salary or perks, allowances or car as the chairman of the Board of Administrators. The BJP and the governor jointly want to disturb us (the Trinamool Congress government). The court has asked me to continue my duty, and I will work accordingly," he added.
If todays era of racial reckoning has made anything clear, its the obligation of our institutions to make amends for past wrongs and to fix the systems that have routinely suppressed, denied or traded away rights and opportunities for Black Americans and people of color.

The construction of Interstate 5 nearly six decades ago perfectly illustrates that dynamic. The state of Oregon, with the blessing and input of local white leaders, built the new freeway to cut right through North Portlands Albina district, home to 80% of the citys Black population at the time. Crews bulldozed hundreds of homes to clear the way, evicting families and forcing out businesses with little or no compensation. It was one of a string of projects around todays Rose Quarter district that displaced thousands of Black residents from the 1950s to the 1970s, carving up their once-thriving neighborhood to benefit everyone but the people who lived there.

Enter the I-5/Rose Quarter project, authorized by the Legislature in 2017 as part of a transportation bill funding projects around the state. The project, which would add 1.7-mile-long auxiliary lanes and shoulders, would help ease safety and congestion concerns for the high-traffic, high-crash stretch where I-5 converges with Interstate 84 and Interstate 405. The project, led by the Oregon Department of Transportation, also includes improvements to better connect the neighborhood, provide safer crossings for pedestrians and cyclists and offer open space by capping portions of the highway with covers.

But this project  which remains a critical improvement for Oregons transportation network  needs to be so much more than that.

As the influential community organization Albina Vision Trust has argued, the project represents a rare opportunity for the state to try to make amends in the neighborhood devastated by the construction of this stretch of highway. The organization, which formed in 2015 to chart a future for Albina, envisions an expansive revitalization with housing, retail, parks and cultural spaces in a reconnected neighborhood  built in part on highway covers that can support such development  that creates the sense of community lost decades ago.

But Albina Vision Trust has since withdrawn from a committee advising ODOT, concerned that little will ultimately change in the project ODOT builds. Local elected officials quickly pulled their support as well. While the highway project may have the legislative authority to proceed, it now lacks the moral authority to do so.

In a way, its not surprising that efforts to reshape the project would fall apart, despite sincere efforts by Oregon Transportation Commission members and ODOT staffers to explore how to support Albina Visions efforts. Brendan Finn, who directs ODOTs office of urban mobility, said he hoped the project could be a poster child for the country on how to address past racial injustice, respond to climate change concerns and restore neighborhoods decimated by freeway expansion. But the problem is that ODOT was never meant to take on this kind of community rebuilding challenge. Nor does it have the flexibility  in funding or in direction  to achieve what Albina Vision is seeking. And local governments have yet to step up with providing that leadership.

This is where Gov. Kate Brown and the Legislature must step in  not to push the highway project through at all costs, but rather to champion rebuilding of the Albina district as a twin objective with responsibility and investment shared by state and local governments. Unfortunately, while Brown has declared that the project wont proceed without the support of the Black community, she said through a spokesman that she expects ODOT to continue to engage in conversations to address the needs of the community throughout this process.

This opportunity  and obligation  is bigger than ODOT. It needs the governor, as well as House Speaker Tina Kotek and Sen. President Peter Courtney, to embrace an expanded vision that incorporates a commitment to racial justice, secure new legislative authority and work with local and regional partners to collectively plan and fund it. As challenging as Oregons economic environment is, the duty to work toward fixing our past mistakes must begin now.

It would be a mistake to claim the destruction of the Albina district is solely a Portland problem and dishonest to diminish the states role in bulldozing Oregons largest Black community. The construction of I-5 through Albina is one chapter in a long history of racist practices and racist laws over the past century and a half, that have denied Blacks and people of color the economic, educational and societal opportunities offered to whites. Oregon, from its eastern border to the Coast, needs to own its long history of racism. The Albina project is the place to start.

- The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board

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Shared commitment for peace and prosperity

US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel J. Kritenbrink has described the progresses seen in the US- Vietnam relationship over the past 25 years as extraordinary. According to the Ambassador, the ties of trust and friendship have provided a foundation for the bilateral relationship.

He recalled the year 1995, when US President Bill Clinton announced the normalisation of US diplomatic relations with Vietnam, the two countries had nearly no trade and very limited people-to-people connections.

Setting aside their differences, the peoples of the two countries have moved forward as friends instead of foes and worked together to promote trust, friendship and cooperation with a shared commitment to peace and prosperity.

He noted that veterans and their families on both sides were among the first to face the past and start building the bridges that allowed our governments to successfully interact. Americans and Vietnamese began working together to address humanitarian issues and the legacies of war years before the normalisation of relations.

Since 1988, American and Vietnamese teams have partnered to recover our fallen soldiers. Since 1989, the US has provided over US$113 million to assist people with disabilities in Vietnam. Since 1993, the US has contributed over US$130 million to help Vietnam remove unexploded ordnances (UXOs).

According to the diplomat, the two side also took early steps to build people-to-people ties, opening the Fulbright program in 1992, followed by the establishment of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program (FETP) in 1994. Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) has helped to unlock the tremendous potential of Vietnams education sector. Established in 2000, the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) provided nearly 600 scholarships for Vietnamese students to receive masters degrees and PhDs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Every year, tens of thousands of young Vietnamese citizens study at universities in the US. They contribute to the academic excellence of the US campuses, and they return to Vietnam ready to contribute to the growing economy.

Regarding bilateral economic relation, the US Ambassador noted with pleasure that from almost no trade 26 years ago, the two countries have reached over US$77 billion in two-way trade today. Major US firms have invested billions both in Vietnams manufacturing sector and in its infrastructure, he said, while expressing his belief that the collaborative work to ensure the free and fair flow of goods and investment between the two countries will continue to contribute to mutual prosperity.

In conclusion, Ambassador Kritenbrink stated that the shared progress in the US-Vietnam relations is indeed remarkable, but it was no accident. The achievements have been built on the courage, goodwill, and painstaking work of those who came before, he explained, stressing that todays generations have a responsibility to continue building the ties of trust and friendship that are the foundation of the bilateral relationship.

Promoting potential and room for Vietnam  US cooperation





Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc

In an interview granted to Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper, Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc highlighted the significant outcomes and prospects of bilateral cooperation.

He emphasised that Vietnam and the US have reaped impressive achievements over the past 25 years, illustrating the political determination of the two countries leaders as well as the strong support of the two peoples.

He stated that the bilateral ties have been built on the basis of respect for the United Nations Charter and each others political systems, independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. These principles have been reflected consistently in bilateral documents as well as across the fields of cooperation between the two countries.

In addition to maintaining high-level visits, the two sides have established many cooperative mechanism and dialogues.

Partnerships in economics, trade, and investment have become a bright spot of bilateral relations over the last 25 years, he said, adding that two-way trade rose more than 170 times from US$450 million in 1995 to US$77.6 billion in 2019. The US is currently the biggest importer of Vietnamese goods.

In addition, defence-security cooperation has also seen solid progress, expanding from addressing war consequences to military medicine training, humanitarian aid, peace-keeping, anti-terrorism and cyber security.

People-to-people exchanges have been fostered with more than 800,000 Americans visiting Vietnam annually and that more than 31,000 Vietnamese students studying in the US.

Over the past quarter century, the Vietnam-US relations have not only benefited the peoples of the two countries but have also contributed to the maintenance of peace, stability, cooperation and respect for the rule of law in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large.

Ambassador Ngoc warned that the regional and global situation has seen rapid and complicated developments with both traditional and non-traditional security challenges, and thus stressed the need for Vietnam and the US to step up cooperation in addressing common challenges.

Effective signs of cooperation have been seen in addressing the consequences of COVID-19 and reviving the two economies after the epidemic.

The two sides have strengthened coordination at regional and international multilateral forums, including the United Nations, ASEAN, the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+), the East Asia Summit (EAS), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC). The cooperation has been even more evident this year with Vietnam assuming the ASEAN Chairmanship and a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council (UNSC), he noted.

He stressed that Vietnam wants to further promote the potential and room for further cooperation with the US.

Ambassador Ngoc expressed his belief that the Vietnam  US relations will be further lifted to new heights with determination and goodwill from both sides
Vietnamese wait to be repatriated home at Sheremetyevo airport in Russia, May 12, 2020. Photo by Vietnam News Agency.

Two Vietnamese women returning from Russia have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, raising the national tally of active cases to 22, the Health Ministry confirmed Sunday.

"Patient 371," 36, hails from Nam Sach District in northern Hai Duong Province and "Patient 372," 31, from Hanois Me Linh District.

The two women, passengers on Vietnam Airlines flight VN506 that landed July 9 in the southern city of Can Tho, were quarantined on arrival in Bac Lieu Province nearby.

Their samples tested positive a day later and they are under treatment at the Bac Lieu General Hospital.

As of Sunday, Vietnam has recorded 372 coronavirus infections. Among the 350 patients who have recovered is "Patient 91," the British pilot whose life Vietnamese doctors fought for months to save. He was discharged Saturday and scheduled to fly home on Sunday.

Vietnam has gone 88 days without community transmission of Covid-19. There has been no Covid-19 death to date. Of those still under treatment, one was tested negative once and three others twice.

In the rest of the world, the pandemics reported death toll is 567,000.
A Divisional Police Commander, Peter Ayirezang based in Yendi in the Northern region, has been asked to leave the area after he allegedly disrespected the high office of the traditional authorities.

This was confirmed by a Former Presiding Member of the Yendi Municipal Assembly, Abu Zolge.

He revealed that the Yendi residents have kicked out the commander with immediate effect.

The Overlord gave a command around 5:00 pm [on Saturday] that the behaviour of the Divisional Commander looks odd and very disrespectful to the Overlord of Yendi and so he should leave Yendi before 7:00 pm. So, the youth came out in their numbers and asked him to obey the order given by the Overlord of Dagbon. The BNI Director, the Crime Officer and the District Commander all came to the Palace to plead but the plea was refused. So around 6:30 am he [the Divisional Commander] left Yendi.

The Public Relations Officer for the Palace, Musah Yakubu, confirmed the incident to Citi News but declined to give further information.

Mr. Zolge had told Citi News that Yaa-Naa had settled a dispute between two of his sub-chiefs in the Tatale area. He said three days after the dispute had been settled, the sub-chiefs received an invitation from the Divisional Police Commander to help in investigations.

According to him, the sub-chiefs informed the Yaa Naa of the invitation, and so the Yaa Naa asked them to honour it.

Mr. Zolge said, Yaa-Naa also sent a representative to inform the Divisional Commander that the case had been settled.

He added that, upon reaching the station, the Police Commander allegedly ordered for their arrest and detention.

The former Presiding Member also alleged that the Police Commander sacked the representative of the Yaa Naa.

According to Mr. Zolge, when the information got to the Yaa-Naa, he was infuriated and decreed for the exit of the Police Commander. Peter Ayirezang leaves Yendi

The Divisional Commander in the middle of the allegation, Peter Ayirezang also confirmed the incident to Citi News but also declined to give further details on the issue.

He, however, told Citi News that he had left Yendi to Tamale and would later proceed to Accra where he would meet with his superiors.

I have left Yendi because if you are with someone and he says he can't work with you, what can you do? I am in Tamale en-route to Accra; I will go to Accra tomorrow [Monday]. I have reported to the administration and they have recalled me to be reposted.

---CitinewsRoom
Former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose, says the ongoing investigation would not be completed without digging into who bought the many properties seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] and how they were sold.

Fayose stated this while reacting to the ongoing probe of Ibrahim Magu, suspended former acting Chairman of the anti-graft agency corruption charges by a Special Presidential Panel.

In a statement by his Media Aide, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said the probe must not be just to achieve the sole aim of removing Magu from office, adding that Nigerians are interested in the identities of buyers of the properties seized by EFCC and how they

He said; Nigerians must know the beneficiaries of the seized properties and how they were sold because most of these properties were bought by associates of Magu, including some so-called human rights lawyers.

These human rights lawyers were his promoters and today, they are the ones defending him because they know that if this investigation goes deeper than just looking for what Magu did wrong so as to remove him from office, their own dirty secrets will be revealed for Nigerians to see.

It should not end up as a tool just to remove Magu because removing him will not be enough, the loots already re-looted must be re-recovered and those who re-looted the loots brought to book.

Also, those holding money and properties in trust for Magu as well as those who must have helped him to launder money must be revealed
Its proven practice of systematic torture should disqualify Saudi Arabia from holding the presidency of the G20.

This year, Saudi Arabia is holding the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 (G20), the worlds largest economies. The kingdom will use its presidency as a PR opportunity to expand its economic influence and attract foreign investment.

It will serve the Saudi authorities as yet another building block in their relentless efforts to depict a progressive and modernising image of the kingdom and deflect attention away from its appalling human rights record. But the image the Saudi authorities are trying so hard to portray could not be further from the reality on the ground.

Reports that emerged in late 2018 of the gruesome torture of Saudi women rights defenders shone a light on the modern-day torture chambers operating in the kingdom, and a legal system that instead of protecting its victims shields the perpetrators with a veil of impunity.

The female activists suffered beatings, flogging and electric shocks. One female detainee was told that her child had died, in an attempt to psychologically break her. Others were sexually assaulted. At least one woman attempted suicide on several occasions as a result.

While this was clearly a particularly worrying development, given that the torture of women was previously unheard of in Saudi Arabia, the practice itself is widespread in the country today, and takes many shapes and forms.

Torture is used during interrogation to extract coerced confessions, which are then often admitted at court and used as sole evidence to convict and sentence individuals to long prison terms. Individuals are also subjected to acts of torture as a punishment while in detention.

Moreover, torture commonly takes place in the context of enforced disappearance, where an individual is held at an unknown location for anywhere between a few days and several years without access to a lawyer or their family.

Such was the case for Yemeni journalist Marwan Al Muraisy, who was arrested by security forces on June 1, 2018, and then not seen or heard of until May 15, 2019, when he first called his family to inform them that he was being held in Al Hair Prison.

Similarly, humanitarian aid worker Abdulrahman Al Sadhan was arrested on March 12, 2018, from his workplace at the headquarters of the Saudi Red Crescent in Riyadh, but it was only after almost two years of disappearance that he was finally allowed a one-minute phone call to assure his family that he was still alive. However, to this day his family have neither been officially told where he is being held, nor why he was arrested, or if and when they will be able to see him again.

Although Saudi Arabia ratified the UN convention against torture in 1997, domestic legislation has not been brought in line with international standards and fails to offer sufficient legal safeguards. The frequent denial of access to legal counsel, family visits and adequate medical care create a conducive environment and increase the likelihood of torture.

The revised counter-terrorism law of 2017 further opened the door to prolonged and even unlimited periods of incommunicado detention, in which individuals are denied access to family members, an attorney, or an independent physician. This facilitates the practice of torture and ill-treatment, and renders individuals accused under the Counter-terrorism Law extremely vulnerable to torture.

While mechanisms to raise torture allegations formally exist, they serve more as window-dressing than as an actual means of recourse for victims. Torture allegations fail to be investigated, and perpetrators need have no fear of consequences  unlike those who raise such allegations, as the case of human rights defender Khaled Al Omair shows.

Al Omair was actually re-arrested in 2018 after officially filing a complaint that he had been tortured during a previous prison sentence. This illustrates the reprisals individuals may face when pursuing torture allegations, as well as the culture of impunity that applies to public officials who commit acts of torture and other ill-treatment.

In a report published following his country visit to Saudi Arabia in 2017, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism stated: The failure of Saudi Arabia to provide minimum procedural safeguards during detention and interrogation, and its judicial practice of admitting coerced confessions into evidence, strongly suggests that the practice [of torture] is officially endorsed.

He further noted that although more than 3,000 allegations of torture were formally recorded between 2009 and 2015, he was not aware of a single case in which an official had been prosecuted.

Given the systematic torture being practised in the kingdom today, the Saudi authorities should not be rewarded with the hosting of the G20 or similar events, which they will only exploit to try to whitewash their human rights record and escape further international scrutiny.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
New Delhi:

The United States (US) Embassy in New Delhi has warned of an increased threat to places in India that are frequently visited by foreigners, official Twitter handle of US Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs said on Tuesday. The places that are frequented by foreigners include religious sites, markets and festival venues.

The US has asked its citizens in India to keep high level of vigilance citing reports indicating that terror outfit Islamic State desires to attack atargetsa in India.

An advisory issued by the American Embassy in New Delhi warned its citizens of an increased threat in places frequented by Westerners in the country.

"Recent Indian media reports indicate ISIL's desire to attack targets in India. The US Embassy warns of an increased threat to places in India frequented by Westeners, such as religious sites, markets and festival venues. All US citizens are reminded to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness as detailed in the State Department's Worldwide Caution of September 9, 2016."

(With inputs from PTI)

US Embassy New Delhi warns of an increased threat to places in India frequented by Westerners, such as religious sites, markets.. pic.twitter.com/g7lOmZPlID a Travel - State Dept (@TravelGov) November 1, 2016

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Singapores ruling Peoples Action Party is back in power with 89% of seats in last weeks election, but its the partys worst showing since 1965. It was expecting a bigger majority this time, considering this is a pandemic year and Singaporeans tend to be risk-averse. The main opposition Workers Party won 10 of the 93 seats, its biggest haul so far. The vote is widely seen as reflecting the aspirations of younger Singaporeans, wanting a variety of voices representing them. Experts say a more diverse parliament could lead to better policy reforms. For more of the national and world news, heres Mint Lite.

Agriculture leads revival

View Full Image Farmers have planted 12 million hectares with rice, preliminary data from the agriculture ministry shows

The monsoon covered all of India 12 days in advance by the end of June, and while some parts received excess rainfall, others recorded a deficiency. Overall, the early monsoon has helped sowing across the country. Farmers have planted 12 million hectares with rice, preliminary data from the agriculture ministry shows. This is an increase of 25% from last year as the robust rain encouraged the expansion of acreage. In a year when all sectors have been ravaged by the coronavirus, agriculture is expected to lead revival, as India has received 14% higher than average rain since the monsoon began on 1 June. Farmers start planting rice, corn, cotton, soybean, sugarcane and peanuts from 1 June. Most farmlands in India are rain-fed, and planting usually lasts through July. Overall farm activity has risen from June onwards, aided by the monsoon. The area under cultivation of various crops has increased 87% so far this season compared to last year.

Rains devastate parts of Asia

View Full Image In Assam, where over 6 lakh have been displaced, and north Bengal too, the flood situation worsened on Sunday.

Arunachal Pradeshs Siang river is flowing at dangerous levels since Friday following days of torrential rain. Officials have declared an emergency and said all rivers are flowing above the danger mark, as monsoon rains continue to lash the state. At least eight people were killed in landslides triggered by flash floods on Friday. In Assam, where over 6 lakh have been displaced, and north Bengal too, the flood situation worsened on Sunday. Across Asia, heavy rain has added to the misery caused by covid-19. In Nepal, monsoon rains have caused flash floods and landslides that killed at least 40 people and displaced thousands. China on Sunday raised its flood response alert to the second highest grade as downpours continued to batter regions along the Yangtze River. Its economic losses due to floods this year total $8.57 billion. Heavy rain continued on Sunday in Japans Kyushu, where 66 people have died in floods and landslides in the last week.

We tripled in 70 years

View Full Image Between 2019 and 2020, the worlds population grew by 1.1%, which may not seem like a lot, but it comes to over 80 million people

Between 2019 and 2020, the worlds population grew by 1.1%, which may not seem like a lot, but it comes to over 80 million people. The world has grown from 2.5 billion people in 1950 to 7.7 billion now, and China, India and the US remain the most populous through the decades. Though the world population is increasing, the rate of growth has been slowing, and is expected to drop further. Indias population is expected to overtake Chinas by 2024, making it the worlds most populous country, going by UN estimates, which would mean one in every six people on Earth would be an Indian. In the past five years, Africa was the continent with the fastest growing population at 2.51%, and Europe the slowest at 0.12%. Countries in West Asia have witnessed the sharpest population increases over the decades.

Masks protect the GDP too

View Full Image Studies around the world have reinforced the importance of masks to contain the spread of the virus. It could also prevent the need for renewed lockdowns that affect the economy

After months of resistance and mocking people who wore them, US President Donald Trump appeared in public in a face mask during a visit to a military hospital outside Washington on Saturday. India has been ahead of most other countries, making face coverings in public places mandatorythough many people still dont properly cover their noses and mouthsbut despite this case numbers have been rising. Studies around the world have reinforced the importance of masks to contain the spread of the virus. It could also prevent the need for renewed lockdowns that affect the economy. Goldman Sachs estimates that a national mask mandate could prevent the US from losing almost 5% of its gross domestic product. In the UK, where masks are mandatory only on public transport, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to tell Parliament this week it will be compulsory for Britons to wear face masks in shops.

Holidays get costlier

View Full Image In Spain, British tourists who sought the sun have found that their drinks and food have an added covid tax of 1 per table or 1 per drink to help bar owners cover the cost of PPE for staff

As covid-19 retreats in some countries, theyre slowly opening up to tourists. On offer are discounted flights and tickets for local attractions, free covid-19 tests, and in some nations, even coverage of tourists medical bills should they be infected on vacation. Some places, though, have made it more expensive for tourists to discourage travel. All foreign travellers to Cambodia will have to deposit $3,000 with the government at the airport to pay for virus prevention services", including lab testing, medical treatment and accommodation while waiting for test results. If you test negative, theyll return the deposit after deducting costs of the tests but those who test positive will be charged for additional tests, medical care and if they die, cremation services. In Spain, British tourists who sought the sun have found that their drinks and food have an added covid tax of 1 per table or 1 per drink to help bar owners cover the cost of PPE for staff.

Curated by Shalini Umachandran. Have something to share with us? Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com or tweet to @shalinimb

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The United Nations Security Council on Saturday approved a resolution authorising humanitarian aid deliveries to Syrias mainly rebel-held northwest from Turkey through just one crossing point, a victory for Russia in cutting another crossing the UN and aid groups have called critical.

Russia, Syrias most important ally, argued aid should be delivered from within the country across conflict lines and just one crossing point was needed.

The UN and humanitarian groups argued unsuccessfully - along with the vast majority of the Council - that two crossing points were essential to get aid to the 2.8 million needy people in the northwest, especially with the first case of COVID-19 recently reported in the region.

The vote was 12-0, with Russia, China and the Dominican Republic abstaining - Russia most likely because two amendments it proposed were rejected.

Saturdays vote capped a week of high-stakes rivalry between Russia and China, and the 13 other Council members who voted twice to maintain the two crossings from Turkey that were in operation until their mandate ended Friday.

Both times, Russia and China vetoed the resolutions - the 15th and 16th veto by Russia of a Syria resolution since the conflict began in 2011 and the ninth and 10th by China.

Germany and Belgium, which sponsored the widely supported resolutions for both the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam crossing points, were forced to back down by the threat of another Russian veto, and their latest draft authorised only the single crossing point from Turkey for a year.

After the latest Russian veto on Friday, Germany and Belgium circulated a draft resolution to extend the mandate through the Bab al-Hawa crossing for a year and the mandate for the Bab al-Salam crossing - which Russia wanted to eliminate - for three months to wind up its activities.

But Russia objected to even three months, so it was eliminated, diplomats said.
Second, marketing matters. Parents from across the political and cultural spectrum tell me that they simply do not trust the information made available about vaccine manufacturing and ingredients. We should explore ideas such as offering green vaccines  manufactured using transparent processes and ingredients  that vaccine-hesitant Americans may be more likely to accept.

Let me be clear: Our current vaccines are safe. But they cant be effective if people are not willing to take them. We should consider what kind of vaccine Americans would be willing to accept, and what type of information would bolster trust.

A green vaccine should be designed that uses adjuvants (which increase a persons immune response) and preservatives that dont bring up scary search results about antifreeze and mercury poisoning. It should be made in a factory in a city or town that can be easily identified. And it should come with accessible information about development, testing and monitoring, rather than an inscrutable insert with a list of side effects unrelated to the vaccine. These measures are not a scientific necessity, but they may be a social one.

Finally, we must turn our attention to the factors that have made government distrust such a potent factor in vaccine skepticism, and keep it there. In times of social unrest, people often turn to group identity and affiliation, and vaccines have become a powerful vehicle through which such affiliations are expressed. But the prevailing approach to vaccine hesitancy and opposition fails to reflect that.

One of the things I value most about being a pediatrician is being allowed a glimpse into the lives of so many different types of families. Regardless of parents economic, political or racial background, one thing is usually the same: their dedication to their childrens health and well-being.

Thats a useful starting point when I counsel families about vaccines. I can ask about their experiences and their values, draw diagrams about the immune system and talk through clinical trials and scientific studies. I can work on building strong relationships and try to illuminate the ways in which vaccination aligns with their goals of keeping their children safe and healthy.

But what about the concerns of a single Black mother of three who lives below the poverty line and experiences chronic disenfranchisement; of a young couple who have found meaning and support through an online natural parenting community; or of a father of five guided strongly by religious faith, whose pastor considers vaccines as interfering with Gods perfect design?
U.S. and Mexican flags waved from the backs of motorcycles, Jeeps and trucks as nearly 2,000 motorists streamed through San Antonio on Saturday morning.

The convoy, from the West Side to Mission County Park on the South Side, was a patchwork of support from across the city for the family of Vanessa Guillen, the 20-year-old Army specialist whose remains were found last month near Fort Hood, the post where she was stationed.

It says everybodys here for you, said Raul Garza, a motorcyclist with the San Antonio Fishers of Men Motorcycle Ministries. From the Bandidos  to the veterans.

Passengers held signs outside their windows, and messages were scrawled on the vehicles, calling for justice for Guillen, who Army officials have said was killed by a fellow soldier.

We are her Army, read one sign that was painted to look like the Mexican flag. A young girl in the same Jeep waved a U.S. flag. They honored the country Guillens parents emigrated from, as well as the country she swore to defend.

It was amazing to see so many people of different races and walks of life honor Guillen, who was Mexican American, during a time of great divisiveness in the country, Garza said.

On ExpressNews.com: Secretary of the Army announces independent review of Fort Hood in wake of Vanessa Guillen slaying

Guillens death sparked a movement nationwide calling for changes to military culture after her family said she was being sexually harassed but was uncomfortable making a formal report. Military servicewomen have shared their stories of being sexually harassed or assaulted using the hashtag #IamVanessaGuillen.

It touches everybody differently, said Nina Ramos, who is not in the military but organized the convoy with a friend who is active duty and asked to not be identified. I know that so many people that are military identify with her struggle of having experienced sexual assault, sexual harassment and not having anything done with it.

Her death also has struck a nerve with those in the Latino community who feel the Army did not do enough to protect her and was too slow to respond to her disappearance. It took investigators 10 weeks to find her remains. Meanwhile, her mother and sister publicly pleaded for help.

Theres definitely a lot of the Latino community thinking that and feeling that What if? What if she wasnt Latino? What if her mom didnt only speak Spanish? Ramos said.

Thats also why Garza said it was special to see the large outpouring for Guillen.

Its also about her being an American, a Mexican American, and Mexican Americans dont get the recognition they should, Garza said. Theres plenty of Mexican Americans who have lost their lives serving this country.

On ExpressNews.com: Investigators: Fort Hood soldier bludgeoned Vanessa Guillen to death on post

From the park, dozens of people walked half a mile in nearly100-degree heat, carrying signs and mementos, to Cafe Azteca, where a memorial was set up for Guillen.

Marlina Castilla carried a 38-by-42-inch portrait of Guillen, bordered by rows of sunflowers that she had made. Sounds of Tejano music mixed with the fallen-soldier bagpipe tribute, both being played at the memorial off Roosevelt Avenue.

Take action. Investigate Fort Hood, read a sign carried by a Hispanic woman as she walked along Padre Drive where motorists turned into the park. Drivers honked and waved in a show of support.

On Friday, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy announced that he would launch an independent review of the command culture at Fort Hood after a meeting with leaders of the League of United Latin American Citizens who McCarthy said have been helping the Army identify and address challenges Hispanic service members face.

Krista Torralva covers several school districts and public universities in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Krista, become a subscriber. Krista.Torralva@express-news.net | Twitter: @KMTorralva
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to get hold of the world pushing the globe into a state of uncertainty, Ghanaians are being encouraged and motivated to whither the storm and remain strong.

This inspiration is coming from Rev. Christa Osei Mensah of the Resurrection Power and Living Bread Ministries International.

She has advised Ghanaians to be steadfast in these unusual times of hardships brought upon mankind as a result of the COVID-19.

In times of difficulties, the normal human response would be to fret and try finding solutions; this is a wrong way to go, she said in a sermon. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.

Rev Osei Mensah also quoted from the scriptures saying, God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.

Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it.

She recounted a Bible account in which the disciples of Jesus were faced with a fierce storm while sailing on the Lake. Jesus Christ was fast asleep in the deck by then but at the call of the disciples, He came out, gave a command and the storms died out instantly.

In contemporary times, a storm could represent marital problems, childlessness, financial instabilities, joblessness, among others, she said.

She emphasised the COVID-19 pandemic storm, which she said, had taken over the world, disrupted vibrant economies and taken precious lives.

The impact of the Virus, she said, was enough to put anyone into frenzy, noting that,In all of these problems, God would not forsake humanity.

If God did not withhold His only begotten Son Jesus Christ and sent Him to save the world, then know that He will equally not withhold any good thing from you.

He will come through for you and take away your reproach; but only at His own time and not yours. All you have to do is keep waiting on Him.

She advised Christians not to use the Covid-19 pandemic as a leeway to absent themselves from church but rather, strengthen their fellowship to encourage each other and draw strength from God's word.

This is the opportune time for Christians to pray and draw nearer to God. Let us never hold our praise but exalt God more than our circumstances. God is bigger than our situation!

---GNA
The inescapable problem of period pieces, i.e. movies set in the past, is that much of the past has been lost. History is incomplete and some of it is highly debated. So, there will likely be a fair amount of invention in your average period piece. Certainly, the dialog between historical persons is apt to be invented, created out of whole cloth. Given that, the trick in a period piece would seem to be in balancing the demands of ticket buyers who want an engaging drama with the imperative to not inflict violence on known history.

On the cable recently, I screened the 2018 movie Mary Queen of Scots. This flick would surely qualify as a period piece, a biopic. Its about the woman who may have had a stronger claim to the English throne than did Elizabeth I. But the film makes so many errors in history that it may make hardcore history buffs highly irritated.

In your average historical drama, this viewer can forgive certain inventions and even some departures from what is known as long as we have a compelling story. But this Mary flick features one deviation from history that is so blatant and so unnecessary that it may make one want to relegate the film to the dustbin of, well, history. That error is in casting.

The films casting decisions dont merely fill in the blanks for facts which have been lost; they are deliberate choices to rewrite history, and they make what could have been an enjoyable drama into some multicultural propaganda piece.

The main miscast roles were for Lord Thomas Randolph, Bess of Hardwick, and David Rizzio. These were all white folks, kids, yet were played by non-whites. In addition, a number of supernumerary roles were played by non-whites.

Our Mary here was directed by one Josie Rourke in her film debut. Ms. Rourkes other directing has been for the theatre, for which she has an impressive number of credits. Since Rourke was new to cinema, much of the blame for the miscasting in her film debut must be directed at the studio execs that allowed her to pull such a stunt.

On December 10, 2018, Refinery29 ran Why Mary Queen Of Scots Isn't Another All-White Biopic by Rebecca Farley (brackets in the original):

We know that the characters that Gemma and Adrian and Ismael Cruz Cordova [play] were white, Rourke told Refinery29. So those are people of color playing those who were historically not people of color. Rourke added, That is very influenced by my theater background, where that sort of thing is done. When I sat down with [the studio] early, before we got down to a lot of stuff, I said to them, Just so you know, Im not going to direct an all-white period drama. Thats not something Im going to do. And they were really hugely supportive of that.

So, it turns out the studio execs were to blame for loosing this ahistorical period piece on an unsuspecting public. If the top studio negotiator had had any judgment, hed have put on his best John Wayne voice and told Josie: Seems to me you dont want to work with us, little missy.

When Laurence Olivier played Othello in 1965, he took pains to look the part. Lord Larry also smeared himself with dark makeup for Khartoum, in which he played the Mahdi. The same was true for Jon Vickers when he sang Verdis Otello at the Met, which included a big afro. But no concessions to verisimilitude are demanded by director Rourke; her actors dont apply pancake and narrow noses to look like the people they play. (Rather than Olivier and Vickers honoring of Othellos black countenance, maybe Rourke thinks them guilty of blackface.)

Like Olivier, Orson Welles in 1951 also played the Moor on film and made an effort to look the part, although not with the same zeal as Olivier. Moreover, in 1936 Welles staged the Scottish play with an all-black cast. The production acquired the nickname The Voodoo Macbeth. Thats because Welles switched the setting from Scotland to the Caribbean. (Click on the Voodoo link to discover how the federal government was involved with Welles production.)

Imagine how black folks would feel were some creative Hollywood director to cast a white boy as MLK or Nelson Mandela. Theyd be miffed, to say the least. But even if a white actor took pains to look the part, some blacks would still disapprove; theyd want a black to play a black. If, however, all the historical blacks in such a film were played by whites and all the historical whites were played by blacks, then we might have something no one could object to.

Rourke said of her film that it is absolutely a restorative piece the past becomes the present. Sheer cant! Of what, exactly, is this film restorative? This movie lover actually feels sorry for Rourkes minority actors; shes seems to be using them to further some pet idea about equality or inclusion or diversity. But Rourke is also using history. Its doubtful that many African-Americans would plunk down good Yankee dollars just to see folks who look like them in the Court of Queen Elizabeth I.

Its a pity that the studio didnt rein in Rourkes excesses, because some aspects of the film are not without merit. She might have created a fine film, even with the ahistorical business of the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary. Actually, more than 200 years ago Friedrich Schiller incorporated such a meeting between the two monarchs into his play Mary Stuart. And that play formed the basis for Donizettis opera Maria Stuarda, which retained the meeting. But again, there seems to be no evidence that such a meeting occurred.

One aspect of the times that Rourke does well is the friction between Mary and John Knox. The Calvinist clergyman believed women particularly sinful and comes off as quite the misogynist. The films beginning, which is of Marys beheading, is also done quite nicely. When she goes to the chopping block, her attendants yank off her cloak to reveal Mary all dressed up for her last moments on Earth in a vivid red gown. (Im a sucker for such dramatic touches.)

Why is this casting of minority actors, including very dark ones, such a big mistake? Its because its jarring. Its distracting. It puts the audience off the scent of the real issues Mary was facing. Had the studio any sense, they would have informed their fledgling director that what works in the theatre often doesnt translate to the silver screen: (We do cinema here, Josie, not live theatre. Movies last forever, whereas live plays are quickly lost in the mists of time. So, kiddo, we need to give these roles to white actors. But we do think youre on to something. So heres the drill: lets cast only Mary as a black. We think we can get Whoopi Goldberg to play this Mary Queen of the Scots gal, or maybe even Oprah.)

Would the casting of an all-white cast to play white historical characters have been so monstrous, so racist? Of course, it would; just about everything is racist nowadays. The only Americans who arent racist are the woke mobs tearing down statues of abolitionists.

Arent we all getting a little tired of hearing about race all the time? Frankly, mdear, Im sick to death of race. Maybe Josie should have pulled an Orson: made the entire cast black and set her film in the Caribbean. Or maybe she could have tried to work up a little reverence for the past.

Jon N. Hall of ULTRACON OPINION is a programmer from Kansas City.
Rates of depression and stress have increased among the general population since the COVID-19 pandemic began. However, we know little about the current state of mental health of older adults (65+), who are at a higher risk for illness and death due to infection, and account for more than 95% of COVID-19 deaths in Ontario. They are also vulnerable to the effects of social isolation, such as depression and worsening of medical conditions, that may result from physical distancing - one of the main defenses we have in the fight against COVID-19.

A new, joint study by Baycrest and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) aims to deepen our understanding of this problem and identify ways to support older adults during this time. Led by Dr. Linda Mah, clinician scientist at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI), the study will examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing on the mental health of older adults. In addition, it will look at resilience and coping among this group, both of which are known to support mental health. The study involves Sunnybrook, University Health Network and St. Michael's Hospital in addition to Baycrest and CAMH.

Co-leading the investigation is Dr. Benoit Mulsant, clinician scientist in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH and Labatt Family Chair of the Department of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto (U of T).

"Seniors' mental health is a highly relevant issue right now," says Dr. Mah, who is also a new Associate Professor of Psychiatry at U of T. "We know that during the SARS epidemic in 2003, there were increases in psychiatric problems among older adults in areas with large outbreaks of the virus. Today, one-third of people below 65 years of age are experiencing depression and high stress, even when they have not been infected or exposed to COVID-19. These numbers may be even higher in older adults, who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 and to social isolation."

In this study, Drs. Mah and Mulsant and their colleagues will monitor changes in mental health and the incidence of psychiatric illness during the pandemic amongst 475 older adults in Toronto. The study is scheduled to be completed within the year, with some initial findings expected in the coming four to six months.

Mental health during COVID-19 should not be taken lightly. The results of this study will increase our knowledge of the impact of COVID-19 and of physical distancing as a public health measure on emotional well-being in older Canadians." Dr. Benoit Mulsant, Clinician Scientist, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH

"Our findings will inform public health officials' decisions on how best to implement restrictions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, while minimizing mental health risks in seniors," says Dr. Mah. "In addition, by examining factors that affect seniors' mental health during the pandemic, this study will provide information that can be used to develop interventions to support seniors during this and future pandemics."

Adds Dr. Mulsant, "Our study should have a direct and immediate impact on public health."
French President Emmanuel Macron is confident of progress in key areas with Russia, including notably the crisis in Libya, his office said on Friday after a video conference summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Macron is "confident that we can make progress with Russia on a number of subjects," a senior French presidential official told reporters, citing "a common interest in the stabilisation of Libya and the reunification of its institutions."

Macron has in recent months pursued a policy of rapprochement with Russia, reaching out to Putin over key areas of disagreement such as Ukraine, in an approach that has discomforted some EU allies.

Their talks came after Macron this week bitterly attacked Turkey's intervention in the Libya conflict, which has tipped the balance away from rebel strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Russia backs Haftar, and France is also suspected of favouring him -- although Paris insists it is neutral in the conflict.

Haftar has endured a series of defeats in recent weeks as Turkey ups its support for the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), raising doubts about the strongman's future.

In the talks, Macron expressed "all the worries that the reinforcement of the Turkish presence in Libya cause," the official said.

But the official added that Macron also raised with Putin "foreign interference in Libya" including the presence of mercenaries from the Wagner group, a Russian paramilitary organisation reportedly run by a confidant of Putin.

According to the Kremlin website, Putin told Macron: "I know your mindset aimed at organising joint work on many of these subjects. We will support your proposals in any way possible."

The French official said that during two hours of talks Putin had also invited Macron to Russia and the French president had accepted, although no date has been set.

The visit would likely take place "in the next months" and "before the end of the year" although the coronavirus crisis would have to be taken account of, the official said.

The Kremlin also said that Putin extended an invitation to "dear Emmanuel" to visit Russia.

The French leader had planned to attend events in Red Square last month to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.

But that event was cancelled as a result of the pandemic, although it went ahead -- without Macron in attendance -- in Moscow on Wednesday.
New Delhi:

More people across the world are using internet from mobile devices than from desktop for the first time, internet monitoring firm StatCounter has revealed. The traffic from mobile and tablets is 51.2 per cent, while the internet access for desktop has been recorded at 48.7 per cent. This has happened for the first time since StatCounter started tracking stats for internet usage.

This is a clear indication for the companies to focus more on mobile instead of desktop for their internet services and web properties as the latest trend is unlikely to reverse.

When it comes to emerging markets like India, where the internet use accounts for 75 percent, mobile platforms are not given that much weightage for internet access.

In April 2015, comScore had revealed that the number of internet users on mobile platforms in the US surpassed those who use desktop. In May 2015, Google had revealed that more searches through the search engine were conducted through mobile platforms than on desktop.

Source: TechCrunch.com

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For the first time, fresh Corona positive cases in Karnataka crossed the 2,000 mark and stood at 2062 while the deaths recorded touched 54.

While all the ministers and MLAs have placed their bets on chief minister Mr BS Yediyurappa to decide on complete lockdown, the onus is now on the CM to control the rising cases.

Mr Yediyurappa also held a meeting with health experts on Wednesday, who is believed to have raised concerns over the death numbers. The total deaths in the state is nearing 500 and till Wednesday it stood at 470. Bengaluru alone has been the major contributor of the death toll in the state.

Wednesday's health bulletin came as a shocker to the government as it had denied any community outbreak to the centre and the source of infection wa yet to be traced in more than 1300 cases.

Bengaluru again topped the list with 1148 cases. The containment zones in the city have doubled up in the recent days.

Till May 31, Bengaluru had 63 zones and jumped to 487 by June 30. Till July 7, the city had 3276 containment zones and with the fresh 1148 cases, it is expected to go up further.

Sources from the health department revealed that the chief minister is being apprised about the developments and has been informed that July will be very crucial and only a strict complete lockdown will be able to bring the swelling numbers under control.

The source also revealed that it has asked the team working on plasma treatment to speed up plasma collection and help treat virus positive patients, piling up which has led to a panic situation among city residents who are shifting to their rural natives across the state to prevent infection.
WINNIPEG - Wanda Robson smiled as she clutched a $10 bill with a familiar face on the side  her sister, Viola Desmond, a Black woman and civil rights pioneer.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/7/2020 (555 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

People gather in solidarity with the George Floyd protests across the United States at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Friday, June 5, 2020. The museum and its morals have been recently questioned after numerous Black and Indigenous current and former employees shared stories of racism, descrimination and censorship. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG - Wanda Robson smiled as she clutched a $10 bill with a familiar face on the side  her sister, Viola Desmond, a Black woman and civil rights pioneer.

It was a momentous day in front of media inside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg in 2018, as a crowd celebrated Desmond, the first woman other than the Queen to be featured on the front of a regularly circulating bank note in Canada. The museum itself is featured on the other side of the bill.

The museum and its morals have been questioned recently as numerous Black and Indigenous current and former employees shared stories of racism, discrimination and censorship.

It is the latest controversy for the embattled institution.

The museum is near the meeting place of two rivers, important ancestral land for several Indigenous communities for thousands of years.

As people make their way to the building's second floor, they see a round theatre covered with panels inspired by visions of Indigenous youth.

The museum was criticized for its approach to Indigenous history, even before construction began. Almost 600,000 artifacts were recovered during a year-long archeological dig at the site, yet only two per cent of the fill removed was sifted.

"(It was) the worst case of legal destruction of the rich heritage that I have had the misfortune to witness," Leigh Syms, a former archeology curator at the nearby Manitoba Museum, said in a book "The Idea of a Human Rights Museum."

Co-author Karen Busby, a University of Manitoba law professor, said there were problems from the start, especially when it came to what would be displayed, how it would be displayed, and who made those decisions.

"The issue starts at the very top," Busby said in a recent interview.

The museum was the brainchild of Winnipeg businessman and philanthropist Israel Asper, who wanted to create a Holocaust museum. He launched a private initiative in 2003 but died soon after, so it became a legacy project taken on by his daughter, Gail Asper.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper's government announced in 2008 that the museum would have national status and Ottawa would pay operating costs.

The museum's first CEO, Stuart Murray, was a former leader of the Progressive Conservatives in Manitoba.

"He had never even been on the board of governors of a museum, didn't know anything about human rights," Busby said. "But he was appointed as the CEO in order to  keep a political check on the museum."

There were significant cost overruns, allegations of political interference and high staff turnover.

Concerns arose that stories about Canada's historic Indigenous policies such as residential schools would be softened. Clashes began over the use of the word "genocide" in regard to Indigenous people.

When the museum finally opened in 2014, at a cost of $351 million, only five of its 11 galleries could be viewed. Exhibits about Canadian and Indigenous human rights remained closed for a few weeks.

That marked the end of Murray's time as CEO.

He declined a request for an interview.

In the following years, there were more debates, including one about Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the plight of the Rohingya people.

Critics pointed to the makeup of the museum's decision-makers. An article published in the journal Museum Management and Curatorship last year pointed to a lack of diversity. It was co-authored by former founding team member Armando Perla, who is originally from El Salvador and identifies as queer.

"Increasing diversity in museum leadership; providing adequate anti-oppression and social justice training; openly discussing racism, implicit biases, whiteness and other forms of privilege; as well as adopting clear ethical guidelines for engaging with historically marginalized communities are a necessary starting point ...." the article said.

Perla, now with the Swedish Museum of Movements, declined to comment further.

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The museum is once again looking for a leader and is reviewing its hiring and retention practices. John Young resigned as president last month following a social media campaign by the group CMHR Stop Lying.

It was formed after the museum posted images of a Justice for Black Lives rally. Current and former employees quickly responded that it was hypocritical of the museum because of racism they had faced at work.

Employees also said they had to censor displays about LGBTTQ+ history at the request of some school groups that visited the museum.

Pauline Rafferty, interim CEO and board chairwoman, said in an emailed statement that it has become clear the museum has serious work to do to engage with staff. Initial steps, including an external review, have already begun, she said.

"But those steps represent a starting point, not a destination, and there is much more we have to do."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2020
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Linkedin Tri Indah Oktavianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, July 12, 2020 14:30 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665ae93e 1 City djoko-tjandra,fugitive,graft-convict,Jakarta-administration,e-ID,e-KTP,subdistrict,corruption,graft Free

The Jakarta administration has dismissed South Grogol subdistrict head Asep Subahan for alleged misuse of authority after issuing an e-ID card for high-profile corruption convict and fugitive Djoko Soegiarto Tjandra.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan confirmed Aseps dismissal, calling his misdeed a fatal violation that should never have happened.

The inspectorate has completed a report and it clearly shows that [Asep] violated e-ID card issuance procedures, Anies said in a written statement on Sunday. He has been dismissed and there will be a further investigation into the matter.

Anies condemned the incident and urged officials to obey the law.

It is a must to give the best and fast service, but dont violate the procedures or ease the requirements, especially on the matter of citizenship administration, he said.

Read also: Indonesia will be ashamed if it is made a fool of by fugitive Djoko Tjandra: Mahfud

According to Jakarta inspectorate head Michael Rolandi, Asep was personally involved in the issuance of Djokos e-ID, having met with the fugitives lawyer Anita Kolopaking at his official residence in May.

Michael claimed Asep had merely asked his subordinates to check on Djokos citizenship status based on Anitas request.

The e-ID issuance request was only based on the file picture of Djokos old ID and family card stored in Aseps personal mobile phone, the inspectorates report said. The Civil Registration Agency operators on duty issued the e-ID by ignoring the proper procedures because of their deference to the subdistrict head.

Djoko was sentenced to two years imprisonment and ordered to pay Rp 546 billion (US$54 million) in restitution by the Supreme Court in 2009 for embezzling billions of rupiah from the state bailout fund during the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

After being at large for more than a decade, Djoko has reportedly returned to Indonesia to file a review of his case, but his whereabouts remain unclear. He was absent from the first hearing for his case review last week.
The Delhi government has engaged geospatial mapping tools to locate areas that recorded isolated Covid-19 cases, a senior government official said on Sunday.

Geospatial mapping involves creating maps of an area and plotting required data- in this case isolated cases. This will provide information to the administration to understand spatial patterns and relationships.

The Delhi government has engaged its company Geospatial Delhi Limited (GSDL) for the purpose. Similar mapping exercises had earlier helped the district officials in identifying Covid clusters and zonal allocation of home isolation cases, said the senior Delhi government official.

Effective steps are being taken to identify localities which recorded isolated Covid cases, in adherence to guidelines issued by the government. Use of technology will ensure more accuracy in this regard, said Delhis chief secretary Vijay Dev.

Once the locations concerning isolated Covid-19 cases are identified, the district officials  under a government order issued last week  will create a databases of high-risk individuals and special surveillance groups in those areas. These are areas in which cluster cases were never recorded and was not sealed as containment zones. Now, since the Covid-19 situation is slightly under control, the surveillance strategy can be expanded to cover such areas that record isolated cases, said a senior official in the Delhi health department.

While high-risk individuals include residents aged over 60 years, pregnant women, people with influenza-like symptoms and those with comorbidities. Special surveillance groups would cover domestic workers, self employed individuals such as plumbers, electricians, mechanics, etc, those engaged in sale and supply of essential commodities and taxi, rickshaw and autorickshaw drivers operating in the area, said the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the government in this regard.

Once the locations are ascertained, we shall be taking help of resident welfare groups, autorickshaw and taxi driver unions, etc to reach out to individuals who may come under special surveillance group in each such identified locality, said a district magistrate who did not wish to be identified.

Both high-risk individuals and those under the special surveillance groups would be screened and enlisted for rapid antigen tests in the nearest centre, the official added.

Delhi government spokespersons did not comment on the development

Jugal Kishore, head of community medicines department in Safdarjung Hospital, said: It is important to locate areas that recorded isolated covid cases for better surveillance and the use of technology in this regard is a welcome move. The focus of the government should now be to trace maximum cases and engage focussed surveillance methods.
Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan's health has been a cause of worry for his fans and well-wishers lately. 77-year-old Big B was on Saturday (July 11) rushed to Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital after he tested positive for coronavirus COVID-19. He informed everyone about it on social media on Saturday night, leaving his fans in complete shock.

Amitabh was hospitalised along with his son Abhishek, who also tested positive for the infection. Hours later, his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and granddaughter Aaradhya too tested positive for COVID-19. They, however, have been advised by BMC officials to home-quarantine themselves since they were asymptomatic.

Amitabh, 77, who has been in the industry for the last five decades, has a history of ailments. During his film career, the actor suffered many injuries, some critical, as well as health issues.

The 1982 'Coolie' injured

In 1982, while shooting an intense fighting sequence with co-star Puneet Issar for 'Coolie', Amitabh was accidentally punched in the gut resulting in an internal abdominal injury. Amitabh was performing his own stunts in the film and during a scene, he misjudged a jump and landed abruptly which hurt him severely. He was immediately rushed to a nearby where he was reportedly declared clinically dead a few minutes before being put on a ventilator.

He underwent several surgeries and remained critically ill in hospital for several months, at times close to death. On August, the actor moved his first muscle after the accident and started to recover. The day is still celebrated as his second birthday by his fans. Every year, fans flood social media with birthday wishes on August 2, 1982 and wish him a long, healthy life.

Liver Cirrhosis

While recovering from a near-fatal injury, Amitabh was infused almost 60 bottles of blood from 200 donors, among which one carried Hepatitis B-infected blood. Although the actor recovered from his injuries after a few months, he contracted the deadly disease during the recovery process.

During an interview, Big B revealed that cirrhosis has damaged 75 per cent of his liver and only 25 per cent of it functions properly. Liver Cirrhosis is usually diagnosed in a person who is an alcoholic; however, the actor shared that he never drank alcohol.

In 2005, the actor was admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital where he underwent surgery to treat a medical condition known as 'diverticulitis' of a part of the small intestine (bowel). In this, the weakness of the wall of the small bowel results in the formation of numerous small pouches, which can get inflamed or infected.

It was earlier purported that the actor was suffering from simple colitis. However, his test reports stated that he was suffering from diverticulitis and needed surgery.

In 2008, he was once again admitted for abdominal pain. In 2012, he once again got himself operated on where almost 75 per cent of his liver, which was not in a working state, was removed from the body. The actor is now surviving with 25 per cent liver.

The megastar is also an asthmatic and carries an inhaler with him at all times.

In 2018, during the shooting of 'Thugs of Hindostan' in Jodhpur, the actor incurred heavy pain in his neck and back due to heavy costume. A team of doctors flew from Mumbai to Jodhpur to check on the health condition of the 'Khuda Gawah' actor. Amitabh's wife Jaya Bachchan had to issue a statement at Parliament House in Delhi, saying: "Amitji is fine. He has pain in his back and neck. The costumes are very heavy, so theres some pain. Otherwise, he is fine."

In 2019, the actor was once again rushed to a Mumbai hospital where he remained for three days. He was reportedly being treated for an intestinal problem.
A meeting of Congress Legislative Party will take place at Gehlot's residence at 10:30 am on Monday. Gehlot has also called a meeting of party MLAs and ministers in Jaipur on Sunday night.Taking to Twitter, Gehlot said that special operations group (SOG) gave notices the Chief Minister, Deputy CM, Chief Whip, some other ministers and MLAs in connection with Congress Legislative Party's complaint regarding horse-trading by BJP."CM, Dy CM, Chief Whip, some other ministers and MLAs have received notices from SOG to record their statements in connection with Congress Legislative Party's complaint regarding horse-trading by BJP. It's not appropriate to present it differently by some media outlets," Rajasthan CM tweeted.According to sources, Pilot has sought an appointment with party's interim president Sonia Gandhi but time for the meeting has not yet been given by her. Although, Pilot met another party leader to apprise him about the situation in the state and spelled out his grievance.As of now, many MLAs, who are believed to be in the Pilot camp, are also in Delhi to meet the party leadership.According to sources, the deputy chief minister has the support of nearly 30 Congress MLAs along with many independent legislators.The clash between Gehlot and Pilot is also over the post of PCC Chief as Gehlot Camp wants that 'One Leader One Post' formula to be implemented in Rajasthan. Currently, Sachin Pilot is heading the PCC besides holding the Deputy CM post.Sources close to Sachin Pilot have informed that the young leader is upset with the SOG notice issued to him. He believes it is aimed to record his phone calls and keep him under surveillance.Many of Pilot's supporters feel indignation and told Pilot that they cannot work with Ashok Gehlot. Also, Pilot is unlikely to attend the meeting called by Gehlot today, according to sources.Avinash Pande, Rajasthan Congress In-charge alleged that BJP is behind the political crisis in the state."Congress is strongly working together. All MLAs have trust and faith in the party and CM Ashok Gehlot. BJP is deliberately diverting the present situation. This conspiracy has been hatched by BJP & they have been trying this for one year. I can say that all Rajasthan Congress MLAs will work together and Congress government in Rajasthan will complete its five years of tenure," he said.Meanwhile, BJP Rajasthan unit President Satish Poonia rejected claims by the Congress that the BJP was behind the present political uncertainty in the state."We are not even thinking about forming a government in the state. This government will fall of its own 'karma' (deeds). We (BJP) are sitting in the spectator's gallery and watching the drama unfold," Poonia told ANI.It is not the responsibility of the BJP to save a government that is falling due to internal bickering, he said.Pilot's former colleague and BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the Rajasthan Deputy CM is being "sidelined" and "persecuted" by Gehlot."Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, Sachin Pilot too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM, Ashok Gehlot. Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the Congress," tweeted Scindia, who quit Congress in March to join BJP.
By Tracy Rucinski

CHICAGO (Reuters) - With COVID-19 ravaging the aviation industry, airlines and airports worldwide are reining in costs and halting new spending, except in one area: reassuring pandemic-wary passengers about travel.

"Whatever the new normal (...) it's going to be more and more around self-service," Sean Donohue, chief executive of Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport (DFW), told Reuters in an interview.

The airport is working with American Airlines - whose home base is DFW - to roll out a self-check-in for luggage, and all of its restrooms will be entirely touchless by the end of July with technology developed by Infax Inc. They will have hands-free sinks, soap, flushing toilets, and paper towel dispensers, which will be equipped with sensors to alert workers when supplies are low.

"One of the biggest complaints airports receive are restrooms," Donohue said.

Dallas is piloting three technology options for luggage check-ins: Amadeus's ICM, SITA, and Materna IPS.

DFW has become the world's busiest airport, according to figures from travel analytics firm Cirium, thanks in part to a strategy by large global carrier American to concentrate much of its pandemic flying through its Texas hub.

Last year DFW rolled out biometric boarding -- where your face is your boarding pass -- for international flights and is taking advantage of the lull in international traffic to work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to use the VeriScan technology for arriving passengers too, he said.

Delta Air Lines opened the first U.S. biometric terminal in Atlanta in 2018, and some airports in Europe and Asia also use facial recognition technology. It has spurred some concerns, however, with a U.S. government study finding racial bias in the technology and the European Union earlier this year considered banning it in public places over privacy concerns.

The Dallas airport is also testing new technology around better sanitization, beginning with ultraviolet technology that can kill germs before they circulate into the HVAC system.

Story continues

But it has also deployed electrostatic foggers and hired a "hit team" of 150 people who are going through the terminals physically sanitizing high-touch areas.

"Technology is critical because it can be very efficient," Donohue said, but customers "being able to visualize what's happening is reassuring as well."

DFW has invested millions of dollars above its cleaning and sanitation budget since the pandemic broke out, while suspending about $100 million of capital programs and reducing its second-half operating costs by about 20% as it addresses COVID-19's steep hit to the industry, which only months ago was preparing for growth.

Nearly 114,000 customers went through DFW on July 11, an improvement from a 10,000 per day trough in April, but still just about half of last year's volumes.

The airport has also been testing touchless technology for employee temperature checks, but is not currently planning hotly-debated checks for passengers, barring a federal mandate for which there has yet to be any inclination by the U.S. government.

Michael Davies, who runs the New Technology Ventures program at London Business School, said technology will be one of many changes to the airport experience going forward, with fewer overall travelers who will be seeking more space and spending less time dining and shopping.

"You put these things together and this feels in some interesting ways very much like back to the golden age of air travel," said Davies.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Kathmandu, July 12

The government of Nepal has begun mulling over the possibility of resuming regular international flights, at least from the countries with Nepalis in a significant number.

Currently, the government has been repatriating Nepalis on chartered flights, but they have not been sufficient for all the migrant workers are willing to return home. In addition, some of these flights have been more expensive than regular ones.

However, Nepal alone cannot make any decision on resuming regular flights. Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, a joint secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, says the government would decide considering policies and procedures of concerned countries. We cannot resume the services in all countries, but we have begun discussions regarding if it is possible to resume regular flights in some places.

Lamichhane, however, maintains he is not sure when the flights will resume as the number of cases in Nepal is also on the rise.

Meanwhile, the government has not scheduled any repatriation flights for Monday and Tuesday. Lamichhane says the flights will not be conducted on these two days considering the need of clean-up of the airport and holding centres, and the need of rest for the staff involved in the flights.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin has said an Irish border poll would be far too divisive at this stage (Niall Carson/PA)

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has ruled out a border poll as "far too divisive at this stage".

Mr Martin said he instead wants to focus on building relationships to share the island of Ireland "in peace and harmony".

Sinn Fein has been calling for a border poll amid the political turbulence caused by Brexit and uncertainty over future arrangements.

Mr Martin's new coalition government includes an all-island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach "to develop fresh thinking around that".

"I want to inject greater greater momentum into the north-south dimension of the Good Friday Agreement, in terms of practical, pragmatic economic projects and activity that we can get under way," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

"I think, to me, a border poll is far too divisive at this stage, it doesn't deal with the more fundamental issue of how we continue to live and work together as we all live on this island, particularly in a post-Brexit scenario."

He also said more detail is needed on arrangements following Brexit.

"I think there has been some progress in terms of a paper that the UK Government published, but we do need more detail, we need more precision.

"I think we need an injection of momentum into the overall talks between the European Union and the United Kingdom in relation to Brexit," he said.

"I had a very fruitful discussion with the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, after I took office. I think we both agreed that it's in everybody's interest, particularly in terms of businesses and giving them certainty, that we get a good comprehensive trade deal between the UK and European Union.

"Our concern is time is tight in relation to all of the mechanisms that have to be gone through in terms of getting the sanction and the approval of the EU member states and the European Parliament and our respective governments."

The Taoiseach said he believes the European Court of Justice is just one of "a number of sticking points" in discussions.

He also said that it is too early for British holidaymakers to return to Ireland without being quarantined.

The Taoiseach said his Cabinet will discuss international travel further this week, including whether to strengthen resources at airports.

"We would be very cautious on international travel generally," he said.

"On July 20 we will announce our measures in relation to international travel and essentially we have developed a methodology somewhat similar to the European Union and its relation with third countries; essentially, the methodology will be in relation to the level of the disease in particular countries, including the UK, countries that are at Ireland's level or below.

"In terms of people coming in to Ireland, the advisory and the quarantining still remains and it's under constant review. Why? Because there's a lot of international volatility with this virus, we've seen a spike in numbers. We're very concerned about that."

Speaking on the same show, Mr Martin emphasised that his Government wants to take a cautious approach.

"The suppression of the virus is key. We've watched reports where, in certain parts of the UK, there are still difficulties where certain areas had to go into lockdown and so on, and further severe restrictions," he said.

He described doing "everything we possibly can" to avoid a second spike of the virus in the Irish Republic where the reproductive rate of Covid-19 was found to have increased to one last week.

"Clearly the agenda for government is very much dominated by the continued prevalence of the virus and we're watching very carefully what is happening across Europe in terms of spikes and in terms of experiences of other member states who have opened up earlier than we have," he added.
The Guardian

The Steelers quarterback is headed to the Hall of Fame. But he was unloved outside Pittsburgh for understandable reasons Ben Roethlisberger almost certainly played his final game in the NFL on Sunday. Photograph: Ed Zurga/AP Ben Roethlisberger is lucky that football legacies are not decided by finales. If Sunday night was indeed Big Bens last ever NFL game, as he has strongly hinted, it wasnt exactly a mic drop. In the 42-21 beatdown by the Chiefs, Roethlisberger struggled with rollouts, and l
For over a week, a middle-aged man and welder, Korede Adewumi, has fled his abode after he was accused of raping a 19-year-old in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The victim, a penultimate year student of a secondary school, hawks aadun, a savoury Yoruba snack, around Olubuse area of Ile-Ife.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the teenager while going about her usual hawking last Friday was beckoned at by Mr Adewumi, who showed interest in buying the snack.

Schools have been shut in Osun and other parts of Nigeria since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking with this paper, a sibling of the victim stated that the incident happened when she was returning home around 3:30 p.m., about the time she felt she was done hawking for the day.

It was on her way she saw this culprit (Korede) who sat in the verandah of his house. He pretended as if he was going to buy from her by calling her.

He did buy from her and pretended to go back inside and get money. When he finally came out, he stood by the entrance of the front door and asked her to come for her money, the sibling continued.

According to him, the girl took steps to collect the money but was met with a different action as Mr Adewumi seized her hands and dragged her forcefully into his building.

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Unfortunately, no agile person was home at that time to come to her rescue while shouting but the weak and feeble landlord of the house. Before the landlord could get to other neighbours for help, Korede had done his bad deeds and taken to his heels, he said.

Before the case was reported at Aagun Police station, the victim was taken to a nursing home where some tests were carried out, this reporter gathered.

The above-named patient came to my facility with the history of forced sexual intercourse. There is bleeding per vagina as confirmed by the clinician in-charge, the Jesuloluwa nursing home and maternity wrote in a report referring the victim to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital.

Whereabouts unknown

Both the police and family members of Mr Adewumi said they do not know his whereabouts.

The officer-in-charge of the case at Aagun police station, Mr Owoseni, on Saturday, told PREMIUM TIMES that police operatives have been to Mr Adewumis residence on four different occasions with the aim of arresting him but he was not found at home.

We have been going there on our own money. We are yet to find him. But we are not going to give up until we find him, Mr Owoseni assured.

Also, the mother of the accused, Mrs Adewumi, who also confirmed the allegation, noted that the family has been on the lookout for him since last Saturday.

The last time I spoke with him was last week Saturday. I have not been able to reach him since then, she said.

Nevertheless, an advocacy group, Voices Against Rape and Sexual Harassment (VARSH), has called on the police to ensure that the accused is arrested and justice served.

In a telephone interview with this paper, the groups director, Salvation Grace, stated that the organisation will continue to mount pressure on the law enforcement agents until Mr Adewumi is found.

This adds to the long list of rape cases reported in recent times. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Nigeria police said it recorded 717 rape cases between January and May.

The federal government has pledged to ensure the crime is tackled and accused persons are adequately punished.
India has started trade talks with the European Union (EU) and is open to dialogue with the United Kingdom for a free trade agreement, the trade minister said on Saturday, as Asia's third-largest economy looks for new markets for its products.

Piyush Goyal said that India is open to engage with the UK for a preferential trade agreement with the ultimate goal of a free trade agreement.

He is also in dialogue with the European Unions trade commissioner for a deal that could start with a preferential trade agreement. He added that the ultimate goal here too, would be to have a free trade agreement.

"We're talking to the EU, and I am in dialogue with the EU trade commissioner. I am looking for an early harvest deal. Open to discussions on a variety of subjects. Its up to the UK and EU whoever picks up the gauntlet first," Goyal said.

Negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement between the EU and India were suspended in 2013 after six years of talks.

India pulled out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership last year due to fears over China's access to its markets and is looking for new ways to boost its exports.

The country has also been raising trade barriers to block cheap imports from China and replace them with locally made goods for domestic consumption and exports.

"Apart from pharmaceuticals, we have textiles, handicrafts, leather, furniture, industrial machinery, toys are areas where India can engage with UK EU at competitive prices," Goyal said.

India's economic growth has largely been driven by local consumption, and successive governments have struggled to expand exports.

In the last six years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been trying to push exports through various programs like "Make in India" but with limited success.

(Cover: Piyush Goyal, India's Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce and Industry, attends a session at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2020. /Reuters)

(REUTERS)
A French court has sentenced to jail two former agents from the foreign intelligence service after convicting them of sharing secrets with China.

Following a trial in Paris conducted in the utmost secrecy, the former officers with France's Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) were convicted Friday of "sharing intelligence" with a foreign power.

Pierre-Marie H., 69, was handed a 12-year jail sentence while Henri M., 73, was given an eight-year term.

Pierre-Marie H.'s wife was convicted of concealment and sentenced to four years, with two suspended.

Both men, now retired, were charged and detained in December 2017, although they were allowed out on bail.

In 1997, Henri M. was appointed the DGSE's man in Beijing, where he was the second secretary at the embassy. He was recalled in 1998 after having an affair with the ambassador's Chinese interpreter.

He retired a few years later and returned to China in 2003, where he married the former interpreter, setting up a home on Hainan island in southern China.

Pierre-Marie H., who had never been posted abroad, was arrested at Zurich airport carrying cash after meeting a Chinese contact on an Indian Ocean island, according to media reports.

The DGSE has has seen a surge of interest in its work thanks to the hugely popular TV drama "Le Bureau des Legendes" (known as "Le Bureau" outside France).

The series contains some characters working for the DGSE who it turns out are sharing secrets with foreign powers.

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Britain's biggest airport has closed one of its two runways following a collapse in air traffic during the pandemic.

Heathrows southern runway closed at midnight last night and will not fully reopen until October.

This will be less than a week before the Supreme Court delivers its decision on the airports appeal for a third runway.

Airport bosses said the time will be used to carry out repairs while passenger numbers remain low.

London Heathrow airports southern runway closed at midnight following a collapse in air traffic during the pandemic

The closure is a blow to Heathrow's 14billion expansion plans.

For decades, the airport has insisted it needs a third runway to boost the economy and keep up with the ever-increasing demand for air travel.

In normal times, Heathrow's two runways will handle 1,300 take-offs and landings every day.

But the pandemic is likely lead to a long-term fall in passenger numbers, with airlines flying reduced schedules for months or even years to come.

One of the airport's two runways will not fully reopen until October while staff carry out repairs while passenger numbers remain low

Anti-Heathrow expansion campaigners said the switch to single-runway operations is proof a third runway is no longer a priority.

But they voiced concerns the move will bring 'noise misery' to hundreds of thousands of people living under the northern runway's flight path.

In normal times, each runway is used for either take-off or landing. Air traffic controllers switch them at 3pm each day, giving respite to residents.

But now, households around the northern runway will hear the sound of aircraft arrive and depart from 5am to 11pm every day.

The lane closure comes less than a week before the Supreme Court delivers its decision on the airports appeal for a third runway

John Stewart, chair of anti-expansion group HACAN, said: 'Runways always need repairing from time to time but this is going to be tough on people living under the northern flight path.

'It will mean all-day flying. Even at a time when there are fewer planes, it is going to present problems.'

Geraldine Nicholson, of Stop Heathrow Expansion, said: 'Heathrow have had three months of significantly fewer flights and now they choose the time where flights are picking up to close a runway.

'This means noise misery for hundreds of thousands of people living under the northern runway flight paths and close to the northern runway. We were given no notice of this change whatsoever.

For decades, Heathrow (pictured in 2016) has insisted it needs a third runway to boost the economy and keep up with the ever-increasing demand for air travel

'Heathrow must ensure that this closure leads to a better deal for residents and must cease operations at night altogether.'

Heathrow said: 'Reduced passenger demand as a result of Covid-19 means we have an opportunity to undertake necessary repairs to the southern runway with less disruption caused than if we were operating at full capacity.

'Over coming weeks, we will close the southern runway for an initial short period to allow preliminary works to take place.

'Once these initial works are completed, we will reopen the runway during the day and undertake subsequent works at night. This will allow us to limit the impact on local communities by providing runway alternation.'
Pittsylvania County went through two private ambulance services in a matter of three years. Due to loss of employees and financial reasons, both had to terminate service before the contract ended.

As of July 1, Pittsylvania County is no longer dependent on a private company to provide backup, choosing instead to hire 18 full-time employees to staff ambulances 24 hours a day in three locations throughout the county.

It was apparent to us that we would continue to be in a vulnerable position unless we controlled our own backup service, said Pittsylvania County Administrator David Smitherman.

The switch to county-employed EMS providers wont change much about the service provided, and it likely wont lead to any change in the costs incurred by the county. The annual contract with Delta Response Team, the most recent provider, usually came out to about $800,000, money that will now go toward paying the new staff, said Pittsylvania County Public Safety Director Chris Slemp.

The biggest thing that changed on July 1 is really their uniform, Slemp said, noting that several of the providers were previously working for Delta Response Team.

The three staffed ambulances are stationed at volunteer agencies in Hurt, Chatham and Mount Hermon. The county-staffed ambulance is the first sent to EMS calls for much of the northern part of the county. At the stations in Chatham and Mount Hermon, the ambulances function as backup to the volunteer agencies in the areas.

The change also allows Pittsylvania County to receive revenue from the soft billing of insurance, but Slemp said that likely wont generate much revenue.

You dont really make a profit doing 911 EMS whether we break even or lose money, we still have to provide a service, he said.

Delta Response Team took over after backup services in the county in September 2018 after Regional One abruptly went out of business after its owner retired and sold the company to the Fredericksburg-based LifeCare Medical Transport in May of the same year. After signing a three-year contract with Delta Response Team in 2018, the company and Pittsylvania County mutually agreed to end the contract this summer due to the ambulance provider losing several employees in March and not being able to cover the area.

Ron Scearce, a member of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors and representative on the Pittsylvania County Fire and Rescue Commission, called having county-employed backup a no-brainer.

Were putting out the same coverage that DRT was doing we dont have to worry about having a contract pulled out from under us, he said.

Since the county-owned ambulances that are going on calls daily are 18 and 20 years old, the Pittsylvania County recently put out a request for proposal for new ambulances, something Slemp hopes to use CARES Act funding to finance.

Funding through the $2 trillion CARES Act was funneled to states, and Virginia transferred some of those monies to its localities based on their share of the population. Pittsylvania County received roughly $5 million. Individual departments can put in applications, but the board of supervisors has to sign off on any purchases more than $100,000. They will hear the request for ambulance funding at their finance committee meeting on July 21.

The request for proposal is for used ambulances, those that were used for demonstrations or remounted vehicles. Slemp said he hopes to pay significantly less than $200,000 per vehicle. Slemp isnt sure that anything will come of the request because ambulances are in high demand and the purchases would have to take place before the end of the year to utilize CARES Act funding. Pittsylvania County has frozen all capital costs due to potential revenue shortfalls from COVID-19, meaning that using county funds probably wouldnt be an option.

In addition to some of the ambulances being close to two decades old, another reason for seeking out new rescue vehicles is to make sure spares are available, both for the county and the volunteer agencies.

Most of the surrounding localities have already brought on their own paid EMS staff, Slemp said.

Were one of the last few to actually hire their own staff.

Smitherman said that the decision to staff the ambulances themselves was to demonstrate the countys support of the volunteer agencies.

We cant risk the support of our volunteer system being subject to companies that may or may not be able to perform adequately, he said.

Ayers reports for the Register & Bee. Reach him at (434) 791-7981.

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TDT | Manama

The Indian Community Relief Fund (ICRF) yesterday kick-started its Thirst-Quenchers programme aimed at raising awareness on the procedures that must be followed to make summer safe for workers. The activity, now in its fifth year, educates workers on the importance of drinking enough water to stay hydrated and how to remain healthy amid high summer temperatures.

The weekly event, ICRF said, would distribute bottled water and fruits to workers for the next 8 to 10 weeks at various worksites. The first event of the series was held yesterday at Charilaos Apostolides (Bahrain) WLL (CHAPO) worksite in Budaiya with the participation of 200 workers.

ICRF volunteers also distributed face masks and anti-bacterial soaps, along with flyers explaining measures to remain safe during COVID-19. ICRF Thirst Quenchers convenor Sudheer Thirunilath, ICRF Volunteers Suresh Kumar, Muralikrishnan, Sunil Kumar, and Nisha Rangarajan took part in yesterdays event.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: TDP leader Nimmala Rama Naidu on Saturday alleged that the backward classes leaders belonging to Velama, Yadava, Fishermen, Koppula, Velama and other castes are coming under severe attack under Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddys oppressive regime.

Addressing a press conference, the TDP leader said the BC leaders, who have not a single case against them before 2019, were now being harassed with false cases and arrests. Atchannaidu, a Velama by caste, was facing a witch-hunt from the Jagan regime just because he was not surrendered to the ruling party. Kollu Ravindra, a fisherman by caste, was being harassed with false charges in a murder case, he said.

The government also implicated senior leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu in an SC, ST atrocities case just for attending and blessing a couple at their marriage function. Ayyanna Patrudu was implicated in a Nirbhaya case, he alleged. Ramanaidu said former minister Pithani Satyanarayana, a Setti Balija by caste, was being targeted now.
South Africans should ensure they only download banking apps from official app stores.

Mobile banking apps offer a convenient and safe way to transact and pay online and most of South Africas major banks offer these apps on both the Google Play and Apple App stores.

However, with Huaweis latest devices no longer supporting the Play Store, these users have to make use of Huaweis AppGallery to download and use banking apps.

FNB and Discovery Banks apps are not officially available on the Huawei AppGallery yet, but their APK (Android Package Kits) can be downloaded and installed via unofficial websites and other online platforms.

Certain smartphone users may, therefore, be tempted to download one of these APKs to use their banks app, even though these sites offer no guarantee that the app is legitimate.

MyBroadband asked South Africas major banks about the safety of downloading banking applications from sources other than the established mobile app stores.

Absa

Managing Executive for Customer Value Management at Absa Retail and Business Bank Christine Wu said the bank regularly invests in new, updated technologies to counteract various fraud vectors, including the app space.

Absa has not noted instances of fraudulent versions of its mobile banking app, although clones of its websites have been used for phishing.

Wu urged Absa customers to only download mobile apps from approved mobile stores  the Google Play Store for Android, Huawei AppGallery for Huawei, and Apple App Store for iOS devices.

Very stringent processes and tests are carried out by app stores to ensure that only Absa can publish an app with the Absa brand and security specifications, Wu explained.

Downloading an app from any other source is extremely dangerous. Apart from being fraudulent, there are no rigorous security and quality steps, potentially leading to further problems beyond the fraud, Wu warned.

FNB

FNB Head of Digital Banking Giuseppe Virgillito said the bank has put measures and processes in place to monitor spoofing apps.

Sideloading or downloading the FNB App Android Package Kits (APKs) from unofficial sources, significantly increases the risk of downloading a fraudulent or malicious app which could compromise the users credentials and potentially have them exposed to fraud and possible financial loss, Virgillito warned.

We implore our customers to download the FNB Banking App from official app stores  for Apple mobile users the App Store and Android the Play Store, he said.

For those customers who have a device that does not currently support FNBs banking app, Virgillito encouraged using FNBs mobile banking website  fnb.co.za accessed via their phones web browser.

Standard Bank

Standard Bank said it has not seen instances of malicious parties creating spoof banking apps.

The bank said although its not easy to assess the complete online behaviour of its customers, it scans the internet and social media platforms for malicious apps, websites and content impersonating Standard Bank, and where found, these are shut down.

The most common form of cybercrime recently has been phishing for credentials on spoof websites as well as vishing [voice phishing] and smishing [sms phishing], the bank said.

The bank said downloading banking apps from unofficial sites makes it difficult to determine if they are legitimate.

Only access or download our banking apps from trusted sources such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, the bank implored.

Its banking app is also available on the Huawei AppGallery.

It warned customers to never click on links or attachments in emails, SMSes or public websites to access or download online banking or its banking app.

Nedbank

Nedbank said it makes use of a third-party service to scour the internet for instances where unauthorised copies of its apps are available for download, to have these removed.

Thus far, however, it had not seen such apps surfacing.

Unofficial apps could serve as a trojan horse, allowing malware to be installed on the device. Thus, compromising data or passing credentials and sensitive personal information to malicious actors, the bank cautioned.

All Nedbank apps are digitally signed, and if the code of the app has been altered in any way, Nedbank will not allow that app to transact, it explained.

Nedbanks banking app is available from the official Apple, Google and Huawei app stores.

Additionally, Nedbank clients are advised not to use jailbroken Apple or rooted Android devices for banking app installation.

A jailbroken/rooted device puts users as a significant risk, as almost all security controls can then be circumvented, even when using legitimate apps, the bank stated.

Capitec

Capitec said it actively monitors for impersonating versions of its banking app and if one is found, its team will ensure the store or website removes it immediately.

To date, it had not encountered such an app.

It recommended customers dont download app APKs from unofficial sources, which could expose their devices to malicious software.

Apps from unofficial sources could contain malicious code added to the app with the intention of capturing sensitive information such as your username and password, Capitec explained.

Only download apps from official app stores such as the Apple App Store, Google Play and Huawei AppGallery as these stores have controls in place to ensure the safety and legitimacy of the apps available, it advised.

It added that users should always check that the publisher name matches the company you intended to download the app from and read the reviews and ratings posted about the app.

Discovery Bank

Discovery Bank said it employs sophisticated counter technology to identify and prevent unapproved apps attempting to access banking functionality.

We work closely with Apple, Google, and Huawei to ensure our app is secure and works optimally on a wide range of devices, the bank said.

Cyber-crime is on the rise, and clients need to ensure they keep devices secure by only downloading and using apps that are approved by their respective operating system providers, the bank stated.

It strongly advised its customers to only download its banking app from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

The Discovery Bank app will also be available on the Huawei AppGallery in the coming weeks.

Now read: How criminals are stealing from South African bank accounts
SDF militants kidnap Syrian civilians for forced recruitment: Report

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 12 July 2020 5:49 PM

The Kurdish-led militants of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which enjoy Washington's support, have kidnapped a number of young people in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah apparently for forced recruitment.

Local sources told Syria's official news agency SANA on Sunday that houses were raided in various neighborhoods of the town of Shaddadi.

The SDF militants continue with their criminal and abusive practice against ordinary citizens in areas under their control.

The security situation is reportedly deteriorating in the areas controlled by the SDF in Hasakah and the province of Dayr al-Zawr amid arrests of civilians by the militants.

In a separate incident on Sunday, the SDF militants took control of the telecommunication center in Safia village, located about 13 kilometers north of the provincial capital city Hasakah.

The building of an electricity company in the city has also been under the SDF control for over two weeks.

The White House has long been providing the SDF with arms and militants. Washington says they are a key partner in the purported fight against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

Many observers, however, see the support in the context of Washington's plans to carve out a foothold in Syria.

Such support has also angered Turkey, which views militants of the People's Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

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TORRINGTON  A City Council vote on accepting a grant prompted a discussion about educational funding and the citys affordable housing offerings.

The council recently was asked by Mayor Elinor Carbone to approve a $15,000 grant for technical assistance, to help fund the preparation of an affordable housing plan and update the Torrington Plan of Conservation and Development, according to the motion.

Before the vote was taken, several council members raised questions about how the affordable housing plan and the citys POCD influences how much funding it receives each year from the state.

Municipalities in Connecticut are required to update their Plan of Conservation and Development every 10 years. The state describes these plans as a blueprint for how the town wants to develop over the next 10-20 years and is a guide to local decision making in areas such as natural resources preservation, economic development, housing, land use and public services.

Effective July 1, 2016, any municipality that does not adopt a POCD at least once every ten years shall be ineligible for discretionary state funding unless such prohibition is expressly waived by the OPM Secretary, according to the state regulations.

Discretionary state funding includes, but is not limited to, any source of funding that a state agency administers through a competitive process. Examples include, but are not limited to, the Urban Action Program, Small Town Economic Assistance Program, Clean Water Fund, Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, as well as various housing, historic preservation, brownfields remediation, open space and farmland preservation programs, according to the regulations.

Carbone said the grant, which comes from the state Department of Housing, would help city officials study the citys housing needs.

With the citys Plan of Conservation and Development, theres always opportunities to improve, she said. Housing is always one of those hot topics, where the needs seem to change in shorter than 10 years. So the grant affords us an opportunity to bring in some technical assistance to update that housing plan.

Council member Paul Cavagnero said Torrington should be able to compare its own affordable housing offerings with other cities and towns.

Housing status affects funding

The complexity of affordable housing continues to be very confusing, and in many was less manageable than wed like, Cavagnero said. All of us on the City Council have asked for some clarity and data, that shows the towns across the state that have met those obligations, which ones have not, and find out where we are.

Cavagnero noted that the description of affordable housing can also affect educational funding, including special education.

Anyone whos served on the Board of Education recognizes how much of an impact special education has on a school board, he said. We should get a fix on the relationship between that and Section 8 (or public, for lower-income residents) housing and affordable housing, and how much is influences placement of special education students.

Its a big ask, but the state should be able to provide that, Cavagnero said. We never get compensated for what we pay out (for education). ... These are things Id like to (better) understand.

Carbone said updating the citys POCD would help define where the city stands with funding.

Its exactly what were looking to do, she said. Were trying to help clarify and define what affordable housing means, and how it not ends up (being defined as) Section 8 housing. This kind of grant could probably provide resources where we could ask those questions.

Council member Ann Ruwet agreed with Cavagneros points.

I think its a legitimate question for the state, because certainly, I know Torrington has complied, she said. But are our surrounding towns complying?

Cavagnero said he wanted to find a way to present a case for adjusting the states Educational Cost Sharing formula, working with state Rep. Michelle Cook. ECS is the amount of money the state provides per student, per town.

According to a description at ct.gov,  The ECS formula is intended to equalize state education funding ... by taking into account a towns wealth and ability to raise property taxes to pay for education.

Cavagnero and council member Frank Rubio have both discussed lobbying to have the ECS formula adjusted.

Getting more data

Carbone said Cavagneros questions were a good place to start collecting data and more information on Torringtons housing status.

I know were just under 11 percent (with affordable housing), she said. What we want to know is, what kinds of families are moving into Torrington? Are they older, with no kids, or do they already live here, and theyre just moving into a better, healthier apartment? These questions are part of a process.

This is a great opportunity to ask questions, she said.

If we could find a pattern, it seems to me we could work with our state representative, and build a case to have the ECS formula adjusted for those who do (have affordable housing) and those who dont  an even distribution of reward for compliance.
Gangster Vikas Dubey had set a plan in motion for what he called big action on July 2, a day before he and his men killed eight policemen, injured seven others and looted five police weapons, police officials said on the basis of questioning of Dubey in Ujjain after his arrest on July 9.

Dubey was subsequently killed in an encounter as he tried to escape when he was being brought to Kanpur from Madhya Pradesh early on July 10, according to the police.

The gangster spoke about what happened before the July 3 ambush during his day-long questioning at Narwar police station in Ujjain rural and then at the police training school (PTS) in Ujjain, police officials said.

He was calm and relaxed during the questioning. He said he was getting regular inputs from the police about the developments. He knew the raid was imminent and he prepared accordingly a day before, said an official who spoke to his Madhya Pradesh police counterpart.

On July 2 and July 3, he had food prepared for 30 people living in his house, Dubey told the police, the officials added.

After he was certain that an attempt to murder case was going to be lodged against him following a complaint by villager Rahul Tiwari, he asked his supporters to prepare for a hard battle, the officials said.

He told them it was time to do something big, the officials said. After asking them to take their licensed weapons and checking the stock of bullets, he arranged 50 more bullets of different bores, the officials said. About 35 firearms licences, were issued to his men and close relatives 2007 onwards, according to investigation by the Kanpur police.

The weapons, along with bullets, were moved to rooftops in advance. There were 25-30 men involved in the shootout. Vikas Dubey had already told them that he meant business this time and all of them were mentally prepared to take on the police, the official said.

An official said his team fired aggressively and cornered the police team during the ambush. They shot them from a close range, not once but many times, the official said.

Vikas Dubey told the police that Babban Shukla, one of his aides, was the first to reach the road and he shot four policemen. The Kanpur police said the criminals fired close to 100 rounds in 15 minutes.

Vikas Dubey had planned to burn the bodies of the policemen in a small toilet, the officials said. It was in this toilet that the bodies of five policemen, one piled on the other, were found, they added. He told his men he had 50 litres of fuel stocked at his house. The policemen were killed in other parts of the village and their bodies were dragged to the toilet, he said.

While five bodies were piled in the toilet and others were being brought, his men spotted two-three cars on the main road close to Bikru. They took them for police vehicles and Dubey left for Shivli on a motorcycle.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 16:38:46|Editor: huaxia

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Volunteers clean the beach in Kuwait City, Kuwait, July 11, 2020. With coronavirus restrictions starting to ease in Kuwait, some people who enjoyed the beauty of beaches forgot to take away their trash. With more gloves, masks, and plastic bottles being thrown away at the seaside, even into the sea, many voluntary groups started to clean Kuwaiti beaches, warning that the waste is posing a huge threat to the marine life. (Photo by Asad/Xinhua)

KUWAIT CITY, July 12 (Xinhua) -- With coronavirus restrictions starting to ease in Kuwait, some people who enjoyed the beauty of beaches forgot to take away their trash.

With more gloves, masks, and plastic bottles being thrown away at the seaside, even into the sea, many voluntary groups started to clean Kuwaiti beaches, warning that the waste is posing a huge threat to the marine life.

Fahad Hamawe, a 26-year-old Syrian engineer, started last month to clean up beaches and the rocky coasts by himself until three strangers joined him recently.

"I am Syrian but was born and raised in Kuwait, where my whole life was in this country," he said, adding that he wanted to arise public awareness of environmental protection by showing people the amount of garbage that were thrown up daily.

"I clean six days a week, and within the first two days, 14 garbage bags were collected from a small area of the scientific center's seaside," he said.

Meanwhile, another voluntary group launched a campaign "Living clean in Kuwait" to ask the community to make Kuwait clean.

This four-member team was founded during the coronavirus crisis as the numbers of visitors increased at beaches and the amount of litter increased as well.

Each person of the team is in charge of an area, where they clean four different beaches three times a week to collect as much trash as they can.

"It is very important for us to continue what we are doing, so the people in our community can slowly change their environmental awareness by time," the group founder who preferred to remain anonymous said.

"When people see a group cleaning up, they'll take it into account and may participate in their own ways," he noted, saying the best way to protest environment is to change people's awareness.

For her part, Nouf Al-Hashash, head of Hayat wildlife team, a wildlife protection group in Kuwait, said that the current waste is considered a serious danger not only to humans but also to wildlife.

These wastes are carrying harmful viruses and bacteria that affect public health, which will make it harder to preserve lives of people and the new generations, she said.

"Medical waste must be throwing in a designated container before burning, otherwise many diseases may spread," she noted.

"We may see a small piece of plastic, but the exact amount of life that live on its surface is enormous," she added.

Khaled Al-Hajri, a Kuwaiti activist at the Green Line Environmental Group, told Xinhua that coronavirus caused a tremendous amount of medical waste and put pressure on medical centers, which led to an increase in the production of hazardous waste contaminated with viruses and microbes.

Kuwait can deal with the biological waste that are only results from the health sector, but at the same time it cannot deal with the waste of medical masks and gloves that most people use in a daily basis, he pointed out.
Irish men and women who lost their lives in past wars or on service with the United Nations have been remembered in Dublin.

President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Micheal Martin and members of the cabinet were among those who took part in the act of commemoration at Collins Barracks.

The date falls every year on the Sunday closest to July 11, the anniversary of the signing of the 1921 truce which ended the war of independence.

The @PresidentIRL, the Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD, members of the Government; the Council of State; Dail and Seanad Eireann; Diplomatic Corps; Judiciary and Northern Ireland representatives attended the National Day of Commemoration Ceremony in Dublin. pic.twitter.com/LlvLrWZBO3  MerrionStreet.ie (@merrionstreet) July 12, 2020

Following the laying of a wreath by the president, a minutes silence was observed.

This year the ceremony was closed to the public in line with coronavirus regulations.

Those who have died with Covid-19 were also remembered at the event.
A Command to Listen

In Luke 9:28-36, the writer gives us the story of the Transfiguration. Jesus went up a mountain to pray and took Peter, John and James. During that time of prayer, Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus and spent time talking about his departure.

Peter? He had been sleeping but awoke and saw the three men glowing in splendor. Peter apparently enjoyed being in the presence of Jesus and the prophets of old and decided that it was in the groups best interest that they build a shelter and just stay there. Read what happened:

About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three sheltersone for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. (He did not know what he was saying.)

Now where was God during this time? He was watching it all.

While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him. When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

Look carefully at verse 35. The only words that God chose to speak were: This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him. Thats it. He was probably speaking mainly to Peter who had been stiff-necked and decided that he knew best what to do. Peter, in all of his vast wisdom and planning, gave Jesus, not only, specific instructions they should follow but the reason that they should do them: It is good for us to be here  now we should build three shelters and you, Moses and Elijah can all stay in them. His emotions and excitement of being there probably got the best of him but God stepped in: This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.

All God wanted was for Peter to listen. God not only vetted Jesus by letting them know that Jesus was His son and was chosen to be at this particular place at this particular time, but also that they should listen to him. Jesus had the plan and would provide the next steps  just listen.

Photo credit: Unsplash/Jackson Simmer
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 00:01:03|Editor: huaxia

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The White House is seen in Washington D.C., the United States, April 19, 2020.(Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Some U.S. politicians are obsessed with fabricating lies and shifting the blame to China on the response to COVID-19, wreaking havoc on bilateral relations, which now face the most severe challenge since diplomatic ties were established in 1979.

They continue to attack China's political system and epidemic response, ranting about the origins of the virus, while Chinese people have grown fed up with such words.

Lies repeated a thousand times are still lies, and the truth of China's achievements in combating the novel coronavirus is undeniable.

By introducing a series of stringent and multifaceted measures, China has made strategic achievements in containing the outbreak within the space of a few months. Recently, precise measures were adopted in Beijing to quash new cluster infections, and the capital city had reported no new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases for five consecutive days by Friday.

Out of deep-seated Cold War mindset, zero-sum game mentality and ideological prejudices, the U.S. side has ignored such facts and blamed China groundlessly, drawing mockery for its absurdity and ridiculousness.

The words and actions of some U.S. politicians fit neatly into the narratives scripted for an election year in which scapegoating China is politically rewarding in the short-run. Especially so, since the United States became the country worst hit by COVID-19, with infections spreading rapidly across the country, a situation for which some politicians should have been held accountable.

In such circumstances, buck-passing by U.S. politicians is a cunning attempt to cover up their incompetence at home. However, in truth, it reveals their tendency toward lying and cheating, their ignorance, arrogance and hypocrisy, their lack of honesty, credibility and accountability.

Sadly, such egregious act by some U.S. politicians has dealt a heavy blow to bilateral relations that have been built up over several decades.

While Washington goes its own way to contain China, with growing talk of an all-around decoupling of the two countries, Beijing still believes that there are no reasons to harm the China-U.S. relationship as it is too important to break up. China does not intend to challenge or replace the United States, nor does it expect a full confrontation with the country.

The U.S. side should develop more objective and coolheaded perceptions of China and discard whims and bigotry, working with China to explore means of peaceful coexistence and create more positive energy. It is in the fundamental interests of the people of both countries and the world at large. 
CONCORD, N.H.  A former Alabama police officer facing human trafficking and other charges has been apprehended in New Hampshire, the U.S. Marshals Service said Saturday.

Joshua Matthew Davidson, 30, whose last known address was in Fort Deposit, Alabama, was located and arrested without incident at an apartment in the coastal town of Hampton at about 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Davidson was being sought on three arrest warrants issued on June 25 by the Dallas County, Alabama District Court, including allegations of human trafficking, kidnapping and sodomy, according to the Marshals Service.

Alabama courts requested that bail be set at $250,000.

Davidson was taken to the Rockingham County Jail in Brentwood where he was processed and held without bail as a fugitive from justice. He is scheduled to appear in Hampton District Court on Monday, authorities say.

It was not clear if Davidson had an attorney.
Ukrainian Tycoon Kolomoyskiy Bidding For More Media Assets

By RFE/RL July 11, 2020

A company controlled by Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskiy is bidding to manage the assets of a local media company, potentially giving the tycoon greater influence over the nation's news content.

A subsidiary of Kolomoyskiy's 1+1 Media Group is one of six companies vying for UMH Holding, once the leading media company in Ukraine, the Kyiv Post reported.

A state agency charged with recovering and managing assets stolen during the tenure of President Viktor Yanukovych is handling the bidding process. Yanukovych was overthrown in 2014 following street protests over his corrupt rule.

Fugitive oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko bought UHM in 2013 for $400 million, but a Ukrainian court seized the asset in 2017 on the grounds that the money had been acquired illegally.

UMH Holding, though no longer wielding the same influence as in previous years, still owns 72 legal entities, including newspapers, radio stations, magazines and websites. It also possesses the intellectual property rights on 283 trademarks as well as printing equipment.

Kolomoyskiy's media assets are credited with helping comic-turned-politician Volodymyr Zelenskiy defeat incumbent Petro Poroshenko in a landslide in the April 2019 presidential election.

His media empire already includes seven television channels, a group of Internet sites, and a production department, among other assets.

Kolomoyskiy returned to Ukraine from self-imposed exile shortly after Zelenskiy's victory and is now considered one of the most influential oligarchs in the country.

Western nations are wary of his influence and have pushed Zelenskiy to pass laws that would prevent Kolomoyskiy from regaining his bank, which was nationalized by the state in 2016 amid a $5.5 billion hole in its accounts.

Ukraine's wealthiest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, has criticized the bidding process for UMH Holding, calling it "a covert transfer of broadcasting licenses" that violates local broadcasting laws. Akhmetov also owns media assets.

With reporting by the Kyiv Post

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukrainian- tycoon-kolomoyskiy-bidding-for-more media-assets/30720994.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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In a setback for millions of displaced Syrians, several attempts to keep a second border crossing open failed to pass at the Security Council.

Millions of displaced Syrians will now have only one Turkish border crossing to receive aid after several attempts to keep a second crossing open failed to pass at the United Nations Security Council.

Russia, backed by China, had been pushing to shut down one of the two border crossings that were still open.

Al Jazeeras James Bays reports from the UN headquarters in New York.
In another devastating accident for the environment, Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel has informed that they're experienced another oil leak in the Arctic. According to reports, it is believed that roughly 45 tons of aviation fuel leaked into it Arctic from the pipeline.

Read: Siberian Governor Says Leaked Oil Spilled Into Arctic Lake

Oil spill caused by depressurisation

As per reports, this is not the first environmental disaster that Nornickel has been involved in. Earlier this year on May 29, about 21,000 tonnes of diesel had leaked from the companys plant near the city of Norilsk. A statement released by Nornickel claims that the latest leak in its pipeline occurred due to depressurisation and that the leak lasted for 15 minutes, spilling 44.5 tonnes of fuel.

According to reports, Norlisk authorities have claimed to be conducting an internal investigation into the accident. The company, in its earlier statement, also added that it has suspended work in the region and that all possible measures were being taken to ensure that the spilled fuel is collected as soon as possible.

Read: Putin Chastises Russian Tycoon Over Massive Arctic Oil Spill

Putin chastises billionaire for oil spill

On June 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticised the owner of Norilsk Nickel for the oil spill. As per reports, the May 29 oil spill into the Ambarnaya River happened due to a broken tank at a power plant in Norilsk, 2,900 kilometres (1,800 miles) northeast of Moscow.

Precautions were immediately taken in order to prevent the oil from travelling downstream where the Ambarnaya River meets another river which then drains into the environmentally sensitive Arctic Ocean, international media reported.

According to reports, the Russian President had declared a state of emergency in the region after the oil spill. Vladimir Potanin, Norilsk Nickel chief, had told Putin that his company would pay for the cleanup which is estimated to cost $146 million.

Read: Sparkling Waters Hide Some Lasting Harm From 2010 Oil Spill

Read: Smart Sponge Soaks Up Oil Spills In Water Without Harming Marine Life

(With agency inputs, Representational Image)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Iran's Tose`e Ta`avon Bank (Cooperative Development Bank) issued loans worth of 10.6 trillion rials (about $253 million) in the Fars Province (southern Iran) in the last Iranian year (from March 21, 2019 to March 20, 2020), Head of Tosee Taavon Banks branch in the province Gholamreza Hesanizadeh said, Trend reports citing the banks official website.

According to the Hesanizadeh, the loans were issued to 9,230 people in the Fars Province.

Hesanizadeh added that the loans were issued in industry, mining, services, trade, housing and agricultural sectors.

The official stressed that the bank loans can be very important in supporting investors and increasing production in the Fars Province.

Iran's Tose`e Ta`avon Bank supports economic and social development. The bank operates under the programs of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare of Iran.
Three Congress MLAs, who had left for Delhi and were being counted among those in Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot's camp in the power tussle in Rajasthan, on Sunday said they will follow the party line. Addressing a press conference at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home here, Rohit Bohra, Danish Abrar and Chetan Dudi called themselves "soldiers" of the party and said they will do whatever the top leadership tells them.

The legislators said their visit to Delhi was a routine affair and the media should not speculate over it. They added that it was the media that ...
At least 11 Republican congressional nominees have publicly supported or defended the QAnon conspiracy theory movement or some of its tenets  and more aligned with the movement may still find a way onto ballots this year.

Why it matters: Their progress shows how a fringe online forum built on unsubstantiated claims and flagged as a threat by the FBI is seeking a foothold in the U.S. political mainstream.

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory that purports without proof that posts by an anonymous internet user from within the federal government are alluding to a secret war that the "deep state" is waging against President Trump.

Driving the news: At least two candidates were positioned to win seats in November.

Lauren Boebert, a first-time candidate, gun-rights activist and QAnon supporter, defeated five-term Rep. Scott Tipton in Colorado's June 30 Republican primary for the 3rd congressional district. Trump had endorsed Tipton.

Boebert said in May she hopes QAnon "is real because it only means America is getting stronger and better and people are returning to conservative values," which she supports.

In a statement, the National Republican Congressional Committee said that the district "is a Republican seat and will remain a Republican seat."

Boebert told Axios she does not follow QAnon but is "glad the IG and the AG are investigating deep state activities that undermine the President."

Marjorie Taylor Greene emerged from last month's primary as the frontrunner heading into an August runoff for the Republican nomination for Georgia's 14th Congressional District, which is rated solidly Republican. She called Q a "patriot" in a 30-minute video in which she also professes the theory.

As Politico reported, House Republican leaders distanced themselves from Greene, who also has made Islamophobic, racist and anti-Semitic remarks.

After her rhetoric came under greater scrutiny, establishment Republicans have pushed to shift support to her runoff opponent, John Cowan, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Several other Republican congressional candidates with QAnon ties are running in solidly Democratic districts. Six of them bested competitors in contested primaries.

Angela Stanton-King , Georgia, 5th congressional district: On Instagram, Stanton-King posted a 12-minute video from a well-known QAnon promoter, who states "those who are corrupting our world" will be "permanently eradicated from the Earth." Her primary was uncontested.

, Georgia, 5th congressional district: On Instagram, Stanton-King posted a 12-minute video from a well-known QAnon promoter, who states "those who are corrupting our world" will be "permanently eradicated from the Earth." Her primary was uncontested. She received a pardon from President Trump on Feb. 18, for her 2004 conviction on federal conspiracy charges involving an auto theft ring, the AJC reports.

Mike Cargile , California, 35th congressional district: Cargile's Twitter bio includes the "#WWG1WGA" hashtag, which stands for the QAnon motto Where We Go One We Go All. Cargile finished second in California's "top two" primary system to Democratic incumbent Rep. Norma Torres, whom he will face in November. He told Axios: "Only a fool would look at the Washington landscape and conclude that the President has no enemies inside the beltway."

, California, 35th congressional district: Cargile's Twitter bio includes the "#WWG1WGA" hashtag, which stands for the QAnon motto Where We Go One We Go All. Cargile finished second in California's "top two" primary system to Democratic incumbent Rep. Norma Torres, whom he will face in November. He told Axios: "Only a fool would look at the Washington landscape and conclude that the President has no enemies inside the beltway." Erin Cruz , California, 36th congressional district: Cruz told NBC News in 2019 that people who believe in the theory have "legitimate concerns." She finished second in the primary and will face Democratic incumbent Rep. Raul Ruiz.

, California, 36th congressional district: Cruz told NBC News in 2019 that people who believe in the theory have "legitimate concerns." She finished second in the primary and will face Democratic incumbent Rep. Raul Ruiz. Alison Hayden , California, 15th congressional district: Hayden has promoted the theory on her campaign Twitter account and has repeatedly tweeted the QAnon-connected hashtag #GreatAwakening. She defeated five other candidates and finished second in the primary for the right to face incumbent Rep. Eric Swalwell.

, California, 15th congressional district: Hayden has promoted the theory on her campaign Twitter account and has repeatedly tweeted the QAnon-connected hashtag #GreatAwakening. She defeated five other candidates and finished second in the primary for the right to face incumbent Rep. Eric Swalwell. Johnny Teague , Texas, 9th congressional district: On a campaign account which has since been deleted, Teague retweeted a video of QAnon supporters reciting an oath associated with the conspiracy theory, according to Media Matters. He defeated two other candidates for the nomination.

, Texas, 9th congressional district: On a campaign account which has since been deleted, Teague retweeted a video of QAnon supporters reciting an oath associated with the conspiracy theory, according to Media Matters. He defeated two other candidates for the nomination. Rob Weber , Ohio, 9th congressional district: Weber tweeted congratulations to a Twitter user for being "17d," a reference to the 17th letter of the alphabet, Q. He defeated three other candidates for the nomination.

, Ohio, 9th congressional district: Weber tweeted congratulations to a Twitter user for being "17d," a reference to the 17th letter of the alphabet, Q. He defeated three other candidates for the nomination. Philanise White , Illinois, 1st congressional district: White has tweeted the #WWG1WGA hashtag on multiple occasions. She ran uncontested for the nomination.

, Illinois, 1st congressional district: White has tweeted the #WWG1WGA hashtag on multiple occasions. She ran uncontested for the nomination. Theresa Raborn , Illinois, 2nd congressional district: Raborn retweeted a video of former national security adviser Michael Flynn reciting an oath associated with the conspiracy theory, adding the #WWG1WGA hashtag. She ran unopposed for the nomination.

, Illinois, 2nd congressional district: Raborn retweeted a video of former national security adviser Michael Flynn reciting an oath associated with the conspiracy theory, adding the #WWG1WGA hashtag. She ran unopposed for the nomination. Billy Prempeh , New Jersey, 9th congressional district: Prempeh uploaded a photo of himself posing with a Q flag on his campaign Facebook page, adding the motto "Where We Go One We Go All. He beat one other candidate for the nomination.

, New Jersey, 9th congressional district: Prempeh uploaded a photo of himself posing with a Q flag on his campaign Facebook page, adding the motto "Where We Go One We Go All. He beat one other candidate for the nomination. Jo Rae Perkins, Oregon: The Republican U.S. Senate nominee recited the oath in a video posted on her campaign Twitter account. She beat three other candidates for the nomination. She told Axios that she believes QAnon is a news source that she uses for "connecting the dots" and "getting information that the mainstream media, generally, does not post."

Of note: Buzz Patterson, who finished second in the primary for California's 7th congressional district and will face Democratic incumbent Rep. Ami Bera, tweeted "Yep!" in response to whether he supports the Q movement.

Patterson told Axios that he does not recall sending the tweet about the theory and does not "follow or endorse anything he/she/them say."

Axios contacted each campaign and only received responses from Boebert, Cargile, Patterson and Perkins.

Between the lines: Trump has retweeted QAnon Twitter accounts on multiple occasions, while his son Eric Trump has promoted the theory in Instagram posts, Forbes reports.

A number of independent or write-in candidates who have supported the conspiracy theory will also appear on ballots in November.

Go deeper ... The science of conspiracies: Where Flat Earth meets Pizzagate

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that California has a "top two" primary system and that several of the Republican candidates finished second.
Weapons seized by South African police in connection with a hostage situation and shooting at International Pentecostal Holiness Church (South African Police Service)

5 Dead, 40 Arrested After Attack at South African Mega-Church: Police

At least five people died and 40 people were arrested following a church attack in South Africa, said police.

The National Commissioner of Police, General Khehla John Sitole, said authorities responded quickly to the mayhem.

I am certain that the speedy response by the joint security forces has averted what could have been a more severe blood bath, Sitole said in a statement Saturday, according to I24 News. The news outlet described the building as a mega-church.

Four people were found shot and burnt to death in a car while a fifth victim, a security guard, was also fatally shot in his car while he was apparently attending this complaint, Sitole added.

An armed group stormed the International Pentecostal Holiness Church in Zuurbekom, located near Johannesburg. The police chief said that they were trying to take over the premises.

Police released images of suspects lying on the ground. (South African Police Service)

Officials said they dont believe a terrorist organization is responsible, but they may have been motivated by a feud between conflicted parties of the church, ABC News reported.

Police officials said they rescued multiple men, women, and children who were said to be living inside the church compound and were allegedly being held as hostages.

Sitole added: It is rather unfortunate that such an incident takes place during a time when South Africa is being plagued by a deadly virus and violent crimes, referring to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

In 2018, according to I24, there were reports of a shoot-out between two parties outside the churchs headquarters in Zuurbekom. A power struggle over the churchs leadership started after its former leader died in 2016, according to local news outlet IOL.

Weve arrested all those we reasonably believed are suspects. They have been taking [sic] in for questioning, said police spokesperson Vish Naidoo to the BBC.

#sapsGP Early hours this morning #SAPS was alerted to a hostage situation & shooting @ International Pentcost Holiness Church, Zuurbekom, 30 suspects arrested & seized more than 25 firearms. 5 fatalities are confirmed. The scene is still active with SAPS Hostage Negotiators. TM pic.twitter.com/5sMjYkYFjg  SA Police Service  (@SAPoliceService) July 11, 2020

Officials added that five rifles, 16 shotguns, and 13 pistols were confiscated by police. Other weapons were also discovered, they said.

The International Pentecostal Holiness Church believed to have about three million members in the southern part of Africa, according to the broadcaster.

An investigation is currently ongoing, police said. Other details about the incident were not disclosed.
President Donald Trump finally wore a mask, in public, during a visit to a military hospital Saturday, falling in line with the recommendations of his public health officials and experts.

It was a navy blue mask with the golden presidential seal emblazoned on the left.

Ive never been against masks, but I do believe they have a time and a place, Trump told reporters shortly before leaving the White House for the Walter Reed military hospital just outside Washington DC in the adjoining state Maryland.

Trumps grudging capitulation came under mounting pressure from his aides, allies and critics, on a day when the cumulative total of Covid-19 infections in the United States climbed to nearly 3.25 million, with 61,352 new infections, and fatalities went up to 134,817 with with 685 more in the last 24 hours.

The American president had refused to wear a mask in public  he did say he wore it once, out of public view though  triggering a political war about facial coverings, with many conservatives around the country following his lead. Many Republican-ruled states had refused to make it mandatory  such as Texas  until recently, when it was hit by a brutal spike.

The United States federally introduced the use of masks, or any facial covering, in early April as a recommendation. But as the epidemic took hold of the country, states such as New York, which quickly emerged as the epicenter, made masks mandatory in public places. Other states followed at their own pace.

But Trumps top public health officials such as Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, members of the task force he set up to spearhead his administrations battle agains virus, began recommending it urgently, along with social distancing measures, as the best bed to slow down the spread.

President Trump had refused to wear masks in public interactions at the White House and outside, disregarding these urgent appeals. He and his campaign had even mocked Joe Biden, his presumptive Democratic rival for the White House in November, for wearing one.

US states battling with the new surge in infections  deaths have been declining  are embracing masks more urgently than earlier. Texas, a Republican-ruled state, made masks mandatory in the first week of July and Arizona  also Republican-ruled state  has left it to its mayors to decide.

Even some Democratic-led states have had their shares of mask problems. Louisiana, made masks mandatory Saturday. Today, I am announcing a mandatory mask requirement for Louisiana, ordering bars closed to on-premises consumption and limiting indoor social gatherings to 50 total people, John Bel Edwards. the governor, announced on twitter. The new measures go into effect Monday.
At a time when the world is grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, a UK citizen with an Indian descent decided to do his bit and contribute to the development of the Covid-19 vaccine. Deepak Paliwal, didnt feel inhibited or have second thoughts before deciding to volunteer for a human trial for coronavirus vaccine led by the Oxford University.

In an interview with the BBC, Paliwal said he kept thinking how could he contribute to the global fight against coronavirus and decided to enrol as a volunteer for the human trial. He thought his brain may not be of any use but his body can certainly contribute.

Also read: India now recording 12% of daily global Covid-19 cases, shows data

Paliwal said he learnt about the trial on April 16 and visited one of the five centres in London for his preliminary check-up and screening on April 26. His wife did not support his decision at first. He said he had only informed his close friends and wife about his decision.

Paliwal said his friends played a huge role in supporting him. During the course of the trial, he was told about various hazards that he could face, the possibility of him collapsing or suffering organ failure. He even read a report about a volunteer dying amid the trial. But all this could deter Paliwal in his resolve.

Forty-two-year-old Deepak Paliwal hails from Jaipur, Rajasthan and lives with his wife in London, United Kingdom. After the successful completion of his trial, his dauntless, courageous move was welcomed by his family but his wife swore never to let him go through anything similar again.

Meanwhile, experts at Oxford University continue to conduct their trial on thousands of volunteers to quickly arrive at a Covid-19 vaccine.

Paliwal and many others like him steer the effort of researchers and scientists in a direction which is one step closer to a potential antidote to the deadly contagion. Ever since its outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year, Covid-19 has infected over 12 million globally while more than 5 lakh people worldwide have lost their battle with the infection till date.
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Linkedin (The Japan News/Asia News Network)  Sun, July 12, 2020 12:02 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665a87ef 2 News Japan,Airport,PCR-test,travel,China,South-Korea,Taiwan Free

The Japanese government plans to increase the number of people who can receive PCR tests for the novel coronavirus at airports to about 10,000 per day in September, aiming to gradually resume international travel.

It will hold talks with 10 countries and regions, including China, South Korea and Taiwan, as early as the middle of this month to adjust the number of visitors.

Currently, daily testing capacity for arriving passengers at Japanese airports is limited to 2,300 people, but the government plans to increase that to 4,000 by the end of August, through measures such as increasing outsourcing to the private sector. In September, it plans to set up PCR testing centers for Haneda, Narita and Kansai airports to handle 6,000 more travelers and bring the total capacity to 10,000.

Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar and Singapore are also being considered by the Japanese government as areas for resuming travel, in addition to China, South Korea and Taiwan. These areas have strong economic ties with Japan, and coronavirus infection levels there have been relatively stable.

Negotiations with these countries and regions will be the second phase for the Japanese government, following talks with Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam. The government has decided to launch negotiations with those four countries on June 18 and is holding consultations with them sequentially.

The government is shortly expected to hold a task force meeting headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to decide on the basic policy including measures such as strengthening the testing system and adding more countries and regions to the list for resumption of travel.

According to a government source, it is likely that travel to and from Taiwan will resume before travel to and from China and South Korea. The two countries are said to present a challenge for resuming exchanges for the time being because of the large number of people from them expected to enter Japan. The PCR testing capacity at Japanese airports is believed to not be enough for them.

Currently, people from a total of 129 countries and regions are denied entry to Japan. The government plans to give priority to the reentry of about 90,000 foreign businesspeople who have bases in Japan. These businesspeople had left Japan before the country introduced a system to deny entry to foreigners and they have been unable to reenter the country.

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This article appeared on The Japan News newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
(Natural News) A 2012 study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases finds that children who received inactivated influenza vaccines were 440% more likely (relative risk: 4.40; 95% confidence interval: 1.31-14.8) to acquire infections of respiratory viral pathogens which are not influenza. With the aggressive push for influenza immunizations now under way, the medical establishment may be setting up children to be extremely vulnerable to coronavirus infections.

Titled, Increased Risk of Noninfluenza Respiratory Virus Infections Associated With Receipt of Inactivated Influenza Vaccine, the study is found at this link at the National Library of Medicine:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3404712/

The study finds that flu shots quite literally inactivate parts of the human immune system, rendering the child more vulnerable to coronavirus infections. Being protected against influenza, trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine recipients may lack temporary non-specific immunity that protected against other respiratory viruses, the study authors write.

The study authors explain that the influenza vaccine works to prevent influenza virus infections, but at the same time it makes children more susceptible to other respiratory infections. Since the Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) for seasonal influenza is so low (around 0.024%, which is not a typo), and the Infection Fatality Rate of covid-19 infections is at least one order of magnitude higher, it raises the obvious question:

Would it save more lives of children to avoid administering flu shots this year and therefore reduce their vulnerability to covid-19, which has a far higher fatality rate?

The study, which was conducted in 2009, observed the outcomes of 115 children aged 6  16 years. The study also used a placebo group and found that placebo made no statistically significant difference in the risk of acute respiratory infection risk.

But children who received influenza vaccines had a much higher risk of respiratory infections.

Even more shockingly, the study also found no difference in the risk of seasonal influenza infections between those children who were vaccinated vs. those who werent. In other words, the influenza vaccine offered no protection against the flu, but it created increased vulnerability to other respiratory infections. (No benefits, just increased risks.) There was no statistically significant difference in the risk of confirmed seasonal influenza infection between recipients of TIV or placebo, the study explains.

You can see the increased number of respiratory infections in this chart. Note the TIV column means those children who were vaccinated with an influenza vaccine:

The conclusion is that influenza vaccines make children more susceptible to other respiratory viral infections. From the study, which took place more than a decade before the arrival of the covid-19 pandemic:

We identified a statistically significant increased risk of noninfluenza respiratory virus infection among TIV recipients (Table 3), including significant increases in the risk of rhinovirus and coxsackie/echovirus infection, which were most frequently detected in March 2009, immediately after the peak in seasonal influenza activity in February 2009.

The study authors point out that the influenza vaccine, could increase influenza immunity at the expense of reduced immunity to noninfluenza respiratory viruses, by some unknown biological mechanism, although they also state more research is needed because some of the self-reporting of symptoms may have introduced artifacts which could sway the numbers. Nevertheless, the study authors also state that this phenomenon of viral interference is well known:

Participants who received TIV would have been protected against influenza in February 2009 but then would not have had heightened nonspecific immunity in the following weeks The phenomenon of virus interference has been well known in virology for >60 years [2427]. Ecological studies have reported phenomena potentially explained by viral interference [311] Interference in respiratory and gastrointestinal infections has been reported after receipt of live oral poliovirus vaccine [2932].

Those who push flu shots may be worsening the coronavirus pandemic

The upshot of this research is that those who are pushing flu shots for children may in fact be worsening the coronavirus pandemic, creating perfect storm conditions for children to become carriers of the Wuhan coronavirus that causes covid-19.

This is consistent with the fact that we now know the medical establishment has acted to deliberately worsen covid-19 fatalities by, for example, conspiring the destroy the credibility of hydroxychloroquine, working to maximize fatalities in order to reap a windfall of profits from the coronavirus vaccine.

Yes, the medical and science establishment quite literally arranges for more people to die in order to keep the coronavirus fear alive, resulting in more demand for high-profit vaccines.

As always, its all about the money. As Gary Heavin recently wrote in a warning to America, Big Pharma operatives are accessories to murder.

How does Big Pharma have so much control over the dissemination of this information or should I say propaganda? Well, the same answer pops up again, money. Big Pharma gave $2 billion dollars during the last election cycle to US politicians. Big AG, the military/security complex and big oil each gave only a paltry $1.0 billion dollars to buy the votes of our political leadership.

The MSM counts Big Pharmas advertising revenue at up to 80% of their income. The internets masters of the universe also kowtow to Big Pharmas influence and advertising dollars by censoring anyone who tries to tell the American people the truth about Covid 19.

It certainly appears that anyone who is complicit in this Great Deception, a deception that is designed to kill and terrify enough people to ultimately beg for an experimental vaccine, well, these people would be accessories to murder.

Flu shots are being hyped to suppress immune systems and create an explosion in coronavirus infections

Flu shots, it seems, are one more way the medical establishment can literally murder children and adults, creating widespread vulnerability to the coronavirus pandemic which will no doubt surge back this Fall as flu shots work to suppress the immune systems of millions.

Recognize that the people pushing flu shots are medical murderers, and many are deliberately trying to kill as many people as possible to create demand for the high-profit coronavirus vaccines that are about to be unleashed on America, probably before the end of this year.

Its the perfect crime: Manufacture vaccines that suppress the immune system right in the middle of a pandemic, causing more infections and deaths, leading to more calls for mandatory vaccines. The drug companies will cash in to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars while innocent children and adults all across America needlessly suffer and die.

As usual, its all about the money, and the vaccine / drug cartels are murderous, criminal regimes that twisted science (Dr. Fauci?) to maximize profits at any cost.

Read more about the dangers of vaccines at Vaccines.news.
Gehlot has called a meeting of Rajasthan Congress MLAs on Monday, which is likely to give a clear indication of how much support he has.

The Congress government in Rajasthan appeared to be headed for a major crisis on Sunday as deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot claimed that he has the support of 30 MLAs and the Ashok Gehlot-led government is a minority.

Pilot was also quoted as saying by PTI that he would not attend the Congress' Legislature Party meeting on Monday.

Meanwhile, the BJP is in a "wait and watch" mode over the unfolding crisis and will wait for the outcome of the show of strength between Gehlot and Pilot before deciding on its next course of action, party sources told PTI.

Gehlot has called a meeting of Congress MLAs on Monday, which is likely to give a clear indication of how much support he and Pilot enjoy in the legislative group.

Pilot, who is also the Rajasthan Congress president, is said to be in touch with some BJP leaders but saffron party sources declined to comment on whether it has held any discussion with him.

A BJP leader said the rebel Congress leader seems to have "made up his mind" and does not look in any mood to reconcile with Gehlot's leadership.

However, senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala exuded confidence that the party's government in Rajasthan will complete its five-year term and said the BJP has no reason to cheer.

Surjewala reached Jaipur along with party colleague Ajay Maken late on Sunday night. The two leaders have been sent by the Congress as central observers to save the party's government in the state.

"There is no reason for the BJP to cheer. The Congress government will complete its five-year term," Surjewala, who is also the party's spokesperson, told reporters.

Surjewala and Maken will hold a meeting with Gehlot and Congress MLAs to avert a crisis in the state.

AICC general secretary Avinash Pande also reached the chief minister's residence for the meeting.

Pilot, who has been camping in Delhi, skipped the meeting.

The Congress has 107 MLAs in the 200-member state assembly while the BJP has 72. After losing power to its rival in the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP had swept the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by winning all 25 seats in the state.

The BJP has come to power in states like Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka through defection by MLAs from the Congress and other rival parties.

Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia was instrumental in toppling the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh and he joined the BJP with his supporters later.

Scindia and Pilot have long enjoyed warm personal relations, and the former on Sunday tweeted in support of the Rajasthan leader and had a swipe at the Congress. He said:

Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, @SachinPilot too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM, @ashokgehlot51 . Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the @INCIndia .  Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) July 12, 2020

Gehlot had on Saturday alleged that the opposition BJP was trying to lure Congress MLAs to topple the state government.

The BJP dismissed the claim, saying the recent developments only reflected the power struggle between Gehlot and Pilot, simmering since the Congress leadership in Delhi picked the more senior politician for the chief minister's post.

Gehlot and other leaders are said to be in touch with allies and independent MLAs supporting the government, hoping to ensure at Mondays meeting that the Congress government had the numbers to retain power.

Pilot had been incommunicado for about two days.

The All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of the state, Avinash Pande, told PTI that he had been trying to get in touch with the leader.

I have left messages for him," he had said.

Pilots supporters had said he was camping in Delhi and was upset over a notice sent to him by the Rajasthan police, who claimed to have stumbled on a plot to topple the Congress government.

The notice from the Special Operations Group had (SOG) sought time from him to record a statement.

The same notice was also sent to Gehlot, Government Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi and some other MLAs, but those close to Pilot insisted that it was meant to humiliate him.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal had tweeted his concern during the day. He asked 

Worried for our party Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables ?  Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) July 12, 2020

Sports Minister Ashok Chandna had even urged MLAs to learn a lesson from what happened in Madhya Pradesh, where Jyotiraditya Scindia switched over to the BJP.

Any person who crosses the party line will not be respected anywhere in the world. This is not the time to lose the respect earned over generations, Chandna said, without naming anyone.

With inputs from PTI
A Chinese national emblem is seen displayed outside the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region after its official inauguration in Hong Kong on July 8, 2020. - China opened a new office for its security agents to operate openly in Hong Kong for the first time under a tough new law. The law stipulates that trials can be held behind closed doors without juries, with offenders subject to a maximum of a life sentence. (Photo | AFP)

San Francisco: Microsoft and Zoom on Tuesday joined other major internet firms that have stopped considering requests by Hong Kongs government for information on users in the wake of Chinas imposition of a sweeping new security law.

Microsoft and Zoom said they are pausing consideration of data requests by officials or police in Hong Kong, a precaution also taken by Facebook, Google and Twitter.

As we would with any new legislation, we are reviewing the new law to understand its implications, Microsoft said in response to an AFP inquiry.

In the past, weve typically received only a relatively small number of requests from Hong Kong authorities, but we are pausing our responses to these requests as we conduct our review.

Zoom a video-conferencing platform that has boom during the pandemic, said it is monitoring developments in Hong Kong and looking for guidance from the US government.

Zoom supports the free and open exchange of thoughts and ideas, the company said.

We have paused processing any data requests from, and related to, Hong Kong SAR.

The pause at leading online social network Facebook and its popular messaging service WhatsApp will remain in place pending further assessment of the new national security law, and include formal human rights due diligence and consultations with human rights experts, according to the Silicon Valley giant.

We believe freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and support the right of people to express themselves without fear for their safety or other repercussions, the spokesman said.

Twitter and Google told AFP that they too would not comply with information requests by Hong Kong authorities in the immediate future.

China last week imposed the security law on the city of around 7.5 million people, banning acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

The law stipulates that trials can be held behind closed doors without juries, with offenders subject to a maximum of a life sentence.

The legislation, which has sent a wave of fear through the territory, has criminalised dissenting opinions such as calls for independence or autonomy.

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Duda, a right-wing populist and close ally of US President Donald Trump, was on 50.4 percent in the poll by Ipsos published just after polls closed at 1900 GMT

President Andrzej Duda was ahead by a tiny margin in Poland's presidential election against his europhile rival but the result is too close to call, an exit poll on Sunday showed, keeping the country in suspense into the night.

Duda, a right-wing populist and close ally of US President Donald Trump, was on 50.4 percent in the poll by Ipsos published just after polls closed at 1900 GMT.

Duda's rival, liberal Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who has promised to heal ties with Brussels by rolling back a controversial reform of the judiciary, was shown just behind on 49.6 percent.

The result of the vote will be decisive for the governing party, which is accused by critics of eroding hard-won democratic freedoms just three decades after the end of communist rule.

Wojciech, a 59-year-old builder who declined to give his surname, said he chose Duda because his close ties to Trump meant Poland "can count on the US for defence".

He also said he "agrees completely" with Duda's promise to ban adoption for same-sex couples.

"It's important for there to be calm and good cooperation with our European partners," Warsaw pensioner Danuta Lutecka told AFP after casting her ballot in Warsaw's leafy Mokotow district.

She said she had chosen Trzaskowski hoping for "less hate, less division" among Poles.

Duda's support is strong in rural areas and small towns and the east of the country, while Trzaskowski performed well in larger cities and western regions on the border with Germany.

- Distanced queues -

Long, snaking queues formed at polling stations as social distancing measures were used to stem infections.

Voters also had to wear masks, use hand sanitiser and their own pens, plus give priority to pensioners, pregnant women and voters with children.

The election had been due to be held in May but was delayed because of the pandemic.

Duda's support has slipped considerably since then, partly because of the virus fallout, which is pushing Poland into its first recession since communism fell.

The incumbent won round one on June 28 with 43.5 percent against 10 challengers, including Trzaskowski who came second with 30.4 percent and has campaigned hard to sway voters who backed other opposition candidates.

- 'A clash of two visions' -

Duda promises to defend highly popular social welfare payments introduced by the Law and Justice (PiS) party government and has led a polarising campaign, attacking LGBT rights and ruling out certain Jewish wartime compensation claims.

Ahead of the vote, PiS Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro characterised it as "a clash of two visions of Poland, the white-red and rainbow-coloured," referring to the colours of Poland's national flag and the symbol most widely used by the LGBT community.

The PiS party government has also lashed out at German-owned media outlets, accusing them of "bias" during the campaign after a tabloid owned by the Ringier Axel Springer Group published a story about Duda pardoning a paedophile.

Trzaskowski promises a very different Poland.

He supports allowing same-sex civil partnerships in Poland and his support for gay rights last year unleashed a protest by mostly southeastern regions which declared themselves "LGBT-free".

"This election will determine Poland's fate for the foreseeable future," said Adam Strzembosz, a former Supreme Court chief justice and respected legal authority.

"Will it be dominated and completely subservient to a certain political party, with all the consequences of power that is dictatorial in nature? Or will we manage to stop this?"

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The Government has been accused of dumbing down education by abandoning an assessment that helps to identify the brightest children when they start school.

Ministers are overhauling how teachers judge the progress made by pupils by the end of reception class in skills such as listening and speaking, reading, writing and numeracy.

Pupils are graded as expected to reach the early learning goal, still being at the emerging stage of development or exceeding the targets.

But after a six-month consultation the last grade had been scrapped by the Government.

The Government has been accused of dumbing down education by abandoning an assessment that helps to identify the brightest children when they start school

It says the move will free teachers to increase the number of children reaching expected levels of development by the end of reception and help to close attainment gaps, particularly between disadvantaged children.

But critics fear it will make it harder for brighter children in state primaries to achieve their potential.

Experts say that large class sizes, a lack of time and some teachers reluctance to differentiate gifted and talented pupils means they are often not pushed to achieve their best.

Valsa Koshy, an education professor at Brunel University London, said: Regardless of backgrounds and social status or education of the parents, the most important thing in a childs life and education is the recognition of special gifts and talents.

'It raises self-esteem, reduces anxiety and raises motivation levels and general wellbeing.

About 40 per cent of four-year-olds were judged to have exceeded one or more of the 17 early-learning goals in 2019.

Critics said the axing of the exceeding grade could cement a low expectations culture that is pervasive in some parts of the state sector.

Ministers are overhauling how teachers judge the progress made by pupils by the end of reception class in skills such as listening and speaking, reading, writing and numeracy

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said expecting the bare minimum from children was effectively dumbing down early education.

It is just not enough to expect children to meet the minimum standard and no more, he said.

Primary schools should be encouraged to be on the lookout for children who show real promise.

Rebecca Howell, a senior education consultant with Potential Plus UK, which supports families with high-ability children, said: Not having learning pitched at an appropriate level will cause many children to become demotivated.

Last night, a Department for Education spokesman said: Reception teachers will benefit from a cut in unnecessary paperwork, giving them more time to support childrens early development.
A "For Sale by Owner" sign is posted in front of property in Monterey Park, Calif., on April 29, 2020. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Home Prices Surge Despite Pandemic, Unemployment Crisis

WASHINGTONThe real estate market is seeing strong signs of a rebound after being hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns across the United States.

Despite the recession, home purchase demand is strong, as buyers are trying to take advantage of the record low mortgage rates, although the pandemic may result in a weakening market later this year.

National home prices increased by 4.8 percent year-on-year in May, as the pent-up buyer demand was delayed, according to CoreLogic, a data provider for the real estate and mortgage industries. In addition, home prices increased 0.7 percent in May compared to the previous month.

Mortgage rates dipped to record low levels after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate to near zero. And robust demand coupled with tightening supply has helped prop up home prices.

Despite unprecedented job losses in a wide swath of industries across the country since the COVID19 pandemic arrived in the United States, home price growth has unexpectedly accelerated, Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West wrote in a report.

However, there are significant differences between the housing market of the 2008 economic recession and todays housing market.

The housing market today is not characterized by loose lending standards, low or no down payment mortgages, a preponderance of subprime loans, and highlyleveraged homeowners like it was in 2008, Anderson said.

And unlike the preGreat Recession era, the housing market entered this downturn undersupplied rather than oversupplied.

Another factor pushing home prices higher is the federal government stimulus program. The income support for small business owners and the enhanced unemployment insurance benefit have boosted the demand for home purchases, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The association reported that pending home sales surged 44 percent in May after two months of decline.

The demand is exceptionally strong, far higher than what I anticipated, Yun told the show NTD Business.

2019 was considered a very good, respectable year. But here we are in the midst of the pandemic; sales activity appears to be stronger than last years figures.

According to Yun, home prices are being pushed up across the board with the exception of the New York City area and San Francisco, where the prices were already high.

The CCP virus outbreak has also altered buyers preferences about locations and features.

We are definitely seeing some shift away from the city and toward larger-size homes, Yun said.

According to a survey conducted by the NAR, 24 percent of realtors said their clients wanted to move away from cities to suburbs, rural areas, and smaller towns. Thirty-five percent of NAR members also indicated that buyers preferred larger homes to accommodate more family members and have a dedicated office space.

Experts say, however, that continued high unemployment could be a drag on purchase activity and home prices after the summer.

If somehow the job creation pace is slow and the stimulus package is pulled out, then we could run into some complications, Yun said.

A rise in foreclosures at the end of this year could also increase the number of homes for sale and put downward pressure on home prices next year.

The CARES Act, passed to provide financial relief to those affected by the pandemic, provided stressed homeowners the option to request up to 180 days of forbearance, meaning they can either reduce or pause payments on a federally backed mortgage loan.

According to Black Knight, more than 4.1 million homeowners were in mortgage forbearance plans as of July 7. These mortgages represent nearly $900 billion in unpaid principal, or 7.8 percent of all active mortgages.

The home price weakness is expected to accelerate once the forbearance window closes later this year, Anderson stated.

By early next year, home prices should be on a widespread decline from a year ago, though our baseline forecast is we will not see the magnitude of home declines we saw in 2008 and 2009. We are forecasting, national home price declines of around 4.2 percent yearonyear by the second quarter of 2021.

However, this expected decline could be pushed further into the future if the government provides further support or extends mortgage forbearance, he said.
A small business owner who withdrew $10,000 from her superannuation account to help pay for four cosmetic surgeries has defended her decision.

Mother Cassandra Garcia, 41, used the funds after the government announced those financially affected by COVID-19 could have early access to their super in March.

The $10,000 is going towards almost $30,000 of surgery including the removal of her breast implants, 360-degree liposuction on her torso and legs and a 'little tweak underneath my chin'.

Speaking on 60 Minutes, Ms Garcia said the cosmetic surgery was 'essential' for her because it will improve her mental health.

Mother Cassandra Garcia, 41, has defended her decision to withdraw $10,000 from her superannuation account to help pay for four cosmetic surgeries

'That money certainly helped me be able to achieve some things that are making me feel a lot better about myself,' Ms Garcia said.

'I just didn't want a mum tum. I just was just sick of all these little things my mental health had suffered in terms of my body image for the last few years.

'At the end of the day, this is all of our money. It is not money that we're loaning from a bank.'

Ms Garcia said many of her friends are withdrawing money from their superannuation to spend on designer clothes, shoes, handbags and makeup.

The businesswoman is the co-owner of a small tech company that employs 20 people, which has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms Garcia gets prepped for surgery. She said her mental health has suffered from negative body image, which made it 'essential' for her to have cosmetic surgery

Due to the pandemic, Ms Garcia's superfund also plummeted in value from $138,000 to $103,000.

Now that she has withdrawn $10,000 for her cosmetic surgery, the super has been reduced to $93,000 - a loss of 33 per cent in a matter of months.

Ms Garcia admitted withdrawing money from her super fund could 'possibly' be short-term thinking.

'I guess it's one of those things where we'll have to wait and see what happens from here,' Ms Garcia said.

Ms Garcia talks to a cosmetic surgeon about having a chin procedure. She admitted withdrawing money from her super fund could 'possibly' be short-term thinking

Ms Garcia is one more than 2.2 million Australians who have taken out a a combined total of $18.5 billion, an average of $8,000 each, from their super funds amid during the coronavirus pandemic.

WHO CAN ACCESS COVID-19 EARLY RELEASE OF SUPER Citizens and permanent residents Citizens and permanent residents are able to apply to access up to: $10,000 of their super until June 30 and a further $10,000 from July 2020 1 until 24 September 2020. Applicants must satisfy one or more criteria: You are unemployed. You are eligible to receive a job seeker payment, youth allowance for jobseekers, parenting payment (which includes the single and partnered payments), special benefit or farm household allowance. On or after 1 January 2020, either: you were made redundant, your working hours were reduced by 20% or more, your business was suspended or there was a reduction in your turnover of 20% or more. SOURCE: AUSTRALIAN TAX OFFICE Advertisement

So far, an estimated 395,000 people aged under 30 have already eroded their entire super balance, according to new analysis from Industry Super Australia.

The ISA estimates that around 480,000 Australians had stripped their super accounts by June 14, with the vast majority comprising of young adults.

A 25-year-old taking out $10,000 now could have $49,000 less in retirement, a 35-year-old could lose up to $34,000 and a 45-year-old up to $23,000.

The trend has appeared to continue into the next phase, with the ATO website crashing earlier this month as thousands flocked to complete the second round of applications.

The site buckled within half an hour of the new financial year, with users reporting outages from as early as 12.14am on July 1.

Although industry super funds have supported the scheme's aim to get cash to those in financial need, the ISA is renewing calls for members to only access the funds as a last resort.

'To have hundreds of thousands wiping their savings out midway through their life is a tragedy waiting to happen and it will affect everyone,' ISA chief executive Bernie Dean said.

'Every Australian deserves a good life in retirement, not just scraping by on the pension.'

Before the second tranche opened, Mr Dean warned young Australians early withdrawals could also 'wipe out' their life and income protection cover if your super balance falls low.

Applications for accessing super early in the 2020-21 financial year close on September 24.

Australians can only access their super if they're unemployed, are eligible to receive a JobSeeker payment, have been made redundant since January 1 or had their work hours reduced by at least 20 per cent.

A barista working in a Sydney cafe on July 1 (pictured) amid concerns young people have withdrawn too much from their supers to help during the coronavirus pandemic

Last month, the government warned it would take against anyone who tried to exploit the system.

Those who provide false or misleading information could face penalties of more than $12,000 for each false and misleading statement.

The MoneySmart website advises Australians to seek government assistance and speaking to their bank or lender about possible financial assistance before dipping into your super.
India is considering importing certain active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediaries from alternative sources such as the United States, Italy, Singapore and Hong Kong, leading to ramping up domestic capacity in a bid to reduce dependence on China, two officials aware of development said.

Over 63 per cent of Indias pharmaceutical imports are API and intermediates, and almost 70 per cent of it comes from China. Dependence on a single country for such crucial thing is not prudent in Indias national interest, hence there is a need to diversify its sourcing and develop domestic capacity, the officials said requesting anonymity.

Intermediaries and APIs are crucial chemical compounds (raw materials) required to manufacture formulations or medicines. According to the experts, while India is one of the leading exporters of formulations or generic medicines, for raw materials -- intermediaries and APIs -- China enjoys the number one position in the world. India imports about five dozens APIs and intermediaries from China.

Indias pharmaceutical import in 2018-19 was Rs 76,303.53 crore and exports were at Rs 1,40,961.31 crore, the official statistics point out.

The government has also decided to set up three bulk drug parks for Rs 3,000 crore and approved a Rs 6,940 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) package for promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical intermediates and APIs, one of the officials said.

However, the two schemes would take five to eight years to show the results. Meanwhile, we must take some contingency measures. Sourcing of raw materials for key medicines was one of our key concerns when Covid-19 pandemic gripped China that led to complete halt of imports from that country, the official said.

A second official said deteriorating relations with China is another reason to find alternatives quickly as availability of medicines is a matter of national interest. Sino-Indian tensions shot up in June this year after a violent brawl between Chinese and Indian soldiers along the Line of Actual Control in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in which 20 Indian army personnel and unspecified number of Chinese were killed.

Experts said both the government and the industry should de-risk themselves immediately to the extent possible while implementing their medium to long-term plans. It will take time to reduce dependence on China, it cant happen overnight, said Atul Sharma, founder of pharmaceutical consulting firm Healthscape Business Solutions.

Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) secretary general Sudarshan Jain said, All countries are trying to diversify imports [of Chinese APIs and intermediaries]. We have already initiated a study to find alternative sources.

It is not in the national interest to depend on one single source for something as crucial as medicines. India has adopted a right approach  to find alternative sources in the immediate term and to develop domestic capabilities in the medium to long term, he said.

Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) executive director Ashok Madan said right policies and incentives could help strengthen about 1,500-1,600 domestic API units. It is a low-hanging fruit. A three-pronged strategy can to revive these units  financial support, technological assistance and help in meeting environmental norms, he said.

Madan said India can reduce API imports from China considerably within short span of time by strengthening existing domestic units that are facing unequal competition from China.

Support is required in terms of cost of utilities like power, water, steam and finance. Land cost is also a matter of concern. There is need for simplifying the environmental approvals... [The regulator] should be concerned only with pollution load compliance and allow companies to produce the specified priority APIs and KSMs [key starting materials], he said. KSMs are raw materials for manufacturing APIs and largely procured from China.
China's Huawei Technologies has requested a meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to work out a deal to delay its potential removal from the country's 5G phone network, the Sunday Times newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Chinese telecoms equipment maker is seeking to delay its removal from the from the country's 5G telecoms networks until after elections in June 2025, in the expectation that the new government may reverse the decision, the newspaper reported.

Huawei will in return pledge to maintain its equipment in the UK, which is also used in the 2G, 3G and 4G networks, the report added.

Britain granted Huawei a limited role in its future 5G networks in January, but ministers have since said the introduction of U.S. sanctions on the company means it may no longer be a reliable supplier.

Johnson has faced intense pressure from the United States and some British lawmakers to ban the telecommunications equipment maker on security grounds.

China's ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, warned last week that getting rid of Huawei would send a "very bad message" to Chinese business.

A government update on the Chinese company is expected to be published before July 22, according to a government minister and official.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Raising questions on the claims of bed availability in government hospitals, a 41-year-old Covid patient was put through hours of wait for a bed at Koti ENT and Osmania General Hospital, before her death. A home guard from one of the police stations in old city, had to go through the harrowing experience, as he was trying to get help for his wife. The 45-year-old home guard had tested positive for Covid-19 and likely passed it onto his wife, who died within two days of giving her samples.

My wife was vomiting and had high fever. On July 4, we took her to Charminar Hospital. They took her samples. However, the next day, her condition deteriorated and we took her to Koti ENT, where they said no beds were available. We were then sent to Osmania General Hospital, said the home guard, on condition of anonymity.

It may be mentioned that the medical bulletin claims the availability of 3,041 oxygen beds. The patients family, however, found none at the time of crisis. At OGH, there was an alleged delay in procuring a bed. It took five hours for an oxygen bed, although her oxygen saturation levels were at 30-40 per cent (SpO2). We tried to get a private cylinder, but failed, added Abdul Rehman, the patients cousin.

When a bed was finally given to her, OGH staff took her samples again due to a delay in results from Charminar. In the case sheets accessed by Express, she was diagnosed with severe acute respiratory infection suggestive of Covid-19. On July 7, the results arrived from OGH, which confirmed she was Covid positive. They made her wear a PPE kit and said an oxygen ambulance was en route to shift her to Gandhi Hospital, he added. However, seven hours went by and the ambulance never showed up. Ultimately, by evening that day, the 41-year-old woman passed away.
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This week, Ontarios Minister of Education Stephen Lecce made a suite of education announcements. Unfortunately, he stopped short of providing key information about the funding for his education plan and how it can be implemented by September.

As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 crisis, there is a lot of work ahead to ensure students receive the best education possible to prepare them for this uncertain and rapidly changing world.

My 11-year-old niece Nevaeh delivered a convocation speech for my nephews digital convocation in June and left the students with a sage message: While we may not know what learning will look like in the future, what we do know, is that it includes you at the centre of it, because you are our future.

Our education systems are best when we shape them to bring out the full potential of students first.

In order to achieve this, we need a minister of education at the helm who is a transformational leader with strong and mutually trusting stakeholder relationships. At the same time we need to support parents and especially mothers so they may contribute to our economic recovery in their respective fields of work. It is crucial that the minister, and their team, intimately understand the systems that they are tasked to lead.

We need an approach that centres students, educators, and parents in its development, each working together with policy-makers rather than forging separate paths and wasting precious time.

The current minister has deliberately sown distrust between the government and educators through combative language and approaches chosen during recent contract negotiations. The minister set an adversarial tone with the people he must now co-operate with toward creative solutions.

Should Education Minister Stephen Lecce choose to proceed in this fashion we are destined to fail the young people depending on us to deliver on their right to learn. Delivering on properly resourced education plans is the single most important thing we can do for the future of this country, province by province.

We were past due an end to streaming in Ontario. The evidence was clear, Black and Indigenous students were grossly overrepresented in applied classes. This change is a welcomed development in the fight to remove barriers to post secondary education, and it is just the beginning.

Success will be defined in the long term, and must be more than ad hoc government response to community asks mixed with distractions nobody asked for at all. The COVID-19 impacts on our education system are overwhelming, but with a truly collaborative approach the load is manageable.

School boards across Canada have been in various stages of effective equity work. Many issues of racial and gender inequality have been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing that some school boards are better resourced for this work, whether a student is in Ottawa, the Region of Peel, or Windsor, our efforts to understand and rectify the experience should be the same. We need a strong planner on the file, and preferably a minister who knows their way around a publicly funded school more than a publicly funded press conference.

Our systems are not equipped for the challenge ahead, but they could be.

We should strive toward the best possible education system in Ontario, especially from an equity lens. I care deeply about seeing this system evolve following this storm into one that is safe for my future children to be shaped and empowered, supported through the advocacy of Black mothers who fought for those changes before me.

I stand with advocates because the system we build during and after COVID-19 must be better than the one that preceded it. Every premier should want to be an Education Premier and put their very best team forward to build on this world-class system to ensure every child is reaching their full potential.

The cost is too high to not get this right.

As this work is carried out, a Stacey Abrams quote comes to mind, Dont allow reformation to get in the way of transformation.
ALBANY  President Donald Trumps ship is sinking, and Elise Stefanik is standing on deck, watching as the water begins to tickle her feet.

Polls say that Trump would lose to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in a landslide if the election were today. The President is well behind in all the usual battleground states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, etc.) and polls even show him in a dead heat in states, such as Texas, where Republicans always win.

Whats that? You don't believe polls?

Well, then look at where the Trump campaign is spending on advertising: Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona  states where Republican nominees shouldn't be playing defense four months before the election. Trump is in deep trouble, no matter Biden's flaws.

Meanwhile, the resurgence of the coronavirus (in red states, no less) and the scandal known as Bountygate loom. The Trumptanic is already listing, and the biggest icebergs are ahead in the fog.

All of this must be disheartening for Stefanik, the Republican congresswoman who lives in Saratoga and represents the North Country. If your memory is sharp enough to remember six months back, you'll recall the outsized role Stefanik played during impeachment and how, as one of one of Trump's most vociferous defenders, she tied her political future to his.

(If you don't remember, well, January does feel like a lifetime ago.)

Her role on Trumps defense team made Stefanik a star, of sorts. Her bellicose and frequently dishonest defense of the president's Ukraine scheming pulled her out of obscurity and thrust her into the national spotlight. They loved her on Fox, hated her on MSNBC.

It was a perplexing turn of events for those who remember the Stefanik of yore, the ever-so-cautious Albany Academies graduate who once found Trump so distasteful that she endorsed the Republican nominee without letting his name sully her reputation. I imagine that from Stefanik's perspective, Trump lacked the kind dignity and personal morality of her former boss, George W. Bush.

(Quick question: When Trumps presidency is over, who thinks he'll devote himself to eradicating AIDS in Africa, as Bush has done, or to some other selfless cause? I don't see many hands.)

But when impeachment came, Stefanik grabbed a MAGA hat and wrapped herself in a Trump flag. Sure, the decision, however calculated and insincere, had obvious short-term benefits  fame and buckets of campaign cash among them  but it sure looks like a bad bet now.

It isn't that Stefanik will lose in November to Tedra Cobb, her Democratic opponent. An upset, though hardly impossible, still seems unlikely.

But if Trump goes down in a landslide as Democrats sweep into power, there is going to be finger pointing among Republicans. The party that emerges will be different, and better, and those who most blatantly embraced Trump are going to carry his stink for years to come. Those who kept their distance will look wise.

To put in another way: Stefanik, considered a potential bright star of the party when she was elected to Congress at the age of 30, will have done her career some serious harm.

I don't like to kick a politician when shes down, but I'll now mention Stefaniks recent trip to Tulsa for Trumps much-hyped but lightly attended rally  the event that was supposed to jump start his flagging campaign. Stefanik was one of a few elected Republicans to attend.

It was there, atop Oklahoma's red dirt, that Trump decided to give a little shout out to some prominent supporters in the crowd, including the congresswoman known as  Elise Steff-a-NACK!! Clap, clap, clap. Wait, Elise who?

Thats our president for you. Debase yourself defending the guy, and he can't be bothered to learn your name.

Stefanik has been so adamant that Trump can do no wrong that I half expected her to declare, after the rally, that she had been known as Elise Steff-a-NACK all along, no matter what the FAKE NEWS claimed. Instead, her campaign spokesperson said "the president knows her as Elise." Oh.

If nothing else, Trumps error silenced silly speculation that Stefanik might replace Mike Pence on the ticket. Pence is easier to pronounce, so he'll get to stick around for the November defeat. Lucky guy!

What should Stefanik do? If she's reading the tea leaves properly, she'll hop in a lifeboat and row until theres miles of sea between her and that doomed ship. She'll try to distance herself from Trump, in other words, as many elected Republicans alarmed by sinking polls seem increasingly willing to do.

Bountygate may leave Stefanik no choice. If it is true, as early reporting indicates, that Trump ignored U.S. intelligence showing Russia paid bounties for the killings of American troops in Afghanistan, the backlash will be fierce  especially in the North Country, where Fort Drum is a major employer and a cultural touchstone.

Get in that lifeboat, Elise, and start rowing. There's no time to waste.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
New Delhi: India has imposed anti-dumping duty on steel and fibre glass measuring tapes and their components originating from China and other countries after finding that the Chinese products were entering India through locations such as Singapore and Cambodia to circumvent Indian laws, government officials said.

The finance ministry not only imposed the anti-dumping duty on Chinese measuring tapes on July 8, but also extended it to imports from other sources so that the Chinese products are not re-routed through a third country, the officials said, requesting anonymity.

As influx of measuring tapes and their components from China had been hurting the domestic industry, prompting the government to impose anti-dumping duties on them from July 9, 2015. The punitive duties would have expired on July 8.

An investigation launched in December last year found that while imports of these items from China had declined after the imposition of the duties, there was a significant jump in their imports from other countries such as Singapore and Cambodia although they do not manufactures these products, the officials cited above said.

The finance ministry then imposed anti-dumping duty of $1.83 per kg on steel measuring tapes and their components, and $2.56 per kg on fibre glass tapes and their components originating from China or any other country for five years from July 8, 2020, one of the officials said.

The decision was taken after a thorough investigation by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) on this matter, a second official said. DGTR is a single-window agency seeking to provide a level playing field to domestic industry against unfair trade practices of countries like China.

Evidence show that there are no producers in Cambodia and Singapore, and Chinese producers are apparently exporting through these countries, the official cited above said, quoting DGTRs investigation report. HT reviewed a copy of the report.

Examination of the evidence is indicative of the fact that significant imports have been reported from Cambodia and Singapore, which are allegedly Chinese origin products, the report said.

Dumping is an unfair trade practice that entails the export of a product at a price lower than its value and is countered by a punitive duty, which is an acceptable measure under multilateral trade agreements.

Mekhla Anand, partner at law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said the numerous such cases were noticed by the government that saw amendment of the Customs Tariff Rules, 1995 last year to widen the scope of anti-circumvention measures.

Anti-dumping duty measures have to be coupled with measures to prevent circumvention of the rules so as to ensure that the domestic industry is not unfairly targeted by non-domestic players, she said.

DK Aggarwal, president of the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said China had been resorting to unfair trade practices. As a result, unfair competition from low-cost imported (Chinese) products has impacted the sentiments of domestic manufacturers, resulting in significant effect on production processes and employment creation, he said.

Anti-dumping duties significantly help in supporting the domestic industry, however, it is not very much helpful in case of China due to its extreme unfair trade practices, he said, adding that the government should strictly impose quality assurance norms to check import of counterfeit products.

HT reported on May 11 that India could extend anti-dumping duties and safeguards on more than two dozen Chinese goods ranging from calculators and USB drives to steel, solar cells and Vitamin E amid concern that a flood of imports would kill domestic manufacturers who will lose duty protection soon against such products. Anti-dumping duties on these products were imposed five years ago and are expiring this year.
Clint Sawchuk remembers going to bed with a loaded shotgun beside him, and the fear that descended on his small Canadian town.

Curtis Broughton remembers the smiles and joy Australian tourist Lucas Fowler and American girlfriend Chynna Deese exuded during their chance meeting on a highway.

Broughton also recalls the horror he felt when news reports described how the couple were shot dead hours later and their bodies left in a ditch.

July 15 marks the first anniversary of the senseless murders of Fowler and Deese.

The love-struck couple was on a road trip adventure across Canada when their blue 1986 Chevrolet van broke down on an isolated section of the Alaska Highway in northern British Columbia.

American backpacker Chynna Deese (right) and her Australian boyfriend Lucas Fowler (left), who were found dead on July 15 2019 after their van broke down on the Alaska Highway, British Columbia, Canada

The love-struck couple was on a road trip adventure across Canada when their blue 1986 Chevrolet van broke down on an isolated section of the Alaska Highway in northern British Columbia

July 15 marks the first anniversary of the senseless murders of Fowler and Deese

'They were happy, smiling, beautiful people,' said Broughton, who was one of the last people to see Fowler and Deese alive.

It was a warm afternoon on July 14 last year when Broughton, his wife Sandra and sons Lewis, 11, and Mason, six, were driving home from a week-long camping trip in the Yukon.

The area was isolated, mobile phone coverage patchy.

As the Broughtons headed south along the Alaska Highway near Liard River Hot Springs, they spotted the broken down Chevy van.

Broughton, a mechanic, pulled over to offer help.

Fowler, the 23-year-old son of NSW Police chief inspector Stephen Fowler, was also handy under the bonnet and Broughton was impressed.

The van's engine was flooded.

'They were happy, smiling, beautiful people,' said Curtis Broughton, who was one of the last people to see Fowler and Deese alive

'He explained exactly what he thought was wrong and it made sense to me,' Broughton said.

'They had lots of food and lots of water and were just hanging out and having lunch.'

The Broughtons continued home.

The next day Fowler and Deese, 24, from North Carolina, were found dead in the ditch near the van.

Police determined Kam McLeod, 18, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 19, who had quit their jobs at a Vancouver Island Walmart, were seeking notoriety and embarked on a murderous rampage.

They encountered the stranded Fowler and Deese and shot them multiple times with SKS semi-automatic rifles.

Four days later, and 460km from where Fowler and Deese were murdered, McLeod and Schmegelsky, seeking a new getaway car, came across 64-year-old University of British Columbia botany lecturer Leonard Dyck on the side of another highway.

BRITISH COLUMBIA BACKPACKER MURDERS: A TIMELINE July 15: At 7.19am, Royal Mounted Canadian Police are called to the side of the road on the Alaska Highway, in remote British Columbia. Police found the bodies of a young man and young woman about 20km south of the Liard Hot Springs, not far from a beat-up blue minivan. July 16: Police publicly announce the two bodies were found dead on the side of Highway 97 but say 'no further information is available' July 17: Investigators ask anyone who may have seen, or have dashcam footage, between 4pm Sunday and 8am Monday to come forward July 18: Detectives confirm the identities of the two dead as Lucas Fowler, 24, and Chynna Deese, 23 Some 470km away near Dease Lake, police discover an abandoned truck July 19: The body of Leonard Dyck is found two kilometres from the burned-out remains of the truck McLeod and Schmegelsky were travelling in July 21: Witness tells media of seeing a 'bearded man' having a 'heated exchange' with Fowler and Deese on the side of the highway July 22: Pictures emerge of Fowler and Deese's minivan with a blown out back window Police issue urgent appeal for two men who have gone missing near Dease Lake, Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18 July 23: McLeod and Schmegelsky are named as suspects - a massive search gets underway A grey Toyota RAV 4 being driven by the pair is spotted in northern Saskatchewan A burnt-out car is found near the town of Gillam, Manitoba. July 29: York Landing in Manitoba is thrown into lockdown after two men were spotted foraging for food at a landfill July 31: Manhunt involving police, military, tracking dogs and drones has found no trace of two teenage murder suspects August 1: Police begin searching the province of Ontario, 2,000km from where the pair were last seen, after reports of a suspicious vehicle near Kapuskasing August 2: Police say the sighting of the pair in Ontario was not credible, as Lucas Fowler's friends and family hold an emotional memorial for him in Sydney Police find several items directly linked to the suspects near the Nelson River after a battered rowboat washes ashore August 3: Ontario police reveal they received more than 30 tips in just eight hours, and say they are following up on every single one August 6: The search in the Nelson River is called off, and police block off the town of Sundance, which has been abandoned since 1992, and once housed a murder suspect for three years August 7: Canadian Police announce that two male bodies believed to belong to McLeod and Schmegelsky were found in 'dense bush' by the Nelson River, five miles from where they abandoned the burning car Advertisement

They shot Dyck dead, stole his Toyota RAV4, money and digital camera, set their own Dodge pick-up truck on fire and headed 3000km east to Gillam.

The teenagers recorded videos on Mr Dyck's camera.

In one clip recovered by police, they described how they planned to hijack a boat and sail from Canada to Africa or Europe to elude authorities.

On July 23, the teenagers dumped the RAV4 on a gravel road outside Gillam, set it on fire and disappeared into the wilderness.

'Fear,' said Gillam local Clint Sawchuk, describing the feeling in the town when the car was found.

'Two kids came to a town that 98 per cent of the time is very peaceful and all of a sudden all hell broke loose.'

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian military, including Royal Canadian Air Force CC-130H Hercules and a CP-140 Aurora patrol plane equipped with infrared cameras and imaging radar, flooded the area.

Sawchuk slept with a shotgun to protect his family, and other residents also carried guns.

They avoided standing near windows in their homes for fear of being shot by the teenagers.

Sawchuk, who runs sightseeing company Nelson River Adventures, made the breakthrough when he was taking a group of tourists along the river.

He spotted a blue sleeping bag tangled in willows.

RCMP officers joined him as they searched the area.

The search for McLeod and Schmegelsky spanned weeks and thousands of miles

Kam McLeod (left), 18, and Bryer Schmegelsky (right), 19, went on a murder rampage in northern British Columbia in July, first shooting dead Mr Fowler, 23, from Sydney, and Ms Deese, 24, from North Carolina

The teenage killers ended their lives after they became stranded in an area near a fast-moving river and thick bushland

The bodies of Schmegelsky and McLeod were found less than a mile from the Nelson River (pictured) outside of Gillam

The teenagers ended their own lives in scrub near the river.

'After the bodies were found I just cut all communication with it,' Sawchuk said.

'I didn't watch the news. I was just glad it was over.'

A truck driver who regularly drives along the Alaska Highway where Fowler and Deese were murdered placed a cross at the site last year.

It has inspired a memorial featuring Australian flags, cards, painted rocks, crosses and other items.

The young couple met backpacking in Croatia and their adventurous spirit touched the Broughton family.

'I did the same thing with my wife long before we even thought about getting married,' Broughton said.

'Two or three times we jumped in the truck and would be gone for two weeks or a month.

'We were about their age too. That's all they were doing. They were finding themselves.'
Himachal Pradesh on Sunday recorded 31 fresh Covid-19 infections, taking the total number of cases in the state to 1,213, officials said.

Ten cases were reported in Solan district, six cases in Kangra, four each in Shimla and Sirmaur, three in Una, two in Chamba and one each in Mandi and Bilaspur.

Kangra deputy commissioner Rakesh Kumar Praajapti said a 59-year-old man and his 26-year-old daughter, residents of Chhatri village of Shahpur, were among the new patients. They have no travel history and health authorities were tracing the source of infection.

A 13-year-old girl from Jawali area, whose father is already under treatment has tested positive.

Besides, a 6-year-old boy of Ghar Harsar has contracted the disease. His father too is a Covid-19 patient. A 55-year-old woman of Jasinghpur, who had returned from Delhi, has tested positive and kept in institutional quarantine. The sixth patient is a 53-year-old man who returned from Uttar Pradesh.

In Chamba, two men have tested positive. One of them returned from Dubai and the other from Kerala. A 22-year-old woman, who returned from Gurugram, tested positive in Mandi. In Bilaspur a Kuwait-returned youth is positive.

Ten cases were reported in Baddi industrial area of Solan district. Most of them are migrant workers who work in industrial units.

Four cases each reported in Shimla and Sirmaur and three in Una.

273 ACTIVE CASES, 916 CURED

Himachal breached the 1200-mark in 115 days of reporting its first case on March 20. As many as 916 have been cured while active cases stand at 273. Nine people have succumbed to the virus while 13 patients had migrated out. Till date, 100,315 samples have been tested in the state.

Kangra is the worst-hit district with 309 cases, followed by Hamirpur with 272 cases. Solan has 187 cases, Una 141, Chamba 61, Shimla 59, Bilaspur 52, Sirmaur 46, Mandi 39, Kinnaur 35, Kullu 8 and Lahaul-Spiti district 4.

MORE THAN 86% CURED IN HAMIRPUR

The recovery rate in Hamirpur, the second worst hit district in Himachal has crossed over 86%.

Of the total 272 cases reported in the district till date, 134 have recovered. The district has also recorded three causalities, the highest number in the state.

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Editors note: Before taking any hike during the COVID-19 outbreak, observe all state and local health and government advisories, consult the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail website (www.mountainstoseatrail.org) for up-to-date guidelines and maintain social distancing.

One of the great hiking treasures of North Carolina is the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Now, more than 42 years old, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail stretches 1,175 miles from Clingmans Dome in Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Jockeys Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks. Three-inch white circles blaze a path as the MST passes through mountains, the Piedmont (including Greensboro) and coastal plain in 37 of the states 100 counties.

Most of us will never hike, or want to hike, the entire trail. To date there are about 120 known completions. But where does one start to explore the trail?

A book, Great Day Hikes on North Carolinas Mountains-to-Sea Trail, by the trails nonprofit support group Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, fills this need.
Indian diaspora groups gathered outside the Chinese embassy in London on Sunday to protest against the expansionist policies of China on the Indian border.

The groups, led by the Overseas Friend of BJP, gathered with placards that read China Back Off and Tibet is not part of China along with the Indian national flag.

This protest is the Indian diasporas effort to draw attention to the expansionist policies of China and express solidarity with our armed forces on the Chinese border, said Kuldeep Shekhawat, President of Overseas Friends of BJP.

The protest came a day after an image was projected onto the Chinese embassy building in Portland Place in central London, which read Free Tibet; Free Hong Kong and Free Uyghurs. However, it remains unconfirmed the groups behind that projection as the Indian diaspora groups have said the light display was not part of their protest.

The India-China border conflict, which has claimed the lives of Indian Army personnel, was described as a very serious and worrying situation by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month in the Parliament.

British members of parliament later raised concerns in the House of Commons over Chinas bullying behaviour in the border dispute with India and the delayed declaration of Covid-19 and urged an internal review into the UKs dependence on China with a view to reducing collaboration with the country.

Conservative Partys member of parliament Ian Duncan Smith raised the issue as part of an urgent question in the Commons on the mistreatment by the Chinese government of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang province.

Given the Chinese governments appalling record on human rights, their attack on freedoms in Hong Kong, their bullying behaviour in border disputes from the South China seas to India, their blatant breaching of the rules-based order governing the free market and their delayed declaration on Covid-19, will the Government now initiate an internal review of the UKs dependence on China, with a view to significantly reducing that dependence, questioned Smith.

UK Minister for Asia Nigel Adams responded to say that the UK government has been regularly raising its concerns with China over various issues.

On a full government review, our approach to China remains clear-eyed and is rooted in our values and interests. It has always been the case that when we have concerns we raise them, and that where we need to intervene we will, he said.
A peak medical group wants coronavirus testing stations set up at checkpoints bordering Melbourne as more infections emerge in regional Victorian communities.

The Australian Medical Association Victoria is calling for increased monitoring of possible COVID-19 cases to protect residents in areas that have been spared the lockdown imposed on Melbourne.

Australian Medical Association Victoria president Julian Rait says areas around the borders of Melbourne should be under "high levels of surveillance". Credit:Justin McManus

The state government has flagged plans to set up testing sites within 10 kilometres of every home in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.

But AMA Victoria president Julian Rait said regional Victoria remained highly vulnerable to outbreaks.
Officers attended to find a bullet hole in the front window of the house, and a bullet located within an interior wall.

A number of shots have been fired at a house in a "planned and ruthless attack" in Pembroke Manor in Dunmurry, police said.

Detectives are appealing for information or witnesses after the incident on Saturday evening shortly before 7pm.

The shots left a bullet hole in the front window of the house and a bullet located within an interior wall, along with cartridge cases on the footpath and road.

Two masked men, dressed in black, left the area on foot.

Detective Sergeant OFlaherty said: "This was a planned and ruthless attack. Thankfully no one was home at the time, as this could, of course, have resulted in injury or loss of life.



Its also shocking that such a reckless act took place at a time when people, possibly children, would have been out and about and possibly passing by.



I am appealing to anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to contact detectives on 101, quoting reference number 1731 of 11/07/20.
Creche fees are set to be capped so no parent is paying more than their monthly mortgage repayment for their children to be looked after.

New Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman is hoping to outline a proposal to cap childcare fees within the next year to ensure parents do not face disincentives to going back to work.

Under the proposals, increased subsidies to private childcare providers would be linked to the fee cap. "When childcare becomes more expensive than the mortgage, that becomes a massive disadvantage, a disincentive," he told the Sunday Independent.

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"We want to be in a position where parents are no longer pressured by the fact they have to pay a very substantial childcare bill."

The new Green Party cabinet minister is promising radical reforms to the sector including a new state agency, Childcare Ireland, which will be tasked with reducing costs and improving standards.

O'Gorman wants an analysis of the caps in place in other European countries and a proposal to put to government within the next year.

"I think that's absolutely something we want to achieve, we want to get a clear vision as to what sort of fees parents will be paying," he said. "In principle, I've no issue with capping fees.

"We have to let the work be undertaken to actually see how the existing National Childcare Scheme could operate to provide those subsidies. You'd be linking increased subsidies to the various providers with the cap on fees."

He said Childcare Ireland would look at the issue of affordability, as well as look at the quality of creche facilities, accessibility and raising overall standards. Ultimately, the Government will look at potentially developing a state-led childcare sector, he said.

"I think as we get increased state support and increased budgetary support each year into that system, we can actually target it more effectively, but also ensure that all parents benefit," he said.

O'Gorman, a new TD for Dublin West, said the Government was making up for years of "no state involvement in the early years sector, which is completely at variance with what the rest of Europe is doing".

"We are catching up and [we're] going to be catching up for a long time going forward and it is an issue that's of huge concern to parents. At every second door in Dublin West during the election, the issue of childcare - the fact that it's more than a mortgage payment - was being raised with me and that's what this Government needs to address."

He said he would look to broaden existing schemes such as Early Childhood Care and Education and the National Childcare Scheme to make sure more parents have access to subsidies. "You can use whatever additional resources you have to target particular groups, particular income brackets, or you can use it to actually widen the entire accessibility of the scheme," he said.

As the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, O'Gorman also has responsibility for the new Government's commitment to abolish Direct Provision in the next five years.

He said the controversial system of accommodating asylum seekers solely hits minority groups and while it was not designed as a racist system, "its impact is racist" and that it does not provide "any degree of dignity" to people in it.

A white paper on what the new accommodation system for people in the international protection process will look like will be published by the end of the year.

O'Gorman said approved housing bodies and the State will play a direct role in the provision of housing to asylum seekers.

"I think the first element is that it will be not-for-profit and I think that has to be a clear element that this idea that people are making money from an inhumane system is not acceptable," he said.

He said there has been "no political will" to abolish the system but that it now exists with the specific commitment in the programme for government. "No one ever seriously tried to change it in that 20-year period," he said.

O'Gorman said he wanted to introduce a number of reforms by the end of this year, including reducing the time asylum seekers must wait to apply for work and making it easier for an asylum seeker to get a driver's licence.

He said ideally an asylum seeker application should be processed within 12 to 18 months of the person arriving in the country.

"We should be providing people with accommodation that meets basic human rights and basic standards of dignity and that's what I am proposing to do," he added.
Mr Connor, 53, is from the Caribbean island of Anguilla and worked as a chef de partie in the Commons kitchens

A sacked chef is suing the House of Commons for 300,000 in a racism claim after he was allegedly handed a cartoon of himself in a pan of boiling oil.

Kevin Connor said he felt humiliated by the image, which included his name written on a menu featuring jerk chicken and a colleague about to hit him with a cooking utensil.

He also claims he was told he should become a beach seller of jerk chicken and that he worked 'like a slave'.

Mr Connor, 53, is from the Caribbean island of Anguilla and worked as a chef de partie in the Commons kitchens.

He was fired in February and is claiming unfair dismissal, race discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

Mr Connor is seeking 300,000 compensation from the House of Commons Commission  which runs the cafeterias on the parliamentary estate  for lost earnings, pension and injured feelings.

In legal papers lodged at Central London Employment Tribunal, he said he worked in the kitchens cooking food for MPs from 2002 until 2014 without any problems.

But he claims his job became a living hell over the past few years with staff frequently falling out and having rows that sometimes turned violent.

Tensions first surfaced when he reprimanded a colleague for cooking chicken in the same fryers as other dishes  something which could potentially trigger allergies among diners.

He said the worker was persuaded to complain about him and another colleague punched him in the face, which he reported to police.

Kevin Connor said he felt humiliated by the image, which included his name written on a menu featuring jerk chicken and a colleague about to hit him with a cooking utensil

But it was Mr Connor who was suspended for a year following the fracas. On his return he was allegedly branded a 'snake' by a fellow worker and told he had a 'monkey on his back'.

He said: 'I suspect he referred to jungle creatures when referring to me due to my race.'

Mr Connor added: 'He went on to warn me that 'no-one here likes you'. It was harassing. He wanted me to know that no-one would support me and he could ensure that was the case. I kept my head down and got on with my work. My performance remained good at all times. It was very stressful.'

He claimed another colleague said: 'Why don't you go back to where you belong?'

Mr Connor also alleged he was told he worked 'like a slave' and that one worker threatened to punch him.

In 2019, he claims it was suggested he should go on the beach and sell jerk chicken, with the colleague adding: 'You would do well.'

Mr Connor said: 'Again, this was harassing and a racist and derogatory remark.'

In legal papers lodged at Central London Employment Tribunal, above, he said he worked in the kitchens cooking food for MPs from 2002 until 2014 without any problems. But he claims his job became a living hell over the past few years with staff frequently falling out and having rows that sometimes turned violent

He claims he was again disciplined when false complaints were made that he was intimidating colleagues. He said: 'I was too afraid to raise the issue of the racism against me in the workplace although I did try to draw attention to the most overt and obvious case of the racist picture.

'I also thought naively that if I told the truth about the events that they would obviously conclude that I had done nothing wrong.'

Mr Connor, from Slough, Berkshire, claims he was wrongly fired from his 23,000-a-year job for misconduct in February.

The commission is vigorously contesting Mr Connor's legal action.

A House of Commons spokesperson said: The House of Commons strives to be an inclusive and supportive workplace, and is committed to ensuring that all staff are supported in their roles. We are unable to comment on individual staffing matters.

Parliaments Behaviour Code makes clear the standards of behaviour expected of everyone in Parliament, whether staff, members of the House of Lords, MPs or visitors. There is zero tolerance for abuse or harassment. The Behaviour Code is supported by the Independent Complaints and Grievances Scheme (ICGS).

The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) Helpline: supporting those affected by bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct has launched, with the two previous helplines becoming one single new one.
KITCHENER  Graffiti on the outside of Central Fresh Market inspired the idea for an art project that will look nice while also benefiting the community.

Manager Josh Williamson said graffiti on the Kitchener stores wall facing King Street is a common occurrence, with the latest spray-painted message appearing on Canada Day. That got him thinking that maybe the graffiti could be covered with a mural for everyone passing by to enjoy.

Its always been in the back of my mind, Williamson said. I think we can really make this a good project for the community going forward.

He wants to partner with artists to create removable murals that will be auctioned off for charity once a year. The unique art would fill the four sections at the front of the building, now blank canvasses that attract graffiti.

Williamson put his idea out on Twitter and the response was overwhelming as artists expressed interest and others made recommendations. One spot is already reserved for art students from nearby Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate.

Hes talking with local companies to create lighted enclosures to protect the art, and other companies have contacted him asking how they can help.

The details arent all nailed down yet, and Williamson welcomes suggestions with the aim of having a September unveiling for the first creations.

I think it could be ongoing to hopefully get that positive message yearly, he said. Im just really excited for the potential.
A pilot who was Vietnams most critical Covid-19 patient has returned home to Scotland.

Stephen Cameron flew out of Ho Chi Minh Citys airport on Saturday, less than a week after doctors said he was virus-free and healthy enough to gohome.

He landed in Scotland shortly before midday on Sunday, Glasgow Airport said, and was met by a waiting ambulance.

The 42-year-old is now recovering at University Hospital Wishaw in North Lanarkshire.

The pilot arrived at Glasgow Airport on Sunday (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Mr Cameron was working for national carrier Vietnam Airlines when he tested positive for the coronavirus in March and went on to become critically ill, spending 65 days on life support.

In a video released by Cho Ray Hospital, where he was last treated, Mr Cameron said: Im overwhelmed by the generosity of the Vietnamese people, the dedication and professionalism of the doctors and nurses.

He added: I can only thank everybody here for things that they have done.

Im going home with a happy heart because Im going home, but it is sad that Im leaving so many people here that Im friends with.

The pilot was known in Vietnam as Patient 91 as he was the 91st person in the country confirmed to have the coronavirus.

He was Vietnams last patient in the ICU, and his recovery means the country has still not had any Covid-19 deaths.

Mr Cameron had been so sick with Covid-19 that doctors at one point said they considered a lung transplant, with his lungs 90% damaged and non-functional.

However doctors said that he now breathes normally without any support, sleeps well and can sit up and walk a few steps with a walking frame.
US citizens may be detained without access to US consular services or information about their alleged crime, the state department said in a security alert.

Beijing: The US state department warned American citizens on Saturday to exercise increased caution in China due to heightened risk of arbitrary law enforcement including detention and a ban from exiting the country.

US citizens may be detained without access to US consular services or information about their alleged crime, the state department said in a security alert issued to its citizens in China, adding that citizens may face prolonged interrogations and extended detention for reasons related to State security.

Security personnel may detain and/or deport US citizens for sending private electronic messages critical of the Chinese government, it added, without citing specific examples. The state department also did not say what prompted the security alert.

The security alert comes as bilateral tensions intensify over issues ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, trade, the new Hong Kong security law and allegations of human rights violations against Uighurs in the Xinjiang region.

Washington and Beijing recently exchanged visa bans against each others officials, underscoring the deteriorating relations.

The Chinese foreign ministry could not be immediately reached for comment outside of business hours on Saturday.

Beijing called on Wednesday a similar warning issued by Australia about the risk of arbitrary detention in China completely ridiculous and disinformation.
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As expected, the cancel culture is already out of control, now devouring itself. One day its the statue of Teddy Roosevelt. The next day its the smash musical Hamilton. One day its J. K. Rowling. The next its a Vox editor who stood with Rowling. How do we overcome this dangerous and self-destructive culture? Here are 5 simple steps.

1. Speak louder. The concept is simple. The more people try to silence you, the louder you speak. The more they try to shut you up, the louder you shout. The more doors they shut in your face, the more you open. You use the attempts to silence you as the platform on which you stand.

But you dont do this as a victim. You do it as someone who is unfettered, who will not be muzzled, who is emboldened by the opposition. Feed off of the attacks that come against you just as a fire feeds on wood.

The cancel culture will help you get your message out.

2. Learn the principle of losing your life to save your life. This is something Jesus spoke of frequently, saying, For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 16:25).

What, exactly, did he mean? I believe these words from a famous sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King explain the essence of what the Lord was saying.

Speaking at a church gathering in Selma, AL, March 8, 1965, King said . . . if a man happens to be 36 years old as I happen to be and some great truth stands before the door of his life  some great opportunity to stand up for that which is right  hes afraid his home will get bombed or hes afraid he will lose his job or hes afraid that he will get shot or beat down by State Troopers; he may go on and live until hes 80 but hes just as dead at 36 as he would be at 80 and the cessation of breathing in his life is merely the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.

Yes, he continued, A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right; a man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice; a man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.

So, we lose our lives by trying to save them, meaning, trying to be accepted by people; compromising our convictions for our companions; becoming a slave to human opinions.

Conversely, we save our lives by losing them, meaning, by standing for what is right no matter the cost or consequence. When we forfeit our lives, in that respect, we gain our lives. We become free.

The cancel culture can take nothing from us because we have surrendered our lives to God and His purposes. In doing so, we die to human threats. They can no longer hurt us.

3. We expose the folly of the cancel culture. Winston Churchill once said, Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. (This became, An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile  hoping it will eat him last.)

We need to expose this reality, demonstrating how the cancel culture will ultimately cancel itself out. It must, since it will never be sufficiently woke.

To illustrate this point, on June 21, I tweeted, In the spirit of pulling down historic statues and removing racist brand names, should there be a move to cancel the Democratic Party, since the Democrats were the party of slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow?

I even wrote an article as to why Charles Darwin should be cancelled because of his racist theories.

Where does it end? Who will be left standing?

There is now a movement within Planned Parenthood to renounce its white supremacy, which should soon lead right back to its founder Margaret Sanger. But of course. (For the record, I would be thrilled to see Planned Parenthood cancelled and Sanger denounced. But I trust you get my larger point.)

When the cancellers realize they might be next on the list, they might just think twice. Better still, they will recognize the folly of the cancel culture.

4. We learn to forgive from the heart. The NFLs Desean Jackson recently made a horrible mistake, posting the alleged words of Hitler in a plainly antisemitic comment. This is inexcusable under any circumstance.

Since then, Jackson has offered multiple apologies and has pledged to meet with a local rabbi to learn and understand. He should be forgiven, not cancelled. He should be educated, not eradicated (I mean, from the NFL).

All of us are the recipients of divine mercy (otherwise we would be dead). And I would dare say that all of us have also received human mercy at some point in our lives. We should show mercy to others.

In Pauls words, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:13; for a very strong parable of Jesus about forgiveness, see Matthew 18:21-35.)

5. We make room for differing opinions. Another Pauline principle is this: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

We cannot defeat the cancel culture by becoming like it. We must become the opposite of it.

We must be so secure in our views that we welcome dissenting opinions and that we do not marginalize those who differ with us.

We can speak our minds clearly and forcefully. We can vote for policies we believe are in the best interest of our country. We can be dogmatic in our convictions and values.

But we cannot silence or cancel out those who differ with us. In the words attributed to Voltaire, I wholly disapprove of what you say  and will defend to the death your right to say it.

Were not talking about someones right to break the law with his or her speech, since not everything is protected by the First Amendment. And you have every right to forbid certain speech or opinions from your own platform. (For example, if you run a vegan recipe website, you have the right to remove comments that offer beef recipes or that mock vegans.)

But when it comes to the public square, be it the university classroom, the workplace, or Facebook, if the law is not being broken, let freedom reign.

This is how we overcome the cancel culture. By gaining strength from it. By becoming oblivious to it. By exposing it. By being merciful. And by being better than it.
The widow of a bus driver who died after he was severely beaten in southwestern France for asking passengers to wear face masks has told the government her family is "destroyed", and demanded exemplary punishment for his attackers.

Philippe Monguillot was violently assaulted on 5 July in Bayonne when he demanded that four passengers, who boarded without tickets, wear face masks, which is mandatory on French public transport as part of the coronavirus recovery response.

The driver, in his late 50s, was insulted, pushed off his No. 810 bus and savagely beaten and kicked in the head, leaving him brain dead.

On Friday his family and care providers decided it was best to take him off life support.

The four male assailants were arrested. Two of them, aged 22 and 23, have been charged with attempted murder, the other two with non-assistance to a person in danger. A fifth person has been charged with attempting to hide a suspect.

'This must never happen again'

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin went to Bayonne on Saturday to visit Monguillot's family and friends.

His widow Veronique told him she and her three daughters were destroyed by the attack.

"This is barbaric. It is not normal," she told French media after their meeting. "We must slam our fist on the table so that this never happens again."

This is an absolutely odious act," Darmanin said. "This bus driver was only doing his job. He left his home in the morning and did not come back, leaving a widow and three girls.

"There is no excuse for such barbarism. We cannot allow gratuitous, inacceptable acts of violence to be trivialised. We must reassert authority. Too often in our society authority is not respected," he added.

On Wednesday, more than 6,000 people turned out in Bayonne to pay their respects to Monguillot.
Gold exchange traded funds saw hefty net inflows of over Rs 3,500 crore in the first six months of this year as investors continued to hedge their exposure to riskier assets amid the COVID-19 crisis. In comparison, investors had pulled out Rs 160 crore from this asset class in January-June 2019, according to the latest data available with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). The category has been one of the better-performing ones since last year. Since August 2019, gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) have received net inflows of Rs 3,723 crore.

As per the data, a net sum of Rs 3,530 crore was pumped into gold-linked ETFs in the six months ended June 30 this year. Month-wise, investors put in a net Rs 202 crore in January, Rs 1,483 crore in February, but withdrew Rs 195 crore in March on profit booking. Inflows resumed in April at Rs 731 crore , followed by Rs 815 crore in May and Rs 494 crore in June.

"As the surge in coronavirus cases have cast a doubt on the swift recovery hopes, investors continue to hedge their exposure to riskier assets by investing a portion of their assets in gold, as it is seen as a safe haven in times of uncertainty," said Himanshu Srivastava, senior research analyst (manager research), Morningstar Investment Adviser India.

Harsh Jain, co-founder and COO of Groww, said many investors are preferring to park their money in gold in light of the volatile markets. Srivastava said gold functions as a strategic asset in an investor's portfolio, given its ability to act as an effective diversifier, and alleviate losses during tough market conditions and economic downturns.

It has a safe-haven appeal, which has been on full display in 2019 and so far in 2020, as the yellow metal is witnessing one of its best rallies after 2011. The inflows meant assets under management (AUM) of gold funds surged more than two-fold to Rs 10,857 crore at the end of June 2020, from Rs 4,930 crore at the end of June 2019.

Gold-backed ETFs are passive investment instruments that are based on price movements and investments in physical gold.

Going ahead, Srivastava said this segment may continue to gain traction from investors considering the threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic to the global economy and markets.

Also read: Kerala gold scandal: Opposition holds protests, demands Pinarayi Vijayan's resignation

Also read: BT Insight: Gold prices at record high of Rs 48,980; should you buy, hold or exit?
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling have been hunkered down at home with their two daughters during quarantine.

But the actor couple got a brief break from the isolated life on Saturday when they went out to deliver gifts to a family member's home.

The generous duo was dressed in their weekend attire, looking ultra comfortable for the practical outing.

Giving: Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes dropped off gifts to a family member's home on Saturday

Ryan was behind the wheel wearing a blue tee shirt and rocking some shadowy quarantine bristle across his famously chiseled jawline.

Eva looked elegant, wrapping her long tresses in a bright yellow scarf. She wore a green and white patterned sleeveless frock to keep cool in style.

After taking care of business the pair went home to their daughters Esmeralda, five, and Amada, three.

Summer glamour: Eva looked elegant, wrapping her long tresses in a bright yellow scarf

Unlike most Hollywood couples, Ryan and Eva take care of their kids without any hired hands.

'They're hands-on parents and don't have any nannies,' a source told Us Weekly in April.

Like many parents, the couple is adjusting to 24/7 life at home. The source added: 'Being confined to their home with two small children is exhausting at times, especially without hired help.'

But even before lockdown, the notoriously private couple made sure 'family comes first.'

Grounded: Unlike most Hollywood couples, Ryan and Eva take care of their kids without any hired hands. 'They're hands-on parents and don't have any nannies,' a source told Us Weekly in April. They're seen in 2013 above

'Eva has programmed her entire routine and career to ensure family comes first  then work fits in around it,' another insider told the magazine. 'Ryan is protective of Eva and a very doting dad.'

The Hitch actress gave fans a taste of her busy at-home schedule in an Instagram comment in April, saying: 'As soon as kids go to sleep, its cleaning and laundry and prepping food for the next day. I feel like Im running a hotel! Ha.'

Eva and Ryan met while working together on The Place Beyond The Pines in 2011 and have been together since.
LOCAL historian Tony Browne has expressed his regret that the coronavirus lockdown has so far put paid to the Limerick Historical Societys activities for the summer.

Normally by this stage of the year, the group would be well into its seasonal programme of visits to historical locations both in Limerick and further afield.

Mr Browne, who lives in the South Circular Road, says he hopes that he will be able to hold an event in August should the conditions be right.

Its a pity theres nothing happening. But Id hope from August to have some outings. I'ts a big loss to Limerick, he said, pointing out similar societies in the area are not meeting.

He singled out Castleconnell, Rathkeale and Murroe as well as Shannon in Co Clare. The Limerick Historical Society has not met since March. If all goes well, wed hope to be back with lectures in October. We are hoping, while they might need to be restricted, people might at least be able to hear lectures again, Mr Browne added.

Id hope to have an outing in August, well see what happens, he added.

The last time the historical society met was on March 9 at Mary Immaculate College.

They gathered to hear a lecture from Noel Murphy on the linen industry in Limerick.

Prior to that in February, they heard from John Flannery, a past president of the Ormond Historical Society.

He spoke on John Toler, who was the first Earl of Norbury, a men nicknamed the Hanging Judge.

The first lecture of 2020 took place on the inauspicious date of January 13.

It was based on the Templemore bleeding statues in 1920, and was delivered by John Reynolds, a garda sergeant from the Templemore garda training centre in Co Tipperary.

The Limerick Historical Society is always on the look-out for new members.

If youre interested in joining, call Tony Browne at 087-2765550.
Mum was a mystery when I was growing up. My sister Carrie and I loved her, but we were scared of her mood swings. She would cuddle us, help with homework, cook delicious meals from scratch. But if we were ill or something changed her routine, she flew off the handle.

She would shake her fists and look in the mirror shouting Bloody kids!, or grab hold of us and shake our wrists. I think it was a way of trying to contain her rage. She was controlling about food, and hated mess and noise. A place for everything and everything in its place, was the mantra of our childhood.

My grandmother, her mother, was Mums rock. She lived down the road and tried to contain her meltdowns. Sometimes she would deliver a low Gillian as a growl, and Mum would stop, mid-rant.

We were constantly walking on eggshells. Why was Mum like this?

Anna Wilson (pictured) who lives in Wiltshire, reflects on the years before her mother was diagnosed with autism

It was 35 years later, on November 4, 2015, when I was 45 and Mum, 72, that we had an amazing breakthrough about her condition.

After years of seeking professional help, including a stint in a mental health unit, Mum met a new psychologist. Hed read all her notes and the letters wed written. It was like someone was finally listening to us.

He could hear us saying: This is what our mum is really like. Shes not just a confused old lady who needs to take her pills, shes been like this for ever.

He asked if wed ever considered Mum might be on the autistic spectrum. What he told us changed our lives. But Mum, and our extended family, went through years of confusion before we knew the truth.

It was in January 2015 that I realised my mothers behaviour had become manic.

My father had gone into hospital. So I left behind my husband, children and my dog in Wiltshire and went to stay with her at their house in Tonbridge, Kent.

I was shocked by what I found. Mum was talking in a loop, moaning, gasping and whooping. The fridge was full of rotting salmon, ham and lettuce (the only food she would eat).

Where had my stunningly beautiful mother gone? The woman who went to Cambridge and had a degree in Latin and Greek? Men fell at her feet at university, while my dad, Martin, was quietly there in the background, trying to get her attention. When they got together aged 19, they were a golden couple.

But, looking back, she always found change traumatic. She lived in the same town all her adult life, working as a Latin teacher at her old school. Dad commuted to London every day as a compliance officer in a merchant bank.

Anna who was born in 1970, recalls her mother hitting her over and over, after the bottle for her ink pen fell on the new carpet. Pictured: Gillian and Martin with baby Anna

I was born in 1970; Carrie in 1973. When things got a bit much for your Mum, wed stay with Grandma. But Mums anxiety became more apparent as we got older.

There was one episode when I was filling my ink pen and the bottle fell on the new, green carpet. Mum screamed and hit me on the arm with her fist, over and over.

Later, when I was an adult, I would phone Grandma and say: I cant cope with Mum. I dont know whats going on. Shed sigh and say: Shes always been tricky. Youve just got to forgive her.

If Carrie and I ever wanted to do anything adventurous, Mum would find a cutting in a newspaper saying things such as, Girl gets attacked while crossing France on her own to dissuade us.

When I went to study French and German at Cambridge, she wanted me to ring every day. When I got married in the mid-1990s, she took Valium to calm her the night before.

I remember when I was pregnant with my first child, she was furious the baby was late. Its much worse for me than it is for you, she said.

Anna said things unravelled after the death of her grandmother in 2008, she became her mother's mum rather than her daughter. Pictured: Gillian with her daughter Anna as a child

I was bemused. But now I realise she was reliving her anxieties about my birth  even though it had been relatively straightforward  and was terrified something would happen. If I tried to talk to Dad about Mum, hed say affectionately: She is like a cat. She needs her own space. So we learned to manage her anxiety as best we could.

When Dad retired, they enjoyed the theatre and concerts. They had a little flat in Cambridge where they would see old friends. My children, who are now 21 and 19, have fond memories of their grandparents.

But things unravelled after my Grandma died in 2008. Mum would phone us all the time and try to get us to fix her. Shed say: I cant sleep, what am I going to do?

She was convinced there was something wrong with her physical health. We became her mother rather than her daughters.

We suggested alternative therapies, relaxation techniques, cognitive behavioural therapy  all of which she would try for a short time before rejecting.

By 2012, Mum was seeing a psychiatrist privately. The consultant had diagnosed depression and had started Mum on a series of drugs. When these had no effect on Mums insomnia, he told her she would probably always be miserable.

She had short stays in a psychiatric unit but, in May 2013, when my mum was 70, her brother called me and said: Youve got to step in, because your Dads not coping.

Anna said she felt like a terrible daughter and wife, having to beg favours so she could go and see her mum and dad. Pictured: Annas wedding day

Mum had given herself third-degree burns cleaning the oven with bare hands, using caustic soda. My uncle said she was dishevelled and unkempt. I called my father who insisted things were OK, but then howled down the phone.

Go now, my husband told me.

When I arrived, I saw Dad had been putting on a fantastic act. He was a hugely supportive husband but there were times he needed to get out and be alone; now he had to be with Mum all the time. She was obsessed by cracks in the wall, a broken fridge, filth, chaos.

For the next few years, I felt like a terrible daughter and wife. I was constantly begging favours so I could jump in the car to see Mum and Dad (a ten-hour round trip).

I looked as unkempt as Mum. Im a childrens author but I couldnt write or read.

My teenage daughter was doing her GCSEs and my husband worked in Amsterdam for food company Danone. Hed come home after a long week away and Id be in bits.

My wonderful sister Carrie had two young children and was trying to hold down a job in a hotel, as well taking turns caring for Mum.

Anna (pictured) explained that her mother was lovely when a doctor put her on the anti-anxiety drug Pregabalin in August 2013

I remember a friend saying: Women are the unpaid capital when it comes to caring.

When a doctor put Mum on the anti-anxiety drug Pregabalin in August 2013, it was briefly like someone had waved a magic wand, because she was so lovely to be with. But, by Christmas, she was clingy and panicky.

In May 2014, she took an overdose. What made us angry was she was deemed not to be a risk to herself and discharged from hospital. Then, in September, my lovely father, who had calmed Mum throughout her life, was diagnosed with a tumour in his leg.

Dads surgery was scheduled for January 2015, and the nightmare got worse. Respite care homes wouldnt take Mum, wary of taking a mental health patient with no clear diagnosis.

I called Mums psychiatrist and was told he couldnt talk to us about her care. Your mother has capacity, the secretary stated. She was reading from a crib sheet.

Like many others, we hit up against the Mental Capacity Act, which makes it hard for you as a caring relative to put across how bad things are behind the scenes.

When Dad came home, my mother made him sleep on a sheet of plastic on the sofa as she couldnt bear the idea of mess. Soon, he got an infection.

Anna said she doesn't doubt that one of the reasons her father got cancer was because he lived with the stress of her mother. Pictured: Anna as a child with her mother

Meanwhile, I had no idea how to navigate the world of social care. Youre not told how to fill in the criteria to apply for a care package. Mum was quite frightened of her psychiatrist, so if he asked her a question she pulled herself together. Then shed have a meltdown in the car on the way home. Carrie recorded her behaviour to show the psychiatrist but he didnt seem to believe us.

When Dad asked me to sign power of attorney for Mum, my heart sank. I said to my husband: I cannot have her living with me. And he kept saying: But your fathers got cancer.

He was right, but Id never be able to leave the house. At the same time, I didnt want Dad to die worrying about his wife.

Carrie and I were constantly tight-chested and we lost a lot of weight. I dont doubt one of the reasons Dad got cancer was because he lived with that stress. I was venting about the situation on Facebook and a friend recommended I speak to his friend, Richard, who worked for Age UK.

Richard said: Ah, yes, this is classic. Theyre not listening because youre not using their language. You need to say you have two parents who are vulnerable adults and that your father is his wifes primary carer, but hes also sick.

He gave me amazing advice and it worked. After a huge paper trail, a mental health team began visiting Mum while Dad was in hospital.

When my poor Dad had his leg amputated, Carrie found a wonderful carer who helped us look after Dad and subtly took care of Mum. She was able to distract Mum while the hospital brought in ramps and grab rails (Mum couldnt bear her home to be disrupted).

Anna (pictured) said her father died peacefully in July 2015, then in November they met a psychologist who suggested her mother might be on the autistic spectrum

In May 2015, we were told Dad had two months to live. At the time, Mum was in hospital after a fall. A social worker called and said they wanted to admit her to a mental health unit.

It was a relief, but horrific because I had to give permission for her to be sectioned and tell Dad he wasnt going to see Mum.

Obviously I didnt say he would never see her again, but that was the subtext. Dad died peacefully in the local hospice in July 2015. We went to tell Mum, but she didnt seem to be able to react to what we were saying. She kept insisting there was a taxi coming.

We organised a mini funeral service with Dads coffin just for her. She was brought in by nurses and was almost angry. I think it was just far too much for her.

Then, in November, we met that psychologist who changed our lives. He asked us if wed ever considered our mother might be on the autistic spectrum.

My sister and I looked at each other in amazement. Yes, yes, yes, thats what it is! It was like an axe had been hurled against a glass box. We were free.

He was surprised Mum had coped with being a teacher but, when we explained she had gone back to her old grammar school, he said: Ah  familiarity, routine.

Mum ticked all the boxes for autism: the tapping of surfaces (known as stimming), the obsession about food, hating things being moved.

Anna (pictured) revealed her mother died in January 2018, having missed out on a diagnosis that could have been life-changing if she had it years earlier

Female autism/Aspergers is a side of the story thats rarely told. Many high-functioning women are highly observant of their environment, so theyll watch how other people behave and learn to fit in. Mum read womens magazines obsessively to get the right recipes, the right clothes. She hated the school gates because she had no idea how to behave there.

Her old friends were blown away by her diagnosis because Mum was their intelligent, outspoken, beautiful friend.

She couldnt live on her own, so we found a residential care home, though we could never persuade her to join in with any of the activities the carers suggested.

For her, the outside world represents total chaos, her doctor told us bluntly. Its bright and noisy, the wind against her skin is like a violent attack. The idea of going for a coffee anywhere is close to hell for her.

In January 2018, we got a call telling us Mum had fallen awkwardly and died of a heart attack. We were devastated but, in many ways, she had crept off like a cat, without fuss.

Its so sad she missed out on a diagnosis that could have been life-changing for her had she had it 60 years before. She could have had the support she needed to manage her anxiety.

After Dad died, I started a blog about grief. But it evolved into a memoir about Mums autism.

Ive had to be painfully honest, but I dont want to come across as the daughter who hated her mother. I found her very difficult sometimes, but I adored her.

Interview: Liz Hoggard

A Place For Everything: My mother, autism, and Me, by Anna Wilson (16.99, HarperCollins), is out now.
We sat in the car and waited for the veterinarians assistant to let us know it was OK to enter the office. I wore gloves and a mask, the requisite coronavirus precautions. The cat lay in a carrier in the passenger seat. She didnt cry or whimper.

It was an unusually warm, sunny July day, so I opened the window. July is normally fog season in Pacifica.

After a few minutes, the assistant waved us inside and showed us into an examination room.

Take all the time you need with her, she said. Let me know when youre ready.

I carefully stroked the cat. Under her fur, I could feel every vertebra in her spine. I remembered the day in December 2006 I met her.

Mike Moffitt/SFGATE

The softest fur youve ever felt was how the staff at Maddies, the SPCA adoption center in San Francisco, described her. My partner, a volunteer at the center, had told me I had to see this cat.

The buff-colored shorthair, then probably 3 or 4 years old, had a delicate, slightly smooshed-in face. She lived in a posh enclosure with a television that played bird videos, which she showed no interest in. Theres no substitute for the real thing.

At first, she acted nervous and aloof, which was probably why no one had adopted her. After she relaxed, she cautiously approached my arm and gave it a dozen timid licks. Tiny kisses.

The SPCA hadnt exaggerated about the fur; her mane was extraordinarily silky. I took her home the next day.

Mike Moffitt/SFGATE

Maddies staff had dubbed her Annie, but that wasnt going to work because my partners name is Anne. One Annie liked belly rubs and the other preferred back rubs. The one without a tail refused to drink milk. It wasnt hard to keep straight, but why risk a mistake and hurt feelings when you can simply change a name?

So Annie became Allie, and for 13 years she performed her kitty duties flawlessly  sleeping on the sofa, lounging in the cat tree furniture, swatting the tail of the other resident cat, chasing laser light beams and string tied to sticks, and happily exposing that soft underbelly to the caresses of human hands.

She could spend hours peering at the street through the vent in the garage door and wishing she were an outdoor cat, if only for a little while.

At the end of 2018, Allie developed a ravenous hunger that could not be sated no matter how much she ate. The vet said it wasnt an overactive thyroid, the typical suspect, but maybe her liver. Nothing could be done.

She wolfed down double servings at each meal, but still she lost weight. Whiskers Shreds and Nine Lives pate traveled straight through her, from feeding dish to litter box. She squawked for milk relentlessly.

Mike Moffitt/SFGATE

One day about a month ago she gave up trying to make her routine 3-foot leap from the dining room table to the kitchen counter. A week later she could no longer climb onto the couch without help.

How does one know when its time?

Allie didnt seem to be in pain, but she was steadily growing weaker. This much was certain: The disease wasnt letting her be a cat anymore.

I signaled the vet's assistant, who took her to another room where a catheter was inserted in her foreleg. She then returned her to the examination room, placed a blanket on the table and left.

The veterinarian entered the room and explained that a barbiturate would be injected through the catheter. He said that after Allie fell asleep, he would administer a drug to stop her heart.

I know it sounds strange, but this is one of my favorite things about being a vet, he said. It shows how much a person loves and cares about a pet to end their suffering.  But also so sad.

It took just 15 seconds for the barbiturate to do its job. The vet injected the second drug. The whole process lasted less than an minute.

I choked back a sob under my mask.

Mike Moffitt/SFGATE

Back at the house, I lifted Allie from the carrier and cradled her to my chest. Her body was already stiffening. She felt so light.

I thought about how she would chirp in response when I talked to her and how she helped dress me every morning by nuzzling and rolling around on my feet before I put on socks and shoes. I remembered the way she would rest her head on my arm while she slept.

I didnt want to let her go.

Finally I took one last look at her face and gently placed her in the plastic  three bags, the vet had said. There are a lot of animals in Pacifica.

Then I got the shovel out of the garage.



Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Reporter and a believer in adopting rescue pets. Please support animal shelters and adoption centers like Maddies. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate
A St. Louis couple who made headlines nationwide for standing on their porch brandishing guns aimed at Black Lives Matter demonstrators have a 25-year history of filing a slew of lawsuits, it has emerged.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a husband and wife personal injury attorney duo, were filmed on June 28 aiming at protesters who walked by their mansion on the way to Mayor Lyda Krewson's house.

McCloskey, 63, said they were scared, and were defending their property.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a husband and wife personal injury attorney duo, on June 28

On Sunday their local newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, published a detailed analysis of their long line of legal battles.

The couple, who met when they were at Southern Methodist University law school, moved back to St. Louis in 1986.

They moved into the palazzo at One Portland Place having filed a lawsuit in 1988 to obtain the property.

They sued a man who sold them a Maserati they claimed was supposed to come with a box of hard-to-find parts, the paper reported.

In November 1996, Mark McCloskey filed two lawsuits, one against a dog breeder whom he said sold him a German Shepherd without papers and the other against the Central West End Association for using a photo of their house in a brochure for a house tour after the McCloskeys had told them not to.

'I guess we were saving gas,' he joked in a deposition in another case, when asked why he filed two lawsuits at once.

For years the couple have been at war over the rights to a small patch of land bordering their property.

Protesters file past McCloskey's house, in what the residents said was a threatening manner

One Portland Place seen from the air. The couple have lived there for over 25 years

In 2013, Mark McCloskey destroyed bee hives placed just outside of the mansion's northern wall by the neighboring Jewish Central Reform Congregation and left a note saying he did it, and if the mess wasn't cleaned up quickly he would seek a restraining order and attorneys fees.

The congregation had planned to harvest the honey and pick apples from trees on its property for Rosh Hashanah.

'The children were crying in school,' Rabbi Susan Talve said. 'It was part of our curriculum.'

The McCloskeys, according to the paper, have constantly sought to force their neighborhood trustees to maintain the exclusivity of Portland Place.

They accused the trustees of selectively enforcing the written rules for living in the neighborhood, known as the trust agreement, and in particular failing to enforce a rule about unmarried couples living together.

Their insistence was seen as an attempt to force gay couples from the community.

The trustees voted to impeach Patricia McCloskey as a trustee in 1992 when she fought an effort to change the trust indenture, accusing her of being anti-gay.

The triangle of land bordering the McCloskey home has been the source of a long dispute

Mark McCloskey clarified in a deposition much later that the trust agreement barred unmarried people living together, regardless of their sexuality.

'Certain people on Portland Place, for political reasons, wanted to make it a gay issue,' he said.

In 2002, the Portland Place Association sued to foreclose on the McCloskeys house because they were refusing to pay dues.

One former Portland Place trustee told the paper he had nothing good to say about the couple.

'They've always been part of the problem, never part of the solution,' Robert Dolgin said.

On a second property, in Franklin County, the couple had disputes with their neighbors over a gravel path, and sued for squatters rights to a section of land.

The McCloskeys also evicted two tenants from a modular home on their property in a period of just over two years.

Mark McCloskey in a photo promoting his law practice in St. Louis

Patricia McCloskey works with her husband as a personal injury attorney in Missouri

He sued his employers for wrongful dismissal, and then turned on his own family, in particular after his father largely wrote him out of the will in 2008, sparking a family feud that would last eight years.

Bruce McCloskey, who died in 2014, removed his son from the will

Mark McCloskey filed a defamation case against his father and sister in 2011, dismissed it in 2012, and refiled it in 2013. By the time of the final filing, Bruce McCloskey was living in a memory care unit in Ballwin; he died in 2014.

In March 2013 McCloskey sued his father and his father's trust over a gift of five acres, promised in 1976, which never materialized.

A judge ruled against him in 2016.

Mark McCloskey dismissed the defamation case, but he sued his sister and his two brothers and their father's trust again in 2016, accusing all of them of 'tortious interference' for pressing their father to cut him out of an inheritance.

The siblings settled, with their father's trust paying Mark McCloskey $400,000, with all of them agreeing to drop all claims and never have contact with him again.

Albert Watkins, a lawyer representing the couple, would not answer questions from the paper.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 19:43:38|Editor: huaxia

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A Tibetan antelope baby is seen at the Zhuonai Lake protection station in Hol Xil, northwest China's Qinghai Province, July 7, 2020. Altogether 11 Tibetan antelope babies have been rescued during the reproduction and migration season of the animal at the Zhuonai Lake protection station. Zhuonai Lake, also called the "large delivery room" of Tibetan antelopes, greets the reproduction of the animal every May to July as large numbers of Tibetan antelopes migrate here to give birth to their babies. (Xinhua/Xue Yubin)
It would be interesting to know how the events of 2020 will be analyzed by future historians. If this year has brought us anything, though, it is the challenge to self-reflect  to question what we thought we knew about the past, its truths and, especially, its injustices. There are many voices reaching out to be heard  some in violence and others in peaceful protest. Many of them are angry and in pain.

I am not a politician  I am a historian and an educator. I listen and I tell stories  stories that need to be told so that others may heal and be heard. Some of the stories I share are difficult to hear whereas others offer hope and resilience in the face of despair.

By practising active listening rather than arguing, defending or engaging in power plays, it is possible to learn something. These, then, are the little-known or forgotten stories I share as I find them.

Take, for example, the following tale of an educated man  an immigrant who came to Waterloo County in 1840 with a dream. His name was John Frederick Augustus Sykes Fayette.

His story is an important but little-known one. Fayette was responsible for changing the face of local education during Berlin, Ontarios formative years.

Fayette was a free man of colour, an African-American, who was also the first Black student to attend Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. After first completing his bachelor of arts, he obtained a graduate degree in Theology, graduating in 1837. He was highly respected by his peers and was a close friend of noted abolitionist John Brown.

Fayette married his Scottish wife, Elizabeth Bartlett Forbes, shortly before leaving Ohio to take a call in Ontario where he served as a Presbyterian pastor and missionary.

Eventually, he and his young family resettled in Berlin, where they found a bustling town with a strong economy but very few schools. As of 1840, Berlin had one elementary school and Waterloo had another  the log schoolhouse that now stands in Waterloo Park. Until Fayettes arrival, there were no secondary schools either.

Since schools were initially open during the winter months only, teachers with real education were hard to come by. Many were farmers or retired military men.

Although they were few and far between, a few of the early area teachers were sufficiently educated, such as Bishop Benjamin Eby, who wrote German and English language teaching materials for both the Berlin and Waterloo schools.

The curriculum, as it was taught then, consisted mostly of teaching children to read, write and to do sums (add, subtract, multiply and divide). At this time there was no standardized curriculum or coursework offerings  only what was considered to be the most important for basic literacy and survival.

Fayettes university education would have put his knowledge and teaching skills far above the existing calibre of local teachers in Waterloo County at that time. The locals were lucky to have him and they knew it.

The Wellington Institute opened for business in December 1840. The school offered a secondary-school-level curriculum and was located in the rear of a hotel building that today would be near Scott Street in downtown Kitchener. Fayette charged what was then a reasonable rate for tuition: $2 per student.

Fayette was also the first person at that time to teach formal English grammar and Geography, thereby raising the bar for available local education.

Unfortunately, Fayettes dream was a short one. Although many of Berlins merchant class could afford the fees for the school, there were even more who could not. Fayette eventually ran out of money and into debt. Just a couple of years after its opening, the school closed its doors for good.

Fayette left Berlin and returned to the ministry, taking another post in the Hamilton area where he served as the minister for the Barton Stone United Church from 1845 to 1850. In time, he relocated to London where he served as an Ontario School Superintendent before retiring. Following his death in 1876, Fayette was laid to rest in Oakland Cemetery in London.

Although Fayettes school was short-lived, the desire for quality education in this region was something that never left. Today, Waterloo Region universities and colleges welcome students from all around the world and the programs they offer continue to evolve and respond to the needs of each new generation seeking knowledge.

I think Fayette would be proud to know he played a part in it all ... his legacy is worth remembering.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus V.Makei meets the Representative of UNICEF in Belarus

On July 8, 2020 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, met with the Representative of UNICEF in the Republic of Belarus, Rashed Mustafa Sarwar, in connection with the completion of his mission to our country.

V.Makei noted with satisfaction the active and effective work of the UNICEF Office in Belarus under the leadership of R.Sarwar.

The interlocutors discussed the most relevant areas of cooperation between Belarus and UNICEF, including child safety in cyberspace, assistance to child victims of violence, children with disabilities and others, and confirmed that the increasing funding for UNICEF country programs in Belarus indicates a high level of cooperation and its potential for growth.

Minister of Foreign Affairs praised the successful work of the Representative of UNICEF in Belarus aimed at involvement of the Belarusian state bodies, public associations, business and private partners into cooperation on issues under the Funds competence.

V.Makei thanked R.Sarwar for the effective and timely support of the UNICEF Office provided to the Belarusian medical institutions, schools and institutions during the period of the active spread of coronavirus.

Background Information: The UNICEF office launched a large-scale campaign involving numerous partners, which made it possible to collect $ 1.58 million in a short period of time for purchasing the necessary materials and equipment.

For his personal contribution to strengthening and expanding cooperation between Belarus and UNICEF, Rashed Mustafa Sarwar was awarded the Partnership Sign of Merit of the diplomatic service of the Republic of Belarus.

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Rapper Lil Marlo has died at the age of 30 after he was fatally shot as he was driving in Atlanta over the weekend in what cops believe was targeted attack.

The rapper, who signed with Quality Control Music in 2017 and was close friends with rappers Lil Baby and Lil Yachty, was shot as he drove down Interstate 285 in downtown Atlanta late Saturday night.

Police responded to a call of a single-vehicle accident around 11.30pm and found the rapper fatally shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to TMZ.

'At this time, investigators believe the victim was the intended target of the gunfire and they are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting,' police said.

The Medical Examiner confirmed they have the body of Rudolph Johnson, Lil Marlos government name.

Rapper Lil Marlo has died at the age of 30 after he was fatally shot as he was driving over the weekend in Atlanta in what cops believe was targeted attack. Pictured above in December 2019

Video footage of the shooting site emerged on social media showing the car Lil Marlo was in with the drivers side door open and a group of police and investigators nearby

Another view of the car that Lil Marlo was believed to be shot in above

'Upon arrival, officers located the vehicle and found the 30-year-old driver deceased inside the vehicle. The preliminary investigation indicates the vehicle was traveling on I-285 in the Southbound lanes when the driver was shot,' Atlanta Police Department said.

Officials said he was 30 years old through Johnson was reportedly 27.

Cause of death has yet to be determined, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiners office.

Video footage of the shooting site emerged on social media showing the car Lil Marlo was allegedly in with the drivers side door open and a group of police and investigators nearby.

'God damn! They just shot up one of these mother***ers,' a person filming the clip says in shock.

Lil Marlo pictured on social media. It's not clear if this car is the one he was driving the night of his death

Tributes poured in for Lil Marlo on Sunday morning led by label mate Lil Yachty (pictured right with Lil Marlo far left). He wrote: 'We just did a song a 4 this morning smh rip brother @lilmarlo_1'

Labelmate JT of City Girls also confirmed his passing tweeting: 'Rest In Peace Marlo......damn'

Famous producer London Tyler Holmes tweeted: 'Damn bro not marlo it wasn't yo time to go brudda damn plz say it ain't true'

Atlanta rapper K Camp tweeted: 'RIP LIL MARLO'

Lil Yachty shared a tribute to Lil Marlo Sunday morning saying: 'We just did a song a 4 this morning smh rip brother.'

Rapper Clay James shared a tribute on Twitter saying: 'Waking up seeing Lil Marlo passed away made me appreciate waking up even more.

'Its a sad day in Atlanta. Prayers up to his family, friends, and QC. Black lives won't matter to anyone else if they dont start mattering to US first.'

Rapper Russ tweeted: 'RIP Marlo smh 2 the hard way was our s*** on tour.'

Labelmate JT of City Girls also confirmed his passing tweeting: 'Rest In Peace Marlo......damn.'

Famous producer London Tyler Holmes, who goes by LondonOnDaTrack tweeted: 'Damn bro not marlo it wasn't yo time to go brudda damn plz say it ain't true.'

Atlanta rapper K Camp tweeted: 'RIP LIL MARLO.'

Lil Marlo, an Atlanta native, was known for hits 1st N 3rd, F***em and Time After Time.

Lil Marlo signed to Quality Control Music in 2017 where he forged a close friendship with labelmate Lil Baby. Other renown artists signed to the label include Lil Yachty and City Girls

Lil Marlo leaves behind four children  Kemora, Rihanna, Marlo and Rudy. On Fathers Day he shared a heartfelt post of himself and his daughter where she tries to put a shoe on her dads foot. He captioned the clip: 'Thanks for Making Me Yall Father I woulndt Trade Yall For Da World'

At Quality Control he was joined by other hit artists including Migos, Lil Yachty, City Girls and Rich The Kid.

In 2017 he released an album with Lil Baby entitled 2 the Hard Way and his own debut album The Wire.

He released a pair of mixtapes The Real 1 and 9th Ward God in 2018. His most recent album, 1st & 3rd, released in February.

Lil Marlo leaves behind four children  Kemora, Rihanna, Marlo and Rudy, according to XXL.

On Fathers Day he shared a heartfelt post of himself and his daughter where she tries to put a shoe on her dads foot. He captioned the clip: 'Thanks for Making Me Yall Father I woulndt Trade Yall For Da World.'

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers. Information can be submitted anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-TIPS (8477) or online at www.StopCrimeATL.com
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Harper's BAZAAR

The privacy benefits afforded by staying at home during a pandemic haven't been lost on those seeking to have cosmetic surgery.

A number of leading surgeons have reported a rise in patients seeking to have procedures in recent weeks, as they are able to recover in the comfort and privacy of their own homes - or hide their treatment behind a mask.

Despite many businesses being forced to close during lockdown, several clinics have been able to remain open, opting stricter health and safety measures such as mandatory Covid-19 tests and regular thorough cleaning, reports the BBC.

Facial procedures have been found to be most in-demand, with clinics in the US, Japan, South Korea and Australia reporting a rise in requests for lip fillers, Botox, face lifts and nose jobs.

"I decided to get procedures done during quarantine because it allowed me to heal at my own pace," Aaron Hernandez, who had lip fillers and buccal (cheek) fat removal in Los Angeles, told the BBC.

"Getting my lips done is not something that all men tend to do, so some people might find it different. Therefore I preferred to stay home and recover fully and people not know what work I had done once I'm out."

With the immediate after-effects of cosmetic procedures often including swelling or bruising, patients are now taking advantage of not having to be seen in public.

"They can actually recover at home and also they can have a mask that they wear when they go outside after a rhinoplasty or facelift," explained Rod J Rohrich, a cosmetic surgeon based in Texas." People want to resume their normal lives and part of that is looking as good as they feel."

BK Hospital in Seoul told the BBC that they've seen a rise in locals booking treatments.

"Patients started to feel safe and comfortable to have surgery, despite Covid-19. The number of patients is increasing continuously," the spokesperson said.

Story continues

"Despite coronavirus, the number is estimated to increase by half compared to the same season last year."

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What began as an effort among upstate judges of color to reaffirm their commitment to equal justice has grown to include more than 120 judges from across New York, including five judges in the Capital Region.

In the wake of the death of George Floyd, the judges signed a letter that was sent to news outlets across New York.

It all originated with Syracuse City Court Judge Derrek Thomas, according to Albany County Family Court Judge Richard Rivera, an acting Supreme Court justice who runs the Youth Part, a branch of Family Court where serious criminal youth cases are handled.

"Initially it was just going to be the judges from upstate New York because there aren't as many of us as there are down in the city," Rivera told Law Beat. Judges reached out to organizations such as the Judicial Friends Association, which was founded in 1976 by Black judges, as well as to organizations for Hispanic and Asian American judges.

The number of signatures grew said Rivera, who was elected in 2014.

"We just wanted our communities to know that we understand that there is this issue with institutional racism," Rivera said, who also commended Chief Judge Janet DiFiore for appointing former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to lead an independent review of

the state's court systems response to that very issue.

"We take our oaths seriously and we do our best every single day to make sure that we treat everyone fairly," Rivera told Law Beat. "Some of us deal with criminal law cases. Some of us just deal with family court. We see people from the community every single day with so many different issues."

Capital Region judges who signed the letter included Rivera; Albany County Judge William Carter; Albany County Family Court Judge Sherri Brooks-Morton; Schenectady City Court Judge Teneka Frost and Albany City Court Judge Helena Heath.

The judges included two members of the states highest court, Court of Appeals Associate Judges Jenny Rivera and Rowan Wilson, and eight justices with the states four Appellate Divisions.

"As judges of color who preside over criminal and civil matters within the community, we feel compelled, in light of events that have been and are unfolding before us all across the country, to take a moment to convey our thoughts, as to our responsibility and commitment as jurists," the letter began.

The judges said that every day they try to dispel the notion that courts are unjust. They said they treat each person fairly and impartially and uphold their oaths to the state and U.S. constitutions.

However, the letter continued, there is much work to be done, and we like all judges must be mindful of the impact of systemic racism or bias in fulfilling the courts responsibility to ensure equal justice to all under the law.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The May 25 killing of Floyd, 46, in Minneapolis, where Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes , set off protests across America. It has inspired calls for reforms and to tackle structural racism in various walks of life, including the criminal justice system.

The letter from the judges quoted a line from W.E.B. Du Bois, the first African American to receive a Ph.D from Harvard University, in his 1903 book titled The Souls of Black Folk.

Du Bois wrote: Daily the [person of color] is coming more and more to look upon law and justice, not as protecting safeguards, but as sources of humiliation and oppression.

The letter from the judges said: Sadly, for too many, such sentiments are as raw today as they were in 1903, as evidenced by worldwide protests in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.

Judges ended the letter stating: "We reaffirm our commitment to make a positive difference within our respective courts each day and to ensure that those appearing before us are treated equally, with the respect and dignity that both the law and humanity require."
Ghislain Sharron Smithson, 52, (pictured) stole over 200,000 from her secondary school over seven years has been ordered to pay back less than half

A finance boss who stole over 200,000 from her secondary school over seven years has been ordered to pay back less than half.

Ghislain Sharron Smithson, 52, diverted over 100,000 in cash into her bank account from the Keswick School, in Cumbria, between 2012 and 2018.

But she also used the school account to buy herself holidays - like a a luxury 10-day Caribbean break-for-two to Antigua.

Carlisle Crown Court heard she even used the school credit card to treat herself to 30,000 in foreign currency when on holidays.

Last December she was jailed for 32 months after admitting stealing 188,000 prosecutors say the likely figure was 208,094.

Now Smithson, of Cockermouth, has been ordered to repay 76,000 within three months or else face an extra 12 months behind bars.

Smithson splashed out on holidays raiding the school's reserves while in day-to-day control of its purse strings during a decade of trusted employment.

A software glitch also allowed the former finance manager to authorise payments using her signature alone, despite two normally being required.

Smithson diverted over 100,000 in cash into her bank account from the Keswick School (pictured), in Cumbria, between 2012 and 2018

Smithson lived the high life despite attending budget meetings at which colleagues were trying to cut costs and avoid job losses.

Between 2012 and 2018, she created fake companies and bogus invoices to channel cash for her own benefit.

Her illegal activity was finally uncovered after she moved jobs last year, a finance officer conducting an overview and finding irregularities.

More than 4,200 had been paid out of school coffers by Smithson towards a luxury 10-day Caribbean break for two to Antigua.

It emerged a school credit card was used to buy foreign currency totalling more than 30,000, buying Jet2 Holidays and hotels.

Last December, prosecutor Gerard Rogerson said an 'overwhelming' emotional burden had been placed on other staff by Smithson stealing school cash to 'fund her own luxury lifestyle'.

Headteacher Simon Jackson described the discovery of Smithson's theft as 'devastating' in a statement detailing the huge knock-on effect.

Mr Jackson said: 'Her actions have taken money away from some of the most vulnerable and deprived schoolchildren - and she sat in meetings where these hard decisions were made.

'These actions in breach of trust have harmed children, their families and the educational profession.

'The austerity of the last seven years has made the life of the school tough.

'Hard decisions were taken and it was a struggle to find ways to reduce expenditure, whilst trying to avoid redundancies.

'Some posts were left vacant, others were made redundant. Fund-raising was essential, as was increasing class sizes.

'These were 'some of the most gruelling meetings and decisions the school has ever made' - and the defendant was present throughout.'

Mr Rogerson said: 'The children have had less support.

'Mr Jackson is angry and upset a number of children could have benefited from more one-to-one work, had the budget allowed, and that these decisions could have made a difference to their final outcomes.'

The court heard a new finance system had since been implemented to address areas exploited by Smithson.

Judge Nicholas Barker learned the sum stolen was equivalent to depriving every current pupil of around 20 per annum for every year of their secondary education.

David Hammond, chairman of the local governing body, had stated: 'The consequences of this theft will reverberate through the school for a long time.'

Smithson admitted theft and was said to be 'very sorry' for her crime and the consequences.

'The defendant struggles to understand why she acted as she did,' said her barrister, Judith McCullough.

Jailing Smithson, Judge Barker said: 'It is the context of the money being stolen by you in a position of trust which makes the dishonesty so wicked.

'You have left a stain upon the school and that has a lasting impact upon it, and had an impact upon the children.'
Stephen Cameron was at one point Vietnam's most critical COVID-19 patient

A Scottish pilot who was on life support for more than two months in Vietnam is returning home.A

Stephen Cameron, 42, was once Vietnam's most critical COVID-19 patient but has now been told he is virus-free and healthy enough to travel back to Scotland.

He had spent 65 days on life support and doctors had at one point considered a transplant as his lungs were 90% damaged and non-functional.

Mr Cameron was Vietnam's last patient in ICU, and his recovery means the country has still not recorded any COVID-19 deaths.

He is known in Vietnam as "Patient 91" after being the 91st person in the country confirmed to have coronavirus.

Doctors applauded the coronavirus survivor

"The odds say that I shouldn't be here, so I can only thank everybody here for doing what they have done," Mr Cameron said in a video released by the Cho Ray Hospital where he was treated.

Sitting in a wheelchair surrounded by a group of doctors, he added: "I'm going home with a happy heart because I'm going home, but it is sad that I'm leaving so many people here that I'm friends with."

Dr Tran Thanh Linh, deputy head of the ICU ward at Cho Ray Hospital, described Mr Cameron's recovery as "like a very long flight".

"But he made it," Mr Linh said, adding that Mr Cameron is now free of the virus and breathes normally without any support.

Mr Cameron was taken by ambulance to Ho Chi Minh City airport after being discharged from hospital on Saturday.

He was scheduled to fly to Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, before taking a flight to London and landing on Sunday morning.

The 42-year-old was working for national carrier Vietnam Airlines when he tested positive for coronavirus in March.

He was linked to a cluster of cases at a bar in Ho Chi Minh City which resulted in two dozen infections.

Vietnam has reported 370 coronavirus cases, and has not found any locally transmitted infections in nearly three months.

All recent cases are people who were infected abroad and they have been placed in government quarantine facilities.
Marist High School, Hudson Catholic and Saint Peters Prep are more than Catholic high schools.

Theyre small businesses, too, according to the federal loan program created to help businesses keep paying employees and keep the economy from collapsing during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.

Those schools were among the dozens of religious entities in Hudson County that took advantage of exemptions in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to accept millions in low-interest, forgivable loans. The exact number of recipients couldnt be determined because the list released publicly last week doesnt name recipients of loans under $150,000.

ALL 5 N.J. ARCHDIOCESES ASKED FOR PPP LOANS

An Associated Press analysis of recipients found that Catholic churches and affiliated entities across the nation received as much as $3.5 billion from the $659 billion program. In Hudson County, 14 churches and schools on the above-$150,000 list received between $7.65 million and $19 million. The list broke the loans in categories  $150,000-to-$350,000, $350,000-to-$1 million, $1 million-to-$2 million, $2 million-to-$5 million and $5 million-to-$10 million.

Marist and Hudson Catholic received PPP loans between $350,000 and $1 million. Saint Peters Preps loan was in the $2 million to $5 million category. School officials and the Archdiocese of Newark officials said the loans were necessary when tuition payments and fund-raising efforts were critically impacted.

St. Joseph and St. Aloysius churches in Jersey City; and Hoboken Grace Community Church and United Synagogue in Hoboken are among the recipients.

Every penny went to payroll, said Marist President Peter Kane whose school closed its doors for good in June. When people were furloughed, we were getting less in tuition payments; and we counted on that money to pay employees.

Jim Horan, vice president for planning and principal giving at Prep, said the Downtown Jersey City school expects the financial crunch to continue into the new school year.

I think we did a very thorough job of analyzing our current financial position, while also forecasting what lies ahead  particularly in terms of additional demands on our ability to provide sufficient financial aid in order to ensure that students can remain enrolled, he said.

In addition, the scope of our operations is quite a bit larger than other private high schools in Hudson County and thus, by extension, we have a larger base of employees and a larger payroll.

Sources told The Jersey Journal that many churches in the archdiocese, which encompasses Hudson, Bergen and Essex counties, received loans under $150,000. Churches were urged by the archdiocese to apply for the 1% loans, which can be forgiven if the funds go directly to paying employees, one source said.

This funding was necessary to help sustain essential ministries and services, and to ensure continued employment of staff members  including school teachers, parish staff, and workers at homeless shelters, soup kitchens and other ministries that serve the most vulnerable among us, said Maria Margiotta, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese. ... Without this assistance, they would not have been able to preserve many of these jobs, affecting not only the employees and their families, but also the communities who depend on them.

Gov. Phil Murphy closed schools and shut down everything but non-essential businesses in mid-March, and barred gatherings in response to the coronavirus outbreak. With no Masses, the churches collection baskets stayed empty for more than two months, officials said.

More than 200 parishes were unable to collect weekly offertory contributions during the mandated state shutdown. School tuition, fundraising events, and other key sources of archdiocesan financial support also were critically impacted.

Under the program, organizations that employ more than 500 people are ineligible. But lobbying by the church helped religious organizations get an exception, the AP reported. Marci Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania professor and attorney who has represented clergy abuse victims, told the AP religious groups that dont pay taxes have gained more access to public money.

At this point, the argument is youre anti-religious if in fact you would say the Catholic Church shouldnt be getting government funding, Hamilton said.

Bishop Lawrence Persico of Erie, Pennsylvania, defended religious entities who have received PPP loans, citing the number of people that churches and schools employ.

I know some people may react with surprise that government funding helped support faith-based schools, parishes and dioceses, he said. The separation of church and state does not mean that those motivated by their faith have no place in the public square.
To propel port-led development, the government will ensure industries are set up on a chunk of the 1.10 lakh hectares of land available with India's 12 major ports, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.

Apart from this, plans are afoot to boost cargo handling, he said.

"Major ports have among them about 1,10,000 hectare land. A chunk of this will be used for developing industries and industrialisation for port-led development in the country. We are in the process of identifying port-led industries," Minister of State for Shipping Mandaviya told PTI.

India has 12 major ports -- Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (Ennore), VO Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) -- that handle about 61 per cent of the country's total cargo traffic.

These 12 ports had handled 705 MT of cargo in the last financial year.

Mandaviya said so far the ports' land was being utilised for earning rent.

"Land was used to get rent but earning money is not my work. My work is to generate employment, increase cargo and increase the indigenous production," the minister said.

Large portions of land belonging to major ports are under lease with various departments of the central and state governments. Interest and penal interest have been levied in cases of unpaid lease rentals, as per the annual report of the shipping ministry.

"The interest and penal interest over a period of time have increased quite substantially which is coming in the way of settlement of lease rent. In order to facilitate and expedite the recovery of these huge pending dues of Major Ports, Ministry of Shipping has issued 'One Time Settlement Scheme' for settlement of dues," it said.

Terming port sector development crucial for economic growth, Mandaviya said a large number of steps have been initiated for ports including capacity augmentation.

"We have a coastline of 7,500 km which can be harnessed to fuel economic growth and employment," he said.

Based on availability of land with the major ports, the Ministry of Shipping is developing various industrial zones. SEZ at JNPT (Rs 12,554 crore), Smart Industrial Port Cities (SIPCs) at Paradip (Rs 7,600 crore) and Kandla (Rs 11,147 crore) are under implementation, the annual report said.

A CAG report earlier had observed that major ports had failed to utilise close to half of the total land under their command.

Also Read: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aaradhya test positive for coronavirus

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In Florida, which reopened early with few precautions against the coronavirus, more than 200,000 people have tested positive. Lines of cars waited at a drive-through coronavirus testing site on July 5 outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) Read more

How much diagnostic testing for the coronavirus is enough to keep COVID-19 at bay so schools and businesses can open  and stay open?

Researchers, state health officials, the Trump administration  and the president himself  give differing answers.

But there is one thing everyone (except Donald Trump) agrees on: Adequate testing, plus basic safeguards such as masking and social distancing, is essential to safely reopening state economies.

After hitting its peak in April, Pennsylvania has seen only a slight uptick in cases so far amid reopening, but its testing rate continues to rank near the bottom of the 50 states. New Jersey, once a national COVID-19 hot spot, has crushed its daily case numbers, and continues to rank near the top in terms of testing.

Many factors, including population density and the ability to do contact tracing, shape how much diagnostic testing needs to be done. Here is an update on the issue that has plagued the U.S. response to the five-month-old pandemic:

There is a national testing plan. Sort of.

On Friday, at the request of Rep. Frank Pallone (D., N.J.), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released individual state testing plans for May and June that had to be submitted under new federal laws aimed at pandemic relief.

States were supposed to detail how at least 2% of the states population would be tested in each of those months, as well as plans to increase that rate by the fall.

In May, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded $10.25 billion to states, territories, and localities to help carry out testing plans.

It is not clear what that 2% monthly testing goal is based on. Nationally, it would mean testing a total of 6.6 million people per month.

Testing is not just about numbers  it is about targeting testing to the right people at the right time, and incorporation of testing into a comprehensive state plan for COVID-19, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett P. Giroir said in a statement.

 READ MORE: Parts of Pa. reopened without robust coronavirus contact tracing to keep residents safe

Clashing experts

Recently, the United States has been testing way more than 2% of the population per month, according to the COVID Tracking Project  and yet the project says that isnt nearly enough. As the New York Times reported on Friday, the tracking project uses a methodology developed by researchers at Harvard University Global Health Institute that estimates testing needs for each state. The target for each state varies over time as infection rates change.

An average of 634,000 people per day were tested over the last week, while the target should be 1.6 million a day to keep the coronavirus at bay, according to the tracking project and Harvard.

Since the experts dont agree on how much testing is enough, its hard to assess state numbers.

Pennsylvania, for example, reported 412,000 diagnostic tests in June, far more than its goal of 256,000, or 2% of the population. About 5% of those tests were positive  a relatively low rate that suggests the state is testing broadly and including people without symptoms.

We have ramped up testing significantly and we will continue to do that, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said Friday.

The COVID Tracking Project has a different take. It says Pennsylvania is doing a daily average of 100 tests per 100,000 residents  just below the Harvard target rate. That makes the Keystone State the 28th worst in state testing rankings. In comparison, New Jersey, where the positive test rate is down to 2%, has a daily testing average of 218 per 100,000 residents, more than the Harvard target rate.

What is the point of testing?

Testing is just a piece of the coronavirus containment challenge, but it is the key to identifying outbreaks quickly and snuffing them out. It goes hand-in-hand with tracing an infected persons close contacts so they can self-quarantine at home for two weeks, the maximum time between exposure to the virus and symptom onset. Since many infected people never have symptoms, contact tracing and quarantine are important  but these strategies arent practical if case numbers are exploding, as they are in numerous states.

To the dismay of federal health officials, the president has been pushing for less testing because the nations record-shattering daily numbers make the U.S. look bad.

Cases, Cases, Cases! If we didnt test so much and so successfully, we would have very few cases, Trump tweeted last Saturday.

In another tweet last week, he said: There is a rise in Coronavirus cases because our testing is so massive and so good, far bigger and better than any other country.

In reality, testing does nothing to affect transmission rates. Nor does testing prevent hospitalizations and deaths  alarming indicators that are also soaring in the U.S., and are worse than in countries with more testing.

Supply problems. Again.

As cases surge, especially in Southern and Western states, access to diagnostic testing is once again hampering efforts to contain the pandemic.

Just as we saw locally months ago, drive-through testing sites in surging states report long lines and shortages of swabs and protective gear. Testing labs face backlogs and shortages of needed chemicals.

To be sure, collecting a respiratory sample and doing a molecular analysis to find virus particles is not quick or easy. Some newer molecular tests need only saliva or a nasal swab, and some can deliver results in an hour or so at the point of care, usually a hospital. But for the most part, diagnostic testing still relies on an unpleasant sample collection process  a long swab is pushed through the nose to the back of the throat  and a several-day turnaround time for results.

In some large cities with exploding case numbers, testing is again being limited to people showing symptoms, even though asymptomatic spread is one of the drivers of the explosion.

Its terrifying, and clearly an evidence of a failure of the system, Morgan Katz, an infectious-disease expert at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told the New York Times.

Staff writer Stacey Burling contributed to this article.
"I said to a [police officer at the exit], 'People are going to come out of this with so much PTSD from whats happened to us. Whos going to provide us counselling then? "That was just on the first day." People inside and outside the towers described the situation on Saturday getting chaotic, dangerously so, over the following days. Food, information, medicines and medical treatment became lodged between bureaucracy and necessary precautions against secondary infections like those of the bungled hotel quarantine program. The lockdown scene at the towers in North Melbourne. Credit:Jason South

The absence of food in the first days caused some to risk infection by leaving their rooms in hope, desperation or frustration, one said, while others have variously condemned communications with residents as non-existent, poor or legalistic jargon. On Sunday last week, Sheya and her family made their way down the stairs for mandated coronavirus tests and found "50-70" people crowded in dangerously close conditions in the foyer. Many were not wearing personal protective equipment and she was not surprised. "There were people down there who werent even sure why, because the announcement [over the PA system] was only in English," she said. Julian Acheampong, a business analyst who lives with his mother in North Melbourne's Canning Street tower, said announcements in his building were in a "few" languages, but all written material had been provided in English.

Damian Stock, chief executive of Inner Melbourne Community Legal, said one elderly client was not allowed to leave her tower despite an existing appointment to have a serious wound dressed in hospital. He said the woman called the Health Department's 1800 hotline and was directed to speak to police. "Police downstairs wouldn't go through the process of understanding the reasons she was seeking to leave, [they] wouldn't look at the medical letter, or our letters," Stock said. The woman spent an uncertain night alone in her unit before appropriate supplies arrived the following day, he said. Other examples included a client who missed insulin injections, delays in getting prescriptions filled and a mother refused treatment for her migraine and her baby's fever.

Healthcare workers entering North Melbourne public housing towers. Credit:Darrian Traynor/Getty Images "We'd all agree the orders themselves are lawful and are permitted by the very broad powers of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act," he said, but exemptions on the basis of medical treatment had been "poorly communicated and most residents aren't aware of them". "That's been the major concern for us, the procedural fairness element," he said. Across the road from 33 Alfred Street, the Australian Muslim Social Services Agency transformed what is normally a mosque into a food and supplies warehouse for copious donations from Melburnians and businesses. Spokesman Nor Shanino, 34, said the most significant impediment to people getting food had been the layers of bureaucracy between health agencies, law enforcement and two Melbourne councils.

"The first one or two days there was nothing to send up from official channels, so everything had to come from here,' he said. "The problem is, theres nobody to take it upstairs." Shanino, 34, pointed out shopping bags being loaded into a car's boot by volunteers. "These are the special orders. Theyre all labelled. The volunteer comes out and theyll drop them off. We dont know what happens after that," he said. "Part of our job is to figure out  two hours later, three hours later, five hours later, the next morning  whether the supplies have been taken up. If they haven't, we then have to explain that [to the resident]. He said many residents had given up on official deliveries and the 1800 number, which has been plagued with problems, and were instead calling AMSSA or community leaders directly for supplies and help.

Flemington apartment blocks in lockdown on Wednesday. Credit:Simon Schluter On one occasion, a man slipped past police and into AMSSA to plead for essential supplies. Police stopped the chase and let the man fill up when they realised the man was desperate, Shanino said. "People are literally starving," he said. "These are people with money in their bank accounts, in Melbourne, in 2020." While the situation had improved by Friday, when all but one tower went back to stage three restrictions, the gaps in food and supply still appeared largely filled by charities. "The volunteers are mostly in their 20s, a lot of them uni students, who have had to step in and do the jobs of well-paid officials," Shanino said.

Acheampong, from Canning Street, waited almost two days for the first delivery of food, which he said came from a charity group. "There were bangs on a couple doors on my floor and they let people know there were groceries for us, but the police wouldnt let the charity group into the building," he said. "I went around letting people know to go down and grab it. We didnt get anything [from the government] in my building until Monday night." He was walking with his girlfriend in Flemington when the news broke on Saturday evening, giving him time to stock up on supplies before returning to serve his five days. But concerned one evening about his neighbours with limited English, Acheampong opened his door with the plan to ask about the next food drop and when they would be tested for COVID-19.

"It was bit hostile. There were six police officers standing there with their hot coffees, like 'where do you think you're going'. The officer gave me DHHS number and told me to call them. The police presence, you can definitely feel it." The problems, which have been acknowledged by the government, have not been uniform across towers and units: many residents were receiving adequate or culturally-appropriate food by Thursday. Others had neutral opinions of the 1800 hotline and positive experiences with police. Andrews on Saturday thanked residents, volunteers and staff for the "massive" response, which has included two field emergency management units at the North Melbourne and Flemington staffed with health and mental health specialists. The Royal Melbourne Hospital also partnered with St John Ambulance to establish a 30-bed urgent care clinic at the Melbourne Showgrounds. The government said it worked with a "wide range" of partners to deliver food and services, while communications included online, phone, face-to-face and the engagement of community leaders.

Almost 13000 food packages were delivered during the initial five-day lockdown. "They are being supported, each and every one of those families, in terms of groceries, perishable food, mental health support [and] health care, of course," Andrews said. "There's a very big team of people doing that work and I'm grateful to them and I'm grateful to those residents." Nine public housing towers went into hard lockdown last Saturday. All but one are now on stage three restrictions. Credit:Paul Jeffers Outside the Pampas Street tower in North Melbourne, there appeared plentiful food supplies and efficient order, with staff in Work for Victoria vests lined up at least 30 metres with trolleys of supplies bound for residents. The Sunday Age was soon told by authorities it was not allowed to observe the process and was instead directed to a "media area" several hundred metres away, which did not exist.

Victorian Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari, whose organisation raised $283,000 to help alongside AMSSA, said many issues of the first few days of lockdown were getting better. "[Emergency Management Commissioner] Andrew Crisp has been very good and ministers have been very quick to respond," he said. "That middle management has been harder, the ones who are process focused and not outcomes focused. "Ive been on a few phone hook-ups and there are people genuinely scared [in the towers] about getting COVID-19 and dying. But weve got to get that balance right with making sure people get what they need. Things could have been done better, but were also in the middle of a pandemic." Mr Hilakari said the "next conversation" was about increasing Victoria's public housing stock to ease the crowded conditions rife for the spread of infections like COVID-19.
The Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, has directed contractors handling power projects across the country to return to sites as COVID-19 lockdown by the federal government is being relaxed gradually.

Aaron Artimas, Special Adviser, Media and Communication to the Minister, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.

Mr Mamman gave the directive during an inspection visit to the new Gagarawa 2 by 60 Mega Volt Amp (MVA) 132/33 Kilo Volt Sub-station being constructed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in Jigawa.

Speaking on the impact of COVID-19 on the power sector, the minister said the sector was among the worst affected with the entire value chain directly or indirectly counting losses.

I can tell you that the impact of the pandemic is huge in the power sector as a real service provider.

We, however, have joined the government effort to restart the economy with the easing of the lockdown and opening of the interstate road.

I direct all contractors handling power projects to return to sites and work assiduously to recover from the losses recorded during this lockdown, he said

Speaking on the Gagarawa Sub-station, he commended the contractors for their unrelenting dedication to the project.

Mr Mamman said that after completion, the project would boost power supply in over seven local government areas including an industrial area.

READ ALSO:

Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, who joined on the inspection, commended the efforts of the minister to ensure the projects were delivered after lingering for over 20 years.

He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his continued support towards delivering key infrastructural in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the sub-station was 99 per cent completed and had been energised.

The TCN Acting Managing Director, Suleiman Abdulaziz, who was on the ministers entourage, was asked to identify and ensure speedy completion of similar sub-stations across the country.

(NAN)
EDWARDSVILLE  Due in part to a whim that patrol officer Larry Bowles wanted to look like the character of Van Pelt in 1995s Jumanji, but it was mostly due to his desire to help Southern Illinois University Edwardsville students that he forwent shaving his face for the whole of last month.

The U.S. Army veteran won first place in the Mustache Mayhem contest, sponsored by the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (IL FOP) Lodge 328, designed to raise money for SIUE students impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

I decided to compete in Mustache Mayhem, because it was a good opportunity to raise money for impacted students in our community, said Bowles, Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Lodge president. Also, getting to grow a pretty cool mustache is always a plus in my book.

The event allowed us to stay within the guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic and also have a little fun with our facial hair. Im always one to volunteer and help out, especially if it means being able to make someone laugh or smile.

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Lodges goal is to help bridge the gap between police departments and their communities, said SIUE patrol officer Maria Ferrari, whos the lodge secretary.

One way we hope to do this is by hosting fundraisers, like, Mustache Mayhem, to financially give back to our communities, Ferrari explained. The idea of the mustache contest was that of SIUE Patrol Officer Jeff Wooldridge.

The fundraiser began June 1, with contestants paying a $15 entry fee and submitting photos of their clean-shaven faces. Contestants submitted a final photo by June 30. A $5 fee was charged to those who voted for their favorite mustache.

We raised a total of $175, and our lodge will match 100 percent for a grand total of $350 to be donated to the SIUE Foundation, Ferrari said. The foundation will ensure that a student who needs it the most, will receive the money. Coming together during a crisis is what communities do, and we are glad we could do our part.

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 328 is a fraternal lodge comprised of SIUE Police Department patrol officers and other department members, Ferrari noted. We started the lodge in 2017 and currently have twenty-eight members.

The lodge was formed to promote unity within the SIUE Police Department, other police departments, the SIUIE community and the surrounding communities.

For more information, visit the lodges Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Lodge328, email siuepdlodge328@gmail.com or write to P.O. Box 553, Edwardsville, Illinois, 62025.
Hundreds marched through Khabarovsk amid a second day of protests in the Russian Far Eastern city over the arrest of a popular regional governor.



The July 12 demonstration saw people marching to the regional headquarters of the Federal Security Service, chanting "Free Furgal -- a reference to Sergei Furgal, who was arrested two days earlier on murder charges dating back more than a decade.



The street protests, and angry political sentiment against the Kremlin, were unusual given how far Khabarovsk is from the Russian capital, and given how the Kremlin has marginalized all political opposition in the country. The protests were also the largest in the country since a national vote that has set the stage for President Vladimir Putin to remain in power until 2036.



Videos posted on social media showed a crowd marching through downtown traffic, chanting and holding signs in support of Furgal.

Nadezhda Tomchenko, Furgals spokeswoman, said his team is "thankful for such support."

"The whole city is abuzz," said Tomchenko in a July 12 video statement on Facebook. "I would like to ask, however, to refrain from aggression, from provocations.

A member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Furgal was elected governor of Khabarovsk in 2018 in a major upset of the ruling United Russia party, which is backed by the Kremlin and dominates Russias political life.



Protesters questioned why prosecutors decided to arrest Furgal now, 15 years after the alleged crimes, and demanded his trial be held in Khabarovsk and in a transparent manner.



The state-run TASS news agency estimated the July 12 action included several hundred people. Activists affiliated with the corruption crusader Aleksei Navalny put the figure at around 5,000.

WATCH: Thousands March In Support Of Arrested Khabarovsk Governor (July 11)



A protest on July 11 saw around 5,000 people, according to official estimates, though local media said as many as 35,000 may have participated.

Smaller rallies were also held in the military industrial city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and other towns in the region.



On July 10, a Moscow court ordered the 50-year-old Furgal held in pretrial detention for two months. He has pleaded not guilty to ordering the murders and attempted murders of several businessmen in 2004 and 2005.



Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the outspoken nationalist leader of the party, told the State Duma on July 9 that the partys faction in parliament was ready to resign in protest against the arrest.



"Let the whole world learn what a mess this country is," Zhirinovsky told the parliaments lower chamber earlier this week.
Not so long ago, Israel was considered a coronavirus success story. In May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated himself on achieving victory and, with a wide smile, invited Israelis to "go out and have a good time".

That invitation was readily accepted. People who had been locked down for many weeks celebrated with mass parties and grand wedding receptions. Bars, pubs and restaurants reopened to full houses. Few bothered with masks or social distancing. The good times Bibi called for were rolling.

Protests are increasing as Israel battles coronavirus. Credit:AP

In the wrong direction, as it turns out. Since then, Israel has become a cautionary tale and potential catastrophe. Cases are soaring. Lockdowns were reimposed in five towns and cities on Friday.

While other governments have hidden behind the "scientific advice" the Prime Minister has been the sole decider of policy since the beginning of the coronavirus era. That is still the case. Instead of taking responsibility for the debacle, Netanyahu has blamed the public: Israelis went overboard, he says, refusing to wear masks, wash their hands or practise social distancing.
The Lagos State Safety Commission on Sunday said it sealed 33 social facilities across the state for operating against its protocols for reopening businesses.

This was contained in a statement released by Adewumi Okoh, the spokesperson of the commission.

Mrs Okoh said the facilities comprised of bars, lounges, restaurants, gyms, hotels and spas. They were sealed for engaging in activities against the established COVID-19 reopening protocols of the state, he said.

He listed some of the facilities to include West gate Arena, Ikosi Isheri; Glovic Bar & Restaurant, Toyin Street, Ikeja; Lounge 50, Masha-Surulere; Innoville Shopping plaza, Ikeja; Trendor Hotels, Fadeyi; Esado Suites, Olanrewaju street, Ikeja, and Ritalori Hotel, Taoridi street, Surulere.

The spokesperson said the facilities were sealed during an ongoing enforcement exercise supervised by Lanre Mojola, the Director-General of the Commission.

Mr Lanre Mojola during the enforcement exercise affirmed that the state would not hesitate to deal with erring or non compliant facilities who contravene the established protocol for reopening the economy. He reiterated that the State has zero tolerance for establishments that continue to violate State regulations and laws,  the statement contained.

The commission added that hairdressing salons that have been accredited by the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSC) could now open strictly by appointment with a maximum occupancy of 40 per cent of the total floor space at any given time, while restaurants and eateries should continue to operate on a takeout basis.

Private businesses and organisations are encouraged to register with the state government for the approval of opening of business.

Glovic Bar and Restaurant

Mr Mojola emphasised that the commission will continue its enforcement exercise across the state, to identify businesses that have not registered and all erring facilities, especially bars, gyms, lounges, spas and other social and religious centres.

Sealed Westgate Arena, Ikosi, Isheri

Businesses can register with the state government on www.lasgsafetyreg.com, he said.
The Government has decided to suspend repatriation flights for Sri Lankans in foreign countries from Tuesday, an official said. He said the move was to keep quarantine centres free if the need arose to accommodate more locals in the next few days. More than 300 COVID-19 patients have been detected since Friday in the country.
UN expert raps US for arbitrary drone attack that killed Gen. Soleimani

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 July 2020 2:18 PM

A UN special rapporteur has once again lashed out at the United States for breaching international law by assassinating top Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in a drone attack, warning about the repercussions of unbridled and self-willed use of armed drones.

"International law is international. It is not American," Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said in a post on her Twitter account on Saturday.

She added that her warnings on the "exponential, unregulated use of armed drones," her assessment of the drone strike against General Soleimani and her calls for actions to prevent further crises are all based on international law.

On January 3, the US assassinated General Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and a group of their companions near Baghdad International Airport.

Both commanders enjoyed deep reverence among Muslim nations over their endeavors in eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

The operation was conducted with the authorization of US President Donald Trump.

In a report presented on Thursday to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Callamard said the US has put the world at unprecedented peril with its assassination of Iran's top anti-terror commander and warned that it is high time the international community broke its silence on Washington's drone-powered unlawful killings.

The January 3 assassination set a "dangerous precedent," placing the international community at edge of a cliff, the UN special rapporteur said, calling the attack "the first known incident" in which a state invokes what it calls "self-defense as justification for an attack against a government official outside a declared armed conflict."

She emphasized that the international community must now confront the "real prospect" that states would follow in Washington's footsteps by trying to justify and carry out such acts of bloodshed.

US officials, who continue to defend the deadly operation, have rejected the UN report, which says the drone strike violated the UN Charter and calls for accountability for targeted killings by armed drones, as "spurious."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Thursday that the Trump administration rejects the report that gave "more cause to distrust UN human rights mechanisms."

"The United States is transparent regarding the international law basis for the strike," he added, claiming it was carried out "in the exercise of the United States' inherent right of self-defense."

The Human Rights Council is set to debate what actions to pursue based on Callamard's findings.

Addressing a virtual UN session on Friday, Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht-Ravanchi said the US' assassination of General Soleimani was a gift to the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group and other terrorist outfits in the region.

"The United States' brutal and cowardly assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the champion of fighting terrorists in the region, and his companions, while on an official visit to neighboring Iraq, is another obvious example of state terrorism pursued in gross violation of the fundamental principles of international law, entailing criminal responsibility of its perpetrators," the Iranian envoy said.

A senior Iranian judge said late last month that Interpol Red Notices have been issued for the prosecution of dozens of military and political officials of the United States, including President Trump, on charges of planning and implementing the terrorist attack that assassinated General Soleimani and his companions.

"Thirty-six people who were involved in the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani have been identified, including political and military officials from the United States and other governments," Tehran Prosecutor Ali Alqasi-Mehr said.

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New Delhi, July 12 : With a strategic focus on the new business potential that has emerged out from the current landscape, Canon India aims to capture 50 per cent market share in the full-frame mirrorless segment in India, according to Kazutada Kobayashi, President and CEO, Canon India.

From its key business verticals -- camera, home printers, office printers and commercial printing solutions -- the camera business has been a pertinent contributor to the overall growth of Canon India.

The company has 50 per cent market share in the DSLR category and 45 per cent in the overall Digital Interchangeable Lens Camera (DILC) category.

"Our newly-launched EOS R5 and EOS R6 cameras will be a breakthrough in the full-frame mirrorless camera category in India. We are witnessing tremendous growth in the multiple genres of professional photography and our new cameras will be a perfect fit for professional photographers and cinematographers," Kobayashi told IANS.

According to him, it is a time when all business leaders should come forward to build a better world along with guiding their businesses towards success.

"Every crisis presents an opportunity for businesses to think differently and adapt to the changing landscape. Going forward, we are focused on becoming more agile, changing with new dynamics in the market and evolved customer requirements," said Kobayashi.

The need of the hour, he said, is to aggressively build positive mindshare and revive consumer interest for both the B2B and B2C products.

The consumers are looking forward to technologies that would enable them to boost their productivity to do more during the current situation.

"Work from home and study from home provides a big potential for our PIXMA range of printers in the home segment. We estimate a promising opportunity of 30 per cent printer penetration into potential connected homes with device and network connectivity," the Canon India executive stressed.

In the office printing infrastructure, multi-function devices that can print and scan while having in-built cloud connectivity for document storage will become must-haves for fully equipped home-offices.

"Similarly, there has been an increased focus on the health sector in the country, with significant investments in medical technology. It will be a great opportunity for us to grow further in our medical business," he added.

According to Kobayashi, the high-end camera will further enable the company promote the photography culture in India.

While the EOS R5 caters to the professional segment with its advanced features and specifications, the EOS R6 targets amateur photographers and videographers who want to scale up from their entry-level cameras.

"Both EOS R5 and EOS R6 are one of the most powerful hybrid cameras so far, with features that are revolutionary and incorporated for the first time in the industry as well as in a Canon camera which will be sure to attract the attention of our target audience," Kobayashi told IANS.

EOS R5 will cost Rs 339,995 (inclusive of all taxes) and EOS R6 will be available for Rs 215,995 from next month.

The EOS R5 features 8K movie recording, new 45MP full frame CMOS sensor while the EOS R6 features 4K movie recording and advanced 20.1MP full-frame CMOS sensor.

Both the cameras are equipped with Canon's advanced Digital Imaging Integrated Circuit (DIGIC) X imaging processor and new in-body image stabiliser.

"In the camera segment, the launch of Canon EOS R5 and EOS R6 will be critical in our 2020 growth story. We are hopeful that the industry will pick up the pace once the lockdown is entirely lifted and soon things are back to normal," said Kobayashi.

(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 21:34:44|Editor: huaxia

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BRUSSELS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) concluded a virtual meeting on Sunday with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the head of government of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti, according to EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak.

"I'm glad to say that after the Paris Summit (last Friday) and today's meeting, the EU-facilitated dialogue on comprehensive normalisations of relations between Serbia and Kosovo is back on track after 20 months," said the EU representative.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia rejects it and considers Kosovo its own province.

According to Lajcak, Sunday's meeting agreed on the main elements of the process and the agenda of the next meeting in person in Brussels scheduled for the coming Thursday.

Preceding the video-conference on Sunday, EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has highlighted the aim to "start serious and intense work" on the normalization of the relations and to work on finding a comprehensive, final and legally binding normalization agreement, "an agreement that addresses all outstanding issues." Enditem
That a deal should fall through during a pandemic is not a huge surprise. But that Goodbody's sale to a Chinese buyer has fallen through for a second time is something of an embarrassment to executives at the firm in any circumstances.

When the original sale to a consortium led by Zhong Ze Culture Investment Holdings fell through in early 2019, it was clear that Kerry-based financial services company Fexco, a majority shareholder in Goodbody, would still want an exit. It was less clear that Goodbody would bank on a Chinese buyer again.

A new sale process began in the spring of 2019 and by May three interested parties emerged: Bank of China, Irish Life owner Great-West Lifeco and Goodbody's long-time rival Davy.

It was a difficult line-up, each one presenting challenges.

Selling to a Chinese buyer carried risk, even when this bidder was a far more straightforward potential buyer than the complex Zhong Ze group.

Irish Life was not keen to buy the capital markets/investment banking division, according to market sources, and so Goodbody looked at ways of carving up the firm.

On paper the most suitable buyer was Davy, whose business mirrors the Goodbody model.

There is often folklore around industry rivalry in many sectors which boils down to harmless joking among competitors in reality. But there is a genuine and deep rivalry between Goodbody and Davy which goes back decades.

Goodbody is 51pc owned by Fexco and 49pc owned by senior managers and staff.

The staff know first-hand that some clients are loyal to Goodbody and would not be happy about a merger with Davy.

A culture clash was one factor against a Davy deal. Another was concern over jobs as Goodbody staff suspected duplication would be an issue in a merged entity.

With little appetite for a deal with Davy among Goodbody insiders and Irish Life fading out of the process, the Chinese once again emerged as the front runners.

Unlike the previous deal with the Zhong Ze consortium, the Central Bank had no issue with the sale to the Bank of China and approved the transaction in March of this year.

Obviously Covid-19 put pressure on all sorts of corporate activity, both in Ireland and globally, but with the Irish approval of the deal secured, it seemed there was no reason the 155m Goodbody sale should be delayed. However, suspicions about the likelihood of the deal going through began to intensify in recent weeks.

As revealed in these pages four weeks ago, Goodbody's managing director, Roy Barrett, addressed rumours that the deal might not go ahead in a company update with 300 staff. Although Barrett told staff that relations remained good between all the parties, doubts remained.

In fact, some well-placed observers of the company have always quietly doubted that a sale of Goodbody to a Chinese state entity would go ahead. There is a growing suspicion of Chinese business practices in the West, which has only intensified since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ireland has been very open to investment from China but in places such as Australia and much of Europe, there is growing scrutiny of any big deals involving China.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, Goodbody confirmed the suspicions of many close to the company - the deal was off. "Bank of China has now informed Goodbody that due to the unprecedented global impacts and uncertainty caused by Covid-19 it is not in a position to complete its proposed acquisition of Goodbody at this time," said the company.

Covid may have been a factor but it is understood that the deal was drifting, with no sign of officials in Beijing signing off on it. Goodbody made it clear that it needed a decision and, when that was not forthcoming, it was agreed by both sides that the deal should be halted.

On the June call with staff, Barrett was also asked if a sale to rival Davy may once again be a possibility. Such a deal might seem unsavoury to many in Goodbody, but it must surely be back in the frame.
ALBANY  New COVID-19 cases remained low overall in New York Sunday - but positive tests have gone up in the Capital Region over the last three days.

In the daily release sent from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office Sunday, statistics showed positive tests in the Capital Region for coronavirus, the virus that causes the COVID-19 illness, went up from .7 % on Thursday to 2% on Saturday.

The Capital Region's percent positive was the highest in New York over the weekend, with New York City at the next highest at 1.3%. The overall New York percent positives Saturday was 1.08%.

Albany County itself had 15 new positive cases Saturday -which is the highest the county has seen since June 4. Rensselaer County also announced Sunday that 30 residents of Riverside Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation tested positive for the virus, along with nine employees.

Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said he would be moving up his weekly press conference from Tuesday to Monday this week.

"While its true that more people are getting tested, we also had one new overnight hospitalization each day from Wednesday to Saturday, McCoy said in a statement. Weve come a long way here in Albany County, and we cannot get overly comfortable or lazy, otherwise we will undo all of our hard-earned progress. Please wear a mask, practice social distancing and wash your hands regularly.

The state said it is also monitoring the situation in Rensselaer County, noting when three residents who traveled back from Georgia unknowingly had the virus.

Three Troy residents on the Delta Air Lines flight 4815 from Georgia to Albany on Monday, July 6 tested positive after they began feeling sick the next day, Rensselaer County health officials have said. All are people in their 20s.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Georgia is among 19 states where New York is asking people who arrive from them to quarantine for two weeks. The other states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

Rensselaer County said Sunday they have no new cases to report from the Georgia cluster. But officials did say they have two new positive cases from people who recently got back from North Carolina.

Overall in New York Sunday, hospitalizations remained mostly stable at 801 people being hospitalized for COVID-19, an increase of two people from Saturday. There were three less people in the ICU overnight, at 174 people statewide. There were five deaths from COVID-19 in New York overnight.
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Hospitals in Vietnam are continuously introducing the latest technological advancements and improvements to their operating theaters, opening up limitless options for patients with previously inoperable conditions.

H.B. from Long Bien District, Hanoi found herself faced with impaired vision in one eye and complete loss of eyesight in the other at the age of 37.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan results indicated the growth of a pituitary tumor inside her skull which was interfering with her ability to see.

B. received surgery at Viet Duc University Hospital (VDUH), a central-level medical facility in the capital city, where the surgeons employed a novel technique to remove the three-centimeter-large tumor through her nasal cavity.

She gained back a portion of her eyesight within 24 hours of the operation and a majority of her sight in just five days. She was discharged from the hospital on the sixth day.

Ive gained more vision and a larger visual field each day since the discharge. It has almost returned to normal, B. said.

The technique was done by inserting medical instruments through the nostrils, then incising parts of the sphenoid sinus  a hollow space in the skull behind the nasal passages and below the brain  to create an opening to the tumor, utilizing the navigation system to locate the mass, cutting the growth into pieces, and finally removing it through the nasal passage, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Xuan, deputy head of the VDUH's neurosurgery department 1, explained.

This technique  called transsphenoidal surgery  is used to remove pituitary tumors, meningeal tumors, and craniopharyngioma, a rare type of brain tumor.

The oral passage, which is also a natural orifice, can be used to remove tumors placed lower in the skull, such as in the basilar area.

The unconventional placement of the laceration requires special materials to help heal the surgical wound, such as nasal mucosa to leg fat.

The application of such materials on an open wound helps the body to fully mend in just a few days. Thats how magnificent our bodies are, Xuan said.

An aneurysm balloon in a brain artery is shown in a supplied file photo achieved through medical imaging.

In his younger days, Xuan would not have dreamt of a surgical method that allows alterations to be done through nasal and oral passages.

But modern techniques have surpassed his wildest expectations, bringing about cutting-edge treatment approaches with certified effectiveness, given medical advances and equipment utilization.

Compared to conventional open surgeries, natural orifice endoscopic methods do not inquire the brain to be uncovered, minimalizing the risk of brain impact and the size of incisions while allowing the wound to heal faster.

This is considered a medical breakthrough as it can be used on 90 percent of pituitary tumor cases, helping patients access a significantly better surgical experience.

However, according to Xuan, not many surgeons are capable of performing this method as it requires expertise in endoscopic surgery, microsurgery, and many other advanced techniques that can only be made possible with the support of the latest technological instruments.

Wide awake while being cut open

Experiencing brain surgery without being put to sleep, also called awake craniotomy, is a new approach that has been applied on several recent patients at the VDUH.

C.Q.C., a 56-year-old from the north-central province of Quang Binh, is one of them.

C. was experiencing numbness in his left hand, movement limitations, an inability to grab objects, and the occasional loss of balance while walking before he sought treatment.

At the VDUH, practitioners found a large tumor  2.3 centimeters in width and 3.6 centimeters in length  in C.s brain and suggested removing it using the awake craniotomy technique, to which C. agreed.

During the three-hour surgery, C. was kept awake in the first two hours and was even able to talk and sing when asked in order to signify his response to the surgeons intervention and help doctors monitor whether his language or motor nerves were obstructed.

Contrary to an assumed panic response, C. coped quite well with being awake during the surgery and even said that being able to interact with doctors during the procedure was quite exciting.

After the surgery, the patient said he was able to wiggle the fingers in his left hand and that he had gained back the ability to use chopsticks.

Dr. Dong Van He, deputy director of the VDUH, an adept surgeon in awake craniotomy, talked of the method as a newly introduced option, one that inquires the courage of the patients to endure the sound of surgical drills and blades cutting into their own skull.

Blood vessels are inserted and an aneurysm balloon is nullified using the artery bypass technique in a supplied file photo of the brain achieved through medical imaging.

Artery bypass

Dr. Ngo Manh Hung, deputy head of the VDUH's neurosurgery department 1, said an artery bypass is a procedure that can be indicated to cases of brain aneurysm or clogged brain arteries, which inherently come with risks of stroke.

Doctors in the past mostly resorted to two kinds of intervention  removing the aneurysm and reconnecting the severed ends of the blood vessels or blocking the blood flow from the dilated section of the artery.

These methods had not proven to be effective when it comes to cases of multiple or oversized aneurysms, which gave rise to a demand for alternative approaches capable of nullifying aneurysm balloons and preserving the arteries.

In those cases, we perform artery bypasses because they work both as a medically-approved response and as a financially viable alternative to traditional disciplines which can cost hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong [VND100 million = US$4,300], Hung said.

Artery bypasses are also employed in cases of progressing brain ischemia  insufficient blood flow to the brain  and narrowing brain arteries which predispose patients to the risk of stroke, health decline, paralysis, memory decline, and epilepsy, but less frequently compared to brain aneurysms, according to Hung.

The technique also resolves conditions where artery tapers, triggering the body to generate a new passage for blood to reach the brain.

It is a disease which bears a resemblance to progressive brain ischemia in terms of its mechanisms and is gradually being given more public awareness.

The circumstantial artery created by the body is weak and susceptible to bursts. The consequences are divided into two scenarios.

One of these scenarios is prevalent in children since their growing brain demands larger amounts of blood. which triggers the human body to create more makeshift arteries and in turn multiplies the risk of bursting.

The other is seen among elders and involves the main artery failing, putting pressure on the new arteries, which leads to eventual bursts. Artery bypasses would address this situation as it helps with supplying enough blood to the brain.

Dr. Ngo Manh Hung, deputy head of the neurosurgery department 1 under Viet Duc University Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, explains the artery bypass technique in brain surgery with hand-drawn visualization. Photo: L. Anh / Tuoi Tre

The artery bypass technique has been done at the VDUH for many years, the only difference being that facilities in the past were undersupplied, with sutures not enough to do the standard regimen. For the moment, we are practicing it while much better equipped, Hung revealed.

The technique requires coordination between multiple surgeons, including vascular and neural specialists, in two phases.

In the first phase, the vascular surgeon takes a blood vessel from the leg and passes it to the neurosurgeon to be rerouted from the neck to arteries in the brain.

The other phase entails retrieving blood vessels from the scalp and inserting them into the arteries in the brain. The vessels are as small as one millimeter in diameter and must be joined using minuscule sutures.

Just a few years ago, the medical sector was not in favor of artery bypasses and instead embraced the method of coronary intervention until they realized the high relapse rate of the latter and gradually switched to the former.

Brain intervention used to be stigmatized by patients as a hazard to memory and life quality. But Dr. Hung claimed: Artery bypasses do not affect memory since the process requires us to lock blood flow inside the artery wall.

It took us 13 minutes with 12-14 sutures to attach [a pair of] arteries loose ends, which means roughly one minute for a suture. This is close to the international standard, which is around 15 minutes, Hung said.

My teacher in Japan can do it in 11 minutes. [] Theoretically speaking, the faster it takes, the quicker we can reintroduce blood flow into the arteries, which means fewer complications are likely to arise.

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Heavy rains triggered flash floods and landslides that killed at least 40 people and thousands of others were forced to flee their homes, officials said on Saturday.

Twenty people were killed and at least 13 others were missing in Myagdi district, 125 miles northwest of the capital Kathmandu, where several houses were destroyed on Friday, district administrator Gyan Nath Dhakal said.

'Rescuers are looking for those who are still missing in Myagdi,' Dhakal said, adding that 50 people had been plucked to safety using helicopters. 'Eleven people who were injured in the landslides have been moved to nearby hospitals,' he said.

In neighbouring Kaski district, seven people were killed, said a second government official in the tourist town of Pokhara.

Residents and rescue workers inspect the area outside a house damaged by a landslide and the swell of the Thado-Koshi river due to heavy rains in Jambu village of Sindhupalchok district, some 80 kms northeast of Kathmandu on July 9, 2020

Another seven were killed in Jajarkot district in the far west.

'We are searching for eight people who are still missing,' said Kishore Shrestha, a senior police official, said.

Six people were killed in Gulmi, Lamjung and Sindhupalchowk in central Nepal.

In the southern plains bordering India, the Koshi river, which causes deadly floods in the eastern Indian state of Bihar almost every year, was flowing above the danger level, police said.

Landslides and flash floods are a common occurrence in mountainous Nepal during the June-September monsoon every year.
The Indian government has petitioned the High Court of Rajasthan to stop any of the 59 banned Chinese apps from challenging the ban, Reuters reported. The government has told the court that it expects a few of the companies to challenge the ban through legal means and is moving to stop such companies from doing so. Let nothing be done till the applicants (government) are heard in the matter," the court filing said.

The Indian government had issued an interim order on June 29, banning 59 Chinese apps. This included popular apps like TikTok, Helo, Vigo Video, Bigo Live, Likee, CamScanner, WeChat and more. The government has since told the apps that they will be called for a hearing and will get a chance to make a representation to the government.

Further, recent reports have indicated that the government has sent a list of 79 questions to the companies, asking them to answer them by July 22. The order also told the companies that failing to answer the questions in the given time will make the ban on them permanent.

Following the ban, Bytedance  the company that owns TikTok, Helo and Vigo Video  had issued a statement saying it would be speaking to the government about the ban. Bytedance had also clarified that it is not going to pursue any legal means till it had spoken to the government.

According to a lawyer representing many of the apps in the banned list, others are considering a similar course. The lawyer also said that the apps are considering presenting a data-flow-diagram to the government, which tells them exactly who the beneficiaries of the data they collect will be.

The Indian government had cited national security concerns when it banned the apps. Its unclear how long the ban will last at this point. Other than Bytedance, big Chinese companies like Tencent and AliBaba Groups apps have also been banned by the government.

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DENVER - Its been 23 years since trains rumbled through the tunnel atop Tennessee Pass.

That could change as interest in the dormant Tennessee Pass Line between Canon City and Dotsero grows. A fledgling railway project in Utahs Uinta Basin and a billionaire New York City developer with thousands of acres of wheat and an existing rail operation in southeastern Colorado are circling the tracks, hoping to revive the states 208-mile transmountain railway.

If either get their wish, trains carrying freight, crude oil and, possibly, passengers, could be rolling through the Royal Gorge, Salida, Browns Canyon, Buena Vista, Leadville, Minturn, Avon, Eagle and Gypsum.

The Surface Transportation Board that safeguards the nations rail network has spent the last three months working with the Tennessee Pass Line owner Union Pacific as the longtime rail operator negotiates with suitors for the stretch of railroad it idled in 1997. While few of the players are talking, the filings with the transportation board are telling.

It began in February, when Colorado Pacific Railroad filed an application with the Surface Transportation Board, asking it to force Union Pacific to sell the Tennessee Pass Line for $8.8 million. Union Pacific last year declined Colorado Pacifics offer of $10 million.

Colorado Pacific Railroad is owned by KCVN, which is owned by New York City high-rise developer Sheldon Solow and his son, Stefan Soloviev, who reclaimed the original spelling of his familys name. Soloviev runs Crossroads Agriculture, a variety of agricultural businesses on KVCNs vast acreage in Kansas and Colorado.

The company estimated in its Feb. 14 application with the transportation board that it would need $278 million to rehabilitate more than 208 miles of track between the Royal Gorge and Dostero.

KCVNs attorney in that filing noted that when Crossroads wants to move Colorado grain west to flour mills in Utah or Southern California, it needs to ship it east 250 miles to reach a Union Pacific westbound rail line in Hutchinson, Kansas, and then it rolls 250 miles back into Colorado, having travelled 500 miles without any net westward progress, reads the filing.

KCVN has forced the sale of a rail line before. The Surface Transportation Board approved KCVNs application to force V and S Railway to sell southeast Colorados Towner Line in 2017.

Colorado Pacific Railroad in 2016 announced a $6 million plan to buy and rehabilitate the 122-mile Towner Line, which stretches through Otero, Kiowa, Crowley and Pueblo counties in southeast Colorado. The companys application noted that KCVN owns 69,000 acres of Colorado wheat farmland worth about $50 million near the Towner Line and the company has wealthy principals who could afford additional costs related to the acquisition of the railway. The Surface Transportation Board in 2017 approved Colorado Pacifics call for a forced sale by V and S Railway, which acquired the troubled rail line from the Colorado Department of Transportation in 2005 and officially abandoned the line in 2011.

When Union Pacific and Southern Pacific merged in 1998, Union Pacific gave up on attempts to utilize the Tennessee Pass line and continued to rely solely on routing its coal-train traffic through the Moffat Tunnel, while promising to revive traffic on Tennessee Pass should Moffat Tunnel become clogged with trains. The Surface Transportation Board, in its approval of the merger, said if Union Pacific ever decides to sell the Tennessee Pass route, it should sell to an entity that will use it in the transportation system.

We will be vigilant as to this issue, the STB wrote.

Union Pacific on March 9 urged the Surface Transportation Board to reject KCVNs request for a forced sale, saying that it has been negotiating a sale of the Tennessee Pass Line with another party since last fall. That filing, until it was redacted, included the name of the other party, which was caught by an intrepid reporter for the trains.com news wire who identified the suitor as Rio Grande Pacific Corp., which operates short lines in six states.

Rio Grande Pacific is the planned operator of a $1.5 billion proposal for a new railroad connecting crude oil from Utahs Uinta Basin with the national railway network. If the Uinta Basin Railway is built and Rio Grande Pacific acquires Tennessee Pass, three to 10 trains hauling crude oil could travel south through Utah to Grand Junction to Minturn, over Tennessee Pass and through the Upper Arkansas River Valley en route to refineries on the Gulf Coast. The federal government is conducting an Environmental Impact Statement studying the impacts of the roughly 85-mile Uinta Basin Railway project.

Specifically, RGPC had expressed interest in purchasing from Union Pacific the portion of the Line from Parkdale to Gypsum, Colorado, and implementing both passenger and freight service. We told KCVN we intended to see those discussions through before exploring other options, reads the unredacted document filed by Union Pacific that briefly appeared on the Surface Transportation Boards website on March 9, according to trains.com.

In 1998, Mark Greksas Royal Gorge Express acquired 11.75 miles of Union Pacific track between Canon City and Parkdale for his tourist trains. He shares use of the track with freight hauler Rock & Rail Railroad. The 1998 deal left Union Pacific with permanent overhead trackage rights to the rails through the gorge, so as to preserve the integrity of the Tennessee Pass through route.

Rock & Rail on March 9 also urged the transportation board to reject KCVNs application for a forced sale. Rock & Rail argued the Tennessee Pass Line consists of numerous owners and Union Pacific doesnt qualify as the single owner of the entire stretch of railroad under the boards rules for forced sales of feeder lines.

Greksa has been watching the flurry of filings and interest on Tennessee Pass. Hes also been busy opening his Royal Gorge tourist train in a pandemic, so he hasnt weighed in.

Weve heard all the rumblings. Heres the thing: they have to come to us for permission to run through the gorge and we are not going to give it to them, Greksa said in an interview. There has been talk about Tennessee Pass forever. But no one has ever talked to us. But it doesnt matter. They are going to have trouble getting through the gorge without our permission.

The Surface Transportation Board on March 13 sided with Union Pacific and rejected Colorado Pacfics request to force the sale of the Tennessee Pass Line. (Federal law allows the Surface Transportation Board to approve forced sales as a way to keep trains rolling on rail lines slated for abandonment when parties cannot agree on a deal to sell.)

But the boards dismissal of the deal without prejudice means KCVN and Colorado Pacific could refile the application.

The talk of rail traffic in the Upper Arkansas River Valley has locals on edge. The valleys Stage & Rail plan calls for a hiking and biking path along a former narrow-gauge railroad grade in the valley and rail service on the existing tracks could impact those plans.

I think a bigger concern with this project would be the impact to local communities, access and experience in Browns Canyon National Monument, and wildlife impacts along the river corridor, which is already impacted by Highway 50 and 24 through much of the valley, said Julie Mach, the conservation director for Colorado Mountain Club who is helping with the Stage & Rail trail plans. There has always been interest in a true rails-to-trails route along the existing rail line, but UP has never been responsive to those discussions. An ideal situation would be for the state to purchase the line in order to facilitate a rails-to-trails project.

A 2017 report by CDOT that studied abandoned rail lines and possible line acquisitions in the state identified the Tennessee Pass Line as significant for its potential to carry both passengers and freight. It also noted the Tennessee Pass route as the only existing transmountain alternative to the Moffat Tunnel, which often runs near capacity.

The Tennessee Pass Line may be able to be used as an alternate route as transmountain rail demand grows due to increased development on the Western Slope or if the Moffat Tunnel were damaged or closed for any reason, reads CDOTs 2017 report. Such an event would have a significant impact on Colorado, particularly on the Western Slope, since the railroads would be forced to move freight through Wyoming.

CDOT is studying passenger rail service on 173 miles of the Front Range between Fort Collins and Pueblo. The agency is gathering public input for its Front Range passenger rail plan via a series of online meetings throughout July. CDOTs preferred alternative for passenger service between Fort Collins and Denver no longer includes Union Pacifics idled Fort Collins Branch, which was identified as an option in 2000 rail studies but disregarded in the 2011 North I-25 Environmental Impact Statement studying passenger rail service north of metro Denver.

So does the renewed interest in potentially shipping crude and grain over Tennessee Pass in any way alter CDOTs plans or perspective on the states dormant but critical trans-mountain railroad?

CDOT is monitoring the status of these lines but has no specific plans at this time for development or acquisition along the corridors, CDOT spokesman Tim Hoover said.

Entrepreneur Christof Stork spent most of 2016 trying to foster support for passenger rail service over Tennessee Pass. While stirring the interest of residents eager to relieve traffic on Interstate 70 and a housing shortage in the Eagle River Valley by connecting it with the Upper Arkansas River Valley, Stork didnt get too far with local leaders.

Stork estimates the cost of repairing the line for serious passenger service between Gypsum and Leadville would cost $50 million to $100 million. Hes not talking about seasonal tourist trains.

I dont want to think small. Im talking about a commuter rail system. Something like the airport train in Denver, Stork said.

He sees a train along the Eagle River connecting upvalley resorts with downvalley communities could shift housing patterns by creating dense housing near train stations for workers who are struggling to find affordable housing in the valley between Vail and Gypsum.

But he figures the only way to convince Union Pacific to either sell or partner with a passenger rail service is for the state of Colorado to start pushing. The state owns the Moffat Tunnel and the Moffat Tunnel Improvement Districts long term lease with Union Pacific to use the tunnel  the only other transmountain railroad in Colorado besides Tennessee Pass  expires in 2025.

That gives Colorado leverage to get UP to play ball and be friendly with the Tennessee Pass line, Stork said.

Maybe it does. Who knows? he added. I do know this, though: Things are only going to get worse in 20 years. If we dont plan now we might lose this option. In 20 years, people may be saying What were they thinking? Why didnt they plan for this when they had the chance?
Three new books  two nonfiction and a historical novel  offer readers fresh perspectives on the people behind the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project and its headquarters in the closed city of Los Alamos have a vital role in all three.

In one book, Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World, Chris Wallace, anchor of Fox News Sunday, with Mitch Weiss, present behind-closed-door views and snapshots of politicians, advisors, military men, world leaders, and others who shaped President Harry S Trumans decision to drop the Atom Bomb on two Japanese cities in August 1945.

The books countdown starts on April 12, 1945, with then-Vice President Truman being summoned to the White House and informed that President

Franklin D. Roosevelt has just died. Moments after Trumans swearing-in, Secretary of War Henry Stimson pulled the new commander-in-chief aside to briefly tell him about a top-secret project Truman knew nothing about. Stimson said the project was aimed at developing a new explosive of almost unbelievable destructive power. Truman would of course quickly learn more about the Manhattan Project, and fast.

The projects work resulted in the successful Trinity test of the plutonium-core atomic bomb on July 16 in the Jornada del Muerto of what was then Alamogordo Air Base. That test, which occurred 75 years ago this Thursday, ushered in the nuclear age.

Countdown also weaves in the lives of ordinary people affected by the bomb. One life of special interest is that of Hideko Tamura, a 10-year schoolgirl who survived the bombing of Hiroshima. She later immigrated to the United States and became a peace activist.

The second book is Hannahs War Jan Eliasbergs electric debut novel.

This story takes the reader into Austrian Jewish physicist Hannah Weiss work in nuclear fission at the prestigious Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin in the 1930s. In alternating chapters, Weiss is seen doing similar scientific research on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos in the 1940s.

The author skillfully meshes Hannahs professional and personal issues in the two countries  espionage (A U.S. military spy catcher tries to determine if Hannah is sending secret messages about the project to Stefan, her former German colleague); romance (theres a love affair simmering between Hannah

and Stefan, and the spy catcher smitten with her); anti-Semitism (how do Hannah and the spy chaser deal with racial injustice?), and feminism (Is Hannah smart enough to know when to stand her ground in the mans world of scientific research?).

There is an underlying subject  morality  wrapped around the story.

The subject is raised in a paragraph before the novel opens, arguing that scientists have a higher duty to make the world a better place.

Its from a quote Eliasberg borrowed from Lise Meitner, the real Austrian Jewish nuclear physicist on whom the character of Hannah is based. Meitner fled to Sweden in 1939.

I do believe one person can change the world. Hannah and Stefan do, the author said in a phone interview.

In researching the book, Eliasberg came across a sentence in a New York Times article published Aug. 6, 1945 the day the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. It said the key component allowing the Allies to develop the bomb was provided by a female, non-Aryan physicist. Eliasberg continued digging and learned that the unnamed person was Meitner.

The author is a veteran screenwriter and stage, film and TV director. Her credits include writing drama pilots for NBC, CBS and ABC, and directing episodes of Wiseguy, Miami Vice, 13 Reasons Why and NCIS: Los Angeles. She directed the feature film Past Midnight.

Despite those credits, Eliasberg said writing Hannahs War was her best creative experience. The novel fulfilled a lifelong desire to succeed as an author. An idea she has for another novel is about another very strong female character also based on a real person. She said shes formed a backdrop for it thats politically meaningful in the moment.

The third book is Roseanne Montillos Atomic Women: The Untold Stories of the Scientists Who Helped Create the Nuclear Bomb. The book profiles such women as Lise Meitner, Hungarian Jewish nuclear chemist Elizabeth Rona, Nobel Prize-winning French chemist Irene Joliot-Curie, Leona Woods, Elizabeth Graves and Joan Hinton. Some of the women worked for the Manhattan Project. The book is targeted for readers age 12 and older.
Tazewell County is committed, we are going to help these kids for the summer and fall, he said. They could have gone (to other colleges)  but they stayed here for their first two years at SVCC. I didnt feel right if we abandoned them so we (board of supervisors) made that decision.
New Delhi: As the political rift between Rajasthan's Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot comes to the fore, Rahul Gandhi steps in to moderate.

Gandhi invited Pilot for a meeting at 5.30 pm on Sunday (July 12, 2020) to discuss the matter but the latter did not arrive at Rahul Gandhi's office at the designated time, according to sources.

Rahul Gandhi's office is claiming that a phone conversation is being held with Sachin Pilot and seemed confident that the issue will be sorted out.

Pilot arrived in Delhi today to meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and apprise her about the political situation in Rajasthan.

Sources said that Pilot feels that the party is planning to remove him from the state president post. Pilot is of the view that Gehlot wants to sideline him and the latter has made his displeasure known to party high command too.

It is also being speculated that Pilot alongwith his loyalist MLAs, may join BJP.

Meanwhile, former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia expressed his disappointment at the turn of events. Taking to Twitter he wrote: "Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, Sachin Pilot too being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the Congress."

In March, Scindia too was invited by Sonia Gandhi for a meeting, but he had decided not to go. Later Scindia and his loyalist MLAs quit Congress and joined the BJP bringing down the Kamal Nath-led government in Madhya Pradesh.

While, Gehlot has summoned all Congress and independents MLAs for a meeting tonight at 9 pm at the chief minister's residence.
For writers it has become difficult to pick which disaster to write about this week. There are so many. An embarrassment of riches, or actually whatever the opposite of it is.

Let us start with health. On Friday, 22,000 Indians tested Covid-19 positive and over 440 died of the disease.

We are registering 10 per cent of global cases now and are now the third highest in terms of the number of cases. By the end of July we will have 50,000 cases a day, the same number as the United States now does, and 1,000 daily deaths.

By the end of August, it will be one lakh cases a day. At that point, how many doctors will show up for work and how many will be able to is something to consider.

There is no point in thinking about September and October, but consider that the places that are going through the peaks now are Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, which have the best healthcare facilities in India. When the disease spreads rapidly in places without urban healthcare, what will come is not difficult to imagine.

Let us turn to the economy. India has few high frequency indicators that can tell us the current state of the economy and the change. The best such indicator we have is automobile sales, because at the beginning of each month manufacturers put out the number of units they have sold to dealers.

We can compare the number to the same month last year to see how things are going.

Passenger vehicle sales in January 2020 dropped to 2.6 lakh from 2.8 lakh in January 2019.

That was before Covid-19, and two months before the lockdown. Commercial vehicle sales, meaning trucks and other transport and cargo vehicles that industry requires, fell from 87,000 units in January 2019 to 75,000 in January this year.

Two-wheeler sales fell from 15 lakh to 13 lakh. Across the middle class, the lower middle class and industry, there is a decline.

In February commercial vehicle sales fell by 32 per cent, and passenger vehicle sales by seven per cent.

After zero sales in April, we should have had a huge bump in May and June, but both months are negative in substantial terms.

There is something that is hurting the Indian economy, and this pain began before the lockdown. The government has not admitted it, though the data is clear, and therefore the government is not doing anything to correct it. The pain will continue, and our economy will suffer.

As if these two problems were not substantial enough, we face the gravest strategic threat of the last two decades. China is bullying us and occupying parts of Ladakh that we used to patrol till March.

We do not know why China is doing this and we do not know what it wants. This government has a former spy as its national security adviser, a position that is usually taken by scholars.

We have a chief of defence staff whose focus has been on the counterinsurgency in Kashmir and was confident that the Line of Actual Control with China was settled. He was wrong. Now we are moving troops to the area from the Pakistan front and rushing to buy new warplanes.

Strategic affairs analyst Praveen Sawhney has reported the reason that the talks with China are taking so long and not progressing. It is that the Chinese want India to acknowledge the current positions that its Army is occupying, meaning a shift in the LAC.

Of course this cant be conceded by us, but it cannot even be discussed properly because the prime minister has said there is no intrusion, while the defence minister and the external affairs minister have conceded that China has violated the LAC and are on our side. Narendra Modi's visit to Ladakh on Friday was to correct that confusion.

His warlike speech was to confirm that the threat is real and the Chinese need to go back. He has still refused to name China, but perhaps that will come soon as it becomes obvious that we have a long and difficult road ahead to get the Chinese to vacate.

One must say here that we have lost valuable time because of our refusal to accept the reality for whatever reason, whether it is embarrassment or the PMs image. We could have mobilised support around the world if we had said openly and clearly that China was violating the LAC, but theres no point in crying over spilt milk.

We still have the opportunity when prime minister Modi goes to the G-7 summit in a few months, though it is not clear if China will have cemented its intrusion by then.

So we have a full-blown epidemic, an economic recession with the highest unemployment in Indian history, and a powerful enemy whose aggressive and offensive actions we did not anticipate.

At the beginning of the year I would have said that the biggest problem in our nation was the fact that the ruling party was trying to divide Indians.

In the long term that remains our primary self-induced worry. But for now, we have to unite to combat the immediate threat to our people and our nation.

The writer is a senior journalist and columnist
Jake Ellis is returning to Bachelor In Paradise for the second time.

But the former 'bad boy' insists his 'priorities have changed', and is entering Paradise with the hopes of finding someone to settle down with and start a family.

Jake, 34, says suffering personal tragedies and leaving the 'party scene' for full-time employment forced him to grow up and realise what he really wants out of life.

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'I am ready to settle down and have kids': Bachelor 'bad boy' Jake Ellis says family heartbreak helped him become a 'changed man' ahead of Bachelor In Paradise return

'My priorities have changed. I am ready to settle down and have kids and a family and find the one,' Jake told Sydney Confidential on Sunday.

Jake's mother Robyn lost her 25-year battle with breast cancer in 2018, and he claims his father Brian's health has deteriorated since her death.

The reality TV star said: 'Dad has some really aggressive skin cancers and vascular dementia. It is a long list, but we are taking each day as it comes.'

Previous reports also stated his father had undergone a double lung transplant in the past and had his drivers licence confiscated as his eyesight slowly deteriorated.

'My priorities have changed': Jake, 34, says suffering personal tragedies and leaving the 'party scene' for full-time employment has forced him to grow up and realise what he wants out of life

Family loss: Jake's brave mother Robyn (right) fought cancer on-and-off since her son was just six years old. She died in 2018

Jake is back this year for his third stint on the franchise, after starring in Bachelor in Paradise in 2018 and Georgia Love's season of The Bachelorette in 2016.

While starring on Paradise, Jake sparked a romance with Bachelor star Megan Marx.

The couple endured an on-and-off relationship and eventually announced their split in March 2019.

Hopeful for love! Jake is back this year for his third stint in the franchise, after starring in Bachelor in Paradise in 2018 (pictured with co-star Michael Turnbull) and Georgia Love's season of The Bachelorette in 2016

Blast from the past! While starring on Paradise, Jake sparked romance with Bachelor star Megan Marx (right). They split in March 2019

Season three will see at least two other stars returning to Paradise for their second chance at Island love, including Keira Maguire and Brittney Weldon.

Several fan favourites were also announced as cast members weeks ago, including Abbie Chatfield, Brittany Hockley, Timm Hanly and Ciarran Stott.

The show was filmed at the Mango Bay Resort in Fiji in November and December, meaning production was not affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Bachelor in Paradise premieres on Wednesday, July 15 at 7:30pm on Channel 10
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers an address to Canadians from Rideau Cottage during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, Canada, on May 5, 2020. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Conservatives Call for Trudeau to Testify at Committee on We Charity Deal

OTTAWAThe federal Conservatives are planning to call Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to testify before a parliamentary committee on his governments decision to have WE Charity administer a $900million student volunteer program.

Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre laid out the plan today amid growing pressure on Trudeau and Liberal cabinet ministers to explain how the sole-sourced deal announced late last month came to be.

Trudeau has previously said federal public servants recommended WE to administer the Canada Student Services Grant before the decision was approved by cabinet.

But Trudeaus previous appearances at WE events prompted questions about a potential conflict of interest even before revelations last week that his wife, brother and mother received a combined $300,000 from the organization for speaking engagements.

Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion is already investigating whether Trudeau violated the Conflict of Interest Act over the WE contract, but Poilievre says he wants the prime minister to explain himself to Canadians by appearing at the finance committee.

The Conservatives will need support from the Bloc Quebecois and NDP to compel Trudeau to appear, though University of Ottawa parliamentary expert Philippe Lagasse says even that is no sure thing given various parliamentary rules and procedures.
A Russian prosecutor said the mysterious deaths of a group of hikers killed six decades ago in the Ural Mountains was due to hypothermia, disorientation, and an avalanche, and that the newly reopened investigation was now closed.



The comments, reported on July 11 by RIA Novosti news agency, were the latest effort to try and dispel the conspiracies regarding the notorious Dyatlov Pass incident, which has captivated Russians for decades.



Last year, the Prosecutor-General's Office announced it was reopening the investigation into how the hikers died on February 1-2, 1959, at a place that was later named after the group's leader, Igor Dyatlov.

Information about the case was classified by the Soviet authorities until the 1970s.



Soviet investigators concluded that during the night, an "unknown, compelling force" prompted the two women and seven men to cut their way out of their tents and flee the campsite without shoes or warm clothing, despite the freezing cold.



They determined that six of the hikers died of hypothermia, while three had signs of physical trauma including skull fractures and chest injuries. One of the women had her tongue and eyes removed.



That conclusion of "an unknown, compelling force" spawned dozens of theories and conspiracies including animal attacks, infrasound-induced panic, military testing, and even alien forces. Numerous articles and TV news segments have examined the incident over the years.



But Andrei Kuryakov, a top official in the Ural regional prosecutors office, told RIA Novosti that officials concluded that the hikers had left their tents in the night during brutal weather conditions to avoid a possible avalanche, but then became disoriented and froze.



The cause of the hikers death was natural forces, which the hikers were not able to overcome, he said.
United Nations, July 12 : United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for efforts to protect the health and rights of women and girls.

"Let us act to safeguard sexual and reproductive health care, protect the health and rights of women and girls, and end gender-based violence. The (COVID-19) pandemic has made our jobs much harder, but we must prevail," Guterres said on Saturday in his message for World Population Day, which falls on July 11 annually, Xinhua news agency reported.

The pandemic is deepening existing inequalities and vulnerabilities, particularly for women and girls, Guterres said.

"With many countries on lockdown and health systems struggling to cope, sexual and reproductive health services are being sidelined and gender-based violence is on the rise," he warned.

According to the UN chief, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) projects that if lockdown measures continue for six months with major disruptions to health services, 47 million women in low- and middle-income countries may not be able to access modern contraceptives.

"This would result in 7 million unintended pregnancies," he said.

Moreover, some 31 million additional cases of gender-based violence can also be expected, the secretary-general added.

"Every year, millions of girls are subjected to practices that harm them physically and emotionally, robbing them of their right to reach their full potential," he noted.

Guterres said citing UNFPA's State of World Population 2020 that more than 4 million girls will be subjected to female genital mutilation and 12 million forced to marry this year.

"Lockdowns stemming from the pandemic are expected to make matters even worse," the UN chief said.

Decades of experience and research show that bottom-up, grassroots approaches can change gender-biased norms and attitudes, the top UN official said.

Through international declarations and agreements, the international community has committed to ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health care; eliminating the unmet need for contraception; and ending all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030.

Guterres stressed that "we cannot allow the pandemic to reverse progress we have made towards these goals." World Population Day is an annual event, observed on July 11 every year, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. It was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, the approximate date on which the world's population reached 5 billion people. World Population Day aims to increase people's awareness on various population issues such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights.
Key issues for upcoming Dewan Rakyat sitting

Tomorrow will mark the first proper Dewan Rakyat sitting since Perikatan Nasional took control of Putrajaya in March.

A sitting was held on May 18, albeit just for one day to hear the royal address with no debates and to fulfil constitutional requirements.

These are four main agendas that are expected to crop up.

Muhyiddin Yassin's legitimacy

Once Question Time is over, the first order of business is expected to be four motions by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin (PN-Pagoh) to remove Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof and his deputy Nga Kor Ming (Harapan-Teluk Intan) with Azhar Azizan Harun (non-MP) and Azalina Othman Said (PN-Pengerang) respectively.

This will answer once and for all whether Muhyiddin commanded the majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

Based on the seating arrangement in May and defection announcements since then, there should be three key blocs in Parliament - PN (113 seats), Pakatan Harapan (91 seats), and others (18 seats).

However, these numbers are not a definitive indication of Muhyiddin's support level until a vote is called.

According to Article 43(4) of the Federal Constitution, if the prime minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority, the prime minister has to tender his resignation.

Following this, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (below) can choose whether to dissolve Parliament to pave way for fresh elections or appoint, in His Majesty's opinion, someone who commanded the majority support of the MPs as the new prime minister.

There are four other motions related to Muhyiddin's legitimacy, however, they appeared as the last four items in the list of 30 motions.

While three motions - by Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh (PN-Pasir Puteh), Mohd Fasiah Mohd Fakeh (PN-Sabak Bernam) and Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau) - were for the Dewan Rakyat to state their support for Muhyiddin, one motion by Dr Mahathir Mohamad (IND-Langkawi) sought a resolution that Muhyiddin did not enjoy majority support.

Technically, these four motions are irrelevant since Muhyiddin's support can be proven through the vote on the speaker's removal.

Story continues

Selection Committee

If Muhyiddin passes the first stage, then he is scheduled to table a motion to place the Selection Committee - a powerful committee that will decide on the number of and composition of Parliament's various committees.

The proposed new members of the Selection Committee are Azmin Ali (PN-Gombak), Hamzah Zainudin (PN-Larut), Fadillah Yusof (PN-Petra Jaya), Abdul Hadi Awang (PN-Marang) and Anwar Ibrahim (Harapan-Port Dickson).

This composition reflected the long-standing tradition of allowing only one member of the opposition - their leader - to sit in the Selection Committee.

The last Selection Committee during the Harapan-administration had expanded the number of Special Select Committees to 10, up from the low single digits maintained by previous governments.

These committees have the authority to conduct investigations, summon witnesses, and scrutinise government finances.

PN's commitment to maintaining the existing Special Select Committees is unknown.

Reform bills

Muhyiddin is also scheduled to table two key Harapan-era bill for second reading. Typically, a bill tabled for second reading would be followed by a debate.

One bill was intended to amend the Federal Constitution to impose a maximum two-term limit for someone to be prime minister, while the other bill was for the formation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

Both bills will put Harapan, Warisan, and MPs allied with Mahathir in an awkward position.

On one hand, abstaining or defeating the bill will place a question mark on their commitment to reform which they initiated.

On the other, supporting the bill would be legitimising a government that was formed by MPs without a proper mandate.

Covid-19 bill

A highly anticipated bill to be tabled for first reading is the Covid-19 relief bill.

Although Putrajaya has yet to explicitly state the purpose of the new law, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (below) has hinted that one will receive temporary relief from contractual obligations if one was to be affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Zafrul said the law will be similar to ones recently passed in New Zealand and Singapore.



Singapore passed the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 in April and gazetted it two days later.

Essentially, the law disallowed one party from taking legal action against a person seeking temporary relief.

The likely impact of the law was to prevent a deluge of bankruptcies resulting from businesses collapsing due to the Covid-19 outbreak.


YEREVAN, 13 JULY, ARMENPRESS: The shooting on the border- line of Armenia and Azerbaijan that had been provoked by the armed forces Azerbaijan periodically continues with periodical intensity. The spokesperson of the Armenian MOD Shushan Stepanyan told Armenpress, all the aggressive attempts of Azerbaijani Army are being targeted and neutralized.

Shooting periodically continues with different intensity. Armenian Armed Forces have no casualties. All the attempts of the adversary are being targeted and neutralized. The Armenian Forces are not firing towards Azerbaijani settlements. Only the engineering infrastructure and the technical means of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces are targeted,- Stepanyan said.

Hours before Azerbaijan restarted shelling the positions of the Armenian Army at the spot, where earlier June 12, a military UAZ SUV tried to cross the border line in Armenias North-Eastern Tavush province. Azerbaijan restarted shelling towards the same combat position with 82 mm mortars and a tank. The military-political leadership of Azerbaijan will bear full responsibility for the escalation of the situation,- wrote the spokesperson of Armenian MOD Shushan Stepanyan on her account in Facebook social network.

Earlier, Azerbaijani MOD informed that as a result of the incident on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border 3 Azerbaijani servicemen have died and 5 have been injured.

On her behalf, The spokesperson of the Defense Ministry of Armenia Shushan Stepanyan informed that the servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces made an attempt to violate the Armenian state border in an UAZ vehicle in the direction of Tavush Province on July 12 at about 12:30.

''After the warning by the Armenian side the Azerbaijani servicemen left their UAZ vehicle and returned to their positions. At 13:45 the Azerbaijani servicemen repeated the attempt to occupy the Armenian position by using artillery, but were silenced by the Armenian side. They suffered casualties and were repelled'', she wrote, adding that the Armenian side suffered no losses.
Chinese vaccine developer CanSino Biologics is in talks with Russia, Brazil, Chile and Saudi Arabia to launch a Phase III trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, its co-founder said on Saturday.

China's success in driving down COVID-19 infections has made it harder to conduct large-scale vaccine trials, and so far only a few countries have agreed to work with it.

"We are contacting Russia, Brazil, Chile and Saudi Arabia (for the Phase III trial), and it's still in discussion," Qiu Dongxu, executive director and co-founder of CanSino, told an anti-viral drug development conference in Suzhou, in eastern China. He said its Phase III trial was likely to start "pretty soon," and the company plans to recruit 40,000 participants for the test.

Its COVID-19 candidate, Ad5-nCov, became the first in China to move into human testing in March but is running behind other potential vaccines in terms of trial progress. Two experimental vaccines developed by Sinovac Biotech and a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) are already approved for Phase III trials.

Qiu said its Phase II trial involving 508 people has yielded "much better" results than the Phase I about the safety and ability to trigger immune response. He did not disclose specific evidence.

He said its new factory under construction in China will allow it to produce 100-200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines per year by early 2021.

China's military, whose research unit is co-developing the vaccine candidate, approved its military use last month, while Sinopharm's two experimental shots are offered to employees at state-owned firms travelling overseas.

Zeng Guang, former chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the conference that Chinese construction groups overseas in particular are keen to take experimental vaccines.

He also said discussion should start whether to launch emergency inoculation of experimental vaccines "right now."

There are no approved vaccines yet for COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, which has killed more than half a million people globally.

Also read: When to expect Indian coronavirus vaccine? Early next year, experts tell parliamentary panel

Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: Zydus Cadila to complete Phase II in 3 months; Oxford candidate safe for 'low immunity' patients
The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group is currently implementing 57 projects worth $3.8 billion in Egypt, said Dr Bandar Hajjar, IsDB President.



He stressed the keenness of the IsDB to provide necessary support to the Egyptian economy in light of the coronavirus pandemic, reported Saudi Press Agency (SPA).



Additionally, IsDB expressed readiness to provide Egypt with $126 million, to back up Cairo's efforts to fight the pandemic.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have accused each other of violating the fragile cease-fire along their border.

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said on July 12 that two of its soldiers were killed after Armenian forces attacked its positions.

The ministry said in a statement that Armenia's "offensive" from its northern Tavush region was met with a "counterstrike."

"Two Azerbaijani servicemen were killed and five more wounded," the statement added.

Meanwhile, Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanian accused Baku of "using artillery in an attack aimed at capturing [Armenian] positions."

"They were repulsed, suffering losses in manpower. There were no casualties among Armenian servicemen," Stepanian said in a Facebook post.

The two neighbors have been locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh for years.

But the clashes on July 12 were far from Nagorno-Karabakh and directly between the two nations, which rarely occurs.

The July 12 clashes came days after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev raised the possibility of a new war with Armenia and denounced stalled peace talks.

On July 7, Aliyev threatened to withdraw from negotiations "if they yield no results." He did not provide further details.

Aliyev accused Yerevan of a military buildup along the two countries' border and of "regularly" shelling civilian targets in Azerbaijan.

Mainly Armenian populated Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from Azerbaijan amid a 1988-94 war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Since 1994, it has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces that Azerbaijan says include troops supplied by Armenia. The region's claim to independence has not been recognized by any country.

Negotiations involving the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), co-chaired by Russia, the United States, and France, helped forge a cease-fire in the region, which is not always honored, but have failed to produce a lasting settlement of the conflict.

With reporting by AFP and Interfax
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - With the United States grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, Florida hit a grim milestone Sunday, shattering the national record for a states largest single-day increase in positive cases.

Deaths from the virus have also been rising in the U.S., especially in the South and West, though still well below the heights hit in April, according to a recent Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

I really do think we could control this, and its the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when were in a crisis, and were definitely not doing it, said University of Florida epidemiologist Dr. Cindy Prins.

Adm. Brett Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, called mask-wearing in public, which has been met with resistance in some U.S. states, absolutely essential.

Giroir, the assistant secretary at the Health and Human Services Department, told ABCs This Week on Sunday that if we dont have that, we will not get control of the virus.

President Donald Trump wore a mask in public for the first time Saturday, something Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday showed he has crossed a bridge.

Pelosi told CNNs State of the Union that she hopes it means the president will change his attitude, which will be helpful in stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

In hard-hit Houston, Texas, two top Democratic officials called for the nations fourth-largest city to lock back down as area hospitals strained to accommodate the onslaught of sick patients.

In Florida, where parts of Walt Disney World reopened Saturday, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases, and 45 deaths were recorded, according to state Department of Health statistics reported Sunday.

California had the previous record of daily positive cases  11,694, set on Wednesday.

The numbers come at the end of a record-breaking week as Florida reported 514 fatalities  an average of 73 per day. Three weeks ago, the state was averaging 30 deaths per day.

Researchers expect deaths to rise in the U.S. for at least some weeks, but some think the count probably will not go up as dramatically as it did in the spring because of several factors, including increased testing.

The World Health Organization, meanwhile, reported another record increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases over a 24-hour period, at over 230,000.

The U.N. health agency said the United States again topped the list among countries, with more than 66,000 cases. The figures dont necessarily account for delays in reporting cases, and are believed to far underestimate actual totals.

Countries in Eastern Europe were among those facing rising waves of new infections, leading to riots in Serbia, mandatory face masks in Croatia and travel bans or quarantines imposed by Hungary.

We see worrisome signs about an increase in the number of cases in the neighbouring countries, Europe and the whole world, said Gergely Gulyas, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbans chief of staff. Now, we have to protect our own security and prevent the virus from being brought in from abroad.

Hungarian authorities said Sunday they have sorted countries into three categories  red, yellow and green  based on their rates of new coronavirus infections, and will impose restrictions, including entry bans and mandatory quarantines, depending on which country people are arriving from.

Serbia, where health authorities are warning that hospitals are almost full due to the latest surge, reported 287 new infections on Sunday, although there have been increasing doubts about the accuracy of the figures. Officially, the country has over 18,000 confirmed infections and 382 deaths since March. Sundays report of 11 coronavirus deaths was the countrys second-highest daily death toll.

Serbian police clashed with anti-government protesters for four nights last week, demonstrations that forced the Serbian president to withdraw plans to reintroduce a coronavirus lockdown. Many of the increasing infections have been blamed on crowded soccer matches, tennis events and nightclubs.

In Bulgaria, authorities reintroduced restrictions lifted a few weeks ago because of a new surge in cases.

Albania also has seen a significant increase in infections since mid-May, when it eased lockdown measures. The Balkan nation reported 93 new cases, over twice as many as the highest daily figures in March and April, and the health ministry called the situation at the main infectious disease hospital grave.

Croatia, whose island-dotted Adriatic Sea coast is a major tourist destination, is making wearing masks mandatory in stores beginning Monday.

Yet the numbers of infections in Eastern Europe pale in comparison to daily coronavirus reports from India, South Africa and Brazil, whose virus-denying president has tested positive.

India, which has the most cases after the United States and Brazil, saw a record surge of 28,637 cases reported in the past 24 hours. Authorities also announced a weeklong lockdown beginning Tuesday in the key southern technology hub of Bangalore, where the offices of top tech companies like Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are located.

South Africa has reported over 10,000 new daily cases for several days in a row, including 13,497 new infections announced Saturday night. Johannesburgs densely populated Soweto township is one of the virus hot spots. With over 264,000 cases and 3,971 deaths, South Africa accounts for over 40% of all the reported coronavirus cases in Africa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Sunday the country would return to a ban of alcohol sales to reduce the volume of trauma patients so that hospitals have more beds to treat COVID-19. The country is also reinstating a night curfew to reduce traffic accidents and has made it mandatory for all residents to wear face masks in public.

Meanwhile, in Taiwan, which kept its coronavirus outbreak to a few hundred cases, an annual film festival wrapped up with an awards ceremony this weekend where actors and others lined up for photo shoots with no social distancing, and participants didnt wear masks.

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Gorondi reported from Budapest, Hungary. Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

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Follow all of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
Responsibility for the return of schools rests with the minister in the Department of Education and Skills (DES).

Norma Foley is both policy and decision-maker in chief. And she has control of the purse strings.

While a stimulus plan for the economy is in the pipeline and much time and effort has gone into safely reopening the hospitality industry, as of now there is no signed-off plan for the return of almost one million children to their schools.

Until a concrete plan is put in place, parents cannot plan their own return to work and schools cannot prepare a safe environment for reopening.

To date, not a single euro has been paid to schools to source or purchase PPE. No monies have yet been agreed to fund additional cleaning or extra staffing, both of which are essential.

Schools cannot pull a safe environment out of a hat in late August. Many do not even have hot running water, never mind sensor-operated sanitisers.

The notion that a model of so-called ''blended learning'' was successfully established during lockdown is based on conjecture not fact.

It was left to individual schools to devise a learning plan during school closure. Some did this. Others did precious little. The result was an incredibly uneven playing field. No audit of this online learning in schools was conducted by the DES.

A survey of 700 second-level teachers conducted by Trinity College Dublin, concluded that relatively little live teaching took place during lockdown.

The report - Teaching and Learning During School Closures - stated that fee-paying schools were more likely to use real-time teaching and recorded classes.

Many of the rest had email contact once or twice a week. This does not constitute online teaching. It was an emergency stop-gap measure. Nothing more.

There are currently 51 fee-paying post-primary schools here and 672 non-fee paying ones, of which 198 are disadvantaged or DEIS schools.

''Blended learning'' amounts to a convenient euphemism for part-time schooling.

The education system cannot now rely on a learning model that is unproven and notional in many instances.

All the indicators are that social distancing of one metre, although flexible, may be required in some schools. This is where the greatest loss of learning is likely to be.

A lack of investment in education means that many schools have a non-existent IT infrastructure. It is not good enough that some schools are fully digitised while others don't even have wi-fi.

The second-level sector is not currently equipped to deliver live teaching using technology. In addition, some teachers are self-proclaimed Luddites, even though they are tasked with teaching digital natives. Others object to the use of Zoom, citing privacy issues.

That this ''blended learning'' model is a feasible option going forward, is based on the false premise that all students have tech devices and broadband at home. They do not.

There is a presumption that all parents can work from home. This is not the case. Lone parents will be forced to give up work altogether.

In all of this there is an assumption that all teachers have the skills and the technology to make it happen. And that all parents have the knowledge and education themselves to teach their offspring. They don't.

Parents cannot be expected to leave young teenagers to their own devices at home, while they return to the workplace.

If part-time education prevails, cancellation of both the Junior and Leaving Certificate in 2021 is inevitable.

Speedy and creative solutions must come from the department and the newly appointed education minister.

Resources must be made immediately available to schools, as they were with the health service, to ensure that they are safe and fit for purpose.

Large numbers of children cannot be cheated out of their education by passing the buck to individual schools to rustle up whatever they can.

Such a decision would result in added disadvantage for many.

There must be close oversight by the Department of Education and Skills to ensure that all appropriate health and safety measures are put in place across all schools, to an even and equal standard.

It would be unconscionable if standards were to vary across schools. Every child's health and safety matters equally.

In 1966 the then education minister Donogh O'Malley announced the introduction of free secondary education for all. It was a far-sighted and life-changing decision for thousands of Irish children.

It would be a truly shocking indictment of government policy if the legacy of Covid-19 for young people is the formalisation of an education system that favours those who have the means to pay.

Equality of opportunity in education must not be allowed to become a casualty of Covid-19.
MONTREALPublic health officials are urging anyone who has frequented a bar on the Island of Montreal since Canada Day to get a COVID-19 test after several cases stemming from drinking establishments.

Authorities said Saturday that several bar patrons and employees have tested positive since July 1 in an outbreak involving at least five area bars, despite public health measures put in place ahead of bars reopening in the province.

Im afraid these observations only reflect the tip of the iceberg, said Dr. David Kaiser, a doctor with the Montreal public health department. The pandemic is not behind us, community transmission is still very present in Montreal.

Officials said they have spoken to bar owners and were able to reach some affected people, but not all. Its possible some of those infected people may have gone to other bars.

Kaiser urged anyone starting to develop COVID-19 symptoms or those whove been in contact with someone get screened and tested.

Authorities said theyve seen the number of infected people between the ages of 15 and 39 years old rise steadily in recent weeks.

The Quebec government tightened the rules surrounding bars this week, with new rules going into effect on Friday.

Bars and nightclubs can no longer sell alcohol after midnight and are limited to 50 per cent of their legal customer capacity. Customers will need to leave the premises by 1 a.m.

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube said last week that police would be out in bigger numbers and inspectors would ensure bars and nightclubs follow the new rules.

The news came as Quebec reported 91 additional cases of COVID-19 on Saturday from the previous day, pushing the provincial total to 56,407 confirmed cases, along with eight more deaths.

Meanwhile, a second Montreal suburb said it plans to make masks mandatory in indoor public places after a COVID-19 outbreak linked to two house parties grew to about 80 confirmed cases in the Monteregie region this week.

The mayor of Mercier, Que., about 30 kilometres south of Montreal, said in a statement Saturday morning that the town intends to make face coverings mandatory as of July 15.

Lise Michaud said the new rule  which will be adopted at the next municipal council meeting on Tuesday  was agreed to after public health officials strongly encouraged wearing masks in indoor public spaces to stem the spread of the virus.

We need to remember that the most recent outbreak in our region was caused by a private party. It is therefore important to stay vigilant, even when were staying at home, Michaud said.

The town of St-Chrysostome, Que., where the house parties were held last month, passed a similar rule Friday mandating mask-wearing inside all commercial businesses.

Quebecs public health director, Horacio Arruda, said Friday there was sufficient data to link the outbreak to the house parties. Some of the people who attended the parties also later went to a bar on the South Shore of Montreal.

That means there was community transmission at the parties, then there was more at the bar by people who were contaminated in the parties who didnt have symptoms, or who had mild symptoms, Arruda told reporters in Gatineau, Que.

Health officials also say they believe the parties are connected to a series of infections that forced several businesses to close in Mercier.

Of the deaths reported Saturday, four were new deaths in the past day while four others were deaths that took place before July 3.

Quebec has recorded 5,260 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2020.
Taiwan Preps for Possible End to Landmark Trade Deal with China

By Ralph Jennings July 11, 2020

China now has the chance to reconsider its 10-year-old Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with Taiwan, the biggest-ever trade pact between the two rivals, and a Chinese media outlet hints at the agreement's demise.

The agreement, cutting tariffs on about 800 items on both sides and heralding more to come, capped two years of trust-building between governments that had gotten along poorly for decades. Now though, analysts say, the trust is gone and Taiwanese exporters have learned to rely less on the Chinese market over the past decade. A Chinese media outlet says the deal will "expire" this year.

The demise of the agreement would mark the biggest undoing of a China-Taiwan deal, upsetting Taiwanese who are part of a $149 billion trade relationship with China and cutting one of the few threads left in political relations between the two.

"It's rather hard to imagine that ECFA will be canceled but because China-Taiwan relations are very poor now and there's no more of the earlier political foundation for negotiating ECFA," said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

"So, if this matter perhaps gradually becomes reality, then for Taiwan society it definitely would become an extremely, extremely hot topic," Huang said.

The deal lacks a formal renewal deadline, but international trade agreement language suggests that agreement signatories anywhere take no more than 10 years to establish customs union or free-trade zones. Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade calls the 10-year idea nonbinding.

China and Taiwan had agreed via ECFA to reduce more trade and investment barriers, but they never implemented further liberalization.

The Chinese side is now hinting the deal may be ending, a media outlet says.

"The trade agreement is about to expire at the end of September this year," the state-run China Global Television Network said last month without elaborating.

Withdrawal from the pact requires 180 days' notice.

Any renegotiation would be tough because China stopped formal dialogue in 2016 because Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen refused to describe both sides as one country. Her predecessor had agreed to call both sides "China," allowing for talks that spawned the ECFA.

China had seen the pact in 2010 as a way to bring the two sides closer  key to its unification agenda  by offering trade concessions. China eliminated tariffs on 539 Taiwanese imports while Taiwan cut tariffs on 267 Chinese products. Taiwanese farming, fishing, vehicle manufacturing, textiles and machinery industries benefited.

The end of the ECFA would hurt just under 5 percent of Taiwan's commerce with China, government officials have said.

China wants to make "life more difficult economically" for Taiwan, said Derek Grossman, senior analyst with the Rand Corp., a U.S. research institution. Over the past four years Chinese military ships and aircraft have passed near Taiwan, which is 160 kilometers away, and Chinese tourist arrivals to Taiwan began tapering in 2016.

Taiwan is ready in case China scraps the deal, analysts say. Tsai's government is trying to expand trade with 19 other countries via its New Southbound Policy, a strategy aimed at expanding Taipei's relations with countries in South and Southeast Asia, Grossman noted.

"I think part of the reason for [the] New Southbound Policy was kind of this expectation that China would cut them off economically at some point plus not trying to get overly dependent on Beijing," he said.

Taiwanese entrepreneurs in many industries, including finance, depend on China less now than they did 10 years ago because of the Chinese internal issues such as China's battle with COVID-19, said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia-Pacific economist with Natixis, a French financial services firm.

"Unless [ECFA] can be renewed automatically, this thing might simply go," Garcia said, as neither side would have an interest in pushing for it.

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An exit poll in Poland's presidential runoff election shows a tight race that is too close to call between the conservative incumbent, Andrzej Duda, and the liberal Warsaw mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski. The exit poll by the Ipsos institute showed Duda with 50.4 per cent of the vote and Trzaskowski with 49.6 per cent.

But the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. The difference between the two is within the poll's margin of error, meaning it's not yet possible to say with certainty who won. Official results are expected on Monday or ...
UP assembly polls will be about '80 per cent vs 20 per cent'; BJP will win: Yogi Adityanath

UP: Elections not won on exit polls basis, results will be surprising: Kamal Nath

Dubeys dubious record: 61 FIRs and long list of murders

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Kanpur, July 12: Gangster Vikas Dubey killed by police in an encounter faced a total of 61 criminal cases, including eight of murder involving the killing of at least 15 people.

The last murder case registered in the Chaubeypur police station of the district following the ambush of a police team by his henchmen alone accounts for the killing of eight policemen, besides the seven other cases of murder registered against him between 1992 and 2017, reveals a police history sheet on Dubey's offences.

Vikas Dubey encounter: ED all set to register money laundering case against family, associates

In his three-decade criminal career starting in 1990, Dubey faced nine cases of attempts to murder besides two under the NDPS Act, seven under the Gangsters Act, six under the Goonda Act, three under the Arms Act, besides a slew of cases for various other penal offences.

Nearly 80 per cent of the 61 FIRs registered against him were lodged during the first half of his criminal career which came to a gory end on Friday.

Sachin Pilot and his loyalist MLAs in Delhi as Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News

The first case against the alleged mafioso, a native of Bikru village under Chaubeypur police station in Kanpur, was registered against him in 1990 for causing "grievous hurt" and "provoking breach of peace" by intentional insult, reveal the official document.

Dubey was around 30 years old when he was booked under the stringent National Security Act in 2001. The FIR was lodged at the Shivli police station in Kanpur.

According to the document on Dubey's criminal antecedents, 48 of the 61 FIRs were registered between 1990 and 2005 at various police stations in the Kanpur metropolis district itself.

Between 2006 and 2020, a total of 12 FIRs (20 per cent) were registered against him with the last three of them registered at the Chaubeypur police station itself.

The last one was lodged there after the last week's ambush of a police team by his henchmen, in which eight police officials, including a deputy superintendent of police, were killed.

The second half of Dubey's crime career saw seven-year lull from 2008 to 2014 when no FIR was lodged against him until 2017, when he was asked by an executive magistrate to execute a bond under section 110 of the Criminal Procedure Code to vouch for his good behaviour.

The first murder case against Dubey was lodged in 1992 and overall eight FIRs were lodged against him under Indian Penal Code section 302 till date, the second last of which came in 2017. Dubey also had nine cases of attempted murder on his name.

Seven times between 1993 and 2018, he was booked under the Gangsters Act, while he faced charges under the Goonda Act six times between 1997 and 2017.

Dubey was also charged under the Arms Act thrice respectively in 1993, 2002 and 2017.

He was also booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in 1998 and 2006, when a case was lodged against him in Saharanpur. This was for the first time that he was booked outside Kanpur.

The second time he was booked in Lucknow under the Arms Act.

The mastermind of the Kanpur ambush was shot dead early on Friday in an encounter with the police along a highway on the outskirts of the city after he tried to flee from their ustody, a day after he was arrested at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

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Story first published: Sunday, July 12, 2020, 8:54 [IST]
Two subcommittee leaders have recently introduced resolutions to mark the 25th anniversary of Vietnam-US diplomatic ties (July 12). The resolutions were introduced by US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Both resolutions aim at strengthening ties

According to reports, the first resolution was put forward by Senator Cory Gardner and Senator Ed Markey of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and is called Resolution S. Res. 607 while the other one was put forward by Congressman Ami Bera and Congressman Ted Yoho of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation of the country's House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs called Resolution H. Res. 1018.

The two resolutions stated that in the 25 years since the relations between the United States and Vietnam have normalized, both countries have worked towards increased stability, prosperity, and peace in Southeast Asia. The resolution also conveyed the willingness of both the House and the Senate in continuing that relationship in the future.

Read: From Infinity Pool To Bath Tubs, Vietnam Opens World's First Gold-plated Hotel In Hanoi

Read: British Pilot To Leave Vietnam For Home After Virus Recovery

The resolution also reconfirmed the willingness of the US to cooperate with Vietnam on issues such as politics, economy - trade, security - defence, settlement of war consequences, education - training, health care, locality-to-locality ties, to cooperation within regional mechanisms. The resolutions also recognized Vietnamese communities contributions to the development of the US as well they're cooperation in regards to the removal of unexploded ordnance and search for remains of US and Vietnamese soldiers missing in the war and etc.

Read: Vietnam Hosts Online ASEAN Summit Amid Pandemic

Read: Vietnam Signs Significant Trade Deal With The EU

Both the House and the Senate also greatly welcomed Vietnams growing role in the world and region as the ASEAN Chair in 2020 and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021.

(Input/Image Credit ANI)
The late Seoul mayor Park Won-soon / Yonhap



Book endorsing Seoul mayor as next president released after his death



By Kang Hyun-kyung



"Killing Park Won-soon," the title of author Hwang Sei-youn's non-fiction book, is prophetic.



It was initially scheduled to be published Friday, the day Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was found dead on Mount Bukak, Seoul, after having gone missing. Police told reporters that Park was believed to have committed suicide, noting there was no evidence that could support murder.



The final draft of "Killing Park Won-soon" was completed, but the author put off its official publication until sometime after Park's funeral.



"I'm afraid that people could misinterpret my intention if I push for publication as scheduled," Hwang told The Korea Times over the phone, Saturday. "They would think I'm trying to profit from his death and sell my book. I'm not such an unethical, self-serving author."



Contrary to its title, the book was written to promote Park as the most qualified politician for the 2022 presidential election. The author chose the paradoxical title to claim that a plot to push Park out of the presidential race competition was under way inside the ruling party, and he was not popular among "inner circle members" who attempt to influence the selection of a presidential candidate to run in the election on the party's ticket.



The book reflects Hwang's personal view of the late Seoul mayor. The author is an aspiring politician who unsuccessfully ran in the April 15 National Assembly election for the minor Minsaeng Party.



It's ironic that a book written to promote Park was released on the very day he died.



Hwang said his heart was wrenching for the loss of his long-time friend and fellow democracy fighter. "I've been completely in shock since his death," he said. "I couldn't do anything since yesterday. I'm still overwhelmed by what happened to him."



Asked about the bizarre coincidence of the scheduled publication of his book and Park's death, Hwang, also founder and president of the publishing house Segil Academy, said the date, July 10, is a date publishers prefer when releasing books.









"Most of the times, we, publishers, release books on July 10, 15 or 20. I randomly chose July 10 as the date for official publication and there's no special meaning about my choice" he said. "The book is already out but I temporarily suspended its distribution to bookstores. The book will be available at bookstores after his funeral."



He said he didn't inform the Seoul mayor of his publication schedule.



"Killing Park Won-soon" is about saving Park and the author claims that in the ruling camp, Park was the most qualified politician for the 2022 election.



Hwang said the title of his book was a kind of marketing ploy to draw attention.



The author describes Park as a "transparent, committed and truly liberal" politician who could rescue the country from its current predicament.



He said Park was not popular inside the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), and it remained uncertain whether he could survive political infighting to win the tough competition to become the standard bearer for the liberal camp.



Once the competition for the presidential race heated up, the author said, Park would face a tough test as his opponents would try to discredit him to prove he was not presidential material.



In "Killing Park Won-soon," the author mentions several possible DPK presidential candidates. Former Prime Minister Rep. Lee Nak-yeon, Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung, and incumbent Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun are three of them.



Among the three, the author is highly critical of former Prime Minister Lee for his "suspicious" past record.



When President Chun Doo-hwan met then U.S. President Ronald Reagan for a summit in 1980, he said, Lee was a reporter for the Dong-A Daily newspaper and tried to curry favor with the the dictator. "He wrote several articles praising Chun (who rose to power through a military coup). In one article, Lee wrote Chun was a great leader. For his past record, he shouldn't be a DPK presidential candidate," the book reads.





Forthcoming book "Killing Park Won-soon" by Hwang Sei-youn
MIDDLETOWN  Members of the citys police force preparing for a 30-story jump off the Mohegan Sun Sky Tower are raising funds to benefit Special Olympics Connecticut.

So far, four officers, including Middletown Police Chief Michael Timbro, will be taking part in the Sept. 4 rapelling event as part of an Over the Edge fundraiser, according to officer Jay Boell.

Here at MPD, we strive to promote inclusion and acceptance for everyone. This is just one of many events we take part in. But, to date, no MPD officer has ever done it before. We are looking for donations as each participant has to raise $1,000. Any promotion or donations would be greatly appreciated, Bodell said.

Step out of your comfort zone to the top of Mohegan Sun and rappel down more than 30 stories while enjoying the thrill of the descent and amazing views, according to Special Olympics Connecticut.

Over the Edge is an opportunity for participants to raise pledges in exchange for the once-in-a-lifetime experience. No previous training or experience is required. Expert technicians provide on-site training prior to the rappel, according to a press release.

Participations must raise a minimum of $1,000. The minimum weight requirement is 100 pounds. No experience is needed, and training will be provided for individuals and teams. Space is limited.

For informationcontact Jackie at jackiet@soct.org or call 203-230-1201, Ext. 265.

For information on the local police drive, visit give.soct.org.
A cloth trader from Mohali district was killed in a hit-and-run in Chandigarh, police said on Sunday.

Cops are on the lookout for a white car that sped away after hitting victim Angrej Kumars bike in Raipur Kalan on Friday night. Kumar was a resident of Modern Enclave in Baltana, Zirakpur.

As many as 19 people have been killed in 17 accidents in Chandigarh this year.

A police constable witnessed the Friday road mishap, which took place near the government school in Raipur Kalan around 11:30pm, and called an ambulance. Kumar was rushed to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, where he died of his head injuries on Saturday, said police.

A case was registered under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Mauli Jagran police station.

Officials privy to the matter said currently it was only known that a white car was involved in the accident. CCTV footage of the area is being scanned to identify its make and registration number.
Lopinavir is a drug against HIV, hydroxychloroquine is used to treat malaria and rheumatism. Until recently, both drugs were regarded as potential agents in the fight against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. A research group from the University of Basel and the University Hospital has now discovered that the concentration of the two drugs in the lungs of Covid-19 patients is not sufficient to fight the virus.

In February 2020, a Covid-19 patient cohort was established at the University and the University Hospital in Basel to prospectively monitor a range of diagnostic means and potential treatments for Covid-19, including the off-label use of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir.

A research group prospectively monitored lopinavir plasma levels in Covid-19 patients.

Considering that substantial inflammation was observed in these patients, and previous studies have shown the inhibition of drug metabolism by systemic inflammation, we had the rationale to investigate the effect of inflammation on lopinavir and hydroxychloroquine plasma levels." Professor Catia Marzolini, first author of the study and professor for experimental medicine at the University of Basel

The authors included 92 patients in their study. Professor Parham Sendi, who is the co-leader of this study summarizes the main findings as follows: First, lopinavir plasma levels were more than two to threefold higher than typically observed in HIV patients. Hydroxychloroquine levels were with normal range. Second, there was a significant correlation between the inflammation marker levels in the blood and lopinavir plasma levels. Third, when the inflammation was blocked with the Interleukin-6 inhibitor Tocilizumab, lopinavir plasma levels were significantly lower than the ones in patients without Tozulizumab treatment.

These results clearly indicate that drug metabolism enzymes (cytochrome P450 3A) are inhibited by systemic inflammation.

"Caution is advised when prescribing CYP3A4 substrates such as Lopinavir/ritonavir or any other drug with a narrow therapeutic index to Covid-19 patients because of the risk of elevated drug levels and related toxicities," the authors state.

Importantly, from the lopinavir and hydroxychloroquine concentrations in the plasma, the study group calculated the corresponding concentration in the lung compartment - the anatomic site of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The results strongly suggest that it is unlikely that both drugs reach sufficient concentrations to inhibit the virus replication in the lung.

WHO accepted the recommendation from the Solidarity Trial's International Steering Committee to discontinue the trial's hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir arms on 4 July 2020. Professor Manuel Battegay - co-leader of this study and head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology at the University Hospital in Basel - mentioned that the results provide important pharmacological and antiviral insights to the rationale of discontinuing the lopinavir/ritonavir arm. In fact, they add scientific reasoning why hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir are not effective against the SARS-CoV-2.
By PTI

MUMBAI: The Dharavi area in Mumbai has become a global role model in the containment of coronavirus, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Saturday after the civic body's efforts won praise from the WHO.

Instead of waiting for patients to come to hospitals, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) screened people in Dharavi pro-actively which helped, a senior official said.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual press conference on Friday that there were places around the world where the initial intense outbreak was brought under control.

"And some of these examples are Italy, Spain and South Korea, and even in Dharavi - a densely packed area in the megacity of Mumbai," he said.

The area, known as the largest slum of Asia, was a big worry when the pandemic began as over 6 lakh people live there on a patch of land measuring just 2.5 sq km.

Thackeray said Dharavi showed that coronavirus can be contained through self-discipline and community efforts.

82 per cent of patients in Dharavi have recovered, bringing down the number of active cases to 166, he noted.

"Dharavi is an inspiration for the world on how to curb the spread of a pandemic," he said in a statement, lauding the BMC, private doctors, NGOs and local residents.

Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of the G North ward, told PTI that the civic body did not wait for patients to come to hospital.

Instead healthcare workers went from door to door to look for potential patients.

"Proactive screening helped in early detection, timely treatment and recovery," he said.

The number of coronavirus patients in the area rose by only 12 to 2,359 on Friday.

As per the BMC, while in April the doubling rate of cases was 18 days, it is now 430 days.

At least six lakh local residents were screened, 14,000 persons were tested and 13,000 were placed in institutional quarantine with free medical facilities and community kitchen service, Dighavkar said.

Taming the virus in an area where families of eight to 10 people live in 10x10 rooms and social distancing is impossible was not easy.

"At least 80 per cent of Dharavi's population depends on 450 community toilets. We had to sanitise and disinfect these toilets several times a day," Dighavkar said.

Apart from slum pockets, Dharavi is also home to numerous leather, pottery and textile manufacturing units.

The area has 5,000 GST-registered enterprises, 15,000 single-room factories and is a hub of international exports with an annual turnover of 1 billion USD.

Special attention was given to senior citizens; 8,246 of them were surveyed.

"We mobilised all private practitioners. At least 24 private doctors came forward and the civic body provided them with PPE kits, thermal scanners, pulse oxymetres, masks, gloves, and started door-to-door screening in high risk zones and all suspects were identified," he said.

Later, all medical practitioners were asked to open their clinics and alert the civic body about suspected patients, he said, adding that beds in private hospitals were also acquired.

"Under the guidance of municipal commissioner I S Chahal, a 200-bed hospital was set up in record 14 days with oxygen supply," Dighavkar said.

There was a strict enforcement of lockdown in the containment zones.

Only critical patients were shifted to hospitals outside Dharavi; 90 per cent were treated in Dharavi itself, he added.

Local community leaders were appointed as "Covid yoddhas" (warriors) to help with the mammoth effort.

Grocery kits and food packets were distributed in containment zones to prevent the movement of people and this helped in a big way.

"We partnered with citizens to chase the virus from one of the most populous blocks of the city. With your guidelines and community efforts, we will beat COVID-19 one block at a time,"the BMC tweeted in response to the WHO's praise.
A new study shows that there was mixing between ancient native peoples from Polynesia and South America.

Researchers say they found a single episode of the two groups interbreeding around 800 years ago after a long trip across the Pacific Ocean.

For a long time, the question of such contact had been debated among scientists. The contact was theorized partly because of the presence of a kind of sweet potato in the islands of Polynesia. The plant is native to South and Central America.

Scientists said last week that an examination of DNA from 807 people made the results clear. The genetic material came from 14 Polynesian islands and Pacific coastal Native American populations from Mexico to Chile.

People from four island areas in French Polynesia had DNA that showed interbreeding with South Americans at around the year 1200. Those South Americans were most closely related to present-day native Colombians.

The islands are about 6,800 kilometers from South America.

People from Easter Island also had South American ancestry, some from modern Chilean immigrants and some from the same ancient mixing as the other islands.

Easter Island, which belongs to Chile, was settled sometime after the interbreeding 800 years ago. The island, which lies 3,700 kilometers west of South America, is known for its massive stone statues.

The study left open the question of who crossed the Pacific Ocean. Were Polynesians traveling east and arriving in Colombia or maybe Ecuador? Or were South Americans traveling west?

Alexander Ioannidis is a computational geneticist at Stanford University in California. He was the lead author of the research, which appears in the science journal Nature.

Ioannadis says he thinks the Polynesians crossed the Pacific, since they were exploring the ocean and discovering some of the most distant Pacific islands around exactly the time of contact. The Reuters news agency reported his comments.

If the Polynesians reached the Americas, he added, they probably traveled in sailing canoes with two hulls. He noted these boats operate much like a modern catamaran, another kind of two-hulled boat.

The contact explains the mystery of how the sweet potato arrived in Polynesia centuries before European sailors. Ioannidis noted the vegetables name in many Polynesian languages - kumara - sounds similar to its name in some languages spoken in the Andes Mountains.

Im Alice Bryant.

Reuters news agency reported this story. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

__________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

episode - n. an event or a short period of time that is important or unusual

interbreed - v. to breed or cause to breed with another of a different race or species

theorize - v. to think of or suggest ideas about what is possibly true or real : to form or suggest a theory about something

DNA - n. a substance that carries genetic information in the cells of plants and animals  often used before another noun

author - n. a person who has written something

hull - n. the main body of a boat or ship, including the bottom, sides, and deck but not the masts and other parts
The United Nationss special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary killings presented a new report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Agnes Callamards investigation focused on the legality of armed drones including one that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani near Baghdads airport on January 3. It concluded the United States acted unlawfully in carrying out the attack. The US, meanwhile, denounced her findings.

Callamard spoke to Al Jazeera about her probe and the future of drone warfare.

Al Jazeera: What prompted you to write this report?

Callamard: I had been speaking with a number of experts for the last year or so about focusing one or more of my thematic reports to the UN on weapons, particularly those being tested or under development, and what these may mean for the future of policing, warfare and, ultimately, the protection against arbitrary killings.

In general, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones figure large on this agenda, and have been the objects of repeated warnings by UN special rapporteurs for more than 15 years. Until January of this year, I did not feel that there was much more I could contribute to the debate given the in-depth work done by my predecessors. Everything changed on January 3, 2020, when the US launched a drone strike against a high-level government official on the territory of a third, non-belligerent country, and outside a known armed conflict.





This incident constituted a significant and troubling development, in terms of the identity of the target, the location of the strike, the many complex legal questions the strike rose and, of course, the implications for peace and security.

The strike against General Soleimani prompted me to return to the topic of drones  in view of the fact that the UN and other actors had been demanding for several years for regulation into what has become an uncontrollable race into developing, exporting and using drones.

Al Jazeera: What are the reasons for the increased use of UAVs?

Callamard: At this point in time, we have entered what I have described as the second drone age, characterised by an increasing number of states and non-state actors using them, and by drones becoming stealthier, speedier, smaller, more lethal and capable to be operable by teams located even thousands of kilometres away.

Yet, in spite of this exponential growth, both in terms of the number of actors using them and in terms of the technology, we, the people, actually know very little of their usage. Most drones use of force remain largely secretive operations, with little to no oversight by independent bodies. They carry little political cost for politicians and the militaries because they do not involve troops on the ground, and the risks to the lives of those operating drones are minimal. They are thus the weapons of choice for the wars of the 21st century. And yet, their impact and lethality are real.

Research has highlighted how harmful they are for the communities subjected to them. We need far greater transparency into their use and impact, including through investigation. And we also need public and informed debates over the strategy underpinning the use of drones at this point  that is the so-called decapitation strategy and its actual impact.

Al Jazeera: In your report, you state drones are a lightning rod for key questions of asymmetrical warfare, the protection of life in conflicts and counterterrorism. Why is this?

Callamard: Drones sit at the intersection of counterterrorism and so-called conventional warfare. The allure of armed drones for politicians and militaries alike include their perceived efficiency, effectiveness, adaptability, acceptability and deniability, and relies on dangerous myths. One such myth, already mentioned, is that of the surgical strike.

Another is that wars may be largely bloodless and painless because drones allow for violence to be actualised from a distance with virtually no casualties for those operating them. They offer unprecedentedly asymmetrical advantage in favour of their deployer; promising limited damage to other than the intended target, with low-to-no risk of direct damage for the initiator. These are extremely dangerous notions, legally, politically, and morally speaking.

With few to no risks involved for those directing or operating drones, including little risk of legal accountability, as President Obama pointed out himself, the typical decision-making barriers to the use of force has become eroded  because they do not attract the public scrutiny that a troop deployment invites.

Al Jazeera: What form of accountability should flow from the illegal use of armed drones?

Callamard: Drones are not unlawful weapons. What need to be regulated is both the technological development and their usage. The use of drones  must be lawful under three bodies of law: The law of self-defence, international human rights law, and international humanitarian law.

In practice, very little accountability occurs. There has been a few lawsuits by victims of drones strikes, but these often do not succeed because courts claim they have no jurisdiction over extraterritorial activities. At this point, as explained in my report, accountability requires at least three commitments or changes.

The first is internationally: We need the international community to develop robust international standards governing the development, export, and use of drones. We also need UN decision-making bodies and member states to engage with the use of drones and more generally any claims by states that they are acting in self-defence.

A second intervention for accountability is with the parliaments of countries that produce, export, and use drones. They must be prepared to play a much more active role and approve and scrutinise a countrys lethal use of drones. They should enact stricter controls on the transfer of military and dual-use drone technology, and apply clear criteria to prevent irresponsible transfers for instance.

A third intervention is at the level of the judicial sector: Courts must be prepared to declare that a countrys human rights treaty obligations can apply in principle to the conduct of a state outside its territory, and that drones strikes and their targets should be considered within the jurisdiction of the state operating the drone.

An unmanned US Predator drone flies over Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan [File: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP]

Al Jazeera: What can be done by the judicial sector?

Callamard: Thus far, courts have largely refused to provide oversight to drones targeted killings extraterritorially, arguing that such matters are political, or relate to international relations between states and thus are non-justiciable. A blanket denial of justiciability over the extraterritorial use of lethal force cannot be reconciled with recognized principles of international law, treaties, conventions, and protocols, and violates the rights to life and to a remedy. There are notable and recent exceptions to this state of affairs, which may augur of a stronger legal response to drone use of force. A watershed ruling is that of an administrative court described in my report.

Al Jazeera: What does the killing of Soleimani tell us about the state of the world?

Callamard: The killing of General Soleimani shows how dangerously close the world has been to a major and deadly crisis. It should send us all a clear warning. The international community now confronts the very real prospect that states may opt to strategically eliminate high ranking military officials outside the context of a known war, and try to justify such a killing on the grounds of the targets classification as a terrorist who posed a potential, undefined, future threat.

More generally, the exponential use of drones reflects a race for armaments which presents extraordinary risks for us all. Such a race is taking place in the midst of persistent and repeated attacks against basic principles of humanity  hospitals and schools are routinely targeted by parties to a conflict; human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents living in exile do not find safety abroad but continue to be threatened, harassed, and sometimes killed.

War is at risk of being normalised as a legitimate and necessary companion to peace. We must do all that we can to resist this deadly creep.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity
The government last month outlawed dozens of Chinese apps including TikTok, Alibaba's UC Browser, and WeChat, saying they posed a 'threat to sovereignty and integrity'

New Delhi: The Centre has petitioned the Rajasthan High Court to stop any of the Chinese companies whose 59 apps it recently banned from obtaining an injunction to block the order, according to two sources and the legal filing.

The government last month outlawed dozens of Chinese apps including ByteDance's popular video-sharing app TikTok, Alibaba's UC Browser, and Tencent's messaging app WeChat, saying they posed a "threat to sovereignty and integrity".

Two sources with direct knowledge of the filing said the government had presented a so-called caveat in the High Court of Rajasthan, suggesting it expects one or more of the companies to challenge the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's ban.

Such caveats are typically filed to prevent a ruling in favour of companies without hearing the government, lawyers said. The filing, which one of the sources said was presented on Friday, has not previously been reported.

"Let nothing be done till the applicants (government) are heard in the matter," said the court filing signed by Additional Solicitor General Rajdeepak Rastogi.

Guarding Cyber Space

The order to ban the apps was passed to safeguard "the interests of Indian mobile and Internet users and ensure safety and sovereignty of India's cyberspace," said the filing, which was seen by Reuters.

It was not immediately clear why the government approached the court in Rajasthan and whether there were plans to file similar petitions elsewhere.

The IT ministry and the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Previously, China has expressed strong concern about the ban, which could hurt expansion plans and cost jobs, and said it may violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

None of the Chinese companies has yet mounted a legal challenge, with industry sources saying they were waiting for further clarity from the government.

The IT ministry recently asked the companies associated with the 59 apps to answer a detailed questionnaire within three weeks on their business structure and data storage practices, the industry sources told Reuters.

The decision to ban the apps has jolted companies like ByteDance, which counted on India as an important growth market for TikTok and had plans to invest $1 billion in the country.
An east Belfast flute band has paraded to a local nursing home to celebrate an emotional 95-year-old resident on her birthday.

Braniel Loyal Flute Band played 'Happy Birthday' to a tearful Ina McNeill and presented her with flowers outside Giboney House Residential Home after parading through through the Cregagh Estate in what her granddaughter described as "a Twelfth none of us will ever forget".

"Nanny has always loved the Twelfth and it's always made even more special because it's also her birthday," said Dauna Orr Armstrong.

Mrs McNeill's family were unable to celebrate her birthday the usual way due to coronavirus and Mrs Orr Armstrong asked her son's band would any of them be able to play for their Nanny.

"Turns out the whole band were willing to come and play for her. It was such a fantastic thing for them to do and for us as her family, to see her reaction was priceless. This is one Twelfth of July none of us will forget."

A spokesperson for the east Belfast band said they were more than willing to parade for Mrs McNeill. "It's people like the birthday girl who have made this country the way it is today.

"It's always nice to give something back to a community as they are very supportive of us as a band," they said.
In the span of a few hours on Friday, Amazon banned and then unbanned the TikTok video sharing app from employee mobile devices, calling the move a mistake.

The news generated widespread attention for the Chinese-owned social media platform coming the same week US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was "certainly looking at" banning TikTok, suggesting it shared information with the Chinese government.

It was not immediately clear what led to the initial ban by Amazon. One person familiar with the matter said senior Amazon executives were unaware of the request to delete TikTok from employee devices. The ban was reversed after TikTok and Amazon representatives discussed the matter, according to an email sent to TikTok employees.

Earlier this week, Wells Fargo sent a note to employees who had installed TikTok on company-owned mobile devices telling them to remove the app immediately.
One of the worlds top wireless technology companies Qualcomm has now joined Facebook Inc and US semiconductor giant Intel to become the third strategic technology investor in Reliance Industries' digital arm Jio Platforms. Qualcomm Inc will invest Rs 730 crore in Jio Platforms in exchange for a 0.15 percent stake.

With this latest deal, the 13th such investment in Jio Platforms in 12 weeks, Mumbai-based RIL has now raised a combined Rs 118,318.45 crore from some of the worlds leading tech investors.

Here are five key things to know about the latest Qualcomm-Jio deal:

> Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated, an industry leader in wireless technologies, has committed to invest up to Rs 730 crore in Jio Platforms.

> The transaction will take place at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore.

> Jio Platforms has now raised a combined Rs 1,18,318.45 crore from some of the worlds leading tech investors with the latest deal.

> Qualcomm is the 13th investor to purchase a minority stake in Jio Platforms, joining a long list of 12 other such investors.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.

> The deal with Qualcomm takes the total stake that RIL sold in Jio Platforms to 25.24 percent.
Former Nissan Motor Co Chairman Carlos Ghosn says he is assisting those who helped him flee from Japan to Lebanon last year but refuses to provide details about the escape, saying such information would endanger them. In an interview aired late Saturday by the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV, Ghosn refused to comment on allegations from prosecutors in the U.S., who said last week that he wired more than $860,000 to a company linked to one of the men accused of helping smuggle him out of Japan in a box in December.

Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret and private security specialist, and Peter Taylor, 27, are wanted by Japan on charges they helped Ghosn escape the country in December after he was released on bail.

Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 and was expected to face trial in April 2020. He posted 1.5 billion yen ($14 million) bail on two separate instances after he was arrested a second time on additional charges, and released again.

When pressed to speak about the Taylors, who are under arrest in the US, as well as others who helped him flee, Ghosn refused to speak about any specific person.

He said that after he arrived in Lebanon he vowed not to speak about how he left Japan because any statement I am going to make will endanger the people who helped me leave Japan. Asked if he is aiding those who helped him get out of Japan, Ghosn said, of course.

When asked about the Taylors, Ghosn said: You are talking about specific people, and I will not comment. However, I am helping everyone who stood by me as much as I can, financially and in any way I can.

I made the entire plan of how to get out, but I needed information and assistance. I am not ready to involve these people at this moment simply by talking about it, he said. He is believed to have been smuggled inside a large box.

Ghosn, who holds Lebanese, Brazilian and French citizenship, said the only side that stood by me is the Lebanese state. They intervened and they asked the Japanese state, 'Why are you doing this to him?'" Ghosn said that when he arrived in Lebanon, Japan requested the Lebanese government hand him over.

Lebanon approved, if they receive the case file. They (Japanese) didn't send anything for six months, he said.

Earlier this month, a Turkish court released four pilots and a private airline official from jail, pending the outcome of their trial on charges of smuggling Ghosn out of Japan to Lebanon, via Turkey.
One unidentified terrorist was killed in an encounter in the Rebban area of Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, news agency ANI reported. The encounter began early morning.

More details awaited...
O Lord,

mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you,



and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do,

and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God,

now and for ever.

Amen.
Keep an eye out next Thursday, Aldi has some sweet summer dining bits ready to take up the middle aisles.

I like the fresh look of his melamine dining set, it comes in a six-pack for 5.99.

Aldi MELAMINE DINING SET 5.99_6 PACK.

Choose from palm leaf or ikat designs. Alfresco dining, here we come.

The Old Mill Stores are open for business, if you're in the Skibbereen area, drop in and say hello.

I spotted these irregular hand-painted glazed lemon plates on their website,

They're 40, use them as side places or for salad. I reckon they'll add something special to mealtimes.

On the Bathroom Shelf, this week is the most fabulous soap from one of our favourite Irish brands, The Handmade Soap Company.

This luxury soap is Grapefruit & Irish Moss and like all the products in founders Donagh and Gemma's ranges, it is packed with 100% natural ingredients, made with eco-friendly processes and packaging, all ranges are both Cosmos and Ecocert accredited.

Handmade Soap company Grapefruit and Irish Moss soap

Sinead Palmer has opened a new interiors store in Waterford City, Nest.

Filled with unique and eclectic ranges of accessories and furniture, as well as bespoke furniture pieces, expect to find Italian designer Lisa Corti in there too. Sinead plans to work with Artisans in India and Morocco too so watch this space. You can follow them on @nestwaterford on Instagram.

A lovely one for Plastic Free July, Irelands craft and design fair, Gifted, has launched an online site featuring a selection of plastic-free Irish made products to help you make easy sustainable swaps in your everyday life.

Millbee Studio Beeswax Wraps from Giftedfromireland.com

I'm rather attracted to this cute set of six cactus magnets from Animi Causa.

Cacnet - 6 Cactus MagnetsAnimi Causahttp://www.animicausa.com

Yes, Penneys is open. I haven't been brave enough to wander in there in person, but I'm still snooping online.

I love this collapsible natural basket, I think of a million uses for it. It's 9 from Penneys nationwide.

Penneys Collapsible Natural Basket, 9.

This cuddle chair caught my eye, it's velvet, it's orange, it's pro cuddles. I'm in. It's from Argos, 549.
One Ho Chi Minh City-based university has partnered with a local technological corporation in an ambitious effort to create their own 5G integrated circuits, or 5G chipsets.

The University of Technology (UT) under the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City signed a collaboration agreement with Viettel High Technology Industries Corporation (VHT)  the key research and production unit of military-run telecoms giant Viettel  for researching and developing integrated circuits used for 5th-generation mobile networks.

Under the agreement, the two sides will collaborate closely on electronics and telecommunications, including the research and development of integrated circuits for 5G, training and developing human resources, and putting the new technological solutions into operation.

Both sides promised to share experience and industrial knowledge regularly and jointly deal with potential issues in training, scientific research, and technology transfer.

As the first part of the collaboration agreement, two sides signed a contract under which UT would provide VHT with consultation services and the design for the 5G transceiver chip in a 14-month period.

VHT, in turn, hopes to accelerate scientific research into technology at the university through the collaboration agreement by commercializing the fruit from its research results.

According to Nguyen Trung Kien, director of the VHT's Viettel IC Design Center, the company decided to partner with UT because of its research team whose members are excellent at developing integrated circuits.

"The university's team of engineers have got many outstanding achievements for the last many years, including some of their best products such as DVB-T  a terrestrial digital TV channel receiver chip  the power amplifier IC, the low noise amplifier (LNA), and mmWave bands, among others relating to integrated circuits," Kien said.

Kien also expressed his expectation that VHT would have a long-term collaborative relation with UT in order to not only work on the 5G chipsets but also expand the scope of their cooperation to other sectors of 5G technology, the Internet of things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI).

A member of the research team at the University of Technology under the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City shows a piece of research equipment to Viettel representatives. Photo: Dieu Linh / Tuoi Tre

Designing and producing integrated circuits for the 5G network are considered an important step for Viettel in its strategy to fully master the technologies of the 5G wireless network system, according to VHT general director Nguyen Vu Ha.

Viettel has set a goal of creating a 'made in Vietnam' 5G chipset with decisiveness and commitment, he stressed.

To realize the goal, apart from connecting with international companies for technology transfers, Viettel also plans to form their own domestic pool of experts in chip manufacturing and scientists from Vietnamese universities.

Hanoi-based Viettel Group is the largest telecommunication service provider in Vietnam, operated by the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the Navajo Nation, with 8,042 confirmed cases as of this week according to the Navajo Nation Health Command Operations Center, volunteers in the area continue to fight for the health and safety of all living things. With the monsoon season still to come, Gray Mountain Horse Heroes and other volunteer organizations strive to bring food and water to the wild horses that make their home between northern Arizona and the nations largest reservation.

I joined in 2018, in June, after I read in the Arizona Daily Sun that 200 horses had died out there in the Gray Mountain area, and that a group had been created to help, Gray Mountain Horse Heroes volunteer Joseph Padilla said.

During the 2018 drought, 191 wild horses, or mustangs, were killed after being trapped in a former tank wash in Gray Mountain that had turned to mud. The tragic incident and the tremendous response thereafter led to the formation of a global support network to assist the vulnerable mustangs going forward.

All these horses needed was hay and water, founding member Eileen Taggart said. People from all over the world donated. It got huge.

Since its founding and subsequent global spotlight, volunteers on the ground have been dedicated to their mission. Padilla hauls water and hay for the organization, among other duties. During the dry season, Padilla is responsible for filling more than 1,000 gallons of water in troughs and water tanks for the feral horses of Gray Mountain each day, seven days a week.

Ive been doing the same thing since 2018. My water tote carries 330 gallons, plus its nine miles to Cameron where they have a water fill. Then I make a couple fills a day. Just takes a couple hours, Padilla said.

Humbly, he is quick to note that he is not the only one putting in the hours on behalf of the horses.

One couple drives up every Thursday from Prescott, a retired police officer and his wife, he said. They haul hay and a 500-gallon water tote. They just love seeing the horses. There's some local folks that live in the Gray Mountain, too, they have water totes and they fill. Its a joint effort between a lot of people.

Hauling water will be a necessity for the horses until the summer monsoon season arrives.

When the monsoons come they fill the dirt tanks up on the mountain. The mustangs retreat to the mountain, thats their natural habitat. Then we wont see them again except on some rare occasion. Usually we wont see them until next June, Padilla said.

Though the monsoons have not yet reached northern Arizona, there have been some sporadic rain storms across the reservation and into New Mexico.

They got a gully washer last week, Padilla said. All the dirt tanks were filled.

According to a 2020 joint study by Navajo Technical University and Texas A&M University, there are 32 genetically distinct breeds of wild horses living across the five agencies of the Navajo Nation. Estimates by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2017 set the total number of mustangs on Navajo land at close to 40,000. As for the herd at Gray Mountain? The numbers vary.

I was watering this morning and I saw 20 at the windmill, 20 on the plateau, Padilla said. There are bands of 10 to 12 horses that run from the top of the mountain to [U.S. Highway Route] 89. Probably a hundred or more.

As of late, the GMHH have pivoted their efforts to help bring aid to the people of the Navajo Nation as well as they battle the pandemic.

When COVID-19 hit, Paul Lincoln and Glenda Seweingyawma reached out to me saying, Hey, families are suffering out here. So we started a GoFundMe and weve already raised 16,000 for the reservation, Taggart said.

But the volunteer horse organization has found themselves at irons with the Navajo Nation with their own response to the horse crisis: the tribally-sponsored round-ups known as the Equine Reward Program.

In the summer of 2018, the Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture unveiled its Equine Reward Program to encourage the removal of unbranded free-roaming horses from tribal land due to overgrazing, inbreeding, declining range conditions and extended droughts.

The program, funded by a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, offered a $50 promissory note for each trapped and surrendered horse which in turn would be auctioned off by the Navajo government.

The tribal governments round-up efforts have reported 3,000 mustangs captured in 2018, 1,500 the following year and nearly 600 this year according to the Department of Agricultures website.

But the ERP has its critics among some members of the Gray Mountain Horse Heroes.

A bunch of us protested the round-ups to the Navajo Nation, Padilla said. Dr. Rudy Shebala, in Window Rock, hes the head of the Department of Natural Resources. He adopted a Gray Mountain horse in 2018. He put a stop to the rewards program, which is a bounty. Thats what it is really is, a bounty. But he halted that.

Dr. Rudy Shebala is the executive director of the Navajo Nation Department of Natural Resources which oversees the Department of Agriculture and the ERP.

We want to ensure we move forward reducing the numbers [of feral horses on the Navajo Nation] in a scientifically and culturally appropriate manner where we are not slaughtering horses, Dr. Shebala said in a July 2 article in Horsetalk.co.nz. Dr. Shebala was unavailable for comment at the time this article was published.

But the real driver in the decision to suspend the ERP appears to be COVID-19. In light of the catastrophic impact of the pandemic among the Navajo people, the Nation announced that all ERP events would be canceled until further notice.

We thought we were good, but last Tuesday night, someone driving from Tuba City to Flagstaff said they saw riders chasing horses, three colts, three mares. We reported to the Navajo Rangers. They are investigating it, Padilla said.

The Department of Agriculture for their part denies claims that round-ups have been occurring in the Gray Mountain area.

The Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture has not scheduled any round-up in 2020 and has not removed or caused to remove any horses from Gray Mountain in the past two or more years, the department wrote in a post to its official Facebook page.

Despite what people say, we love and respect all of our animals, but have to do the removal to ensure we have a manageable number, Judy June, principal planner for the ERP program, said in a press release.

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THE country inaugurated its largest molecular laboratory capable of detecting the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and other contagious diseases at the former Philippine Red Cross (PRC) headquarters in Port Area Manila on June 27, 2020.

The project was an initiative of the PRC. It was partly funded by Metrobank and GT Capital Holdings through an P18 million donation, which was coursed through their corporate social responsibility arms Metrobank Foundation Inc. (MBFI) and the Ty familys GT Foundation Inc. (GTFI).

The donation went for the construction and equipping the facility with two automated extraction machines for testing of samples. With additional contributions from the Australian Embassy and the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCII), the laboratory has an overall capacity to test 14,000 samples a day.

The ceremonies were led by PRC chairman Sen. Richard Gordon, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, National Task Force on Covid-19 deputy chief implementer Vivencio Dizon, Australian Ambassador Steven Robinson, GTFI president and Federal Land chairman Alfred Ty, MBFI president Aniceto Sobrepena and FFCCCII president Henry Bon Liong.

We have been working hard in supporting various initiatives to address and combat the effects of the pandemic since the start of the lockdown. We advocate and support the conduct of Test, Trace and Treat or T3 in order to identify the various factors in the development and mitigation of the spread of the virus which could lead in flattening the curve, Ty said in a speech.

The donation was part of the P220 million contribution by Metrobank Group and GT Capital Holdings to fund and support efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and help those in need.

The amount was allocated for the purchase of personal protective equipment to benefit healthcare and security frontliners; support for the production of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR, testing kits through the Univeristy of the Philippines National Institutes of Health; Project Ugnayan led by the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation; and distribution of meals and food packs to underprivileged families.

It also went to the construction and equipping of molecular laboratories for the testing of cases in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH), PRC and Ayala Group; and Go Negosyos Project ARK (Antibody Rapid test Kits) of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship Foundation.

Also last month, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. donated 30 Vios units for the mobility of healthcare frontliners of the DOH and local government hospitals.
Photo credit: The Nation

Three months after news of her ordeal in Lebanon reached Nigerians, sending shock waves across the country, 31 year old Temitope Ariwolo, was back home on Saturday relieved to be alive to tell the story all over.

Temitope and 21 other Nigerians stranded in Lebanon were evacuated to Abuja by the federal government.

She was initially stopped from leaving for Nigeria and subsequently charged for stealing and attempted murder of her employer after the story of her maltreatment was broken by Aljazeera television.

She was beaten by Mahmoud Zahran, the husband of her employer, Feyzeh Diab, on April 25 in their Choueifat residence, South of Beirut.

Savouring her fresh freedom, Temitope said: I am happy being home. Going to Lebanon was like (going to) a hell.

Nobody knows that will happen there. I advise other Nigerian girls to stay here in Nigeria and try to make it, because going outside there was like hell for me, not only in Lebanon.

What I experienced in Lebanon, I dont even pray for Satan to experience.

She spoke to reporters at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.

Equally excited by Temitopes return was the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Matters, Tolulope Akande-Sadipe who described her return as a dream come true.

It is a dream come true. The House of Representatives made a commitment to Nigerians, that we would say NO to human trafficking just like we are saying NO to rape, Akande-Sadipe said.



Today, Temitope is back home. Unfortunately, I will not allow her show her face because the whole issue has not come to an end. We really want to understand what happened in court back in Lebanon.

We are happy, she is happy to be back home and I hope this will be a sign to other young girls out there who want to go abroad for greener pastures to ensure that the circumstances they are going into are the expectations they have when they signed up for these agents.

At the same time, NAPTIP has made a commitment to enforce all laws to ensure that these agents stop doing this very dehumanizing behavior that put out girls not as domestic staff but as slaves.

Today as a nation, we need to celebrate that this young girls life was not lost in such an experience

The Director General of NAPTIP, Julie Okah-Donli said Temitope would be quarantined for 14 days, then rehabilitated and empowered.

She said: we are going to rehabilitate her in a shelter and empower her.

Of course, she has to be quarantined for two weeks. That is the law. After 14 days, we will take her to the shelter; give her some psychosocial support because she is traumatised.

We have to counsel her, rehabilitate her and empower her. In fact, she has so many people who are ready to empower her.

We can only start the job of arresting after have profiled her properly and we have counselled her. Then we can get all the necessary information that will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.

Temitope had travelled to Lebanon after she was promised a good job.

She ended up as a domestic hand.

Also on the plane from Lebanon on Saturday was Peace Busari who was offered for sale in Lebanon.

Busari had initially turned down governments first offer to be evacuated home.

She had told government officials and the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) after her rescue that she would prefer to stay back.

Besides, she said she was happy back there after securing a new job.

She turned down all the pleads including the one from her state government Oyo state.

But NIDCOM in a tweet on Saturday announced the evacuation of the two ladies.

The tweet reads, Coming home from Lebanon, Temitope Arowolo who was held back last time and Peace Busari, the Nigeria Lady that was put up for sale on Facebook by a Lebanese but rescued.

***

Source: The Nation
Ayesha Singh By

Many afternoons have been spent daydreaming about where to travel next. New additions have been made to bucket-lists. Imaginary checklists have been ticked off. But were all still here. Not for too long, hopefully. Once travel restrictions are lifted, it seems like people will rush for the outdoors. Expect an acceleration in demand for holidays to sun-kissed countrysides, mysterious wildernesses, and hair-raising adventures into the wild. People want to get out, feel free and be in open spaces. For this reason, city holidays wont be as exciting to them. Instead, domestic destinations such as Goa, Uttarakhand, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Meghalaya, and Himachal Pradesh will see a jump, says Sabina Chopra, Co-Founder and COO, Corporate Travel and Head, Industry Relations, Yatra.com. There are also places like Tasmania, Gobekli Tepe, and Mendoza Province that rank high among the list of top destinations, according to the National Geographic Travelers 2020 list. We pick the safest ones.

National Blue Trail, Hungary

Seven hundred miles of pure hiking bliss. Thats the National Blue Trail for you. The stretch seems to reach the horizon from Irottko Mountain to the Hollohaza village and nestles within it, some of the most breathtaking natural and man-made sights. Castles and forts dot the route, the lookout towers offer picturesque views of the green-blue-grey hills that stand stoic but extend the warmth of sunny comfort.

Special Attraction: The charming little village of Hollok Why: Its a traditional settlement that has been carefully preserved to offer tourists a living example of how the 20th-century rural life must have been before the agricultural revolution

Alishan National Scenic area, Taiwan

This nature reserve located in Chiayi County, just lets you be. Nothing moves fast, not even tourist. Its an escape into the wonderment of nature, especially the vast carpets of tea plantations. Delicious teas such as Alpine oolong tea, Jinxuan tea, green and standard breakfast ones are on offer. The Alishan sunrise is not to be missed and its best explored from the Jade Mountains for active trekkers, and the Zushan Sunrise Observation Deck for others, says Mehak Chowdhary from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau.

Special Attraction: Sacred Tree RouteWhy? Takes you to the best viewing points

Kalahari Desert, South Africa

One of the worlds darkest places is also the most enthralling. The Kalahari Desert, a large basin-like plain in Southern Africa, doesnt typically pop up in the list of places to visit, but it should. The gently undulating body of sand offers an escape into the rare world of calm and quiet. The place is also known for some of the best safaris with a chance of spotting animals such as the kudus, leopards, cheetahs and a wealth of different species of birds.

Special Attraction: Night safaris

Why? It has the distinction of being an IDA Dark Sky Sanctuary which is public or private land with extraordinary night sky quality. Here you can see starry nights like few other places on the planet and a protected nocturnal environment.

Gurudongmar Lake, Sikkim

Youll feel like a stranger at first but then familiarity will begin to settle in as you spend time in the solitude-filled surroundings of Gurudongmar Lake. Perched up 17,100 feet above the sea level, its the second-highest lake in Sikkim. Its sacred to both Buddhists and Hindus, exuding a Zen-like stillness to everything that comes within its embrace.

Special Attraction: A view of Mount Siniolchu and Kanchenjunga

Why? Because the skies rarely play spoilsport

Dharwas, Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh

The mountains are calling. And the answer is met in the Dharwas, the northernmost village of Himachal Pradeshpeaceful and snugwith peaks crowning with glistening ice.

Special Attraction: Tilmili, a large natural spring

Why? How many times in your lifetime will you be able to dunk your hand into a natural spring of mineral water and drink the goodness of natures purity?
UNITE HERE, a union that represents Philly hotel workers, makes some noise on Columbus Blvd. in front of the Hilton Philadelphia at Penn's Landing in Phila., Pa. on July 12, 2020. The union is fighting for reduced workload and safer working conditions during the pandemic. Read more

For Lydia Hernandez, the numbers dont add up.

Every morning, she reports to work at the Hilton at Penns Landing on the Delaware River, where she has to clean 14 rooms. Thats down from the 16-room quota pre-pandemic, but the workload for her 8-hour shift is still unmanageable, she says.

During the health crisis, Hernandez, 58, has noticed that the hotels clientele has shifted away from its normal business travelers, and some guests are leaving rooms in worse shape than shes seen in most of her 15 years at the hotel. And because of city and state orders, she has to clean and disinfect rooms more thoroughly than before, focusing on parts of the room that previously werent so important: light fixtures, doorknobs, remote controls. On top of that, she said, management has made it clear it doesnt want workers putting in overtime.

We try our best, she said. We try to disinfect everything. But we cant do it the way we want to because we got 13 other rooms to do.

Philadelphias hotel industry was gutted when the city went into lock down to slow the spread of the coronavirus. More than half of the citys approximately 50 hotels suspended operations. Occupancy dropped to 22% in early April. And thousands of workers were laid off.

Now, as occupancy creeps back up and hotels start to recall staff, workers are fighting for policies that will give them the ability to follow city and state public-health orders. Otherwise, they say, employees and guests are all at risk. Its a problem plaguing workers in many industries trying to reopen and especially urgent as the city had not issued any fines or cease-operation orders to businesses breaking the rules as of late last month.

 READ MORE: Philly is pleading with business owners to follow coronavirus safety rules. But its not issuing fines.

Hotels are complying with some of the more visible parts of the COVID guidelines, like installing plastic glass barriers between staff and guests at front desks, said Katharine Cristiani, executive vice president at Unite Here Local 274, a union that represents Philly hotel workers, including those at the Hilton at Penns Landing, where workers held a demonstration Sunday at noon. But hotels are not always following the rules that are harder to spot in a hotel lobby, like disinfecting high-touch surfaces every four hours or requiring guests to wear masks.

Its not just a worker safety issue, Cristiani said. Its a public health issue.

Jason Dunlap, a houseman at the Hilton at Penns Landing, says the lobby attendant who is in charge of disinfecting high-touch surfaces such as elevator buttons, works from noon to 8 p.m. Outside of those hours, no one on staff is doing that job.

And though the hotel requires guests to wear masks, it is no ones job to enforce that rule, and guests regularly flout it, Dunlap said. The 39-year-old father of four is currently self-isolating in his North Philly home and awaiting COVID-19 test results because he broke up a fight between two guests. One said the other gave him the virus. Neither was wearing a mask.

Hernandez, the housekeeper, said guests often come up to her without a mask to ask for linens or towels, and she has to tell them to stay six feet away and to put on a mask.

The Hilton at Penns Landing, which is run by Pyramid Hotel Group, said in a statement that we meet or exceed all guidance from the federal government and CDC, WHO, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia, which include the frequent cleaning of high-traffic and high-touch locations throughout the hotel with cleaning products approved by the EPA.

The hotel added that it has maintained an open line of communication with housekeepers regarding their workload during the pandemic and has been, and will continue to be, flexible regarding the number of rooms that it expects housekeepers to clean on a daily basis as part of its commitment to keeping all team members safe.

Hotels have generally lowered room quotas for housekeepers during the pandemic so they can take extra cleaning measures, said Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association.

Hotels are requiring guests to wear masks, he said, but wasnt sure whether there were consequences for guests who did not follow that rule. He said thats up to each individual hotel.

Although the number of guests has been steadily growing, Grose said occupancy was still just over 30% on July 4, the best day in recent months.

Were working hard to let people know our hotels are clean and safe, he said.

Of the thousands of hotel workers laid off in Philly, he said, not many have been called back so far. Of the 1,000 hotel workers that Unite Here represented during pre-pandemic times, about 200 are working right now, Cristiani said.

In New York, Unite Here and the hotel industry cut a deal that lowered workload by 25% for housekeepers so that they could effectively clean rooms to the standards necessary. In Philadelphia, Cristiani said Unite Here is fighting for a similar deal, as well as staffers to ensure that guests are wearing masks and to do the round-the-clock cleaning required by the city and state health orders.

Hernandez, who lives in West Philly with her two grandbabies, said she hoped management would reduce the workload for her and her coworkers because of the stress and strain on their bodies.

Were all in pain, she said. Everything hurts.

Shes also worried about her health. I cant afford to get sick, she said, and give it to my two little ones and my daughter.
COVID-19 continues to infect millions of people as the death toll mounts . There is currently no cure which means that controlling this disease requires a multi-pronged approach. This includes personal protection such as masks, social distancing and the isolation of infected individuals and their contacts.

Testing detects infected individuals, especially the 45% of people who do not show symptoms , but can spread the disease. Testing also helps us to know who has recovered from the disease to fully grasp its impact. It is a key part of a multi-pronged approach to control the COVID-19 pandemic .

An ideal test for the diagnosis of COVID-19 would be cheap, accurate and easy to use. But most real tests are only one  not all three. The art is in choosing a test whose strengths and limitations are aligned with what a population needs and can afford.

For developing countries, the ideal test must be sensitive and specific enough to be clinically meaningful, and cheap enough to be implemented at scale by every country. Africa and Asia are far behind in testing. Most countries in Africa and Asia have tested less than 1% of their populations. In contrast the US, Russia and every country in Europe had tested 10%-20% of their populations by June 2020.

COVID-19 has taken root and is spreading fast in Africa. Its testing needs to keep pace with the pandemic. The nucleic acid tests that African countries have so far been relying on are too complex and expensive to achieve the required level of testing. Lower cost antigen tests are the answer. Governments and stakeholders should pursue the use of quality-verified antigen-based tests to fight COVID-19. The sooner such affordable and scalable testing strategy is adapted the better.

The options

There are two types of tests that can detect early COVID-19: nucleic acid and viral antigen-based tests. Nucleic acid tests detect the viral nucleic acids. Antigen-based tests detect the viral spike of coronal proteins from which the virus derives its name. Far more nucleic acid tests than antigen-based tests have been developed and approved.

Read more: Pasha 60: The challenges facing African countries testing for COVID-19 SARS-CoV2 graphic. Bob Goldstein/Wiki Commons

The global scale-up in testing for COVID-19 has almost solely relied on complex and expensive nucleic acid tests. In our opinion, this is a mistake.

Generally speaking, the best nucleic acid tests are 10%-20% more sensitive than the best antigen tests, but are more complex, and cost 5-10 times as much. For example the average charge in the US for the hepatitis B surface antigen is $56 while that for hepatitis B viral load (nucleic acid) is $409 . This higher cost and complexity makes it challenging to scale up nucleic acid testing, even in a wealthy country.

Read more: COVID-19 testing: the answers to six simple questions

The problem is global, but the impact is not the same everywhere. For wealthy countries, a lack of antigen-based testing means a more cautious reopening. But for low and middle-income countries, which account for 84% of the world's population, a lack of antigen-based tests in the marketplace means little to no testing, unrestricted disease spread, and death.

Why antigen-based tests are scarce

By June 2020, only 20 of the more than 700 tests listed by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics , a global non-profit organisation, were antigen-based tests . And only one antigen-based test was authorised for use in the US, compared to over 100 nucleic acid-based tests .

If antigen-based tests could help, why are they not being developed by diagnostics companies?

The first and most often cited reason is their relatively lower sensitivity. The single antigen-based test that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the US has a sensitivity of 80% relative to nucleic acid tests. In Spain, attempts to adopt antigen tests for rapid screening were abandoned because the tests only detected 30% of positive samples . In keeping with this the World Health Organisation (WHO) has released guidance urging caution in the adoption of these tests.

Read more: COVID-19: to test or not to test

A second and less often cited reason for the lack of antigen-based tests is that they represent a less attractive long term investment for companies that diagnose diseases from samples (in vitro diagnostics). Nucleic acid-based tests are often designed for specific machines which can be used for other tests once the disease is under control. Contrary to this, COVID-19 antigen tests are likely to lose relevance in the post-pandemic period once there is no longer a need for diagnosing early disease.

The WHO's call for caution is appropriate but should not be construed as a reason to end the development of all antigen-based tests. Rather, any concerns about the test performance should be addressed in one of two ways.

First, the type of test kit should be rigorously verified to make sure it performs as advertised. This process of verification is well known and already used by laboratories around the world, and could be done by a central body like the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics or Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention .

Second, antigen-based tests can be used in combination with nucleic acid tests. A positive antigen-based test is reliable. But if there seems to be a high risk that a person is positive even though the antigen test shows a negative result, then the additional, more sensitive, more expensive nucleic acid test can be done. This approach has just been adopted by the Indian Council of Medical Research and is appropriate for other low and middle-income countries.

One way to mitigate the financial risk of test development for diagnostic companies might be for health ministries, NGOs and other stakeholders to support the development costs of antigen-based tests. There are previous examples of this, such as the GeneXpert system, which diagnoses TB.

Decision-making around testing is complicated, and neither nucleic acid nor antigen-based testing is an ideal option in every country. What we are arguing for is choice. Wealthy countries have made the choice to pay more for testing to avoid a higher rate of false negatives. For most of the world, the expense means there is no choice, and the consequence is little or no testing. That in turn means more deaths and other impacts of this pandemic.

The global search for COVID-19 diagnostics must devote a larger share of attention and resources to developing and vetting antigen-based tests, because they are the best option for rapid scale-up for the majority of the world's population.

Timothy Amukele receives funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Mustafa Barbhuiya is affiliated with the Foundation for Advancement of Essential Diagnostics a global non-profit organization.

By Timothy Amukele, Associate Professor Johns Hopkins University, and Director of the Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Clinical Laboratories, Johns Hopkins University And

Mustafa Barbhuiya, Clinical Chemistry Fellow, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Penn State University College of Medicine and Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA 17033 USA
After recording 1,573 new cases of coronavirus disease in the last 24 hours on Sunday, Delhis cumulative tally reached 1,12,494. Total 37 deaths have been recorded, according to the state health bulletin released on Sunday evening.

The citys recovery rate has recorded an upward trend as a total of 89,968 people have recovered, discharged or migrated, pushing the recovery rate to 79.9 per cent.

As of Sunday, the city has a surplus of beds vacant in hospitals and dedicated COVID care centres as over 18,000 beds are still available for treating coronavirus patients.

On Sunday, 9,443 RTPCR tests and 11,793 rapid antigen tests were conducted in the national capital. The authorities have tested 7,89,853 people in Delhi so far.

On June 23, the national capital had reported the highest single-day spike of 3,947 cases till date.

With increased testing and tracing of cases, the number of containment zones in Delhi has risen exponentially, especially in the last five days as the count of such areas has gone up by almost 200. As of Sunday, there are total 652 containment zones in Delhi.

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The latest Sample Registration System (SRS) findings show that Bihar is a laggard when it comes to controlling population growth in India. Total fertility rate (TFR) for Bihar in 2018 was 3.2. This is the highest among the eight large states where TFR is greater than 2.1, referred to as the replacement fertility level. A comparison with previous SRS rounds shows that Bihar and Uttar Pradesh had the same TFR of 4.2 in 2006. Uttar Pradeshs TFR came down to 2.9 in 2018, while Bihars still stood at 3.2. So, what went wrong in Bihar? Answering this question requires an understanding what drives TFR.

The World Health Organization defines TFR as the total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in her lifetime if she were subject to the prevailing rate of age-specific fertility in the population. A TFR of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement-level fertility and represents the average number of children a woman would need to have to maintain the population (see https://bit.ly/2ZjgAB3).

TFR is calculated by summing up age-specific fertility rates (ASFR) for women in the age groups of 15-49 years, broken every five years (thus, 15-19, 20-24, 24-29 toll 45-49). ASFR is the number of live births in a particular age group divided by the mid-year population in that particular age group multiplied by thousand.

TFR is, thus, a function of two factors. First is the age of marriage. If women get married at a younger age, ASFR for the younger age groups will be higher, which will contribute to a higher TFR. The second is the use of family planning methods, which determines the ability to maintain a gap between children or limit child birth.

A comparison of these two factors can throw some light on why Bihar has failed to bring down its TFR .

As can be seen, ASFR in the younger age group of 20-24 has declined in both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

This is in keeping with the all-India trends, and suggests that the average age of marriage and child birth are rising in the country. In fact, Bihar has done better in reducing ASFR in the age-group of 20-24 than Uttar Pradesh. However, in the 25-29 age group, the ASFR decline has been lower in Bihar than in Uttar Pradesh and in the 30-34 age group, the ASFR growth in Bihar has been much higher than in Uttar Pradesh.

To be sure, Bihar witnessed a large growth in the ASFR for the 15-19 age groups, but the overall ASFR for this category in Bihar was quite small (11.9) and less than the all-India average (12.2).

The average age of marriage is almost the same in Uttar Pradesh (22.3 years) and Bihar (21.7 years) according to the SRS findings.

This brings up the question of use of family planning methods in determining ASFRs, and hence TFR.

The 2015-16 National Family and Healthy Survey (NFHS) ranks states by unmet need for family planning. This is a sum of two categories  unmet need for spacing of birth, and unmet need for limiting births. Among large states, women in Bihar reported the highest unmet need for family planning. In 2005-06 as well, when the third round of NFHS was conducted, Bihar ranked second among big states, after Jharkhand, in terms of unmet need for family planning.

Unmet need for family planning is directly correlated with TFR levels across states. Bihar has the highest fertility rate among big states and also ranks first for the highest unmet need of family planning.

What explains the higher levels of unmet need for family planning in Bihar compared to Uttar Pradesh? NFHS also gives data on use of modern contraception methods.

Female sterilisation, which can only work for limiting childbirth, is the most common contraception method in India. Male sterilisation is among the least used methods. Bihar actually fares better vis-a-vis Uttar Pradesh when it comes to female sterilisation.

However, it lags behind Uttar Pradesh by 8.5 percentage points when it comes to current use of modern family planning methods. The biggest reason for this gap is a nearly 10 percentage point lead for Uttar Pradesh in the use of condoms. Uttar Pradesh was ranked eight among the 36 states and union territories when it came to the use of condoms. Bihar was ranked 32nd.

Share of married women and men who use any modern method of contraception has largely remained unchanged in India between 2005-06 and 2015-16, according to NFHS. However, in Bihar, the share of currently married women and men who use any modern method of contraception has decreased by 5.7 percentage points (from 28.9% to 23.2%). The share of women, whose husbands used condoms has also decreased from 2.3% to 1%.

On the contrary, the share of women and men who use any modern method of contraception in Uttar Pradesh increased by 2.4 percentage points (from 29.3% to 31.7%). And the share of women whose husbands used condoms has increased from 8.6% to 10.8% between 2005-06 and 2015-16.

If the 2015-16 trends have persisted, the gap between Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, as far as use of modern family planning methods is concerned, must have grown by 2018.

In 2015, TFR in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was almost similar. If Bihar is interested in bringing down its TFR levels, it needs to learn how Uttar Pradesh has been able to encourage the use of condoms.
Vinnet Upadhyay By

Express News Service

DEHRADUN: After raising the issue of high call rates of satellite phones distributed at border areas of Uttarakhand by residents, the state government is mulling to slash the call rates.

Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that the state government is aware of the problems faced by residents of border areas.

"We are very much aware of the issue faced by our border residents in this regard. The matter is being handled and soon will be rectified," said the CM.

After satellite phones were distributed in border areas Pithoragarh, Chamoli and Uttarkashi residents complained of inflated call rates per minute up to Rs 25-30.

Earlier, the state government officials said that the call charges will be fixed at Rs 12 per minute and an SMS would also cost the same amount.

International calls and SMS rates have been fixed at Rs 260 per minute and Rs 260 per SMS.

According to the sources, 200-300 satellite phones will be distributed in border areas.

Last month, 49 villages in Pithoragarh district along the China and Nepal were equipped with satellite phones amidst ongoing border tensions. The locals, however, say that this is not sufficient and robust infrastructure is need to tackle the problem.

Uttarakhand border villages are compelled to use Nepalese Sim cards due to no or poor availability of Indian network providers including government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Receding population on Uttarakhand-Nepal-China border has become a source of worry for Indian security forces amidst increasing border tensions with Nepal.

According to reports of Uttarakhand Rural Development and Migration Commission total 14 villages have become totally empty since 2011 while in many parts population have declined 'significantly'.


Fayaz Wani By

SRI NAGAR: The Army on Saturday said Pakistan has been failing in its attempts to instigate people of Kashmir ever since the Centre scrapped Article 370 last year. It said at least 250 militants were waiting at launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) to infiltrate into J&K. The Army warned that any trans-LoC movement will meet an appropriate response, asserting it remains fully committed to maintaining the sanctity of LoC.

General officer Commanding (GoC) of Baramulla-based Armys 19 Infantry Division Major General Virender Vats told media that the Army foiled an infiltration attempt along the LoC in Naugam sector in the border district of Kupwara in the early hours on Saturday. Two militants in combat fatigue attempted to cut the anti-infiltration fence. Both the militants were killed in a clean operation. Two AK rifles, a pistol, 12 magazines, medicines, food and `1.5 lakh Indian and Pakistani currency were recovered from them, he said.

Major General Vats said since militants passed through Pakistani posts, it clearly indicated Pakistans complicity in fomenting trouble in India. At least 250 militants are waiting to infiltrate. They are fully supported and facilitated by the Pak army, he said.

Militants warn BJP men

A few days after BJP leader and two of his family members were shot dead by Lashkar-e-Taiba men in Bandipora, posters of another outfit, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, appeared there in the market warning people against joining the BJP. It asked those already associated with the BJP to quit the party or face the consequences.
Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sealed actor Rekha's bungalow in suburban Bandra after a security guard there tested coronavirus positive, a civic official said on Sunday.

The guard at the 65-year-old 'Umrao Jaan' actor's bungalow 'Sea Springs' tested positive on Tuesday, the official said.

The BMC has put a board outside the premises declaring the place as a containment area.

The security guard has been hospitalised at the BMC's COVID-19 care facility in Bandra Kurla Complex, he said.

As the bungalow is a standalone one, only a portion of it has been sealed, he said.
New Delhi: The sanitisation workers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) arrived at Amitabh Bachchan's Jalsa residence in Mumbai on Sunday morning after the megastar and his son Abhishek Bachchan were tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday night. Jalsa is now a containment zone and no one is allowed to enter or exit the place. A team of 18-20 personnel, including doctors, arrived at Jalsa to collect the samples of those whose tests are still pending.

Another team was there to collect the COVID-19 waste of Big B and Abhishek and another team sanitised the entire property deeply. Apart from Jalsa, Amitabh Bachchan's other properties - Janak and Prateeksha - are also being sanitised. Deep sanitisation process is also being carried out near Nanavati Hospital, where Big B and Abhishek are admitted.

At least 100 people are estimated to have come in contact with Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek. The BMC is, meanwhile, chalking out a plan to get these people tested.

Maharashtra: Sanitisation workers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) arrive at 'Jalsa', the residence of actor Amitabh Bachchan in Mumbai. Actor Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchan tested #COVID19 positive and both have been admitted to a hospital. pic.twitter.com/X3KZ3nziwI  ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2020

Amitabh Bachchan stays in the sprawling bungalow with Abhishek, wife Jaya, daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and granddaughter Aaradhya. Big B and Abhishek were taken to Nanavati Hospital last night while Jaya, Aishwarya and Aaradhya had undergone COVID-19 tests. They have been tested negative for the virus.

ALSO READ: Jaya Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aaradhya test negative for coronavirus, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek COVID-19 positive

Both Big B and Abhishek had informed people about their illness through their respective Twitter accounts.

"I have tested COVID positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests, results awaited .. All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested!" the 77-yea-old megastar tweeted.

T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 11, 2020

Meanwhile, Abhishek said, "Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you."

Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you.  Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

The BMC has been in touch and we are complying with them.  Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

As per the latest update by the hospital authorities, Amitabh Bachchan is stable with mild symptoms. He will post his health update twice a day via social media.
As the country's COVID-19 tally rose to nearly 8.5 lakh, authorities were getting ready to reimpose lockdown for varying periods in more cities, including in Bengaluru and Pune, in the coming days, while there appeared to be an improvement in the situation in the national capital.

The Uttar Pradesh government decided to implement strict restrictions across the state on weekends to check the spread of coronavirus, joining Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which have been imposing Sunday lockdown.

Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Bihar were among the states that have already announced area-wise lockdown for different durations.

Karnataka government has now announced a complete lockdown in Bengaluru for seven days from July 14.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami extended the curbs in Madurai and nearby regions including the Paravai Town Panchayat and several village panchayats till July 14.

The Maharashtra government had earlier announced a comprehensive lockdown in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad from July 13-23. The state government had imposed similar curbs in areas around the state capital Mumbai.

Authorities in Kashmir too began strict implementation of another phase of the lockdown on Sunday, sealing off historic Lal Chowk and 67 other areas in Srinagar which have been declared containment zones after a sudden surge in COVID-19 positive cases over the past one week.

However, there have been some positive developments in Delhi where the COVID-19 case count on Sunday remained below the 2,000-mark for the second consecutive day.

And with the recovery rate improving to nearly 80 per cent, authorities have for now put on hold plans to use stadiums as makeshift coronavirus care facilities.

In the last 24 hours, the national capital has recorded 1,573 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 1,12,494 in the city, while the death toll mounted to 3,371 after 37 fatalities were reported, according to the latest Delhi health department bulletin.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Delhi has been able to minimise deaths of coronavirus patients in home isolation through pulse oximeters, which he termed as "suraksha kavach'' (protective shield).

Maharashtra was still struggling to contain the surge in cases which rose by 7,827 to 2,54,427 on Sunday, the highest in the country.

With 1,263 new COVID-19 cases being recorded on Sunday, Mumbai's case count mounted to 92,720, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

Sixteen personnel at the Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai have tested coronavirus positive, a civic official said.

In a statement, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said he is perfectly alright and had tested negative.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, his son Abhishek, daughter-in-law Aishwarya and grand daughter Aaradhya are among those who have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a series of tweets, Abhishek said he and his father will "remain in hospital till the doctors decide otherwise".

"Aishwarya and Aaradhya have also tested COVID-19 positive. They will be self quarantining at home," he said.

Veteran actor Anupam Kher said his mother, Dulari, along with brother Raju and his family have also tested positive for COVID-19 and are currently under quarantine.

Tamil Nadu has the second highest number of cases in the country. With 4,244 fresh infections being reported, its tally rose to 1,38,470, the state health department said.

The state came to a virtual standstill under an intense 'Sunday lockdown' as only police and health personnel could be seen on roads, and hospitals, labs, ambulance services and pharmacies alone worked as per government directives.

Such curbs will be observed on two more Sundays this month.

Health workers, however, continued their routine of door-to-door checks to ascertain if people had flu-like symptoms in Chennai and several other parts of Tamil Nadu.

Mist cannons, which are huge blowers mounted on trucks, went around several neighbourhoods in Chennai spraying disinfectants.

In Karnataka too, most vehicles stayed off the roads and shops remained shut due to the Sunday lockdown.

The number of coronavirus cases in Karnataka may double in the next 15 to 30 days and the coming two months would emerge as a big challenge for the government in tackling the pandemic, state Health Minister B Sriramulu said.

"Lockdown has been announced in Bengaluru from Tuesday 8 pm for the next seven days. Abide by the regulations. Everyday more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus are coming to fore," Sriramulu said late Saturday.

As on Saturday, the cumulative tally of COVID-19 cases in the state touched 36,216.

Bihar registered the highest single-day spike of 1,266 novel coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 16,305 on Sunday even as nearly a third of its 38 districts were under lockdown to contain the pathogen. Patna, Bhagalpur, Nalanda, Nawada, Begusarai and West Champaran districts have been under restrictions for more than 24 hours.

The Health Department attributed the spike to the enhanced testing capability.

In Uttar Pradesh, Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Information) Awanish Awasthi told PTI that the lockdown restrictions will be imposed from coming Saturday on weekends and will remain in place at least for July.

Meanwhile, shops and business establishments, other than those dealing in essential services, remained closed in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The state government had on Thursday announced 55 hour-long restrictions from 10 pm on Friday till 5 am on Monday following a surge in coronavirus cases.

The state has reported over 35,000 cases so far.

The Arunachal Pradesh government had on Saturday extended the lockdown in the capital region for another week till 5 pm on July 20 in view of the spurt in COVID-19 cases in the region.

Several states reported highest single-day spike on Sunday. Among them was Gujarat where the tally rose by 879 to reach 41,897.

West Bengal's COVID-19 cases crossed the 30,000-mark with record 1,560 new cases reported from different parts of the state, according to a bulletin issued by state the health department.

A new daily record of 1,933 cases pushed the coronavirus tally in Andhra Pradesh to 29,168 on Sunday.

India added a record 28,637 cases of coronavirus infection pushing the country's COVID-19 tally to 8,49,553, while the death toll climbed to 22,674 with 551 people succumbing to the disease in a day, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The number of recoveries stands at 5,34,620, while there are 2,92,258 active cases of coronavirus infection presently in the country, the updated data at 8 am on Sunday showed.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said early detection of COVID-19 cases through widespread testing, surveillance and clinical management has resulted in India having one of the lowest fatality rate at 2.66 per cent

The minister, who visited the Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre (SPCCC) at Chhattarpur in Delhi to review its COVID-19 management status, also said that "our success" can be seen in the recovery rate which is almost 63 per cent at present.
Three regional Virginia banks each gave financial relief to more than 500 small businesses and organizations in the Roanoke and New River valleys as the country locked down for the pandemic this spring, according to data from the Paycheck Protection Program.

More than $440 million poured into the region through nearly 5,400 emergency loans, according to a new government report. The banks that enabled funds to flow have been identified for the first time.

Richmond-based Atlantic Union Bank issued 638 PPP loans in the Roanoke-Blacksburg region, more than any bank serving the area, a Roanoke Times analysis found.

Roanoke is a critically important market to our bank, John Asbury, CEO of Atlantic Union, said in a statement.

American National Bank & Trust of Danville handled 633 PPP loans, while National Bank of Blacksburg issued 543.

The data was released last week by the U.S. Small Business Administration and covers the first 13 weeks of the PPP, which is taking applications until Aug. 8.

The government could spend $600 billion on the program, announced near the end of March. Banks that ended up handling large numbers of loans described how they quickly ramped up for the application period to begin, then pulled all-nighters to review requests.

Believe me, weve worked our fannies off and many of us will say we wish this event had not happened, said Jeffrey Haley, president and CEO of American National. Really what we were doing was acting as an agent for the federal government to get this money out to many small businesses that desperately needed it.

First Citizens Bank of Raleigh, North Carolina, achieved a massive undertaking to issue 23,000 loans in its 16-state territory, including 344 locally, spokeswoman Barbara Thompson said.

PPP was part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Banks lent money they already had or borrowed and were compensated for their efforts via fees and interest income.

In all, nearly 4,300 banks and about 900 credit unions participated in doling out nearly 4.9 million loans totaling $521 billion as of the end of June. More than $100 billion is still available.

The government estimated the money saved 51 million jobs, with nearly 1.7 million at religious, charitable and other nonprofit organizations and the rest in the private sector.

The PPP has been described as a grant disguised as a loan. Recipients wont have to repay the money if they use it primarily to continue compensation and benefits and submit documentation.

Forgiven loans will be repaid by the government with taxpayer money. Those loans not forgiven must be repaid by the borrower with 1% interest.

There were other controversial aspects, including the issuance of large loans to well-capitalized, publicly traded companies, some of which paid back the money. Borrowers were required to certify that they needed the money, but banks werent required to double-check.

The consensus among bank officials interviewed for this story was that the recipients they assisted were truly in need.

Pinnacle Bank of Nashville, which bases its Virginia operations in Roanoke, cited one of its clients, New Vista Montessori School, as an example.

When the pandemic hit, the Roanoke school closed its doors and canceled events that had been intended to generate income for the nonprofit enterprise. No school, no income, Pinnacle Bank wrote in a report published on the banks website. The article quotes the schools director as unwilling to terminate staff and grateful for the PPP loan.

The school has since reopened, according to Melissa Dragoo, assistant director. Dragoo declined to reveal the loan amount, which isnt stated in the newly released records.

Thompson, the First Citizens Bank spokeswoman, described an auto repair business in a market outside Roanoke whose top official sent thanks in a letter after loan approval. And then we started getting letters from all of their employees and their employees families and even their children, because they were so concerned what was going to happen if they had not received one of these PPP loans, she said.

As a safeguard for taxpayer funds, the government announced a plan to audit all loans of $2 million or more and to spot-check others. Nearly 67% of the loans were for less than $50,000 and 99% were for under $2 million.

Jonathan Richardson, area manager of commercial banking at Pinnacle, said the bank saw its role as learning the program and shepherding clients through the steps amid the pandemic.

The key thing for us is recognizing this is something our clients didnt have the time to focus on immediately, he said. There was so much uncertainty and concern and, in some cases, panic, that was happening with our clients.

Pinnacle employees, like those at other banks, worked day and night. One advantage of working late at night was that the SBAs loan submission portal ran faster then than during the day, bank spokesman Joe Bass said.

Wells Fargo, the Roanoke markets largest bank in terms of deposits and one with its name on the skyline, ranked 10th in PPP loans issued in the area, the analysis found.

It emphasized issuing loans of $150,000 or less, both here and nationally. Its average loan size was $56,000. It ranked third nationally in loan count, with 185,598, to leader JPMorgan Chase Banks 269,424, the SBA said.

Wells Fargo focused on helping as many businesses as possible and serving those most in need of assistance, spokesman Manuel Venegas said.

Staff writer Henri Gendreau contributed to this report.

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Irish PM Micheal Martin warned of the need for 'urgent' progress in Brexit trade talks today as pressure mounts on Michel Barnier to climb down on key demands.

Mr Martin, who recently took over from Leo Varadkar, said there had been 'some progress' but called for an 'injection of momentum'.

In an apparently message to Mr Barnier as well as Boris Johnson, he insisted it was in 'everybody's interests' to get a 'good, comprehensive trade deal'.

The intervention, in an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr show, came after another week of talks failed to secure a major breakthrough.

It had been hoped that the face-to-face meetings with Mr Barnier and the UK's negotiator David Frost - agreed following a high-level conference call last month between Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen - would end the deadlock.

But despite rumours of a shift on the EU's demand for full access to British fishing waters, neither that sticking point nor the issue of obeying Brussels rules has been resolved.

Micheal Martin, who recently took over from Leo Varadkar as Irish PM, told the BBC's Andrew Marr show there had been 'some progress' in trade talks between the EU and UK but called for an 'injection of momentum'

David Frost welcomed the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to Downing Street for a private Brexit dinner last week. The pair are pictured together in Brussels on March 2

What are the sticking points between the EU and the UK on fishing? The UK Government has insisted that once Britain formally splits from Brussels at the end of the transition period this year then it will become a fully independent coastal state. That means it will have the power to grant and restrict access to its waters. Downing Street has repeatedly said that British fishing boats will be given priority treatment over their EU counterparts. But the EU has been adamant that for an overall Brexit trade deal to be agreed then the existing arrangements on fishing will need to continue. In broad terms that would mean the UK effectively remaining subject to the main parts of the Common Fisheries Policy and would see EU fishing boats keep their current level of access to British waters. The EU wants something like the status quo to continue while the UK wants to take a completely new approach - hence the struggle to reach an agreement. Advertisement

Mr Johnson is adamant he will not allow the discussions to drag on into the autumn, arguing that British businesses and citizens need certainty on the way forward before then.

If the two sides are unable to reach a deal by the end of the current Brexit transition period at the end of the year, it will mean Britain leaving the single market and the customs union without any agreement on future access.

Mr Martin said today: 'I think we need an injection of momentum into the overall talks between the EU and the UK in relation to Brexit.

'I do believe I had a very fruitful discussion with the prime minister, Boris Johnson, after I took up office.

'I think we both agreed that it's in everybody's interest, particularly in terms of businesses and giving them certainty and securing employment into the future that we get a good, comprehensive trade deal between the UK and the European Union that can be tariff-free, quota-free, and that will facilitate smooth future relationships and good access to the single market in return for a level playing pitch all around.'

He added: 'I think that's in all of our interest, that we get this done. Our concern is time is tight in relation to all of the mechanisms that have to be gone through in terms of getting the sanction and the approval of the EU members states, the EU parliament and our respective governments. So we are getting into, in my opinion, an urgent time frame now.'

Mr Martin said there were 'a number of sticking points' but 'where there's a will there's a way'.

Brussels has said throughout the Brexit talks that current fishing arrangements, underpinned by the Common Fisheries Policy, must continue, with EU fishermen allowed to access UK waters in the same way they do now.

However, the UK Government is insistent British fishing boats will be given priority as it pushes for a new scientific approach based on how many fish are in domestic waters.

Mr Barnier hinted to the Lords Select Committee on the EU on June 23 that he might be willing to compromise.

According to transcript of the meeting published last week, Mr Barnier told peers: 'I recall that, for the European Union, things are simple and clear.

Mr Barnier said last week that the EU 'wants an agreement - and we are doing everything to succeed - but not at any price'

'The fisheries agreement that we want with the United Kingdom would be an indissociable part of the economic agreement on trade and the level playing fieldor, to make it even more clear, there will be no trade agreement with the UK if there is no balanced agreement on fisheries.

'Is this balanced agreement the British position as it is? Certainly not. Is it the European position as it is today? Clearly not.'

He added: 'If we both dig our heels in on those positions, there will be no discussion or agreement on fisheries and therefore no agreement on trade. That is not what we want.'

The other stumbling block is the 'level playing field' - conditions Brussels demands to ensure fair competition by keeping the UK closely tied to EU standards on workers' rights, the environment and state subsidies.

The Taoiseach is due to visit Northern Ireland for his first time as Irish premier later this week.

First Minister Arlene Foster told the Sunday Politics programme that she and Sinn Fein deputy Michelle O'Neill will meet Mr Martin jointly.

The pair have not appeared together since the row over Ms O'Neill's attendance among huge crowds at the funeral of veteran republican Bobby Storey in west Belfast on June 30.

Police are probing that event for potential breaches of coronavirus regulations.

Mrs Foster said: 'We will welcome him to Northern Ireland to have discussions, respecting jurisdictions, making sure that we look forward to the future in a way that doesn't do any damage to the relationships which have come under pressure in over the last couple of years.'

She reiterated her belief that the message on social distancing has been damaged by Ms O'Neill's actions, but added: 'It is now up to us all to try and rebuild that credibility ... it's important we don't get distracted by looking at who is standing beside who but actually do the job of work of government, providing leadership.'
Democrat Presidentiable Joe Biden's family members had run-ins with felonies like drugs and driving under the influence (DUI), but none served jail time for any offenses.

Here are the instances of the charges and who got charged amongst the members of Biden's Relatives.

Felonies and misdeanors

August 2019, Caroline Biden, 33, his niece was caught for driving under the influence and without a license in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. Public records reveal that her case is active as of late. There is doubt if she'll be made to account for them under the law, reported New York Post.

All details of her arrest were kept from the public and only the ninth among Biden's closest relatives. But records dug up to reveal more serious felonies that included his brother Frank, Hunter, and Ashley.

Caroline was caught another time on her third driving under the influence. Her father is James Biden Sr who the younger brother of Biden. On September 2013, she assaulted an officer of the law at her residential apartment. The reason for the commotion was unpaid rent by a roommate, all charges were dropped when she agreed to anger management classes.

Another incident in 2017 was for spending $110,000 from a purloined credit card. Her felony charges were dropped soon after. A lesser serious charge of petty Larceny was a deal negotiated by her defense attorneys. She dodges jail time due to her attorneys, cited Best Ways News.

Did Joe Biden use his influence or not?

Nothing could connect Biden to any of the felonies committed by his family at all. No hard evidence has ever been dug up if he did help to fix these to keep everything quiet. His family members getting off the hook can be a great concern for some.

Also read: NYPD Cops Strike on July 4 to Let NYC Be 'Cop-Free' for Independence Day

According to Robert Barnes, a criminal defense attorney who told the New York Post that both George Floyd and Eric Garner when they died would benefit from Biden's influence. He is now the lawyer of Central Park "Karen" Amy Cooper, who according to him can resolve her dilemma and whatever crime, confirmed Dennis Michael Lynch.

When asked by his campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo, if Biden made any calls to the law to iron out whatever mess his relatives were busted for, Biden just said that interfering is rubbish.

Ashley Biden, 39, was caught with pot when she studied at Tulane University during 1999. The New Orleans police verified the possession of illegal pot, but courts register a no conviction.

A decade later, she was seen doing cocaine at a party but Biden made no comment.

In 2002, Biden's daughter was arrested for interfering and threatening statements at a brawl at a Chicago bar. Soon after, all charges were scrubbed.

His brother, Francis "Frank" Biden, 66, tried to steal two DVDs in Blockbuster video in 2003 October. He was caught but the state DA dropped the case.

He was pinned for DUI at Fort Lauderdale and it got him six months' probation. Next, he was nabbed with a suspended license, he rehabbed or it was jail for him. Another was a felony of liability for William Albano's death, owing $1 million to the family. He has been sobering recently, mentioned Daily Mail .

Another family member was his son Hunter in 1988 who was caught for drugs. Ironically, Biden had voted for the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which his son was never charged under, as well as his other family members getting a pat on the back.

Related: New York Cops Will Get $1 Billion Cut From Their Budget, Warns De Blasio

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Protesters and police at the Rizzo statue in front of the Municipal Services Building on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Read more

On May 30, the first day of large-scale protests against police brutality in Philadelphia, crowds coalesced around what had become a symbol of Philadelphias troubled police-community relationship: the statue of former Police Commissioner and Mayor Frank Rizzo.

As some used fire, ropes, hammers, and a metal barricade to try to bring it down, others, including Joe Rupprecht, 24, began to gather along the perimeter of the crowd in a defensive line.

Then, police moved in. Rupprecht said he did not hear any communication  no warning or order to clear the area. They charged us. They were bashing people with their shields. They were picking up the barricades and swinging them toward us, just being really violent, he said. Then out of nowhere a cop reaches over the line and bashes me with his baton. I go down immediately and then a protester helps me get back up. I thought I was OK for a second, and then I start seeing blood drip down my face and Im hearing ringing in my ears.

He sustained a concussion, he said, from a gash to his head that would require 10 staples to close. To Rupprecht, his experience illustrates that the city must investigate its response to protests well beyond what happened on I-676, what Mayor Jim Kenney now calls an unjustifiable response in which hundreds of people were pelted with tear gas and rubber bullets as they fled from police.

A Philadelphia police spokesperson referred questions to SEPTA, because it involved a SEPTA police officer. Andrew Busch, a spokesperson for the transit agency, said the officer was placed on administrative duty pending findings from both internal affairs and criminal investigations. Busch said the agency had received reports the officer struck two people, a man and a woman, with his baton. By Sunday, May 31, the officers supervising lieutenant had flagged the incident for review, Busch said. The SEPTA Transit Police Department Board of Review is scheduled to make a recommendation based on the internal investigation this week.

But that Saturday evening, at a news conference held while Rupprecht was still receiving medical care, Kenney praised the professionalism of the police that first day, noting protesters had pelted them with insults, spit, and projectiles. He said 14 officers were injured, adding, Ive never seen a group of people have more restraint putting up with what they put up with.

In an average month over the last year, Philadelphia police received eight citizen complaints of excessive force, a review of published data shows. From May 30 to June 30, 35 such complaints were lodged, 21 of them protest-related, according to a spokesperson.

About 17 minutes into aerial footage broadcast live by Fox29 during the first day of protests, bottles can indeed be seen flying toward police lines. Police can also be seen using bicycles, metal barricades, and shields to charge at protesters, and swinging their batons in the crowd where Rupprecht and others were standing.

William Chip Stinton, 29, a friend of Rupprechts who was part of the protest, termed the event a police riot, describing what he saw as escalation by police. He was separated from Rupprecht and did not see the baton strike him. When I tried to find him there was blood on the ground and on people, he said. He asked the police,  Wheres the guy that you hit?' And the police said, We didnt touch anyone. 

Stinton and Rupprecht also claim that police on the scene refused to provide aid or an escort to the hospital. Busch said he was told Rupprecht had walked away and not asked for assistance.

Jerry Coleman, a trained EMT who was off duty but participating in protests, said he had seen the crowd getting aggressive, and many police staying cool. I seen police officers get their face painted that day and didnt even flinch, he said. Others crossed the line.

He saw Rupprecht stumbling out of the crowd bleeding and helped him into his car. It took about 15 minutes to get from City Hall to the emergency room at Jefferson University Hospital because they kept running into police roadblocks. Of four they encountered, two let them pass. They had to literally look in the backseat of the car to see someone bleeding to believe me, he said.

Rupprecht may sue the city, said David Rudovsky, who is representing him and many other protesters. To the extent the police were trying to clear an area because they thought damage was about to be done or it was not a peaceful protest they could tell people to leave, he said. Instead, he said, an officer clubbed him without provocation.

It would be one of several impending civil rights lawsuits, including an expected action on behalf of those who were exposed to tear gas and rubber bullets during a protest on I-676 on June 1 and along the 52nd Street corridor of West Philadelphia on May 31.

The city ceased defending its response to I-676 after a New York Times video investigation compiled many of the most egregious aspects of that highly visible incident in the heart of the city. But it has not acknowledged wrongdoing on 52nd Street, where neighbors say tear gas was sprayed at curious onlookers and down residential streets.

It was the same stuff, only this time perpetrated against Black people in West Philadelphia, said Marni Snyder, one of a coalition of lawyers reviewing those claims. Its really sad when people are out protesting police brutality against Black people, and they are then brutalized by police in a predominantly African American community in or near their own homes, and there is not enough concern being shown about it.
Iffath Fathima By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Here is some good news. Now, you can know whether you are Covid-19 positive or not in a jiffy. The HCG Care Centre in Bengaluru has started using the chest X-ray method on a pilot basis.

According to Dr Vishal Rao, member of the Covid consultative group and onco surgeon who initiated the project, X-rays can be used to screen Covid-19 patients which is cost effective and the results are given in 10 minutes.

Now, they have decided to expand it to pan Karnataka where all the districts can scale up and start using X-rays to detect early signs. With the State carrying 20,000 tests a day, it has become difficult to give the results on time.

Dr Rao started the pilot project of using X- rays for Covid-19 detection in Yelahanka on 1,000 ASHA workers and pourakarmikas.

He told TNSE that the results were given to them in 10 minutes and all of them tested negative.

Already there is a huge backlog of samples to be tested. With this method in place, people will be able to get results in no time and it will only cost them Rs 200, Dr Rao said.

A chest X-ray and analysis at HCG will cost Rs 250, while a Covid-19 test could be Rs 4,500 if a person goes directly to a private hospital or Rs 2600 if the person is referred by a government hospital.

Dr Rao said that after the X-ray is done, an artificial intelligence system is used to analyse it, wherein a computerised algorithm will search in the suspicious area which will give the appropriate results.

Right now, the DRDO has been helping us with AI. I have asked all the private hospitals in Bengaluru to start using X-ray for testing. Once they send the X-ray reports to us, we will give them results after we finish the AI analysis. Many districts in the State have only one or two laboratories for sample testing. If they start using X-rays , they can test more people and even get results fast. The accuracy rate in the X-ray is more than 95%, he said.

Recently he even showcased how the X-ray and tests work to Chief Minister BS Yeddiyurappa. After I showcased it, the government is mulling about the project, he said.
Moscow, July 12 : Russia has become the first nation to complete clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine on humans, and the results have proven the medication's effectiveness, the media reported on Sunday.

Chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk, who heads the Center for Clinical Research on Medications at Sechenov University, told Russian news agency TASS on Sunday that the human trials for the vaccine have been completed at the university and they will be discharged soon.

"The research has been completed and it proved that the vaccine is safe. The volunteers will be discharged on July 15 and July 20," Smolyarchuk was quoted as saying in the report.

There was, however, no further information on when this vaccine would enter commercial production stage.

Russia had allowed clinical trials of two forms of a potential Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology on June 18.

The first vaccine, in the form of a solution for intramuscular administration, was carried out at the Burdenko Military Hospital.

Another vaccine, in the form of a powder for the preparation of a solution for intramuscular administration, was carried out at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.

The first stage of research on the vaccine at Sechenov University involved a group of 18 volunteers and the second group involved 20 volunteers.

After vaccination, all volunteers were expected to remain in isolation in a hospital for 28 days.

Earlier, results of the COVID-19 vaccine tests performed on a group of volunteers in Russia showed that they were developing immunity to the coronavirus.

"The data obtained by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, proves that volunteers of the first and second groups are forming an immune response after injections of the vaccine against the coronavirus," according to an earlier statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.

Russia has reported 719,449 cases and 11,188 deaths to date.

There are at least 21 vaccines currently under key trials, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The overall number of global COVID-19 cases was nearing 12.7 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 564,000, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US.

As of Sunday morning, the total number of cases stood at 12,681,472, while the fatalities rose to 564,420.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities at 3,245,158 and 134,764. Brazil came in the second place with 1,839,850 infections and 71,469 deaths.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
A number of public thinkers are pining for a culture capable of hosting spirited debate in a neutral marketplace of ideas. In this vision, intellectual exchange is unencumbered by personal attacks or harsh judgment or, indeedto preserve freedom of inquirythe risk of professional consequences. And at the moment, many intellectuals seem most focused on curbing these illiberal tendencies on the left. The left, they say, have declared certain ideas off-limits for debate, dismissing those who want to debate them with insults or social opprobrium or even calls for firing. This leftist speech, the lament goes, is having a chilling effect, impeding the free flow of ideas, and making good thinkers hesitant and risk-averse. If you espouse the wrong position, you may pay with an internet pile-on or even your livelihood.

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This sounds like a nightmarish state of affairs indeed. But theres something crucial missing in these analyses, which grow vague and blame the present climate when they draw their comparisons to Orwells 1984. To hear them say it, its this climate that is responsible for unjust firings, even more than the actual employers. This climate is angry. This climate wont be reasoned with. But what I think is largely responsible for this phenomenon theyre observingwithout understandingis Twitter. And the internet at large. And how years of arguing on social platforms, mixed with the incentives that they supply, has distorted not just the way most of us talk about things but also the way we manage ideological dissent. In short: Political discourse has been warped less because of cancel culture or illiberalism than by the way social media platforms have been poisoned, like wells, that poison us in turn.

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I get the longing for better discourse. I even share it. But blaming people on the internetas most of us are, helplesslyfor not engaging in good-faith debate doesnt just misdiagnose the problem; its stunningly naive. Have you met the internet? Chilled speech isnt new. Members of marginalized groups online have from the start dealt with threats, insults, and harassment campaigns for the crime of articulating their ideas in public. But free speech defenders didnt sound the alarm about the marketplace of ideas then. Im not sure whats changed.

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My bigger objection, however, is this: Pundits who do their work online dont get to be naive. They especially should know better than to act as if the death of good-faith debatewhich I agree is a problemcame out of nowhere, or out of identity politics run amok. You cant cut the far-right out of the picture, as if censorious rhetorical strategies emerged out of a void. And you cant separate the platforms on which political speech is happening from the effects youre condemning. Anyone weighing in on the state of political discussion should know, and factor into their analysis, that social media has made an internet public square where good-faith debate happens a thing of the past, if it ever existed at all. (I came closest to experiencing such a thing back when there were blogs.) The fact is that on Twitter, where much political news gets generated and disseminated and discussed, disagreement is usually expressed through trolling, sea-lioning, ratios, and dunks. Bad faith is the condition of the modern internet, and shitposting is its lingua franca. Onyesboth sides. Look: A professional Twitter troll is president. Trolling won. Perhaps its time to acknowledge that despite their centrality, online platforms arent suited to the earnest exchange of big ideas.

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I understand thats frustrating, especially to those who wish to freely debate difficult questions with smart adversaries and cant find any takers. You could call that refusal to debate illiberalism, I suppose, or you could recognize that theres a history here. And if you want to know why people arent bothering to engage seriously or at length (or shout at you when you try), that history is worth trying to understand. For one thing, social media platforms got flooded by devils advocates who wasted the time and sapped the energy of people who were actually investedsometimes cruelly, and for sport. That tends to weed out good-faith engagement. Add to this that most arguments worth having have been had and witnessed thousands of times already on these platforms, in multiple permutations. Those of us whove been here for a while know their tired choreographies, the moves and countermoves. If I see someone bring up black-on-black crime in response to an article about racist policing, I know how almost every step of the interaction will go should I choose to engage. Rather than learn from these exchanges, people of all persuasions on Twitter mostly enjoy the style of whichever dunk we happen to agree with. This isnt universal, of course. One can try to engage in good faith, and some people do. But given that the reward for all that effort is likely to be mockery or contempt, one learns not to bother. Black-on-black crime becomes a cue to sign off. (Or lob an insult. Or quote-tweet with a mocking meme. There are lots of things Twitter is good for, and building solidarity among people who agreesometimes by starting movements, sometimes by ruthlessly dunking on a minority opinionis one of them.)

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Now, you may wonder: Doesnt this world-weary presumption that you know how arguments will go lead to paranoid readings and meta-debates that seem totally batshit to onlookers who arent internet-poisoned? Yup! And that crosses over into real-life engagements too, since at this point it would be foolish to insist that online patterns arent having offline effects. Take All Lives Matter. Most people by now understand how the phrase works to undermine social justice protests, but for a long time, it did exactly what it was meant to: It made people who knew what it was actually saying seem paranoid and crazy for objecting to an anodyne statement that seemed bighearted and self-evident. Why would you refuse to debate someone whos simply saying that all lives matter? is the kind of question an Enlightenment subject longing for a robust exchange of ideas might ask. Well, the reason is that most of us have learned, through bitter experience in the mirror-halls of the internet, that it would be a waste of time. It probably wouldnt be a true exchange. Weve tried. Weve watched others try. And we know by now what All Lives Matter signals, and that what it signals is orthogonal to what it says. Your fluency in this garbage means you take shortcuts: Maybe, if youve been online a lot, you dont even bother to refute the text anymore. You leap to the subtextwhich is that black people dont deserve public advocacy or concern despite being disproportionately abused and killed by police. So maybe you dont argue. Maybe you just call that position racist and call it a day.

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To outsiders, that leap will look absolutely nuts. But thats the point of a certain kind of troll-poisoned political messaging: to make the other side look paranoid and unhinged. Its certainly what all the coded Nazi signals are forthe 14 words, the numbers, the OK hand sign that both is and isnt a white power sign, the boogaloo junk. Theyre all ways to divorce surface meaning from intentional subtext. And they work. Try explaining any of these to someone who isnt online; convince them that Hawaiian shirts are the costume of choice for members of an extremist movement hoping to start a second civil war. Hawaiian shirts!

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Yes, this dynamic is very bad for discourse. Yes, it inhibits intellectual exchange. Yes, it makes productive dissensus almost impossible. But that isnt because of cancel culture or illiberalism. Its because in this discourse environment, good-faith engagement is actually maladaptive. If you tried to carefully explain to every single person who posts All Lives Matter on the internet why they shouldnt and how they might not know that it sounds racist, youll lose your mind. Many of them know what theyre saying and are doing so on purpose. The ones who do it innocently are rare. You could engage in good faith in hopes of finding the latter, but instead, people do something pretty rational given the context (and the volume of stuff they have to sort through): They take shortcuts. Filter. Classify. All Lives Matter = racist. Deadnaming someone = transphobe. If these exchanges feel abrupt and supercharged, its because a lot of people are at the end of their rope anywayif youd spent years fielding the same devils advocate arguments about the inferiority of your race or gender or sexuality, even a hint of one of those talking points might tempt you to shut the discussion down too.

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Its possible and likely that knowledge gaps between people who are online too much and folks who arent are making things a lot worse. Someone who isnt online much might be shocked to see people at a protest accusing a nice-looking young man in a Hawaiian shirt of wanting a second civil war. It might indeed look like cancel culture gone mad. Hes just standing there! Civilly! Offering support to Black Lives Matter protesters, of all things! Cant we all, whatever our disagreements, come together in support of a good cause?

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Its also true that people whove learned to read through texts (to whatever bummer of a subtext were used to finding there) can overdo it. We sometimes skip the content of the text itself and reflexively fast-forward to the shitty point we know is coming even if maybe it isnt. This will frequently aggravate the other party, especially if they werent headed in that direction; it sucks to have people assume the worst about you. Thats all pretty bad for a healthy discourse, but its a learned response to a platform that has fundamentally skewed the cost-benefit analysis of engaging. The rational move has become to presume bad faith.

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Even free speechthe concept at the heart of this debateis embattled territory. Take free speech defender: The term will mean one thing to an idealist and something completely different to someone who has seen Reddit hordes viciously defend revenge porn and sites like r/beatingwomen, r/Jewmerica, and r/creepshots while people whose pictures got posted there begged for help. Free speech! they were told. (I used to be a free speech absolutist myself, but the banning of those toxic subredditsthe very act that violated the sensibilities of many free speech championsended up transforming a site known for its unfettered human perversity into one of the few places I visit to witness actual good-faith debate.)

Sure, it would be nice to be able to discuss hot-button issues civilly, even or especially from opposite ends of the spectrum. But the internet pressure-cooked rhetoric. Folks can watch the same argument be conducted a million times in slightly different ways now, and thats interesting, and a blessing, and a curse. Its produced a kind of argumentative hyperliteracy. If people on all sides can foresee every step of a controversy (including the backlash to the backlash), it makes perfect sense to meta-argue insteadover what X really means, or implies, or what, down a road we know well, it confirms. No, this isnt conducive to rational exchanges on neutral ground. People talk past each other. Question each others motives. Sic their followers on their targets, or shitpost just because they can. Were not reenacting the Lincoln-Douglas debates here. That all this is understandable does not mean that it is good. But these behaviors didnt develop in a vacuum. I dont know how (or if) we get sincerity back. I have no prescriptions; it seems to me we ought to get the descriptions right first. We can agree that things are bad, but its just not the fault of illiberalism that good faith is in short supply. If thats where the analysis begins, I cant actually tell whether that reaction is naive or trolling. And Im no longer sure which is worse.

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She recently enjoyed a second date with former Beverly Hills, 90210 star, Brian Austin Green, following his split with wife Megan Fox.

And Aussie Instagram model and restaurant owner Tina Louise looked pretty cheery as she added to her extensive tattoo collection over the weekend.

The stunning 38-year-old model had a giant rose design inked across the left side of her stomach to match an identical one on the other side.

Life's just rosy! Brian Austin Green's rumoured new fling Tina Louise gets a new rose tattoo across her torso next to some VERY rude ink

The new tattoo was also placed near some very rude scripture, which reads 'F**k you'.

Tina documented getting her tattoo on her Instagram page, and then showed off the floral design in a red lacy G-string.

She later slipped into a revealing white bikini to go on a boat cruise.

Tina is a popular model on Instagram, where she boasts 2.4 million followers.

Last week Tina enjoyed a romantic date at Sugar Taco with Hollywood star Brian, which she co-owns. The restaurant serves vegan Mexican fare such as tacos, nachos and burritos.

Show off! Tina documented getting her tattoo on her Instagram page, and then showed off the floral design in a red lacy G-string

Naughty! The design was also placed near some very rude scripture that reads 'F**k you'

Hot, hot, hot: Tina is a popular model on Instagram, where she boasts 2.4 million followers

It seems that Brian and Tina are growing closer as they laughing and touched each other during the date.

The were also seen taking a walk down the street to stop by Boba Cafe.

The week before, Brian was spotted meeting Tina for the first time; they also dined at Sugar Taco on this occasion.

On May 18, Brian emotionally revealed on an episode of his podcast ...With Brian Austin Green that Megan had left him.

Heating up! Last week Tina enjoyed a romantic date at Sugar Taco with Hollywood star Brian, which Tina co-owns

Megan has been married to the thespian since 2010 and they share three sons, Noah, seven, Bodhi, six, and Journey, three.

The Transformers actress filed for divorce from Brian in 2015 citing irreconcilable differences, but she was back with him and pregnant with Journey the following year.

Megan has moved on with rapper Machine Gun Kelly, who has already declared on social media that he is 'in love' with her.
She initially rang her birthday with her parents at their family home earlier this week.

But Anna Vakili took things up a notch as she celebrated turning 30 in style alongside her sister Mandi and her nearest and dearest at an extravagant party in Rickmansworth on Saturday evening.

The Love Island star appeared in great spirits as her glitzy bash was complete with incredible features, including naked butlers, a pink and white balloon display and pop-art cake.

Wow-factor! Anna Vakili celebrated turning 30 in style alongside her sister Mandi and her nearest and dearest at an extravagant party in Rickmansworth on Saturday evening

Highlighting her famous curves, the pharmacist stunned in a silver sequinned dress for the special occasion.

The reality star took inspiration from Jessica Rabbit as her ensemble's thigh-high slit showed off her lean legs.

Anna flashed her white pedicure in black strappy heels, while she accessorised with a dainty diamond necklace.

Ensuring all eyes were on her, the TV star style her honey-blonde tresses in soft curls, while her complexion was enhanced with dewy make-up.

Lucky Anna! The Love Island star appeared in great spirits as her glitzy bash was complete with incredible features, including naked butlers, a balloon display and pop-art cake

They've got each other's backs: The sisters are incredibly close, and look remarkably alike, to the extent that many have previously mistaken them for twins

All eyes on her: Highlighting her famous curves, the pharmacist stunned in a silver sequinned dress for the special occasion

Centre stage: The reality star took inspiration from Jessica Rabbit as her ensemble's thigh-high slit showed off her lean legs

Watch her glow: The TV star style her honey-blonde tresses in soft curls, while her complexion was enhanced with dewy make-up

Less is more: Mandi, meanwhile, left little to the imagination in a bedazzled catsuit, which showed off her black lingerie

Mandi, meanwhile, left little to the imagination in a bedazzled catsuit, which showed off her black lingerie.

The birthday girl's lavish soiree was decorated by The Party Organising Professionals, while Drip Bakery presented her with a sensational three-tier Victoria sponge cake.

Incredible food platters, including burgers and sides, were organised by Cheese & Chai, while alcohol was provided by Cocktail In A Jar.

Earlier in the week, Anna was treated to a two tier cake, designer gifts and an expansive platter of Iranian food from her parents.

She also shared hilarious childhood throwback snaps of herself and Mandi on her big day.

The healthcare professional had been gifted a photo collage by her father, depicting her youth with family shots and numerous snaps of the sisters posing together.

In good company: The healthcare professional was joined by her Love Island pal Amy Hart

Vixen: The former flight attendant, 26, turned up the heat in a nude PVC dress

Wow-factor! Guests were presented with champagne on arrival

Incredible: The birthday girl's lavish soiree was decorated by The Party Organising Professionals, while Drip Bakery presented her with a three-tier Victoria sponge cake

Intricate details: Anna took a step back in time with personalised Love Island cups

That's clever! The social media star, who recently returned to her pharmacy career, had alcohol decorated in fake prescriptions

Delighted with her sentimental present, Anna showed off some of the individual pictures, including one of herself and Mandi, which she captioned: 'LOOLLLLLLLL.'

Baby photos included those of Anna in a nappy, flashing a cheeky smile at the camera, and a close up of her as a chubby-looking child.

Other shots saw Anna and Mandi as children sitting together and smiling while wearing velvet frocks.

The sisters are incredibly close, and look remarkably alike, to the extent that many have previously mistaken them for twins.

Milestone! Earlier in the week, Anna was treated to a two tier cake, designer gifts and an expansive platter of Iranian food from her parents
Amid the ongoing dispute with China over boundary issue, the Indian Army is going to place another order of 72,000 Sig 716 assault rifles from the United States.

The order for the second batch of the assault rifles would be coming after the first lot of 72,000 rifles, has already been delivered to the army for use by troops in Northern Command and other operational areas.

"We are going to place an order for 72,000 more of these rifles under the financial powers granted to the armed forces," defence sources said.

The Indian Army had received the first lot of Sig Sauer assault rifles to boost its counter-terrorism operations. India had acquired the rifles under the fast-track procurement programme.

The new rifles will replace the existing Indian Small Arms System (Insas) 5.56x45mm rifles used by the forces and manufactured locally by the Ordnance Factories Board.

As per the plan, around 1.5 lakh imported rifles were to be used by the troops in the counter-terrorism operations and frontline duties on the Line of Control, the remaining forces would be provided with the AK-203 rifles, which are to be produced jointly by India and Russia at Amethi ordnance factory.

The work on the project is yet to start due to several procedural issues faced by the two sides.

The Indian Army had been trying to replace their standard INSAS assault rifles for many years but the attempts failed due to one reason or the other.

Recently, the defence ministry placed an order of 16,000 light machine guns from Israel to do away with the shortage of these guns.

India and China are in a stand-off position in Eastern Ladakh as the Chinese army has deployed more than 20,000 of its troops there without any provocation since May first week.

Though there has been disengagement on the front, the Chinese have still maintained heavy troops presence in the rear areas.
The number of recoveries stands at 5,34,620, while there are 2,92,258 active cases of the COVID-19 infection presently in the country, the updated data at 8 am on Sunday showed.

The coronavirus case count in India neared 8.5 lakh on Sunday as the country reported 28,637 new patients and 551 deaths in the 24 hours since 8 am on Saturday, according to the Union health ministry.

Lockdown restrictions of varying degrees were extended in a few places across the country in view of the incessant increase in cases.

The Uttar Pradesh government decided to implement strict restrictions across the state on weekends to check the spread of coronavirus, joining Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which have been imposing Sunday lockdown.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Information) Awanish Awasthi told PTI that the lockdown restrictions will be imposed from the coming Saturday on weekends and will remain in place at least for July.

Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami extended the curbs in Madurai and nearby regions including the Paravai Town Panchayat and several village panchayats till 14 July.

In Maharashtra, existing lockdown curbs in Thane's Bhiwandi town were extended for a week till 19 July. In Latur, district Collector G Shreekant said that the city will be placed under a fortnight-long "strict" lockdown from the midnight of 15 July.

"The lockdown will start from 15 July midnight and end on 30 July. The essential and emergency services will continue to operate. However, liquor shops will be shut from Monday itself," the collector said. "The lockdown will be strict and the fine for not following the norms is higher than what was during the previous lockdown," Shreekant said adding that detailed guidelines will be issued on Monday.

In Kerala, the Thiruvananthapuram district administration extended the lockdown in the city limits till 20 July to contain the spread of COVID-19. Also, there will be a night curfew in force in Thiruvananthapuram from 9 pm to 5 am. However, certain relaxations have been allowed, including playing of taxis and autorickshaws following strict COVID protocols.

Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Bihar were among the states that have already announced area-wise lockdown for different durations.

The Karnataka government has also announced a complete lockdown in Bengaluru for seven days from 14 July.

The Maharashtra government had earlier announced a comprehensive lockdown in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad from 13-23 July. The state government had imposed similar curbs in areas around the state capital Mumbai.

The Arunachal Pradesh government had on Saturday extended the lockdown in the capital region for another week till 5 pm on 20 July in view of the spurt in COVID-19 cases in the region.

Authorities in Kashmir too began strict implementation of another phase of the lockdown on Sunday, sealing off the historic Lal Chowk and 67 other areas in Srinagar which have been declared containment zones after a sudden surge in COVID-19 positive cases over the past one week.

Recovery rate nears 80 percent in Delhi

However, there have been some positive developments in Delhi where the COVID-19 case count on Sunday remained below the 2,000-mark for the second consecutive day.

With the recovery rate improving to nearly 80 percent, authorities have for now put on hold plans to use stadiums as makeshift coronavirus care facilities.

In the last 24 hours, the National Capital has recorded 1,573 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the case count to 1,12,494 in the city, while the death toll mounted to 3,371 after 37 fatalities were reported, according to the latest Delhi health department bulletin.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Delhi has been able to minimise deaths of coronavirus patients in home isolation through pulse oximeters, which he termed as a"suraksha kavach'' (protective shield).

Maharashtra records 7,827 new cases

Maharashtra was still struggling to contain the surge in cases which rose by 7,827 to 2,54,427 on Sunday, the highest in the country. With 1,263 new COVID-19 cases being recorded on Sunday, Mumbai's case count mounted to 92,720, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

Sixteen personnel at the Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai have tested coronavirus positive, a civic official said. In a statement, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said he is perfectly alright and had tested negative.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, his son Abhishek, daughter-in-law and actress Aishwarya and granddaughter Aaradhya are among those who have tested positive for COVID-19. In a series of tweets, Abhishek said he and his father will "remain in hospital till the doctors decide otherwise".

Aishwarya and Aaradhya have also tested COVID-19 positive. They will be self quarantining at home. The BMC has been updated of their situation and are doing the needful.The rest of the family including my Mother have tested negative. Thank you all for your wishes and prayers   Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 12, 2020

Veteran actor Anupam Kher said his mother, Dulari, along with brother Raju and his family have also tested positive for COVID-19 and are currently under quarantine.

This is to inform all that my mother Dulari is found Covid + (Mildly). We have admitted her into Kokilaben Hospital. My brother, bhabhi & niece inspite of being careful have also tested mildly positive.I got myself tested as well & I have tested negative. @mybmc is informed.! pic.twitter.com/EpjDIALft2  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) July 12, 2020

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka observe Sunday lockdown

Tamil Nadu, which has the second-highest number of cases in the country, came to a virtual standstill under an intense 'Sunday lockdown'.

Only police and health personnel could be seen on roads, and hospitals, labs, ambulance services and pharmacies alone worked as per government directives. Such curbs will be observed on two more Sundays this month.

Health workers, however, continued their routine of door-to-door checks to ascertain if people had flu-like symptoms in Chennai and several other parts of Tamil Nadu. Mist cannons, which are huge blowers mounted on trucks, went around several neighbourhoods in Chennai spraying disinfectants.

With 4,244 fresh infections being reported, the total number of cases in the state rose to 1,38,470, the state health department said.

In Karnataka too, most vehicles stayed off the roads and shops remained shut due to the Sunday lockdown.

The number of coronavirus cases in Karnataka may double in the next 15 to 30 days and the coming two months would emerge as a big challenge for the government in tackling the pandemic, state Health Minister B Sriramulu said.

"Lockdown has been announced in Bengaluru from Tuesday 8 pm for the next seven days. Abide by the regulations. Everyday more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus are coming to fore," Sriramulu said late Saturday.

As on Saturday, the cumulative total of COVID-19 cases in the state touched 36,216.

The state health department attributed the spike to the enhanced testing capability.

Meanwhile, shops and business establishments, other than those dealing in essential services, remained closed in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The state government had on Thursday announced 55 hour-long restrictions from 10 pm on Friday till 5 am on Monday following a surge in coronavirus cases.

The state has reported over 35,000 cases so far.

Gujarat, West Bengal report new cases

Several states reported highest single-day spike on Sunday. Among them was Gujarat where the overall case count rose by 879 to reach 41,897.

West Bengal's COVID-19 cases crossed the 30,000-mark with record 1,560 new cases reported from different parts of the state, according to a bulletin issued by state the health department.

A new daily record of 1,933 cases pushed the coronavirus tally in Andhra Pradesh to 29,168 on Sunday.

Bihar registered the highest single-day spike of 1,266 novel coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 16,305 on Sunday even as nearly a third of its 38 districts were under lockdown to contain the pathogen. Patna, Bhagalpur, Nalanda, Nawada, Begusarai and West Champaran districts have been under restrictions for more than 24 hours.

India's fatality rate among lowest due to widespread testing, says Harsh Vardhan

India added a record 28,637 cases of coronavirus infection pushing the country's COVID-19 tally to 8,49,553, while the toll climbed to 22,674 with 551 people succumbing to the disease in a day, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated in the morning

The number of recoveries stands at 5,34,620, while there are 2,92,258 active cases of the novel coronavirus infection presently in the country, the updated data at 8 am on Sunday showed.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said early detection of COVID-19 cases through widespread testing, surveillance and clinical management has resulted in India having one of the lowest fatality rate at 2.66 percent

The minister, who visited the Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre (SPCCC) at Chhattarpur in Delhi to review its COVID-19 management status, also said that "our success" can be seen in the recovery rate which is almost 63 per cent at present

With inputs from PTI
Based on the research I've conducted, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization/movement is likely not what most people think it is. Here are a few verified ideas to consider.

One may think of the BLM movement as a "grassroots" movement. According to the BLM website, BLM is a "global organization active in US, UK, and Canada." The website, Influence Watch, points out that George Soros, a Hungarian-born liberal with a net worth of $25.2 billion, is a major contributor to BLM, having donated "at least $33 million." The same website states that since 2013, groups associated with the BLM movement have taken in $133 million.

On another point, it appears that BLM is rooted in Marxist philosophy. From the New York Post (06/25/20), Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors describes herself and her co-organizer of BLM as "a trained Marxist." The article goes on to say Cullors was a protege of Eric Mann and that she "spent years" with him "absorbing the Marxist-Leninist ideology that shaped her worldview."

Consider what this might mean for the USA if BLM pushes its agenda and platform. According to Investopedia, Marxism argues for a worker revolution to overturn capitalism in favor of communism. Furthermore, Marxism is against the nuclear family in that it teaches a hierarchical system and keeps money within groups (families), opposed to distributed wealth. The website ReviseSociology explains, "Marxists argue that the nuclear family performs ideological functions for Capitalism  the family acts as a unit of consumption and teaches passive acceptance of hierarchy. It is also the institution through which the wealthy pass down their private property to their children, thus reproducing class inequality." Furthermore, the website Brainscape points out, "[Marxists] dispute the idea that the way families are organized benefits everyone. The website goes on to say, "[R]ather [Marxism] argue[s] that the family like many other institutions in capitalist societies, serves to maintain the power of those with wealth and preserve the existing economic system."

BLM is antinuclear family. The following quote was taken directly from the BLM website: "We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages' that collectively care for one another[.]" More Marxist philosophy from the BLM Platform itself: BLM argues for a reformed tax code "at the local, state, and federal level to ensure a radical and substantial redistribution of wealth."

The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations defines terrorism as "the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives" (28 C.F.R. Section 0.85). The New York Post (06/25/20) reported that Hawk Newsome, president of Greater New York Black Lives Matter (BLM website denies this title), stated, "If this country doesn't give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right? And I could be speaking figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It's a matter of interpretation." Also stated by Newsome, "I just want black liberation, and black sovereignty. By any means necessary."

This evidence is pretty compelling in suggesting that the BLM movement presents itself as a Marxist philosophy pushing organization with characteristics of a terrorist entity. This seems like such a strange way to strengthen race relations and advocate for the human and legal rights of U.S. citizens.

Image: Johnny Silvercloud via Flickr (cropped).
First Minister Arlene Foster has expressed regret at sectarian messages displayed on some loyalist bonfires.

Fewer Twelfth of July events took place across Northern Ireland this year amid coronavirus restrictions.

However, there were significant crowds at several fires that did go ahead.

Upper Queen Street at the New Lodge in north Belfast has been sealed off by police after further disturbances this evening. Petrol bombs have been thrown and a barricade lit in the middle of the road pic.twitter.com/4lN7xnKRKo  Rebecca Black (@RBlackPA) July 11, 2020

Meanwhile, in north Belfast, there was a second night of sporadic disorder near a community interface as police came under attack from petrol bombers in the nationalist New Lodge close to a bonfire in the loyalist Tigers Bay area.

The PSNI confirmed that bottles, masonry and a number of petrol bombs were thrown at officers throughout Saturday evening in Queens Parade and New Lodge Road.

Ahead of the Eleventh Night fires, politicians and community leaders had urged people to avoid mass gatherings and stick to Covid-19 regulations that limit outdoor gatherings to no more than 30 people.

Crowds well in excess of 30 were witnessed at a number of fires that were lit late on Saturday night.

Expand Close Police in the New Lodge area of Belfast, after officers warned of consequences for those involved in a day of disorder in the north of the city (Rebecca Black/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police in the New Lodge area of Belfast, after officers warned of consequences for those involved in a day of disorder in the north of the city (Rebecca Black/PA)

Mrs Foster said she regretted that some people did not follow advice from the Orange Order to stay at home for the annual July 12 celebrations.

She also condemned the violent scenes in north Belfast, and criticised those who placed sectarian and offensive messages on the loyalist bonfires.

They really need to take a look at themselves and ask themselves what sort of a Northern Ireland do they want to live in  do they want to live in a Northern Ireland where everyone is entitled to proudly celebrate their culture and identity, or do they want to live in a split Northern Ireland? she told the BBC.

I know certainly the one in which I want to live in, its one where we can all proudly celebrate but do so in a way that is not offensive and certainly not sectarian.

Expand Close A young boy plays drums by a bonfire in Belfasts Shankill Road (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook

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Meanwhile Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill condemned the bonfires.

Political unionism must do more to challenge and confront the destructive and toxic issue of anti-social bonfires, she posted on Twitter.

These fires are not only detrimental to the environment, but also to community relations.

Sectarianism has absolutely no place in our society and must be rooted out.

Political unionism must do more to challenge and confront the destructive and toxic issue of anti-social bonfires



These fires are not only detrimental to the environment, but also to community relations



Sectarianism has absolutely no place in our society and must be rooted out  Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) July 12, 2020

In a statement on Sunday morning, PSNI Superintendent Lorraine Dobson said it was extremely disappointing that officers had come under attack again by youths throwing petrol bombs in the New Lodge area.

Damage has been caused to a number of our vehicles but, thankfully, none of our officers were injured, she said.

We are again today appealing to young people who are involved in this type of criminal and anti-social behaviour to stop. You need to realise the consequences of your actions, and the impact it has on the community.

I would also appeal to parents and guardians of young people to please ensure you know where your young people are, who they are with and what they are doing.

I would also appeal to those in the community to use their influence to ensure we do not see a repeat of this senseless activity we have witnessed over the last two nights again in the area.

She added that police will seek to gather evidence to bring those responsible before the courts.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said crews responded to 24 bonfire-related incidents between 6pm on Saturday and 1am on Sunday  a 29.5% decrease compared with 2019.

The spokesman added that no attacks on personnel or appliances were reported.

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Whatsapp A bonfire in Belfasts Lower Newtownards Road (Niall Carson/PA)

Bonfires are torched in loyalist communities across the region every July 11 to usher in the main date in the Protestant loyal order parading season, the Twelfth of July.

While the majority pass off without incident, some are the source of community tension, with authorities previously having intervened to remove towering pyres on health and safety grounds.

Many of the fires were cancelled during the Covid-19 lockdown, with a number of sites cleared of wood by the local authorities.

However, the recent easing of restrictions in Northern Ireland led to some reversing the decision to cancel.

Expand Close A plastic gorilla is wrapped in Union flag by a bonfire in Belfasts Shankill Road (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp A plastic gorilla is wrapped in Union flag by a bonfire in Belfasts Shankill Road (Niall Carson/PA)

Some bonfire builders also appear to have been motivated amid loyalist anger over a controversy that saw hundreds of republicans acting in alleged variance with the regulations to gather in west Belfast last month for the funeral of IRA veteran Bobby Storey.

The Orange Order has cancelled its plans for traditional mass Twelfth of July parades and demonstrations, which were scheduled to take place on Monday July 13 because the 12th fell on a Sunday.

Some loyalist bands are planning to take part in localised events on Monday, urging people to stay in their homes while they parade past.
An alleged attempt by a 19-year-old man to "open a branch of the State Bank of India" at Panruti near here was scuttled and he was arrested for forgery, police said here on Saturday.

The man, son of retired SBI employees, had readied fake seals and challans of the public sector lender, and had other paraphernalia like a cash counting machine needed "to run a bank branch," on an upper floor of his residence at Panruti, about 25 km from here.

He had not, however, put up any signboard.

The SBI Panruti branch manager lodged a complaint with police seeking action following a tip-off by a customer that the man was "opening an SBI branch and has challans as well."

Following questioning, he was arrested for forgery and possession of counterfeit seals. A printer who printed the challans and another who had made fake seals were held for similar offences and abetment. They were produced before a magistrate court and enlarged on bail.

Asked if the man had cheated people by soliciting deposits or facilitating loans, Panruti police inspector K Ambethkar told PTI, "no..We have not received any such complaint so far."

The man's late father had worked for SBI and his mother had retired from the same bank some time back, he said.

To a question, the police inspector said the man's mother, who has mobility issues, and another woman relative living in the same house had no clue about his "idea."

Investigations revealed that he aspired to work for a bank and since he had closely watched banking operations for long he was "very knowledgeable" about it.

On the suspected motive, he said several of his replies were incomprehensible, childish, and strange notwithstanding his excellent understanding of the banking processes.

"He even calmly told us that he awaited approval from Mumbai to open the (SBI) branch and that he was about to putup a signboard," the inspector said, adding that the man had tried unsuccessfully to get employment on compassionate grounds in the SBI following the death of his father in harness.
The Indian Army and the Chinese PLA are expected to hold another round of high-level talks by Wednesday to thrash out modalities for the next phase of de-escalation as part of complete disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh besides finalising a roadmap for ensuring peace and tranquillity in the high-altitude region, military sources said on Sunday.

There was no change in the ground position, and the next phase of the de-escalation process will kick off only after the fourth round of talks between corps commanders of the two sides, they said.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has already completed pulling back troops from Gogra, Hot Springs and Galwan Valley and significantly thinned down its presence in the ridgeline of Finger Four in the Pangong Tso area in the last one week as demanded by India.

India has been insisting that China must withdraw its forces from areas between Finger Four and Eight. The mountain spurs in the area are referred to as Fingers.

A relative calm prevails in the areas, the sources said adding India has been maintaining a hawk-eyed vigil in all areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region and was fully ready to deal with any eventualities.

The top military brass in Delhi is monitoring the situation in the region round-the-clock, they said, adding there is no question of lowering guard at all.

The sources said the fourth round of Lt General-level talks are likely to be held on either Tuesday or Wednesday and the main focus of it would be to finalise modalities for withdrawal of troops from rear bases of the two militaries.

The formal process of disengagement of troops began last Monday after a nearly two-hour telephonic conversation between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday.

On Friday, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks during which both sides resolved to push ahead with "complete disengagement" of troops in eastern Ladakh in a timely manner for "full restoration" of peace and tranquillity.

In the meeting, it was decided that senior commanders of the two armies will meet "soon" to discuss further steps to "ensure complete disengagement and de-escalation".

The two militaries have held three rounds of Lt General-level talks so far and the last one took place on June 30 during which both sides agreed on an "expeditious, phased and step wise" de-escalation as a "priority" to end the standoff.

The first round of the Lt General talks was held on June 6 during which both sides finalised an agreement to disengage gradually from all the standoff points beginning with Galwan Valley.

However, the situation deteriorated following the Galwan Valley clashes as the two sides significantly bolstered their deployments in most areas along the LAC. The second round of talks took place on June 22.

The Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a bitter standoff in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for over eight weeks since May 5. The tension escalated manifold after a violent clash in Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed.

The Chinese side also suffered casualties but it is yet to give out the details. According to an American intelligence report, the number of casualties on the Chinese side was 35.

Both sides have held several rounds of diplomatic and military talks in the last few weeks to ease tension in the region.

Tensions had escalated in eastern Ladakh around two months ago 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.
Standing at border control in Moscows Sheremetyevo Airport in early April, Gaylen Grandstaff wasn't sure what was about to happen.

A 53-year-old American from Texas, Grandstaff had been trapped in Russia for almost three years, stuck in a nightmare because of a cleaning product.

Falsely charged by Russian prosecutors with large-scale drug smuggling for ordering a bottle of solvent cleaner online, he had spent nearly two of those years in a Moscow jail while on trial, an ordeal that ABC News chronicled in a documentary film last year.

A court released him and twice found the charges against him to be unfounded. But police had refused to let go of the case.

So as hed walked towards passport control, Grandstaff thought at best he might likely be turned backat worst he was taking steps back towards prison.

That didnt happen. Instead, Grandstaff is finally back in the United Statesout of Russia at last after the coronavirus pandemic granted him a sudden opportunity to leave, which unfolded in dramatic fashion.

It was like something out of a movie. You would never believe something like this could happen in real life, Grandstaff told ABC News by phone the morning he landed outside Russia.

On April 9, he boarded a flight chartered by the U.S. embassy to London to repatriate Americans stranded in Russia by the virus lockdown. Denied an exit visa and facing renewed efforts to try him, Grandstaff and American officials had no certainty he would be allowed out.

But early that morning, the plane landed in Heathrow Airport and Grandstaff walked off the ramp onto British territory. For the first time in three years, he felt safe.



PHOTO: Gaylen Grandstaff in a courtroom in Moscow. (Patrick Reevell/ABC News)

Limbo

Grandstaff, 53, had been living in Moscow for seven years with his Russian wife Anna, working as an English teacher, when he was arrested at their apartment in July 2017. Days earlier, he had ordered a $10 cleaning product from the Chinese website, AliExpress. But the cleaner contained gamma-butyrolactone, or GBL, an industrial solvent that is banned in Russia and many other countries as a narcotic.

Story continues

Grandstaff, who suffers from Crohn's disease, said he had been upsold the product by the Chinese vendor while buying medication and had no idea it contained GBL. But Russian police charged him as a large-scale drug smuggler, an extremely serious offense that carries a 10  20-year prison sentence.

Grandstaff was sucked into Russia's justice system, where conviction is essentially guaranteedless than 1% of criminal trials end in acquittal-- and where manufacturing evidence is routine and procedures intended to protect defendants rights are frequently ignored. He was held in grim conditions in Moscow pre-trial detention centers, abused by guards and twice seriously assaulted by inmates. Prohibited from writing in English to his wife, he began illustrating his jail experiences by depicting himself as a cartoon bear.

His case appeared to become one of tens of thousands of suspected fabricated drugs cases in Russia. As a judge would point out two years later, police presented almost no evidence Grandstaff had knowingly purchased the GBL. Prosecutors twisted facts in the case, called farcical expert witnesses and at least one witness said her testimony had been distorted.

In March last year, the judge abruptly acknowledged the cases problems. She sent it back to prosecutors for further investigation and released Grandstaff in the courtroom. He credited his unexpected release to his lawyers and the presence of the media that had covered trial.

Free to move around Moscow, Grandstaff hoped then he would soon be able to leave for the U.S. But instead -- as often happens in Russian criminal cases -- he became trapped in a bureaucratic limbo as prosecutors refused to drop their efforts to jail him.

Because Russias justice system is heavily geared towards conviction, when prosecutors provide insufficient evidence, instead of dismissing a case, a judge can send it back for police to gather  or potentially manufacturemore. In practice, there is little to prevent cases from hanging over accuseds heads for years.

In December, a second court confirmed Grandstaffs release and that there was insufficient evidence to charge him. But police still refused to formally close the case against him.

While he had been in prison, Grandstaffs Russian visa had expired and because the case remained open authorities refused to give him a new one. It meant he couldnt leave. If he attempted to depart Russia he could be detained at the airport. And police could use that as an argument for his alleged guilt. He was trapped.

Once a case is open, Russian prosecutors are incentivised not to reverse-- keeping conviction quotas up is rewarded, while dropping charges is treated as an unnecessary failure. Russian rights experts suggested during Grandstaffs trial that was a key reason for his continued prosecution.

Grandstaff said police officers overseeing the case told him that admitting the case was wrong would be too embarrassing.

One of them was actually honest with me and said, the problem is youre an American and you spent two years in prison', Grandstaff said. 'Theres too many people and departments who will be held responsible.'

Dropping the case would also mean having to pay Grandstaff thousands of dollars in compensation.

This spring, prosecutors requested new court dates to renew the trial. It seemed Grandstaffs ordeal was starting again.

Increasingly convinced he was going to be jailed again, Grandstaff began considering more desperate measures. He said he arranged with two friends to drive him across the border to Ukraine or Belarus. But that was scotched when Russian troops moved into the areas for exercises, he said.

Then the pandemic hit. Russia closed its borders and halted virtually all flights in and out. Hundreds of U.S. citizens were stranded in Russia.

Im just like, Oh my God, what am I going to do, man?, Grandstaff said.

PHOTO: Anna Grandstaff at her home in Moscow with life-sized drawing of Gaylen's bear. (Patrick Reevell/ABC News)

Getting out

But on April 8, his phone rang. A consular official from the U.S. embassy told Grandstaff there was a chartered British Airways flight to repatriate Americans leaving at 5.30 am the next morning. He said they wanted to offer to try to get Grandstaff on it.

They were like, ok, we dont know if this is going to work, Grandstaff said. Were just going to try it.

Head swirling, Grandstaff packed a bag and he and his wife drove to the airport. Embassy officials, including the ambassador were already there to help dozens of U.S. citizens trying to get home.

The embassy had been encouraging U.S. citizens to register for the repatriation flights. As an American and with formally no charges against him Grandstaff was eligible but embassy officials didn't know whether he might be stopped. The embassy said in the weeks before it had repeatedly asked Russias foreign ministry whether he was permitted to leave, but had never received any response. There was concern that in attempting to leave that night Grandstaff was taking a risk.

That was a risk that I think we were all aware of, a U.S. government official told ABC News later. That him showing at the airport might trigger a new chain of events that might be unpleasant for him.

An embassy official watched Grandstaff as he walked to the desk. Grandstaff said the border officer stared in disbelief when he presented his passportit showed he had been in Russia without a valid visa for two years.

The immigration officers pulled Grandstaff out of the line. Grandstaff just kept repeating since he was married he had simply never needed to renew the visa, he said. An embassy official and Grandstaffs wife joined the conversation. After more haggling, a Russian foreign ministry duty officer appeared, and said he needed to make a call.

In my mind honestly Im thinking, theyre calling the authorities theyre coming to arrest me, Grandstaff said.

When the official reappeared, he seemed more relaxed, Grandstaff said. He told Grandstaff he would be able to leave, he just needed to pay a standard fine for overstaying his visa. It was about $20.

Hardly able to believe it, Grandstaff paid the fine. The official printed off an exit visa. It meant Grandstaff would be leaving Russia legitimately.

The negotiating had gone on all nightthe flight was already boarded. Grandstaff rushed to the gate.

As the plane lifted off, the embassy staff in the airport broke out wine to celebrate getting the flight full of Americans out.

PHOTO: Gaylen Grandstaff conveyed his experiences in Moscow's jails to his wife by drawing himself as a cartoon bear. (Gaylen Grandstaff)

Back on US soil

Grandstaff had not visited the U.S. since 2015 and had not lived there in 9 years. In normal times it would have been like returning to a different country.

There was a big void there," Grandstaff said. "But on the other hand, it was home. And I really felt it. I literally for the first time in years, I felt like, well, I can just walk outside, I dont have to worry."

But the country he landed into in April was under coronavirus lockdown. After flying into a deserted New York, and spending two nights in a hotel, he managed to fly on to his next destination. (Grandstaff has asked ABC not to identify his current location.)

There could be no immediate homecoming welcomeGrandstaff had to go into quarantine for two weeks.

It didnt matter though, he said.

I spent seven or eight weeks in a solitary cell, you know, so whats this? Grandstaff said. He checked into a residential complex with grounds he could walk in. Friends dropped food on the doorstep. He went out to watch the sunrise each morning.

Without the pandemic, he also doubted he would now be home. At a time when much of the world was locked down, it was perhaps the only moment he could have got out. It was necessary, he said. With it being a chartered flight by the U.S. government. Having U.S. government officials there. And they wouldnt have been there if it wasnt for the virus.

After two weeks he was finally able to meet his parents. Grandstaffs father is 80 and currently undergoing chemotherapy. Neither of them had believed they were likely to see on one another again.

Every now and then it creeps in, Grandstaff said. Like my dad, all of a sudden hell just be, Man I never thought this day was coming. And its true. Its been surreal. It still is.

PHOTO: Gaylen Grandstaff was reunited with his parents after getting out of Russia. (Gaylen Grandstaff)

Grandstaffs happiness was still tempered. His wife Anna couldn't join him on the flight. Her U.S. visa had expired a few days before. She and Grandstaff have been married nearly 13 years and she had had a conditional green card card but had not renewed it.

Grandstaff has pressed U.S. migration authorities to speed up the process for her to reapply and in June he said the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and State Department agreed to expedite his request to allow Anna to apply to become a permanent resident.

The next step is for the embassy in Moscow to arrange a visa interview. But such interviews were already often taking over a year to schedule and with the pandemic the embassy has halted them entirely, except for emergency visas.

It means the Grandstaffs dont know when they will see each other again.

Asked when Anna Grandstaff might receive an interview, the embassy said given the uncertainty of the current situation, it is impossible to estimate when full services, including immigrant visa services, will resume.

The couple though are hugely relieved Gaylen is out of Russia. Grandstaff said he believes police were determined to unjustly convict him and he would have been imprisoned if he had not left.

I escaped out of the lions mouth, are you kidding me?, Grandstaff said. Ive got scratches from his teeth, man."

'Out of the lion's mouth': How American Gaylen Grandstaff finally got out of Russia after years falsely jailed originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Four $7,200 divisions of the Prospect Series for three-year-old pacing fillies were contested on Saturday (July 11) at Hiawatha Horse Park with Southwind Bayou once again finding the competition in this series to her liking.

Guided to victory in the first leg at Hanover Raceway by Doug McNair, Southwind Bayou was paired with Marc St. Louis Jr. on this occasion and the result was the same. After clearing to the lead over Twin B Hello (Tyler Borth) through a sharp :27.2 opening panel, St. Louis backed the tempo down but was challenged for the front by longshot Prideinmystride (Garrett Rooney) through a :57.4 half. Southwind Bayou firmly rebuffed that challenge, opening up to a two-length advantage at the 1:26.3 third station that widened on the field with every stride of the final stanza. A :29 closing quarter resulted in a 1:55.3 effort that was five lengths better than runner-up Shes Magic (Scott Coulter) with Prideinmystride staying for third.

Rob Fellows trains Southwind Bayou (Sportswriter - Cozy Beach) for Blair Corbeil of Beaumont, Alta., Yolanda Fellows of Rockwood and Arpad Szabo of Bradford, Ont. The win was the third this season in 11 tries and fourth lifetime, pushing her career earnings to $32,610.

Century Gianna (Bettors Delight - Mary Bits) captured the first Prospect division of the day with a wire-to-wire win in a lifetime best 1:59.2 for driver Scott Young, trainer Bob Young and owners Corbeil, Frank Chiaravalloti of Downsview, Ont., Paul Gazzola and Jaftica II of Guelph, Ont.

On the engine was also the winning move for Satdnite Jukebox (Shadow Play - Jukebox Money) in the third division. Driver Scott Coulter orchestrated the winning trip, a 1:57.1 maiden-breaking score for owner-trainer Anthony Beaton of Waterdown, Ont. and co-owner David Mercer of Sydney, N.S.

Chasethecloudsaway and driver Scott Wray tracked down Count To Three (Rooney) late to win the fourth and final Prospect split in 1:56.3. Gerald Lilley trains and co-owns the daughter of Sunshine Beach - Janns Bid, now a two-time winner in her career, with Fred Naclerio of Blenheim and Alex Lilley of Dutton, Ont.

Georgian Downs hosts the next leg of the Prospect Series on Saturday, August 1.

To view the results from Saturday card of harness racing in Sarnia, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hiawatha Horse Park.
Bridgestone Corporation has unveiled its new global brand tagline during a virtual press conference livestreamed recently from the company's Tokyo-based conference and training facility.

The new "Solutions for your journey" tagline supports the company's Mid-Long-Term Business Strategy Framework, which was also introduced at the press conference today by Bridgestone Global CEO and Representative Executive Officer Shu Ishibashi.

The new tagline and refreshed Bridgestone brand identity are part of the company's ongoing transformation and the evolution of its offering beyond tyres and diversified products to include advanced mobility and solutions.

Bridgestone has outlined a vision of providing social value and customer value as a sustainable solutions company today, tomorrow and toward the future in 2050, contributing to society's advancement with care, confidence and creativity.

"The introduction of the Bridgestone 'Solutions for your journey' tagline signals our company's ongoing transformation to the world and communicates our long-term vision to be a sustainable solutions company," said Shu Ishibashi. "We consider this moment to be a "Third Foundation (Bridgestone 3.0)" in our company's history, with the "Original Foundation (Bridgestone 1.0)" being in 1931 when Bridgestone was established and the "Second Foundation (Bridgestone 2.0)" taking place in 1988 when Bridgestone merged with the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company. We are excited for the future as Bridgestone advances to offer world-class mobility solutions that deliver increased value for our customers and society."

The "Solutions for your journey" tagline will replace the existing Bridgestone brand tagline, "Your Journey, Our Passion." The new tagline will be utilised globally in all markets where Bridgestone has sales and operations to strengthen the company's position as a truly global company.

Bridgestone will begin leveraging the new tagline in the second half of 2020 with a full-scale launch planned for the first quarter of 2021, it said.  TradeArabia News Service
By Aisha Jabbarova

Presidential Aide, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev has said that Armenia seeks to escalate situation on the front line in a bid to distract attention from the domestic problems, local media reported on July 12.

Hajiyev made the remarks while commenting on the Armenian attack on Azerbaijani units in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz region on July 12 that killed four Azerbaijani servicemen and injured others.

The attack by Armenia, with the use of artillery, against the positions of the armed forces of Azerbaijan, along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, constitutes aggression, an act of the use of force, and another provocation.

Hajiyev said that the State Border Services troops have been deployed along the extensive part of the state border in Gazakh and Tovuz districts from Azerbaijans side, to prevent provocations and reduce cases that can lead to tensions on the border. Armenia, on the contrary, has continued to militarize the border between two countries, while deliberately and systematically targeting the civilians, the official added.

Such military recklessness on the part of Armenia pursues an objective of drawing the military-political organizations to which it is a party to into the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and evade the responsibility of occupation and aggression against Azerbaijan, Hajiyev said.

He mentioned that Armenias occupation of Azerbaijans territories as well as provocations perpetrated along the border contravene the legal documents of the military-political organizations to which Armenia is a member.

In the meantime, by doing so, Armenia's leadership aims to escalate the situation, against the backdrop of socio-economic problems deteriorated further by the widespread of COVID-19 in Armenia, caused by its incompetent performance, and distract attention from the domestic problems in the country.

The presidential aide stressed that the provocation by Armenia, perpetrated along the border, is yet another evidence that the official Yerevan is disinterested in the negotiated settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

Armenia launched this offensive and a provocation during the time when the international community is fighting the COVID-19. That and continued violations of the ceasefire by Armenia proves that Armenias support of the initiative by the UN Secretary-General on a global ceasefire due to COVID-19 is nothing but hypocrisy.

Furthermore, Hajiyev urged the international community to condemn strongly Armenias policy of occupation against Azerbaijan and its provocative actions perpetrated along the border. Armenia's leadership bears full and sole responsibility for the current situation.

The official stressed that Azerbaijans armed forces remain in control of the operational situation. The Armenian side has failed to make any territorial gains.

___

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNews
OTTAWA - For the last four months, Canada's public health experts have been racing to stop the spread of COVID-19 by trying to figure out how everyone is getting it, and whom they may have given it to.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/7/2020 (555 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA - For the last four months, Canada's public health experts have been racing to stop the spread of COVID-19 by trying to figure out how everyone is getting it, and whom they may have given it to.

But even the best efforts have left doctors stymied about the source of more than one-third of this country's known COVID-19 infections. Not knowing where cases come from makes outbreaks that much harder to stamp out.

Now medical researchers and supercomputers are turning genetics labs into virus detective agencies, looking first to find the novel coronavirus itself within blood samples from thousands of infected patients, and then comparing all of those isolated viruses to each other looking for places they differ.

Every close match will draw a line from patient to patient, ultimately painting a picture of how the virus spread.

"This is the big effort over the next four weeks," said Andrew McArthur, director of the biomedical discovery and commercialization program at McMaster University.

"What's going to come out of there pretty soon is a glimpse of what just happened, how did it move around the province, how did it move between provinces or how big was Pearson (airport) in the early days of the airport being open."

Knowing how the virus spread will show where there were weaknesses in public health measures early on, said McArthur. Being able to keep divining genetic codes from samples will mean when there are flare-ups of cases, they can be quickly compared to each other to see if they're all related or are coming from multiple sources.

It means, for example, a long-term care centre should be able to quickly know if its 10 new cases are because one case spread widely or arose from multiple carriers coming into the facility.

"That's a very different infection-control problem," said McArthur.

It also means that maybe, just maybe, the second COVID-19 wave most think is coming won't be as bad, or as hard to control, as the first, because the sources can be isolated very quickly.

"A second wave is likely," McArthur said. "But we've never spent this kind of money and effort before, either, so maybe we'll beat it."

The kinds of genetic technology being used for this project did not exist when SARS hit Canada in 2003.

This genetic mapping is constantly on the look-out for mutations. Thus far, SARS-CoV-2, the official name for the virus that causes COVID-19, has not mutated as quickly as many others do. Influenza, for instance, changes so much over a year the vaccine has to be retooled every summer to keep up.

But there are enough subtle changes still happening among the 28,000 individual markers that make up a genome for SARS-CoV-2 that cases can be traced backward and linked to the ones that came before. McArthur said it takes a lot of data storage, a lot of high-capacity computer analysis, and a lot of money, to run the comparisons among them all.

The federal government put $40 million on the table in April for genetic research on COVID-19. Half is to keep tabs on the virus as it spreads, look for any changes it undergoes, and map its pathway across the country. The other half is to look at the genetic structures of the patients who get infected, trying to answer the puzzling question of why some people die and others have symptoms so mild they never even know they are sick.

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Genome Canada is administering the project, with six regional genomics agencies overseeing the work locally and labs like McArthur's doing the testing and analysis. The funding is intended to create genetic maps from 150,000 patients. Canada thus far has had about 108,000 positive cases, and the expectation is that almost every one of them will be gene-mapped.

The results will be loaded into a global site comparing all known infections of COVID-19, but also be analyzed for national and regional reports.

In New York, genetic sequencing was used to figure out that COVID-19 in Manhattan wasn't coming from China and Iran as imagined, but from Europe. In Canada, it is suspected that much of the virus came into this country from travellers returning from the United States in early March. But the work is only now beginning to confirm that belief.

McArthur estimates the first data will be available for Ontario in about four weeks, but warns it will take many more months to complete all of the tests. His lab sequenced 600 samples on Wednesday alone.

Overall, McArthur expects the genetics project to last for two years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2020.
On Sunday afternoon, at the house where the police said the Sidgiyayevas lived, a group of men wearing yarmulkes sat together at a picnic table on the front lawn, while others told reporters there would be no interviews.

Yana Abramova, 31, a neighbor who knew older members of the family, said the Sidgiyayevas are Mountain Jews from Azerbaijan who came to the United States about three years ago.

Our roots are from Iran, from Africa, Ms. Abramova said.

She said she had recently reconnected with the family during the pandemic. Ms. Abramova said Margarita had just graduated from high school and was planning to go to Long Island University to become a pharmacist. Daniel was in grade school, Ms. Abramova said.

The boy was so loving, so kind, she said. He loved his mother.

The childrens mother, Sayana, is one of three sisters and worked in a nail salon before the pandemic, Ms. Abramova said. The childrens father made deliveries of medical supplies, she said.

Their parents were so in love with them, Ms. Abramova said.

The crash, which was first reported by WPIX, happened near Raptor Point, a fishing area on the far northeast side of the field, said Daphne Yun, a spokeswoman for the Gateway National Recreation Area, which includes Floyd Bennett Field. Cars are allowed to drive on the runway during daylight hours, but the speed limit is 25 m.p.h.

As of Sunday afternoon, no arrests had been made, and investigators were still combing through the scene of the collision.

The deserted runways of the decommissioned airfield, which is in Marine Park, Brooklyn, near Jamaica Bay and is part of the National Park System, have attracted drag races in the past. But it was not immediately known if the two cars had been drag racing on Saturday evening.
HOLLAND, MI - Sunshine and warm temperatures might make it seem like a perfect beach day Sunday, but dangerous swim conditions and strong currents are forecast to develop in Lake Michigan along several popular beaches during the day.

The National Weather Service has issued a Beach Hazards statement for today, saying an increasing north wind will build waves up to 6 feet at some beaches, overtopping piers. It may develop into the kind of conditions where drownings are more likely to occur, forecasters said.

The juxtaposition of fairly good weather, waves of the height that produce the most drownings (3 to 6 feet) and a (July) weekend make Sunday a concern, NWS meteorologists in Grand Rapids said in their forecast notes. Folks are urged to stay dry when waves are high and steer clear of the pier! North sides of piers will be dangerous places to swim.

The beach hazard conditions will start Sunday morning in Mason and Oceana counties, and develop in the afternoon and evening from the Silver Lake area all the way south to St. Joe, NWS said.

Winds are expected to increase up to 30 mph out of the north as the day progresses.

A small craft advisory also will be in effect.

Authorities are urging caution after a recent spate of drownings. Over the Fourth of July weekend, three people died in separate water incidents in Northern Michigan. A teen died in Lake Michigan while swimming to a sandbar off the coast of Sleeping Bear Dunes, a man died while swimming after a jet ski that had come loose from a boat in Grand Traverse Bay, and another man died in an inland lake.

So far in 2020, there have been at least 30 drownings on the Great Lakes. More than half of those have occurred in Lake Michigan, according to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, a group that tracks drownings across the region and advocates for lifeguards.

7/11/2020 1:25 PM: Dangerous swim conditions late Sunday morning through Sunday evening. Strong currents and large... Posted by US National Weather Service Grand Rapids Michigan on Saturday, July 11, 2020

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La Nina Watch issued today for this winter; Why it matters to Michigan

Somewhere in Michigan may crack 100 degrees next week
For much of the last two months our lives have been inundated and disrupted with not only the pandemic but also the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minn. The footage was difficult to watch as Floyd pleaded for his life by requesting a breath of air. The racial divisions in America are complex and entail many facets.

Churches, schools, neighborhoods and many other aspects of society are often segregated. I have attended African American church services several times in the past, and I was the only white person in the congregation. Many other churches are predominately white. If diverse groups dont know one another and do not worship together, for example, how can they value and matter to one another in their separateness?

RELATED: Experts: Racism at root of public health gap between white people, people of color

Fortunately, I had a wonderful experience growing up in San Juan, Puerto Rico where my sister and I attended Spanish public schools from 3rd grade through 9th grade. Talk about total immersion in a culture and new language. We were the only white students enrolled with a student population of about 500 Puerto Rican students. My father, being a journalist, believed it would be a truly remarkable cultural experience although there were a few bumps along the way.

I remember my elementary teacher helping me with my Spanish vowels during lunch  A-E-R-O-P-U-E-R-T-O  while the other students were enjoying their limbers, frozen ice in a cup flavored with natural coconut, raspberry, grape and a variety of other island flavors to choose from.

But, it wasnt all fun and games. I quickly ascertained that fighting was a Puerto Rican sport, especially among elementary and middle school students. Being the Americuchi, gringo, or yankee as they called me many wanted to fight me. I soon learned about the pajita (a blade of grass) that was placed on ones shoulder. Many placed the blade on my shoulder to initiate the fight. The opponent would knock or blow it off your shoulder, and that meant you were supposed to throw the first punch. Eventually, I not only learned my vowels, but also the art of using my belt buckle and running when the bully was bigger, or there was more than one.

RELATED: Commentary: Teaching anti-racism at home and school

The experience was invaluable once I was old enough to understand the cultural benefit of being a minority and learning Spanish outside the states. During my college years, I studied Spanish literature, and I remember the work of the Puerto Rican playwright Francisco Arrivi who wrote La mascara puertorriquena (The Puerto Rican Mask). One of the female characters lightens her skin with white powder to hide her dark skin, a result of the miscegenation of the Spanish, the indigenous Taino, and the African ethnic groups. Arrivis point was that Puerto Ricans should embrace their ethnic diversity composed of the cultural syncretism of their mixed heritage and not try to hide behind the mask of a racial deception.

Racism can be eliminated when we immerse and integrate ourselves in each others culture. Diversity is marvelous because societies learn to respect and value every life. Im reminded that I may start attending an African American church to renew my personal journey as a proponent for an integrated cultural syncretism to take root in the United States.

Lane Carnes is the author of "The Arch's Prism (El prisma del arco)" in 2014, "Solitary Impressions" in 2016 and "City of Voices (La ciudad de las voces)" in 2018.
WASHINGTON - The grainy first-person testimonial arrived at 2 a.m. in late June. A 40-year-old man with a thick southern accent - shirtless, the red ember of his cigarette glowing in the green twilight between drags - looked into his smartphone and began talking.

"Hi, my name is Josh and I live in North Carolina and I voted for Donald Trump - my bad, fam," he begins, before explaining that this November will mark the first time "ever, ever" that he will vote for a Democrat. "If Joe Biden drops out and the DNC runs a tomato can, I will vote for the tomato can, because I believe the tomato can will do less harm than our current president."

The unsolicited video submission to a group called Republican Voters Against Trump is just one small part of a broader "Never Trump" rebellion that began four years ago as a largely ineffective cadre of appalled Republicans, but which has transformed in recent weeks into a potentially disruptive force in this year's presidential race.

Groups such as the Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump - which is focused on first-person testimonials like Josh's - emphasize guerrilla tactics and scathing ads as they troll the president. The movement seeks to build a national political operation to oust both the president and his supporters in Congress, with a particular emphasis on convincing white suburban voters who consider themselves true Republicans to break from the president, according to interviews with more than a dozen anti-Trump advisers and allies who are involved in the planning, some of whom requested anonymity to describe private discussions.

Advisers to the Lincoln Project, which they say has about 30 employees and raised $16.8 million this quarter, will soon expand to include ground operations. They are coordinating over 2,500 volunteers in Michigan, and plan to next target Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who they see as vulnerable after his challenger, Jaime Harrison, a Democrat, pulled in a staggering $13.9 million since April.

But most of the project's efforts so far have been centered squarely on Trump - evidenced by their surgical strike ads airing on Fox News in Washington, which are aimed not at persuading disaffected Republicans but simply at needling the president.

One 45-second spot focuses on Trump's health, featuring footage of the president walking haltingly down a ramp at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, with a narrator warning, "Something's wrong with Donald Trump. He's shaky, weak, trouble speaking, trouble walking."

After the ad ran - helping to inject questions about the president's fitness into the cable news cycle - Trump went off script for nearly 15 minutes to address his West Point performance at a rally in Tulsa, Okla., which was intended to reset Trump's stalled reelection bid.

As the campaign unfolds, the movement's influence will be tested, however, as many Republicans rally around the embattled president and as former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, becomes a more high-profile target of GOP attacks.

Two Republican officials who work on House and Senate races said the Lincoln Project and similar groups are more effective at rattling the president than affecting the electoral landscape. "They don't have juice," one of them said. A second added that groups aren't spending "big money," and that Trump - if the election were held right now - would face "a bloodbath" regardless of the groups' various efforts.

And it remains to be seen just how much influence the groups will ultimately have with the only metric that matters - persuading voters - rather than simply generating Twitter buzz and titillating the media.

The White House declined to comment on the record, although privately both administration officials and outside allies are dismissive of the groups - especially the Lincoln Project - which they dismiss as "scam PACs" run by "beltway swamp creatures whose candidates can't win," in the words of one senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share the administration's view of the groups.

Erin Perrine, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, was similarly critical. "This is the swamp - yet again - trying to take down the duly elected President of the United States," Perrine said in an email statement. "President Trump is the leader of a united Republican Party where he has earned 94 percent of Republican votes during the primaries - something any former president of any party could only dream of."

Still, the leading members of the anti-Trump bloc believe they can be helpful to Biden by sharply attacking Trump on divisive and controversial topics that campaigns typically avoid, such as the president's physical health. The Biden campaign, for its part, sees little downside to these outside groups going after the president, an official said.

And unlike in 2016, when many of them bandied around independent candidate Evan McMullin, whose campaign failed to dent Trump, their work this time is aimed on damaging Trump's standing rather than on offering a Republican alternative or challenging Trump at the party's convention.

Other groups in the anti-Trump wing include Right Side PAC, which is led by Matt Borges, former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party and advised by former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, a financier who has become a Trump critic. And there is 43 Alumni for Biden, formed by officials who worked in the George W. Bush administration.

The Lincoln Project was founded by Republican strategists John Weaver, Rick Wilson, Steve Schmidt and former New Hampshire Republican Party chair Jennifer Horn. Lawyer George Conway III, who is married to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, is also involved.

Republican Voters Against Trump, which was founded by longtime conservative and self-described "Never Trumper" Sarah Longwell, has concentrated almost entirely on sharing testimonials from traditional Republicans who voted for Trump in 2016, but are planning - sometimes reluctantly - to support Biden in November.

The group also includes William Kristol, a conservative commentator, Tim Miller, a Republican operative who worked on Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign, and Mike Murphy, a longtime Republican strategist.

Longwell said she spent most of the three years following Trump's election trying to understand what happened and conducting focus groups with voters who supported Trump in 2016 but now rate his performance in office as "somewhat bad" or "very bad." As her group began testing ads, they quickly realized that slick commercials were often less persuasive than raw testimonials from fellow Republicans with similar doubts about the current president.

They worked for several months to recruit 100 first-person testimonials, largely shot on smartphones - but now they have more than 400 videos, many of them unsolicited.

"The ones that really stand out tend to the be the ones where someone is really grappling with the decision, someone saying, 'I've been a Republican my whole life, I'm passionate about this party, I'm passionate about these ideas, but I just can't vote for Donald Trump,' " Longwell said. "It feels like they're getting something off their chest, and people really respond to that authenticity and the realness of that."

The group, which has begun airing testimonials on television and online in North Carolina and Arizona, plans to spend between $10 and $15 million and also go on the air in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and possibly Florida. Their target audience is largely white suburban women, a group that has already begun to move away from Trump.

On Sunday, Republican Voters Against Trump will air an ad during "Fox News Sunday," a program Trump frequently watches, in North Carolina and Arizona highlighting 15 Republicans who voted for Trump in 2016 but will now vote for Biden.

"It's OK to change your mind," the ad ends. "We did."

The current incarnation of the Never Trump movement represents an evolution from the group that first came together in 2016 to oppose Trump with blog posts and magazine articles. After Trump was elected, many of them eventually fell into line and backed the president with varying levels of enthusiasm, both in Congress and in the activist and media ranks, seeming to relegate the "Never Trump" slogan to curio status.

When the Lincoln Project was founded in December, expectations were low. Trump's approval rating among Republicans was sky high and most of his party's lawmakers were vocally supporting him in the impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill.

Then in early May the project received a jolt: "Mourning in America" - a dystopian twist on Ronald Reagan's famous 1984 "Morning in America" campaign spot - went viral, generating millions of views and drawing Trump's wrath for its skewering of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Trump campaign issued a lengthy statement in response to the ad, saying it inaccurately depicted the federal government's handling of the outbreak and calling those involved "scumbags" and "scam artists." PolitiFact rated as false one of the ad's claims that the bailout has not helped Main Street, an assessment disputed by the group.

Trump piled on, calling the group's founders "LOSERS" in a series of midnight tweets and later telling reporters, "They should not call it the Lincoln Project. It's not fair to Abraham Lincoln, a great president. They should call it the 'Losers Project.' "

Since then, the group and others like it have been emboldened.

"It would be foolish not to take advantage of the most undisciplined president in modern history," said Stuart Stevens, the chief strategist on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, who joined the Lincoln Project in May. "It's really a national conversation and one guy - Trump - has a pulpit unlike anything, and to get him to enter into the conversation amplifies the conversation like nothing else." Never Trump operatives also say they learned lessons from their failures in 2016, and believe the political landscape is more favorably disposed to their efforts this time. Trump now has a record for them to assail, and Biden is a more palatable candidate for some Republicans and independents who voted for Trump four years ago because they so disliked Hillary Clinton.

"Is there enormous energy to beat a divisive and incompetent president who is responsible for worsening the most devastating health and economic crisis in a generation? Absolutely. But we're also seeing a genuine and powerful movement of Americans uniting behind Joe Biden," said Biden campaign spokesman T.J. Ducklo. "Never Trump is translating to pro-Joe, and that is very bad news for the president of the United States."

Inside the Lincoln Project, there has been a frenzy of activity as the group has gone from a small outfit with a couple million on hand to a viral-video production machine. Turning their attention to the Senate map is of particular importance, and a new ad this past week offers a rebuke of Senate Republicans who have lifted Trump.

"Learn their names. Remember their actions. And never, ever trust them again," the ad urges, promising accountability for these lawmakers even after Trump is no longer president.

A Friday memo from the group obtained by The Washington Post argues that "Arizona and Colorado are off the board for Republicans" and says South Carolina, Kansas, and even Alabama could be in play.

Weaver also said that "dispatching Trump does not dispatch Trumpism," and cited Fox News host Tucker Carlson, as well as Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri as other potential party leaders he hopes to sideline.

"The next battle will be making sure those from his ilk do not get the next Republican nomination," Weaver said. "Our task won't be finished when Joe Biden takes the oath of office."

Meanwhile, Republican Voters Against Trump has been heartened by the outpouring of unprompted videos sent their way, like the one from Josh in North Carolina. When his video first landed, some suggested some light editing, but Miller, the group's political director, argued the video's power was its raw authenticity.

"He's like the Mona Lisa," Miller said. "He's perfect. He's like art."

- - -

The Washington Post's Michelle Ye Hee Lee contributed to this report.
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On this week's podcast, a look at the Tajik governments latest crackdown on the few independent media outlets left that still report honestly about affairs inside the country.
Mask up, Louisiana.

Face coverings and masks are now state-mandated because most of us prefer to live, and most of us want our loved ones to live, too.

Even if you disagree with us, most of us want you to live, too.

Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an executive order Saturday requiring face coverings or masks whenever were in public. This is a great thing. What a fashion opportunity. It gives us a chance to be creative with what we choose to put on our faces. I love socks, but most of you dont get to see those choices, even when Im in your company. But imagine the possibilities with masks and face coverings.

Im grateful that the guv issued this mandate. Frankly, he was scaring me as I watched the governors of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia issue face-covering and mask mandates. When Kentucky and Texas  yes, Texas  started requiring masks, I knew it was time for us to get in the growing line of states doing the right thing.

Some prominent people are wearing masks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Vice President Mike Pence. The nation's most respected COVID expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, wears a mask, and he knows a thing or two about what's going on. St. Tammany started a "slow the pace, cover your face" campaign to get residents on board.

Of course, I know were supposed to follow the data, not dates. I know were supposed to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and state public health officials.

Though the CDC keeps changing its guidelines, and even specific phrases and words online, generally theyve been clear that, in the absence of a widely distributed and effective vaccine, we have no choice but to stay home as much as possible and stay physically distant if we must go out for essential medical appointments, services or weekly shopping. To borrow a popular social media phrase, "mask it or casket."

The Greater New Orleans area was the center of our COVID-19 worries for weeks. New Orleans and Jefferson Parish werent proud to carry that distinction, but its sad that we now have 61 of 64 parishes with a growing number of novel coronavirus cases.

This isnt hard. We, individually, can take this into our hands and flatten the curve, lowering the number of hospitalizations and deaths even as the number of cases rise as we test as much as we can. All of us have to take this seriously. This problem is a statewide problem. Based on the cumulative incidence per 100,000 residents from June 22-July 5, here are the top COVID-challenged parishes and their rates: Jefferson Davis, 813. Iberia, 810. Calcasieu, 766. Madison, 734. Acadia, 681. Lafayette, 673. St. Martin, 622. Cameron, 617. Catahoula, 520. Terrebonne, 499. St. Mary, 498.

No Jefferson. No Orleans. Theyre at 339 and 171 respectively.

That means a lot more people across the state need to stay home, and mask up whenever they have to go out. No, you cannot go to the neighborhood bar and hang out. Thats off-limits as of Monday per the governors Saturday order. If you must go out, dont go out to hang out.

My suggestions are simple:

Stay home. Unless youre an essential worker or doing work you cannot do remotely, stay at your house. The best medicine is not getting sick and not making others sick. Wash your hands regularly.

Mask up. If you must go out, for a doctors appointment or some essential business, dont go out without a face covering or mask. Youre not wearing the mask for you; youre wearing it to protect others.

Carefully choose businesses. Shop responsibly. Choose to drop your coins and dollars and swipe your credit and debit cards only at those businesses where employees are complying and where businesses are requiring customers to wear masks. For customers, No Mask. No Service. Businesses, earn our business with Masking Up. Require all to mask.

Louisiana Department of Health Assistant Secretary Joe Kanter said during Saturday afternoons news that he and his colleagues have had a challenging couple of weeks. Too many numbers are going in the wrong direction. Its not a matter for debate among those who care about the general good and society at large.

According to Dr. Kanter, this is about the preservation of human life.

Lets agree to choose life. Lets flatten the curve. Again. Mask up.
A New York City priest who was accused by parishioners of embezzling nearly $1 million to pay for male prostitutes and buy a house in Ocean County has been found dead, his brother said on Saturday.

The Rev. Peter Miqueli, 57, who resigned in 2015 as pastor of St. Frances de Chantal parish in Throggs Neck, apparently died at the single-story home he owned on Cornell Drive in Brick, according to police and his brother, Joseph.

The former Catholic priests body was found by police in the home on Thursday, said his brother, adding that investigators notified him of the death.

I dont know anything else. The police were supposed to call me back but they never did, Joseph Miqueli told NJ Advance Media.

Miqueli was found deceased. This is a county medical examiners case, so we are not commenting further on it at this time, a spokesman for Brick Township police said in an email.

Peter Miqueli made headlines nearly five years ago when a lawsuit filed by a group of Bronx parishioners accused him of funneling church donations for personal use  buying the house in Brick, taking lavish vacations and paying for drugs.

The home in Brick Township where Peter Miqueli's body was found on Thursday.File

The lawsuit charged that Miqueli paid a male companion $1,000 for role-playing sessions that included acting out "sexual fantasies" and "bondage/discipline/sadism/masochism" activities.

Miqueli, who according to the lawsuit never earned a salary of more than $31,000, also used the money to assist with rent payments so the man could live in a Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan.

The status of the 2015 lawsuit is unclear  online records show the original complaint but no disposition. The Archdiocese of New York several years ago said it could not substantiate any of the allegations contained in the lawsuit.

The New York Post reported the archdiocese contacted the Bronx District Attorneys Office, which found that Miqueli stole more than $22,450 from the Throggs Neck church. No criminal charges were filed.

Joseph Miqueli, who lives in another state, said he has not spoken to his brother in years but texted him on his birthday, July 7  something he does every year.

I texted him and said, Happy Birthday. He didnt respond, but that wasnt unusual, Joseph Miqueli said. He never responds.

Joseph Miqueli said he never had a falling out with his brother, but the two just stopped talking nonetheless.

I love my brother, he said. Hes my little brother no matter what. My heart is breaking and theres nothing I can do.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Iranian investigators claimed in a report issued Saturday that the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet near Tehran was due to a misalignment of an air defense unit's radar system, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Iran initially denied any involvement in the January crash, which killed all 167 passengers and crew members on board. The Iranian government later admitted that its forces mistakenly fired a missile at the plane.

The aircraft was shot down as tensions between Iran and the U.S. ran high following a drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Iraq just days prior.

The state of play: The report claims that "a failure occurred due to a human error in following the procedure for aligning the radar, per the Post.

The missile operator allegedly attempted to contact supervisors but received no response.

The first two missiles were fired 20 seconds later.

Go deeper...What we know: Ukrainian Boeing 737 crashes in Tehran
Pandemic Worsens in US

By VOA News July 11, 2020

"Nobody is enjoying being locked at home. It is frustrating, it is challenging, but the strategy will be successful if we all play our part," Daniel Andrews, the premier of Australia's Victoria state said Saturday.

Victoria's capital city of Melbourne has begun a six-week lockdown because of a spike in coronavirus cases.

Victoria reported 216 new cases Saturday, down from the 288 on Friday.

"We will see more and more additional cases," Andrews said. "This is going to be with us for months and months."

Australia's seven other states and territories reported 11 new cases Saturday.

Anthony S. Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease expert, has warned the pandemic is worsening in the U.S. because the country lacks a coherent strategy to contain the virus.

"As a country, when we compare ourselves to other countries, I don't think you can say we are doing greatI mean, we're just not," Fauci said in a recent interview.

Fauci suggested earlier this week that states struggling to combat the virus "should seriously look at shutting down," despite state efforts to reopen in order to revive their economies.

On Friday, the United States reported more than 65,000 new infections, the latest in a string of record-breaking days.

The U.S. remains the hardest hit country, with about one-quarter of all confirmed infections and fatalities worldwide. As of early Saturday, more than 3.1 million people in the U.S. had contracted COVID-19 and more than 134,000 had died from the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University.

California has announced that it will release 8,000 prisoners by the end of August in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus in the penal system. Half of the more than 3,000 prisoners in the state's San Quentin prison are reported to have tested positive for the virus.

A bus driver died in France Friday. He was beaten earlier this week in Bayonne by passengers who refused his request that they wear face masks, which are mandatory in France on public transportation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Friday the decision to allow bars and other businesses to reopen may have been "too soon." His admission was made as the country's health ministry reported 1,500 new cases, a record single-day high.

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Doctors and technology have made huge differences to lives, but sometimes, in individual cases, theres also the matter of luck

Not all cancers yield readily to treatment, but there are new ways to detect cancer early, and to treat it successfully. Representational Image

Its amazing how medical technology has advanced. Half a century ago, for instance, cancer meant an almost certain death. Now, about a third of all cancer patients survive. Not all cancers yield readily to treatment, but there are new ways to detect cancer early, and to treat it successfully.

A little further back, in the early 20th century, pernicious anaemia meant almost certain death. Towards the mid-1920s, it became treatable. Its exact cause was discovered in the 1950s: a deficiency of vitamin B12. Treatment was simple, effective, and inexpensive.

Thereve been equally amazing advances in the treatment of diseases of the eye, for example. Sixty or seventy years ago, if you had a retinal detachment, the chances were that youd go blind. Today, methods are so advanced that fixing a detachment is almost a matter of routine.

Its not just technology: there are outstanding doctors who used some of these inventions to good effect. Theres Christiaan Barnard, for example, who did the first heart transplant back in the 1960s...

Doctors and technology have made huge differences to lives, but sometimes, in individual cases, theres also the matter of luck, sometimes dumb luck. Let me give you an example.

It began in 1976, in Trivandrum, not long before my school exams. My parents were worried about the effect of all that swotting on my weak eyes: Id used spectacles since I was 10, and the lenses got thicker every year. My parents thought that contact lenses would reduce the eyestrain, and decided that I deserved a pair, which was good news, because it meant a good excuse to bunk school.

The only place where you could check out contact lenses was the Government Ophthalmic Hospital, which we knew very well, thanks to those weak eyes.

Dad and I went there one sunny morning, and bumped into a technician he knew. He told Dad to leave me with him and not to worry, so I found myself alone in the large, crowded waiting hall, with just enough money to get back home.

Soon a lady doctor turned up, led me to a small chamber furnished with benches, put some drops in my eyes. Some 15 minutes, she inserted lenses into my eyes, and told me to wait awhile. With the lenses in place, I could see rather better, and I enjoyed that for a while. But then, Id been up half the night reading a new Alistair MacLean thriller, and the waiting was making me unbearably sleepy. Some minutes after the doctor left, I lay down on one of the benches and dozed off.

When I woke, the world was blurred again. I had no idea what had happened to the contact lenses. I thought they might have fallen off while I slept, so I spent the next few minutes on my hands and knees, feeling the entire dusty concrete floor for those fragile bits of glass, and despaired when I couldnt find them.

When the doctor returned I told her Id lost the lenses. Perhaps she was new: she wasnt quite sure what to do so, she fetched help in the shape of an older lady doctor. This new doctor found the lenses at the sides of my eyes and retrieved them gently, all the while giving me a lecture on my irresponsible behaviour.

When the lenses were safely out, she relented, perhaps because of my nerdy looks, and offered me a bit of advice: if I studied regularly, she said, I wouldnt have to lose sleep over exams. She saw my heavy spectacles, and continued, Hmmm! Let me have a good look at your eyes.

She led me to a dark room with instruments with glowing lights and many handles and levers. After a longish inspection, she shut off everything and led me back to the room with the benches. You need some minor surgery in both eyes, she said, but we cant do it here. Youll have to go to Madras for it... Its nothing very serious, but you have to get it done. Come back tomorrow with your father. Ask for me. My name is Mary Kuriakose.

Next day, she spoke almost exclusively to Dad. Your sons retina has weak spots, she said, but we can strengthen those. One Dr Badrinath in Madras will do it.

Hes got his exams coming up, Dad said. Can it wait until after that?

She smiled. Itll have to, she said. Youll have to wait at least two months for your appointment. She handed Dad a letter referring me to Dr Badrinath. Write to him immediately.

Dr Badrinath, was a large, reassuring man with an American accent. He took the time to explain the problem to me, and not just to Dad, and the procedure went off smoothly. One round of treatment wasnt enough, and, over the next few years, it was repeated several times. Meanwhile, technology kept progressing.

By the 1990s, retinal detachments could be treated with a good chance of success, much better than in the late 1980s.

And so, when I had a retinal detachment last year, fixing it was a routine operation, something that wouldnt have been possible a quarter of century ago.

Then, earlier this year, my friend Dr Kamath found that the cataract in the good eye needed to be removed, and did so late in June. As this goes to press, Im still recovering from this round of surgery, and, with any luck, wont need any more.

So, Im grateful to dumb luck. If I hadnt gone to sleep in that waiting room nearly half a century ago, I wouldnt have seen Dr Kuriakose, and would probably have had my troubles before they could have been treated so smoothly. Im grateful to her, for starting this chain of events. So, from the bottom of my heart, heres to you, Dr Kuriakose.
The Irish premier has said it is too early for British holidaymakers to return to Ireland without being quarantined.

Micheal Martin said the advice from his government to its citizens is to avoid any non-essential travel as they press for schools to reopen next month.

The Irish prime minister said his cabinet will discuss international travel further this week, including whether to strengthen resources at airports.

We would be very cautious on international travel generally, he said.

On 20 July we will announce our measures in relation to international travel and essentially we have developed a methodology somewhat similar to the European Union and its relation with third countries; essentially, the methodology will be in relation to the level of the disease in particular countries, including the UK, countries that are at Irelands level or below.

In terms of people coming in to Ireland, the advisory and the quarantining still remains and its under constant review. Why? Because theres a lot of international volatility with this virus, weve seen a spike in numbers. Were very concerned about that.

Speaking on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show, Mr Martin emphasised that his government wants to take a cautious approach.

The suppression of the virus is key. Weve watched reports where, in certain parts of the UK, there are still difficulties where certain areas had to go into lockdown and so on, and further severe restrictions, he said.

He described doing everything we possibly can to avoid a second spike of the virus in the Irish republic where the reproductive rate of Covid-19 was found to have increased to one last week.

Clearly the agenda for government is very much dominated by the continued prevalence of the virus and were watching very carefully what is happening across Europe in terms of spikes and in terms of experiences of other member states who have opened up earlier than we have, he added.

On Saturday, two more coronavirus-related deaths were confirmed in Ireland by the Department of Health, taking the total to 1,746.

As of midnight on 10 July, 23 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were notified, taking the Irish total to 25,611.

PA
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Diseases do not have political or religious beliefs. They are equal opportunity haters. Yes, some diseases will have an affinity for a particular gender, race, age group, but never will they affect your body based on your political ideologies. However, the way our health care systems deal with diseases will intersect with our political leaders, their beliefs, political views, and ideologies. Lets take female reproductive health care as an example. If you need access to birth control, counseling for such services, or abortion services, you are likely to get access or be denied access based on the politicians who are currently making legislative decisions on whether women should be allowed to have such services available, which has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with a politicians religious beliefs.

The 20th century has seen several deadly pandemics, including the Spanish flu, influenza, SARS, and the one we are currently dealing with, the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic. These pandemics have caused thousands and thousands of deaths, and while they had no political affiliation, the way they were handled by every country affected was very much dependent on the political will or lack thereof. Politicians either stepped up to the plate and worked with health care workers to curb them, or downplayed them because it made them look bad. The end results of government actions speak for themselves.

In the United States, we are currently at over 2 million cases of COVID-19 and over 130,000 deaths from this disease. This is a tragedy that could have easily been prevented if our leaders cared more about the well-being of their citizens instead of economies, stock markets, and their political campaigns. To all those arguing about how the economy is more important, I ask, how will sick and dead people contribute to an economy? How will sick and dead health care workers contribute to our already broken health care system, which is a critical part of any economy?

Before we decide to sacrifice our loved ones for the economy, we must remember that a nation cannot flourish if its citizens are not healthy.

Rabia Jalal is a physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
A senior writer for Fox News host Tucker Carlson has quit after it emerged he was secretly posting alleged racist and offensive remarks on an online forum.

The writer, Blake Neff, this week allegedly responded to a racist question posed by another user which asked if people would let a JET BLACK congo n***** perform Lasik eye surgery on them.

I wouldnt get LASIK from an Asian for free, so no, Mr Neff responded, according to CNN, which first reported the allegations.

Fox News told The Independent Mr Neff had resigned, and Carlson has been approached for comment.

Mr Neff, who worked at Fox News for four years, had previously been praised by Carlson, who in 2018 called his colleague a wonderful writer and in a book acknowledged Mr Neff for helping with research.

In an interview published recently by Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, Mr Neff said: Anything [Carlson] is reading off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me.

Carlson himself has been repeatedly accused of making racist remarks on-air, and was earlier this week hailed as a potential replacement for Mike Pence as Donald Trumps 2020 running mate by former KKK leader David Duke.

In other alleged racist comments made on online platform AutoAdmit, Mr Neff reportedly wrote that black men playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down, and said that Democrat politicians including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wanted to make the US a dumping ground for people from third world s***holes".

It is also claimed he mocked women online, including comments over a five-year period about one woman he was Facebook friends with.

Mr Neff could not be reached for comment, but in a memo emailed to staffers, Fox News said Mr Neff had made "horrendous and deeply offensive racist, sexist and homophobic comments" on the online forum.

"We want to make abundantly clear that Fox News Media strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behaviour. Neff's abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation," the memo read.

"Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our workforce."

Carlson, a close confidant of Donald Trump, has recently lost lucrative deals with major advertisers after he said that the Black Lives Matter movement certainly isnt about Black lives, and remember that when they come for you. And at this rate, they will.

He has also previously said that allowing the worlds poor into the US will make it poorer and dirtier, bemoaned Somalian congresswoman Ilhan Omar as living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country, and dismissed white supremacy as not a real problem just after a self-professed racist shooter killed 22 people in El Paso, Texas.
General Macomb deserves honor

In response to the article (Should Alexander Macomb statue be removed, June 28 Macomb Daily) concerning the statue to Gen. Alexander Macomb  which includes calls for the statue to be removed  on behalf of the people of Plattsburgh, NY, where Gen. Macombs greatest triumph took place.

The monument represents a life committed to the defense of our early republic and the hundreds of lives lost at Plattsburgh and the thousands of lives lost on during the War of 1812.

Macombs ingenuous defense of Plattsburgh against the largest British army during the war is worth commemorating.

While I understand the desire to reckon with the larger Macomb family name and Macombs role as commanding general, that should not preclude honoring a man whose military skill helped save our early nation.

The statue should continue to stand, if not because of Macombs singular actions, but as a representation that had we lost the Battle of Plattsburgh, Michigan would likely be a Canadian province.

Should Macomb Countys leaders decide to remove the statue, I ask that it be gifted to the community in which Macomb earned his fame  Plattsburgh, NY. The monument could overlook the fortifications Macomb commanded or the mass grave of hundreds of early American patriots he led into battle. Please, reach out to you counterparts in Plattsburgh and Clinton County to give The Hero of Plattsburgh a proper home.

Alex Villanueva

Plattsburgh, NY

James is no Michael Taylor

Unlike Mayor Michael Taylor, John James will not stand up for Michigan

Im disappointed by Republican leadership at all levels. Thats why Mayor Taylors column (Trump administration bungled pandemic response, June 19 Macomb Daily) really stood out. Taylor is a Republican who puts his Sterling Heights constituents above personal and political gains. He offered a truthful, clear-eyed assessment of President Trumps bungled pandemic response following Vice President Pences visit to Sterling Heights.

Taylor is brave enough to say what everyone knows is true. For weeks President Trump dragged his feet on procuring PPE, testing and support to essential workers. Trump was too busy pitting states against each other for PPE and medical equipment, posing for photos with a bible, bullying on Twitter, spreading conspiracy theories, and planning a rally with thousands of people in the midst of a pandemic. Taylor isnt afraid to be a Republican that stands up to his partys President and do whats right for Michigan by focusing on uniting our nation, healing our wounds, protecting the vulnerable, and safely reengaging our workforce.

Not all Republicans are as admirable as Taylor, primarily Republican candidate John James. James silence is a huge disappointment as is his participation in Pences photo op. Macomb has almost 7,000 cases of COVID-19, over 860 deaths. James has not called out Trump for his disastrous pandemic response, instead joins Mike Pence for lunch in a packed restaurant, all while neither wears a mask. James actions show me he will not be an independent voice in Washington, James is running to serve Trump not Michigan.

Kristina Lodovisi

Warren

Shelby resident questions Rideout

There appears to be acceptance of certain actions, discontentment with others. Rev. W.J. Rideout, that staunch supporter of fairness and equality, is more concerned about what a person thinks, or says. Actions mean nothing to him, especially in his own back yard. Rideout wants Shelby Townships Chief of Police fired, all because of comments posted on social media. All the while hes spouting off his very own neighborhood is being shot up, children wounded, people killed. So an implied thought is more important than the act? The atmosphere today is one of distrust, all created by small minds. If Black Lives Matter why isnt Rideout more concerned about whats happening in his neighborhood, instead of ours?

Ronald Navickas

Shelby Twp.
Infosys brings back over 200 employees, their families from US via chartered flight. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: IT services major Infosys has brought back over 200 of its employees and their families, who were stranded in the US amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown, according to a senior company executive.

The company brought these people back from San Francisco via a special chartered flight that landed in Bengaluru on Monday morning.

"Infosys chartered flight took off from SFO (San Francisco) last night bringing hundreds of employees and families home to Bangalore," Infosys Associate Vice President - Retail, CPG and Logistics Samir Gosavi said in a LinkedIn post.

Infosys did not comment on the development.

According to sources, 206 individuals, including Infosys employees and their family members, were brought back.

These individuals were stranded in the US after international flights were suspended following the coronavirus virus outbreak and the resultant lockdown, a person said.

The employees were a mix of those working on client sites as well some who had travelled to the US for some meeting or event, another person said.

The US is the biggest market for Indian IT services firms accounting for the biggest share of their revenues. For Infosys, North America accounted for over 60 per cent of its revenue for the quarter ended March 2020.
Gold is soaring past an eight-year high now, even as equities are rebounding, in a bizarre setup that sees the two moving in lockstep when traditionally gold would be a safe haven asset that replaces money in the stock market in times of crisis.

What it means is that our favorite safe haven asset is acting more like a riskier asset as it passed the psychological resistance point of $1,800 on Tuesday--a place it hasnt been since 2011.

Driving gold up are plunging U.S. bond yields that do not seem positioned to reverse, amid economic recovery that appears to be flattening, another surge in coronavirus cases, and the political drama building ahead of November presidential elections.

After golds rally Tuesday, and then its slight--and temporary retreat Wednesday--some analysts thought that was it.

Gold has been overbought quite a bit after it surpassed the $1,800 level and now we are seeing some investors selling off, CNBC quoted Edward Meir, analyst at ED&F Man Capital Markets, as saying.

But it was just a blip.

By Friday morning, gold was at $1,806, and growing numbers of analysts were looking ahead at the next psychological resistance point: $2,000.

Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz told CNBC that the macro set-up is so perfect for something like gold.

Why? Because the Fed and global central banks are on a money-printing free-for-all.

Gold is going to take out the old highs, $1,950 or something, and it is going to keep going. I think we are just starting this move, Novogratz said.

Likewise, ABN AMRO precious metal strategist Georgette Boele on Thursday reaffirmed her outlook for gold prices to end the year close to $1,900 an ounce, but updated her 2021 forecast to around $2,000 an ounce--up from $1,800 earlier.

Now the psychological resistance of USD 1,800 per ounce has been surpassed. It seems that investors will only be satisfied if the former peak in gold prices at USD 1,931 per ounce is reached and taken out. Above that the important psychological level of USD 2,000 per ounce is within reach, Boele wrote in a report, as carried by Kitco.

In a Thursday note to clients cited by MarketWatch, Renaissance Macro Research chairman Jeff deGraaf referred to the continued tailwind for gold, noting: As real yields turn negative, opportunity costs for holding non-yielding assets essentially vanish, particularly when viewed through the historical lens of fiat currencies and their purchasing power. 

In other words, gold has been rendered even more precious because it now is combining the ultimate elements: speculation and virtually no yield at the precise time that equities also have almost no yield.

The remaining million-dollar question is this: Will real yields now rise on future stellar economic performance, or will they continue to fall?

Its really a political question at this point, and it will depend on who is in charge of the COVID economic recovery: The Fed or the White House.

If its the Fed, as posited by the Wall Street Journal, that would likely mean lower yields for even longer if history is any indicator.

As it stands, its looking good for gold, with the Fed warning that the second rally of COVID infections could freeze economic recovery altogether.

By Michael Kern for Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:
A Mercedes driver has been slammed for hoarding at least 24 packs of toilet paper while supermarkets have limits on the item amid panic buying chaos.

The enormous stockpile was spotted next a Mercedes C63s coupe in the garage of a home in Wollongong, NSW on Sunday.

An outraged passerby took a photo of the stash and posted it to Reddit with the caption: 'Don't be like this w**ker!'

An enormous toilet paper stockpile was spotted next a Mercedes C63s coupe in the garage of a home in Wollongong, NSW on Sunday

The toilet paper was stacked so high and wide that it covered up most of the wall in the garage.

More than 20 packs of toilet paper were visible in the photo - but more may have been covered by the German car.

The vehicle was a Mercedes C63s coupe, which costs $179,015.70 drive away in NSW.

Redditors agreed the toilet paper stockpile was excessive given the item's current scarcity in Australian supermarkets.

'Probably expected to make a profit on it. Now stuck with the consequences of greed,' one person wrote.

Around 24 packs were visible in the photo, stacked next to a Mercedes C63s coupe, which costs $179,015.70 drive away in NSW

The sighting of the Wollongong stockpile comes after a mountain of 10,000 rolls of toilet paper was discovered in Macquarie Fields in Sydney's south-west last month.

Elie Abousleiman and two of his colleagues stumbled upon the mountain of 48-packs in a park and posted a video of the bizarre scene to Facebook.

Convenience store owner Celia Deng, 47, had imported the rolls from China to supply her two shops during the COVID-19 supply shortage and she and her staff were in the process of moving the shipment into her home.

She said her toilet paper - which retails at $1.99 for a four-pack - would help the elderly and disadvantaged in the community who couldn't find any in supermarkets, and that her profit margin on the product was only five per cent.

The sighting of the Wollongong stockpile comes after a mountain of 10,000 rolls of toilet paper (pictured) was discovered in Macquarie Fields in Sydney's south-west last month

Supermarket chain Woolworths limits its customers to two packs of toilet paper per purchase amid panic buying of the item.

Meanwhile, Coles supermarkets in Victoria limit their customers to just one packet.

Toilet paper flew of shelves at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and has once again come into high demand as a second wave of infections hits Victoria.




South Korea is in talks with China to increase the number of flights to the country to 10 a week mainly to meet travel demand from businessmen, the transport ministry said Sunday.







Korean airlines currently serve three routes from Incheon to Chinese cities and plan to resume flights on four more routes to the neighboring country this month, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.







"The (Seoul) government is in talks with the Chinese authorities to resume flights on three additional routes to China," the ministry said in a statement.







Korean Air Lines Co., Asiana Airlines Inc., and Jeju Air Co. have operated one flight a week, respectively, on the routes from Incheon to Shenyang, Changchun and Weihai despite the coronavirus outbreak.







This month, Korean Air, Asiana, Jin Air Co. and Air Busan Co. plan to resume services on routes to Guangzhou, Nanjing, Xian and Shenzhen, respectively, the statement said.







China's aviation authorities have limited airlines to one flight per week since late March to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic through incoming passengers. Seoul has been in consultation with its Chinese counterpart to increase the number of flights.







The country has two full-service carriers  Korean Air and Asiana Airlines  and seven budget carriers  Jeju Air, Jin Air, Air Busan, Air Seoul Inc., Eastar Jet, T'way and Fly Gangwon. (Yonhap)


Some U.S. politicians advocating America first and unilateralism, who have been sparing no effort to smear and attack China, are even arrogantly trying to establish a coalition.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday to establish a true global coalition to cope with the challenges brought by China. Pompeo and the likes, who are addicted to withdrawing from international organizations and tearing up treaties, have probably realized the current awkward situation in which they are responded by none. Therefore, they resorted to forming cliques for ideological confrontation. The so-called global coalition is nothing but bravado and a pipedream, because the evil will never prevail and justice is the final winner.

No matter how hard these U.S. politicians are trying to calculate, their efforts will be in vain. Selling the Wuhan virus rhetoric at the G7 meeting, they were opposed by their allies; and announcing to quit the World Health Organization, they were criticized by the international community.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said if the U.S. is not willing to shoulder its responsibilities as a major country, Europe has to reconsider its relations with the U.S. Joseph Borrell, European Unions foreign policy chief wrote on an article published on the European Unions (EU) website that the EU has ruled out a transatlantic alliance against China, and promised a big, positive agenda for EU-China cooperation. German media said the European peoples trust for the Americans has completely crumbled. According to a recent poll, at least two thirds of the respondents from Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Denmark said their view of the U.S. has worsened during the COVID-19 crisis.

A just cause gains wide support, and an unjust one enjoys none. The future of mankind and the destinies of countries have never been so closely connected before. The WHO has repeatedly warned that disunity would only create opportunities for the virus. In the global response to the pandemic, the U.S., rather than shouldering its responsibilities as a major country, is seriously disturbing and undermining the global cooperation on anti-pandemic efforts. Such irresponsibility is seen by all. President of Eurasia Group Ian Bremmer said the world is facing the worst crisis of the time, and the unilateral and transactional practices of the U.S. government would only worsen the crisis.

Instead of thinking why the U.S. is becoming more and more isolated in the international society, Pompeo is again and again tarnishing Chinas practices to promote global cooperation and win-win results, which will only destroy his own reputation and credit. The Guardian said Pompeos penchant for undermining Americas credibility is top-notch. Not since Joe McCarthy has the State Department suffered such a devastating blow, remarked William Burns, former Deputy Secretary of State of the U.S. Germen media commented that U.S. is ill-posed when confronting with China.

Under such criticism, Pompeo is still confronting with China. The only reasonable explain to this unbelievable practice is that he wants to consolidate his position as the worst Secretary of State in the U.S. history.

The world needs solidarity and cooperation, not confrontation. Facing the global challenges, countries need to offer mutual assistance. Whos a contributor to global cooperation and whos a destroyer? The answer is clear.

Pompeo and the likes had better stop lying and halt the blame game, and not go too far on the wrong way.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by Peoples Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
Amitabh Bachchan has thanked the doctors, nurses and staff of Nanavati hospital where he is currently admitted after he was tested positive for coronavirus. Bachchan was tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday. The superstar took to social media to urge people who recently came in contact with him to get themselves tested. Moments after his tweet, son and actor Abhishek Bachchan also said that he, too, has been tested positive for coronavirus.

In a video that has been doing the rounds, Amitabh Bachchan can be seen thanking the staff of Nanavati hospital. "Do not despair, do not panic. We are all together in this. We are all working together. We hope and wish that very soon we shall come out of these extraneous circumstances. Thank you so much Nanavati hospital and all the nurses and doctors and the people that are working there and the staff of Nanavati hospital. I have had a wonderful experience every time I have been to your facility. And I know how much your love has been important for my health. I would want you to continue working like this," he said.

#AmitabhBachchan ji live from Nanavati Hospital - Thanking Doctors and Nurses #AishwaryaRaiBachchan &#JayaBachchan confirmed negative for Covid-19.. pic.twitter.com/rapoU4B7jr Jigar Pandya (@JigarPandyaa) July 11, 2020

Soon after Amitabh Bachchan tweeted, his son Abhishek Bachchan also said, "Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you."

The hospital told India Today TV that Bachchan Sr was admitted after he complained of breathing issues. He is completely stable, the hospital said. Jaya Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aaradhya have tested negative for coronavirus.

Also read: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan test positive for coronavirus; admitted in Nanavati hospital
More than a thousand pub-goers have been asked to self-isolate and get tested for COVID-19 after another four people who attended the Crossroads Hotel in Casula tested positive for the virus on Sunday, bringing the total to nine.

A gym a kilometre from the pub has also been closed after a member who worked at the Crossroads tested positive.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the community transmissions had put the state on "high alert" and "literally at a crossroads" in its fight against the pandemic. She said the next few weeks would be "absolutely critical" in preventing the COVID-19 cluster spreading beyond the south-west Sydney hot spot.

"We have literally the next few weeks to continue on the strong path we've been on, otherwise we will go down the path of Victoria. It's up to us now," she said.
John Bolton said he does not think Donald Trump knows anything about the history of these clashes between India and China.

New Delhi: Former United States national security advisor John Bolton has said that if border tensions escalate, there is no guarantee that President Donald Trump will back India against China.

China has been behaving in a belligerent fashion all around its periphery, certainly in the East and South China sea, and its relations with Japan, India as well as others have declined, Bolton told WION TV in an interview.

On how far Trump was prepared to go to back India against China, he said, "I don't know which way he would go and I don't think he knows either. I think he sees the geostrategic relationship with China, for example, exclusively through the prism of trade."

"I don't know what Trump will do after the November elections once the guard rail is removed... He'll be back to the big China trade deal. If things were to develop between India and China in a more critical fashion, I'm not sure where he would come down," the former US envoy to the UN said.

Asked if he believes that if things were to escalate between India and China, there is no guarantee that Trump will back India against China, Bolton said, "That is correct."

Bolton also said he does not think Trump knows anything about the history of these clashes over the decades between India and China.

Trump may have been briefed on it, but history doesn't really stick with him, said Bolton, who was the US NSA from April 2018 to September 2019 under the Trump administration.

"I think his gut instinct for the next four months is to take anything off the table that complicates what is already a difficult election campaign for him," Bolton said.

"So what he (Trump) would want is quiet along with the border whether it benefits China or India. From his point of view, no news is good news," he said.

The Indian and Chinese armies were locked in the bitter standoff in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for the last eight weeks. The tension escalated manifold after the Galwan Valley clashes in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed.

Both sides have held several rounds of diplomatic and military talks in the last few weeks to ease tension in the region.
The minister of higher education and technical education of Maharashtra, Uday Samant on Sunday, questioned the University Grants Commission's (UGC) guidelines on exams, saying that coronavirus had entered "safe spaces" like Raj Bavan and also infected veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan.

Samant, in a Twitter post written in Marathi, said: "Corona in Raj Bhavan .. Corona to Amitabhji .. Corona was able to reach such a safe place .. Will HRD and UGC agree now that conducting exams is playing with the lives of students .. Will Bhushan Patwardhan side with Maharashtra now ??"

Last month, the Maharashtra government cancelled the final year and final semester exams in various universities due to the rising coronavirus cases in the state but said candidates willing to appear for tests could inform their respective institutions in writing.

On Sunday, after the Delhi government also decided to cancel all upcoming semester and final year exams in all the state government-run universities, the UGC said that it was not permissible for states to take such actions.

"As per the UGC Act, State governments cannot take this decision. Unlike school education, which is on the State list, higher education is on the concurrent list. UGC and AICTE directives have to be implemented," Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare told The Hindu.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on July 6 had announced that final-year examinations in universities will have to be organised by the end of September, deferring the schedule from July in view of a spike in Covid-19 cases in the country.

Earlier, in a letter to Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Samant said that the new UGC, guidelines on exams should be advisory not mandatory.

Several states have termed the guidelines unfeasible in view of the Covid-19 situation and some chief ministers have also written to Prime Minister Modi seeking his intervention.
Christian families flee Indian village under threats of rape, murder after prayer house attacked by mob

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Christian families in India have been forced to flee their homes following a series of mob attacks against a Christian prayer house and threats that if they didn't leave the village, they would be raped and murdered.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a United Kingdom-based human rights group that works in over 20 countries, is decrying the mistreatment of a small Christian community in the Dassmora village of the Azamgarh district in the Uttar Pradesh state.

According to the nonprofit, two Christian families from the village fled their homes on Saturday and left behind their livestock after a string of attacks in the days prior carried out by groups of suspected Hindu radicals in the village.

A local source told the NGO that Christians in the village first faced harassment last Thursday when a mob of about 35 villagers entered the prayer house  built in 2018 and said to be used by hundreds of Christians  and verbally abused those who were present at the time.

The next day, another mob of people is said to have broken into the prayer house, assaulted Pastor Vikas Gupta and ransacked the property.

According to CSW and also reported by LiCAS.news (a news outlet staffed entirely by lay-people across Asia that supports the mission of the Catholic Church) is the claim that the mob threatened to rape and murder those who gathered at the prayer house.

The mob also reportedly threatened to burn down the prayer house if the Christians didnt leave the village. According to the reports, Gupta was dragged to a local temple shrine last Friday and ordered to bow before an idol.

Then on Saturday, another mob was said to have torn down the walls of the prayer house and destroyed the windows and doors. Also, the mob is said to have destroyed a motorcycle.

After Saturdays attack the Christian community notified police, CSW reports.

In response, the police reportedly arrested men connected with the mob attack, according to a local source that spoke with CSW. However, dozens of people went to the police station to pressure authorities to release the arrested men. According to sources who spoke with LiCAS.news, the mob at the police station was led by the village head.

The pressure resulted in the men being released.

The police buckled under pressure and released those it had arrested earlier, Gupta, 21, was quoted as telling the news outlet.

Gupta said that the communal anger against him and other Christians grew after the men were released from prison, which resulted in another and more severe attack.

When we saw no other option, we fled from the village, leaving behind our houses, household and livestock, they explained. We have now become like refugees.

According to CSW, two of the Christian families living in Dassmora initially took shelter inside the police station before fleeing to another undisclosed location.

We are deeply concerned by the repeated attacks these families have had to endure, CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a statement. They have lost both their livelihood, and their fundamental freedom to worship. We urge local police to properly investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to justice. We call on the authorities to take corrective measures to ensure these families are able to resume their way of life and support the faith of other Christians in the surrounding villages.

Patsy David, who works with the nonprofit advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom India, told LiCAS.news that there are over 15 people in the targetted families who were forced to flee the village.

According to David, those families had recently moved to the village and began holding prayers services in their homes, which drew the attention of the other locals.

There is a community called Raj Bhars living in the village and a few people from this community got inspired from the message of Christ and began attending the prayer services out of curiosity, David explained. This angered the village locals who accused the Christian families of forcefully converting people there.

Attacks against Christians and other religious minorities in India carried out by Hindu nationalist radicals have become all too common in India in recent years.

Open Doors USA, a religious freedom monitoring group that operates in 60 countries, ranks India as the 10th worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution.

Open Doors notes that incidents of persecution against Christians in India have increased since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014. Open Doors warns that Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences.

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, an Open Doors fact sheet on India reads.

International Christian Concern, another U.S.-based persecution watchdog group, reported this week that a Christian family in the Chhattisgarh state of India was attacked by suspected Hindu nationalists in their home on July 1 for refusing to renounce their faith.

A local source told ICC that a 21-year-old woman and 18-year-old man were seriously injured during the attack in which their home was ransacked and their land taken away.

Tunaviram Markham, who attends church with the family, told ICC that the many people from the village surrounded the familys house, broke in and beat up family members.

I came to visit this family when I heard about the attack on Laxman family, Markham explained. There was nobody to help; also, the police are not allowing outsiders into the village. It was pathetic to see helplessness (of) the only Christian family.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 18:09:56|Editor: huaxia

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In early 15th century, Zheng He, a famous Chinese navigator, made seven voyages to the Western Seas, reaching Southeast Asia and Africa. Chinese President Xi Jinping commends the epic journey, which has promoted peace and friendly exchanges between China and countries along the ancient Maritime Silk Road.
LANSING, Mich.  Beyond being the women leading Michigans state government, Gretchen Whitmer, Dana Nessel and Jocelyn Benson have a lot in common.

All three are Democratic lawyers and part of Generation X, with long lists of accomplishments. Ms. Whitmer was the first woman to lead the Democratic caucus in the State Senate. Ms. Nessel argued before the Supreme Court and helped pave the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage. And Ms. Benson, a Harvard Law School graduate, was the dean of the Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.

By 2018, the three were swept into statewide office on a wave that flipped much of Michigans leadership from red to blue and put three women  Ms. Whitmer, the governor; Ms. Nessel, the attorney general; and Ms. Benson, the secretary of state  in charge of running the state for the first time.

Now these women share another distinction: Theyre all targets of President Trump.

Trailing in polls to Joseph R. Biden Jr. in this key battleground state, the president has taken aggressive aim at Ms. Whitmer  that woman from Michigan, in his words  and her counterparts, zeroing in on their mission to expand voting rights in a state where his 2016 winning margin of just 10,704 votes was the narrowest in the country.
Donald Trump could never be accused of knowingly underselling the US economy. Having laid claim to the greatest economy "in the history of the world", the president heralded a "spectacular" achievement after employers added a record 4.8 million workers in June, and claimed the jobs market was "coming back faster, bigger and better than we ever thought possible".

With an eye to his bid for a second term, Trump confidently predicted a "fantastic third quarter" but offered up a huge hostage to fortune with it: "The good thing is the numbers will be coming out just prior to the election, so people will be able to see those numbers." Such boasts may offer cause for regret. Despite the beginnings of a recovery since April's nadir, at 11.1 per cent the headline unemployment rate in the US remains at its highest level since the Great Depression.

Another set of dismal economic numbers could sink Trump's re-election hopes. Credit:AP

US labour market watchers also warn the headline rate disguises a more realistic and far more damaging picture of unemployment. Far from "roaring back", indicators show a jobs recovery threatening to stall altogether as COVID-19 cases pile up at a rate of more than 60,000 a day, and dozens of US states reimpose restrictions. The official figures producing the current 11.1 per cent jobless rate show 17.8 million Americans unemployed.

But Jason Furman, an academic at the Petersen Institute for International Economics, thinks a more "realistic" rate of unemployment is actually 13 per cent. Since the outbreak began, an unusually high number of people - some 2 million in June - have declared themselves employed but "not at work for other reasons". Furman argues these are actually more likely to be unemployed. So too the 4.6 million Americans who described themselves as not working but not actively looking for a job; in statistical terms, a worker is only classed as unemployed if looking for work. The spike in this category is bigger relative to the increase in actual unemployment than seen in previous recessions, raising the suspicions of disguised joblessness.
Gopika Varrier By

Express News Service

THRISSUR: While a 63-year-old woman -- who died on July 5 -- was confirmed Covid-19 positive, the violation of protocol by the Government Medical College Hospital authorities in Thrissur has raised concerns.

Despite the woman being on the secondary contact list of a Covid patient, the hospital authorities conducted the TrueNat test when it should have been the standard RT-PCR test. After the test result showed negative, they even conducted the postmortem, which is not required in the case of Covid.

A native of Arimbur, Valsala was brought to the MCH in an unconscious state after having collapsed at home. Her daughter was in the primary contact list of a KSRTC bus conductor at the Guruvayur depot who had tested positive earlier. Valsalas daughter was in quarantine and didnt show any Covid symptom.

Sources in the hospital said, Though treatment was given to save Valsalas life after she was admitted at 4.27 pm, she was recorded as brought dead.

The postmortem was conducted two days after the death, with the cremation too happening on July 7. To identify the reason for death, the forensic expert had taken samples from the lungs for the RT-PCR test.

The protocol says that a TrueNat test should be conducted in case of emergency situations like surgeries and deliveries, or if the person is dead. On a living person, samples should be taken for RT-PCR, which was violated here. Postmortem is not needed in Covid deaths. The procedure has jeopardised the safety of forensic doctors. The body was handed over to the police and then to her relatives. Cremation was also conducted without following the Covid protocol, said a forensic source with the hospital.

Though the medical board instructed 10 hospital staff, including doctors, to remain in quarantine, the family members and police officers -- who were exposed to the dead person -- were out in society.

Even six days after the death, the authorities are yet to include Valsalas death in the official list of Covid deaths. As per a source, the RT-PCR test at the National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha confirmed the coronavirus infection on July 8, but the authorities waited for a confirmation from the NIV in Pune, which arrived only on July 10.

MCH principal Dr M A Andrews said the TrueNat test was conducted on the patient as the RT-PCR result takes more time.

For TrueNat, samples were taken from the throat. For RT-PCR, samples were taken from the lungs. This appears to be a lesson for us as relying on the TrueNat result will not help in the case of this disease, he said.Valsala suffered from coronary issues, but didnt show any Covid symptom, her family members said.

District Collector S Shanavas has issued orders making Ward 5 of Arimbur panchayat a containment zone.
The government is spending 705m on new border controls and staff as the UK prepares to fully leave the EU at the end of this year.

The money will be spent on border infrastructure, 500 more border force staff and new IT systems and technology.

The government claims the country's border systems will be "fully operational" from 31 December, when the UK is due to leave the Brexit transition period.

But one former Conservative cabinet minister and Kent MP says plans for a new lorry park and customs centre in his constituency have been "sprung on the area with no consultation".

Damian Green told Sky News he wants the government to confirm that the initial use of a 27-acre site in Ashford as a lorry park will just be an "insurance policy" and that "in an ideal world, it won't be used at all because the traffic will flow smoothly through Dover".

Mr Green's successor, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, said the investment would allow the UK to "seize the opportunities as we lay the foundations for the world's most effective and secure border".

The government will spend 470m to build port and inland infrastructure, with 235m going on staffing and new IT and data systems.

The investment will apply to English, Scottish and Welsh external borders with arrangements for Northern Ireland due to be published in the coming weeks.

While the EU has said it will implement full checks on goods crossing the channel, the UK will phase in controls over six months.

Earlier this week, a leaked letter written by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss suggested this could result in a challenge from the World Trade Organisation.

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Labour says the letter "lifts the lid on a growing sense of chaos and confusion" in government.

Rachel Reeves, shadow cabinet office minister, said: "This extraordinary letter deserves answers, not just given to the House of Commons, but to the industries and people who stand to be affected if the government gets this badly wrong."

Story continues

There is concern that - amid the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing deadlock in the Brexit trade talks - the UK is not prepared to fully leave the EU on 31 December.

A deadline for requesting an extension to the transition period has now passed, with ministers insisting the UK will be ready to leave on time.

One part of the government's investment programme has seen the Department for Transport purchase 27 acres of land in Ashford to build a new border control centre, which will initially be used as a lorry park.

In a letter to residents, which has since been published on Facebook, junior transport minister Rachel Maclean said plans had not yet been finalised for the site but it "is anticipated to form part of the department's strategy to minimise potential disruption at Kent ports".

"This is likely to involve temporary capacity for the holding of delayed HGVs and facilities for border-related controls to be carried out by government agencies (eg HMRC)," the minister said.

Local Conservative councillor Paul Bartlett said the new development would bring much-needed employment to the area, but cautioned the government against using the land just to deal with delays.

"We do not want the site used as an Operation Brock-type lorry park," he said. "We want the high-end use for HMRC, trading standards and scientific testing service."

Operation Brock saw changes to motorway traffic flows put in place in the South East of England to deal with congestion that could have been caused by a no-deal Brexit.

Fencing will be installed at the Kent location on Monday along with preparatory work such as weeding and the construction of a temporary site office.

There has been concern that new Brexit customs checks could lead to backlogs at the border and delays on roads in the South East.

It comes as Home Secretary Priti Patel prepares to unveil more details on the UK's points-based immigration system, which will come into effect in January after freedom of movement ends.

The system is aimed at cutting the number of low-skilled migrants entering Britain while attracting more highly skilled migrants.

The Sunday Telegraph is also reporting that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is preparing to introduce tax cuts and an overhaul of planning laws for up to 10 new freeports - where taxes and tariffs will not apply - in his autumn Budget.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: China has fast become a top election issue as President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden engage in a verbal brawl over who's better at playing the tough guy against Beijing.

The Trump campaign put out ads showing Biden toasting China's Xi Jinping, even though Trump did just that with Xi in Asia and hosted the Chinese leader at his Florida club.

Spots from the Biden campaign feature Trump playing down the coronavirus and praising Xi for being transparent about the pandemic, even though it's clear China hid details of the outbreak from the world.

I think it's going to be absolutely critical, but I don't know who is going to have the advantage, said Republican pollster Frank Luntz.

He has been reviewing the ads and thinks China is one of the three leading issues along with the economy and the handling of the coronavirus.

China is not just a foreign policy issue in the November election.

It's an issue that runs deeply through the troubles with the virus, which tanked the U.S. economy.

Voters also will be asking themselves whether Trump or Biden can best defend the U.S. against China's unfair trade practices, theft of intellectual property rights, rising aggression across the globe and human rights abuses.

Which person looks more subservient to the Chinese leaders is the person who's in more jeopardy, Luntz said.

As the coronavirus spread throughout the U.S., a Pew Research Center poll in March found Americans with increasingly negative views of China, with 66 per cent saying they had an unfavorable opinion.

That was the most negative rating since the question was first asked in 2005.

The same poll found 62 per cent of Americans calling China's power and influence a major threat to the US, compared with 48 per cent two years ago.

A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in late May and early June found registered voters about evenly divided over which of the candidates would be better at dealing with China, with 43 per cent saying Trump compared with 40 per cent for Biden.

In the poll, 5 percent viewed Trump and Biden equally, while 10 per cent said neither would be good.

Trump's advisers see China as an opportunity to portray Biden as deferential to Beijing when he was President Barack Obama's vice president and point person on Asia, according to three campaign officials and Republicans close to the White House.

The campaign made a push in May to link Biden with China, complete with an advertising blitz, but the effort did little to raise Trump's poll numbers.

The Trump campaign credits the president with signing the first phase of a trade deal with China in January, which boosted stock markets and seemingly ended a bruising trade war.

Republicans want to tether Biden to past multinational agreements and trade deals blamed for an exodus of manufacturing jobs across the Midwest.

Trump campaign officials believe they missed that opportunity in trying to wrest Midwest states from the Democrats in 2016.

The White House lists more than two dozen actions the administration has taken since April to protect US jobs, businesses and U.S. supply chains from damage caused by the Chinese Communist Party's policies.

That includes last week's move to impose sanctions on Chinese officials for their roles in repressing religious and ethnic minorities.

More than a few administration officials have recently delivered speeches calling out China's policies.

That message could strike a chord with the increasing number of Americans who have an unfavorable view of the Asian power.

There also is rising concern about U.S. dependence on China for supplies  something that drew attention during the scramble for protective gear for U.S. health workers.

One more line of off-and-on attack by Trump, despite no proof of impropriety, involves the business ties that Biden's son, Hunter, has had with China.

The Biden campaign is working to portray Trump as someone who talks tough but has failed to hold China accountable for its response to the virus and has signed only the first phase of a trade deal.

The campaign says that while that deal was being negotiated, Trump was saying that COVID-19 would miraculously be gone in April and now it's July and cases are surging and the death toll rising.

Trump said he'd get tough on China, one of Biden campaign ads says.

He didn't get tough. He got played.

The Biden camp highlights other Trump vulnerabilities on China that surfaced in former national security adviser John Bolton 's new book, which claims Trump urged Xi to increase Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat to help him Trump farm states in November.

Bolton also wrote that Trump told Xi that building detention camps for hundreds of thousands of Muslim and other ethnic and religious minorities in western China was exactly the right thing to do.

Trump claims he's been tougher on China than any other president.

The Biden campaign says Trump has weakened relations with allies and pulled the U.S. out of international organisations, giving China more room to exert its own influence.

Biden campaign officials say that if Biden is elected, he will restore relationships with U.S. allies and rally the international community to form a united front against China.

What's striking to me is the extent to which the Trump campaign seems to have thought that China would be a winning issue for them, said Jeff Prescott, a foreign policy adviser for Biden.
PHOENIX  The number of migrants rescued by U.S. border agents this year in Arizona's desert wilderness has surpassed the total for 2019, according to U.S. Border Patrol officials.

Rescues spiked despite restrictions at the U.S.-Mexican border during the COVID-19 pandemic, and three of the hottest months remain in the fiscal year.

The number of migrant rescues in Arizona goes up seasonally starting around March, when temperatures along the desert border begin to reach triple digits and remain that way until about September.

Thursday, the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for southern Arizona until Monday. Temperatures along the border are forecast to reach up to 121 degrees in Yuma County and up to 118 degrees in western Pima County, leaving border agents on high alert.

"Many times, they (migrants) don't carry enough water to survive the journey, so they're wandering through the desert because of how large it is, and they may not necessarily know where to go, or they get lost," said Agent Jose Garibay, spokesman for the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector. "They could be wandering the desert for days."

July 2: Amid COVID-19, Trump administration keeps immigration courts open, putting judges, lawyers and immigrants at risk

Watch: Trump eyes 'road to citizenship' for DACA

"Not only are they lost in 118-, 120-degree weather, but now the agents themselves are having to go out there and look for these individuals as well, so ... it's also dangerous for the agents," he said.

The Border Patrol reported that agents in Arizona have rescued at least 1,054 people this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30. The majority of rescues take place during the warmer months.

In comparison, agents tallied 1,006 rescues in Arizona last year.

This year's spike corresponds to an overall increase in migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexican border since March. That's when the U.S. government began implementing restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19, including expelling most apprehended migrants back to Mexico.

Story continues

Border enforcement statistics published Thursday showed that agents apprehended 30,300 migrants, mostly single adults along the U.S.-Mexican border in June. They turned back nearly 90%.

Apprehensions have climbed after bottoming out in April, the first full month with the border restrictions in place because of the coronavirus, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol.

Rescues concentrated in Pima County

The number of migrants processed along Arizona's border with Mexico has risen over the past three months. Apprehensions rose 47% from May to 5,604 in June, according to CBP's numbers.

"Primarily, the person we're rescuing is the adult male. We're seeing folks from Mexico as well as Central America, " said Agent Daniel Hernandez, spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. "We passed last year's number in June, so we're roughly around 980."

Enforcement of Arizona's 372-mile-long border with Mexico is split between two Border Patrol sectors. The Tucson Sector covers the eastern two-thirds and accounts for the overwhelming majority of migrant rescues. The Yuma Sector covers the remaining third to the west.

Though rescues are up along the entire Arizona border, a large number of them are concentrated in the West Desert, the name border agents use to describe a vast area in western Pima County that includes some of the driest, hottest and most remote areas in the state.

Each year during the warmer months, the Tucson Sector surges staff and resources to this part of the border in anticipation of a spike in calls. It has 34 rescue beacons spread throughout the area that migrants can activate when in distress.

The Yuma Sector records fewer rescues each year, but agents noticed a significant increase in the past three months.

They've carried out 80 rescues this year. By this point in 2019, agents had recorded 64. Most of the rescues in the Yuma Sector are concentrated along the remote, eastern portions of the sector, adjoining the West Desert.

"With everything still getting hotter, and it's still not being the hottest time of the year so far, we do definitely foresee more rescues continuing to be made," Garibay said.

Critics such as the humanitarian aid organization No More Deaths argued that the Border Patrol's policies are responsible not just for the rescues but also the deaths of migrants at the border. They point to the agency's "prevention through deterrence" strategy in 1994 for pushing migrants and smugglers to more remote and rugged areas of the border.

The US border enforcement strategy of "prevention through deterrence" is DESIGNED to cause people to suffer and die.



So when Border Patrol "rescues" someone it's "like a ship captain pushing everybody in the water and then throwing in a few life jackets." https://t.co/86o2ei7u63  No More Deaths (@NoMoreDeaths) July 3, 2020

Migrants hospitalized , then expelled

Border Patrol officials described multiple rescues along the Arizona border in the past three months.

The most recent example, disclosed Thursday, described two rescues earlier in the week. Monday, agents on patrol at the Tohono O'odham Nation encountered and treated an unconscious 20-year-old migrant from Guatemala for severe dehydration.

The next day, agents found two migrants wandering in the desert near Tombstone in Cochise County. The man was fine, but a 26-year-old woman traveling with him drifted in and out of consciousness, the Border Patrol said.

In both instances, medical crews transported the two unconscious migrants to a nearby hospital via helicopter, often the easiest and fastest method of transportation, especially in remote areas of the border.

On March 21, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began expelling migrants apprehended at the border to their countries of origin, rather than processing them, to avoid COVID-19 outbreaks at facilities.

Most expulsions, under the authority of an emergency order the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued to prevent the spread of COVID-19 under Title 42, happen within two hours, according to the Border Patrol.

Hernandez said the first priority whenever agents encounter migrants in distress or in need of rescue is to get them medical attention, if needed.

"We're going to make sure they get the treatment that they need. Once they're given a clean bill of health by medical professionals, then we can put them back in the immigration system, and perhaps they may be candidates for the Title 42 expulsion," he said.

Humanitarian aid work continues

The Arizona border remains one of the deadliest corridors for migrants attempting to enter the USA illegally.

The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner tracks the number of human remains recovered each year from the desert of the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.

In 2019, the office reported the recovery of the remains of 153 "undocumented border crossers," the highest number in the past five years, although the number indicates when the remains were found, not when the person died.

This year, 96 sets of human remains have been recovered at the Arizona border, according to a map of migrant mortality maintained by the aid group Humane Borders, using data from medical examiners.

Of that total, 82 sets of remains were recovered in Pima County, most of them in the West Desert where the Tucson Sector said the majority of migrant rescues are concentrated.

No More Deaths drops off gallons of water for migrants trekking through the desert, especially in western Pima County.

Today the desert was so hot I drank 3 full Nalgene bottles of water & electrolytes without having to pee...  But that's why every @NoMoreDeaths gallon counts. We put out of 100 gallons. #SafePassage, no one should have to walk this desert in this sun.  pic.twitter.com/SoiQSslsVA  Tinea (@tinea10) July 6, 2020

Large sections of the Arizona-Mexico border have become construction sites as crews replace outdated fencing or vehicle barriers with 30-foot steel bollards, including in rugged desert areas in southwestern Arizona, where most of the rescues take place.

Construction crews finished installing fencing along 31 miles in Yuma County. An additional 212 miles of fencing is under construction, according to Customs and Border Protection: 137 miles in the Tucson Sector and 75 miles in the Yuma Sector.

Border Patrol officials said they haven't seen a correlation between construction sites and the locations where they have encountered migrants in need of rescue.

Follow Rafael Carranza on Twitter @RafaelCarranza.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Migrant rescues spike at the Arizona border despite COVID-19 pandemic
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Kazakhstan dismissed as incorrect on Friday a warning by China's embassy for its citizens to guard against an outbreak of pneumonia in the central Asian nation that it described as being more lethal than the coronavirus.

In a statement late on Thursday on its official WeChat account, the Chinese embassy flagged a "significant increase" in cases in the Kazakh cities of Atyrau, Aktobe and Shymkent since mid-June.

On Friday, however, Kazakhstan's healthcare ministry branded Chinese media reports based on the embassy statement as "fake news".

The ministry said its tallies of bacterial, fungal and viral pneumonia infections, which also included cases of unclear causes, were in line with World Health Organisation guidelines.

"The information published by some Chinese media regarding a new kind of pneumonia in Kazakhstan is incorrect," the ministry said.

Kazakhstan, which imposed a second lockdown this week to rein in the pandemic, has a tally of almost 55,000 COVID-19 infections, including 264 deaths. The number of new cases rose on Thursday to a daily record of 1,962.

On Tuesday, state news agency Kazinform said the number of pneumonia cases "increased 2.2 times in June as compared to the same period of 2019".

In its statement, the Chinese embassy had said pneumonia in Kazakhstan killed 1,772 people in the year's first half, with 628 deaths in June, including Chinese citizens.

"The mortality rate of the disease is much higher than that of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus," it said.

It is unclear whether the penumonia it referred to was caused by a virus related to coronavirus or a different strain.

Kazakhstan's health ministry and other health institutions were carrying out a "comparative study", but no conclusions had yet been made, the embassy added.

The Global Times tabloid run by China's People's Daily has said Kazakhstan's foreign ministry "did not respond to questions about the Chinese embassy's warning".

(Reporting by David Stanway; Additional reporting by Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty; Editing by Michael Perry and Clarence Fernandez)
On July 10, it was reported that the police were called to the zoo that was made famous by the Netflix documentary "Tiger King." Parts were found inside the alligator enclosure in the zoo and the authorities took a close look. However, it turns out that the remains are not human.

Animal remains

The authorities arrived at Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. The fans of the Netflix show were left gripped but it does not appear that what the authorities found belonged to a human.

According to TMZ, the remains that the authorities found had a tail. They report that law enforcement sources said that no human remains were found in the enclosure. Police did uncover animal bones that appear to be the skeleton of a small animal with a tail.

At the beginning of 2020, the public was transfixed when the series "Tiger King" was released on Netflix. Viewers watched as Joe Exotic, the 57-year-old "Tiger King", whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, was jailed for two counts of murder for hire despite a failed and alleged assassination plot against his enemy, animal rights activist, Carole Baskin.

A judge ruled that Carole Baskin should have ownership of the zoo after her lengthy legal battle against Joe Exotic. It is not the first time that the zoo made headlines.

Also Read: Glee Actress Naya Rivera Feared Dead After 4-Year-Old Son Found Alone in a Boat in Lake Piru

A whistleblower sent images to PETA which showed numerous lions with open bleeding wounds that are caused by flies laying eggs on their flesh, as reported by Mirror UK.

US authorities investigated the zoo due to the pictures. The source then handed over the images to PETA showing three lions with open wounds, one exhibiting severely injured and blood ears and others showing cuts on their legs.

The injuries of the lions are said to be caused by flies laying eggs on the animal skin and maggots eating the flesh of the animals. The condition is known as flystrike and it can be fatal if left untreated.

Carole Baskin's husband

The reason why the public was waiting for the results of the remains that were found inside the alligator enclosure is that people are spreading conspiracy theories that Carole Baskin killed her first husband. This conspiracy started after the Netflix documentary show aired.

Carole Baskin, an animal rights activist, has attacked Joe Exotic for years because of his alleged treatment of animals. In retaliation, Joe Exotic stated that Carole Baskin was responsible for the disappearance of her millionaire husband, Don Lewis.

The couple married in 1991, but in 1997, Lewis disappeared without a trace. Lewis was declared legally dead in 2002 and he was never found. Baskin was never charged for Lewis's disappearance, but that did not stop Exotic from accusing Baskin of murdering her husband and feeding him to the tigers in the rescue center, as reported by FilmDaily.

Before he disappeared, Lewis stated that he wanted to move to Costa Rica. He was always flying to Costa Rica to satisfy his sexual desires. He also already transferred ownership of his Florida properties to his Costa Rican company.

Lewis also attempted to file a restraining order against Baskin, and he also expressed his desire for a divorce. The divorce never happened as Lewis suddenly vanished.

Related Article: Johnny Depp Reveals Photos of His Severed Finger, Claims Amber Heard Threw Vodka Bottle At Him

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The chief executive of a top US software sales house has warned Irish fintech companies to follow their international peers and engage with a selling process, rather than making the move to New York themselves.

According to Dubliner Feargal O'Sullivan, when Irish startups with an original product want to break into the world's top fintech centre, founders typically feel they have to move over to New York and immerse themselves in the city.

"We find that companies from other countries want the revenue, rather than the experience, and this is something that the Irish fintech industry should also take advantage of - making sales rather than memories," said O'Sullivan, CEO of USAM Group, which aims to help startup and scale-up firms grow revenue.

"We have clients from Canada, Russia, the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and the US, but although our model is established in the industry, hiring a sales process rather than a salesperson doesn't seem to resonate with many Irish software companies."

Fintech, or financial technology, is one of Enterprise Ireland's high-growth industries with more than 200 Irish financial services companies in its portfolio, but they must look globally to survive and prosper.

"The UK has 1,100 fintechs, all of which could live off the UK market alone. Ireland has 200 fintechs, who can't live off the Irish market alone and so must scale internationally from day one - that is the challenge," says Eoin Fitzgerald, senior development adviser fintech at Enterprise Ireland.

USAM Group represents a stable of tech companies selling products into the $249bn global fintech market in New York, Chicago, Toronto, London and Singapore as well as closer to home.

When an Irish company establishes its sales process in the States, generally, one of the founders has to get up and move over there. They do a lot of the legwork themselves, including establishing an office and hiring a salesperson, according to O'Sullivan. "At an estimated cost of $245,000 per annum, this does not include commission, time taken to manage the person, or the fact that it will take approximately a year to close the first deal," he said.
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Finally, the news travel lovers have been waiting to hear for weeks: summer holidays abroad are on.

When the announcement came last week that quarantine-free travel is permitted in 59 countries, tour operators experienced a welcome surge in bookings  with plenty of bargains, as well. Tui, Britains largest travel company, was offering discounts of 70 per cent to some of our favourite Mediterranean destinations. And todays Mail reveals that you can bag a week-long break for less than 100, including flights.

But whats it like to go on holiday during the tail-end of a pandemic? Is it all facemasks, plastic gloves and stringent social distancing? Is it really worth it? Come with us to find out on a whistle-stop tour of Europes most popular hotspots.

FREE BUCKS FIZZ IN SPAIN

Summer sun: Holidaymakers are returning to the beaches and bars of the Mediterranean

Elizabeth Bennett, above, in Lloret de Mar

After a strict lockdown, in Spain hotels, restaurants, bars and beaches are reopening and tourists are very much welcome.

ON ARRIVAL: Everyone must complete a FCS form (a health declaration questionnaire) 48 hours before travel for a confirmation QR code to flash at arrivals. At airports, some passengers have temperature checks done.

RESTAURANTS, BARS AND BEACHES: Forget a mask at your peril! Its a faux pas and a legal offence to be without one in public spaces where 1.5m distancing is impossible. This includes shops, streets and transport, with fines of 89. Restaurants and bars can be enjoyed mask-less. At Restaurante Miramar in Lloret de Mar, Costa Brava Im given hand sanitiser and have to scan a QR code for the menu.

In the Costa Blanca, Benidorms party strip is locked-up. I booked the first flight out here. I wanted to get away in case theres another lockdown, says an English tourist at Aromas British Cafe. At Connollys Irish Bar in nearby Calpe, Tvestana, the owner, says: Bars are dropping prices. Soon youll be able to buy a glass of wine for 1. One cafe advertises free bucks fizz with breakfast.

Watch out though: Costa Brava beaches can be overcrowded, with police clearing gatherings. Its Barcelona day trippers, says a bar owner. In Benidorm, the beach has social distanced plots (16sqm for up to 5 adults).

GETTING AROUND: Some internal flights available; trains and buses running normally.

GOOD TO KNOW: Masks are mandatory in Catalonia, regardless of distancing.

COSTS: A cappuccino is 2.25; bottle of lager 1.80; glass of wine 2.20; litre bottle of water 2.50; three-course meal for two with wine 31.

WHAT WE SAY: There are great deals and few crowds. Keep an eye on local outbreaks/lockdowns, currently in Segria, Catalonia and La Marina, Galicia.

Elizabeth Bennett

TUCK INTO TURKEY!

Tom Chesshyre relaxes with a beer in Turkey

Tourism is 12 per cent of GDP, so Turkey is keen to open up. Hotels, restaurants and bars have been back since mid-June, as have flights. Fewer than 5,500 pandemic deaths (population 81 million).

ON ARRIVAL: After catching Turkish Airlines to Dalaman (free on-board Hijyen Sets with masks/sanitisers), social distancing announcements echo across the empty arrivals hall. The only temperature check is at Heathrow, using a thermometer gun.

BARS, RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS: My temperature is also taken on arrival at D-Resort Gocek hotel in Gocek, the yachties hotspot popular with Madonna and Beyonce (Rafael Nadal is said to be in town on my visit). Masks are encouraged in public areas, except when eating. Its the same at the marina-side D'Breeze restaurant, which has sanitised laminated menus and QR code menus, and tables 1m-plus apart.

Masks are required in shops  yet on the way to Breeze, a jandarma (policeman) points at mine when it is round my chin while walking outside, telling me to use it properly.

In Kalkan, 70 miles south, some hotels remain closed and harbourside bars are quiet. Hasan Aktas, owner of Baharat restaurant, says Please, please come!  when asked if tourists are welcome. Meanwhile, Paula Keskin, of Kalkan Direct villas, says: We are 30 per cent full this year, last year was 95 per cent. There is plenty of availability.

GOOD TO KNOW: Gulet boats are operating at half capacity for social distancing. Inshallah, all will be well, says Ali, captain of the Vira in Gocek.

GETTING AROUND: Restrictions have been lifted  easy to move about.

COSTS: Sterling is up from 6.5 lira to 1 last summer to 8.5 now. A pint of beer is 2.50; bottle of wine 4.15; 1.5-litre bottle of water 12p; three-course meal for two with wine from 25.

WHAT WE SAY: A brilliant choice: friendly welcome and cheap prices.

Tom Chesshyre

CROATIAS WELCOME

'Theres not a face mask, anti-bac dispenser or Covid poster in sight at Split Airport,' writes Harriet Sime. Pictured is Splits waterfront

The country woke up from its two-month slumber on May 11, when hotels slowly begun opening their doors. British holidaymakers are able to travel quarantine-free and are very welcome. Tourists need to fill out a form stating purpose of travel and where they are staying.

ON ARRIVAL: Forget temperature scanners or questioning policemen. Theres not a face mask, anti-bac dispenser or Covid poster in sight at Split Airport. I am whisked through border control with a smile.

BARS, RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS: Its easy to forget were in the throes of a global pandemic. In Split, perma-tanned blondes stumble off yachts and sunburnt backpackers in tiny shorts and with strong Eastern European accents congregate in seafront bars.

At Bokeria restaurant its all disposable paper menus  no QR codes or glass dividers. Tables are only spaced half a metre apart and the waiters are PPE-free. I feel a pang of embarrassment as I apply anti-bac gel.

We love it here, weve pretty much forgotten about coronavirus and its never been so cheap, says an Austrian tourist sitting nearby.

Hotels are offering record discounts and restaurants everywhere advertise 10 per cent off! At the five-star Vestibul Palace, my room would usually go for 450 a night. I pay just over 100. Theres never been a better time to come, says Bruno, the hotels supervisor.

GOOD TO KNOW: Hotels have stringent policies. Rather than a welcome drink, I have a thermometer gun check in reception; luckily Im a safe 36.1c. Masks and latex gloves are provided in my room.

GETTING AROUND: Almost all restrictions lifted. Masks are only mandatory on public transport, yet on my 400-seater catamaran to Hvar Island, there are 11 passengers and Im the only person in one.

COSTS: A cappuccino is 2.75; bottle of lager 1.20; glass of white wine 4; one litre bottle of water 90p; three-course dinner for two with bottle of wine 82.

WHAT WE SAY: Good value but a risky, laissez-faire approach.

Harriet Sime

PORTUGAL IS OPEN

Expect to be greeted by face masks, social distancing reminders and anti-bacterial gel at every turn in Portugal (stock image)

On July 1, Portugal downgraded to a state of alert, the lowest of a three-tier emergency plan, despite a few clusters of Covid-19 outbreaks on the outskirts of Lisbon. The country desperately wants tourists back on the golden beaches of the Algarve.

ON ARRIVAL: You need to complete a Passenger Locator Card and hand it in at the airport to comply with regulations, stating journey details and contact information. However, visitors who cross the border from Spain are not required to do so. Expect to be greeted by face masks, social distancing reminders and anti-bacterial gel at every turn.

BARS, RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS: Bars must shut at 11pm. Tables at restaurants must be 1.5 metres apart; you must wear a mask on entry to be removed when food is served. Waiters wear masks and menus are either disposable or on QR codes.

Hotels across the Algarve are offering incentives to woo customers. Bela Vista Hotel by Praia da Rocha beach has four nights for the price of three. Meanwhile, Vila Vita Parc is rewarding bookings with free spa treatments or meals. Joanne Ellis, from Bradford, holidaying with her daughters says: I have seen fewer people on the beaches here than I do at Waitrose on a Saturday morning. I feel so secure.

GOOD TO KNOW: Portugal has done everything in its power to suppress the spread of Covid-19 with firm but sensible measures.

GETTING AROUND: Masks are mandatory on public transport and in taxis.

COSTS: Cappuccino 1.34; local lager 2.24; 51p for 1.5 litres of water; bottle of white wine 4.47; three-course dinner with wine for two 62.

WHAT WE SAY: The stringent measures and adherence to rules engender confidence to relax and enjoy being here.

Mary Lussiana

SAFETY FIRST IN CYPRUS

Cyprus has only had 1,005 coronavirus cases and 19 deaths. It is one of the safest destinations

We can fly to the island from August 1, but if you want to go further than immigration control, youll need a negative PCR swab test result  taken within 72 hours of flying  and a Flight Pass (cyprusflightpass.gov.cy).

ON ARRIVAL: Temperatures are in the mid-30s, but expect a cool reception at the airport, where you are likely to be greeted with a thermometer gun.

BARS AND RESTAURANTS: Its a tale of two cities in post-corona Cyprus. In Limassol, beach bars and restaurants continue to prosper with temperature checks at the door and a fine mist of anti-bacterial spray. But dont expect discounts. One Columbia Beach regular revealed the minimum spend on a table had doubled. The marina also remains popular, with the citys well-heeled Cypriots and Russians proving no slaves to social distancing.

In Paphos, the vibe is different. Its a cemetery, a lifeguard informs me. The harbour area  usually buzzing with artists, hair braiders and Britons in various shades of lobster  is almost deserted. Some restaurants havent even bothered to open. The manager of the Arapis Coral Bay Beach restaurant says takings are down 80 per cent. Discounts? No, he mumbles beneath the obligatory face mask.

GOOD TO KNOW: Cyprus has only had 1,005 coronavirus cases and 19 deaths. It is one of the safest destinations. Some five-star hotels are offering 20 per cent off rooms.

GETTING AROUND: The government has also bought a fleet of self-disinfecting buses from China.

COSTS: Cappuccino: 3.15; bottle of local lager 1.98; glass of white wine 3.60; litre bottle of water: 81p; three-course dinner for two with wine 36.

WHAT WE SAY: Cyprus is a low-risk destination crying out for tourists.

Andrea Busfield

FRANCE FOR ALL

The beaches in Nice are fairly quiet (especially at the western end) and nowhere near full in Cannes, which is busier

No need to quarantine on arrival at or return from our second favourite destination (after Spain). You may have to complete a paper form with your contact details at the departure gate at Heathrow, as I am asked to, but nobody collects mine.

ON ARRIVAL: My BA flight to Nice from Heathrow has a well-run, staggered disembarkation process. The airport is all but deserted with no hand sanitiser dispensers. Mask-less immigration officers display a reassuringly traditional Gallic eye-rolling disdain. I clear security and catch a tram to Nice in less than ten minutes.

BARS, RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS: At my hotel, the Radisson Blu on Promenade des Anglais, changes include a requirement to book a time slot for the rooftop pool, glass dividing screens in reception, free masks and the removal of mini-bars in rooms. I feel completely safe here, says Debbie, a Brit visiting Nice from her home in Lille. The QR codes instead of menus are a great idea and the spacing works.

In the nearby neighbourhood of Vieux Nice, some bars are still shuttered, but there are enough watering holes and restaurants open to make for a business as usual summer vibe. Bar staff and waiters wear masks, but the vast majority of locals do not.

GETTING AROUND: I catch the train from Nice to Cannes and everyone is wearing masks. Guards at Cannes station are refusing entry to those who dont have them. Its a different story on the platforms though, with masks off and passengers smoking cigarettes. It feels like Covid is all over, says Pierre, a fellow passenger. As long as you dont get too close to people then I think all is good.

GOOD TO KNOW: The beaches in Nice are fairly quiet (especially at the western end) and nowhere near full in Cannes, which is busier.

COSTS: Cappuccino 2.70; bottle of lager 5; glass of white wine 6.30; litre bottle of water 3.60; three-course dinner for two with wine 85.

WHAT WE THINK: Lack of masks worn among locals is a concern but theres no doubt the holiday vibe has returned to the Cote dAzur.

Rob Crossan

BELLA ITALIA

'Its party time on the Italian beaches,' writes Mark Jones. 'If you want a quieter experience with classical sights, head inland'

Italys lockdown was deeper and started earlier than the rest of Europe. Restrictions were lifted at the beginning of June, but youll still need to wear a mask in shops, bars, restaurants and other public places. But Italians have found ways to make even paper face coverings into a fashion accessory.

ON ARRIVAL: Immigration at Pisa was efficient. Car hire was a pain  no staff at Avis/Budget, just a phone number taped to the office window.

BARS, RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS: I visited Rimini on the Adriatic coast and Pisa on the west coast. The hotels and lidos along Riminis Miami-esque beachfront were all full with Italians desperate to rebronze themselves. At the four-star Continental hotel there were long queues for the non-self-service buffet.

No English people, even in Italys oldest pub, The Rose and Crown. I eventually tracked down one: Andy Ormerod, owner of the swish Turquoise beach bar near the Marina. After 40 years in Rimini, his accent has morphed into a kind of Latin Mancunian.

Seems busy, I said.

If youre here at the weekend its like New Years Eve, Andy replied. Things were lively around the Parco Federico Fellini at 10pm as families tucked into their favourite piadina flatbread at Casina del Bosco. Sure, there was social distancing  but Rimini is rocking at night.

But in Pisa  these are (forgive me)  lean times. My characterful Hotel Bologna was quiet. So, incredibly, was the area around the Leaning Tower. I counted 27 tourists. Perhaps a third of the restaurants are shuttered.

I toasted Italys recovery with a full-bodied Negroni (5) in a hip alleyway pizzeria called LAroncio. Recovery is more full-bodied in some places than others

GOOD TO KNOW: Rimini claims to have Italys cleanest seawater thanks to a new sewerage system.

GETTING AROUND: Many of Italys holiday airports dont come on-stream for UK airlines until August. If you fly-drive, check that your car rental place is operating normally.

COSTS: Rimini is no cheaper than usual  but its not expensive either. Double scoop of gelato 2.50; gin and tonic at Turquoise 6; lunch at Casina del Bosco 12; bottle of local Strati white wine at Club Nautica 20; glasses of beer and wine can be found for 2 in Pisa. Hotel prices have dropped more there, where my very acceptable four-star offers rooms from only 78.

WHAT WE SAY: Its party time on the Italian beaches. If you want a quieter experience with classical sights, head inland.

Mark Jones

GREECE BRIGHTENING

Getaway: Careful preparation is needed for visiting places such as Corfu (pictured)

'Greece is more beautiful than ever and thanks to local efforts, its probably the safest holiday destination in Europe,' says Thomas W. Hodgkinson (stock image)

No wonder the Greeks have been reluctant to let us in. Theyve had a hundred times fewer cases of Covid-19 than we have  and theyre keen to keep it that way. The result is that, when direct flights start up again on Wednesday, youll find as many safety measures being observed by the locals as you could wish for. Its the same in Santorini, Crete and Corfu, all of which I visited this week.

ON ARRIVAL: You need to fill out a short online Passenger Locator Form (PLF) two days before travelling. My first port of call was Santorini. At the airport, Im given a quick mouth swab by a nurse wearing surgical gloves. Then Im on my way.

BARS, RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS: As I grab a bitter Greek coffee on a semi-deserted beach in Crete, the cafe owner tells me of the safety-measure course every tourism employee has to take  thats one Greek in five.

At the Mega Hotel in Corfu, the manager Chris takes the temperature of every guest on arrival. When you pop out, you leave your room key in a UV light steriliser box. The trouble isnt employees, he says, its the guests. The Germans have been particularly unruly, refusing to lay their towels out on the poolside recliners before lying on them. They do everything stupid you can imagine, Chris says.

GOOD TO KNOW: With fewer boats in the sea and planes in the air, the water is teeming with fish and the bird population of Corfu has doubled. Thats according to Yorgos, a twinkly-eyed waiter in Corfu Town. Then again, he also tells me that the pandemic is an international conspiracy.

GETTING AROUND: If youre visiting more than one island, youre not required to renew your PLF code or show it again. On domestic flights, everyone scrupulously keeps their masks in place.

PRICES: Cappuccino 1.80, bottle of local lager 1.40; can of Coke 50p, glass of white wine 2.70; litre bottle of still water 50p; three-course dinner for two with one bottle of local wine 55; hire of a sunlounger per hour 2.70, supermarket sun cream 6.50.

WHAT WE SAY: Greece is more beautiful than ever and thanks to local efforts, its probably the safest holiday destination in Europe.

Thomas W. Hodgkinson

MAKE IT MALTA!

Almost back to normal: The Maltese government managed Covid-19 extremely well by closing its borders rapidly. Pictured is Marsaxlokk harbour

The international airport reopened on July 1 and UK tourists can go from July 15.

ON ARRIVAL: Temperature checks are operated by special cameras. When collecting your luggage, coronavirus signs are everywhere, and the new meet-and-greet point is outside the arrivals hall.

BARS, RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS: When checking into the Duke Boutique Hotel in Victoria, Gozo with my mandatory mask on, the receptionist takes my temperature and, after sanitising my hands, I receive my room key.

Around the kiosk on nearby Hondoq beach, I expected some unease  but you wouldnt guess for a moment that the world is in the throes of a pandemic.

GOOD TO KNOW: The Maltese government managed Covid-19 extremely well by closing its borders rapidly. Life is more or less back to normal.

GETTING AROUND: You can get around by taxi and most drivers are wearing a mask and they have sanitiser for the passengers disposal.

COSTS: Cappuccino 1.80; bottle of water 1.62; glass of wine 2.25; meal for two wine 65.

WHAT WE SAY: It feels very safe on Malta and Gozo. Locals expect visitors to respect social distancing rules.

Sonja Mohlich
The Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench has sought an explanation from the Uttar Pradesh government on a recovery citation of Rs 64 lakh issued to retired IPS officer Sarwan Ram Darapuri in connection with an anti-CAA stir here.

Darapuri has been accused of instigating violence during the protest, which took place on December 19 last year. He was arrested on December 20, but later granted bail.

The Lucknow administration had issued the recovery citation in order to make up the losses caused to the state exchequer, owing to arson and violence that took place during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests.

A bench of Justice Rajan Roy on Friday, on a writ petition moved by Darapuri challenging the recovery citation, further asked the state government if there was any provision of law permitting such recovery on the date of the alleged incident.

Darapuri has claimed in his petition that "the recovery citation was issued in an illegal manner."

The petitioner also alleged that there was no proof against him of inciting violence.

The court asked the state government to "satisfy it as to under what authority of law, the recovery citation to the tune of Rs 64 lakhs has been issued".

The bench also expressed concern over issuance of recovery citation without issuing any notice.

It has fixed July 14 as the next date of hearing.
Videos posted to social media appear to show a police officer shooting a protester in the head with an impact munition outside of the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in downtown Portland on Saturday. The man suffered skull fractures and required surgery, his mother said.

The incident places new scrutiny on federal involvement in policing protests in downtown Portland, where courts have restricted local police  but not federal agents  from using crowd control munitions against nonviolent protesters.

Some local, state and federal elected officials placed blame for the incident with President Donald Trump, who on Friday during a military briefing in Florida spoke approvingly of more aggressive enforcement by federal Homeland Security personnel.

One video shows the protester holding a speaker while standing across the street from the courthouse between two parked cars. Police, who appear to be federal officers, throw a canister that lands at his feet, which he lightly tosses away from him and toward the officers. It lands partway across the street.

A few seconds later, a firing sound can be heard, and the man collapses to the ground, dropping the speaker. The video shows no sign of aggressive provocation on the part of the protester, who appeared to be standing alone.

The protester in the video is 26-year-old Donavan La Bella, as OPB News first reported. Friends told OPB that La Bella was a regular and nonviolent presence at protests.

WARNING: This video contains graphic violence and language that some might find offensive.

This appears to be the moment that #Portland protester was struck in the head and suffered a gruesome injury. pic.twitter.com/Na1h5BUaAO  Simulation Warlord (@zerosum24) July 12, 2020

Another video, which contains graphic imagery and language, was tweeted by independent journalist Garrison Davis shortly before 10 p.m. that reportedly shows the aftermath.

The protester is shown bleeding on the sidewalk and appears to be unconscious after being hit with what appears to be an impact munition in the face, Davis narrated. Several protesters rush to check on him and carry him away, revealing the splatters of blood on the sidewalk. The officers are standing across the street and are not reacting.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Protective Service charged with security for federal property, and the Portland Police Bureau did not immediately respond to requests to comment.

His mother said his face and skull were fractured and that he finished facial reconstructive surgery early Sunday morning.

He still has a tube in his skull to drain the blood, Desiree La Bella, Donavans mother, told The Oregonian/OregonLive. She added that he needs neurological checks every hour and is showing signs of confusion. He also has had an MRI for vision problems in his left eye.

Several Oregon elected officials reacted with alarm at the violent incident and placed the blame with Trump, whose Department of Homeland Security dispatched more officers to Portland in response to the nightly downtown protests.

The U.S. Marshals Service will conduct a full investigation, Mayor Ted Wheeler said Sunday night.

He also called on the federal government to follow the same crowd-control rules and follow the same restrictions on using CS gas and sonic devices that have been placed on the Portland Police Bureau.

Gov. Kate Brown said Trumps deployment of federal officers to Portland only serves to escalate tensions and will continue to bring unnecessary violence and confrontation.

The events of last night at the federal courthouse were the tragic and avoidable result of President Donald Trump, for weeks, continuing to push for force and violence in response to protests, Brown said. The cycle of violence must end.

Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said that the protester did not threaten anyones safety, describing the shooting as reckless and inexcusable behavior.

Its unfortunate that Trump cares more about protecting monuments and buildings than he does peoples lives and constitutional rights, Eudaly said in a statement. We didnt invite or ask for this overblown intervention by the federal government.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said in a statement Sunday that she condemns the federal troops presence and demanded they withdraw. She also urged Portland police to stop responding violently to protests before federal troops get involved.

This reckless and aggressive behavior has now put someone in the hospital, she writes. This protester is still fighting for their life and I want to be clear: This should never have happened. If this continues a life will be taken and it wont matter whether a federal officer or Portland Police officer did it  it wont bring that person back.

Commissioner Amanda Fritz released a statement Sunday evening calling criticizing Trump.

The person in charge of our country and of federal law enforcement has shown utter contempt for human life for the three and a half long years hes been in office, she wrote. We should not be surprised that he is fueling upheaval in Portland by sending in federal officers knowing that the City Council has no authority to control or expel them.

Fritz condemned the actions of the officer who shot La Belle and called for Portlanders to unite against hate.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said that the shooting was a consequence of Trump dispatching federal law enforcement into U.S. cities like an occupying army.

The consequences of Donald Trump unilaterally dispatching fedl law enforcement into U.S. cities played out in Portland w/a peaceful protester shot in the head. Trump & Homeland Security must now answer why fedl officers are acting like an occupying army https://t.co/tnLz0nddGw  Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) July 12, 2020

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley said Sunday that Trumps deployment of federal agents to Portland raises serious concerns.

The Trump administration deployed personnel from a half-dozen agencies to Portland, where they primarily guard the federal courthouse and a nearby federal office building. Those officers have been quick to make arrests and deploy crowd-control weapons, and their response has frequently spilled into nearby streets and parks.

Speaking with acting Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf on Friday, Trump said local police couldnt handle the protests.

You people are handling it very nicely, he told Wolf.

Impact munitions, like the foam-tipped and plastic projectiles used by Portland police, are generally intended to be fired at arms and legs to prevent serious injury. Portland Police directives restrict officers from using impact munitions to target a persons head, neck or throat unless deadly force is authorized. Additionally, police cant use impact munitions to control crowds without supervisor permission or the threat of death or serious injury.

And under a temporary court order, Portland police may not use less-lethal impact weapons unless officers believe lives or safety are at risk. Theyre specifically barred from using the munitions against people engaged in passive resistance.

But the order only applies to city police, and not federal officials. Federal police also have used tear gas to disperse crowds on several occasions in recent days.

And federal officers operate under their own set of directives.

Saturday night protests in Portland became tense after 9 p.m., about an hour before the incident shown in the video. Officers also used crowd control munitions such as tear gas to scatter protestors. Saturday marked the 45th day of protests in Portland following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd in late May.

Federal officers also chased a demonstrator who was drawing on the sidewalk with chalk outside the federal courthouse.

 Ryan Nguyen; rnguyen@oregonian.com; @ryanjjnguyen
NEW YORK, July 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Brookdale Senior Living, Inc. (Brookdale or the Company)(NYSE: BKD) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise, acquired Brookdale securities between August 10, 2016, and April 29, 2020, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.



If you are a shareholder who purchased Brookdale securities during the class period, you have until August 24, 2020, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Brookdale is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. The Company is the nations largest senior living community operator, with $4 billion in reported revenue in 2019.

As of February 1, 2020, Brookdale owned 356 communities, leased 307 communities, managed seventy-seven communities on behalf of third parties, and three communities for which it has an equity interest. The Company operates independent living, assisted living and dementia-care communities and continuing care retirement centers (CCRCs). Through its ancillary services programs, the Company also offers a range of outpatient therapy, home health, personalized living, and hospice services.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Brookdales financial performance was sustained by, among other things, the Companys purposeful understaffing of its senior living communities; (ii) the foregoing conduct subjected Brookdale to an increased risk of litigation and, once revealed, was foreseeably likely to have a material negative impact on the Companys financial results and reputation; (iii) as a result, the Companys financial results were unsustainable; and (iv) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On April 30, 2020, Nashville Business Journal reported that a proposed class-action lawsuit had been filed against Brookdale in this Judicial District, which accused the Company of, among other things, purposeful chronically insufficient staffing at its facilities to meet financial benchmarks since at least April 24, 2016. According to the lawsuit, Brookdale misled residents and their families when it promised to provide basic care and daily living services. The lawsuit also claims that the proposed class of plaintiffs have not received the care and services they paid for. The lawsuit asks for damages and Brookdale to stop the unlawful and fraudulent practices.

On this news, Brookdales stock price fell $0.56 per share, or 15.22%, over two trading sessions, closing at $3.12 per share on May 1, 2020.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com
Victorians forced to self-isolate after close contact with a coronavirus case have mistakenly received text messages saying they free to leave quarantine.

The Department of Health and Human Services has blamed the blunder on an data entry error, but was unable to reveal how many of those holed up in quarantine received the misfired messages on Sunday morning.

Victorians ordered to self-isolate were shocked to receive texts advising they were 'no longer in quarantine' before the 14-day period ended.

A Melbourne woman whose partner tested positive on Wednesday was among those to receive the wrong advice from authorities.

Health authorities accidentally sent the wrong advice to Victorians holed up in quarantine on Sunday. Pictured is a couple wearing face masks while shopping in Melbourne on Sunday

She received the text just 20 minutes after she was sent an email reminding her of the strict orders to remain in quarantine.

'Straight away I thought, this is a mistake, something has gone wrong here,' the unnamed woman told the Herald Sun.

She called the DHHS hotline for further clarification and was told to ignore the latest advice sent out by mistake.

The DHHS has since apologised for the 'totally inadvertent' data entry error.

The department is yet to identify the affected group, which it says will be a massive task.

'We're sending out multiple messages every day to different groups who are in different stages of quarantine,' a spokesperson said.

'We're talking about thousands of messages a day.'

Police patrolled St Kilda foreshore on Sunday for anyone breaching lockdown rules as Melbourne entered its fourth day of stage three restrictions

Public housing tenants at 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne remained in strict lockdown on Sunday. They've been unable to leave their home for any reason for the last eight days

It comes after another horror day for Victoria with another 273 new cases on Sunday as the state struggles to control a second wave of new infections.

A man in his 70s died from the virus overnight on Saturday to take the nation's death toll to 108.

It was the second Victorian death within 24 hours after great-grandfather Alf Jordan, 90, died in hospital on Friday night.

Victoria has 1484 active cases, including 57 patients currently in hospital and 16 in intensive care.

Sunday was a horror day for Victoria as it struggles to control a second outbreak of new coronavirus infections Pictured is a deserted Bourke Street in Melbourne's CBD on Sunday

Premier Daniel Andrews pleaded with Victorians to leave home unless they need to.

Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will remain under stage three lockdown restrictions for at least six weeks.

'We need every Victorian to acknowledge that you are on the frontline,' Mr Andrews said on Sunday.

'We all need to make smart choices for ourselves and each other. That is the only way we will stabilise these numbers and drive them down.'

How Victoria's health officials helped spark horror coronavirus outbreak by IGNORING national guidelines in a stunning blunder that threatens the entire nation's recovery and plunged millions back into lockdown

Victorian authorities ignored national COVID-19 guidelines in a stunning failure that sparked a second wave outbreak and forced millions back into lockdown.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee found the state's health officials did not follow up on close contacts of infected patients and check them daily for flu-like symptoms, as is set out in the national framework.

The committee said the error contributed to Victoria's horror spike in COVID-19 infections that threatens the entire nation's already shaky economic recovery.

The committee identified 'several areas of improvement' for Victorian health officials and noted the close contact oversight.

'Every case, every day, must be followed,' a senior health official told The Australian. 'It is the national standard.'

An Australian Health Protection Principal Committee assessment found Victorian health officers did not follow up with tested patients for any flu-like symptoms. Pictured: a patient is tested for coronavirus in Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre in Adelaide on Thursday

Residents in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire re-entered lockdown for six weeks from 11.59pm on Wednesday.

People can only leave their homes for food and supplies, receive or provide care, exercise, and study or work.

Police can issue on-the-spot fines of up to $1,652 to individuals and $9,913 to businesses if they flout the rules.

Some 96,000 checks were done by police but only nine people received fines.

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the restrictions were necessary because of the 'sharp increase' in new cases.
One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021
Earlier this month, the Indian government banned the use of a bunch of Chinese apps in India. A lot of popular apps like TikTok, ShareIt, etc., can't be used anymore in India. But despite the government's ban, it looks like some Xiaomi and Realme phones are shipping with a Chinese app service.

We're talking about 'Clean Master', a virus scanning app by Cheetah Mobiles, China. Although this app isn't loaded on the phones directly, it looks like some Xioami and Realme phones are using the service that's powered by Clean Master.

Here are some tweets by users who pointed out the same -

What is this Realme...??? Give me the answer plz pic.twitter.com/T9b8FcsQji  Rakesh Mandal (@RakeshM31836787) July 10, 2020

In redmi k20 series there is an option to switch between tencent Nd clean master , is it safe to use tencent instead of clean master . @TechFactsRafee @stufflistings pic.twitter.com/kENmxiAX5o  Chandu (@chandu24680) July 11, 2020

There are a lot more tweets suggesting the same, and the users are clearly not too happy about it.

As of now, we're not entirely sure as to why this service hasn't been replaced with something else. That being said, some users did point out that they've received an update following which the 'Clean Master' service has been replaced by other non-Chinese options.

Finally got android 10 on Redmi note 7 and security scan by avast or avl not clean master@AmreliaRuhez @XiaomiIndia pic.twitter.com/SB8QbSpCpo  Sandeep Pakhira (@pakhira_sandeep) July 10, 2020

We do understand that it's not possible to rush system updates, but we think it's always best to keep the users informed. And the fact that both Xiaomi and Realme hasn't said a word about it, is making people a little upset.

Anyway, we hope these OEMs are doing their best to keep their customers satisfied. We'll keep an eye on these developments and report as soon as we have more details. Stay tuned!
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In an effort to provide a sense of normalcy and connection for students while they were engaged in remote learning due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, many Staten Island schools put together videos featuring everything from dance moves to thank-you messages, and celebrated big events -- like graduation -- with drive-by ceremonies.

The last day of classes for Catholic school students was June 19, and June 26 marked the last day for NYC public school students.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***

Students at P373R -- a District 75 school that serves students with disabilities at its main site and co-located sites across Staten Island -- were celebrated during a graduation parade last month.

According to a P373 teacher, ceremonies are typically held at PS 58 and Morris Intermediate School (I.S. 61), but the coronavirus pandemic forced a change of plans. The school held a virtual graduation presentation shared through Google Classroom, along with a special graduation parade that brought students, families, staff and administration members together. The NYPD and FDNY celebrated graduates, as well.

Students in eighth grade from P373R at I.S. 61 were celebrated, as well as fifth-grade graduates from the main and mini P373 building in New Brighton, and at co-located sites including PS 48, PS 58, PS 861, and PS 6.

You can view the gallery above for scenes from the parade.

SEND US YOUR STORIES

We are sharing special editions of the In Class education column, highlighting the positive, uplifting, inspiring and fun activities that schools, teachers, and families participated in while school buildings were closed and students participated in remote learning during the 2019-2020 school year.

Do you have a story idea for the In Class education column? Email education reporter Annalise Knudson at aknudson@siadvance.com.

CELEBRATING GRADUATES

Some families at PS 30, Westerleigh, held their own graduation celebration at Westerleigh Park last month. (Courtesy/Jennifer Gassera)

When the coronavirus pandemic canceled the traditional graduation for PS 30, Westerleigh, families wanted to make sure their fifth-graders still celebrated.

According to Jennifer Gassera, the students had a virtual graduation ceremony, but missed their fifth-grade dance, field day, band concerts and more.

Families gathered at Westerleigh Park on June 12, which would have been the students graduation, with homemade diplomas, graduation caps and music, for their very own ceremony.

You can view the photos of the celebration below.

Some families at PS 30, Westerleigh, held their own graduation celebration at Westerleigh Park last month. (Courtesy/Jennifer Gassera)

Some families at PS 30, Westerleigh, held their own graduation celebration at Westerleigh Park last month. (Courtesy/Jennifer Gassera)

Some families at PS 30, Westerleigh, held their own graduation celebration at Westerleigh Park last month. (Courtesy/Jennifer Gassera)

Some families at PS 30, Westerleigh, held their own graduation celebration at Westerleigh Park last month. (Courtesy/Jennifer Gassera)

UFT SCHOLARSHIP

More than 180 students from across New York City each received a $5,000 college scholarship from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) last month.

The annual Albert Shanker Scholarship awards, named in memory of the president of both the UFT and its national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, provides nearly $1 million worth of scholarships from union funds each year to high school seniors and post-graduate students in New York City.

The Shanker scholarships are another demonstration of our members deep commitment to their students, said Michael Mulgrew, UFT president.

Among the award winners was Sumeh Abdella, a Curtis High School student who was born in Egypt and raised in Brooklyn. Inspired by his family friends, and encouraged by his physics teacher Alia Jackson, Sameh said he wants to become a civil engineer for New York City. He will attend the City College of New Yorks Grove School of Engineering.

Shanker Scholarship winners are nominated by UFT high school chapter leaders and are selected based on academic achievement and financial need. Since 1969, the program has provided more than $50 million to help outstanding students to attend college.

Here are the scholarship award winners from Staten Island:

Sameh Abdella

Liath Asous

Isaiah Detres

Fatou Gaye

Chaya Perera

Josias Pichardo

Thenuri Poththewela

Franciara Santos De Oliveira

Belinda Tran

Victoria Zhu

COCA-COLA SCHOLAR

A Port Richmond High School senior was recognized for her strong academics and community leadership, and received a $20,000 college scholarship from the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation.

Thenuri Poththewela will use the scholarship to help pay her enrollment and fees at Cornell University where she plans to major in Industrial Labor Relations. She is one of 150 leaders selected from 93,075 applicants from across the country to receive this scholarship.

While this COVID-19 crisis has caused strife for me, it has truly shown me the power of the Coke Scholars Network, Poththewela said. It is so easy to feel isolated and disconnected from the world during a pandemic, but despite not meeting many of my fellow scholars face to face I already feel the community present, through our virtual meetings and encouraging posts on the Facebook groups. It is amazing to see the creativity and kindness expressed by this community, and I know that even past my four years, this will be more than a scholarship to me -- it is a community.

In addition to the scholarships, the new class of Coca-Cola Scholars joins a vibrant and growing family of alumni, allowing for networking, collaborations and friendships.

A joint effort of Coca-Cola bottlers across the country and The CocaCola Company, the Coca-Cola Scholars Program is the largest corporate-sponsored, achievement-based scholarship program in the United States. With the addition of the 2020 Class, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation will have provided more than 6,300 Coke Scholars nationwide with over $72 million in scholarships over the course of 32 years.

We believe that identifying these young leaders throughout the country and encouraging their passion for serving others not only empowers the students, but also lifts up those around them. said Jane Hale Hopkins, president of the foundation. The Coca-Cola system -- including its local bottlers like Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages -- is dedicated to giving back to the communities they serve, and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation is proud to be a part of that commitment.

VIRTUAL VISIT WITH ASSEMBLYMAN

Integration Charter Schools -- which includes Lavelle Preparatory Charter School, New Ventures Charter School and Nicotra Early College Charter School -- had a virtual question-and-answer session with Assemblyman Charles Fall last month.

On June 3, Fall joined a video call with nearly 300 students and teachers to discuss important current events in both New York and the United States. Moderators asked Fall questions on behalf of the student body, encouraging dialogue between elected officials and Staten Island youth.

He introduced himself as the first Muslim and African American assemblyman from Staten Island, representing 130,000 residents on the North Shore.

Weve had a past where people talk, talk, talk, but they dont necessarily feel or see the impact of the work our government is doing, he said. One of the biggest directives I have for my staff is constituent services but also making sure that the public feels the work we are doing.

His message inspired students to use their voices to safely speak out against injustice by petitioning, protesting, and using their social media platforms to educate themselves and others.

You can read the full question-and-answer session at: http://integrationcharterschools.org/news/assemblyman-fall-joins-ics-students-in-virtual-qa-session/.

SCHOLARSHIP LUNCHEON

The Staten Island Federation of Parent Teacher Associations held its 53rd Annual Scholarship Luncheon virtually last month.

Guest speakers included: Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza; Deputy Chancellor of Community Empowerment, Partnerships, and Communications Adrienne Austin; Staten Island Executive Superintendent Anthony Lodico; District 31 Superintendent Vincenza Gallassio.

Zuting Chen, of Staten Island Technical High School, received the Agnes Miller Journal Cover Design Award for designing the cover art on the scholarship luncheon journal.

Here is a look at the essay scholarship award winners:

Hungerford High School Recipient - Tia Beyruti

Great Kills High School Recipient - Anthony Newsome

SI High Schools IEP Recipient - Julia Ladis, Tottenville High School

South Richmond High School Recipient - Jade Abbriano

CSI High School for International Studies Recipient - Yara Alhusari

Gaynor McCown High School - Jocelyn Marsh

Port Richmond High School Recipient - Gabrielle Ryan

New Dorp High School Recipient - Gianna Collo

Susan E. Wagner High School Recipient - Daniel Wronski

Michael J. Petrides High School Recipient - Reyam Ghannoum

Ralph R. McKee CTE High School Recipient - Onoja Itodo

Tottenville High School Recipient - Krista Perdomo

Staten Island Technical High School Recipient - Michelle Ma

Concord High School Recipient - Yasin Hanif

Curtis High School Recipient - Syeda Manahil Jafri

FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.
Every death, in all cases, as a principle, needs to be fully investigated, said Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General, on Thoothukudi custodial death case in Tamil Nadu.

I think every death, all these cases, as a principle, need to be fully investigated, Dujarric said during a weekly briefing on Saturday when asked to comment on the killing of a father and son in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu in police custody.

On June 19, Jayaraj (59) and his son J Benicks (31), were arrested and lodged in Kovilpatti sub-jail for keeping their shop open in Sathankulam main bazaar area during the lockdown. They were allegedly tortured by policemen, admitted to hospital and later succumbed to injuries.

Initially, the matter was being probed by the CB-CID but later taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

On July 4, five police personnel accused in the case were transferred from Tuticorin jail to Madurai Central Jail.

The CBI has released the documents and confessions of the CB-CID inquiry into the case which has been presented to ADSP Shukla.
He also urged relevant agencies to work to receive foreign experts and skilled workers who wish to enter Vietnam, as well as to send Vietnamese labourers to work abroad.

Emphasising the determination to prevent community transmission, the PM specified that strict border management and implementation of quarantine measures must continue as the risk of infections among the community remains.

He recognised the efforts and achievements of the health sector and military and public security forces as well as localities and all members of the steering committee in the fight against COVID-19.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has closely worked with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport to conduct 55 flights carrying nearly 14,000 Vietnamese citizens back to Vietnam safe and sound.

The PM asked the Foreign Ministry, Vietnamese embassies and representative offices abroad, to work with foreign governments to increase the number of rescue flights and reopen commercial flights.

The PM urged a rescue flight to bring home Vietnamese citizens stuck in Equatorial Guinea immediately.

He agreed on the establishment of safety areas at some border gates for foreigners to come for negotiating and signing relevant contracts.

The Ministry of Education and Training was tasked to work with universities, especially those having linkages with foreign counterparts, to receive students to Vietnam, with priority given to Lao and Cambodian students.

So far, Vietnam has gone through 85 days in a row without new COVID-19 infections among the community. Among the total 369 cases so far, 350 have given all-clear, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.
Two police officers were shot in the line of duty while responding to a domestic violence call in Texas, with the suspected gunmen killing himself once other cops arrived on the scene.

McAllen Police Officers Edelmiro Garza and Ismael Chavez were fatally gunned down after responding to the call at the home at Queta Avenue and South 35th Street near Los Encinos Park.

According to Police Chief Victor Rodriguez, the two officers arrived to the home at around 3.30pm and were immediately gunned down upon trying to enter, KURV reports.

McAllen Police Officers Edelmiro Garza and Ismael Chavez were fatally gunned down after responding to the call at the home at Queta Avenue and South 35th Street near Los Encinos Park

Other officers arrived to the scene and found the gunman still in possession of a firearm

A McAllen police officer hugs a mourner at McAllen Medical Center

Other officers arrived to the scene and found the gunman - identified as 23-year-old Audon Ignacio Caramillo - still in possession of a firearm.

Audon Ignacio Caramillo allegedly shot and killed himself when other officers arrived on the scene

As cops yelled at the suspect to lower his weapon, the man turned the gun on himself.

'The officers did not draw their weapon, did not fire, did not stand a chance,' Rodriguez said, according to KRGV.

Authorities share that Ignacio Caramillo had been previously arrested for drunken driving and for assault charges.

The shooting is still under investigation.

'This is devastating news to our community. My heart breaks for these fallen officers and their families,' Rep. Vicente Gonzalez said in a statement, CBS reports.

'They served McAllen bravely and honorably and I will keep them in my prayers.'

Garza had been with the department for eight and a half years while Chavez had been with them for two and a half.

Authorities are still investigating the shooting
By Ursula

Im an international student, and my name isnt really Ursula, but Im afraid to give my real name because the U.S. government may make me leave school, and the country.

I left, putting a prosperous career on-hold in my home country because I firmly believe that a diverse education frees our humanity. Still, denial, anger, bargaining, and depression -- the first four stages of grief -- have framed the educational projects of many during the last days.

On July 6, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that if universities, as a response to COVID-19 were offering their programs fully online, we would not be able to remain in the country and would face removal proceedings if we stayed. Although Rutgers, among other schools, have rejected the expulsion plan, uncertainty prevails.

A humanitarian expectation made us deny the message: Go back to our countries? How? There are no ways to go back. In the midst of a pandemic and a considerable number of closed airports around the world, some are banned spaces. Besides, it would also subject us to risky waiting times in airports and force us to undergo long flights with no social distance measures guaranteed, send us to some places facing the worst stages of contagion, increasing exposure to the virus and its spread. It already happened in the early stages of the pandemic with ICE flights of deported individuals.

Is it an economic strategy then? This does not seem plausible. Higher education constitutes an important engine for the U.S. economy. During the 2018-2019 academic year, international students contributed $41 billion, an amount comparable to other American exports such as pharmaceuticals and tech. Our mere presence supported 458,290 jobs nationwide. In fact, in New Jersey, 23,456 enrolled students during the same period made a financial contribution of $823.1 million, supporting, 9,674 jobs.

However, America is now trying to expel a collective of more than 1 million people, solely because they werent born here. At its core, immigration debates stopped being about legality long ago.

Eventually, those affected become angry. Amidst COVID-19, the ICE efforts to expel students expresses little to no regard for immigrants lives in this country, or in any other country. It would not be the first time in history that academics are expelled from a geographical space through arbitrary measures. As an example, the Soviet Union used ships to transport intellectuals expelled in the 1920s, giving rise to the term philosophy steamer.

This practice has been more commonly associated with countries in conflict with democratic values, targeting those who have opposing views or who endorse imperialist ambitions of territorial and cultural expansion. Other episodes include the intelligenzaktion project during WWII, also known as Operation Tannenberg, which targeted Polish intelligentsia. There also was the expulsion of foreign journalists from Chile. Historical circles certainly exacerbate anxieties and leave us reflecting deeply on our own fragility amongst the culturally racist project this country keeps cultivating.

We can bargain. We pay more to be here, creating a profit stream for universities struggling with the financial fallout of COVID-19. Educational costs usually include out-of-state tuition plus exorbitant international student fees, ineligible for Federal aid. The money comes from loans in our home countries, family funding or foreign governments allocations. Unfortunately, added layers of vulnerability are quite depressing. In the case of Ph.D. students, usually employed as a teacher or research assistant, there is no mandated minimum salary - more common in Europe - which leaves us earning between $15,000 and $30,000 a year, before taxes. We are not entitled to other jobs outside the universities that are sponsoring our visas and were ineligible for most fellowships and local scholarships.

In other words, Ph.D. students constitute attractive low-cost labor for universities. If we are forced to leave, we are not guaranteed that well be paid. We might be thrown to squeezed labor markets and housing insecurity with an unfinished degree that would not help us overcome job scarcity.

In the best scenario, international students relevance to the economics of education makes us hostages of a government that pushes for the reopening of American universities. In the worst-case scenario, we are cheap and disposable labor, sorrowfully seeing how our colleagues are wondering why we wont just go back. I wish I could, but in a bet for freedom, there is no way back.

Acceptance, the final stage of grief, shouldnt be the landing point of this conversation.

Ursula is a Ph.D candidate at Rutgers University.

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Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said on Sunday some of the news reports regarding his health are baseless and that he is not in self-isolation after more than a dozen members of his staff tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had said earlier that Bhagat Singh Koshyari has isolated himself after 16 members of the Raj Bhavan staff tested positive for Covid-19. Koshyari will undergo the test for Covid-19, if required, in the coming days, they had said.

I am perfectly alright and not in self-isolation. I underwent relevant tests, the result of which came in the negative. There are no symptoms of Covid-19 either, he said in a statement.

However, considering the Covid-19 situation elsewhere, I am discharging all my official duties strictly adhering to protocols like social distancing, sanitizing, wearing of masks, etc, he added.

BMC officials had said out of the 16 staff members of Raj Bhavan, two had tested positive more than a week ago.

Around 100 members were then tested for the viral disease by the governors office on Saturday at state-run JJ Hospital. BMC officials said around 14 staff members have tested positive for Covid-19.

Maharashtra, Indias worst-hit state, on Saturday reported 8,139 new cases of Covid-19the first time when the state crossed the 8,000-mark in a daytaking its tally to 146,600.

The death toll of the state also breached 10,000-mark after 223 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. The toll stands at 10,116, according to data released by the health department.

Mumbai reported 1,284 new coronavirus disease cases, which have taken the citys tally to 91,745.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 10)  A number of senators said the decision of a House of Representatives committee on Friday to reject ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation's franchise application set a dangerous precedent to other media groups.

In a statement, Senator Grace Po said the shutdown of the media giant will have a bearing on proposed legislative franchises in the future.

The House has indeed set a high and unforgiving bar in approving franchises. This may affect current active franchises, Poe said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the decision sends a chilling message" to media practitioners and journalists.

Toe the line or get shut down. May takot at pagbabanta ang mensaheng inihahatid ng gobyerno: kapag kaaway ka, pwede kang ipasara, she said.

[Translation: Toe the line or get shut down. There is fear and threat that goes with this message from the government: you are an enemy, you can be shut down.]

Meanwhile, Senator Richard Gordon said that the decision of the majority of the House panel on legislative franchises would leave a bad taste in mouth.

It will really leave a bad taste in the mouth in terms of perception, they will not get away from it. The perception is that ABS-CBN was closed because, perhaps, they were having disagreement with the current administration. You cannot close that perception, he told CNN Philippines.

The lawmakers also raised their concerns regarding most of the 11,000 employees of ABS-CBN who will lose their jobs in the middle of a pandemic.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said in a separate statement that workers in the media company will suffer the consequences of the unfortunate and politically-charged event.

The 11,000 workers losing jobs next month have families to feed, rent and mortgages to pay and children to send to schools. They will suffer the consequences of the decision of the House of Representatives, Drilon said.

Voting 70-11, the House Committee on Legislative Franchises denied the consolidated bills which would have granted ABS-CBN a new license to resume broadcast operations.
Georgie Stone, the first transgender actor to star in Neighbours, has condemned a series of homophobic pamphlets that have appeared in mailboxes around Adelaide.

The transgender rights advocate has joined forced with Transcend Australia, a support network for families of transgender children, and The Anti-Defamation Commission, Australia leading civil rights organisation, to make a change after a transgender teen was left traumatised upon reading the offensive material.

'For many trans, gender diverse and non-binary young people, home is our safe space. To have that space compromised by extremist groups who aim to spread hate and misinformation is cruel and punitive,' said Georgie.

Unacceptable: Neighbours star Georgie Stone, 20, (pictured) has condemned a series of homophobic pamphlets that have appeared in mailboxes around Adelaide

Georgie - who was awarded the Anti-Defamation Commission's Making a Difference Award in 2016 - continued: 'Home can be one of the only places where we feel protected and safe enough to be ourselves.

'Everyone deserves to feel safe in their own homes, especially young people.'

Adelaide street preacher Kevin Bickle has been named as the man responsible behind the distribution of the hateful pamphlets.

Justice: The transgender rights advocate is calling for changes after a transgender teen was left traumatised upon reading the offensive material. Pictured (right) collecting her Anti-Defamation Commission's Making a Difference Award from Dr Dvir Abramovich (left) in 2016

Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, and Dr Rachel Richardson: Chair of Transcend Australia and Rebekah Robertson OAM: Transcend Founder also issued a joint statement.

'It shocks the conscience that such virulently repulsive rhetoric, which makes vulnerable lives unsafe and is dangerous has invaded the homes of residents in Adelaide, trafficking in division and fear and exploiting the Holocaust to demonise the LGBTQI community.

'Imagine the intimidation a young person will feel after being confronted with such repulsive slurs.

'We are deeply concerned about any attack on the health and well-being of Trans, Gender Diverse, and Non-Binary young people or any campaign designed to belittle the care, family love and support they receive in their lives.

Georgie said: 'For many trans, gender diverse and non-binary young people, having your home space compromised by extremist groups who aim to spread hate and misinformation is cruel and punitive'. Pictured at the 2019 Australian LGBTI Awards

We call upon the South Australian Government and its agencies to confront this matter and other forms of vilification at every turn with urgency and with vigour.

'This is an opportunity for the government to take a stand against homophobia, transphobia and antisemitism, to stand with marginalised communities and to say, 'enough is enough''.

Georgie, who first started puberty blockers at age 10, plays troubled teenager Mackenzie Hargreaves on the long-running Network 10 soap, Neighbours.

Speaking of her TV debut last year, the blonde expressed her hopes to speak out for all trans people who don't have a voice, through her character.

'I hope trans young people who have felt isolated before, who have lost hope, watch the show and know they're being represented. I hope they feel seen,' Georgie told The Sun Herald.

She went on to say she hopes people who have never met a trans person before, or those with misconceptions or unease, will watch and 'see that we're just people'.
Aishwarya Rai,46, and daughter Aaradhya Bachchan, 8, tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday afternoon, hours after the two were reported to have tested negative for the virus. Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar was quoted as saying that the actor and her daughter had tested negative but the results came otherwise within hours.

As per BMC, Aishwarya and Aaradhyas swab samples were taken for RT-PCR test on Saturday. Their positive reports came on Sunday. So heres why they tested negative earlier: Just like reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), rapid antigen test detects the presence of molecular pathogens of coronavirus in people. But unlike RT-PCR which takes almost 8 hours to provide results, the latter gives reports within 30 minutes. The antigen-based test uses nasal swab samples for testing. According to protocol, every positive report from the rapid antigen testing is treated as true positive, while negative samples are mandatorily re-tested by RT-PCR process.

So, when the test reports of Aishwarya and Aaradhya came negative in rapid antigen tests at the hospital on Saturday, their samples were taken for RT-PCR test. On Sunday, their RT-PCR results came positive.

WATCH: Amitabh Bachchan stable with mild Covid symptoms, residence Jalsa sealed

While Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchan are admitted to Nanavati hospital after displaying mild symptoms, Jaya Bachchan has tested negative for the virus but will be tested again to overrule any negative reporting.

Also read: Aishwarya Rai, Aaradhya test positive for coronavirus, Jaya Bachchan tests negative

Meanwhile, Vishwas Mote, assistant municipal commissioner, K west ward of BMC said, All four bungalows of the Bachchan family named Jalsa, Janak, Pratiksha and Vatsa have been sealed and declared as a containment zone. We are conducting contact tracing among all staff members, and till now 30 have been identified as high risk contacts.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Letters to the Editor View(s):

No thieves broke into the Museum in the 1980s

I am the Retired Director, Department of National Museums. I joined the Department as the Assistant in Zoology on February 19, 1951 and served in this capacity until I was appointed the Director on October 1, 1965. I served as Director from October 1,1965 until my retirement on March 14, 1982.

The article under the title, The Dutch came bearing the Kandyan Royal Throne by Ismeth Raheem published in the Sunday Times Plus of June 28 was very informative and educating to readers who want to learn the history of Sri Lankan artifacts that are displayed to the public in the National Museums.

However, the Post Script to the above article is incorrect. According to this post script: Thieves who broke into the Colombo Museum in 1980s vandalized the throne and other Regalia removing several rare precious stones including a number of large amethysts.

It took Dr. Roland Silva, then Acting Archaeological Commissioner a great effort to restore the damaged parts of the throne which now remains as a symbol of the countrys royalty.

I wish to state that this alleged burglary and vandalism never occurred during my tenure of duties as Director.

After assuming duties as the Director, with the approval of the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, I consulted local firms dealing with burglar alarms systems to submit quotations. Hayleys Colombo offered the best at that time which involved the installation of door and window magnets and a sophisticated telesonar system similar to sound waves created by bats and whales to identify objects around. Any disturbance of movement inside the galleries would trigger the alarm continuously until the keys are obtained from the local Police station to switch it off in the presence of the Director and Security officers of the Museum.

This alarm system covered the ground floor of the eastern wing which included the Regalia gallery and two other galleries. Hayleys maintained the alarm system throughout effectively until the time of my retirement.

Being the Director of National Museums, my prime objective and highest priority was to provide an impeccable security service to protect every article in the inventory with utmost care as a national property.

By taking all these security measures, with the night security personnel extending their fullest co-operation I was successful in avoiding any burglary or loss of material belonging to the National Museums either in Colombo or any other National Museum in the country during my 17- year tenure as Director in the department.

Dr. Roland Silva (Architect), who was a good friend of mine was attached to the Archaeological Department only and I had no occasion to assign any task at the National Museum until my retirement.

I am happy to be alive today to reveal the truth to the public.

P.H.D.H. De Silva

Retired Director, Department of National Museums, Sri Lanka.
'Unknown pneumonia' in Kazakhstan likely COVID-19: WHO, Chinese experts

Global Times

Source: Global Times Published: 2020/7/11 14:54:36

Quickly identifying new viruses a must to contain epidemic

The "unknown pneumonia" reported in Kazakhstan is very likely the coronavirus, a World Health Organization (WHO) official and leading Chinese experts said after reports of a mystery "pneumonia" more deadly than the coronavirus caused concern that a new virus was emerging along China's northwest border.

Zhang Wenhong, a Shanghai-based infectious disease expert, said on Saturday that the unidentified pneumonia cases are highly likely COVID-19 infections and suggested Kazakhstan expand its ability to identify new pathogens.

Zhang made the statement on his personal Sina Weibo account, saying the pneumonia which returns a negative result for COVID-19 via pathogen tests can be categorized as "unknown pneumonia" as per the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) classification.

He also suggested pathogen testing can be faulty and return a negative result for COVID-19.

Similar test results occurred in Wuhan, in Central China's Hubei Province in the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in the city when the testing capability was insufficient, according to Zhang.

Wang Chen, president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, urged to enhance the pathogen testing capability when he arrived in Wuhan in the early stage of the outbreak, otherwise he believed that a large number of negative tests for the novel coronavirus would result and cause the rapid spread of the virus, Zhang said.

The COVID-19 epidemic in Kazakhstan has entered a period of rapid growth where epidemic data curve is showing sharp ups and downs, indicating that laboratory testing is unstable, Zhang said, noting Kazakhstan needs to quickly increase its COVID-19 testing capacity and adopt sequencing techniques to identify possible new pathogen.

According to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) code by the World Health Organization, when symptom of ground-glass opacity was found on lungs CT scans, COVID-19 can be diagnosed clinically or epidemiologically, but the result is not laboratory confirmed.

Chief epidemiologist Wu Zunyou from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) said the "unknown pneumonia" in Kazakhstan is probably COVID-19.

Wu ruled out the possibility of new respiratory infectious disease during the summer. "The COVID-19, occurred in winter, same as SARS, influenza and avian flu."

Judging from its medical treatment and testing capabilities, and the mortality of the reported "unknown pneumonia" which is also within the range of COVID-19, the "unknown pneumonia" reported in Kazakhstan is likely COVID-19, Wu said.

Michael Ryan, executive director of the Health Emergencies Program of the WHO, said at a regular briefing on Friday that the pneumonia cases reported in Kazakhstan could be COVID-19 but the WHO "keeps an open mind" to other possibilities.

The WHO is working with authorities in Kazakhstan to investigate the pneumonia, the official said.

Kazakhstan's international news agency Kazinform said on Thursday that the number of patients affected by the pneumonia in Kazakhstan "is two to three times higher than that of COVID-19." The report was deleted on Friday.

Citing Kazakh media reports, China's embassy in Kazakhstan said that an unknown pneumonia had caused 1,772 deaths in the first six months of the year, with 628 in June alone and including Chinese citizens. That is many more deaths than Kazakhstan has reported from COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan on Friday refuted reports about an unknown pneumonia in the country.

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Apparel factories face temporary closure By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

As Sri Lankas apparel industry faces its toughest times ahead for some of the largest firms, Hirdaramani will be closing a few of its factories owing to order cancellations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An official from the company told the Business Times on Thursday that this is a decision we have taken because of the orders that have got cancelled and this is a direction given by the government for a temporary closure.

The official stated that during this temporary closure of a few factories workers are being compensated.

The company hopes to resume operations at these factories once they receive orders. We are confident that orders will come back and things will return back to normal, the official said. Hirdaramani has about 19 factories at present in the country.

Meanwhile, more factories are facing order cancellations and even Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) orders are drying up.

Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association President Rehan Lakhany told the Business Times that there is a drop in orders, even the regular ones, from September onwards.

The toughest period would be from September to December, he noted adding that exporters expect orders to pick up from January onwards. However there is currently no confirmation from companies regarding future plans and in this respect, he said we have to see how things work out. Other industry officials said the tough period has already begun in July.
The Trump administration has ordered the expulsion of any international students who do not or cannot take in-person classes in fall 2020. It is the White Houses latest move in its ongoing campaign to drastically reduce all manner of immigration. The Trump administration is simultaneously playing hardball and chess, and we in the academy are being exploited as pawns in their game.

It is crucial that American higher education institutions at all levels, from individual departments to national associations of colleges and universities, not accommodate themselves to this nefarious order. More than that, we must utilize every tool at our disposal to actively resist and reverse it.

The order is deliberately intended to pose an ideologically and politically motivated Hobsons choice to all American higher education institutions: either keep campuses open, which provides a data point in the administrations minimization of COVID-19s safety threat, or keep them closed, which provides an opportunity to remove more foreigners from the U.S. Both are red-meat issues for Trumps white nationalist base, and hence the order is a no-lose proposition.

Moreover, either choice has the effect of systemically weakening American higher education. One way is that it will stoke divisions between the wealthiest colleges and universities that are most able to weather the financial storm and keep their physical campuses fully or preponderantly closed, and less well-off institutions like New Mexico State University that are already being buffeted by the current precipitous economic downturn.

Another and related way is that it eliminates a lucrative and in many cases indispensable source of revenue for all colleges and universities that continue to choose the path of online course delivery.

Most fiendishly, if there are campus COVID-19 outbreaks, it both poses the threat of a slew of lawsuits from sickened employees and students and promises to be a public relations disaster for colleges and universities.

So what are we to do to thwart this diabolically clever move? Here is a seven-part strategic plan for NMSU, the states other colleges and universities, and for all of Americas higher education institutions:

 First, and most fundamental to the effort, we must come together at every academic level and speak with one voice in opposition to the Trump administrations order.

 Second, we must vigorously lobby Congress, and specifically the Democratic-controlled House, to do all in its power to legislatively neutralize the order.

 Third, we must lobby state governments to use their executive and legislative powers in a similar manner.

 Fourth, we must make common cause with the U.S. tech industry with all its political and financial muscle, as this sector will be every bit as hostile to the order as academia is.

 Fifth, we must partner with immigration advocacy organizations, especially but not exclusively those that focus on international students.

 Sixth, and this is above the pay grade of individual departments and most intra-university colleges and schools, we must use every legal tool at our disposal to utilize the courts to pose implementation roadblocks. My alma mater, Harvard University, is leading the way, in partnership with MIT, with its July 8 lawsuit filing against the Trump administration over the orders legality. NMSU and all other colleges and universities should join this lawsuit as co-complainants while continuing to explore additional legal remedies.

 Seventh, we at every academic level from the departmental to the national must be prepared, only if absolutely necessary, to engage in active resistance  that is, civil disobedience  by refusing to comply with the executive order. This nuclear option would dare the Trump administration to crack down on the American higher education system, with all its attendant grave political risks beyond Trumps hard core of supporters in a presidential election year. Of course, it would be irresponsible to minimize the very real risks to the academy in going this route, but we collectively hold a far stronger hand than meets the eye.

The critical question now is whether we have the boldness and resolve to undertake this action plan. Are NMSU and American academia at large going to use every means at our disposal to thwart the Trump administrations insidious strategy, or will we meekly submit and gravely wound ourselves, and thereby serve the White Houses malign purposes, by accepting the Hobsons choice they have set before us? On this decision hangs the health, and even the survival, of the American higher education system as we know it.

The views expressed in this article are the authors alone.
The EU on Sunday voiced "deep concern" at a UN move to close an access point for humanitarian aid to war-torn Syria.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution Saturday to restart cross-border aid to Syria -- but only after caving to Russian pressure to stop access through the Bab al-Salam crossing, which leads to the Aleppo region in northern Syria.

EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell and Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic said that authorising only one crossing would hamper the delivery of aid.

"It is a matter of deep concern that the resolution adopted after repeated vetoes by Russia and China authorises only one crossing point out of the two previously available to the UN," Borrell and Lenarcic said in a joint statement.

"The unconstructive approach of certain members of the Security Council is all the more regrettable at a time when needs have never been greater and in the context of the coronavirus pandemic."

Authorisation for the continued transport of aid to Syria, a system in place since 2014, expired on Friday night after Moscow and Beijing used their veto power and the Council then rejected a counterproposal from Russia.

With the approval of the German-Belgian proposal on Saturday, the Bab al-Hawa crossing point on Syria's northwestern border with Turkey will be maintained for a year, until July 10, 2021.

Russia -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's key ally -- and China argue that the UN authorisation, allowing aid to be distributed without permission from Damascus, is a violation of its sovereignty.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 02:43:24|Editor: huaxia

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AMMAN, July 12 (Xinhua) -- King Abdullah II of Jordan on Sunday said the country has succeeded in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, and now it is time to focus on the economy.

The Jordanian leader made the remarks at a meeting with prominent figures from various governorates, where he emphasized the economic recovery, poverty, and unemployment as the key challenges ahead.

The king reaffirmed that Jordan would come out stronger after COVID-19, and the country enjoys the potential to excel in the pharmaceutical, advanced agricultural, and medical supplies manufacturing sectors despite the challenges.

Jordan's king stressed the importance of coordination among various public and private stakeholders to reach effective outcomes in terms of agricultural and industrial production.

The Jordanian Health Ministry on Sunday reported three new COVID-19 cases, increasing the tally to 1,179.

China has supported Jordan's fight against the pandemic. On May 31, China donated a batch of medical supplies to Jordan to help combat the coronavirus. Enditem
<! L-R: Marcon Nlemigbo, dep.gov. Placid Njoku, Governor Hope Uzodinma, Chris Ngige, Senator Nnamani, Uche Ogah, Emeka Nwajiuba, Geoffrey Onyeama. Tony Chukwu, first right >

Key leaders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) from the South East on Saturday met in Owerri, the Imo State capital and said the region is now more united than ever to work in the interest of the region and with the federal government.

The APC South East leaders also said that the claim of marginalisation of Ndigbo is mere speculation and the figment of imagination of those who are not well informed.

The delegation was led by former President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani.

Also at the meeting were the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama.

Others were Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uche Ogah, Minister of State, Education, Dr. Emeka Nwajiuba, and Sir Frank Ibezim.

The Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prof. Placid Njoku, the Chairman of APC Imo State, Chief Marcellenus Nlemigbo and APC apex leader in the South East, Chief Tony Chukwu, also attended the meeting.

Addressing the media at the end of their meeting, Nnamani who is currently representing the South East in the National Caretaker Committee of APC, said they came on solidarity visit to the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma, who is currently the only governor the APC has in the South East now.

Nnamani said they did not only come to wish Governor Uzodimma well but to tell him they are impressed with what they saw on ground, believing strongly that there is a lot of hope in the person Hope as the Governor of Imo State.

The former President of the Senate enjoined the media to do well to report positively and shun the character of being negative in most cases, reassuring the people of Imo State, South East and APC that currently, South East is witnessing a new dawn with the high performance of her leaders.

Corroborating the reason for the visit, Governor Uzodimma added that the APC government in Imo State is the gate-way to integrate Ndigbo into the National political and socio-economic grid as well as the policy frame work of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Governor Uzodimma said that the APC Igbo leaders in the South East are properly equipped to direct and guide the Igbo to ensure that whatsoever is due to them from the Federal Republic of Nigeria will get to them.

The Governor said the leaders from the South East are on a wider consultation to ensure that the South East embraces and integrates into what is coming from the Federal Government through proper alignment with its policies and programmes for the greater benefit of the people.

Responding to questions on the chances of the Igbo occupying the office of the Nigerian President in 2023, Governor Uzodimma emphasized that what should bother the Igbo is Nigerian President of Igbo extraction and not Igbo President of Nigeria.

South East is part of Nigeria, South East leaders exhibit all qualities and capabilities for good governance and as such believe that APC as the ruling party in Nigeria will make the right decision at the appropriate time.

Speaking on behalf of the South East Ministers who attended the meeting, Dr. Ngige said they are at the Federal Executive Council on effective representation, getting what is due share for the South East.

He enumerated projects, both completed and ongoing, which the South East has benefitted from the APC-led government at the centre to include: the credit empowerment Scheme, the N-power project, Home School Feeding programme, East Coast Rail project running from LagosBenin-Onitsha-Nnewi to Owerri.

Dr. Ngige also said that South East is equally benefitting from the Sukuk Project which has resulted in the reconstruction of EnuguPort Harcourt and Enugu-Onitsha express road.

As long as we are there, the South East and the Igbos in general will never lose any of their rights, Ngige said.

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Portuguese police have reportedly searched three disused wells close to the resort where Madeleine McCann went missing as part of their investigations into her disappearance.

Police and divers are thought to have spent eight hours at the locations in Vila do Bispo on Thursday, according to The Mirror.

The search sites are located roughly 10 miles from the resort in Praia da Luz where the three-year-old had been staying with her family in 2007.

The paper also reported that the wells are close to where suspect Christian Brueckners camper van was pictured in 2007.

German authorities announced in June that they were investigating Brueckner, a 43-year-old convicted German paedophile, in connection with the case.

He is serving time in a German prison for raping a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005 and for drug dealing.

Hans Christian Wolters, the prosecutor who is leading the case in Germany, has said that there is concrete evidence that Madeleine is dead.

However, the Met Police are continuing to treat their ongoing Operation Grange as a missing person inquiry because they say there is no definite evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead.

Days after a renewed appeal for information in June, the force said it had received almost 400 tips relating to Madeleines disappearance.
Abhishek Bachchan to Bollywood songs - parties turn to Indian flavour in UK poll campaign

Abhishek confirms Aishwarya, Aaradhya's COVID-19 diagnosis, says they will quarantine at home

India

pti-PTI

Mumbai, July 12: Actor Abhishek Bachchan said his wife, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and daughter Aaradhya will be "self quarantining at home" after they tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Sunday.

Aishwarya and daughter Aaradhya also test positive after Big B & Abhishek | Oneindia News

A day after Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek revealed their diagnosis of COVID-19, the megastar''s daughter-in-law Aishwarya (46) and granddaughter Aaradhya (8) also tested positive for the virus.

Amitabh''s wife, veteran actor-MP Jaya Bachchan, 71, has tested negative.

In a series of tweets, Abhishek also said he and his father will "remain in hospital till the doctors decide otherwise".

"Aishwarya and Aaradhya have also tested COVID-19 positive. They will be self quarantining at home. The BMC has been updated of their situation and are doing the needful. The rest of the family including my Mother have tested negative. Thank you all for your wishes and prayers," Abhishek, who is admitted to Nanavati Hospital along with his father, said.

"My father and I remain in hospital till the doctors decide otherwise," he added.

The actor, who is currently seen in Amazon Prime Video series "Breathe: Into The Shadows", further urged people to remain cautious and safe.

Coronavirus: The Bachchan family's 4 houses declared containment zones

"Please follow all rules!" he said.

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra''s Health Minister Rajesh Tope told PTI that it was "completely" the family''s decision to quarantine Aishwarya and Aaradhya at home or get them admitted to the hospital.

"Swab test of the staff has been taken, the reports are awaited," Tope added.

The news of coronavirus infecting the Bachchan clan triggered an outpouring of prayers and well-wishes for the 77-year-old screen icon who has dominated Bollywood for over five decades.

In Ujjain, a group of his fans offered prayers at the local temple, and wished him and family speedy recovery.

A fan recalled on Twitter that the megastar overcame a life-threatening injury on the sets of film "Coolie" in 1982 and will do the same now.

Amitabh and Abhishek (44) shared their COVID-19 diagnosis on Twitter on Saturday, saying they were in the isolation ward of the city-based hospital.

Dr Abdul Samad Ansari, director of Critical Care Services at Nanavati Hospital, on Sunday said the Bachchan father-son duo were "feeling better" and their condition was stable.

"Both Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek are comfortable and feeling better. General blood chemistries are acceptable with stable vitals. Both slept well and had their breakfasts. They are stable," Ansari told PTI.

The BMC has declared four bungalows of the Bachchan family - Jalsa, Pratiksha, Janak and Vatsa - in Mumbai as containment zones and sealed them, a civic official said.

Civic employees sanitised the bungalows on Sunday, the official said. Around 30 workers in these places were also screened for the coronavirus on Sunday, he added.

A BMC team went to the bungalows for sanitising them and also for contact tracing, an official said.

Security was also stepped up outside Bachchan''s two bungalows in Juhu and outside the hospital, the police said.

The coronavirus case tally in Mumbai rose to 91,457 on Saturday. There are 22,779 active patients in Mumbai and the doubling rate is 50 days.
Iran has rejected a U.S. claim that a boat carrying Iranian weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen had been seized, saying the baseless accusation was aimed at extending a UN arms embargo on Tehran.

"Lying, accusations, and spreading hatred are key elements of America's foreign policy," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Musavi said on July 9, according to state television.

Musavis comments come a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States and unidentified "partner" forces intercepted a vessel off Yemen's coast on June 28 that was carrying Iranian weapons to the Houthis.

The cargo included 200 rocket-propelled grenades, more than 1,700 assault rifles, 21 surface-to-air and land-attack missiles, and several anti-tank missiles, Pompeo said.

The top U.S. diplomat also reiterated his call for the UN Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Iran that is set to expire in October, saying: "No serious person can possibly believe Iran will use any weapon it receives for peaceful ends."

Musavi accused Washington of "trying to provide excuses to continue their maximum pressure on Iran and extend the arms embargo on the country.

Iran-aligned Shiite Houthi rebels have been fighting the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansur Hadi, which is backed by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally.

Tehran denies it is providing financial and military support to the Houthis.

On July 9, the Saudi-led coalition claimed it had destroyed two explosive-laden remote-controlled boats in the Red Sea that were allegedly launched by Houthi rebels.

The boats were prepared to carry out imminent hostile and terrorist acts" in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the southern Red Sea, according to a statement cited by Saudi state media.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa
Huawei Technologies Co. executives have asked for a meeting with the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and come up with a deal to delay its potential removal from fifth generation mobile networks until after elections in 2025, the Sunday Times reported.

The company wants to do this in the expectation that a new government that comes into power may reverse the decision, the paper reported. Huaweis proposals comes as Johnsons key security advisers meet this week to decide on the companys future in the UK and officials ready plans to remove it from the 5G network.

Huawei would in return pledge to maintain its equipment in the UK, which is also used in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile networks, the Times said.
Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot during a Congress committee meeting at the party office in Jaipur on May 29, 2019. (Photo: Ravi Shankar Vyas/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Jaipur, July 12 : Even as the battle of one-upmanship between two Congress camps led by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot plays out in the open, state Congress leaders are busy working the numbers and calculating permutations and combinations to ensure the party's government remains safe.

The Congress strength in 200-member Assembly is 102, with its Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance having one MLA. After 6 Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs joined the Congress, the ruling party's score in the House climbed up to 108. Support of 13 Independents, 2 Bharatiya Tribal Party and two CPI-M MLAs, its tally stands at 125.

Meanwhile, the BJP has 72 MLAs, with 3 lawmakers from alliance partner Rashtriya Loktantrik Party.

Party sources confirmed that around 20-25 MLAs could back Pilot and if they leave the party, the Congress numbers will fall under 100 while the BJP numbers will touch 100.

So, the situation remains interesting in Rajasthan.

On the other hand, BJP state President Satish Poonia told IANS that the ongoing crisis within the Congress was created by the party itself and was due to infighting. "We have no role in it," he said.

PCC Vice-President Archana Sharma told IANS that Gehlot has the numbers and the state government is in safe hands.

Meanwhile, Pilot is in Delhi and requested for an appointment with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to discuss the "challenges faced by his team due to the high-handedness of Gehlot".

As he waits for an appointment, Gehlot has been keeping a tab on his MLAs and Ministers in Rajasthan and asking about their locations on phone.

Security at the inter-state borders has been enhanced and MLA movement continuously monitored.

What raises apprehensions in the entire episode is the absence of Ministers from the pilot camp at a Saturday night meeting called by Gehlot.

One of Pilot's favourites and Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh has since left for Delhi, though he tweeted that he was to meet his sister.

The MLAs camping in Delhi in a show of solidarity with Pilot include GR Khatana, Murarilal Meena, Rakesh Pareek, PR Meena, Harish Meena, Indraj Gurjar, Ramniwas Gawadiya, Prashant Bairwa, Chetan Dudi, Jahida Khan, Rohit Behra, Danish Abrar, Mukesh Bhakar, Sudarshan Rawat, and Amar Singh Jatav.

so, while all eyes are now focused on what all action the Congress high command will take to keep the MLAs united, eager party loyalists are busy counting and recounting the numbers on their fingertips and assuring themselves that the Gehlot government will survive the political turmoil.
Dr. Del Dorscheid (C) takes part in board rounds in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at St. Paul's hospital in downtown Vancouver, Canada, on April 21, 2020. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

COVID Case Numbers on the Rise in BC This Week

Case numbers rose steadily in B.C. this week, with health authorities recording a total of 106 new cases since July 5.

Last weekend saw case numbers staying low at under 10 per day. By Friday, new cases rose to 25, the highest number of recorded cases in the last two weeks.

Minister for Health Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry did not address the rising number of cases in their joint written statement, instead reiterating the importance of personal safety measures.

We know that the more layers of protection we use, the safer we will be. Lets all layer up by washing our hands regularly, using barriers, staying a safe distance from others and using a mask when that is challenging, said Fridays written statement.

The total number of test-positive COVID-19 cases in B.C. has now reached 3,053. There were ten new deaths reported this week, bringing the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 in the province to 187.

Dr. Henry and Dix also reported two new community exposure events at the Hotel Belmont bar and No. 5 Orange nightclub in Vancouver. Two people have tested positive in relation to the exposure events between June 27 and July 4. Dr. Henry and Dix said authorities are monitoring the situations, and they urge people to continue to limit their exposure to others.

Fewer faces, bigger spaces is the safest approach, because we know crowded, closed spaces where people may be in close contact with each other are higher-risk environments for all of us and need to be avoided at this time, said the pair.

They noted that contact tracing plays a big role in keeping case numbers down, and will continue to do so in the coming weeks.

Both Dr. Henry and Dix are hoping that British Columbians will continue to follow their guidance in all health matters, as the global rates continue to climb, showing how easy it could be for case numbers to surge.

As we have seen in many other locations around the world, one slip can quickly cause a surge in new cases. We have also seen here in B.C. that our foundational rules for safe social interactions help to protect all of us.

By Sophie Carrigan Gray
Cannabis, also known as ganja, worth over Rs 3.5 lakh was seized from an alleged smuggler when his car was searched in the outskirts of Govardhan town in Mathura on Sunday, police said.

"Thirty kilograms of ganja packed in 30 packs have been recovered from the smuggler," police said.

The accused identified as Radha Ballabh of Radha Kund town falling under Govardhan police station limits has confessed to smuggling the banned substance as he said that the consignment was being taken to Rajasthan, police said.

According to police, the man was intercepted at a checkpost while trying to smuggle the drugs in the car.

He has been sent to judicial custody while the consignment and the car has been kept at Govardhan police station for legal proceedings, police added.

READ | Huge Quantity Of Cough Syrup Seized In Manipur, 2 Arrested

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Eliminating corruption in public service: Dont blame Police alone View(s):

In a Public Perception Survey carried out by Transparency International, Sri Lanka (TISL) in 2002 it had been revealed that the police force was the most corrupt institution in Sri Lanka.

I had just joined TISL as a director when this disclosure was made at a news conference held by TISL and I pointed out then that the survey was flawed. The questionnaire had focused only on the police, healthcare, education, power, land administration and taxation. Excluded were Members of parliament, ministers and all officials in statutory bodies under Act No. 17 of 1982 who are defined as public servants, who wield power over the police and pressurise it for their nefarious corrupt practices.

It was not long ago when the Prime Minister openly lambasted the Police for not acceding to requests of politicians and demanded that politicians requests be accommodated. For the police to refrain from granting such requests, it is anybodys guess as to the lawfulness of the requests, which in effect have now become orders. Politicians and officials in statutory bodies who wield political influence have been left out from the questionnaire. As a result it is an undiscerning Public Perception Survey that had been carried out. All the corruption on the part these well-known rogues had been dumped on the police. I do not for a moment say that there is no corruption in the police. But a thousand fold is foisted on the police.

May I draw attention of TISL to the book, Police Role by Dr. Frank de Silva, former Inspector General of Police, who has a Doctorate of Philosophy on the subject of Criminology from the University of Jayawardenapura. He has also graduated from Police College Bramshill UK. I reproduce some excerpts from his book to illustrate my point:

Laws delay is one of the culprits resulting in unrestrained public expenditure and driving parties to greater crime. Dragging on the process in courts is a systemic failure of the criminal justice process. Distortion, corruption and inefficiency are the other factors which deter access to justice. These are simply the result of vested interests manipulating the system.

He attributes the laws delay to the monopolistic trends that run through the criminal justice process. Law making is determined by law professionals without consulting the community or other affected parties. Rules drafted to prescribe the police without consulting the police, is conduct which fits into the descriptive phrase of Lawyers law. They are in effect, rules of lawyers, rules made by lawyers, rules for lawyers in lawyers interest. Accordingly a role for police is diminished to the extent of separation of the law from the community.

In 1959 a step to rectify the situation in involving the community was taken with the introduction of a law to establish Conciliation Boards which had many advantages. Such involvement enabled the community to identify itself with the formal law in a meaningful manner than through the formal courts. Resolution of these problems was equally expeditious. The parties to the dispute benefitted from the little expense the parties now had to incur. Conciliation of crimes and disputes through conciliation and mediation gave some relief to the police from the weight of the court process.

In fact this was more or less getting back to the gansabhava system.

He cites Dr. G. C. Mendiss reference to Colebrooks statement: I consider that the ancient mode of referring such cases to a Gamsaba or a Village Council would be advantageously preserved where it is established and restored where it has been superseded. According to Fr. S.G. Perera, Colebrook attended a meeting of gamsabhava and was much impressed by the institution. Dr. Ralph Pieris in his book, Sinhalese Social Organisations states, Gamsabhavas or Village Councils consisted of an assembly of the principal and experienced men of the village. The endeavours of this assembly of neighbours were directed not so much to punishment as to amicable settlement of disputes according to accepted canons of justice

It seems history has been repeated. As happened to Gamsabhavas in the eighteen thirties, in 1979 the functions of the Conciliation Boards were peremptorily dismissed and vested interests prevailed over community concerns.

I wish to illustrate this overwhelming problem of Laws Delay with a case in point from my own experience. Around 1983, when I was ASP Trincomalee, I received a complaint from a poor old villager living in Kantale. He said the Grama Sevaka was demanding a bribe for possessing some poles in his back yard to repair his kitchen. I telephoned the Bribery Commissioners Department (BCD) where I had served earlier and informed of this complaint. I was requested to detect the offence due to the time factor and I detected the GS accepting the bribe.

The (BCD) took over the case and the GS was indicted in D.C. Colombo. The case dragged on for several years and I was not even receiving summons. As this was an outstanding case in my diary I checked up and went to courts on the next court date.

The complainant was feeble and told me that he could not come again. I brought this to the notice of the State Counsel whom I knew well and asked him to see that the case was taken up, also stating that the evidence was short. He informed me that he had not prepared the case and that the case would not be taken up. Defence Counsel who also I knew, told me not to worry about the case as he was punishing the accused GS enough.

The next thing I heard about the case was that the complainant had died. The GS got away from the case but after being subject to a massive kill. He would have been much better off had he pleaded guilty to the charge and received a suspended sentence as was available to him then. His lawyer knew this as much as all lawyers do. But the lawyers interest was not in his client but everything he owned as well as what he can beg, borrow or steal. The Defence lawyer was not alone in this game. Judicial Officers and State Counsel were obviously in cahoots with him. Does not speak well of the Attorney Generals supervision.

This is just one of the overwhelming amounts of corrupt practices taking place daily. I hope TISL will focus its eyes where they need to.

(The writer is a Retired

Superintendent of Police. He can be

contacted at seneviratnetz@gmail.com)
Wingfield, 22, of Hillcrest Heights, is one of four suspects charged in the killing of Davon at a stop-the-violence cookout July 4 in Anacostia. The suspects are thought to be members of a street gang who unleashed gunfire at perceived adversaries where the barbecue was held.
Ghislaine Maxwell is said to have run Jeffrey Epstein's homes around the globe as if they were royal palaces complete with a set of strict rules and protocol fit for a king.

Maxwell, 58, was put in charge of running the disgraced pedophile's estates in 1991 and it seems she ran a tight ship.

The daughter of the late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine is the former girlfriend and long-time close associate of Epstein.

She would make sure household staff followed royal rules including the explicit stipulation: 'The staff must never look the master, Jeffrey Epstein, in the eye.'

Ghislaine Maxwell forced staff working for Jeffrey Epstein's staff to follow royal protocol when she was in charge of running his mansions around the globe

Maxwell, pictured with Jeffrey Epstein in 2000, who was known to be friends with Prince Andrew, is said to have handed out a guide to royal help to all staff, demanding they read it

As in royal palaces, household staff were also requested to 'linger in the background' and were not allowed to speak unless they were spoken to first.

The bizarre rules are all detailed in a book by Florida lawyer Bradley Edwards, 44, who has been representing 56 alleged Epstein victims for more than a decade.

The book, 'Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein,' tells how Maxwell ruled the palaces with an iron fist with staff following royal protocol.

Socialite Maxwell, above in 2013, the daughter of the late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, is the former girlfriend and long-time close associate of Epstein

Edwards' book was reportedly found on Maxwell's bedside table at the secluded New Hampshire mansion where she was hiding out

As a lawyer, Edwards spent a large amount of time over the last 10 years speaking with women who claim to be victims of Epstein and also his household staff who divulged further details including Maxwell's influence.

Edwards' book was reportedly found on Maxwell's bedside table at the secluded New Hampshire mansion where she was hiding out.

Maxwell was arrested on July 2 on charges she helped lure at least three girls - one as young as 14 - to be sexually abused by Epstein, who was accused of victimizing dozens of girls and women over many years.

'It's hard to tell exactly why she wanted to know what it was that I knew about her in the book,' said Edwards to the New York Post.

'I was fascinated that she had my book,' he said. 'Certainly, if Jeffrey Epstein was around he would read the book.'

Edwards noted, 'Ghislaine was deeply controlling and did things the butler, Juan Alessi, did not appreciate.'

Alessi alleges in the book that he would drive Maxwell around Palm Beach on a mission to recruit young masseuses with one girl as young as 14. Upon being approved to work at the mansion, Maxwell would allegedly take nude photos of the girls.

Edwards states he believes Epstein ran a global sex-trafficking scheme that entrapped more than 500 women.

Maxwell was used to mingling with the high and mighty, counting Prince Andrew among her close friends.

Maxwell was arrested at the luxurious mountaintop home - dubbed Tuckedaway - outside tiny Bradford, New Hampshire

Since her arrest earlier this month, Maxwell has been accused of facilitating Epstein's crimes and on some occasions joined him in sexually abusing the girls, according to the indictment against her. Pictured in 2000

Last week it was revealed that during a private tour of Buckingham Palace organized by the prince, she sat on a throne alongside disgraced actor Kevin Spacey normally reserved for the Queen and her husband Prince Philip.

The apparently lighthearted image has taken on new significance following Maxwell's arrest, with some suggesting it alludes to the close friendship between Maxwell and the Duke.

Since her arrest earlier this month, Maxwell has been accused of facilitating Epstein's crimes and on some occasions is alleged to have joined him in sexually abusing the girls, according to the indictment against her.

Several Epstein victims have described Maxwell as his chief enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for abuse. She has denied wrongdoing and called claims against her 'absolute rubbish.'

Edwards' book was reportedly found on Maxwell's bedside table at the secluded New Hampshire mansion where she was hiding out

THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST MAXWELL THE CHARGES Conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts (5 years max sentence)

Enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts (20 years)

Conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity (20 years)

Transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity (10 years minimum, life maximum)

X 2 counts of Perjury (x 10 years) THE 'FACTS' Prosecutors say Maxwell groomed three girls between 1994 and 1997 for Epstein. They are not named in the indictment, but she allegedly targeted them in London, Florida, New York and New Mexico. Maxwell, it is alleged, would befriend the girls by asking them about their life and their schooling. She would put them at ease by taking them to the movies and taking them shopping, winning their trust to later deliver them to Epstein, it's alleged. To 'normalize' the abuse that would come later, prosecutors say she undressed in front of the girls herself and asked them sexual questions. She then not only facilitated Epstein abusing them, prosecutors say, but took part in some of it herself. The alleged sex abuse includes 'sexualized group massages'. The indictment also says Maxwell made the girl feel 'indebted' to Epstein by encouraging them to take money from him and let him pay for their education and travel. Advertisement

Maxwell was arrested by a team of federal agents last week at a $1 million estate she had purchased in New Hampshire. The investigators had been keeping an eye on Maxwell and knew she had been hiding out in various locations in New England.

She had switched her email address, ordered packages under someone else's name and registered at least one new phone number under an alias 'G Max,' prosecutors have said.

The British socialite will appear in New York's southern district court on July 14 at 1pm and the hearing will take place over video-link due to coronavirus.

She will join from the 'hell-hole' Brooklyn jail where she is being held and only the judge, Alison Nathan, will be present along with one prosecutor and one defense attorney.

Maxwell - a friend to billionaires, celebrities, presidents and royalty before her arrest - is facing a six-count federal indictment which could see her jailed for 35 years.

She is accused in four counts of acting as Epstein's madam, hunting down and 'training' young girls for him to abuse in the late 1990s.

Another two counts accuse her of lying about the abuse to a court when she was sued by one of the victims - Virginia Roberts - in 2015.

However, observers and experts believe she is not the state's primary target, and will likely be offered a plea deal to turn on others in Epstein's circle.

Victims of Epstein allege they were abused over many years, with many claiming they were recruited by Maxwell. The investigation has been focused on Maxwell since Epstein took his own life while awaiting trial in a US jail last year.

Epstein was initially jailed for 18 months in 2008 after being allowed to plead guilty to a single charge of soliciting sex from a child prostitute, despite at one stage facing a 53-page FBI indictment.
Huizhou, the second closest mainland Chinese city to Hong Kong, has set its sights on new industries including car and equipment manufacturing and clean energy to rejuvenate an economy that plummeted 8.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2020.

The citys two existing pillar industries  electronics and petrochemicals  have fallen victim to weaker external demand as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the global economy.

Huizhou, or Wai Jau in Cantonese, is classified as one of the outer ring cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), alongside Zhaoqing and Jiangmen. These are the less developed cities towards the periphery of the zone, with lower land and labour costs, where heavier industries are beginning to congregate.

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It should benefit from substantial infrastructure investment, as spillovers from the inner ring  the likes of Shenzhen and Macau, with advanced manufacturing and services and better transport links  lead to the establishment of more industrial bases to provide things like paper, metals and power to the entire bay area.

Here, the South China Morning Post tries to gauge the role of Huizhou, and its 5 million residents, as they pursue new growth opportunities in the future economic hub.

What is the history of Huizhou?

Situated in the north of the Pearl River Delta, Huizhou was historically known as Lingnan and the gateway to eastern Guangdong.

The city benefited culturally from the visits of several celebrated figures of ancient China. During the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127AD), the renowned poet Su Shi was a low-level government official in Huizhou. During his three-year stint, he built two bridges on the West Lake, which were named Su Di by later generations to commemorate Sus achievements.

From around that time, Huizhou became a prosperous region where trade flourished for the next thousand years or so.

Story continues

The late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai conducted revolutionary work in Huizhou before 1949.

The city boasts more than 900 scenic spots, and is something of a tourist draw.

Hows Huizhous economy doing?

Huizhous economy has been growing fast over the past three decades, driven by the pillar industries of electronics and petrochemicals. But it hit a blip last year as the US-China trade war led to plant closures and declines in exports.

The citys gross domestic product plunged 8.7 per cent in the first quarter of this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

TCL, a leading Chinese television manufacturer, is headquartered in Huizhou, and South Koreas Samsung Electronics had produced MP3 players and smartphones at its Huizhou plant, which opened in the 1990s. The factory was closed last year as the company relocated production capacity to Vietnam and India.

How important is Huizhous geographic location?

Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, and Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest. It is a major transport hub of eastern Guangdong, 130 kilometres from Hong Kong.

Huizhou has a 281.4km-long coastline, and has a major port with shipping links to other ports domestically and overseas.

The Beijing-Kowloon Railway runs through the city.

What are the major development zones in Huizhou?

Huizhou Dayawan Economic and Technological Development Zone (DBETDZ) was given the go-ahead in 2006 by the State Council to expand from an area of 10 square kilometres to 23.6 square kilometres. Companies in the fields of car making, chemical production and processing, and electronics are targeted by the zone.

The Huizhou Export Processing Zone was approved by the Guangdong provincial government as a subzone to the DBETDZ. It covers an area of 3 sq km and welcomes firms dealing with electronics, auto parts, textiles and chemicals.

Huizhou Zhongkai High-tech Industrial Development Zone is connected to Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan by expressways. It encourages investment in new materials, telecommunication and other hi-tech industries.

What plans is Huizhou making to spur its economic growth?

Huizhou plans to speed up its development in sectors like logistics, tourism, finance and other emerging industries.

It is also looking to move its traditional industries like home appliances, clothing and footwear up the value chain.

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A day after actor Amitabh Bachchan, 77, and his actor-son Abhishek, 44, got admitted to Nanavati Hospital, after testing positive for Covid-19, two more members of the family  his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, 46, and eight-year-old granddaughter Aaradhya  tested positive on Sunday. Four bungalows of the Bachchan family in Juhu-Vile Parle area have been sealed and declared containment zones.

After Bachchan and Abhishek showed mild symptoms, all members of the Bachchan family were tested using rapid antigen kits on Saturday. Bachchans wife Jaya, 72, daughter Shweta Nanda, 46, Aishwarya and Aaradhya tested negative. Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar, too, confirmed it. However, according to the protocol, they were then tested using the RT-PCR method, in which Aishwarya and Aaradhya tested positive, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said. Jaya Bachchan will be tested again later to overrule any negative reporting.

Later in the evening, Abhishek tweeted: Aishwarya and Aaradhya have also tested Covid-19 positive. They will be self-quarantining at home. BMC has been updated of their situation and are doing the needful. The rest of the family including my mother have tested negative. Thank you all for your wishes and prayers. He also wrote: My father and I remain in hospital till the doctors decide otherwise. Everyone please remain cautious and safe. Please follow all rules!

Vishwas Mote, assistant municipal commissioner, K-West ward of BMC, said, The four bungalows  Jalsa, Janak, Pratiksha and Vatsa  have been sanitised and declared containment zones. We are conducting contact-tracing of all staff members.

BMC in a statement issued on Sunday afternoon said, Thirty staff members working for the Bachchan family have been tested for Covid-19. In Jalsa bungalow, there is space for isolation and the staff members will be kept there. If any assistance/facility of the BMC is required, we will take necessary steps for the same.

Dr Abdul Samad Ansari, director of the critical care unit of Nanavati Hospital and treating doctor of Bachchan and Abhishek, said, Both of them are doing well. We have given them symptomatic medicines.

Dr Pratit Samdani, internal medicine expert from Breach Candy Hospital, said considering Bachchans age, doctors have to be more cautious while treating him. Data all across the globe have shown that patients above the age of 65 with co-morbidities develop complications after 10 days of getting exposed to the virus. They develop a cytokine storm when inflammation begins in organs, especially in lungs. This puts Mr Amitabh Bachchan at a higher risk than his son who is younger, said Samdani.

Bachchan was also diagnosed with tuberculosis in 2000, which weakens the lungs. Dr Samdani said, It wont be a problem as it happened two decades ago. His age will be an issue. Almost 15% of people above the age of 65 develop complications and need ventilator support, he said.

Meanwhile, BMC also sealed the Governors office and staff quarters at Raj Bhavan, after 16 staff members were found to be Covid-19 positive. The tests of 100 staff employed at Raj Bhavan were done on Saturday at the state-run Sir JJ Hospital. Sixteen staff members of Governor House have tested positive until now. Of the 16, two had tested positive around eight days ago. After this, tests of around 100 staff members was undertaken by the Governors office on Saturday. Of the 100, 14 have tested positive, while reports of some samples are pending, he said.

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, in a statement, said: I am perfectly alright, and not in self-isolation. I underwent relevant tests, the result of which came in the negative. There are no symptoms of Covid-19 either. However, considering the Covid-19 situation elsewhere, I am discharging all my official duties strictly adhering to protocols like social distancing, sanitising, wearing of masks, etc.

Meanwhile, actor Anupam Kher tweeted saying: This is to inform all that my mother Dulari is found Covid + (mildly). We have admitted her to Kokilaben Hospital. My brother, bhabhi & niece inspite of being careful have also tested mildly positive. I got myself tested as well & I have tested negative. BMC is informed.

Negative to positive in hours

Like reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), rapid antigen test detects the presence of molecular pathogens of coronavirus in people. But unlike RT-PCR which takes eight hours for results, the latter gives reports within 30 minutes. The antigen-based test uses nasal swab samples for testing. According to protocol, every positive report from the rapid antigen testing is treated as true positive, while negative samples are mandatorily re-tested by RT-PCR process, in case of symptoms. So, when the test reports of Aishwarya and Aaradhya came negative in rapid antigen tests at the hospital on Saturday, their samples were taken for RT-PCR test. On Sunday, their RT-PCR results came positive.
Monopolies arent bad just because they seal a market from competition, driving prices up and quality down. In an internet era, tech monopolies are truly malevolent because they foreclose the marketplace of ideas. Amazon just provided more proof of this fact by banning both paper and e-book sales of Ezra Levans China Virus. Teddy Roosevelt would have known what to do. Its questionable whether anyone in todays Washington has TRs principles or courage.

Ezra Levant, a Canadian conservative, has spent years battling the censors in Canada, a country that lacks a First Amendment. His speech can be inflammatory but, before Friday, he was able to say freely in America what Canadian laws repeatedly tried to censor. Amazon changed that.

Amazon is bookselling in America. As of a year ago, before the lockdown put Amazons online purchases into hyperdrive, Amazon controlled 42% of paper book sales in America and a staggering 88.9% of e-books. Those numbers may well have increased in recent months. In other words, especially when it comes to the increasingly popular e-book marketplace, Amazon is the gatekeeper of what people can and cannot read.

What people can read at Amazon includes Hitlers Mein Kampf; Marxs Das Kapital; Lenins writings; Mao Tse-Tungs writings; Fidel Castros autobiography; and a wide variety of other books written by or paying homage to some of the worst actors and thinkers in world history.

What people cannot read at Amazon is Ezra Levants China Virus. Despite the title, the book is not about the Wuhan Virus. Instead, Levant examines how Justin Trudeaus pro-China policies are damaging Canada. In fact, for anyone paying attention, the subtitle spells it out explicitly: How Justin Trudeaus pro-Communist Ideology is Putting Canadians in Danger.

Nevertheless, Amazon sent Levant an email (incongruously signed Best regards) informing him that his book was being pulled because it provided potential misinformation about the Wuhan Virus:

Were contacting you regarding the following book(s): China Virus: How Justin Trudeaus pro-Communist Ideology is Putting Canadians in Danger Due to the rapidly changing nature of information around the COVID-19 virus, we are referring customers to official sources for health information about the virus. As a result we are not offering your book for sale. Amazon reserves the right to determine what content we offer according to our content guidelines.

The letter as written is so lacking in human feeling and logic that it appears as if a computer algorithm took over. However, Levant believes that this was a deliberate decision on Amazons part: According to his China Virus website,

Amazon originally refused to upload the book, fighting with us for two months. But then they relented. And the book became an instant bestseller, reaching no. 1 on Kindle in Canada and no. 2 as a paperback. It was a huge bestseller. And now its been deleted. Its China-style censorship.

Levant has a few theories about why Amazon shut his book down:

Who did this? Jeff Bezos, Amazons owner, who would do anything to ingratiate himself with China, to get access to their huge market?

Justin Trudeau, whose connections to Communist China I expose in this book?

The United Nations and the World Health Organization, whose corruption I expose? Or maybe all of them?

Fortunately, because Levant has connections, he was able to find a publisher who will soon print up a hard copy for those who dont like e-readers. Meanwhile, those who are comfortable with digital books can download a copy from Levants website by paying any amount they wish (with Levant suggesting at minimum $7.50, the Amazon price).

Ultimately, whether the Amazon letter reflects a computer algorithm gone mad or a deliberate attempt to shut down Levants criticisms about Trudeaus policies doesnt matter. What matters is that a monopolist is calling the shots about what most Americans  no, most people in the English-speaking world  can and cannot see. Amazon decides whats official and acceptable -- and what is not.

Teddy Roosevelt, a man of tremendous moral courage, is still remembered today for attacking monopolies that restrained trade. He would have known instantly what to do with tech tyrants such as Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Teddy Roosevelt, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Fortunately, competition is on the way with Walmart planning to go head-to-head with Amazon Prime. Walmarts unfortunately more woke than most shoppers realize, but (a) its better than Amazon and (b) any meaningful competition is better than no competition at all.

Image: YouTube screengrab
Washington, July 13 : US President Donald Trump considered selling Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the destructive Hurricane Maria in 2017, former acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke has told the New York Times.

In an interview with the newspaper on Friday, Duke said that "the president's initial ideas were more of as a businessman", Xinhua news agency reported.

"Can we outsource the electricity? Can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?" Trump reportedly said, according to the New York Times interview.

Nonetheless, the idea of selling the US territory was never seriously considered or discussed after it was raised, Duke said.

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017 and caused an estimated 2,982 fatalities and US $90 billion in damage, according to official data.

Trump has criticized Puerto Rican officials for their management of the relief fund that his administration provided for the island's recovery. In November 2018, White House officials told Congress that Trump didn't want any additional relief funding to the island.
Yonhap



South Korea and the United States appear increasingly likely to scale back or even call off a major combined exercise again due to the new coronavirus, after indefinitely postponing their annual springtime drill earlier this year, sources said Saturday.

The repeated skipping of annual exercises, if realized, is feared to affect the joint combat posture between the two countries, as well as South Korea's planned takeover of the wartime operational control (OPCON) of its forces from the U.S.

"Both sides share the need to stage the summertime exercise as planned, and we've continued consultations on the matter. But things are highly flexible due to the COVID-19 situation," a defense ministry official said.

Seoul and Washington usually carry out major combined exercises twice a year -- in around March and August. But they postponed this year's springtime exercise due to COVID-19, and it has not been held to date, as the health crisis continues.

They have yet to fix the schedule and detailed programs for the upcoming exercise.

"It already seems practically impossible to push for the summertime exercise normally, given that the U.S. has not taken action for the troop deployment to South Korea necessary for the exercise," a source said.

"Most of the U.S. members mobilized for an exercise are reserve forces, which means they have their jobs. Putting them in weekslong isolation is far from easy," he said. "The adjustment or cancellation seems to be a plausible option."

All overseas visitors to South Korea are required to be quarantined for two weeks due to the coronavirus.

Another factor that needs to be taken into consideration is the tenure of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.

No official term of office is set, but the JCS chairman is supposed to serve for around 18 months to two years, and the incumbent Chairman Gen. Park Han-ki took office in October 2018. The Seoul government is expected to announce Park's successor around September.

"It would not be easy to carry out such a major exercise at the time of changes of command," another source said.

Seoul and Washington also differ over the program of the summertime exercise.

The South Korean authorities stressed that it should focus on the assessment of Seoul's capabilities to retake the operational control of its troops from Washington, just as they agreed earlier.

But the U.S. military maintains it should be meant to boost their joint posture as a replacement of the springtime training, rather than preparations for the OPCON transfer, according to the sources.

On July 1, U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Robert Abrams, who also commands the Combined Forces Command, stressed that their semiannual theater-level combined exercises, as well as live fire trainings based on rigorous scenarios, should take place to maintain a staunch readiness posture in the face of evolving threats by North Korea.

To verify whether Seoul is on course to meet the conditions for the transition, the two sides carried out an initial operational capability (IOC) test in August last year, and their defense ministers decided to move on to the next step of carrying out the Full Operational Capability (FOC) test.

"If the two sides had staged an exercise earlier this year, they could have been able to do a kind of run-through for the FOC test," the source said.

The Seoul authorities believe that the two sides earlier decided to conduct an FOC test and Seoul has been fully prepared for the event. But the U.S. appears to be wanting to fully comply with due procedures for the complete verification, he added.

Seoul and Washington have been working for the conditions-based OPCON transfer. No specific deadline has been set, though many see the two sides eyeing 2022, or thereabouts, as the target date.

The combined exercise issue appears to affect their decision on when to have the planned South Korean and U.S. defense ministers' meeting.

In May, the defense ministry said the two sides are working to set up a videoconference call between their defense ministers in June to discuss pending issues. But the date has not been fixed yet.

"Chances are that the top-level talks would be held when the two countries reach a consensus on this sensitive matter," the source said. (Yonhap)
Houston leaders are calling for another two-week shutdown as dozens of Army personnel are set to arrive Monday to help fight a virus that continues to set record hospitalizations and deaths in the Texas Medical Center.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said its time for the city of Houston to step back, as regional cases rose to 63,864 on Sunday  up 1,596 from the day before. There have been 646 deaths in the Houston area. Positive results are coming back for about 16 percent of Texas test-takers.

Lets look at the numbers, look at the data, see where things are, Turner said over the weekend. And then gradually, move forward again.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo advocated an immediate stay-home order.

We need to stick with it this time until the hospitalization curve comes down, not just flattens, she tweeted Sunday. Many communities that persevered in that way are reopening for the long haul. Lets learn from that & not make the same mistake twice.

The case surge has placed a strain on health care systems. While the decision to shut down Houston and Harris County is currently out of local officials hands, state and federal officials have agreed to send more resources to the region. Medical personnel from the Department of Defense will be deployed to Houston on Monday, according to Gov. Greg Abbotts office.

The U.S. Northern Command is sending 580 medical personnel to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Texas, said Col. Martin ODonnell, a U.S. Army spokesman. The Navy has also sent response teams.

Eight-five of those personnel  among them Army nurses, physicians and pharmacists  will be dispatched to a yet-to-be identified hospital facility in the Houston area, said Lori Upton, vice president for the SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Councils disaster preparedness and response. The hope is to open anywhere from 20 to 50 beds for COVID-19 patients, she said.

Its not going to solve the problem, but it will start alleviating some of the crunch, Upton said.

Health officials are set to pick a location Monday to send the extra workers and to open those beds Tuesday, she continued.

The boost in Army staffing would add to the already 200 nurses SETRAC, a coalition of health providers, has placed in 25 counties.

ANOTHER SHUTDOWN?: Deadly COVID outbreak fuels criticism of Abbott from both sides

As of Sunday, there were 10,410 patients hospitalized for lab-confirmed COVID-19, an increase of more than 300 from a record-high on Saturday, and about 11,700 beds available. About 970 were available for the most critical cases across Texas.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, joining the states congressional representatives from the Rio Grande Valley, have asked the federal government to create emergency pop-up hospitals to deal with rising COVID-19 rates in Texas.

Last week, federal medical personnel were deployed to Bexar County, and more disaster assessment teams are operating in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, McAllen, Laredo and El Paso.

While Hidalgo issued a stay-at-home order in March, Abbott has since taken over decisions on whether to open or close businesses and has refused to allow local officials to make decisions on the matter. Hidalgos office has unsuccessfully petitioned the governor for power to issue more restrictions as COVID-19 hospitalizations spiked.

But on Friday afternoon, Abbott, too, said that he could consider expanding which nonessential businesses would shut down should the pandemic continue to worsen.

If we do not slow the spread of COVID-19  the next step would have to be a lockdown, the governor told KLBK-TV in Lubbock.

Bars are among the businesses restricted to prevent people from gathering and spreading the virus.

In Pasadena, two-stepping patrons gathered Sunday afternoon at Chuters Dance Hall and Saloon to protest the governors decision last month to abruptly close watering holes. Maskless customers crowded the dance floor as a country band played on.

I believe everyone has the right to work for a living, and I believe they have a right to be open like any other business, said patron Kristina Reff, of La Porte. This place has been a safe haven for my mom.

The decision to close bars and scale back occupancy at restaurants followed Junes stark rise in positive cases.

Meanwhile, federal support of testing sites in Texas will continue through July 31, according to the governors office. The statewide number of cases rose Sunday from 255,763 to 262,753. Fifty-seven more people were reported to have died, bringing the statewide total to 3,213.

Turner also said he was concerned about getting the virus under some semblance of control in time to send children, teachers and staff back to school in August, city spokeswoman Mary Benton said.

To be clear, the mayor would prefer the economy remain open but the virus is currently spreading out of control in our community and hospitalizations are rising, she said in an email. We must join together as a community to stop the spread now.

gwendolyn.wu@chron.com

rebecca.schuetz@chron.com

nicole.hensley@chron.com
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." (2 Cor 4:8, NIV)

Life has been tough across India: Covid-19 has forced hundreds of millions of citizens into lockdown. For many of the nation's minority Christian population it has become a question of survival as they face discrimination and even violence. However, despite all this, millions of Indian Christians are remaining firm in their faith.

"Christians are suffering even more than before," says Open Doors partner Brother Sam*, based in India. "Most of them have had to combat economic problems as well as opposition and hatred from their communities."

But in the face of the worsening opposition, Christians in India appear to be unwavering in their faith and courageously living their lives for God.

"The Lord's Spirit is really working powerfully," says Open Doors partner Sabita.

"Persecution victims are standing strong and there are many people being healed and coming to faith."

In one remote Indian village a church congregation managed to 'out-worship' a gang which was trying to intimidate them into silence.

Brother Sam says: "One Sunday morning around 25 people barged into this church.

"The men pulled the pastor down by his collar and beat him up, they roughed up others as well and started breaking all the musical instruments.

"The congregation stood stunned as it took place. Then the pastor's wife, an older woman, decided to take a stand: she started shouting, 'Praise the Lord!'

"Soon other women gathered around her and joined in, 'Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Glory to God!'"

"When the gang of men heard the church members shouting and praising God - they just started praising their own god. It became a competition.

"But when 300 people shouted together, 'Praise God!' the men were scared and they started running for the door.

"The moment the believers saw the men running, they started shouting all the more, 'Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!'"

Afterwards the church pastor said: "We're not feeling sorry about the persecution that happened - instead, we thank God, because now we are ready to face even greater persecution like this."

It's an attitude to violent persecution that is commonplace according to Open Doors partner, Sabita, who tells the story of an Indian pastor had first come to faith when his father was miraculously healed from a psychiatric condition.

"He really wanted to serve the Lord and his church had grown recently, with more than 100 new converts.

"Hindu extremists beat him up and he was detained by the police.

"Then he was expelled from his village by the extremists. They told him they would kill him if they ever found him sharing his faith with someone else.

"I asked him: 'So in the midst of all these troubles, what are you going to do?'

"He replied: 'I promised the Lord that I will live for Him and die for Him. I will continue to serve the Lord.'

"Are Hindu extremists are winning? No, they are not!"

Poss panel on background:

Attacks on Christians and other minority groups including Muslims in India have escalated dramatically since 2014.

So much so that in 2018, Open Doors' World Watch List, which highlights persecution levels for Christians worldwide, designated India as a country where Christians experience "extreme persecution" for the first time.

Last year, Open Doors catalogued 825 reports of persecution which affected 43,392 Christians, ranging from social rejection and insults through to beatings, sexual abuse and even murder.

But the charity warns that these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg and during the coronavirus lockdown, attacks have spiked again.

Dr Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, director of research at Open Doors International, says that COVID-19 has allowed extremist Hindus to increase levels of violence against minority religious groups in the country.

"With Covid-19 there is a trend to use the pandemic as a cover to hit the church harder in the belief that the international community will be distracted and not kick up a fuss," he says.

"Since 2014, if you attack a church or a mosque it is unlikely that the justice system will never catch up with you.

"Hindu extremists know how to use the mob. They see Christianity as a foreign religion.

"India is a reminder of how the church is growing. It makes the extremists frightened."

The church in India is now 70 million-strong and continuing to expand.

Working with local partners in India, Open Doors provides training for Christians around persecution and legal assistance to victims of such harassment.

*Names have been changed for security reasons.
Donald Trump claims Joe Biden could not pass cognitive test: Getty Images

Donald Trump has admitted his doctors were very surprised when he aced a cognitive test at Walter Reed Hospital in an effort to prove his intelligence.

I actually took one very recently when, you know, the radical left was saying, Is he all there? Is he all there? I proved I was all there, because I aced it, Mr Trump told Fox News Sean Hannity in a phone interview on Thursday. I aced the test.

He added: I took it at Walter Reed Medical Centre in front of doctors and they were very surprised. They said, Thats an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anyone do what you just did.

The president did not disclose to the Fox News host when or what type of cognitive test he took at the hospital.

In 2018, Mr Trumps top physician disclosed results from Mr Trumps Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA), in which he obtained a perfect score. That assessment, typically administered to older people, tests patients ability to identify pictures of animals, perform word-recall, and other cognitive functions.

When speaking to Mr Hannity, the president claimed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden could not pass a cognitive test.

Whilst both men could become the oldest president-elect in November, 74-year-old Mr Trump has continued to attack 77-year-old Mr Biden, who admitted to being constantly tested last week.

The presidents comments come amid criticism passed between the two septuagenarians, who have challenged each others cognitive abilities.

On Thursday night, Mr Trump alleged that Mr Biden was not tested because he couldnt pass one.

He didnt mean that because he hasnt taken any kind of cognitive tests because he couldnt pass one, Mr Trump added.

The interview went on with Mr Trump furthering pushing for his competitor to also perform a cognitive test to prove his own mental stability.

[Mr Biden] should take that same test, he said.

The Democrat, who had been asked whether or not he was tested for cognitive decline, said last week that he could hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man Im running against.

Story continues

The president took to Twitter to boast that Mr Biden could not ace the same MOCA administered to the president upon request in 2018.

Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale also taunted Mr Biden and wrote:  He just said hes been tested and is constantly tested. What were the results? Why is he getting constantly tested?

Read more

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Iran-Syria accord first step to defang US Caesar sanctions: Assad's top aide

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 July 2020 8:06 AM

A senior aide to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has hailed a comprehensive military-security deal recently signed with Iran as the first step to overcome sweeping US economic sanctions against the Arab country, saying Damascus has many other options to counter American restrictions.

In an interview with Yemen's al-Masirah TV channel on Friday, Assad's political and media adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, said Syria, like Iran, can turn the siege imposed on her homeland into an opportunity.

"We have many options to defeat the Caesar law," she said. "The signing of the Iran-Syria military agreement is the first step in this regard."

During a visit to Damascus on Wednesday, Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri signed an agreement with Syrian Defense Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub to strengthen military and defense ties between the two countries.

The accord came less than a month after Washington imposed new sanctions on Syria under the so-called Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act.

The sanctions act, which came into effect on June 17 six months after being signed into law by US President Donald Trump, targets individuals and businesses anywhere in the world that operate either directly or indirectly in Syria's economy.

Shaaban denounced the Caesar Act as an illegal measure, whose implementation amounts to a crime against the Syrian nation.

Assad's adviser also noted that the US law enables the continuation of the US-led aggression against Syria and shows the hostility towards the resistance axis.

Syria, she added, will boost cooperation with other member countries of the resistance front and turn to Russia and China.

"As the blockade made the Islamic Republic of Iran stronger, we can also turn the siege into an opportunity to become stronger," Shaaban said.

Earlier this week, the Secretary General of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah praised Iran for making progress despite illegal US sanctions.

"Iran is a self-sufficient model, why are you afraid of this model?" Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah asked.

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By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: At a time when oxygen cylinders are in huge demand owing to the Covid-19 crisis, the Hyderabad police, on Saturday, busted a gang selling oxygen cylinders illegally.

A man was arrested by the Golconda police in connection with the same, and as many as 29 oxygen cylinders were seized from his possession. The accused had sold cylinders at `1 lakh each to hospitals and individuals, taking advantage of supply shortage and rise in demand.

Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar, in a tweet, said that hoarding, illegal buying or selling of oxygen cylinders was a crime.

During the preliminary probe, the Golconda police found that the accused was supplying oxygen cylinders to hospitals and individuals by refilling them on his own. He had advertised the cylinders on social media. The accused was operating without permission.
U.S. Convicts Russian Hacker Nikulin Over Massive Data Breach

By RFE/RL July 11, 2020

A jury in San Francisco has convicted Russian citizen Yevgeny Nikulin over a series of hacks and cyberthefts eight years ago that targeted major U.S. social-media companies such as LinkedIn and Dropbox.

The District Court for the Northern District of California said on July 10 that Nikulin's sentence would be pronounced on September 29.

The 32-year-old defendant, who was examined by court-ordered psychologists last year amid concerns about his mental health, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

His lawyer vowed to appeal the verdict, which he called a "huge injustice."

The appeal must be filed within 60 days, Arkady Bukh said, adding that "some changes are possible" due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Nikulin faces up to 10 years in prison for each count of selling stolen usernames and passwords, installing malware on protected computers, as well as up to five years for each count of conspiracy and computer hacking.

According to U.S. prosecutors, Nikulin in 2012 stole the usernames and passwords used by tens of millions of social-media users to access their accounts. Some of that data was put up for sale on a notorious Russian hacker forum.

Nikulin was detained in the Czech Republic in October 2016, and his extradition to the United States 17 months later angered Russia.

Moscow had asked the Czech authorities to extradite Nikulin to his home country, citing him as a suspect in a $2,000 online theft in 2009.

His trial started in California in early March but was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic a week later, when nearly all in-person court hearings were postponed across the United States.

Nikulin was targeted by U.S. law enforcement as part of a multiyear campaign to arrest some of the most notorious Russian hackers and suspected cybercriminals.

More than a dozen have been arrested in various countries, with Moscow accusing Washington of "hunting" Russian citizens.

With reporting by Bloomberg and TASS

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-convicts -russian-hacker-nikulin-over- massive-data-breach/30720661.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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By Express News Service

NIZAMABAD: A COVID victims body was carried in an autorickshaw from Government General Hospital (GGH) in Nizamabad to the local burial ground on Saturday for the funeral. GGH Superintendent M Nageshwar Rao has been directed by the Telangana Director of Medical Education, Dr Ramesh Reddy to file criminal cases against the staff involved in handing over the body. The Superintendent has also appointed a committee to look into the incident.

From Thursday night to Friday morning, three persons died at Government General Hospital. Officials shifted the bodies to the burial ground in ambulances and held the funeral according to protocol on Friday.

However, the family of the third victim did not show up. They instead directed their relatives in Nizamabad to do the funeral, after which they took the body from the hospital in an autorickshaw to the burial ground.

Inquiry ordered

Dr Reddy has also ordered for an inquiry into the matter, as to how a COVID body was handed over to relatives instead of following standard protocol for disposal. All hospital superintendents have been instructed to strictly follow the guidelines to ensure that such incidents are not be repeated.
Honorable Henry Hart, judge of the 21st Judicial Circuit of Michigan, resident of Midland, was born May 13, 1840 in China, St. Clair County, Michigan. His father, Silas S. Hart, was a native of Long Island and was born July 20, 1804. His mother, Maria Hart was born July 27, 1807 in the western part of the Empire State. Her demise occurred in June 1875. The death of the father took place in September 1870.

Not long after the event of their marriage, the parents of Judge Hart settled in St. Clair County. The Peninsular State (Michigan) was then in its territorial days, and they were among the pioneer element whose labors and efforts established the prosperity and rank of one of the best sections of Michigan. They located in forest, built a humble home and devoted the strength of their lives to the progress and advancement of the place of their choice, and the community of which they were a part, which they lived to see in a condition that creditably rivaled the old settled places in the east. They reared their family of five children in the pursuit of labor on the farm, which was alternated by attendance at the common schools.

At the age of 15, Judge Hart went to Mount Clemens and became a member of the household of R.P. Eldredge, attorney. He remained there about 20 months, engaged in alternate labor and study. He became respectably proficient in scholarship and engaged in teaching in a district school in the winter prior to his reaching the age of 18. He pursued that calling six winters, spending the remainder of the years in the pursuit of agriculture, save one summer when he attended school in St. Clair. He determined upon the profession of an attorney and returned to Mount Clemens, where he read law under the direction of Mr. Eldridge, and in the fall of 1863 he matriculated in the law department of the University of Michigan, where he graduated in the spring of 1865 with the law degree. In July of that year he fixed his residence in Midland, where he entered upon his career as an attorney and in brief time secured a substantial practice and a firm hold on the confidence of the community, to which he proved valuable accession.

Judge Hart was married Feb. 4,1869, to Mariah Parsons. She was born April 17, 1844, in China, Michigan, and is the daughter of William and Lavina (Weeks) Parsons. Two children, Ray and Mary constitute the issue of this marriage, one born April 21, 1872, the other Feb. 27, 1876 in Midland. His public life commenced in the fall of 1866, when he was appointed Justice of the Peace to fill an unexpired term. In the fall of 1866 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Midland County and in 1868 was reelected to the same position. In the fall of 1870 he was elected circuit court commissioner, and two years later was his own successor by reelection. He was elected representative from his district in the autumn if 1874 and discharged the duties of the position through the session of the winter of 1874-75. His personal service in the legislature included the chairmanship on the Committee on Municipal Corporations and he officiated as a member of the Committee on Enrollment and Engrossing of Bills.

In the spring of 1875 he resigned his post as representative to render himself eligible to the position of Circuit Judge, which he has since held continuously. His circuit included the counties of Midland, Isabella, Clare, Gladwin and Gratiot.

The character and career of Judge Hart afford a lesson of intense significance to the aspirants of the times. The traits by which he is characterized have won for him his unwavering popularity and substantiated his position in public life from the outset. His course has been marked by no comet-like brilliancy of spasmodic prominence. He has kept the even temper of a man of inflexible principle, sound judgement, and manly dignity. The two latter characteristics make him eminent on the bench. His bearing is always compatible with the character of the position he occupies and his perfect self-poise secures the utmost degree of harmony in the sessions over which he presides.

The advocates who plead in his courts acknowledge the power and the influence of his unwavering demeanor; and his entire official record is marked by the traits which distinguish him. His deliberation amounts nearly to dilatoriness, but the character of his decision is evident from the favor in the higher tribunals. He is an excellent jurist, an impartial judge and an admirable exponent of law. The rectitude of his private character, his dignified solicitude for the faithful discharge of the trusts confided to him, his manner and methods in the management of his judicial obligations and connections render him conspicuous. His official position sought him out at the threshold of his prime, and his character and acts have made his subsequent career one of credit to himself and reflects honor upon his constituency.

EDITORS NOTE The Midland County Historical Society is partnering with the Midland Daily News for A Window to Midlands Past, which will feature historical pieces in print and online at ourmidland.com. This particular piece was compiled by retired historical society director Gary Skory from the 1884 Biographical Album. It was originally published on August 19, 1993.
An abandoned oil tanker lying off Yemen's coast with 1.1 million barrels of crude onboard is deteriorating badly and could rupture at any time, with disastrous results for Red Sea marine life, UN and other experts warn.

The 45-year-old FSO Safer is anchored off the port of Hodeida under the control of the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who have blocked United Nations efforts to send a team of experts to assess its condition.

Effectively a floating storage platform, it has had virtually no maintenance for five years since war broke out in the country where the Huthis have seized much of the north from the internationally recognised government.

The UN Security Council will hold a special meeting on July 15 to discuss the crisis, after water entered the vessel's engine room "which could have led to disaster", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

He said prospects for a mission to the site have been revived, and that if an inspection team is allowed onboard it will conduct light repairs and determine the next steps.

"We hope logistical arrangements will be quickly completed so this work can begin," he said.

The Yemen government, which appealed for the UN to take up the issue, has warned the Safer could explode and cause "the largest environmental disaster regionally and globally."

Top Huthi leader Mohamed Ali al-Huthi said on Twitter last month that the rebels want guarantees the vessel will be repaired and that the value of the oil on board is used to pay salaries of their employees.

The market value of the oil is now estimated at $40 million, half what it was before crude prices crashed, although experts say poor quality could push it even lower.

Like other economic and aid issues in Yemen, the plight of the tanker has become a bargaining chip, with the Huthis accused of using the threat of disaster to secure control of the value of the cargo.

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed on Thursday called on the international community to punish the Huthis for preventing a UN inspection, and said the value of the oil should be spent on health and humanitarian projects.

Apart from corrosion to the ageing vessel, essential work on reducing explosive gases in the storage tanks has been neglected for years. Experts said the latest problem emerged in May with a leak in a cooling pipe.

"The pipe burst, sending water into the engine room and creating a really dangerous situation," said Ian Ralby, CEO of IR Consilium, a global maritime consultancy which follows the vessel closely.

A team from Yemen's Safer Exploration and Production Operations, a public oil company partly controlled by the Huthis, sent divers in to fix the leak, narrowly avoiding the ship sinking, Ralby said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned last week that if the tanker ruptures "it will devastate the Red Sea ecosystem" and disrupt key shipping lanes.

"The Huthis must grant access before this ticking time bomb explodes," he said.

Hodeida port is a lifeline for northern Yemen with 90 percent of all supplies coming through it. Any disruption would inflict further hardship on a country that is again on the brink of famine after long years of conflict.

If the vessel ruptures "you're going to have two catastrophes", said Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Yemen.

"There's going to be an environmental catastrophe that's bigger than almost any other similar kind... and it's going to be a humanitarian catastrophe because that oil will make the port of Hodeida unusable," she told AFP.

Independent Yemen-based environmental group Holm Akhdar -- Arabic for "Green Dream" -- warned an oil spill could stretch out from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and into the Arabian Sea.

The region's ecology would need over 30 years to recover from an oil spillage of that size, it said in a recent report, adding that about 115 of Yemen's Red Sea islands would lose their biodiversity and natural habitats.

In a country where the majority of people already relied on aid to survive, an estimated 126,000 fishermen, including 68,000 in Hodeida, would lose their only source of income.

IR Consilium said any salvage operation after an oil spill would be greatly hampered by the coronavirus crisis.

"In the midst of a global pandemic and on the edge of a conflict zone, the chances of an early and adequate response are vanishingly small," it said in a report.

Doug Weir, research and policy director at the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory, said that without an independent assessment "it is impossible to determine when an incident might occur, or its form and severity".

"However the risks are clear, and the longer the dispute continues the greater they become, and the more complex and expensive any salvage operation will be."
Following a positive career working as an IT administrator, Mark Van der klei was curious to learn how other Maori fared in the New Zealand IT sector. He embarked on a PhD thesis with the working title The IT occupations attractiveness to Maori, in part to find out whether his experience was typical.

What he discovered in the course of his research has surprised him.

A revelation for me was that those who I spoke with, almost all of them, identified unique things which I hadnt picked up on within organisations, which looking back retrospectively [in my own IT career] I just wasnt aware of. Being able to draw on these peoples experiences offered a sense of clarity that I hadnt personally experienced while I was working, he told CIO New Zealand.

[ Keep up on the latest thought leadership, insights, how-to, and analysis on IT through CIOs newsletters. ]

Maori experiences in New Zealand IT

Van der klei is talking about the experience of an indigenous person working in an IT department of a New Zealand organisation. He now teaches at Canterbury University in information systems and management and in the course of completing his PhD thesis has conducted in-depth interviews with 18 Maori IT workers throughout New Zealand. Their occupations range from managers to people working on help desk support through to business owners and educators. There was also a wide range of experience, from those who had just graduated to people whod been working for over 35 years in the IT sector.

Some [of the interviewees] had experienced prejudice in the workplace, but their experiences differed dependent on how they self-identified. Some were not aware because they had grown up disconnected from their Maori whakapapa (ancestry) and what was done was the accepted understanding or practice, while others who had grown up with a strong connection felt it more keenly, he says.

Examples include being asked, What percentage Maori are you? I have been asked that many times and wonder how that person would feel if I asked them what percentage New Zealander they were? And then proceeded to tell them what their identity was. This would be highly confrontational and is something I would not do, but this is not always the case in return. Another example, from a participant who identified strongly with te ao Maori (the Maori world), was when they were working in a firm and their desk had a view of the reception desk. Some people, who looked Maori came in and asked to use the bathroom. Somebody came up to this participant and asked them if they knew themand they replied, Why would I know themjust because Im brown?.

Have Maori IT workers experienced racism?

Im worried about the racism word, because it carries so much weight. My understanding of the concept is constantly developing but my current understanding of racism is when a person makes a disrespectful comment or questions another persons identity from a position of perceived superiority without fear of credible or acceptable recrimination. Additionally, that person is only looking to confirm (as opposed to disprove) what they think they know. For racism, this is based on ethnicity, Van der klei says.

How people dealt with this happening was dependent on the individual. Within this group it either meant people not joining or not staying long in an organisation and was expressed as a real dissonance between the organisations and their personal valuesthat things just didnt ring true.

Van der klei says that from an organisational perspective, if your organisation does not have a representation of the population and if this is your goal then you probably have a problem somewhere.

The pressure to be a cultural ambassador for Maori

Almost universally those he interviewed experienced a pressure to be a kind of cultural ambassador. That it wasnt enough for them to be skilled in IT, they had to have this extra skill of being able to speak knowledgably about Maori culture.

Those that I spoke with said there are expectations with regards to Maori culture and language. They had to be proficient in those areas as well as being at the same level as everyone else with regards to core skills. They were constantly being asked about Maori culture; they couldnt just concentrate on their job, he says.

For those who were either disconnected from, or still working out. what it personally meant to be Maori, this was a point of pain and not a safe environment to just be themselves and learn like everyone else. Ive seen this happen to people of other cultures as well and can empathisejust because you belong to a culture does not mean you know everything about it or are a representative of everyone, Van der klei says.

In one organisation, there were three Maori guys. One was very in touch with te reo Maori (the Maori language) and his marae and the two other people had lived very disconnected from their marae, so for them it felt safe because they had this other person as backup. But had they been on their own they didnt feel that they would be as safe because they knew they would be asked questions about Maori culture or language that they just didnt feel qualified to answer. As it was, they had been asked to translate some phrases and, because they were not proficient in te reo Maori, without help would not have been able to do so, which had the potential to make them feel incredibly uncomfortable.

In that organisation, Van der klei says the management team had also identified iwi (tribes or other groups) who had received reparations from the Crown through the Waitangi Tribunal as a potential source of revenue for their company. They had identified a need to increase their knowledge and understanding of Maori concernsbut those individuals still needed the core skills to get through the interview process.

As a result, needing to be competent in two worlds just set the bar higher for those Maori wanting to get into and progress in IT as a career, he says.

Cultural diversity is more than just quotas

There is no one Maori view, and assuming that a universal perspective exists is problematic for CIOs who want to encourage more Maori in the workforce, Van der klei says.

As New Zealanders, while there may be similar characteristics, we accept that people are different depending on the areas in which they live. If youre from Auckland you might have different characteristics than someone from Invercargill. But that view is not carried through to minority groups. So that grouping of Maori as one group, especially from an organisational point of view, is not helpful. If the object is to attract more Maori into IT, organisations would be better served looking inwards, he says.

Van der klei says a lot of organisations claim to be actively seeking more diversity in their workforce but, from those he spoke with, it appears to be more of a need to be seen adhering to workforce quotas.

I see the concept and goal of diversity as a real issue. Cultural diversity is about having a central dominant culture and trying to find people outside of that culture to join. Problematically, those that do join (especially if psycho-metric testing is a pre-requisite to finding people that fit in) will only results in diversity of characteristics and not thought. Cultural diversity in the businesses that I see is done at a very superficial levelthey look for differences in ethnicity or gender and by bringing these differences together the assumption is made that they are going to have different ways of thinking. But thats not necessarily the case because thats not what they are looking for, he says.

I can cite a large multinational company, which has an incredibly diverse workforce from all over the world, but to get into the company you have to think in a certain way. If everyone is thinking the same, regardless of differences, then are you really getting diversity? Van der klei asks.

Research from the UK identified this as a problem, and it appears to hold true in New Zealand as well. Their work identified the benefits of identifying and looking for cultural differences as opposed to cultural diversity as a way forward. Instead of trying to impose a central culture on employees, trying to accept that everyone is different and that everyone can bring something valuable to the table

Van der klei says a basic example of how this can play out in organisations is to consider how a department meeting is conducted. In a typical organisational setting the leader would speak first at a meeting and then anybody who had an opinion, they would speak next. [But] if you look at what occurs in some of the Maori settings I am aware of, the leader speaks last. All the people who are new to the business would offer an opinion and then it would go from the lowest rank to the highest. The idea is not to squash the ideas of those coming through, but to temper them with experience. The leader would acknowledge the opinions given beforehand and then their job would be to make a decision, mindful of what was said and based on information and knowledge that they have.

This can lead to disagreements, but by talking openly and not being afraid of disagreements, then you promote a culture of buy-in. There must be a measure of respect and collective goal setting for this to work but these are aspects which are already mainstream. There is a whakatauki (saying) that puts forth the idea that an individual can stop a war party if they come up with a good enough argument. In our news media this is portrayed negatively, from a European perspective, as Maori always arguing amongst themselves. From my perspective, I see this as a strength because it shows an ability to separate ideas and people and gives individuals the space to ask the hard questions, he says.

Karl Popper, a noted Austrian philosopher who lived in New Zealand for a number of years, said that great people make great mistakes and it is our responsibility to break from the habit of deference and challenge those ideas least we become complicit in their implementation. By arguing and collectively deciding on a path forward you get buy-in which is the basis of tikangadoing things for the right reason, and if you choose to do something then doing it in the right way, Van der klei says.

Advice to CIOs on overcoming the barriers to true diversity in IT

Everyone I spoke with was working in IT because they loved working with technology. However, whenever they tried to encourage other family members into IT as a career, (even when they knew it would suit them), they hit a brick wall. There is not a lot of trust in IT as an occupation. Common responses were that you had to be really smart, or that its hard to get into. IT also lacks the stability to be seen as a safe occupation and oftentimes means an individual will have to move to find work, whether it be nationally or internationally, he says.

It does not help that those in IT are seen as disposable and interchangeable based on the constant restructuring common within the industry. There has been an active push within the IT sector to change the status of IT from an occupation to a profession. While this may be reflective of where it now sits, one of the repercussions is that for some it feels out of reach and, without role models to break a path, unattainable, Van der klei says.

Van der kleis advice to CIOs is to look beyond the statistics when seeking to increase the number of cultures in their departments. You would achieve more by providing an environment based on respect where people have the opportunity to be and express their own identity, he says.

CIOs have to become more personal and there isnt a blanket statyou cant just say, We need 50 per cent more Maori or 50 per cent more females and we will be okay. The goals are very quantitative. If you truly want a workforce comprised of people able to offer different views then it needs to be done at a deep level. Otherwise there isnt going to be any change.
Dear Editor,

We recently traveled to New York to attend my grandsons graduation; we werent expecting much pomp and circumstance because of the coronavirus.

However, after viewing a truly impressive virtual tribute, we headed to Ulster County Community College to join the parade caravan. As the graduates arrived, the excitement grew. From the time we departed the college, it became apparent that this was going to be much different than what we had expected.

The response from the entire community was amazing! It seemed like every citizen in the community turned out to extend their congratulations and good wishes. With only 147 graduates, there is no way that every one of them was related to or knew the graduates. They were there to ensure that even though the Class of 2020 had been deprived of their prom, class trip, normal graduation, and enjoyment of living day-to-day as a senior in their school, they would never forget this day.

As the parade progressed through the towns and hamlets, I was continuously impressed with the turnout, the signs, balloons, musical instruments, noisemakers, and enthusiasm. One fellow was even playing the bagpipes. Every emergency, fire, police, and ambulance siren that existed was wailing; it was exciting. Motorists who may have been inconvenienced by the caravan were waving and beeping their horns.

It was nice to see that despite all of the hate and divisiveness in the world today, there are a lot of truly wonderful people. Thank you, the citizens of Rondout Valley, for making the 2020 graduation of Rondout Valley High School truly awesome. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the efforts of principal Jessica Torok. Her leadership, and that of her staff and faculty, in truly uncharted waters was phenomenal.

Tony Abbruzzi

Liberty, N.C.
Although the Health Department receives a lot of complaints from people about nursing homes, they dont have the authority to take action against a facility if they are failing to meet quality standards. These complaints would need to go to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or state officials.

A CMS spokesman did not respond to an email of whether Sapphire is being investigated. Representatives from the Arizona Department of Health Services did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment.

Our team is very much not regulatory, Davis said. We dont want to be the ones to police anyone essentially because we want to keep that relationship with our facilities open and allow them to trust us and come to us when they do need help and recommendations and things like that.

For officials at the Pima Council on Aging, the dedicated ombudsman for older adults in Pima County, the lack of support and guidance from state officials has been a big concern.
The police in Lagos have arrested two traffic robbery suspects along Oshodi area of the metrolopolis and recovered some stolen items from them.

Bala Elkana, the Lagos State police spokesperson, said both suspects are ex-convicts.

Mr Elkana, in a statement on Sunday, said the two robbery suspects usually attack motorists held in traffic and collect their belongings in some parts of Lagos.

The suspects, identified as Tunde Olaiya and Tokunbo Omotola, were arrested on Monday night by operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) ton patrol along Oshodi.

The suspects, Tunde Olaiya, 24 years old and Tokunbo Omotola, 26 years old, were arrested in separate encounters in Oshodi-Oke. One stolen iphone X was recovered from Olaiya.

Olaiya, an ex-convict, had around 8:00 p.m. in Ojodu-Berger, Ikeja, in company of one Bolaji Nigga strangulated a motorist held in traffic light and stole his iphone X.

The duo while returning to Oshodi to handover the phone to their buyer were intercepted by Rapid Response Squad (RRS) bikers, who suspected them to be traffic robbers.

On search, one pass-worded iphone X was recovered from his pocket. While his colleague escaped from the scene, Olaiya couldnt explain where he got the phone. This prompted the officers to transfer him to RRS Headquarters, where he confessed to have collected the phone from a motorist in traffic, the police said.

Mr Elkana, a superintendent of police, further said a powdery substance used in traffic robbery to break glasses of vehicles was recovered from the suspect.

The victim, whose phone was retrieved from Olaiya described his experience in the hands of the criminal as traumatic. He thanked the police for helping him retrieve the phone and SIM card, Mr Elkana said.

Tokunbo Omotola, who is equally an ex-convict was also arrested in Oshodi for traffic robbery.

He confessed in his statement to the police that apart from robbery at night, he pickpockets during the day adding that his robbery points were 7Up, Ojodu Berger; Kara Bridge, Oshodi, Mile 12 and Ojota Bridge.

Both suspects confessed that once the phones are collected, they remove the SIMs and sell them at N2000 each and sell the phones separately, the police said.

Mr Elkana said the suspects will be charged to court.
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Born in the United States of America to Nigerian parents, I was raised in Nigeria and returned to the U.S. after medical school for residency training. I have practiced medicine in Chicago, IL for 25 years, and like many others, have had to deal with microaggressions and racism within and outside the workplace. However, this article is not aheabout outlining my personal experiences. This is a call to action to my fellow Black colleagues born or raised in Africa and now living in the U.S. We have to understand and acknowledge that we are beneficiaries of opportunities and rights that many fought and died for.

A recent study from the Migration Policy Institute showed that among the 958,000 physicians in the U.S., 269,000 (28 percent) were immigrants. Of the 21,000 African born physicians, 6,000 (28 percent) are from Nigeria. We own practices, are in leadership positions, have expansive networks, and our voices are needed. Our colleagues, our patients, the Black community needs us to be an active voice in the fight to dismantle systemic racism.

You may have heard the statement, Compound interest is your friend when you save/invest and your worst enemy when you owe. Compound interest stacks on, and every month you have a higher new baseline. The critical importance and impact of time on this trajectory are why I encourage young people to start saving/investing early. Its why I am the boring aunt whose birthday gifts to my nephews and nieces are checks for savings/college funds and not fancy toys or gadgets. I think about micro and macro aggressions in that same way. Like compound interest, they stack on, grow, expand, and are not simply additive. Over time, the cumulative effect of microaggressions and overt racism can adversely affect self-confidence, esteem, mental and physical health. This stress can prime an individual to constantly be in a fight or flight state. This is tiring and makes the soul weary. Consider a recent JAMA article: As a child, racism makes you feel lost and afraid; as a young adult, racism leaves you on the outside looking in; as a young aspiring professional, racism makes you start at the back, work twice as hard, for half as much; and as a mature adult, racism makes your soul grieve.

While African born Blacks are not immune to these micro-aggressions, we were spared from them during those critical early years of identity development. A Nigerian friend who is a top executive in the U.S. stated it best in a recent post, Growing up without the overhang of racism is one of the biggest advantages I have had. Many of our Black colleagues and Black patients have had a lifetime of living with the overhang of racism. We must recognize our privilege and do more to support our fellow physician colleagues and the larger Black community. It is our fight too. It took me a while to fully understand that, and I took deliberate, intentional steps to educate myself and learn from others.

Here are five things we can do now as we play our part in dismantling systemic racism in health care and other institutions.

1. Learn about the history of the U.S. and the struggles of Blacks in America. Read Black authors and do a deep dive into American history. (Audiobooks and podcasts work too for busy doctors.)

2. Seek to understand and explore diverse viewpoints and lived experiences. Listen to your American born Black colleagues. Listen and learn from your Black patients. This will mean stepping out of your comfort zone. This will help us better understand the struggles and challenges our colleagues and the patients we serve have faced for decades.

3. Discuss race and the role it plays in our society with your children and learn from them. I have learned a lot from mine who have lived their entire lives in the U.S.

4. Stop casually accepting that you are a special Black or different from the others, the exception at work, or in your other networks. Seek to educate and inform. Be a part of the solution to enhancing diversity in the pipeline and leadership.

5. Invest your 3 Ts: time, talent, and treasures as you do your part in dismantling systemic racism in and outside of the workplace. Use your position, influence, and networks to advocate for change. Mentor, empower, be an advocate for your patients, a healer, donate to organizations working for social justice, vote, run for office, and continue to speak up.

We, the Black immigrant physicians, have to continue to speak up in the fight for equality and stand against injustice. Our colleagues need us. Our patients need us. The Black community needs us. It is our fight too. Silence is not acceptable. Silence is not OK. It is time for change, and its all hands (voices) on deck.

Toyin M. Falusi is an infectious disease physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Dozens of people marched on Saturday in Wilmington to demand the reopening of the case in the 2015 fatal police shooting of a black man in a wheelchair.

The demonstration for Jeremy McDole moved through the city, making stops at Wilmington police headquarters and a state office building, the News Journal of Wilmington reported. The march was led by the man's sister.

Mr McDole, 28, was sitting in his wheelchair when he was shot and killed in September 2015 in Wilmington, after police received a 911 call about a man with a gun. A bystander's cellphone footage showed officers repeatedly telling Mr McDole to drop his weapon and raise his hands, with Mr McDole reaching for his waist before shots were fired.

A federal judge in 2017 approved the city's $1.5m (1.19m) settlement with Mr McDole's family.

The protesters on Saturday shouted, Justice for Jeremy McDole and Shotgun Joe has got to go, referring to senior police corporal Joseph Dellose, who shot Mr McDole.

A report from Matt Denn's office, who was the attorney general at the time, concluded that Officer Dellose discharging his firearm created uncertainty among other responding officers who, not knowing where the gunfire came from, also opened fire on Mr McDole.

Mr Denn's office criticised Officer Dellose for extraordinarily poor police work and said that he should not carry a firearm.

None of the four officers who were involved in the shooting are still with the Wilmington Police Department.

AP
Donald Trump has taken back a bit of control  or at least that is what he will want his supporter base to think.

After a few weeks where pressure has been building over Americas response to the coronavirus and the effect it will have on the economy, the commuting of Roger Stones prison sentence gives the president a chance to do two things he likes  show his power and portray himself as a victim waging a one-man war against the enemies of the nation.

With the recent White House press briefings taking on an increasingly bitter sheen, the statement about Stone did not even bother with any diplomatic language. Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency. Ignoring the random capitals, the message was clear  and aimed squarely at Trumps most ardent supporters.

It went on: These charges were the product of recklessness borne of frustration and malice. This is why the out-of-control Mueller prosecutors, desperate for splashy headlines to compensate for a failed investigation, set their sights on Mr. Stone. The phrase frustration and malice could equally apply to the motives behind the White Houses actions.

Many media outlets were quick to express outrage at Trumps use of his clemency powers, which was no doubt part of the White House strategy. Indeed, even the normally quiet Robert Mueller  whom Trump has sought to undermine constantly  took to the Washington Post to make the point that Stones conviction still remains.

Recommended Romney slams Trump for commuting Stone sentence

Holding the president to account includes holding decisions like this up to the light, but in reality the president knows that in commuting Stones sentence he is not going to lose any potential votes in Novembers election that werent already long gone.

The point was quickly made that the commutation is a way of keeping Trumps long-time political guru onside, although there was seemingly little chance of Stone turning against him. The broader issue worth thinking about is that Stone was connected to Trumps successful run for the presidency in 2016 and now the current White House incumbent is facing a tougher race than he might have thought this year.

When Stone was found guilty in November 2019 of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his attempts to contact Wikileaks, the website that released damaging emails about Trumps 2016 Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton, the president would have felt more secure. But as 2020 and the coronavirus crisis has wound on, his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, has picked up in the polls.

Reports early last month suggested that Trump has been hitting out at his campaign official about how things were going, and the situation hasnt exactly got any easier since. Andrew Feinberg, writing for The Independent, later highlighted disquiet among staff over the strategy of the presidents team. In such a troubled environment, it is plausible the president would look to call upon Stone, whose political acumen he has long valued.

This whole episode also plays into the White Houses efforts to make Trump an outsider again as we head towards the election. After more than three years in office it is getting harder to show that the president is the man to bring revolution to Washington. But his statements about Stone paint Trump as someone still fighting against the political machine.

The margin for error for Trump is getting smaller if recent polls are any indication  but any chance to remind his supporters of what he is about will not be missed. He will need all his base to turn out for him in November.
After Boris Johnson appeared for the first time in a shop wearing a mask, Michael Gove asserted on Sunday that such coverings should not be made mandatory in shops. Last week it was build, build, build this week its confusion, confusion, confusion. What a surprise!

There is indeed a debate to be had about mask effectiveness. But much in the Johnson government is now driven not by science but by politics. I suspect the confusion derives from embarrassment over the clarity and leadership being seen in Scotland.

With face coverings in shops mandated and regular announcements in supermarkets reinforcing that message, the Scottish government are serious about dealing with the pandemic.

Could it be that the London government dont wish to be seen following Scotlands lead, no matter how sensible it may be?

Arthur Streatfield

Bath

Those who criticise the apparent inconsistency of requiring a face covering in a shop but not in a restaurant or pub miss the point. There is much that is still unknown about how Covid-19 is spread, but it is obviously sensible to use all available practicable means to reduce transmission risks.

This means distancing as far as possible and wearing face coverings indoors in busy premises, where possible. It is easy to wear a mask in a shop, but clearly impossible while eating and drinking. The concept of as far as is reasonably practicable is very familiar to health and safety practitioners.

John Wilkin

Bury St Edmunds

Travel restrictions

I am currently in quarantine for 14 days after returning to the UK from Malaysia  a country that has had a total of around 8,700 cases and 122 deaths and a country the Foreign Office says Brits can travel to now.

The reason given for quarantine is that Malaysia has not formed a mutual air bridge travel agreement with the UK. Why should they, when Malaysia has handled Covid-19 so well, while UK numbers and handling of the situation is so embarrassingly awful?

People returning from countries with very low numbers should not need to quarantine. Decisions should not be based on the premise that if you wont let us into your country without quarantine then we wont let you into ours. Thats plain childish and not good for the economy.

Helen Duncan

Address supplied

Help needed

We call on the government to urgently intervene on behalf of Bahraini victims Mohammed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa, who will have the final appeal against their death sentences heard on 13 July 2020. Mohammed and Husain were sentenced to death in 2014 for allegedly killing a policeman, after they said they were tortured into providing false confessions.

British taxpayers fund training for Bahrains Special Investigations Unit (SIU) and ombudsman, institutions charged with investigating torture allegations. The SIUs investigation has been condemned by independent experts at the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims as seriously flawed. Nonetheless, in January Bahrains High Court of Appeal reimposed death sentences on the two men, ruling that their torture allegations had been thoroughly investigated.

The UK government has consistently failed to criticise due process violations in their trial or acknowledge abuses Mohammed and Husain have suffered. Just last week, the Foreign Office said it welcomed the work of SIU and ombudsman.

The persistence of torture allegations, and the significant rise in the use of the death penalty since 2017 in Bahrain show that this soft-touch approach has not worked and a further 10 inmates are at imminent risk of execution.

As the Foreign and Commonwealth Office acknowledges, this is an important test case of whether UK security assistance to Bahrain delivers on its promise to protect human rights in the kingdom. With days to save Mohammed and Husains lives, ministers must act to ensure their torture allegations are independently investigated and they are granted a fair trial.

Debbie Abrahams MP, Labour; Hilary Benn MP, Labour; Andrew Gwynne MP, Labour; Kim Johnson MP, Labour; Clive Lewis MP Labour; Andy Slaughter MP, Labour; Zahra Sultana MP, Labour; Alistair Carmichael MP, Liberal Democrat; Wendy Chamberlain MP, Liberal Democrat; Daisy Cooper MP, Liberal Democrat; Tim Farron MP, Liberal Democrat; Christine Jardine MP, Liberal Democrat; Layla Moran MP, Liberal Democrat; Sarah Olney MP, Liberal Democrat; Jamie Stone MP, Liberal Democrat; Ian Blackford MP, SNP; Martyn Day MP, SNP; Allan Dorans MP, SNP; Margaret Ferrier MP, SNP; Neale Hanvey MP, SNP; Chris Law MP, SNP; Angus Brendan MacNeil MP, SNP; Stewart Malcolm McDonald MP, SNP; Carol Monaghan MP, SNP; Brendan OHara MP, SNP; Alyn Smith MP, SNP; Richard Thomson MP, SNP; Caroline Lucas MP, Green Party; Ben Lake MP, Plaid Cymru; Liz Saville Roberts MP, Plaid Cymru; Hywel Williams MP, Plaid Cymru; Stephen Farry MP, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland; Sammy Wilson MP, Democratic Unionist Party; Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, Green Party; Lord Collins of Highbury, Labour; Baroness DSouza, crossbench; Lord Dholakia, Liberal Democrat; Lord Faulkner of Worcester, Labour; Baroness Hamwee, Liberal Democrat; Lord Hylton, Labour; Baroness Jones of Mouslecoombe, Green Party; Lord Jay of Ewelme, crossbench; Lord Judd, Labour; Baroness Northover, Liberal Democrat; Lord Scriven, Liberal Democrat; Baroness Tonge, non-affiliated

No Lone Ranger

The presidential mask has finally appeared  but Donald Trump doesnt look like the Lone Ranger!

The use of the presidential seal on the side of the mask is amusing, if not inappropriate given what the seal symbolises. We already knew it was him and it would take a much bigger mask to cause any doubt and also a hat to hide the remaining presidential hair.

Its about time he wore a mask as unfortunately some people listen to him rather than to medical experts such as Dr Anthony Fauci.

Leadership does require some sacrifices but wearing a mask is not one of them. Lets see him hidden behind a mask for the moment, before he is hopefully hidden from view by the 2020 electoral results.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Melbourne

Military matters

As a country we have moved beyond satire and even farce lies behind us. There is only tragedy ahead.

The tragedy is that we now have so little experience, competence and judgement among our government members that Dominic follow your conscience Cummings and Chris failing Grayling are tipped for key oversight on national security.

John Sculpher

Wickham Market
Kanpur : , July 12 (IANS) The Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Yogi Adityanath government to probe the various aspects related to the murder of eight policemen in Kanpur on July 3, reached the Bikru village on Sunday.

District Magistrate Brahma Dev Ram Tiwari and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dinesh Kumar Prabhu also reached the village.

The SIT is led by Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Bhoosreddy, and comprises ADG Hariram Sharma and DIG J. Ravindra Gaur as members.

The SIT is investigating the points from the investigation to the cause of the incident to the encounter.

The Special Investigation Team will also probe gangster Vikas Dubey's rise in the world of crime and how he managed to kill eight policemen in an ambush in his native village earlier this month.

The role of the local police in the pre and post ambush situation, the connivance of policemen in the incident and the role of police in subsequent investigations will also be under scanner.

The SIT will submit its report to the government by July 31.

The Uttar Pradesh government had said in a statement on Saturday that, "On the day of the incident, was there any laxity in collecting information regarding the criminal's fire power? What was the level of the laxity, the police station had enough information? The SIT will probe this fact and will point out whose fault it was." The investigation team will probe several aspects of the rise of the gangster, including the police's alleged inaction against Dubey in the past.

"What action was taken to cancel the bail of such a criminal? What action had been taken against him under the Goonda Act, NSA and Gangster Act and if there was laxity, what was its level?" the government release said.

It may be recalled that after killing eight policemen in an ambush on July 3, Dubey and his accomplices had fled the village.

He surfaced at the Mahakaal temple in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday morning and was detained by the police that later handed him over to the UP Special Task Force.

He was gunned down by the Special Task Force, which was bringing him back from Ujjain by road, when he allegedly snatched an officer's pistol after the vehicle he was travelling in overturned.
Photo: https://www.math.ubc.ca/ Dan Coombs is a mathematics professor who studies epidemiology modelling

The largest increase in new cases since early May has a UBC expert saying there is a possibility that BC could return to lockdown condition.

If COVID-19 numbers continue to grow, the province may have to consider the next actions.

"I'm not losing sleep at this point over the increase in cases right now but its something that I think needs to be watched very carefully," Dan Coombs told CTV News Vancouver.

Coombs is a mathematics professor who studies epidemiology modelling. He added that its not clear why BC is seeing the growth in case numbers.

"We have to recognize that were in a very delicate position," he said.

Coombs stated that Vancouver and Melbourne were seen to have similar experiences. Melbourne is facing a second lockdown, and entering back into stay-at-home orders. The decision came on July 8 after the state of Victoria recorded 191 new cases in a few days.

While he doesnt think BC is definitively set to return to lockdown, Coombs points out that there is a possibility if numbers greatly increase.

The next update will share a three day report from the provincial health officer and is expected Tuesday.

-with files from CTV News
On June 1, Udupi resident Manjunath Kamath shared a post on social media, detailing how the health of a pregnant international traveller returning to India worsened after she was put in quarantine, due to lack of medical support. Eventually, she had to undergo a pre-term delivery.

Within hours, Kamath got several responses, with people sharing their ordeals, including one from a woman who lost her baby in the womb. "I lost my child as I could not get scanning and other check-ups done regularly," the message read.

The woman's doctor had suggested that she observe fetal movement and visit them only if there is a problem.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

When she visited the hospital as she felt the baby movement was abnormal, the hospital asked her to get the scanning done outside. For this, she had to visit four scanning centres. "I could've saved my child had I got proper guidance and immediate treatment. Aren't non-Covid-19 medical emergencies equally important?" she messaged Kamath. The woman lives in Dakshina Kannada, a place well-known for its healthcare facilities.

On July 2, a pregnant woman in Bengaluru was turned away by five hospitals in 12 hours, before she was finally admitted to the KC General Hospital.

These incidents point to how thousands of expectant mothers across the state are faced with a lack of prenatal care, coupled with the fear of the virus. With a majority of healthcare personnel pressed into Covid-19 duty, other health emergencies, including pregnancy-related complications, have taken a backseat.

The recent Health and Family Welfare Department survey in Karnataka has identified 489,907 households with pregnant or lactating women. As per the Union Health and Family Welfare Department website, 256,545 pregnant women and 212,777 newborns have been registered in Karnataka from April 1 to July 10.

Read: 'The medical community has learnt how to deal with Covid-19 over time'

While everyone agrees that the disruption was unintentional and that the administration was proactive to a large extent, gynaecologists, grassroots workers and experts feel that the government failed to foresee the situation and prepare accordingly.

Dr Sanjeev Kulkarni, a gynaecologist in Dharwad says, "Many pregnant women couldn't get health supplements regularly. The disruption of regular check-up for 2-3 months aggravated the medical condition of some pregnant women, who had mild complications otherwise. This crisis will have a long-lasting impact on them, leading to malnutrition in mother as well as baby and long-term complications in the child."

"We are also seeing a large number of women who were not prepared for pregnancy. With a lack of access to contraceptives and abortion services, their reproductive health is being compromised. Expectant mothers are visibly stressed and panicked about the uncertainty in getting access to healthcare when required. Due to the conversion of government and private hospitals into Covid care centres, women are forced to change hospitals as well as their known doctors, further increasing their anxiety. Non-availability of senior gynaecologists who may be high risk for Covid-19 is understandable, but only adds to the crisis," says Dr Shaibya Saldanha, a gynaecologist in Bengaluru.

She says that a referral system and increased communication and collaboration among doctors would go a long way in providing necessary assurance to pregnant women. She suggests that the government take up OPD triage and effective dissemination of essential information.

Also read: Non-Covid-19 patients left in the lurch as virus swamps hospitals

Dr Vijayalakshmi, an obstetrician at KC General Hospital in Bengaluru, which caters to pregnant women who test negative for Covid-19, feels that though pregnant women don't fall under the high-risk category, it is better to avoid unnecessary exposure to the virus. "There is a gradual increase in Covid-19 cases among pregnant women. We have reduced the number of check-ups. Except for high-risk cases, we suggest others to visit local healthcare centres. However, we don't wait for Covid-19 test report during emergencies including delivery," she says.

Unwanted pregnancies

Grassroots health workers have noticed a rise in unwanted conception and early pregnancies during the lockdown. A study by Ipas Development Foundation on access to abortion services in India estimates around 1.85 million abortions (47% of the estimated 3.9 million abortions that would have taken place under normal circumstances) in India to have been compromised between March 25 and June 24.

Confirming pregnancy, early pregnancy and unexpected pregnancy are some other challenges observed in the villages of Bagalkot, Gadag and Bijapur districts. Logistics, mainly transportation is a problem for many women.

Activist Brinda Adige says, "Other forms of reproductive health services such as abortion are not getting the required attention. While telemedicine emerges as an alternative, it is not convenient for a large section of women, particularly those from low-income families, to avail this."

While many do not know how to explain health problems, family atmosphere is not conducive for many others. Inadequate space inside the house only adds to the problem. The government instead, must equip hospitals to have enough people to cater to women who require reproductive healthcare, she adds.

Dr Rajkumar N, deputy director (Maternal Health), Karnataka State Health and Family Welfare Department admitted that the department didn't expect the crisis to escalate to such an alarming proportion. "Healthcare professionals and frontline workers were pressed into Covid-19 duty. As a result, around 20% of services have been affected. However, we saw to it that we didn't lose focus," he tells DH. He explains how helpline services such as Apthamitra (14410) were leveraged to reach out to pregnant women and follow-up on their health.

"We have contacted around three lakh of 10 lakh pregnant women in the state. We intend to cover all of them soon, and regularly check on them," he says.

"Pregnant women understand the need for limited exposure in this unprecedented health crisis. They only need assurance and emotional support to endure the struggle," says an Accredited Social Health Activist in Belagavi district.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump wore a mask in public for the first time Saturday, more than three months after public health officials from his own administration recommended that all Americans cover their face when social distancing was not possible.

Trump's decision to don a mask during a trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center followed several months of controversy over his reluctance to abide by public health guidelines even as novel coronavirus cases surged nationwide. Before wearing the navy-colored mask Saturday, Trump had disparaged his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, for wearing a mask and publicly downplayed the importance of face coverings.

While the president said in recent interviews that he had no problem with masks, Saturday's public appearance was the first tangible example of him following through on that with action.

"I've never been against masks, but I do believe they have a time and a place," Trump said Saturday at the White House before leaving for Walter Reed.

While visiting wounded veterans and health-care workers at the facility, Trump wore a dark mask that covered most of his face. It featured the presidential seal.

For months, health officials and several Republican lawmakers have urged Trump to model good safety practices by wearing a mask in public, even though he is in an uncommon situation because he is regularly tested for the coronavirus. Trump resisted, and the concept of mask-wearing became part of the country's partisan political battles as the coronavirus spread rapidly in America and other countries gained control of the pandemic.

"Unfortunately this simple lifesaving practice has become part of a political debate that says: If you're for Trump, you don't wear a mask. If you're against Trump, you do," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said last month during a Senate hearing. "That is why I have suggested the president should occasionally wear a mask even though there are not many occasions when it is necessary for him to do so. The president has millions of admirers. They would follow his lead."

Trump instead chose to set a different example, holding several mass gatherings in recent weeks in which most participants did not wear masks. Trump defied local ordinances and guidelines in Michigan, Oklahoma, Florida, Arizona and elsewhere as he traveled the country maskless.

His explanations varied over the course of three months as he opted against mask-wearing and as the White House staff implemented and then quickly abandoned a universal mask policy. In recent weeks, Trump and the White House staff photographed around him have not worn masks.

Trump has attacked Biden on Twitter for wearing a mask and told Fox News on Thursday that Biden's mask was the "the largest mask I think I have ever seen. It covers up a big proportion of his face."

Biden's campaign criticized Trump on Saturday for waiting so long to wear a mask publicly.

"Donald Trump spent months ignoring the advice of medical experts and politicizing wearing a mask, one of the most important things we can do to prevent the spread of the virus," said Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates.

"Rather than taking responsibility and leading, he wasted four months that Americans have been making sacrifices by stoking divisions and actively discouraging people from taking a very basic step to protect each other," Bates said. "By contrast, Joe Biden has led by example from the start and as president will make decisions informed by science to protect the American people and defeat the virus."

As health officials in the Trump administration have tried to persuade Americans to wear masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Trump has repeatedly focused on the aesthetics of face coverings and social distancing - adding to the politicization of the issue.

"I just don't want to wear one myself," Trump said in early April when asked if he'd wear a mask. "It's a recommendation; they recommend it. I'm feeling good. I just don't want to be doing - I don't know, somehow sitting in the Oval Office. . . . I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don't know. Somehow, I don't see it for myself. I just - I just don't."

After he toured a factory in Michigan in May, Trump told reporters that he did not wear a mask in front of cameras because he "didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing" him with his face covered.

By Saturday, with coronavirus cases in the United States hitting records on a daily basis, Trump was willing to wear the mask in front of cameras - strolling through Walter Reed surrounded by several men who were also wearing masks.

Trump said it made sense for him to wear the mask because he was in a hospital and "in that particular setting where you're talking to a lot of soldiers and people that in some cases just got off the operating tables."

Walter Reed's website includes guidance that says visitors "are expected to wear a cloth face covering over their nose and mouth upon entering and while moving about the facility . . . when not able to maintain 6 feet of social distancing."

In explaining his about-face on face coverings this month, Trump still focused on superficial rationale, not the public health benefits.

"Actually, I had a mask on. I sort of liked the way I looked, okay? I thought it was okay," Trump told Fox Business Network on July 1. "It was a dark, black mask, and I thought it looked okay. Looked like the Lone Ranger. But, no, I have no problem with that. I think - and if people feel good about it, they should do it."

Several Trump campaign aides and White House officials posted images of Trump wearing his mask on Saturday, with most commenting on how he looked rather than on the public health issue.
T he Government is set to spend more than 700 million on new infrastructure, staff and technology to create new border with the EU when the UK leaves at the end of the year.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said the new investment would ensure businesses trading internationally could "manage the changes and seize the opportunities arising from Brexit.

The 705 million will be split between 470 million for port and inland infrastructure and 235 million for new staff and IT systems.

Of the 235 million, 100 million will be spent on customs to help businesses trade more easily, 20 million will go on security equipment, 15 million will be used for data tools to help manage the border and 10 million will be spent on recruiting 500 more Border Force staff.

A container ship near Southend earlier this year / PA

This funding is only for the border between Great Britain and the EU. Spending on the Northern Ireland-EU border will be announced later, the Government said.

Mr Gove said: We are taking back control of our borders, and leaving the single market and the customs union at the end of this year bringing both changes and significant opportunities for which we all need to prepare.

That is why we are announcing this major package of investment today.

With or without further agreement with the EU, this 705 million will ensure that the necessary infrastructure, tech and border personnel are in place so that our traders and the border industry are able to manage the changes and seize the opportunities as we lay the foundations for the worlds most effective and secure border.

File photo of a port / PA

The news comes after reports emerged that the Government had bought a large plot of land in Kent as a customs clearance centre for the 10,000 lorries that come through Dover from Calais every day.

Work will soon begin on the 1.2 million hectare site near Ashford, 20 miles from Dover.

The UK will finish its transition period at the end of 2020, leaving the customs union and single market.

The new spending announcement comes ahead of guidance being given to traders and hauliers explaining what they may need to do to prepare for the end of the year.

Shipping containers on a dock in Hull / REUTERS

Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak could bring in tax cuts and overhaul planning laws in up to ten new freeports - where UK taxes and tariffs would not apply.

Mr Sunak is reported to be planning to open bidding for towns, cities and regions to become freeports in his autumn Budget.

The ports will be fully operational within 18 months of the UK leaving the customs union and single market at the end of this year, the paper reported.
At least 356 soldiers have reportedly resigned from the Nigerian army, citing loss of interest as their reason. The soldiers, The PU...

At least 356 soldiers have reportedly resigned from the Nigerian army, citing loss of interest as their reason.





The soldiers, The PUNCH reports, are mostly from the north-east theatre of operation where the Boko Haram insurgency has persisted for more than a decade.





Their ranks include master warrant officers, warrant officers, staff sergeants, sergeants, lance corporals, corporals and privates.





Although the Nigerian army denied the resignation which it described as fake news via its Twitter handle, a military source told TheCable on Sunday that the soldiers truly resigned.





The source said some of them involved in the war against Boko Haram are tired, citing a recent onslaught by the insurgents as one of the reasons.





Some of these soldiers are tired. Weve lost many of our colleagues, the source said.





The last attack on troops in Damboa, more than 20 soldiers died and up till now 50 are still missing, yet the authorities said only two died.





According to The PUNCH, the soldiers are among 380 personnel whose application for voluntary disengagement from service was recently approved to take effect from January.





Twenty-four others reportedly gave their reason as to take a traditional title.





The approval for the resignation was said to be in a circular signed by T.E. Gagariga, a brigadier general, on behalf of the chief of army staff.





The circular read: In compliance with the provisions of Reference A, the COAS vide Reference B has approved the voluntary and medical discharge of the above named MWO, and 385 others listed as Annexes A and B.





The soldiers are to proceed on terminal leave December 3, 2020, while their disengagement date takes effect from January 3, 2021, in accordance with the Nigerian Army Administrative Policy and Procedures No 27 Paragraphs 3 and 4.





Accordingly, I am directed to request formations and units to release all affected soldiers to report at the Headquarters, Garrison, with their unit service documents for documentation.





All forms of military-controlled items, arms, ammunition, and items of combat kits are recovered from the soldiers prior to their disengagement date and certify that they are properly de-kitted. Please acknowledge.





The war against Boko Haram insurgents in the north-east has experienced some setbacks recently  with casualties recorded by the Nigerian military.





About a week ago, over 20 soldiers were reportedly killed in an ambush by the insurgents, barely four months after about 70 soldiers died in similar circumstances.





Amid the setbacks, President Muhammadu Buhari recently told the service chiefs that their excuses would no longer be tolerated.




Labor and Greens MPs billed taxpayers thousands of dollars to fly to Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade and get driven around by chauffeurs.

Greens MP senator Sarah Hanson-Young charged Australians more than $1,700 for her trip from Canberra to Sydney for the festival in February.

Expenses included $1,300 for two nights' accommodation, $290 for flights from Canberra and $126 for a private car and driver, the Herald Sun reported.

Greens leader Adam Bandt and his wife Claudia Perkins were also invoiced almost $3,000 in flights alone from Sydney to Melbourne, according to the publication.

Adam Bandt, leader of the Australian Greens Party taking part in the 42nd annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade in Sydney on February 29

Labor MP Penny Wong (centre left) takes part in the 40th annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade in Sydney in 2018

While the pair did not charge taxpayers for accommodation, the public were billed a further $80 for a chauffeur.

Labor MP Penny Wong also claimed more than $2,000 on flights from Adelaide, $280 worth of car trips and $453 for accommodation.

Ms Wong and Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles, who billed Australians for a portion of his one-night stay in the city, said the pair marched in the parade to show support for the LGBTIQ community.

Mr Bandt said his attendance at the parade was as important as the Prime Minister expensing a trip to an ANZAC Day service.

Greens MP Sarah Hanson-Young takes part in the 2015 Mardi Gras festival in Sydney

The parade at the 42nd anniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade in Sydney in 2020

A spokesman for Mr Bandt told the publication that being at Mardi Gras was a gesture of support.

'Being at Mardi Gras is not only a powerful gesture of unity and support for the queer community, but an invaluable opportunity to meet with Australia's LGBTIQ+ family to ensure their needs are met,' he said.

MPs are allowed to claim work-related travel within Australia, which includes the cost of flights, cars and accommodation.

The claims have to represent value for money for the taxpayers.

More than 300,000 revellers flock to the annual festival on Oxford Street each year. Pictured: a woman celebrating with men dressed as lifeguards

Under 'family reunion' benefits, partners and dependents are allowed to join them on some domestic trips.

It was not the first time Labor and Greens MPs attended the celebrations.

Photos show Ms Hanson-Young at the festival in 2015 and Ms Wong in 2018.

More than 300,000 revellers flock to the annual festival on Oxford Street each year.

The 2020 festival represented the LGBTQI community's 42nd celebration.
A general view of the public memorial for late Seoul mayor Park Won-soon in Seoul on July 11, 2020. AFP



By Emanuel Pastreich








The growing relationship between the US and China over the past few decades has been one of the greatest things for world peace and prosperity.

Trade, which reached $630 billion in 2018, has powered both economies, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, and supporting 2.6 million jobs in the United States alone. Exchange in the way of travel, discourse, and study abroad has provided citizens of both countries opportunities to expand their horizons and enjoy the rich culture of the other country.

More than two million Americans get to see the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors, observe pandas in their natural habitat, and eat delicious lamb skewers and authentic Chinese food when they visit China each year. And China is one of the largest sources of foreign tourism to the United States.

The two countries have great influence internationally, and they have worked together from the Cold War to hammering out climate accords and a nuclear deal with Iran.

Now the talk in Washington is of "decoupling," and the coronavirus outbreak, which has frayed relations between the two countries, is said to be hastening the break up.

No, it's more complicated than that. The push for America to decouple has been going long before convenience stores across China sold out all their masks. Was it in March 2018 when Donald Trump began imposing tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, tariffs which would increase throughout 2018 and 2019? Were the conditions already being put in place when 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney suggested labeling China a "currency manipulator" (a label that does not apply to China, according to the US Treasury Department's own definitions)?

Indeed, many of the Americans who have long advocated for decoupling have preexisting ideological agendas. Neo-conservatives and interventionist liberals have the fantasy of turning the whole world into American-style electoral democracies with America as the hegemonic leader. So-called "economic nationalists" are skeptical of foreign trade in general.

If there weren't coronavirus, then there would be other issues they would clasp onto to push the same agenda.

Coronavirus has added some real difficulties on both sides, to be sure. Both countries had agreed to a partial phase one trade deal in January, but now there are economic shocks across the entire globe. There was uncertainty at the end of June whether the deal would remain in place after Trump's China hawk Peter Navarro said it was dead, but Trump responded that Navarro was wrong and the deal was still in effect.

Trump had praised China early on for his handling of coronavirus, but after coronavirus got to America and got out of control, he began to attack China as a scapegoat for his own mishandling of the situation in the US.

And there have been other points of contention, such as the situation in Hong Kong and the American government trying to convince its allies to limit market access to Huawei.

But it is important to remember that the status of foreign relationships exist on a spectrum. There has never been a perfect relationship between the US and China, and it might get worse, but there is still trade and diplomacy. Even if the two sides have problems with each other, they know they still derive benefits from the relationship.

Let me quote Clete Willems, one of the members of Trump's National Economic Council who has much practical experience negotiating with China, the EU, and Korea and sounds more objective than the ideologues. Willems said of the trade deal, "I think the reason the deal is gonna hold for the time being is that China's actually doing a good job at implementation."

Whether relations between the US and China improve or worsen depends a lot on what happens with politics. In particular, in the United States, who wins the next election and what policies they try to pursue. (Guessing which of the two candidates would be better for US-China relations is tough.)

Economic logic dictates that there should be a good trade relationship. From the perspectives of pursuing peaceful diplomacy, national interest, and cultural exchange, there should be. But sometimes politics trumps these concerns.

However, the question is not an either-or proposition. There will continue to be a relationship on some level. The relationship is a function of both national level arrangements and decisions by individual companies and people. I hope the relationship will improve, but, whatever happens, it's not going away.

Mitchell Blatt is a columnist and a recent graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202007/10/WS5f07d4d4a3108348172588b7.html
Three constables attached to the local arms division were suspended from the force. One of the constables, Pravin Deshmukh, was suspended after the police discovered that he visited his native place at Nashik for around 45 days in April without taking an official leave, but was marked present for bandobast duty.

Two other constables, who were in-charge of assigning duties, helped him by marking him present at duty. They have been suspended as well and an inquiry is ongoing, additional commissioner of police S Jaykumar said. The police said, prima facie it appears that the two constables, Pankaj Mali and Ashish Nerkar, reaped monetary benefits by marking the constables attendance.

The incident was brought to light by a police personnel after he discovered that though Deshmukh was not reporting for duty, his attendance was being marked. Following this, an inquiry was conducted and it was found that Deshmukh never attended duty in April.On probing further, the police discovered that the duty chart was maintained by Mali and Nerkar.

Based on the polices inquiry, a disciplinary action was taken against the three constables and they were suspended till the completion of the probe, the police said.

The police force is facing a staff crunch after the commissioner exempted all the personnel above the age of 55 years from reporting to duty owing to the Covid-19 outbreak. Consequently, the leaves of all the other personnel were cancelled, and those who went on leave or were absent from work were asked to report to duty immediately.

Around a week ago, two constables were dismissed from the force for not reporting to duty despite several warnings. Both were suspended earlier and were asked to be present for an inquiry. However, after they failed to be present for the inquiry, their dismissal orders were passed.

In June, a criminal case was registered against six personnel attached with Borivli police station for not reporting to duty despite several warnings.
(CNN) Actor Armie Hammer and his wife have announced they are separating after 10 years of marriage.

The "Call Me By Your Name" star, 33, and Elizabeth Chambers Hammer, 37, a TV host, wed in 2010.

They posted the same message along with an old photo on their Instagram accounts.

"Thirteen years as best friends, soulmates, partners and then parents," it said.

"It has been an incredible journey, but together, we've decided to turn the page and move on from our marriage.

"As we enter into this next chapter, our children and relationship as co-parents and dear friends will remain our priority.

"We understand this news lends itself to public dialogue, but in the interest of our children and our family, we're asking for privacy, compassion and love during this time," the statement read.

The pair and their two kids, 5 and 3, had been quarantining together in the Cayman Islands for months, People.com reports. Hammer has returned to Los Angeles.

Hammer also appeared in "The Lone Ranger" and "The Social Network."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Actor Armie Hammer and wife separate after 10 years of marriage."
President Muhammadu Buhari has urged African leaders to ensure the immediate actualisation of the Common African Position on Assets Recovery (CAPAR), as the continent celebrates Anti-Corruption Day, July 11.

In a letter to South Africas President, Cyril Ramaphosa, Chairman of African Union, the Nigerian leader asked for a re-commitment to the anti-corruption war by leaders on the continent to engender an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens, representing a dynamic force in the international arena.

A press statement quoted the president as saying the, the massive corruption being perpetrated across our national governments has created a huge governance deficit that has in turn created negative consequences that have worsened the socioeconomic and political situation in Africa.

The letter by President Buhari reads in part:

As Your Excellency is aware, the continental fight against corruption has been premised on an irreducible minimum that can pave the way for Africas transformation. In this effort, the emphasis has been on the continents collective determination to forge resilient partnerships among our national governments, civil society organizations and other interest groups, such as women, youth and the physically challenged, to ensure improved socio-economic, political and security development and ultimately, the improvement of our continent.

The concern of the African Union is that the massive corruption being perpetuated across our national governments, has created a huge governance deficit that has in turn created negative consequences that have worsened the socio-economic and political situation in Africa.

Your Excellency may recall that these continental concerns led our colleagues at the African Union, to appoint my humble self as the African Union Anti-Corruption Champion. I believe that the efforts and focus of the Nigerian Government at home, partly informed this decision as well as the need for Africa, as a continent, to recommit herself to the fight against corruption and the imperative to free resources for meaningful development.

I am, therefore, in full support of the call for the issuance of a continental message to commemorate this day, on July 11, 2020, to re-commit the African Union to the continental fight against corruption, including through a robust approach to assets recovery, hence the need for a strategic framework on a Common African Position on Assets Recovery (CAPAR).

READ ALSO:

Happily, in February 2020, at the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, CAPAR was adopted. In my view, the African Union must go beyond the mere annual celebration of the Africa Anti-Corruption Day by moving swiftly to operationalize the African Common Position on Assets Recovery by all member states. This is an excellent way to drive Africas Agenda 2063, for an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens, representing a dynamic force in the international arena.

As current Chair of our Union, I sincerely commend to you, this suggestion that seeks to call our leaders in Africa to recommit ourselves to this very important task of reclaiming our continent from the vice of systemic corruption.

Please accept, Your Excellency and Dear Brother, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday re-imposed a night curfew and suspended alcohol sales as coronavirus infections spiked and the health system risked being overwhelmed.

"As we head towards the peak of infections, it is vital that we do not burden our clinics and hospitals with alcohol-related injuries that could have been avoided," Ramaphosa said in a televised address to the nation.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2020 AFP
Russia scored a victory for its ally Syria on Saturday by forcing the Security Council to limit humanitarian aid deliveries to the countrys mainly rebel-held northwest to just one crossing point from Turkey, a move that Western nations say will cut a lifeline for 1.3 million people.

Russia argues that aid should be delivered from within the country across conflict lines, and says only one crossing point is needed.

UN officials and humanitarian groups argued unsuccessfully  along with the vast majority of the UN Security Council  that the two crossing points in operation until their mandate expired Friday were essential for getting help to millions of needy people in Syrias northwest, especially with the first case of Covid-19 recently reported in the region.

The Security Council vote approving a single crossing from Turkey was 12-0, with Russia, China and the Dominican Republic abstaining.

The vote capped a week of high-stakes rivalry pitting Russia and China against the 13 other council members. An overwhelming majority voted twice to maintain the two crossings from Turkey, but Russia and China vetoed both resolutions  the 15th and 16th veto by Russia of a Syria resolution since the conflict began in 2011 and the ninth and 10th by China.

Germany and Belgium, which had sponsored the widely supported resolutions for two crossing points, finally had to back down to the threat of another Russian veto. The resolution they put forward Saturday authorised only a single crossing point from Turkey for a year.

In January, Russia also scored a victory for Syria, using its veto threat to force the Security Council to adopt a resolution reducing the number of crossing points for aid deliveries from four to two, from Turkey to the northwest. It also cut in half the yearlong mandate that had been in place since cross-border deliveries began in 2014 to six months.

Before adopting the resolution on Saturday, the council rejected two amendments proposed by Russia, including one suggesting that US and European Union sanctions on Syria were impeding humanitarian aid. That contention was vehemently rejected by the Trump administration and the EU, which noted their sanctions include exemptions for humanitarian deliveries. It also rejected an amendment from China.

Russias deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, said after the vote that from the beginning Moscow had proposed one crossing  from Bab al-Hawa to Idlib  and that Saturdays resolution could have been adopted weeks ago. He said Russia abstained in the vote because negotiations over the resolution were marred by clumsiness, disrespect.

Mr Polyansky accused Western nations on the council of unprecedented heights of hypocrisy, saying they were ready to jeopardise cross-border aid over the references to unilateral sanctions.

He said cross-border aid to Syrias northwest doesnt comply with international law because the UN has no presence in the region, which he described as being controlled by international terrorists and fighters that make it impossible to control and monitor who gets aid.

German ambassador Christoph Heusgen retorted that while Russia talks about delivery of aid across conflict lines, in practice it doesnt happen.

He said his side fought to maintain multiple crossing points for aid, including the Al-Yaroubiya crossing point from Iraq in the northeast that was closed in January, because that is what is needed for efficient delivery of aid to millions in need  and he asked Mr Polyansky is this clumsy?

This is what we tried to do over these past weeks, to get the optimum to the population, Mr Heusgen said.

US Ambassador Kelly Craft told the council: Todays outcome leaves us sickened and outraged at the loss of the Bab al-Salaam and Al Yarubiyah border crossings.

Behind those locked gates are millions of women, children, and men who believed that the world had heard their pleas. Their health and welfare are now at great risk, she said.

Still, Ms Craft called the authorisation of access through Bab al-Hawa for 12 months a victory in light of Russia and Chinas willingness to use their veto to compel a dramatic reduction in humanitarian assistance.

This solemn victory must not end our struggle to address the mounting human needs in Syria  that fight is far from over, Ms Craft said.

Belgium and Germany said in a joint statement that 1.3 million people, including 800 000 displaced Syrians, live in the Aleppo area, including 500,000 children who received humanitarian aid through the Bab al-Salam crossing  and now have that aid cut off.

Today is yet another sad day. It is a sad day for this council, but mostly, it is a sad day for the Syrian people of that region, they said. Both Yarubiyah and Bab al-Salam were vital crossings to deliver, in the most efficient way possible, the humanitarian help, those people deserve.

In a later statement, they added: One border crossing is not enough, but no border crossings would have left the fate of an entire region in question.

AP
South Korea will permit two new downtown duty-free shops operated by conglomerates to open in Seoul and on Jeju Island, the finance ministry said Friday.

The government has decided to allow the opening of the two downtown duty-free shops -- one each in the capital city and on the resort island -- on the condition that they are banned from selling well-known local products for the first two years of their operation, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

"The government made the decision to lower the barrier to the duty-free shop business and reflect steady growth of the business before the new coronavirus outbreak (hit the air travel industry)," a ministry official said.

The government plans to choose the operators in December or early next year. (Yonhap)
By Kang Seung-woo



Contrary to initial expectations, President Moon Jae-in's choices for the intelligence agency chief and the unification minister  both of whom need to undergo National Assembly reviews  may not breeze through their confirmation hearings, as some "risk factors" are popping up that give ammunition to those that oppose their nominations.





Park Jie-won, nominee for National Intelligence Service director / Korea Times file

Earlier this month, Moon nominated veteran former lawmaker Park Jie-won to lead the National Intelligence Service (NIS), while picking Rep. Lee In-young, a former floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), to serve as the unification minister in an apparent bid to normalize soured inter-Korean relations. On Wednesday, the President asked the National Assembly to undertake confirmation procedures regarding their appointments.



The Assembly is legally required to complete the confirmation procedures within 20 days of the President's request, meaning that July 27 is the deadline. Even if lawmakers fail, or refuse, to approve their nomination, Moon is empowered to press ahead with the appointment of Lee and Park.



The biggest hurdle for Park, 78, a former chief of staff of late former President Kim Dae-jung, is his former conviction over the first inter-Korean summit between Kim and then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.



In 2003, a special investigation team found the government was behind Hyundai Group sending $450 million to North Korea ahead of the 2000 summit, which included government money of $100 million. Park, who was involved in the scandal, was sentenced to three years in prison at the time.



The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) says Park, with such a history, should not take charge of the intelligence agency.



Park is also embroiled in another controversy over his college transfer and early graduation while undertaking compulsory military service.



According to documents that Park submitted to the Assembly for his hearing, he served in the military from April 15, 1965 to Sept. 23, 1967, but he transferred to Dankook University, Sept. 1, 1965 and graduated from the school, Feb. 28, 1967, which means that he attended school while on military duty.



"According to the then Military Service Act, active duty service personnel must stay on base, so how could Park attend school?" an official of the UFP asked. "We will thoroughly review this issue at the hearing."



In response, Park explained that his commander gave consideration for him to study and attend night lectures.



Besides the school issue, some point out Park had commended former President and military junta Chun Doo-hwan and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.



According to Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the UFP, Park told a KBS interview in 1982 that Korea needed a hero like Chun who made bold decisions like the Dec. 12 military coup and the May 18 massacre  a mass killing of pro-democracy protesters who stood against his authoritarian regime in Gwangju in 1980.



"Thanks to his praise of Chun, Park was conferred with a medal from the former president," Ha said.



In addition, Park apparently said in 2013 that the North Korean leader was "manly" enough to execute his uncle Jang Song-thaek "without batting an eye," Ha noted.



Some critics also point out that his two daughters, both of whom were born in Gwangju, ditched their Korean nationality in 1994 to maintain their U.S. citizenship.





Lee In-young, nominee for unification minister / Yonhap
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has summoned Sunday night a meeting of all party MLAs that his deputy Sachin Pilot appeared set to skip, amid intensification of the power struggle between the two Congress leaders.

This will be followed by a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party in Jaipur on Monday morning, which is also likely to be attended by Avinash Pande, the All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, sources said.

Pande said he has not been able to reach Pilot, who is also the head of the state Congress unit, over the last two days. I have left messages for him," he told PTI, even as he asserted that there was no threat to the Congress government in Rajasthan.

Pilot's supporters said he is camping in Delhi and is upset over a notice sent to him by the Rajasthan police, who claimed to have stumbled on a plot to topple the Congress government.

The notice from the Special Operations Group (SOG) seeks time from him to record a statement.

The same notice has also been sent to Gehlot, Government Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi and some other MLAs, but those close to Pilot insisted that it was meant to humiliate him.

Sunday's meeting at CM's official residence in the state capital was scheduled to take place at 9 pm, Congress sources said.

Independent MLAs supporting the Gehlot government have also been invited, in what is planned to be a show of strength for Gehlot.

The posturing comes amid allegations by Gehlot that the opposition BJP is trying to lure Congress MLAs to topple the state government.

The BJP has dismissed the claim, saying the developments only reflect a power struggle between Gehlot and Pilot, simmering since the Congress leadership in Delhi picked the more senior leader for the CM's post.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal tweeted concern. Worried for our party. Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables?" he asked.

Hours before the scheduled meeting, Revenue Minister Harish Choudhary, Labour Minister Tikaram Jully, Health Minister Raghu Sharma and several other MLAs met Gehlot at his residence.

We have faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and we have expressed this to him, Independent MLA Babulal Nagar told reporters.

Sports Minister Ashok Chandna urged party MLAs to take a lesson from the recent developments in Madhya Pradesh, where Jyotiraditiya Scindia switched sides.

Any person who crosses the party line will not be respected anywhere in the world. This is not the time to lose the respect earned over generations, Chandna said, without naming anyone.

In a tweet Sunday, Gehlot stressed that the police notices had gone to several people, including him. He did not name Pilot, but said that a section of the media had interpreted the notices wrongly.

The notices have been issued to the chief minister, the deputy chief minister, the government chief whip and some other MLAs. It is a part of the process, SOG Additional Director General Ashok Rathore told PTI on Sunday.

He said as the investigation proceeds, others could also be issued notices.

Independent MLA Nagar said he is among the legislators issued with the notice.

The SOG has issued notice to me and has sought time. There are other MLAs who have received such notices, Nagar said.

Apart from the SOG inquiry, the state's Anti Corruption Bureau has also begun a probe into the alleged bid to bring down the government.

The Congress government has distanced itself from the three independent MLAs -- Khushveer Singh, Omprakash Hudla and Suresh Tak -- who were named in ACB's preliminary enquiry (PE).

Earlier, the government had the support of all 13 independent MLAs, who also voted for the Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections last month.

At a press conference Saturday, Gehlot had cited the FIR lodged by the SOG to accuse the BJP of trying to bring down his government and cited the FIR registered by the SOG.

The FIR is based on an alleged tapped phone conversation between two men, said to be BJP members, who were later arrested.

The Congress has 107 members and the BJP 72 in the 200-MLA state assembly.
Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchans test results for Covid-19 have left not just their family but the entire nation worried for their well being. The father-son duo tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Saturday and were admitted to the Nanavati hospital in Mumbai. According to ANI, special prayers are being offered for the good health of Amitabh and Abhishek at a temple in Ujjain and in Mumbai.

Pictures from Ujjain show a group of priests performing the puja ceremony by offering milk to Lord Shiva. A priest is also seen holding a picture of the two Bachchans.

Madhya Pradesh: Special prayers being offered for the good health of Amitabh Bachchan & Abhishek Bachchan at a temple in Ujjain.



Actor Amitabh Bachchan & son Abhishek Bachchan tested #COVID19 positive & both admitted to a hospital. pic.twitter.com/sx12Am8InA  ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2020

Hom Havan , Mahamrityunjay Jaap and other rituals are being performed at a Hanuman temple in Kandivali west in Mumbai as well.

Prayers being performed at a temple in Kandivali West in Mumbai. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT)

The Bachchan residence has been declared containment zone by the BMC and was sealed on Sunday after a sanitation drive at the place.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aaradhya Bachchan have also tested positive for the virus. Jaya Bachchan has tested negative but will be tested again later to overrule any negative reporting. Meanwhile, the Bachchan residence is now a containment zone and all residents have been quarantined for 14 days.

The Don actor is reported to be in a stable condition with mild symptoms after testing positive. The 77-year-old actor also requested those, who have been in close proximity to him in the last 10 days to get tested for the deadly virus.

The actor has confirmed that he will keep updating about his health via Twitter. Abhishek had tweeted shortly after Amitabhs tweet about the news and urged all to stay calm and not panic.

Also read: Amitabh Bachchans residence Jalsa declared containment area, sealed

T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 11, 2020

Amitabh had shared the news of him testing positive for novel coronavirus late Saturday. He tweeted, I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !

Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you.   Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

Abhishek also tweeted soon after, Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you.

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Jaipur: Several ministers and MLAs visited Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home Sunday, indicating support to him amid speculation over a widening rift with his deputy Sachin Pilot.

Some Congress MLAs, considered close to Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, who also heads the state Congress unit, have gone to Delhi, sources said.

The posturing comes amid allegations by Gehlot that the BJP is trying to lure Congress MLAs to topple the state government.

The BJP has dismissed the claim, saying the developments reflect a power struggle between Gehlot and Pilot, simmering since the Congress leadership in Delhi picked the more senior leader for the CM's post.

Revenue Minister Harish Choudhary, Labour Minister Tikaram Jully, Health Minister Raghu Sharma were among those who visited the chief minister's residence here.

We all are meeting the chief minister since yesterday to express faith and confidence in his leadership. The MLAs have confidence in Gehlot's leadership, independent legislator Babulal Nagar said.

The crisis surfaced on Friday when the Rajasthan Police issued notices to Gehlot, Pilot and the government chief whip, seeking time from them to record their statements over an alleged bid to topple the state's Congress government.

Sources close to Pilot said the letter from the special operations group (SOG) had upset the Rajasthan Congress chief, who apparently saw this as a snub.

In a tweet Sunday, Gehlot stressed that the notices had gone to several people. He did not name Pilot in this connection, but said that a section of the media had interpreted the notices wrongly.

The notices have been issued to the chief minister, the deputy chief minister, the government chief whip and some other MLAs. It is a part of the process, SOG Additional Director General Ashok Rathore told PTI on Sunday. He said as the investigation proceeds, others could also be issued notices.

Babulal Nagar is among the legislators issued with the notice.

The SOG has issued notice to me and has sought time. There are other MLAs who have received such notices, Nagar told reporters outside the CM's residence, where he had gone to meet him.

We have faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and we have expressed this to him, he added.

Apart from the SOG action, the state's Anti Corruption Bureau has also begun a probe into the alleged bid to destabilise the government.

The Congress government has distanced itself from the three independent MLAs -- Khushveer Singh, Omprakash Hudla and Suresh Tak -- who were named in the preliminary enquiry (PE).

Earlier, the government had the support of all 13 independent MLAs, who also voted for the Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections last month.

At a press conference Saturday, Gehlot had blamed the BJP of trying to bring down his government and cited the FIR registered by the SOG. The FIR is based on an alleged tapped phone conversation between two men, said to be BJP members.

The Congress has 107 members in the state 200-MLA state assembly.
Towards the end of June, the Indian Government announced its plan to ban 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, ShareIt, and Clean Master. Cheetah Mobiles, the company behind Clean Master was in news a few months back when Google decided to pull off quite a few of their apps from Google Play Store including the Antutu benchmark. Apps like Clean Master were popular amongst users which helped in clearing the cache of the phone. To those unaware Cheetah Mobiles is a subsidiary of Kingsoft Corporation. Xiaomi CEO and co-founder Lei Jun has also served as CEO and Chairman of the Kingsoft in the past.

Clean Master app has integration with some Chinese OEM devices such as Xiaomi, POCO, realme, and others. Clean Master is integrated into MIUI as Cleaner which can be found in MIUI Security app and as Phone Manager in realme devices. Xiaomi Cleaner Lite with similar features and UI also made an appearance on Google Play Store last year, but it seems like it has been pulled down now as it is no more available.

Cleaner app on MIUI requires multiple permissions including recording audio using the microphone at any time and also has full access (read, modify, and delete) of the devices storage.

Cleaner on realme UI is also supported by Cheetah Clean Master, but it also require some sensitive permissions such as Phone and Storage. The deep integration within OS means that one can not simply uninstall or disable the unwanted app.

An open letter to the entire POCO community. pic.twitter.com/JcvjTXh7lk  #POCOForIndia (@IndiaPOCO) July 9, 2020

Following the Government Directive, these OEMs should be removing Clean Master and other banned apps from their devices with future software updates, but till then you can use this guide to protect your data by uninstalling these apps from your devices.

Make sure that you have adb installed on your device. You can download it from the links given below depending on the platform youre using. Windows/ Mac. If you are on a Mac you need to, Extract the Android zip and place the folder on your Desktop.

Open Terminal

Type cd Desktop/Android

Enter ./ADB-Install-Mac.sh Now, open the Settings app and go to About phone and tap on version multiple times until you see the message You are now a developer. Go to Additional Settings, followed by Developer options and click on the toggle to turn it on. Enable USB debugging. Connect your device to PC via USB cable, choose Transfer Files mode and then run a command adb devices in terminal/command prompt. You should get a pop-up on your device to Allow USB debugging as shown in the screenshot below, the device address should appear in the terminal as soon as you allow USB debugging. If the device address appears in the terminal, run another command adb shell in the terminal, following which the device codename should appear on the screen. Now, you can run one of the following commands depending on the device manufacturer to get rid of Clean Master, MIUI  pm uninstall -k user 0 com.miui.cleanmaster realme UI  pm uninstall -k user 0 com.coloros.phonemanager

You can also uninstall other unwanted system apps from your devices using our guides for Xiaomi and realme devices, but before proceeding, we would advise our readers to take a back up of all important data to be on the safer side. A tiny mistake during the procedure could result in a boot loop, so make sure you know your way around it.

Warning disclaimer: FoneArena is not responsible for any damage or loss caused to your device.
Ex-CIA Chief Says U.S. May Need To Respond With 'Bold' Action If Russian Bounties Prove True

By RFE/RL July 11, 2020

WASHINGTON -- The former head of the CIA said the United States may need to respond with "bold" action against Russia, including imposing harder-hitting sanctions, should a report prove true that Moscow offered Taliban-linked militants money to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Leon Panetta, who served as CIA director and secretary of defense during the administration of President Barack Obama, told a congressional hearing on July 10 that such an action by Russia would cross a line and require a response that could include diplomatic isolation, sanctions, and, "if necessary," military force.

Panetta said Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to carry out aggressive actions around the world because the United States has failed to take a tough stance against him and his nation in the past.

"I think we may have to do something bold in order to get Putin's attention. I think, right now, Putin does not really believe that the United States is going to respond in a way that is going to really undermine Russia and undermine him," he told a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The hearing was at least the third this week in the Democratic-controlled House on the topic of whether Russia paid Taliban militants to target U.S. soldiers and how the United States should respond.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on July 9 with four military and foreign policy experts on how to respond to Russia, while the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing on the same day with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley.

The issue has become a hot, partisan topic since The New York Times first reported at the end of June that President Donald Trump was briefed on the bounty but did nothing in response.

The White House has said Trump, a Republican who is seeking reelection in November, was not briefed on the intelligence because it was unverified.

Should the intelligence report prove accurate, Panetta said the Trump administration should consider imposing the type of hard-hitting sanctions on Russia that it imposed on Iran.

Those punishing sanctions have cut into Iran's economy, including its oil industry, as it seeks to stop its suspected nuclear-weapons program. Iran's oil production has tumbled, starving the government of cash.

Russia is among the world's top three oil producers and sanctions on its energy industry could potentially impact global supply and prices.

"If we did [that to Russia], it would send a clear signal to Putin that we are serious about making sure they stop the aggression that they have been involved in," he told the hearing.

Panetta pointed out that Russia has forcibly annexed Crimea, carried out suspected assassinations in Europe, and interfered in U.S. elections, among other aggressive actions.

Panetta said the United States needs to strengthen NATO and build new alliances, including in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America to promote stability and counter the influence of Russia and China.

Moscow and Beijing "can't form alliances. They fear alliances. So our ability to develop and maintain alliances is one of our best weapons against those adversaries," he said.

Panetta criticized Trump's plans to withdraw nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel from Germany, saying it would send a "message of weakness" to Russia.

"This is the wrong time to be moving forces out of Europe," he told the hearing.

Panetta, who served in the House of Representatives from 1977 until 1993, said he is concerned about the growing divide between Republicans and Democrats in Congress on such issues, saying it plays into Putin's hands.

"We have got to restore a sense of bipartisanship when it comes to our national security interests. Right now, Putin looks at the United States and looks at the polarization and the partisanship and the divide that has taken place in our country and has seen that as weakness," he said.

Panetta's son, Jimmy Panetta, is a Democratic member of the House, representing California.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-panetta-russia-bounty -afghanistan-taliban/30720453.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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NEW YORK, N.Y. -- A crowd of hundreds of mostly white pro-police supporters -- led by elected officials, all Republicans -- marched from Miller Field to the 122 Precinct Saturday to show their support for the NYPD on the heels of nationwide anti-racism and police accountability protests.

They refer to them as the police and then they have other derogatory terms, these are men and women, these are husbands, wives, fathers, sons, these are brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, who do this job to be a public servant, said Carmen, who leads the pro-cop group, Blue Ribbons, and helped organize Saturdays march.
UP assembly polls will be about '80 per cent vs 20 per cent'; BJP will win: Yogi Adityanath

UP Police Recruitment 2022 to begin soon: Check vacancy details

UP: Elections not won on exit polls basis, results will be surprising: Kamal Nath

UP Unlock: Yogi Adityanath issues new guidelines, allows all markets to remain open from Mon to Fri

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Lucknow, July 12: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday issued fresh 'Unlock' guidelines for the state.

Rajasthan Govt in crisis:Sachin Pilot in Delhi with loyalist MLAs, what is happening?|Oneindia News

As part of the guidelines all markets will allowed to remain open from Monday to Friday and during the weekends they'll remain shut when sanitization process will be undertaken at these markets.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issues fresh #UNLOCK guidelines for the state; all markets are allowed to remain open from Monday to Friday, sanitization process in markets will be done on weekends. pic.twitter.com/lpo48EnsdI  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 12, 2020

He also directed officials to carry out a special cleanliness and sanitisation drive in all markets on weekends when all shops will be shut to contain the spread of COVID-19.

He said all industrial units should also be sanitised on Saturdays and Sundays.

The chief minister was chairing a high-level meeting with officials of the state government at his residence.

Unlock 2: Cabinet Secy holds meet with officials of 15 states, UTs on COVID-19 situation

He said efforts must be made to ensure 48-hour oxygen backup in coronavirus-dedicated hospitals.

Adityanath stressed on maintaining social distancing during construction activities.

He said officials must ensure there is no waterlogging due to rains and that chemicals are sprayed to control locust attacks.

The chief minister directed that the COVID-19 testing capacity in the state be increased to 50,000 tests per day.

He told divisional commissioner of Gorakhpur to effectively monitor campaigns aimed at curbing communicable diseases in districts which come under the division, a statement issued by the UP government said.

Adityanath issued directives to maintain special vigil in the districts of Kanpur Nagar, Deoria, Kushinagar, Ballia and Varanasi in view of the coronavirus outbreak, the statement said.
An NIA court in Kochi on Sunday remanded to judicial custody, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, the two key accused arrested in connection with the gold smuggling case in Kerala. The duo were produced before the NIA special court, where the investigation agency moved an application, seeking their custody for interrogation.

The court will on Monday consider the application seeking custody of the accused, who were brought to the state from Bengaluru this morning.

The accused, remanded to 30 day custody, underwent the mandatory Covid-19 test and would be sent to coronavirus care facilities, official sources said The NIA on Saturday took into custody Suresh and Nair, both on the run, in connection with the bid to smuggle over 30 kg of gold using diplomatic channel through the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.
It was the death of a thousand cuts.

Bleeding revenue and losing time, Dominion Energy in Virginia and its partner, Duke Energy in North Carolina, decided to abandon their six-year effort to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to move natural gas from the shale fields to the coast.

We have long been concerned about the environmental damage linked to the pipeline, which started early in the projects construction phase.

In 2018, the ACP was cited by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for wrongly felling trees in what were supposed to be water-protection buffer zones at 15 sites along the route.

The buffer zones were established by state permit to prevent harm to even more ecologically fragile streams and wetlands.

The company itself discovered the mistake and stopped work for a time to discover why it occurred. But, as the saying goes, by then the damage was done.

In the meantime, opponents of the pipeline were filing numerous lawsuits  most of them based on environmental concerns  challenging the permitting process that was allowing the pipeline to be constructed.

Tangled up in that bureaucratic maze were not only state permits but, more prominently, permits and approvals from several federal agencies, including the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Heres just one sample of that complexity:

Recently, the ACP won a victory when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision, in effect upholding the pipelines permit from the U.S. Forest Service to cross the Appalachian Trail in Nelson County.

But another case had gone against the pipeline. In December 2018, the 4th Circuit issued a stay on a permit from the Fish & Wildlife Service because of concerns about endangered and threatened species.

As a result, work on the project had been halted.

The ACP now needed a new opinion from the Fish & Wildlife Service regarding endangered and threatened species, and it also needed a new permit from the Forest Service to cross the George Washington and Monongahela forests.

And environmental concerns were not the only basis for objections  although, since pipeline construction already had caused environmental damage, they seemed to be the most urgent.

The project still had to obtain a revised state water-quality permit to build a compressor station in Buckingham County. Opponents argued that the siting of the facility would impose unwarranted harm on a historic African American community there. Such concerns were raised originally but now have the potential of gaining even greater attention in todays intensified national push for racial equity.

Most recently, a court in Montana rejected a nationwide federal water-quality permit that directly affected the ACPs ability to build.

It was the final cut. Dominion and Duke decided to abandon the pipeline, and made their announcement earlier this month.

Whats more, Dominion will get out of the natural gas business altogether.

It was a stunning turnaround.

To put that into perspective, consider that just a few years ago, natural gas was considered to be the clean energy of the future. It was highly touted not only by industry officials, but by many environmentalists as well, as a welcome alternative to coal.

As a result, production ramped up to meet new demand and anticipated growth. The issue then became how to best move natural gas from the wells to the refineries to the consumers.

More and bigger pipelines seemed to fill that need.

The bigger the pipeline, the more efficient it can be  but also the more permits it must obtain, especially for a multi-state project such as the ACP.

Although it works imperfectly, the permitting process is intended to balance public and private interests and to prevent unnecessary harm. But that process is lengthy and complicated  so much so that by the time the ACP, announced in 2014, arrived at 2020, conditions had changed.

Natural gas no longer was viewed as the premier clean-energy product. Public opinion, once warm toward reliable natural gas, had cooled.

And the ACP was three years behind schedule and more than $3 billion over budget.

No wonder Dominion and Duke cut their losses. Dominion says it now will focus more on renewable energy.

Thats a positive outcome (although even renewable projects such as wind farms and solar arrays have their environmental problems). But it came at a tremendous cost of time and treasure.

And the pipeline leaves in its wake damage to the environment and heartache for many of the humans along the route of construction.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday constituted a one-member commission to probe the Kanpur ambush and police encounter with gangster Vikas Dubey.

UP Governor Anandiben Patel appointed retired Allahabad high court judge Shashi Kant Agarwal to probe the incidents and submit a report within two months, according to a government notification.



Any change in its tenure shall be at the behest of the government, it said.



The panel was set up under the Commission of Inquiries Act, 1952 and it will be based in Kanpur.



Meanwhile, a government statement said the one-member commission will also probe the gangster's "relationship" with police and people from various departments.



It will suggest ways so as to prevent such a repetition in future, it said.



A government spokesperson said the killing of eight policemen in the ambush on the intervening night of July 2 and 3 by Vikas Dubey and his henchmen and the gangster's encounter on July 10 are a "subject of public importance".



"Hence, their probe is essential," the spokesperson said, adding that the panel will also investigate "all encounters in the period from July 2-3 to 10".



Earlier, the Congress had demanded a judicial probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge into the entire episode to bring out the truth and identify those who had granted protection to Dubey.



"The Congress demanded that the unholy nexus between organised crime and the ilk of Vikas Dubey with those sitting in the echelons of power be probed by a sitting Supreme Court judge," party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had said at a press conference.



Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too had demanded a judicial probe by a sitting SC judge.



On Saturday, the Uttar Pradesh government had constituted a special investigation team to probe all aspects related to the slain gangster besides the alleged laxity and role of the local police.



Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Bhoosreddy is heading the team, which will have Additional DG Hari Ram Sharma and DIG Ravinder Goud as its members, according to an official statement.



The SIT will submit its report by July 31 after looking into all the angles, studying all related documents and spot inspection in Kanpur, it said.



The team has been asked to probe what effective action was taken in all cases lodged against Dubey.
Rebekah Charney, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside, has received a five-year "Pathway to Independence" grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health, or NIH.

The career development grant will support Charney's research on the role of critical genes in human neural crest cell development and craniofacial pathologies while facilitating her transition to an independent faculty position. The award provides approximately $200,000 for a two-year mentored phase, followed by three years of support for Charney to establish her own independent research group.

Charney, who joined UC Riverside in 2016 after receiving her doctoral degree at UC Irvine, explained that neural crest cells are an embryonic cell population that migrate extensively throughout the developing embryo. Among other derivatives, they contribute to most of the bone and connective tissue in the face. Improper development of the neural crest can lead to craniofacial birth defects. These craniofacial anomalies can occur on their own or as part of a broader syndrome.

One such disorder, Mowat-Wilson syndrome, affects facial structures, the central nervous system, and the heart, among other tissues and organs. While considered rare, this disorder is being increasingly diagnosed as more awareness is drawn to the different manifestations of the syndrome. Charney's research aims to shed light on the mechanisms underlying Mowat-Wilson syndrome.

Mutations in critical genes involved in neural crest cell formation and differentiation are the cause of numerous birth defects. However, precisely how these mutations cause birth defects remain unknown." Rebekah Charney, Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Medicine, University of California, Riverside

Using human pluripotent stem cells, Charney has been able to examine how the loss of these genes affects the earliest stages of human neural crest cell formation. With this grant, she will be able to establish translational models addressing neural crest-related disorders.

Charney noted that the outcomes of this research will not only address key questions of human neural crest cell formation but can help lead to the identification of novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets.

At UCR, Charney works in the laboratory of Martin Garcia-Castro, an associate professor of biomedical sciences. She is joined in this award by a team of advisors and collaborators at multiple institutions across the country who specialize in dental and craniofacial development and Mowat-Wilson syndrome.

Charney is the recipient of a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship from the NIH and a K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award from the Association of American Colleges and Universities. At UCI, she received a U.S. Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need fellowship and an Edward Steinhaus Teaching Award; and was an NSF IGERT LifeChips trainee.
How will essential employees return into some sense of the next normalcy?

How will non-essential employees return to the work structure?

Will the physical and operational work environment be different?

Will remote work continue? Will it be for selected groups? For selected individuals?

What policies either need to be changed or amended after COVID-19?

Will governments be able to manage the people issues post COVID-19?

Which priorities or plans will be carried forward, delayed or potentially cancelled?

What will leadership require to ensure resiliency post-pandemic?

Are current contracts still viable or do they need to be restructured?

What impact will the CARES Act have on future priorities?

What legacy infrastructure can be modernized in the short term?

Does the infrastructure have the capacity to manage mass remote work?

What skill sets are available in house and/or what partners are needed to ensure success?

Do existing cybersecurity priorities match the needs of the next normal?

Will government have the funds to modernize or even replace aging technologies?

What current plans can be salvaged, delayed or cancelled to meet the needs of the next normal?

Do governments have buy-in from their business units to make changes to current technology requests?

How far out can governments plan and still have enough room to make changes if needed?

What radical changes in the role of technology in government operations, that were introduced as a result of the crisis, should be retained, expanded and included in future?

All current technology master plan projects should be halted and reviewed for viability. If technology leaders wait too long, the ability to minimize the waste of resources will be limited. Projects that should continue should be restarted immediately.

Operational staff should be included in the creation of a new technology master plan. The new plan should begin to take shape in the first 90 days.

All financial impacts of stopping, delaying and continuing technology projects should be analyzed.

This past week, one headline at MarketWatch.com proclaimed:Heres an opening excerpt:If history can teach us anything, its that pandemics have a long-lasting and severe effect on the economy. But theres another lesson: Human ingenuity and adaptation march on.The deadly coronavirus may have shut down a large number of American businesses and forced many people to work from home, but its also the driving force behind the acceleration of technological adoption.New technologies are being rapidly adopted. Even after theres a vaccine for the coronavirus, those trends will be here to stay, remodeling society for years to come. But backing-up a bit, the coming new normal was obvious during the early days of the pandemic.wrote on March 17, 2020:  Were not going back to normal. Berkeley.edu wrote about how education will change as a result of the pandemic.And thedescribed how technology will change us after the COVID-19 pandemic is over . Quote: Now, by avoiding a virus for which humanity has no natural immunity, these changes are accelerating. The internet has become a critical factor in coping with the coronavirus pandemic. And when this is over  whenever that might be  we will come out of this changed, more reliant that ever on being connected. So what does this next normal, include for state and local government professionals, and how can leaders navigate the road ahead?I want to dedicate this blog to highlighting a new resource that was just developed by the Center for Digital Government, under the joint leadership of Teri Takai and Phil Bertolini . (The Center for Digital Government is owned by e.Republic, also the parent company of.)The resource is titled Navigating the Next Normal: A resource guide for state and local IT leaders during the COVID-19 recovery and beyond and is available for download in PDF format here So what's in this guide and why was it created?The Center for Digital Government is developing this resource guide in collaboration with state and local IT leaders who participate in our Digital States Performance Institute and Digital Communities initiatives. Our intent is to provide insights and practical advice to IT leaders throughout the nation as they navigate the complex terrain of recovery.We believe the process of restarting next-normal operations can logically be divided into three phases, falling roughly into 30-, 60- and 90-day increments.The guide provides survey results on a wide variety of questions, and a small sampling of some of the key questions addressed include:In addition, in the areas of infrastructure and cybersecurity, key questions include:I really like this quote from Steve Emanuel, former CIO of Newark, N.J.: For the most part, most organizations have embraced the remote workforce. Were allowing people (with specific guidance) to utilize their own devices. From a security perspective, Im really concerned about data, documents and information that may no longer be within our grasp (following backup and recovery processes) and our control. Well be talking with a lot of the directors to ensure that we have a list of those folks who will continue to work at home. We need to determine where the data is that now may be uncontrolled and put controls around it.What will this new set of changes hold for governments moving forward?These are all tough questions that will require action.Again, these questions offer just a small sample of the topics covered and actions included in the guide, and I urge government technology leaders (whether in the public or private sector) to download the guide and use the material. These are the right questions. As this separate report from another industry points out , technology changes are occurring globally and within every industry sector as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Government technology leaders are not unique in the challenges faced moving forward to the next normal.The digital transformation trends have accelerated dramatically, and three of those common topics include:Project delivery and project design in the cloud has been commonplace for some time within the industry. However, COVID-19 has caused an acceleration of moving to the cloud for office productivity (e.g., Office 365 software), backoffice enterprise resource planning (ERP) and overall company-wide collaboration. With business shutdowns throughout the country, companies have had to adapt by quickly transitioning to a remote workforce, causing stresses on internal infrastructure (e.g., bandwidth of service level agreements with cloud vendors, remote access applications for software licensing, collaboration tools such as Zoom and Teams, etc.). As a result, CRE companies are laser-focused on a complete transition to the cloud and responsible deployment of their remote workforce. Challenges that were present, but slow to be addressed, are now accelerated by the pandemic and require immediate attention. Doing so can help to limit departmental silos, knowledge gaps within teams, outdated workflows and any limits of craft and skilled labor for projects.CRE companies can benefit from workforce investment in the areas of field reporting, safety checklists and inspections, human resources (HR) and engagement and training. Focusing on such workforce initiatives can deliver immediate impact by appropriately leveraging technology. When employees can complete different tasks required on the job in a safe, technologically advanced and secure way, work can be completed faster while also enabling the tracking of data for later analysis and use. Training effective end-users is also a valuable return on investment (ROI) on security measures. For example, training end-users on social engineering (phishing, vishing, whaling, etc.) is critical along with an increase in protective controls of email vendors as a result of COVID-19.Automation of inefficient workflows can greatly improve the digital transformation of CRE companies, including procurement, invoice routing and approvals, time and material (T&M) tickets and work directives, and daily reporting and job photos. It is important to help employees understand company policies regarding actions they are allowed (and not allowed) to perform on their work devices. If employees are using their own device, consider investment in reputable antivirus and install updates as well as password manager implementation and multi-factor authentication.My advice: Dont fight the current (massive and scary) wave of change, but ride the wave of technology solutions and innovation available to solve real business problems in government and society moving forward. Over the past four+ months, I have heard it hundreds of times from different sources and in different ways: We are not going back to way things were in Feb 2020 (or 2019 or earlier).The time is now for security and technology leaders in the public and private sectors to realign tactical projects for the remainder of 2020 and strategic projects for 2021 and beyond.This new guide published by the Center for Digital Government is a must-read  and more importantly a powerful, helpful guide for state and local governments to use now.
A senior Uttar Pradesh official, who is heading the special investigation team probing the local police's alleged connivance with slain gangster Vikas Dubey, on Sunday visited Bikru village where eight policemen were ambushed by his henchmen.

"We have come here for an investigation. After competing the investigation, we will submit the report to the government," Uttar Pradesh additional chief secretary Sanjay Bhoosreddy, head of the SIT, told reporters.

Bhoosreddy was accompanied by additional DG Hariram Sharma and DIG J Ravindra Gaud who are part of the SIT. The team which arrived here early Sunday will also probe the role of Dubey's sympathisers and political patronisers, said an official.

According to the official, the SIT reached Bikru village near Kanpur where they inspected the site of the ambush to get an idea about how the policemen including a deputy SP walked into the trap set by Dubey and fell to a shower of bullets fired from rooftops, the official added.

The SIT gathered information from the district magistrate (DM) and senior superintendent of police (SSP) about Dubey's rise and the cases against him apart from post ambush actions, official said.

They also asked the DM and SSP to explain as to why no process was initiated to cancel the gangster's bail in earlier cases lodged against him and the arms licenses issued to Dubey's henchmen.

"The SIT will probe how despite being involved in several criminal cases, the gang members could manage to get arms licenses," another official said.

The SIT took a round of the village and interacted with the locals whom they persuaded to come forward and share information about Dubey's terror and illegal activities apart from his political patronage.

The officials asked the villagers to apprise them about their complaints against Dubey and his associates if they had failed to it so far.

The Uttar Pradesh government had constituted the SIT on Saturday. It will submit its report by July 31 after looking into all the angles, studying all related documents and spot inspection in Kanpur, according to an official statement.

The team has been asked to probe into what effective action was taken in all the cases lodged against Dubey, the statement said.

The SIT will also probe the action taken to cancel the bail of "such a dreaded criminal", what action has been taken against him under the Goonda Act, the National Security Act, Gangsters Act, and if there was any laxity and at what level, it added.

On July 3, eight police personnel, including a DSP, were gunned down in Bikru village by the henchmen of Dubey.

Seven others, including a civilian, were injured in the attack from a rooftop after the police team entered the village past Thursday (July 2) midnight to arrest the gangster.

Dubey was killed in an encounter on Friday after police claimed that he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area where the vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident.
George Poikayil By

Express News Service

KASARAGOD: Two schools in Kasaragod district have come together to build a house for two sibling students after their house was destroyed two monsoons ago.

Trikaripur MLA M Rajagopal handed over the key of the house to Sujith M (14) and his sister Nivediya M (12) at Podavoor in Kayyur-Cheemeni panchayat on Saturday.

The siblings were rendered homeless when a coconut tree fell on their dilapidated house in July 2018.

Sujith is a student of Kelappaji Memorial Vocational Higher Secondary School (KMVHSS) in Kodakkad while Nivediya is a student of Aided Upper Primary School, Podavoor.

Their mother Geeta (42) sought the help of Kayyur-Cheemeni gram panchayat for assistance to build a house, but petitions were turned down over technicalities.

During the routine house visit of houses ahead of Onam last year, Nivediya's school headmaster K M Anil Kumar was taken aback seeing the condition of her house.

He decided that if the panchayat could not help, the school community should step up and the staff agreed to pool in their resources and build a house.

Anil Kumar said the children's mother Geeta was also a student of AUPS, Podavoor. She had saved Rs 1.25 lakh.

Satheesh, a former student of the Podavoor school and who is now in Australia, helped raise another Rs 1 lakh. "We started the work in September last year and completed the house in 10 months," he said.

The two schools said the house was built at a cost of Rs 6 lakh. It has a carpet area of 490 sq ft, with two bedrooms, a hall, kitchen, bathroom, and a work area.

While the construction was on, minister for education C Raveendranath put out a video on Facebook appreciating the two schools.

"They are not just building a house. They are showing solidarity with their classmates. It is an expression of love.

"We expect public education to bring in such change in children. Beyond 'I', we expect public education to inculcate the feeling of 'us' in children," he had said.

The function on Saturday was attended by panchayat president Shakunthala and KMVHSS headteacher K A Vimala Kumari.
It was more than 40 years after she wrote it that Elizabeth Harrower, who died last week at the age of 92, allowed her fifth and final novel to be published.

In Certain Circles was written after publication of her best-known book, The Watch Tower, in which a businessman abuses his power over two vulnerable sisters. But a sniffily condescending readers report from Macmillan, her then publisher in London, prompted her to withdraw the book. Soon after, she pretty well gave up writing.

Elizabeth Harrower at her home in Cremorne at the time of publication of In Certain Circles Credit:Lidia Nikonova

Michael Heyward, who eventually republished all her books as Text Classics, bringing her fresh critical acclaim, convinced Harrower to let In Certain Circles see the light of day for the first time in 2014. He said: It was in high dudgeon that she withdrew the book. If you dont want it, she told Macmillan, I wont publish it then. And she sent all her manuscripts off to the National Library.

Heyward said he used to pester her about publishing the book, but as she kept rebuffing his entreaties, he stopped asking. About six months later she wondered why and then agreed to publication: I knew youd publish it the moment I was dead, she told him, and I thought Id be around for it.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has congratulated President of Montenegro Milo ukanovic.

"Dear Mr President, It is on the occasion of the national holiday of your country that on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan I wish to convey my cordial congratulations to you and your people," the Azerbaijani president said.

"The ties of friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Montenegro are developing comprehensively and follow an ascending line. I believe the joint steps we take towards the strengthening of our relations in bilateral and multilateral format will continue to serve the interests of our peoples and countries," President Aliyev said.

"As the humanity continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic I wish to stress that the people of Azerbaijan are in solidarity with the friendly people of Montenegro. On this pleasant day, I wish strong health and success to you, and everlasting prosperity and peace to your country," the Azerbaijani president said.
White House Rejects Minnesota Governors Request to Help Rebuild Minneapolis After Riots

The Trump administration has denied a request from Minnesotas governor for millions of dollars in aid to rebuild parts of Minneapolis following the George Floyd protests and riots several weeks ago.

A spokesperson for Gov. Tim Walzs office confirmed on July 10 that the funding wasnt approved.

The Governor is disappointed that the federal government declined his request for financial support, Teddy Tschann, the spokesperson, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and other news outlets. As we navigate one of the most difficult periods in our states history, we look for support from our federal government to help us through.

Walz, a Democrat, said that up to $500 million in damage to Minneapolis was wrought during the unrest and asked Trump to declare the city a major disaster area following rampant incidents of arson, looting, and riots in the wake of Floyds death in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.

The governor said in a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), that what happened in Minneapolis was the second-most-destructive civil unrest incident in U.S. history, after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Walz said that about 1,500 businesses across the Twin Cities area were damaged due to vandalism, arson, and looting, with the heaviest damage occurring in major corridors of commerce and public accommodation, such as on Lake Street in Minneapolis.

Police take back the streets at around midnight after firing copious amounts of tear gas to disperse protesters and rioters outside the Minneapolis Police 5th Precinct during the fourth night of protests and violence following the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, on May 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

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, on May 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) on July 9 also sent a letter to President Donald Trump in response to Walzs request on July 9 and asked for a thorough and concurrent review of the response, so every governor, mayor, and local official can learn from our experiences.

If the federal government is expected to assist in the clean-up of these unfortunate weeks, it has an obligation to every Americanprior to the release of fundingto fully understand the events which allowed for this level of destruction to occur and ensure it never happens again, he said.

The Minneapolis City Council, in the wake of the unrest, passed a measure 120 to work toward dismantling and replacing its police department.

A Dollar Tree store is broken into and looted near the Minneapolis Police 5th Precinct during the fourth night of protests and violence following the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, on May 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

The vandalized Lake Street/Midtown metro station after a night of protests and violence following the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, on May 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

The City Council voted today to advance a proposed ballot measure that would ask Minneapolis voters to amend the City Charter to create a new Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention and remove the Police Department as a charter department, the City of Minneapolis wrote in a statement on June 26.

But black community members issued a plea to City Council members last week, saying that there is an ongoing crime wave occurring across Minneapolis in the wake of calls to abolish or defund police departments.

When the City Council start talking about [abolishing] and dismantling law enforcement, its destroying, its destroying our community right now, said Al Flowers, a community activist, according to FOX9.

Alicia Smith, executive director of the Corcoran Neighborhood, said, With these calls to abolish the police and no real substantive plan to follow, those words have led some folks in our communities to believe that they have a sort of open season on their enemies.

The Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, has said he doesnt want the police department to be dismantled.
NAIROBI - A global movement is pointing a spotlight at police brutality, which is rampant in Kenya, and so grass-roots human rights activists here thought they might get the one thing their protests usually lack: a big turnout.

On the 30th anniversary of an attempted street uprising against former dictator Daniel arap Moi, the plan was for hundreds to march in downtown Nairobi, demanding police accountability as well as basic services, such as electricity and water, for the city's vast slums.

However, turnout was a far cry from the crowds on July 7, 1990, when thousands, led by some of the country's prominent activists, engaged police in running battles, challenging the one-party state at the height of Kenya's clamor for a multiparty system.

That demonstration would lead to an increased democratic space decades later. Kenya would establish a new constitution in 2010, one whose fruits have yet to be realized, say those who turned out last week.

On Tuesday, more than 60 people were arrested by police, using batons and tear gas, on charges of breaching coronavirus restrictions on public gatherings. There was no mass protest, just scattered groups, and the organizers, some of Kenya's most hardened activists, were left to wonder: What will it take for Kenyans to push back against police?

"We were on our own," said Wilfred Olal, one of the organizers. "Young people just said, 'This is between us and destiny,' because our lives depend on it."

While protests have swelled in other countries, the pandemic has squeezed some of the energy out of the anti-brutality movement in Kenya.

High-placed allies in international organizations have dropped out of protests for fear of breaking pandemic laws, and police have used a colonial-era Public Order Act to arrest those who show up.

Police did not respond to repeated requests for comment. But Nairobi's police chief, Philip Ndolo, told the Agence France-Presse news agency that under coronavirus restrictions, protests are banned. "It is outlawed, it is not legal, and no permit has been given," he said.

But it's not just the pandemic. Grass-roots rights groups, such as the social justice center Olal runs, have contended for years with the challenge many global activists face in getting those not directly affected by police brutality to join in the fight against it.

Last week's low turnout stings more because police violence has seemed so relentless, activists say.

Since Kenya announced its first coronavirus case in early March, alleged instances of police brutality tied to the enforcement of virus containment measures have come in waves. Rights groups have helped document at least 95 cases of killings they say were linked to police this year.

The shooting of a 13-year-old boy, Yassin Moyo, who was on the balcony of his house watching police enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew, sparked particular outrage.

Before Tuesday's march, international human rights organizations that Olal works with told him by phone and email to call it off and instead "do the march using Zoom."

"How do you tell the father of Yassin Moyo that we have postponed protesting that injustice?" Olal said. "Or that we will seek justice after covid yet the son was killed because of covid? If an injustice is committed today, we will fight for justice today."

Renee Ngamau, the chair of Amnesty International's board in Kenya, said that participating in protests these days is tricky and that "it's not business as usual."

"It is just not from an establishment or from a police point of view, it is also from individuals who are very conscious that we are in a pandemic," she said.

Despite wins by activists - such as the establishment of a police oversight agency and the rebranding of the police as a "service" rather than a "force" - alleged killings by officers have continued apace. A mass movement, like Black Lives Matter, is what many activists in Kenya believe is the only way to bring about real change.

The very leaders who would build such a movement, however, face police brutality and intimidation themselves.

On a morning in late April this year, Michael Njau Nyambura, a leader in a social justice center in the neighborhood where Yassin was killed, left his home to visit an aunt whom he had not seen in a while.

He and a cousin hired a taxi bound for a suburb. That was the last his family has heard of him. Kenyan police did not respond to requests for comment on the case.

Demtillah Gwalla, a colleague of Njau's, said his was just one of many alleged "disappearances" of activists by police that keeps her up at night.

Just as in most previous cases, family, friends and colleagues say that it is not possible to pinpoint who may have been involved and that they are relying on police for that information.

"When you follow cases like Yassin Moyo's, they consider you a threat, so we always have this fear of who is next," Gwallasaid.

Last year, the mysterious death of Caroline Mwatha, a colleague of Olal's, led four others at the social justice center to quit.

As police and other security forces dispersed the smattering of protesters in downtown Nairobi on Tuesday, they attempted to arrest Juliet Wanjiru Wanjira, co-founder of the biggest social justice center in the city. She refused to be handcuffed, and when the officers relented, she shouted: "When we lose our fear, they lose their power!"

"If one of my children came up to me and tells me that they want to continue with what Michael was doing, I will say no," said Njau's mother, Anne Nyambura. "That work is what made my baby disappear. I would tell my son: 'Continue selling fruits, don't involve yourself in a lot of drama.' "
The UN said it was extremely concerned after water entered the engine room of Safer tanker, which carries 1.1 mln barrels of crude oil and has been stranded off the Red Sea oil terminal of Ras Issa for over 5 years

Yemen's Houthi movement has agreed to provide the United Nations access to a stranded oil tanker that risks causing an environmental disaster off the coast of the war-divided country, two U.N. sources familiar with the matter said.

The U.N. earlier this week said it was extremely concerned after water entered the engine room of Safer tanker, which carries 1.1 million barrels of crude oil and has been stranded off the Red Sea oil terminal of Ras Issa for over five years.

The sources said that the Iran-aligned Houthi group, which controls the port, sent a letter approving the deployment of a U.N. technical team to the tanker.

The United Nations is also discussing with Yemen's warring parties about arranging the sale of the crude and dividing proceeds between Yemen's Saudi-backed government and the Houthi group that ousted it from power in the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014.

The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Safer tanker issue which has been mired in disputes over control of ports and revenues.

Yemen's oil output has collapsed since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Houthis, who control Sanaa and most big urban centres including the main Red Sea port of Hodeidah. The Saudi-backed government holds eastern and southern areas where Yemen's oil-and-gas fields are located.

The war has killed more than 100,000 people and caused what the U.N. describes as the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations recently launched virtual talks among the parties to agree a permanent ceasefire and confidence-building steps to restart peace negotiations. But discussions have been complicated by a surge in violence since late May when a temporary truce prompted by the coronavirus pandemic expired.

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The body of Jalan Alston has been found. Alston, 18, died while saving two teenaged friends get out of the ocean near Atlantic City. Read more

In what is being described as a very sad and very heroic situation, 18-year-old Jalan Alston, of Brooklyn, lost his life after helping two female friends get out of the storm-tossed Atlantic Ocean on Friday, according Ventnor Police Chief Doug Biagi.

Authorities recovered Alstons body on Saturday evening, a few miles from where he was last seen in the water in Ventnor the night before. His name was not released at that time.

On Sunday, Biagi said that the full story would be told Monday, in keeping with the wishes of the young mans family, but that Alston knew the teenagers, who the chief said are sisters, and that he ultimately sacrificed himself trying to help them.

The family wants the story told that he assisted the girls get close enough to the shore that they were able to get out and in doing so, he lost his energy and was unable to survive himself, Biagi said.

The search has been concluded and my brother has been found, Mark Alston, the deceaseds older brother, wrote in a tweet. He gave his life to save 2 others, he is forever blessed and will be forever loved.

In an interview Sunday, Mark Alston, 23, of Brooklyn said he was not surprised that his brother put himself at risk to try to help his friends.

This is not too far off something he would do. He is a nice person, a giving person, the older brother said.

Jalan had recently graduated from high school and gotten a summer job, said his brother. He hoped to take the New York City civil service examination in the fall or possibly go to college.

The elder brother said Jalan had gone to the Ventnor area Friday to visit the teenagers, who were friends of his.

The young man was found about 6:20 p.m. in the area of Albany Avenue in Atlantic City after two people noticed his body and notified Atlantic City lifeguards, Biagi said.

Police were called to the Victoria Avenue Beach shortly before 7 p.m. Friday. Alston had helped the two teenagers who were in the water and placed himself in further danger, ultimately sacrificing himself in the process, Biagi told BreakingAC.

The water had been rough at the time from Tropical Storm Fay and lifeguards had prohibited anyone from swimming, Biagi said. The accident occurred shortly after the beach patrol had closed for the day.

Police and fire departments from Ventnor, Margate, Longport, and Atlantic City were involved in a search for the man on Friday night, Biagi said. The Coast Guard was also on the scene.

Also on Friday, Gustave Vincolato, 77, of Folcroft was pronounced dead at AtlantiCare Medical Center after being found unconscious in shallow water at a beach in Atlantic City.
Thousands of rape victims are fighting against an archaic law that gives their attackers the right to co-parent kids born out of their horrid crimes.

In an outdated loophole in the legal system of several U.S. states, rapists can demand parental access to their victim's children.

'It's America's dirty secret. It's something that goes on in family courts all over America,' rape survivor Analyn Megison, from Florida, told 60 Minutes.

'This is your beloved child you're giving to someone who tried to destroy you by raping you and you're supposed to trust him with your beloved, precious child.'

Rape survivor Analyn Megison, from Florida, has been fighting for 14 years to keep her rapist, who is technically her daughter Allie's father, out of their lives

Ms Megison has been fighting for 14 years to keep her rapist, who is technically her daughter Allie's father, out of their lives.

'I was out with my friends, I remember going home and I was trying to get inside and he suddenly was there. He attacked me and dragged me to the front door of my home,' she said.

'I remember screaming... he was just overpowering me.'

Ms Megison said it was a mixture of 'shock, horror and joy all at the same time' when she found out she had fallen pregnant.

'I knew I loved this baby, this is my baby. This is not my rapist's baby, it is mine,' she said.

'I did not think he could or ever would come after her to claim her as his own.

'There's nothing scarier than your child going over to your terrorist. Would anyone want to hand over the child in that situation?'

Ms Megison said rapists who claim parental rights do so to claim 'power and control'.

'[The courts] started saying that anyone who becomes a father through rape is the same as any other loving biological father.'

Noemi Martinez, 26, is forced to hand over her seven-year-old daughter Isabelle every second weekend to the man who raped her

Ms Gordon hired Rebecca Kiessling (pictured), a lawyer fighting for hundreds of mothers across the US in the same position

After being faced with the prospect of being forced to co-parent with a violent rapist, the law graduate successfully launched a legal battle to change the laws in her home state of Florida.

'Allie didn't even know that there was this biological father out there who could do this. She was completely sheltered from it,' she said.

'This is your beloved child you're giving to someone who tried to destroy you by raping you.

'And you're supposed to trust them with your precious child, unsupervised, and sanctioned by the courts to do so.'

It's estimated between 7,000 to 12,000 babies are born from sexual assault every year in America.

In a small town in Nebraska, Noemi Martinez, 26, is forced to hand over her seven-year-old daughter Isabelle every second weekend to the man who raped her.

Ms Martinez was just 18 when her colleague Timothy Melcher raped her while they worked at a local fast food outlet.

After finding out she was pregnant, Ms Martinez claimed Melcher told her to punch herself in the stomach to get rid of the baby.

But Ms Martinez said she never imagined her attacker would demand parental rights after being released from prison, nor did she think the law would allow it.

US states without laws preventing a rapist from claiming parental rights North Dakota Maryland Mississippi Alabama New Mexico Wyoming Minnesota Advertisement

'There was no other choice. I had to be strong and do this, because I couldn't be scaring my daughter,' she said.

'She tells us that she;s forced to call him 'daddy' and call his mum 'grandma'. She doesn't understand why she has to do it.

Sexual assault victim Tiffany Gordon was just 12 when she was abducted and raped by an older man who got her pregnant.

Then nine years later, a judge granted Ms Gordon's rapist, Christopher Mirasol, parental rights over her son, in what made national headlines.

'I was scared. I just wanted to take my son and just run away where he couldn't find us,' Ms Gordon said.

'Everybody for nine years told me it will never happen... and then nine years later the nightmare was coming back.'

Ms Gordon hired Rebecca Kiessling, a lawyer fighting for hundreds of mothers across the US in the same position.

'It's really horrifying, and they deserve to be protected. We have to get these laws changed,' Ms Kiessling said.

Ms Kiessling, who was born out of rape, said no rapist is fit to be a father.

'I don't think a man who rapes someone is suitable to be a parent. I think that disqualifies them automatically,' she said.

'And I can tell you as someone who was conceived from rape, I would not want to have anything to do with the man who raped my mother.'

Laws in the US are gradually changing state-by-state, including in Michigan, where Ms Gordon became the first rape victim to successfully terminate the parental rights of her abuser.

North Dakota, Maryland, Mississippi, Alabama, New Mexico, Wyoming and Minnesota don't have any laws preventing a rapist from claiming parental rights.
Louisiana courts have held for decades that state convicts cant challenge their sentences as excessive once theyve appealed a conviction and lost.

The Legislature in 1980 laid out specific grounds to file such post-conviction claims  new DNA evidence is now a common one  and didnt include a review of sentencing errors, the state's highest court would reason 16 years later.

But last week, the Louisiana Supreme Court dealt that stance a constitutional blow, as it granted a new hearing to an Abbeville man now serving life in prison as a habitual offender over a $30 marijuana sale.

In the case of Derek Harris, a Desert Storm veteran who got addicted to drugs after returning home from the war, the issue was whether his attorney failed him by not stopping the judge who said his hands were tied as he handed Harris his terminal sentence.

Case of Army veteran serving life for $30 pot sale comes before Louisiana Supreme Court A life prison sentence over a $30 marijuana sale appeared a bit too much for at least a few Louisiana Supreme Court justices to swallow on Mon

The Louisiana Supreme Court has found that judges can and must deviate below a mandatory minimum sentence in a case if they determine it shocks the conscience."

Harris had offered up .69 grams of the drug to an undercover agent who knocked on his door in 2008.

Four years later, 15th Judicial District Judge Durwood Conque found him guilty of marijuana distribution and said at Harris' initial sentencing that he didnt think a 30-year maximum sentence was warranted; he opted for 15 years instead.

But after Vermilion Parish prosecutors invoked the states habitual-offender law, Conque sentenced Harris to life, saying he had no choice under the law.

It was then that his lawyer should have told the judge otherwise, argued Cormac Boyle, Harris attorney with the Promise of Justice Initiative, at a hearing before the high court at Tulane University in January.

Harris prior convictions dated back to a 1991 conviction for dealing cocaine, according to court filings. He was later convicted of simple robbery in 1992 and 1993, simple burglary in 1997, theft under $500 in 2005 and distribution of marijuana.

Retired Judge James Boddie, sitting ad hoc as a justice, wrote that Harris' sentencing warranted an exception to a rule laid out by the court in 1996, and repeatedly cited since, that found state law provided no basis for review of claims of excessiveness or other sentencing error post-conviction.

His lawyer's "failure to object to the sentence or file a motion to reconsider at the habitual offender proceedings deprived (Harris) of an important judicial determination by the trial court," Boddie wrote, "and also failed to correct any inaccurate assumptions concerning the law and the courts capacity to deviate downward if warranted.

All but one justice  Will Crain  agreed last week that it would violate Harris right to due process not to grant him a proper hearing before a district court judge on his claim. But three justices said labeling Harris an exception undersold the court's decision.

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Justice Scott Crichton, in a concurring opinion joined by Chief Justice Bernette Johnson and Justice James Genovese, wrote that the court was rightly overturning its 1996 ruling, which he called egregiously wrong when it was decided.

73-year-old New Orleans woman lands rare reprieve from 'unconscionable' 30-year drug sentence The Louisiana Supreme Court hardly ever meddles with the lengthy prison sentences that prosecutors can foist upon repeat convicts under the st

The consequences of it have been significant and negative, Crichton added, leaving defendants like this one with no real remedy for the denial of the Sixth Amendment right to effective representation during sentencing, a critical stage of the proceedings.

Crichton also panned an argument raised by the Louisiana District Attorneys Association, that granting Harris a new hearing would open the floodgates to thousands of new challenges to sentences handed down long ago.

The State has been unable to explain why the legislature would have decided that the Sixth Amendment somehow matters less during sentencing than it does during trial, Crichton wrote.

He downplayed the potential impact of a change, citing the views of a few conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court recently in a different Louisiana case, when they outlawed non-unanimous jury verdicts.

Louisiana Supreme Court to review life sentence over $30 marijuana sale at Tulane hearing The weight of marijuana in a typical joint is what Derek Harris handed an undercover agent who knocked on his door in Abbeville in 2008.

Crain, the lone dissenter, objected to what he described as the court creating an additional basis for post-conviction relief under the state law. The court could review the constitutionality of Harris sentence without touching the state law, and leave any needed amendments  to the legislature, Crain wrote.

Harris attorneys described it as a landmark decision.

The opinion rightly recognizes that the Louisiana courts made a mistake in foreclosing from review an entire class of important constitutional claims, and that there must be an opportunity for a person to challenge their unconstitutional sentence in state post-conviction, Boyle said.

Kristin Wenstrom, an attorney who argued for Harris on behalf of the state public defender board, said the message to the Legislature was clear.

The Louisiana Supreme Court did the right thing for Mr. Harris and others like him who are serving unconstitutional sentences, she said.

Whats left now is for the Legislature to bring the relevant statute in line with the courts ruling; we hope they will do that in the next session.
We dont know what happened, and Ive not heard from anyone with the county police as to what did, he told The Post. He declined to share details of his sisters and nephews lives until he learned more about the circumstance of the pursuit and crash.
Missing people cases have been something people read on, watched about, or heard of for so long, leaving people with the question "What happened?" Sometimes, it also gets more interesting when the missing person turns up years after their disappearance, and the mysteries get solved.Luckily, these six people were around to tell their stories.

Brenda Heist

In 2002, this Pennsylvania mother of two was not seen by her children after dropping them off to school.

After the breakdown of her marriage, the incident took place, and she left on a whim after feeling overwhelmed. She was upset and didn't know how she would raise her children, detective Sgt. John Schofield said in a CNN report.

The children were just eight and 12 years old at the time. For a long time, they believed their mother was killed. In 2010, the ex-husband declared her legally dead and remarried.

After 11 years, she turned herself in to Florida authorities, where she lived a homeless life for two years and did odd jobs for seven years.

Her now 19-year-old daughter Morgan told CBS Miami that, for a long time, she ached for her mother. "I wasn't mad at her. I wanted her to be there because I thought something had happened to her. I wish I had never cried," she said.

Steven Stayner

It was weeks before 1972 Christmas in Merced, California. Steven Stayner was just one of the many missing children on flyers and milk cartons from decades ago.

Seven-year-old Stayner was walking home from school when he met Kenneth Parnell. The man was said to be collecting church donations.

Parnell told him he could drive them to see his mother talk about donating, Crime Museum reported.

He leaves the car, goes to a payphone, and tells Stayner that he talked to his parents. "They no longer want you," he said to Stayner.

Parnell told Stayner that he had legal custody of him and forced the child to pretend to be his son "Dennis" for seven years. In the day, Parnell stood as his father. At night, he was the child's molester.

As Steven grew up, he couldn't bear the torture anymore. In 1980, Parnell kidnapped yet another young boy named Timmy.

That was the last straw for Stayner. He took White to town and was later known by authorities as to the missing child.

A family friend told Los Angeles Times that the Steven that returned as a "jolly kid" but also noted that it was just the exterior. The family believed he had his identity jumbled with the "Dennis Parnell" that he was to pretend for years.

Jaycee Dugard

Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped at the age of 11 in Meyers, California. For 18 years, she was forbidden to say her real name nor talk about her life.

In June 1991, she was walking to the school bus stop when a silver car snatched her from the street, an Inside Edition report said. Her stepfather, Carl Probyn, saw what happened and tried to follow but could not catch up.

A fateful day in August 2009 led to her rescue from the clutches of the husband and wife, who took her away.

For 18 years, she was abused by her kidnapper, Phillip Garrido. She was forced to raise the two children she had with him, covering up the abuse by saying she and the children were the couples.

She wrote a memoir documenting her days in the hands of Garrido.

She said in an ABC News interview that she wasn't going to let her fear ruin the lives of her children. "Do we scare our kids into never wanting to do anything, or do we prepare them for the worst in life?" she said.

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FORT MCKAY, ALTA.The chief of a northern Alberta First Nation says masks are now mandatory after the community learned of its first COVID-19 case.

Fort McKay First Nation Chief Mel Grandjamb announced the positive test in a video message posted to Facebook on Friday, and he says that protective masks will now be necessary for everyone outside of their homes and yards in the community.

Trips into and out of the First Nation will be limited to one per day, and travel within the community is strongly discouraged.

Grandjamb asked members to make sure youth stay at home, too.

He also asked people not to blame the person who tested positive, and encouraged the community to stick together.

He says contact tracing is being done, and that anyone who gets a call from health authorities should co-operate with them.

The minute youre out in the community, any public buildings, masks are mandatory. We will be monitoring the compliance and we will be talking to the individuals in the event of non-compliance, Grandjamb said in the announcement.

Its proven from a number of studies and things that we read that masks will prevent the spread.

Grandjamb said the community has had a plan since March 9 for what to do in the event of a positive test, and is following it.

He noted the announcement was not about instilling fear, and said essential service personnel will be required to undergo advanced screening.

Commercial drivers entering the community will also be screened.

We have seen from observations in other communities that as the names of affected individuals are revealed that they can face negativity towards them, he said.

Lets remember we are all family in this community.

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A promise shouldn't be made, or taken, lightly. Though most folks would agree with that statement -- legally, morally -- when it has come to promises made by the United States government to various Native American tribes, those pledges have frequently proven worthless. Until now.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court, in a major decision regarding the sovereignty of Native American lands and promises made by the federal government, ruled that a large swath of Eastern Oklahoma is an Indian reservation.

Why? Because the feds decreed that land as a reservation in the 1830s and never moved to rescind that order.

Score one -- and a big one at that -- for Oklahoma Native Americans. And perhaps going forward, for other American Indian tribes as well.

The lineup of the five justices constituting the majority was certainly notable. The opinion was written by Neil Gorsuch, who occupies the seat that should be held by Merrick Garland, who was nominated by President Barack Obama after the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to consider Garland's nomination, insisting instead on holding the seat open until after the presidential election, allowing newly elected President Donald Trump to name Gorsuch to the seat that many believe had been stolen by McConnell.

To this day, there are some old-school conservatives who argue that they supported Trump, even being fully aware of his myriad failings, solely because of the judges he'd appoint to the Supreme and the lower courts.

Think they are still feeling good about their decision?

Gorsuch was joined by the court's four liberal justices.

This, of course, on the same day that the high court, in a pair of 7-2 decisions on cases regarding the president's financial records, slapped down Trump's broad assertion of executive authority. In those cases, Gorsuch was joined by fellow Trump appointee Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as the four liberals.

In the Oklahoma case, Gorsuch turned originalism, which had been Scalias favored method of interpretation, back on its adherents. In the 1830s, members of five American Indian tribes had been forcibly marched from their homelands in Alabama and Georgia to what is now Eastern Oklahoma, to land they were promised would be theirs. And since the feds never specifically said otherwise, that pledge holds.

Because the original promise wasnt made, or taken, lightly.

Related:
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister: Return to INF impossible after US unilateral withdrawal

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 July 2020 5:31 PM

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says Washington's withdrawal from the now-collapsed Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty has been an "irreparable" mistake, which has made the return of the landmark agreement impossible.

"I would like to say that several mistakes, committed by the US, entailed irreparable consequences. One of those huge mistakes, for example, is Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the INF Treaty," said Ryabkov, in an interview with the Duma TV channel on Friday, TASS news agency reported on Saturday.

"It's evident that there can be no return to this document, which served as a solid foundation for European security for decades," the senior Russian diplomat added.

Last year, the INF collapsed after Washington pulled out of the 1987 bilateral deal with Moscow. The accord had banned all land-based missiles with the range of up to 5,500 kilometers.

The withdrawal came after Washington accused Moscow of secretly violating the deal. Russia, which has repeatedly rejected these allegations, stopped implementing the INF after the pullout.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ryabkov touched on Washington's "reluctance to deal with humanitarian issues." He also pointed to the United States' refusal to cooperate on repatriating Russian citizens convicted in the US "for contrived reasons."

The Russian official also criticized the American side for its persistence in "following dogmas and cliches" in the US relations with Russia.

Late last month, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) also faced serious challenges. Moscow called on Washington to reconsider its position on the pact.

The CTBT was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 1996, banning all nuclear explosions in all environments, but it has not yet entered into force because it has been either not signed or not ratified by a number of countries.

The US has signed the pact but has so far refused to ratify it. Russia signed the treaty in 1996 and ratified it four years later. Overall, 183 countries have signed the pact, and 166 have ratified it.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also warned at the time that Washington held the most destructive position by officially declaring that it had no plan to ratify the CTBT, stressing that once it entered into force it could create a "shield against developing nuclear weapons, preventing their proliferation."

Another treaty between Russia and the US, the New START, is also in danger of collapse.

The New START expires in February 2021 but can be extended for another five years by mutual agreement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already warned that global security would be in jeopardy if the New START treaty with the US is not renewed.

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School districts across Illinois are busy preparing plans that will allow teachers and students to return to the classroom after months of remote learning. What are your thoughts on the matter?
A Lib Dem peer nicknamed Lord Groper has been forced to resign from a parliamentary committee.

Lord Rennard, the partys former chief executive, was suspended for eight months in 2014 after female activists accused him of being a sex pest.

He stood down from the Lib Dem governing body in 2015 but was quietly appointed to a Lords committee several weeks ago.

Lord Rennard (pictured), the partys former chief executive, was suspended for eight months in 2014 after female activists accused him of being a sex pest

Lord Rennard volunteered for the role on the secondary legislation scrutiny committee, which would have allowed him to examine new laws.

Party colleagues in the Upper House put his name forward for the position  the first he has held since the controversy in 2015.

The decision caused uproar and Lord Rennard withdrew from the role several days ago. He has now been replaced by fellow Lib Dem peer Lord German.

Four women made allegations of sexual harassment against the 60-year-old peer in 2014, but despite a report finding that their complaints were broadly credible he remained in the party.

The Metropolitan Police decided there was insufficient evidence to pursue the case.

However, acting co-leader Sir Ed Davey (pictured) was overheard asking Lib Dem MPs and staff at a Christmas party what they thought of Lord Rennard, before declaring: All that other stuff aside, Chris is a great campaigner'

Lord Rennard was criticised by former leaders Sir Vince Cable and Jo Swinson, who said he would not be allowed back on the front bench.

However, acting co-leader Sir Ed Davey was overheard asking Lib Dem MPs and staff at a Christmas party what they thought of Lord Rennard, before declaring: All that other stuff aside, Chris is a great campaigner.

One Lib Dem source said Lord Rennard had put himself forward for the committee role, which needed to be filled by a member of the party, after a lack of interest from others.

When it came to the attention of members of the party that he had been successful, a number, included Sir Ed, raised objections.

The source said: Following discussions, Chris decided to step down as it was easier for everyone.

Ed made it clear he was damaging the interests of the party and Chris decided to withdraw.

A source close to Sir Ed said: Ed has been clear that under his leadership, the Liberal Democrats will be a safe and welcoming place for all women.

Within hours of hearing Lord Rennard was on a House of Lords committee Ed took action to remove him.

Ed has made it absolutely clear Lord Rennard is not and never will be on his team.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's former wife Reham Khan on Saturday revealed that she would love to visit India and that she was hoping to get a visa after the pandemic settles. Expressing her love for Besan ladoos and aloo paranthas, the British-Pakistani journalist asked people to keep them ready for her future visit.

Earlier this month, Reham, who is one of Imran Khan's most vocal critics, had grabbed eyeballs after she said that she was blindsided by Imran Khan's 'kind behaviour' towards her children which made her want to marry him. The British journalist stated that he had said "all the right things that women want to hear."

Read: Imran Khan's Ex-Wife Reham Khan Wins Defamation Case In UK High Court

Lets hope things settle down & I can get a visa. Would love to visit. Besan k laddoo & aloo k parathay ready rakhain  https://t.co/TH5q93eTwF  Reham Khan (@RehamKhan1) July 11, 2020

Reham Khan has been in the limelight for her strong statements against Imran Khan and the PTI-led administration in Pakistan. Back in October, Reham Khan accused the Pakistan Government of illegally receiving funds from an Australia-based company. She posted a video on Twitter putting allegations on Imran Khan. She had also alleged that there was a racket of Illegal funding involving Pakistan and the Middle East. "The illegal foreign funding amounts to 52 million that is remitted through Hundi annually," she claimed.

Last year Reham Khan's autobiography had grabbed many eyeballs after she narrated the episode wherein the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, Imran Khan, proposed marriage to her. Far from being a romantic or a conventional proposal, Reham Khan was caught off-guard when Imran Khan popped the question to her, "in a rather blunt manner." She made many claims bringing his life and actions into disrepute, and raising questions over his fitness to hold the post of Pakistan's Prime Minister.

Read: 'No Democracy In Pakistan, Only Naked Martial Law': Reham Khan Flays Pak PM Imran Khan

Read: Imran Khan's Ex-wife Reham Repents; 'he Said All The Right Things That Women Want To Hear"
A placard is displayed on a bicycle during a rally and march over the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain, Saturday, June 27, 2020, outside the police department in Aurora, Colo. McClain died in late August 2019, after he was stopped while walking to his apartment by three Aurora Police Department officers. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Aurora Police Trapped Inside Building for Nearly 7 Hours: Officials

Authorities in Aurora, Colorado, said police officers were trapped inside the citys District 1 station for nearly seven hours during Black Lives Matter protests and riots.

The unfortunate part is they trapped our officers inside, not just them being around the building, but physically wrapping ropes and other items around the doors of the district one station, around the entry exit gates our patrol cars come out of .. that was probably the most dangerous part, Aurora Police Department spokesperson Matthew Longshore told KDVR.

Its not clear how many officers were trapped in the building.

Officers moved in early in the morning at 3:30 a.m. before dispersing the crowd.

There wasnt a rush to come in move people out. The officers were safe inside. We wanted to give the people the ability to express their First Amendment right, to protest, peacefully assemble and make their voices heard, so we didnt have an immediate rush to go in and clear people out. Waiting a little bit longer, the crowd size became smaller, so we had an advantage, Longshore said.

Longshore added that police found gas cans full of gasoline that were staged in that immediate area.

Officers didnt use force on the individuals until force was used on them.

They were starting to take the big mortar style type fireworks while they were trying to untie the gates so officers could come and go, they started throwing fireworks at them. Not only that, someone had a fire extinguisher, they were spraying our officers with a fire extinguisher. We didnt use any force until they started doing it to us, thats when we used 40 millimeter foam rounds, no pepper spray or tear gas or smoke, Longshore said.

Reports had said that demonstrators were angry over the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain, who died in police custody last year.

Last month, Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order directing state Attorney General Phil Weiser to investigate and possibly prosecute the three white officers previously cleared in McClains death.

Elijah McClain should be alive today, and we owe it to his family to take this step and elevate the pursuit of justice in his name to a statewide concern, Polis said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.

The interim police chief of the city of Aurora, Vanessa Wilson, announced the internal police investigation into the photos Monday night. In a statement, she said the suspended officers were depicted in photographs near the site where Elijah McClain died. She did not provide more details about what the images show or how many officers were on leave.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An ecnounter broke out between terrorists and security forces in Reban area of Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday (July 11) night.

An officer said a joint team of Jammu and Kashmir police, 22 RR, and CRPF launched a cordon-and-search-operation in Reban area of Sopore after a tip-off about the presence of terrorists in the area.

A security official said that a cordon and search operation in Reban area turned into an encounter when hiding terrorists opened fire.

As the joint team cordoned the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired upon searching party. The fire was retaliated by the joint team, and a encounter started in the area. said an officer.

Sources in police said two to three terrorists are believed to be trapped in the area.

In June, a civilian and a CRPF jawan was killed in a terror attack in Sopore Model Town. Since then the cordon and searches were continuously going on in different areas of Sopore.
Technology adds a lot to our lives. For many people in developed countries, gone are the days of saving your money to make that important long distance phone call. Not only can we now call each other for free with the right smartphone app, but we can see each others faces over thousands of miles in real time as we chat over video connections. Technology saves lives, gives people new hearing and eye sight, allows us to earn a living from home, and to actually start the laundry before ever leaving the office.

Apart from bettering the lives of humans, technology is also doing its part to help animals and the environment. Here are ten forms of technology that are helping to protect wildlife.

10. Camera Traps

A camera trap set up in a forest to capture photographs of wildlife. Image credit: Browneye/Shutterstock.com

Have you ever wondered how National Geographic gets that amazing close-up footage of ferocious animals like tigers? The camera person is not just ultra-brave. It is done using a camera trap. These cameras take photos or video when a sensor is triggered by something moving in front of it, ie, a polar bear.

Sometimes camera traps are placed in nature for months on end. Eventually, videographers catch the footage they want.

One way this has helped wildlife is by being able to monitor animals with certain diseases. Cameras that are activated by heat energy have been places in caves to monitor hibernating bats. This is enabling researchers to better understand why some bats develop white-nose syndrome, something that causes them to wake up during hibernation. The bats then burn more fat to stay alive, and risk dying in winter.

Researchers are now learning how this could be prevented.

9. Bioacoustic Monitoring Devices

Nicole Wright of Wildlife Acoustics explains bat-monitoring equipment that records bat sounds normally inaudible to us. Image credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters/Flickr.com

Technology allows animals movements to be followed and also their sounds. Scientists are using acoustic sensors to learn more about how certain species live in their environments.

In Mexico, for example, acoustic sensors are being used to monitor vaquitas, which are endangered whales. Passive acoustic monitoring devices have been set up at vaquita spawning spots, in order to measure how many are being born. By learning more about how these creatures live in the Gulf of California, scientists can do more to protect them.

8. Portable DNA Sequencer

Biologists no longer have to write things down on paper in the field. They do not have to wait to get back to the lab in order to analyze their findings, either.

When it comes to analyzing the DNA of an animal or a plant, it can now be done in the field with a portable field lab named GENE. With it, researchers can extract, and sequence DNA. This allows researchers to get feedback instantly, and search for rare species. With new knowledge, biologists can better understand environments faster, which leads to more successful conservation efforts.

7. Mobile Apps to Collect Data

Image credit: Needpix.com

When it comes to protecting wildlife, the more data available, the better. Mobile apps like Indias M-STrIPES app allow users to use their smartphone to collect data on the spot. This is allowing field patrols to collect data on tigers and their prey in many locations. The data is sent to a central server, allowing officials in many areas to work together in trying to keep track of how many tigers there are left in the wild in India.

6. Drones

Drones capturing footage of marine life. Image credit: Frolova_Elena/Shutterstock.com

Drones are fun to fly on a sunny Saturday afternoon. They are also great at helping people count everything from trees to rocks, cars and bushes. Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can photograph landscapes, and provide researchers with aerial images. These can be used to analyze habitats and ecosystems in ways that were not so easy and quick to do before. This data can provide insights into what needs protecting in a given landscape, at a cheap cost.

5. Crowdsourcing Data Collection

Open-access data and maps available online to the public on sharing platforms are also contributing to protecting wildlife. With these technologies, anyone can observe large-scale changes that can may be perceived in a landscape over time.

An example of this is Map 4 Environment which stores spatial data sets. This site allows non-experts to share data and make maps online. This is helping to track deforestation in Cacao-producing areas of Ghana, and tree losses in the Cerrado Biome, to name just a few projects. With many minds working at once, the Earths environmental problems can be tackled.

4. Fingerprinting Techniques

Fingerprint helps identify individuals. Image credit: vchal/Shutterstock.com

Catching poachers is a large part of wildlife protection in some parts of the world. Researchers at the University of Portsmouth are now using small sheets coated with gelatin called gel lifters to remove fingerprints from pangolin scales. This could help track down those who are killing this endangered species.

(Yes, pangolins are those weird creatures full of keratin that some people think have magical powers but do not.

3. Digital Scheduling

It is easiest to catch a poacher in the act- or deter them from trying to poach- if they do not know when to expect the wildlife police to show up. A digital tracking platform called SMART developed at the University of Southern California is helping to create randomized work schedules for rangers. The technology is also helping rangers to identify snares and traps in the bush, and to remove them before they cause any harm.

2. Hidden Cameras

A type of tiny camera is being used to catch poachers in the act. The Trailguard AI camera from non-profit Resolve is the size of a pencil, and can be attached to a tree. It has batteries that last up to 1.5 years in the field. It can also transmit data through mobile networks or satellites to catch poachers.

1. Plastic Clean Up

Image credit: Larina Marina/Shutterstock.com

Sometimes it just takes a little cleaning to solve a problem. Plastic in our oceans is a major problem that is causing fish and other sea creatures to die. Whales, sharks, and other animals are eating plastic bottles and other trash thinking it is food. This causes them to starve.

A group called The Ocean Cleanup developed a large arm that passively collects plastic using the oceans currents. It is a 2,000 foot long pipe itself made of plastic connected to slings that descend into the water. Bit by bit the organization is cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. They are also inventing additional devices to gather more plastic as time goes on.
The British CEO who was caught on video hurling racist abuse at an Asian family at a California restaurant has resigned and cut all business ties with his San Francisco-based tech company Solid8.

Michael Lofthouse, 37, explained that he resigned from his position following his racist tirade where he said 'you f***ing Asian piece of s**t' at Jordan Chan and her family celebrating a birthday at Bernardus Lodge and Spas Lucia restaurant in Carmel Valley on July 4.

He revealed he will enroll in an anti-racist program 'with immediate effect'.

'It is with regret that my initial statement and apology did not go far enough in addressing my behavior in Carmel last weekend and the steps that I need to take. I can confirm that I have stepped down from Solid8, terminating all business relationships with immediate effect,' he said.

Michael Lofthouse, the British founder of tech company Solid8, issued a statement Saturday saying he has resigned as CEO and cut all business times with the company. He also said he'd enroll in an anti-racist program immediately after he was caught on video (left) hurling racist abuse at an Asian family in a California restaurant

Jordan Chan (back left) posted the footage on Instagram. The family were celebrating the birthday of Jenny's aunt Mari Orosa (back right with Mari's husband Raymond front right) on July 4 at Bernardus Lodge and Spa's Lucia restaurant in Carmel Valley when Lofthouse attacked them with racist comments

He said he stepped down to prevent 'detrimental impact on those people closest to me' - particularly his co-workers at his cloud tech services firm.

'I have once again begun my journey back to sobriety and have enrolled in an anti-racist program with immediate effect,' Lofthouse said in a statement to Fox News on Saturday.

'My comments towards the families involved were racist, hurtful and deeply inappropriate. The reactions to what was said have been deserved and I wholeheartedly acknowledge that I am complicit in a system that enables this behavior and these broken beliefs to exist but I am dedicated to changing,' he added.

He pleaded for the Chan and Orosa families to accept his apology.

'To the Chan and Orosa families, Gennica Cochran and the restaurant Bernardus please accept my heartfelt and sincere apologies, I hope that the conversations and awareness that this incident has created can act as a catalyst for necessary change,' he said.

'It is my commitment to you to overcome my issues and be part of the solution for an equal and compassionate future.'

Restaurant server Gennica Cochran has now received over $100,000 in tips from three GoFundMe accounts from people around the world who have been left heartened after they saw her stand up to a racially abusive man inside her restaurant. This fundraiser raised over $76,000 alone

Cochran told KGO-TV that the money will allow her to pursue yoga teaching. She is also trying to devise a way to send some of the money on to others in the service industry

This is the second time Lofthouse has shared an apology to the families after he slung his vicious comments at them as they were celebrating a birthday.

'Racist' boss's tech firm Lofthouse's Solid8 is a cloud tech services firm launched in 2017. The companys offices are based near the financial district of San Francisco, California. Solid8 aims to improve their clients computer systems and reduce their IT costs by offering network services, infrastructure or business services that store and access data and programs over the Internet rather than a computer hard drive. On its website, the company, which also offers cyber security advice, boasts of having 38 years of collective experience and says: Our team are decisive problem-solvers, our breadth and depth of experience means weve dealt with most situations before  which means we move quickly from analysis to action, working as an agile team for each project, quickly drawing upon talent from across our global network of over 100 leading Cloud Providers. Solid8s CEO is Briton Michael Lofthouse, who according to his now-deleted LinkedIn page, graduated from Newcastle Business School, associated with Northumbria University, in 2005 and emigrated to America in 2010. Advertisement

But Raymond Orosa, whose wife's birthday they were out celebrating the day of the incident, says he doesnt accept Lofthouses apology.

'I think he really meant what he said and what he did. I dont believe his words because his actions speak louder than the words he say,' Orosa said to ABC News.

Orosa said the abuse was 'full of hate and anger' but he has still forgiven him.

Jordan Chan posted video of their ugly encounter with Lofthouse last week after he inundated them with derogatory comments as she and her family where celebrating her aunts birthday.

'Trumps gonna f**k you! You f***ers need to leavef***ing Asian piece of s***,' he said.

Restaurant server Gennica Cochran intervened in Lofthouses rant, kicking him out and escorting out of the restaurant.

After Lofthouse started to hurl his abuse she shouted, 'You do not talk to a guest like that, you need to leave nowThey are valued guests.'

Shes been hailed an 'everyday hero' and has raised over $100,000 in tips from people around the worled commending her stepping up to defend the Chan and Orosa families.

One page set-up to tip Cochran is titled 'A Big Tip for an Everyday Hero', and has already raised $76,800.

Two other GoFundMe accounts have raised an additional $21,000 collectively - and the money is still pouring in.

Even the mother of the British tech CEO has been left 'totally apalled' by his behavior, revealing he's been suffering from addiction issues for some time.

'We are completely devastated and appalled by his behavior,' Linda Lofthouse, from rural Northumberland, said to MailOnline.

'All I want to say is that we apologise unreservedly to the family and to anyone else it has offended.'

Even Linda Lofthouse, the mother of the British tech CEO, has been left 'totally apalled' by his behavior, revealing he's been suffering from addiction issues for some time

Lofthouse said her other son, Richard, whose wife Susanna (above) is of Asian descent, had contacted the Chan family to apologise. 'We are completely devastated and appalled by his behaviour,' she told MailOnline'

Mrs Lofthouse said her son had been suffering from addiction issues and she was distraught at the thought anyone would consider her family racist.

'We are in a dreadful situation. He is very sick - if he had cancer people would understand better but he hasn't, he has an addiction problem.

'It's just disastrous, we have been dealing with this for a long time.

Mrs Lofthouse went on to say her other son, Richard, whose wife Susanna is of Asian descent, had contacted the Chan family direct.

She said: 'We have apologized to the family, my son has had a reply from them and they understand that we have absolutely no control over what he does. He has massive issues.'
China has fast become a top election issue as US President Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Joe Biden engage in a verbal brawl over who is better at playing the tough guy against Beijing.

The Trump campaign put out adverts showing Mr Biden toasting Chinas Xi Jinping  even though Mr Trump did just that with the Chinese leader in Asia and hosted him at his Florida club.

Spots from the Biden campaign feature Mr Trump playing down coronavirus and praising Mr Xi for being transparent about the pandemic, even though it is clear China hid details of the outbreak from the world.

US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, last summer (Susan Walsh/AP)

I think its going to be absolutely critical but I dont know who is going to have the advantage, Republican pollster Frank Luntz said.

He has been reviewing the ads and thinks China is one of the three leading issues along with the economy and the handling of the coronavirus.

Which person looks more subservient to the Chinese leaders is the person whos in more jeopardy, Mr Luntz added.

As coronavirus spread throughout the US, a Pew Research Centre poll in March found Americans have increasingly negative views of China, with 66% saying they had an unfavourable opinion.

That was the most negative rating since the question was first asked in 2005.

The same poll found 62% of Americans calling Chinas power and influence a major threat to the US, compared with 48% two years ago.

A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in late May and early June found registered voters were about evenly divided over which of the candidates would be better at dealing with China, with 43% saying Mr Trump compared with 40% for Mr Biden.

In the poll, 5% viewed the pair equally, while 10% said neither would be good.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-US Vice President Joe Biden walk down the red carpet during an arrival ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, US, in September 2015 (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Mr Trumps advisers see China as an opportunity to portray Mr Biden as deferential to Beijing when he was President Barack Obamas vice-president.

The campaign made a push in May to link Mr Biden with China, complete with an advertising blitz, but the effort did little to raise Mr Trumps poll numbers.

Story continues

The Trump campaign credits the president with signing the first phase of a trade deal with China in January, which boosted stock markets and seemingly ended a bruising trade war.

More than two dozen actions the administration has taken since April to protect US jobs, businesses and supply chains from damage caused by the Chinese Communist Partys policies have been listed by the White House.

It includes last weeks move to impose sanctions on Chinese officials for their roles in repressing religious and ethnic minorities.

That message could strike a chord with the increasing number of Americans who have an unfavourable view of the Asian power.

Meanwhile, Mr Bidens campaign is working to portray Mr Trump as someone who talks tough but has failed to hold China accountable for its response to the virus and has signed only the first phase of a trade deal.

The campaign says while that deal was being negotiated, Mr Trump was saying Covid-19 would miraculously be gone in April and now it is July and cases are surging and the death toll rising.

Trump said hed get tough on China, one of the Biden campaign ads says.

He didnt get tough  he got played.
Harriet Tubman arrived in Cape May in the early 1850s to earn money in her efforts to free enslaved people from the south. Her return last Friday morning  in the form of a 9-foot statue  has sparked excitement and anticipation in the community where she once worked as a cook and as a domestic laborer for hotels and families.

The statue of Tubman leading a slave girl to freedom, by Emmy and Academy Award winning sculptor Wesley Wofford, is the first installment of the soon-to-be open Harriet Tubman Museum which on June 29 took a step closer to becoming New Jerseys official Harriet Tubman Museum after the state assembly unanimously passed a bill. The legislation will next go to the state Senate.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 01:11:44|Editor: huaxia

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DOHA, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Qatar's Health Ministry on Saturday announced 498 new infections of COVID-19, increasing the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 103,128.

The total number of recoveries increased to 98,934 after 701 more patients recovered while the fatalities remained 146, the official Qatar News Agency quoted a statement by the ministry as saying.

A total of 409,199 people in Qatar have undergone lab tests for COVID-19 so far, it added.

China and Qatar have offered mutual help during 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.

On July 8, Chinese health officials and medical experts held a video conference with Qatari counterparts to share experience and expertise in fighting COVID-19.

The two sides also held in-depth exchange of views on the issues that Qatar is most concerned about, including coronavirus prevention and control, test analysis, clinic care, vaccine development and social management. Enditem
Washington

Determined to proceed with the first federal execution in nearly two decades, the Justice Department plans to appeal a judge's ruling that would halt authorities from carrying it out on Monday.

The family of the victims in the case had requested that it be called off because their fear of the coronavirus would keep them from attending. Not that they wanted to see the killer die; they have long asked that he be given a life sentence instead, and their pandemic objection could postpone the execution indefinitely.

Daniel Lee, 47, was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Monday. Lee, of Yukon, Okla., was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell.

But Chief District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled Friday that the execution would be put on hold because the family's concern about the pandemic, which has killed more than 130,000 people and is ravaging prisons nationwide.

About an hour after the judge's ruling, the Justice Department filed its notice to appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and filed court papers asking the district judge to stay the order pending the appeal. The 7th Circuit, based in Chicago, includes Indiana, which is where the execution was to take place at the federal prison in Terre Haute.

The Justice Department argues that it is likely to win an appeal. It contends that executions require extensive planning and coordination with other law enforcement officials and says dozens of staff members were already being brought in from other facilities ahead of Monday's planned execution.

Attorney General William Barr has said part of the reason the Trump administration wants to resume executions is to deliver a sense of justice to the victims' families.

But relatives of those killed by Lee strongly oppose that idea. They wanted to be present to counter any contention that it was being done on their behalf.

"For us it is a matter of being there and saying, 'This is not being done in our name; we do not want this,'" said relative Monica Veillette.

The relatives, including Earlene Branch Peterson, who lost her daughter and granddaughter, argued that their grief is compounded by the push to execute Lee in the middle of a pandemic.

"The harm to Ms. Peterson, for example, is being forced to choose whether being present for the execution of a man responsible for the death of her daughter and granddaughter is worth defying her doctor's orders and risking her own life," the judge wrote.

The injunction delays the execution until there is no longer an emergency. The court order applies only to Lee's execution and does not halt two other executions scheduled for later next week.

The decision to resume executions has been criticized as a dangerous and political move. Critics argue that the government is creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency around a topic that isn't high on the list of American concerns right now.

The family hopes there won't be an execution.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

"The family is hopeful that the federal government will support them by not appealing today's ruling, a reversal of which would put them back in the untenable position of choosing between attending the execution at great risk to their health and safety, or forgoing this event," said Baker Kurrus, an attorney for the victims' family.

The relatives would be traveling thousands of miles and witnessing the execution in a small room where social distancing is virtually impossible. There are four confirmed coronavirus cases among inmates at the Terre Haute prison, according to federal statistics, and one inmate there has died.

"It feels disingenuous to me for someone to say they're doing this in our family's name and for us and no one's taken into account our well-being and health," Veillette said.

Last week, Barr said he believed the Bureau of Prisons could "carry out these execution without being at risk." The agency has put a number of additional measures in place, including temperature checks and requiring witnesses to wear masks.

The federal prisons system has struggled in recent months to stem the skyrocketing coronavirus pandemic behind bars. As of Friday, more than 7,000 federal inmates had tested positive; the Bureau of Prisons said 5,137 of them had recovered. There have also been nearly 100 inmate deaths since late March.

Lee's attorneys also sought the delay on grounds that they've been forced to choose between their own health and adequately defending their client.

Chevie Kehoe, whom prosecutors described as the ringleader, recruited Lee in 1995 for his white supremacist organization. Two years later, they were arrested for the killings of the Muellers and young Sarah in Tilly, Ark., 75 miles northwest of Little Rock. At their 1999 trial, prosecutors said Kehoe, of Colville, Wash., and Lee stole guns and $50,000 from the Muellers as part of their plan to establish a whites-only nation.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 01:56:18|Editor: huaxia

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HELSINKI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A daycare center in Rovaniemi, northern Finland, will be closed after two COVID-19 cases were confirmed at the center, local authorities said Sunday.

The City of Rovaniemi said in a press release that an employee with the daycare center called Poropolku was diagnosed with COVID-19 on July 8, and a child was diagnosed later on July 11.

Following the two confirmed cases, a total of 70 children and staff members have been tested already. Among them, a quarantine decision will apply to 30 children and 5 daycare workers. Previously, 35 people have already been put in quarantine.

The kindergarten will be closed for two weeks from July 13, according to the press release.

Meanwhile, nine migrant agricultural workers in southern Finland's Paijat-Hame have been confirmed with COVID-19, and 80 others have been quarantined. The infected all had the same employer and they had not had any contact with the local general population, local health authority announced Sunday.

According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, as of Sunday afternoon, Finland has confirmed a total of 7,294 COVID-19 infections, with 329 deaths. An estimated 6,800 people have recovered. Enditem
Sergei Furgal, 50, was detained Thursday and has been ordered to remain in pre-trial custody for two months over the crimes 15 years ago

Hundreds of people joined a second day of protest on Sunday in the Russian Far East city of Khabarovsk over the arrest of a popular governor accused of ordering the murders of several businessmen.

Sergei Furgal, 50, was detained Thursday and has been ordered to remain in pre-trial custody for two months over the crimes 15 years ago.

The move triggered a mass demonstration on Saturday in Khabarovsk that was joined by between 10,000 and 40,000 people, according to various estimates.

On Sunday, several hundred people marched through the city centre to the local government headquarters, according to the TASS news agency.

Local supporters of leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny put the turnout at around 2,000.

Furgal won the race for Khabarovsk governor by a landslide in 2018, dealing an upset to President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.

The arrest of the former doctor came just days after Putin -- who has been in power for two decades -- won a landslide ballot on constitutional reforms that could allow him to extend his rule until 2036.

Furgal, leader of the Kremlin-friendly LDPR opposition party, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Saturday's demonstrations -- which saw protesters chanting anti-Putin slogans -- were unprecedented for almost any Russian city outside Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The local government on Sunday denounced the "provocative slogans" and urged people to show "common sense", noting that all gatherings were banned under coronavirus restrictions.

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Bulgarian President Calls For Government To Resign Amid Protests Against Corruption

By Ivan Bedrov July 11, 2020

SOFIA -- Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has called on the government and the prosecutor-general to step down as thousands of citizens gathered in the capital and near a beach on the Black Sea to protest corruption within the nation's elite.

Radev made the comments on July 11 after the Prosecutor-General's Office conducted a raid of his staff members two days earlier.

The search in the presidential office came after Radev said the National Protection Service (NSO) -- which is responsible for guarding the president, prime minister, and other high officials -- should stop protecting Ahmed Dogan, the honorary chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS).

Dogan is one of the most powerful people in Bulgaria. Many people consider his DPS to have control over the nation's judiciary, including the prosecutor's office.

Radev's comments were prompted after it was discovered that NSO members were illegally keeping people away from a public beach that is located near Dogan's summer residence.

On July 11, several thousand protesters made their way to the beach near Dogan's residence, which is located about 400 kilometers from the capital, Sofia. The protesters demanded equal protection for all and access to the beach.

Some of the protesters made their way back to the capital in the evening for a third night of rallies against corruption and the ruling government. They chanted "resign" in front of the government building, the parliament, and Palace of Justice.

The protests came amid rising political tension between Radev and the center-right government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov ahead of general elections next year.

Radev has often criticized Borisov's government for doing too little to uproot endemic corruption and has blasted prosecutors for cherry-picking their probes and colluding with the government.

Ivan Bedrov Ivan Bedrov is the director of RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgarian-president -calls-for-government-to-resign-amid- protests-against-corruption/30721117.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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Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot in Delhi with loyalist MLAs, to meet Congress leadership

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, July 12: In mounting trouble for Congress, Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot arrived in Delhi on Sunday morning with some of his loyalist MLAs accusing Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of sidelining attempts.

Rajasthan Govt in crisis:Sachin Pilot in Delhi with loyalist MLAs, what is happening?|Oneindia News

The development comes amid a slugfest over the BJP's alleged attempts to topple the Congress-led Rajasthan government.

Reportedly, at least 16 of the pro-Pilot Congress MLAs and three independent MLAs reached Delhi on Saturday, ahead of the deputy CM's arrival.

Meanwhile, senior party leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday said he was "worried" for the party. "Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables," he said on Twitter, a day after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP of trying to topple his government by bribing Congress legislators.

A power struggle between Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot, which has been on since the Congress' central leadership picked the senior leader for the chief minister's post, appears to have deepened with those in Pilot's camp claiming that there have been repeated attempts to undermine his authority.

The latest flashpoint between the two is a notice issued to Pilot by the Rajasthan police's Special Operation Group in a case related to alleged attempts to bribe Congress MLAs to switch sides in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot summons meeting tonight of Congress MLAs, independents supporting his govt

Gehlot, however, has repeatedly pointed out that a similar notice has been sent to him, the government's chief whip as well as some ministers. Pilot, along with some Congress MLAs, is currently camping in the national capital and is seeking a meeting with top Congress leadership.

Gehlot had on Saturday accused the opposition BJP of trying to topple his government by offering his legislators large sums of money and said his administration is not just stable but will complete its five-year term.

The BJP had asked Gehlot to prove his allegation of horse-trading levelled against it or quit politics, and claimed he was targeting the opposition party as he was unable to check the infighting in the state Congress. The opposition party alleged that the whole controversy has been "cooked up" by the chief minister to defame Pilot.

The trouble in Rajasthan comes nearly four months after the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh collapsed after a rebelling by Jyotiraditya Scindia following a similar power tussle.
A family who returned from Delhi to their home in West Bengals Howrah district had to spend a night at a crematorium after locals stopped them from entering the area, fearing they might spread coronavirus, officials said on Saturday.

Mohua Mukherjee and her son Rohit returned from Delhi by Rajdhani Express on Friday.

Click here for full Covid-19 coverage

Mohua, who lost her husband a couple of years back, lives in the national capital with her son who has a jewellery business there. As their business was not doing well due to the pandemic, the mother and the son decided to return to her fathers place, located in Raghudebpur-Dakbunglow in Rajpur police station area.

As they reached the area, locals stopped them, saying they have returned from Delhi and they might be infected with coronavirus.

Mohua said that she spoke to a local panchayat member and had informed her about their return.

Failing to convince the people, Mohua along with her son went to Sahapur in Panchala police station area where her father has another house. The people of that area too did not allow them, leading to a war of words.

Finally, Mohua along with her son, father and a brother went to the nearby Basudebpur Agunkhali crematorium where they spent the night in a room in which bodies are kept during bad weather.

As police officials got to know of the incident on Saturday morning, they took the family to their Raghudebpur- Dakbunglow house, officials said.

Mohua and her son, who heaved a sigh of relief after being able to return home, were asked by district officials to stay in home quarantine for 14 days.
A Pakistan International Airlines passenger jet is parked on the tarmac at a military base in Makassar, Indonesia. (AP)

Sydney: The U.S. Department of Transportation said it has revoked permission for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to conduct charter flights to the United States, citing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concerns over Pakistani pilot certifications.

The information is contained in a revocation of special authorisation dated July 1 provided by the department to Reuters on Friday.

Pakistan last month grounded almost a third of its pilots after discovering they may have falsified their qualifications.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency suspended PIAs authorisation to fly to the bloc for six months in a blow to the carriers operations.

It is a setback for us, the PIAs spokesman, Abdullah H. Khan told Reuters in an email. The airline was planning to expand the current special flights arrangements to re-initiate a regular schedule from Pakistan to the United States to provide direct flights, he said.

We are continuously engaged with them and sincerely hope that with the confidence building measures, the decision would be reviewed, Khan said.

Pakistans grounding of pilots with dubious credentials followed the crash of a PIA jet in May that killed 97 people.




A SOUTH Africa-based Zimbabwean phoned his relatives telling them that he was committing suicide, shot photos of a poisonous substance before drinking it after his wife of 15 years allegedly had an entanglement with a South African man.





As he lay dying, he took relatives step by step through the harrowing ordeal until he breathed his last.





Bhekimpilo Moyo (37) from Bulawayos Njube suburb committed suicide from his South Africa base on Thursday. His body was discovered between 4PM and 5PM on the same day.





Moyo had allegedly tried to kill himself two days earlier but his life was saved when he was rushed to hospital.





He sent WhatsApp voice notes and even called some relatives alerting them that he was about to commit suicide.





He narrates to the relatives that he was taking the decision after his wife broke his heart.

The wife only identified as MaNcube allegedly left him for a South African.





The new lover, according to one of the messages, would send messages to Moyo threatening to kill him if he continued communicating with MaNcube.





In one of the audio messages, Moyo seemed to have changed his mind about committing suicide as he is heard saying he would fight for his marriage.





Chronicle is in possession of some of the messages he shared with his relatives prior to taking his life. In one of them he states that he had drunk the poison and his stomach had started aching.





He is heard chatting with a female relative who asks him why he was taking that decision as he reveals that his body would be found in his home.





The woman is heard sobbing but Moyo urges her not to assuring her that he was going to a better place.





Moyo also states that he left a suicide note at home while directing his in-laws not to attend his funeral as their daughter was the reason why he is dead. In another message, he is heard groaning while crying that he was dying.

Moyos sister Ms Prisca Ngulube told Chronicle that she is one of the people who received a message from him. She said she tried in vain to dissuade him against taking his life.





He also sent me a message stating that he was committing suicide but Im not the one he was chatting with in one of the voice notes that are circulating. I dont know why he decided to do what he did. We hope those who are in South Africa will be able to explain that to us because when he sent the messages to me, I even engaged my pastors to talk to him. But it didnt help. He was later unreachable on the phone, said Ms Ngulube.





She said Moyo was facing financial challenges which could have impacted on his marriage.





He was clearly having financial challenges as someone who used to hold significant amounts of money. Life wasnt rosy for him. So maybe that is what contributed to him to take that decision. I cant really comment about his wife but they were no longer living together. As we speak, they say they do not know where she is and has not been seen at the funeral wake, she said.




New Delhi, July 12 : As Rajasthan politics heats up over Congress Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot being summoned by the police of his own government, his old party colleague turned BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia has added to the intra-Congress tussle by saying that Pilot is being "persecuted" by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

In a tweet that has intensified speculation about the BJP's next move, Scindia said, "Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, Sachin Pilot, too being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the Congress." Scindia, who too was kept out of power ever since the party's victory in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections, recently jumped ship to the BJP along with his followers, leading to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in the state.

Both Scindia and Pilot have worked closely in the party as junior ministers in the UPA government.

Now after Gehlot alleging that the BJP is trying to repeat a MP-like coup in Rajasthan with an upset Pilot and a slew of pro-Pilot MLAs camping in the national capital, Scindia's tweet saying Pilot is being "persecuted" has forced the Congress to seriously work on the number games.

The Congress' strength in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly is 102, while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has one MLA. After six Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs joined the Congress, the ruling party's score in the House climbed up to 108. Add to that the support of 13 Independents, and 2 Bharatiya Tribal Party and two CPI-M MLAs, the party's tally stands at 125.

Meanwhile, the BJP has 72 MLAs, plus 3 lawmakers from alliance partner Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP).

Party sources said that around 20-25 MLAs could reportedly back Pilot if he leaves the party and joins the BJP. In that case, the Congress' numbers will fall below 100, while the BJP might touch 100-figure mark.

Sources said that Gehlot has spoken to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, Rajasthan party affairs in-charge Avinash Pandey, and Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal to apprise them of the developments in his state.

Barely months ago, then a Congress leader, Scindia had reached the national capital after being upset with Kamal Nath for not ceding him any political ground in the state, before joining the BJP along with his followers.

Now, another upset Congress leader is camping in Delhi with his followers. Scindia's tweet will surely give the grand old party its deja vu moment.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Several Five Guys employees accused of refusing service to local police officers have either been fired or suspended, the company says.

Officers stopped at a Five Guys in Daphne, Alabama on Tuesday, only to get the cold shoulder from several employees, local station WALA reported. Police said the workers, about seven in all, turned their backs when they walked in the door at the popular burger restaurant.

Im not serving them, police said they overheard one employee saying, according to WJW.

The officers ultimately took their business elsewhere, the local station reported.

Five Guys confirmed the employees firings and suspensions in a statement Friday, condemning their actions. Officials declined to say how many were fired and how many were suspended.

A popular burger chain is adding the only thing it was missing in its Wichita stores

The actions the Daphne, AL franchise have taken include termination and suspension of the employees involved, the burger joint wrote in a statement posted to Facebook. The store has temporarily closed for further education and customer service training with a representative from the Daphne Police Department and will reopen at 4PM today, July 10th.

As we uphold our commitment to fair, respectful, and equal treatment for all customers, please know that the actions and sentiments of a few employees in Daphne, AL do not represent Five Guys or the local franchisee, the company added.

In a statement, Daphne police said they are grateful for the outpouring of support from our community and Five Guys.

The restaurant was not allowing dine-in service at the time of the incident, but was available for carryout and curbside pickup, WJW reported, citing a memo posted to the eaterys front door.

You must wear a mask in Boise. But outside? What if you dont? Heres what to know

There was also a mask requirement to enter the restaurant, according to the news station.

Daphne police said the officers returned to their vehicles after learning of the mask mandate and came back with the proper face coverings.

All three officers were wearing masks the entire time they were inside of the establishment, the department said in a statement. The events that occurred while the officers were in the restaurant were unfortunate.
Concern over how we enforce the law is not simply an urban phenomenon. In this three-part series, the Star looks at the changing ways we police the suburbs.

Oshawa has hired a private security company to patrol its downtown to help crack down on the vandalism, drug use and violence that have exploded in the area during the pandemic, a move thats drawn criticism from anti-poverty advocates who say it will further stigmatize the homeless.

In June, city council unanimously passed a motion to spend $100,000 to hire CDN Protection Limited to provide a higher level of security enforcement with specially trained guards who are more able to address these types of situations occurring at Memorial Park and throughout the downtown.

According to the city motion, since businesses have shut down due to COVID-19, there has been an increase in vandalism, drug use, graffiti, violence and defecation around the downtown over the past few months. The areas residents and businesses have also expressed concerns about their safety.

Local politicians and business leaders see the hiring of the private security force to patrol public streets  a rarity in Canada  as part of a collaborative effort to help people living on those streets.

But local advocates say it will only further marginalize those who come to the area to receive social services, many of which are located downtown. They dont want them on private property, and they dont want them on public property, said Christeen Thornton, executive director of anti-poverty advocacy group DIRE. So where are these people supposed to go?

Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter said its not about getting rid of the homeless, but actually connecting with them.

Because of COVID, we have individuals who have come from other places, and we have never seen some of these complexities before, said Carter.

Its been overwhelming, so we need to do everything we possibly can to help, he said, saying the city has seen homeless people from all over the region including Toronto, Hamilton, and as far as Cobourg. It really has changed over the past few months.

Oshawa has long struggled with poverty, high unemployment, and a transient population based in its downtown  and is one of the poorest areas in Durham Region.

Last year, the city counted 163 unsheltered individuals in its downtown, said Carter. But during the pandemic, the numbers have exploded, he said, with as many as 70 more individuals moving into the area.

The three-month contract with Oshawa-based CDN is primarily aimed at increasing law and order in the area, even though the downtown is already regularly patrolled by Durham Regional Police.

Dave Selby, spokesperson for the Durham Regional Police said there is little overlap between the forces role and that of the security company. He said the police, which has two officers dedicated to foot patrol full time, focuses on criminal matters, while the security company will focus on municipal bylaw infractions.

On its website, CDN promotes itself as a security company thats a deterrent to crime, offering such services such as armed transport, K9 patrols and event security.

Carter said CDN was hired because of its connections in the community, its work with businesses and outreach programs, and because its employees have training in de-escalation, have training on naloxone to be able to save peoples lives.

Among the things CDN Protection has been doing is helping those overdosing, said Andrew Clarke, who runs the security company.

We have had 10 overdose saves in the last eight months, he said, adding that he was once homeless as well. Some people might say we are not as trained, but most of our guards are advanced first medical responders.

Carter said the security team is a hands off part of a collaborative effort with new social service and outreach programs in the downtown to help those on the streets get the assistance they need.

Some of them have very severe mental health and addiction issues, said Carter, who said he was once homeless himself. We are hoping that all of the efforts of the outreach, plus our specialized security team will allow us to have contact with these individuals and then help them to navigate the system.

So if they find someone sleeping in downtown, the first thing is to make sure they are OK. Number two is that we have a philosophy here that if you need a bed, we will get you a bed. Thats what our commitment is.

He said the city saved money on security costs with the closure of public buildings during the pandemic, and reallocated those funds to this program.

Our bylaw officers are not equipped to deal with the complexities of the mental health and addiction issues, and the overdose issues that are on the streets right now, added Carter. That is not part of their role or responsibility.

A number of cash-strapped U.S. cities have hired private security to patrol their downtown instead of hiring more pricey police staff, but it has rarely been seen north of the border. In 2017, Peterboroughs downtown Business Improvement Area hired security guards to make the district safer over the summer, but the initiative wasnt renewed after criticism that it would criminalize homelessness.

There is so much that could go wrong here, Thornton said, about Oshawas plan. Having a private police, which is what we are really looking at here, is very concerning, because there is no accountability there.

As an example, Thornton said that community members have reported pictures of the homeless  sometimes in distress  being taken by CDN and shared with the public.

When asked about the pictures of those in distress being shared, Clarke said, We dont do that.

He added, If a client wants footage that was taken on their property, like CCTV, we can get thatbut we dont that.

Clarke also said his employees have a good rapport with many of the regulars in the downtown, and they try to do their job with compassion.

While the downtown has numerous businesses as well as the Ontario Tech University, it also houses most of the regions social programs.

The population in downtown pay a lot of taxes, and they deserve to have a downtown they are proud of, that they can use, said local Coun. Bradley Marks, who brought forward the motion. Thats the motivation to do this in a sensitive but necessary way.

Marks said CDN has been educated about policies and conducts of the city, and while they are with us, there will be no pictures taken.

Marks said the city is planning to set up a complaint process. He says that after the three-month period, city staff and council will look at data from outreach workers and CDN Protection to see if the program is worth repeating.

If three months goes by, and we dont see there is any less of this kind of behaviour, and things dont get better, then we will have to restrategize, he said. But if it works, then I will move a motion to make it a seasonal thing during the summer months, he said.

Ivano Labricciosa, chair of the Downtown Oshawa Business Improvement Association, said Oshawa Power, where he is the CEO, had hired CDN Protection to patrol its property after thefts of vehicles and metal in its yard.

It has been helpful  it has stopped quite a bit, he said. When you show a strong security presence, people tend to move on to other areas. It doesnt stop altogether, but it helps.

Labricciosa said its about trying to find a balance.

I think there is a double-edged sword to that element of security, he said. People want to make sure they are safe, but I dont think people want to see a police state. So I think we are experimenting.

Noor Javed is a Toronto-based reporter covering current affairs in the York region for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @njaved

Read more about:
Amid escalating tensions, US warns citizens of China detention risk

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 July 2020 6:00 PM

The United States has warned Americans of "prolonged interrogations and extended detention" if arrested in China, amid an escalation of tensions between Beijing and Washington.

The US State Department warned in an email to its citizens in China that "US citizens may be detained without access to US consular services or information about their alleged crime."

The warning said for reasons related to "state security," US citizens may be arrested by Chinese security forces and face "prolonged interrogations and extended detention".

"Security personnel may detain and/or deport US citizens for sending private electronic messages critical of the Chinese government," the warning said.

The State Department did not specify what had prompted the warning.

In the meantime, tensions have been escalating between Beijing and Washington

Political experts analyzing international foreign policy affairs say the relationship between the US and China has been deteriorating in all aspects due to an ongoing trade war between the two countries, strained diplomatic ties over Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the risk of military confrontation between the two powers reaching a new level, unprecedented in past decades, due to US provocations in the territorial waters of China.

Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs, says the US has launched an all-out "assault" on China. "The US assault has been on all fronts, economic, diplomatic, and military."

"It uses all the tools in its bag of dirty tricks to destabilize China, engaging in a trade war, sabotaging leading Chinese companies such as Huawei, and supporting separatists in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan," Etler said.

"All these efforts have failed, leaving its only recourse to escalate its military brinkmanship in China's backyard. The sending of an armada of naval aircraft carriers to the South China Sea is just the latest attempt to bully China and fish in troubled waters, hoping to heighten tensions in the region," he assumed.

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Emmanuel Omale

One of the ways in which some pastors end the year in this part of the world is by giving prophecies about the incoming year.

Many followers do not joke with the utterances of their religious leaders during that period.

Among those who prophesied in December 2019 was Emmanuel Omale, founder of the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry, Abuja.

Omale had reeled out a list of things he said would happen in 2020 and one of the things he highlighted is President Muhammadu Buhari retaining Ibrahim Magu, suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

President Buhari has seen the great success of his war on corruption under Ibrahim Magu and he will submit his name for re-appointment and confirmation in spite of massive gang up, he had said on December 31, 2019.

Magu is currently being interrogated by a panel headed by Ayo Salami, former president of the appeal court.

He has been accused of not being transparent in managing assets recovered by the commission.

Magu was arrested on Monday by a combined team of officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) and force criminal investigation department (FCID) after failing to honour two invitations from the panel.

He has been detained since then and the police authorities on Thursday withdrew his security.

In the report of the Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets (PCARA), which probed assets recovered by the EFCC from May 2015 to May 2020, Omale was said to have been used by Magu to launder funds.

He was reportedly uncovered during an investigation on EFCCs activities by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

According to the report, the cleric bought a landed property on behalf of Magu worth N573 million in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Below are some of the things Omale said in his end-of-the-year message:

The war on corruption will jail two ex-governors who are currently serving as senators.

Lets pray for the health of a former Nigerian president who may not make it to 2020.

There are a lot of enemy arrows being shot at the first lady, and her immediate family. She requires special prayers to avert tragedy.

The Nigerian security agencies should activate their intelligence gathering mechanism to avert a terrorist driver ramming into early morning commuters in Abuja.

A serving governor from north-west Nigeria will experience tragedy in his family, but seeking the face of God will prove beneficial.

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu must pray against terminal illness.

So also, a prominent minister from the south-east needs to get closer to God, to avoid calamity.

A retired general from the north-east may be implicated in a coup attempt.

Two major markets will be engulfed in flames. Traders should insure their shops and goods.

The rains will be unusual in their pattern this year, and we will see severe flooding nationwide.

Kidnapping on major highways may increase around Easter period but this can be mitigated by security agencies diligence

I see a burning petrol tanker around Lokoja engulfing several vehicles.

President Buhari may effect minor cabinet reshuffle.

The deputy senate president should pray against enemys attack on his health.

I see prosperity for a lot of Nigerians despite a severe dip in the economy that will affect fixed salary earners.

A major old generation bank will face serious challenge and may collapse except for Gods intervention.

Christians should be exemplary in their conduct, especially one of the largest churches in south-west that may be immersed in big scandal.

A telecommunication magnet from the south-west should pray against stroke and eventual bedridden paralysis.

The chief of staff to the president, Mallam Abba Kyari, is trusted by the president. He should therefore pray against a well-orchestrated setup that may result in his removal.

President Trump may still get re-elected unless the Democrats field Mr. Bloomberg.

A major airline will face a major crisis that will collapse it if they dont seek the face of God.

Governor Obaseki will find it hard to get re-elected in Edo state, unless he seeks the hand of God.

The naira will depreciate against major international currencies; we need God to intervene.

A former President of Ghana will win elections in Ghana.

The price of petrol will go up.

An ex-militant in Bayelsa will die in an assassination and this may throw the region into turmoil.

Source:

TheCable


(Natural News) Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, said Tuesday that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is conducting a program known as Operation Fox Hunt that is designed to threaten and blackmail Chinese dissidents living abroad, including in the United States, to return to Mainland China to be imprisoned. Wray said that Chinese agents are being given a choice: Return to China, or commit suicide.

Operation Fox Hunt was launched in 2014 by Secretary General of the CCP and President of China Xi Jinping, ostensibly as a way of tracking down and catching corrupt Chinese politicians and economic fugitives such as business executives hiding overseas. Wray, who spoke at an event hosted by the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, said that Fox Hunt is actually a program designed to target Chinese nationals and people of Chinese ancestry living abroad whom the Chinese government sees as a threat to the stability of the regime.

Were talking about political rivals, dissidents and critics seeking to expose Chinas extensive human rights violations, said Wray. Hundreds of the Fox Hunt victims that they target live right here in the United States, and many are American citizens or green card holders.

The Chinese government wants to force them to return to China, and Chinas tactics to accomplish that are shocking.

In one instance, Wray recalled how, when Fox Hunt couldnt find the location of one dissident, they sent an emissary of the Chinese government to visit the persons family, living in the United States, to tell the dissident that they can either return to China or commit suicide.

When Fox Hunts targets refuse to return to China, the CCP threatens their families, both living abroad and in China. Wray notes that family members living in China have even been arrested for leverage.

One of the most high-profile successes of Operation Fox Hunt was the capture of ex-Interpol chief Meng Hongwei, the first Chinese national to be appointed to the prestigious position. Insider reports state that Xi became furious with Meng over his inability to pursue and capture Dolkun Isa, a Uyghur activist who has spoken out about Chinas oppression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Meng was charged back in January with 13 years in prison over flimsy bribery charges.

Many other dissidents are constantly being intimidated by Chinese agents using veiled threats against them and their families. When Wray was asked about other possible tactics the CCP uses against its critics, he merely responded with Use your imagination. Youre not going to be far off. Some of these intimidation tactics may be working; it may be enough of a success for China if the dissidents no longer speak out about Chinas crimes against humanity.

Listen to this episode of the Health Ranger Store, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he talks about how America has turned into a failed state, where its citizens cant even depend on government services to protect their lives and property from the nations enemies.

Operation Fox Hunt a threat to American security

Wray said that, because of Fox Hunt and other Chinese espionage programs, the FBI has been working nonstop with the bureaus partners to foil Chinese efforts to intimidate dissidents and critics of Xis regime. (Related: Trump administration declares it will no longer treat China with kid gloves as days of American passivity are over.)

Also during his speech, Wray detailed all of the ways China is a threat to the future stability of America, and how China is the greatest long-term threat to Americas intellectual property and economic vitality.

Wray said that nearly half of the FBIs 5,000 active counterintelligence cases were dealing with matters related to China, and that the FBI was opening a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours.

The FBI director refused to acknowledge whether any Chinese operatives in the United States have been arrested in connection to Operation Fox Hunt or in any one of the thousands of counterintelligence cases.

Furthermore, the FBI director said that China was trying to use its power to influence the 2020 presidential election. However, he refused to say whether China was backing President Donald Trump or his presumptive Democratic rival, former vice president Joe Biden.

Instead, Wray said that Chinas campaign targets Americas policies and positions all the time, and that the threat posed by the CCP is not an election-specific threat; its really more of an all-year, all-the-time threat.

Wray also said that any Chinese nationals or Americans of Chinese descent who believe themselves to be a target of Operation Fox Hunt to please reach out to your local FBI field office.

The FBI director concluded his speech by saying that the solution is not to shutter Americas extensive ties with China, but rather that the United States should adopt a zero-tolerance policy for espionage and other criminal activities.

Confronting this threat effectively does not mean we shouldnt do business with the Chinese, he said. It does not mean we shouldnt host Chinese visitors. It does not mean we shouldnt welcome Chinese students or coexist with China on the world stage. But it does mean that when China violates our criminal laws and international norms, we are not going to tolerate it, much less enable it.

Learn more about how dangerous it is to live in a surveillance state like the communist Peoples Republic of China by subscribing to Surveillance.news.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

TaipeiTimes.com

WIONews.com

RFA.org

ABC.net.au

TheGuardian.com

VOANews.com
Colombo:

At least four Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy off the Northern Jaffna peninsula coast ahead of a ministerial- level bilateral talks in New Delhi scheduled on Wednesday to solve the sensitive issue.

The Lanka navy said the fishermen were arrested on charges of fishing in Sri Lankan territorial waters off the coast of Delft islet early this morning with their trawler seized as well.

The arrested Indian fishermen were handed over to the fisheries inspectorate at Karaingar, Jaffna, by Sri Lankan naval coast guard vessel Elara, the navy added.

The arrests were confirmed by Fishermen's Association President Sagayam in Rameswaram.

The arrests have come ahead of the scheduled talks on Wednesday between Indian and Sri Lanka fishermen to solve the recurring dispute over the arrest of fishermen. A 10-member Lankan fishing association delegation will arrive in India for the talks.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will meet her Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera and Lankan Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera. These talks are to be preceded by talks between the fishermen associations of the two countries.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
First Minister Arlene Foster has criticised people who placed "sectarian and offensive messages" on top of some Eleventh Night bonfires.

It comes as Sinn Fein MP Paul maskey said he has filed a complaint to the police about a "vile banner" targeting senior republican Bobby Storey, who died last month.

Mrs Foster said she regretted that some people did not follow advice from the Orange Order to stay at home for the annual July 12 celebrations.

She also condemned the violent scenes in north Belfast and repeated calls for the Twelfth to be celebrated "at home".

Read More

Arlene Foster told BBC NI's Sunday Politics that those involved should question "what sort of a Northern Ireland do they want to live in?"

They really need to take a look at themselves... do they want to live in a Northern Ireland where everyone is entitled to proudly celebrate their culture and identity, or do they want to live in a split Northern Ireland? she said.

Political unionism must do more to challenge and confront the destructive and toxic issue of anti-social bonfires



These fires are not only detrimental to the environment, but also to community relations



Sectarianism has absolutely no place in our society and must be rooted out  Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) July 12, 2020

I know certainly the one in which I want to live in, its one where we can all proudly celebrate but do so in a way that is not offensive and certainly not sectarian.

A number of bonfires used banners which made reference to the late Mr Storey, which Paul Maskey described as "a series of blatant and unacceptable displays of sectarian hatred on bonfires yet again".

It is absolutely disgraceful that the Storey family who are grieving the loss of a husband, father, grandfather and brother, are having their hurt compounded by sectarian thugs," he said.

I am reiterating my call for all parties to unite in condemnation of this particularly vile kind of hate crime and call for an immediate end to these sickening displays.

Fewer Twelfth of July events took place across Northern Ireland this year amid coronavirus restrictions.

However, there were significant crowds at several fires that did go ahead.

Upper Queen Street at the New Lodge in north Belfast has been sealed off by police after further disturbances this evening. Petrol bombs have been thrown and a barricade lit in the middle of the road pic.twitter.com/4lN7xnKRKo  Rebecca Black (@RBlackPA) July 11, 2020

Ahead of the Eleventh Night fires, politicians and community leaders had urged people to avoid mass gatherings and stick to Covid-19 regulations that limit outdoor gatherings to no more than 30 people.

Crowds well in excess of 30 were witnessed at a number of fires that were lit late on Saturday night.

Expand Close A young boy plays drums by a bonfire in Belfasts Shankill Road (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp A young boy plays drums by a bonfire in Belfasts Shankill Road (Niall Carson/PA)

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said crews responded to 24 bonfire-related incidents between 6pm on Saturday and 1am on Sunday  a 29.5% decrease compared with 2019.

The spokesman added that no attacks on personnel or appliances were reported.


By Trudy Rubin





When China imposed a draconian new security law on Hong Kong early this month, I grabbed my phone to call some young pro-democracy activists I'd met there in November.



Then I put the phone down because I realized that the old Hong Kong, where free speech and rule of law were allowed despite it being part of China, was over. It was ended by a new security law imposed by Beijing that destroys the rights Hong Kongers were promised by international treaty.



Those high school students, who passionately protested last year against Beijing's efforts to undermine Hong Kong courts, were now in grave danger. A call from an American journalist _ or even a WhatsApp message _ might get them arrested.



And make no mistake, Beijing's new Hong Kong security law has repercussions that go far beyond millions of pro-democracy activists, or the fate of a vibrant, iconic city that hosts thousands of international business people, scholars, and journalists.



"Beijing is laying down the gauntlet," says Human Rights Watch China expert, Sophie Richardson, "not just to Hong Kong, but to the rest of the world."



Indeed, Hong Kong's fate has become a symbol of a more aggressive China's approach to global politics. And to the intentions of its increasingly authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping.



Seven million Hong Kongers were promised rule of law and other rights for 50 years following Britain's 1997 return of the territory to China, in an arrangement called "one country, two systems." It made Hong Kong the entryway for international businessmen into China, because the city's trustworthy legal system differentiated it from the mainland.



And, in the past, "one country, two systems" held out the promise that China itself might one day introduce political reforms.



But under Xi, China began to shrink Hong Kong's freedoms, producing months of demonstrations last year.



Rather than compromise with demonstrators, the Chinese leader has decided to crush them. This reflects Xi's efforts to strengthen Communist Party control at home, and China's influence abroad, at a time when relations with the United States are more tense, and the West is distracted by COVID-19.



I spoke with Nathan Law, 26, a leading democracy activist and former elected official, who fled Hong Kong recently in order to continue advocacy work abroad, including testifying before Congress. I asked him about the law's meaning.



"What is at stake," Law said, "is not just the safety of friends, but the survival of Hong Kong as an idea. The security police will now have sweeping powers and can threaten not only Hong Kong people, but (foreign) businessmen, journalists, scholars, and even diplomats.



"Beijing wants full autocratic control, and it doesn't matter if demonstrations are peaceful. No one knows who is in danger, and Hong Kong's rule of law is destroyed."



But Xi's efforts to clamp down on the Hong Kong democratic idea doesn't mean this historic territory can be transformed into just another Chinese city.



Unlike residents of Shanghai or Shenzhen, young Hong Kongers grew up with democracy. "They are much more determined to resist Beijing's repression," points out Hong Kong democracy activist Victoria Hui, now an associate professor at Notre Dame. "How do you silence a majority?"



Moreover, if rule of law is shredded, international businessmen will face the very problems that led them to prefer Hong Kong. Nor can Hong Kong imitate Singapore, which lacks some freedoms but enshrines a strong legal system.



Rather, cautions Hui, the West must regard China's repression in Hong Kong as a harbinger of Xi's global intentions.



"No question, Beijing's attitude stems from a perception of (Donald) Trump's weakness," she contends. The U.S. president's failure to condemn China's vast "re-education" camps for Muslims in Xinjiang, and his hesitancy to critique Beijing's crackdowns on Hong Kong protesters, have convinced Xi he can act with impunity in Hong Kong.



If Beijing can act with impunity in Hong Kong, it will be emboldened to act similarly with Taiwan, and encouraged with expansionist moves in the region.



Both Law and Hui argue that the United States must stand together with allies in cautioning Beijing against crushing Hong Kong's autonomy.



Possible steps could include targeting mainland officials connected with repression in Hong Kong, or ending Hong Kong's special trade status, both already authorized by congressional legislation _ or even a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.



Also, U.S. visas for endangered young activists (who aren't covered by Britain's promise to take in many Hong Kongers).



No one questions Beijing's sovereignty over Hong Kong, but the new law sends warning signals about China's global vision for its future.



"How far Hong Kong goes down the road to Xinjiang depends on how the world reacts," says Hui. "If the world looks the other way, it could be much worse." And not just for Hong Kong.





Trudy Rubin (trubin@phillynews.com) is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her commentary was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.






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The plant-based meat from Impossible Foods Inc. used to be impossible for home cooks to get their hands on. The product was marketed to chefs such as David Chang and available at restaurants and fast-food spots like Burger King. Consumers could buy their faux burgers-if they could find them-but they couldn't easily cook them themselves.

The pandemic changed that. With more people cooking at home and restaurant accounts gutted, in mid-April Impossible rolled out its product to almost 800 more U.S. supermarkets including Albertsons, Safeway, and Wegmans before signing on more than 1,700 Kroger locations in May. That's up from only 150 stores in March.

Impossible is in more than 4,700 stores nationwide, according to the company, and plans to expand its retail footprint to 7,500 by the end of the year; last month it introduced an e-commerce site. (Its major competitor, Beyond Meat Inc., is way ahead; its product has been available in supermarkets since 2016 and is making its first foray into Chinese grocery stores.)

Sales of the faux meat have been rising during the pandemic as safety concerns hit meat suppliers and interrupted the supply chain. In the early weeks of the lockdown, alternative-meat product sales rose 264%. Consumers bought three times the amount of plant-based foods in March and April than they had the previous year.

If you're one of those converts, the company has released a cookbook to help you figure out what to do with the plant-based product in your refrigerator. "Impossible: The Cookbook" (Chronicle Books, July 14, $30) doesn't have a recipe for Impossible Whoppers, though it devotes a chapter to the subject along with sliders and patty melts. Traci Des Jardins, a James Beard Award-winning chef and consultant for Impossible, says they considered making an all-burger cookbook, but the "meat" is more versatile than that.

The book devotes a few introductory pages to the product. If you don't know what heme is, this cookbook won't answer your question. But tips for handling the meat substitute are helpful. The product, which feels oddly sticky when you work with it, has less moisture than real ground beef. That means that here, more than ever, the burgers should be cooked to medium-rare or medium, never well done. Use cold meat and put it over a very hot surface or the result will be mushy. And plan on adding fat to the pan if you're substituting it in a recipe that calls for ground beef or pork.

The book's recipes-there are almost 50-were created by chefs and Impossible staff. It's a crowd-pleasing array that could help cure plenty of hangovers: cheesesteak with caramelized onions, Peruvian lomo saltado (steak and french fry stir-fry), biscuits with spiced sausage gravy, mapo tofu. Des Jardins calls out a recipe for hummus with Ethiopian spiced meat from chef Kwame Onwuachi as a favorite. ("I'm personally a huge fan of Tal Ronnen's Moroccan cigars," said Impossible Chief Executive Officer Pat Brown, by email.)

I tested two recipes from the book. First was the brunch favorite chilaquiles from chef Sarah Schafer. It's anchored by "chorizo" made by mixing the plant-based meat with a mix of pantry spices and cider vinegar. It's a compelling version of the pork-based classic: It's not in the same league as the best ones I've tasted, but I'll make it again, in part for the mad scientist appeal of crafting something that seems untouchable from a handful of ingredients.

And because you have to test an Impossible burger, I chose the jalapeno one from Pinky Cole of Slutty Vegan in Atlanta. (The restaurant owner has been in the news after high-profile locals including actress Gabrielle Union and rapper Ludacris bought out the restaurant to feed locals for free following the Rayshard Brooks shooting.) Cole's recipe features a patty spiked with onions, garlic, and cumin, topped with faux pepper jack cheese and pickled chiles. Her jalapeno burger packs a lot of punches-if you like a tricked-out burger the way I do, you'll be delighted by it.

"My affinity for spicy food comes from my Jamaican background," says Cole, who notes that 97% of the customers who line up at her restaurant aren't vegan. "This burger has a lot of personality. I'm not here for boring food."

The following recipes are adapted from Impossible: The Cookbook. They're vegetarian, not vegan, but can be made using plant-based cheeses, etc.

- - -

Chilaquiles With Red Beans and Charred Tomatillo Salsa

Serves 6

Chorizo:

12 oz. Impossible burger meat

1 1/2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp. ground ancho chile

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. sweet paprika

1/2 tsp. finely chopped fresh oregano

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

Small pinch of ground allspice

2 tsp. vegetable oil

Chilaquiles:

1 can (15 oz.) pinto beans, drained and rinsed

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 jar (16 oz.) tomatillo salsa

8 oz. good-quality yellow or white tortilla chips

1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

6 large eggs

1 small white onion, diced

Sour cream, for serving

Chorizo: In a medium bowl, crumble Impossible meat. Add vinegar and spices; mix well with your hands to combine. In a large cast-iron skillet, warm oil over medium heat. Add chorizo mixture and cook, stirring, until browned, about 6 minutes.

Chilaquiles: Heat oven to 400F. Add beans and lime juice to chorizo; stir to combine. Season to taste with salt. Cook, stirring, until warmed through and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Pour 1 1/4 cups salsa into a shallow bowl. Working in batches, add chips, and stir to coat. Arrange chips on top of chorizo mixture. Bake until chips start to soften and are heated through, about 4 minutes. Remove skillet from oven and sprinkle with queso fresco. Bake until cheese is warm, about 3 more minutes.

While the chilaquiles warm in the oven, fry the eggs. In a skillet, warm oil over medium heat. Add eggs and fry for 1 minute, then turn and fry on the other side for 15 to 30 seconds for over easy and 1 minute for over medium. Scatter onion on top of chilaquiles and dollop with sour cream. Top each serving with a fried egg and serve remaining salsa on the side.

- - -

Jalapeno Burgers

Serves 3

3 potato buns, split

1 tbsp. vegetable oil, plus more for buns

12 oz. Impossible burger meat

1/4 cup loosely packed, finely chopped yellow onion

2 tbsp. finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. kosher salt

3 tbsp. chipotle mayonnaise

3 oz. sliced pepper jack cheese

3 tomato slices

3 tbsp. sliced pickled jalapenos

1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce

Toast cut sides of burger buns over low heat on a lightly oiled griddle or large, heavy skillet, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine Impossible burger, onion, parsley, garlic, cumin, coriander, and salt. Shape burger mixture into 3 equal patties, about  inch thick. Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat, then add 1 tbsp. oil. Cook patties, turning once, until browned on the outside and medium-rare inside, about 6 minutes.

Spread toasted sides of each bun with chipotle mayonnaise. For each burger, top bottom bun with a patty, a cheese slice, a tomato slice, pickled jalapeno, and some lettuce on top. Cap burger with top bun and serve at once.
The movie came out in 1964, so two years from nowin 2022the 58 years would be up and the half-life of that radioactive dust would make the Fort Knox gold safe to handle again.

Goldfinger appears to be about 60 years old in that film, so he would have been dead long before the gold was safeunless he lived to be 122. Fifty-eight years in 1964 seemed an eternity, but there are those around who remember the movies prediction. Time sure flies when youre having fun.

Speaking of 1964, that was the year that World War III occurred in Nevil Shutes 1957 novel On the Beach, about the aftermath and radioactive fallout from atomic bombs that destroyed all human life on Earth.

That story, which was set in 1965, was made into a movie with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. When it came to theaters in 1959, it scared everyone near to death. Word spread, and some people were too frightened to see it.

Well, 1964 came and went and there was no World War III and no human extermination, although we came close with the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.

In 1982, Prince had a musical hit with 1999. If you recall the lyrics, everyone was going to party like its 1999.
Environmental and political activists have opposed the move to set up an industrial park on 1,000-acre land near Mattewara in Ludhiana, terming it as a threat to the forest area and the Sutlej river.

Also, an online campaign titled Save Mattewara forest and Save Punjab has been started on Facebook and Twitter.

Padma Shri awardee environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal said the Punjab government needs to review its decision to set up the industrial park which would be a direct threat to humans as well as wildlife.

Parwinder Singh Kitna, an RTI activist, said the government the on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak last year announced to plant 550 saplings in the every Punjab village, but failed to do the needful.

I will approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to oppose the move and protest against the government to save the forest at any cost, he added.

Hakam Singh, a lawyer, said he will file a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the move.

Besides, Bhai Ganahiya Cancer Roko Society led by Gurpreet Singh Chandbaja and AAP MLA from Kotkapura, Kultar Singh Sandhwan, have written an open letter to chief minister Amarinder Singh to reconsider the decision.

On the other hand, state industries minister Sunder Sham Arora assured that the park wont harm the ecological balance in the area.

We are planning to bring only green industries to the park. We are developing four such parks across the state to attract the industries for employment generation for the Punjab youth, he said.

In 2014, the then Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government had mooted to develop the Mattewara forest as a nature reserve.
The Chairman of Diaspora Patriots in Ghana Foundation (DPG), Mr. Prince Ofosu Sefah, who doubles as the Deputy Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), has donated an undisclosed amount of money to support the Mpraeso Constituency in the ongoing Voters Registration exercise.



According to Chairman PS, his group, DPG, is adopting some select Constituencies to augment the 2020 National Campaign, whereby they are working tirelessly to ensure the NPP wins more Parliamentary Seats for Nana/Bawumia Ticket increases its Popular Votes.



However, he said that he finds it wise to also support his Mother Constituency, personally.



He used the opportunity to tour Registration Centres in the following schools: St Paul's SHS in Asakraka, Bepong SHS, Mpraeso SHS, and Obo Christech.



He was happy to observe strict adherence to laid down protocols, regarding COVID-19 spread prevention.



He also observed that the amount of time allocated for Registration in the various schools by the EC was inadequate and needs to be increased from 2 to 4, if not even 5 days, based on the data.



Chairman P.S. went ahead to register in his grandfather's hometown of Mpraeso on Sunday, July 12th, when Registration opened there on that day.



The Chairman of the Constituency, Mr. Noah Sarfo received the donation on behalf of the Constituency and expressed his heartfelt gratitude to chairman Sefah and of Diaspora Patriots in Ghana Foundation.



Other Constituency Executives present were the 1st Vice Chairman, Mr. Frimpong, the Women Organizer, Madam Constance Agyeiwaa, the Dep. Organizer, Nana Atta, the Youth Organizer, Daniel Bosompem, and the Communication Director, Obibini Takyi Frank.





Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/[email protected]









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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Arowolo Olamide Temitope, a Nigerian lady who was barred from boarding an evacuation flight to Nigeria by the Lebanese airport management after receiving orders from her employer in Lebanon, has finally arrived Nigeria.



Arowolo who was evacuated from Lebanon by the Federal Government on Saturday July 11, narrated her ordeal while in Lebanon, warning young Nigerian girls against travelling abroad.



Arowolo, 31, was among 19 other victims on who were received by officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Affairs at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport In Abuja, today.



A video of Temitope circulated on the internet regarding the violation of her human rights in Lebanon. She said in the viral video she was beaten by Mahmoud Zahran, the husband of her employer, Feyzeh Diab, on April 25, at their home in Choueifat, South of Beirut, after accusing her of stealing a phone.



She continued narrating instances of emotional, physical and sexual assault she recieved from Zahran and Diab. After the video went viral, the Federal Governmen asked Lebanese authorities to bring her back to Nigeria.



Temitope, speaking to journalists at the Abuja airport, said Lebanon was like 'hell' for her and cautioned Nigerian girls against being lured abroad.



She said, Im happy being home. Going to Lebanon is like (going to) a hell. Nobody knows that will happen there. I advise other girls to stay here in Nigeria and try to make it the way the Lord puts them through, because going outside there was like a hell, not only in Lebanon. What I experienced in Lebanon, I pray even not for Satan to experience it.



The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora, Rep. Tolulope Akande-Sadipe (APC-Oyo) described Temitopes return as a dream come true.



Today, Temitope is back home, unfortunately, I will not allow her show her face, the whole issue has not come to an end we really want to understand what happened in court back in Lebanon.



We are happy, she is happy to be back home.



I hope this will be a sign to others young girls out there who want to go abroad for greener pastures to ensure that the circumstances they are going into are the expectations they have when they signed up for these agents, she said.



Arowolos employer had accused her of stealing $5,000 and attempting to kill him. Her prosecution in court had been stalled as the accusers failed to show up, while she was granted bail.



The committee had, however, said it was established that Arowolo suffered abuse and sexual harassment from the husband of her employer, Mahmoud Zahran, during her sojourn in Lebanon.

Source: LIB









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 new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has infected over 12 million people and killed about 568, 312 around the world, six months after its emergence.

Scientists have been in a race to develop a vaccine against the virus and also drugs for the cure of confirmed patients. While these researches are ongoing, Nigeria has recorded over 31,000 confirmed cases of the virus with 724 deaths as of Saturday.

Nigeria records over 31,000 COVID-19 cases

Nigerias tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 31,987 as 664 new infections were announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Saturday evening.

The death toll from the virus has hit 724, as 15 new deaths were reported. The fatality rate in Nigeria is about 2.2 per cent.`

All the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory have recorded at least a case of the disease.

COVID-19 cases worldwide hit 12 million

COVID-19 cases globally have more than doubled in the past six weeks, reaching 12 million on Friday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported.

Across all walks of life, we are all being tested to the limit, agency chief Tedros Ghebreyesus told journalists, adding that there is still a lot of work to be done.

From countries where there is exponential growth, to places that are loosening restrictions and now starting to see cases rise, we need leadership, community participation and collective solidarity. Only aggressive action combined with national unity and global solidarity can turn this pandemic around, he said.

COVID-19: Nearly 150 prospective vaccines developed; 19 in trials  WHO

As researchers around the world race to find effective protection against the COVID-19 virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Africa has called on countries in the region to take concrete actions to ensure equitable access to vaccines.

It said globally, there are nearly 150 COVID-19 vaccine candidates and currently 19 are in clinical trials.

In a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said African countries always end up at the back of the queue for new technologies, which include vaccines.

It is clear that as the international community comes together to develop safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19, equity must be a central focus of these efforts.

Too often, African countries end up at the back of the queue for new technologies, including vaccines. These life-saving products must be available to everyone, not only those who can afford to pay, Mr Moeti said.

NAFDAC considers 21 herbal products for usage

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says 21 herbal medicinal products are currently being processed by the agency for Safe use or Listing status.

Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director General of the agency, said that the manufacturers of these products who have applied to the agency claimed that their products are only immune boosters and anti-infectives useful for relief of symptoms that could be associated with COVID-19.

Mrs Adeyeye in a statement said no clinical study has been done yet on any of the products to prove their claim of efficacy.

COVID-19 has worsened maternal mortality rate in Nigeria  NPC Chairman

The National Population Commission (NPC) says the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened maternal mortality rate in Nigeria.

The acting chairman of the commission, Eyitayo Oyetunji, said this on Saturday while commemorating the 2020 World Population Day (WPD). The day is celebrated on July 11 to raise awareness about sexual and reproductive health needs of people around the world.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that WPD is annually celebrated on July 11 to raise awareness about sexual and reproductive health needs of people around the world.

Mr Oyetunji, who said that this years theme of the WPD  Putting the brakes on COVID-19: How to Safeguard the Health and Rights of Women and Girls Now, affirmed that women and girls were worst affected by the pandemic.

New study warns of brain damages linked to COVID-19

A new study has found that infection with COVID-19 can lead to brain damages, including delirium and nerve damage. The study by researchers at University College London (UCL) was published on Wednesday.

According to the researchers, since COVID-19 broke out, there appeared to be a concerning increase of a rare brain inflammation known to be triggered by viral infections.

Shock as Nigerian professor says COVID-19 does not exist

A Nigerian professor, Cyril Otoikhian, has challenged the Nigerian government and other scientists working on COVID-19 to prove the existence of the virus in the country.

The professor of genetics at the Novena University, Delta State, in a Monday morning programme on Channels TV, shocked his interviewers when he argued that the virus does not exist as there has been no known evidence to prove its existence.

Mr Otoikhian claimed there was secrecy surrounding the diagnosis of the disease in the country. He said that suggested that the disease does not exist.

Despite 99% awareness creation, Nigerians still ignorant of COVID-19  NCDC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says it has achieved 99 per cent awareness creation on COVID-19, but decried that Nigerians are still widely ignorant of the deadly virus and compliance to the preventive measures across the country has been low.

Yahaya Disu, head of Risk Communications, NCDC, said this in a chat on Twitter with the Nigeria Health Watch while sharing insights on the increase in the numbers. He said the perception survey conducted showed a general poor perception of threat posed by COVID-19 and low efficacy of control measures.

He said the centre adopted a science-based, data-driven and dynamic messaging strategy while also relies on weekly opinion polls by partners to assess level of awareness/compliance and identify barriers to compliance with guidelines.

Health Security: Maiduguri College of Nursing and Midwifery Approved

The College of Nursing and Midwifery, Maiduguri in Borno State, has secured full accreditation from the regulatory body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.

The accreditation comes 40 years after the inception of the college and was made possible with the recent donation of modern equipment and tools by WHO with funding support from the European Union.

Items donated include laboratory equipment, classroom furniture, library books, practical teaching tools, hospital beds, and computers. According to the students and staff of the institution, these equipment and facilities have also made teaching and learning a lot easier and friendly.
By Trend

Starting from the afternoon on July 12, units of the Armenian armed forces, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of the Tovuz region of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, shelled Azerbaijani positions using artillery mounts, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

There are losses on both sides.

Currently, fights are ongoing on the site. Azerbaijani units control the operational situation.

The public will be further informed.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 02:07:40|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. state of Florida reported 15,299 new coronavirus cases Sunday, shattering not only its own previous single-day records, but also those of any other state as the pandemic continued to rage in the country.

The mind-boggling number brought the total infections to 269,811 in the Sunshine State, with the death toll reaching 4,346, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The recent surge was the result of increased testing and widespread transmission as the state prematurely loosened lockdown measures, as a result of which people were seen gathering in crowds, no longer heeding anti-virus guidelines such as maintaining social distance or wearing face coverings.

Out of the 2,574,007 tests conducted as of Sunday, 269,811 returned positive. Meanwhile, the number of hospitalizations is also rising at an eye-popping rate, registering 18,271 in total on Sunday.

As for the positivity rate, another key parameter, the number ranged from 12.24 percent to 18.36 percent during the past two weeks, indicating that the virus is far from being brought under control.

Commenting on the positivity rate, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said during a Saturday press briefing that it is "something we're looking at very seriously," adding that if the rate "gets into the single digits, that's something that's a lot more manageable."

In the meantime, however, the governor doubled down on his call for reopening schools, echoing a similar demand from President Donald Trump.

"People say, 'kids may be the vectors then, in the community' ... but it's been found over and over again, as people have looked at this and studied this, particularly in Europe, that the school children aren't vectors for this, for whatever reason," DeSantis said. "They usually get infected by the parents. They're usually not infecting adults."

Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, a Democrat, told CNN in an interview Saturday that schools should give parents the option of continuing online education for their kids "if they so desire," and that when to reopen schools should primarily be the parents' decision.

Despite the surge, the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando opened its Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom sites Saturday, asking visitors to wear masks and adhere to other safety measures. Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios, also part of the amusement park complex, will reopen on July 15. Enditem
Angelina Jolie has spoken about her pride for her daughter Zahara, describing her as an extraordinary African woman.

During a video conversation with Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate for TIME 100, the Maleficent actor discussed everything from activism and climate change to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Jolie also questioned how American schools cover black history in their curriculum and revealed how her daughter has influenced her life.

One of the things thats been interesting is the education, she said.

Recommended Brooklyn Beckham confirms engagement to Nicola Peltz

I dont know about the schools in Uganda, but I know in the United States theres a very big question ... My daughter is from Ethiopia, one of my children. And I have learned so much from her.

She is my family, but she is an extraordinary African woman.

The mother-of-six continued: Her connection to her country, her continent, is very  its her own and its something I only stand back in awe of.

But what I see in, for example, American history books and how limited they are  they start teaching people who are black about their lives through the Civil Rights movement, which is such a horrible place to begin.

The Changeling star adopted Zahara from an orphanage in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in 2005, when she was six months old.

Angelina Jolie spoke with Vanessa Nakate via video call (YouTube/TIME)

Jolie was already mother to her adoptive son Maddox, who was born in Cambodia and later adopted another son, three-year-old Pax Thien, from Vietnam.

The actor also has three biological children  Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne  with ex-husband Brad Pitt.

While Jolie rarely discusses her children, she recently opened up to Harpers Bazaar about raising her children amid the racism and discrimination in America.

Angelina Jolie has six children (Getty)

A system that protects me but might not protect my daughter  or any other man, woman or child in our country based on skin colour  is intolerable, she said.

We need to progress beyond sympathy and good intentions to laws and policies that actually address structural racism and impunity. Ending abuses in policing is just the start. It goes far beyond that, to all aspects of society, from our education system to our politics.

In a recent interview with Vogue, Jolie also spoke about the adoption process and the challenges of raising children from different backgrounds.

What is important is to speak with openness about all of it and to share. Adoption and orphanage are positive words in our home, she said.

All adopted children come with a beautiful mystery of a world that is meeting yours. When they are from another race and foreign land, that mystery, that gift, is so full. For them, they must never lose touch with where they came from. They have roots that you do not.

Jolie continued: Honour them. Learn from them. Its the most amazing journey to share, she said. They are not entering your world  you are entering each others worlds.
There is a secret article in the Irish Constitution, penned in invisible ink, which states that any time Circle of Friends is on telly you must watch it.

Even if you already have it on DVD. Even if you have it 'taped' on 'the box'. Even if, like me, you saw it in the cinema in 1995 and have rewatched it at least 20 times since. Even then, you must surrender the 103 minutes, plus time for ads, and settle in with Bernadette 'Benny' Hogan and the residents of 1950s' Knockglen.

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Such is the power of this law that TV3 - or Virgin Media One, if we're insisting on new money - seems compelled to screen Circle of Friends at least once a year, often as a wee bank holiday Sunday treat.

When it happens, a whisper goes around social media. "Circle of Friends starting in ten on TV3," flash the tweets. "Circle of Friends is on telly!" ping the WhatsApp groups. "Have you ever read the book?" gushes anyone who has read the book, because the book is where the real magic happens. And so, the circle of life of Circle of Friends continues.

Maeve Binchy's 700-page classic turns 30 this year. It tells the story of Benny, a beloved only child of over-protective parents who hope she'll one day take up with the repellent Sean Walsh and take over the family drapery.

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Benny struggles to inhabit a body that works against her by being too tall and too broad every which way, and she feels like a lump beside her best friend Eve - an orphan taken in by the nuns after her mother's aristocratic family turned their back on her.

With school finished, Benny is headed for UCD, with her proud parents footing the bill. Eve joins her after swallowing her pride and asking the high-falutin' family to pay her way.

Benny and Eve are the anchors of the titular circle of friends, which widens at UCD to include the beautiful Nan Mahon, desperate to escape her working-class background and violent, alcoholic father.

Then there's the charming shitehawk Jack Foley, handsome as you like and the son of a doctor. Benny falls for him immediately and to the surprise of many, the feeling is mutual.

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Benny is the Cinderella to Jack's Prince Charming, but instead of the clock striking midnight and Benny rushing for her carriage-slash-pumpkin, the clock is striking ten past six and she's rushing for the evening bus back to Knockglen.

Nan, meanwhile, sees a ticket out of her father's house in the form of Eve's posh and dreadful cousin Simon Westward, and the pair begin a secret affair. When Benny's beloved father dies suddenly, her connection to Knockglen becomes more iron-clad than ever, and Jack's immature and arrogant impatience at her absence from the UCD social scene causes his eye to wander.

Expand Close Daisy Edgar-Jones as Marianne and Paul Mescal as Connell in the BBC Three adaptation of Sally Rooneys Normal People (Enda Bowe/BBC/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Daisy Edgar-Jones as Marianne and Paul Mescal as Connell in the BBC Three adaptation of Sally Rooneys Normal People (Enda Bowe/BBC/PA)

Nan, newly pregnant with Simon's baby and under pressure to travel for an abortion, with no ring in sight, seizes an opportunity for a dalliance with Jack before falsely revealing that the baby is his, crushing Benny and setting Eve aflame with rage.

Nan ultimately miscarries and the engagement is called off, but for Benny the damage and the hurt are done. She closes out the book at the centre of her circle of friends, with Jack at the cold periphery.

Three decades since publication, and more than 60 years after its setting, this rich tome about friendship and love and class and expectation has found something of a second life among Millennials and the Gen Z Zoomers who are coming hot on their heels. So, what's the Circle of Friends magic that continues to make it such an important cultural touchstone across generations?

Binchy is one of Ireland's most successful writers and her works are known around the world, but the marketing of her novels as Lovely Books for Mams and Grannies and a general aura of "Maeve Binchy = good and warm and comforting" has been prevalent in households up and down Ireland for decades, with her books settling creakily on shelves and bedside lockers like parts of the furniture.

It's a double-edged sword of a legacy because it leans into the stereotype that these kinds of 'comforting' and 'warm' books are not only for women, but are for women of a certain age.

As an author who co-writes the Aisling books that are often classified as 'women's fiction' (God forbid a man might pick it up by mistake) or 'commercial fiction' (ditto a literary lovey might be caught unawares), it can be a frustrating categorisation.

Thankfully, though, there has been pushback on this notion in recent years, with 'popular fiction' writers defending the validity of their vague genre robustly and rightly and with books like Circle of Friends or Marian Keyes's Rachel's Holiday becoming more centred as classic works of literature alongside Joyce and Wilde and Edna O'Brien's seminal 1960 novel The Country Girls.

This blurring of the lines between popular and high culture has meant that books such as Circle of Friends are more likely to be widely read, studied academically and appreciated for the social documents that they are.

Dublin author Sarah Maria Griffin underwent her Circle of Friends indoctrination last year and tweeted: "I feel like some awful, post-English degree hangover kept me from Binchy until now. Like, if I wasn't reading Literary Stuff I was doing something wrong. I am *inside* Circle of Friends and I can actively feel it changing me, like I'm coming up on it. It is a masterpiece."

Binchy dealt a lot in social significance. Circle of Friends is set before the sexual revolution, before the pill and before 'French letters' were readily available. Indeed, contraception was only legalised in Ireland five years before the book was published. The novel acts as both a social document of the time and as a signpost for 2020 readers of the struggles of living in a more repressive Irish society like that of the 1950s.

The young women of the modern-day Repeal movement are well aware of the giant shoulders they stand on, but Circle of Friends offers insight into how far we've come, while reminding us that we still live in the fog of a vicious three-day hangover of how Ireland has treated women. Nan's crisis pregnancy, Eve raised by the nuns, Benny expected to be a Very Good Girl and look after her parents and the family business, once she has the notions of UCD out of her system - these are all experiences of the women of our mothers' and grandmothers' generation, and these are experiences that are still all around us.

Binchy also dealt in the timeless themes of love, friendship, expectation, guilt and shame, as well as a sense of home. I asked a group of recent Circle of Friends readers - men and women in their 20s and 30s - how they associated the book with their lives in 2020 Ireland.

Niamh Murray, (26), from Kildare, said: "Benny's unhappiness with her appearance is something a lot of people today can relate to. As a fellow tall woman, I distinctly remember feeling similarly at her age."

Benny's discomfort in her body, and indeed the discomfort so many women feel by simply taking up space, is palpable throughout the book. Benny's bosom is a great trial to her, as is her anxiety about it not being decently covered while being flanked by the petite Eve and the luminous Nan.

We could talk until the cows come home about Binchy's remarkable skill in creating such distinct and believable and achingly relatable characters and the skilled yet humble dialogue, but really we want to be best friends with Eve, we want to take a scissors to Nan's mane of rich-looking hair and we want to implode at how deeply uncool, deeply loyal and deeply 'us' Benny is.

Ciara Murphy, (30), from Wexford also found herself relating to "issues of self-confidence arising from how women look or are meant to look. I loved Benny. I enjoy her perseverance. I can relate to her in terms of how she measures her worth, and the challenges she experiences in her personal life."

Jack Coughlan, (20), from Cork studied the book for his Leaving Cert in 2017 as the Repeal campaign was really taking shape: "My English teacher was also our SPHE teacher so she explained the reality of abortion in Ireland in an objective way using Nan's story. The book was a nice guide to college too, in a way [and it] proves that you can keep your old friends from 'home' but also meet new people."

This idea of Down Home versus the Big Smoke is something Irish people are all too familiar with - whether they're emigrating to New York or Sydney, or hoofing down the N7 in a JJ Kavanagh bus or, if you're our fictional Aisling, a zippy little Micra.

Sarah Kiely, (32), is from Galway but lives in Co Down: "Probably what resonated most with me is that feeling of a country girl hitting Dublin for the first time. And although times are very different, I have definitely been in scenarios where I felt intimidated by elegant and more worldly women, and very good-looking men."

And 28-year-old Laura King felt the same: "I think the ideas of expectation and obligation are still relevant, and Benny having to commute to Dublin was very real to people I knew in college."

Several new Binchy fans I've encountered have expressed a wish to 'cancel' Jack Foley. Cancel culture wasn't so much of a thing back in the 1950s, or even in the 1990s when the book was published, but today's readers of Circle of Friends would gather in their droves to hold a #JackFoleyIsCancelled party on Twitter. He has the absolute nerve to romance Benny and drive her to the very heights of her insecurities.

Aisling Hussey, (29), from Kerry, felt "so sad for Benny, who kept questioning why Jack wanted to be with her. But I think we are also guilty of questioning our worth from time to time, and wondering 'why me?'."

Jack was played by Chris O'Donnell in the 1995 film, along with his big American head, wojus Irish accent and altogether too many impeccable teeth. Film Jack is also gifted a more sympathetic storyline than in the book; the novel allows Benny the dignity and strength of character to leave Jack on the sidelines after he hurts her horribly.

She endures the manipulation and misogyny of her father's right-hand man Sean Walsh too. Sean is as timeless as Benny. As Aisling Hussey quips: "We will always have creeps like Sean (until we dismantle the patriarchy)."

The legacy of Circle of Friends hummed loudly under the recent TV adaptation of Normal People. Those timeless themes of a fish out of water, class divides, the feeling that you can never really go home again, the fever of young love and lust, the scramble for a condom. While the pandemic gave Normal People the focus it deserved, it halted rehearsals for a first stage production based on Circle of Friends, which had been due to open in Limerick last March and travel to Dublin's Gaiety for the month of April. The posters for the run still hang near my local shop and have been a particularly haunting reminder of what the past few months have snatched from us.

They also reinforce both the gentle, ever-present nature of Circle of Friends and its pulsing popularity. Tipperary's Roseanna Purcell was cast to play Benny and is eager to get back into her shoes. Purcell thinks her generation of oft-maligned Millennials deals just as much in nostalgia as those who came before, and that Circle of Friends taps into that. "When I'm in Dublin I'm just constantly trying to reclaim my sense of where I'm from. [The book] achieves that essence of trying to reclaim your own sense of identity and place."

We have so much to thank Maeve Binchy and Circle of Friends for. Maeve walked so Sally Rooney could run. She walked so I could run. And Benny will run forever, beef to the heel like a Mullingar heifer.

Dear Mary... Maeve's letter explaining how exactly she earned her new-found success

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Back in the early 1980s, Maeve Binchy wrote her first novel, Light a Penny Candle - and it made a huge amount of money at the time for a debut.

I was working on The Late Late Show when the book came out, and it was decided to have her on to talk about her new-found success. She had been on before so she was well used to the Late Late format and was a joy to work with.

There was no pussyfooting about with Maeve regarding the money she got - on the contrary, she sent me a letter before her appearance explaining all

Dear Mary,

... I'm glad you thought it was a good idea if I wrote to you I didn't want to be intrusive or pushy but I thought if I just gave you some background information then it might be a help for you to know what has gone before

I was on The Late Late Show  on Saturday, March 20. It was in connection with the publishing of Dublin 4 [a short-story collection]. We talked a bit about why I chose that title and whether the people were real and if I actually put real people into stories, which I don't.

Then the conversation broadened and Gay Byrne asked about some aspects of my work, the royal weddings - I said how much I had liked Charles's wedding and hated Anne's - about covering the election in Ireland and how I had been one of the very few journalists watching FitzGerald and Haughey on the night of the Great Debate surprisingly I also found myself in conversation about Mrs Thatcher and admitting that I did not like her.

Now this time the most interesting thing about me is unfortunately all the money I've made. I don't say 'unfortunately' that I made money I'm obviously delighted about that but it's a fact of life that the money interests everyone so I thought I would tell you exactly what I got so that you would know the fact not the rumour.

For writing the novel, which took a year, or 40 weekends to be more precise, 5,000.

The paperback rights were sold to Coronet Books, who paid a record 52,000. I get around 70 per cent of this. The publishers who found me get the rest so I get 34,000.

Then the Americans decided that they would like to buy it... Several publishers made offers so there was another auction and the highest bidder was Viking. This is for hardback rights only. Later there will be another 'auction' for American paperback rights. Viking are actually going to pay me $200,000.

Then it was chosen by the Literary Guild of America as their book of the month for next April. This means that it will be vastly publicised. They paid $50,000; Viking get half and I get half so from this particular deal I get $25,000.

Last week it was sold to a French publisher who is having it translated. They are paying 50,000 francs, which in English money is about 5,000.

To add the whole thing up, it comes to in English money round and about 163,000.

Out of this I will have to pay roughly half in taxes, maybe more. I will have to give 10 per cent to an agent but that will still leave me with about 70-75,000.

This may look very tedious and boastful but I thought it would be better if you knew the exact figures, then you could decide what was and what was not relevant.

Now the next question is what am I going to do with it? I haven't really decided. I don't want people to give me advice about making myself into a tax exile, a limited company, a discretionary trust

Sadly the last page of the letter is missing - so we'll never know what she proposed to do with the money. But we do know that Maeve enjoyed life with her beloved husband and many friends, and no doubt the money helped.

Mary O'Sullivan
The finance ministry on Sunday said financing requests of close to Rs 10,000 crore have been received under the special liquidity scheme worth Rs 30,000 crore for stressed NBFCs and HFCs whose financials further deteriorated due to the COVID-19 crisis. The scheme was launched on July 1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has provided funds for the scheme by subscribing to government-guaranteed special securities issued by a trust set up by SBI Capital Markets Limited (SBICAP).

"RBI has also issued a circular to NBFCs and HFCs on July 1, 2020 itself on the Scheme. SBICAP has received 24 applications requesting about Rs 9,875 crore of financing as on July 7, 2020 which are being processed," the finance ministry said in a statement.

The first application has been approved and the remaining are also under consideration, it said.

The Investment Committee of Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS) Trust has approved investment of up to Rs 200 crore in commercial paper issued by the applicant.

Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) came under stress following a series of defaults by IL&FS group firms in September 2018.

During the latest review of the Atmanirbhar Bharat package by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, progress of various schemes was discussed, including the Rs 3 lakh crore credit guarantee scheme for the MSME sector hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Banks have sanctioned loans of about Rs 1,20,099 crore under the Rs 3 lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector, the statement said.

However, disbursements against this stood at Rs 61,987.90 crore till July 9 under the 100 per cent ECLGS for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Besides, front-loaded special refinance facility of Rs 30,000 crore has been sanctioned by NABARD during COVID-19 to Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and cooperative banks.

This special facility will benefit 3 crore farmers, consisting mostly small and marginal farmers in meeting their credit needs for post-harvest and kharif sowing requirements, it said.

With kharif sowing already on in full swing, Rs 24,876.87 crore out of the Rs 30,000 crore has been disbursed as on July 6, it added.

With regard to the Rs 45,000 crore Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme 2.0 for NBFCs, it said banks have approved purchase of portfolio of Rs 14,000 crore and are in process of approval/negotiations for Rs 6,000 crore as on July 3, 2020.

On the taxation front, Rs 50,000 crore liquidity infusion has been made through TDS/TCS rate reduction by 25 per cent for transactions made from May 14 to March 31, 2021.

Between April 8 and June 30, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued refunds in more than 20.44 lakh cases amounting to more than Rs 62,361 crore, while remaining refunds are under process.

It has already been communicated that making payment without additional amount under the Vivad se Vishwas' Scheme will be extended to December 31, 2020, it said. The legislative amendments for the same in the Vivad Se Vishwas Act, 2020 shall be moved in due course to time.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has raised the threshold of default under the IBC, 2016 to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh earlier. The ministry is finalising a special insolvency resolution under section 240A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to provide relief to the MSMEs.

To support the state governments hit by revenue losses due to the lockdown, the Department of Expenditure has issued a communication to all the states for additional borrowing of 2 per cent of projected GSDP in 2020-21, subject to implementation of specific state level reforms.

To promote the MSME sector, global tenders have been disallowed in government procurement up to Rs 200 crore, it added.
Opera Kitchen is still closed in Sydney, Australia, May 27, 2020. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

China is Australia's biggest trading partner and the two countries have a long history of good relations. It is in the interest of people from both sides to continue on good terms.

BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- After Australia issued its China travel warning in the wake of the newly adopted law in China on safeguarding national security in Hong Kong, many expatriate Australians have dismissed the so-called increased risks.

According to reports by the Australian Financial Review (AFR) published last week, most expats regard the warning as politically motivated, including Geoff Raby, a former Australian ambassador to China, who described it as "provocative."

In another case, Sam Wong, chair of the Canberra Multicultural Community Forum Inc., who was born and raised in Hong Kong, said Australian politicians should "know the situation of Hong Kong better," in response to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's recent baseless accusation against the national security legislation on Hong Kong.

These are just two of many examples which show the hypocrisy of some Australian politicians who are attempting to smear China with lies and push the China-Australia relationship to the brink of an abyss.

Indeed, a long list of similar anti-China claims by certain Australian politicians have proved to be nothing more than brazen slander.

Ironically, the self-claimed former "spy" Wang Liqiang, who was described by Liberal Member of Parliament Andrew Hastie as a "friend of democracy," was later confirmed in video footage to be a convicted fraudster.

Ridiculously, Morrison said in an April 3 interview that COVID-19 "started in China and went round the world," without providing any proof.

Growing recent evidence, including a study by experts from the UK's Oxford University, has shown that the pandemic could have started elsewhere before it was first reported in Asia. Besides, medical experts should be the only ones to make such a judgement after deliberate scientific studies, rather than politicians jumping to baseless conclusions.

Maliciously, several Australian politicians, including Foreign Minister Marise Payne, protested against the so-called Chinese "economic coercion" or "boycott" after the AFR carried out an interview with the Chinese ambassador to Australia. However, according to Robin Matthews, national president of the Australia China Friendship Society Ltd (ACFS), it turned out that such words actually never appeared in the interview transcript at all.

Australian politicians should understand that it will bring no good to their country and people to deliberately whip up nationalist sentiment. Demonizing China has already caused damage in the country.

An anti-China racism survey published by The Sydney Morning Herald last month suggested that Asian Australians have reported almost 400 racist attacks since the beginning of April.

Last week, a Chinese delivery rider in South Australia was filmed being punched in the face. In another video circulating on social media, an Australian woman was spewing vitriol at a Chinese couple in a supermarket.

Photo taken on Sept. 8, 2019 shows the Chinese and Australian national flags on a celebration event in Sydney, Australia. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

These are sad scenes for the many Chinese who have visited Australia in recent years, leaving with a friendly impression of the country and its people.

China is Australia's biggest trading partner and the two countries have a long history of good relations. It is in the interest of people from both sides to continue on good terms.

The ACFS, which was established nearly 70 years ago, has called for an urgent change in the attitude and behavior of Australian politicians before further, devastating, damage is done.

"Most of the statements and behaviour of Australian politicians are contrary to Australia's national interest, in that they appear to go out of their way to insult a country with whom we have built a strong friendship over a number of decades," said Matthews in a letter to the Australian government.

It is also the voice of the majority in both countries. Australian politicians should immediately stop lying and end their hypocrisy, respond to the call of integrity, and do something constructive to benefit their people and the China-Australia relationship.
Public restrictions sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the states now-abolished stay-at-home order topped the list of challenges being faced by Wisconsin employers, according to a new survey of business owners.

The latest survey by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state chamber and largest business lobbying group in Wisconsin, found 38% of respondents listed the pandemic and the safer at home order as the biggest public policy issue facing the state, compared with 16% who said the top issue is the labor shortage and lack of qualified applicants.

Even with this problem, COVID-19, there continues to be a challenge to find qualified people, said Kurt Bauer, WMC president and CEO. What that tells me is: Dont forget about the workforce shortage. Even though we have record high unemployment, it continues to this day.

The survey of almost 150 employers  the majority in the manufacturing sector  was conducted in the last two weeks of June and is WMCs first since the outbreak began earlier this year. The survey also marks the first time in more than five years that the workforce shortage was not the No. 1 issue among employers.

In WMCs latest survey, three-quarters of respondents said COVID-19 has caused negative financial impacts on their business, but the majority of respondents remain somewhat optimistic, with only 23% predicting they will end the year with a financial loss.

There is reason for guarded optimism for a relatively speedy recovery, Bauer said. I think thats a testament to the resiliency, the nimbleness, and the innovative spirit that many businesses have displayed in managing the COVID-19 crisis.

In response to rising cases of COVID-19 across Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm in March issued a safer at home order that closed some businesses and limited services at others. While public health experts and Democrats largely supported the measure as a means of saving lives, Republicans and some business groups, including WMC, raised concern that closing down businesses could have lasting impacts on employers and the economy.

The order was later extended to late May, but it was challenged by Republican lawmakers and the order was struck down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on May 13. Some local orders have remained in place since the court ruling, especially in Dane County, but large portions of the economy have since returned to somewhat normal operations.

Speaking to reporters last week, Evers defended the stay-at-home order, which was enacted in an effort to limit the virus spread and prevent an overburdening of hospitals across the state.

We were in a good place with our efforts around safer at home, Evers said. Im convinced what we did saved lives.

At the same time, the order resulted in skyrocketing unemployment across the state, with the Department of Workforce Development still struggling to process the influx of claims.

According to the survey, 41% of respondents said they have made temporary or permanent reductions in staff, while 49% said they have not.

Of respondents who reduced staff levels, 45% said they laid off less than 10% of their staff. About 31% said they laid off between 10-20% of their staff, and 10% of respondents reported laying off 30% or more of their employees.

In addition, 20% of respondents said they have had to close their business at one point since the pandemic began, while one in four required most or all their employees to work from home.

Other takeaways from the survey include:

68% of respondents said they approve strongly or approve somewhat of Donald Trumps performance as president.

79% of respondents said they disapprove somewhat or disapprove strongly of Tony Evers job performance as governor.

37% of respondents said they believe the Wisconsin economy will see some form of growth over the next six months, while 43% expect the state economy to remain flat, and 13% believe the economy will decline.

COVID-19 in photos: How Wisconsin is managing the pandemic
Ministers have been urged to act amid fears staff who took on dangerous roles at coronavirus testing sites could lose their jobs.

Boots employees have helped to man drive-in government test centres across the UK as part of the fight against the global pandemic.

But there are concerns some of those who worked taking throat and nasal swabs could be among those to lose their jobs.

The High Street chemist has announced plans to cut more than 4,000 jobs and close 48 of its Boots Opticians stores.

Many of the Boots staff who have worked on the governments coronavirus testing programme are from its opticians arm.

In all around 7 per cent of the companys workforce are expected to lose their jobs.

The job losses come after Boots retail sales tumbled by 48 per cent over the past three months, despite many remaining open during lockdown.

Labour said it was deeply unfair that these workers should be facing redundancy.

Andy McDonald, who speaks for the party on employment rights, said: We owe a debt of gratitude to those who have worked in government testing sites and other workers who have played vital roles in the national response to the pandemic. It is deeply unfair that these workers should be facing redundancy. The government must do far more to protect peoples jobs, its one-size-fits-all approach is not good enough.

Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrat business spokesperson, said: The government hugely relied on Boots staff to fill the gaps as they were failing to ensure we could test everyone during the peak of the coronavirus crisis.

We should all be incredibly grateful to all of those who risked their lives to help improve our testing capacity.

Daniel Adams, from the union Usdaw, which represents some Boots staff, said: After being on the frontline as key workers in the fight against coronavirus, it is a slap in the face to be put at risk of redundancy. This is deeply distressing news for Boots staff and their families, they deserve better. Our high streets desperately need the government to develop a sector specific recovery plan to get a grip of this crisis.

A spokesman for Boots said it was too early to comment on who would be made redundant.

On the governments Covid testing sites, he added that the company do not expect there to be an overall impact on the programme which we will continue to support as we have proudly done since we opened the first testing site in March.

More than 16,000 Boots employees were furloughed at its peak, but many have now come back.

It is thought there is no correlation between those furloughed and those at risk of redundancy.

There was an outcry in May when it emerged that Boots was advertising, on behalf of ministers, for unpaid volunteers to work at least 32 hours a week taking the swabs.

The company said a total of 1,000 people were needed, from a combination of Boots staff and the volunteers.

In response, Unison, the union, said the roles took the idea of volunteering too far.

Legal experts also warned that Boots could face an investigation under minimum wage legislation.

Within days the high street chemist had withdrawn the adverts.

But Boots staff who were also working at the sites continued to take the swabs.

Those who applied to be volunteers in the same roles were promised training and personal protective equipment (PPE), in line with NHS standards.

But they were also warned to consider the health of their relations before volunteering.

The adverts said the roles would involve standing for hours at a time and require the mobility to be able to reach into a vehicle to take swabs of both throat and nasal passages at potentially awkward angles.

The Department of Health declined to comment.
WASHINGTON - Mark Meadows is about to try his hand at the most unusual role of his political life: dealmaker.

The White House chief of staff is expected to be a major figure in the coming talks with his former colleagues in Congress on the next rescue package to combat the health and economic crises as the coronavirus continues its vast spread across the nation.

But Meadows comes at this as someone who, for more than seven years in Congress, did anything but broker bipartisan peace. The North Carolina Republican helped force John Boehner, R-Ohio, into resigning as House speaker in 2015 because Meadows viewed him as too conciliatory to Democrats. He undercut a budget deal that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had greased in December 2018, sending the federal government into a 35-day shutdown that ended with a complete GOP surrender.

"He's an idiot. I can't tell you what makes him tick," Boehner told Politico Magazine in 2017, a particularly unencumbered interview more than a year after he retired.

In short, many Democrats wonder what Meadows's presence in negotiations means for what is likely the last major legislation before Election Day in November, one critical to the tens of millions of unemployed Americans and President Trump's bid for a second term.

Officially, Meadows is promoting Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as the lead negotiator.

"He's done an outstanding job. He and I talk probably, not only a daily basis, but sometimes an hourly basis. We've been working very closely with our congressional colleagues, both in the House and in the Senate. I fully expect that he will lead the charge," Meadows told reporters in a brief news conference Monday outside the White House.

Unlikely pair of Pelosi and Mnuchin join forces as Washington's crisis negotiators

But Republicans are now privately clamoring for Meadows to play a significant role, because they believe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have gotten the better of Mnuchin in those recent rounds of covid-related negotiations, as well as a trade deal and budget framework last year.

According to GOP advisers in the Capitol and Trump administration, Meadows and Mnuchin expect to play a tag-team role in the talks that will begin in earnest when the House and Senate return July 20 from a midsummer legislative break. They will have a roughly two-week deadline to come up with a new set of proposals that could easily crest the $1 trillion mark.

The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the upcoming strategy.

The treasury secretary can still be the main voice talking to the Democratic leadership, while the chief of staff can be there to reassure anxious Republicans fearful that Mnuchin will give away the store just to get a deal.

Other presidents have turned to a former congressman during rough patches. Bill Clinton named Leon Panetta, D-Calif., the former House Budget Committee chairman, his chief of staff in the summer of 1994 just before Republicans won both chambers in the midterms, guiding him through tense budget talks with GOP leaders and winning reelection in 1996.

Ronald Reagan turned to former Senate majority leader Howard Baker, R-Tenn., after Democrats won the Senate in the 1986 midterms.

Trump's first attempt at this was the exact opposite, choosing Mick Mulvaney, a former ideological bomb-thrower in the House, to move from budget director to take over the West Wing.

He clashed with Pelosi last summer on budget talks, prompting her to tell the White House she would no longer talk to Mulvaney and thus began the Mnuchin-Pelosi bond.

By late March, however, as Mnuchin was close to finalizing the more than $2 trillion Cares Act, Senate Republicans had grown weary of the treasury secretary's good relations with Pelosi and Schumer.

A week before Meadows officially took over for Mulvaney, he arrived with Mnuchin in the Capitol for meetings in McConnell's office the day before the Cares deal was announced.

The Senate unanimously approved that legislation and did so again a few weeks later when they injected $484 billion more into the Paycheck Protection Program and other accounts run by the Small Business Administration, talks that served as Meadows first modest attempt to play any detailed part in covid-related legislation.

"I want to thank Secretary Mnuchin - I spent hours and hours with him at all hours of the day. I want to thank someone I didn't know very well - Chief of Staff Meadows - who is very good at making sure an agreement can come to fruition even in the wee hours of the morning," Schumer said in an April 21 floor speech before the additional PPP funds were approved.

Meadows has the charming personality that, in outward appearances, makes him seem like a natural fit for chief of staff. Unlike Mulvaney's irksome personality, Meadows can light up a room with jokes and remember details about people's lives that make them feel appreciated.

Pelosi's inner circle describes a cordial relationship with Meadows but one that does not have a lot in common, other than their shared love of the late congressman Elijah Cummings, D-Md. On Feb. 27, eight days before Trump selected Meadows as his new chief of staff, Pelosi and Meadows spoke at a ceremony naming the Oversight Committee's hearing room after Cummings, a move that Meadows openly supported after building a friendship with the Baltimore Democrat who chaired the panel as Meadows served as its ranking Republican.

"He scared me to death, just to be blunt," Meadows said of his late friend, drawing laughter from many Democrats in the room.

At the White House Monday, Meadows told reporters that these negotiations are critical - PPP expires in early August and a generous unemployment benefit expires July 31, two programs that have propped up a reeling economy. He noted that once Congress leaves for its late summer break very little else will happen this year.

"Everybody looks at this as the last train leaving the station so they want to attach some of those special-interest needs to that," he said.

But there's apprehension about whether Meadows will revert to his days as a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, the conservative faction that torpedoed even small immigration compromises and persuaded Trump to shut down the government in late 2018. In 2013, Meadows locked arms with conservatives to force a shutdown over their unsuccessful bid to defund portions of the Affordable Care Act.

Pelosi is already dismissing GOP hints that they would like this round of legislation to come in under the $1 trillion threshold, which Democrats consider woefully insufficient.

"So, $1 trillion is okay, that's an interesting starting point," she told reporters at her weekly Thursday news conference.

For now, Meadows is sending signals that he wants to be the dealmaker, someone who is open to hearing every proposal from all sides. "I don't know that there's any red lines right now," Meadows said Monday.

It's the role of a lifetime.
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Love and Friendship (2016): Every now and then a single movie can turn me around on my opinion of an actor. Id never been a Kate Beckinsale fan for some reason. But as Lady Susan Vernon, a shallow and manipulative widow, she takes absolutely no prisoners. This is based on a story by Jane Austen, but this isnt one of those tony British period pieces. At least, its not a typical one. Why? Because it was written and directed by Whit Stillman, a very American director who specializes in his own brand of comedies of manners. The result is peculiar and fascinating. And, like me, if you werent already a fan of Beckinsale, it could very well turn you into one.
The Supreme Court will on Monday pronounce verdict on the long-standing dispute over whether the control of the Padmanabha Swamy temple in Kerala will vest with the state government or the Travancore royal family.

The verdict, which will be pronounced by the court after nine long years of hearing the case, will decide the correctness of a January 2011 judgment of the Kerala high court which had ruled that the state government should take over the control of the temple from a trust headed by the royal family. The temple located in the state capital of Thirvunanthapuram shot into limelight after the Supreme Court in May 2011 ordered a detailed inventory of the articles in the temple vaults which had long rumoured to be holding immense riches.

The verdict of the Supreme Court will be pronounced at 10.30 am by a division bench of justices UU Lalit and Indu Malhotra.

When five its six vaults, known as Kallara in Malayalam, were opened pursuant to the Supreme Court order, vast treasure of gold and other priceless objects were discovered. It was estimated that the intrinsic value of the treasure amounted to more than Rs. 90,000 crore. One of the vaults, Kallara B could not be opened and the opening of the same was later kept in abeyance by the apex court.

The temple was under the control of a trust headed by the royal family until April 2014 when the top court by way of a crucial interim order handed over its management to a four-member administrative committee headed by a district judge.

The case dates back to 2009 when TP Sundarrajan, a former IPS officer, filed a public interest litigation petition before the Kerala high court praying that the control of the temple should be handed over to the Kerala government from the royal family.

The state government took a stand before the high court that the traditional and customary belief is that the temple belongs to the royal family head of Travancore palace and that the administration of the temple has not broken down nor is there any allegation of a major nature which forces the government to interfere with the administrative affairs of the temple.

Despite that, the high court by its judgment rendered in January 2011 ordered the state government to take over the control of the temple. It also restrained the executive officer and the Maharaja of the royal family against opening any of the Kallaras or removing any of the articles of the temple.

The Maharaja, Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, appealed to the Supreme Court against the high court judgment.

In August 2012, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium was appointed Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) by the Supreme Court. Subramanium submitted a voluminous report before the court in April 2014 alleging serious mismanagement of the temple by the trust and indicting the royal family on various counts.

The court after accepting the report set up an administrative committee on April 24, 2014 to manage the temple in the interim and also ordered a special audit of the temple and its properties by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Vinod Rai.

Legal genesis of the dispute

The legal genesis of the dispute lies in the agreement of accession (agreement) signed between the Kings of Travancore with the Government of India in 1949 by which the princely state of Travancore became a part of the Indian Union.

Article VII of the agreement provided that administration of the Padmanabha Swamy temple shall be conducted, subject to the control and supervision of the ruler of Travancore, by an executive officer appointed by the ruler.

The ruler at the time of Independence, Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma passed away in 1991 and Utharadom Thirunal Marthanda Varma assumed charge as trustee of the Temple.

The question before the high court was whether the new Maharaja would fall within the definition of the term ruler used in the agreement. The agreement itself did not define the term ruler and the high court, therefore, relied upon the definition of ruler in article 366(22) of the Constitution of India.

Article 366(22) states that ruler means any prince or chief who was recognized by the President of India as ruler of an Indian state before 1971, the year in which privy purse (payments made by the Government of India to royal families of erstwhile princely states for joining the Indian union at the time of independence) was abolished.

Based on the definition in Article 366(22), the high court held that ruler is not a status that can be achieved through succession and after the death of the last ruler in 1991,there is no ruler in the erstwhile state of Travancore.

In such a scenario, the present ruler is the state of kerala and the administration and control of temple will, therefore, vest with the Kerala government, the high court had ruled.

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He was speaking during a Virtual (online) interview in the context of the India Global Week conference organised in London.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Saturday described the ongoing process of dis-engagement and de-escalation between Indian and Chinese troops in the Ladakh sector at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as very much a work in progress. He was speaking during a Virtual (online) interview in the context of the India Global Week conference organised in London.

The comments indicate how keenly and closely New Delhi is monitoring the situation, in the wake of the recent military tensions with Beijing and large number of deployment of troops of both sides in the region.

Sounding a warning note on the raging coronavirus pandemic, he also said that existing political trends will accelerate in a post-Covid world (with) more nationalism, increasing trust deficit and stress on supply chains.

On the situation on the border with China, EAM Jaishankar said, Weve agreed on the need to disengage because troops on both sides are deployed very close to each other. So there is a dis-engagement and de-escalation sort of process agreed upon. Its just commenced. Its very much work in progress. At this point, I really wouldnt like to say more on it.

Commenting on Indias relationship with the United States, the EAM described it as a relationship that took six decades to find itself but is now making up for the lost time. He said he would expect it to become important even in the American calculus of the world. The remarks clearly show how important India sees its relationship with the US.

Referring to bilateral ties with Australia, the EAM said there were strong structural and policy reasons for increasing India-Australia engagement (and) growing economic relationship, expanding cooperation in creating a more stable and secure region.

On Britains exit from the EU popularly known as Brexit, the EAM said that Indias strategic calculation in a post-Brexit United Kingdom (UK) would take into account the whole spectrum of multiple Uks: The European UK, the transatlantic UK, the historical UK, the diaspora UK, the city of London UK and the innovative UK.
Alex Stewart didnt expect his first boat-watching experience along the Welland Canal to include a collision between two vessels on the 43-kilometre long waterway between lakes Erie and Ontario.

But thats what he got  and captured on video  Saturday afternoon in Welland.

I would have never thought Id see that, he said in a Facebook interview with The Tribune.

Stewart, who lives about an hour northwest of Guelph, was out walking with a friend when they saw McKeil Marines Florence Spirit appear to drift into the path of dship Carriers MV Alanis.

The two vessels  the Florence Spirit heading down the canal, the MV Alanis heading up  struck each other on their starboard sides around the anchor port.

In Stewarts video, an alarm is heard sounding before the two vessels hit, thens theres a loud crunch and scraping noise.

The crash was loud  but coming from a racing background it wasnt that loud, he said.

In the video, the two vessels then stop before the MV Alanis, an ocean-going vessel, is pushed back toward the east bank of the canal and the Florence Spirit heads bow first toward the west bank.

St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.s Jean Aubry-Morin, vice president of external relations, said the collision took place at 3:55 p.m. south of Port Robinson and is now under investigation by officials.

Because the collision involved two vessels passing each other, Transport Canada officials were to investigate. Seaway inspectors were looking over both vessels.

Aubry-Morin said the two collided starboard side to starboard side and added there was more damage to the Florence Spirit, which was sitting lower in the water.

Normally, they would be passing port side to port side, he said, adding the area is one where upbound and downbound ships pass each other. Downbound ships are heading to Lake Ontario from Lake Erie, while upbound vessels are heading to Lake Erie from Lake Ontario.

Aubry-Morin said the Florence Spirit was carrying a load of coal and downbound for Quebec.

The website Marine Traffic listed Grand Anse, Quebec as the destination for the Burlington-headquartered McKeil Marine vessel.

The dship Carriers MV Alanis was carrying a load of wind turbine parts, but there was no destination listed for those parts; dship Carriers has offices in Hamburg, Houston, Tokyo, Mumbai, Shanghai and Singapore.

No one was injured, and there was no pollution. Seaway inspectors were looking over both ships, said Aubry-Morin.

After the collision, the MV Alanis made its way to Wharf 12, the Stone Dock, at Rameys Bend in Port Colborne, while the Florence Spirit docked at Wharf 10, which sits just east of Bradley Avenue in Welland. Wharf 10 is not publicly accessible.

MV Alanis View document on Scribd
Their home at the end of a leafy street in Delhi turned into its own cluster of coronavirus cases, marked with a quarantine sticker and cut off from the outside world. The Garg family's story is a vivid illustration of the capriciousness of the virus. Some people escape with no symptoms, while others become seriously ill. Scientists are investigating whether genetic factors, including blood types, play a role in a person's susceptibility to the disease. Zarir Udwadia, a pulmonologist at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai, said he had seen situations in which members of the same family experienced severe outcomes after contracting the virus, suggesting a genetic vulnerability. He has also witnessed the opposite scenario: instances of families who had milder cases, even when other factors pointed toward the risk of serious illness. For the Gargs, living together may have been a source of vulnerability but also was a reservoir of strength. Three brothers and their families, together with their parents, have lived for nine years in a "joint family" arrangement on a spacious floor in a four-story building. The brothers and their respective sons work together in different businesses.

In normal times, each branch of the family was consumed with its own routines - work, children, friends, exercise. At first, the lockdown was a period of contentment, with everyone gathering together for lunch or dinner. There were endless hands of cards and games of hopscotch and freeze tag on the terrace. The men of the family "suddenly turned chef" and began trying out new recipes, Mukul said. They were hypervigilant in taking precautions against the virus. They stayed inside. Only one person at a time went to the grocery store to buy supplies for the whole household. They developed a ritual for sanitising the person who did the shopping that involved spritzing "every visible body part" with disinfectant. Then, in late April, one of Mukul's uncles started feeling weak and feverish. Initially, the family believed it was an ordinary flu. A few days later, his aunt Anita fell ill. Then Mukul's parents developed fevers, as did his grandmother. "We were confident that because we had been extremely careful, coronavirus could not happen to us," said Mukul's mother, Meena Devi, 58. "But then, one by one, everyone came down with a fever." Still, the Gargs hesitated to get tested, hoping it would pass. They were also afraid: They worried they would be ostracised if they tested positive, and even placed in an institutional quarantine.

Everyone in the family began isolating themselves in their rooms. Anita began to have difficulty breathing. She was tested for the coronavirus, and the result came back positive. "It all came crashing down after that," Mukul wrote in a blog post detailing his family's experience. Loading After Anita's condition deteriorated, she was admitted to a private hospital. "That is when the panic struck hard," said her son, Abhishek, 26. The virus behaved unpredictably. Mukuland Abhishek's 90-year-old grandfather, Shyamlal, tested positive but showed no symptoms at all. Their 87-year-old grandmother, Beena, had a fever that persisted for a month, together with a cough and headache, but her condition never deteriorated to the point they felt she should be hospitalised. A 29-year-old cousin and his wife tested negative. Four children under the age of 6 were either not tested or tested negative. For Meena, Mukul's mother, the sickness included fever, cough, headache and body pain that lasted almost two weeks. She spent her days listening to devotional music and praying for the family's recovery, unable to see her grandchildren. Her daughter-in-law would drop off meals outside her door. She spent nearly a month confined to her room.

Mukul trained as a doctor before completing an MBA and joining his father's plastic-packaging business. He and the younger adults helped coordinate the care of his relatives, dispensing acetaminophen, cough syrup and vitamin supplements. The family was fortunate enough to have the financial resources to help them through the illness, Mukul said. A major turning point came when Mukul's aunt Anita was able to return home after 10 days at the hospital, where she had received oxygen treatment. Neighbours clapped and rang bells from their balconies as she walked in. The family threw flower petals. Loading How the family became infected in the first place remains a mystery. They speculate that Mukul's uncle, the first person to fall ill, may have contracted the virus while buying groceries, but there is no way to know for certain. At the time they became sick, there were no other cases in the area. In early June, after they all had tested negative, the family finally reunited over dinner, their first time together in weeks. There was laughter, tasty vegetarian food and a sweet custard for dessert. Being able to hug his cousins' children after so long was "an amazing feeling," said Abhishek.
Detectives are appealing for information or witnesses following the report of shots fired at a house in the Pembroke Manor area of Dunmurry yesterday evening

Police are investigating separate shooting incidents in Dunmurry and Coleraine over the weekend.

In Dunmurry two masked men were seen in Pembroke Manor on Saturday evening after a gun attack on a house.

Police said they received a report of the "planned and ruthless attack" just before 7pm.

In Coleraine damage was discovered to two windows of a property in Willow Drive following reports of shots being fired at around 2.10am yesterday.

The PSNI described it as a "reckless attack".

Police are appealing to anyone who witnessed the incidents or has any information to contact them on 101.
Prince Harry feels 'lost' living in Los Angeles in the same way Meghan Markle did in the UK, a royal author has claimed.

After stepping down as senior royals in March, Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, had originally planned to split their time between the US and UK.

However the royal pair headed to LA at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and have since been staying with son Archie at Tyler Perry's $18million Beverly Hills mansion.

Tom Quinn told the Daily Star that while the Duke of Sussex 'doesn't hate' LA - he is struggling to find his 'role' in the US, and that him getting 'swept up in Meghan's positive energy' has always been a problem in their relationship.

Prince Harry feels 'lost' living in Los Angeles in the same way Meghan Markle did in the UK, a royal author has claimed. Pictured, Duke and Duchess of Sussex on Zoom call from LA discussing the BLM movement

The royal pair, pictured on Commonwealth Day in London, headed to LA at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and have since been staying with son Archie at Tyler Perry's $18million Beverly Hills mansion

'Harry does feel slightly lost because he is now experiencing in America what Meghan was experiencing here', said Tom.

He went on to explain that while Harry was 'swept along' by Meghan's 'positive' energy when they tied the knot in May 2018, he has since been struggling to 'fill the days' in LA.

'It's always been a problem, early on in the relationship, Meghan is a dynamo, she's full of positive energy that would sweep Harry along but once the honeymoon is over, you still have to fill the days'.

The author went on to claim that after speaking to sources close to the couple, he believes Harry is 'really struggling' with his living situation, and is finding it difficult to find work.

Tom Quinn told the Daily Star that while the Duke of Sussex 'doesn't hate' LA - he is struggling to find his 'role' in the US. Pictured, the couple visiting Canada House in London

He added that while he 'doesn't hate' living in the US, he is experiencing the same confusion the Duchess of Sussex faced while living in the UK.

Earlier this week, the Duchess faced criticism from London-based veteran royal photographer Arthur Edwards, 79, who claimed she had 'no intention' of living in the UK after marrying Prince Harry.

He alleged that staying in the UK was not in Meghan Markle's 'plans' - despite spending 2.4million of taxpayers' money to refurbish Frogmore Cottage.

Harry was 'swept along' by Meghan's 'positive' energy when they tied the knot in May 2018, he has since been struggling to 'fill the days' in LA

Speaking on TalkRadio, he explained: 'All that house refurbishment at Frogmore and the money that they spent on that, she had no intention of staying here.

Arthur - who has been photographing the Duke of Sussex since the day he was born - also described seeing a change in Prince Harry's behaviour towards the media.

'Unfortunately for the last couple of years, he has gone completely sour,' he said. 'He didn't talk to me for a year. I've been photographing him since he was born, and it was down to her.'

Pictured, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019 in Cape Town

He went on to explain how the media requested to organise a meeting with the Duchess on three occasions - but it never happened.

'I think the moment she married Harry it was '"right, let's get out of here as quick as we can," he added. 'I mean, it was ridiculous.'

After heading to LA at the start of the pandemic, the photographer claimed the way in which Meghan changed clothes and went straight to Heathrow Airport to fly to Los Angeles suggests she 'had no intention of staying in the UK.'

He added: 'It's not in her plans and she is dragging Harry along and unfortunately, he's gone along with it.'

It comes just days after the photographer claimed Prince Harry's criticism of the Commonwealth shows he has 'lost the plot' and 'should stop listening to his wife.'
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 05:45:53|Editor: huaxia

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TRIPOLI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Libya, Stephanie Williams, expressed readiness to support Libyan authorities in security sector reform, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said on Sunday.

Williams made her remarks during a virtual meeting held on Saturday between a UNSMIL delegation and a delegation of the UN-backed government's Ministry of Interior, UNSMIL said in a statement.

"The delegations agreed on resuming the activities of the support programs and projects that were impacted following the outbreak of hostilities in April 2019 and underlined the linkage between SSR (Security Sector Reform) and economic reforms," the statement said.

Libya has been suffering escalating violence and political instability ever since the fall of the late leader Gaddafi's regime in 2011. Enditem
Christians being denied food aid during COVID-19 pandemic

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As the world goes through food security and financial crises due to the coronavirus pandemic, disadvantaged Christian communities in Asia, especially in Vietnam and Pakistan, are being hit the hardest as government and aid agencies discriminate against them due to their faith, according to reports.

In the communist country of Vietnam in Southeast Asia, the government is denying food aid to more than 100 Christians, including children and the elderly, according to Open Doors, a ministry to persecuted Christians worldwide.

You are Christians and your God shall take care of your family! authorities told 18 Christian families, comprising 107 people, in north Vietnam. The government is not responsible for your families!

A local partner of Open Doors, which was not identified due to security reasons, said, They strive to put food on their tables, and they consume their rice little by little every day. When they learned that the governments support was coming to their district, they were so happy  only to find out that they were not on the list because they are Christians.

Christians often face ostracism, threats, torture and prison sentences in Vietnam, whose atheist government doesnt tolerate any faith or ideology other than communism.

Vietnams communist regime, which requires its officials to use a secret 600-page manual to repress religion, fears Christianity, which involves building a community of believers and promotes respect for human dignity. The government views citizens freedom to form associations as a threat to its power, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

Vietnam ranks as the 21st worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USAs 2020 World Watch List.

Estimates indicate that approximately 80 percent of the countrys Christians belong to the countrys ethnic minorities, like the Hmong, and face social exclusion, discrimination and attacks. Ethnic minority Christian children are discriminated against in schools; their medical needs also are often neglected. Some are not even allowed to attend school at all, according to Open Doors.

In Pakistan, Muslim charities are excluding Christians from their distribution of food aid and emergency, according to Vatican News, which cited the international Catholic charity and foundation Aid to the Church in Need.

ACN International Executive President Thomas Heine-Geldern said that many Christians earn the lowest wages, working as daily-wage laborers, domestic servants, cleaners, or kitchen staff. All these areas of employment are precisely the ones that have been most impacted by the economic shutdown, he said after being briefed by Cecil Shane Chaudhry, executive director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops Conference.

Many Christian employees have been dismissed without notice by families for whom they have worked for years, Heine-Geldern added.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also took note of discrimination in aid distribution in Pakistan. As COVID19 continues to spread, vulnerable communities within Pakistan are fighting hunger and to keep their families safe and healthy. Food aid must not be denied because of ones faith, Anurima Bhargava, a USCIRF commissioner said.

Open Doors USAs 2020 World Watch List ranks Pakistan as the fifth worst nation in the world in persecuting Christians. Although there have been no major bombing attacks against church buildings in the 2020 World Watch List reporting period, dozens of smaller everyday attacks against churches and cemeteries occur, the ministry says.

Christians are often targeted both by Pakistans blasphemy laws meant to protect Islamic sensitivities and by hardliners who carry out violence and have killed scores of believers in the past several years.
Jason Kelly Johnson is from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, on the Canadian prairie, population 16,000. Nataly Gattegno hails from Athens, one of the densest cities on Earth, population 3 million. They met in the middle, at the graduate school of architecture at Princeton University, in New Jersey, and came west to open a design firm called Future Cities Lab.

They were far thinkers, except on the name Future Cities. The couple, who live in the Dogpatch with their two daughters, forgot to trademark it and lost it, so now they gather their ideas under the umbrella of Futureforms, an art, design and urban-design studio with a name they did not forget to trademark.

One of the first projects at Future Cities was to figure out what the office tower should look like as the urban landscape evolves. Their concept is called Supergalaxy, a windowless and wall-less live/work environment. They tested it by creating a mock-up of the Crown Zellerbach Building, a 20-story tower on Market Street in downtown San Francisco also known as One Bush Plaza. Then they just had to sit back and wait for the design world to catch up, which it did 15 years later with the arrival of the coronavirus, social distancing and the need to rethink how our work spaces are conceived.

Q: Was it a long wait, those 15 years it took for the Supergalaxy concept to come around?

Gattegno: At the time, it was for an architectural competition, and competitions are usually for speculating with far-out or experimental ideas. We were like, Oh, wouldnt it be interesting? and now it is, You know what, Supergalaxy is starting to make sense now. When people are told, You can work at home now, it raises the question of what happens to the office space that is left behind.

Johnson: Because of COVID-19, people are looking at the business model of having 100 people on a floor working side by side. Supergalaxy is interested in recasting three floors of an entire office building as a hybrid outdoor live/work room, with 30-foot ceilings.

Q: How can we grasp that environment?

Johnson: We are pulling out all of the existing infrastrucure and furnishings. All that is left is the elevator, stairs and columns. We take out the windows so birds can fly through. There are things within Supergalaxy that blur the distinction between work and play, and between the natural world and the artificial. The ceiling is made of baffles that can lower to protect the space from the wind. It acts as a cocoon around you, but there are moments when fog and wind is allowed into it. You embrace the fact that you might have to wear a fleece or something.

Courtesy Futureforms

Q: Didnt the ancient Greeks already have this figured out?

Gattegno: The one thing that I have taken from my experience in Greece is the importance of outdoor public space. The idea of Supergalaxy is to bring outdoor public space inside a building. That is a more interesting way of rethinking a typical space where you have an agora, which is the Greek word for public space. If you have to stand 30 feet from someone, you need a big plaza. It doesnt have to be the plaza in front of City Hall. It can be going down three floors from your office and having a fully outdoor space on the 25th floor. Or an elevated park like at the Transbay Terminal. You are lifted up off the ground and can look into offices and apartments.

Johnson: There is this idea that if the typical downtown urban building as we have conceived it becomes obsolete, there is an opportunity to introduce alternate forms of occupation. We could take ideas from the Greek Forum and create open spaces that are conducive to debate and discussion, available to all citizens.

Q: The Greeks didnt need all of these zoning laws, did they?

Johnson: The Greeks liked to use the sidewalk and the waters edge to stand and socialize, debate and discuss, which is what we are doing now, with social distancing.

Gattegno: The city would have more unexpected, diverse and potentially productive collisions between programs: Single-family homes adjacent to skyscrapers, public parks in the middle of office towers.

Q: What should be public and what should be private?

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.

Gattegno: That is one of the things that has been interesting with downtown San Francisco, the amount of privately owned public space. Supergalaxy brings up those questions of public and private. Is that three-story swath public space, like an extension of the sidewalk? Or is it private space owned by the building tenants? Jason and I would argue that it should be an extension of the sidewalk rather than privately owned.

Q: Is the Supergalaxy floor plan feasible?

Johnson: Businesses right now are completely rethinking their relationship to their staff. Companies are going to try to bring together people for short intensive periods, safely. It is a little like going on a retreat. It will recast office spaces as a living room. You will bring in 10% of your work force, then move them back to their home office. You will clean the space and have another group back in. What Supergalaxy does is to provide an open space that is highly technologically mediated, and allows for fluid communication.

Q: What should the future city take away from the coronavirus lockdown?

Johnson: People want more space. They want the street to be the sidewalk. There are some interesting patterns emerging with how we are re-occupying space between buildings. People are moving toward the edges and are attracted to places that have light and air and space. We are still attracted to being in the proximity of other people. We still want to look people in the eye while somehow responsibly congregating. A lot of people are imagining a 10-foot bubble around themselves.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @samwhitingsf
Bosnian Muslims on Saturday mark 25 years since the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II, with the memorial ceremony sharply reduced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers said the number of people attending the anniversary  usually in the tens of thousands  is likely to be lower than usual because of lockdown measures aimed at stemming the spread of COVID-19.

Proceedings are scheduled to start in the morning.

Then, at 1100 GMT, the remains of nine victims identified over the past year will be laid to rest at the memorial cemetery in Potocari, a village just outside Srebrenica that served as the base for the UN protection force, FORPRONU, during the conflict.

On July 11, 1995, after capturing the ill-fated town, Serb forces killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in a few days.

The episode  labelled as genocide by two international courts  came at the end of a 1992-1995 war between Bosnias Croats, Muslims and Serbs that claimed some 100,000 lives.

So far, the remains of nearly 6,900 victims have been found and identified from more than 80 mass graves.

Bosnian Serb wartime military chief general Ratko Mladic, still revered as a hero by many Serbs, was sentenced to life in prison by a UN court in 2017 over war crimes including the Srebrenica genocide. He is awaiting the decision on his appeal.

Radovan Karadzic, another Bosnian Serb wartime political leader, was also sentenced to life in prison in The Hague.

 War against denial 

The Srebrenica massacre is the only episode of the Bosnian conflict to be described as genocide by the international community.

And while for Bosnian Muslims recognising the scale of the atrocity is a necessity for lasting peace, for most Serbs  leaders and laypeople in both Bosnia and Serbia  the use of the word genocide remains unacceptable.

In the run-up to the anniversary, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic described Srebrenica as something that we should not and cannot be proud of, but he has never publicly uttered the word genocide.

Several thousand Serbs and Muslims live side by side in impoverished Srebrenica, a lifeless town in eastern Bosnia with just a few shops in its centre.

On Friday, the towns Serbian mayor Mladen Grujicic  who was elected in 2016 after a campaign based on genocide denial  said that there is new evidence every day that denies the current presentation of everything that has happened.

Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik has also described the massacre as a myth.

But on Friday, the Muslim member of Bosnias joint presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic, said: We will tirelessly insist on the truth, on justice and on the need to try all those who have committed this crime.

We will fight against those who deny the genocide and glorify its perpetrators, he said at the memorial centre where he attended a collective prayer.

In order to avoid large crowds on Saturday, organisers have invited people to visit the memorial centre over the whole month of July.

A number of different exhibitions are on display, including paintings by Bosnian artist Safet Zec.

Another installation, entitled Why Arent You Here? by US-Bosnian artist Aida Sehovic, comprises more than 8,000 cups of coffee spread out on the cemeterys lawn.

We still havent answered the question why they are no longer here, she told AFP.

How could this have happened in the heart of Europe, that people were killed in such a terrible way in a UN protected area? Not to mention the fact that the genocide is still being denied.
<! Rita Dominic >

Veteran Nollywood actress, Rita Dominic, clocks 45 today.

To mark her special day, Rita took to social media where she shared a lovely picture and penned a note to her fans.

In her message, she thanked God for life and also thanked her fans for their support.

She said: Thanking the Almighty for another year, for life and good health.

Ive been in the industry for 22 years and you all have been steadfast with your support. This I do not take for granted. It has been good most times and rocky sometimes but in all I give God the glory.

Love you all so much! Bless.

Happy birthday Reedee.

Rita Dominic is a member of the Royal Nwaturuocha family of Aboh Mbaise local government area in Imo State.

Dominic attended the prestigious Federal Government College Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, before heading to the University of Port Harcourt, where she graduated with a BA (Honours) Degree in Theatre Arts in 1999.

Dominic started performing as a child, appearing in school plays and childrens television shows in Imo State.

In 1998 she starred in her first movie, A Time to Kill. She has starred in over 100 Nollywood productions and won numerous awards.

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The credit for the bus service goes to the Border Security Force -- a paramilitary force under the Ministry of Home Affairs that is basically mandated to guard the India-Pakistan and the India-Bangladesh borders.

Swabhiman Anchal was previously known as a cut-off region near the Balimela reservoir, with over 150 villages in Odisha's Malkangiri district. Situated along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border, the region had long been a stronghold of Left-Wing Extremists.

The Odisha State Road Transport Corporation began the bus service on Friday to cover the area between Malkangiri and Jodambo -- an area where only two-wheelers could go 10 years ago when the BSF was deployed there as a first security force to curb the Maoist menace.

The government bus service began following private services after the construction of the Gurupriya bridge in 2018, which connected Swabhiman Anchal with the rest of the state.

Till now, motor launches and boats were used to cover the arduous 5-6 hour journey from the district headquarters as the only mode of transportation to reach ferry points. From there, people took country boats to reach their villages. Even horses were used to travel in the remote parts of Swabhiman Anchal.

The region is covered by water on three sides and an inhospitable terrain on the fourth, where the BSF was deployed in March 2010 for the first time.

Surrounded from four sides by Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh, Malkangiri is a neighbouring district of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh where the Maoist had killed 72 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in an ambush in April 2010.

A BSF official, who held a senior post when the BSF was first deployed in Malkangiri, told IANS on the condition of anonymity that the cut-off area beyond the Balimela reservoir was at one point of time a 'safe haven' for CPI-Maoists due to negligible security force presence.

The BSF deployment that began from 2010 led to gradual inroads into the Maoist-dominated areas.

"It did come at a price -- we lost some of our finest officers and men. Now, we see smiles on the faces of locals, who are living a better life that is free from the threat of violence," said the BSF official, who remained deputed in the region for almost seven years.

"The developmental works have gained momentum and the BSF deployment has been a huge step forward."

Maoists used to move around freely in Malkangiri then, reminisced the official, adding they had kidnapped R. Vineel Krishna, then Collector of Malkangiri, in 2012.

The officer said that a 40-feet memorial was set up by the Maoists in Malkangiri after their central committee member Patel Sudhakar Reddy, who carried a reward of Rs 12 lakh, was killed in 2009.

Reddy, was wanted in several cases, including attempted assassination of former chief ministers N. Chandrababu Naidu in 2003 and N. Janardhan Reddy in 2007 and the assassination of former state home minister A. Madhava Reddy in 2000.

The Maoist was also allegedly involved in the murder of senior IPS officers K.S. Vyas and Umesh Chandra, and the Balimela attack in 2008 in which 36 Greyhounds personnel died when the Maoists sank a boat on the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border, he recalled.

"Our deployment increased thereafter and we entered the cut-off area."

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)

--IANS

rak/tsb
The Supreme Courts ruling Wednesday in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, which strengthened the legal protections that shield religious institutions from job discrimination lawsuits, could weaken LGBTQ worker protections, according to some legal experts and advocates.

The case involved Roman Catholic schools in California that were sued after deciding not to renew contracts for two teachers. In the 7-2 decision, written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, the high court held that the ministerial exception to nondiscrimination law applies to teachers at religiously affiliated schools whose job includes some element of religious instruction.

When a school with a religious mission entrusts a teacher with the responsibility of educating and forming students in the faith, judicial intervention into disputes between the school and the teacher threatens the schools independence in a way that the First Amendment does not allow, Alito wrote for the majority.

But while conservatives and religious freedom advocates applauded Wednesdays decision, which they say clarifies the ministerial exception to civil rights law, LGBTQ advocates and the courts liberal dissenters say the ruling opens up the door to employment discrimination by religious institutions.

Broadening the ministerial exception

In 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency tasked with enforcing employment nondiscrimination, sued an evangelical Lutheran church and a school in Michigan on behalf of a called teacher who underwent theology training and was fired after taking disability leave. The EEOC lost the case, and the Supreme Courts ruling established the ministerial exception, a constitutional protection for religious organizations to prevent government interference in the hiring and firing of ministers.

"The Supreme Court opened a veritable Pandoras box that threatens the continued employment and financial security of thousands of teachers at religiously affiliated schools."

Story continues

Arthur Leonard, a professor of labor and employment law at New York Law School, said Wednesdays ruling, which overturned a lower courts decision, was a broadening of the ministerial exception under discrimination law.

In reversing the lower courts decision this week, Leonard said that the Supreme Court found that even if teachers had some religious role, then the ministerial exception applies.

John Bursch, an attorney for conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, said the courts decision clears up disagreements in the lower courts about the right way to define minister, by focusing on the work performed by the employee, rather than their title.

The court has respected the autonomy of faith-based schools and prevented the government from interfering with the internal operations and autonomy of religious organizations, he said.

Ruling could open Pandoras box of discrimination

Wednesdays ruling comes less than a month after another Supreme Court ruling involving employment discrimination: Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, which found that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. While the Our Lady of Guadalupe School ruling does not explicitly deal with LGBTQ workers, it may shield religious institutions that discriminate against them.

Eric Rassbach, senior counsel at Becket Law, who argued the case on behalf of the California schools, said the Bostock and Our Lady cases should be read together.

I think you do have to look at them together and in the case of religious organizations that means that the government is significantly limited, and courts are significantly limited, in how much they can intrude on the internal affairs of religious organizations, Rassbach said on a call with reporters.

Related: If the proposal is implemented, transgender women could be placed in sex-segregated shelters for men.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in her dissent, warned that Wednesdays decision may provide a rubber stamp for employment discrimination by religious institutions.

Although todays decision is limited to certain teachers of religion, its reasoning risks rendering almost every Catholic parishioner and parent in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles a Catholic minister, she wrote in her dissent, which Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined. That is, the Courts apparent deference here threatens to make nearly anyone whom the schools might hire ministers unprotected from discrimination in the hiring process. That cannot be right.

LGBTQ advocates echoed Sotomayors concerns, worrying that the ruling has opened the door to discrimination.

The Supreme Court opened a veritable Pandoras box that threatens the continued employment and financial security of thousands of teachers at religiously affiliated schools, Jennifer C. Pizer, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, which joined an amicus backing the teachers, said in a statement. The ministerial exemption especially should not apply to strip protections from teachers with secular roles at large educational institutions that serve the entire general public, regardless of whether those institutions have some sort of religious ties.

Leonard agreed that Wednesdays ruling could have a major impact on the many LGBTQ people employed by religious schools.

Ever since the Obergefell decision in 2015 on same-sex marriage, we have seen this phenomenon around the country where lesbian or gay teachers at Catholic schools married their same-sex partner and their schools have fired them, Leonard said, referring to the landmark Supreme Court case legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States. Many have tried to sue.  Those cases are probably doomed as a result of this ruling.

The clash between gay employees and a religious institution has been playing out in Indiana for several years. Two guidance counselors, Shelley Fitzgerald and Lynn Starkey, and a German language and social studies teacher, Joshua Payne-Elliot, are all suing the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in three separate cases because they were fired when their same-sex marriages became public.

Related: C. Jay Smith, who's serving 25 years to life at San Quentin, could face 10 more years behind bars after she made a sex abuse complaint, her lawsuit says.

Kathleen DeLaney, the attorney for Starkey and Payne-Elliot, called this weeks Supreme Court decision distressing.

Its very unfortunate that this is the direction we are heading  that the court is elevating religious freedom over the freedom of employees to be who they are, love who they love and conduct their private lives how they choose, she said.

DeLaney, however, stressed that her clients cases are far from over, citing important differences between the cases the Supreme Court reviewed and her clients cases. Namely, her clients had no religious teaching responsibilities and are suing under different statutes.

Courts decide the cases before them, and our cases are different, DeLaney said.

The high court is slated to hear another case in the fall concerning the extent of religious liberty with potentially major consequences for LGBTQ rights and beyond.

The court will hear a dispute between the city of Philadelphia and a Catholic charity over the extent to which religious organizations that receive taxpayer dollars can refuse to work with same-sex prospective foster parents. The case could have a significant impact on the parental rights of lesbians and gays and nondiscrimination law more broadly.

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Decades ago, before cheap flights opened up long distance travel to more people, tourism largely meant travelling relatively close to home. COVID-19 has quickly changed travel and tourism patterns and may yet redefine it in the future.

Though its become harder to reach with reduced ferry capacity during this pandemic summer, the Toronto Islands remain one of the great day trips for city dwellers. Go for a swim, have a picnic, that sort of thing.

However, over a century ago, it was an overnight tourist destination, complete with a grand old hotel built in the Second Empire style and run by the Hanlan family. Though the hotel was destroyed by fire in 1909, the Toronto Islands remained a tourist destination with a main street that looked like a cute cottage town until the Metro Toronto government bulldozed much of it in the 1960s.

There were other holiday destinations within what is now Toronto, too.

The Beach neighbourhood was just far enough from the city centre to feel away and different, though overt anti-Semitism during the summer of 1933, coming to a head when a Swastika club formed to intimidate Toronto Jews from spending time there cooling down, meant not everyone could enjoy it.

On the west side, there was a trailer park community at the mouth of Etobicoke Creek, sadly swept away during Hurricane Hazel in 1954, and up the Humber valley near Steeles and Kipling Avenues was Tarmola, a Finnish summer retreat operating from 1927 to 1968. There were cottages in the Don Valley too.

As Toronto grew, places for overnight stays moved farther out. The personal automobile certainly changed travel patterns and mobility, but there was also rail infrastructure that got city people out into the hinterland. The Ontario Northland Railway once took people to major cottage country stops like Gravenhurst, Bracebridge and Huntsville where people might hire a ride to get to a lakeside or wooded retreat.

A century ago a network of electric railways reached deep into Ontario: destinations like Lake Simcoe and Niagara Falls as well as Lake Erie resort towns like Port Dover and Port Colborne. Residents of London could take an electric tram down to Port Stanley. Today these towns have traces of this grand history, even as people come by car now.

Cars also unlocked travel to Ontarios great sandy beaches at Wasaga, Sauble and Grand Bend for many more middle- and working-class people. Wasaga itself is the longest freshwater beach in the world at 14 kilometres long. To varying degrees, the resort towns that catered to these travellers suffered as travel to father away destinations became more accessible. Its a pattern that has happened in other countries too, as faded holiday towns are nearly universal.

Nearby recreation and holiday camps were also common. What is now Eldorado Park in Brampton was once a much larger Camp Naivelt that served the regions working-class Jewish population between the 1920s and the early 1970s, with more than 5,000 people arriving on weekends at its peak. Secular but left-wing in politics, folk star Pete Seeger even performed there a few times. Similarly, east of Toronto, Pontypool was the site of a Jewish resort from 1916 until the 1970s. Both were also an escape from the anti-Semitism in Toronto.

Leisure travel was and is a luxury, with even budget travel being out of the reach of most people on Earth. The UN World Travel Organization reported in January, just before the coronavirus went global, that growth in international tourist arrivals continued to outpace the economy, with 1.5 billion overnight visitor arrivals around the world. Considering the Earths population is almost eight billion, and that many of those visitors were the same people taking multiple trips a year, most people still dont get to travel much.

Its a strange irony that the global pandemic obliterated the travel and tourism industry just as it was reaching a breaking point. Cities and destinations around the world were beginning to shout no mas to mass tourism, with places like Barcelona and Venice taking steps to decrease the number of tourists that arrive in order to mitigate the harm they cause. Toronto struggled with this when it took measures to keep the short-term Airbnb rental market from decimating the already short supply of apartments in the city.

The pervasiveness of automobiles provides a level of mobility previously unavailable, but other ways to get out of the city may yet return for people who cant afford or dont want a car. Last year, Metrolinx first piloted a partnership between GO Trains and Ontario Northland buses to offer cottage country access.

The Ontario landscape is rife with traces of former tourist patterns, ones that may return now if travelling far will again become prohibitively expensive for all but the wealthiest. None of those trams and trains back in the day ever got stuck in a traffic jam on Highway 400 on a Sunday night return to the city either.

Going far away might, again, be closer than we think.

Shawn Micallef is a Toronto-based writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @shawnmicallef
via Reuters

Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime Jeffrey Epstein confidant accused of helping him sexually abuse underaged girls, had not been hiding from prosecutors since the pedophile billionaires jailhouse suicide in Augustbut from an unrelenting and intrusive media, her lawyers claimed in a Friday memo.

She did not flee, but rather left the public eye, for the entirely understandable purpose of protecting herself and those close to her from the crush of media and online attention and its very real harmsthose close to her have suffered the loss of jobs, work opportunities, and reputational damage simply for knowing her, her lawyers wrote in a Friday memo responding to a prosecutorial request that she remain in custody until her trial.

Maxwell, 58, is being held in a New York federal detention facility after being charged with allegedly enticing minors, some as young as 14, to engage in illegal sex acts with Epstein in the mid-'90s. She was arrested at an ultra-secluded New Hampshire mansion on July 2.

Jeffrey Epsteins Madam Ghislaine Maxwell Is Behind Bars. Who's Next?

Prosecutors argued she shouldnt be released on bond because she was hiding from law enforcement for over a year, making intentional efforts to avoid detection like moving homes twice, registering a new phone number under a different name, and paying for her New Hampshire mansion with cash.

In the Friday memo, however, Maxwells lawyers claim the British socialite has been the medias scapegoat for Epsteins crimes after he was arrestedand that she too is a victim of Epstein, who she had not been in contact with for more than a decade.

Ever since Epsteins arrest, Ms. Maxwell has been at the center of a crushing onslaught of press articles, television specials, and social media posts painting her in the most damning light possible and prejudging her guilt, the memo states.

Stressing that Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein, her lawyers argued she should be released from federal prison on a $5 million personal recognizance bond with travel restrictions, home confinement, and GPS monitoring.

Story continues

The memo also states that Maxwell had regular contact" with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York since the day Epstein was arrested until her arrest on July 2.

Federal prosecutors allege in the six-count indictment against Maxwell that she took part in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein. From 1994 to at least 1997, Maxwell assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epsteins abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18. Some of the alleged victims were as young as 14.

In the Friday memo, her lawyers state Maxwell vigorously denies the charges, intends to fight them, and is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and should be granted bail because of the COVID-19 threat in jail.

After Epsteins jailhouse suicide, the hunt was on for the dead financiers longtime consort, who he once described as his best friend and who was complicit in the sexual trafficking of underage girls, according to his victims.

The 58-year-old British heiress seemingly vanished after the feds busted Epstein, prompting publications to ask: Where in the world is Ghislaine Maxwell? At one point last year, photos surfaced of Maxwell at an In-N-Out Burger in Los Angelesbut they were later proven to be staged by an attorney friend.

Maxwells lawyers claimed in the Friday memo that she simply dropped out of the public eye and did not take steps to hide from law enforcement or evade prosecutionand that she hid at the New Hampshire pad to escape the intrusive media coverage.

Since Epsteins arrest, she has been mentioned in literally thousands of media publications, news reports, and other online content. The media attention also spawned a carnival-like atmosphere of speculation about her whereabouts, the Friday memo states, adding that Maxwell has seen helicopters flying over her home and reporters hiding in the bushes.

In a detention memo filed last week, however, prosecutors described Maxwell as an extreme flight risk who had three passports, large sums of money, extensive international connections, and absolutely no reason to stay in the United States and face the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence.

Inside the Secret Sale of Ghislaine Maxwells Swanky New Hampshire Hideout

Her lawyers also offered a preview into their legal strategy, stating that the charges against Maxwell were based on the 2007 non-prosecution agreement Epstein signed with federal prosecutors. The sweetheart-deal, they said, appeared to immunize any potential co-conspirators of Epstein.

She was not named in the governments indictment of Epstein in 2019, despite the fact that the government has been investigating this case for years. Instead, the current indictment is based on allegations of conduct that allegedly occurred roughly twenty-five years ago, the memo states.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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July 12 is set to be marked across Northern Ireland with stay-at-home celebrations instead of the usual large-scale parades (Brian Lawless/PA)

Northern Irelands traditional day of parading to mark the twelfth of July is instead set to be celebrated at home.

Hundreds of Orange Order parades across the region have been cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Supporters have instead been encouraged by leaders, including First Minister Arlene Foster, to mark the date at home.

Expand Close Orange Order Grand Master Edward Stevenson has encouraged members and supporters to celebrate July 12 at home (GOLI/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Orange Order Grand Master Edward Stevenson has encouraged members and supporters to celebrate July 12 at home (GOLI/PA)

July 12 is commemorated by unionists and loyalists every year to mark the victory of the Protestant King William of Orange over the Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

But with coronavirus regulations limiting outdoor gatherings to 30, the institution took the historic step of cancelling all of its parades.

Many have expressed frustration at the move after the gathering of hundreds of people, including deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill and Finance Minister Conor Murphy, at the funeral for veteran republican Bobby Storey.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland is currently investigating the incident for potential breaches of the coronavirus regulations.

I would urge you all not to let others set your standards. Rise above it and look after your loved ones by following the public health guidelines and regulations. The Public Health advice is as important now as it was at the start of the pandemichttps://t.co/LI2R1uReY8 pic.twitter.com/uOwh2FFwms  Ulster Unionist (@uuponline) July 11, 2020

Unionist leaders have urged that this frustration does not lead to defiance of social distancing rules.

Health minister Robin Swann has insisted that the public health advice is as important now as it was at the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, more than 200 notifications have been received by the Parades Commission from bands to stage local processions.

The Orange Orders Grand Secretary Mervyn Gibson said he is looking forward to the music being brought to his door.

I hope everyone will have an enjoyable, socially distanced July 12, he told the PA news agency.

I will be waving to a band as they pass my gates.

I would urge all to enjoy the music if it comes to your door but if it doesnt, please dont go out to follow the bands, turn on Radio Boyne and listen to traditional tunes on the online station.

Stay at home, have a barbeque, have a picnic with your family and any bubble you can go to.

Whatever you do, obey the regulations.

Expand Close A bonfire is lit on Belfasts Lower Newtownards Road on Saturday night (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook

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A smaller than usual number of loyalist bonfires were lit on Saturday night due to calls to respect the coronavirus regulations.

However, there were significant crowds at several fires that did go ahead.

Meanwhile, in north Belfast, there were two second nights of sporadic disorder across Friday and Saturday near a community interface as police came under attack from petrol bombers in the nationalist New Lodge close to a bonfire in the loyalist Tigers Bay area.
Forget about technology stocks for a moment. Investors on the hunt for havens have found value in gold and the shares of companies that mine it, as a wall of worry rises about a new wave of COVID-19 infections.

In a pandemic-struck world, awash in stimulus from central banks and governments, the attraction of a hard asset that carries no counterparty risk is difficult for many to ignore. This week the price of gold surged over the key level of $1,800 (U.S.) an ounce, putting it on track for a fifth straight week of gains.

That has helped the S&P/TSX Materials Index, home to more than 30 Canada-based precious metals miners, to surge 5.2 per cent so far this week, making it the best-performing sector this week. With an 18.8 per cent gain for the year, its No. 2 after tech.

Gold miners have been on fire since March, with equities outperforming the metal itself  so much so that materials, at 15 per cent of the S&P/TSX Composite Index, has surpassed energy. It now has the second-biggest weighting in the benchmark  a first since 2004, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Investor exuberance in gold has seeped into all corners of the market, driving up the value of popular exchange-traded funds such as the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (up 32.5 per cent this year) and Canadas iShares S&P/TSX Global Gold Index ETF (up 39 per cent).

Some analysts say theres more room for gold miners to rally.

Small-cap gold miners have increasingly seen interest as investors hunt for stocks with cheap valuations to pile into the action, said Canaccord Genuity analysts led by Carey MacRury.

Precious metals miners with less than $10 billion (Canadian) in stock market value have more than doubled on average since March 13, with the best performance seen in stocks with less than $1.5 billion, according to data compiled by Canaccord. Even after this outperformance, the smaller names trade at significant discounts to the large caps, the analysts said.

Haywood Securities Inc.s mining team believes that interest from investors will continue to broaden and recommends putting their money in companies that have leverage to the price of gold itself.

Where to from here? A mix of slow growth, easy money and black swans can propel gold to record highs in the second half of this year. (Gold topped out at about $1,900 (U.S.) an ounce in 2011.) Lingering fears about lockdowns, huge numbers of virus cases in the U.S. and a stalled economic recovery could keep demand strong for havens.

A V-shaped economic rebound, on the other hand, may result in aggressive reductions in central bank stimulus. But for now, policy-makers are likely to remain dovish, and thus indirectly supportive of gold.
By Ayya Lmahamad

The volume of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Lithuania increased by 42 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2020, Azerbaijans Economy Minister Mikail Jabbarov said during the 6th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lithuania.

The two countries have signed about 40 documents in various spheres, including mutual protection and promotion of investments, as well as elimination of double taxation.

Moreover, mutually beneficial relations in such fields as investment, trade, agriculture, energy, information technology, tourism and culture have been developed, Jabbarov said during the meeting.

Jabbarov emphasized that both countries have the potential to develop cooperation in industry, logistics, small and medium business, innovation and digitalization, agriculture and tourism.

During the meeting, it was noted that the Intergovernmental Commission promotes the deepening of bilateral trade- economic relations, supports the implementation of projects in different spheres.

Additionally, in construction, trade, banking and insurance sectors of Azerbaijan there are 17 companies with Lithuanian capital.

Furthermore, minister underlined Lithuanias support in expanding cooperation between Azerbaijan and EU, especially under the Eastern Partnership Program, noting that Azerbaijan highly appreciates the technical and advisory support of Lithuanian institutions in the projects and initiatives implemented within the Mobility Partnership Declaration, signed with the EU in 2013.

Touching upon the negative effects of coronavirus pandemic, minister stated that these effects did not bypass Azerbaijans economy. Furthermore, he spoke of measures of social and economic support, new mechanisms for entrepreneurship development, an electronic credit platform, tax benefits and work to improve investment attractiveness, reminding that earlier this year it was decided to establish a branch of the 4th Industrial Revolution Center of the World Economic Forum in Azerbaijan.

In turn, Foreign Minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevius stressed the importance of cooperation and expanding economic ties with Azerbaijan, noting that November 2020 will mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Minister also informed about the measures taken by the country to eliminate the negative consequences of the pandemic.

Directions for expanding trade and economic cooperation were also discussed during the online meeting.

The parties discussed issues of trade, agriculture and food security, energy, transport, innovation and information technology, environmental protection, culture.

Following the meeting, a protocol was signed on the results of the 6th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on bilateral cooperation.

---

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Ubisoft said its chief creative officer Serge Hascoet - the man responsible for shepherding the companys blockbuster franchises, including Assassins Creed and Far Cry - had resigned effective immediately

Five executives have resigned from Ubisoft and two have been suspended amid an internal investigation into claims of sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct.

The French gaming giant launched the probe last month after troubling allegations of sexual misconduct and claims of executives perpetuating a 'toxic' working environment surfaced online.

In a statement published Saturday, Ubisoft said Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoet, Direct of Ubisoft Canada Yannis Mallat, and Global Head of HR Cecile Cornet had all resigned from the company effective immediately.

The high profile departures follow those of three other executive figures in recent weeks, including the Co-Founder of Ubisoft Toronto Maxime Beland, who also resigned from the company as part of the misconduct probe.

Vice Presidents Tommy Francois and Andrien 'Escoblades' Gbinigie have also been suspended. Each man faced at least three claims of misconduct among a flurry of Twitter posts from named and anonymous accusers.

And Ashraf Ismail, the creative director of the Assassins Creed franchise, stepped down from the company last month amid allegations of infidelity.

I am stepping down from my beloved project to properly deal with the personal issues in my life. The lives of my family and my own are shattered. I am deeply sorry to everyone hurt in this, Ismail tweeted.

More than 20 other employees are currently under investigation with more departures likely, reports suggest.

Announcing the latest resignations, Ubisoft Founder and Chief Executive Yves Guillemot said the company had 'fallen short in its obligation to guarantee a safe and inclusive workplace environment for its employees.

This is unacceptable as toxic behaviors are in direct contrast to values on which I have never compromised  and never will.

Ubisoft Toronto co-founder Maxime Beland resigned earlier this month amid a slew of sexual assault and misconduct claims

Vice Presidents Tommy Francois (left) and Andrien 'Escoblades' Gbinigie (right) have also been suspended

Ubisoft: Five staff resign and two are suspended Creative Director Serge Hascoet - resigned Hascoet's resignation was announced Saturday. He was subject to numerous sexual assault complaints, in addition to instances of homophobia and mysogny Director of Ubisoft Canada Yannis Mallat - resigned Mallat also resigned Saturday after falling subject to allegations of predatory behavior and other abuse that made it 'impossible' to continue working at the gaming giant. Ubisoft Toronto Co-Founder Maxime Beland - resigned Beland resigned on July 3 amid sexual assault claims. In one allegation he was accused of choking a female co-worker at a company party back in 2014. Global Head of HR Cecile Cornet - resigned Cornet resigned Saturday citing it to be in best interests of the company's unit. Under her watch, the HR department was accused of ignoring sexual assault claims. Assassin's Creed Creative Director Ashraf Ismail - resigned Ismail stepped down from the company late last month amid allegations of infidelity Marketing and Design Vice President Andrien 'Escoblades' Gbinigie - suspended Gbinigie was accused of using his influence in the gaming industry to 'prey on women', including unsolicited naked photos of himself Vice President Editorial & Creative Services Tommy Francois - suspended Francois was accused of forcibly kissing a female co-worker, among other acts of misconduct Advertisement

Guillemot added hes committed to implementing profound changes across the company to improve and strengthen our workplace culture.

The #MeToo movement suddenly took hold of the video game industry last month as dozens of women spoke out on Twitter about instances of abuse they'd allegedly been forced to endure at the hands of their male counterparts.

Hascoet - the man responsible for shepherding the companys blockbuster franchises, including Assassins Creed and Far Cry - has resigned effective immediately in light of a series of claims against him.

The director of Ubisoft's Canadian studios, Yannis Mallat, is also leaving immediately, because recent allegations that have come to light in Canada against multiple employees make it impossible for him to continue in this position, the company said.

Cecile Cornet, the firms global head of human resources, also vacated her position believing it to be in the best interest of the companys unity. Ubisoft's HR department was accused of failing to address hundreds of sexual assault claims, in addition to failing to hold the alleged harassers to account.

Hascoet joined Ubisoft in 1987, the year after Guillemot founded the company with his four brothers. Ubisoft had previously described Hascoet as its creative leader whose 'unique vision has infused every game released by the company'.

Hascoets name was mentioned frequently among the posts detailing instances of abuse and misconduct. In a report published in French newspaper Liberation, Hascoet is painted by Ubisoft employees as a toxic figure who was even valued for his toxicity, his misogyny, his homophobia and  his libidinous behavior.

In one allegation Hascoet is accused of once acrimoniously replying to a female Vice Presidents criticisms by referring of her to colleagues as a bad f*** that was hindering his creativity and that someone should open her mind by 'f***ing her from behind' and 'sharing her around until she gets it.

In another alleged incident, Hascoet reportedly blocked a woman in the elevator and put himself against her, making groaning sounds and looking her in the eyes.

He then reportedly encourage his collaborators in the editorial team to do the same, to the point it became a signature move.

Other employees claimed that Hascoet had been known to drug employees without their knowledge, including members of top management, by handing out cakes laced with marijuana.

The former chief creative officer also allegedly used a homophobic slur during a works dinner. The source said Hascoet had forced his creative directors to drink until they were sick, shouting Youre a f****t if you dont drink.

The director of Ubisofts Canadian studios, Yannis Mallat, is also leaving immediately, because recent allegations that have come to light in Canada against multiple employees make it impossible for him to continue in this position, the company said. Cecile Cornet, the firms global head of human resources, also vacated her position believing it to be in the best interest of the companys unity

Liberation first reported on the alleged misconduct on July 1, then again in an updated article on July 10. In the wake of the first article, employees remarked that the apparent toxic work environment had intensified at Ubisoft.

Ashraf Ismail, the creative director of the Assassins Creed franchise, stepped down from the company last month amid allegations about his personal life

Since your revelations, the situation here has gotten worse, a source told the outlet. [Leaders] are convinced this is detrimental to their freedom. They call it a 'witch hunt.' On top of everything, as women, we became a threat.

The article describes other hostile conditions enabled by Ubisoft HR, particularly a definition of workplace harassment code of conduct that was updated in 2015 to remove the example of a manager sexually harassing a reporting employee.

A source who oversaw the code of conducts creation said HR management declined to include the idea that a manager could possibly be a harasser because it was deemed too pessimistic and employees might think it can happen.

The people in charge of handling employees and their career paths in the company are not trained to handle harassment. They don't know how to listen to victims. Worst than that, they were never told to consider people's well-being before the business. Never. Never, never, the source said.

Ubisoft launched an internal investigation last month after disturbing allegations of sexual assault in the workplace began circulating online

Another employee, who began working at Ubisoft immediately after graduating from college, also described a toxic work environment.

It was so bad, I focused on my own survival, the source said. I feel bad to have belonged to this toxic team, where in meetings we would give nicknames to colleagues, calling an eccentric game designer "the moron".

Basically, as soon as something was deviating [from the established tone], the stance was to pretend the person was abnormal.

The source described how one female member of the team was described as a sl*t, a crazy woman that we should ignore.

Earlier this month, Ubisoft Toronto co-founder Maxime Beland also announced his resignation amid a slew of sexual assault and misconduct claims.

The most prominent of the allegations stemmed from an incident in which Beland is said to have choked a female co-worker at a company party back in 2014.

Beland was also accused of making demeaning jokes towards female coworkers that would end in solicitations for oral sex.

Ubisoft has fallen short in its obligation to guarantee a safe and inclusive workplace environment for its employees, its chief executive and co-founder, Yves Guillemot, said of the investigation's findings.

Vice Presidents Francois and Gbinigie have also been suspended after Twitter posts from named and anonymous accusers.

Gbinigie was accused of using his influence in the gaming industry to 'prey on women'. Two women accused him of attempting to illicit nude photographs from them, in additional to sending unsolicited pictures of himself and other messages detailing unwanted sexual advances.

Francois, Vice President Editorial & Creative Services, meanwhile was accused of forcibly kissing a female co-worker, among other acts of misconduct.

An investigation conducted by Kotaku concluded that Ubisoft executives perpetuate an overall workplace culture that undervalues womens contributions, normalizes sexism and harassment, and makes excuses for the worst offenders while complaints about them go unheeded.

Ubisoft has 18,000 employees worldwide and is the latest video game company to face sexual harassment allegations.

The global game industry has been dogged by criticism over its treatment of women in both games and real life.

The fallout was encapsulated in the gamergate controversy if 2014, which saw critics of the way women were depicted in games receive death and rape threats, prompting calls to reform the industrys culture.

Ubisofts internal probe remains on-going with 20 or more other employees also being investigated by external auditors.

The company has not yet responded to a DailyMail.com request for further comment.

Ubisoft: Full Statement Today, Ubisoft announced several significant personnel changes that are a part of the comprehensive work the Company is doing to improve and strengthen its workplace culture. These departures come following the initiation of a rigorous review that the Company initiated in response to recent allegations and accusations of misconduct and inappropriate behavior. Serge Hascoet has chosen to resign from his position as Chief Creative Officer, effective immediately. This role will be taken by Yves Guillemot, CEO and Co-Founder of Ubisoft, in the interim. During this time, Mr. Guillemot will personally oversee a complete overhaul of the way in which the creative teams collaborate. Yannis Mallat, Managing Director of Ubisofts Canadian studios, will be stepping down from his role and will leave the Company, effective immediately. The recent allegations that have come to light in Canada against multiple employees make it impossible for him to continue in this position. Additionally, Ubisoft will be appointing a new Global Head of HR to replace Cecile Cornet, who has decided to step down from this role, as she believes it is in the best interest of the Companys unity. A search for her replacement will begin immediately, led by an industry-leading recruiting firm. In parallel, the Company is restructuring and strengthening its HR function in order to adapt it to the new challenges of the video game industry. Ubisoft is in the final steps of hiring a top international management consulting firm to audit and reshape its HR procedures and policies, as previously announced. These changes are part of a comprehensive set of initiatives announced to employees on July 2, 2020. These initiatives are guiding Ubisofts renewed commitment to fostering an environment that its employees, partners and communities can be proud of  one that reflects Ubisofts values and that is safe for everyone. 'Ubisoft has fallen short in its obligation to guarantee a safe and inclusive workplace environment for its employees. This is unacceptable, as toxic behaviors are in direct contrast to values on which I have never compromised  and never will. I am committed to implementing profound changes across the Company to improve and strengthen our workplace culture,' said Yves Guillemot, CEO and Co-Founder of Ubisoft. 'Moving forward, as we collectively embark on a path leading to a better Ubisoft, it is my expectation that leaders across the Company manage their teams with the utmost respect. I also expect them to work to drive the change we need, always thinking of what is best for Ubisoft and all its employees.' Advertisement

These should lead to terminations, Liberation reported.
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Linkedin Ryan Arcadio (Inquirer.net/Asia News Network)  Sun, July 12, 2020 17:34 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665b56e5 2 Entertainment Modern-Family,Jesse-Tyler-Ferguson,actor,celebrity,Justin-Mikita Free

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson has welcomed his first child with husband, lawyer Justin Mikita.

The baby, named Beckett Mercer, was born on July 7, Fergusons representative told People exclusively last Thursday, July 9.

The new parents are overjoyed and excited for this new journey as a family of three, the source added.

Mikita proudly spoke about their kid on his Instagram page yesterday, July 11.

Its Beckett, B*tch! the lawyer said, referring to Britney Spearss popular catchphrase. He also posted a photo of the babys onesie.

Mikita then thanked the staff at the Summerlin Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States for taking care of [them].

Welcome to the world, Beckett Mercer, Mikita added. We love you more than I couldve ever dreamed of.

Prior to officially adding a new member into their family, the fathers held an extravagant baby shower with their friends. According to the report, Fergusons Modern Family co-stars such as Sarah Hyland and Sofia Vergara were present at the event.

Ferguson first revealed that he and Mikita were expecting a baby last January on the The Late Late Show with James Corden, as seen in the programs YouTube page.

When Corden asked about the childs gender, Ferguson simply joked that they were having a human.

Ferguson and Mikita tied the knot back in July 2013 in New York City, United States.

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This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
Mumbai, July 12 : Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Sunday said that he has tested negative for COVID-19 and was "perfectly alright".

"I am perfectly alright and not in isolation now. I underwent relevant tests, the results of which came out to be negative. There are no symptoms of CCOVID-19 either," assured Koshyari.

However, the Governor said that considering the Covid situation elsewhere, he continued to discharge all his official duties strictly adhering to protocols like social distancing, sanitizing and wearing masks.

"Reports appearing in a section of the media regarding my health are baseless. I am hale and hearty," said Koshyari.

Earlier, an official of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that a few persons in the Raj Bhavan complex have tested positive for coronavirus, and they are likely to undergo a fresh round of tests by the civic authorities soon.
Niagaras public health department is asking regional councillors to lobby upper-tier governments to develop a guaranteed basic income pilot project, in light of the inequitable impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on low income residents.

A motion will be considered at Tuesdays public health and social services committee meeting, recommends that councillors call on the federal and provincial government to prioritize measures to reduce poverty and income inequality in society, while recommending pilot projects such as basic income guarantee projects.

We recognize that socio-economic conditions are about 50 per cent of what cause peoples health outcomes, said Niagara acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji.

It is that high, 50 per cent. Its an enormous issue, Hirji said. If you make a small improvement in socio-economic conditions, it will have pretty profound impact on health because theres so much of an impact.

He said a guaranteed basic income, which everyone is provided with an income sufficient to meet their basic needs regardless of their work status, is an idea that has been around for a few decades now as a way to improve socio-economic conditions.

The idea, however, needs further study.

There has been some research that suggests it is positive, but theres nothing thats really very strong, he said.

The federal Parliamentary Budget Officer last week released a report on the cost of implementing a six-month national basic income program, with an estimated price tag of at least $47.5 billion.

Its an extremely expensive program but potentially has huge benefits, Hirji said. But you dont want to go down that road without I think really understanding and being sure this expense is going to deliver the results you hope for.

He said the report being presented to committee members on Tuesday basically analyzes all the potential benefits of basic income guarantees and the state of the research that has been conducted into the initiative.

We need to have some dedicated pilots now to study it, he said.

The previous Liberal government had initiated a three-year pilot project to study the impact of a basic income guarantee in several communities including Hamilton.

Unfortunately when the new government was elected they put an end to that pilot, so we unfortunately didnt get the results from that, Hirji said.

But now, in light of the impact the pandemic has had on low income residents, he said it may provide an opportunity to implement a new pilot project.

I think COVID-19 and some of the economic impacts have really revealed the precariousness that some people live in and theyre going to be particularly at risk now for bad health outcomes because theyve lost their income, he said.

This is I think a time when maybe theres an opening to really put this forward and maybe we should start studying this a bit more.

RELATED STORIES Niagara Region Niagara food banks bracing for harsh fall

Meanwhile, he said the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program, implemented to assist people during the pandemic, might also provide some data.

We need to carefully evaluate what were the outcomes of the CERB because that could be quite useful to give us some sense of whether a basic income guarantee would work.

However, he said there are some key differences between the CERB and a basic income guarantee.

For instance, he said the CERB is more generous than more basic incomes have been.

Its not a perfect program to compare it, but I think its the closest thing weve had.
Face masks, like any article of clothing, get dirty with wear. They can also carry the coronavirus if an infected person comes in contact with you.

So how often should you wash them?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that cloth masks worn during the pandemic "should be routinely washed depending on the frequency of use, a recommendation thats less than precise.

A study published as a research letter in April in Lancet The Microbe found that SARS-CoV-2 was detectable on the inner layer of a mask for up to four days and the outer layer up to seven days.

Since then, the CDC has downplayed fomite transmission as not thought to be the main way the virus spreads. That doesnt mean it cant happen though.

Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images

My recommendation would be to wash your mask every day, Dr. Cassandra Pierre, an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center, told Reviewed. If youre using it and going out to run errands, you run the risk of having droplets collect on the surface of the mask.

If someone were to cough or sneeze on you, you should clean the mask as soon as possible, Pierre says. Be sure to wash your hands before and after handling a used mask. In general, treat your mask like a biohazard  dont leave it lying around the house where others might touch it.

Cloth masks can be safely washed in a washer and either air-dried or, if possible, tumbled dry in a hot dryer.

If no washer is available or if its not time to run a load of laundry, washing by hand with soap and water will do the job nicely.

The CDC recommends the public wear only cloth masks. Due to ongoing shortages of personal protective equipment, surgical masks and N95 respirator masks should be reserved for health care workers and first responders.

But if you already have a surgical mask, can you reuse it?

hsyncoban/Getty Images

According to the Food and Drug Administration, surgical masks are not intended to be used more than once. Solid advice for normal times, but these are not normal times.

With PPE in limited supply, nurses at the Biocontainment Unit at Johns Hopkins Medicine and their coworkers were placing surgical masks in paper bags or other clean, ventilated receptacles that allow them to air out, unit nurse educator Jade Flinn, told Today in May. Flinn suggested storing a mask for a few days before using it again.

If the surgical mask is damaged or soiled, it should be discarded.

Like surgical masks, N95 masks are designed for single use. But they also can be reused after isolating them in a breathable location such as inside a paper bag, Kirsten Koehler, an associate professor of environmental health and engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told USA Today. Koehler said the bag should be kept at room temperature for seven days.

In medical settings, the CDC says respirators like N95 masks should be stored for more than 72 hours before being reused.

A fabric mask can also be decontaminated by leaving it in a paper bag. The recommended duration is two days.

MLADEN ANTONOV // Getty Images

Surgical and N95 masks should neither be washed nor sprayed with bleach or a disinfectant like Lysol. To do so would weaken the mask structurally and make it less effective.

In addition, breathing in disinfectant or bleach could be harmful to the wearer.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:

Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here.

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Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate
Michael Gove today dismissed the idea of making face coverings compulsory in shops - despite Boris Johnson strongly hinting at the change.

The Cabinet minister said it was best to 'trust' the public and wearing a mask was a matter of 'good manners'.

The intervention comes after the PM said on Friday that he believed the government 'needs to be stricter in insisting people wear face coverings in confined spaces'.

Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon - who has made the rule compulsory in shops in Scotland - said today that masks were the 'right thing'.

And she swiped at the UK government's coronavirus response by highlighting that 147 out of 148 deaths recorded yesterday were in England.

Asked about the issue on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show this morning, Mr Gove said: 'I don't think mandatory, no, but I would encourage people to wear face masks when they are inside, in an environment where they are likely to be mixing with others and where the ventilation may not be as good as it might.

On the BBC's Andrew Marr show today, Michael Gove said it was best to 'trust' the public and wearing a mask was a matter of 'good manners'

Boris Johnson was pictured wearing a face mask for the first time in public while out in his Uxbridge constituency on Friday

Nicola Sturgeon - who has made the rule compulsory in shops in Scotland - said today that masks were the 'right thing' to do

How the government's line on face coverings has changed over the months March 12: Deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries: 'For the average member of the public walking down a street, it is not a good idea in fact, you can actually trap the virus in the mask and start breathing it in.' April 16: Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said: 'The evidence is weak, but the evidence of a small effect is there under certain circumstances.' April 21: Revealed in meeting minutes a month later, Sage advised: 'On balance, there is enough evidence to support recommendation of community use of cloth face masks, for short periods in enclosed spaces, where social distancing is not possible.' April 23: Dr Jenny Harries said there could be 'a very, very small potential beneficial effect in some enclosed environments'. April 24: Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: 'On masks, as more information comes through, the science is constantly evolving and we always bear in mind that science and then take the decision. As of today, the government position is unchanged.' April 30: Boris Johnson said: 'I do think that face coverings will be useful, both for epidemiological reasons, but also for giving people confidence that they can go back to work.' May 20: Researchers in Hong Kong found face masks reduced infection by up to 75 per cent. June 4: Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that face coverings will be mandatory on public transport from June 15. He said: 'With more people using transport the evidence suggests wearing face coverings offers some - albeit limited - protection against the spread for the virus.' June 5: Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed plans to make face coverings compulsory in hospitals for all staff, visitors and outpatients from June 15, but a furious NHS boss said the decision was made 'without any notice or consultation'. Meanwhile, Grant Shapps said masks would not be required in other settings such as shops because people spend little time in close proximity. June 12: German study suggests making face masks compulsory could slow the spread of Covid-19 by as much as 40 per cent. July 10: The PM says the government 'needs to be stricter in insisting people wear face coverings in confined spaces'. A government source later briefs that it is a 'fair assumption' that masks will become mandatory in shops and other indoor settings within a few weeks. July 12: Michael Gove says masks will not be compulsory in shops in England, insisting it is best to 'trust' the public and wearing a face covering is a matter of 'good manners'. Advertisement

'I think that it is basic good manners, courtesy and consideration, to wear a face mask if you are, for example, in a shop.

'I trust people's good sense. Now of course the Government at all times does look at the emerging evidence about what the best way to control the disease is.

'If necessary, and if tough measures are required and as we have seen in Leicester, obviously a very different situation, then tough measures will be taken.

'But on the whole... it is always best to trust people's common sense.'

On Sky News' Ridge on Sunday, Mr Gove said the government wanted to 'do everything we can to encourage people and to support people to wear face masks in enclosed spaces, particularly in shops'.

He said Lord Agnew had been leading a government effort to ramp up production.

'I think it will be the case that government will be able to help in that regard,' he said.

'Were investing in significantly increasing the capacity to manufacture face masks in the UK, my colleague in the Cabinet Office, Theodore Agnew, has been leading a drive to ensure that we have face mask manufacturing ability which is based in Wales and in Burnley and that will make it easier for all of us to wear face masks as appropriate.'

Mr Johnson was was pictured wearing face mask in public for the first time on Friday while touring a pub shops and a haidresser in his Uxbridge constituency.

Government sources briefed afterwards that it was a 'fair assumption' masks would become mandatory in shops and other indoor settings within a few weeks.

Currently the recommendation in England is that measures such as a face covering should be taken if people cannot keep two metres away from each other indoors.

However, the only place they are mandated is on public transport. In Scotland masks became compulsory in shops from Friday.

Speaking during an online Q&A session with members of the public on Friday, the PM admitted that 'the balance of scientific opinion seemed to have shifted' over how effective masks can be.

'I do think we need to be stricter in insisting people wear face coverings in confined spaces where they are meeting people they don't normally meet,' Mr Johnson said.

Before the PP's photo op, Ms Sturgeon had appeared in public sporting a tartan model, and trolled Mr Johnson by retweeting an article asking why Westminster politicians were not wearing them.

A poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies for MailOnline found 61 per cent of the public in England would like to see coverings enforced in shops and supermarkets - with just 26 per cent opposed.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics last week suggested half of adults are already routinely donning them.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been seen wearing a mask while visiting a hospital, while Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden also wore one while attending a gallery this week.

But despite revealing he has a Florence Nightingale mask, the PM had not previously been seen wearing one.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak faced a backlash last week after he was pictured serving food to customers at a Wagamamas in London without a face covering.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has written to the PM saying he is 'disappointed and frustrated' that the Government has not said masks must be worn in 'busy and enclosed public places'.

The Labour politician added: 'Face coverings are not only vital for public health.

'They could play an increasing role in supporting public confidence and our economic recovery.'
Most prominent Republicans, including Mike Pence, have endorsed wearing masks as the coronavirus gained ground this summer.

Washington: President Donald Trump wore a mask during a visit to a military hospital on Saturday, the first time the president has been seen in public with the type of facial covering recommended by health officials as a precaution against spreading or becoming infected by the novel coronavirus.

Trump flew by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in suburban Washington to meet wounded servicemembers and health care providers caring for COVID-19 patients. As he left the White House, he told reporters: When you're in a hospital, especially ... I think its a great thing to wear a mask."

Trump was wearing a mask in Walter Reed's hallway as he began his visit. He was not wearing one when he stepped off the helicopter at the facility.

The president was a latecomer to wearing a mask during the pandemic, which has raged across the US since March and infected more than 3.2 million and killed at least 134,000. Most prominent Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence, endorsed wearing masks as the coronavirus gained ground this summer. Republican governors have been moving toward requiring or encouraging the use of masks as the pandemic has grown more serious in some states in the South and West.

Trump, however, has declined to wear a mask at news conferences, coronavirus task force updates, rallies and other public events. People close to him have told The Associated Press that the president feared a mask would make him look weak and was concerned that it shifted focus to the public health crisis rather than the economic recovery. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private matters.

While not wearing one himself, Trump has sent mixed signals about masks, acknowledging that they would be appropriate if worn in an indoor setting where people were close together. But he has accused reporters of wearing them to be politically correct and has retweeted messages making fun of Democratic rival Joe Biden for wearing a mask and implying that Biden looks weak.

Questions remain whether Trump will wear a mask with any regularity.

The wearing of masks became another political dividing line, with Republicans more resistant to wearing them than Democrats. Few masks were seen at recent Trump campaign events in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Phoenix and South Dakotas Mount Rushmore.

The only time Trump has been known to wear a mask was during a private part of a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan.

A spokesman for the Biden campaign cast the president's action as too little, too late.

Donald Trump spent months ignoring the advice of medical experts and politicizing wearing a mask, one of the most important things we can do to prevent the spread of the virus," spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. Rather than taking responsibility and leading, he wasted four months that Americans have been making sacrifices by stoking divisions and actively discouraging people from taking a very basic step to protect each other."

On its website, Walter Reed carries this recommendation, Whenever youre out in public, like at your local grocery store or pharmacy, where its difficult to maintain 6 feet of social distance, you should wear a cloth face covering. The facility also notes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Three officers were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, and four people of interest nearby were taken in for questioning by detectives in connection with a vehicle theft, police said.
(Newser)  President Trump handed Roger Stone his Get Out of Jail Free card, and the man who tried to send the former fixer to jail is weighing in on the ensuing brouhaha following Stone's commutation. Writing in the Washington Post, former special counsel Robert Mueller opines that "Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so." Mueller notes that while because "his sentence has been commuted, he will not go to prison. But his conviction stands." Mueller writes that in the wake of the commuted sentence, he feels "compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper."

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Calling Stone a "central figure" in his investigation of Russian election tampering, Mueller says "he communicated in 2016 with individuals known to us to be Russian intelligence officers, and he claimed advance knowledge of WikiLeaks release of emails stolen by those Russian intelligence officers." Mueller cites Stone's relationship with the truth, saying he "lied repeatedly to members of Congress. He lied about the identity of his intermediary to WikiLeaks. He lied about the existence of written communications with his intermediary. He lied by denying he had communicated with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks releases." His full column is here. (Read more Robert Mueller stories.)
After two key accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case were detained, the Pinarayi Vijayan government is facing the heat over how the duo managed to exit the state particularly when a triple lockdown has been in place here since last Sunday.

Swapna Suresh and the other key accused Sandeep Nair were detained by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Bengaluru on Saturday.

The Congress and BJP upped their ante saying top police officials helped them to slip out of the state. In certain areas in Thiruvananthapuram you need a pass to buy even a packet of milk. And in all inter-state checkposts you need an entry pass. It is certain high-ranking officials had escorted them, said president of the BJPs Kerala unit K Surendran. He added that it was another blot on the state government.

The Congress has also sought a high-level probe. Almost a week has passed since the case came up. Not a single FIR was filed against Swapna Suresh though many cheating incidents against her surfaced including fake degree certificate. Her escape adds to the mystery, said Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.

The police, meanwhile, said they will investigate how Suresh and Nair escaped amid triple lockdown and travelled more than 800 kilometre. Suresh is set to be produced at the NIA office in Kochi on Sunday.

The scam came to light after the Customs department seized 30 kg of gold from an air cargo consignment from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the countrys consulate in Thiruvananthapuram last Sunday. Suresh, who was working as an IT consultant under the state IT Ministry, had gone underground after the seizure.

Later, chief minister Vijayan had transferred his principal secretary M Sivasankar who was reported to be close to Suresh. The Union home ministry had later handed over the probe to the NIA which arrested the accused from a hotel in Bengaluru.

Who is Swapna Suresh?

The life of Suresh (42) is shrouded in mystery. She is believed to be close to many high-ranking officials and politicians. An Inspector General (IG) of Police had made a complaint to Kerala police chief Loknath Behra to order an inquiry against Suresh.

She was employed in Space Park and Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITL), which comes under the state IT department. Suresh has earlier worked with Air India-SATS (a joint venture between Air India and SATS Limited for airport service and ground handling operations).
On This Day The Day Myanmar Said Farewell to Japans Maverick Wartime Spy

Col. Suzuki Keiji. / Public Domain

Yangon  On this day in 1942, the Burma Independence Preparation Committee led by Dr. Ba Maw hosted a farewell party for Colonel Suzuki Keiji, who had to return to Japan at the order of the Imperial Japanese forces.

Suzuki came to Yangon (then Rangoon) pretending to be a correspondent for the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, on a mission to prevent a road being built to China. He made contact with young nationalists in Myanmar (then Burma). In the mission that lasted for more than a year, the leader of the secret intelligence organization, Minami Kikan, managed to arrange military training in Japan for 30 recruits, including the future independence hero, Aung San. Suzuki played a central role in establishing the Burma Independence Army (BIA).

In the war against the Allies, Suzuki chose a Burmese noms de guerre, Bo Mogyo or Thunderbolt. He called himself a descendant of Prince Myingun, who was exiled from the Burmese royal family, and won popular support during the war.

Suzuki said he favored independence for Myanmar and allegedly suggested Burmese forces form their own government and revolt against Japan.

U Maung Maung, the assistant attorney-general in General Ne Wins caretaker government before the 1962 coup, visited Suzuki in 1959. U Maung Maung, who later became the president during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, claimed Suzuki said he asked his officers if they would follow him if he fought against the Japanese forces.

It is unclear why Suzuki would have encouraged mutiny. He might have wanted the BIA to become his own army, away from Tokyos command. Maybe he romanticized the nationalist struggle. But his approach did not go down well in Japan and he was recalled to Tokyo in 1942.

Two days after the farewell party, Suzuki returned to Tokyo and spent the rest of the war as head of shipping, overseeing transport and logistics.

He met Gen. Ne Win when the dictator visited Tokyo in 1966, a year before Suzuki died. The military strongman awarded Suzuki the title of Aung San Tagun, the second-highest honor for those serving the national interest. In 1981, his widow visited Myanmar and received the medal.

Myanmars current commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, visited Suzukis tomb in 2014.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

You may also like these stories:

The Day a British Benefactor of Myanmar Youth and Education Passed Away

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Shimla:

Congress hit back at Union Health Minister JP Nadda for demanding the resignation of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh over alleged graft charges, saying his statements were "false, misleading and politically motivated" and its shows BJPs ill-intention to destabilize the government.

"Singh was the most popular leader in the state and Nadda's utterances are false, misleading, factually incorrect and politically motivated," Cabinet ministers, Kaul Singh Thakur, Mukesh Agnihotri and Dhani Ram Shandil said in a joint statement in Shimla.

Nadda's statements expose the ill-intentions of the BJP to destabilize the government, they said. An internal war is going on in the state BJP for supremacy. Nadda has his eyes set on state politics. He is issuing such misleading statements just to keep himself alive in the state's politics," they alleged.

The Congress leaders also refuted Nadda's claim that the state government was yet to submit DPR for the highways. "BJP's claim that the Centre has given 61 new National Highways is a mere political announcement, as till now the state has not even received a single penny for these projects," the ministers claimed.

"The Centre has not even approved the Rs 170 crore for preparing the DPRs and the BJP knows that some of its leaders with political motives are blocking developmental projects," they said. The Congress leaders said instead of extending help to Himachal Pradesh in health sector, Nadda was "making unnecessary hue and cry".

The leaders said the three medical colleges at Hamirpur, Chamba and Sirmaur districts were sanctioned by the UPA government and a provision of Rs 190 crore was made for each college. "However, the BJP leader was unnecessarily trying to take credit for it," they said. The ministers claimed a single case pertaining to Income Tax returns of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was being probed by the three premier central agencies of the country at the instance of the BJP, "just to harass and humiliate him". They said the matter was sub-judice and criticized Nadda for "jumping to wild conclusions"

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MT. PLEASANT, MI  Four suspects are being sought by police in connection with an armed robbery near Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant.

Officers with the Mount Pleasant Police Department and CMU Police Department responded around midnight Saturday, July 11 for a report of an armed robbery in the vicinity of Preston Road and West Campus Drive.

Three victims of the robbery were not injured.

Multiple police agencies searched the area for the suspects -- described as three men and one woman -- but they were not located.

There are no safety concerns to the community, or any need to avoid the area, per a Mount Pleasant Police Department statement.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the suspects have been asked to call the Mount Pleasant Police Departments anonymous tip line at 989-779-9111 or Isabella County Central Dispatch at 989-773-1000.

More on MLive:

1 dead, 2 suspects sought in shooting at Saginaw clothing stand

Central Michigan University investigates professor who said racial slurs in class

Central Michigan University to start and end fall semester early, require face masks on campus
A healthcare worker administers a CCP virus test to a patient at the Lee Davis Community Resource Center in Tampa, Fla., on June 25, 2020. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

Florida Breaks Single-Day Record of CCP Virus Infections as Disney World Reopens

Health officials say 45 deaths, 15,299 cases recorded in 24-hour span

Florida set a new national record for the largest increase in the number of CCP virus cases over a 24-hour period in the United States on Sunday.

Data from the states Department of Health revealed that 15,299 COVID-19 infections were confirmed, leading to a total of 269,811 cases. Forty-five deaths were recorded in the same time-frame, health department data showed.

California health officials earlier in the week confirmed 11,694 cases of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virusthe previous recordlast week, while New York recorded 11,571 cases on April 15. New York state has by far the greatest number of COVID-19-related fatalities, with about 32,000 deaths.

So far, at least 4,346 people have died from the CCP virus in the Sunshine State, according to reports.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said that despite the rise in cases, he wants schools to open again in August.

We know there are huge, huge costs for not providing the availability of in-person schooling, he said. The risk of corona, fortunately, for students is incredibly low.

About 10.7 percent of Saturdays 143,000 tests came up positive. I still think we need to increase our testing a little bit more, said University of Florida epidemiologist Dr. Cindy Prins, adding that the state and local health departments should ramp up their contact tracing.

Sun seekers gather at Clearwater Beach in Clearwater, Fla., on July 4, 2020. (Drone Base/Reuters)

Prins said she is concerned about large crowds, restaurants, and gyms being places of mass transmission of the virus.

I really do think we could control this, and its the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when were in a crisis, and were definitely not doing it, she said. I know people want to live their lives. There have been a lot of other times, people have made those sacrifices in order to benefit our society. Its almost like a war effort. Thats what we need right now.

Disney World, meanwhile, also re-opened portions of its Orlando theme park over the weekend.

There was no justification to not move forward about Floridas reopening in May, DeSantis told reporters on Friday. We have a situation where you got a lot of beds available. No major system, nobody that weve seen yet, has even gone to the surge level, he added.

DeSantiss office said that local governments need to decide on whether stay-at-home measures and business closures should be implemented.

One size does not fit all in Florida, said his spokeswoman, Helen Ferre, to ClickOrlando.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
New Delhi: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday (July 12, 2020) urged the people to introspect on the life during the last few months under coronavirus induced confinement and assess if they have learned the right lessons and equipped themselves to deal with such uncertainties.

Seeking to engage with the people on the causes and consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, Naidu posted on Facebook, Musings of Life in Corona Times.

Writing in a conversational format, he posed 10 questions, the answers to which would help in assessing the lessons learned and the transformation brought about by the demands of life in confinement over the last four months.

This 10-point matrix, Naidu said would also help in knowing if the people have equipped themselves with necessary understanding so as to help prevent recurrence of such adversities in future.

The Vice President stressed that the pandemic needs to be looked at not only as a disaster but also as a corrector for making necessary changes in the perspectives and practices of living so as to live in harmony with nature and culture and the attendant guiding principles and ethos.

He wrote, Constant evaluation of the course of life in all its manifestations and in the totality of context is an essential pre-requisite for higher living. One such opportunity is now as we live with coronavirus.

The thrust of Naidus Musings of Life in Corona Times is to properly define the purpose of life besides revisiting the course, nature and pace of modern life with suitable alterations for harmonious and measured living.

The suggestions made by Naidu for anxiety-free living include -- thinking and acting right like looking at food as a medicine that sustains healthy life; acquiring a spiritual dimension to life going beyond material pursuits; adhering to the principles and practices of right and wrong; sharing with and caring for others; nurturing social bonds and repurposing the life for meaningful living.

Read the Vice President's facebook post 'Musings of Life in Corona Times' wherein he asks people if right lessons were learned from life in corona times. https://t.co/hvNNLcHhKt pic.twitter.com/7zaM5xaZAu  Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) July 12, 2020

Dwelling on the causes of frequent disasters, Naidu said, The planet does not need us while we need the planet. Claiming sole propriety over the planet as if it is meant only for humans has upset the natural balance triggering adversities of a different kind.

The matrix suggested for self-assessment further to the experience of living in the pandemic times include if one -- is aware of the causes of the pandemic; willing to make amendments to the ways of living before the corona outbreak; has redefined the meaning of life; has identified the gaps in playing out different roles like taking care of parents and other elders; has equipped to face the next adversity; understood the dharma of life; understood the need for spiritual awakening; identified what has been missed out the most during confinement; is aware of the causes and consequences of differential vulnerabilities to the impact of the pandemic and if one sees the pandemic only as a disaster or as a corrector as well.

On the differential impacts of the pandemic with some sections being hit the most, Naidu said, We are borne equal and end up being unequal as time flows. The pandemic has exposed the heightened vulnerabilities of some sections that are not of their making. They are more systemic and needs to be adequately addressed. Your way of living could be one of the reasons for the enhanced vulnerabilities of others.

Alluding to the larva slowing down its life as a cocoon and emerging from it as a butterfly, Naidu urged people to emerge as butterflies by properly reflecting on the experiences of life during the current pandemic and drawing right lessons from them for a secure future.
Good news for tanker rates: Port congestion is on the rise, particularly in China. Floating storage is down from its peak, but there's a very long way to go before all those cargoes are unloaded. And on the tanker supply side of the equation, surging congestion in China is offsetting declines in floating storage.

The longer the global tanker fleet suffers supply chain logjams and the longer storage cargoes remain on board, the fewer ships are available for spot deals. That's a plus for spot rates. The caveat is that demand for fresh voyages will fall as "stuck" tankers are finally unstuck.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released new floating storage numbers on Friday, citing data from shipbroker EA Gibson showing an all-time high of 211.3 million barrels of short-term storage in May, falling by 34.9 million barrels in June.

At first blush, this implies a fast unwinding of floating storage. But there is intentional storage, where traders look to buy low and sell high and there is unintentional storage, where tankers can't unload due to congestion.

When it comes to tanker fundamentals, all that matters is that ships are tied up. It doesn't matter why. And despite the evaporation of floating-storage economics, there are a lot of tankers getting tied up.

For further insight, FreightWaves obtained the latest data on floating storage and congestion from VesselsValue and Kpler.

Crude and products diverge

VesselsValue is a U.K.-based company specializing in ship valuations and movements data and analysis. It provided FreightWaves with its information on the number of laden tankers in an anchorage zone for 10 or more days.

The numbers show a peak reached in early May, followed by a steady decline, and a sharp drop-off in late June.

tanker chart



Note: Does not include dedicated floating storage units (FSOs). Chart data: VesselsValue

But the actual market effect is skewed by ship size. A very large crude carrier (VLCC) can carry over 2 million barrels of crude oil. An MR1 product tanker carries around a sixth of that volume.

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Weighting the numbers by the ships' carrying capacity tells a different story. The estimated volume aboard tankers idle 10 or more days didn't peak until June 27  just two weeks ago.

tanker chart



Note on volume estimates: VLCC assumed 2.2 million barrels; Suezmax 1 million; LR2 900,000; LR1 600,000; MR2 425,000; MR1 340,000. Chart data: VesselsValue

The pattern is very different for product tankers than crude tankers. Idled product volumes started to decline in mid-May. But crude tied up on tankers kept rising and offset the product declines until crude volumes also turned negative on June 27.

tanker chart



Note: Does not include dedicated floating storage units (FSOs). Chart data: VesselsValue

The China congestion factor

Kpler is a global data provider well known for its oil storage information, including its "volume on water" product. This indicator shows how much oil is at sea, regardless of whether it is on a normal voyage or at anchorage due to floating storage or congestion. Kpler unveiled a new dedicated freight platform with additional datasets in June.

Kpler provided FreightWaves with its volume-on-water data as well as its floating storage and port congestion data.

Volume on water for crude/condensates and clean products has followed the same pattern. In both cases, the trend line began to climb steeply through April and peaked in early May. Volumes have come down since then but remain significantly above where they were in the first quarter.

tanker chart



Chart data: Kpler

The primary reason the volume on water is down from its highs is OPEC+ production cuts. The IEA cited Kpler tanker tracking data showing that Saudi Arabia cut seaborne crude exports by 2.9 million barrels per day in May versus April.

The reason volume on water hasn't fallen further is congestion and floating storage that has yet to be unloaded.

Kpler data on port congestion for crude and condensate tankers shows that the wait time in China has tripled from four days in mid-May to around 12 days this month. Delays in China are now around 50% higher than the global average.

tanker chart



Chart data: Kpler

Kpler also tracks the number of tankers idled for 12 or more days by geographic region. Its data shows that delays in China normally account for around 10% of the global tally. But the share has been escalating since mid-May. China now accounts for around a third of all global idled tanker volumes.

tanker chart



Chart data: Kpler

Effects on supply-demand balance

Spot rates for VLCCs were up again on Friday. According to Clarksons Platou Securities, they averaged $36,500 per day, double rates at this time last year.

Rates are well off their stratospheric peaks because OPEC+ exports are down and floating storage is not building. Floating storage is being unloaded, but most of that volume is still at sea. Delays in bringing that oil ashore, and extreme congestion in China, mean that the tanker supply-demand balance remains tighter than some market watchers had expected. Click for more FreightWaves/American Shipper articles by Greg Miller

MORE ON TANKERS: How retail investors on Robinhood could be skewing tanker stock performance: see story here. The COVID global relapse hedge theory of tanker pricing: see story here. For a look at the near-term headwinds facing the sector, see story here.

tankers



Tankers at anchor off California (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)

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 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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The mayor of the French Mediterranean city of Nice on Sunday said he regretted a lack of social distancing at a shoreside DJ set thronged by partying crowds, vowing that in future masks would be obligatory at such outdoor events.

Prominent French electro house music producer The Avener hosted the set organised by the municipality late Saturday in his home city, with crowds massing on central Nice's famous Promenade des Anglais esplanade.

The density of the crowd as people danced the night away provoked fury on social media at a time when France is wary of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

'We regret that these rules have not been sufficiently respected,' mayor Christian Estrosi wrote on Twitter.

He said the city would ask the government to review national rules to make it obligatory to wear a mask at such events, even outside.

Prominent French electro house music producer The Avener hosted the set organised by the municipality late Saturday in his home city, with crowds massing on central Nice's famous Promenade des Anglais esplanade

The density of the crowd as people danced the night away provoked fury on social media at a time when France is wary of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic

DJ artist The Avener performs a concert in Nice, France on Saturday July 11, 2020. Over 5000 people attended with a high lack of social distancing and mask wearing. There are fears of a second wave hitting France.

'We regret that these rules have not been sufficiently respected,' mayor Christian Estrosi wrote on Twitter. He said the city would ask the government to review national rules to make it obligatory to wear a mask at such events, even outside

Thousands pack the famous Promenade des Anglais esplanade in Nice on Saturday during a dance music concert which has provoked fury for its lack of social distancing

'In Nice, it will now be mandatory for all our events,' he added. All those attending events indoors such as concerts already must wear masks.

The municipality insisted that the maximum number of 5,000 people allowed at any gathering in France had not been exceeded, even in an area that in usual times can accommodate 36,000.

An AFP photographer said the crowds were denser in some areas as people sought to get closer to the loudspeakers due to poorer sound quality elsewhere.

Crowds spill onto the beach as DJ artist The Avener performs a concert in Nice, France, on Saturday night

DJ artist The Avener performs a concert in Nice, France on Saturday July 11, 2020. Over 5000 people attended with a high lack of social distancing and mask wearing. There are fears of a second wave hitting France.

The municipality insisted that clear written warnings on social distancing had been put up as well as audio and video messages urging people to be prudent

People watch on as a man throws break dancing moves on the famous central promenade in Nice on Saturday night

The municipality insisted that clear written warnings on social distancing had been put up as well as audio and video messages urging people to be prudent.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the controversy over the event underlined the need for people to take care, even if current infection rates remained low.

'The French have gone through difficult times with the lockdown, they want to go out but going out does not mean forgetting these rules,' he told BFM-TV.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the controversy over the event underlined the need for people to take care, even if current infection rates remained low. 'The French have gone through difficult times with the lockdown, they want to go out but going out does not mean forgetting these rules,' he told BFM-TV.
Utopia Avenue, which is about nothing if not performance, looks, at first glance, like a return to Mitchells middle period. An expert historical novel, this time about the Swinging Sixties, it takes the form of an earnest Bildungsroman about a ragtag quartet of young Brits who briefly come together to make music and, in the process, find themselves. The choice of subject matter will come as no surprise to Mitchells longtime readers. The touchingly minute and knowing exegeses on great jazz LPs by the record-shop employee in Ghostwritten (my place comes into existence through jazz), the symbolic significance of a composition called The Cloud Atlas Sextet in several of the novels, the amusingly expert preteen calibrations of the emotional shadings in 80s pop that you get in Black Swan Green  all this made you wonder when Mitchell was going to write a novel that put music front and center.

With one notable exception, the structure of Utopia Avenue traces a familiar arc. It begins in 1967, the year of the Summer of Love; a sequence of deft opening vignettes introduces the four musicians, all in their early 20s, who are brought together by a visionary manager to form a band called Utopia Avenue. They go on to achieve stardom; a tragedy breaks them up. As in a World War II bomber movie, the crew here represents a carefully varied socioeconomic spectrum so as to provide maximum potential for commentary on various political, artistic and cultural issues. Dean Moss, the gorgeous, sex-addicted, vaguely Mick Jagger-ish bassist, has barely survived an abusive, down-at-heels childhood in Gravesend; Jasper, the binational, upper-crusty product of boarding schools, suffers from psychological problems that, at first, youre tempted to diagnose as Aspergers. (He has to self-consciously act his smiles on cue and decipher facial expressions, which to him are as impenetrable as Sanskrit.) Elf Holloway, the bands lone woman, culled from the folk circuit, is comfortably upper-middle-class and cant understand why none of the guys she dates make her happy; Peter Griff Griffin, the gruff drummer, comes from a matey, blue-collar milieu in Hull. (Like many a rock drummer, he doesnt get equal time here.) Each, moreover, represents a different musical tradition. Griff comes from the jazz world, Deans an R&B man, and so forth. The emphasis on eclecticism becomes a leitmotif.

Utopia Avenue is about nothing if not performance.

The journey that will take Utopia Avenue from ill-paying gigs in grungy Soho cellars to sold-out concerts in sunlit California parks is filled with all-too-predictable pit stops: experiments with sex and drugs (But yer have to get that feeling back. Not want to. Have to. Only the second time, its not as good. Third times not as good as the second); scrapes with the law; the temptations of money and the betrayals that come with offers of solo careers; the elusive dream of the perfect performance. As in some of the other recent novels, a recourse to melodrama pushes the plot along every now and then: There are crib deaths, car crashes, holdups. Twined around such moments are more subtle passages, particularly the flashbacks to the characters pasts  although the way in which each band members story showcases an issue (domestic abuse, mental illness, dyslexia, etc.) from which a song conveniently blossoms feels a bit convenient, a little too manicured.

A lot of Utopia Avenue is so conventional that you suspect Mitchells real interest may lie elsewhere. At one point, Elf refers to Brian Enos theory of the scenius  what Eno called the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene  the communal form of the concept of the genius  and its possible that the chance to evoke a rich creative milieu in all its saturated detail may well have been what first captivated Mitchells imagination. Its easy to see why the concept of creativity as a weblike phenomenon, transcending individuals and connecting cultural scenes and cities, would appeal to him. The novel is at its best when he deploys his remarkable skills to evoke the place and the time in which his four characters find themselves  particularly at the beginning, when theyre still unknowns scrabbling around a London that seems comically opposite to anyones notion of utopia: the brown Thames, the upside-down table of Battersea Power Station, smoke gushing from its three working chimneys, muddy parks where daffodils wilt around statues of the forgotten, bomb sites where ragged children play among dirty pools and mounds of rubble, a bony horse hauling a rag-and-bone cart, a pub called the Silent Woman whose sign shows a woman with a missing head, a flower-seller in a wheelchair, billboards for Dunhill cigarettes, for Pontins Holiday Camps, for a British Leyland dealership, busy launderettes where patrons stare into the machines.  Jasper considers how loneliness is the default state of the world.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought immediate action from Gujarat Police against a man for allegedly hurling abuses and giving rape threats to a female stand-up comedian on social media.

Comedian Agrima Joshua has shared an apology for an old video in which she made a joke about the upcoming statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and what people were saying about it online. Following the call for her arrest by a Shiv Sena leader and a very public hate campaign against her, Joshua decided to come forth with an apology. The video was also taken down.

"The NCW is committed to creating safe online space for women and ensuring cybersecurity to women and is perturbed by the rise in use of cyberspace to instigate crime against women," NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said in the letter sent late Saturday night.

The clip in question:

@rthakrey @CMOMaharashtra To please her liberal friends, a so-called comedian insults Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj!



Now will the Uddhav Govt that haunted Arnab, show some courage to arrest Agrima Joshua for insulting Hindustan's Hero? pic.twitter.com/b81IsjhwnP  Nityanand Devendra (@NityanandDeven2) July 9, 2020

In a letter to Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) Shivanand Jha, the NCW said it has been tagged in a video posted on Twitter in which the man can be seen hurling abuses and giving rape threats to the woman.

Comedian Kunal Kamra wrote to NCW and shared a video of the man hurling rape threats at Joshua.

Dear @NCWIndia does this concern you, we see this scumbag give open threats to a female comedian who has already apologised & taken her objectionable video down... pic.twitter.com/c7OiHf0yUl  Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) July 11, 2020

"Considering the sensitivity of the matter, it is requested that the immediate action shall be taken as per the Information Technology Act, 2000, against the miscreant and feedback be apprised to the Commission," Sharma said.
PlayPenn's annual summer workshop has been postponed amidst accusations of racism and calls for leadership to resign. Read more

PlayPenn, Philadelphias prestigious play-development organization, has postponed its annual summer workshop  essentially its season  amid accusations of institutional racism and calls for leadership to resign. PlayPenn also announced it will sever ties with one of its donors.

Board president Stephan Schifter confirmed Saturday the postponement of 2020s New Play Development Conference, where eight playwrights were scheduled to present plays virtually July 20-26. New dates for the conference  which provided work for more than 80 artists  have not been set.

On Friday, PlayPenns artistic director, Paul Meshejian, posted a letter on the organizations website that pledged a commitment to do better. The letter acknowledged as true various accusations of racism recently raised by Philadelphias theater community, as well as allegations of sexual misconduct by a PlayPenn donor. The letter did not identify the donor.

In light of the allegations made against this individual of inappropriate behavior from a handful of former PlayPenn interns and staff, the letter read, we have made the decision to return the individuals most recent leadership gift and to end ties going forward.

In four places the letter reads: We failed.

We allowed the comforts of familiarity to stall our progress toward making PlayPenns administration and board more welcome to different voices, to LGBTQ+ people, to people of color. Our shared culture, whiteness, history, and vernacular, comfortable to us all, lulled us into inaction, the letter says.

Later on it says: We allowed this years Conference playwright selection not to adequately represent the diversity of the field. We made bad judgements in equitable promotion, in reader diversity, in the curatorial selection of our playwrights.

Among the transgressions Meshejian addressed was a recent Metro Philly article about this years conference that overwhelmingly featured pictures of Black actors and directors, even though only one Black playwright was expected to participate. (The online story has since been updated with different pictures.)

We didnt realize what impact it would have, Meshejian wrote, because we have been largely blind to those concerns.

Meshejian went on to outline steps PlayPenn will take to diversify its staff and its selection process for future conference participants.

The letter, which was also posted to PlayPenns Facebook page, prompted angry responses and calls for the resignations of Meshejian and associate artistic director Michele Volansky. A change.org petition calling for the organization to fire Paul Meshejian had garnered more than 200 signatures by Saturday evening. This lip service is not enough! the petition read. Public trust is broken.

Meshejian and Volansky could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday night.

This year would have been the 16th edition of PlayPenns summer workshop. Since 2005, the organization has helped to develop over 140 new plays, about 60% of which have been produced nationally and internationally. In 2017, one of the plays it helped develop  J.T. Rogers Oslo  was performed on Broadway and won the Obie and Tony awards for best play.
Chandigarh, July 12 : Punjab Police on Sunday arrested Shiv Sena (Taksali) chief Sudhir Suri over a viral video clip allegedly denigrating women and inciting enmity between different groups, after a nearly 1,300-km chase that ended in Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Two police teams, comprising 11 personnel of Amritsar (Rural), arrested Suri, said Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta, adding a manhunt had been launched for him after the release of a video with alleged derogatory remarks against women, followed by a Facebook video in which he had subsequently claimed that the objectionable video clip was a voiceover by some other person using his name.

The DGP said on July 8, after the first video went viral and was heavily criticised both in India and abroad, the police in Amritsar had booked Suri under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Despite Suri's denial of any involvement in the objectionable video clip that had appeared on social media, the DGP said he had ordered a massive manhunt against the suspect.

Gupta said he had also directed an investigation to get the clip examined though the Forensic Science Laboratory at the earliest.

Subsequent investigations revealed that fearing arrest, Suri could have fled to Indore, said the DGP, saying the operation was successfully conducted in coordination with Madhya Pradesh Police.

The DGP said he personally spoke to Vivek Johri, his counterpart in Madhya Pradesh, at the time of the dispatch of the two police teams to Indore.

The teams drove non-stop for 21 hours to reach Indore, where Suri was caught.

Punjab Police is now moving for bail cancellation requests before the judicial courts concerned in cases where Suri has already been bailed out earlier.

The DGP said there was a zero-tolerance policy against any individuals or organisations trying to incite communal hatred and fan communal passions through their speeches, statements, writings, posts on social media platforms, etc.

He said Punjab Police was highly sensitive towards dignity, safety and security of women and would take strict action, as per law, against anyone showing women in bad light.
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing dispute with China over boundary issue, the Indian Army is going to place another order of 72,000 Sig 716 assault rifles from the United States.

The order for the second batch of the assault rifles would be coming after the first lot of 72,000 rifles, has already been delivered to the Army for use by troops in Northern Command and other operational areas.

"We are going to place an order for 72,000 more of these rifles under the financial powers granted to the armed forces," Defence sources told ANI.

The Indian Army had received the first lot of Sig Sauer assault rifles to boost its counter-terrorism operations.

India had acquired the rifles under the fast-track procurement (FTP) programme.

The new rifles will replace the existing Indian Small Arms System (Insas) 5.56x45mm rifles used by the forces and manufactured locally by the Ordnance Factories Board.

As per the plan, around 1.5 lakh imported rifles were to be used by the troops in the counter-terrorism operations and frontline duties on the Line of Control (LoC), the remaining forces would be provided with the AK-203 rifles, which are to be produced jointly by India and Russia at Amethi ordnance factory.

The work on the project is yet to start due to several procedural issues faced by the two sides. The Indian Army had been trying to replace their standard INSAS assault rifles for many years but the attempts failed due to one reason or the other.

Recently, the Defence Ministry placed an order of 16,000 light machine guns (LMGs) from Israel to do away with the shortage of these guns.

India and China are in a stand-off position in Eastern Ladakh as the Chinese Army has deployed more than 20,000 of its troops there without any provocation since May first week.

Though there has been disengagement on the front, the Chinese have still maintained heavy troops presence in the rear areas.
NEW DELHI: India has started trade talks with the European Union (EU) and is open to dialogue with the United Kingdom for a free trade agreement, the trade minister said on Saturday, as Asias third largest economy looks for new markets for its products.

Piyush Goyal said that India is open to engage with the UK for a preferential trade agreement with the ultimate goal of a free trade agreement.

He is also in dialogue with the European Unions trade commissioner for a deal that could start with a preferential trade agreement. He added that the ultimate goal here too would be to have a free trade agreement.

Were talking to the EU and I am in dialogue with the EU trade commissioner. I am looking for an early harvest deal. Open to discussions on a variety of subjects. Its up to the UK and EU whoever picks up the gauntlet first, Goyal said.

Negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement between the EU and India were suspended in 2013 after six years of talks.

India pulled out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership last year due to fears over Chinas access to its markets and is looking for new ways to boost its exports.

The country has also been raising trade barriers to block cheap imports from China and replace them with locally made goods for domestic consumption and exports.

Apart from pharmaceuticals, we have textiles, handicrafts, leather, furniture, industrial machinery, toys are areas where India can engage with UK & EU at competitive prices, Goyal said.

Indias economic growth has largely been driven by local consumption and successive governments have struggled to expand exports.

In the last six years Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has been trying to push exports through various programmes like Make in India but with limited success.
HOLDS, RETURNS RESUME AT LIBRARY

Customers can once again place holds on physical materials like books, magazines, CDs and DVDs and collect those items using the librarys curbside pickup service. The earlier guideline requesting that customers use curbside pickup on specific days based on their last name is no longer necessary.

Curbside pickup is not available at Towne Centre Branch, Fried Center Branch or the Friends of the Library Bookshop at this time. Customers can change their pickup location from one of those to a branch offering curbside pickup by following the steps at librarypoint.org/news/changing-your-holds-pickup-location.

The library began accepting returns at branches offering curbside pickup on Wednesday. Initially, returns will be accepted only during curbside pickup hours to avoid overflowing bookdrops and to allow time to quarantine materials for everyones safety. Materials can be returned only to bookdrops; staff cannot accept returned materials.

It may take a week or more for customers online accounts to reflect that items have been returned. Late fees will not accrue.

STUDENT AWARDED SCHOLARSHIP TO STUDY ARABIC
CLEVELAND -- Ohio was early to close schools, restaurants, and nonessential businesses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the virus is still a major threat, and the economy may not fully recover until we have a vaccine. In the span of one month this spring, 855,197 Ohioans had submitted new unemployment applications. Families that cant afford rent are doubling and tripling up in homes at a time when social distancing is advised for all of our health.

This is why social safety net programs are vital: We need them to safeguard the efficacy of the public health response. Beyond that, these programs address the most basic of human needs; they ensure that people can eat, get their medicine, and have a roof over their heads. Examples of such programs include Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka food stamps); Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); Medicaid; and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Katie Feldman is an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.

While there is no doubt that state and local budgets are facing challenges, it is important that the most vulnerable among us do not bear the brunt of this economic crisis.

Some issues to consider:

Avoid Medicaid cuts: Gov. Mike DeWine recently announced that the states Medicaid budget would be cut, but gave no clear indication as to where the cuts would come from. It is hard to believe that this reduction in spending on health care will not result in inadequate care or inaccessible treatment. The pandemics economic impact expanded the pool of Medicaid-eligible Ohioans. And given a global health crisis and the racial health inequities it has laid bare, further cuts to Medicaid are inconceivable.

Make use of PRC funds: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a federal program that has been administered through public assistance block grants to the states since 1996. Ohio receives $727 million per year, and matches those funds with more than $400 million in state dollars. A portion of TANF funds is designated to be used for Prevention, Retention, and Contingency (PRC) programs, which are designed to address emergent, one-time costs that will help families regain economic stability.

COVID-19 has created the exact circumstances PRC funds were designed to address. Accordingly, states have funneled more TANF dollars into PRC funds and are making these funds available to people in need. In Ohio, each county received an amount of PRC funds to distribute to residents who qualify. Just 24 hours after Franklin County began offering one-time $500 assistance checks, all of the money had been exhausted. Hamilton County also expended its $3 million in the first day funds were available.

Deborah Dallman is an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.

Cuyahoga County received $1.6 million in emergency PRC funds; these have not been distributed as quickly, and the need certainly persists.

Dont wait to act: From our front line at Legal Aid, we see the urgency. A recent client, Laurie, lives in private housing with her three sons. To pay rent, Laurie uses cash assistance from Ohio Works First, and her son Danny helps cover the rest with his income from working for a food delivery service. Unfortunately, Dannys income dipped dramatically due to the pandemic, and the family has been unable to pay rent. Worried about an eviction, Laurie got help from Legal Aid and applied for three months of rent assistance. Legal Aid negotiated with Lauries landlord, who agreed to accept the late rent and not evict her.

As these eviction and utility moratoriums are lifted, people like Laurie will suddenly face the prospect of losing their home, running water, or electricity.

Ohios low-income families made tremendous sacrifices as the state took measures to flatten the coronavirus curve. Now, by shoring up public assistance programs to address the long-term economic fallout of this pandemic, Ohio can take purposeful steps to alleviate their burden.

Timely action to extend fundamental economic assistance will help stabilize families, bolster the local economy, and ensure the ultimate success of our states public health strategy.

Katie Feldman and Deborah Dallmann are attorneys at The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.

Have something to say about this topic?

* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.

* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this editorial to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.
A Malian protest leader called for calm on Sunday after four more people were killed in escalating demonstrations demanding President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's resignation, in the West African country's worst civil unrest in years.

The capital Bamako was rocked by bloody demonstrations on Friday and Saturday, with witnesses saying that security forces fired live rounds during clashes with protesters.

Attempting to calm the increasingly insurgent atmosphere in Bamako, Keita announced he would dissolve the poor Sahel country's constitutional court.

The court has been at the centre of controversy since it overturned provisional results for parliamentary elections earlier this year, triggering protests in several cities that on Friday descended into violence in which at least three were killed.

Clashes raged again in Bamako on Saturday as demonstrators -- angered by a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption -- insisted Keita step down.

Protests in Mali's capital have ramped up pressure on the president. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

Four civilians -- including a 15-year-old and 17-year-old -- were killed overnight Saturday, a hospital official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Six opposition figures were detained in recent days, of whom one was released late Saturday, as the government cracks down on an alliance known as the June 5 Movement, which is channelling deep-seated frustrations across the country.

'Calm down!'

The leading figure of the opposition movement, influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, tried to tamp down the tensions on Sunday.

"I once again call on the youth of Mali to show restraint and calm," Dicko told AFP shortly before speaking at a funeral for three of those killed in Bamako.

"We can truly find and obtain what we want (through) patience (and) good behaviour," he said. "But the struggle continues."

In a video broadcast earlier on social media, Dicko urged: "Do not set fire to petrol stations or this district. Calm down, please! Calm down!"

He had recorded the video at his mosque, the scene of especially violent clashes at the weekend.

Clashes raged again in Bamako on Saturday. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

While the known death toll is currently seven, Dicko's supporters have said the total is much higher, broadcasting videos resembling scenes of war.

In the videos, at least two dead men can be seen in pools of blood, while others have bullet wounds. Shots can be heard at regular intervals from such a distance that the shooters cannot be identified.

"You are killing Malians in the mosque with live ammunition. The mosque is on fire," said a man in one the videos, which could not be independently verified.

On Sunday, hundreds crowded around Dicko's mosque, walking over spent bullet shells, rubble and the remains of torched tires.

Opposition leaders who have not yet been arrested now appear to be in hiding.

Fearing that Dicko will be arrested like other movement leaders, his supporters erected barricades on Sunday "in case the police return", one of them said.

Clashes have also been reported outside the home of the constitutional court's president Manassa Danioko, who has become a figure of public anger.

Civil disobedience

Following a long-delayed parliamentary poll in March -- which Keita's party won -- the court overturned the provisional results for about 30 seats, a move that saw several members of Keita's party elected and is widely viewed as having ignited the crisis.

Demonstrators are demanding the resignation of Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, seen here in Mauritania in June. By Ludovic MARIN (POOL/AFP)

The 75-year-old president, in power since 2013, said on Saturday he had revoked the nominations of all remaining members of the constitutional court so that new judges could be appointed from next week.

Since the parliamentary election stirred outrage, a disparate group of religious leaders, political and civil society members have banded together to ramp up pressure on Keita.

This movement headed by Dicko, which says it is peaceful and those in power are responsible for violence, has called for "civil disobedience", which includes the non-payment of fines and blocking entry to state buildings.

This level of violence is rare in Bamako, which has been spared much of the unrest that is routine across swathes of Mali.

The former French colony has struggled to contain an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012 before spreading to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes.
The New Zealand pigmyweed has already wiped out several native species of plant

A killer plant from New Zealand is putting some of the UK's most precious rivers and lakes at risk, scientists are warning.

The New Zealand pigmyweed has already wiped out several native plant species in the Lake District and there are fears that the area's most pristine lakes are next.

"The pigmyweed has found a habitat with no natural predators and no natural forms of control," Jo McCurrie from the West Cumbria Rivers Trust told Sky News.

"It out-competes native plants. It's taken over."

Pigmyweed was first sold in the UK as an ornamental plant for domestic ponds.

But the government banned its sale after the weed spread into rivers and lakes, causing irreversible damage.

"We want to keep these lakes pristine for our children's children and visitors," said clean water campaigner Sara Burrows. "They are the reason people come here because they are so beautiful."

The Lake District's Lake Buttermere is one of just three lakes in the area that retains a "pristine" water quality label.

"The lakes here are a bit like a time capsule left over from after the last Ice Age," said Thomas Burditt from the National Trust's Northern Lakes team. "You've almost got a fresh water equivalent of a coral reef under there."

He added: "The problem is, as soon as this weed hits, it chokes out all other life and it's very difficult to get rid of."

With high visitor numbers expected in the Lake District as COVID-19 lockdowns are eased, the National Trust is asking people to take extra care when moving between lakes.

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"We're asking people to do three things: clean, check and dry," Mr Burditt said.

"So, when you've been in, make sure you clean you, your dog, your canoe... whatever.

"Then check to make sure there are no bits of green leaf anywhere, and dry it in the sun before you go into one of the really nice lakes.

"Then hopefully you won't be taking the plant with you."
A New Hampshire radio host has been fired after filming herself harassing a group of Hispanic landscaping workers in a racist tirade sparked after she heard them speaking in Spanish.

Dianna Ploss, a former host for WSMN radio, had been on her way into the studio in downtown Nashua on July 10 when she happened upon a group of laborers working along the roadside.

Ploss apparently became incensed when she heard a Caucasian worker from Morins Landscaping speaking Spanish to his Hispanic colleagues.

Are you speaking English? Ploss is heard yelling at the workers in the video. It is America. English. English. English, she repeats several times.

Scroll down for video

Dianna Ploss, a former host for WSMN radio, had been on her way into the studio in downtown Nashua on July 10 when she happened upon a group of laborers working along the roadside.

Ploss apparently became incensed when she heard a Caucasian worker from Morins Landscaping speaking Spanish to his Hispanic colleagues

In a bizarre attempt to justify her demands, Ploss tells the workers you work for the state, you should be speaking English. When the workers reply they in fact work for a private company and not the state, Ploss remains undeterred.

Is anyone here illegal? Ploss she then asks. It is America. Speak English, she says again as she walks past the workers.

Ploss, an avid Trump supporter, then launches into a perplexing and paranoid monologue about Communism.

So they have these people out here, who dont speak English, who are putting in this stuff, that tax payers and paying for and look what theyre doing. This is Communism. This is Communism, she repeats. Theyre taking over these streets.

Amid the commotion caused by Ploss soliloquy, an African American man is seen approaching her from the other side of the road, asking her Why are you harassing these people?

Are they in America? Ploss asks the bystander, to whom replies yes. Then they should be speaking English, she retorts.

When the man asks her on what basis the workers are legally required to speak English, Ploss offers not further explanation, simply responding, They should be speaking English.

When the bystander continues to question her point of view, Ploss says: Why do you care? I wasnt talking to you.

Amid the commotion caused by Ploss soliloquy, an African American man is seen approaching her from the other side of the road, asking her Why are you harassing these people?

Event Organizer and MAGA activist Dianna Ploss speaks during the Massachusetts 4 Trump Christmas Party and Trump 2020 in January, 2019

In a statement posted to its website, WSMN announced Sunday that Ploss was no longer associated or affiliated in any way with WSMN

The talk-show host then tells the man she has the right to harass the workers, before asking the man why are you wearing a face mask?

When the man points out that theres a global pandemic going on, Ploss replies: Oh, okay. So this guys coming over here to be a social justice warrior.

Because hes a black man, she elongates sarcastically, Hes gonna protect the brown man from this white woman who is practicing white privilege, because she happened to walk by and heard this guy talking to all of these guys in Spanish.

After posting the incident to social media, Ploss, who in 2018 served as press secretary for anti-LGBTQ campaigner Scott Lively, insisted in a later post Im not backing down following the controversy her video stirred.

Good Morning, Patroits, she said in another post. So if you want people in America to speak English, that makes you a racist she wrote, accompanied with a confused emoji.

In the hours since her video went viral, a petition to have Ploss and her show removed from WSMNs airwaves was set up, garnering 6,538 signatures.

We are asking WSMN Radio to do the right thing, suspend her radio program, and stop giving her a platform to spread hate, ignorance, and racist rhetoric, campaign organizer Julia K. Morin wrote on the page. Hate has no place here.

In a statement posted to its website, WSMN announced Sunday that Ploss was no longer associated or affiliated in any way with WSMN.

We at WSNM value freedom of speech, freedom of expression and assembly, the company continued. We will not tolerate discrimination, racism or hatred.

We continue to present and offer on air opportunities for discussion, education and the exchange of opinions and ideas, the station concluded.

Messages of a similar sentiment have been written under posts on Ploss Facebook page by angered viewers of the video who have since labelled her a Karen, a popular pejorative term used online to describe a middle-aged white woman whos deemed to be acting obnoxious, angry, entitled, or racist.

May help if you actually pronounced the English words correctly yourself rather than berating people working hard (not bothering you), Lori Lundergan wrote. I hope the next time you enjoy the ability to travel internationally, you only speak in their national language fluently and without any accents. (Don't forget, in your video, you went from yelling about their freedom to speak to each other in whatever language they pleased to their rights to work and be here. THAT, my dear, is racism.)

Here in America it's also rude to listen in on other people's conversations and if they spoke English you wouldn't have even thought about it, added Jamie Campbell.

In a pinned comment in the post, Ploss insisted: Here in America it's also rude to listen in on other people's conversations and if they spoke English you wouldn't have even thought about it.

Brenden McShea replied to the comment, If youre part of the silent majority why dont you shut the f*** up?

The United States does not have an official language. Can you possibly be any uglier, added Laura Colebrooke.

In a post authored shortly after noon on Sunday, Ploss wrote: We will weather the storm that is upon us.
Mourners weep as they watch a memorial altar for late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon at Seoul City Hall Plaza in Seoul, Saturday, July 11, 2020. AP



As the death of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon earlier this week abruptly left the capital's mayoralty vacant, South Korea's rival political parties are bracing for another major election showdown in about nine months.



According to the National Election Commission, by-elections will be held on April 7, 2021, to fill posts that are vacated between March 17 this year and March 8 next year.



The Seoul mayoral race is regarded as the most important election in South Korea after the presidential poll held every five years.



Park was found dead on a mountain in Seoul in apparent suicide shortly after midnight Friday, hours after he was reported missing by his family.



Following the April 15 parliamentary elections, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the main opposition United Future Party (UFP) are focused on preparing for the presidential election slated for the spring of 2022.



The rival parties face a heated-up election race a year earlier than expected.






Bindi Irwin tied the knot with husband Chandler Powell at Australia Zoo in March.

And on Friday, the newlyweds revealed details of their 'weird' honeymoon after they were forced to celebrate it at the premises due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview with USA Today, Bindi and Chandler revealed they spent most of the time cleaning up after the animals and helping out around the zoo.

'It's wasn't the most romantic': Bindi Irwin and husband Chandler Powell (pictured) revealed the details of their 'weird' honeymoon on Friday

'It's not the most romantic honeymoon in history, but it's our honeymoon,' Bindi told the publication.

Chandler added: 'This is probably the busiest honeymoon in history, along with the weirdest honeymoon ever.'

On March 25, Bindi and her boyfriend Chandler raced down the aisle, just hours before Prime Minister Scott Morrison enforced restrictions on weddings amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Helping hand: Bindi and Chandler revealed they spent most of the time cleaning up after the animals and helping around the zoo

Because of the restrictions, only five people were allowed to attend the wedding. Robert Irwin walked his sister down the aisle.

Bindi met Chandler in 2013 while giving him a tour of Australia Zoo.

The couple became engaged on the grounds of the zoo on her 21st birthday in July 2019.

Wedding day: On March, 25, Bindi and her boyfriend Chandler Powell raced down the aisle, just hours before Prime Minister Scott Morrison enforced restrictions on weddings amid the coronavirus pandemic

The Florida-born athlete now works with Bindi, her mother Terri, and brother Robert at Australia Zoo.

Bindi is the daughter of Australian icon Steve Irwin, who was filming in shallow waters in the Great Barrier Reef when a stingray fatally stung the wildlife identity in 2006.

Steve left behind his widow Terri as well as children Bindi and Robert.
Wingfield, 22, from Hillcrest Heights, is one of four suspects charged in the killing of Davon at a Fourth of July stop-the-violence cookout in Anacostia. The suspects are thought to be members of a street gang who unleashed gunfire at perceived adversaries where the barbecue was held.
Two years after a New York socialite who found dead at the bottom of a trash chute at her luxurious Manhattan apartment, her heartbroken father maintains she was murdered.

Lara Prychodko, 48, was discovered dead on July 10, 2018, by a maintenance worker after plummeting from the 27th floor of the Zeckendorf Towers in Union Square.

Investigators determined that Lara's mysterious and unusual death was a tragic accident, but Nicholas Prychodko maintains that his daughter was brutally killed that evening.

'What could have happened to her?' Nicholas told NBC's Dateline.

'Was it a suicide? Its not possible. Thats not Lara. Was it an accident? I very quickly became convinced that there was only one plausible explanation for what took place. And thats homicide.'

Lara Prychodko with her father Nicholas Prychodko who believes that she was murdered

New York City's former chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden also claimed the mother-of-one may not have accidentally fallen in the chute, and that her body showed signs of strangulation.

Lara died less than a week after celebrating her birthday with friends in Paris and Ibiza, despite court documents later revealing she was 'buried in debt'

Security footage showed Lara, reportedly intoxicated and stumbling, entering her Zeckendorf Towers building at 4:10pm on July 10 and getting onto the elevator alone.

Nicholas said Lara had gone to nearby bar that day to watch the FIFA World Series Cup semi-finals.

'Her grandfather is French and she speaks French. So she was a big fan,' he said.

France beat Belgium in the match that day, which Nicholas said his daughter was ecstatic.

'The doorman said she was happy. She was high-fiving themThey all loved her because, you know, she was just so friendly and nice,' said Nicholas.

Lara Prychodko (in 2010), 48, was found dead on July 18, 2018, at her $6,500-per-month apartment at Zeckendorf Towers in Union Square after falling 27 floors

Zeckendorf Towers where Prychodko died in July 2018 is pictured above

Police investigating her death at the time concluded that she drunkenly fell into the chute (above) by accident. However, famed pathologist Michael Baden later ruled the mother-of-one may have been strangled to death before being place in the garbage chute

One of Lara's neighbors on the 27th floor later told authorities that she returned home around 4:20pm and nothing seemed amiss in the hallway.

But ten minutes later, the neighbor said she heard loud noises coming from the hallway and stepped outside her apartment to investigate.

Although she did not see anyone at the time, she did discover an unattended purse on the floor near the trash compactor.

Authorities would later reveal that the purse belonged to Lara.

At 4:40pm, a maintenance worker stopped by the trash chute after it became jammed. That's where he found Lara's body 'crushed from multiple angles.'

A brief investigation by the New York Police Department determined there was no criminal activity involved.

The NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner announced that Lara's cause of death 'undetermined,' but did note that she had a blood alcohol level of .29 at the time of her death.

'The circumstances around the death are unclear; however there is no suspicion of foul play,' the office said.

But Nicholas refuses to believe his daughters death was simply drunken accident.

He told Dateline that the trash chute at Zeckendorf Towers was around 15" by 18" with a door and that Lara was tall at 5'10".

Nicholas argues that his daughter Lara (pictured), who was nearly six-feet-tall, had too much height to simply fall down the trash chute

Lara accidentally falling into the trash chute, based on her height, seems implausible to Nicholas - and her friends agree.

Vesna Todorov is both devastated and confused by the death of one of her closer New York City friends.

'Its definitely tragic, but it is not a tragic accident,' Todorov said.

'Thats what puzzles me. If she fell down the stairs, OK, but not a trash chute. Thats not an accident. Someone did that to her.'

Desperate for answers, Nicholas sought help from Michael Baden, who rose to prominence in 2019 after concluding that Jeffrey Epstein's injuries were 'more indicative' of murder than the suicide ruling made in the official autopsy report.

Baden reviewed autopsy notes, X-rays, lab tests and crime scene photos before sending a letter to the Prychodko family less than a year after the incident.

He determined that Lara 'may have died because of homicidal ligature strangulation and was then placed in the garbage chute.'

The new report also suggested that alleged strangulation 'may also explain why there was little bleeding from the lacerated viscera and torn blood vessels noted at autopsy.'

Baden also mentioned a photo from the crime scene that showed Lara without her shirt.

'Laras blouse is torn from her body and that to him is an indication that there could have been a struggle against the assailant,' said Nicholas.

But earlier this month, famed pathologist, Dr Michael Baden (pictured) who controversially concluded that pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy showed signs of murder claimed in bombshell new findings that Prychodko's death was not a tragic accident

Nicholas, fully intent on continuing a probe into Lara's death, for a period of time moved from Toronto, Canada, to New York City to persuade officials to reopen the case based on Baden's findings.

Baden offered to investigate the case pro-bono for the family after being approached by Nicholas.

Despite the shocking findings, the city's Medical Examiner's office told Nicholas that they found 'no signs of foul play in your daughters death' and would not reopen the case.

At the time of her death, Lara was was reportedly buried in debt, hadn't held a job in five years and was in the midst of a bitter divorce battle with her estranged husband, David Schlachet.

The couple argued over millions of dollars in assets, like two apartments in Manhattan and a home in the exclusive Hamptons community.

Lara and David Schlachet, who owns a Manhattan construction company, have one 14-year-old son together named Talin. A DUI charge caused Lara to lose custody of the child.

Nicholas said his daughter was granted visitation rights and was set to see her son just one day after she was discovered dead.

Seeking $321,629 plus interest from Schlachet (right), the lawyers, who also represented Prychodko in her divorce against him, claim he pocketed all of the couples assets in July 2018 but hasnt taken any action to write off their clients debts

David Schlachet with his son Talin Schlachet in 2017 - David won custody over Talin

Schlachet said in an email to Dateline that he and his son were still grieving from the loss.

'I can only say that my divorce -like so many- was a painful and sad experience to go through with someone I had loved so deeply,' wrote Schlachet.

'But that does not diminish the grief and trauma our son and I have experienced by the tragic loss of our wife and mother, Lara. It is a pain that we are both still learning to cope with and which we will both carry with us forever.'

Nicholas said he will get justice for Lara. He recalled how much she impacted those around her.

'She shaped both the beginning of my formative adult life and now shes shaping how I spend the last years of my life,' said Nicholas.

'She has made a tremendous impact in my life, and also in so many other lives through the course of her own, all-too-short life.'

Lara was raised in Toronto, where she studied at Etobicoke School for the Arts before attending University of Toronto.

He says she was a happy child who was protective of her siblings.

'Although you can imagine that she could also be a little bit bossy at times,' Nicholas said, jokingly.

'She had this happy childhood. I remember spending summers at the lake -- renting cottages by the lake going fishing, canoeing, swimming.'

Nicholas Prychodko (pictured): 'She shaped both the beginning of my formative adult life and now shes shaping how I spend the last years of my life'

Lara followed her dreams to New York City after college and worked several jobs as she built a network in the Big Apple.

'Lara was extremely sociable. She had great interpersonal skills and networking skills, which is what helped to make her so successful,' said Nicholas.

In fact, Lara worked as an event organizer with corporate organizations and that's how she met former WebMD CEO Wayne Gattinella, whom she was dating at the time of her death.

A report from the New York Post alleged that couple's relationship was actually an affair that began in 2009.

At that time, Gattinella was married to his wife of 40 years, Valerie Gattinella, and had four children together.

In January 2018, Lara and Gattinella allegedly signed a less on a $6,500-per-month apartment at Zeckendorf Towers.

In an email from May 2018 that was obtained by the newspaper, Prychodko wrote to the millionaire: 'I just woke up missing my beautiful amazing son whom Ive lost because of my love of you.'

She also wrote to the father-of-four: 'You said you would take care of private school. But you are not. My child deserves the same privilege yours do.'

She was said to be having a several years-long affair with former WebMD CEO Wayne Gattinella (above) at the time

Before her death, Prychodko (pictured with her husband in 2010) was in the middle of a bitter divorce with her estranged husband, David Christopher Schlachet

Valerie reportedly learned of their alleged relationship when she found a charge for a gym membership at Equinox on her husband's credit card statement.

She filed for divorce from Gattinella not long after Lara's death.

Lara's sister Tayla, said they had a very closer relationship growing up.

'She was my best friend,' said Tayla. 'She was kind and generous and found the good in everyone. She was a beautiful soul.'

Lara would have turned 50 this year in June 23. Tayla reached out to Lara's friends across the world to share memories and celebrate her life.

Nicholas Prychodko: ' Lara was extremely sociable. She had great interpersonal skills and networking skills, which is what helped to make her so successful' Pictured: Lara Prychodko

'She touched so many peoples lives during her time here,' said Tayla. 'She was a social person and she strived to surround herself with people of influence, not affluence.

The last time she spoke to her sister was on her birthday in 2018, just days before she died.

'I cant believe thats the last time I heard her voice,' Tayla told Dateline.

'I dont know how to live without her. Theres a hole in my heart now that will never be filled.'

'Its haunting to think of my sisters final moments. You dont just slip and fall into a trash chute. Something really terrible happened to her that day. And this is what the family is left with - those last moments of her life.'

Prychodko was laid off from her job at WebMD in 2013 and had no meaningful income other than $4,375-a-month Schlachet had been ordered to pay her as part of their divorce, the court documents claim

Vesna Todorov said she still struggles with taking the garbage out.

'I think of her last moments and I just cant do it,' said Vesna. 'I just dont understand why anyone would do this to such wonderful person. But whoever killed her is still out there.'

At the moment, the Prychodko family does not have a definitive decision on their next step in Lara's investigation.

But Nicholas is not giving up the fight to uncover what really happened to his daughter that night.

He's urged anyone with information or knowledge to come forward.

'Someone out there may know something about what took place, even if they were not actually a participant, he said.

'And for whatever reason, out of the goodness of your heart or out of a feeling of remorse, please step forward and share that with the police and the district attorneys office so that they can pursue that investigation further.'

Pictured: New York City police officers stand outside Zeckendorf Towers after Lara Prychodko was dicovered dead at the bottom of the trash chute

The news of Lara's debt came last month after her lawyers filed a lawsuit against Schlachet that revealed she was virtually penniless at the time of her death.

Seeking $321,629 plus interest from Schlachet, the lawyers, who also represented Prychodko in her divorce against him, claim he pocketed all of the couples assets in July 2018 but hasnt taken any action to write off their clients debts.

The only money Prychodko had to her name at the time of her death was in her individual retirement account (IRA) which would  and should  have gone towards paying off her creditors, the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court says.

However, Prychodkos attorneys say construction executive Schlachet illegally transferred the money to their sons beneficiary account, of which he administers.

As a result of the IRA transfer, Ms. Prychodkos estate has no meaningful assets to distribute to her creditors, and to date no distribution has been made, according to court documents observed by the NY Post.

The suit further claims that Schlachet moved the money because he knew his wife owed substantial attorneys fees and wanted to hinder, delay or defraud her legal team.

Prychodko was laid off from her job at WebMD in 2013 and had no meaningful income other than $4,375-a-month Schlachet had been ordered to pay her as part of their divorce, the court documents claim.

Just five months before her death, a judge also ordered Schlachet to pay Prychodko $30,000 to help cover her legal fees.

Schlachet, was the co-founder of Taocon Inc, a construction company in New York, which owed more than $3.4million to creditors and had assets of only $550,844, according to documents filed in federal court in 2016.

The company filed for bankruptcy in 2016, the same year that he filed for divorce from Prychodko.

Schlachet has never been named a suspect in his wife's death.
After years of declines in revenue and print circulation, the McClatchy Company, one of the largest and most respected news publishers in the country, announced on Sunday that it expected to be bought by Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey hedge fund, at the conclusion of a bankruptcy auction.

The announcement, which signals an end to 163 years of family ownership, underlines the growing influence of the finance industry on American newspapers. And it means that a news company known for winning top journalism prizes is likely to become the property of a firm that owns The National Enquirer and other supermarket tabloids.

McClatchy, the publisher of The Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer and its flagship publication, The Sacramento Bee, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February. Chatham, an investor in the company since 2009, is its largest creditor. In recent months it put together the bid that has been declared the winner in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court auction supervised by Judge Michael E. Wiles, a McClatchy spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Chatham, which manages about $4 billion in assets on behalf of its clients, is expected to become the majority owner in the third quarter of the year, McClatchy said, and the publicly traded newspaper company will go private. It will not be split up, McClatchy said, its 30 news outlets remaining intact.
I write in response to the well-intentioned, but precipitous, action of the Albuquerque Museum Board of Trustees calling for the removal of the La Jornada sculpture from the Albuquerque Museum grounds.

The action was purportedly taken because La Jornada may be seen as a monument to Don Juan de Onate or might otherwise cause conflict, pain or division. It appears there is a perceived impression of La Jornada that does not reflect the actuality of La Jornada.

La Jornada  the journey  is a world-class sculptural arrangement created by the extraordinarily talented local artists Reynaldo Sonny Rivera and Betty Sabo. It is a remarkable reflection of the arduous journey of the approximately 600 settlers who came to New Mexico in 1598. This is a tribute to the colonists, not to any one person. It represents an expedition of families coming in peace, with the hope of co-existence with the Pueblo Indians, of whom the Spanish were well aware as a result of many previous exploratory expeditions.

With Onates removal, the remaining figures featured in the sculptural arrangement include men pushing a carreta, women and children, a woman holding an infant, a priest, an Indian guide, horses, other work and domestic animals and two soldiers carrying banners. There are no drawn swords, no indication of conflict, and, certainly, no celebration of conquest.

That this peaceful, unpretentious procession of colonists was not seen as a threat is evidenced by the respectful receptions received at Pueblos up and down the Rio Grande valley, as the colonists proceeded to their initial destination at San Juan Pueblo in northern New Mexico, from which they relocated to the nearby Pueblo of San Gabriel, until the settling of the city of Santa Fe in 1607-1609, prior to its founding in 1610.

The families of those who participated in this early colonization of New Mexico are appropriately recognized on the Wall of Spanish Ancestral Heritage, located immediately adjacent to the sculptural arrangement. Presently, the numerous descendants of those hardy families proudly populate Albuquerque and New Mexico.

It cannot go unnoticed that there is a certain irony in a request that this particular depiction of a portion of the history of the Spanish colonization of New Mexico be removed from the grounds of the Albuquerque Museum, given that Albuquerque was founded in 1706 by Spanish colonists by order of then-Governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdes, with the authority of the Spanish crown.

Nevertheless, it is particularly important, at this moment in our nations history, in which we are appropriately addressing injustice with a new focus, that we distinguish between what is wrong and what is not, what is threatening, and what is not. It would, indeed, be tragic, if innocent artifacts of our collective history were to be disrespected because of discomfort or dissatisfaction with the unrelated action or inaction of specific persons at different points in time.

New Mexico is unique in its diversity, and inviting in its respect for all who are here, and for all who come. We cannot squander this special sauce by casting a wider net than is necessary to deal with specific issues.

My hope, now that this matter has been thrust upon us, is that, to the extent there is continued discussion about the appropriateness of La Jornada at the Albuquerque Museum, there is a mutually respectful appreciation of different points of view, of the history of each of us and of all of us and, especially, of our shared history. We need to embrace those things that bring us together and discard those that unnecessarily divide us. In this regard, we need to be surgical in our approach to what it is that needs resolution, in order to avoid inflicting unnecessary and unwarranted pain on others, in an effort to achieve satisfaction for some. I trust that we will be able to do so.
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Firefighters are battling to put out a three-alarm blaze that is threatening to engulf the USS Bonhomme Richard naval ship docked in San Diego which is carrying roughly 1 million gallons of fuel and significant amounts of ammunition.

At least 21 people including 17 sailors and four civilians were hospitalized with minor injuries on Sunday following a massive fire and explosion on board the Navy ship at Naval Base San Diego that sent billowing plumes of smoke and ash into the sky.

Rear Admiral Philip Sobeck said that all of the injured are listed in stable condition.

Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department boats work to bring a fire under control after an explosion aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard on Sunday

In a photo provided by the U.S. Navy, sailors and Federal Fire San Diego firefighters work to extinguish a fire aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard

The smoke billowing from the vessel darkened the San Diego skyline and could be visible for miles

At least 21 people including 17 sailors and four civilians were hospitalized with minor injuries on Sunday following a massive fire and explosion on board the Navy ship

Rear Admiral Philip Sobeck said that all of the injured are listed in stable condition

Sobeck, the Navy's commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the Navy thinks the fire began somewhere in a lower cargo hold where marine equipment and vehicles are stored.

The fire was not a fueled by fuel oil, hazardous materials or electrical causes, Sobeck told the newspaper.

It was fueled by paper, cloth, rags or other materials in a standard fire. He said he is not concerned about the air quality or toxicity around the fire.

'Seventeen Sailors and four civilians are being treated for non-life threatening injuries at a local hospital,' the US Navy told CNN in a statement.

Fire and rescue crews are on the scene responding to the three-alarm fire on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) after the blaze broke out around 8.51am, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said.

About 200 sailors and officers were on board the 840-foot ship Sunday morning. San Diego is the ships homeport.

The vessel was undergoing routine maintenance at the time of the fire.

San Diego Fire Chief Colin Stowell told CNN that the ship could burn for days 'down to the waterline.'

Firefighting boats spray water onto the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard

The US Navy said that 17 sailors and four civilians were injured by an explosion aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego on Sunday

The sailors on the USS Bonhomme Richard had 'minor injuries' from the fire and were taken to a hospital, according to a Navy spokesperson

Firefighters were battling a three-alarm blaze aboard the ship after the explosion took place during routine maintenance

The above image shows an aerial view of the US Navy ship USS Bonhomme Richard after the explosion

Sources told The Drive that loud explosions were heard coming from the ship, and that the source of the fire may be from below the waterline, though this information has yet to be confirmed.

The fire was first reported at around 8:30am in the lower vehicle storage, Sobeck said.

Although the cause of the explosion has yet to be determined, Sobeck said it was likely the result of a 'backdraft of overpressurization as the compartment started heating up.'

The initial explosion occurred after the blaze erupted and the ship was evacuated.

Sobeck said that the smoke billowing from the vessel came from 'normal things you'd find in a compartment,' like clothes and books.

At least one person was treated for smoke inhalation. At least one injury was due to the explosion, the San Diego Fire Department said.

The sailors assigned to the ship were staying in Navy or private housing on shore and were not on board when the blaze broke out.

People pose for a picture in front of the San Diego skyline as smoke rises from a fire on board the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego

A golfer plays on as a fire burns on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego

Golfers play on as a fire burns on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego on Sunday

The image above provides another angle of the massive fire aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego on Sunday

San Diego's top firefighter said the blaze on board the ship could burn for days 'down to the waterline'

A massive fire and explosion on board a Navy ship at Naval Base San Diego has injured several sailors and sent billowing plumes of smoke and ash into the sky

This close up show shows how smoke enveloped the 840-foot ship Sunday morning. There were 200 sailors and officers on board at the time

The vessel was undergoing routine maintenance at the time of the fire. Naval Base San Diego is the ship's home port. It's still not clear what sparked the blaze

By 12.30pm PST the entire crew was cleared off the ship and accounted for and 18 people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries

When flames first erupted, a 'duty section' of sailors trained to fight fires was on board and responded to the threat.

The entire crew is off the ship and all have been accounted for, according to a tweet from the Naval Surface Forces, US Pacific Fleet, sent out around 12.30pm PST.

'Everyone is off the ship and everyone is accounted for,' Brian O'Rourke, a Navy spokesman said as per CBS8.

All crew members were accounted for, said Admiral Mike Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations.

'We are grateful for the quick and immediate response of local, base, and shipboard firefighters aboard USS Bonhomme Richard,' Gilday said in a statement.

The fire broke out around 8.51am on Sunday and San Diego Fire Rescue rushed to the scene

Firefighter pictured erecting a crane to battle the blaze Sunday morning

All SDFD personnel has been accounted for as of 11.19am, according to San Diego Fire authorities. No firefighters have been injured so far

A view of the smoking naval ship above. It's unclear what sparked the fire and explosion

The USS Bonhomme Richard is an assault-style ship that's outfitted to carry landing craft and transfer equipment, troops and landing boats.

The ship's last deployment was in 2018.

Firefighters from San Diego along with the unified command Federal Fire are battling the flames.

The Naval Surface Forces of the US Pacific Fleet added that local, base and shipboard firefighters are responding to the blaze.

All SDFD personnel has been accounted for as of 11.19am, according to San Diego Fire authorities. No firefighters have been injured so far.

Massive clouds of smoke enveloped the base in Sunday morning's fire

The USS Bonhomme Richard is an assault-style ship that's outfitted to carry landing craft and transfer equipment, troops and landing boats. The ship's last deployment was in 2018

San Diego Fire-Rescue said 150 firefighters were sent out to quell the inferno.

Shocking video as emerged showing the moment an explosion went off on the Naval ship.

The keel for the Bonhomme Richard was laid down in 1995 and she was delivered to the Navy in 1998.

The 23-year-old ship has the capacity to deploy and land helicopters, smaller boats and amphibious vehicles.

Because of its age, a fire could be particularly destructive, especially if it reached the engine room and other tight spaces with machinery, said Lawrence B. Brennan, a professor of admiralty and international maritime law at Fordham University in New York.

Sailors aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) don fire fighting equipment to combat a fire aboard the ship

Several of the sailors on board the ship prepare to fight the fire on Sunday evening

Local, base and shipboard firefighters responded to the fire. USS Bonhomme Richard is going through a maintenance availability, which began in 2018

'The heat of a fire of this nature can warp the steel, and that can be a major problem for any ship,' said Brennan.

'On an older ship, it's even more of a problem.'

Two other docked ships, USS Fitzgerald and USS Russell, were moved to berths away from the fire, officials said.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Ilse Bing was an early adopter par excellence. Born into a comfortable middle-class Jewish family in Frankfurt, Germany in 1899, she dropped her plans for a PhD. in art history and decided to become an artist after seeing a 1929 exhibition on the paintings of Vincent van Gogh.

But instead of taking up a brush, Bing bought a Leica  a sophisticated and revolutionary new German-made camera that took pictures with 36-exposure rolls of 35-millimeter film, originally developed for motion pictures.

Within a year, Bing relocated to Paris, where she developed a reputation as the Queen of the Leica,' a sobriquet that doubles as the title of a delightful and poignant exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

With 50 prints, many of them vintage enlargements from the 1930s, the exhibition traces Bings career as a photographer of nightlife, street scenes and fashion in Paris and New York.

Roughly half of the works in the show are from the massive collection of more than 1,200 photographs donated to the museum over the past decade by ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos, who grew up in Cleveland and whose donations have also formed the backbone of several other recent exhibitions.

(Stephanopoulos has turned down several requests for an interview about his largesse).

The Bing show is filled with a delirious sense of discovery and possibility that radiates from her use of the Leica, a camera soon taken up by other giants of 20th century photography including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertesz and Robert Capa.

The museums exhibition, organized by Barbara Tannenbaum, curator of photography, reasserts the widely held view that Bing was the first professional photographer to wholeheartedly adopt the Leica.'

The point may be debatable. Kertesz is known to have taken one of his most famous photos with a Leica in 1928. But no matter: As the museums show demonstrates, Bing fully exploited the potential of the new photographic technology.

Unlike film-sheet cameras that required a tripod and had to be reloaded after every picture, the small, elegant Leica could take multiple exposures, and used faster film and lenses with wider apertures.

According to the Smithsonian Institution, first generation Leicas were equipped with shutter speeds from 1/20th of a second to 1/500th of a second, affording a then-unparalleled level of photographic freedom and spontaneity.

The new capacities enabled indoor photography without flash, and made it possible to shoot from any angle.

An example of the Leica I, Model C  a type Bing would have used  is on view in a display case in the exhibition as a virtual work of art in itself.

A 1929 Leica of the type Ilse Bing would have used is on display in the exhibition of her photography at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The f3.5 50-millimeter Leitz Elmar lens is shown retracted into the camera body, an arrangement that made the camera compact and easy to carry in a pocket, with the lens cap on.Steven Litt, Cleveland.com

I felt this small camera became a continuation of my eye, which moved around with me, Bing said in a quote cited in the show.

Bings work, which earned her magazine assignments, portrait commissions and gallery shows, celebrated how the world looked through the lens of a 35 millimeter camera.

She took dizzying perspectives of the Eiffel Tower and streets below, turning people into ants framed by slashing diagonal cross beams of undecorated engineering.

She captured the sexy if seedy atmosphere of the Moulin Rouge, the famous Montmartre nightclub, in grainy black-and-white shots of Cancan dancers swirling their skirts to reveal lots of leg.

A 1929 Leica stands sentinel in the photography gallery at the Cleveland Museum of Art, now featuring works by Leica enthusiast Ilse Bing.Steven Litt, Cleveland.com

Her 1933 image of two women on a swing at a Paris fairground freezes Bings subjects in full flight, as if they had become a kind of strange, crablike hybrid creature in the air.

Bings fashion photos, including her images of fancy shoes, have a gently surreal quality, as does her image of a vendors briefcase full of miniature Eiffel Towers. In such photos, Bings subjects appear to float free of context, as if possessed by a secret inner life.

But the most famous photo in the show is Bings 1931 self-portrait with her Leica, gazing at the viewer from behind the camera on the right side of the image, while a mirror captures a profile view of the photographer on the left side of the image.

Its a picture of a fully engaged, confident modern woman in a bobbed haircut that combines the piercing look of her eyes with the third eye of the Leica lens. The camera is Bings totem of power, her passport to the world.

The Bing show, on view through Oct. 10, is one of several exhibitions that the museum has extended after having closed March 14 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ilse Bing's 1935 portrait of her future father-in-law, Martin Wolff, portrays the legal scholar a year after Nazis expelled him from the University of Berlin because of his Jewish heritage. Wolff emigrated to England in 1938, where he became a fellow at Oxford University.Steven Litt, Cleveland.com

The institution reopened June 30 with mandatory health protocols, limited daily attendance of 500, and special procedures for acquiring free, timed tickets. (Details available on the museums website at clevelandart.org).

If the Bing exhibition documents exhilarating forces of fashion and modernity that shaped her career in Paris, it also suggests the hardships she suffered in the 1940-41 period, when she and her husband, pianist and musicologist Konrad Wolff narrowly escaped the Nazi Holocaust and relocated to New York.

Although Bing had developed contacts in New York in 1936, her career never flowered there as it had in her earlier years in Paris. It is with a touch of irony, then, that Bing portrayed herself in a collage as a cover subject in Life magazine, an honor never accorded her in reality.

As Tannenbaum notes, Bing gave up photography in 1959 at age 60, saying, I had nothing more to say. . . . I did not want to repeat myself.

Thanks to a resurgence of interest in 1930s photography and the work of early women photographers, Bings reputation enjoyed a revival in the 1970s and 80s.

She loved it; she loved the attention,' said photographer Abe Frajndlich, also a native of Frankfurt, who emigrated to Cleveland in 1956 when he was 10.

In 1986, when he was based in New York, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung magazine asked Frajndlich to shoot a cover story of Bing. It was the beginning of a friendship that lasted until Bing died in 1998, just shy of her 99th birthday.

A 1942 photogram by Ilse Big contrasts the photographer's hand and cutout shapes with the texture of grass.Steven Litt, Cleveland.com

Frajndlich said he would bring flowers to Bing, talk to her and ask her to pose. Among other things, he persuaded Bing to allow him to recreate her famous 1931 self-portrait, 55 years after the fact.

She was a performer,' he said. You can see that in the way she poses for the camera. Shes not a normal 86-year-old woman. Shes got a great ego and sense of herself. Shes a performer.

At the time, Bing worked as a dog groomer based in the generously scaled, rent-controlled apartment she shared with her husband on Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side in Manhattan.

Frajndlich recalled that she rode a motorcycle to visit clients, and, after an accident, switched to a bicycle. She always carried her own dog with her in a rear basket.

Bing was not a complainer,' he said. She was a survivor.

The two worked out a deal in which Frajndlich agreed to make fresh prints from Bings 1930s negatives, if she allowed him to keep one print for every five he provided her.

Nine of those images are part of the Cleveland show, giving it the warmth and intimacy of a personal tribute to an extraordinary artist, and an extraordinary person.
Big companies received PPP loans. Other companies returned the money while others were sued for not using it properly.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is part of the CARES Act to provide small business resources they need to maintain their payroll. That means they can hire back their employees, and cover applicable overhead amid the global pandemic.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has made it clear on its website about who qualifies for the program. Generally, this program is for small businesses with ten or fewer employees.

However, businesses such as the parents of the White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and other big companies received PPP money. Their company appears to employ over 131 people, according to a published report by Independent.

It can be remembered that McEnany criticized the program back in 2018. Early this year, the White House Press Secretary said that the loans are for small business owners.

During an interview from a news outlet with McEnany, she said that around 1 to 1.6 million loans went out to companies with ten or fewer employees. She also added that it is what the program is for and who the program is helping.

However, it is contrary to what is happening today. Businesses owned by McEnany's parents that employ over 131 people have received the money. There are other big companies as well who received PPP loans.

Some of those who received the money are members of the Congress, billionaires, and executive branch officials' family members. This now deprived small business owners who are the primary recipients of the program.

Despite that aim of the program, this has drawn criticisms from the government's watchdogs or reporters due to its lack of transparency.

It can be remembered that Treasure Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the Senate in June that the administration would not reveal as to which companies received the PPP loan. Meanwhile, McEnany refused to answer questions from reporters about the lack of transparency.

"We're concerned with getting money to people right now. I mean look, we're not concerned with cobbling a list together to please the media," McEnany said.

However, it is important to note that it is the government agencies' basic function to compile lists of recipients of federal funds for the purpose of transparency.

Typically, reporters ask for these lists to ensure people that the federal government is using the taxpayer fund in ethical ways.

Questions about lack of transparency also come after Shake Shack Chairman returned $10 million PPP funding earlier this year after they received capital from a different source.

In an open letter written by the company's two highest officials, Chairman Danny Meyer and CEO Randy Garutti, they said that applying PPP loan was broad enough that it allows big corporations like theirs to access the money that is intended for small businesses.

They described the application process as having no user manual and extremely confusing. Other big corporations received the money and did not use it on how it is designed for.

Recently, a lawsuit was filed against the CEO of The Starboard Group that owns 100 stores. The CEO spent the $1 million PPP loan to buy a new house in Montana.

Check this out!
Eight Insurgents Killed After Militants Launch Unsuccessful Attack on Syrian Armed Forces in Idlib

Sputnik News

19:20 GMT 11.07.2020(updated 19:29 GMT 11.07.2020)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Syrian armed forces have repelled up to 250 militants who launched an attack in Idlib province, with eight insurgents killed in the fighting, Rear Adm. Alexander Shcherbitsky, the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's centre for Syrian reconciliation, said on Saturday.

The head of the centre for Syrian reconciliation noted that the Syrian armed forces repelled the attack and suffered no casualties.

"At around 09:30 [06:30 GMT] on 10 July, two groups of militants from illegal armed groups, totalling up to 250 people from the Zaytunjik settlement attacked government troops' positions near Shamshuran and Kara-Dzhagez [Idlib province]", Shcherbitsky said.

Numerous attacks have recently been conducted by militants from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Al-Nusra Front*) in the Syrian provinces of Idlib, Aleppo, and Latakia, the Russian military said earlier.

As of today, Idlib remains one of the four de-escalation zones, established by Russia, Iran, and Turkey back in 2017, that is not under the full control of the Syrian government. Damascus has said that the armed factions in Idlib province have ignored the ceasefire agreement and repeatedly attacked Syrian government forces.

*Al-Nusra Front (also known as Jabhat al Nusra, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, or Al-Qaeda in Syria) is a terrorist group outlawed in Russia

A Sputnik

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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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USA : President Donald Trump , who has avoided wearing a mask in public even as the coronavirus pandemic spread, donned one on Saturday at a military medical facility outside Washington where he was to meet with wounded soldiers and front-line health-care workers.

The visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center marked Trump's first public appearance with a face covering since the virus began sweeping across the United States earlier this year.

Trump had previously refused to wear a mask in public or ask other Americans to do so, saying it was a personal choice, although he had said he would if he was in a crowd and could not maintain distance from others.

"I think when you are in a hospital, especially in that particular setting when you are talking to a lot of soldiers, people that in some cases just got off the operating table, I think its a great thing to wear a mask," Trump told reporters at the White House just before his visit to Walter Reed.

At the medical facility, Trump walked by media gathered for a carefully staged photo opportunity wearing a navy blue mask emblazoned with a presidential seal embossed in gold. He said only "thank you" as he passed.

Top public health officials have urged the use of masks to slow the spread of the virus, which by Friday had claimed nearly 134,000 American lives. Critics say Trump's refusal to wear one showed a lack of leadership.

Even as other officials in his administration called for the use of masks and social distancing, Trump, who faces re-election in November, pressured states to reopen closed economies.

But since many states relaxed coronavirus restrictions, the virus has found a new toehold. New US cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, rose by more than 69,000 on Friday, a third straight daily record.

As of Friday, the number of confirmed US infections topped 3 million, according to a Reuters tally.

A spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Trump had spent months ignoring the advice of medical experts and politicizing wearing a mask.

"Rather than taking responsibility and leading, he wasted four months that Americans have been making sacrifices by stoking divisions and actively discouraging people from taking a very basic step to protect each other," said the spokesman, Andrew Bates.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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WASHINGTON - A Republican governor rumoured to be eyeing a run for the White House in 2024 said Sunday that the GOP needs to be a bigger tent party after President Donald Trump leaves office.

Marylands Larry Hogan, who has been known to break with Trump, told NBCs Meet the Press that he doesnt know what the future holds in November.

But I know that the Republican Party is going to be looking at what happens after President Trump and whether thats in four months or four years, Hogan said. And I think theyre going to be looking to, How do we go about becoming a bigger tent party?

The rebuke was a rarity from Republicans, who have largely been afraid to criticize a president still popular with the GOP rank-and-file despite questions about how he has handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hogan did not rule out voting for Joe Biden, the Democrat challenging Trump in the November election. In 2016, Hogan wrote in the name of his father, a former Republican congressman from Maryland.

Its a difficult choice, he said. I think most people would like to see something different, and maybe well figure that out in 2024.

The governor pointed to his 2018 reelection as a model, when he won in deep-blue Maryland by almost 12 percentage points by reaching out, by trying to find that middle ground where people can stand together and by eschewing divisive rhetoric. He also noted that he did well with suburban women, a group that polls suggest has largely abandoned Trump.

Hogan also raised questions with Trumps decision on Friday to commute the sentence of longtime political ally, Roger Stone, who had been convicted of lying to help the president, and said its certainly going to hurt politically.
Because of poor planning, Japan has decided to cancel the installation of two Aegis Ashore ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) systems. The decision to buy and install the two Aegis Ashore in two existing military bases was made at the end of 2017. This decision was encouraged by the fact that in 2016 the first Aegis Ashore system became operational in Romania. The second one became active by 2018 in Poland.

Unfortunately, Japan is not like Romania and Poland, two nations that suffered decades of brutal Russian occupation. Japan has prospered greatly under the protection of the American military after World War II and developed some bad habits when it came to defense matters. What killed the Aegis project were several of those bad habits. First, as defense officials were working out the details the soon found they had underestimated the cost of preparing the two Aegis Ashore sites. That cost was about 25 percent higher than estimated. Costs threatened to increase still more when civilians living near the two Aegis base areas discovered that there were side-effects from the use of Aegis missiles. Planners made some adjustments to the area Aegis would occupy but that was not enough to assure local civilians that the booster portion of the two-stage SM missile would never fall in or near a populated area. In one Aegis Ashore site there were civilian concerns about living too close to the AESA radar Aegis uses to detect and track incoming missiles. Once the Japanese media and local politicians get hold of issues like this, they stay active until the threat goes away. North Korean and Chinese missiles are seen as less of a threat. In Poland and Romania, Russia is always seen as the primary threat and the side effects of using Aegis are not an issue.

Japan might still reconsider but it is more likely that the Aegis Ashore funds will be used to upgrade two existing Japanese destroyers to provide these ships with Aegis ABM capabilities. This is not as effective as Aegis Ashore which, as a land base, is cheaper to maintain and always available to defend against North Korean or Chinese ballistic missiles. Ships have crews and ships spend only about a third of their time at sea.

North Korea remains the primary threat to Japan. North Korea's unwillingness to get rid of its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs persists. As a result, Japan is still moving ahead to expand its ballistic missile defenses. Most of these will still be based on the Aegis system, which is normally installed on large (8,000 tons and up) warships. Japan has five of these Aegis anti-missile system destroyers with another due to enter service in 2021.

The Maya class destroyers are improved versions of the earlier Atago class destroyers. The Mayas also borrow much from the first four Japanese Aegis-ABM ships, the 9,500-ton Kongos, which were built during the 1990s and modeled on the American Burke class Aegis destroyers. The Kongos have 90 VLS (Vertical Launch System) cells for anti-aircraft/missile missiles as well as ASROC anti-submarine rockets (that carry an anti-submarine torpedo to, in effect, extend the range of the torpedo by 22 kilometers). Japanese Burke type destroyers also carry a five-inch gun and eight Japanese designed anti-ship missiles (similar to the American Harpoon). The Maya class has 96 VLS cells (as do Atagos) as well as more advanced electronics that enable the Mayas to link with the U.S. Navy CEC (Cooperative Engagement Capability) that allows real-time sharing of sensor and other data in real-time between other CEC equipped ships and even shore-based systems like Aegis Ashore.

The two land-based Aegis Ashore anti-missile systems were not expected to be in service until 2024. At that point, Japan would have eight Aegis anti-missile systems and could have two more Aegis anti-missile destroyers by 2024 by upgrading the Aegis systems on two of the older destroyers. That upgrade is more likely now that Aegis Ashore has been canceled. It appears that North Korea will continue to be a threat and how much more of a ballistic missile threat China becomes is still considered less of a problem. China has a long history of threatening but not acting. North Korea has demonstrated an ability to attack without warning and did so in 2010. North Korea has always been less cooperative than China although the Chinese are still a threat.

What prompted the original Aegis Ashore order was the Japanese decision, in 2017, that it did not need the more expensive THAAD anti-missile system when it realized that two land-based Aegis systems on the main island could do the same job at less cost. That plus the Aegis equipped destroyers armed with the SM-3A anti-missile missile would enable those two land-based Aegis systems to protect all three of the home islands.

In addition, Japan has 24 Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries that can also fire the PAC-3 anti-missile missile. The PAC-3 has one drawback; it only has an effective range of 30 kilometers against incoming missiles. The Aegis SM-3 anti-missile missile has a range of from 700 kilometers (older Block 1) to more than three times that for the later Block II models. This is why two Aegis land-based systems can protect most of Japan (the main island). The Patriot PAC-3 provides local defense for key targets (the capital and major military bases).

The first (Romanian) Aegis Ashore system appears to be as reliable as the original ship-based systems. This was expected because the East European Aegis Ashore system had never been to sea. In early 2014 the only land-based Aegis system in existence (in New Jersey) was taken apart, packed into sixty 60 18.2-meter (40 foot) shipping containers and sent to Romania where it was put back together and in 2015 was an operational anti-missile system by early 2016. After that two more ground-based Aegis systems were ordered; one in Poland and one in Hawaii (for testing and development). All three, including new Aegis components for two of them and needed missiles (24 per location) and launching hardware for all of them came out costing $767 million each. Then came the Japanese Aegis Ashore order, which were initially estimated to cost over two billion dollars for each system. Defense projects have always been more expensive in Japan because of local laws (no weapons exports) and customs (creating the maximum number of jobs with government projects).

The U.S. has long sought to put anti-missile systems in Eastern Europe to protect against ballistic missile attacks from Iran. Russia has opposed this and sees it as a subterfuge to weaken the effect of Russian ballistic missiles attacking European targets. Most Europeans dont know what to make of that, but East European countries (like Romania and Poland) that spent 1945-89 as involuntary Russian vassal (or satellite) states, do see a need for protection from Russian missiles and Russian aggression and domination in general. Romanians and Poles considered Russian anger over Aegis Ashore as a benefit, not a problem.

It is different in East Asia where Japanese atrocities during World War II are still remembered. Japan, in turn, considers itself a victim of World War II and still insists it was trying to help its neighbors. The neighbors disagree and two of them, North Korea and China, openly threaten Japan with more nuclear attacks.

Meanwhile, Aegis remains one of the most effective missile defense systems available. Aegis has achieved an 83 percent success rate during live test firings. As a result, many countries want Aegis ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) ships for protection from local ballistic missile threats. The Aegis system was designed to operate aboard warships. These are usually cruisers and destroyers that have been equipped with the special software that enables the Aegis radar system to detect and track incoming ballistic missiles. Currently, the U.S. Navy has about 40 ships with the Aegis anti-missile system. There are over 100 American and foreign warships equipped with Aegis, but less than half of them had the software mods and anti-missile missiles that enable them to shoot down ballistic missiles and low-orbit satellites. Converting an Aegis ship to Aegis ABM costs about $30 million, mainly for new software and a few new hardware items. This is seen as a safe investment and the U.S. expects to see most Aegis equipped ships to be upgraded to ABM versions in the 2020s.

To knock down ballistic missiles Aegis uses two similar models of the U.S. Navy Standard anti-aircraft missile, in addition to a modified version of the Aegis radar system, which can now track incoming ballistic missiles. The anti-missile missile is the RIM-161A, also known as the Standard Missile 3 (or SM-3). It has a range of over 500 kilometers and max altitude of over 160 kilometers. The Standard 3 is based on the anti-missile version of the Standard 2 (SM-2 Block IV). This SM-2 missile turned out to be effective against ballistic missile warheads that are closer to their target, as is its replacement, the SM-6. One test saw a SM-2 Block IV missile destroy a warhead that was only 19 kilometers up. An SM-3 missile can destroy a warhead that is more than 200 kilometers up. But the SM-3 is only good for anti-missile work, while the SM-2 Block IV and SM-6 can be used against both ballistic missiles and aircraft. The SM-2 Block IV also costs less than half what a SM-3 costs. SM-3 is not being replaced but instead is constantly upgraded.

The SM-3 has four stages. The first two boost the interceptor out of the atmosphere. The third stage fires twice to boost the interceptor farther beyond the earth's atmosphere. Prior to each motor firing, it takes a GPS reading to correct course for approaching the target. The fourth stage is the nine kg (20 pound) LEAP kill vehicle, which uses infrared sensors to close on the target and ram it.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 04:33:25|Editor: huaxia

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The marble lion "Fortitude" is seen with a face mask in front of the New York Pubulic Library on the Fifth Avenue in New York, the United States, July 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Despite a 14-day quarantine for people coming to New York from high-risk states, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is still concerned about a resurgence here.



NEW YORK, July 11 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 hospitalizations and the three-day average death toll in the U.S. state of New York dropped to the lowest level since March, the state governor's office said on Saturday.

Total hospitalizations on Friday was 799, the first time to drop below 800 since March 18; The three-day average death toll dropped to 7, the lowest since March 16, the office said.

"As we allow ourselves to celebrate some good news ... I urge residents to stay New York Tough and not give up the ground we've worked so hard to gain together, particularly in the face of rising cases throughout the country and compliance issues here at home," said Governor Andrew Cuomo in a press release.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo (L) demonstrates how to get a COVID-19 test during a daily COVID-19 press briefing in Albany of New York State, the United States, on May 17, 2020. (Darren McGee/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo/Handout via Xinhua)

Of the 69,203 tests conducted across the state on Friday, 730, or 1.05 percent were positive, bringing the statewide COVID-19 case to 401,029, the governor said.

In an interview on WAMC Northeast Public Radio late Friday, Cuomo said that despite a 14-day quarantine for people coming to New York from high-risk states, he was still concerned about a resurgence here.

"How do you catch somebody driving in, right? I mean, it's very very difficult, it's trying to catch water in a screen," he said.

A lifeguard is seen on duty at a beach in Coney Island of New York City, the United States, July 1, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

"It rises up in the other states and then is going to come back here from the other states. That's what's going to happen. The only question is how far up our rate goes. But you can't have it all across the country and not come back," he added.

Starting on Sunday, concessions will be allowed to open with restrictions at state ocean and lakefront beaches, the governor said late Friday.

"As always, New Yorkers and visitors must adhere to social distancing guidelines and wear face masks as appropriate, and local governments will be actively monitoring to ensure compliance," said Cuomo in a press release. 
Peter Hvizdak / Hearst Connecticut Media

A strong thunderstorm brought torrential rainfall and winds to Fairfield County Saturday night, just one day after the state was mostly spared by bad weather from a tropical storm.

The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement around 7 p.m. that said a strong thunderstorm would affect southern Fairfield County, mostly in the Stamford area.
SAN RAFAEL (BCN)

Katelyn Daniel, 5, of San Rafael, was disappointed that there was no Marin County Fair this year. But she still got popcorn and lemonade thanks to a drive-thru in the fairgrounds' parking lot Saturday.

Cars were lined up 15-20 deep at three booths for giant corndogs, funnel cake, candy apples and more at the Veterans' Memorial Auditorium parking lot Saturday in San Rafael. The event runs 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, returning next Friday through Sunday.

"I went to the fair every year as a child," said Katelyn's mother, Heather Daniel, a lifelong Marin resident. "I'm grateful to have at least a taste of the fair via the drive-thru."

Like so many Bay Area institutions, the fair, which has run for more than 30 years, was cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We hope everyone will stay safe and creatively engaged at home and we look forward to serving our community, clients, partners, vendors and Fair family through this crisis," Gabriella Calicchio, the fair's director of cultural services, said on the Fair website.

Folks line up in their cars on the Avenue of the Flags and drive up to the booths, where employees in masks and other protective gear take their orders. Masks are mandatory for customers, who remain in their cars. The lines were long Saturday, but moved briskly.

Among the throngs waiting in line for food Saturday was Georgia Smith of Novato. She has won Fair prizes for her jams and homemade Kahlua, the latter of which got Best of Show a few years ago, Smith said.

Teresa Taylor of Novato has attended the fair for the last 17 years. She said, "My favorite part of the fair is the artwork - paintings and sculptures." With the fair cancelled, she was looking forward to getting some kettle corn and funnel cake to make up for the loss.

The booths served 750 cars Friday and were expected to serve about 1,000 Saturday, according to Phillip Delahoyde, owner of Extreme Food and Beverage, whose company made the event possible.

Delahoyde's family has run concessions at the Marin fairgrounds year-round for about a decade, and his company was able to do a similar drive-thru in northern California over the last few months, he said.

Julianne Bell of Fairfax said her favorite parts of the fair are rides "and the food. That's why I'm here."

Gregory Buich, whose car was further down the line, noted, "A corndog in July is one of life's great pleasures."

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Sechenov University researchers have successfully completed clinical trials of the worlds first COVID-19 vaccine on volunteers, chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk told a Russian news outlet on Sunday, July 12.

The Russian mission to India, in a tweet, quoted Smolyarchuk saying 'the vaccine is safe'. Alexander Lukashev, Director of the Institute of Medical Parasitology Tropical and Vector-Borne Diseases at Sechenov University, also vouched for the safety of the drug while speaking to local media.

Read: Bill Gates Says COVID-19 Vaccine Should Reach Those Who Need, Warns Of 'deadlier Pandemic'

#Sechenov University has successfully completed tests on volunteers of the world's first vaccine against #COVID19.



"The #vaccine is safe. The volunteers will be discharged on July 15 and July 20", chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk told TASS  https://t.co/jVrmWbLvwX pic.twitter.com/V8bon4lieR  Russia in India (@RusEmbIndia) July 12, 2020

Read: Centre Reveals 'COVID-19 Vaccine Expected Only By Early Next Year' To Parliamentary Panel

As per reports, the first group of volunteers would be discharged on July 15 and the second batch would be discharged on July 20. Moreover, the volunteers will remain under medical supervision on an out-patient basis after being discharged.

Sechenov University is reported to have started with the first stage of research on June 18 with a group of 18 volunteers. The second group of 20 volunteers was tested for the COVID-19 vaccine on June 23.

Read: US Grants $1.6 Billion To Novavax For COVID-19 Vaccine Project Under Operation Warp Speed

Read: China's Sinovac Biotech Starts Phase III Trials Of Its Potential COVID-19 Vaccine
Agartala (Tripura) [India], July 11 (ANI): Border Security Force (BSF) troops deployed on Indo-Bangladesh border seized narcotics and contrabands worth Rs 24.23 Lakhs in the wee hours of Saturday.



"During wee hours of July 11, acting on specific BSF intelligence input, special ambush party of border outpost Dimatoli under South Tripura district observed suspicious movement of some miscreants in the close vicinity of IBB fence. On being challenged by the BSF party, the miscreants fled away from the spot towards the India side taking advantage of darkness and undulating ground," read a release from BSF.

"During a thorough search of the area, BSF party recovered and seized 1 polythene bag containing 4,500 Yaba tablets worth Rs 22,50,000," it added.

"BSF troops also succeeded in seizing 540 bottles Phensedyl valued at Rs 91,633 and other contraband items worth Rs 82,290," read the release.

The total value of the seizure hence amounted to Rs 24,23,923. (ANI)


EXCLUSIVE: Iran's IRGC Trying Illegally To Take Ownership Of Major Steel Producer

Radio Farda July 11, 2020

Radio Farda has obtained a confidential letter that shows Iran's IRGC, which holds 49 percent of Khuzestan Steel Mill Company, is attempting to "illegally acquire" the remaining shares belonging to workers.

Meanwhile, reports say that the Revolutionary Guard financial holding involved in the case may be transferring its assets to Supreme Leader Khamenei's office.

The steel company is one of the top three steel producers in Iran. The other 51 percent of its shares have been handed over to the public as "Justice Shares," however, it is the IRGC that controls the company's management and operations as the major shareholder.

The steel mill in Khuzestan Province is the biggest producer of steel bars and the second biggest producer of un-milled steel in Iran.

In the June 27 letter Mohammad Qaemi, the liquidation director of Yas Holding Company warned Sadeq Zolqadrnia, the IRGC's deputy commander for economic affairs and reconstruction that "Any illegal intervention by the IRGC or Yas will entail religious and legal consequences."

The main activity of IRGC's Yas holding, operating under the force's Cooperative Foundation is dealership and subcontracting in the housing sector. The holding has been implicated in numerous financial corruption cases during the past three years.

One of the most important one of these cases is the one regarding a 100 billion rial (around $3.2 billion at the time) transaction with the Municipality of Tehran which led to the imprisonment of former deputy mayor Isa Sharifi who worked as a deputy to then Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf who is now the speaker of Iran's parliament.

The Yas Holding was officially dissolved in February 2018. However, based on the document now at the disposal of Radio Farda, the IRGC is still holding its shares in the Steel company and is trying to increase its holding.

In the letter, Qaemei explains that Yas has currently no control over its assets but IRGC officials will be responsible for the consequences of the Steel Company's economic failure.

The statement shows that part of the assets of Yas that must have been at the disposal of its liquidation director has not been put at his disposal. This means that regardless of the apparent dissolution of the holding, IRGC is still continuing to use its assets.

Meanwhile, the letter charges that during the past year, measures taken by Ali Mohammadi, the managing director of the steel company has been "illegal" and has led to "wasting the rights and assets of smaller shareholders."

The letter further states that 51 percent of shares of the company belongs to workers and that the IRGC is considering "illegal action" against them "disguised as charitable activity aimed at uprooting poverty."

Mohammadi is a trusted IRGC official and has been named by the force's commanders as an "exemplary jihadi manager". The letter states that the board of directors of the steel company has tried to dismiss him several times, but every time the IRGC and its commander in chief objected to the board's decision. Seven days after the letter at Radio Farda's disposal was signed, the IRGC changed the board of directors of the steel company and replaced its board chairman with Esmail Ashouri, an IRGC employee.

Yas Holding is known for its involvement in major financial corruption cases including a 130 trillion rial case revealed by former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh. In another case, Yas forced the state television IRIB to give it the exclusive rights to control television advertising. However, Yas had to withdraw from that contract after other corrupt dealings were revealed.

The three leading figures in the management of Yas are Jamal Aberumand, a former IRGC Deputy Commander, Massoud Mehrdadi, a deputy to the IRGC Cooperative Foundation and Mahmoud Seif who is known for his role in smuggling weapons and forging bank notes on behalf of the IRGC.

Insiders believe former IRGC Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari may have been removed from his post after corruption cases in Yas Holding were revealed. Unlike other former IRGC Commanders, Khamenei did not appoint him as his military adviser.

There are various reports about the arrest of Seif and Mehrdadi on charges of financial corruption, but the Iranian Judiciary has not confirmed these reports.

Since 2018 there have been reports about reshuffling of managers and transferring them between Yas Holding and the ultra-rich Executive Headquarters that operates under Khamenei's office. However, no details are available about those transfers.

However, the general assumption is that as a result of these developments parts of the assets of Yas will be transferred to the Executive Headquarters and Khamenei's office. This will give further opportunities to the institutions operating under the Supreme Leader of to go ahead with its non-transparent economic activities and further expand its financial empire.

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/exclusive-iran-s- irgc-trying-illegally-to-take-ownership -of-major-steel-producer/30720865.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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ServiceNow NOW recently announced that the Now platform has been adopted by Zoom ZM to support its new Hardware as a Service (HaaS) business model. The platforms advanced AIOps capabilities will be leveraged by Zoom to launch the new service, which seeks to replace traditional phone systems with the new Zoom Phone.



Moreover, ServiceNows customer service management (CSM) offering will be utilized by Zoom to deliver enhanced services to customers. Due to the COVID-19 induced surge in remote work trends, Zooms video conferencing solution witnessed significant growth in usage. Thus, ServiceNows CSM will help Zoom manage explosive growth in user base and huge inflow of customer requests.



Further, the CSM service will be used by Zoom to provide customer support for its latest HaaS offerings.



On the flipside, ServiceNow, which has been using Zooms services since 2018, will replace its existing hardware phone system with the new Zoom Phones to deliver unified communications experience for employees.



The Zoom deal is a major win for ServiceNow and it highlights the strength of Now platform. Moreover, higher adoption of ServiceNows offerings is likely to drive the top line in the upcoming days and instill investors optimism in the stock.



Notably, shares of the company have returned 45.8% on a year-to-date basis outperforming the industrys rise of 10.9%.

ServiceNow, Inc. Price

ServiceNow, Inc. Price

ServiceNow, Inc. price | ServiceNow, Inc. Quote

Efforts to Strengthen Now Platform Holds Promise



ServiceNows offerings are witnessing a growing momentum due to the companys focus on continuously bolstering the capabilities of its platform.



Recently, the company opened two new data centers in Newport, United Kingdom and Dublin, Ireland. These data center pairing will help SeriviceNow ensure the scalability of its services in the region.



Additionally, ServiceNow had acquired Passage AI and Loom Systems in January to enhance its platform with robust AI capabilities. Passage AIs offerings will help support all major languages across the Now platform, while Loom systems abilities will help customers prevent IT issues by delivering deep insight into their operations.



These endeavors are expected to boost the capabilities of the Now platform and likely to aid ServiceNow acquire more customers. In first-quarter 2020, the company completed 37 transactions that generated net new annualized contract value (ACV) exceeding $1 million. Further, total number of customers, contributing more than $1 million to business, reached 933 in the first quarter. The figure increased 30% on a year-over-year basis.



Also, these initiatives are likely to help ServiceNow expand its footprint in the AIOps space. Per Mordor Intelligence data, the AIOps space is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 27% between 2020 and 2025. The company is expected to benefit from the coronavirus-induced digital transformations taking place across all industries, which will drive adoption of the companys robust AIOps offerings.



Meanwhile, the CSM or CXM (customer experience management) space holds solid growth prospects for ServiceNow as well. Per Grand View Research data, the market is expected to reach $23.6 billion at a CAGR of 17.7% between 2020 and 2027.



We believe that higher demand for advanced AI-based platforms to provide efficient customer service, as well as the growing need to address changing customer behaviors amid the pandemic is likely boost traction for ServiceNows CSM offering.



Persistent Risks



Nevertheless, anticipated decline in IT spending stemming from coronavirus-related disruptions and uncertainty is likely to dampen ServiceNows growth prospects at least in the near term.



Further, increasing expenses on product development and as well as growing investments in international expansion are also expected to put pressure on the companys profitability.



Zacks Rank & Key Picks



Currently, ServiceNow carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



Fortinet, Inc. FTNT and Nice Ltd. NICE are some better-ranked stocks worth considering in the broader computer and technology sector, both flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Long-term earnings growth rate for Fortinet and Nice is pegged at 14% and 10%, respectively.



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Andrew Twentyman makes the best pizza in Leigh in Greater Manchester. But hes a working man who doesnt like Jeremy Corbyn. And for that he had to be destroyed.

Can you imagine what state wed be in if Jeremy Corbyn had been in charge of all this? the former Labour supporter told The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday, in the wake of Rishi Sunaks coronavirus rescue package.

Within a few hours, reviews of his pizza parlour had to be suspended on TripAdvisor after it was flooded with malicious one-star ratings.

Andrew Twentyman makes the best pizza in Leigh in Greater Manchester. But hes a working man who doesnt like Jeremy Corbyn. And for that he had to be destroyed

Disappointing food and toxic, rude and racist management was a typical example of the benign Lefts customer feedback.

Still, Andrew should at least be grateful hes not called Karen  the name thats become a patronising social-media term for middle-aged women unaware of their white privilege.

How can white women not be Karens? the BBC asked recently in its No Country For Young Women podcast. The answer  provided by the programmes guests  is apparently Educate yourself. Read some books, Dont be so loud, Accept whiteness is a privilege and Leave.

They might also have added  and dont be working-class and go for a drink, based on the evidence of another worrying development. Last weekend, Englands pubs finally opened their doors again.

One of the first people through them was a man called Jimmy who, according to the Manchester Evening News, had just come off a shift tarmacking the roads. His first drink in his local for three months was, he memorably announced, like an angel p***ing on the tip of his tongue.

No sooner had Jimmy downed his pint than the liberal Left pounced. He and his friends were accused of being arrogant and selfish, risking spreading a killer virus. He was branded an alcoholic.

How can white women not be Karens? the BBC asked recently in its No Country For Young Women podcast. The answer  provided by the programmes guests  is apparently Educate yourself. Read some books, Dont be so loud, Accept whiteness is a privilege and Leave

Didnt even need to look at the photo to know that all five men in it were identical-looking overweight skinheads. And a bonus point for each one who refers to his wife as the ball and chain  was one of the more polite social-media comments.

Last month a group of Labour MPs, led by Ed Miliband, published their report into the collapse of the partys Red Wall in the last Election. They identified a number of reasons. The toxicity of Corbyn. The chaotic position on Brexit. The Generation Game conveyor-belt of implausible promises that constituted Labours manifesto.

But they ignored another significant factor. The liberal Left now view white, British working men and women as their enemy. And they hate their enemy with a loathing that is visceral.

When I was going round the country during the Election, I quickly recognised this feeling was reciprocated. It was clear that working Britain was going to reject Corbynism decisively.

But I thought that once he and his tin-pot Marxist army were routed, a process of re-engagement would begin. Labour would instinctively reach out to its lost heartlands.

But its clear from the past week that it wont. It cant. Because its instinct is not to go near the working classes unless its with a barge-pole  one that only sees the light of day at Election time.

The Miliband report identifies  as previous navel-gazing exercises have done  what it coyly calls a steady realignment of our politics through long-term changes in the relationship between our party and voter coalition.

It then trots out the usual comfortable rationalisations  decline of party identity, demographic shifts, global trends.

What it doesnt say is what really lies at the heart of this steady realignment. Which is that Labour no longer represents the British white working class because it doesnt want to. This is not about taking the working classes for granted. Or apathy. Or neglect. Its the product of a conscious and vicious snobbery and antipathy.

Just look, for example, at Sir Keir Starmer and last weeks Black Lives Matter debacle.

The Labour leader instinctively sought to back the global anti-racism cause, but was wary of aligning too closely with Black Lives Matter the organisation. So he described what we are seeing around the world as a moment. He meant a historic moment, something that would outlive the latest media cycle. And his party turned on him for it.

Sir Keir  still fighting to define himself  was forced to issue an apology. He would be undergoing unconscious bias training, he announced. Every Labour member knows how such flip-flopping will play with the partys old white working-class base. But its metropolitan liberal shock troops dont care. They demand their pound of flesh anyway.

These are not aberrations. Weve had Emily Thornberrys denunciation of White Van Man. The revolving door of middle-class North London intellectuals that now constitutes a Labour leadership contest. Angela Rayner, Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy again being warned not to get ahead of themselves, and told to continue using the tradeswomans entrance.

What it doesnt say is what really lies at the heart of this steady realignment. Which is that Labour no longer represents the British white working class because it doesnt want to. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is pictured above

Which is basically what anyone with a working-class ethos  if not a working-class background  is told by the Peoples Party these days.

Where, among the new intake of Labour MPs, are the outspoken advocates of the traditional Blue Labour wing? Where, come to that, are the advocates of labour at all? Distaste for the workers is now in Labours DNA.

And one of the most grotesquely blatant examples has been the attempt to neuter and sideline the trade unions, and replace them with pliant political groupies from organisations such as Momentum and the Peoples Assembly.

As one trade union official said to me a few months ago: I never thought Id see the day when one of our members would stand up at Labour conference and plead for jobs to be a priority alongside the environment, and get booed.

Why wouldnt they be booed? They are the enemy now. Men and women who have been working all their lives and have the temerity to think they may have a more rounded grasp of life than the teenage Greta Thunberg. People who are grinding their way through the same type of dead-end job as their parents  if theyre lucky enough to have a job at all  but dont feel like waking up every morning and checking their white privilege. Or parents and grandparents who dare to suggest that politicians might actually prioritise their daily struggles over the plight of the Palestinians.

To his credit, Sir Keir and his team recognise all this. But recognition may well not be enough. If he still feels the need to take a knee to those in his party who despise  not dismiss, but actively disdain  working people, he has no chance of securing power. Last week we saw how much the liberal Left despise the British working class. It will take a major effort to convince them not to reply in kind in four years time.
Supporters of Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, and Magnus Abe, former senator from Rivers, on Saturday, clashed over a dire...





Supporters of Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, and Magnus Abe, former senator from Rivers, on Saturday, clashed over a directive for the closure of the All Progressives Congress (APC) secretariat in the state.





A faction of the state APC led by Igo Aguma, who is loyal to Abe, asked that all factional secretariats of the party in the state be shut down immediately.





Aguma was declared chairman of the partys caretaker committee, but he was later suspended from office by the Andrew Uchendu-led state executive committee (SEC) on the grounds that Aguma allegedly took critical decisions concerning the party without the committee members.





Uchendu, a former senator who represented Rivers east, said Sokonte Davis, former executive director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), had been appointed as new acting chairman.

In a statement by Livingston Nwechie, his media aide, Aguma, said he gave the directive after sending a situation report to the national caretaker committee (NCC) chairman of the party on the activities of the APC in the state.





He said his report proposed to the NCC the need to set up an independent committee to deal with the factionalisation of the party in the state with a view to bringing about peace and reconciliation among members.





He asked for the withdrawal of litigation challenging his chairmanship position in line with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari and the national leadership of the party to pave way for reconciliation in the party.





Aguma said the actions of Davies, who is leading another splinter group, is impeding on the reconciliation process which is inimical to the partys growth.





The issues of further litigations by some members are contrary to the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari that all Court cases instituted by members of the party be withdrawn to pave the way for peace and reconciliation, Aguma said.





It is an affront and highly rebellious for Sokonte Davies and his splinter group to continue to dare the Court, President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Caretaker Committee of the party by taking further divisive steps to destroy the APC in Rivers state.





The splinter group in Rivers APC, anchored by Mr Sokonte Davies, is strongly advised to immediately comply with the directive of the State Caretaker Committee of the party to shut down all factional secretariats in the state, including his own at 63 Aba Road, Port Harcourt.





Sokonte Davies is reminded along with his splinter group that their actions are not promoting peace and reconciliation efforts in the state chapter. The Court has taken a decision confirming myself as Acting Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the party in the state, and all statutory members constituting the Committee.





Reacting, Ogbonna Nwuke, acting publicity secretary of the state APC, believed to be loyal to Amaechi, said Aguma, having been suspended from the party, lacked the capacity to call for the closure of the secretariat of the state APC.





Igo Aguma, having been suspended by 28 out of 38 statutory members, has lost the right to make any comments concerning the activities of the APC, he said.








Elaine Duke, former secretary of homeland security during the summer of 2017, said President Donald Trump was interested in 'divesting' or 'selling' Puerto Rico as it struggled during Hurricane Maria.

Duke, who had been with the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense for 30 years, filled the role during John F. Kelly's transition to White House Chief of Staff in 2017.

She served in the role for four months before Kirstjen Nielsen was confirmed as Mr. Kelly's permanent successor.

The revelation was made by Elaine Duke, who took over the role during John F. Kelly's transition to White House Chief of Staff in 2017

'The president's initial ideas were more of as a businessman, you know,' she recalled of Trump's comments regarding Puerto Rico. 'Can we outsource the electricity? Can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?'

The former acting secretary of homeland security joins a growing list of former senior officials disgruntled by Trump's erratic nature when handling his presidency, the New York Times reports.

Duke was especially taken aback when the president made the suggestion to sell the island.

'The president's initial ideas were more of as a businessman, you know,' she recalled. 'Can we outsource the electricity? Can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?'

The lifelong Republican did add that Trump never seriously discussed selling Puerto Rico after that comment.

Duke fondly remembers passing out water to homeless people in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, following the aftermath of Hurricane Maria

Duke served in the administration as Hurricane Maria struck but also as the Trump administration imposed a travel ban on mostly Muslim countries and ended DACA.

While Duke was in favor of some of the president's measures to tighten immigration security, she expressed disappointment that Trump's message went from 'America First' to 'America Only.'

Duke fondly remembers passing out water to homeless people in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, following the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. But she was not thrilled by sentiments expressed by Trump and his aides.

As Hurricane Maria made its way toward Puerto Rico, Duke argued for an emergency declaration before it made landfall. But she said Mick Mulvaney, then the budget director, pushed back at the idea.

Acting Homeland Secretary Elaine Duke, center, is briefed on the Hurricane Maria response during a flight to Puerto Rico

'Quit being so emotional, Elaine, it's not about the people, it's about the money,' she said Mulvaney told her.

Mulvaney denied making the remarks.

'I never made such a remark,' he told the Times. 'My experience with the acting director was that she rarely got anything right at D.H.S. At least she's consistent.'

While she was happy the president would later express sympathy for Puerto Rico, she grew frustrated when Trump engaged in back and forth with local politicians from the island on Twitter.

It is estimated at least 2,975 people died on the island during Hurricane Maria, which caused the longest power outage in U.S. history on the island

'My thought process for both sides is all the negative energy is a distraction,' she said.

Duke felt that she was often outside the core group of White House advisers.

'There is a singular view that strength is mean,' she said, 'that any kind of ability to collaborate, or not be angry is a weakness.'

The former senior official is currently unclear on whether she plans on voting for Trump again.

'That's a really hard question,' she said. 'But given the choices, I don't know yet.'

It is estimated 2,975 people died in the storm that left the island without fresh, running water and no electricity in the longest power outage in U.S. history. However, controversy surround official tolls of the lives lost during the hurricane.
En momentos donde la salud es lo mas importante para el pais solo hay espacio para el dialogo y una agenda comun cuya prioridad es continuar salvando la vida de los peruanos y peruanas. Unidos somos mas fuertes contra el #COVID19.
New Delhi: Jaya Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aaradhya Bachchan have tested negative for coronavirus, Nanavati Hospital informed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials on Sunday morning. They had undergone tests on Saturday night after Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan were found to be positive for coronavirus. The father-son duo is currently admitted to Nanavati Hospital. They had informed people about the illness through their respective Twitter accounts.

T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 11, 2020

Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you.  Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

The BMC has been in touch and we are complying with them.  Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) July 11, 2020

Jaya, Aishwarya and Aaradhya were tested along with other staff members of the house. The trio's coronavirus antigen test came had come negative last night.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope told Zee News, "Only Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan's corona report has come as of now. Their family members, staff, drivers etc have been tested for the deadly virus at Nanavati Hospital and the reports are expected to come tomorrow (July 12)."

Meanwhile, as per the latest update by the hospital authorities, Big B is stable with mild symptoms. The 77-year-old star will post his health update twice a day via social media.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The fate of one of Alaskas most historic yet neglected structures could be decided Monday as city officials in Seward weigh whether to demolish a former Methodist boarding school where the Alaska territorial flag was first flown almost a century ago and where its Alaska Native designer lived.

Benny Benson was among the orphans and displaced children who lived at the Jesse Lee Home, many of whom were sent there after the Spanish flu devastated Alaska Native villages. Benson, a 13-year-old Aleut boy sent to the home after his mother died of the flu, won a territory-wide contest in 1927 to design the flag, which became the state flag after statehood was granted in 1959.

Benson is believed to be the only Indigenous person to design a state flag, said Dorene Lorenz, a former Seward City Council member who has been behind efforts to save the structure for years.

I dont understand why you would rush to destroy a landmark when theres obvious interested parties wanting to present to you other options, she said.

One such group, the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation, plans to make a last-ditch effort to save the structure by making a presentation during a public hearing before Mondays scheduled vote. If successful, they will bring together those with historic preservation expertise to formulate a plan.

We got a lot of people who are anxious to get working on this, the groups president, Trish Neal, said. And so I have no qualms that we cant pull this off. Its just we have to get the city council to back off and let us do this.

What to do with the site has been a source of contention since the home was heavily damaged in a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in 1964, the second most powerful ever recorded. One of the three main buildings was damaged and demolished after the quake. The boarding school was eventually moved to Anchorage, and the Seward site has sat unused since.

City officials said the home has deteriorated more in the last decade between engineering studies, but Neal offered another engineers report from this spring that concluded while there has been deterioration in the last seven years, restoration is a viable option, but must be done quickly.

Attempts by individuals and a group over the years to refurbish the home have sputtered and stalled. Seward Mayor Christy Terry said when the Friends of the Jesse Lee Home lost a multimillion-dollar state grant a few years ago, ownership reverted to the city. The Legislature allocated $1 million of that to the city.

We do not have the capacity right now to have an homage to a building thats so degraded because of the inaction, frankly, of a group that was their very last chance to make that happen, that the state funded incredibly well, Terry said. Something like that is never going to happen again.

She said there is no rush to demolish the site but the council has a June 30, 2021, deadline to use state funding.

For them to blame us for where we are now, they are sorely mistaken, she said. So people want to come in at the 13th hour. No one has a check. No one has any ideas about how that property can be operated or what to do with it.

If the council approves the demolition measure, the city would use the state money to remove hazardous materials like asbestos, demolish the remaining two buildings and haul the material away. The proposal also calls for building a memorial at the site.

That design would involve community input, Terry said, adding she has her own ideas on what a memorial would include.

She would like to salvage any usable beams and incorporate them into a pavilion that would include storyboards spelling out the homes place in Alaska history. The pavilion could be rented out, she said. Terry would also like to include a new playground at the site and close another nearby playground, turning that lot into single-family housing.

If the council doesnt vote for demolition, they will then later consider other options, including one that would begin refurbishing the buildings.

Retired Alaska State Historian Jo Antonson said the Jesse Lee Home was an important institution in state history, noting that the Army used the buildings during World War II and even camouflaged them using paint to protect them from the enemy.

Its just sort of disappointing that the city and the residents have never embraced trying to fix up the buildings that remain and find a good use for them, she said.
Registration for the Voters Identification Card at the Ewit Centre in the Ablekuma West Constituency is progressing smoothly after about a three-hour delay in configuring the Biometric Verification Device in sync with the Centres code.



Thus, the exercise, which was scheduled to begin at 0700 hours, commenced at 0945 hours.



The Registration Officer, Mr Ernest Okyere, explained that at the start of the exercise at any new registration centre the machines had to be configured to work with the new code.



However, it unfortunately, it took that long to have it working as expected because of network problems, he said.



Some applicants told the Ghana News Agency that they spent the night at the Centre to be able to register early enough only to encounter the problem.



The GNA observed that applicants were wearing face masks, with some carrying hand sanitisers.



There were also handwashing facilities with sanitisers available in line with the covid-19 prevention protocols, while the people adhered to the social distancing protocol.



In line with the ECs queue management system, applicants had been given number to guide their patronage, thereby preventing crowding and promoting order and peace.



There was also police presence to maintain peace.



However, at the Wonderful Healing Salvation Centre, the applicants were not observing the social distancing rule as many of them had thronged the place.



The hygiene protocols were, however, being complied with.



The EC on Tuesday, June 30, started the compilation of a new Voters Register for the 2020 General Election.



The 38-day exercise is being organised in phases of six-days at each of the more than 33,000 registration centres across the country.

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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A coronavirus research lab in Wuhan, the Chinese city where Covid-19 first emerged, will not be visited by World Health Organisation (WHO) investigators looking into the origins of the pandemic.

WHO is sending a mission to Wuhan, in Hubei province, but has said investigators will be there only to advance the understanding of animal hosts for Covid-19 and ascertain how the disease jumped between animals and humans. 

The statement appears to rule out a visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and suggests the body has already discounted the possibility the virus may have been cooked up or modified in the lab.

Bosses at WHO have also declined to provide details of places its investigators will inspect or the people they will meet  however, it is understood Chinese authorities will monitor and limit all movements.

It had previously emerged the lab had held a coronavirus sample that was 96.2 per cent the same as Covid-19 for almost a decade. This prompted speculation about the origin of the virus, despite scientists overwhelmingly believing the genetic code of the virus suggests it mutated naturally.

Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said: To have any value, an investigation must address the possibility the virus entered humans through a laboratory accident.

He added WHO should also consider if the viruss ability to infect humans was enhanced through laboratory manipulation.
YEREVAN.  At around 12:30pm on Sunday, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces attempted to violate the state border of the Republic of Armenia, in the direction of Tavush Province, and with an UAZ-model vehicle. Shushan Stepanyan, spokesperson for the defense minister of Armenia, wrote about this on her Facebook page.

"After the warning of the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani servicemen returned to their position, leaving the UAZ-model vehicle behind.

At 1:45pm, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces repeatedusing artillery firethe attempt to seize the border position of the Armenian Armed Forces, but were suppressed by the Armenian side and driven back, suffering casualties. There are no casualties on the Armenian side," she added.
New Delhi: Fear of deportation in the middle of a global crisis, unpaid loans, rising risk of COVID-19 infection, dropping out a semester and the possibility of never being able to return to campus are among the concerns of Indian students in the US after announcement of the new visa regulations.

In a move that is expected to adversely impact thousands of Indian students, the US immigration authority has announced that foreign students will have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only classes in this fall semester due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Johns Hopkins University have filed a lawsuit seeking to revoke the order, some universities, including Princeton University, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Cornell University have announced their support for the lawsuit.

India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla also raised the issue with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale during an online meeting earlier this week stating there is a need to keep in mind the role of educational exchanges and people-to-people relations between the two countries as they played a key role in development of the overall ties.

However, the students continue to be gripped with anxiety waiting for further updates.

"This will be a big blow to students who came to the US with long term plans. I stayed back in the country when the campuses shut in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. I did not want to travel as well as different time zones would have made it miserable to attend online classes. But suddenly my stay here is now legally invalid," Shobhna Mukherjee, a student at Duke University told PTI.

"What happens to the semester, what happens to the education loan, what happens to the work I was doing here at the university to aid my tuition fees? And most importantly if I am deported, will I ever be able to get back? There are no answers to these questions," she added.

A student at University of Illionis in Chicago, who refused to be identified said, "Nobody saw this coming. I was shocked to hear this, something which was not imagined in the wildest of our dreams. When one moves to a country it is never a short plan, it has been thought through before. With this, the plan I had in mind for the next five years will also go for a toss. It is a situation where I don't know what to fear about more -- disease or deportation."

"I arrived in Boston in January only. Right now my university is deciding to conduct classes in hybrid mode, which may be changed to completely online if the coronavirus cases rise further. What happens then? Will my stay here turn illegal?," Kosha Thakur, an Indian student in Boston, said.

Vatsala Thapar, who is pursuing a degree in Computer Science at University of South California, came back to India in March when the university suspended on-campus classes.

"Threatening to deport students while they are already living in the middle of a global crisis shows their hostility towards non-citizens. Many of those students do not have the means to travel back to their home countries and some stayed back only to secure their visa status. How does their staying in the US while studying at an American university and contributing to their economy affect anyone else?" Thapar said in a social media post.

Pallav Upadhyay, an Indian student in Atlanta said, "For universities operating in a hybrid system and holding some classes in person, international students who are enrolled in those are allowed back into the US. "

"However, if the status of those classes changes at any point, which is likely if cases rise on campus, we would be sent back. Alternately, if we choose to pursue classes online and the university switches to in-person teaching, we are expected to travel back to the US to preserve our student visas," he said.

According to a recent report of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), there were 1,94,556 Indian students enrolled in various academic institutions of the US in January this year. Of these 1,26,132 were males and 68,405 were females.

Universities in the US were forced to shift classes online in mid-March in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The country is the hardest hit by the pandemic with more than 3.3 million confirmed cases and 137,403 deaths.
Three Nigerians have been arrested by the police for cyber-related offences including advance fee fraud, money laundering and romance scam.

The police in. a statement today identified the suspects as Samson Inegbenesun, 30 years old, Blessed Junior, 32 years and Muhammed Zakari 36 years.

All were arrested in Uromi in Edo State by operatives of the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Unit, INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja.

The police said the suspects were arrested following investigations into suspected fraudulent online procurement and supply of COVID-19 protective mask, received through the INTERPOL NCB Wiesbaden, Germany.

Investigations revealed that Samson Inegbenosun is an internet fraudster and a member of a Turkey-based online scamming syndicate.

He supplies foreign and local bank accounts to receive fraudulent funds and use same as conduit to other feeder accounts.

The Police have recovered from him, a building worth N20m, a Toyota RAV-4 2015 model worth N6.5m and a Toyota Matrix 2002 model valued at N2m which he procured with the proceeds of the crime.

The second suspect, Blessed Junior, returned to Nigeria from Italy in February, 2020 but maintains close contacts and illicit dealings with his Italian associates.

Investigations revealed that he has made over N120m from internet fraud and other cybercrime dealings.

He also received the sum of 52,000 recently from his criminal associates in Italy as commission for his active involvement in an international cybercrime deal.

He also owns a filling station established with the proceeds of the crime.

Mohammed Zakari was the third suspect arrested.

The Police described him as an expert in internet fraud, identity theft and impersonation.

He falsely claims to be a British citizen.

He also poses to be one Kelly Galk on online dating apps which he uses to carry out romance scams and to defraud unsuspecting members of the public, locally and internationally.

He too has repeatedly made millions of naira from his illicit cybercrime transactions since he joined the syndicate.

The police said all the suspects will be charged to court on conclusion of investigation and prosecuted in line with the Cybercrime Prevention/Prohibition Act, 2015.
We know that the pandemic has demonstrated there are Red State and Blue State" governors. Red State want to open their economies as quickly as possible; Blue State want to wait. Folks, talk health safety if you want, but its political. The longer we wait, the more it hurts Trump!

There were good and bad pandemic governors." The stars were DeSantis of Fla. and Newsom of Calif. The worst, Whitmer of Mich., Cuomo of N.Y. and Wolf of Penn.

Ralph Northam has shown no leadership at all. Virginia ranks last in the country for COVID-19 testing capabilities. His homogenized treatment of a Recovery Plan is ludicrous, treating northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Richmond, the Piedmont, etc., all the same, without regard to infection rates, deaths, population density, etc., is no plan at all. I doubt Northam could find SWVA, even with a compass.

This pandemic was not the crisis opportunity Democrats had hoped for. Bad news reports, and disclosures, are normally overlooked or ignored, during crises. But not this time, people were confined, reading newspapers, and watching TV, eager for news. And much was revealed.

General Flynns case was dismissed by the DOJ. FBI documents released, with notes from agents involved, showed there was no real predicate (crime) involving Flynn, and revealed the FBI had used entrapment, to get him charged.

We also learned of the extensive, illegal unmasking of Trump associates, by the Obama Administration, who used phony FISA warrants to spy on them. The document also exposed the Obama officials involved  Biden, Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Rice, to name just a few.

Documents also revealed that the DNC server was never hacked by Russia. A big lie, used to justify the Russian/collusion hoax. The FBI was not allowed to inspect the server, but Crowdstrike did. Their President, under oath, admitted they never found evidence of Russia, or any outside source, hacking the server.

In November, Trump deserves another term, free from illegal acts of harassment. As VP, Biden knew from the start, that the collusion investigation was a hoax, attempting to remove POTUS. Trump built, and can rebuild the economy. After this pandemic, Democrat socialism could destroy America, and our Judeo-Christian values.

PHILLIP W. UNGER

DALEVILLE
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 16:05:48|Editor: huaxia

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KIGALI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A top Rwandan diplomat this weekend has appealed to Rwandan students in the United States to be prepared for uncertainty as the Trump administration announced its controversial visa policy for international students.

Foreign students currently in the United States on F-1 and M-1 visas "must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status," if their school's classes are entirely online in the fall semester, announced the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this week.

Rwandan Ambassador to the United States Mathilde Mukantabana has appealed to Rwandan students in the United States, who are in more than 200 institutions, to prepare themselves and act according to their school's policy, noting the possibility of them having to leave the nation, The New Times reported in its weekend edition.

According to The New Times, Rwandan students in the United States are concerned about their possible departure from the nation as well as the risks and costs of traveling. Enditem
Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a rally supporting police at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 in Northeast Philadelphia on Thursday. Read more

And I heard that just yesterday, Joe Biden said that well-armed police in his words become the enemy and he said that he would absolutely cut funding for law enforcement. Vice President Mike Pence, in a speech

Former Vice President Joe Biden has rejected the notion of defunding the police, but that hasnt stopped his critics from trying to pin the slogan on him.

A recent Trump campaign ad misrepresented Bidens stated position. And now a chorus of conservative voices is seizing on snippets of an interview as evidence that the former vice president does support defunding the police after all.

Vice President Mike Pence on July 9 visited the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 in Northeast Philadelphia for a Back the Blue rally with an audience of 300 police officers and their supporters. Pence recognized officers killed or injured in the line of duty and denounced calls to defund police departments across the country.

And I heard that, just yesterday, Joe Biden said that well-armed police in his words become the enemy and he said that he would absolutely cut funding for law enforcement, Pence said.

But Bidens actual comments didnt go as far as Pence claimed.

Biden said in the interview that he is open to shifting some federal police funds to other programs. Otherwise, he has proposed increasing federal funding for community policing, and has consistently called for linking federal law enforcement funding to policing reforms.

And while Biden did use the word "enemy" in his comments, Pence distorted what Biden actually said.

What Biden has said

Trump has falsely claimed that Biden wants to defund the police. That term isnt a precise concept. While some protesters seeking police reform want to eliminate police departments entirely, most public officials who have used the phrase want to revisit the functions of police departments and redirect some of their funding toward social services.

Biden has repeatedly stated his opposition to defunding the police.

I dont support defunding the police, Biden told CBS News in a clip aired June 8. I support conditioning federal aid to police, based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness  and, in fact, are able to demonstrate they can protect the community and everybody in the community.

 READ MORE: No, Trump didnt tell Americans infected with the coronavirus to drink bleach | PolitiFact

He repeated that stance in a June 10 op-ed in USA Today.

While I do not believe federal dollars should go to police departments violating peoples rights or turning to violence as the first resort, I do not support defunding police, Biden wrote. The better answer is to give police departments the resources they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms.

Biden has actually taken some heat from activists for his relatively moderate position on the issue. In June, more than 50 liberal groups signed a letter to Biden calling on him to support defunding police and criticizing his promise to add $300 million for community policing programs.

New interview

Pences statement followed a video interview Biden did with liberal activist Ady Barkan that posted July 8.

The Biden campaign told us that the video was edited before being shared online.

 READ MORE: Biden said Pa. sent more Black troops to fight for the Union during the Civil War than any other state. Is that true?

Barkan spent most of the 27-minute remote interview asking about health care. But about 20 minutes in, the discussion turned to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, both of whom were killed in encounters with police.

Alluding to demands made by Black Lives Matter, Barkan said deadly police encounters with citizens could be reduced if some police funding were redirected to social services, mental health counseling and affordable housing.

"Are you open to that kind of reform?" he asked.

Biden replied: "Yes. I proposed that kind of reform."

Biden said he has called for more mental health funding, as well as police reforms such as transparency in officer misconduct records. He did not speak directly about reducing police funding.

 READ MORE: No, Pa. Congressman Matt Cartwright did not call for defunding the police

Biden then talked about police using military equipment in their communities, which is where the "enemy" comment came up:

Surplus military equipment for law enforcement  they dont need that. The last thing you need is an up-armored Humvee coming into a neighborhood; its like the military invading. They dont know anybody; they become the enemy, theyre supposed to be protecting these people.

Barkan then interjected, asking: "But do we agree that we can redirect some of the funding?"

Biden replied: "Yes. Absolutely."

The Biden campaign gave PolitiFact an audio recording of that portion of the interview. After, "Yes. Absolutely," according to the recording, Biden said, "And by the way, not just redirect, condition them." He offered holding up federal law enforcement grants if agencies used no-knock warrants or did not eliminate choke holds.

So, Biden said he "absolutely" would shift some funds from police to other services, but he has also proposed adding funding for community policing.

Our ruling

Pence said Biden said that well-armed police in his words become the enemy and he said that he would absolutely cut funding for law enforcement.

Biden said police become the enemy when they use military equipment in a way thats like invading a neighborhood. That context is missing from Pences portrayal.

Biden also said he is open to redirecting some police funding to social services, but he has stated opposition to fully defunding the police. In fact, he has proposed more funding for community policing and using federal funding to incentivize police reform.

The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.

PolitiFact Pennsylvania reporter Jessica Calefati contributed to this report. PolitiFact is a nonpartisan, fact-checking website operated by the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
Naya Rivera's Glee co-star and close friend Heather Morris is asking if she can join the search for the actress, who went missing while boating with her son at Lake Piru on Wednesday.

Morris, 33, took to Twitter to reach out the the Ventura County Sheriff, telling them how friends of Naya are feeling 'powerless' and 'want to help in any way' possible.

'My name is Heather Morris, I'm Nayas close friend and co-worker, and I'm trying to conduct an on foot search and rescue mission along with a small group of friends at Lake Piru,' Morris wrote.

Part of the effort: Naya Rivera's Glee co-star and close friend Heather Morris is asking if she can join the search for the actress, who went missing on Wednesday

She made sure not to overstep, going on: 'I understand your team is doing EVERYTHING in their power, but we are feeling helpless, powerless and want to help in any way.

'I have left a message with the department of Rescue and Air today, and I will call again tomorrow. Thank you'

Heather and Naya became close while playing BFFs-turned-girlfriends Brittany and Santana on Glee.

Earlier in the week, Morris asked followers to pray for Rivera's safe return, taking to her Instagram Story to say: 'We need all the prayers we can to bring our Naya back home to us. We need your love and light.'

Update: On Saturday the Venture County Sheriff updated people on the search efforts

Asking: Morris, 33, took to Twitter to reach out the the Ventura County Sheriff, telling them how friends of Naya are feeling 'powerless' and 'want to help in any way' possible

Prayers: Earlier in the week, Morris asked followers to pray for Rivera's safe return, taking to her Instagram Story to say: 'We need all the prayers we can to bring our Naya back home to us. We need your love and light'

Yesterday was an emotional day for Rivera's family, who came together at Lake Piru to resume their search.

Ryan Dorsey, Naya's ex and father of son Josey, looked distraught as he processed the situation at her last known location. Also there were Rivera's parents.

'They're obviously devastated, grieving,' Sgt. Marta Bugarin, a public information officer with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said. 'Our goal is to try and bring some closure to the family today.'

The recovery operation has resumed today, Sunday.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office was assisted with their search efforts by members of the Tulare and San Luis Obispo sheriff's agencies as well as a private contractor, Bugarin said.

Footage has been released in the underwater hunt (pictured) for Rivera's body as authorities warn she could be found 'five minutes from now or five days from now'. Authorities point to a tree limb which looks like nothing more than a long dark shape given the water's poor visibility, highlighting the challenges divers are facing in the search

The search for the Glee star, 33, (pictured) entered its fourth day Saturday following her disappearance while out boating at Lake Piru in Ventura near Los Angeles with her 4-year-old son Josey

Ventura County Sheriff's Department shared footage of the 'difficult' search for the missing actress on Twitter Friday night, which has been hampered by the poor visibility of the lake's murky waters.

The video shows the images picked up around 30 feet below the surface of the water.

The lake itself is 1,200 acres and can reach depths of up to 130 feet.

In it, authorities point to a barely visible tree limb highlighting the challenges divers are facing in trying to find the missing mother-of-one.

'Here's an example of the underwater visibility at a 30-foot depth in Lake Piru,' the Sheriff's Department tweeted.

A second social media post shows footage of the a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) being lowered into Lake Piru and details that specialized equipment including sonar, divers and dogs have also been deployed in the hunt.

'Here's the ROV used by @TulareSheriff in the search for Naya Rivera at Lake Piru today,' the Sheriff's Department wrote.

The video shows the imagery picked up around 30 foot deep in the water

A second social media post shows footage of the ROV being lowered into Lake Piru

With almost zero visibility, human divers are resorting to searching by feel, meaning it could take several days before crews can locate her body, Eric Buschow, Ventura County Sheriff's Office spokesman said at a press conference Friday evening.

'We don't know if she's going to be found five minutes from now or five days from now, so we're still going to be continuing this effort,' he said. 'The visibility in the water is one to two feet,' Buschow added.

Buschow said 'promising' images had shown up on the sonar Thursday night but when the ROV was dropped into the water the objects turned out not to be Rivera's body.

'What they do is they go out and they tow these devices in the water that scan the bottom of the lake for any objects that might look like a body.

'Last night, they had a couple of images that showed up on the sonar that they thought might be promising to investigate,' he said.

Crew drop the ROV into the water in the hunt for the missing mother-of-one

'This morning, they sent an ROV, or a small robotic device, down into the water to examine those objects. Unfortunately, they did not locate Naya Rivera. They are still searching.'

Buschow admitted the conditions of the lake made the search 'difficult' but said he is confident Rivera's body will be recovered.

It could take several days before crews can locate her body, Eric Buschow, Ventura County Sheriff's Office spokesman said at a press conference Friday evening (pictured)

'It's very effective,' he said of the sonar system.

'They get a really detailed image and they can go down and focus on specific things rather than putting divers in the water where they're literally feeling around because they can't see.'

The search resumed at 6am Saturday morning, with authorities now focusing on the north and east sides of the lake, based on where the boat was found and the currents of the water.

A specially-trained dog is also being used in the search to sniff above the water's surface and alert handlers to a body beneath.

Authorities confirmed the mission had shifted to a recovery Thursday as hope of finding Rivera alive vanished.

The actress's distraught family said they just 'wish' she could be found so they could get some 'closure' over what is believed to have been a tragic drowning accident.

A man thought to be 65-year-old Arnold Dorsey, the father of Rivera's ex-husband Ryan Dorsey and the grandfather to Josey, told The Sun the whole family was 'sad' and were rallying around Rivera's son.

This diagram shows where Naya Rivera and her son rented a boat on Lake Piru before the four-year-old was seen alone. The map in the top left shows the location of the lake in relation to Los Angeles where Rivera lives

The actress's distraught family said they just 'wish' she could be found so they could get some 'closure' over what is believed to have been a tragic drowning accident. Rivera pictured with son Josey

A man thought to be 65-year-old Arnold Dorsey (pictured above with Josey), the father of Rivera's ex-husband Ryan Dorsey and the grandfather to Josey, told The Sun the whole family was 'sad' and were rallying around Rivera's son

'We are sad, we just wish they could find her so we can have some closure,' he said outside Rivera's mother Yolanda's home in Valencia.

He said Josey was having some 'good days' after the four-year-old's terrifying ordeal.

'We still have good days [with him], I can't make any other comment at this time.'

Josey was found asleep and alone on the rental boat Wednesday evening.

He told police his mother had 'jumped' into the water to go swimming and never came back, but police admitted it was 'challenging' to interview a four-year-old.

The lake was said to be a 'sanctuary' for Rivera and somewhere she had been going to for years.

However, the waters are also known for their rip currents and for being full of debris, and eight people have drowned there since 1994.

Authorities have said there is no evidence of foul play or suicide and that everything points to the young star accidentally drowning.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office released CCTV footage showing Naya Rivera and her four-year-old son arriving at the dock on Lake Piru on Wednesday
Czech Diplomat Sees Spat With China Through History's Lens

By Natalie Liu July 11, 2020

The Czech people, occupied by Germany during World War II and then forced into the Soviet bloc, are no strangers to foreign coercion. That may be a factor in the anger in Prague over what many there see as Beijing's heavy-handedness in dealing with their country.

In a series of conversations centered on history and identity, Zdenek Beranek, the second-highest official at the Czech Republic Embassy in Washington, told VOA that even though his government had made it clear "on multiple occasions" that mutually beneficial economic cooperation with China was very much welcome, "there is still room for improvement, to put it diplomatically."

"Personally, I do not believe that 'standing up to China' should be a goal, per se; quite the contrary, the unity of democratic countries is a precondition to balanced and mutually beneficial relations with China," he said.

A series of Chinese retaliatory actions prompted by Prague's friendly relationship with Taiwan appears to have alarmed the Czech society.

China has threatened action against Czech companies in China if Czech senate leaders go ahead with a visit to Taiwan. Last March, Taiwan's top diplomat in Prague was asked to leave a conference organized by the Czech Republic's Ministry of Trade and Industry in response to pressure from Beijing.

Orchestra trip scrapped

The dispute over Taiwan also prompted Beijing to cancel a long-planned 14-city tour of China by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, costing the orchestra tens of thousands of dollars.

Beranek, who describes himself as Czech by birth, European by heart, historian by training and diplomat by accident, relied on the latter skill as he discussed the issue.

He said he doubted his country was the only one "being sensitive to the sometimes combative rhetoric or coercive approach" from Beijing. But, he said, the "traumatizing experiences" of the past century may contribute to his country's aversion to that pressure.

Czechoslovakia, the predecessor of the Czech Republic, was invaded by Nazi Germany two decades after its founding at the end of World War I. After Adolf Hitler's defeat, it became a satellite of Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union.

The country's "postwar elites did little to resist Soviet Russia, wrongly believing that Stalin was someone they could have negotiated with," Beranek said.

Yet even under communist rule, the ideal of a "humanistic nation" that honors democracy and human rights had taken root, he said, as witnessed in 1968 by the so-called Prague Spring, an eight-month period of protest and democratic reform that eventually was brutally crushed.

Two decades later, the Soviet empire itself collapsed, democracy was reintroduced and the people of Czechoslovakia  Czechs and Slovaks  peacefully divided themselves into two independent nations.

Cooperation 'essential'

Beranek's training as historian keeps these events fresh in his mind. But when asked how that training has shaped his career in diplomacy, Beranek said, "It's the other way around," meaning that his diplomatic work has enabled him to see historical events with a clearer lens.

As a historian, he also appreciates having a front-row seat as modern-day history unfolds. But he is not happy about everything he sees.

"It's clear that all democratic countries are facing unprecedented challenges; ever closer cooperation is essential," he said.

Such challenges have led his country to form closer ties with democratic nations far from Europe, he added, including Australia.

Beranek identifies his country's strategic decision to reintegrate with the West, including through memberships in both NATO and the EU, as crucial.

"However, the upcoming era of global power competition will be yet another thorough test of our ability to make strategic decisions," he said.

He hopes that his countrymen will always bear in mind what their founding fathers had envisioned for their homeland: that efforts devoted to democracy and human rights outside their own boundaries will ultimately contribute to shaping an international environment "conducive to our own freedom and prosperity."

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Robin Swann has urged the public to show 'patience' as the health service in Northern Ireland begins to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis.

The Health Minister unveiled plans to restart vital cancer services, paediatric services, as well as mental health and addiction services.

The initial three-month plans depend on there being no resurgence of the coronavirus.

"Covid-19 is still with us and will continue to impact on the extent to which and how we deliver health and social care services," the Minister said.

"We need to increase the services as soon as possible and at the same time prepare for potential future surges.

"We need to be able to maintain social distancing while delivering for the many citizens who are waiting on a procedure or a diagnosis.

"I do not underestimate the challenge ahead and there will be a need to prioritise services given the significant constraints that our health and social care services continue to face.

"The public support throughout the pandemic has given strength to all of our health and social care staff."

Mr Swann said the Covid-19 emergency was the most challenging period ever encountered by the sector.

"I would urge the public to continue supporting our health and social care staff and show patience during this rebuilding phase."

The plans include exploring the feasibility of reopening the Downe Hospital Emergency Department - the first phase being the provision of a Minor Injuries Service. Paediatric triage is also earmarked to return to the main emergency department at Craigavon Area Hospital.
From 2016 to 2018, I was the C.I.A.s chief for counterterrorism in south and southwest Asia, overseeing operations and intelligence concerning Afghanistan, which included related activities of regional actors, like Russia.

Bounty is not a term intelligence professionals would likely use. Intelligence reporting requires precision in language to guard against the risk of misunderstanding or misinterpretation, and bounty lacks specificity in meaning, purpose and consequence. Intelligence professionals speak with dry, clinical facts and assessments that are not confirmed or verified, but rather corroborated to various degrees of confidence.

The goal is to provide the president with information on developments that may significantly affect U.S. interests. With this information, the president and his team can take any necessary action against potential threats. The government cant wait for complete certainty; by then it would be too late to do anything about it.

It can therefore be semantically true that the president never received a briefing on Russian bounties  that specific word may not have been uttered. But the White House does not deny news reports that the Presidents Daily Brief on Feb. 27 included information from our intelligence agencies in clinical terms that Russians were offering financial incentives to encourage Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition troops.

Now, the Russians would not provide the Taliban blank checks. The continuation and expansion of their assistance would have required that the Taliban provide evidence  videos proving that they used Russian arms and financing to attack U.S. and coalition targets. Intelligence services use this common practice to verify the investments in proxy groups, as well as to make sure they are productive and aligned with their goals. Even the Russian military intelligence agency, widely known as the G.R.U., has auditors who need to ensure that funds expensed are used as intended.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has maintained that it has no role in trying to topple the Gehlot government in Rajasthan and the allegations made by the chief minister are an attempt to deflect from the partys own failings.

No meetings have taken place between Sachin Pilot and the BJP leadership. Everyone knows there are problems between the CM and the deputy CM, but they are trying to pin the blame on the BJP, said a party leader in Delhi. Several other party leaders also asserted that the BJP is not engineering any defections.

On whether the party will stake claim to forming the government if a faction of Congress MLAs does break away, a second leader said, The outcome will depend on what decision the Congress high command takes. The BJP will only take whatever decisions are required once there is a decision from the Congress side.

Also read: Before the crisis, Sachin Pilot met Ahmad Patel

There has been speculation that deputy chief minister Pilot, along with 25 other MLAs, will either join the BJP or float his own party that could seek support from the BJP. In the 200-member state assembly, the BJP has 72 MLAs and the half-way mark is 101. The Congress has 107 MLAs and also enjoys support from 12 independents and five from other parties.

The numbers are critical. The BJP is confident that if a re-election happens in the state it will win with a comfortable majority. However, those who will join and seek re-election have to be equally confident of retaining their seats, said the second functionary.

A central Congress leader who reached out to Pilot said that he has not been taking their calls.

A Rajasthan based leader said the party is also wary of having a situation similar to Madhya Pradesh, where internal bickering has intensified after the CM Shivraj Singh government accommodated Congress rebels in his cabinet.

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Torgbui Amenya Fiti V, Paramount Chief of Aflao Traditional Area in the Ketu South Municipality has said majority of Ghanaians did not understand the make-up of Aflao and Ketu South in general, which explained the name tag on its people as foreigners.



He said Aflao is the second most populous town in terms of population after Ho in the entire Volta Region as it attracted people of different ethnic backgrounds to settle in the town and satellite communities for trade purposes.



"Because of the border, the busiest in the country and which gives direct access to Lome, the capital city of the Republic of Togo, the large numbers must be expected.



Torgbui Fiti, who was speaking on Saturday when the Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Mahama and his delegation paid a courtesy call on him at his palace, said the over 70,000 population of Aflao was real and a bargaining power of the people for development.



The Paramount Chief, who likened the numbers in Aflao to a beautiful daughter explained that the area had multi-ethnic settlers including Muslims, whose tradition allowed them to marry about four women, thus, increasing their numbers.



"To counter any future challenge of indigenes being overtaken, he encouraged his subjects to forgo Christian marriage for the traditional ones to catch up."



Let our number be our bargaining power for the political parties to pursue. Even if the people of Aflao dont have anything to offer Ghana at all, we have the power and its our numbers. But again, we have the border, the third in line after Tema Harbour and Kotoka International Airport in terms of revenue generation in the country and so, I wont forgive any government that wont take care of my people.



Mr John Dramani Mahama, former President and Flagbearer of the NDC, said many Ghanaians kept mistaking Ketu South Municipality with a population of 160,756 according to the 2010 population and Housing Census and projected to be 202,614 by 2020, to be just the Aflao area noting, Ketu South is not Aflao.



He said the next Mahama Government would consider dividing Ketu South currently having three traditional areas, Klikor Traditional Area, Somey Traditional Area and Aflao Traditional Area into three distinct administrative districts.

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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Nigeria imported its second-largest volume of maize in a decade in 2019, maintaining the same level it recorded the previous year, despite calls by farmers for a restriction on the importation of the cereal, data analysed by PREMIUM TIMES show. Data obtained from the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that Nigeria imported 400,000 tons of maize in 2019 as it did in 2018. That figure, recorded separately in both years, is the second-highest maize import volume for the country since 2009. The highest was recorded in 2016 when 650,000 tons of maize was imported by the country. Since its introduction to Africa in the 1500s, maize has become one of Africas dominant food crops. Nigeria is Africas top producer of maize, followed by Tanzania, according to the International Insitute for Tropical Agriculture. But the country is also a leading importer as demand for animal feed grows in the country. Nigerias annual need for maize is estimated at 15 million metric tons while the countrys local production is 10.5million tons. Data to show maize importation in Nigeria in the last 10 years



For years, maize farmers have complained that they have the capacity to meet the countrys annual demand of maize both for human consumption and animal feeds.

The farmers have accused the government of refusing to ban maize importation as it has done with rice.

Edwin Uche, is the national chairman of Maize Growers and Processors Association of Nigeria (MAGPAN), told PREMIUM TIMES that maize farmers in Nigeria can produce enough maize needed in the country if the government supports them with more incentives.

We are capable of producing the needed quantity of maize in the country if the government can place a ban on maize importation and provide us with the necessary incentives such as financial aids, loans, fertilizer among others, Uche said.

In 2019, Nigeria was the third largest maize importer in Africa, behind Zimbabwe and Kenya which imported 1 million tones and 900,000 tons respectively.

Data showing 2019 importation rate in some African countries



According to Abraham Godson, a former research supervisor at IITA, Ibadan, continuous importation of agricultural commodities like maize can weaken the countrys economy.

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It is sad that we still import many of the agricultural produce that we produce locally. This leads to the continued depreciation of the naira and in turn weakening of the economy and our international purchasing power. More efforts should be made at changing our economy and especially the agricultural sector from a consumption-oriented to export-oriented, Mr Godson said.

A new strategic policy is urgently needed to reverse this trend. It should be geared towards modernizing agriculture through supply of agricultural machinery to farmers, improved seeds, agrochemicals to farmers, and a nationwide capacity building and training for those involved in agriculture, he added.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on June 23 during the flag-off of 2020 wet season maize farming in Delta State expressed its readiness to support about 200,000 maize farmers across the country to boost maize production in Nigeria.

The plan, according to CBN, is to support maize farmers with 166,000 farming inputs that will lead to the production of a minimum of 4 tons of maize in a hectare of land.

CBN said it would do more next season if farmers deliver.

Like the anchor borrowers programme that was set up to support farmers, we are excited about it and we are doing well with the support of the scheme. If more of such can be created for farmers, our production level will increase and it will create employment in the sector as well as boosting food sufficiency, Mr Uche of MAGBAN said.
US energy upstart Tellurian has failed to qualify in a tender for supply of competitively priced gas to India just as its USD 2.5 billion tentative stake sale deal with Petronet LNG Ltd expired, officials said.

Petronet, India's biggest gas importer, had on September 21, 2019, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for purchase of up to 5 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Tellurian Inc's proposed Driftwood LNG terminal for 40 years. The deal was concurrent with Petronet making an equity investment of USD 2.5 billion for an 18 per cent stake in Driftwood.

The September MoU contemplated conclusion of the transaction by March 31, 2020, but the timeline was extended to May 31, 2020 after Petronet promoters questioned the rationale of making an equity investment at a time when gas was so abundantly available the world over, three officials involved in the negotiations said.

They also questioned locking in such large volumes from one supplier for a 40-year period at a time when global rates were falling due to glut in the market.

To satisfy promoters as well as test if LNG from Tellurian would be competitive, Petronet invited bids to buy 1 million tonnes per annum of LNG for 10 years. Suppliers were asked to quote a price lower than 30 cents minus Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) LNG price, which effectively brought the rate close to spot or current prices.

Tellurian was among the 13 suppliers that quoted in the Petronet tender but was not shortlisted, officials said.

"Only two companies have been qualified for the tender. Tellurian is not one of them," an official said.

In the meanwhile, the USD 2.5 billion deal MoU, which was non-binding, expired on May 31.

"There was a talk of extending it but it hasn't been extended so far," another official said.

Petronet's head of finance Vinod Kumar Mishra had in an investor call post announcing FY20 earnings on June 30 stated that the Tellurian deal has expired.

Its CEO Prabhat Singh on the same day in a media call had stated that the company was close to finalising a deal to import at least 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG with prices near the spot market levels.

LNG prices under Petronet's current long-term deals with Qatar and Australia stand at about USD 3.5-4.5 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) compared to a spot price of about USD 2/mmBtu, Singh had said, adding discussions with Tellurian were continuing.

"Non-binding MoUs are like immortals," he had said. "Have you watched (Hindi movie) 'Anand'? There is a dialogue (in the movie) that Anand never dies. Non-binding MoUs too are like that. And in today's date, we also have to explore possibilities. So we are continuing to explore the possibilities of getting cheaper and cheaper gas."

While Singh did not answer calls made for comments, Tellurian did not reply to an e-mail on the matter.

Officials privy to board deliberations said Petronet promoters, including state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd, refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) were not in favour of locking imports for 40 years together with an equity investment in the LNG terminal of Tellurian.

The company, they said, did not need board approval for signing a non-binding MoU but if the deal was to be finalised it had to be approved by the board.

Hoping the repeat his success at Cheniere Energy -- the US liquefied natural gas pioneer -- energy tycoon Charif Souki launched Tellurian four years ago but the 27.6 mtpa plant, costing USD 30 billion, remains unbuilt years after construction was due to begin.

The LNG market has been pummelled as the coronavirus pandemic has sapped demand.

Tellurian would have been the first long-term LNG import contract signed since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014. All the previous deals -- 7.5 mtpa with Qatar, 1.44 mtpa with Australia, 2.5 mtpa with Russia and 5.8 mtpa with the US -- were signed during the Congress-led UPA regime.

Officials said India is looking at reopening pricing of previously entered LNG import deals with the US as well as seeking a second price renegotiation for the Qatar deal to align them with the slump in gas prices seen in the spot market.

On June 30, Singh had said, "We are now in a position to come to a stage where very quickly we will be coming to the nation with virtually spot pricing for a long-term deal." He had, however, refused to give details.
At 'wartime speed', China now leads in vaccine race

PLA Daily

Source: China Daily

Editor: Chen Lufan

2020-07-11 21:51:43

SEOUL/SINGAPORE -- China is forging ahead in the race to develop a vaccine to help control the COVID-19 pandemic, with Sinovac Biotech's experimental vaccine set to become the country's second and the world's third to enter final stage testing later this month, Reuters reported.

It has brought the state and private sectors together in a quest to combat a disease that has infected more than 11,874,000 people worldwide and killed more than 545,000 of them.

Meanwhile, many other countries, including the United States, are coordinating closely with the private sector to try to win the vaccine development race, and China faces many challenges.

In China, an entity, for example, completed two vaccine plants at what it called the "wartime speed" of a couple of months, while some researchers of state-owned enterprises and the military have volunteered to take experimental shots.

The People's Liberation Army's medical research unit, which has been a driving force in China's efforts to fight infectious diseases, is also working with private firms including CanSino to develop vaccines.

Challenging the West's traditional dominance of the industry, China is behind eight of the 19 vaccine candidates in human trials, with Sinovac's experimental shot and one jointly developed by CanSino and the military among the front-runners.

It is also focused mainly on inactivated vaccine technologya technology that is well known and has been used to make vaccines against diseases such as influenza and measlessomething which could raise the chances of success.

"It's a tried and true strategy," said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, about inactivated vaccine technology.

"If I had to pick a vaccine that I think would be the most likely to be safe and effective, it would be that one," he said. Offit is also co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, manufactured by Merck& Co.

By contrast, Western companies such as US-based Moderna and Germany's CureVac and BioNTech are using a new technology called messenger RNA that has never before yielded a product approved by regulators.

Four of the Chinese candidates in human trials are inactivated vaccines, including Sinovac's and two vaccines from China National Biotec Group, or CNBG, a unit of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group, or Sinopharm.

Phase III trials

There are only two experimental COVID-19 vaccines in final Phase III trialsone from Sinopharm and another from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Sinovac's is set to become the third later this month.

To speed up the process, Sinopharm and Sinovac combined Phase I and Phase II trials for their vaccine candidates.

For CanSino's experimental vaccine, the PLA research institute played an important role, with the two working on a method using an adenovirusa similar approach to AstraZeneca's.

The PLA has its own approval process for "military specifically-needed drugs", and approved the military use of the candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino last month.

Chen Wei, the PLA's lead scientist who has been the face of its vaccine development effort, was among the first to take the experimental COVID-19 shot developed by her team, as well as its potential SARS treatment years before, according to state media.

China has challenges, though, as the epidemic has petered out in the country, hampering efforts to conduct large trials.

It has since shifted its focus overseas, and a handful of countries have shown willingness to collaboratethe United Arab Emirates, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico.

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Kamaru Usman defeated Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision to retain the welterweight title at UFC 251 Saturday night.

It wasn't the prettiest fight. Usman and Masvidal wrestled at the sides of the Octagon for a majority of the fight. Masvidal was struck by Usman's shoulder, stomped at his feet, and received hard punches to the body.

Fox News noted that Masvidal looked like he had some excellent strikes for the first two rounds, but Usman gained control for the rest of the fight.

ESPN reported that Usman, who had gotten an opponent on a week's notice, made his strategy clear: grind and wear out his opponent. It worked, and it appeared like Masvidal was trying to end things early.

The unanimous win (50-45, 50-45, 49-46) let Usman retain his run through the Octagon. He has not lost since his second pro bout in 2013, and this was his second title defense.

It was the main event matchup, and it took place at Flash Forum in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, MMA Junkie reported. The report also listed reactions on Twitter that called the match 'boring'.

It was Masvidal's first time on a title fight and his first loss since the year 2017.

Usman vs. Masvidal came together in about a week only.

The match was set only in the past eight days. Gilbert Burns, Usman's scheduled opponent, tested positive for the coronavirus on July 3, just as he was about to leave for Abu Dhabi.

UFC came to terms with Masvidal over the Fourth of July weekend. Masvidal refused the offer for the fight six weeks ago, but he was placed into the fight as a late replacement.

Despite the short notice, Masvidal secured a contract that was to his liking.

Usman called Masvidal the "biggest, baddest dude out there right now" when he talked to UFC play-by-play announcer Jon Anik.

He told Anik that he had to "switch gears" when his supposed opponent was replaced. "I had to make a mental shift. I trained for Gilbert. I had a completely different game plan," he said.

The two MMA fighters have been feuding for quite some time. They nearly came to blows in a Miami Super Bowl week early this year.

What comes next for Usman?

In a post-fight news conference, UFC president Dana White said Burns would be the next one for Usman. He thinks the fight between Burns and Usman will be "a really, really good fight."

Usman won 12 straight wins, making him tie with the lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for having the longest active winning streak in UFC. The number is also tied with Georges St-Pierre's winning streak in UFC welterweight history.

The Flash Forum was branded the "Fight Island" for the month-long series of events. It is inside a "safe zone," where only those who have been tested of COVID-19 multiple times can be allowed in.

The people tested include the UFC fighters, their corner people, staff, and local workers.

Want to read more? Check these out!
When Peggy Weber retired after working for 32 years in communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield and began thinking about writing another book, she pondered different topics and ideas. But the idea of being enough kept coming back to her.

It was clear to me one Good Friday that I often did not feel holy enough, the East Longmeadow writer said. And as I listened to so many people, they often worried if they were doing enough for their families or achieving enough at work. And as I read about the angst of so many young people, I realized that this is a message that is needed badly in our world.

From this thought process came her award-winning book, Enough as You Are, published by Loyola Press.

The Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada awarded the book first place in the Family Life category and second place in the Self-Help category. The awards were announced virtually on July 2.

I was thrilled to have my book recognized with these honors, said the member of Springfields Cathedral High School Class of 1972 who earned a bachelors degree in English from Providence College in 1976 and a masters in journalism from Marquette University in 1980. Its nice to have the affirmation of my fellow journalists and writers. I loved writing this book and think the message is so important. I hope that more people will become aware of it and take it to heart.

Webers book was praised by the judge in the Family Life category: Enough as You Are is the perfect description of what this book conveys to the reader. Peggy Weber has a comfortable writing style, with memorable key points and prayers throughout the book.

In the book, Weber stresses that the reader is smart enough, good-looking enough, good enough, just as God made him/her and that when persons are at their worst or their best, they are loved because God loves them.

During her tenure with the Springfield Diocese, Weber served as a print and television reporter, columnist, social media editor and associate producer for Chalice of Salvation.

She self-published Weaving a Family in 1996 and has written several booklets for Bayard/Twenty-Third Publications including Pope Francis: Devoted to Mary.

Her column and some of her feature stories have received Catholic Press Association awards in the past.

She still writes the Parish Angel feature for the Catholic Mirror, the magazine of the Diocese of Springfield.

I love being a reporter, Weber said. It is a challenge and a blessing to be able to write. I like sharing information and passing on stories. I have been inside cloisters, traveled to Ellis Island and Fenway Park. I have met Mother Teresa. But I really love meeting regular people like myself and learning about them and why they love God and the Catholic faith.

To be able to combine her love of writing with her faith is special to her: My work always had so much meaning. It deepened my faith. I know the church is not perfect. However, I know that it is a place that helps, heals and creates community. I am so glad that my parents passed along the faith to me. I hope my book makes someone look at their faith with understanding and welcoming eyes.

Married with three adult children and nine grandchildren, Weber focuses on her family and hopes to write a few essays and has revived her blog. Mostly, I am trying to appreciate every day of life, she said.

The awards for her book are important to her because they provide affirmation. People have even asked me if my book was succeeding or if sales were good. I have told them that if just one person loved it and took the message to heart, then I would be glad, she said.

She has heard from people who said they really liked the book. But one day, she opened an e-mail from a woman in Maryland who said it seemed the book was written for her. The woman and a group of her friends have a book club, and Weber met with them via Facetime. I felt so welcome and at home, she said. Not all of the members of the group were Catholic but all loved the message. It was a great experience, and it was a great award for my book as well.

To read more about Peggy Weber, visit spunfromtheweb.wordpress.com.
Sudan is to allow non-Muslims to drink alcohol for the first time in decades and has scrapped laws that had made leaving Islam potentially punishable by death, the justice minister said.

The raft of amendments comes a year after Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir was toppled following mass protests against his three-decade rule.

Sudan now "allows non-Muslims to consume alcohol on the condition it doesn't disturb the peace and they don't do so in public," Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari said in an interview Saturday evening on state television.

While Islamic tradition forbids the faithful from drinking, Muslim-majority Sudan has a significant Christian minority.

Abdulbari, part of an transitional government that took power after Bashir's ouster, also announced that converting from Islam to another religion would be decriminalised.

"No one has the right to accuse any person or group of being an infidel... this threatens the safety and security of society and leads to revenge killings," he said.

Many Muslim-majority countries apply Islamic laws making leaving the faith punishable by death.

Bashir, who had enforced such rules after coming to power in an Islamist-backed 1989 coup, was toppled by the army following mass protests over the country's worsening economic crisis.

Sudan's transitional government, installed under a deal between protest leaders and the generals who took charge after Bashir's ouster, has pursued a string of reforms including on Friday criminalising female genital mutilation.

A constitution adopted for the three-year transition period omits mention of Islam as a defining characteristic of the state.

Official figures say Christians represent only three percent of Sudan's 40 million inhabitants, although Christian leaders say the real figure is much higher.

Human rights groups regularly condemned the toppled autocrat's treatment of non-Muslims, especially the Christian minority.

Copts, Catholics, Anglicans and a number of other denominations are present in the country but Bashir's Islamist regime had driven many of them underground.

In 2014 a Sudanese woman was sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity, triggering an international outcry.

Her conviction was later quashed after a global campaign to free her, and she escaped to the United States.
South Africa: Level 3 remains with tighter regulations

While the country will remain on lockdown level 3 amid a rapid rise in COVID-19 infections, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced drastic measures in an effort to preserve lives and limit the rise in infections.

Addressing the country on Sunday night, the President said while the country will remain on lockdown level 3, certain regulations were being reintroduced with immediate effect while others were being tightened.

By Sunday, South Africa had 276 242 confirmed cases, of which 4 079 had resulted in related deaths.

We are now recording over 12 000 new cases every day. That is the equivalent of 500 new infections every hour, he said.

Regulations reintroduced with immediate effect

Among these is a re-ban on the sale, dispensing and distribution of alcohol as well as the reintroduction of a curfew between 9pm and 4am. While interprovincial taxi capacity will remain at 70%, local taxis will now be able to ferry 100% loads. However, operators will be expected to follow new risk mitigation protocols related to masks, vehicle sanitising and open windows.

Regulations on the wearing of masks, which has been mandatory, will be strengthened.

As we head towards the peak of infections, it is vital that we do not burden our clinics and hospitals with alcohol-related injuries that could have been avoided. This is a fight to save every life, and we need to save every bed, he said.

In this regard, the President said employers, shop owners and managers, public transport operators, and managers and owners of any other public building are now legally obliged to ensure that anyone entering their premises or vehicle must be wearing a mask.

All workplaces and all institutions need to ensure that there is a designated Coronavirus official responsible for making sure that all regulations and all precautions are strictly adhered to, he said.

He said Cabinet has resorted to this measure in an effort to conserve hospital capacity as evidence had illustrated that the resumption of alcohol sales has resulted in a substantial pressure on the countrys hospitals.

Most of these and other trauma injuries occur at night, the President said.

Cabinet has resorted to these as both public and private hospitals were beginning to take strain.

The President expressed concern at reports of infected people being turned away from health facilities due to a lack of beds or essential supplies.

This is deeply worrying. It means we have to move with even greater urgency to strengthen our strategy to manage the peak of infections.

Ease some restrictions

At the same time, the President said government has decided to ease restrictions on activities that pose a lower risk of infection and are important for economic or educational purposes.

As part of resuming economic activity, all auctions will be permitted subject to protocols similar to those that currently apply to agricultural auctions.

Parks will be open for exercise, but not for any form of gathering, he said.

Family visits still restricted

After careful consideration of expert advice, the President said there are still some activities that present too much of a risk to permit at this stage.

For this reason, family visits and other social activities will unfortunately not be allowed for now.

I know that this places a great burden on families and individuals and can cause great emotional strain, especially for those with elderly parents.

It goes against our very nature as social beings, but it is a hardship that we must endure for that much longer to protect those we love and care for from this disease, President Ramaphosa said.

Priority actions

In the coming weeks, he said, government will be focusing on a number of priority actions.

Across all provinces, we are working to further increase the number of general ward and critical beds available for COVID-19 patients. This must be done, the President said.

Already, ward capacity is being freed up in several hospitals by delaying non-urgent care, the conversion of some areas of hospitals into additional ward space and the erection or expansion of field hospitals.

We are working to increase supplies of oxygen, ventilators and other equipment for those who will need critical care, including by diverting the supply of oxygen from other purposes.

Due to the lack of critical care facilities in rural areas, measures are being put in place to refer patients to better-equipped urban centres, he said.

To deal with shortages of health personnel, government is employing more doctors and nurses and negotiating with health science faculties to deploy volunteers to provide medical, nursing, physiotherapy, pharmacy and general patient support.

Current projections

According to current projections, each province will reach the peak of infections at different times between the end of July and late September.

Yet, while infections rise exponentially, it is important to note that our case fatality rate of 1.5% is among the lowest in the world. This is compared to a global average case fatality rate of 4.4%, he said.

Scientists and other scenario planners project that South Africa may have between 40 000 and 50 000 deaths before the end of this year.

Around 132 000 infections have already recovered in the country.

Disregarding seriousness of COVID-19

During his address, the President decried sections of society for disregarding the seriousness of the virus, with many embarking on drinking sprees and not observing social distancing and hygiene protocols.

Funerals, he said, were also proving to be a nightmare.

There are some of our people who see no problem attending funerals where the number of people in attendance exceed the number of 50 that has been set out in regulations.

In some cases some people go to funerals where more than 1 000 people are in attendance, he said.

South Africans, he said, must prove these projections wrong.

Through our own actions  as individuals, as families, as communities  we can and we must change the course of this pandemic in our country. We are by now all familiar with what we need to do to protect ourselves and others from infection, said the President.

Measures in place

The country has to date conducted two million tests and 20 million screenings. In the past three months, 28 000 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients have been availed, while functional field hospitals across the country have also been constructed.

We now have over 37 000 quarantine beds in private and public facilities across the country, ready to isolate those who cannot do so at home. We have secured 1 700 additional ventilators, and companies in South Africa are in the process of producing another 12 000 ventilation devices for delivery between the end of July and the end of August.

While thousands of healthcare professionals had been recruited during the pandemic, the President said there was still a 12 000 health worker shortage, mostly nurses, doctors and physiotherapists.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-07-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Plasma therapy to treat Covid-19 patients was proving to be a successful method that the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy had ordered for it to be taken up in a big way since there had been no drug of choice to treat the disease, State Health Minister C Vijaybaskar said on Friday.

The government had obtained necessary permission from Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and Central Drug Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) for the conducting the experiments in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, which 20 patients were given the treatment and 18 of them were cured, the Minister said.

He called for plasma donors to come forward to help those who had been suffering from the disease and added that a plasma bank was being set up at the RGGGH at a cost of Rs 2 crore, which would be the second biggest in India.

Meanwhile, the Central team of experts who were on a three-day visit of Tamil Nadu, would up its proceedings and left for Delhi after holding discussions with the Ministers, officials and experts.

The total number of new cases in the State came down to 3680 on Friday with Chennai recording 1205 new cases and 27 deaths. The State-wide death figure was 64 with the districts registering more number of fresh cases: Thiruvallur 219, Thoothukudi 195, Madurai 192, Tirunelveli 145, Virudhunagar 143, Vellore 140, Salem 127, Tiruchi 109 and Kanyakumari 105.

In Chennai, Corporation sources said that the infection rate in North Chennai had been brought under control and more cases were now being detected in Central and South Chennai.

State Cooperative Minister Sellur K Raju was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai as he test positive for Coronavirus. Among those who tweeted to wish him a speedy recovery were Edappadi K Palanisamy, Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam and Leader of the Opposition M K Stalin.

As a precautionary measure, the government had decided to disinfect the entire Secretariat premises by totally closing it down on Saturday and Sunday. Even on closed holidays, certain staff would visit their offices in the Secretariat, which now had been banned.

Also the government has revamped the top officers of the Field Support Team that ensures management of the containment zones, contact tracing, testing and quarantine in Chennai and the surrounding districts. Among the top officers who would not be in-charge of the four major zones are Kapilkumar C Saratkar (north), K Bhuvaneswari (east), N Baskaran (south) and M T Ganesamoorthy (west).
Dhaka, July 12 : More than a dozen Bangladeshi health workers have been arrested on charges of selling thousands of fake Covid-19 certificates, officials confirmed on Sunday, as the country reels under a surge in the number of coronavirus cases.

The police have arrested Sabrina Chowdhury, JKG Healthcare chairman and physician of the National Heart Institute of Bangladesh, over charges of conducting fraudulent corona test.

The names of Sabrina and her husband Arif Chowdhury came to the light following a recent investigation into the JKG Healthcare, which has allegedly swindled 7.70 crore Bangladeshi Taka by conducting false corona tests.

The scandal came to light after a Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) raid on Regent Hospital in Dhaka last Monday. The private hospital was one of the health facilities chosen by the government to treat Covid-19 patients.

"The hospital collected more than 10,000 samples and tested only 4,200 of them at different government health facilities. But they issued Covid-19 reports to all," said Lt. Col. Ashik Billah, spokesman of the elite anti-crime unit of Bangladesh Police.

"Some dishonest people are cheating commoners over the coronavirus crisis by issuing Covid-19 certificates," Obaidul Quader, a senior minister and general secretary of the ruling Awami League, told the media.

RAB media director Arif Billah said that Regent Hospital authorities prepared fake coronavirus reports at a computer lab located next to the hospital building.

"We found that the hospital's registration expired in 2014 and it was being run illegally. Moreover, it was charging at least $45 for a coronavirus test and also charged huge amounts of money for treatment although it was supposed to be free, according to an agreement signed with the government in late March," Billah added.

Meanwhile Nasima Sultana, additional director general of DGHS, told IANS that when the country first detected Covid-19 cases in early March, it was an emergency and the government had urged private hospitals to step up and treat coronavirus patients.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) of Bangladesh has asked all commercial banks to freeze the accounts of Regent Group Chairman Mohammad Shahed, JKG Healthcare Chairman Sabrina Arif Chowdhury, her family members and their organisations on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the police will produce Sabrina Arif Chowdhury before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Monday over the fake Covid-19 test results scam.

Sabrina is the wife of arrested JKG CEO and cardiac surgeon at National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Arif Chowdhury.

Shahed Kabir has carried out a booming business in the name of coronavirus treatment. He even sent a 19.6 million Taka bill to the health directorate. The directorate doesn't have the authority to pass such a high bill and so it sent it to the ministry. While the bill was being processed, everything came out into the open.

It has been five days since the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) raided the Regent Hospital, but Shahed Karim still remains at large. The question is, is he being allowed to get away? "Shahed will have to surrender, otherwise he will be arrested...he has no way to go abroad as his passport has been seized. Measures have been taken to prevent him from crossing the border," said Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Kamal.

"After getting the investigation report, I can tell you his depth of irregularities," he added.

There are rumours that Shahed may have escaped to India through Hothatganj in Satkhira.

Eight associates of Shahed were sent to five-day remand by a court on Friday. They were arrested on several charges, including issuing certificates without carrying coronavirus tests.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy visits COVID-19 hospital in Hyderabad; assures all support from Centre

India

pti-PTI

Hyderabad, July 12: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Sunday visited the designated COVID-19 Gandhi Hospital here and took stock of the ground situation, assuring doctors and others of the Centre's support in the fight against the pandemic.

The Union Minister of State for Home interacted with doctors, paramedical staff and patients in the state-run hospital and enquired about the facilities being provided and measures being taken to handle the pandemic besides inspecting the hygiene conditions, an official release said.

Amitabh Bachchan is stable with mild symptoms of coronavirus: Nanavati Hospital

He appreciated the efforts of doctors and other healthcare personnel of the hospital, which also functions as a COVID care centre, and "expressed gratitude for their godly service boosting their morale," it said.

Sachin Pilot and his loyalist MLAs in Delhi as Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News

Reddy, who represents Secunderabad here in Lok Sabha, assured the patients and the doctors of all possible support from the Central government, it added.

He had visited different hospitals in the city on Saturday and spoke to the doctors and staff about testing, facilities and measures to handle the pandemic. As on Saturday, Telangana's COVID-19 tally stood at 33,402 with 348 deaths.
Ex-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the weekend called on citizens of the Volta region to maintain cool heads as they go out in their numbers to register for the new voter card.



He said there have been complaints from inhabitants of intimidation from the military disposition in the region in the communities he's visited and urged the people not to be angered by the situation and come out in large droves to register to vote.



Mr Mahama said these when he paid a courtesy call on Togbe Afede to conclude his tour of parts of the Volta region in Ho.



The Flagbearer had earlier visited Akatsi North, Akatsi South, Ketu North, Ketu South, South Tongu, Agotime-Ziope, and Ho Central Constituencies to have a first-hand assessment of the registration exercise allegedly botched by intimidation and harassment from military deployment.



He said civic rights are fundamental to all and no military deployment can curtail it.



Mr Mahama believed there could be other reasons for the military deployment than the COVID-19 pandemic excuse.



He said if from two cases there was no deployment, why the need to deploy now when COVID-19 cases have risen to beyond 20,000 saying our neighbouring countries must rather be afraid of us because of our numbers.



Mr Mahama draws linkages between the military deployment and the compilation of the new voter register.



The flagbearer congratulated Togbe Afede and the National House of Chiefs for not shirking their responsibilities but always spoke to the moral conscience of the nation on topical issues and reprimand errant people irrespective of political representation.



In the heat of the moment reprimand us and call us to order when we err.



Mr Mahama promised to epitomise peace and unity and expressed the hope that Ghanaians will reward him on his second coming.



Togbe Afede said the role of Chieftaincy as an institution cannot be overemphasised.



Lets foster peace and unity for all under the directive principle of state policy, and urged Ghanaians to thrive to register under the dispensation to vote.



The Agbogbomefia said Never have we seen military invasion like this in peacetime describing the deployment as divisive.



He said the countrys problems are already huge and cannot be compounded by intimidation stating Africa needed peace to develop its accumulated resources that contribute about 20 per cent to global mineral deposits, a population that constitutes 17 per cent of the global population with a share of gross domestic product (GDP) and world trade constituting three and two per cent, respectively.



We need peace and unity to develop, the fallouts from the COVID-19 pandemic is already colossal to deal with.

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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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Florida shattered the national record Sunday for the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any state since the beginning of the pandemic, adding more than 15,000 cases as its daily average death toll continued to also rise.

According to state Department of Health statistics, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases, and 45 deaths were recorded.

California had the previous record of daily positive cases  11,694, set on Wednesday. New York had 11,571 on April 15.

The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week as Florida reported 514 fatalities  an average of 73 per day. Three weeks ago, the state was averaging 30 deaths per day. Since the pandemic began in March, 4,346 people have died in Florida of COVID-19, the state says.

Testing has doubled over the last month, going from about 25,000 tests per day to almost 50,000, but the percentage of people testing positive has risen even more dramatically. A month ago, fewer than 5% of tests came up positive on a daily average. Over the past week, the daily average exceeded 19%.

About 10.7% of Saturdays 143,000 tests came up positive, with an average age of 38. I still think we need to increase our testing a little bit more, said University of Florida epidemiologist Dr. Cindy Prins, adding that the state and local health departments should ramp up their contact tracing.

Prins said that shes still concerned about large crowds, gyms and some restaurants as being places of mass transmission. Reports of illegal clubs and raves in South Florida is also a worry, she said.

I really do think we could control this, and its the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when were in a crisis, and were definitely not doing it, she said. I know people want to live their lives. There have been a lot of other times, people have made those sacrifices in order to benefit our society. Its almost like a war effort. Thats what we need right now.

Terry Shaw, AdventHealths president and CEO, said Sunday on CBS Face the Nation that the peak of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida will be sometime in front of us in July.

While on the program, he said that the health system, which has hospitals in nine states including 30 in Florida, has adequate PPE, a stockpile of ventilators and a clinical team thats learned how to better treat the disease.

I give you an example. Our length of stay in our ICU for COVID patients has dropped in half. The number of people coming in to our hospital with COVID that need a ventilator, weve also been able to cut that in half. And because of those things, our death rate has also been cut in half since the beginning of the pandemic, he said

The health systems ICU capacities in Florida are currently running at about 85% to 90%. He said the system could turn some progressive care units into ICU units if needed.

Hospitals in several counties have stopped doing elective surgeries. HCA West Florida have ceased inpatient elective procedures at hospitals in Hillsborough, Pinellas and six other nearby counties, said an HCA spokeswoman on Sunday. Florida ceased elective surgeries statewide from March until early May in order to free up beds, and to reserve personal protective equipment for health care workers caring for COVID-19 patients.

Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach are the top three counties for hospitalizations, with 3,232 people hospitalized  42 per cent of the 7,542 people in hospitals statewide for coronavirus.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez told CNN on Sunday that his countys hospitals will soon reach capacity, but he said more beds can be added, including for intensive care.

We still have capacity, but it does cause me a lot of concern, he said.

Throughout May and into June, the state reopened much of its economy with some restrictions  and the number of positive cases began rising, but it wasnt until the last week that the daily death total began rising, too.

Because of the increase in cases and the positivity rate, doctors have predicted a rise in deaths, saying the mortality rate usually increases two to four weeks later as some of those infected get sicker and eventually die. Health experts are concerned that people are gathering in crowds, and have expressed concern that the Republican National Conventions nomination party for President Donald Trump will be held in Jacksonville in August.

On Saturday, the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom reopened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, concerning health experts who urge people not to gather in groups. Guests at the park said that people were wearing masks and social distancing, and videos showed near-empty parks.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that even with the rising rates, he still wants the schools to reopen as scheduled next month, saying children have not proven to be vectors for the disease in states and countries where campuses are open. He said while each county will have to come up with procedures, depending on their local infection rate, not opening the schools would exacerbate the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students.

We know there are huge, huge costs for not providing the availability of in-person schooling, he said. The risk of corona, fortunately, for students is incredibly low.

Helen Ferre, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, said Sunday that the state has tested more than 2.4 million people for COVID-19.

Ferre said the important statistic isnt the raw number of positives, but the percentage  on Sunday, it was just over 11%, about 8 percentage points lower than the weekly average.

The more people who get tested and are proportionately reporting negative for this virus is meaningful, she wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, a commissioner for a county near Jacksonville is seriously ill with the virus, according to a posting by his daughter on Facebook.

St. Johns County Commissioner Paul Waldron had recently voted against a county ordinance requiring masks, but not because he opposed them. He said he wanted more answers from county administrators about which masks are most effective and whether the county had enough for employees and visitors at government buildings.

-

Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
She placed sixth on MasterChef Australia's Back To Win all-star season.

But it's now been reported that Poh Ling Yeow will make a shock return to the competition at next Monday's grand finale.

A production insider reportedly told New Idea this week that Channel 10 decided to bring the celebrity chef, 47, back due to her large fan base.

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Something to smile about! MasterChef Australia fan favourite Poh Ling Yeow is reportedly making a SHOCK return at the grand finale next Monday night on Channel 10

However, her rivals shouldn't feel the pressure just yet.

According to the source, Poh is likely returning to the franchise as a surprise guest judge alongside Andy Allen, Melissa Leong and Jock Zonfrillo.

It would be the first in the Australian franchise's history to invite a contestant back from their own season to judge their former rivals.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel 10 for comment.

Helping hand: According to New Idea's inside source, Poh is likely returning to the franchise as a surprise guest judge alongside (L to R) and Jock Zonfrillo, Andy Allen, and Melissa Leong

History in the making? If Poh returned as a guest judge on her own season, it would be the first time a contestant has judged their former rivals in the Australian franchise

Woman's Day also reported on Monday that more of the Back To Win stars could return to the franchise in 2021.

Fans have been busy campaigning for their favourites to reappear on the cooking show as mentors for the new season.

In the past, the series has invited back old contestants as guest judges or produce partners for mystery box challenges.

Staying in the spotlight: Woman's Day also reported on Monday that more of the Back To Win stars could return to the franchise in 2021 as mentors to future contestants

There are now only four contestants left in the running for the $250,000 prize and the chance at ultimate redemption over their fellow all-stars.

Reynold Poernomo, 26, Callum Hann, 31, Laura Sharrad, 24, and Emelia Jackson, 30, will continue cooking up a storm ahead of next week's grand finale.

MasterChef Australia continues on Monday from 7:30pm on Channel 10
My biggest frustration is that I am failing to do my job as a Deputy Minister. Its all hands on the deck and I am not there to help. Of all the things that are on my mind it is that I feel helpless but I am optimistic that sooner rather than later I will get a flight home. As soon as flights resume, I will come home. I also miss my constituency. Bulawayo South is where I started my business, it is my home and the people are my family. I owe them and I miss them a lot. We have unfinished business and me being away has put everything on hold, he said.
The Chief Ministers of Delhi, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu wrote letters to PM Modi against the revised guidelines by the University Grants Commission (UGC) which instruct Universities to conduct examinations by the end of September.

On Saturday, the Chief Ministers of Delhi, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu wrote letters against the revised guidelines by the University Grants Commission (UGC) which instruct Universities to conduct examinations by the end of September. The Chief Ministers said that this decision will highly risk the lives of students from being exposed to coronavirus. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, both wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while the K. Palaniswami, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, wrote to Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, MHRD, asking that the Centre grant freedom to states so they may work out their own ways to grade the students, without compromising on the quality and academic credibility.

Mr Kejriwal said that such desperate decisions have to be taken under crises like the coronavirus outbreak. In his tweet, in which he shared the letter sent to the Prime Minister as well, he urged Prime Minister Modi to personally intercede and cancel the exams, overruling UGCs decision for the sake of the youth and saving their future.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that with the increasing number of coronavirus patients, the government of West Bengal, having been advised by vice-chancellors of several Universities, released its own advisory on June 27th. The advisory entails details about the weightage to internal assessment and performance of students in earlier exams.

Also read: Delhi govt cancels all forthcoming state university exams: Manish Sisodia

Also read: After CBSE, NEET and JEE to reduce syllabus?

There will also be a separate examination for students who wish to appear in a formal examination instead of being graded according to the evaluation method once the virus is hopefully eradicated. She claimed that teachers, students, their parents are much grateful for the state advisory. She also requested the Prime Minister to cancel all exams and repeal UGCs new guidelines.

The CM of Tamil Nadu, K. Palaniswami, said that the government of Tamil Nadu is not in any condition to hold examinations for University students in September as many educational institutes have been transformed into health centres for coronavirus. Such a decision in the midst of the outbreak will hinder all efforts to contain the virus and put the future of students in jeopardy.

He said that UGCs guidelines have many limitations and are difficult to enact. He claimed that it would be complicated to move students to exam centres as a good portion of them are outside the district or state. He added that it is also not possible to conduct online examinations as students might not be able to understand the whole digital examination system.

Also read: CBSE Board Exams 2020: All you need to know about migration certificate allotment process

For all the latest Education and Jobs News, download NewsX App
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has wished speedy recovery to actor Amitabh Bachchan who tested postive for coronavirus disease Covid-19.

Sir, we wish you a speedy recovery. The power of a billion prayers is with you, Kejriwal said on Twitter, tagging Bachchans tweet where he announced that he has contracted the disease.

Sir, we wish you a speedy recovery. The power of a billion prayers is with you. https://t.co/vxlSowqvnh  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 12, 2020

The 77-year-old actor has been admitted to Nanavati hospital in Mumbai. His son Abhishek has also tested positive for Covid-19.

Other politicians too wished quick recovery and good health to the actor.

Dear Amitabh ji, I join the whole Nation in wishing you a quick recovery! After all, you are the idol of millions in this country, an iconic superstar! We will all take good care of you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery! @SrBachchan @juniorbachchan#AmitabhBachchan #COVID, Union health minister tweeted.

Dear Amitabh ji, I join the whole Nation in wishing you a quick recovery!



After all, you are the idol of millions in this country, an iconic superstar!



We will all take good care of you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!@SrBachchan @juniorbachchan #AmitabhBachchan #COVID https://t.co/NHeY7e2mjC pic.twitter.com/CsVKlvCJeG  Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) July 11, 2020

We all wish and pray for your speedy recovery! Get well soon @SrBachchan ji! tweeted former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

We all wish and pray for your speedy recovery!

Get well soon @SrBachchan ji ! https://t.co/RX8FrWWDx9  Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) July 11, 2020

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that she is extremely saddened by the news. Extremely saddened to hear the news of Shri #AmitabhBachchan Ji testing COVID Positive. Praying for his strength & speedy recovery. @SrBachchan please get well soon! Banerjee posted on her Twitter handle.

Extremely saddened to hear the news of Shri #AmitabhBachchan Ji testing COVID Positive.

Praying for his strength & speedy recovery. @SrBachchan please get well soon!  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 11, 2020

The other members of the Bachchan family and their staff have also undergone test for Covid-19.

Amitabh was last seen in Shoojit Sircars comedy-drama Gulabo Sitabo alongside Ayushmann Khurrana, while Abhisheks debut Web series Breathe Into The Shadows released on an online video streaming platform on Friday.

The senior actor had been shooting from home and had shot for a couple of ads and apparently, even a promo for the next season of his TV quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati.
The US is normally secretive about its cyberattacks against Russia, but it just acknowledged one of them. President Trump confirmed to the Washington Post in an interview that he authorized an attack against the Internet Research Agency (a troll team key to Russian interference with US elections since 2016) that started on the day of the 2018 US midterm elections and lasted several days. Trump characterized the move as effective. Look, we stopped [Russia], he told the Post.

He also incorrectly claimed that former President Obama said nothing about Russian interference during the 2016 election. Obama publicly criticized Russia in October 2016 for targeting the Democrats, and imposed sanctions in December. Reports also surfaced of Obama launching a secret cyber operation in August of that year after learning of Russian attempts to hack American election systems.

The 2018 US attack on Russia was reportedly meant to disrupt efforts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of midterm results, which saw the Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives.

The confirmation is a change of tune for Trump. He previously claimed that Russia had stopped cyberattacks agains the US and has supported Russian President Vladimir Putins denials of interference in the 2016 election despite evidence. Here, Trump is directly confirming at least one Russian interference attempt.

Its not certain how Russia will respond to Trumps statement, although history suggests its unlikely to acknowledge the IRAs activities. As it stands, American intelligence agencies and internet giants have shifted much of their attention to potential Russian actions during the 2020 election  those officials and companies will want to know if Trumps statement will lead to a similar crackdown.


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The Minority in Parliament has urged the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service to remain neutral and guard against being drawn into partisan politics as the country prepares for the 2020 general election.

It said the practice where political party operatives, especially those from the ruling government, used the two state security agencies to pursue their political agendas was counter-productive.



Addressing journalists in Parliament yesterday, the Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, urged the Commands of the two security institutions to immediately stop their men from entering homes in the Volta Region to ascertain the citizenship of some individuals, describing such harassments and intimidations as unacceptable.



Our caution to the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Armed Forces is that they should stay neutral as state institutions and work to secure the peace, stability and security of our country, he said.



No authority



Mr Iddrisu said partisan politics was not the calling of the two security agencies and it would not be in their interest to allow themselves to be used for that purpose.



They have no authority under any law to ask any persons questions if they are citizens. The voters registration process is governed by law and if you have cause to question any person of his citizenship, do so rightfully in accordance with the law, not with the intimidation of a gun or a weapon, he stated.



Dont descend low



Mr Iddrisu said the Minority had received reports from across the country of combined military/police teams playing some roles in the registration exercise.



What remained even more shameful , he alleged, was that the soldiers had been entering some houses and asking the people questions bordering on individuals citizenships.



That, he said, was not acceptable under the Ghanaian law and pointed out that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would not sit aloof for the security personnel to continue to intimidate and harass its supporters and innocent Ghanaian citizens to aid the government in its quest to achieve voter suppression.



Therefore, my advice to the Ghana Armed Force and the Ghana Police Service is that your role is defined by law; if there is any question of eligibility, the law provides what to do and it is not for you to descend that low into the arena of partisan politics and be entering homes and asking people in the Volta Region questions.



That will be a very dangerous thing to do for the future integrity of the Armed Forces and the Police Services as state institutions; we do not want them to reduce those important state institutions which are at the heart of the security and peace of our country as if they were an appendage of the ruling government, he stated.



Denial



In a reaction, the Deputy Minister of Defence, Major Derek Oduro (Retd), described the Minoritys allegations as untrue.



The military has never taken sides in any political endeavour and has not been entering peoples homes in the Volta Region, he said



He questioned: If yesterday they did not take sides, why should they take sides today?



Major Oduro stated that since soldiers were deployed at Ghanas borders in 2019 nobody, including the Minority, had ever complained.



He recalled that last year a Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, requested the Minister of the Interior to brief Parliament on steps he had taken to ensure that terrorists would not attack Ghana like neighbouring countries.



The Interior Minister came here and said that troops had been deployed at the borders since 2019 and why should the Minority now complain that soldiers had been deployed at the borders? he quizzed.



He pointed out that when the borders were closed, the military were dispatched there to assist immigration personnel to stop the spread of COVID-19 from Togo, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast and yet the Minority did not complain.

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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United States President Donald Trump has, for the first time confirmed, that the US launched a cyber attack on the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) in 2018. Speaking at an interview with an American media outlet, Trump acknowledged that his administration had led efforts to stop the spread of disinformation around the 2018 midterm elections.

Read: No Guarantee Trump Will Back India Against China If Tensions Escalate: Former US NSA John Bolton

To stop the spread of misinformation

As per reports, the cyber attack involved US cybercrime command disrupting the internet connection to IRA headquarters in St Petersburg on the night 2018 midterm elections, so as to stop Russians from spreading misinformation in the US.

In the interview, Trump not only said that he acted on intelligence when he ordered the cyber attack but also slammed former President Barack Obama for not taking similar actions in 2016. Moreover, he added that nobody in the US had been tougher than him when it comes to Russia.

Read: US: Biden Forges Brand Of Liberal Populism To Use Against Trump

Speaking about Obama, Trump said that despite being the President for eight years, and knowing that Russia was playing around, the former US President said 'nothing'. Accusing Obama of being biased, Trump further said that the reason the former president did not say anything was because he knew from the phoney polls that Hilary Clinton was winning.

In 2019, Russian authorities for the first time conceded that it was "possible" its electrical grid was under cyber attack by the United States. Later, a leading American daily reported that hackers from the United States Cyber Command had planted malware potentially capable of disrupting the Russian electrical grid.

Read: Donald Trump Working On Merit-based Immigration Bill, Will Include 'road To Citizenship'

Read: No Guarantee Trump Will Back India Against China If Tensions Escalate: Former US NSA John Bolton

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Restaurants may be open again after the lockdown, but the coronavirus crisis has shut the doors on Gordon Ramsays latest venture.

Future Food Stars  an Apprentice-style BBC1 series in which the celebrity chef was due to travel Britain to find entrepreneurs in the food and drink industry  has been halted days before filming was due to begin.

It has been postponed until next year and is just one of dozens of casualties at the BBC, which has been left reeling as the pandemic lockdown forces film sets to shut down.

Gordon Ramsay's 'passion project' BBC1 show Future Food Stars has been halted days before filming was due to begin due to the coronavirus crisis

An insider said: Gordon was really keen to get this show made. Its something of a passion project for him.

'But at the eleventh hour the BBC decided it was too big a risk, with a second wave of Covid-19 predicted later this year.

'They want to protect the safety and wellbeing of the contestants and production team.

The Apprentice, which follows Lord Alan Sugar as he whittles down a group of entrepreneurs battling for his investment, has been taken off air for the first time since it first began in 2005

The BBC has already suffered a heavy blow to scheduling this year, having cut its regular output of soaps as well as postponing its hit series The Apprentice.

It is the first time The Apprentice, which follows Lord Alan Sugar as he whittles down a group of entrepreneurs battling for his investment, has been taken off air since it first began in 2005.

EastEnders has been taken off air for the first time in its 35-year history and is due to return later this year, but with 20-minute episodes.

Filming on the new series of Call The Midwife and Line Of Duty has been postponed. ITV has also been hit, with the live finals of Britains Got Talent pushed back to the end of the year.
Big B turns 79: Superstar Amitabh Bachchan thanks fans, says 'I walk with pride of your love'

COVID-19: Speedy recovery wishes pour in for Big B

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, July 12: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed concern following hospitalisation of Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan after he tested positive for COVID-19.

Expressing her sadness on hearing the news, Banerjee, who shares a great rapport with Bachchan, prayed for his speedy recovery.

Amitabh tests positive, fans perform puja for speedy recovery|Oneindia News

"Extremely saddened to hear the news of Shri #AmitabhBachchan Ji testing COVID Positive. Praying for his strength & speedy recovery. Sr Bachchan please get well soon," Banerjee tweeted.

Indias COVID-19 tally zooms past 8 lakh mark

The 77-year-old actor on Saturday said he has tested positive for COVID-19 and got himself admitted in the isolation ward of Mumbai-based Nanavati hospital.

Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane too wished speedy recovery to Amitabh Bachchan. "I join the whole nation in wishing Shri @SrBachchan a quick recovery. All of India will be praying for your speedy recovery from #COVID19. Get well soon!" Rane tweeted.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Sunday, July 12, 2020, 8:48 [IST]
ALBANY  State Sen. Sue Serino, R-Dutchess County, is receiving treatment for early-stage breast cancer, she said in a statement Sunday.

Serino, 58, has represented parts of the Hudson Valley, including Poughkeepsie, since 2015. She has been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a non-invasive form of breast cancer, and underwent a successful lumpectomy on June 2.

But the tumor had spread before it was removed, and Serino will begin radiation treatments five days a week for the next four weeks beginning Monday. She urged New Yorkers who have pushed off routine health screenings during the pandemic "to take the time to put your health first."

"Like many women, I was a person who routinely rescheduled my mammograms, never thinking twice about putting my work or family schedule ahead of my health," Serino said in a statement. "When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I was looking for any excuse to reschedule this last one, but that nagging voice in my head told me to keep it, and thank God I did. That early diagnosis has made all the difference in my course of treatment."

Serino will maintain her daily schedule as she undergoes radiation treatment and will release updates about her progress, she said.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

About 60,000 cases of DCIS are diagnosed nationwide each year and account for roughly one in five new diagnoses, according to the American Cancer Society. DCIS is not usually life-threatening but can increase the chances of developing cancer again later in life.

In a statement Sunday afternoon, State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, R-Niagara County, called Serino a "champion and a fighter for her district who will battle and beat this health challenge in the weeks ahead."

"We ask that everyone pray for Sues full recovery. ... She is a strong woman, and we are proud to have her as part of our New York Senate Republican family," he said.
Ive lived in Atlanta for over three decades. I grew up an hour west in the then-rural town of Carrollton, where my father taught at West Georgia College. Twice a year, we traveled to Atlanta, in August to do our back-to-school shopping and in December to attend The Nutcracker ballet. My husband is a native Atlantan. Both our children were born here. It is our home. We have invested our time and energy in our city. I serve on four nonprofits; my husband serves on the vestry at St. Lukes Atlanta. We love Atlanta.

I care deeply about the city I call home and have worked with others for decades to make our community stronger and better. Atlanta, long known as The City Too Busy to Hate, has an opportunity to once again lead the nation, for Atlantans to reach out to one another to focus on projects and progress, rather than rhetoric and hate. It wont be easy, but it can be done.

What are the recent events that have led us here? Like the rest of the nation, we participated in the COVID-19 quarantine and then in the Black Lives Matter protests, some of which turned violent. (Note that CNNs parent company, AT&T, recently sold the networks marquee headquarters downtown after it was vandalized  simply coincidence?) We were hot, restless, simmering.

On June 12, Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe fatally shot Rayshard Brooks when the 27-year-old father resisted arrest. Awakened by police after he had fallen asleep at a Wendys drive-thru, Brooks wrestled a stun gun away from one of the officers and aimed it in their direction as he was running away. Rolfe shot back with his gun. The police officer is white, and Brooks was black.

The next day, Atlanta police Chief Erika Shields stepped down, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms fired the two policemen involved. Five days later, District Attorney Paul Howard, who is in a Democratic primary run-off to maintain his position, called a press conference to announce charges against the policemen.

Howard is under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) for receiving $140,000 from a nonprofit that had received the money from the City of Atlanta. Howard is also dealing with three sexual harassment lawsuits. Those details may explain why he neither informed the GBI of the charges nor waited for the GBI to finish its investigation.

The obvious politicization of the press conference, the longstanding 12-hour shifts to deal with protests and a lot of badmouthing of the police have taken a toll on police morale. The Atlanta police then experienced the so-called Blue Flu. In support of the police, we visited our precinct and delivered supplies.

More than 61 percent of Atlanta beat cops missed work on June 17, the day Howard brought charges against Rolfe, and more than 65 percent were absent on June 18, wrote Sean Keenan in A closer look at the Blue Flu for SaportaReport on July 6.

Though the police have returned to work, they must be concerned about their ability to do their jobs, given the lack of support they have received from the mayor and the rush to judgment from the DA.

Last Saturday night, an 8-year-old girl was fatally shot while in her mothers car as they were traveling near the same Wendys restaurant where Brooks was killed. The area had been controlled by armed people for days, with other instances of shots being fired, and one woman shot in the leg.

Lawlessness has prevailed, and gun violence has spiked. Ninety-three people were shot in Atlanta during the four-week period of May 31 to June 27, up drastically from 46 in the same period last year, wrote Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Joshua Sharpe on July 5. And fourteen people died of homicide in that span, compared to six during the same time frame in 2019.

This past weekend, 14 were shot during a fight at an outdoor party in northeast Atlanta where people had gathered to watch fireworks, police said. That shooting occurred about the same time a crowd was busting out windows of the Georgia State Patrol headquarters, Sharpe wrote.

Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency and authorized up to 1,000 Georgia National Guard troops to secure state property.

Well, there we are. My hope is that we work together to figure out how to create a city that my children will want to return to one day.

We best get busy, and not hate.

To find out more about Jackie Gingrich Cushman, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.

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Authorities in Boston are investigating a pair of fatal shootings that both happened Sunday morning.

The shootings took place in Roxbury and Mattapan.

The first shooting was reported around 12:50 a.m. when police were called to the area of 18 Adams St. in Roxbury.

Officers found an adult male who had been shot. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

A second fatal shooting was reported just before 2 a.m. in Mattapan.

Officers were called to the area of 25 Regis Road in Mattapan and located a man who had been shot, according to police. The victim was rushed to an area hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Detectives are investigating both killings and asked anyone with information to contact Boston Police Homicide Detectives at 617-343-4470.

People can also call the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463).
Sen. Mitt Romney blasted President Donald Trump Saturday for unprecedented, historic corruption in commuting Roger Stones prison sentence.

Even as most other Republicans held their tongues, the Utah senator slammed Trump for trying to save his own skin by protecting Stone from punishment.

Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president, Romney tweeted.

Stone was convicted last year of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding.

He lashed out at Romney on Saturday, and claimed that he was prosecuted for refusing to turn on Trump.

Mitt Romney, you are as phoney as your hair colour, Stone said in a video posted on Twitter.

Romney joined a chorus of critics outraged at the commutation, which Trump issued Friday night.

A commutation reduces or completely removes a sentence but does not absolve a guilty person of their crime.

The former GOP presidential nominee has long been a thorn in Trumps side and was the only Republican lawmaker to vote in favour of his removal in the impeachment trial.

But most Republican lawmakers pointedly kept quiet about the commutation, which prevents Stone from having to report to prison next week for a three-year sentence.

Sen. Pat Toomey, who occasionally criticizes Trump, said it was a mistake for the president to commute Stones sentence.

Trump acolytes like Sen. Lindsey Graham supported the decision, noting that Stone had not previously been convicted of any major crimes and is a nonviolent offender.

Since taking office, Trump has commuted sentences for 11 people including Stone.

By the end of his second term, President Obama had granted 1,715 commutations.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 17:44:40|Editor: huaxia

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MANILA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Two suspected rebels have been killed in a clash with government troops in Zamboanga del Norte in the southern Philippines, the military said on Sunday.

Major Arvin Encinas, the spokesperson for the military's Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said troops clashed with an undetermined number of New People's Army (NPA) rebels on Friday afternoon in a forested village near Kalawit town in Zamboanga del Norte while conducing combat operation in the area.

Encinas said the NPA rebels withdrew after battling with troops for 45 minutes.

Troops recovered the body of a slain rebel along with an M16, an AK17 assault rifle and several rounds of ammunition while clearing the encounter site, he said.

He added the body of the second slain rebel was found on Saturday.

The NPA rebels have been fighting the government since 1969, making the group one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies. They concentrate their attacks in rural areas and in small-scale skirmishes with the military.

The NPA strength is estimated at 3,500, a number significantly lower than its peak strength of around 25,000 in the 1980s. Enditem
The president through this commutation is basically saying, If you lie for me, if you cover up for me, if you have my back, then I will make sure that you get a get-out-of-jail-free card,  Schiff said in an interview on ABC Newss This Week. Other Americans, different standards. Friends of the presidents, accomplices of this president, they get off scot-free.
In yet another blatant display of supporting terror, sources report on Sunday that Pakistan has restored the bank accounts of 5 Jamaat-ud-Dawa and LeT terrorists including Hafiz Saeed. The 26/11 mastermind - Saeed has been lodged in Kot Lakhpat jail for terror financing. Apart from Saeed, the other four terrorists - Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, Haji M Ashraf, Yahya Mujahid, and Zafar Iqbal who all face terror sanctions are also sentenced to jail for terror financing. Indian agencies have reportedly said that Pakistan has helped these terrorists to file an application before the United Nations.

Pak court indicts JuD chief Hafiz Saeed's 4 close aides in terror financing case

Saeed's 4 aides indicted for terror financing

On June 9, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan indicted four top leaders of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and close aides of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in a terror-financing case. The court indicted Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Yayha Aziz and Abdul Salam, but all four accused pleaded "not guilty" and chose to contest the trial. The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police had registered 23 FIRs against 70-year-old Saeed and his accomplices on the charges of terror financing in different cities of the province.

Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeeds India-born counsel passes away in Pakistan

Hafiz Saeed conviction and FATF meet

Ahead of the FATF plenary meet, on February 12, the 26/11 mastermind, Hafiz Saeed was convicted under ATA Section 11-F (2) and 11-N. Additionally, he has been slapped with a fine of Rs15,000 in each case. This came even after the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore accepted his plea to club all the pending cases against him and then announce the verdict. The 26/11 mastermind and UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed had pleaded not guilty, but was convicted and sent to high-security Kot Lakhpat jail in Pakistan.

Saeed's JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans. Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist also has a 10 million USD bounty placed on him by the American government in 2012. He was listed as a terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.

Pakistan manages to lose JeM chief Masood Azhar amid FATF meet; terrorist 'missing'

Pakistan which is already placed in the greylist by FATF- a Paris-based global terror-financing watchdog, is looking to avoid the blacklist. In an attempt to show 'action' on terrorism, it has convicted Saeed, who may be released post-FATF meet as per reports. Moreover, after avoiding the FATF blacklist, Pakistan allegedly 'lost' Pakistani terrorist Masood Azhar - the mastermind of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack - and his family.

US responds as Pakistan court convicts Hafiz Saeed for first time, on FATF plenary eve
Billionaire Philanthropist, Ned Nwoko has revealed that he got married to all his six wives including Regina Daniels as virgins. He ...

Billionaire Philanthropist, Ned Nwoko has revealed that he got married to all his six wives including Regina Daniels as virgins.





He made the disclosure in an interview with PUNCH.





Ned Nwoko also talked about falling for Regina the first day he met her.





His words ;

Why not Regina? When I met her, I didnt even know who she was because I dont watch movies, whether British, Nigerian or American. Also, I am not a social media person. Up until that time, I didnt have Facebook or Instagram accounts. So, I didnt know about Regina until she came to my house with her family on a tour. My house in the village (Aniocha North Local Government Area, Delta State) is a tourist attraction of sorts.









I liked her when I saw her, especially when I found out that she was from that place. I had always wanted to have somebody (a wife) from my side. We were introduced to each other and one thing led to another. That was when I found out she is a very decent girl. I have always said that I wouldnt marry anybody who isnt a virgin and that is very important to me. When I found out that she was a virgin, it reinforced my decision to marry her. I married all my wives as virgins.





Regina Daniels on her part, explained what it felt like being married to the 59-year-old ;




Donald Trump has been photographed wearing a face mask for the first time during a visit to a military hospital.

It is the first time the US president has been seen in public wearing the type of facial covering recommended by health officials to help stop the spread of coronavirus.

President Trump flew by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in suburban Washington to meet wounded service members and health care providers caring for Covid-19 patients.

As he left the White House, he told reporters: When youre in a hospital, especially ... I think its expected to wear a mask.

Mr Trump was wearing a mask in Walter Reeds hallway as he began his visit, however he was not wearing one when he stepped off the helicopter at the facility.

The president was a latecomer to wearing a mask during the pandemic, which has so far infected more than 3.2 million and killed at least 134,000 in the US.

Most prominent Republicans, including vice president Mike Pence, endorsed wearing masks as the coronavirus gained ground this summer.

Mr Trump, however, has declined to wear a mask at news conferences, coronavirus task force updates, rallies and other public events.

People close to the president, speaking on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press, claimed he feared a mask would make him look weak and was concerned it would shift focus to the public health crisis rather than the economic recovery.

While not wearing one himself, Mr Trump has sent mixed signals about masks, acknowledging that they would be appropriate if worn in an indoor setting where people were close together.

President Donald Trump wears a face mask as he visits Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Md., 11 July 2020. (Patrick Semansky/AP) (AP)

But he has accused reporters of wearing them to be politically correct and has retweeted messages making fun of Democrat Joe Biden for wearing a mask.

The only time the president has been known to wear a mask was during a private part of a tour at a Ford plant in Michigan.

A long-expected surge in US coronavirus cases has begun, driven by deaths in states in the south and west of the country, new data shows.

The number of deaths per day from the virus had been falling for months in America, and even remained down as states like Florida and Texas saw explosions in cases and hospital admissions, while reported daily US infections broke records several times in recent days.

However, experts had predicted states that saw increases in cases and hospital admissions would eventually see deaths rise too, with fatalities typically taking place several weeks after a person is first infected.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day rolling average for daily reported deaths in the US has risen from 578 two weeks ago to 664 on 10 July  although this is still well below the heights hit in April.

Additional reporting by Associated Press
Jeon Seong-woo, left, as Oliver and Kang Hye-in as Claire in a scene from the musical "Maybe Happy Ending" / Courtesy of CJ ENM



By Kwon Mee-yoo



"Mayby Happy Ending," a Korean hit musical which premiered in the U.S. earlier this year, returned to Seoul with some of the original actors who garnered popularity on the small screen.



Currently on stage at the Yes24 Stage in Seoul's theater district of Daehangno, the musical has become the hottest ticket in town for its riveting story as well as beloved actors.



The musical is set in a near future when a "helper-bot" is part of everyday life and these robots are replaced by newer models as technology advances. The show's protagonists Oliver and Claire are obsolete helper-bots living in an apartment for out-of-date robots.



Oliver, a jazz loving helper-bot, lives a content life occasionally talking to his plant, but his life takes an unexpected turn as a stranger named Claire knocks on his door in the hopes of borrowing a charger.



Oliver, who befriends Claire, set out on a trip to Jeju Island to reunite with his master James, while Claire wants to see the fireflies in real life. Though the helper-bots are not programmed to love autonomously, Oliver and Claire go through unforeseen changes.



In this production, Jung Moon-sung, Jeon Seong-woo and Yang Hee-jun play the naive robot Oliver who maintains his loyalty to long-lost master James. Jeon Mi-do, Kang Hye-in and Han Jae-ah take on the role of the robot Claire, a carefree neighbor of Oliver whose charger is broken.





Jeon Mi-do as Claire in "Maybe Happy Ending" / Courtesy of CJ ENM



Jeon and Jung both have long been tied to "Maybe Happy Ending," especially Jeon from the original audition back in 2015. Jeon also won Best Actress at the 2nd Korean Musical Awards in 2018 for her performance as Claire.



"Maybe Happy Ending" was a popular musical since its premiere, but it became one of the most highly sought-after theater tickets of the year as Jeon and Jung starred in the tvN medical drama "Hospital Playlist."



Jeon, who played neurosurgeon Chae Song-hwa, was a relatively new face on the small screen, but gained popularity as the pivotal character in the series. Though her character Song-hwa is tone-deaf, Jeon in real life is a musical theater actress.



Jung starred as Do Jae-hak, a chief resident of cardiothoracic surgery.



Those who want to experience their charms firsthand flocked to the theater and the performances in which they appear were sold out within minutes of going on sale.





Jung Moon-sung as Oliver in "Maybe Happy Ending" / Courtesy of CJ ENM



Performing in pandemic times



To stage this production, composer Will Aronson and writer and lyricist Hue Park flew from the U.S. and went through the two-week quarantine process in order to meet the Korean creative team and cast.



"Musicals, and theater generally, have always been about human connection. And we certainly need connection now more than ever, especially when we have to wear masks and keep our distance from one another. In Korea, we can still enter a theater, and share the theatrical experience as a community  that's a real gift. Hopefully it won't be long before the rest of the world can do the same," Aronson and Park told The Korea Times in an e-mail interview.



The musical celebrates its third production here, following the 2016 premiere and the second run in 2018.



"The text and music are essentially unchanged, except for some very small details. Visually, the show is somewhat different, as the director and new designers have continued to explore the world of the show," Aronson and Park said.



"Maybe Happy Ending" was created by an American composer and Korean lyricist duo and it was natural for them to aim for an American run of the show.



After years of preparations, the American premiere of "Maybe Happy Ending," directed by Michael Arden, raised its curtain on the Coca-Cola Stage of the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia on Jan. 29.



"On the one hand, the story is the same. We kept the locations (Seoul and Jeju Island) and the character names (even the plant is still called "Hwaboon"). On the other, because the cultures and sensibilities are somewhat different, we've made a number of adjustments. For example, we cut some scenes and added others, and also cut several songs, all in the hopes of better conveying the intended emotions to the audience," the creators explained.



"We were surprised  and relieved  by how warmly the show was received. It's a welcome reminder that cultural differences may not be as great as we sometimes think."





Hue Park, left, lyricist and writer of "Maybe Happy Ending," and Will Aronson, composer and writer of "Maybe Happy Ending" / Courtesy of Pyokisik
She's had her ups and downs with husband, Stuart Webb.

And on Sunday, Kate Ritchie looked radiant as she embraced her daughter Mae, five, in an adorable selfie.

Taking to Instagram, Kate shared the stunning photo, where she is seen putting a tender arm around the tired youngster.

Sweet! On Sunday, Nova star Kate Ritchie snuggled up to adorable daughter Mae, five, in a cute selfie on Instagram

The former Home and Away actress slightly smiled as she looked towards the lens of the camera, as Mae appeared to drift off to sleep in her arms.

"Sunday snuggle bunnies,' Kate captioned the photos, adding the hashtags: 'mummaandbubba' and 'sunday'.

Kate and Stuart were last spotted together in February to celebrate Mae's first day of school.

Star: Kate and Stuart were last spotted together in February to celebrate daughter Mae's first day of school. Pictured: Sydney, 2019

The reunion came three months after the actress 41, reportedly moved out of their marital home after police took out an interim AVO on her behalf against the NRL star, 39, following an incident at her house in Randwick.

In December, Stuart made headlines for his five-time drink driving history.

His driving history was revealed in a police fact sheet, as he faced court for blowing 0.083 when he was pulled over by highway patrolmen in the city's east in March last year.

Ups-and-downs: The reunion came three months after the actress 41, reportedly moved out of their marital home after police took out an interim AVO on her behalf against the NRL star, 39, following an incident at her house in Randwick

Stuart appeared in front of a magistrate on the same day that NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia that he will not be charged over a separate 'incident' at home with Kate in October.

That ended in an interim AVO being brought against him, which banned him being in Kate's company within 12 hours of drinking alcohol.

Court documents about the March incident said Stuart had 'glazed and bloodshot' eyes when he was pulled over by highway patrolmen in Randwick.

Happy times: The actress reportedly moved out of her marital home after police took out an interim AVO on her behalf against Stuart, following an incident at their house in the Sydney suburb of Randwick. Pictured together in 2014

He had just run a red light and was also driving home on a suspended licence. In court documents, police described Webb as a drink driving 'repeat offender'.

Daily Mail Australia confirmed Kate had moved out of the couple's marital home in Sydney's Randwick, in October.

Recently, the former couple have reportedly been spending weekends away in a last bid to save their marriage.
When pressed to speak about the Taylors, who are under arrest in the U.S., as well as others who helped him flee, Ghosn refused to speak about any specific person. He said that after he arrived in Lebanon he vowed not to speak about how he left Japan because any statement I am going to make will endanger the people who helped me leave Japan.
New Delhi, July 12 : As the government pushes for a self-reliant India -- 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' -- Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has appealed to the Indian students enrolled in global universities to come back and innovate in their own country.

Speaking at an e-meet or a video conference with India students across the world, regarding self-reliance in the oil and gas sector, the minister noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target for reduction of 10 per cent in energy import dependency by 2022.

In this regard, the government has taken several policy as well as administrative measures to augment domestic oil and gas production and reduce dependency on imports for meeting the energy requirements of the country, he added.

He said that the Prime Minister has envisioned a clear road map for India's energy future which rests on five key enablers of energy availability and accessibility for all, energy affordability to the poorest of the poor, efficiency in energy use, energy sustainability for combating climate change and energy security for mitigating global uncertainties.

"India has made its presence felt in the global energy map. We are engaging with OPEC, IEA, IEF and all other major voices in the world energy discussions. India has engaged with the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and all major energy producers, under a policy of diversification of supply sources," he said.

On the ongoing pandemic, Pradhan said that the country is in the midst of an outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that challenges the fundamental assumptions of people's lives.

"While the immediate economic impact may slow us down, we are presented with an opportunity to pause, rethink, and redesign," the minister told the students.
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Thirsty Britons went out boozing last night for the second Saturday since pubs in England reopened after months of coronavirus lockdown.

Partygoers in Leeds took to the streets in their droves the same day that 148 Covid-19 deaths were reported - more than double last Saturday's figure.

Groups of dressed-up revellers stumbled along the streets with the help their friends - with one man pictured carrying another along as the booze-fuelled night progressed.

Some were unable to stand up at all and instead opted to crash to the ground and wait for assistance there.

It follows the reopening of some pubs in England last week for a July 4 bonanza dubbed 'Super Saturday'.

Thirsty Britons went out boozing last night for the second Saturday since pubs in England reopened after months of coronavirus lockdown

Some were unable to stand up at all and instead opted to crash to the ground and wait for assistance there in Leeds last night

Partygoers in Leeds (pictured) took to the streets in their droves the same day that 148 Covid-19 deaths were reported - more than double last Saturday's figure

People gathered outside a bar in Leeds last night following the reopening of some pubs in England last week for a July 4 bonanza dubbed 'Super Saturday'

Groups of dressed-up revellers stumbled along the streets with the help their friends - with one man pictured carrying another along as the booze-fuelled night progressed

But just half of all pubs chose to reopen with thousands of landlords refusing to pour pints for the public amid fears that it is impractical and costly to pubs to serve customers while capacity is reduced and social distancing stays in place.

Concerns about the spread of coronavirus, a fresh wave of outbreaks if lockdown is eased too rapidly and widely, and a second costly lockdown are also high among independent businesses.

With tipsy millennials flirting with each other after months of isolation, pub landlords are battling to keep them apart to save them from flouting social distancing rules and spread coronavirus.

Just half of all pubs chose to reopen with thousands of landlords refusing to pour pints for the public amid fears that it is impractical and costly to pubs to serve customers while capacity is reduced and social distancing stays in place. Pictured: Revellers in Leeds last night

Concerns about the spread of coronavirus, a fresh wave of outbreaks if lockdown is eased too rapidly and widely, and a second costly lockdown are also high among independent businesses. Pictured: Revellers in Leeds last night

Yesterday saw 148 deaths from coronavirus - a figure over twice that of the 67 people who died from the virus last Saturday and more than triple that of Friday - sparking fresh fears about a second wave. Pictured: Revellers in Leeds last night

A further 820 people have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of infections to 288,953. Pictured: Revellers in Leeds last night

A group of girls were seen gathered on a street corner in Leeds on Saturday night - the second Saturday of pubs and bars being open again

Three women were seen chatting to one another while on a night out in Leeds last nights. Bars and pubs are now able to reopen with social distancing in place

Police officers roamed the streets last night to make sure revellers stayed out of trouble. Pictured: A woman speaking to officers in Leeds

Three women walked the streets of Leeds while on a night out last week. Last week's 'Super Saturday' bonanza was the first day pubs and bars were allowed to reopen

One man was seen consoling another as they sat on the pavement in Leeds on the second weekend since lockdown measures were lifted

One woman leaned against a wall as she took a break while on a night out in Leeds, on the second weekend of pubs and bars reopening

Revellers were seen on the streets of Leeds as they enjoyed the second weekend of lockdown lifting measures yesterday

Publicans have told of how difficult it is to contain the urges of millennials amid crowded scenes in Soho, central London.

Louise Chauvin, 26, who runs the Jaguar Shoes bar in Hoxton, told The Times: 'It's quite hard to communicate to customers, especially after two or three drinks, that they need to behave.

'They can't just get up and go to the bar and get a drink or go to another table and chat to someone random they don't know. Mostly the issue we have is there's a table of pretty ladies and a table of pretty boys and they just go over, like, 'All right do you want a drink?' - you can't do that.'

Roy O'Keefe, owner of The Tib Street Tavern in Manchester, said: 'The older crowd don't seem to be coming in as much, it's all lager that we're selling at the moment - so you can tell it's a younger age group.'

One woman was seen helping another up the curb in Leeds as they enjoyed a night out on Saturday. It was the second weekend since lockdown measures were further lifted

Pub-goers enjoyed a drink outdoors in Leeds. Pubs are able to serve as long as social distancing measures are put in place

A group of women enjoyed their night out on the streets of Leeds on the second Saturday that pubs were allowed to reopen

Yesterday saw 148 deaths from coronavirus - a figure over twice that of the 67 people who died from the virus last Saturday and more than triple that of Friday - sparking fresh fears about a second wave.

A further 820 people have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of infections to 288,953.

The new data from the Department of Health and Social Care takes into account fatalities in hospitals, care homes and the wider community.

It is a different toll to the 38 people who tested positive for coronavirus and died in hospital in England, with just one death earlier recorded in Wales and no new fatalities reported in Scotland in the last 24 hours.

The higher figure comes three weeks after shops were allowed to reopen in England - a gap that is significant because it generally takes several weeks before changes in lockdown policy show up in death data.

Since then lockdown has been eased even further, with cafes, restaurants and pubs allowed to reopen - though since these measures only came into force a week ago, they are unlikely to be reflected in data yet.

Revellers enjoyed their night out in Leeds last night. Saturday marked the second weekend since pubs, bars and restaurants were able to reopen
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: Amid deepening crisis in Rajasthan Congress, CM Ashok Gehlot has called for an 8 pm meeting with MLAs at his residence in Jaipur on Sunday, followed by another 9 pm meeting with his ministers.

Meanwhile, Deputy CM Sachin Pilot who was reportedly in Delhi to apprise the Congress high command of his discomfiture with Gehlot's style of functioning, has not been able to meet either Rahul or Sonia Gandhi. But, he has held a meeting with senior leader Ahmed Patel who has reportedly assured Pilot that the party will ensure that no injustice is done to him.

Sources say that Avinash Pandey, the AICC General Secretary Incharge for Rajasthan has already submitted a report to Sonia Gandhi in which he has assessed that there is no danger to the Congress government in the state.



Meanwhile, in Jaipur, Congress MLAs and other leaders have started expressing full support for CM Gehlot. Given Pilots possible revolt and the danger to the state government, the CM residence has been buzzing with political activity.

Most ministers and MLAs in the state have reportedly given letters of support to CM Gehlot.

In another major improvement, all borders of Rajasthan were sealed on Saturday night  though the official reason is to prevent entry of outsiders to curb the spread of Coronavirus, sources attribute the unofficial reason to the the political threat that led to the decision - which was made to prevent MLAs from moving out of the state.

What has happened so far

The political turmoil in Rajasthan Congress which began when the horse-trading charges in the Rajya Sabha polls last month came to light, has now turned into an open war between CM Ashok Gehlot and his Deputy Sachin Pilot.

Pilot is now especially upset over the recent summons for questioning by the Special Operations Group (SOG).

The SOG wrote to Pilot on Friday seeking his availability to record his statement in connection with the alleged attempts to topple the Congress government in Rajasthan - a move which has brought the rift between the two leaders out in the open.



Similar letters were sent to CM Gehlot and Congress Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi too.

Meanwhile, in a placatory move, CM Gehlot tweeted on Sunday that the ''Letter from SOG to the CM, Deputy CM, Chief Whip and others is just a common notice to give simple statements on the issue of horse-trading during RS polls. The effort by some in the media to twist this simple effort is not correct.''

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday had accused the opposition BJP of trying to topple his government by offering his legislators large sums of money and said his administration is not just stable but will complete its five-year term.

ALSO READ: Amid power games in Rajasthan, Congress MLAs meet Ashok Gehlot to indicate support

CM gehlot had declared that he would cooperate with the SOG probe as nobody is above the law. But Pilot is miffed with the situation and wants to clarify his stand to the Congress High Command.

Sources say that Pilot is angry that the SOG investigation is being used by Gehlot to create a false impression that his Deputy CM is working with the BJP to topple the Congress government.

A number of Independent MLAs have also been sent similar letters. Babu Lal Nagar, a Congress-supporting Independent MLA has already confirmed receiving the same.

Apart from the SOG action, the state's Anti Corruption Bureau has also begun a probe into the alleged bid to destabilise the government.

The Congress government has distanced itself from the three independent MLAs -- Khushveer Singh, Omprakash Hudla and Suresh Tak -- who were named in the preliminary enquiry (PE).

Sources say that about a dozen MLAs are constantly in touch with Pilot and are staying at different resorts in the Delhi-NCR region.

Pilot reportedly left Delhi for Jaipur on Saturday night but has since then been untraceable both for the media and the Congress leaders who say they have no idea about pilots current location.

Root of turmoil



Congress sources say the investigation by the SOG of the Rajasthan police into the alleged attempt by the BJP to lure Congress MLAs into its fold ahead of last months Rajya Sabha polls is at the root of the current crisis between Gehlot and Pilot.
The bank accounts of people associated with banned terror groups Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) have been restored, reports in Pakistani media said.

The people whose bank accounts have been restored include that of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, The News reported. The decision was taken after formal approval of the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). it further reported.

The bank accounts of Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, Haji M Ashraf, Yahya Mujahid and Zafar Iqbal - all connected to these terror groups - have also been restored, The News said. All these members of the banned terror outfits are in jail, facing sentences ranging from one to five years.

They were charged in terror financing cases by the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD).

The paper quoted sources as claiming that each one of the defunct JuD leaders had appealed to the United Nations for restoring their bank accounts so that they could run their family affairs.

A leader of one of these organisations was quoted by Pakistan news outlets that the leaders approached the UN Security Council since they wanted money to run their affairs.

These leaders in their request to the government of Pakistan had also mentioned about their financial income and sources of earning, reports said. The same was forwarded to the UNSC along their bank account numbers and other related details, the newspaper report said.
In Catalonia and the Balearic Islands even more of Andalusia. The most populous Spanish Region wants to introduce this week, also the mask duty in Public. In view of the increase in the Corona cases, three of the most popular holiday to have in order for goals to of this precautionary measure, determined. Regional President Juanma Moreno stressed on the weekend, and Andalusia was in a critical situation, but the best is it, in a timely manner to prevent. In addition, he cited another reason: "In some small communities a kind of tourism phobia arises because the visitors are coming without a mask," said the conservative head of government.

Hans-Christian Roler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, with its headquarters in Madrid.

F. A. Z.

neither the locals nor foreign tourists flock to the Mediterranean beaches. But, above all, the inhabitants of smaller places which were remained from the pandemic spared, wanted to stay ahead of the opening of the border three weeks ago to the favorite among. The mistrust was particularly true of the six million inhabitants of the capital region, in the pandemic focused initially on the most violent grass. In the Internet, Madrid with Hashtags were asked, such as "#madrilenosgohome" to stay at home.

unlike, for example, in Gutersloh, there was in Spain, never separate restrictions for more from Corona-affected regions. The end of the alarm condition brought on 21. In addition to the June Opening of the borders for the Spaniard the freedom to travel in their own country. The "Madrilenofobia" lived again. About the fear of the Madridern with the Virus in the Luggage, also, politicians are debating now. It was painful, the lump is suspected, said the Madrid regional President, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.

hundreds of German celebrations in Majorca

Similar Concerns were heard, as Mallorca opened in mid-June, again for foreign tourists. Earlier there was talk on the Spanish coast, due to the mass tourism of a "tourist phobia", the Holiday crowds, some of the compared with the Spanish flu. At the weekend, many were shocked with the pictures of the "beer street" of Playa de Palma. Hundreds of Germans had to be celebrated on Friday evening without any face protection like in the times before the Corona pandemic. The also showed a Video of the "Mallorca-Zeitung": you did not meet the distance requirement, danced, and alcohol flowed freely, without the owners or police intervention. On Saturday evening the caterers were, according to the newspaper, then self-restore order. At the same time, the local press reported, but also of dozens of privately organized "Covid-parties", where no rules are respected. Together with the for this Monday announced mask duty of the Balearic regional government wants to clamp down against such illegal parties through. The new catalog of fines, provides for penalties of up to 600,000 euros.

Updated Date: 12 July 2020, 10:19
Pastor Miles McPherson speaks on the third option to fight racism

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Pastor Miles McPherson of Californias Rock Church on Saturday spoke at the National Weekend of Action for Faith & Prejudice, a movement to demonstrate faith in God through confronting and dismantling racism, where he talked about the third option, based on his book.

During the Facebook Live event, McPherson referred to his book, The Third Option: Hope for a Racially Divided Nation, and said hes often asked what the other two options are.

They are, he said, the us-versus-them approach, and the for-or-against culture. Culture forces you to pick one against the other."

The third option is, We give honor or value to what we have in common, he stressed, noting that people have more similarities than differences.

One of the common things, he said, is that we are all made in the image of God.

The image of God in me is not superior to the image of God in you. And the image of God in you is not superior to the image of God in me, or inferior, he told viewers.

Racism, he explained, is when I believe the image of God in you is less than the image of God in me.

So the third option is, he added, I see you as being made in the image of God equally as I am, and that God loves you equally as He does me.

McPherson quoted Genesis 4:9, which is about the first murder in the Bible. It happened because someone was not being his brothers keeper, he said.

The verse reads, Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? I dont know, he replied. Am I my brothers keeper?

If we do not keep each other, well continue to have death and division, the pastor said.

To keep doesnt mean pointing out that someone is a sellout or their failures. Its lifting people up ... to be more loving, more understanding ... to invest in the emotional and spiritual health of your neighbor, he added.

The focus, McPherson said, is not on being a racist, but to be a keeper.

There are three principles to being your brothers or sisters keeper, he said.

One, a brothers keeper must have a brother to keep.

He read out Proverbs 18:24, One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

The pastor then asked who is the person, or a group of diverse people, in your life?

Two, McPherson continued, a brothers keeper must focus on doing right, not being right.

Its not about winning an argument that youre right and the other person is wrong, as that would be the us-versus-them culture, the pastor cautioned. Its about mutuality  Thats loving your neighbor as yourself.

Three, he added, a brothers keeper must keep as long as it takes.

People dont change overnight, he explained, noting that hes 60 and still learning and God has not given up on him.

McPherson then read Genesis 4:13-15: Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. But the Lord said to him, Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over. Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

God did not throw Cain out but told him that He would protect him, give him time to repent, the pastor explained.

Make a covenant with people who you will keep, McPherson concluded. Dont have a contractual relationship that you do this (then) I do this, and if you dont do this (then) Im not doing this.

Following McPhersons talk, Ryan Collins, CEO of Bethel School of Technology, shared why he got involved in the Faith & Prejudice movement.

After the police-involved death of George Floyd in May, Collins said he started asking himself what he could do to eradicate racism. He said some fellow white people he spoke to at the time were struggling with the same question.

It then occurred to Collins that a Heaven-to-Earth approach was needed because the fight is against an evil spirit.

Collins then spoke to Nona Jones, the founder of Faith & Prejudice, whose social media posts had stirred him. As a result, this grassroots movement began, said Collins, who is now co-executive producer of Faith & Prejudice.

Collins stressed that its not a political movement; its a heart-of-the-Father movement.

Jones, who opened the Facebook Live event, said the movement is about directing peoples passions and anger in a direction that leads to lasting change.

The future of the movement against racism hinges on leadership, she added.
A man in his 70s has died and another 273 cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Victoria overnight as the state is gripped by a second wave of the disease.

There are 57 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19, including 16 who remain in intensive care, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Sunday morning.

The additional death takes the national toll to 108 after a man in his 90s also died on Saturday.

As part of efforts to restrict the spread of the virus, Mr Andrews said schools would close and return to online classes from July 20, while students from kindergarten to grade 10 in locked down suburbs will have a third week of school holidays this week.

Mr Andrews said he could not risk some 700,000 children and their parents commuting to and from school while the virus spreads through the community.

Mr Andrews confirmed schools would reopen from Monday, but only for students in grades 11 or 12 in Victoria's locked down suburbs.

Face-to-face learning is also available for certain grade 10 students, children with special needs and those whose parents cannot work from home.

'Keeping kids home from school was a vital part of slowing the spread of coronavirus before, and it will be vital to our efforts again,' he said.

A man in his 70s has died and another 273 cases of coronavirus have been identified in Victoria overnight as the state is gripped by a second wave of the disease

Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the latest figures during a press conference on Sunday morning

Victorians living in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are currently in the midst of a second lockdown in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus.

The reimposed lockdown measures in parts of the state mean people can only leave their homes for four essential purposes - groceries, daily exercise, to give or receive care and to go to school or work.

Mr Andrews implored people to follow those orders, telling the public on Sunday it was currently a 'very dangerous' situation.

'This is a dangerous time,' he said.

At least 145 cases are linked to North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers, while a further 22 are linked to a Carlton housing commission block.

But Chief Medical Officer Brett Sutton confirmed those numbers are finally beginning to slow down after 10 towers were placed in a total lockdown last week.

Eight cases are linked to The Alfred hospital, though five of the staff who have been diagnosed are not believed to be linked. Initial testing suggests they acquired the virus in the community.

The three other coronavirus cases were picked up through contact tracing and immediately asked to self-isolate.

Further cases are linked to Box Hill Hospital and Brunswick Private Hospital, as well as a local abattoir. More details on clusters are expected by Sunday afternoon.

A medical worker is pictured performing a COVID-19 test as Melbourne re-enters stage three lockdown restrictions

A sanitation worker cleans a bench outside the single remaining public housing tower under a lockdownin Melbourne

Coronavirus outbreak at Melbourne's The Alfred hospital as EIGHT staff test positive and hundreds more go into isolation Eight staff at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne have tested positive to coronavirus, forcing hundreds more into self isolation. Victoria became the coronavirus capital of Australia on Saturday when a further 216 cases were diagnosed. Contact tracers are still trying to determine how many other staff at The Alfred may have come into contact with the infected staff members. Five of the staff who have been diagnosed are not believed to be linked. Initial testing suggests they acquired the virus in the community. The three other coronavirus cases were picked up through contact tracing and immediately asked to self-isolate. Currently, no patients have contracted COVID-19 within the hospital, a spokesman confirmed. The Alfred has not confirmed the roles of the staff members who have tested positive. The Alfred's Chief Executive Professor Andrew Way released a statement urging the community to assist health workers in minimising the spread of COVID-19. 'Alfred Health, and our community, appreciate the work staff are doing to care for patients with COVID-19, and we take every measure to keep them safe,' Professor Way said. He said the hospital was following rigorous cleaning processes to ensure the safety of all staff and patients. 'As a community we must take collective responsibility for ourselves and others. We need everyone to follow the stringent protocols in place; they are there to keep us safe,' Professor Way said. 'We cannot afford to become complacent. And as this pandemic demonstrates - behaviour really matters.' The infectious diseases ward, which is currently housing COVID-19 cases, has been effectively locked down in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus. Anybody entering the ward must register their details with a concierge to ensure they can track their movements. A hospital spokesman said any staff member who had close contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19 would be immediately sent for testing and suspended from duties. They are also housing staff with vulnerable family members in hotels to ensure they are not putting anybody at risk. Advertisement

'This is a very challenging time, and I know we are asking a lot of Victorians, but we simply have no choice but to acknowledge the reality that we face and to do what must be done, and that is to follow those rules, to only go out when you need to, and to only go out for the purposes that are lawful,' Mr Andrews said.

The premier said police would be out in full force and would not be issuing warnings to people caught flouting the rules.

'If we don't follow the rules, if we don't play our part, then we will simply see this virus continue to spread, and it will be a longer second wave, a more pronounced, a more tragic second wave than it ought be,' he said.

'Nobody wanted to be in this position, but this is where we find ourselves.'

Victoria now has more diagnosed cases of COVID-19 than any other state in Australia with 3,833 cases, 548 more than in New South Wales, which has so far recorded 3,285 cases.

A normally bustling laneway in Melbourne is pictured virtually empty on July 10

A resident of the Pampas Street Public Housing complex in North Melbourne waves from the front door as the easing of lockdown restrictions is announced

Mr Andrews also reiterated the plan for students returning to school from holidays this week.

Students in grades 11 and 12 will all be welcomed back for face to face learning, as will students in grade 10 undertaking VCAL subjects.

Students with special needs will also be able to go back to classrooms, and schools will remain open for parents who must go to work.

All other students in the locked down regions will enjoy a further week of school holidays until July 20, when they will return to online classes.

'We can't have the best part of 700,000 students as well as parents moving to and from school, moving around the community, as if there wasn't a stay-at-home order,' he said.

Mr Andrews said as a father of three school-aged children himself, he understood the burden the new measures could place on parents.

'But we have to slow the spread of coronavirus to protect students, teachers and all Victorians,' he said.

'This is not an ordinary weekend. It is anything but' Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters
After actor Sushant Singh Rajputs sudden demise has shocked the collective conscience of the nation sparking an important debate about nepotism and treatment of the outsiders in the industry. We spoke to filmmaker, composer and director, the multitalented Dushyant Pratap Singh about various issues from nepotism to the outsider vs insider debate in the industry.

On the debate happening right now on the issue of nepotism in Bollywood Dushyant says that nepotism has no place in Bollywood because we are in a public domain and the public decides who is a star or superstar or who is a flop actor or who is a great artist, like Irrfan Khan who is not with us today. So there is no place for nepotism today. Maybe someones son has got a chance to work in his production house and that is his right. My father will transfer his business to me and if we talk about the top 20 stars, including actors, composers and artists, only a small percentage who come from a background of films

Being his candid best, Dushyant also spoke about how he feels that some were taking advantage of the debate around nepotism to stay in the limelight. Nepotism is a talking point started by some stars are not ready to retire despite reaching that stage. These stars want to stay relevant. And some others too, who dont get publicity due to their nature and they too want to stay relevant. The third section are those who are not successful and have not worked hard, it is about destiny. They too jump into the nepotism debate. Lets look at those being targeted in this debate  Karan Johar, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan who shouldnt be targeted. Now if they respond, imagine what a talking point that would be. So these elements want to enter that arena. It is bad that we are fighting within the industry and this is still an unorganised sector, which does not get benefits

He also said that he felt that many big names like Karan Johar were being targeted unfairly. Many are talking about Karan Johar but it is his decision who he wants to take in his film. Can those targeting him make films like Kabhi haa Kabhi Naa or Kuch Kuch Hota hai? No they cannot make them. It is easy to pelt stones on someone, but please look at someones struggle before targeting them

On being asked if he thought that the industry was divided between outsiders and insiders, he said Film industry has never be divided. I will explain why this debate has been started with an example. Suppose a film is made, then it takes 9 months time after the film is made for it to be released. In those 9 months, 100 or more people involved are together. This is when they cannot meet other people. If some artist says he wants to meet me, I cannot meet him. I want to complete one project once. This systems demands time and you cannot entertain someone else while you are busy with your project. This is why people feel that a group has been made. Besides that if the film does well with one actress, I will definitely continue working with Kavitha Tripathi. So it is about having a comfort zone, it cannot be called a group.

Dushyant also spoke about how various platforms like YouTube and OTT platforms these boundaries have been demolished. We are global now. I feel instead of this we should focus on competing internationally. There is no use of debating this. If we give our best in the global arena, this debate wont be needed. For example, the south industry has flourished so much in recent times. They are competing now. Bahubali can be compared to Chinese war films now. We make hindi movies and we are flagbearers for the language. We should focus on entering this global competition and then fight, that would be fun

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The sight of people eating on patios in the summer sun might look like the dining scene is slowly getting back to normal, but the threat of permanent closure is still on the minds of restaurant owners as they try to figure out how to pay the bills while making a fraction of what they were used to before the COVID-19 shut down.

Places like mine, which dont have any backers and are owned by people who live in the neighbourhood they serve, theyre the most at risk, says Leo Wong, 31, owner of Scenic Coffee + Brunch, a small cafe and brunch spot located in a plaza on Woodbine Ave., just south of Highway 7, in Markham. We dont have any financial resources to fall back on.

Scenic opened in April 2019 and shut down for the first month and a half of the pandemic. This past April, the cafe started taking online orders for baked goods such as Japanese-style cream puffs and mochi brownies. About two weeks ago Wong opened the restaurant for takeout and outdoor dining for three days a week. Since then hes brought in a total of between $500 and $600, he said. Its about 10 per cent of what the restaurant made in the same time period in 2019.

That doesnt cover the money he spent on outdoor furniture so that diners can make reservations to eat in front of the store. We spent about $300 on six tables and chairs from Ikea. Then this past weekend it was too hot for people to eat in the sun so we spent another $400 on umbrellas. I cant just build a patio or deck.

Other costs include $300 to $500 for coffee from a local supplier as well as produce, dairy and other ingredients to last two weeks. The point of sale system costs $70 a month, and he also has an accountant to keep track of payroll and taxes. Theres also service fees with a new reservation system, as well as fees for processing credit and debit cards as many businesses are opting to go cashless to minimize contact with customers. He received a $40,000 small business loan from the government during the pandemic, which hes been repaying as well. Half of it has already been spent on existing bills.

In addition to himself, theres usually one other person working at the restaurant, which can usually seat 25. To keep costs down, Scenic is currently only open Friday to Sunday. Wong has three part-time employees making $24 an hour plus tips. Tips have been very little, he added. The hourly wage is more than the usual $16 per hour (about $20 with tips) workers had been making before the pandemic, but Wong said one of his goals upon reopening is paying a more livable wage to essential workers.

He added that he hasnt paid himself in the last year since the cafe opened, though he splits the tips with staff which works out to $3 to $4 an hour. He moved in with his parents when the restaurant opened last year to save money.

His biggest worry right now is rent. Wong pays $4,000 each month, which also includes utilities and taxes.

Our space is a sublet and our landlord is a tenant who has been trying to work something out with their landlord but it doesnt seem like theyre taking the governments commercial rent subsidy. My landlord hasnt asked for any money yet, but they might ask for all of it back. Imagine trying to pay four to five months of rent with no revenue. Wong said hes worried that if he has to retroactively pay the rent, his business loan would be all used up.

We thought about raising menu prices but I dont think its the right decision because diners are in a financial struggle themselves, he said. There have been talks about doing a coronavirus surcharge, but I dont think thats the way to go. Its the least creative way to go by passing the costs on to people.

Instead, Wong said there are larger changes that need to happen to help small businesses survive. There have been problems before the pandemic, but theyre now exacerbated. The hospitality industry is a window into society. A lot of people who work in the industry cant even afford to live in the city.

He said in addition to rent forgiveness during the pandemic, the province should revisit the idea of universal basic income. He said that if theres a universal income, it will allow small business owners to still have some money coming in (for living expenses) while they invest all their money into starting a restaurant, which usually doesnt make back its money in the first year or two.

Its outrageous for it to be a common practice for a restaurant owner to not have an income for the first two to five years. It doesnt encourage small business owners, Wong said.

Julie Kwiecinski, Ontarios director of provincial affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said that even though outdoor dining is now permitted, many smaller restaurants only have room for one or two patio tables. It may cost more to reopen and bring back staff than the revenue they can generate.

A recent survey from the CFIB reported that about 28 per cent of respondents in the hospitality sector across Canada are making a quarter or less of the revenue they made in previous years. Another 20 per cent reported making between a quarter and half of the revenue from before.

Its important to recognize that in Ontario, where they are reopening more slowly due to health requirements and higher case loads, the recovery is going to be slower, she said, noting that even when indoor dining is permitted, its not going to be at full capacity, which is what a restaurant needs to turn a profit. We see programs like the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance, but the question is how long theyre going to be in place.

In another recent survey by CFIB, members were asked if theyre considering winding down their business or declaring bankruptcy. In Ontario, 16.4 per cent of respondents said yes compared to the national average of 14.3. Those numbers are for every sector, not just in hospitality, but its still a telling number, Kwiecinski said. Under normal times, that number is around one per cent.

While it may seem somewhat back to normal for diners, Wong says restaurants, especially ones like his, are still far from being in the clear.

I want the average person to understand the difficulties of being a business owner and its just not all that glamorous, Wong said. I really want to be able to push forward these changes that the coronavirus forced us to look into so that small business owners have the opportunity to survive and contribute to their communities. The current systems in place dont allow for social and economic stability. Talking about this is the first step.

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Dear Liz: My mom is 93 and lives in Arizona. Im in California. She refuses to complete a revocable living trust, and after several years, I have given up with the request. She states she has added my name to the deed to the house and her bank account. She believes she has done enough. She states she completed a will that she got at Office Max. What would be my first steps if she precedes me in death?

Answer: She may be stubborn, but shes making mistakes that could impair her quality of life and saddle you with a big, unnecessary tax bill. Consider trying to persuade her to fix these errors before its too late.

Not having a living trust isnt necessarily a crisis. Yes, a living trust would allow your mothers estate to avoid probate, the court process that typically follows death. But probate in Arizona typically isnt as long or expensive as it is in California.

Whats more important is having documents in place that allow you (or someone else) to handle her finances and make healthcare decisions should she become incapacitated. Without that, you might have to go to court, which could be a long and expensive process (especially now, with the backlog created by COVID-19-related shutdowns).

A living trust also would make it relatively easy for a trusted person to step in and handle her affairs if necessary. In the absence of a living trust, you should insist she fill out an advanced care directive that would allow a trusted person to make healthcare decisions for her. There are free versions for each state at PrepareForYourCare.org, along with instructions about how to make it valid. If she doesnt have a computer, you can print out Arizonas version and send it to her.

She also needs to create a power of attorney for finances. Offer to hire an estate planning attorney to do this, since its a relatively simple form and not likely to be expensive. There are online forms and software that can do this if she absolutely refuses to consult an attorney.

An estate planning attorney might also be able to help you get off the deed. When she added you to the deed, your mom signed you up to pay capital gains taxes you wouldnt owe otherwise. All the appreciation in the home that happened during her lifetime would be taxable, when it doesnt need to be.

Lets say she bought the home for $25,000 and it was worth $250,000 when she died. If you inherited the home and sold it for $250,000, you would owe no capital gains taxes.

If she gives you the home before her death  which she essentially did by adding you to the deed  you dont get the valuable step-up in tax basis that keeps you from having to pay capital gains taxes on the appreciation that happened during her lifetime. Instead, you would owe capital gains taxes on the $225,000 appreciation. (This is a simplified example meant to help you and her understand the magnitude of the blunder.)

Arizona is one of the many states that has transfer on death deeds for real estate. These deeds would allow the house to avoid probate and come directly to you. Thats almost certainly a better solution than the one she chose.

Liz Weston, Certified Financial Planner, is a personal finance columnist for NerdWallet. Questions may be sent to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the Contact form at asklizweston.com.
But these outlets are now in more danger than ever. Even as they are facing the same advertising challenges from Facebook and Google  and now an economic crisis  that have stalled the growth of American digital media, they are contending with autocrats who increasingly draw their attacks from a common playbook. Many governments around the world are looking to an alternative model in China, which puts tight controls on domestic media and is in the process of imposing its stifling regime on Hong Kong. And digital upstarts arent the only ones feeling it  in the Philippines on Friday, Congress voted not to renew the franchise of the countrys main broadcaster, and Russia is pursuing treason charges against a respected former print journalist.

The coronavirus crisis, meanwhile, has given governments from Asia to Europe an excuse to crack down on independent media. The pandemic is also creating new tensions between authoritarian governments that seek to control the story of the spread and international outlets that, as domestic crackdowns intensify, can still sometimes report freely and be read locally online.

And then theres President Trump. It can sometimes be hard to put your finger on the concrete effects of his corrosive rhetoric, but you can look to media around the world to see them. American private and nonprofit investment, and official political support, through the years had been a double-edged sword for independent media. That support helped new outlets around the world get a foothold, but the American connection could also be used to accuse them of disloyalty.
Resul Pookutty, the Indian film sound designer, sound editor and audio mixer most well-known since his Oscar win for the 2009-film Slumdog Millionaire, has decided to make his directorial debut, under the banner of his own production company.

The script is based on Captain Baba Harbhajan Singh, an Indian army soldier who served between June 30, 1965 and December 1, 2006. Revered as the Hero of Nathula by soldiers of the Indian army, the soldier has a shrine built in his honour and accorded the title of the saintly father viz. Baba.

Resul has tentatively titled the film Piharwa, meaning beloved. The film, which has just finished its third draft, is not a biopic, says Resul, but rather a woman-centric, romantic portrayal of the mans life as seen by a 22-year-old boy in the current times.

Moreover, the whole story is woven around from the perspective of the love interest of the soldier, with scenes shot mainly in two locations  Kapurthala, where the soldier was born, and the second location in Gangtok.

Two years ago, when I was researching a couple of stories I wanted to put on an OTT, I chanced upon Baba Harbhajan Singhs story, Resul tells us.

The story remained at the back of my mind until six months ago, when an erstwhile classmate made a short film Plus-Minus, which was on Captain Harbajan Singh and even won an award. It was when she showed me the film that I began wondering about turning it into a feature film.

However, even before announcing his directorial debut, Resul has been mercilessly trolled on social media. The reason? His co-producer Avi Raj had recently mentioned about having approached Alia Bhatt for playing the love interest of Captain Baba Harbhajan Singh in the film.

Where the trolls have landed

While Resul thinks Alia will be a perfect fit for the role, which is that of a fierce Punjabi girl, he hopes to seek a fresh face for the male lead. And despite all the trolling aimed at him, Resul is very clear why Alia is his first choice for the role.

I had worked in her second film, Highway. On the very first day, when the first shot was done, I knew she was going to be a phenomenal actor, Resul tells us. Acting comes naturally to her and she is a treat to watch.

But the trolls have landed, we remind him. Especially with the raging online discussions after the unfortunate death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, trolls have trained their guns at Resul for encouraging nepotism because he is even considering Alia Bhatt.

Alia, by the way, had come under fire with the likes of Karan Johar for mocking Sushant on Karans talk shows when the actor was alive.

Yes, Ive been getting messages from people saying, Sir, please dont take her; we will not watch the film, he says adding, While I feel its sad that people get so taken in even without verifying their piece of information, I also condemn nepotism as the lowest and most unimaginative corruption. I dont think it is good for any industry or for our economy.

Not budging in his convictions

However, Resul is just clear that a crowd-mentality will not have him back off from his convictions.

I am looking for what is good for my film and its characters. And I will surely cast Alia regardless of the social media trolls, puts in Resul.

Additionally, Resul points out how the crowd mentality to get anyone and everyones head over Sushants unfortunate death is incorrect. Nepotism is everywhere, the worst of which is in politics, he says.

Yet, despite nepotisms innate structure, we must also consider a positive side to it. For instance, if not for nepotism, family businesses wouldnt have flourished. But yes, when it comes to art and negates values of art and talent, I shall not stand for. As for Alia, she was born into Vishesh Films  the only production house in Bollywood, which has introduced new talents more than anyone else, including technicians and artists. If Alias father, Mahesh Bhatt wants to stand for such values and instil those in his kids, is that nepotism? Then, I stand for it.

As we take in his words, Resul also points out how if nepotism was such a deciding factor in Hindi cinema many actors such as Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty or even Shah Rukh Khan wouldnt have grown here.

Why them, lets talk about meI won the Oscar for my work in India. So I think while there may be a certain percentage of people indulging in nepotism the muck exists in every facet of life. My appeal to people is not to pick up that muck and splash it on everyones face, says Resul.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday asserted that his government has shown zero tolerance towards crime and corruption and perception about the state has changed in the last three years. He said better law-and-order situation is a pre-condition for attracting investments.

"It is our responsibility to take whatever steps required for the betterment of people. For development and for attracting investments in the state, better law-and-order situation is a pre-condition.

"Keeping that in mind, we have shown zero tolerance towards crime and corruption and the perception about the state has changed in the last three years," he said.

Adityanath was replying to a question on change in the perception about the law-and-order situation in the state and what is the objective behind it, in a webinar organised by the 'India Global Week'.

The state government has been under criticism over the killing of eight policemen by gangster Vikas Dubey and his gang. It also received flak over the encounter of Dubey on Friday morning while he was being brought from Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh.

"Uttar Pradesh is the biggest state with a population of 23-24 crore and the people have given the responsibility to our party and the party has given that responsibility to me...Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP have given me the responsibility to ensure security of 23-24 crore people," Adityanath said.

He said every single penny of people investing in the state will be safe.

India-US relationship took six decades to discover itself, making up for lost time: S Jaishankar

Punjab National Bank Housing Finance seeks shareholders' approval to raise up to Rs 45,000 cr
New Delhi, July 12 : The Land & Development Office, which comes under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has sent a notice to news agency PTI, demanding it to cough up more than Rs 84 crore as penalty. The notice dated July 7 says that the penalty has been imposed due to "breaches" at its office in Delhi.

The notice that sought Rs 84,48,23,281 argues that "the less will be pleased to regularise the breaches in the premises temporarily up to 14.07.2020 and withdraw the right of re-entry of the premises subject to the following conditions being fulfilled by you within 30 days from the date of issue of this letter." The notice also stipulates that the news agency needs to give an undertaking on non-judicial stamp paper stating that it will pay the difference of "misuse/damage charges" if the land rates are revised with effect from 01.04.2016 by the government and will also remove the "breaches" by 14.07.2020 or get them regularised by paying charges.

The notice also warns that further action to execute the deed has to be subject to complete payment and putting the premise to use according to the masterplan.

The Land & Development Office so warned that an additional 10 per cent interest may need to be coughed out by PTI if it fails to furnish the concerned amount within the stipulated time period.

Additionally, if the news agency fails to comply with the terms within the said period, the concession will be withdrawn. In other words, they will have to pay the penalty up to the actual date of payment then and will also be subject to actions.

This stern notice for alleged violations by PTI comes closely on the heels of national broadcaster Prasar Bharati locking horns with PTI over its reportage that it called "anti national".

Prasar Bharti had recently sent a letter threatening to end its "relationship" with PTI after it carried an interview of Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong, where he blamed India for the India-China violent standoff that saw 20 Indian bravehearts getting martyred.
Though Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry have not spoken openly about their royal exit in recent months, fans are getting a glimpse at the duchess state of mind during her time in The Firm.

Meghan had been previously open about her struggles in the media and the lies that were spewed about her. However, in released documents from her privacy claim against Mail on Sunday, Associated Newspapers Limited, it seems that the duchess also had an issue with the royal family.

While the duchess seemed to get along with royal family members, Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Sofie, Countess of Wessex, apparently she did not feel as welcomed or embraced by others.

RELATED: Meghan Markle Should Have Followed in Kate Middletons Footsteps and Ignored Bad Press, Expert Says

Meghan Markle was angry that she was never allowed to defend herself

Meghan was extremely frustrated by the untrue stories about her that spiraled out of control in the media, especially since she was expected to adhere to the royals stiff upper lip policy. The privacy claim reads,

The Claimant had become the subject of a large number of false and damaging articles by the UK tabloid media, specifically by the Defendant, which caused tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health. As her friends had never seen her in this state before, they were rightly concerned for her welfare, specifically as she was pregnant, unprotected by the Institution, and prohibited from defending herself. The stance of no comment was taken by the KP Communications Team without any discussion with or approval by the Claimant, as is standard practice for Royal communications.

RELATED: Fans Are Furious That the Royal Family Is Defending Kate Middleton but Not Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle felt like the royal family did nothing to protect her

For some time, royal fans have been furious as the royal family for refusing to come to Meghans aid. The palace teams are faced with the difficulty that when things go wrong  particularly on private life matters  quite often any action taken with the media makes it worse, an insider told People. Its not that the royal household doesnt want to help  more that they dont want to make it worse by giving a gossipy story more oxygen.

However, it may be past time for the royals to reconsider their stiff upper lip policy. If the queen had once said, in her way, Hey, guys, this is my grandson and his wife, journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown told Vanity Fair. They just got married. Back off and let them build a life for themselves, the hounds would have backed off. But she never did. And she still hasnt. I find that unforgivable, actually, since she has the power. They absolutely worship her in this country.

RELATED: A Lip-Reading Expert Just Revealed Exactly What Went Down With Meghan Markles Dramatic Exit From Prince Charles 70th Birthday Party

Meghan Markle is not trying to attack the royal family

Though she is adamant about telling her side of the story in her lawsuit, the duchess is not trying to attack the royal family or sour their relationship with Prince Harry.

Some people are making [these documents] about individuals, an insider told People. It is about the [institution] as a whole and its practices. This case centers on a private and hand-written letter from a daughter to her father that was published by The Mail on Sunday. This gross violation of any persons right to privacy is obvious and unlawful.
Retired Brigadier General Dr. Daniel Gold, who heads Israel's Defence Research and Development Directorate and holds PhDs in electronic engineering and business management, has become a celebrated figure in the Jewish state

Daniel Gold, who led the team that invented Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system, has a history of safeguarding the country against what he identifies as existential threats.

With the nation facing surging coronavirus cases amid a pandemic that has triggered unprecedented economic hardship, Gold is trying to replicate his Iron Dome breakthrough in protecting Israel against the virus.

Gold, who heads Israel's Defence Research and Development Directorate and holds PhDs in electronic engineering and business management, has become a celebrated figure in the Jewish state.

Iron Dome faced widespread scepticism over its effectiveness before it was deployed in 2011, but it has since been credited with intercepting countless rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

Gold told AFP that he first became convinced of Israel's need for missile defence technology during the 1990-91 Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein's forces launched Iraqi scud missiles towards Tel Aviv.

"Tel Aviv was empty" at the time, he said in an interview at Israel's defence ministry. "I decided we had to do something."

In 2004, when Gold was a general heading R&D for the defence ministry, he resolved to move forward, even without the full backing of Israel's defence establishment.

"I anticipated (rocket-fire) would be a main threat to Israel... a major threat with no solution," he said.

"I told my superiors, give me the money. I will do it... All the hierarchy said no. The government said no."

Gold's team started work anyway, collaborating with private defence contractors.

They developed two dozen missile defence concepts, scrapped them all, then started from scratch.

In 2007, Iron Dome was formally selected as Israel's missile defence system. The same year, the Islamist group Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.

Its fighters and militants from other jihadist groups have since lobbed thousands of rockets and other projectiles towards Israel.

Israel has imposed a strict blockade on the territory that it says is necessary to contain Hamas but which critics argue amounts to collective punishment and deepens Gaza's humanitarian crisis.

The Iron Dome missile defence system faced widespread scepticism over its effectiveness before it was deployed in 2011, but it has since been credited with intercepting countless rockets fired from the Gaza Strip

'Game-changer'

Gold said his motivation for designing Iron Dome was to "save lives" and "maintain the continuity of life in Israel".

Even in times of crisis, with rockets raining down, he said he wanted people to "at least (be able) to go to work".

The nature of the pandemic threat may be different, but Gold's motivations in combatting the virus are strikingly similar.

Since developing Iron Dome, he has retired from the army and worked in the private sector before returning to the defence ministry as a civilian to lead its R&D directorate.

In early March, during a meeting at Prime Minister's Benjamin Netanyahu's office, he realised the gravity of the coronavirus threat, he said.

His department's coronavirus work has focused on three areas: "life-saving", including domestic production of ventilators, helping the health system prepare for an overwhelming caseload and what he termed a "game-changer".

The final category has largely centred on designing coronavirus tests that give accurate results in less than 60 seconds, using breath, smell or artificial intelligence.

Various concepts are undergoing major trials, involving private sector and government partners.

"We hope that if we succeed, it is a game-changer around the world," said Gold.

New friends?

And while he noted that his primary motivation is to keep Israel safe from the virus, an Israeli coronavirus breakthrough could help forge ties among countries that do not recognise the Jewish state.

His team has heard "from countries we never worked with before", he said.

Last month, companies in the United Arab Emirates and Israel announced plans to jointly develop anti-virus technology, despite the two countries having no official diplomatic ties.

Coronavirus research "is already creating new relationships", Gold said.

Explore further Israel records highest single-day virus tally

 2020 AFP
Official statistics show that Latinos are hospitalized and dying from the coronavirus at four times the rates of whites, but even those high numbers may be seriously underestimated, says Andres Ramirez, a health care expert with Protect Our Care, a coalition trying to fend off Republican attacks on the Affordable Care Act.

"Latinos are dying in this pandemic, and are likely being undercounted due to the different ways hospitals and government agencies collect health care data," Ramirez says. "With these undercounts, federal government officials can withhold vital resources like testing kits that are desperately needed in these underserved communities. These inaccurate Latino counts hurt everyone, hampering our ability to get this virus under control."

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials say gaps in their data come from their dependence on local agencies. The CDC cannot force local health agencies to collect detailed data about every person who tests positive. These local governments are overwhelmed by the pandemic and lack the resources to investigate the characteristics of every individual who falls ill.

Chicago, with a sizable Latino population, is a microcosm of this problem.

Jose Rico, the chief partnerships and initiatives officer for United Way of Metro Chicago and a member of the Mayor's Recovery Task Force, has seen how systemic inequities in Latino health care are hurting the ability to address the pandemic in his city. In Illinois, according to the state's Department of Public Health, Latino's have the highest covid-19 infection rates statewide.

Early in the pandemic, Rico heard from health-care centers that Latinos were testing at a higher rate even when testing was restricted to the few, but the numbers that were reported at the city and state level did not match up with what people were seeing in the neighborhoods where he was working.

In early May, there was a large increase in cases, both because testing became more available and because many more Latinos were being counted. When Rico asked hospitals and health centers to combine their individual data so they could analyze a complete data set by neighborhoods and ethnicity, they made a startling discovery: the hospitals all count race and ethnicity differently. Many Latinos were counted as non-Hispanic white.

Federal and local governments and hospitals all count race and ethnicity differently. In many critical forms and submissions, including the census, the government race category forces Latinos to choose among white, black or African American, Asian, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. There is nothing for a Latino to check except the lonely box marked "other." Latinos are literally "othered" in these official government counts.

Federal forms allow Hispanics to be counted in the ethnicity category, but this is not always the number used for policy development or resource allocations.

One study of how hospitals collect race and ethnicity data found "collection is fragmented and incomplete within and across organizations. A major factor affecting the quality of data is the lack of understanding about how best to collect this information from patients."

A Harvard study that looked at the accuracy of race, ethnicity and language preference in electronic health records found that, given an opportunity, patients were more likely to self-report Hispanic ethnicity than was reported in the electronic health records. There are key discrepancies between what hospital intake forms show and how patients actually self- identify. The count is further muddled because 37 percent of Hispanics self-reported identification with at least one other racial or ethnic group. Researchers concluded that there are important inaccuracies and there needs to be better processes to document race ethnicity in electronic health records.

Public health experts say Latinos may be more vulnerable to the virus as a result of the same factors that have put minorities at risk across the country. Many have low-paying service jobs that require them to work through the pandemic, interacting with the public. A large number also lack access to health care, which contributes to higher rates of diabetes and other conditions that make this population more susceptible to complications from the virus.

Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., a physician, knows first hand the health-care challenges facing Latinos during this pandemic.

"First of all, Latinos are more likely to be employed in essential jobs. Meaning that they do not have the luxury of working from home," he says. "They have to go out into the workforce. Second of all, these are precisely the workers that needed protections in the workplace even before covid-19. Farmworkers for example have one of the highest injury rates, one of the highest hazard rates in any profession and they are not protected."

As a result, the number of Latinos with covid-19 is staggering. In Iowa, Latinos account for 24 percent of coronavirus cases although they are only 6 percent of the population.

Latinos in Washington state make up 13 percent of the population but 44 percent of cases. In Florida, they are just over a quarter of the population but account for 2 of 5 virus cases where ethnicity is known.

In Chicago, the inability to get an accurate count of how many Latinos have the coronavirus has real resource implications as local and state health officials respond to the pandemic. Although the state and city are flattening the curve, the number of Latino deaths in Chicago has surpassed the death toll of other groups but the resources to address these high levels of infection are still lacking. Today, Rico and Latino leaders in Chicago are leading an effort to get a state executive order to correctly identify Latino racial categorization in state agencies.

Inaccurate data in a pandemic can lead to missing vulnerabilities and predispositions to diabetes and heart disease, which are destructive when combined with covid-19.

"At the end of the day, local governments are not able to make the necessary resource allocations for combating this virus if they do not know who or how many people are actually sick in a given area," Rico said. "This should be simple, give people the option to self-select Latino on these forms. We get enough othering in real life, let's make it simple to include us in these counts."

- - -

Ramos, former communications director for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is a freelance writer and founder of Autonomy Strategies, a media consulting company.
Ejaz Kaiser By

Express News Service

RAIPUR: The more surrendered Maoists there are, the better would be circumstances for them and their inhabited village, cites a new tactical move of the Chhattisgarh police.



To add impetus to the ongoing anti-naxal campaign Lon Varatu (return to your home/village)recently launched by the police in an edgy district of Dantewada, the villages that shows up with the maximum number of surrendered Maoists would stand rewarded.



Any tribal village with a minimum of ten surrendered cadres will get a tractor and other equipment for agriculture practice free of cost for their subsistence. After renouncing the banned CPI (Maoist) the cadres are willing to undertake farming and cultivation in their villages through creating creating their self-help group (SHG). Such campaign, the Dantewada police believe would be instrumental in re-educating the Maoist rebels engaged in the virtual war against the state to realise the hollow ideology of left-wing extremism.



Usually we find SHG comprised only of women. But first time, Bastar is witnessing the creation of SHGs of surrendered Maoists with both males and females as members. The tractor and other agriculture equipment would be provided to them free through the panchayats. Besides they would be given vocational training suited to the local needs and further monitor the development of their hamlets, said Dr Abhishek Pallava, Dantewada superintendent of police.



After the ultras quit their organisation, the next big challenge remains to suitably rehabilitate them and ensure the surrendered rebels are not lured or coerced again by Maoist leaders to return.



Tractors have recently been procured for three villages, the SP said and further added that the move is likely to counter the Maoist propaganda used to caution against the surrender with a narration that those who quit would either be forced to work with police or remain out of work.



There are many rebels who do not wish to be part of the police force after their laying down their arms. Neither every surrendered Maoist willing to work with the security force nor are there enough vacancies to accommodate them, Pallava, who did his MD from AIIMS Delhi in 2009, said.



Dantewada police decided to initially identify those villages where no major threat exists that may jeopardise the objective, remain close to a security camp or police station and do not pose problem for the government staff or the police to access.



The plan hopefully should propel diffusion with an impact going across to interior villages having strong presence of Maoists and pave the way for more cadres to surrender, opined the district police chief.

Dantewada continues to be among the worst Maoist-affected districts in the conflict zone of Bastar.
They all have been rushed to hospital.

Three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in action in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, on Saturday, July 11, and another five were injured between 00:00 and 17:00 Kyiv time on July 12.

"On July 12, illegal armed formations of the Russian Federation violated the ceasefire 11 times," the press center of the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters said in an evening update on Facebook on July 12. "During the day, five members of the Joint Forces were wounded. All soldiers were immediately hospitalized and provided with medical assistance."

Read alsoUkrainian volunteer killed in enemy shelling in Donbas

"The enemy failed to implement the Minsk agreements in the past days and used proscribed weapons, including not only mortars, but also artillery systems of various calibers," it said.

In the Pivnich (North) sector, enemy troops opened fire from 152mm artillery systems near the village of Novotoshkivske, while 120mm mortars were used to shell positions near the villages of Orikhove and Krymske. The village of Khutir Vilny was also under attack, the enemy used anti-tank weapons, automatic grenade launchers, large-caliber machine guns, and rifles. All attacks started in the early hours of July 12.

In the Skhid (East) sector, Russia-led forces also used banned weapons, namely 122mm artillery systems and 120m mortars. Hot spots were the outskirts of the towns of Avdiyivka, the villages of Opytne and Kamyanka, and the town of Maryinka.

The Ukrainian military returned fire. "Joint Forces' units resolutely stopped enemy troops' attacks on Ukrainian positions and forced them into ceasing fire. Information on the enemy's losses is being verified," it said.

Ten attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donbas were reported on July 11.
A national elimination strategy for COVID-19 is not off the table - especially if cases continue to rise in New South Wales, says Victorias Chief Health Officer.

Speaking on ABC Radio Melbournes Drive program, Professor Brett Sutton said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) had done some really detailed thinking about elimination, but that it was up to politicians to make the call.

It's certainly for politicians to consider because it has profound implications for tourism, for travel and for how you manage locking your country down, because elimination requires that you don't have any virus introduced through any mechanism, he said.

Professor Sutton said an elimination strategy would entail even harder locked-down borders, all but for the most essential travel.

So that's for Home Affairs, border security and our tourism and education industries to particularly consider the economic and social implications.Asked if he believed there was any appetite for a suppression strategy, Professor Sutton said he did not think it was out of the question.

Especially if we see significant transmission that occurs now in New South Wales - I absolutely hope it doesn't - but if we see this kind of see-sawing of having to manage really substantial outbreaks well all reflect on the fact that it's going to be really, really hard to sustain this seesawing [with], as you know, pretty damaging economically, socially, psychologically shut downs and if there is an alternative that is less harmful, he said.

Because it's all bad, in the grand scheme of things, but if we can find the least harmful pathway and elimination might be that one and we can do it then I hope it's there on the radar for everyone.
Late actor Sushant Singh Rajputs sister Shweta Singh Kirti has expressed her gratitude for the love and support received from his fans during this difficult time. She said that she was overwhelmed by the love and thanked everyone.

In a Facebook post, Shweta wrote, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the kind of love and support you guys have shown.... I cant thank you guys enough for giving our family strength & caring for us during this difficult time. Lets have faith on God and his justice.... keep praying.

Fans sent Shweta and her family their love in the comments section. Sushants family is like our family. We are always with you and your family. Much love, strength and peace. #SushantInOurHeartsForever Uncle ko pranaam, one Facebook user wrote. Another commented, shweta your positivity and strength made me love u even more.. We all are with you n your family always .. wishing for justice soon..

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the kind of love and support you guys have shown.... I cant thank you guys enough... Posted by Shweta Singh Kirti on Sunday, 12 July 2020

Sushant died by suicide on June 14, at the age of 34. Shweta, who lives in the US, flew down to Patna. Though she could not attend his funeral in Mumbai, she was present for the immersion of his ashes and prayer meet.

Also read: Aishwarya Rai, Aaradhya test positive for coronavirus, Jaya Bachchan tests negative

On Friday, Shweta shared a video of Sushant doing his favourite activities, including reading, writing and meeting fans. Such a cutie pie. My best baby in the world...with eyes filled with dreams, she wrote on Instagram, along with the video.

Meanwhile, Shwetas husband Vishal Kirti endorsed an app called Nepometer on Twitter. The app, created by Vishals brother Mayuresh Krishna, will analyse how nepotistic or independent the crew of a film or television show is. The first film to be rated was Mahesh Bhatts Sadak 2, starring Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanjay Dutt and Pooja Bhatt. It was given a rating of 98% nepotistic.

Vishal later called Nepometer a small tribute to Sushant and said that it was not the familys priority. Were still grieving. Our focus now is to take care of each other. I shared my brothers idea of Nepometer because it enables people to make informed choices. Its a small tribute to Sushant. Its a not for profit voluntary effort. Please stay patient since it isnt our 1st priority, he wrote on Twitter.

If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist. Helplines: Aasra: 022 2754 6669; Sneha India Foundation: +914424640050 and Sanjivini: 011-24311918

Follow @htshowbiz for more
No, of course not, according to an article in The Conversation! It is ludicrous to even suggest that! In fact, Christians do some of the persecuting!

The article does make some valid points, however, and we cannot dismiss it out of hand. But to say that Christians in Australia are not persecuted at all is a big reach.

To persecute, according to the Macquarie Dictionary, is to pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment, to oppress with injury or punishment for adherence to principles or religious faith, or to annoy by persistent attentions, importunities, or the like.

Let us look at a few circumstances and see whether they amount to persecution.

Tasmania

The Advocate, April 12,2020, reports that a member of the public was concerned about seeing 15 cars in the carpark of a church, two weeks in a row. Being highly responsible, the person reported this to the police, who sent officers to investigate this alleged breach of Covid-19 restrictions.

It was found that the pastor of the church had a number of people with him, including technicians, who were preparing to livestream the services to their congregation. The space was large enough to accommodate everyone there and the officers were satisfied that no breach of restrictions had occurred.

You could hardly call this persecution in terms of injury or oppressive treatment, as experienced by many Christians in other parts of the world. But harassment or annoyance fits. My suspicious mind wonders if the concerned citizen would have made the same call if they had noticed 15 cars outside, for example, a club. Or else they could have just knocked on the door and seen for themselves.

Subtletyin Western Australia

Not all persecution is obvious. Steve Klomp asks, Are we persecuted yet? He cites a new Childrens Hospital that will have a Muslim prayer room, but nothing for Christians.

Also government money is being given to a private, profit making clinic in Midland to fund abortions. Not surprising, really, until you realise that the clinic is set up because the Midland hospital under St John of God administration would not provide abortions.

Another issue is the low number of Christians being allowed to migrate to Australia because of persecution and loss of religious freedom in their own countries.

Persecution? These actions are certainly not neutral, and again while not causing injury or oppressive treatment, they do discriminate against Christians.

Australians risking their livelihood

Quite apart from people in the public eye, such as Israel Folau and Margaret Court, there is an increasing number of ordinary Australian Christians who risk losing their job, having their professional status revoked, or at the very least having to spend a lot of money and time to defend themselves against accusations that are usually dropped after challenge.

One of the frightening things about some of these stories is the observation and collection of data about people that is done in secret, without the person being aware that they are being observed or that someone has taken offence at what they are doing.

The Human Rights Law Alliance was set up in 2019 as an organization that protects religious freedom through legal advocacy. It has provided legal representation and advocacy for people who are under attack for living out their faith in public.

HRLA has published a number of cases which make interesting, but frightening, reading. Australia Watch is another resource documenting what is happening in our Lucky Country.

Back in 2017 Andrew Bolt, in the Herald Sun, called for Christians to prepare for persecution. He is not a Christian, but he was astute enough to recognize what is going on! His article was supported by the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary.

So, what can we do?

As Christians, I believe we  each of us, not just our pastors or leaders - need to have our eyes open to what is going on in our society. The climate has changed to the extent that simple Christian statements such as Ill pray for you are no longer acceptable. Where 50 years ago that would have been welcomed, now it just has one person to take offence and we are being slandered.

Jesus statement in Matthew chapter 10 verse 16 comes to mind: 16 Now, remember, it is I who sends you out, even though you feel vulnerable as lambs going into a pack of wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes yet as harmlessas doves. (The Passion Translation).

Too long I think we have tried to be harmless as doves, with the result that out of naivety and innocence we have let people walk all over us.

Hey church, man up! Let us be as shrewd as snakes, relying on the Holy Spirits prompts for what to say, when to say it and whom to say it to. And we cant do that without a closer relationship with God.
Norma Foley was one of the most surprising of Micheal Martin's Cabinet appointments last month. The new Minister for Education is a first-time TD with no previous national legislative or policy-making experience.

Colleagues said the fact she had spent more than two decades as a councillor in Kerry and her background as a secondary school teacher in Tralee marked her out as one to watch. "Articulate and astute," said one Cabinet minister, while a senior Fianna Fail source said: "She is a very, very capable woman. She has been in politics a long time and gets it."

Foley was to the fore of highlighting issues at the Skellig Star direct provision centre in Cahersiveen earlier this year. But her appointment to one of the most important roles in government is a massive and perhaps risky move by Martin.

Read More

As stressed parents and anxious children seek clarity on how schools will reopen in September, Foley has not been able to provide it. Outstanding questions remain over the extent to which schools will reopen and what extra supports will be in place.

The new minister has secured a doubling of the minor works grant budget - from 30m to 60m - and it will be extended to secondary as well as primary schools. The funding, to be announced as part of the July Stimulus package, will allow schools to adapt their buildings, upgrade their toilets and get ready for social distancing regulations.

"We are certainly going to ensure that everything that needs to be done, the multi supports that need to be in place, will be in place," Foley said.

"The objective is to ensure that the schools open as fully as possible and that students, and the entire school community are working within school confines."

But in her new office in the Department last Friday, the Sunday Independent found the minister either reluctant or unwilling to answer clearly many other questions about her new brief.

Hugh O'Connell: The programme for government commits to reducing the reliance on voluntary contributions. What would be an appropriate contribution?

Norma Foley: I think we're looking at a whole new world order as we journey through Covid and all of that, so I think we must be very, very mindful. So again that's something that we're working our way towards.

HOC: What are you working your way towards?

NF: I recognise that there's going to be difficulties for parents in terms of costs and everything else. So we are looking at, in terms of the schools and what the schools can roll out themselves on their own initiative, and supporting that. I think that's hugely important as opposed to reliance on parents.

HOC: Do you think parents shouldn't be paying it?

NF: Well, there's the ideal and there's the reality. So I think we're looking at both there and I am conscious that parents are under undue pressure currently because of the situation which we find ourselves in. We are solution-based, we're solution-focused here. I can't put an exact figure on it for you, it wouldn't be wise for me to do that, but I am saying that I'm very conscious and very aware of it.

HOC: What was the voluntary contribution in the school you used to work in?

NF: Actually I couldn't put a figure on that, I wasn't involved in that area.

HOC: Is the intention to try and get rid of the voluntary contribution?

NF: I think parents and guardians have considerable demands on them. Education in its purest and best sense should be accessible, and I'm a huge supporter of inclusion in education programmes like Deis and rolling those out to ensure that every child has every possible opportunity and it has nothing to do with the financial background from which they would come.

HOC: So is the intention to get rid of the voluntary contribution or reduce it?

NF: Well, it would be my intention that there wouldn't be a reliance on the voluntary contribution and can I say, I would be aware of the fact of the voluntary contribution in my experience has never impeded the learning of a child in school... It's never been an obstacle to the experience of the best possible education. I would like to think that would be a cornerstone.

*******

Foley is evasive on plans to roll out a free school book pilot scheme to 50 schools in September, declining to confirm if this will even happen or what schools it will apply to. "I am looking at it," she says.

On the commitment to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio - currently around 26:1 in Ireland - there is no answer on what ratio she wants to achieve, other than saying she aspires to the EU average of 20:1.

"I mean for me to put a figure on it now means that it's set in stone... and I don't think that's appropriate at this point," she says.

HOC: Some people listening to these answers might deduce that you don't really have targets in mind for a lot of these things and be concerned that they can't be achieved.

NF: No, not at all. I think it's very clear that in my department there would be a recognition, and certainly it would be my recognition, that we engage with the stakeholders of education, we consult, and we come to a joint approach as to what you have mentioned there, the pupil-teacher ratio, what we're working towards. HOC: People might like to know what the ambition is.

NF: Well, the ambition is to reduce the current pupil-teacher ratio.

HOC: To what?

NF: What I'm saying to you is I think there will be further discussion with the key range of stakeholders in relation to that and I think that's hugely important. I think there hasn't been a recognition of the role that could be played by the collective in education and I would like to think that is the way we would go forward, that the collective in education would have a very strong role.

HOC: What's the collective in education?

NF: The collective in education, as far as I'm concerned, are the wide range of stakeholders I've mentioned. I believe we can achieve a huge amount when we have a common agenda, or an appreciation of what is and should be the common agenda. For example, the common objective that we have to reopen schools. I think that buy-in from all concerned lends great weight to what we are ultimately seeking to achieve.

*******

The new Government has committed to developing an inclusive and age-appropriate relationships and sexual education curriculum with possible legislative changes. Foley would again not be drawn on what this might involve. She said there should be a role for schools in sex education "in the broadest sense" but that it has to be in consultation with parents and stakeholders.

"I would recognise that parents are the primary educators and they must very much so be part of this. Students, teachers, the widest consensus," she said.

HOC: Do you think that parents should be teaching children about sex and sexual relationships?

NF: I think there's a role for that. There's also a role supporting the schools as well.

HOC: What's the appropriate age for children to be learning about that in schools?

NF: It depends on the kind of information that you're going to make available, it should be age appropriate. What's appropriate at one particular level is not appropriate at another. You must be very conscious of age appropriate.

HOC: What's the appropriate age for children to be learning about sex and sexual identity in schools?

NF: Well, it depends on the information that's being made available.

HOC: Learning about the basic facts of life.

NF: Well, age appropriate.

HOC: What's age appropriate?

NF: What's age appropriate would be taking on board what a child of a particular age can make their way through or what they can actually assimilate at a given time. It must be age-friendly in terms of, I suppose, terminology. There must be an age of appreciation of how much information a child can assimilate, so it depends.

HOC: What's the appropriate age for children to be learning about sex at school?

NF: It's very difficult to put an exact ... it depends on the information - it's not just about sex, it's about well-being, it's about health, it's about all of that.

*******

Foley stresses it is not just about sex education in schools. "It's about health and well-being and fitness and mental well-being, which is very important, and resilience," she says.

On the approach to education about the dangers of drug use, Foley is also strikingly vague.

"I think children need to be taught about the danger, and they need to be taught about, and again in the widest sense, health and well-being and how best to look after themselves, how best to present themselves in the community and care for themselves and care for each other," she says.

Asked if it should be a policy of ''just say no'', she responded: "Absolutely in terms of... absolutely. I mean drugs are not available to under 18s, and absolutely... and obviously there's a difference between medical drugs obviously, and yes, absolutely, yeah."

Having been a member of Tralee Pastoral Council, Foley says her religious faith is important to her, but stressed "in no shape or form does it mean that I impose my faith or my beliefs on anyone else".

She is "absolutely" committed to expanding plurality in education and achieving a target of at least 400 multi-denominational primary schools by 2030.

Outside of her portfolio, Foley said she believes in the rights of the unborn and does not rule out arguing to restrict access to abortion when the Termination of Pregnancy Act is reviewed next year.

"I will look at where we are then, at that time," she says.

She adds: "I value the life of the unborn. I accept that there are, you know, individual cases and individual issues for different people at different times and people make their own decisions and that's democracy."

She also expressed some reservations about any plans to make it easier for children under 16 to change their gender. "I think that's something that I would have to consider further," she says.

Having provided little clarity on a range of issues, the interview is halted after less than 25 minutes with Foley apologising.

"It just seems that there is so much happening these days. It is fairly flat out busy."
In his congratulatory letter to US President Donald Trump, Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong said that the US is Vietnams leading partner in various areas. In recent years, the two countries have coordinated to address bottlenecks, particularly in trade and finance, thereby consolidating and expanding the comprehensive partnership based on respect for the UN Charter, international law and each others political institutions, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

He expressed his belief that the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership will be strengthened in an effective and sustainable manner, benefitting the peoples of both nations and contributing to security, peace and prosperity in the region and the world.

Meanwhile, President Trump affirmed the US is committed to enhancing and expanding the bilateral ties based on a shared vision of a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific and respect for each others sovereignty and regulations.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc exchanged a message of congratulations with President Trump.

Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan also exchanged congratulations with President of the Senate Michael Pence and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh cabled a congratulatory message to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.
T he Government has been urged to make sure hairdressers are following coronavirus safety rules after a spate of alleged breaches since reopening earlier this month.

Most hairdressers are believed to be following guidelines like wearing visors or staying socially distanced - but the National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) said it wanted the Government to make sure businesses were keeping to the rules.

Some customers also appear to be unaware of how to complain about safety breaches.

Heather Sutton, a policy adviser from Alrewas in Staffordshire, said was left in tears due to the lack of precautions in place when she had her hair cut.

A customer having his hair washed before a hair cut / PA

Despite guidance that hairdressers must wear visors, Ms Sutton claimed she was told by the person cutting her hair that was not wearing one because theyre horrible and steam up.

I actually cried when I got out of the salon as Ive followed every rule since lockdown and that was really my first venture out. I came home, showered and put all my clothes in the wash.

I have since emailed her telling her I wont be returning and why and saying she should put her customers health and safety first.

She added that she had thought about reporting the salon, but it would appear the guidance is not backed up with legislation, so there isnt anyone to actually report her to.

Rules in Scotland and Wales are based on laws - but in England they are just guidelines, so are not legally enforceable.

Customers getting their hair cut in a barber in Northern Ireland / PA

But people can report businesses to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which can fine or even imprison business owners found not to comply with the rules.

Yvonne, aged 41, owns a tattoo shop in Macclesfield, Cheshire. She said she was frustrated to see a nearby hairdresser not wearing a visor or making sure customers stayed far enough apart.

They had four people obviously not related sat together waiting on a couch, no social distancing.

Then cutting hair, no gloves, visor or mask present on either the client or the barber.

She added that she felt there was not enough being done to make sure businesses were following the guidelines.

Carole Rickaby cuts customer Sandra Jacobs' hair at Tusk Hair stylists in Camden just after midnight on July 4 / Getty Images

She said: Its disgraceful, to be honest. To allow a sector that works so close to peoples faces to open, and then have no measures in place to enforce these new guidelines is ridiculous.

The NHBF said: The National Hair & Beauty Federation strongly advises that hairdressers and barbers follow the guidance issued by the Government for England.

The guidelines are based on the most up to date scientific evidence. Face visors must be worn by anyone carrying out hairdressing, barbering or beauty activities.

The NHBF would welcome stricter enforcement because its only fair that all businesses stick to the same rules, which also give greater protection to the public and to the people working in salons and barbershops."

The Standard has contacted the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for comment.

With additional reporting from PA
In an unprecedented thirteenth consecutive deal for Reliance Industries Limited, US-based Qualcomm Inc will invest Rs 730 crore in Jio Platforms for a 0.15 percent stake, joining other big-name investors in the digital unit of Reliance.

Qualcomm is the third strategic investor after Facebook Inc and US semiconductor company Intel in Jio Platforms, which comprises telecom company Jio Infocomm and movie, news and music apps.

The deal with Qualcomm  the 13th such investment in 12 weeksmeans Reliance has sold 25.24 percent in Jio. RIL has now raised Rs 118,318.45 crore in total from some of the worlds leading tech investors.

Facebook had bought a 9.99 percent stake for Rs 43,574 crore on April 22. Reliance has since sold stakes in Jio to global investors such as General Atlantic, KKR, Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Abu Dhabi state fund, Saudi Arabias PIF and Intel.

Qualcomm is a San Diego, California, headquartered wireless technology company that specialises in 3G, 4G and 5G wireless technologies. Qualcomm's technologies and products are widely used in mobile devices and other wireless products.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon systems on a chip (SoC) is used by many leading smartphones. The company's technologies and products are also used in automotive, computing and IoT. Globally Qualcomm holds a large number of patents and the company also files the most number of patents in India.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) had on July 3 announced that Intel Capital will invest Rs 1894.50 crore for 0.39 per cent stake in Jio Platforms.

This is the largest continuous funds raised by a company anywhere in the world. For some comparison, India's start-up ecosystem raised Rs 1.10 lakh crore last year, in what was its best year.

Disclaimer: News18.com is part of Network18 Media & Investment Limited which is owned by Reliance Industries Limited that also owns Reliance Jio.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI : Taiwan-based Foxconn, a contract manufacturer that assembles Apple iPhones as well as phones Xiaomi handsets, plans to invest $1 billion in Tamil Nadu over the next three years, a Reuters report said citing sources. It added that Foxconn plans to expand its plant at Sriperumbudur near Chennai with fresh investment that will generate over 6,000 jobs.The move is seen as Apples plans to shift iPhone production away from China and reduce its dependence on the country in the wake of the ongoing trade war between the US and China coupled with the rising anti-China sentiment after the coronavirus outbreak.Reuters had reported that there is a strong request from Apple to its clients to move part of the production base out of China and iPhone models made by Foxconn in China, to be made at India plant. Foxconn has another plant in Andhra Pradesh.

When The Sunday Standard contacted Foxconn International Holdings India head and managing director Josh Foulger for his reaction on the issue, he remained tight-lipped. We dont have any comments on the issue, he said. Notably, Foxconn Chairman, Liu Young-Way at the companys annual general meeting held last month had hinted about ramping up investments in India .Another Apple contract manufacturer Wistron is also planning investments to scale up production in its plant in Karnataka as parts of its efforsts to diversify its supply chain.

Meanwhile, the government is also trying its best to attract global companies. Recently, the Centre has announced schemes offering five global smartphone makers incentives to establish or expand domestic production. Even the Tamil Nadu government has constituted a special investment promotion task force to attract investors from countries planning to relocate their manufacturing bases post Covid-19. However, state officials didnt comment on the Foxconn development.
Gedara Made: Showcasing home based business talent By Paramie Jayakody View(s): View(s):

Recent events have caused the collective economy to suffer, but none as much as the small scale businesses and startups, who suffered devastating blows to their operations and income.

In a time where small businesses are struggling to get back to normal and make some headway, Koshala Gunaratnes project offers a window of opportunity. Her initiative, Gedara Made lists and publicises home based businesses all around the country (thats right, its not just the urbanized areas) for anything you want, be it food or clothes or art and crafts or even baby products.

Koshala, who has a background in marketing, adds that while Google maps can point you to all the tailor shops in a city, it couldnt show you the village seamstress who everyone knows and does stunning work. Gedara made is designed to push these workers and their livelihoods into more prominence, and showcase home based business talent.

Koshala told us she used to work at Unilever, Dilmah, and even Boutique hotels at various marketing and managerial positions. She stepped down from her working life once she had children and it became clear that she didnt have anywhere to leave them while she attended to her work. However, she didnt give up work entirely, instead starting her own freelance marketing consultancy business from home.

Working from home, Koshala interacted with many other small companies and home based businesses, and realized what a vast economy remained unseen in their little pockets of livelihood. As she explored this area further, COVID19 unexpectedly struck, derailing many plans and forcing the country into lockdown.

During the lockdown, she saw many people, friends, acquaintances, starting up new hobbies, ventures, and paths, and came up with the idea to push these small ventures into the spotlight. And thus, Gedara Made was born.

With the support of her husband, Koshala looked up online tutorials and read up on how to develop your own website. Building most of the site by herself from scratch, she enlisted the help of a web developer for some of the fine tuning and within a very short time, launched it last month.

Along with the launch, Koshala reached out to friends and family mentioning her initiative, and within just a few weeks, she had more than 50 hopeful businesses requesting to be feature in her site, and its still growing. People were quite responsive, she said, and they gave me so much good feedback!

The best feature about Gedara Made that appeals to these individuals, Koshala says, is the fact that it doesnt cost them anything. Its free, there are other paid options, but they dont have to come on board with that, she clarifies you can get additional features for paid options but its not mandatory at all.

It hasnt been an easy journey the entire way, Koshala remembers. The website itself was a tough spot, she recalls, since she was just starting out and her marketing background didnt come with any developing experience. However, she did use her experience with companies to remember how many people did their websites, and that, coupled with frequent input from her husband, along with prayer and the free time afforded by the lockdown led to the simple and beautiful user interface for the Gedara Made community.

Costing is also currently quite a challenge, she says. But as long as you have a good purpose, I believe things will fall into place automatically, she adds, with a lot of hope.Speaking of the interaction with the community, Koshala says many business owners have made this site their sole publicity arm. I was a mom, and I had to make a choice to step down to take care of my child, she tells us. And I see so many other mothers who have had to make that choice, but at the same time theyre so talented. Koshala shares that her motivation behind Gedara Made is one of compassion and empathy.

Theres a market out there that is completely ignored by everybody else, she says adding that pushing this forward also benefits the economy, especially because of the pandemic. She attributes this to the massive positive feedback she has received.

The businesses are categorized under what is in demand at the moment, Koshala explains. I dont want it to be cluttered with everything under the sun, she adds stating that she does, however, plan to expand the categories in future to include ventures like home tutoring as well.

Speaking of the future, Koshala has quite a few ideas to expand the website, but she also wants to see how it grows organically before deciding on a fixed path. Right now, Im like an idea hub, so well just have to wait and see, she says.

If youre looking for a home business near you, or youre a home entrepreneur looking to grow your venture, you can contact Gedara Made through the following means.

www.gedaramade.com, or via

gedaramade@gmail.com
BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- China has allocated a total of 309 million yuan (about 44.2 million U.S. dollars) for disaster relief in flood-hit regions of the country, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Saturday.

The funds, earmarked by the NDRC, were channeled to areas hit hard by floods, including Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Chongqing, in support of the construction and repair of local infrastructure and public facilities.

China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters upgraded the emergency response for flood control from level IV to level III on Tuesday, as incessant downpours continued to wreak havoc across vast stretches of the country.

Since June, continuous downpours have lashed large parts of southern China, and the waters of many rivers in the affected regions have exceeded warning levels.
(Newser)  Elaine Duke gives the White House response to Hurricane Maria devastating Puerto Rico as an example of her disappointment in her brief tenure running the Department of Homeland Security. She wanted President Trump to issue an emergency declaration before the hurricane hit land but was rebuffed, the New York Times reports. "Quit being so emotional, Elaine, it's not about the people, it's about the money," she said Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told her, which he denies. She was then displeased by Trump's war of words with Puerto Rico's leaders and his suggestion that the US sell the island. The administration revolved around Trump's "hate-filled, angry and divisive" language, Duke said. "We get distracted by slogans, by maybe words we heard like the president allegedly saying 'Haiti is a shithole,'" she said. "So we get only spun up in that, and then we never get to the issue."

story continues below

Duke, who was acting secretary of the department until Kirstjen Nielsen was confirmed to the top job in 2017, said Trump's suspicion that he was being undermined by a "deep state" affected the way he governed. He listened to only a few aides, she said. President Trump believes that he cant trust," she said. "That has affected his ability to get counsel from diverse groups of people." Duke stayed on as deputy secretary at the department, where she had also worked under President George W. Bush, but left early in 2018 after Nielsen gave her little to do, per the Washington Post. She had fallen out of favor with the White House partly for not expeling about 57,000 Hondurans from the US who'd been in the country for nearly two decades under temporary protected status. (Trump didn't like what John Kelly said about serving in the White House.)
Social distancing requirements and other measures during the pandemic have created no end of headaches  and delays  across the judicial system. Victorias second lockdown has now thrown a slew of border-related complications into the mix.

Just ask NSW magistrate Roger Clisdell, who teed off at his boss, NSW Local Court chief magistrate Graeme Henson, in a reply-all blast in response to a routine court update on Thursday.

Henson emailed all NSW magistrates last week updating them on the implications of the NSW-Victoria border closure. The gist? Cases involving Victorian residents can be adjourned or continued, at the magistrates discretion. For everything else, follow the rules already outlined, because any deviation comes without the authority or approval of the Court.

This did not sit well with Clisdell. I cant believe what I have just read. Am I an independent Judicial Officer, or am I a pawn required to obey all orders from Sydney? he shot back, in an email  for reasons unknown  he also sent to all his colleagues.

According to his email, magistrates had already been navigating the border issues and other pandemic-related concerns. Victorian lawyers and residents have had cases heard in the NSW town of Cooma during the pandemic, his email pointed out. Evidently he reckons magistrates are handling the situation just fine, thanks.
If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth for most new confirmed cases in a day with 15,299.

Florida has reported the largest single-day increase of any state since the first coronavirus infections were confirmed in the US.

On Sunday, the states Department of Health and Statistics reported 15,299 daily new cases, far surpassing the states previous record of just under 12,000 cases recorded four days earlier.

Florida has so far reported a total of more than 269,000 confirmed cases.

If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for the most new confirmed infections in a single day behind the US, Brazil and India, according to an analysis by the Reuters news agency.





The latest tally comes at the end of a grim, record-breaking week in Florida, with 514 fatalities. On Sunday, 45 more deaths were reported. At least 4,242 people have died in the state from the virus.

While increased testing has partially accounted for Floridas increase in confirmed cases, the rate of those testing positive has also increased dramatically, according to the Associated Press news agency.

A month ago, fewer than five percent of tests came up positive on a daily average. Over the past week, the daily average exceeded 19 percent.

The US overall has also reported record-breaking daily numbers of new infections in recent days, confirming more than 60,000 on four of the last five days. To date, the country has reported at least 2.6 million cases and 134,000 deaths, the most of any country.

Protest over masks

Florida has been criticised for reopening large parts of its economy in May and June, despite warnings from health officials.

Experts are concerned that people in the state continue to gather in crowds. They also fear the possible fallout from the Republican National Conventions nomination party for President Donald Trump, which is currently set to be held in Jacksonville in August.

On Saturday, the Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom reopened at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Guests at the park said that people were wearing masks and social distancing, and videos showed near-empty parks. The SeaWorld and Orlando Studio attractions had had already reopened.

Moreover, many Americans still refuse to wear a mask, which health experts say helps to stop transmission of the virus.





Seven months into the pandemic, President Donald Trump wore a mask for the first time in public when he visited a Washington, DC area military medical centre on Saturday.

Trump had previously refused to wear a mask in public or ask Americans to wear face coverings, saying it was a personal choice.

Anti-mask activists organised a protest on Saturday at a grilled cheese restaurant and bar in Windermere, Florida, which is in Orange County about 19 kilometres (12 miles) from Walt Disney World.

The restaurant, 33 & Melt, has become a focal point of tension after owner Carrie Hudson said she was not requiring customers to wear masks. County officials have mandated the use of masks in public since June 20.

During Saturdays protest, no customers wore face coverings inside the restaurant. Agents from the states Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco arrived during the rally and served Hudson with a warning, according to a video.

Governor pushes school reopening

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said that even with the rising coronavirus rates, he still wants schools to reopen as scheduled next month, saying children have not proven to be vectors for the disease in states and countries where campuses are open.

He said while each county will have to come up with procedures, depending on their local infection rate, not opening the schools would exacerbate the achievement gap between high and low-performing students.

We know there are huge, huge costs for not providing the availability of in-person schooling, he said. The risk of corona, fortunately, for students is incredibly low.
Lonely, unhappy, powerless  thats how nearly all Australians see life in an aged care facility, a survey of 10,500 people ordered by the Royal Commission on Aged Care Quality and Safety has reported.

Aged care facilities keep people safe, fed and housed, but the more frequently people visited someone in a nursing home, the more likely they were to describe it as lonely.

More than 95 per cent of people who visited someone in a facility every week said residents were lonely compared to 85 per cent of those who had never visited. Only 22 per cent of all respondents said residents had control over their lives and 23 per cent believed people in nursing homes were happy.

Social isolation remains an issue for older people living at home and in aged care. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Loneliness and a desire to continue living at home are main themes highlighted by the survey by Roy Morgan, said to be the largest of its kind in the world, and focus groups conducted by Ipsos on attitudes to ageing and aged care to be released on Monday.
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Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs arrived in the Netherlands on Friday morning to participate in the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting together with the Prime Ministers of Aruba and Curacao and the Plenipotentiary Ministers from the three Dutch Caribbean countries. The purpose of the visit was to defend St. Maartens position regarding the proposed Entity for the 3rd Tranche of COVID-19 liquidity support.





During the meeting, all countries stood their grounds in not accepting the conditions attached to the loan as presented by the Netherlands because it infringes on their autonomy. Prime Minister Jacobs spoke out concerning the legal basis and procedure in which a Consensus Kingdom Law should be handled and indicated that this was not the right way to carry out such.





Prime Minister Jacobs stated, The Government of St. Maarten will not politically agree to something that would normally require a full round of discussions, talks, and agreement before reaching this level of establishment. During the meeting, the Dutch Government had to accept that this was the case and, therefore, could not progress further with it as is.





This new entity, confirmed as 'the Caribbean Reform Institution,' is anchored in the proposed Consensus Kingdom Law to manage the liquidity support for COVID-19 and the Dutch Government has now also indicated the possibility for investment funds in programs and technical assistance. At the same time, the Dutch Caribbean countries admitted that there are things that need to be addressed on the islands, however, this reform should not be coupled with COVID-19 liquidity support, which is already being managed by local entities executing the Sint Maarten Stimulus and Relief Plan (SSRP) and assistance for the unemployed.





St. Maarten and Curacao still has the last requirements to fulfill by July 15 to receive the 2nd Tranche of COVID-19 liquidity support which relates to the adjustment of the SSRP program to the Dutch model. Aruba has fulfilled all the requirements and is in discussion to receive an advance on the 3rd Tranche pending agreements for all countries. However, Prime Minister Jacobs states, We will not be entertaining any further discussion about an entity that usurps the autonomy St. Maarten, Curacao, and Aruba have fought for. We remain open to have equitable discussions related to COVID-19 liquidity support, needed reforms, legislation, policy, projects and programs within the framework of our National Development Vision, while working with stakeholders and Parliament to find mutually agreeable solutions to mitigate our current challenges.





During the past three years, St. Maarten has experienced the negative effects of two major hurricanes and now this pandemic. Despite this experience and the small percentage of St. Maartens Trust Fund





going into our economy via the World Bank, St. Maartens achievements where recovery is concerned has been successful thus far due to the resilience and hard work of the businesses and our people. Prime Minister Jacobs stated, It is not that things were great, but we were bouncing back before the COVID-19 pandemic and had COVID-19 not hit us, we would have been well on our way to being more able to stand on our feet financially.





During the meeting, Prime Minister Jacobs reiterated that one of the challenges St. Maarten has faced has been the role of the Board of Financial Supervision (CFT) in the decision-making process. Prime Minister Jacobs indicated that St. Maarten has lacked capital investments over the past years, due to the restraints by the CFT preventing investments needed to facilitate reforms and the Dutch Government not subscribing to the loans that were approved in 2018 and 2019.





Furthermore, Prime Minister Jacobs indicated that in the short and long term, the island's success requires collective actions for the continued development of St. Maarten. The recent and historical move of 15 parliamentarians in agreement, rejecting the new entity condition, is the beginning. Moving forward, all resources and technical knowledge available will be required to tackle our challenges and priorities. The diversification of our economy is one of our main priorities. Moreover, educating and empowering our people to become entrepreneurs, using local resources such as Qredits Microfinancing thereby growing and simulating our economy is another fundamental priority, concluded Prime Minister Jacobs.





Photo caption: Honorable Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs and Minister Plenipotentiary Rene Violenus arrives at the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting in The Hague on Friday morning.




Incumbent Andrzej Duda was marginally ahead in Poland's presidential election on Sunday, an exit poll found, in a result seen as likely to have profound implications for Warsaw's relations with the rest of the European Union.

The re-election of Duda, an ally of the ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS), is crucial if the government is to implement in full its conservative agenda, including judicial reforms that the European Union says are undemocratic.

Duda's challenger, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, has pledged to repair Poland's relations with Europe and use the presidential veto power to hold back any legislation that would subvert the rule of law.

Incumbent President Andrzej Duda speaks after initial exit polls in Polish Presidential elections in Pultusk, Poland on Sunday

Mayor of Warsaw and candidate for Poland's president of main opposition party Civic Platform and Civic Coalition's Rafal Trzaskowski gives a statement after initial exit polls

The exit poll by Ipsos showed Duda winning 50.4% of the vote, while Trzaskowski, the preferred candidate of the main opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform (PO), had 49.6%. Ipsos said it was too early to call a winner. Above, the votes are counted

The exit poll by Ipsos showed Duda winning 50.4% of the vote, while Trzaskowski, the preferred candidate of the main opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform (PO), had 49.6%. Ipsos said it was too early to call a winner.

Who is Poland's incumbent president Andrzej Duda? Andrzej Duda was elected as president of Poland in August 2015. He was a candidate for the country's Law and Justice Party (PiS) and claimed 51.55% of the vote. The PiS is a conservative, Christian-democratic party and currently the largest party in Poland. In 26 May 2015, Andrzej Duda resigned his party membership as the president-elect. Andrzej Duda (pictured) was elected as president of Poland in August 2015 On October 24, 2019 he received the official support from PiS ahead of his re-election campaign. Before becoming president, Duda served as an undersecretary of state in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland from 2008 to 2010. He became a member of the Sejm, or lower parliamentary house, in 2011 after receiving 79,981 votes for the Krakow area. In June 2020, Duda said that he would not allow gay couples to marry or adopt children, and has described the LGBT movement as a 'foreign ideology'. In February 2018, Duda said that he would sign into law the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, making it illegal to accuse Poland of complicity in the Holocaust. Advertisement

'All we need is to count the votes. The night will be tense but I am certain that when the votes are counted, we will win,' Trzaskowski told supporters in a park just outside Warsaw's historic Old Town.

Partial official results are expected on Monday.

Opinion polls before the election had shown the candidates, both 48, neck and neck, with Trzaskowski having closed the gap on Duda, who initially looked like a clear favourite.

Backed by the government, Duda ran an acrimonious campaign, laced with homophobic language, attacks on independent media and accusations levied against Trzaskowski that he would serve foreign interests instead of Poland's.

Duda, a devout believer, had painted himself as a defender of Catholic values and of the government's generous social benefit programmes that have transformed life for many, especially in the poorer rural regions of the country.

He appeared conciliatory on Sunday. 'If anyone was offended by anything I did or said in the last five years, not just during the campaign, please accept my apology,' he told supporters in Pultusk, a small town north of the capital.

Duda has also championed large infrastructure projects, which he says will create jobs and boost the country's autonomy and international standing.

For many religious conservatives in Poland, Trzaskowski came to represent the threats facing traditional values when he pledged to introduce education about LGBT rights in the city's schools.

The archbishop of Krakow, Marek Jedraszewski, told worshippers in the southern city of Czestochowa on Saturday that Poland faced a 'lethal danger' from ideologies that seek to undermine the traditional family structure and corrupt children.

Trzaskowski says he seeks a more tolerant Poland and has criticised PiS' rhetoric, vowing to abolish state news channel TVP Info, which critics say gave overt support to Duda in its programming.

'In politics, you should have opponents, not enemies,' Trzaskowski said on Sunday. 'They thought they had full power, but today they have fear in their eyes.'

Duda's re-election to a second five-year term would open up the prospect of three years of uninterrupted rule by PiS, which controls the lower house of parliament, with the next national election scheduled for 2023.

Presidential candidate Rafal Trzaskowski kisses his wife Malgorzata at the end of the election day in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, July 12

Incumbent President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda smile after receiving flowers from supporters in Pultusk, Poland

Polish President Andrzej Duda addresses supporters as exit poll results were announced during the presidential election in Pultusk, Poland, on July 12

Observers say his defeat could undermine the fragile parliamentary majority that supports the PiS government, raising the spectre of political instability as Poland is coping with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The election is being closely watched in Brussels.

Before PiS and Duda came to power in 2015, Poland had one of the most pro-European administrations in the bloc's ex-communist east. But it has grown increasingly isolated, with divisions focusing on climate change and migration, in addition to democratic norms.

Trzaskowski pictured giving a thumbs up gesture after the initial exit polls in the Polish presidential elections

Incumbent President Andrzej Duda, kisses the hand of his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, in Pultusk, Poland, Sunday, July 12
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar By

Online Desk

Please wear a mask and carry sanitizers -- read the poster, that called for a protest rally demanding partial school fees waiver in Kolkata.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put such protest rallies at peril. Not just because of the threat of infections spreading, but because of the added worry of flouting rules while Section 144 is in place.

But such concerns didn't stop thousands in the USA from taking to the streets to demonstrate against the murder of an unarmed Black man, identified as George Floyd, by white policemen.

In India, the new decade had kicked off with a slew of protests, where Muslim women took charge in voicing their dissent against the contentious Citizenship Act introduced by the Narendra Modi government.

The big metro cities, where individual voices often fizzle out, witnessed months-long 24-hour sit-in protests led by women. Shaheen Baghs sprang up at more than one location.

Now, six months on, to call for a protest when mass gatherings draw criminal charges, is rife with moral complications.

Rafay Siddiqui, who has been convening protests demanding waiver off partial school fees for almost a month in Kolkata, says people are helpless.

"We know the complications at hand, but if we don't take to the streets, our voices won't reach the concerned authorities. We try to maintain social distancing at our rallies and make sure everyone wears a mask while participating," he says.

Although the pandemic has hit everyone financially, most private schools in Kolkata are still insistent that parents pay the entire fee despite classes moving online.

ALSO READ | 'We may have to find a different job': How COVID-19 has left Kolkata's film industry reeling

Demonstrations by parents led to thirteen city schools run by the Church of North India (Kolkata Diocese) recently announcing a 25 per cent waiver.

"A lot of people have to start from scratch now. Classes have moved online, but private schools continue to charge full fees. When labs, library, building, transportation are not being used, why are the schools doing this? We want to pay the tuition fee because the teachers have been working hard and deserve their salary. But the rest of the fee should be waived off. And we want the state government to intervene," Siddiqui says.

Bengal since generations has been a land of protests, some powerful enough to even topple governments. The state is now administered by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, one of the most visceral and victorious street fighters in India. But even here, protests are being frowned upon.

"We were stopped midway by the Kolkata police and they suggested that we take the protest online, the way BJP did its virtual rally. But an online agitation won't yield any result. Among those who attended the protest, a majority are from the lower middle class. These parents still don't know how to access (the internet)," Siddiqui observes.

He is stating facts that hold good across India.

Absolute digital literacy, which can enable every citizen to raise their voice online, indeed remains a far-fetched dream. The National Sample Survey (NSS) report on Social Consumption Expenditure (2017-18) stated that only 23.8 per cent of households in our country had access to the internet.



So, even while the chances of spread of coronavirus through gatherings might loom large, these protests remain the only option.

"Jab tak raste pe nahi utrenge, tabtak koi dhyan nahi deta hai," as Siddiqui pithily states. (Till we hit the streets, no one will pay attention to us).
On the Frontline Against China, the US Coast Guard Is Taking on Missions the US Navy Can't Do

Competition with China has drawn more Pentagon resources to the Pacific, but the most visible U.S. military presence there...
The Santa Monica Police Department has arrested 4 people for looting Patagonia, during the riots of 5/31, police said. Two couples (two men and two women) were arrested for removing a safe from the store.

Two men and two women were caught on security camera removing a safe from the Patagonia Inc clothing store.

"On July 3 , 2020 Santa Monica Police Department Detectives from the Special Investigations Unit and officers from the Crime Impact Team served multiple search and arrests warrants at different locations in Los Angeles County related to the damage," wrote Lt. Joseph Cortez, Santa Monica Police Dept.'s Public Information Officer.

Four suspects were arrested and booked for burglary, conspiracy and looting during a riot:

Ulises Alcantara JUAREZ Alfredo Fernando BELLO Yesenia Enriquez TEJADA Debbie LUJAN

DOB: 07-23-94 Male, Hispanic DOB: 06-07-96 Male, Hispanic DOB: 02-04-95 Female, Hispanic DOB: 10-15-96 Female, Hispanic

Several suspects were able to looting of Patagonia located at 1344-4th Street on May 31 , including removing a safe from the business. Detectives identified six suspects involved in the looting and theft of the safe.

Evidence related to the looting, including the safe, were recovered and booked into evidence. If you have any information related to this crime please contact Det. Diaz or Det. McGowan at (310) 458-8491.

Patagonia, Inc. is an American clothing company that markets and sells outdoor clothing. The company was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, and is based in Ventura, California. Its logo is the outline of Mount Fitz Roy, the border between Chile and Argentina, in the region of Patagonia.
Britons will be warned about the risks from new travel rules, higher roaming charges and border chaos for traders when Brexit is completed, as a new information campaign is launched.

Ministers have chosen the slogan The UKs new start: lets get going for the adverts that will run on television, radio and the internet, as well as in text messages to be sent out.

A strapline reading Check, Change, Go will direct people and businesses to a website for detailed advice on steps to take  with full departure from the EU looming on 31 December.

Travellers are told to ensure they have comprehensive travel insurance, that their passports are valid for long enough and to contact a vet at least four months in advance if taking a pet.

Companies exporting or importing with the EU  who will be hit by leaving the single market and customs union  must register with the relevant customs authority.

However, there is no mention of previously acknowledged dangers from a no-deal Brexit, including food, fuel and medicine shortages  despite a crash-out remaining a real prospect.

And ministers have refused to reveal the cost of the campaign, after criticism of the 100m spent on the Get Ready for Brexit adverts that ran last year.

Ed Davey, the acting Liberal Democrat leader, said firms would greet the advice with utter horror  while the head of the pro-EU European Movement described talk of opportunity as what George Orwell called Newspeak.

The campaign is launched after the government announced 705m will be spent on carrying out post-Brexit trade checks, including building what was dubbed a pointless lorry park in Kent.

Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Show all 66 1 /66 Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A message projected onto the White Cliffs of Dover Sky News/AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Big Ben, shows the hands at eleven o'clock at night AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Nigel Farage speaks to pro-Brexit supporters PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-Brexit demonstrators celebrate on Parliament Square REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU The Union flag is taken down outside the European Parliament in Brussels PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU campaigners outside the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-Brexit supporter jumps on an EU flag in Parliament Square PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU EU Council staff removed the Union Jack-British flag from the European Council in Brussels, Belgium EPA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to 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Saemann, left, and her seven-year old sister Katie hold a placard during a rally by anti-Brexit protesters outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Europe supporters gather on Brexit day near the British embassy in Berlin, Germany EPA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Anti-Brexit protester hugs a man while holding a placard REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A decorated, old fashioned fire pump in Parliament Square PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit Elvis impersonator performs at Parliament Square Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU An anti-Brexiteers stands with his dog in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Paddy from Bournemouth wears Union colours as he sits next to an EU flag decorated bag in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-EU activist plays a guitar decorated with the EU flag during a protest organised by civil rights 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'Brexit Day' t-shirt Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU People celebrate Britain leaving the EU Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man wears a pro-Brexit t-shirt Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Anti-Brexit demonstrators visit Europe House to give flowers to the staff on Brexit day Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporter wears a novelty Union Jack top hat outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Customers Scott Jones and Laura Jones at the Sawmill Bar in South Elmsall, Yorkshire, where a Brexit party is being held throughout the day PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU activists protest Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-Brexit demonstrator burns a European Union flag AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporters Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporters Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A Brexit supports holds a sign in Parliament Square AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man carries an EU themed wreath Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Ann Widdecombe reacts with other members of the Brexit party as they leave en masse from the European Parliament PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Anti-Brexit demonstrators in Parliament Square PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro EU supporters let off flares from Westminster Bridge Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU British MEPs Jonathan Bullock, holding the Union Jack flag and Jake Pugh leave the European Parliament, in Brussels on the Brexit day AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Newspapers and other souvenirs at a store, near Parliament Square Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Brexit supporters hold signs in Parliament Square AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU protesters hold placards in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU French newspapers PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald with a Border Communities Against Brexit poster before its unveiling in Carrickcarnon on the Irish border PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU National growers organisation British Apples & Pears has renamed a British apple to EOS, the Greek goddess of dawn, to commemorate Brexit day AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU protesters hold placards in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Britain's departure from the European Union was set in law on January 29, amid emotional scenes, as the bloc's parliament voted to ratify the divorce papers. After half a century of membership and three years of tense withdrawal talks, the UK will leave the EU at midnight Brussels time (23.00 GMT) on January 31 Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man poses with paintings on Parliament Square Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU People sporting Union Flags gather in Parliament Square Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man walks with a St. George's flag at Westminster bridge on Brexit day Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A British bulldog toy and other souvenirs at a souvenir store Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU British pro-brexit Members of the European Parliament leave the EU Parliament for the last time Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Jonathan Bullock waves the Union Jack as he leaves the European Parliament EPA

But Michael Gove, the cabinet office minister, vowed there would be no turning back from what he called a new start for everyone in the UK.

At the end of this year, we are leaving the single market and customs union regardless of the type of agreement we reach with the EU. This will bring changes and significant opportunities for which we all need to prepare, he said.

While we have already made great progress in getting ready for this moment, there are actions that businesses and citizens must take now to ensure we are ready to hit the ground running as a fully independent United Kingdom.

The campaign also warns EU citizens in the UK that they must apply for settled status before the deadline of June next year.

Stephen Dorrell, of the European Movement and a former Tory cabinet minister, said: For decades, Britain has argued the case for open markets and our economy has prospered as a consequence.

Now Michael Gove invites us to celebrate the erection of the worlds most effective border, which will destroy jobs and remove opportunities from UK citizens.

And Sir Ed said: Businesses right across the UK have struggled to survive financially over the past few months as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

The fact the government is now trying to force them to gear up and prepare for the end of the transition period will fill them with utter horror.
India's government has petitioned a state court to stop any of the Chinese companies whose 59 apps it recently banned from obtaining an injunction to block the order, according to two sources and the legal filing.

India last month outlawed dozens of Chinese apps including ByteDance's popular video-sharing app TikTok, Alibaba's UC Browser and Tencent's messaging app WeChat, saying they posed a "threat to sovereignty and integrity".

Chinese firms have faced hostility since a border clash that killed 20 Indian soldiers, with Delhi intensifying scrutiny of Chinese imports and any funding from China.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the filing said the government had presented a so-called caveat in the High Court of the western state of Rajasthan, suggesting it expects one or more of the companies to challenge the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's ban.

Such caveats are typically filed to prevent a ruling in favour of companies without hearing the government, Indian lawyers said. The filing, which one of the sources said was presented on Friday, has not previously been reported.

"Let nothing be done till the applicants (government) are heard in the matter," said the court filing signed by Additional Solicitor General of India Rajdeepak Rastogi.

The order to ban the apps was passed to safeguard "the interests of Indian mobile and Internet users and ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian Cyber Space," said the filing, which was seen by Reuters.

It was not immediately clear why the government approached the court in Rajasthan and whether there were plans to file similar petitions elsewhere.

India's IT ministry and the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Indian courts do not comment on cases.

Previously, China has expressed strong concern about the ban, which could hurt expansion plans and cost jobs, and said it may violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

None of the Chinese companies has yet mounted a legal challenge, with industry sources saying they were waiting for further clarity from the Indian government.

India's IT ministry recently asked the companies associated with the 59 apps to answer a detailed questionnaire within three weeks on their business structure and data storage practices, the industry sources told Reuters.

The decision to ban the apps has jolted companies like ByteDance, which counted on India as an important growth market for TikTok and had plans to invest $1 billion in the country.

Punjab National Bank Housing Finance seeks shareholders' approval to raise up to Rs 45,000 cr
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Saturday that it was not trying to topple the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan but suggested that it would like to keep all options open in the state -- depending on what the Congress does.

Senior party leaders in Delhi said the allegations made by the Rajasthan chief minister, pinning the blame on the BJP for engineering defections, were an attempt to deflect attention from the Congress partys own failings.

There is speculation that Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, along with 25 other Congress MLAs, will either join the BJP or start his own party that could seek support from the BJP in the 200- member assembly, in which the BJP has 72 MLAs and the Congress 107. The Congress also has support from 12 independents and five members of other parties.

No meetings have taken place between Pilot and the BJP leadership. Everyone knows there are problems between the CM and the deputy CM; but they are trying to pin the blame on the BJP, said a BJP leader in Delhi on condition of anonymity.

On whether the party will stake its claim to forming the government if a faction of Congress MLAs does break away, the BJP leader said, The outcome will depend on what decision the Congress high command takes. The BJP will only take whatever decision is required once there is a decision from the Congresss side.

The leader also said that the party will not shut its doors to those who want to partner with the BJP in Rajasthan.

Also read: Amid political turmoil in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot to skip key party meet

A second leader said the party is willing to consider a tie-up on the condition that the numbers stack up in their favour. The party is wary of a repeat of the Maharashtra situation,wherein a group of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs led by Ajit Pawar assured support to the BJP and then pulled back at the last minute.

If there are the required numbers (of MLAs) willing to partner with or join the BJP, we will consider offering support to such a combination, said the second leader quoted above, asking not to be named. The BJP will need the support of at least 30 MLAs to reach the majority figure, which means it will need the support of not just the Congress rebels but also some independents.

However, should the BJP consider partnering with Pilot, it will also have to address the issue of leadership in the state and whether it will have the rebel Congress leader in the chief ministers seat. In Madhya Pradesh, the party did not change the chief minister even though it accommodated Congress leaders in the cabinet.

Also read: Sidelining of Pilot in crucial decisions behind the turmoil?

The numbers are critical. The BJP is confident that if re-election happens in the state it will win with a comfortable majority. However, those who will join and seek re-election have to be equally confident of retaining their seats, a third party functionary said on condition of anonymity.

A Rajasthan-based BJP leader said the party was also wary of a Madhya Pradesh-like situation emerging in Rajasthan. Internal bickering has intensified in MP after the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government accommodated former Congress legislators in his cabinet.

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One man was killed and another critically injured after crashing their motorbike into a trailer truck while traveling in an automobile lane in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday.

Tran Van Luc, 22, and Tran Hoang Kha, 27, traveled on a motorcycle in an automobile lane along the section of National Highway No. 1 in Thu Duc District, according to officers.

They then crashed into a trailer truck driven by 32-year-old Vo Thanh Minh, which was traveling in the same direction.

A motorbike is damaged after crashing into a trailer truck along National Highway No. 1 in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, July 12, 2020. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

Luc suffered a critical head injury and died on the spot, while Kha was hospitalized with serious wounds.

A large number of trucks travel on this section of National Highway No. 1 on a daily basis.

Motorcyclists are strictly banned from traveling in the automobile lane due to high risk of accidents.

Police officers probe a crash site along National Highway No. 1 in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, July 12, 2020. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

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Another day in the life of Kendall Jenner this summer means another mouthwatering swimsuit selfie.

The brunette beauty, 24, took to her Instagram Saturday with a sexy mirror shot, in which she modeled a stunningly small patterned string bikini along with a straw cowboy hat.

In the snap, uploaded to her Instagram Stories, Kendall has one hand on the sink and her hips are dipped in a sultry pose.

Sultry: Kendall Jenner took to her Instagram Saturday with a sexy mirror shot, in which she modeled a stunningly small patterned string bikini along with a straw cowboy hat

The post comes after last week's share for Burberry, which saw the IMG-repped model pose in a fabulous monogram-printed leotard for the luxury brand.

Additionally, Kendall spent last week getting some sun with a getaway to Utah.

On the trip, Jenner showed off her desert tan in a different cheeky Instagram Story post Friday.

The beauty donned just a high-cut thong and tiny white tee as she teased her toned backside in the mirror selfie.

Sitting very pretty: The post comes after last week's share for Burberry, which saw the IMG-repped model pose in a fabulous monogram-printed leotard for the luxury brand

Cheeky: Kendall also showed off her 'summer tan' in a very sassy mirror selfie on Friday

Jutting her legs at the perfect angle, Kendall elongated her already statuesque figure.

'Summer tan > [Sun emoji],' the model wrote on top of the sexy snap.

Kendall just got back from a lavish vacation to Utah with sister Kylie Jenner and friends.

She gave fans a look into her life via Instagram.

Utah trip: Over the weekend Kendall went to Utah with pals, seen above with Fai Khadra

There, she shared a sizzling shot wearing a royal blue bikini as well as another dazzling snap of her watching fireworks.

Kendall and pals stayed at the exclusive Amangiri resort in Canyon Point, Utah for their luxury weekend.

The upscale desert destination was also recently visited by Hailey and Justin Bieber during their road trip through the southwest.

Independence Day: She watched the fireworks on America's birthday

It's no wonder why Amangiri is a favorite with the celeb set. Situated on 600-acres of private property, the resort boasts privileged access to National Parks and Lake Powell, a 25k square foot spa and private transfers directly from the local airport.

During a stay, celebs can enjoy sustainable, seasonal menus inspired by the culinary heritage of the Navajo and the American Southwest served indoors and alfresco as well as 'ultimate personalization of bespoke adventures and cultural activities.'

A basic suite starts at just over $3200 per night.

VIP: Kendall and pals stayed at the exclusive Amangiri resort in Canyon Point, Utah, an upscale location where famous friends Hailey and Justin Bieber have also vacationed
F oreign criminals sentenced to more than a year in prison will be banned from entering the UK under strict new immigration rules.

Home Secretary Priti Patel will on Monday unveil details of the new points-based system, which will come into effect on January 1, after freedom of movement ends.

The new rules will mean EU citizens, including criminals, will be treated in the same way as migrants from the rest of the world.

Ministers will be given powers to prohibit or deport foreign offenders who have received jail sentences of more than a year, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The paper said officials will also be able to bar persistent offenders such as pickpockets and burglars, even if they have been sentenced to less than a year.

Priti Patel (centre) spoke with French police during a visit to Calais on July 12 / AFP via Getty Images

Under current regulations, convicted criminals from the bloc can only be excluded on a case-by-case basis.

The new immigration system is designed to cut the number of low-skilled migrants entering Britain from the beginning of next year, but aims to make it easier for higher-skilled workers to get UK visas.

People who want to live and work in the UK will need to gain 70 points to be eligible to apply for a visa.

Points will be awarded for key requirements, such as being able to speak English to a specified level, having a job offer from an approved employer, and meeting a minimum salary threshold.

A health and care visa will provide a route for key health professionals to work in the UK, while a graduate route will allow international students to stay in the UK for at least two years after completing their studies.

Ms Patel said on Sunday: The British people voted to take back control of our borders and introduce a new points-based immigration system.

Now we have left the EU, we are free to unleash this countrys full potential and implement the changes we need to restore trust in the immigration system and deliver a new fairer, firmer, skills-led system from 1 January 2021.

Britain is open for business and ready to welcome the best and brightest global talent.

Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said Labour would scrutinise the proposals on visas very carefully.

The Government has rushed through immigration legislation with very little detail in the middle of a global pandemic.

There are real concerns that this will cause major problems for our NHS and our care sector, at a time when we are still waiting for the Government to make good on their promise to scrap the unfair immigration health surcharge for workers who were being charged to access the very services they were keeping going to help others during the toughest of times.
Colorado wildlife officials euthanized a sow bear early on Saturday morning after the animal was believed to have attacked a local woman and then chased another in a residential neighborhood.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers said they tracked down the bear near Manitou Springs, which lies about 80 miles south of Denver.

We believe this is the sow that aggressively attacked one woman in Manitou Springs and then chased another on Thursday night, said Cody Wigner, Assistant Area Wildlife Manager for the Colorado Springs region.

The wildlife officers caught the bear near the scene of the attack using trained hounds, according to KDVR-TV.

A Colorado woman suffered scratch marks after she was attacked by a bear in her residential neighborhood in Manitou Springs on Thursday

They then put it down in what was described as humane euthanasia.

The sows two cubs were found and taken to a rehabilitation center where they will be trained to avoid human contact.

The cubs are expected to be released into the wilderness next winter.

This is why we say garbage kills bears and urge everyone to secure their trash cans, Wigner said.

This is bear country. We need to keep them wild and not let them become trash bears.

Bears that rummage through trash and eat human food lose their natural fear of people and can become more aggressive in future encounters.

Wildlife officials said a woman who lives in Manitou Springs was very lucky to have only suffered minor injuries on Thursday night when she was attacked by a bear.

According to CPW, the sow and her two cubs charged the woman, knocked her down, and clawed her back.

The woman suffered three scratches on her back, but was not seriously injured. She did not need to be treated at a hospital.

Colorado wildlife officials are urging residents to secure their trash so that bears do not come to rely on humans for food and lose their natural fear of people, leading to more aggressive behavior. The above image is a file photo of a sow in Colorado. It is not the sow bear that was euthanized in Manitou Springs on Friday

A few minutes after the attack, a bear chased another person on the same block.

Local police alerted CPW about the attack on Friday morning.

This is the second time in recent days that a bear suspected to have attacked a Colorado resident was put down.

In Aspen, CPW officers euthanized a bear that attacked a 54-year-old man inside his home on Friday morning, causing lacerations to his head and neck.

The man was rushed to a local hospital, where he underwent surgery. His injuries were not considered life-threatening.

CPW used dogs to track down the bear shortly after the attack.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: After Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP of trying to topple his government, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday was the first to go public on the crisis saying he he was worried for the party.

Seeking a quick resolution of the "crisis", he asked when would the party leadership "wake up".

"Worried for our party. Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables," he said on Twitter.

Sources said a crisis is brewing within the Rajasthan Congress with deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and his supporting MLAs not sharing good ties with Chief Minister Gehlot.

The flash point between the two top leaders in Rajasthan was a probe ordered by the state police into "poaching" of MLAs and a notice sent to Pilot, which has not gone well with him.

ALSO READ: FIR against three independent MLAs for bid to topple Gehlot government in Rajasthan

The Rajasthan police has issued notices to Gehlot and his deputy Pilot to record their statement in connection with the alleged attempts to topple their Congress government, sources said on Saturday.

The police's special operations group (SOG) also sent a notice to Government Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi to record his statement, they said.

The move came after the SOG on Friday registered an FIR against two people, who have been detained, for their alleged involvement in horse trading of Congress MLAs for toppling the Gehlot government.

Gehlot on Saturday accused the opposition BJP of trying to topple his government by offering his legislators large sums of money and said his administration is not just stable but will complete its five-year term.

The BJP had asked Gehlot to prove his allegation of horse-trading levelled against it or quit politics, and claimed he was targeting the opposition party as he was unable the check the infighting in the state Congress.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told CNNs State of the Union Sunday morning that the CDC guidelines in place for schools to reopen this fall are meant to be flexible.

The CDC guidelines are just that, meant to be flexible and meant to be applied as appropriate for the situation, DeVos, who was speaking from Grand Rapids, told CNNs Dana Bash in a more than 20-minute interview.

As school districts struggle to combine the Trump Administration's push for in-person learning with CDC guidelines, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says "the CDC guidelines are just that, meant to be flexible and meant to be applied as appropriate for the situation" #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/4qVh5KZudU  State of the Union (@CNNSotu) July 12, 2020

DeVos said repeatedly the key is for kids to return to school full-time.

We know there are going to be hot spots and those are going to need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, she said.

The secretary said what full-time learning looks like this fall will look different dependent upon the district, but the bottom line is schools need to be open.

She said she is OK with schools closing for a short time if there is a prevalence of the coronavirus, but schools need to be making plans to deal with those situations when they arise and not preparing to begin the school year remotely.

When asked whether the U.S. Department of Education had guidelines in place for districts to follow if those situations did arise, DeVos said districts should have individual plans in place as every situation is different.

Schools should do whats right on the ground at the time for their students and for their situation, DeVos said. There is no uniform approach that we can take or should take nationwide.

Bash pressed DeVos about the CDC guidelines, which among other things, recommends 6 feet of social distancing for all students.

Playing a clip from a pre-recorded interview with Fairfax County (Virginia) Public Schools Superintendent Scott Braband  whose plan DeVos has been critical of  Bash asked the secretary about the plan.

Braband, who oversees a district with 188,000 students according to the district website, said it simply was not feasible to adhere to CDC guidelines and be open this fall.

The superintendent said students in his district are on average about 18 inches from one another.

He told Bash parents and students would be given the choice of spending two days per week in school this fall, while spending the rest of the week virtually learning, or they could elect to go completely virtual.

DeVos said Brabands plan does not provide valid options for families and is not a full-time learning plan. When asked if the district should adhere to CDC guidelines, DeVos said those guidelines are flexible.

Kids have got to be learning full time and have the expectation that the next school year is going to give them at least a school years worth of learning if not more because so many of them fell behind, DeVos said.

The secretary was asked if she was concerned about a record number of new COVID-19 cases on Friday, July 10 and the fact that 45 of 50 states are seeing a higher daily average of new cases now as compared to when schools closed in March.

DeVos pointed to children being a low-risk demographic and said: There is nothing in the data that would suggest that it is dangerous to them and its more for a matter of their health and well-being they be back in school.

We want to see every school district in every state doing the same thing to say not what we cant do, but what we can do and what were going to do, she said.

To see the full interview click here.

On #CNNSOTU, @DanaBashCNN presses @BetsyDeVosED on how schools can reopen safely as coronavirus cases continue to increase across the country https://t.co/LwMH96YDZ8  State of the Union (@CNNSotu) July 12, 2020

Michigan schools have been closed to in-person instruction since March 16, when Whitmer ordered buildings closed as the state grappled with the spread of coronavirus.

As of July 11, the state has reported 68,948 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 6,067 deaths.

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.

Also on MLive:

Gov. Whitmer very concerned about if it will be safe to send kids back to school, she tells CNN

Michigan sues U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos over school coronavirus funds

Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos push states to reopen schools in the fall

Masks, class sizes and busing: 10 ways Michigan schools could look different this fall
Actors Priyanka Chopra, Tiger Shroff and others have all shared their messages of support for Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek, after they tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday. Bollywood celebrities sent their prayers and wishes for their quick recovery.

Priyanka wrote, Wishing you both a speedy recovery Amitji and AB... sending you prayers and positive energy...@SrBachchan @juniorbachchan. Touchwood both you and dad are fit im sure your going to recover soon, wrote Tiger in a tweet.

Wishing you both a speedy recovery Amitji and AB... sending you prayers and positive energy...@SrBachchan @juniorbachchan  PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) July 11, 2020

Touchwood both you and dad are fit im sure your going to recover soon.   Tiger Shroff (@iTIGERSHROFF) July 12, 2020

Celina Jaitley shared a poem by Amitabhs late father, Harivanshrai Bachchan to offer them more inspiration. Dear Amitji & @juniorbachchan along with my wishes I send you both your esteemed father Shri Harivansh Rai Bachchans inspirational words, I join in millions of prayers coming your & the entire familys way, she wrote.

Wishing you the speediest recovery Amitji and Abhishek. Wishing the entire family the best of health. Much love. https://t.co/AOZTpju2lM  Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor) July 11, 2020

Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani, Bhumi Pednekar, Riteish Deshmukh also tweeted. Respected@SrBachchan ji !! You have overcome every difficulty in your life with your mental strength. The entire nation and I are confident that you will return home safely and healthy victorious from the Battle with Corona. Our prayers are with you all, Anupam Kher tweeted. Kabir Singh actor Shahid Kapoor took to Twitter and wished speedy recovery to both.

Get well soon sir... we are all praying for the speedy recovery of you and Abhishek and the safety of your family!  https://t.co/xGHw7Gtl9s  Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) July 11, 2020

Amitabh had tweeted to millions of his followers on Saturday: I have tested Covid positive, shifted to hospital, hospital informing authorities, family and staff undergone tests, results awaited.

Also read: Abhishek Bachchan tests positive for Covid-19 after Amitabh Bachchan, says they are hospitalised with mild symptoms

Shabana Azmi tweeted: Wishing you early recovery.You have the love and respect of millions .. all will be well inshallah. Keep the faith. Bhumi Pednekar said that power and strength is synonymous with you.

Both the father and son are currently in the Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai. The test results of the rest of the family are awaited on Sunday.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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By Associated Press

BALTIMORE: Johns Hopkins University has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration's decision to make international students leave the US if they intend to take classes entirely online starting this fall.

The Baltimore private institution filed the lawsuit Friday against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in federal court in the District of Columbia, the Baltimore Sun reported.

It argues that the agency's decision "completely upended" the university's reopening plans for the upcoming semester.

ICE notified colleges Monday that international students will be forced to leave the US or transfer to another college if their schools operate entirely online this fall.

New visas will not be issued to students at those schools, and others at universities offering a mix of online and in-person classes will be barred from taking all of their classes online.

ALSO READ | Trump threatens to pull tax exemption for US schools, colleges in bid to make them reopen

The guidance says international students won't be exempt even if an outbreak forces their schools online during the fall term.

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have also filed a lawsuit to prevent federal immigration authorities from enforcing the rule.

Neither school plans to offer in-person classes this fall.

About 5,000 international students are enrolled at Johns Hopkins.

The school has plans for hybrid semesters with a mix of in-person and online classes.

It also intends to shift to online-only classes after the Thanksgiving break.

ALSO READ | New US student visa rule: India takes up matter with Trump administration, Harvard, MIT file lawsuits

The lawsuit characterizes the Trump administration's decision as "arbitrary and capricious" and argues it puts the university in the "untenable dilemma" of either following its reopening plans or attempting to offer in-person instruction to allow international students to remain enrolled.

"The adverse consequences of this sudden displacement are devastating financially and personally," according to the complaint.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.

In a statement earlier this week, the US State Department said international students are welcome in the US, but the policy "provides greater flexibility for nonimmigrant students to continue their education in the United States, while also allowing for proper social distancing on open and operating campuses across America."
You are here: Business

China Securities Co Ltd, a leading Chinese securities broker, reported a 122.4 percent rise in net profits in June.

The company's net profits totaled 1.005 billion yuan (about $143 million), according to a statement the company filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Its revenue rose 92.3 percent year on year to 2.04 billion yuan, the company said.
Dubai, July 12 : Indian consular staff in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) bid farewell to outgoing Consul-General of India to Dubai, Vipul after a three-year stint.

Photos posted on Twitter on Saturday by the Consulate General of India, Dubai, show staff pay tribute to the outgoing Consul-General who had been in the post since 2017, reports the Khaleej Times.

"An emotional farewell to CG Vipul as he leaves Dubai to Headquarters, leaving a deep imprint of his ever accessible, smiling and caring and efficient approach in all sphere of work)," the Indian consulate tweeted.

In an interview with Khaleej Times, Vipul had said that he enjoyed "every bit" of his tenure in Dubai.

"There are two issues that I have focused on, more than the others - community, and trade and investment. I have been able to experience a very good partnership and friendship with the UAE, and go back very satisfied with it.

"The exchange of visits by the UAE and Indian leadership is a testament to the wonderful friendship the two countries share. For a diplomat, there is nothing bigger than that," he had said.

Aman Puri, who is currently in charge of the Indian Consulate in Birmingham, UK, will take charge as the next Consul-General of India in Dubai.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- In recent weeks proposals to penalize people who call 911 on people of color doing everyday activities have cropped up in city halls and state legislatures across the country.

One such proposal out of San Francisco made waves this week on social media and national news partially because of its tongue-in-cheek name -- the CAREN Act. The name is a play on the term Karen, which some use to describe white women who are entitled or call the police on people of color without justification.
Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business.
New Delhi, July 12 : The investment spree into Reliance Industries' Jio Platforms continues, with technology major Qualcomm coming in with Rs 730 crore to pick up 0.15 per cent stake.

Reliance Industries on Sunday announced that Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated has committed to invest up to Rs 730 crore in Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore.

"Qualcomm Ventures' investment will translate into 0.15 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis. The investment will deepen the ties between Qualcomm and Jio Platforms, to support Jio Platforms on its journey to rollout advanced 5G infrastructure and services for Indian customers," the RIL statement said.

With the latest investment, total investments into Jio Platforms have crossed Rs 1.18 lakh crore so far.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said: "Today, I am delighted to welcome Qualcomm Ventures as an investor in Jio Platforms. Qualcomm has been a valued partner for several years and we have a shared vision of connecting everything by building a robust and secure wireless and digital network and extending the benefits of digital connectivity to everyone in India." "As a world leader in wireless technologies, Qualcomm offers deep technology knowhow and insights that will help us deliver on our 5G vision and the digital transformation of India for both people and enterprises," he said.

Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated, said with both the companies' shared goal of extending the benefits of digital connectivity to everyone and everything, Jio Platforms is anticipated to deliver a new set of services and experiences to Indian consumers.

"With unmatched speeds and emerging use cases, 5G is expected to transform every industry in the coming years. Jio Platforms has led the digital revolution in India through its extensive digital and technological capabilities. As an enabler and investor with a longstanding presence in India, we look forward to playing a role in Jio's vision to further revolutionize India's digital economy," he said.

Qualcomm is world's leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch and expansion of 5G. With more than $62 billion in cumulative research and development spend, 35 years of innovation and over 1,40,000 patents and patent applications, Qualcomm is committed to fueling innovation and fostering Indian technology advancement.

Qualcomm Ventures is a global fund that invests in pioneering companies across the wireless ecosystem in areas like 5G, AI, IoT, automotive, networking and enterprise. In India, Qualcomm Ventures has invested in companies that address key domestic issues from dairy, transportation to defense, and build world class products for India and the world market.
Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Sunday declared open rebellion, claiming that he has the support of the 30 Congress MLAs and some independents in the state assembly.

The statement released on Pilots WhatApp group claimed that the Gehlot-led Congress government is in minority now.

It said Pilot, who is also the state Congress president, will also skip the Rajasthan Legislature Party meeting on Monday morning.

Rajasthan Deputy CM and Congress leader Sachin Pilot not to attend Congress Legislative Party meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow, the message said.

The statement appeared just as ministers and Congress MLAs were gathering at Gehlots official residence here for a meeting to express support to the chief minister, amid the power tussle between the two leaders.

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YBO - Ambassador Le Van Bang, the first Vietnamese Ambassador to the US, tells Vietnam News Agency that he believes the Vietnam-US relationship will continue to grow.

US President Bill Clinton announced the lifting of the embargo on Vietnam on February 3, 1994, followed by the US declaration of normalising relations with Vietnam in July 1995. What were your feelings when witnessing the historic moment?





During 20 years of perseverance to normalise Vietnam-US relations (1975-1995), I witnessed countless ups and downs and difficulties in the struggle and Vietnams efforts. In particular, in 1986, when Vietnam began to open its doors, the need for the lifting of the embargo was extremely urgent, so the USs embargo was a stone blocking the door, making it impossible for us to communicate with the world 'normally'.





Typically, around 1988-1989, there were business owners who shared with me that they sold to Indian partners US$200,000 worth of copper scrap. Indian businesses paid through a US bank, so the money was held up there, making it very hard for Vietnamese businesses.





I was assigned to be the United Nations Ambassador in 1993-1994, in charge of relations with the US. This was also the stage of normalising relations between Vietnam and the US, starting from New York City. With the efforts of both nations, on the morning of February 3, 1994, the US Department of State invited me from New York to Washington DC to report "a special issue in the two countries diplomatic relations". Here, the US Department of State announced that from 3pm on February 3, 1994, President Bill Clinton officially announced the lifting of the trade embargo on Vietnam and asked me to report this information to Hanoi.





Then, at 3pm the same day, President Clinton appeared on TV, announcing the lifting of the trade embargo on Vietnam. Despite knowing the information in advance, I still could not help but shed tears of joy and happiness. That meant after 20 years of so much struggle, we had achieved our goal. Removing the embargo meant Vietnam had the right to trade with the US and with other countries in the world without being prevented via finance, investment and trade barriers.





I remember very well a memory related to this important event. Earlier, in a conversation discussing when the US would remove the Vietnamese embargo, a US professor said: "This is very difficult". Therefore, right after the trade removal order was issued, that friend wrote me a brief letter "You win!. This proves the US people are very interested in the relationship between the two countries.





After the US declaration of normalising relations with Vietnam in July 1995, I remember very clearly the first time we conducted a flag-raising ceremony, sang the national anthem and saluted the flag in front of the embassy's headquarters in the US on August 5, 1995. To me, this was not only an important ceremony but also a glorious task, a very important task for diplomats like me in particular and Vietnamese people at that time in general.





At that time, what challenges and opportunities did Vietnam face when the US normalised relations?





The fact that the US announced the lifting of Vietnams trade embargo on February 3, 1994 followed by the declaration of normalising relations with Vietnam in July 1995, first of all, created opportunities for Vietnam to normalise relations not only with the US but also connect with all countries in the world, in all fields.





This was also a premise for us to achieve other important achievements such as joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995 and joining the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) in 1998. In short, this was the starting point for Vietnam to integrate internationally normally.





However, besides the opportunities, Vietnam faced many challenges because of the 'war syndrome' between Vietnam and the US still remained and was unable to go away in a day or two. In addition, to negotiate a trade agreement with the US, there were provisions that Vietnam had to consider carefully, or even change laws to meet US requirements. Both countries still had to deal with the aftermath of the war, such as finding missing people, mixed-blood children, people in re-education camps.





Therefore, during my first days as a Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States, one of my main tasks was to change the public opinion and thoughts of the American people about Vietnam, and gradually eliminate 'Vietnam syndrome'. At that time, I was active in many places, through many activities of sending messages of peace, co-operation, innovation and international integration of Vietnam.





In August 1995, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Mai assigned me the mission to come to Orange County, California, the US, to meet and talk to the people here about the situation of Vietnam about the Vietnam-US relationship, thereby verifying public opinion and news in this locality.





This was not only a difficult and sensitive mission but also requires wit and bravery when coming to speak in front of more than 500 people with different perspectives about Vietnam, about the relationship between the two countries. I determined that I had to really try my best to get the job done; conveying Vietnams peace message to everyone. And when I did my job well, from debating, noisy reactions, and even objections, people there finally turned to ask questions and have constructive and kind discussions.





How do you assess the development of Vietnam-US relations at present compared to 25 years ago?





Its totally different. In the economic field, in 1994, bilateral trade reached a modest figure of about US$400 million, in 2019 it reached nearly US$70 billion, an increase of more than 130 times.





In recent years, trade relations between Vietnam and the US have begun to take off. Vietnam has continuously experienced a trade surplus and the US has become Vietnams largest export market.





Clearly, the trust between the people and senior leaders of the two countries has been significantly improved, which can be seen through high-level visits between the two countries.





Therefore, I believe that in the future, relations between the two countries will develop very well. In particular, Vietnam the US established a comprehensive partnership in 2013, strengthening and expanding co-operation in all fields, from politics, diplomacy, economics, investment, to defence, security, culture, education, science and technology, overcoming war. In addition to co-operation and rapid development in recent years, the two countries share the goal of peace, stability and development in Southeast Asia in particular and the world in general. I believe this goal in the future will continue to be maintained and developed.





Currently, Vietnams priority issues are economic development, science-technology and access to the US market, especially high technology development. I would like to emphasise the priority of Vietnam-US economic co-operation in developing high-tech fields such as renewable energy, clean and sustainable energy, smart city development, and high-tech agriculture, high-tech industry. However, Vietnam needs to overcome obstacles to attract US investment in this area, especially paying special attention to overcoming the limitations of the law.





Similarly, the US wants to join Vietnam in maintaining peace, stability and order in Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific. Therefore, the relationship between Vietnam and the US will continue to develop.




Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot summons meeting tonight of Congress MLAs, independents supporting his govt

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Jaipur, July 12: Rajasthan Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has summoned a meeting tonight of Congress MLAs, independents supporting his government, amid speculation over his rift with deputy Sachin Pilot.

Rajasthan Govt in crisis:Sachin Pilot in Delhi with loyalist MLAs, what is happening?|Oneindia News

Gehlot has alleged that the opposition BJP is trying to topple the Congress government, and cited an FIR registered by the state police. The BJP has dismissed the allegation, saying that the developments are related to infighting within the state unit of the ruling party.

Rajasthan crisis: Here is how the number stack up

Several ministers and Congress MLAs called on the CM during the day, indicating their support. However, some MLAs said to be close to Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, who is also the state's Congress chief, are reportedly in Delhi.

The meeting is being convened at 9 pm at the CM's residence, party sources said. Apart from the party MLAs, other supporting legislators have also been invited for the meeting, the sources added.

The posturing comes amid allegations by Gehlot that the BJP is trying to lure Congress MLAs to topple the state government.

The BJP has dismissed the claim, saying the developments reflect a power struggle between Gehlot and Pilot, simmering since the Congress leadership in Delhi picked the more senior leader for the CM's post.

Revenue Minister Harish Choudhary, Labour Minister Tikaram Jully, Health Minister Raghu Sharma were among those who visited the chief minister's residence here.

"We all are meeting the chief minister since yesterday to express faith and confidence in his leadership. The MLAs have confidence in Gehlot's leadership," independent legislator Babulal Nagar said.

The crisis surfaced on Friday when the Rajasthan Police issued notices to Gehlot, Pilot and the government chief whip, seeking time from them to record their statements over an alleged bid to topple the state's Congress government.

Sources close to Pilot said the letter from the special operations group (SOG) had upset the Rajasthan Congress chief, who apparently saw this as a snub.

In a tweet Sunday, Gehlot stressed that the notices had gone to several people.

He did not name Pilot in this connection, but said that a section of the media had interpreted the notices wrongly.

"The notices have been issued to the chief minister, the deputy chief minister, the government chief whip and some other MLAs. It is a part of the process," SOG Additional Director General Ashok Rathore told PTI on Sunday.

He said as the investigation proceeds, others could also be issued notices.

Babulal Nagar is among the legislators issued with the notice.

"The SOG has issued notice to me and has sought time. There are other MLAs who have received such notices," Nagar told reporters outside the CM's residence, where he had gone to meet him.

"We have faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and we have expressed this to him," he added.

Apart from the SOG action, the state's Anti Corruption Bureau has also begun a probe into the alleged bid to destabilise the government.

The Congress government has distanced itself from the three independent MLAs -- Khushveer Singh, Omprakash Hudla and Suresh Tak -- who were named in the preliminary enquiry (PE).

Earlier, the government had the support of all 13 independent MLAs, who also voted for the Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections last month.

At a press conference Saturday, Gehlot had blamed the BJP of trying to bring down his government and cited the FIR registered by the SOG.

The FIR is based on an alleged tapped phone conversation between two men, said to be BJP members.

The Congress has 107 members in the state 200-MLA state assembly.
A 22-year-old sheriff's deputy from Virginia has been fired and charged with falsely summoning law enforcement and obstruction of justice after his own sheriff's office said he lied about being attacked when a passerby found him unconscious on the side of the road.

The Fauquier County Sheriffs Office said Friday night that one of its deputies had been attacked in Warrenton, about an hour west of Washington, D.C., and the office was looking for a darkly colored SUV, sharing photos of the scene on social media.

MORE: 2 police officers shot and killed in McAllen, Texas

But the deputy's story apparently crumbled in the following hours.

Jake Preston Dooley was charged with making up the account on Saturday. Authorities said he was found "lying face down" by a passerby at an intersection, but did not elaborate on how he ended up there in the absence of the attack.

"Detectives thoroughly and vigorously investigated the allegation and determined the incident reported by the deputy was false," the sheriff's office said in a statement. "Immediate action has been taken and the deputy has been relieved of duty by Sheriff [Robert] Mosier."

PHOTO: Jake Preston Dooley, 22, of Marshall, Va., was fired as a sheriff's deputy in Fauquier County after lying about being attacked after he was found unconscious by the side of the road in Warrenton on July 10, 2020. (Fauquier County Sheriff's Office)

Dooley had told authorities he got out of his car to remove a road marker while on his drive home from work just after 7 p.m. Friday when he heard someone yell from a passing SUV and he was "struck in the head by an object." He was taken to Fauquier Hospital, where he was treated and released for unspecified injuries.

"Sometimes bad things happen to good organizations," Mosier said in a statement. "We truly regret that this happened but find a tremendous amount of comfort in the knowledge that our community understands and supports law enforcement in Fauquier County."

Dooley was released on $10,000 bond, but authorities said he would be taken for a mental evaluation.

ABC News' Sarah Shales and Lauren Lantry contributed to this report.

Virginia sheriff's deputy fired for lying about being attacked after being found unconscious on side of road originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Wilkes-Barre, PA (18701)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 20F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 20F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
India and the European Union (EU) will focus on strengthening multilateralism during their upcoming summit this week amid uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of an assertive China, people familiar with developments said on Sunday.

The 15th India-EU Summit, which was delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak, will be held via video conference on July 15. The summit will be co-chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The people cited above, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said both sides felt the need to take the lead in bolstering multilateralism and cooperative international relations against the backdrop of the US ceding its leading role on the world stage.

This has created a vacuum that needs to be plugged, or else an aggressive China will only become more assertive, one of the people cited above said. The whole multilateral system is under stress and many experts have expressed doubts about the future of the global system.

In a blog titled In a world of disorder, Europe needs partners written on July 10, the EUs high representative for foreign and security policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles, noted that China has become increasingly assertive, while the Covid-19 pandemic was the first major world crisis where the US is not in the lead as the US administration has mostly withdrawn from the global order it has built.

He further wrote of a real crisis of multilateralism, with the G7 and G20 being absent and the UN Security Council paralysed. He added: Europe feels somewhat lonely, trying to hold the multilateral ring. For sure we know that we need partners.

Some preparatory work has already been done in this regard and external affairs minister S Jaishankar joined his European and other counterparts for a virtual meeting of the informal Alliance for Multilateralism on June 26, the people said.

This alliance was launched by France and Germany in April 2019 after they felt the need to protect the rules-based multilateral order to ensure international stability and to resolve common challenges through cooperation.

The alliance met in February and April before holding a virtual ministerial meeting on June 26. While participating in that meeting, Jaishankar reiterated Indias call for reformed multilateralism along with purposeful reform of existing structures so that they continue to serve the world even more in this complex and uncertain time.

Jaishankar also referred to the two-pronged attack of a viral pandemic and misinformation going viral, and highlighted the need to strengthen scientific approaches to analyse the causes of the Covid-19 pandemic, assess multilateral health mechanisms, and take concrete steps to counter the infodemic in the context of a statement adopted by more than 130 states and observers on Covid-19 at the UN.

The EU has already stated that multilateralism, with the UN and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core, is the cornerstone of the groupings foreign and security policy. As part of its efforts to strengthen multilateralism, the EU intends to act on three fronts  upholding international norms and agreements, extending multilateralism to new global realities, and reforming multilateral organisations.

In a recent letter to the prime minister, European Commission President von der Leyen suggested common engagement of India and the EU for effective multilateralism and a cooperative approach to international ties, based on their shared values of democracy and pluralism.

The people said India is hoping the July 15 summit can frame their partnership to preserve multilateralism and promote dialogue and cooperation to address global challenges.

The external affairs ministry earlier said the summit will review India-EU cooperation in political and security relations, trade and investment, and economic cooperation. The summit is also expected to discuss developments related to the pandemic.

The EU, in a statement, said the summit will be an opportunity to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two sides and to discuss cooperation in climate, environment, digital economy and connectivity.

The last India-EU Summit was held in New Delhi in October 2017. The EU is Indias largest trading partner, accounting for trade in goods worth 80 billion euros in 2019 or 11.1% of total Indian trade, on par with the US and ahead of China.
Stack and layer your heart out with fashion director Shelly Vellas guide to the coolest brands doing demi-fine jewellery  luxe pieces that look like they will break the bank... but wont!

Ever snapped up an on-trend ring from the high street only to find that it leaves your finger with a strange green hue after just one wear? Costume jewellery may be fun and a bargain but it tarnishes easily, so isnt ideal for everyday wear. And whos got thousands lying spare to splurge on a ring?

However, the trend for piling on jewellery isnt going away. Women of all ages and walks of life are stacking rings on every finger and adorning their lobes with rows of earrings. And luckily the fashion industry offers them the perfect compromise: demi-fine jewellery.

Bridging the gap between fine and fashion jewellery, these mid-price brands cater for women who want to indulge in timeless, good-quality pieces without the hefty price tag. Demi-fine pieces arent packed with low-grade metals such as nickel or copper, which fade quickly and aggravate skin.

Plus the use of sterling silver, lower-carat golds or gold-plated silver  along with semi-precious moonstones, quartz, topaz, turquoise or teeny pave diamonds cultivated in laboratories  means that prices are reasonable.

This accessibility, combined with clever celebrity collaborations, has seen the number of demi-fine jewellery brands boom, so that covetable pieces are no longer just a gift for special occasions but something we can treat ourselves to.

Here are the brands you need to know

The Fashionista's favourite

Otiumberg

Single earring, 148,. and necklace, 187, otiumberg.com

Price range: 25 to 670

The brainchild of stylish sisters Christie and Rosanna Wollenberg, the brand was born after they struggled to find elegant, everyday jewellery that wouldnt break the bank. The label, which eschews trends in favour of enduring pieces, fast became a go-to among fashion editors and celebrities (Margot Robbie is a loyal customer).

Before entering the jewellery world, Rosanna lived in Buenos Aires, Barcelona and New York, while Christie worked for Burberry and Louis Vuitton. Their backgrounds have given their designs a contemporary twist, with inspiration taken from all over the world. Think stacking rings, delicate hoops and personalised charms.

Everything is ethically and sustainably made and the duo keep costs down by designing seasonless pieces that are crafted by hand. Theres no bulk ordering here  stock levels are kept to a minimum, which means less waste and therefore purse-friendly prices.

What to buy: A huggie hoop  the brands 9-carat gold version (127 per earring) is a bestseller. My favourite pieces are the personalised yellow gold and pearl letter necklace charms (below) and the pearl and white sapphire huggie (below).

otiumberg.com

Clockwise: Hoop earrings, 120, Chain necklace, 180, Letter necklace charm, 95, Pearl and white sapphire huggie, 15, Hoop earrings, 48 each, all otiumberg.com

The forever pieces

Earrings, 39, and rings, from left, 65, 79, and 79, vbylauravann.com

V by Laura Vann

Price range: 30 to 265

Sustainability and ethical responsibility are at the heart of Laura Vanns jewellery. Her glittering, gem-infused designs include the art deco-like Daphne earrings (below right), which have been worn by Meghan Markle, and the Freya necklace (below), which is made from 18-carat yellow gold-plate with synthetic baguette-cut emeralds (they are much less expensive than natural gems).

Laura, whose father worked in Birminghams Jewellery Quarter wholesaling fine and costume jewellery, studied fashion journalism before deciding to join the family business and switching to jewellery design instead.

Her brand is now stocked in John Lewis and Harvey Nichols and she has a loyal following that includes celebrities such as Daisy Lowe and Katy Perry. She recently added a diamond engagement ring collection (from 2,500).

What to buy: The Chloe black agate circle necklace (below left)  with its silver chain and striking pendant  is a favourite of mine.

vbylauravann.com

Left to right: Chloe necklace, 100, Hoops, 130, Freya necklace, 125, Ring, 110, Daphne earrings, 130, all vbylaura.com

The A-list accessories

Athena earrings, 119, and necklaces (from top), Vita, 115, Alexa, 99, and. Aphrodite, 79, . daisyjewellery.com

Daisy London

Price range: 19 to 249

Catapulted into mainstream popularity by collaborations with TV presenter Laura Whitmore and fashion blogger Estee Lalonde, not to mention red-carpet sightings on the likes of Ellie Goulding, Cara Delevingne and Sienna Miller, Daisy London has become one of Britains favourite jewellery brands.

Founded by a father-and-son duo in 2009, the label is now helmed by creative director Ruth Bewsey, who was also the companys first employee. She is passionate about jewellery that can be layered and worn every day and the brand majors in bold shapes and distinctive designs made from sterling silver or 18-carat-gold-plated sterling silver.

What to buy: Dont miss the sunburst designs from the Estee Lalonde collection  available in rings, necklaces and earrings (from 19). Its beautiful charm hoop earrings are also hard to resist (from 45).

daisyjewellery.com

Clockwise: Sunburst bracelet, 5. Aphrodite earrings, 119, Flower necklace, 119, Beaded necklace, 59, Sunburst ring, 49

The Scandi Stylista

Pearl hoop earrings, 98, annilu.dk

Anni Lu

Price range: 25 to 245

Inspired by her late mother and daughters names (Anni and Luella), Helle Vestergaard Poulsen created Anni Lu after years of working as a creative director for Danish fashion magazines. Helles pretty and delicate designs are packed with eye-catching semi-precious stones and seed beads  the sort that remind you of sun-drenched summer holidays.

What to buy: Must-haves include her pretty pearl hoops (from around 49), tiny golden shell pendants (around 43) and coveted Bite me earrings (below) and necklace (85).

annilu.dk

Left to right: Textured pendant necklace, 195, Pearl hoop earrings, 98, Bite me earrings, 85, Snake chain bracelet, 74, all annilu.dk

The dainty desirables

Hoop earrings, 78, necklaces, from top: opal, 72, tiny drops, 64, and disc, 78, kaarenbuchanan.com

Kaaren Buchanan

Price range: 28 to 172

Designer Kaaren draws inspiration from her modelling days in New York in the 1990s and family holidays in Hawaii for her affordable line of dainty jewels. She keeps costs down by using gold-plated silver decorated with semi-precious stones such as opals, lapis and zirco. Her use of tiny gemstones adds a little extra glamour to the gold pendants and stud earrings that have earned her an army of loyal fans, including model Jodie Kidd and comedian Katherine Ryan.

What to buy: The beautiful balloon ring (below) has gained a huge Instagram following while the beaded bracelets (below) and necklaces are fabulous worn either alone or layered. kaarenbuchanan.com

Clockwise: Balloon ring, 74, Ear cuff, 45, Gold hoops, 68, Chrysoprase and gold bracelet, 62, Silver disc necklace, 66, all kaarenbuchanan.com

The affordable luxury

Earrings, from 325, necklaces, from 465, rings, from 295, and bracelets, from 355, alexmonroe.com

Alex Monroe

Prices from 75

Often considered fine jewellery that is way out of most peoples budgets, Alex has striven to make his brand more affordable by creating his nature-inspired designs, including his iconic bumblebee charm, in a range of metals  from silver to rose-gold plate (sterling silver, plated with 22-carat rose gold) and 18-carat yellow gold. It means his jewellery, which can be seen on many a TV character  the trademark ear cuff of Doctor Whos Jodie Whittaker or Dr Fosters dragonflies  and has fans that include Holly Willoughby and Anna Friel, is now more accessible. For example, 135 for a silver bumblebee necklace, rather than 2,400 for the gold version. Each item boasts the brands high quality  all are hand-finished using sustainably sourced materials by craftspeople in London and Birmingham.

What to buy: Ive collected Alexs jewellery for years and recommend any of the bird or bee necklaces. Many loyal customers have chosen the brand for their wedding rings (from 295 for a sapphire engagement ring).

alexmonroe.com

Clockwise: Bee earrings, 180, Starfish bracelet, 225, Stud earring, 75, S necklace, 135, all alexmonroe.com

The cult classic

From top: signet ring,. 85, ring, 69,. earrings, 95, chain. bracelet, 110, and. small bracelet, 95, . all missoma.com.

Missoma

Price range: 25 to 475

From the moment it launched in 2008, Missoma has been at the top of everyones wish list. It also has the royal seal of approval  the Duchess of Cambridge and her sister-in-law Meghan have both been seen sporting the labels covetable pieces.

A collaboration with influencer Lucy Williams in 2015 yielded pieces such as the mini fang necklace which, at only 95, became a style staple for those in the know  yes, I too succumbed and wear mine every day.

Each piece is made from sterling silver and 18-carat gold plated on brass. Its all designed in-house to reflect its founder Marisa Horderns passion for travel and culture.

What to buy: Pieces to look out for include the chunky hoops (from 75), chain necklaces (from 80) and Lucy Williamss now cult gold coin necklaces (from 75).

missoma.com

Clockwise: Twisted ring, 95, Chain bracelet, 110, Stud earring, 25, Hoop earrings, 89, Frill necklace, 165, all missoma.com

Credits: Natasja Fourie, Thea Caroline Sneve Lovstad, Henrik Bulow, Shelly Vella, Justine Barnhart, Rhys frampton
Inside Hook

Revisiting the legacy of contentious historical figures in 2020 doesnt just apply to controversial monarchs and people who embraced the institution of slavery. Throughout California, a number of debates are currently ongoing that relate to the legacy of iconic actor John Wayne. While there have been  and continue to be  film stars whose politics are right of center, Waynes own issues go much deeper than that. Among the issues the current debate has raised is whether or not the airport presently named for Wayne should be renamed.

Now, at the University of Southern California  Waynes alma mater  another controversy has arisen. USC has hosted an exhibit dedicated to Waynes career in film since 2012. For understandable reasons, this exhibit has been the target of protests this year. Now, as IndieWires Ryan Lattanzio reports, the exhibit is being taken down.
USS Detroit Completes Historic Counter-Narcotics Deployment

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS200711-01

Release Date: 7/11/2020 10:13:00 AM

By Lt. j.g. Miranda Rossum, U.S. Fourth Fleet/U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command Public Affairs

MAYPORT, Fla (NNS) -- MAYPORT, Fla - The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Detroit (LCS 7) returned to Mayport, Fla., July 11, following its maiden deployment to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations.

Detroit, along with a detachment from the "Sea Knights" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 22, deployed on March 15, 2020 to conduct U.S. Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force South's enhanced counter-narcotics operations missions in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.

During their deployment, Detroit, with their embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET), disrupted an estimated 1780 kilograms of cocaine, worth over an estimated street value of $124 million.

"I could not have asked for more from the crew over the past several months. Our Sailors and Guardsmen have overcome equipment casualties, COVID-19 challenges, and losses back home to ensure the success of USS Detroit while deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations. I am proud to be a USS Detroit Blue Iron Warrior and can't wait to sail with this extraordinary unit again in the near future," said Cmdr. Jiwan Mack, Detroit commanding officer.

Just as Detroit deployed, the crew adjusted quickly to the new COVID-19 environment. Detroit's crew met the changes in guidance and procedures due to the pandemic, safeguarding Sailors while still meeting counter-drug mission requirements.

"Detroit did a fantastic job while deployed, sending strong messages to our partners and our adversaries that the United States Navy operates globally and in all conditions," said Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, Commander U.S. 4th Fleet. "Detroit did a great job adapting to our changing world, and their operational successes set a high bar for the next round of deployments. We are both grateful for and proud of Detroit's accomplishments."

This was a Navy and Coast Guard team effort and I am extremely proud of the way Detroit, HSC 22 Detachment 5, and LEDET 407 performed alongside our partners and allies in support of maritime interests in the Caribbean Sea. A lot of great work was put in by the team onboard and from outside the lifelines support provided by our Mayport-based staff and maintenance team," said Cmdr. Joseph Caldwell, Detroit's executive officer.

Detroit joined other U.S. Navy warships, numerous U.S. agencies from the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security cooperating in the effort to combat transnational organized crime. The Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with allied and international partner agencies, are all playing a role in counter-drug operations.

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet supports U.S. Southern Command's joint and combined military operations by employing maritime forces in cooperative maritime security operations to maintain access, enhance interoperability, and build enduring partnerships in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American region.

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Open Doors: Over 9,000 churches, Christian buildings attacked in past year

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WASHINGTON  Leading Christian persecution watchdog nongovernmental organization Open Doors USA released its 2020 World Watch List Wednesday, an influential annual data report that this year highlights a drastic increase in attacks against Christian buildings and the imprisonment of Christians.

The report, first launched in 1992, ranks the worst 50 countries in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians and is based on data compiled by Open Doors operations in 60 countries.

This years list names a number of repeat offenders such as North Korea, China, Iran, Somalia, and Eritrea as well as newly added countries where radical Islamic extremism wreaked havoc on Christian communities in 2019.

Open Doors rolled out the 2020 report at a briefing attended by representatives of the Trump administration, Congress, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and prominent human rights activists.

The 2020 World Watch List will provide you with the most credible grassroots data on Christian persecution. But it is much more than that, Open Doors USA CEO David Curry explained. Its going to sound the alarm.

The report finds that about 260 million Christians experience high levels of persecution in the top 50 countries on the list, an increase of about 6 percent from the 2019 report.

The report also states that 9,488 churches or Christian buildings  or an average of 25 per day  were attacked during the 2019 reporting period (Nov. 1, 2018, to Oct. 31, 2019). By comparison, Open Doors noted in last years report that 1,266 churches or Christian buildings were attacked.

Also, the number of Christians detained without trial, arrested and imprisoned increased from 2,625 in the 2019 report to 3,711 in the 2020 report.

The 2020 report, however, indicates a decrease in the number of Christians killed for their faith. At least 2,983 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons during the last reporting period. That is an average of eight Christians killed per day. By comparison, an average of 11 Christians was killed per day (4,136) during Open Doors 2018 reporting period.

Curry told The Christian Post the drop in killings Open Doors was able to document for this years report was due to the Islamic terror group Boko Haram killing fewer Christians in Nigeria (No. 12).

Curry said during the news conference that Nigeria still represents the most violent country in the world for Christians as far as the organizations data can track.

The difference this year is primarily because, in Nigeria, Boko Haram has changed its tactic, Curry said. They have gone from assassination and these kinds of things to roadside assaults on Christians and kidnappings. So we have seen a jump in those kinds of things. But Boko Haram is also spreading its wings into Cameroon and into Chad but also into Burkina Faso.

Rise of violence on sub-Saharan Africa

The reports findings come as violent Islamic extremism spiked in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019, particularly in areas where government control is weak.

The increase has led to the closure of churches and caused hundreds of thousands to flee from their homes and villages.

One of the countries listed on the World Watch List this year that wasnt in 2019 is Burkina Faso.

The West African country that was once considered to be relatively peaceful rose 33 spots in Open Doors rankings from last year and is now ranked No. 28. The northeast part of the country has been dealing with the rise of extremist violence since 2016. But attacks spread and escalated exponentially in 2019.

Estimates have suggested that over 250 people were killed by Islamic extremist groups in Burkina Faso in 2019. There were reports of several attacks on Christian churches and worshipers, including a December attack on a church service that killed at least 14.

The United Nations reported that Burkina Faso is one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in Africa as hundreds of thousands have fled in the face of spiraling insecurity. Nearly one-third of the Burkina Faso population is affected by the crisis.

The government has a responsibility to protect soft targets. We know that they are going to try to attack churches, Curry said. They need to protect those churches and allow Christians to worship freely. Christians are afraid to go to church in the northeastern part of Burkina Faso right now. We really need the civic government to protect Christians in their communities.

Similar countries included in the report are the Central African Republic (No. 25), which is dealing with the fighting of rebel Islamic militants who target Christians, and Mali (No. 29). Niger was also added to the World Watch List this year, ranking No. 50.

Civil war-ridden Cameroon (No. 48) was added to the World Watch List this year amid reports of attacks by radical Islamic extremists against Christians communities. Cameroon is also dealing with the spread of Boko Haram.

Locals in rebel-supporting, English-speaking regions have accused nomadic Fulani herdsmen radicals of carrying out deadly attacks against civilians after encouragement from government actors.

As difficult as the issue has been to cover, from a religious freedom aspect, it is great to see this because most of the events [in Cameroon] have been considered to be other issues like an insurgency, Scott Morgan, a human rights activist who has broadly covered issues in Africa, told CP in reaction to Cameroon making the World Watch List.

The crisis started as an education issue, so it is not easy to view the Cameroon conflict as specifically a religious freedom issue, he added. But as we are seeing with some of the countries in the Sahel, we are starting to see that issue making people nervous here in Washington. We are reaching out to the embassies and other concerned groups and we are looking forward to doing something on that in the near future.

Fulani violence against Christian farming communities in Nigeria continued in 2019. One human rights group estimates that at least 1,000 Nigerian Christians were killed by Fulani radicals or Boko Haram militants in 2019 while over 6,000 have been killed since 2015.

I think it is wrong to look at [Fulani] as simply having territorial issues, Curry said. They have an ideology that is historically been radicalized and they have an agenda to push Christians out of these communities. The cover story that somehow these are their ancient lands and so forth doesnt justify unlawful behavior against Christians who live there.

The Nigerian government has long faced criticism for its inability to control the violence.

The great tragedy of Nigerias ineffectual response to Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen is now parts of Cameroon and those other areas like Burkina Faso are greatly affected, Curry said.

Who are the top 10?

The top 10 countries on the 2020 World Watch list are the same ones included in the top 10 last year.

North Korea held the top-sport on the list for the 18th consecutive year as the Kim regime continues to imprison thousands of Christians in labor camps while the underground church community continues to grow.

North Korea is followed by Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Yemen, Iran and India, where Hindu persecution against Christians has greatly increased since the Bharatiya Janata Party rose to power in 2014.

Open Doors notes that in the Islamic Republic of Iran, at least 69 Christians were arrested during the 2019 reporting period. According to Curry, 114 Christians in Iran were arrested in the days before Christmas 2018. Curry said the arrests are a continuation of the Iranian governments attempt to crush the growing house church movement.

These are courageous people standing up against the power that exists there in that country, Curry said. Iran has put its full faith into persecuting Christians.

In Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka moved from No. 46 to No. 30 on the 2020 World Watch List after suicide bombings last Easter carried out by Islamic extremists killed over 250 and injured 500 others at three churches and three hotels.

[They were] dressed up in their Sunday best and taking their kids [to church], but they didnt come home, Curry said. There are repercussions for things like that: 176 children, in that case, lost one or both parents.

China, which has been criticized heavily for its mistreatment of various religious groups and detention of hundreds of thousands of Muslims, ranked No. 23 on the list in 2020. In 2019, China ranked No. 27.

China has imprisoned countless pastors and Christians for worshiping in unregistered house churches. According to Curry, 5,596 churches in China have been shut down, many of which are because they refuse to put up surveillance cameras in their churches.

Curry stressed in the briefing that China represents the greatest threat to human rights as it seeks to control the Chinese people and churches through surveillance.

Churches must be sacred places, he said. If the government was monitoring you, your every move, scoring your citizenship based on how often you went to church or didnt go to church, how would you feel? Thats whats happening in China.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 18:06:31|Editor: huaxia

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Amadou Diallo (L) and Junior Diakhate renovate the girls' toilets in Dakar, Senagal, July 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Louis Denga)

For the past two months, Senegalese volunteers have launched an initiative to renovate dilapidated toilets in Senegalese schools for free as 32 percent of the population does not have "improved toilet facilities".



DAKAR, July 12 (Xinhua) -- In Senegal, according to the country's National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD), 32 percent of the population does not have "improved toilet facilities". Among this particular part of the population, 15 percent practice open defecation and do not use toilets every day.

At Blaise Diagne High School, in the heart of the Senegalese capital, vice principal Ousmane Ba observes the 600 or so students of the establishment coming and going between the classrooms. "Toilet problems have an impact on academic performance, especially for girls," he said.

"We realized that the boys were doing better, because the girls had trouble staying all day at school with their menstrual problems," he explained.

In this college, where the majority of students are girls, the toilets have not been renovated in the past ten years. "The children are here from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., if they do not have a toilet, this will inevitably affect the (academic) results. Some girls say that when they have an urgent need, they are forced to go home and sometimes do not come back," Junior Diakhate, elementary school teacher and founding president of the association Simple Action Citoyenne (SAC), told Xinhua.

"We came here and we saw that in each high school we went to, the toilets were not functional, especially the girls' toilets. So we said to ourselves why not try to do something," Junior told us how he started this initiative.

For the past two months, Junior and its volunteer partners have launched an initiative to renovate dilapidated toilets in Senegalese schools for free. At Blaise Diagne college, 12 cabins are already renovated, and 8 are still under construction, which should be completed by mid-July.

The teacher mobilized some companies and donors to finance the operation, the cost is approximately 1 million Francs CFA (about 1,730 US dollars), for the purchase of toilets, doors, paint and tiles.

"These toilets are priceless, because it affects the outcome of these children. Here, they had a success rate of 32 percent, because the girls were completely behind. When they had a few toilets here, the results returned to normal," Junior said, adding that "these toilets are not enough. There are 600 children here, and 600 children for 12 blocks of toilets, that is not enough."

For the past few months, a dozen volunteers have come every day to take part in the operation launched by the association Simple Action Citoyenne and the group La Rue n'est pas une Poubelle, in which Amadou Diallo takes part, a retired soldier who has become a painter.

Girls queue up to enter a classroom at Blaise Diagne Highschool in Dakar, Senegal, July 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Louis Denga)

"I am sanding the wall to make up the cracks with plaster, then we sand before putting the last coat," he showed.

The citizens' initiative of the two friends has spread through the Senegalese media and more than forty schools are now asking Junior to renovate their toilets. "We are going to take a tour of Senegal with this project", Junior said excitedly.

The objective for these associations is to involve the Direction of School Construction (DCS) of Senegalese Ministry of Education in Senegal to show the toilet needs of many schools in the country.

"These are very famous schools, many politicians have studied there and the time has come to help these schools", Junior said, before taking up his paint roller to continue his work.

Vice principal Ousmane Ba said that "we applaud with both hands and congratulate Junior and these volunteers on behalf of the educational community and on behalf of the parents of students." 
Illegal sand miners given licence to dig environmental grave By Jayani Madawala View(s): View(s):

Suspending sand transport licences has paved the way for more environmental damage through illegal mining, which is continuing.

The requirement was suspended in December amid a public outcry over its adverse consequences.

Lawyer and environmental protection activist, Jagath Gunawardena, said the controversial decision to suspend licences was illegal.

According to the Mines and Minerals Act, a permit is needed to mine and transport sand, he added.

He said the law had not been amended despite the Cabinet decision.

Environmentalists point out that sand is needed in construction work, while the environment needs to be protected.

Recent incidents have been reported in Manampitiya area as contractors have started mining near Maduru Oya.

Residents have complained that a company is dredging a reservoir for sand. They claimed the company has struck a deal with government authorities and sells sand for Rs 35,000 a cube which they extract for about Rs 2,000.

Lawyer, Nimmi Sanjeewani, said mining is regulated under and the Minerals Act No 33 of 1992 as amended by Act No 66 of 2009.

Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) was established under this Act. The GSMB issues three types of licences; exploration, mining, trading and transport to regulate the exploration for mining, transport, processing, trading and export of minerals. This license system can regulate sand mining.

Monitoring a transport licence is a legal requirement under the Mines and Minerals Act. As a result, illegal mining activities have been controlled through the permit. The law cannot be suppressed blatantly by a Cabinet decision without an amendment to the Act

Undue political interference, lack of officers to enforce the law across the country, transparency and accountability are some other issues not well addressed by statutory laws.

In instances where statutory regulations do not work, public interest litigation plays a vital role in protecting the environment.

Ms Sanjeewani, said that for the sake of sustainable development, the responsible authorities need to act with accountability.

Also, they should consider opinions from experts before taking decisions in relation to sensitive environmental issues such as sand mining.
The large yellow cladding on the side of the 19-storey Distillery apartment tower in Pyrmont has made it one of the most recognisable residential high rises in the inner Sydney suburb.

Yet the flammable nature of the cladding has also made it an expensive problem for its owners, who are finally nearing the end of a three-year saga to remove it that has cost them more than $3 million.

Apartment owners Colin Knowles, left, and Matthew Summerill say the state government should help pay for cladding removal. Credit:Steven Siewert

With thousands of apartment owners across Sydney facing a similar predicament, owners of the Distillery tower say the NSW government needs to help pay for the expensive work removing cladding that only a few years ago complied with regulations.

"They should be helping pay the poor old apartment owners overcome a problem created by lax rules," said Colin Knowles, the building's former strata committee chairman and retired engineer.
In March and April, while countries around the world were just starting to realize the massive problems they were facing due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, authorities in Tajikistan claimed there were no cases in the country and urged people to go about their daily lives as usual. The government even helped to arrange large public celebrations of the Norouz holiday in late March.

But the Tajik authorities were wrong.

The coronavirus was in the country, and by the time they finally admitted it at the end of April, the situation was beyond the ability of the countrys medical system to handle.

Unable to control the spread of the virus, the government resorted to its longtime tactic of trying to control information, providing some dubious figures about the number of infections inside the country.

Other, independent sources of information were reporting the problem was far worse than official statistics showed.

So the Tajik government just passed new regulations on reporting false information, which some feel simply means information that does not jibe with what the government says.

The independent news website Akhbor, which is run from the Czech Republic, reported on suspicious quarantines and deaths in Tajikistan. In March, Tajikistans Supreme Court ordered that the site be blocked. More recently, authorities have put pressure on the family of Akhbor founder and editor Mirzo Salimpur.

On this week's Majlis podcast, RFE/RL's media-relations manager for South and Central Asia, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion that looks at the Tajik governments latest crackdown on the few independent media outlets that still report honestly about affairs inside the country.

This weeks guests are, from Paris, Jeanne Cavelier, the head of the East Europe and Central Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders; and from Prague, Mirzo Salimpur of Akhbor, Sirojiddin Tolibov from RFE/RLs Tajik Service, known locally as Ozodi; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.



Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.
If you can smell someone else's perfume or aftershave, you're too close to them. If you're near someone and they are speaking loudly because the music is loud, or even if there's no music (how we Irish love to shout after a few drinks), you're in danger of becoming infected. If someone puts their arm around you, calling you their best friend, there's a chance you'll become infected.

Of all the features of the Covid-19 virus, who would have thought an Irish pub would be the optimum environment for it to spread in?

The whole reason you go to a pub is to have someone smell your aftershave (or pheromones), shout a terribly interesting story, and lose your inhibitions.

It's our God-given right as Irish people to be able to do this. It's like Mother Nature is playing a joke on us Irish. And whatever you do, don't laugh uproariously. This virus likes nothing better than a good laugh to spread. Except now the laugh is on us. The smoking ban didn't do for the Irish pub, but the virus did.

Study after study has confirmed that bars and nightclubs are among the most dangerous places when it comes to catching Covid-19. The Texas Medical Association, as well as the combined analysis of the New York Times, Reuters and National Public Radio, all place bars at the top of the list of risky activities.

On June 8, a pub reopened in Michigan after weeks of being shut. Safe practices were adopted, including cleaning regimens, pushing tables six feet apart, and limiting the number of customers. By July 2, 152 infections had been tied to the bar.

A local doctor said: "I think taking precautions is important. But at the end of the day, no matter how many precautions you take, some things are just high-risk, and bars are one of those things."

In Zurich, a man who had visited the Flamingo Club tested positive. Five other customers tested positive, and all 300 who were there were placed into quarantine last Saturday. Swiss authorities have said that if a similar event occurs in a pub or club, all such venues in Zurich will be shut down.

To make matters worse, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is likely to conclude that the virus can be spread by tiny particles suspended in the air that are breathed out and can travel beyond two metres.

This will further emphasise how a crowded, poorly ventilated indoor space is a high risk - a risk that can only be effectively mitigated against with strong ventilation (one recommendation states that it should be almost uncomfortable), use of masks in such settings, and more rigorous distancing.

Kimberley Prather, an atmospheric chemist in San Diego, has said that if you are in a room with a super-spreader, you will breathe their air at some point, with as many as 80pc of people in the vicinity becoming infected.

The virus has been shown to traverse the length of a room and remain viable in the air for perhaps three hours. In a crowded indoor space, a single infected person might therefore release enough aerosolised virus over time to infect many people.

If the WHO changes its recommendation, this will also have consequences for the reopening of schools, as many are likely to be poorly ventilated and are too poorly funded to invest in new filtration systems.

One somewhat positive aspect is that crowds outdoors may not pose that big a risk. Thousands of people flocked to beaches in Bournemouth in June, with the police having to intervene, but there is no evidence that this gave rise to a spike in infections.

But back to the pubs. We move towards July 20, the planned reopening date, although many have already reopened if they sell food (with a bag of peanuts not counting, as Tony Holohan, who knows the Irish well, has pointed out).

The food/drink combination will not apply to pubs reopening on July 20 though, losing the chance for food to provide that well known trick of seasoned drinkers: soakage. This must have been the intention for the first phase of reopening, as those on soft drinks were exempt. Surely a tacit admission that drunkenness might give rise to reckless behaviour.

Given the clear and present danger of pubs, what are the rules? These can be found in a Bord Failte 22-page document. Let's hope the publicans didn't think: 'Too Long, Didn't Read'.

Table service only; no queueing at the bar or socialising away from your table. One and a half hours maximum for each group. One person in each pre-booked group has to give their contact details, and note down each person in their group (who should be close friends or family members only). If there is adequate signage, floor markings and regular announcements on the rules, a table may be one metre from another table which has strangers. If not, it has to be two metres distant. You must wear a mask when you go to the toilet, but you can take it off at your table to allow you to keep drinking. Minimise things like umbrellas in cocktails. Straws must be individually wrapped. The cleaning requirements take up several pages of the guidelines. The safety instructions for the Apollo mission to the moon were probably less detailed.

If we want pubs to reopen, we have to make sure they follow these strict guidelines, which will have to be enforced by gardai. Good luck with that. Last weekend, 26 pubs were in breach of the rules, mainly concerning the serving of food. Not a great start. How powerful ventilation will be ensured in pubs is not at all clear, and who wants to sip their beer in a gale?

One fact, however, cannot be denied. Alcohol and social distancing are mutually exclusive. We drink alcohol to relax and that inevitably means we become less risk-averse, at the worst possible time.

What all of this means in practise is, pubs will still be places where you might become infected by breathing in the air of a super-spreader. You will have to assume that you will become infected. You will probably be all right, although some will be sick for a while and might have symptoms that linger for months.

More seriously, you might infect someone who is more vulnerable than you with deadly consequences. You might well be part of a chain of events that results in another lockdown.

We are seeing outbreaks in several countries. In Australia, parts of Melbourne have been shut down and they are halving the number of people being allowed to return home from overseas. Hong Kong is shutting all the schools again. On Thursday, we saw an increase in cases here, mainly in people under 44, with a warning that we must keep adhering to the public health guidelines, otherwise schools won't reopen. And what are we about to do? Reopen places that have the highest risk for the virus to spread again.

This means having pubs open must mean we abide by all the guidelines even more zealously, including the wearing of masks. Do you think we can do that? One look at Dublin city centre last weekend, and many anecdotal stories from pubs around the country, says not really.

Is it not best to just sit this round out, until the virus is under control? Otherwise pubs will trigger spikes of infection. Schools and businesses will have to close, with yet more economic damage and psychological stress.

If we open the pubs, we must close the airports, because that is where new infections will come from and will be spread in pubs.

We are opening the pubs at our peril. Think of them as meat-packing factories.

We should drink at home with friends. Unless we all behave ourselves on a night out. When it comes to us Irish and alcohol, we're great at that now, aren't we?

Luke O'Neill is professor of biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin.
By Trend

Azerbaijani citizens Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev have been held hostage by Armenia for six years, Azerbaijani MP Nagif Hamzayev said, Trend reports.

They were also called "criminals" upon the "decision of the court" of the illegal separatist-terrorist regime, the MP said.

If the visit to the graves of parents in the occupied Kalbajar district of Azerbaijan is a crime, then which fascist ideology does Armenia pursue by conducting a policy of ethnic cleansing and occupation of the Azerbaijani territories? Hamzayev added.

The "court" sentenced Asgarov to life imprisonment while Guliyev - to 22 years in prison and our compatriots were tortured for many years, Hamzayev, who is also the member of the parliamentary committee on human rights, said. These actions are contrary to the protocols of the 1949 Geneva Convention, requiring humane treatment towards civilians.

The world community already testifies that Armenia continues to flagrantly violate these international obligations, ignoring Azerbaijans calls for compliance with humanitarian law and the immediate mutual release of civilians detained from both sides, the MP said.

The world unequivocally accepts the fact of the occupation of Azerbaijans territories by Armenia and urges Armenia to withdraw its armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories in accordance with international law, Hamzayev added.

Despite the relevant resolutions adopted by the UN, the Council of Europe and other influential international organizations, as well as the options proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group, which is a mediator in the peaceful settlement of the conflict [Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict], Armenia is still an occupying power, the MP said. Armenia does not hasten to withdraw its armed forces and continues to support the separatist regime created here. It even tries to justify its actions related to the occupation.

Armenias targeted shelling of civilians and facilities by using heavy weapons and the ongoing hostage taking process clearly show that the crimes committed by Armenia during the conflict were a targeted and systematic policy pursued by the adventurous government, rather than accidental, the MP said. There are thousands of facts confirming the numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Armenia against the Azerbaijani civilian population during the military operations.

In an interview with Azerbaijan Television, Public TV and Khazar TV, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated on July 6 that violation of human rights and democracy in Armenia is not a topical issue.

There has never been democracy in Armenia, Hamzayev said. Immediately after the formation of Armenia as an independent country, it showed its true character. The fascists who committed the Khojaly genocide cannot be democrats. A country having its eye on other countrys land and leaves a million people homeless cannot be a democratic country. Armenia violated the main human rights of one million citizens of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis living in Armenia.

Unfortunately, international organizations that promote double standards remain indifferent to the fate of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis displaced as a result of the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the MP said. The international organizations do not take any steps to restore the violated rights of Asgarov and Guliyev held hostage by Armenia. This shows that international organizations supporting the occupying power do not pursue their goals, but fulfill certain orders and damage the growing reputation of Azerbaijan with their ugly deeds.

The forces that supported Armenia saw the determination of the Azerbaijani people to liberate their lands in the battles in April 2016 and during Nakhchivan battles from May through June 2018 and witnessed that the Azerbaijani army is one of the strongest armies in the world, Hamzayev said.

At the same time, the forces that supported Armenia saw that President of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev resolutely defended the national interests of our people, proclaimed the truth about our country from the highest podiums, exposed international organizations and the countries operating in accordance with double standards, the MP said.

The Republic of Azerbaijan is taking and will take all necessary steps to release Asgarov and Guliyev and reunite them with their families, Hamzayev said.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Chennai, July 12 : The All India Employees' Association (AIIEA), one of the major unions in the non-life insurance sector, has urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the merger process of three public sector general insurance companies (PSGICs) be continued.

In a letter on Saturday, Sanjay Jha, Secretary, standing committee (General Insurance), said, "Since the announcement of merger of three PSGICs two years ago, all preliminary steps, like appointment of consultants and formation of working groups to oversee integration of key areas such as IT and accounts, have been completed." The consultants as well as the working groups have submitted their preliminary reports also. The boards of these companies recommended convening of extraordinary board meetings at a very short notice in January 2020, he added.

Stating the support of the employees for merger, Jha said the merger process should be accelerated, not halted. Profitable growth, improved solvency ratio could be achieved comfortably if the companies were merged and a single entity was formed, he added.

On July 8, the cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved Rs 12,450 crore capital infusion, which included Rs 2,500 crore given in FY20, in the three insurers. Of this, Rs 3,475 crore is to be infused immediately and the rest Rs 6,475 crore later.

The cabinet also approved increase in authorised share capital of National Insurance Company to Rs 7,500 crore and that of United India and Oriental Insurance to Rs 5,000 crore each to give effect to the capital infusion.

To ensure optimal use of new capital, it issued KPIs (key performance indicators) for raising business efficiency and profitable growth.
Coronavirus. Credit: European Centers for Disease Control

Lebanon on Sunday reported 166 coronavirus cases, its highest daily infection toll since the country's outbreak began in February.

The new figures announced by the health ministry bring the total number of infections to 2,334 including 36 deaths, according to figures carried by the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

New cases have leapt since Friday, with over 300 registered in three days, after daily numbers had appeared to be stabilising in recent weeks.

The Lebanese Red Cross said on Twitter that its teams were transporting 131 company employees who had tested positive to a quarantine centre.

Health Minister Hamad Hassan said those cases were among the 166 announced Sunday, and that the figure represented a "peak".

But he appeared to play down the spike, saying the latest infections were from a "known source" and telling local media that the chances of further transmissions existed but were "not big".

Lebanon had started to gradually lift lockdown measures since the end of April and opened its airport to commercial flights at the start of this month, after a more than three-month closure.

In May, the government ordered a four-day return to lockdown after an uptick in new cases.

The pandemic arrived with Lebanon already mired in its worst-ever economic crisis, marked by an unprecedented plunge in the currency and with nearly half of the population in poverty.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2020 AFP
Mumbai, July 12 : Hours after Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan were admitted for COVID-19 treatment in hospital, civic teams rushed to the three bungalows of the Bachchan family in Vile Parle-Juhu.

The teams, sporting full protection gear, started carrying out a full fumigation and sanitisation of the premises, inside and outside.

Nearly a two dozen strong team landed at Jalsa, Pratiksha and Janak bungalows, all within a radius of barely two km in the posh Juhu-Vile Parle suburb in western Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the condition of both the Bachchan father-son duo is stable.

The samples of Jaya Bachchan and Aishwarya Bachchan have been taken and their reports are expected soon.

Tope expressed hope that the actors would recover soon and return in the midst of fans and followers.
Actor turned Author Esha Deol on Sunday took to her twitter account to rubbish rumours that her mother Hema Malini was admitted to a hospital. Several reports suggested that the 71-year-old actress was rushed to the hospital due to poor health.

Amitabh Bachchan   Corona virus   Hema Malini ; Watch video | FilmiBeat

Esha tweeted that her mother is doing fine and asked fans not to spread misinformation. She wrote, "My mother @dreamgirlhema is fit & fine! The news regarding her health is absolutely fake so please don't react to such rumours! Thanks to everyone for their love and concern."

Soon afterwards, the veteran actress turned politician, Hema Malini also shared a video on Instagram explaining that she is good health. In the video, she can be seen saying, "Hi, Radhey Radhey! Kuch log kuch news suunke bohot hi pareshan hain,(Some people are worried after hearing some news) but I am perfectly alright by the grace of Lord Krishna"

She captioned the post as, "Dear All, Thank you so much for showing your concern. I am absolutely fine with the blessing of Lord Krishna. Radhey Radhey. You all stay home, stay safe."

Take a look at the video:

The rumours started on Saturday after megastar Amitabh Bachchan and his son, actor Abhishek Bachchan tested positive for COVID-19. The father-son duo have mild symptoms and were admitted at Nanavati Hospital. Nanavati Hospital sources told PTI that, "He (Amitabh) has been moved to the isolation ward of the hospital."

Now BMC has sealed the Bachchan house, Jalsa while the sanitization is underway. Reports of Aishwarya Rai and Jaya Bachchan are still underway. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope revealed, "Swab test have been taken of all the other family members, including Jaya ji and Aishwarya ji. Their reports are awaited. They have undergone RTPCR test..."

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on Saturday the coronavirus cases rose to 91,457 with 1,308 new patients found in Mumbai.

Riddhima Kapoor Refutes Rumours, Says Ranbir And Neetu Kapoor Are Fit And Good

Amitabh Bachchan's Home Jalsa Sealed By BMC After Superstar & Son Abhishek Test COVID-19 Positive
Crowds of Black Lives Matter protesters marched in central London on Sunday, six weeks after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer.

Hundreds of people waved banners and called for an end to police brutality while making an effort to follow social distancing rules.

The protest started at Marble Arch at 2pm where a speech was given in front of the cheering crowd.

People march as they attend a Black Lives Matter protest in London, Sunday, July 12, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis

A demonstrator wears a face mask during a Black Lives Matter protest at Marble Arch on Sunday afternoon

Demonstrators march during a Black Lives Matter protest in London this afternoon. Hundreds of people waved banners and called for an end to police brutality while attempting to adhere to social distancing rules

A minute of silence was held as protesters, standing two metres apart, raised one arm in the air in a display of solidarity.

Demonstrators then made their way through central London on a planned route to Parliament Square.

Many of the protesters wore face coverings and stood apart from one another to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as they made their way through the city.

Protesters waved banners reading 'Now we've woke we can't sleep' and 'Black Lives Matter'

A minute of silence was held as protesters, standing two metres apart, raised one arm in the air in a display of solidarity

A demonstrator holds a placard during a Black Lives Matter protest at Marble Arch, in London, July 12

One woman held a sign reading: 'Black lives matter more than white comfort.'

Another sign said: 'Now we've woke we can't sleep.'

George Floyd was a back man who was killed by police in Minnesota in May, sparking a global outcry.

Demonstrators wearing face masks march during a Black Lives Matter protest in London, July 12

Demonstrators wave banners and march during a Black Lives Matter protest in London on Sunday

Demonstrators wearing face masks march during a Black Lives Matter protest in London

It comes after thousands of protesters marched through Brighton in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on Saturday, after a video showing a man shouting "I can't breathe" while being restrained on the ground by three police officers in the city sparked outrage.

Sussex Police said the man was arrested and became aggressive towards officers before being placed on the ground.

The incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Six more persons have died from COVID-19 in a single day in Ghana bringing the death toll from 129 to 135.

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

All the new deaths were related to comorbidities except one person in the Northern Region who died of no known underlying medical conditions.

The deaths were also recorded in Central, Oti and Western Region of Ghana.

The country has also recorded 371 new virus infections bringing the countrys caseload to 23,834.

Ghana records 135 deaths with 23,834 cases from COVID-19

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: NPP MP Carlos Ahenkorah declared COVID-19 negative by GHS

An update on the Ghana Health Services (GHS) website said some 19,212 patients have been recovered and discharged.

A total of 371 new cases were reported on July 7, 2020. These are samples that were taken from the period 15 June to 6 July 2020 as seen in Figure 8 but reported from the lab on July 7, the GHS said.

Active cases, according to the GHS currently stand at 4,487.

Regional breakdown:

Greater Accra Region  13,194

Ashanti Region  5,078

Western Region  2,052

Central Region  1,076

Eastern Region  911

READ ALSO: Policeman slaps woman at voter registration center (Video)

Volta Region  378

Upper East Region  282

Northern Region  187

Western North Region  156

Bono East Region  142

Oti Region  115

Bono Region  96

Upper West Region  70

Savannah Region  51

Ahafo Region  36

North East Region  9

Trader describes who a typical Ghanaian is | #Yencomgh

Have national and human interest issues to discuss? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition?

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh
STAMFORD  A second town hall-style event in which the public can speak to members of the Police Department, this one dubbed Cops and Hops, will be held at Third Place by Half Full Brewery on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m.

The session was the idea of Stamford resident Joseph Maddalone, 31. Two weeks ago, Maddalone went to the first town hall event with police held at La Perle Restaurant. That session included Police Chief Tim Shaw and Captain Diedrich Hohn; Maddalone thought it would be a good idea to have more events like it.

Maddalone didnt know Half Full owner Conor Horrigan, had never even been to his brewery on Homestead Avenue or to the newly opened Third Place on Pacific Street. But he called him anyway and asked if he would host such an event.

He jumped at the chance, Maddalone said. It was a one (call) and done.

Horrigan said the event was pulled out of thin air, but it was just the type of community meeting that he had in mind when creating Third Place.

While Shaw will not be attending the Monday event, Hohn is bringing with him officers Adriana Molina and Silas Redd.

Molina was Stamford Police Officer of the year in 2015 and Redd has more than 30 years on the job and was given a community policing award by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham in 2018.

Maddalone, who is a Long Island transplant running a start up consultancy, said he wants to help advance the cause of racial equality while also supporting police.

I dont think people should have to choose between the police and racial equality. I want to be in the process of progress. I want to be involved in that, he said.

Hohn said officers welcome the chance to answer questions from the community.

Having that rapport in the community and having conversations like these are a way to open the door to make the community better, Hohn said.

Attendees are asked to RSVP by sending an email to maddalonej@gmail.com

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
Above the Law, a new documentary film by Marc Serpa Francoeur and Robinder Uppal about police brutality in Calgary, Alberta, premieres on CBC television at 8 p.m. local time on July 11, 2020, and is available for streaming for free on CBC Gem. The production was led by Serpa Francoeur and Uppals Lost Time Media, a Toronto-based production company focusing on engaging social issue documentary film and interactive projects.

Born and raised in Calgary, weve always maintained an interest in whats going on in our hometown, said Serpa Francoeur and Uppal on their choice to make a film about the Calgary Police Service. We definitely asked ourselves whether it was the right setting for an investigation of police malfeasance (versus, say, a larger city like Toronto), but the deeper we got, the more obvious it became that the Calgary Police Service, and Alberta more broadly, were very much deserving of our attention, both due to the sheer quantity and severity of violent incidents and other scandals, as well as the apparent lack of meaningful consequences for what seemed to us entirely unacceptable and shockingly commonplace behaviour.

In the film, injustice at the hands of Calgary police officers is put under a harsh magnifying glass, revealing everything wrong with policing in Alberta, and dare I say Canada. It brings attention to the problematic relationships between Albertas police watchdog, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), the police departments they are tasked with investigating, and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service.

When we started to look into these issues in Alberta, almost by accident, what we found was deeply troubling  its not an easy topic by any means, but its something we felt compelled to pursue out of a fundamental interest in justice and equality, said Serpa Francoeur and Uppal.

The documentary is being released after a United States police officer murdered George Floyd in a public execution, which sparked mass protesting in American cities. Police brutality is not just isolated to the United States however, as Canada also saw its fair share of Black Lives Matter protests and police brutality, particularly against Indigenous Peoples in the past few months.

Serpa Francoeur and Uppal continued by saying, There is, unfortunately, a lot of overlap between the issues we see in the U.S. and here in Canada, an assertion that will likely not sound at odds with the lived experiences of our Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities, as well as deeply marginalized populations like drug users and the unhoused, who bear the brunt of so much police misconduct.

The film provides shocking data that will scare even those living in the furthest depths of Alberta. Some of this data includes numbers like the amount of fatal police shootings (by city) in North America.

Fatal police shootings in 2018:  Vancouver had 0 fatal shootings.  Toronto had 1 fatal shooting.  Chicago, USA had 3 shootings.  New York, USA, a city which currently has 8.3 million people, had 4 shootings.  Calgary, a city with only 1.3 million people, had 5 shootings.

When asked about what instigated the film, the filmmakers said, We first began looking into policing issues in Calgary after learning of Godfred Addai Nyamekyes experiences back in mid-2015, shortly after he had been acquitted of assaulting a peace officer following a three-day trial.

The film explains that Godfred was detained, potentially unlawfully, by Calgary police in the early morning of December 28, 2013, a night that saw temperatures reach as low as -28 degrees with the wind chill. After being handcuffed and thrown into the back of a police van, he was taken on what it is horrifyingly known in western Canada as a starlight tour and left in the middle of nowhere in the freezing cold. Godfred then called 911 for help. However, the officer who showed up brutally tasered and beat him, and then had Godfred charged with assaulting a peace officer. Despite a paucity of evidence, the Crown saw fit to proceed trial. Although he was ultimately acquitted of the charges, Godfreds life has never been the same and he deals with last trauma, both physical and psychological.

Godfreds incident was profoundly disturbing to us, seemingly riddled with what appeared to be very serious and malignant behaviour from the various police officers on the ground, the 911 operators responding to Godfreds desperate calls for help, and even the Crown prosecutors who saw fit to drag this man through trial, stated Serpa Francoeur and Uppal.

For the other incidents featured in the documentary, the filmmakers were not able to get interviews from the victims  not because they refused to comment, but because theyre not alive to tell their story.

Anthony Heffernan, a young man who struggled with substance abuse, was killed by police during a wellness check at a hotel. The hotel called the cops to check on him as they were unable to reach Anthony and he hadnt checked out on time. The police arrived, forced the door open, and Anthony was then tasered twice and shot multiple times, leaving him dead on the floor of the hotel room.

This must never happen again in Calgary, or Canada, said Patrick Heffernan, the father of Anthony Heffernan, a retired school principal from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) were then called in to investigate. It is worth mentioning that ASIRT has only recently filled charges against an officer for a shooting, despite the dozens of cases that that theyve investigated. Given the makeup of ASIRT, whose investigators are largely seconded officers on loan from the very departments that they are tasked to investigate, and even rely on the forensic teams at those departments, what is certain is that the optics regarding their independence is poor.

The other prominently featured incident is that of Daniel Haworth, who was brutally beaten by a Calgary police officer. Left with a fractured skull and a brain bleed, Haworths family see his death of fentanyl overdose less than a year later as very much connected with a permanent brain injury caused by the officer. It should also be noted that Daniel was not resisting or threatening the officer when he was repeatedly punched in the back of the head and then thrown head first onto asphalt  all while handcuffed.

It is incredibly tough to talk about these incidents without explaining them in greater detail, but because the film connects these moments in time so wonderfully, it would be better for you to watch the film.

Above the Law should be watched by everyone living in Canada, especially in Alberta, regardless of who you are or where you came from. It is a chilling indictment of police brutality, arrogance and racism. It shines a spotlight on the fact that there is no accountability  that no one is policing the police and that as in the case of George Floyd, without the real life videotape evidence provided by witnesses no one would believe that it even happens.

Weve spent the last five years researching and developing the film, with filming taking place over the course of several different production periods in 2018 and 2019, noted the filmmakers.

But there has never been a more relevant time for its release. Police brutality, systemic racism and abuse of power against vulnerable populations is currently on the minds of every person across North America.

George Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis and a week later Chantel Moore, an Indigenous woman living in New Brunswick was executed by a police officer (who has not been named) during what was supposed to be a wellness check. A week after Chantel Moore was murdered, Rodney Levi was executed by police in New Brunswick. He too was killed during a wellness check  and again, the officer was not named. Some months prior, Athabascan Chipeywan Chief Allan Adam was brutalized by RCMP over an expired licence plate in Northern Alberta; Chief Allan was then charged with assaulting a police officer, which is an issue brought up in the documentary.

Since the death of George Floyd, calls to defund the police have been demanded across North America, with the City of Edmonton announcing an intent to reallocate $11 million dollars of a police funding hike.

A concept like defunding the police could hardly have been further from mainstream, but in recent days, Edmonton announced an $11 million reduction to the police budget spread over two years, with those funds going toward supportive housing. This seems to us like a small step in the right direction of re-evaluating how we are allocating resources and what exactly are the roles and expectations of police departments, said the documentarians.

As for Marc Serpa Francoeur and Robinder Uppals future projects, they said, Were putting the finishing touches on No Visible Trauma, a feature-length companion to Above the Law that we plan to start distributing in the fall. While the same three narratives are central to both films, at more than twice the length, we are able to explore them in greater detail, along with some other horrific excessive force incidents at CPS, as well as some of the major cultural issues, including issues of bullying, harassment, and intimidation.

For more information about Above the Law, check out the film on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

It is available to stream now on CBC Gem.
The number of new, confirmed coronavirus cases dipped again on Saturday to 677, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Thats out of more than 62,000 tests, or about a 1% positive return rate, according to a statement from Cuomo.

New daily caseloads in New York have been below 1,000 during July. Those numbers have fluctuated from the 900s down into the 500s.

The state reported five more people died on Saturday. Overall, the state has reported 24,979 people have died from Covid-19.

Forty of 62 counties in New York reported new cases.

Rensselaer County is seeing an uptick of cases related to people who tested positive after traveling to Georgia, according to Cuomo. The county reported 23 new cases Saturday; overall its had 616 confirmed cases.

Heres more daily stats from the state:

 Patient Hospitalization - 801 (+2)

 Patients Newly Admitted - 75 (+0)

 Hospital Counties - 28

 Number ICU - 174 (-3)

 Number ICU with Intubation - 102 (+2)

 Total Discharges - 71,565 (+88)

MORE ON CORONAVIRUS

Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources

Coronavirus in NY: Hospitalizations drop below 800, lowest since mid-March

NY allows nursing home residents to have visitors again

Capping entry at 50% likely wont be a problem for a mall as big as Destiny USA

Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com

Got a story idea or news tip youd like to share? Please contact me through email, Twitter, Facebook or at 315-470-2274.
Greenhouse, a US recruitment software company, expects to have 20 staff in Ireland by the end of the year as it targets generating a quarter of its revenue from its new EMEA hub in Dublin.

The New York-based company, once named by research firm CB Insights as a potential "unicorn", a company valued at $1bn, launched its Dublin office earlier this year.

Greenhouse, founded in 2012, has attracted $110.1m (97.36m) of funding having secured backing from Riverwood Capital in its 2018 Series D funding round.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Independent, Jon Stross, co-founder and president of Greenhouse, laid out his ambitions for the US software company.

"We are investing in Dublin as our EMEA hub, and we will support the entire EMEA region from Dublin across all business functions, with the exception of research and development," he said. "We expect to have 20 employees in Dublin by the end of the year.

"In order to better service the local markets, we have already localised into four major EU languages - German, French, Italian and Spanish. We expect our EMEA operation to account for 25pc of our global revenue in time."

Stross said the company entered the Irish market shortly before Covid-19 started to hit Europe. He said Greenhouse was now planning on growing across Europe from the Irish market.

"We have experienced a lot of organic demand from all over Europe," he said. "A lot of companies in London and Berlin as well as a lot of US companies opening offices in Dublin. So we realised we had to be in Europe.

"We looked at all the usual suspects, and Dublin became our choice. First one was about talent, which has become such a draw, not just in Dublin itself but all of Europe.

"We felt like the IDA and Ireland would take care of us," he added. "They have helped so many companies. They will help guide us through it."

Greenhouse has nearly 4,000 customers globally, including Irish-founded tech firms such as Stripe and Intercom. Stross said such Irish companies were part of the reason Greenhouse visited Ireland, with its clients based here giving him the "hard sell" on why Dublin was the right place to base its EMEA hub.

Other clients include HubSpot, Cisco Meraki, and Warby Parker, which use the Greenhouse hiring software platform to improve their hiring process. Greenhouse provides recruiting software as a service which finds and tracks potential candidates for roles. Beyond Dublin and New York, it has offices in San Francisco and Denver, and employs 310 people across its markets.
Prince Charles opened about his future role in the monarchy and affirmed that he has no plans to retire from his royal duties.

The 71-year-old Prince of Wales, who has been hailed as the oldest and longest-serving heir apparent to the British throne, has waited all his life to be the next King of England. With that, he is not giving up on the throne just yet, even amid calls for Queen Elizabeth II to skip him and pass the torch to Prince William.

Prince Charles Will "Never Retire" From His Role In The Monarchy

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, along with other senior members such as Prince William and Kate Middleton, have begun carrying out public duties now that the lockdown restriction in the U.K. has started to ease.

In their recent trip to an Asda distribution center, the heir to the throne and future Queen consort met with nearly 700 workers and personally thanked them for their dedication and hard work to keep the supplies running during the onset of the global pandemic.

During their socially distanced visit, the royal couple candidly spoke with a 74-year-old warehouse operator named Richard Sigward, who has been working for the supermarket for 17 years. According to Sigward, Duchess Camilla mentioned that Prince Charles refuses to retire despite his age.

"The Duchess was saying to me she definitely agrees that if people can work and are happy to do it, they should carry on," Sigward narrated, per Express UK. "She said she refuses to retire herself. The prince was the same."

Meanwhile, Chris Tilly, general manager of the distribution center, praised the royal couple for giving time to visit and check the center.

"I think it is fantastic that the Prince and Duchess have taken the time out to come to the distribution center and meet colleagues. Every single colleague that they saw they thanked for what they had done during the last 14 weeks, which I was truly humbled by," Tilly said.

Queen Elizabeth II Passing The Crown To Prince Charles

In previous royal family news, rumors sparked that Queen Elizabeth II will pass the crown to Prince Charles and pull back from public life when she turns 95.

In 2018, royal biographer Robert Jobson -- who wrote "Charles At Seventy" --claimed that when the Queen reached a "period of regency," there's a possibility that she will grant the Prince of Wales the "full power to reign."

"One senior aide told me that the Queen has given the matter of her passing hears considerable thought and believes that, if she is still alive at ninety-five she will consider passing the reign to Charles," Jobson continued.

However, a spokesman from the heir to the throne's office opposed this claim and pointed out that there will be no "change in arrangements" regarding the roles of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles.

"There are no plans for any change in arrangements at the age of 95 - or any other age," the spokesman revealed to People.

With the recent report saying that the Prince of Wales refuses to retire from his duty, it is worth noting that the 71-year-old heir to the throne previously revealed his plan to modernize the institution and slim down the monarchy.

Prince Charles reportedly wanted to do it to dampen the "sense of entitlement" among the young royals of the 21st century.

READ MORE: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie Make Heartwarming Revelation!
The Ghana Health Service through the Director of Health Promotion, Dr Da Costa Aboagye is asking Ghanaians to maintain healthy lifestyles by having exercising regularly, reducing alcohol and tobacco intake and eating healthy meals to boost their immune system against the coronavirus.



According to him, the Health Promotion Division of the service is planning to roll out a new programme which will profile Ghanaians based on their health status and link them to the National Health Insurance Scheme in order to provide the needed help on time.



It is one way the service says it is using to reduce the number of persons dying from non-communicable diseases, he mentioned as he hinted that most of the people who have died of COVID-19 are related to non-communicable diseases.



He however speakig to the media after press conference at the Information Ministry on Thursday said that a new programme dubbed the Wellness Clinic will be rolled out across the country to help deal with the increasing cases of non-communicable diseases.



This programme will provide a platform for every Ghanaian to at least check their health once a year. This data can actually be linked to the National Health Insurance data and it will help us in reducing the non-communicable diseases before the next epidemic, he indicated.



In its latest report, the Ghana Health Service announced six new deaths, raising the countrys Covid-19 death toll from 129 to 135.



Three males and three females died in the latest report, two each from the Northern and Central regions, one from Oti and Western regions. Whilst one  a 44-year-old man from the Northern Region had no co-morbidities, the rest died of one form of an underlying condition or the other.



Stroke, Hypertension, Kidney disease and a new cause: postpartum infection  a disease which can develop after delivery of a baby, accounted for the latest deaths.



Until now, postpartum infections and stroke had not been identified among the co-morbidities afflicting Covid-19 patients, raising concern about how non-communicable diseases are contributing to Ghanas Covid-19 deaths.



Director of Health Promotion at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Dacosta Aboagye says the latest data adds to an already worrying statistics recorded since the outbreak of Sars-Cov-2.



Majority of the deaths that we have recorded in this country came from co-morbidities, underlying conditions; and most of these underlying conditions tend to be the non-communicable diseases; hypertension, diabetes and the others. So we certainly have to step up education on these non-communicable diseases with emphasis on diabetes, hypertension, and the cancers.



Though no new death was reported from the Ashanti Region, he said that it remains the region with the highest number of deaths  contributing nearly half of the countrys Covid-19 deaths.



Dr Aboagye says a high powered medical team, led by the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye is already in Kumasi to in

vestigate the trend.



As we speak there is a team trying to investigate what is actually happening in the Ashanti region. The Director-General himself, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye is there, Dr Da Costa Aboagye revealed.

Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









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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Australian citizens stranded in India say they have been fighting an "impossible" battle to get back home, begging the federal government to organise mercy flights.

The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced last week that international flights out of the country were restricted until July 31, a policy that has stretched since March due to coronavirus.

For the Australian citizens and permanent residents who have had tickets repeatedly cancelled since March, they were further aggravated by the announcement they would have to pay $3000 for their two-week stint in hotel quarantine if they flew into NSW after July 18.

India-based teacher Deborah Tellis has appealed to the Australian government to help her and other Australians who are struggling to find a way to come home. Credit:YouTube

When Deb Tellis' long-term teaching contract in India finished, she couldn't go to her next assignment working in China due to the borders closing.
The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday made some significant gains in the ongoing hunt for dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey, the prime accused in last week's Bikru ambush wherein eight policemen died.

It killed an aide of Dubey in an encounter in Hamirpur district and arrested another following an encounter in Kanpur for their alleged role in the killings. Two policemen were also injured in the encounter in Hamirpur.

Amar Dubey, who carried a reward of Rs 25,000, was killed in an encounter in Maudaha village in Hamirpur district, Special Task Force IG Amitabh Yash said.

Superintendent of Police, Hamirpur Shlok Kumar said, "Acting on a tip off, a team of STF and local police surrounded Amar and he was injured in the firing and died during treatment in the hospital."

Two policemen including an Inspector from Maudaha and an STF constable were injured in the encounter. An automatic weapon used to fire at police and a bag was recovered from the spot, the SP said.

In a separate encounter, hours after Amar was gunned down in Hamirpur, another associate of the gangster was arrested in an encounter in Chaubeypur area in Kanpur, police said.

"Vikas Dubey's aide Shyamu Bajpai was arrested after an encounter with police in Chaubeypur area. Bajpai, carrying a reward of Rs 25,000 sustained bullet injury on his leg," SHO Chaubeypur KM Rai said.

According to sources, Amar was involved in the security of Vikas Dubey and travelled with him wherever he went while Bajpai too was close to the gangster.

Another two associates of Vikay Dubey -- Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey were killed by police in an encounter in Kanpur on Friday.

IG STF, said, "STF was tracking all those named in the FIR and wherever we get information we are taking help of local police. We are also trying to trace weapons of policemen taken away from the spot and also weapons used by the criminals to attack the police force."

About the delay in the arrest of Vikas Dubey, the IG said, "He is a hardened criminal and was used to hiding so it is taking time but we will surely nab him. We have started getting success."

Eight policemen were ambushed in Chaubeypur police station area when they were going to arrest Vikas Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops shortly after midnight on Friday.

Vikas Dubey, the notorious criminal who carries a reward of Rs 2.5 lakh, is still absconding.




A man walks past the entrance of the head office of Optimus Asset Management in Seoul. Korea Times file
Bhopal, July 12 : Hours after joining BJP, former Congress MLA Pradyuman Singh Lodhi has been made the chairman of the Civil Supplies Corporation. He will hold the rank of a cabinet minister. The pro tem speaker promptly accepted his resignation as Congress MLA on Sunday and Bada Malahara seat was declared vacant. Pradyuman Lodhi joined the BJP on Sunday.

Former chief minister Uma Bharti represented Bada Malahara when she led the party to victory in 2003. Ten days ago, Uma Bharti had raised questions about the regional and caste imbalance in the expanded ministry. Bharti, who is a Lodhi leader, marked her presence in the party by raising questions about gangster Vikas Dubey's journey into Ujjain, was placated by the elevation of Pradyuman Singh Lodhi. That brings back Bharti as another power centre in the state. Lodhi's family has been associated with the RSS since the beginning. He had quit BJP before the last assembly elections in 2018.

Lodhi who met former chief minister Uma Bharti on around noon later met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP chief V.D. Sharma and was formally admitted to the BJP. This will take the number of vacant constituencies to 25.

Pradyuman's departure is a big jolt to Kamal Nath and Congress just when the party was preparing to claw back through by-elections.

Congress MLA from Damoh Legislative Assembly Rahul Singh reacted after his cousin Bada Malhra MLA Pradyuman Singh Lodhi joined the BJP. He said that the Congress has empowered him and he will always remain loyal to the party. Singh said Pradyuman gave him no hint about his impending defection. Pradyuman Singh always said that he would support the Congress. Rahul Singh said he has also received many offers to join the new ruling party.
HOUSTON  President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized a privately built border wall in South Texas thats showing signs of erosion months after going up, saying it was only done to make me look bad, even though the wall was built after a months-long campaign by his supporters.

The group that raised money online for the wall promoted itself as supporting Trump during a government shutdown that started in December 2018 because Congress wouldnt fund Trump's demands for a border wall. Called We Build the Wall, the group has raised more than $25 million promoting itself as supporting the president.

Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon joined the groups board and Trump ally Kris Kobach became its general counsel. Kobach is now seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Kansas.

The company that built the private section in January, North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, has since won a $1.3 billion border wall contract from the federal government, the largest award to date.

The section in question is a roughly 3-mile (5-kilometer) fence of steel posts just 35 feet (10 meters) from the Rio Grande, the river that forms the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Thats much closer to the river than the government ordinarily builds border barriers in South Texas because of concerns about erosion and flooding that could violate U.S. treaty obligations with Mexico.

Trump tweeted Sunday in response to a ProPublica-Texas Tribune report that the riverbank has started to erode. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered attorneys for Fisher Industries and opponents of the private wall to set a schedule for experts to visit the site and inspect any erosion.

I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads, Trump wrote. It was only done to make me look bad, and perhsps it now doesnt even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles.

Tommy Fisher, CEO of Fisher Industries, said Sunday that he thought the president just got some misinformation on this stuff and that he had complete respect for Trump.

Fisher acknowledged that there had been some erosion on the land in front of the fencing caused by rain and the natural flow of the river. He said his crews planned to install more organic material to fill the gaps or insert rock if erosion continues, but that other parts of the wall remained untouched.

The wall will stand for 150 years, you mark my words, Fisher said.

Experts and people who live and work near the property have warned that building so close to the river would cause flooding or a break in the fence. And a binational commission earlier this year found that the project violates U.S. treaty obligations and called on Fisher to make changes.

Marianna Trevino Wright, executive director of the nonprofit National Butterfly Center, has long opposed the project and warned it could damage the center, which is adjacent to where the private wall was being built.

It is troubling that President Trump admits to prior knowledge of this project  one he should have insisted comply with U.S. law, rather than proceed in violation of it, she said Sunday.

Originally promoted by We Build the Wall, the private section instead became a showcase for Fisher, who has promoted his company heavily on Fox News and conservative media. We Build the Wall ultimately provided about $1.5 million for the project and Kobach said in a previous court hearing that his group was mostly providing social media cheerleading. We Build the Walls founder, Brian Kolfage, did not return a phone message Sunday.

In May, Fisher Industries won a $1.3 billion contract to build 42 miles (68 kilometers) of wall in Arizona. The wall will be painted black because thats what the president wanted, plain and simple, said U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, in May. Cramer said then that he personally pitched the company to Trump.

Another $400 million contract Fisher won last year was placed under review by the defense departments inspector general.
Prince Charles had high hopes for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In fact, he saw the two playing a major role for the royal family when he takes over the British throne.

Unfortunately, his plan for the Sussexes has been ruined after the two decided to step down from their duties as senior members of the Firm.

In an interview with Express UK, royal author Nigel Cawthorne revealed that Prince Harry and Meghan were part of Prince Charles' plan to form a small but committed group of royals that will serve the monarchy. To recall, the Prince of Wales reportedly have plans of slimming down the working members of the royal family and keeping only those closer to the throne.

The future King's plan has been met with speculations that the Sussex couple would be pushed out as working members since Prince Harry is only the sixth in line to the throne. Nonetheless, this is apparently not the case.

"Charles wouldn't consider his own son minor royalty," Cawthorne said.

"He saw that the marriage of the Sussexes brought Harry great happiness, and that it created at the same time a new story for the monarchy that resonated deeply both in Britain but also in the Commonwealth and other English-speaking countries if not the world."

Cawthorne -- who recently wrote the book Prince Andrew, Epstein and the Palace -- also pointed out that Prince Charles was "delighted" with Meghan and would have done anything to expand the role of the couple under his rule. However, all his plans for the couple has been ruined now due to their royal exit.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their decision to step down from the monarchy last January. After several discussions with Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and Prince William, the royal family allowed the two to seek a private and independent life outside the U.K.

The Sussexes are still in a 12-month transition period, during which they can still opt to go back to the royal family. Nevertheless, all signs point to the couple staying out of royal life and establishing their own careers outside the influence of the British institution.

With that said, it is unlikely for Prince Charles to reel the couple back.

"Of course, when they decided to emigrate all that had to come to an end as there is no such thing as an absentee HRH," Cawthorned added about the Sussexes.

READ MORE: Royal Princess Dead At 54 -- Cause Of Death Revealed
Rudy Giuliani has slammed New York Mayor Bill De Blasio's commission of a Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower and accused the group of being a terror organization.

'Black Lives Matter is an organization run by three Marxists and financed by a convicted terrorist  who I happened to have convicted, who got 58 years in jail and got a corrupt pardon from Bill Clinton,' Donald Trump's lawyer Giuliani said on Hannity on Friday.

'This is not a benign organization. I cant say yet that we can prove its a terrorist organization. It's certainly a violent organization and I believe in the course of time it will be shown to be a terrorist organization,' he added.

Black Lives Matter is an organized movement that advocates for non-violent civil disobedience to protest police brutality against African-American people.

Scroll down for video

Rudy Giuliani blasted the Black Lives Matter movement on Friday on Hannity on Fox saying: 'It's certainly a violent organization and I believe in the course of time it will be shown to be a terrorist organization'

He also blasted New York Mayor Bill De Blasio for commissioning a Black Lives Matter mural in front of the Trump tower in Manhattan. De Blasio, Al Sharpton and volunteers pictured painting the mural on July 9

De Blasio and Rev. Al Sharpton and First Lady Chirlane McCray pictured helping activists paint the mural on Fifth Avenue on July 9

The movement started with the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of black teen Trayvon Martin in February 2012. It has regained traction following the brutal police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

The three founders of the movement and hashtag are activists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, who have expanded the project into a national network of over 30 local chapter between 2014 and 2016.

BLM is a network run by umbrella organization Thousand Currents, which radical activist Susan Rosenberg serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors.

Black Lives Matter and Thousand Currents is yet to reply to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Rosenberg was an active part of far-left revolutionary terror organization May 19th Communist Organization (M19CO), which sought to over throw the US government through armed action and a people's militia. The group was a part of the Black Power Movement and the New Communist Movement.

She was arrested in 1984 in possession of weapons and explosives and sentenced to 58 years of imprisonment on the weapons and explosives charges. Giuliani was US Attorney of the Southern District of New York at the time.

Giuliani blasted Black Lives Matter for its ties to Susan Rosenberg (left above in 2016). He claimed BLm is financed by 'a convicted terrorist  who I happened to have convicted, who got 58 years in jail and got a corrupt pardon from Bill Clinton'

Giuliani continued to rage against Rosenberg on Twitter on Friday

She spent 16 years in jail, during which she emerged as an author and AIDS activist, and President Bill Clinton pardoned her on his final day in office on January 20, 2001.

'Susan Rosenberg, who handles their finances is a convicted terrorist who was involved with the Black Panthers who used to slaughter police officers,' Giuliani said on the show.

'This convicted terrorist was sentenced to 58 years. Clintons corrupt last hour pardon set her free. Now we are paying the price,' Giuliani, 76, tweeted Friday.

Giuliani has been vocal is his disagreement with the movement, slamming it as racist when the group advocates against the mistreatment of black people.

Giuliani also continued to blast De Blasio for slashing New York Police Department funding by $1billion and allowing the Black Lives Matter mural to be painted in front of the presidents residence.

An aerial view of the mural in front of Trump Tower pictured above

'Hes putting "Black Lives Matter" in front of the presidents personal residence. The president he wants to help bail out New York  [he] is only is a communist but is a stupid one,' Giuliani criticized.

He said that allowing Black Lives Matter protests to go on while all other major events in the city have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic is hypocritical.

'I thought he was the worst mayor in the history of the city, now he will have written that like a headline in history,' Giuliani said.

'Just think of the contradiction. I mean, everybody else can't march. We have to wear masks. We have to separate ourselves. But if you are protesting, you can stand together, you can spit in each other's face, you can hug and squeeze and you're not going to get COVID-19,' he added.
When Johnny Depp decided to take his ongoing libel case against News Group Newspapers it was, presumably, a considered decision. As he has said, it wasn't about money, it was about vindication and proving that The Sun was incorrect and libellous in calling him a "wife beater".

There to clear his name, he was presumably prepared for the revelations last week. These came thick and fast and saw him admit to being disrespectful of his ex-wife Amber Heard, of texting 'jokes' to his actor friend Paul Bettany about drowning her, burning her and having sex with her corpse, and of drink and drug use that caused him to lash out - although not at his wife.

In a Covid-era trial that is reported to be taking place in five different London courtrooms to allow for social distancing, both Depp and Heard arrived and left wearing face masks, with him taking the stand last Tuesday and continuing through last week.

There, Depp was quizzed for The Sun by QC Sasha Wass about 14 alleged attacks on Heard. The allegations included him bursting her lip in a row over him trying to set fire to a painting by her ex, slapping and kicking her on a private plane journey, and attacking her in Australia in 2015, which is said to have ended with him smashing a telephone into a wall and severing his finger.

Depp denies all of these alleged assaults and claims that his finger was severed when Heard threw two vodka bottles at him. Drink and drugs seem to be a feature in the altercations and Depp makes no attempt to sanitise or defend this, but alleges that Heard was the physical aggressor in the relationship.

One incident put to Depp last week concerned the allegation that he slapped Heard three times after she mocked his "Wino Forever" tattoo.

The alleged incident occurred in 2013, when Depp agreed he had "fallen off the wagon" after 160 days of sobriety. It was put to him that he was angry when Heard laughed at the irony of the tattoo, a conversation he said he doesn't recall. He said that the suggestion he slapped Heard is untrue.

The "Wino Forever" tattoo is a laser-edited version of Depp's original "Winona Forever" inking, dating from his 1990s engagement to Winona Ryder.

She is expected to testify that Depp was never violent with her during their relationship, and so too is Vanessa Paradis, who is the mother of his two children.

Last week, Depp admitted he had broken an Art Deco light in a caravan during a drink- and drug-fuelled row with Heard after a woman at a party touched her sexually in front of him. Of a row captured on Heard's phone and shown in court, where he smashed up a kitchen and poured himself what The Sun called 'a mega pint' of wine, Depp said: "I was violent with some cupboards." He was reminded of wrecking a hotel sofa in a room where his then partner Kate Moss slept and said: "Rather than assaulting a human being, I assaulted a couch."

"That I was angry doesn't mean I have anger problems," Depp said in court last Tuesday. The anger that Amber Heard has alleged was physically directed at her many times in their relationship was, she alleges, a result of Depp's problem with drink and drugs - the Jekyll and Hyde nature of his behaviour due to substance abuse and his fury when she tried to help him. Depp's testimony last Tuesday was that Heard was not in his life to help him. In fact, he asserted, she had a different agenda.

Depp makes no bones about his drinking or drug use. He said in court last week that he began using both when he was only 11, as result of a chaotic, unstable and unpleasant home life. He also admits that as his relationship with Vanessa Paradis ended, he was drinking a lot.

However, according to Depp, Heard was not the possible solution to his problems, but the exacerbation of them.

In papers filed as part of his action, Depp recalled the beginnings of their relationship, as they publicised their 2011 film, The Rum Diary.

"If I had known then what I know now, I would have seen the red flag warning signs, but I did not," Depp said. "She was beautiful, seemingly incredibly interested in me and my work, and I fell for it. She bombed me with what appeared to be love.

"It was not until much later," Depp continued, "that I understood that she had an agenda, namely to get married to me in order to progress her own career and/or to benefit financially, and she knew how to bring it about."

He alleged that during marriage counselling, Heard was diagnosed as "borderline, toxic narcissistic personality disorder and is a sociopath". He said that their time together was "extremely unhappy". She goaded him as a fat old man, said he was a bad father, made him feel small and like the "turd in the sangria". He also alleges that after one row, she or one of her friends defecated in their bed.

"I am now convinced," Depp continued in his written statement, "that she came into my life to take from me anything worth taking, and then destroy what remained of it."

Depp also alleged that Heard began a dossier of evidence against him from early in their relationship in a way that was calculated to destroy him. Last week's court case saw video and audio evidence of angry outbursts on Depp's part and a photograph of a table of drink and drugs identified as for his use. Depp did not argue with the veracity of any of these, just with the accusation that he is a "wife beater".

Amber Heard has yet to testify, in a case that seems likely to roll on and leave no one cast in a good light.
A viral video that captured a white couple defacing a Black Lives Matter mural in Martinez this month has thrust this close-knit East Bay town onto a national stage amid a reckoning with racial injustice and a racist backlash fueled by President Trump himself.

In the liberal Bay Area, the Martinez incident shocked many residents who may have thought their communities were insulated from opposition to the rising anti-racism movement. And it has forced neighbors  and the Contra Costa district attorney, who filed hate crime charges against the couple  to take sides.

Its obviously exposed the racism that is hidden in our East Bay towns, said Tessa Maria, 20, who decorated her van with Black Lives Matter! and the names of victims of police brutality. Weve seen protests in San Francisco and Oakland for years, and its kind of become normal to just be in the outskirts of the East Bay watching it happen  not being involved or impacted. ... (But) we are going to be bringing a lot of light to the hidden racism.

On Sunday evening, hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters  from groups that travel the country as well as the homegrown Martizians for Black Lives  descended on the city in a peaceful show against racism.

Fearing violence from counterprotesters, the Martinez police asked the groups to postpone the protest but said they declined to. A few counterprotesters jeered, but they had little impact on the event. Marchers  mostly wearing masks  walked from the Contra Costa County courthouse to Waterfront Park chanting, No justice. No peace. No racist police. They listened to speakers on topics ranging from racism and police brutality to voting and mental health. They also knelt for eight minutes, 46 seconds of silence  the amount of time a Minneapolis police officer knelt on George Floyds neck, killing him in May.

Activists organized the protest at the end of June, after police found flyers threatening Black Lives Matter supporters in the name of a white-power group. But the incident that has transformed Martinez into a national symbol for racial justice unfolded on July 4.

Martinez resident Justin Gomez had just finished painting Black Lives Matter in giant letters running 165 feet across Court Street downtown, when a white man and woman  identified in court documents as David Nelson, 53, and Nicole Anderson, 42, of Martinez  pulled up in a white Nissan pickup and unloaded paint and a roller. Nelson recorded Anderson as she rolled black paint across the yellow block letters.

What is wrong with you? a bystander asked Anderson in a now-viral video.

Were sick of this narrative, thats whats wrong, Nelson replied. The narrative of police brutality, the narrative of oppression, the narrative of racism. Its a lie.

Three days later, District Attorney Diana Becton charged each of them with violating Gomezs civil rights  the hate crime  by knowingly defacing his property in an effort to intimidate and interfere with his freedom of expression. Officials also charged Nelson and Anderson with vandalism and possession of tools to commit vandalism. They face up to a year in county jail.

In the video, Nelson is wearing a Trump 2020 shirt and hat. And President Trump has made clear which side he is on.

He has criticized Black Lives Matter as a violent, anti-police movement. And when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently participated in painting Black Lives Matter across Fifth Avenue, the president tweeted:

Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, wont let this symbol of hate be affixed to New Yorks greatest street. Spend this money fighting crime instead!

Now, civil rights activists in the Bay Area say that the county district attorneys decision to file hate crime charges against Nelson and Anderson is a symbol of solidarity.

The community needed it, said Gomez, a stay-at-home dad who obtained a city permit to paint the street mural. We needed to know that the justice system acknowledged that what happened was an act of hate, that theres malice in their hearts. They were out there to make a statement against Black lives.

Now Playing: Protesters gather in Martinez on Sunday. Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Becton declined to comment for this story. But last week she told The Chronicle that the mural was a powerful way, as weve seen all over the country, that has been used to think about the importance of Black lives.

Gomez said he cried when he heard that Becton had levied hate-crime charges against the couple. After his mural was defaced, Gomez co-founded Martizians for Black Lives and has since repainted it with help from supporters.

No one answered the door Thursday at the Martinez home that Nelson and Anderson share. A reporters calls to Nelson went unanswered, and attempts to reach Anderson by phone and email were unsuccessful.

The crime they are accused of jolted many residents.

Tensions are high  people are just on edge, said Che Travers, who sat behind a Plexiglas barrier inside Gilded Frond Clay + Textiles, the art shop she owns down the street from the mural. She hung Martizians for Black Lives signs on her door. And her shop featured Racism is for Losers stickers.

Now Playing: Demonstrators gather in Martinez on Sunday. Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Travers said her family in Ohio heard about the Martinez mural debacle on national news. The attention keeps the conversation going, Travers said, but she worries it might draw people to the town for the wrong reasons. She said she would board up her windows ahead of Sundays protest.

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.

Gomez kept a lookout on his front porch Friday, hours after he said opponents leaked his home address online. A car circled his home and snapped photos of his property as his family ate dinner Thursday evening, he said. He installed a second camera and floodlights.

Attorneys said the hate crime enhancements against Nelson and Anderson send a political message that will be tough to uphold in court.

Under California law, a hate crime is defined as the act of harming, threatening or harassing a person because of gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation, or because of a disability or association with a person or group with one of more of these characteristics.

Prosecutors will have to prove that Nelson and Anderson were motivated by bias and that the alleged crime caused a victim to suffer an injury, or that the defendants have the ability to violently commit an injury, among other factors, said Harmeet Dhillon, a civil liberties attorney in San Francisco and the former vice chairwoman of the Republican National Committee in California.

I dont see how the government can prove any of the elements of a hate crime here, Dhillon said. I dont think its necessarily motivated by a bias of any kind to say, I dont want political slogans painted on my public street. I see it as a form of counterprotest.

Bertrall Ross, a UC Berkeley law professor, agreed that the hate-crime charge will be hard to prove.

It requires a certain level of motivation proven by a hatred toward a particular class of individuals, he said. Sure, you can describe the defacing of the mural as a targeting of the Black Lives Matter movement and saying its about targeting African Americans or Black folks generally, but its a tough jump to make.

But Gomez said the hate crime charge makes perfect sense to him because the act of defacing the mural hurt people.

There were people who were there that day, who are Black, who watched (it happen) and experienced trauma, he said. There were people from across the country who reached out to me, who said they watched the video and couldnt even finish it because they were triggered and upset.

It had an impact on more than just paint on the street, he said. It cut our community deep.

Chronicle staff writer Rusty Simmons contributed to this report.

Tatiana Sanchez and Anna Bauman are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com, anna.bauman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tatianaysanchez, @abauman2
State police said Sunday they recovered a rifle stolen from a captains car during an overnight burglary in eastern Connecticut more than a week ago.

In the 7-days since the investigation was initiated, many stolen items have been recovered, including the (Connecticut State Police) Bushmaster rifle, state police said in a statement Sunday.

On July 4, state police from Troop D were called to the Danielson borough of Killingly after multiple vehicles were reported broken into.

Among the vehicles hit was a cruiser assigned to Capt. Timothy Madden, state police said.

Maddens department-issued Bushmaster XM-15 rifle was taken along with around 70 rounds of pistol and rifle ammunition, state police said.

The rifle, a version of the AR-15, was unloaded at the time it was taken and no magazines were reported missing, according to state police.

Body armor with state police patches, a baton and holster and various other items and clothing were also reported missing from the vehicle.

Hours after state police put out a press release on the theft, the Connecticut State Police Union said it was offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case and or the return of the state police property.

State police said the criminal investigation into the theft remains active, as does their internal affairs investigation.

It is not yet clear whether cruiser doors were locked during the burglary.

The state police union release said the doors were locked. However, last week, a spokesperson with the state police public information office said whether the car doors were locked is part of the ongoing criminal and internal affairs investigation.

Madden is the commanding officer of labor relations and works at state police headquarters, according to the agencys public information office. He also oversees the departments special duties office.

State police said the Hartford Police Department and FBI assisted in the investigation, along with numerous local law enforcement agencies. Many members of the public also came forward with information, police said.

Anyone with information concerning these thefts is urged to call Connecticut State Police-Troop D at 860-779-4900.
Kenya's Senate is considering a reproductive healthcare bill, which seeks to address reproductive health gaps. This is the second time the bill has come before the senate. It has, once again, drawn fire from religious groups, some politicians and civil society lobbies opposed to its proposals. Anthony Ajayi and Meggie Mwoka unpack the bill and the lessons from previous failed attempts.

What is the substance of the bill?

Kenyan women and girls face an array of reproductive health risks that can be addressed by comprehensive reproductive health care services. These include sexually transmitted infections, HIV, unsafe abortion and unplanned pregnancies.

Each year, 6,300 women die during pregnancy or childbirth in Kenya. Unsafe abortion contributes close to 17% of maternal deaths in Kenya.

The bill provides a framework governing access to family planning, safe motherhood, termination of pregnancy, reproductive health of adolescents and assisted reproduction.

It makes clear that every person has the right to access reproductive health services. It also stipulates that every health care provider is obliged to provide family planning information and services to women who need them.

There is also a provision in the bill directing the national and county government to provide free antenatal care, delivery care and postnatal care for women and girls in Kenya.

In addition, the bill sets conditions under which a woman can seek abortion services. These include when there is an emergency, when the pregnancy would endanger the life or health of the mother and where there is a risk that the foetus would suffer from a severe physical or mental abnormality. It is worth noting that the bill allows for conscientious objection on the part of health providers to perform an abortion as long as they refer the patients to a willing provider. This doesn't apply in the case of an emergency.

The bill also has provisions ensuring access to adolescent-friendly reproductive health services, but requiring parental consent.

Lastly, the bill also covers the issue of assisted reproduction services to address infertility. The sector is currently unregulated. The proposed bill sets out rules for providers as well as the rights of donors, surrogate mothers and patients.

Reproductive health has been enacted into law in different ways across the continent . A number of countries have similarly opted for a stand-alone law. They include Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Rwanda. But in many, various aspects of reproductive health are covered in a range of health-related bills, and sometimes in the constitutions of countries.

All countries in Africa have laws regulating the termination of pregnancy. Abortion is not permitted for any reason in seven out of 54. The rest permit abortion under certain circumstances ranging from; to save the woman's life, to preserve health, on broad social or economic grounds, and/or on request with variations on gestational age.

What are the main controversies around the current bill?

There are three main points of contention.

The first is termination of pregnancy. Opponents include religious leaders and civil society lobby groups .

There are three lines of argument against it.

The first is the assertion that the constitution of Kenya forbids abortion. This is in fact incorrect. The proposed bill simply reaffirms the legal basis for access to safe abortion, which is already in the Kenya Constitution .

The second area of contention around termination is that those who oppose the bill crudely characterise it as extending the legalisation beyond what's in the constitution.

And finally, opponents also erroneously allege that the bill mandates all medical providers to perform abortions irrespective of their religious beliefs or values. The bill in fact allows for conscientious objection.

The second controversial aspect of the bill is on sexuality education for adolescents. It provides for vocational training, mentorship programmes, spiritual and moral guidance, and counselling on abstinence, consequences of unsafe abortion, HIV and substance use. It also mandates the government to integrate age-appropriate information on reproductive health into the education syllabus.

From the look of it, this aspect of the bill has been watered down. For example, it's more abstinence focused than the earlier version. This flies in the face of research findings that this approach denies adolescents critical information to reduce their risk of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections .

Third is the controversy over the treatment of infertility. Opponents of the bill are against legalisation of surrogacy and test-tube babies, with the argument that it's an unnatural process .

Why have previous attempts to pass such a bill failed?

This is the second attempt in six years to guarantee reproductive rights in law. The first bill was introduced in 2014.

The failure was due to a variety of reasons. These included a lack of public awareness and political will, and misinformation by well-organised and coordinated opposition groups.

Most Kenyans were unaware of the scientific basis for the bill. They were also unaware of the magnitude and cost of unsafe abortion and maternal deaths. Also the case was not persuasively made that access to quality and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and services is in everybody's best interests.

This enabled local and foreign opponents to put out arguments not based on evidence. An example of misleading narratives is the claim that comprehensive sexuality education promotes high-risk sexual behaviour. This is contrary to scientific evidence which shows it delays initiation of sexual intercourse and reduces risk-taking, thus decreasing the number of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

Public apathy coupled with misinformation undermined the political will to push the bill through. While there were some politicians willing to champion the cause of women and girls, the vast majority were quick to withdraw their support in the face of the orchestrated public outcry.

Who suffers if the bill is shelved again or is watered down?

We know from evidence in demographic surveys and literature that socially, geographically and economically disadvantaged women and girls have worse reproductive health outcomes. They are least likely to access lifesaving reproductive health services and more likely to have early, unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and die as a result of pregnancy.

Additionally, adolescents continue to suffer disproportionately from poor sexual reproductive health outcomes, as indicated by the high rates of teenage pregnancies and HIV infection .

HIV and pregnancy are the leading causes of deaths among adolescents and young women aged 15-24 years in Kenya. Over half of the 46,000 new HIV infections in 2018 occurred among adolescents and young people. Over 378,397 teenage pregnancies were recorded between July 2016 and June 2017 and 28,932 of these pregnancies occurred among girls aged 10-14.

The perception of adolescents as lacking political power often makes politicians reluctant to act in spite of the obvious need for intervention.

What to do?

Rather than shelving the bill, as recommended by the opposition , the senate must work with reproductive health experts to strengthen the bill in alignment with existing national laws and policies such as the National Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy, 2015.

Learning from the previous attempt, it's imperative to improve public engagement and to communicate scientific evidence in a way that people can easily understand.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

By Anthony Idowu Ajayi, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center And

Meggie Mwoka, Policy research officer, African Population and Health Research Center
Hyderabad, July 12 : The famous Ujjaini Mahankali temple in Secunderabad wore a deserted look as the annual festival Bonalu was celebrated sans the devotees on Sunday due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Telangana's Animal Husbandry Minister T. Srinivas Yadav along with few other officials made the offerings to the goddess on behalf of the state government while the temple priests conducted the rituals.

All the roads leading to the temple were barricaded by the police to prevent people from gathering for the festival. The government had asked the people to celebrate Bonalu at home.

Some devotees including women were seen trying to proceed towards the temple but were stopped and sent back by the police.

Srinivas Yadav said the devotees should understand that religious gatherings were banned to contain the spread of COVID-19.

"We have taken this measure for the safety of the people. They should celebrate Bonalu at home," he said.

The temple, which used by thronged by thousands of devotees every year, wore a deserted look. This is said to be the first time in the temple's history that devotees have not participated in the celebrations.

Officials said restrictions around the temple would continue till Monday when Rangam ritual will be performed. The elephant procession will not be conducted this year.

The nearly month-long festival began on June 25 with the celebrations at the Sri Jagadamba temple atop the historic Golconda Fort.

The festival will conclude with celebrations at Sri Simhavahini Mahankali temple in Lal Darwaza and at Sri Akkanna Madanna Mahankali temple in Haribowli, both in the old city of Hyderabad, on July 19 and 20.

The folk festival is mainly celebrated in the twin cities region during the month of ''Ashada'' The women make offerings in the form of food to goddess Mahankali in specially decorated pots. During the month-long festival, people also hold 'rangam' or forecasting the future, organise processions and cultural events.

During the festival women offer Bonalu, which consists of cooked rice, jaggery, curd and turmeric water, carried in steel and clay pots on their heads. The devotees believe that the annual festival will ward off evil and usher in peace.

The annual festivities every year conclude with a procession from Akkanna Madanna temple. The procession led by a caparisoned elephant, carrying the ''ghatam'' of the goddess, passed through the main thoroughfares of the old city, including the historic Charminar.

It is commonly believed that the festival was first celebrated over 150 years ago following a major cholera outbreak. People believed that the epidemic was due to the anger of the Mahankali and began offering ''Bonalu'' to placate her.

After formation of Telangana state in 2014, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had declared ''Bonalu'' as the state festival.
By PTI

THANE: Two aides of slain Uttar Pradesh gangster Vikas Dubey were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a court in Thane, an official said on Sunday.

The two, identified as Arvind alias Guddan Trivedi (45) and his driver Sushilkumar alias Sonu Tiwari (30) were held on Saturday by Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad from a chawl in Dhokali area of Thane.

First Class Judicial Magistrate RH Jha remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days on Saturday.

After a precautionary coronavirus test, the duo has been shifted to Taloja jail.

Earlier, appearing for the accused, advocate Anil Jadhav told the court Trivedi and Tiwari feared for their lives and should be flown to Kanpur from Maharashtra.

Eight policemen were ambushed and killed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey shortly after midnight on July 3.

Dubey was later held from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh and was killed in an encounter after a police vehicle carrying him to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape.

Late Saturday night, Kanpur Senior Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar Prabhu said in a statement that Arvind, alias Guddan Ramvilas Trivedi, who was arrested along with his driver Sonu Tiwari by Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad were neither wanted nor named in the ambush case in which eight policemen were killed.
The clinical trials of the world's first coronavirus vaccine on volunteers at the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University have been successfully completed, Vadim Tarasov, the director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology, told Sputnik.

The university began clinical trials of a vaccine produced by Russia's Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology on 18 June.

"Sechenov University has successfully completed tests on volunteers of the world's first vaccine against coronavirus", Tarasov said, Sputnik reports.

He added that the first group of volunteers would be discharged on Wednesday and the second on 20 July.

According to Alexander Lukashev, the director of the Institute of Medical Parasitology, Tropical, and Vector-Borne Diseases at Sechenov University, the objective of this stage of the study was to show the vaccine's safety on humans, which was successfully done.

"The safety of the vaccine has been confirmed. It corresponds to the safety of those vaccines that are currently on the market", Lukashev told Sputnik.

A further vaccine development plan is already being determined by the developer, including the complexity of the epidemiological situation with the virus and the possibility of scaling up production, Lukashev added.

"Sechenov University in a pandemic situation acted not only as an educational institution but also as a scientific and technological research centre that is able to participate in the creation of such important and complex products as drugs ... We worked with this vaccine, starting with preclinical studies and protocol development, and clinical trials are currently underway", Tarasov noted.
An outspoken Chinese law professor who has denounced the Communist Partys harsh policies under Xi Jinping was released from detention on Sunday, a week after the police took him away, two people familiar with the professor said.

The professor, Xu Zhangrun of Tsinghua University in Beijing, has been one of the few Chinese academics willing to openly and bluntly criticize the Chinese government. In two essays this year, he said that official delay and prevarication had stoked the coronavirus outbreak that emerged in China late last year.

When decisions lead to policy failure, not only should the course be corrected, those responsible must acknowledge their mistakes, appeal in all humility for public forgiveness and be held accountable, Professor Xu wrote in an essay in May, according to a translation by Geremie R. Barme, an Australian Sinologist.

Professor Xu, 57, first attracted widespread notice in 2018 for a long essay that lamented Chinas increasingly authoritarian turn under Mr. Xi, the Communist Party leader. Soon after taking power, Mr. Xi launched a drive to discredit liberal ideas such as universal human rights and constitutional limits on party power.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday formed a one-member judicial commission to probe the saga of Vikas Dubey, the gangster responsible for an ambush on a police team that was sent to raid his house in which eight policemen were killed and who died in a police encounter on Friday, a state government spokesman said.

The commission headed by justice (retd) Shashi Kant Agarwal was mandated to investigate various incidents that took place between the night of July 2-3 and July 10, including encounters between members of Dubeys gang and the police, the spokesman added.

The commission would submit its report within two months, the spokesman said. Agarwal is a retired judge of the Allahabad high court.

Also read: UP cop accused of tipping off Vikas Dubey moves SC for security, CBI probe

Dubey and his men killed eight police personnel in a guerilla-style ambush at Bikru village in Kanpur early on July 3. Dubey and four of his aides were killed in separate encounters between July 3 and 10.

The government spokesperson said in a statement that the killing of eight policemen in the ambush and the encounter in which the gangster was killed, after he surrendered on July 9 in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, was a subject of public importance.

Hence, its probe is essential, the spokesperson added.

The judicial commission was formed a day after the state government constituted a three-member special investigation team (SIT) headed by senior Indian Administrative Service officer Sanjay Bhoosreddy to probe different aspects of the Kanpur ambush, including Dubeys alleged links with local policemen.

Also read: Vikas Dubey was ready for big action day before ambush

The spokesperson said the state government on Sunday issued a notification under Section 3 of the Inquiry Commission Act 1952 to constitute the one-member inquiry commission. The headquarters of the commission will be in Kanpur, he said.

Giving details, the spokesman said the commission will probe the ambush on the police team by Dubey and members of his gang on July 3. It will also probe the July 10 encounter between a police team and Dubey. It will also investigate all the encounters between police personnel and members of Dubey gang between July 3 and 10 at various locales, he said.

The commission will also inquire into the alleged nexus between Dubey and members of his gang and the police as well as the personnel of other government departments and people, the spokesman added. The commission, in its report, will also make recommendations to the state government on ways to check a repeat of such incidents.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 12:45:12|Editor: huaxia

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GHAZNI, Afghanistan, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Six civilians were killed and eight others injured as a roadside bomb struck a mini-bus in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni province on Saturday, provincial government spokesman Wahidullah Jumazada said Sunday.

According to the official, the deadly blast took place on a road in Jaghato district on Saturday afternoon, killing six civilians and injuring eight others including women and children.

The official blamed the Taliban militants for planting the mine and inflicting casualties.

The Taliban has intensified activities on Ghazni province over the past couple of weeks to overrun the provincial capital Ghazni city. Enditem
Grade Five students of Lumbini Primary School, Colombo 5, returned to school after the long break due to the lockdown. Wearing facemasks, the students observed the sanitizing procedure at the entrance. Pix by Lahiru Harshana
Reuters

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday directed officials to carry out a special cleanliness and sanitisation drive in all markets on weekends when all shops will be shut to contain the spread of COVID-19. He said all industrial units should also be sanitised on Saturdays and Sundays.

The chief minister was chairing a high-level meeting with officials of the state government at his residence.

He said efforts must be made to ensure 48-hour oxygen backup in coronavirus-dedicated hospitals.

Adityanath stressed on maintaining social distancing during construction activities.

He said officials must ensure there is no waterlogging due to rains and that chemicals are sprayed to control locust attacks.

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 chief minister directed that the COVID-19 testing capacity in the state be increased to 50,000 tests per day.

He told divisional commissioner of Gorakhpur to effectively monitor campaigns aimed at curbing communicable diseases in districts which come under the division, a statement issued by the UP government said.

Adityanath issued directives to maintain special vigil in the districts of Kanpur Nagar, Deoria, Kushinagar, Ballia and Varanasi in view of the coronavirus outbreak, the statement said.
We reviewed the Sony Xperia 1 II a little over a month ago and we enjoyed it for its camera prowess and extensive feature set, among other things. What we couldn't do at that time was test its battery life as the firmware we had running during the review wasn't finalized in that particular respect. Now that we got the retail-grade software we were finally able to run the tests.

The numbers we got out of the Xperia 1 II are better than what we clocked on the previous generation, though it's not a huge difference. We measured 10 hours of Wi-Fi web browsing, up from the Xperia 1's 9 hours and twelve and half hours of offline video playback, another 1:30h increase. Neither result is great by today's standards, particularly when you account for the 60Hz refresh rate display, but we do appreciate the improvement.

We also measured an increase in voice call endurance, a sizeable one - the Xperia 1 II lasted for 31hours in our testing, compared to the 25h result of the older phone. Standby battery draw turned out okay by the standards of the day, and adding everything up the Xperia 1 II posted an overall endurance rating of 83 hours.

The Xperia 1 II supports USB Power Delivery up to 21W but it ships with an 18W charger in the box. It's understandable then that it's not among the quickest to top up and we clocked 1:51h from flat to full - the better ones in the business do it in around one hour, the best ones are under 40 minutes.

Starting from an empty battery we got to a 46% charge in half an hour, more or less the same number as other phones with 4,000mAh batteries and 18W charging. For what it's worth, the Xperia is quicker than the Motorola Edge+.

With a third-party PD adapter capable of outputting up to 65 watts, we measured 53% in half an hour and 1:44h for a full charge. It's a minor improvement, so the lack of a 21W adapter in the Xperia 1 II's box or Sony's portfolio is hardly a big deal.

The Xperia 1 II supports wireless charging too, a return of the feature from the XZ3 which was removed from the Xperia 1 for one reason or another. It's certified for compliance with the Qi Extended Power Profile for up to 11W of power transfer.

Sony itself makes the WCH20 charging pad which we saw all the way back in XZ2 times and it outputs 9W. It's kinda old and pretty hard to come by if you want to purchase one, not to mention pricey. Third-party is the way to go with wireless chargers.

As usual, the Xperia 1 II comes with Sony's Battery care feature. It aims to minimize the time your battery spends above 90% charge, a state which could be detrimental to its health in the long run. It does so by learning your charging habits and only topping it up immediately before you need the phone.

It works best with overnight charging and a well-established daily (nightly) routine, obviously, though you could set a custom time frame yourself. Sony's research says that thanks to the technology the Xperia 1 II's battery will take twice as long to degrade down to 80% of the original capacity.



Battery care

A new feature this year, as part of the Game Enhancer suite, is H.S. power control. When enabled, if you're gaming and the phone is plugged in the charger, it won't actually charge the battery but will only meet your current power consumption. The idea is to limit heat generation (H.S. stands for Heat Suppression) and in turn battery degradation.
Three Congress MLAs, who had left for Delhi and were being counted among those in Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot's camp in the power tussle in Rajasthan, on Sunday said they will follow the party line.

IMAGE: Rajasthan Congress MLA Rohit Bohra (left) along with state cabinet minister Harish Choudhary (centre) during a press conference in Jaipur on Sunday. Photograph: ANI Photo.

Addressing a press conference at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home in Jaipur, Rohit Bohra, Danish Abrar and Chetan Dudi called themselves "soldiers" of the party and said they will do whatever the top leadership tells them.

The legislators said their visit to Delhi was a routine affair and the media should not speculate over it. They added that it was the media that had created the Ashok Gehlot group and the Sachin Pilot group.

"We are with the Congress party which gave us tickets. The media trial, which is going on, has no sense. We are soldiers of the party and will remain so for lifetime," Bohra said.

He said they had long association with the Congress and the media should not indulge in speculation.

Taking a taking a swipe at the media, Danish Abrar said: "I have been going to Delhi since childhood. Visiting Delhi is a normal affair, but, this time, it was made special."

He underlined that Sachin Pilot is the deputy chief minister and the Rajasthan Congress president and, therefore, meeting or talking to him is also a normal thing.

"We are the soldiers of the Congress party at any cost," he said.

The three legislators, who were in Delhi on Saturday, held the joint press conference with state ministers Harish Chaudhary, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Raghu Sharma.

They asserted that the Congress government would complete its five year term.

Chetan Dudi said they have full faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Asked about the rift between Gehlot and Pilot, Dudi said it was the media that is speculating.

"There can be differences in any party, but when it comes about the interest of the party, all remain united under the party flag," he said.

"Congress gave us tickets and we are with the Congress party. We remain with the decision of the party high command and it is the media which talks about groups," Dudi said.

Bohra said none of them had been approached by the BJP, wondering why would the MLAs not have confidence in Gehlot when the Congress legislature party had elected its leader.

Revenue Minister Harish Chaudhary said all the party MLAs would attend the Congress legislature party meeting on Monday.

Health Minister Raghu Sharma alleged that the BJP was trying to topple the state government, but the Congress was alert.

He said all the party MLAs are united and have confidence in Gehlot's leadership.
With restaurants like this, it's all the more mouthwatering that trips to Spain are back on the menu.

Martin Berasategui's three-Michelin-star Lasarte restaurant in Barcelona has been described as a 'symbol of perfection' with 'phenomenal' service by foodie Egor Appolonov, whose footage of the 820-euro (740) 15-course lunch he had there has been viewed on YouTube over 900,000 times.

The feast he enjoyed with his wife, Anna, included 'structures of lobster', 'five kinds of butter' and 'marinated oyster, with foam of Champagne and parsley'.

Why have four flavours of butter when you can have five?

Slice of the good life: Waiter Julian Schweigl brings in the wheelbarrow of bread

The video begins with an appetiser of caramelised foie gras with smoked eel in the middle arriving  and then a 'bread wheelbarrow'.

This is stuffed with all manner of fine loaves, including Italian schiacciata bread, bacon brioche with Iberian pork inside and 'a brown with cereals'.

The five kinds of butter that go with the bread are 'white classical butter, mushrooms, tomato, spinach and beetroot'.

Then comes warm, marinated oyster, with foam of Champagne and parsley, served side by side with frozen watercress and mint; cream of sea urchin with scallops, sea cucumber, and different structures of radicchio rosso; wagyu carpaccio, and squid tartare with egg yolk, cream of kaffir and caramelised onions with a crunch of amaranth.

Yum's the word: Cream of sea urchin with scallops, sea cucumber, and different structures of radicchio rosso

Squid tartar with egg yolk, cream of kaffir and caramelised onion with a crunch of amaranth - one of Egor's favourite dishes at Lasarte

So far, so gourmet.

The taste sensations continue with 'a salad with avocado and different structures of lobster, biological tomato and herbs and on the bottom a jelly of the water of tomatoes'; big red prawn with coral mayonnaise; ravioli of hare with artichoke, fermented mushrooms in the foam and black truffle cream; red bream (virrey in Spanish) with 'different structures of king crab', and, for 'mains' - marinated and charcoal grilled venison with black truffle.

To finish, Egor and Anna enjoy a sorbet with shiso and mint, rum with vanilla ice cream and petit-fours presented on a 'tree' of little plates.

'A salad with avocado and different structures of lobster, biological tomato and herbs and on the bottom a jelly of the water of tomatoes'

Big red prawn with coral mayonnaise was another of Egor's favourite dishes

Egor, a journalist from Russia, unsurprisingly had several favourites.

He told MailOnline Travel that these included the squid tartar, the big red prawn and the vegetable leaf salad with various lobster parts.

'But the whole experience was great,' he said.

He continued: 'The idea of modern Spanish cuisine is to be very advanced and straight forward, so every taste you have in every plate has its own purpose.

Just like your mother makes it: Red bream (virrey in Spanish) with 'different structures of king crab'

For mains, it's grilled venison with black truffle, artfully placed on the plate, of course

To finish, Egor and Anna enjoy a sorbet with shiso and mint

Petit-fours are presented on an Alice in Wonderland tree of mini plates

Egor regularly posts videos of his incredible restaurant experiences to the YouTube channel he runs with Anna (pictured here with Egor)  www.youtube.com/elitelife

'In the meantime, I have to say that the idea is to mix not more than three to four different tastes on the plate. It has to be very complicated but simple.

'I would say that squid tartar with egg yolk, cream of kaffir and caramelised onion with a crunch of amaranth is a great example. You have here "classic" tastes - egg yolk and onion. And they are combined with a seafood note - squid. And it finishes with cream of kaffir, which gives a bit oriental taste and amaranth.'

And the service?

'The work of our waiter, Julian Schweigl [who now works at the two-star Ciel Bleu in Amsterdam], was absolutely phenomenal,' says Egor. 'As you can see from the video the bread service, the food presentation, the service itself, and everything around the table is just phenomenal.

'It's "perfectionist's cuisine" where every dish is handmade by the whole team of great chefs.'

The bill was 230 euros each for the food and 180 euros each for the wine. The visit took place in May 2018.

Egor regularly posts videos, all made using an iPhone, of his incredible restaurant experiences to the YouTube channel he runs with Anna  Elite Life. It's the place to go for post-lockdown restaurant bucket list inspiration. Egor has also written a book about the art of writing  'a best-seller in Russia'  and is the editor-in-chief of the 'Aeroexpress' magazine for the Russian national airport railway.

For more on Lasarte visit www.restaurantlasarte.com.
WASHINGTON  In the days after Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a white neighborhood watch volunteer, JaRon Smith was among a group of congressional aides who pulled on hoodies and stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in protest.

The demonstration was a powerful statement: Mr. Martin, a Black teenager, had been wearing a hoodie when he was killed, and the aides were Black, Asian and Hispanic, Republicans as well as Democrats. Mr. Smith, the president of the Black Republican Congressional Staff Association, spoke of being racially profiled himself and said it was a real issue in our country, and it comes from ignorance.

Eight years later, Mr. Smith, 37, is the highest-ranking Black official in the Trump White House, a deputy assistant to a president who has threatened protesters calling for police reform and racial justice after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed in police custody, and who stands accused of running a re-election campaign that in ways subtle and explicit appeals to white racism.

As President Trump has escalated those appeals, calling the Black Lives Matter movement a symbol of hate, attacking the Black NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace and defending the Confederate flag, Mr. Smith has emerged as a de facto spokesman on criminal justice and one of the authors of an executive order on policing for a White House where there are no Black advisers in the presidents inner circle. He has worked with Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law, and Mr. Trump has taken to calling him my star when they are together in meetings.
JD-U sources conceded that the BJPs Bihari martyrdom line will give the coalition an edge or at least help us combat anti-incumbency if the Opposition makes an issue of Nitishs governance.

Radhika Ramaseshan reports.

IMAGE: Army personnel carry the mortal remains of a soldier who was killed in the face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh's Galwan Valley, during his funeral procession, in Patna. Photograph: ANI Photo

Ram Kripal Yadav, the Bharatiya Janata Partys Lok Sabha MP from Bihar, had no doubt over what the killing of five soldiers from his state in the June 15 Galwan Valley clashes meant.

It was downright betrayal by China. Chinas forces targeted Bihars soldiers. The killings will have an impact (on the assembly elections). The message has gone down to the village folk and its become a big talking point, said Yadav, who represents the Patliputra constituency.

Yadav was once the closest confidant of Lalu Prasad, the Rashtriya Janata Dal patriarch, but parted company in 2014, joined the BJP and won this seat twice in a row.

He has since internalised the BJPs ideology.

Nationalism is our partys foundation. Nationalism and national unity heads the five articles of faith that were adopted when the BJP was founded, said Yadav.

Of the 20 slain soldiers, 13 were from the Bihar Regiment, but five were from the state.

The others were from Punjab (four), West Bengal, Jharkhand (two each), Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh (one each).

Although the regiment derives its name fortuitously from Bihar because it is headquartered at Patnas Danapur Cantonment, to the states politicians, the association was more than happenstance.

It enhances Bihars pride, stressed a BJP MP.

On June 17, when the five bodies were flown to Patna, the BJP-Janata Dal-United pulled out all the stops to convey a political message through the funeral and cremation that were conducted in the home villages of the soldiers.

By then, an excerpt from Prime Minister Narendra Modis video speech to launch the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan in Bihar circulated rapidly.

Modi said: The country is proud of the sacrifice made by our bravehearts in Ladakh. Today, when I am speaking to the people of Bihar, I will allude to the valour of the Bihar Regiment; every Bihari is proud of it.

The political reverberation was unmistakable.

Yadav was part of an assemblage at Patnas J P International airport with senior Bihar ministers, MPs, and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the Opposition leader, to receive the caskets.

One of the soldiers, Havildar Sunil Kumar, was from Ram Kripal Yadavs constituency.

The funeral procession from his ancestral home at Tarapur village to the cremation ground in Maner saw a record turnout, recalled Yadav.

The BJPs youth wing had partially mobilised young men, who raised slogans calling for the boycott of Chinese products.

Two ministers each, a majority from the BJP, were tasked to attend similar occasions on June 18 in the home villages of the other service-persons.

It was widely televised. A solemn moment acquired the air of a grand ritual, said a former associate of Nitish Kumar, Bihar chief minister.

Will the BJP and JD-U subsume the tragedy in their election campaigns?

We dont have to propagate anything. People are doing it for us, said Nagendra, the Bihar BJPs general secretary (organisation).

A Patna-based political observer partly corroborated Nagendras claim and said, When I visited villages after the border confrontation, the talk was PM Modi showed China its place by getting Russia on Indias side. I found later that they were BJP followers and their sentiments dont necessarily reflect the popular mood.

Nagendras colleagues moderated the pitch.

A senior functionary said: No election is fought on a single issue. Nationalism is always an ideological plank but we will talk about the work done by the Bihar government and the Centre, especially during the lockdown wherein a huge sum of money was transferred to all the stakeholders. The China confrontation will be a theme but the contours of communication have not been etched.

In the BJP, theres a view that had Pakistan been the adversary, instead of China, it would be a win-win situation again.

Then, we would have gone to town saying we will plant our tricolour on Lahores soil. It would have even become a handle to paint Muslims in a corner and make the election communal. With China, we cant take liberties, said a party source.

Rajiv Ranjan, the JD-U spokesperson, said: PM Modi understood the feeling that if martyrdom is linked with nationalism and the pride of the Bihar Regiment, it enhances Bihars image and morale. But theres no challenge to the BJP-JDU combine, regardless of what happened in Ladakh. Theres a leadership vacuum in the RJD and Tejashwi Yadav has no credibility.

JD-U sources conceded that the BJPs Bihari martyrdom line will give the coalition an edge or at least help us combat anti-incumbency if the Opposition makes an issue of Nitishs governance.

A former Nitish associate blamed the Opposition for its inability to challenge the BJP on the China killings.

He said, Rahul Gandhi attacked Modi sharply on the China issue. Some of his tweets are pertinent but there is nobody in the Congress or the Opposition to take his message down to the ground and answer the BJP. Some Congressmen think Rahul has put the party on the defensive again on nationalism and patriotism.
Most people would agree that Jon Snow was the most important character in the entirety of Game of Thrones. The odd thing, of course, is the original central character of the show (Ned Stark) died in the first season, leaving Jon Snow to become the one to watch on his epic journey.

Kit Harington put a lot of hard work and time into perfecting this character, even if winning the role was still luck of the draw. With many actors auditioning for the part, Harington won over the casting department due to a certain look he brought to the table.

This particular look was a bit unexpected, including from Harington himself who initially thought it would hurt his chances.

Kit Harington had the worst luck the night before his audition

Mental Floss compiled a list of sometimes obscure trivia last year about Game of Thrones. One interesting thing revealed was the details behind Haringtons audition. The night before he was planning to try out for Jon Snow, he got into a nasty fight.

This was at a McDonalds of all places where he was eating with his girlfriend. According to Harington for W Magazine, some random man twice his size started saying rude things to formers date.

When Harington confronted the man, he realized it was going to be a David vs. Goliath situation. Even though Harington took a swing, the man did the same right into Haringtons eye. Said Harington in his interview: I got battered.

Having a black eye just 24 hours before doing an important TV audition must have placed Harington into a panic. He went in anyway with the shiner, leading to an unexpected result.

The black eye must have proven how tough Harington was for the role

Kit Harington auditioned for Game Of Thrones with a black eye https://t.co/few3Z2PLz6 pic.twitter.com/HSxFd8xAGP  BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) June 30, 2016

No doubt David Benioff and D.B. Weiss knew that whoever they hired to play Jon Snow would have to be tough as nails to withstand the cold on-location shoots. After all, with shooting occurring for years in places like Croatia and Iceland, the conditions were sometimes brutally cold.

Seeing Harington walk in with a black eye might have immediately meant they knew this guy was not afraid of a fight. Since Jon Snow would also be battered on occasion in various battles, seeing Harington looking worse for wear was the best real-life makeup test.

After completing the audition, he got the job. Said Harington about this: I think that man who punched me in the face may have helped me get the job. So if youre watching, thank you.

Just imagine that guy who punched Harington seeing this while reading or watching TV. His reaction to knowing he unexpectedly created a TV superstar might have been his own little secret to avoid public embarrassment.

Did Kit Harington really show he was tough enough to play Jon Snow?

Game of Thrones' Kit Harington Feared His Testicle Would Be Torn Off While Filming Dragon Scene https://t.co/pPkkcCBNCY  People (@people) April 16, 2019

Harington (in his W Magazine interview) noted after he got the job, he had to constantly check scripts to see if Jon Snow was going to die. He kept the possibility he could be written out after the second year already, if ultimately not.

Once the ruse was given of Jon Snows death and his resurrection, it seems Harington knew he was in for the long haul. After bruising himself up in a fight, little did he know he would practically freeze himself to death while working in the wintry environments of Iceland.

During filming, producers would not let him wear a hat in the cold conditions because they wanted to showcase his hair. On top of it, Harington almost lost a testicle while riding a mechanical stand-in machine for one of the dragons.

The suffering for his art was clearly set up in advance with that black eye. In addition to all the battle scenes, fans had more than a few chances to see Harington looking beat up on-screen when it probably was not always acting.
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Todays guest columnist is Onoyemi Williams. If youd like to be a guest columnist, please click here.

What if there were a proven vaccination for the Coronavirus and our government chose to ignore it?

Gun violence is ravaging neighborhoods in Birmingham, leaving families devastated, communities torn asunder.

We have a proven strategy of reducing gun violence in Birmingham.

For many in and around Birmingham  on both sides of The Mountain gun violence is just seen a nominal part of daily life in certain zip codes.

The people whom live in these zip codes are bombarded by the thoughts and prayers of others that seldom materialize to be anything more than words of condolence.

If Black Lives Matter, then we must support polices that protect Black Lives.

Last year New York City had some 300 homicides, while Birmingham had 92 gun-violence related homicides. If New York had Birminghams gun violence rate its homicide numbers would have swelled to over 11,000.

Gun violence can be reduced by 40-60%

For two years, the Faith in Action Alabama Peacemaker Campaign has been engaging Mayor Woodfin and the Birmingham City Council about investing in an anti-gun violence street outreach strategy that has reduced gun violence in other cities by 40-60%.*

Unfortunately, the Woodfin administration and other elected officials have failed to implement such a program.

Every year millions of dollars are funneled to the police departmenthowever they have not been able to move the gun violence reduction needle  because policing is not the answer. But, if just a portion of those dollars were invested in an evidence-based anti-gun violence street outreach strategy the needle could move as gun violence is reduced in Birmingham.

Recently, the Peacemakers Campaign called on Mayor Woodfin and City Council to reallocate $1.5 million from the Birmingham Police Departments 2021 budget and reinvest into the community. In 2020 the city contributed $92 million towards the police department.

The reallocation of funds into the community could not only fund an anti-gun violence street outreach strategy but also support the wrap around services that are needed to make Birmingham strong.

This type of strategy has been done in other cities where countless lives have been saved and money too. Money that can be reinvested in community development initiatives.

A 2018 National Institute for Criminal Justice study revealed that each homicide in Birmingham costs $805,000 and each shooting injury costs $598,000. In 2018 Birmingham had 91 gun violence related homicides and over 700 gunshot injuries.

The Peacemakers Campaign is not just about needed policy change but community mobilization. The Peacemaker Campaign began mobilizing clergy and lay people to start doing night walks in January 2018.

The West End area of Birmingham is where the weekly night walks started and expanded to include an additional team walking weekly in North Birmingham.

For two half-years until the COVID-19 outbreak, the Peacemaker volunteers walked the streets of neighborhoods hard-hit by gun violence with a motto to listen, learn, and love. This motto has allowed us to strengthen relationships with the community, allowed us to learn about the true issues of the community and love on those in the community.

The Peacemakers interaction with the community has helped them to develop need based services for the community like the Rapid Response Teams (RRT). Many families who suffer a loss due to gun violence have no clue as to what support is available to them during that very stressful time. The Peacemakers RRT provides families with emotional support and assistance in gaining access to needed social services.

Also in response to COVID 19 the Peacemakers have been providing free masks and hand sanitizers to those in the community and city and to those incarcerated in both Jefferson County jails as part of Mask for the People.

To build a stronger Birmingham it will take both the citizens of Birmingham and the local elected officials working together to achieve this for our city.

There are communities in our city that for decades have suffered from significant disinvestmentgun violence is a symptom of that lack of investment.

Faith in Action Alabamas Peacemaker Campaign calls for Mayor Woodfin and the City Council to truly be progressive in their leadershipnot just in words and publicity spots, but in their actions, policies and budget investments.

An investment in an anti-gun violence evidence base program will help to make all of Birmingham stronger together.

*Newsweek: No Children Were Murdered in Sacramento Last Year for the First Time in 35 Years

*Stockton ABC/10: Stocktonhomicide numbers continue to trend down

Onoyemi Williams is Faith in Action Alabamas Birmingham Peacemaker Community Organizer. Faith in Action Alabama is a faith-based community organizing nonprofit consisting of more than 50 congregations across race and faith lines from Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery. Its mission is to honor God by dismantling systemic racism to create pathways of opportunity for all Alabamians.
YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan informs that as a result of the incident on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border 2 Azerbaijani servicemen have died and 5 have been injured.

Earlier, spokesperson of the Defense Ministry of Armenia Shushan Stepanyan informed that the servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces made an attempt to violate the Armenian state border in an UAZ vehicle in the direction of Tavush Province on July 12 at about 12:30.

''After the warning by the Armenian side the Azerbaijani servicemen left their UAZ vehicle and returned to their positions. At 13:45 the Azerbaijani servicemen repeated the attempt to occupy the Armenian position by using artillery, but were silenced by the Armenian side. They suffered casualties and were repelled'', she wrote, adding that the Armenian side suffered no losses.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan
Comic actors, Funny Face and Kwadwo Nkansah 'Lil Win' have smoked the peace pipe on UTV's ''United Showbiz''.



The two actors nearly traded blows after they both clashed in an exclusive interview on the programme on Saturday, July 11.



It took the effort of the panel members, Bulldog and Rev. Adumata, as well as the host Nana Ama Mcbrown to separate them.



But before the show ended, the actors turned musicians who were initially not seeing eyeball to eyeball thrashed out their differences and gave each other a ''peace hug'', also dancing to one another's songs in a beautiful reunion.



Watch the video below:

































































































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And they hugged! @officiallilwin and @therealfunnyface unite on #UnitedShowbiz

















A post shared by UTV Ghana (@utvghana) on Jul 11, 2020 at 4:02pm PDT

















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On #UnitedShowbiz

A post shared by UTV Ghana (@utvghana) on Jul 11, 2020 at 3:35pm PDT





Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/[email protected]









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The police have rescued a United States citizen whom they say was detained in Lagos for more than a year by a Nigerian she met on Facebo...

The police have rescued a United States citizen whom they say was detained in Lagos for more than a year by a Nigerian she met on Facebook.





The police said the American was confined against her wish in a hotel in Lagos by one Chukwuebuka Obiaku, a suspected fraudster that extorted her of about $48,000.





Frank Mba, police spokesman who disclosed this on Sunday, said Obiaku lured the victim into the country under the pretext of love and deceitfully married her on 15th May, 2019.





The victim who hails from Washington DC, USA and is a retired civil servant in the US, arrived Nigeria on 13th February, 2019 on a visit to one Chukwuebuka Kasi Obiaku, 34 years old, a native of Ikeduru LGA of Imo State whom she met on Facebook, Mba said in a statement.

She was however rescued by Police operatives attached to the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Ogun State Annex following information received from a patriotic and civic minded Nigerian in the Meran area of Lagos State.





Investigations reveal that the suspect, Chukwuebuka Kasi Obiaku is a graduate of Business Administration and Management and an internet fraudster who has defrauded many unsuspecting members of the public both locally and internationally.





Chukwuebuka deliberately lured the victim into the country under the pretext of love and deceitfully married her on 15th May, 2019. He subsequently held her captive in a hotel, extorted from her monies amounting to a total of 48,000-USD.





He also forcefully collected and took control of her credit and debit cards as well as the operation of her bank accounts including the receipt of her monthly retirement benefits and allowances over the period of fifteen (15) months.





The police added that the suspect also used the American as a front to defraud her associates and other foreign personalities and companies.





THREE CYBER-CRIMINALS IN COVID-19-RELATED FRAUD ALSO ARRESTED





Mba said the police cybercrime unit, INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja also arrested three suspected fraudsters for cybercrime-related offences.





He said the suspects  Samson Inegbenesun, 30; Blessed Junior, 32, and Muhammed Zakari, 36  all from Edo state, were involved in suspected fraudulent online procurement and supply of COVID-19 protective masks.





Investigations reveal that Samson Inegbenosun is an internet fraudster and a member of a Turkey-based online scamming syndicate. He supplies foreign and local bank accounts to receive fraudulent funds and use same as conduit to other feeder accounts, he added.





Meanwhile, the Police have recovered from him, a building apartment worth N20,000,000.00, a Toyota RAV-4 2015 model worth N6,500,000.00 and a Toyota Matrix 2002 model valued at N2,000,000.00 which he procured with the proceeds of the crime.





The second suspect, Blessed Junior, returned to Nigeria from Italy in February, 2020 but maintains close contacts and illicit dealings with his Italian associates. Investigations reveal that he has made over N120,000,000.00 from internet fraud and other cybercrime dealings.





He also received the sum of 52,000 EUROs recently from his criminal associates in Italy as commission for his active involvement in an international cybercrime deal. He also owns a filling station established with the proceeds of the crime.





Mohammed Zakari, an expert in internet fraud, identity theft and impersonation, falsely claims to be a British citizen. He also poses to be one Kelly Galk on online dating apps which he uses to carry out romance scams and to defraud unsuspecting members of the public, locally and internationally.





Investigation reveals he has made millions of naira from his illicit cybercrime transactions since he joined the syndicate.





He said all the suspects will be prosecuted when investigations are concluded.




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Linkedin Editorial board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, July 13 2020

Not only have the results of the July 10 general election disappointed Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, they could also spell trouble for Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat. The 58-year old Peoples Action Party (PAP) politician won his parliamentary seat at the East Coast district, albeit with a relatively close margin.

The PAP still retains the majority at the Parliament, but Fridays election marked the worst performance of the ruling party since 2011 when it won 60.1 percent of the vote. This time around, the PAP secured support from 61.2 percent of 2.65 million voters.

For Indonesia, the region and the world, the most pressing question is not only how this could happen but also how it will impact Singapores succession.

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Thousands of businesses have suspended their operation or filed for dissolution because of Covid-19, causing tens of thousands of workers to become redundant.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) reported that 22,700 businesses temporarily stopped operation in the first four months of 2020, an increase of 33.6 percent over the same period last year.

Nearly 14,000 businesses have stopped operation following procedures to be dissolved, while 5,277 businesses have announced dissolution and 5,776 businesses are following procedures for dissolution with tax agencies.



Nguyen Van Hung, director of the HCM City Statistics Office, said at the meeting discussing the socio-economic situation in May that 85.4 percent of 16,300 surveyed enterprises which account for 12 percent of total operational enterprises have suffered from Covid-19.



Enterprises have had to cope with markets narrowing, material supply interruptions and input cost increases.



More than 49 percent of businesses affected by Covid-19 complained that the domestic market has shrunk, 15.3 percent said products cannot be sold domestically, and 42.4 percent cannot implement production and business activities.

In the first five months of 2020, the HCM City Department of Planning and Investment completed procedures to dissolve 2,015 businesses, an increase of 16.4 percent over the same period last year.

In the first five months of 2020, the HCM City Department of Planning and Investment completed procedures to dissolve 2,015 businesses, an increase of 16.4 percent over the same period last year.

Since the beginning of the year, 7,257 businesses in the city have halted operation, up by 40 percent compared to the same period.



Many enterprises in the southern key economic zone have or are planning to lay off workers to cut costs.



Tran Thi Dieu Thuy, chair of the HCM City Labor Federation, said the enterprises which laid off high numbers of workers are mostly labor-intensive ones, making products for export to the US and Europe.



Since Covid-19 has not been contained in export markets, enterprises are seriously lacking orders, which has forced owners to scale down production and lay off workers. Shoemaker Hue Phong and PouYuen, for example, have decided to sack thousands of workers, though they initially tried to maintain the workforce.



According to the Binh Duong Customs Agency, hundreds of large import/export companies have suffered from Covid-19, resulting in a sharp fall in import and export turnover.



As money is buried in materials and goods which remain unsold, enterprises are facing difficulties in cash flow. Local footwear and garment companies reported that the number of orders has dropped by 60 percent compared to same period last year.



As of the end of May, 280 enterprises in the province had stopped operation with 144,000 workers affected.



Meanwhile, MOLISA reported that 5 million workers have lost their jobs, or saw their income decrease because of reduced working hours in the first four months of 2020.

Le Ha

Vietnam faces highest unemployment for a decade As of June, 30.8 million people aged over 15 have been laid off, lost jobs or got fewer wages due to fewer work hours because of Covid-19, according to the Department of Employment.
L arge swathes of the civil service are to be moved out of London to help create a fairer British society, Michael Gove has said.

The Cabinet Office minister told the BBC's Andrew Marr that the move would help distribute "opportunity, jobs and investment fairly" across the UK.

Asked if "chunks" of the civil service would be moved out of London, Mr Gove said: Yes. I think it is vitally important that decision-makers are close to people.

"I think it is vitally important that the strength of the UK Government is displayed across the whole of the United Kingdom and that we distribute opportunity, jobs and investment fairly.

Michael Gove in Parliament (AFP via Getty Images) / AFP via Getty Images

Weve already got civil servants in Scotland, who are working for the Department for International Development, and in Wales, working for the Department for Transport  but we can do more.

Its good for the Union, its good for equal opportunity, it is good for what we call levelling up.

But he added that questions about relocating the Houses of Parliament were not for the Government to decide.

Mr Gove went on: But my own view? I think that, if people were to see Parliament closer to different parts of the United Kingdom, then I dont see there are any reasons why we cant have more operations of the UK Parliament in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Our UK Parliament is a parliament for everyone in the United Kingdom, so making it more accessible, and we can discuss how, is a good thing.

Outgoing Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill with Boris Johnson / PA

Mr Gove later told Times Radio that he would ensure that the Government publishes data showing who applies for and wins a place on the Civil Services prestigious 'fast stream' graduate scheme.

Asked why no data was published for 2019, he said: Ill go back and look at making sure we can be as transparent as possible.

I think we should publish figures on the background of people who apply and the background of people who succeed in getting into the Civil Service.

Ill look back to see if it was the case that we dropped or edited that information, then Ill ask and see if we can do even better.

Pushed on how the civil service can be more representative of the UK, Mr Gove said: One of the ways that we can do that is by having a broader geographical spread of decision-making in the UK.

It doesnt have to be the case that you feel you have to go to Oxbridge and to London to have an opportunity to be a decisive voice in shaping the future of this country.

Mr Gove's comments come after Chancellor Rishi Sunak said that 22,000 civil servants would be moved out of the capital by 2030 in his March budget statement.

Neither Mr Gove nor Mr Sunak confirmed where in the UK the jobs could be relocated to.

The Government has been planning a shake-up of the civil service for months according to reports, with some Government figures said to see Whitehall as set in its ways.

Mr Gove has been tasked with overhauling parts of the civil service. He used a speech last month to call for the Government to be less southern, less middle class and closer to the 52 per cent who voted to Leave and more understanding of why.
Phuket Opinion: Ghost of Phuket past rears its ugly head

PHUKET: This past week saw two separate incidents that highlighted golden opportunities for those holding the reins of the national economy to take strides towards their espoused goal of correcting critical issues besieging Thailands, and especially Phukets, tourism industry.

opiniontourismlandcrimeeconomics

By The Phuket News

Sunday 12 July 2020, 09:00AM

A digger moves in to demolish buildings at the Nui Beach Member Club this week. Image: ISOC

The incident that saw a Thai tourists post about being heavily overcharged by a restaurant in Kamala go viral on Thai social media was one such alarm bell. First, if the incident failed to gain such traction on social media, it is easy to believe that no action would have been taken by any officials.

Second, the understanding of what had happened as explained by police and local officials screamed loudly what the common understanding of what the danger truly was.

One reader of The Phuket News, a foreigner, commented that he knew the owners of the restaurant well, that they were good people and would not intentionally overcharge anyone for anything. That may be so, and that particular incident may have been nothing more than a true misunderstanding.

Yet the concerns raised by police and local officials said everything about what the commonly understood status quo was at least before COVID-19 broke out. The call for no businesses to charge Thai tourists high prices, especially now during the current economic crisis, shouted loud that the practice was incerdibly common before.

Let that sink in for a minute. Apparently it is fine to charge foreign tourists high prices when businesses can get away with it. Part of that could be understood from a financial perspective, when once upon a time Phuket was a relatively cheap holiday destination and the higher prices charged were still good value for the foreign tourists.

But that monster greed clawed away that competitive advantage in the international tourism realm long before COVID came along. Phuket was no longer a cheap holiday destination before COVID-19, and Phuket along with Thailand was already suffering from falling tourist numbers. In only six months we surely could not have forgotten that already.

Likewise, the retaking of Nui Beach this week also highlighted one of the great chasms in so-called justice dispensed in the Kingdom.

Officials took years to bring culprits in, all because officials targeted the illegal occupation of the state land  even then, that was not really understood by local law enforcement as a problem until it became public that drugs and guns were part of the operations. Lets repeat that: not until it became public.

So accepted was that understanding that the beach club can still be found promoted on foreign-operated tourism websites as a "stunning, secret beach" legitimate natural tourist attraction. Even for those operators, as long as tourists are willing to pay the prices for their enjoyment, the legality just does not matter.

Yet never are any culprits brought to justice by being charged with encroachment asked to repay the millions of baht made by their illegal-gotten gains. Just the land encroachment charge is deemed appropriate enough. That is the same as being caught for robbing a bank, but not having to give the money back. That is how ludicrous that understanding is.

Over recent months we have heard top-ranking officials spout off about fixing problems of the past so that Thailand will once again become a holiday destination of choice once the shroud of COVID-19 is lifted, but what we have seen this week inspires very little confidence that will actually happen.
Former Newman government transport minister Scott Emerson says he is "back to being a poacher from a gamekeeper" in his return to journalism.

The former Queensland shadow treasurer has been unveiled as the new host of the drive program on 4BC, part of the Nine Network that owns this masthead, and will hit the airwaves next month.

4BC Drive presenter Scott Emerson holds degrees in economics and the arts from the University of Queensland and is a Churchill Fellow for research into political campaigning and communication.

"I want to make sure we are hearing a lot from locals on the program, about things that are important to the people of Brisbane," he said.

"We will have lots of good discussions about the things happening at the moment: the election at the end of the year, COVID-19, crime rates, congestion in town and a whole series of other issues."
Press Release

July 11, 2020 Gatchalian urges LGUs: conduct blended learning dry run before classes open Senator Win Gatchalian is urging local government units (LGUs) to initiate dry runs of their localized versions of the Department of Education's (DepEd) 'Learning Continuity Plan (LCP) with more than a month to go before classes reopen. While the DepEd is set to conduct dry runs of distance learning in the first week of August, Gatchalian said LGU-led dry runs will identify both pain points and solutions for a smoother implementation of the localized LCP. Gatchalian added that LGUs should design their dry runs based on the most preferred modalities of learning delivery among their constituents. Navotas, for instance, distributed boxes containing textbooks, self-learning modules, activity sheets, and school supplies. The Schools Division Office of Alaminos is also showcasing how both modular and online learning can be delivered. Alternative modes of learning delivery under the LCP include modular learning or the use of printed and digital modules, online learning, and the use of radio and television. DepEd's Learner Enrollment Survey Form (LESF) includes a portion where learners identify their available devices and preferred modalities for learning delivery. According to the DepEd, 7.2 million enrollees prefer modular learning, television and radio-based instruction and other modalities while 2 million prefer online learning. Since connectivity is a challenge to most learners and modular learning is the most preferred mode, Gatchalian said LGUs should have a dry run on the distribution of printed self-learning modules. Aside from ensuring a safe and efficient distribution of these modules, the lawmaker added that it is equally important to assess whether learners are effectively absorbing the lessons from these modules. Gatchalian emphasized that students should be able to progress to the next grade level by the end of the school year. While some LGUs that already initiated their own dry runs on blended learning serve as examples, Gatchalian said it is crucial that LGUs establish and understand the context in which they're implementing the LCP. He added that the results of these dry runs could also lead to an exchange of best practices among regions. "Dahil papalapit na ang pagbubukas ng klase, mahalagang magkaroon na ang mga lokal na pamahalanan ng sarili nilang pagsasanay kung paano ba ipapatupad ang Learning Continuity Plan, at kung paano ito gagawing angkop sa pangangailangan ng kanilang mga mag-aaral," said Gatchalian, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture. "Nais nating masiguro na matututuo ang ating mga mag-aaral at mananatili silang ligtas sa gitna ng kasalukuyang pandemya. Kung hindi matututo ang ating mga mag-aaral, mag-aaksaya lamang tayo ng panahon at masasayang ang buwis na ginagasta natin upang mabigyan ng magandang kinabukasan ang ating mga mag-aaaral," he concluded.
Seoul/New Delhi, : As anti-China sentiments grow in India after the ban on 59 apps and a public boycott of Chinese-made goods, Samsung Electronics is expected to increase its presence in the Indian smartphone market, industry analysts have said.

The fluid market situation offers new opportunities for various smartphone makers, especially the non-Chinese ones, to realign their strategies and regain the lost market share in the face of fierce Chinese competition.

"Shipments of consumer goods that are against public sentiment will face difficulties. As Chinese smartphone makers are expected to suffer sales decline in India, Samsung is expected to take advantage of it," Yonhap news agency quoted Lee Chang-min, an analyst at KB Securities, as saying.

According to market tracker Counterpoint Research, four of the top five smartphone brands in the Indian smartphone market were from China in the first quarter of the year, with Samsung being the only non-Chinese company.

Xiaomi led the way with 30 per cent, followed by its Chinese compatriot Vivo with 17 per cent. Realme and Oppo were ranked fourth and fifth in the Indian smartphone market with a share of 14 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Samsung came in third on the list with a 16 per cent market share, Counterpoint Research data showed.

Analysts said the upbeat performance in India could push up Samsung's overall mobile business.

"For Samsung, India is a market that the company cannot give up," said Roh Kyoung-tak, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities. "Samsung's long-term business strategy must have a plan for the Indian market".

In the first quarter (January-March) this year, Samsung's shipments were driven by its upgraded A and M series (A51, A20s, A30s, and M30s).

According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung managed to hold third position in Q1 2020 due to launches across several price tiers, especially in the affordable premium segment (S10 Lite, Note 10 Lite).

Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint Research, said that consumer sentiments are running high and a section of users will look for alternatives, benefitting global and Indian brands.

The industry watchers said the second-quarter performance of Samsung's mobile business unit may not be worse than expected due to the economic reopening of major markets from end-May, though an earnings decline appears inevitable.

Samsung will release the Galaxy Note 20 series and the Galaxy Fold 2 foldable smartphone next month to drive its handset sales in the second half of the year.

According to Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CyberMedia Research (CMR), for players like Samsung to succeed, they would need to build meaningful value propositions for consumers, both in terms of specs and pricing.

"Affordability will continue to be a major theme this year and brands will need to dovetail their offerings accordingly," Ram told IANS.
Lawrence Hamm was 13 when he watched the 1967 Newark Rebellion unfold from the porch of his South 12th Street home.

It was hard to understand why people were looting stores around his home or why the National Guard later descended upon his block. Hamm asked his grandfather why people were so upset.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

Trend:

On July 12, the units of the armed forces of Armenia attempted an attack using artillery to seize our positions on the Tovuz direction of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, Trend reports citing Azerbaijan, Defense Ministry.

Servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army, non-commissioned officer, sergeant Sadigov Vugar Latif and senior soldier Mammadov Elshad Donmez died in holding off an Armenian attack."

Despite the efforts of our doctors, a badly wounded serviceman of the Azerbaijan Army, soldier Dashdemirov Khayyam Mahammad also died."

"The leadership of the Ministry of Defense expresses condolences to the families of the deceased servicemen and wishes them patience. May Allah rest the souls of Shehids in peace! reads the ministrys statement.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Yusuf Abdul-Qadirs calls for more Syracuse police officers to live inside the city they patrol has been seen by millions of viewers in recent days.

The 2:20 clip comes from a four-hour meeting at Syracuses city hall July 2, when a group of about 20 people hammered Mayor Ben Walsh about police policies, spending and officer accountability.

In the clip, Abdul-Qadir asked Walsh how many city officers live inside the citys limits. Police Chief Kenton Buckner can be heard off-camera saying about 5%.

That means nearly every Syracuse police officer spends money on rent or property taxes outside of the city, Abdul-Qadir argues.

That means they take their money, on (Interstate) 81, go to outside the city, pay taxes in those communities that have some of the best schools, where we have an underfunded (Syracuse) school district, Abdul-Qadir said in the clip.

We are funding for other peoples communities to have the promise of the American dream while we are denying it in our community, Abdul-Qadir said. We are actually funding the suburbs.

The message is resonating across social media, including on Twitter and Instagram. Actor Andrew B. Bachelor (@KingBach on Twitter) tweeted it Thursday. As of about 1:30 p.m. today, its had 6.5 million views from that one post alone.

Thousands of others have joined the conversation, including Nikole Hannah-Jones, the journalist behind 1619 Project, an ongoing project developed by The New York Times Magazine with the goal of re-examining the legacy of slavery in the United States.

This is one of the most cogent arguments Ive seen for defunding police depts and makes a powerful statement about the immorality of paying police and teachers who dont live in cities they serve, she wrote. City budgets in places with poor schools, services, fund the suburban good life.

This is one of the most cogent arguments Ive seen for defunding police depts and makes a powerful statement about the immorality of paying police and teachers who dont live in the cities they serve: City budgets in places with poor schools, services, fund the suburban good life https://t.co/8htZztQBoC  Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 11, 2020

Abdul-Qadir is the director of the local chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Walsh, who was elected without running on a major party line, is in his third year as mayor.

Arguments about residency requirements for police and other public workers in Syracuse have existed for years.

Just months ago, Walsh and the police union negotiated a partial solution: A new contract would have required newly hired officers to live in the city for five years.

But a Democratic-controlled common council nixed the contract, saying the city couldnt afford a series of raises and bonuses offered to cops in exchange for the residency requirement.

The annual budget for Syracuse police is $49.5 million, which is about 20% of the citys $253 million overall budget.

At the July 2 meeting, Abdul-Qadir argued Walsh should reallocate $20 million of the police budget back into programs that would help city residents.

Without that redirect, Abdul-Qadir said, city taxpayer money would continue to flow to outside communities, to pay for health insurance and schools and long-lasting pensions, building wealth in other communities that will last for decades.

In Syracuse, 9%  37 out of 427  of sworn officers are Black. About 30% of the citys population is Black. Despite a 40-year-old federal consent decree that enables the city to give preference to minority police candidates, recruiting Black cops has been a challenge, Buckner, who is Black, has said.

Its not just a class issue, its a race issue, Abdul-Qadir told the mayor. Were telling black and brown people, and poor people, you dont matter.

Got a story idea or news tip youd like to share? Please contact me through email, Twitter, Facebook or at 315-470-2274.
Editor's note: Julie Tremaine entered the Magic Kingdom just after 9 a.m. Saturday and stayed until about 6 p.m. for CNN. She's an award-winning food and travel writer, and her work appears in Travel + Leisure and Forbes among others. Read her at Travel-Sip-Repeat.com.

(CNN)  The wait is over.

After closing because of the coronavirus pandemic, Walt Disney World Resort officially reopened two of its four parks  Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom  a scorching Saturday. (Epcot and Hollywood Studios are set to reopen Wednesday).

Over the past week, all eyes have been on Disney World as it prepared for its reopening -- one day shy of four months since it closed.

With Florida's recent surge in Covid-19 infections, some have questioned whether the park should have postponed opening day. But on Saturday morning, thousands of fans walked through the gate to be among the first to reenter the Magic Kingdom.

The park they walked back into, though, is not the same park they left.

Old vs. new Magic Kingdom

The old park thrived on quantity, cramming as many people as possible into ride queues and rewarding those who lined up early in the morning with coveted boarding passes to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Disney's Hollywood Studios.

That park would let you run up to Mickey and hug him, even with no clear idea of who had just done the same thing or when that suit had last been cleaned. That park didn't have to worry about whether the invisible spray from someone screaming with delight on a roller coaster would unintentionally infect the person in the next seat.

This new park is different.

The biggest difference: crowd size. Disney doesn't release attendance numbers, but The New York Times estimated that the park would allow less than half of its capacity in the park to start.

As of July 10, Disney had reached its maximum reservations for Magic Kingdom park tickets for opening day.

Here's what we saw on Saturday:

Temperature, bag checks and safety measure

For the reopening, each guest has been required to have his or her temperature checked, not at the park gate, but to get on the transportation that brings you to the park. The process is quick and simple.

Bag checks have been minimized as much as possible. Previously, every bag was thoroughly searched. Now, guests are asked to remove any large metal objects from their bags, then carry those bags through metal detectors.

Health safety measures have been a big deal at amusement parks as they open.

The main difference between Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World is that at Universal, hand sanitizing is mandatory. There is an employee at the beginning of every ride queue dispensing sanitizer on each person's hands as they embark.

At Disney, there are sanitizing stations at each ride entrance and many other places. But it's a personal choice to use them.

Masks, however, are not up for debate. The only place to get a break from one of those is at a Relaxation Station, which are shaded, socially distanced areas to sit and catch your breath before heading back out to another ride.

Craig Williams, producer of The DIS Unplugged, attended opening day and found good compliance until mid-afternoon. He tweeted:

"Everything for me has been smooth at Magic Kingdom up until the last 10 minutes. Now I'm seeing people leaving the restroom without washing hands and plenty of men thinking that masks don't need to cover their noses too. Maybe people can't have nice things."

Performances and cast members

Another large difference: performances. Almost all of them have been temporarily suspended, even many of the outdoor shows such as the Dapper Dans, a barbershop quartet that performs up and down Main Street USA.

Character meet-and-greets have been stopped, replaced with drop-in appearances from characters that are unannounced and, without a set schedule, won't draw the same crowds.

At 12:30 p.m., a socially distanced, scaled-back parade came through the park.

Instead of float after float, with dancers and performers in between, three floats came by in short succession.

The first: Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Donald. The second: Tinkerbell, sitting on top of an enormous chest of pirate treasure. The third: Clarabelle and Goofy.

Each was surrounded by a team of cast members waving and energetically shouting to people as they passed by.

Doing it this way ensures crowds won't form, and people won't stand in one spot anticipating the next float to come by.

When it does, it's a surprise  and from the excitement of the people watching, a very pleasant one.

Wait times for rides

As the day has progressed in the Magic Kingdom, ride wait times have continued to stay low.

"It's a five-minute wait time for Space Mountain on a Saturday in the summer," one park guest told CNN Travel. "I don't know if I'll ever see that again."

"Relish that time frame," the Space Mountain greeter said. "You'll never see it again."

Even the most in-demand rides, such as the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, are hovering at about 30 minutes. On busy days, that wait time could be up to 120 minutes.

When ride lines inevitably get longer, they will extend past the traditional ride queues.

In preparation for that, Disney has set up social distancing markers that wrap around the outer fences of rides such as the Mine Train, set up with umbrellas to shade people from the sun.

A word from the chairman

Josh D'Amaro, the chairman of Disney Park, Experiences and Products, made an Instagram post of an "amazing morning" with cast members before the reopening.

Cast members, Disney's term for their employees, told CNN Travel they are genuinely excited to have the park back up and running. Dozens of them lined the sidewalks of Main Street, waving at and greeting guests as they came in.

"We're just [as] excited to be here as you are, maybe even more excited," one said as she was welcoming people in. "I cried on the way to work today. I've cried a few times this morning."

Of course, she said all this through a mask.

Even though there are Mickey, Goofy and Baby Yoda masks available for purchase, those masks are still hard to wear in 89 degree weather and 68% humidity.

Until Friday, neck gaiters were allowed at Disney Springs. On the reopening of the parks, though, masks must affix behind the ears, making gaiters obsolete.

"We come all the time," said an annual passholder on the Monorail, riding into the park, "but it's almost taking the fun out of it."

This story was first published on CNN.com 'Disney World reopens: Take an inside look at the Magic Kingdom today'
The uprisings have also expanded the space for a reckoning with the failures of liberal reforms and with the possibility of doing things in radically different ways. Tinkering and training cannot fix our reliance on police officers to deal with routine social problems through violence and the threat of it.

The demand for defunding calls into question the fundamental premise of policing: that it produces safety. It urges us to take collective responsibility for collective care, repair and redress. It shifts our vantage point on persistent problems: for example, to guarantee housing for all rather than to continue to arrest and cage this countrys more than 567,000 homeless people.

The call to defund the police is often accompanied by a call to shift resources elsewhere, to education, housing and health care. The pandemic has put on display the spectacular contradiction such appeals reveal. We have no guaranteed health care, wages, housing or food; we cant even provide personal protective equipment. These failures have devastated Black communities in particular.

But then, in response to Black Lives Matter protests, the police show up in high-tech gear and military-style vehicles to arrest, gas and bludgeon protesters, demonstrating where our tax dollars have gone instead. The demand for defunding shifts power and our imaginations away from the police and toward a society rooted in collective care for ordinary people. It brings into sharp relief who we have allowed ourselves to become and offers a vision for who we could be.

Taking money away from the police is not the sole demand. Consider the push to cancel rent. It asks the state to abolish tenants obligations to pay their landlords each month. But rent is the product of a private contract about private property: the foundation of our social, economic and political order.

So when organizers make the demand to cancel rent, they are conjuring up a state whose primary allegiance is to peoples needs instead of profit. The demand raises the possibility of a world where housing is an entitlement rather than a commodity. It aims to shift power from landlords to tenants, in the service of visions of housing for all.

Or consider the environment. The Green New Deal does not merely call for less pollution. It requires that we restructure our economy so we can move to clean, renewable energy sources and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Married At First Sight stars Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli have become some of the biggest influencers in the country.

And it was a case of influencers in the wild for the couple on Sunday, as they snapped selfies and vlogged while in Bondi.

Martha and Michael appeared in high spirits as they created content while recording themselves before heading to lunch at celebrity haunt, Bills.

Influencers in the wild! Married At First Sight stars Martha Kalifatidis, 31, and Michael Brunelli, 29, (both pictured) enjoyed lunch together at Bills in Bondi on Sunday

Martha was joined by her two visiting teenage relatives.

Martha looked every inch the Bondi hipster wearing an oversized tie-dye t-shirt which she paired with black sweatpants.

The beauty blogger wore a cobalt blue jacket tied around her waist as she pounded the pavement in large chunky black sandals and socks.

On the way! The couple walked alongside Martha's visiting relatives while heading to the Bondi hotspot for a bite to eat

Martha finished her outfit with a pair of square black sunglasses and a designer Louis Vuitton handbag which she wore crossbody.

The beauty had her blonde tresses tied back in a low maintenance bun.

She kept her makeup flawless with a low-key matte style.

Stylish: Martha looked every inch the Bondi hipster wearing a tie-dye top

Casual glam: Martha paired the T-shirt with black sweatpants and a Louis Vuitton bag

Chatty: Michael looked low-key cool in a New England Patriots T-shirt and Adidas shorts

Hunky Michael also showed off his muscular physique while wearing a New England Patriots T-shirt along with a pair of tight beige Adidas shorts.

Michael finished his look with a pair of Adidas socks, white trainers and a pair of stylish sunglasses.

It comes after Martha and Michael revealed racy details about their romantic life after they were quizzed about 'sending nudes' on an Instagram Q&A.

Prepared: Stylish Martha carried her iPhone and a bottle of water during the outing

Protective: Martha put an affectionate hand in front of her young relative while crossing the road

Martha immediately turned to Michael, who was in the room while she was answering questions, and said: 'Babe, do we send nudes?'

Michael replied: 'Mate, you take so many nudes - more than anyone I have ever known - and I don't know who you send them to...

'I haven't got a nude in years!' he continued

Pleased: Martha looked upbeat as she chatted with a fan on the Bondi promenade

Snap happy! Martha poked her tongue out while chatting with a fan during the walk

Look at us! The fan pouted in the happy snap with the reality star

Martha became a household name after starring on the 2019 season of Channel Nine's Married At First Sight.

However, Martha almost missed out on appearing on the program when she turned down two producers who approached her while she was working at Mecca Cosmetica in Sydney.

In a recent interview with Inskin Cosmedics, the star revealed that she caught the eye of two women who casually strolled into the store.

Ready for home: Martha looked ready to head back to her house following the walk

'These two ladies came in and I just thought they were clients,' she explained.

'I was the type of person who would always go above and beyond with any customer.

'They were just looking around and I ended up talking to them.'
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Spotlight (The Paramount)
Roshni Bhadouriya, a girl from a village in MP's Bhind district has scored 98.5% in the state board Class 10 exams. She stands eighth on the merit list, reported Times of India. The 15-year-old girl lives in Ajnol - a village with a population of about 1,200 - and would cycle to school to Mehgaon town 12 km away, every day. She cycled under the scorching hot sun and heavy rain to reach her school. There were also days when she couldn't return home from school as the village roads were flooded.
Illegal mining case: ED recovers Rs 6cr in cash from CMs relatives during raids in Punjab

SAD starts first of its kind social media initiative to reach out virtually to people in each and every constituency
Goya CEO Robert Unanue has been met with backlash and inspired a viral movement on Twitter with the hashtags #Goyaway, and#BoycottGoya, as critics seek to start an all-out war against the famed food company that is a staple among the Latino community.

It's the speech that has been heard around the world: While visiting the White House Unanue stated that the U.S. is "blessed" to have a leader like Donald Trump.

HOUSTON BLACK RESTAURANT WEEK IS BACK: Houston restaurants expect a big turnout for Black Restaurant Week

In an unprecedented turn of events, Unanue's speech has caused an uproar among thousands around the country, especially Hispanics who feel attacked by Trump's previous comments suggesting Mexican immigrants are criminals and rapists.

Ana Navarro-Cardenas said the following in a tweet regarding her thoughts on the matter-"When the vast majority of your customers are Latinos, you might expect a backlash from serving as a prop for a guy who puts brown children in cages."

Goya is the largest Hispanic-owned food brand in the country, known for products like Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning and Chick Peas Garbanzos, not to mention the beloved Sazon GOYA, which many households swear by.

NBC News reported that the meeting included the signing of an executive order on "Hispanic Prosperity Initiative," "an effort said to include more taxpayer support for charter and private schools, and added tax benefits for 'Opportunity Zone' development in urban neighborhoods."

Trump hosted a group of Hispanic supporters, which included Unanue and other politicians and business magnates, according to the article.

People across the Internet are expressing their feelings on Unanue's comment: "We're all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder."

Julian Castro, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and former Mayor of San Antonio, didn't hold back in his opinion of Unanue's remarks.

"En esta casa, compramos productos que ponen el interes y valores de sus clientes en lugar de apoyar un presidente que nos llama violadores y separa nuestras families! "In this house we buy products that put the value and interest of its clients ahead of supporting a president that calls us violators and separates our families," said HipLatina in a Facebook post.

Many Latinos already feel attacked by Trump throughout his presidency, and this is the latest in adding fuel to an already blazing fire, but in this case, it's coming from one of their own.

"It's shameful and appalling that the president of Goya Foods is praising the most anti-Latino president in the history of our country," Latino Victory Fund CEO Nathalie Rayes said by email to NBC News.

"We call for a boycott of Goya Foods products and anyone who stands with Donald Trump and against our community."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the outspoken U.S. representative for New York's 14th Congressional District, was front and center with a comical tweet.

Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted what many already were thinking about this scenario.

In what may seem like a response in their defense, Goya tweeted out the following today reminding people of their COVID-19 efforts:

"Goya continues to work for the prosperity & education of our country! #GOYAGIVES two million pounds of food to food banks across the nation who are in desperate need of food for families impacted by COVID19."

With phrases being used such as malagradecido (ungrateful), in response to Unanue's speech, you can be almost certain there won't be a shortage of Goya products flying off the shelves at grocery stores any time soon.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  This is what we get for doing the right thing?

New York City residents have done everything we were told to do during the coronavirus pandemic.

We hunkered down in our homes. We didnt go out. We didnt see family members. We didnt have parties. We watched Tiger King instead. We ordered takeout. Some of us drank too much.

Weve worn masks indoors and outdoors. Even in our cars. Weve kept our social distance from our fellow New Yorkers. Weve been diligently washing our hands. Weve isolated ourselves from older, virus-vulnerable folks.

And now we cant have an indoor meal at a restaurant? We cant go shopping at the mall?

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and others are alarmed at the increase in coronavirus cases seen in other states. Florida, California, Arizona and Texas are of particular concern.

Some states have seen more cases lately than they ever had before. Hospitalizations have increased. People are dying, though not in catastrophic numbers.

OK, whats that got to do with us?

Remember, many of these states never got that first big hit from COVID-19 that New York did. Remember those days? A constant barrage of thousands of new cases and hundreds of deaths, even as the Empire State was in deep lockdown. It seemed like we would never come down the other side of the coronavirus mountain.

But we did. The virus hit, doing its deadly (and predicted) worst to those most at risk: The elderly and those with underlying conditions.

And even though our numbers have vastly improved, many people in New York still take precautions. They still wear masks. They still socially distance. They still avoid crowds.

Not everybody, of course. Theres never 100 percent compliance with anything.

Other states? Some didnt have any mask or distancing precautions in place at all. In states that did, there was sometimes lax enforcement. And in many states, people simply ignored the precautions. Truth be told, weve seen plenty of that in New York City as well.

All that being said, theres no guarantee that we wouldnt have seen cases increase in these states anyway once they re-opened for business and people started mingling again. The virus was still out there waiting.

And while its doing a number on those other states, the blow isnt as bad as what New York saw, because its younger people who are being infected for the most part. We also know better how to deal with the virus. In addition, not everybody who is testing positive is showing symptoms.

Still, its having an impact on New York. With cases spiking in other states, it was decided that indoor dining would not be allowed in New York City as part of our move into Phase 3.

Whats the logic? We got through our problems with the virus. Weve been better at taking precautions. Our numbers are all in the right place. If theres truly concern, why not limit the eateries to 25 percent capacity and see how it goes?

Weve also been told, out of an abundance of caution, that malls and gyms throughout the state will not be permitted to open in Phase 4. Malls will have to beef up their HVAC systems with special filters in order to open. Street fairs, outdoor concerts and parades are on hold in the city through the end of September.

None of this is what we bargained for.

We were told that if we followed the rules and if the numbers improved, we would be allowed to gradually re-open. Other regions of the state are full-steam ahead. Why is New York City being held back just because Florida et al cant get their acts together?

This is our reward for doing as we were told?
New Delhi:

Three people were killed and ten injured after fire broke out in a building in Mohan Park area of Shahdara in New Delhi on Wednesday. Fire department rushed to the accident spot and reported that few people were unconscious when they were rescued.

E-rickshaws were being charged in the parking of a 4 storeyed building when the fire accident took place. 15 e-rickshaws were parked in the parking lot of the building.

The fire has been extinguished and the situation is under control. Everyone has been rescued from the building. Injured people are admitted to hospital.

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Prominent international groups involved in anti-corruption efforts globally have written to President Muhammadu Buhari on what they consider the unfortunate treatment of Ibrahim Magu.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the arrest of Mr Magu, acting chairman of Nigerias anti-graft agency, EFCC, on Monday.

He has been detained since then as he continues to appear before a panel probing allegations of corruption and insubordination against him. The allegations were made by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.

Mr Magu was also formally suspended from office on Friday, according to a statement by Mr Malamis office.

Mr Magu and Mr Malami have had repeated disagreements on the anti-corruption war and many Nigerians including a member of a presidential adviser on anti-corruption, Femi Odekunle, believe Mr Magus ordeal is part of a power play with Mr Malami.

Mr Magu has denied wrongdoing, while the presidency has said Mr Magus investigation was a sign there was no sacred cow in Mr Buharis anti-corruption fight.

In their joint letter, dated July 9, the anti-corruption groups said: What is going on in Nigeria is of concern to the international community. Mr Magu has proved himself to be up to the task.

The letter was signed by Lucas Manes of Re:Common, Nicholas Hildyard of Corner House, Simon Taylor of Globalwitness  all European organisations  and Olanrewaju Suraju of the HEDA in Nigeria.

His determination to fight corruption is evident by the recovery of stolen funds and properties plus his own high moral ground earned at the cost of diligence and hardwork never before seen. His political removal questions the will of Nigeria to deal with a major cause of the countrys underdevelopment which is corruption, the groups said in the letter.

The four groups have been at the vanguard of monitoring and exposing the corruption involved in the infamous OPL 245 Malabu scandal for which oil majors Shell and Eni and their officials are being prosecuted in Nigeria and Italy.

The groups on Sunday released a statement about the content of their letter to the Nigerian president.

Read the statement below.

The unceremonious exit of former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Acting Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Magu may erode the recent gains in the fight against corruption, global groups working against sleaze have said.

World acclaimed anti-corruption groups, Re:Common, Globalwitness and The Corner House based in Europe said Nigeria has regained unprecedented gains under Magus leadership of EFCC and that his removal under the current circumstances may roll back the momentous gains already recorded under his tenure.

Re:Common top official Mr Lucas Manes, Corner House Nicholas Hildyard and Simon Taylor of Globalwitness in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari last week expressed deep concern over the travails of Magu saying that the former EFCC boss may be a pawn in the desperate attempts by corrupt officials to kill the EFCC or turn the agency into a willing tool of corrupt politicians.

President Muhammadu Buhari [PHOTO CREDIT: Bashir Ahmad]

The letter was signed by Manes, Hildyard, Taylor and their Nigerian counterpart, Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA Resource Centre) Chairman, Mr Olanrewaju Suraju.

What is going on in Nigeria is of concern to the international community. Mr Magu has proved himself to be up to the task. His determination to fight corruption is evident by the recovery of stolen funds and properties plus his own high moral ground earned at the cost of diligence and hardwork never before seen. His political removal questions the will of Nigeria to deal with a major cause of the countrys underdevelopment which is corruption the groups said in a letter delivered to the Nigerian President.

Some of the groups most significant contributions to Nigerias anti-graft effort is the historic exposure of Nigerias top oil companies linked to large scale corruption and their on-going trial in Italy and other European courts.

The coalition said We are therefore greatly alarmed  as are others in the international anti-corruption movement  by reports that Mr Magu has been detained and/or suspended following allegations against him that were reportedly made by Attorney General Malami directly to you.

They said the international community is not opposed to Mr Magu being investigated since all allegations of corruption must be thoroughly probed but rather that due process and the proper disciplinary procedures have not been followed.

The procedures are clearly being hijacked by detractors of Magu in the political space and this is eroding the potential credibility of the outcome of the panel constituted to probe these allegations. The hounding of Magu through seemingly politically connected sponsored media harassment only makes matters worse, the groups stated in the letter.

The groups have been investigating corruption by Nigerian politicians and officials and the complicity of European and US banks, companies and others in facilitating such corruption.

The coalitions particular focus on corrupt acquisition by Shell and Eni of the OPL245 oil field, had exposed alleged corruption by two former Attorney Generals of Nigeria together with former oil ministers. Though, the companies and individuals that are being prosecuted have all denied wrongdoing but the matter has proved that oil giants operating in Nigeria regarded as sacred cows can be made to face the weight of law abroad.

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The current prosecution in Italy had resulted directly from a complaint made by the organisations to the Milan Prosecutor, which in turn led to the seizure and subsequent return of OPL 245 funds frozen in the London courts. Magu gave full support while Buhari insisted that the evidence should be followed wherever it leads.

These and other actions have significantly improved Nigerias standing internationally. As a recent report by the prestigious University of Edinburgh-led Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence programme records: Nigerias anti-corruption law enforcement efforts are gradually growing more effective as practitioners adapt and innovate in response to many persistent challenges.

EFCC Officials

The report goes on to praise Maguss EFCC as a robust and effective organisation but warns that it has tough choices to make about its future direction, especially how it . . . resists political influence. To curtail such interference, the report concludes, will require leadership to institute and enforce a zero-tolerance policy toward executive branch interference with . . . anti-corruption agencies.

The unique work of the group on OPL245 and also investigating Diezani Alison-Madueke, Kola Aluko, P&ID and others, has involved close engagement with the EFCC.

The coalition said We have been hugely impressed by the dedication of its investigators and by the disciplined leadership shown by Acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu. The agency is completely different from the sclerotic, timid, politically captured bureaucracy that it was In the previous period. The credit for this is due in large part to you for appointing Magu and sticking with him despite efforts to unseat him.

It noted that the respect that Nigeria has gained is exemplified by the recognition accorded to Magu, not least by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which recently honoured him with an Award of Excellence.

Indeed, in meetings we have had with this, and other agencies, conversations have often referred to the impressive current leadership of the EFCC it said.

The global group observed that the attorney-general has apparently sought to bypass the usual administrative procedures of issuing a query to an accused officer under his ministry in favour of a political approach.

It said the procedure risks severely denting Nigerias reputation abroad and urging the president to enforce a zero tolerance to political interference as recommended by the Edinburgh research group.

We note that many of the allegations reportedly made by the Attorney General have already been investigated by same Attorney General under your instruction in 2017 and that Magu was exonerated in respect of the corruption allegations: only those related to insubordination were freshly levelled. We are concerned that accusations of insubordination risk crossing the line that ensures the independence of prosecutors from political interference adding that despite bearing false witness being illegal, no-one has been investigated or charged in relation to bringing the false allegations against Magu in 2017.

It said this regrettably sends the wrong message to the international community.

We realize that you have been placed in an invidious position by the Attorney General. However, we very much hope that you will find a way forward that protects the huge strides made by the EFCC under Magus acting chairmanship. We very much doubt if the Italian case would have reached the stage that it has without his committed and diligent response to Mutual Legal Assistance requests. At this critical stage in the trial, his replacement for political reasons would be wholly regrettable and would only give succour to those being prosecuted, the groups said.
Nayare Ali By

Six hundred miles off the western coast of South America lies a special worldthe world of Galapagos Islands. Its a vast rugged terrain that overlooks the ocean that roars heartily. Most cruises or tours into the islands begin from and end here. It takes 48 hours to reach the island. Since travel in the real world is not possible right now, a virtual tour by National Geographic Expeditions seems like the best option. So join us on this adventure.

The route from India otherwise is arduous. You have to fly into Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, from where you can take a flight to Baltra Island and then a ferry ride to the Santa Cruz Island. But for now, we follow the National Geographic Explorers camera that captures the beauty of the place in the most precise way. We see clear blue skies that are dotted with white fluffy clouds. You can almost feel the cold air on your body with the way everything is played out. To start our journey, we hopped onto a jetty, that took us to the cruise liner. Our stomachs churned with anticipation.

The first day of the four-day tour began with exploring the Espanola Islands, especially its marine life. You envy the folks as you watch them go snorkelling or deep-sea diving in the ink-blue waters (they unpack and head to the nearest beach). There are fantastic close-up shots of deep-sea divers and the camera pans on shimmering sea slugs to glittering starfishes, from beautiful corals to jellyfish in vibrant hues, the tableau beneath the ocean is a display.

When you head back to the beach, the wide-angle camera shot makes you feel like a sea lion is waiting to welcome you. Theyre usually seen lounging along with the mocking birds whore hopping playfully, like theyre performing for the camera. During this 25-minute tour, on day one, you are taken on a virtual-photo expedition with the National Geographic photographers. This includes a three-hour (condensed to five minutes) trek through Espanola islands, where youre sure to be greeted by iguanas blissfully feeding on leaves and albatross flapping their wings by the ocean.

On the second day youll find guests waking up at Floreana islands, (the camera pans on tranquil blue waters and an empty beach in the early hours) which has a creepy history of human disappearances and murders. But on a lighter note, you get to see blue-footed boobies and pink flamingos. Next, youre taken to the historical Post Office Bay, set up in 1812, from where you can send postcards.

On the final day, it takes you to the Charles Darwin Research Centre where giant tortoises lumber at the Floriana Park within it. That marks the end of this cruise. On your return from Floreana island to the capital city Quito, you explore the Quito town with its seaside front, tiny homes, and vibrant. And on that cheerful note, you bid adieu.

Review: Virtual Tour

Galapagos Islands
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 06:54:14|Editor: huaxia

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File photo taken on Jan. 28, 2020 shows a Huawei 5G mobile phone testing speed in Huawei 5G Innovation and Experience Center in London, Britain. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

U.S. sanctions will only motivate Chinese enterprises' innovation ability. There are more and more reports that China's leading tech companies have been sharply increasing investment in developing semiconductor.



NEW YORK, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government has constantly tightened its technological restrictions on China over the past few months, despite widespread concern that such moves would disrupt the global supply chain.

While these sanctions may bring some difficulties to China's high-tech development, they will also cost U.S. tech companies heavily and risk losing the Chinese market, which has the potential to be the world's biggest one.

On June 30, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission designated Huawei and ZTE, both China's leading telecommunications enterprises, as national security threats and banned rural carriers from buying equipment and services from them with government funds.

On May 15, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) amended the so-called Direct Product Rule to restrict sales of any products using even a minimal portion of U.S.-origin technologies to Huawei and its affiliates. One year earlier, the DOC included Huawei in a blacklist of entities, requiring U.S. firms to get ratification from the government before selling products to the company.

Graduate students from China attend the Columbia University Commencement ceremony in New York, the United States, May 22, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Now the United States has gone even further to impose visa restrictions for Chinese students and visiting scholars, and launched tougher investigation into Chinese-American scientists working in the high-tech sector.

The United States has also pressed or even threatened other countries to stop cooperating with Huawei on 5G, trying to build a global blockade to choke the global leader in 5G technologies and impede China's high-tech development.

Doing so, the U.S. side often cites "national security threats" from Chinese products, which is unfounded and biased, as there has never been credible evidence for such claims. On the contrary, there are plenty of cases where the United States using its tech advantages to spy on the world, including leaders of its ally countries.

The U.S. tech restrictions target any foreign firms who pose challenges to the country's tech advantages, and their tactics could be extremely unscrupulous when necessary.

The French conglomerate Alstom was one victim in 2013, when it was charged with bribery crimes, fined heavily by the U.S. Department of Justice, and forced to restructure with the most important part of its business being acquired by an American company, just because it was poised to challenge America's leading position in the same business areas.

There is no doubt that the U.S. tech restrictions will severely impact the normal operations of Huawei and other Chinese companies, as well as disrupt the global supply chain. An abrupt ban on supplies will also cost U.S. high-tech enterprises substantially.

It should be noted that no enterprise in the supply chain is impervious to the restrictions, including American firms. A recent report by Boston Consulting Group found that if the United States fully bans semiconductor exports to China, U.S. semiconductor companies could lose 18 percent of the global share and 37 percent of their revenues in three to five years.

Even if the United States only maintains the restrictions already in force, U.S. companies could lose 8 percent of the global share and 16 percent of their revenues, according to the report.

Xu Zhijun, Huawei's rotating CEO, introduces achievements of 5G technology during the release ceremony for world leading Internet scientific and technological achievements in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 3, 2017. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

The DOC's latest ban on Huawei has been widely questioned by American industry groups, warning that the ban will seriously harm American chipmaking industry.

Doug Jacobson, an international trade lawyer, was quoted in media reports as saying that the move would "have a far more negative impact on U.S. companies than it will on Huawei, because Huawei will develop their own supply chain," and will eventually find alternatives.

China firmly opposes U.S. irrational crackdown on Chinese enterprises, and tries to seek solutions in the spirit of international cooperation and distribution.

Andrew Polk, an economist at consulting firm Trivium, believed that putting Huawei on the entity list "accelerated China's tech rise." "It is going to ultimately prove the moment we lit a fire under China. And it's not going to kill Huawei. It's going to do the opposite," Polk was quoted by Quartz in 2019 following the U.S. blacklisting of Huawei.

It should be noted that U.S. sanctions will only motivate Chinese enterprises' innovation ability. There are more and more reports that China's leading tech companies have been sharply increasing investment in developing semiconductor.

With a population of 1.4 billion and fast-growing consumer capacity, China boasts a huge market for almost every industry, especially high-tech industries. The U.S. bigoted practices against China risk losing the Chinese market in the long run. 
DALLASA 30-something patient has died from the coronavirus after reportedly attending a COVID party and ultimately telling their nurse they had acted in error, San Antonios WOAI-TV reported.

Just before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and said, I think I made a mistake, I thought this was a hoax, but its not, Dr. Jane Appleby said in a video posted by the news station.

Appleby, chief medical officer of the citys Methodist Hospital, said she made the case public to make younger people aware that they are not immune.

It doesnt discriminate, and none of us are invincible, she said. This virus is very serious and can spread easily.

COVID parties are get-togethers involving a person who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, with attendees supposedly gathering as a dare. Whether such parties actually exist has been questioned, but the thought is to see if the virus is real and to see if anyone gets infected, Appleby said.

In this case, she said, the patient became critically ill and uttered the tragic statement shortly before dying.

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At least 19 Congress legislators are now supporting Sachin Pilot, the deputy chief minister of Rajasthan who by his absence from the state this weekend has fuelled major speculation about an imminent exit and split of the party.

The absence came soon after the special operations group (SOG) of the state polices anti-terror squad posted a notice at his residence to appear for questioning.

The questioning is to take place in connection with the case registered on Friday by the ATS that there was a plot to bring down the Ashok Gehlot government.

The first information report (FIR) and the alleged tapped phone conversations have put on record what has otherwise been an open secretthat chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy do not get along.

Also read: No meetings with Sachin Pilot, maintains BJP; says no role in trying to topple Gehlot govt

What everyone is now wondering is if this episode will push Pilot to quit the Congress party.

A central Congress leader who reached out to Pilot said that he has not been taking their calls.

This was taking humiliation to a different level. He just got a call on Saturday that they had posted this notice and left. Is this how a deputy chief minister is treated? a leader, who is close to Pilot, asked.

While officials of the Rajasthan government say that the notice was also sent to the chief minister as well, the leader quoted above called the summon a joke.

The chief minister also holds the home portfolio, so how can they question him? This is all very sinister as this FIR will give them a reason to put surveillance on the deputy chief minister, the BJP leader said.

As the fallout of this very public saga slowly unravelled, the resort drama has now started.

Pilots supporters are lodged in various resorts, including an ITC Grand Bharat in Gurugram.

ITC Bharat has previously played hosts to rebel MLAs and it was where the Karnataka legislators were also brought during the crisis facing the Kumaraswamy government.

Also read: Amid reports of turmoil in Rajasthan govt, Sachin Pilot meets Ahmed Patel

Pilots location was in Delhi on Saturday but unclear at present.

Pilot came to Delhi and met senior leader Ahmed Patel to discuss the issue. He told the senior leader known to be a close aide of party president, Sonia Gandhi, during the special one-on-one meeting that his differences with Ashok Gehlot had gone too far.

HT has been unable to confirm if Sachin Pilot actually met with any BJP leader. However, Congress leaders said that they are aware that Pilot has been in touch with them.
Muhammad Saud, a 65-year-old Syrian silk farmer, gives a tour of his home workshop in the village of Deir Mama, in west-central Syria

After Syria's war whisked away the silkworms from his mulberry trees, 65-year-old Mohammed Saud instead turned his idle home workshop into a silk museum to celebrate the ancient craft.

In the green hills of Deir Mama, Saud, his wife and three sons have been making silk for decades.

They would raise silkworms in the spring, watching them munch on mulberry tree leaves and slowly build their thick cocoons, before spinning the thread and weaving it into fine cloth.

But Syria's nine-year-old war has complicated silkworm imports, and stemmed production for now.

In his courtyard-turned-museum, Saud held up a handful of glistening white silk cocoons the size of large grapes.

Stooping down, he manually yanked around a large wooden spinning wheel used to unfurl the tight coils into long pale thread.

"There are just three families left in Syria working this craft," he said. "Today I am the only one left in this town fighting for its survival."

A decade ago, the year before the conflict broke out, he had told AFP that 16 villages and 48 families across Syria still worked in sericulture.

Cocoon harvests had already dropped from 60,000 tonnes in 1908 to just 3.1 tonnes in 2010. When fighting erupted in 2011, it all ground to a halt.

"I decided to transform my home into a workshop when I realised it would contain all stages of silk production," Saud explained.

- 'Clinically dead' -

Sitting at a large wooden loom with his feet on the pedals, he demonstrated weaving, his agile hands gliding from side to side as he weaved weft over warp.

In a corner, off-white silk shawls were displayed on the wall, or draped around mannequins.

Deir Mama was famous for silk production before the war, with most residents specialising in one stage or another of the process.

Not far from the large Masyaf citadel, the town's mulberry trees stretched across wide swathes of land, drawing in silk fans from Syria and beyond.

Story continues

On the museum's wall hung some old photos of Saud posing with foreign visitors, and a few of their thank you notes.

"I used to rely mainly on tourists, as they were the ones able to afford the silk," he said.

But these days, even if the museum tour is free, visitors are rare.

After nine years of war that has killed 380,000 people and devastated the economy, tourism is non-existent.

And for Syrians struggling to put food on the table amid alarming price hikes, fine cloth is the last of their worries.

"Silk has become a luxury in this crisis," Saud said.

Before the conflict the craft was like "a sick man we hoped would heal, but then the war came along and dealt it a final blow".

"I alone am battling for the trade's survival... even if it is clinically dead."

- 'Scared I'll forget how' -

The art of making silk, first developed in China, has a long history in Syria.

Archaeological findings show silk was woven in the ancient city of Palmyra as early as the first century AD.

During World War II, Levantine factories supplied Britain with large silk sheets to make parachutes.

The country is famous for its Damascene brocade, a material of silver and gold silk threads that many Syrians claim Queen Elizabeth II wore for her wedding.

But today, says Syrian heritage expert Murhaf Rahayyim, the industry is struggling.

"The problem is not production. There are hundreds of pieces of material waiting to be snapped up" but no buyers, he said.

Tourism generated 12 percent of Syria's pre-war gross national product.

"Before the war, tourists would buy most of what was produced, and we exported lots to Lebanon and the Gulf," he said.

But today that has stopped, and "silk clothes are no longer a priority for Syrians".

Back in Deir Mama, Saud's wife Amal busied herself knotting silk strands in a spiral of intricate needlework.

These days, "I only crochet for fun and so my fingers stay nimble," she said, a white silk shawl draped around her shoulders.

"I'm scared I'll forget how to do it," she said.

Like her husband, she hopes one day silkworms will return to the family's orchard.

"We're the only ones still growing mulberry trees, but this year we fed their leaves to goats."
(Newser)  The federal Bureau of Prisons said Sunday that a staff member involved in preparing for the first federal executions in nearly two decades has tested positive for coronavirus, the AP reports. The Justice Department said the development will not mean an additional delay in the governments timetable, already stalled by a federal court, because the worker had not been in the execution chamber and had not come into contact with anyone on the specialized team sent to the prison to handle the execution. The agency made the disclosure in court filings in response to lawsuits that have sought to halt executions scheduled to resume Monday. The staff member apparently learned on Wednesday that the staffer had been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

story continues below

The staff member immediately left work and notified the bureau Saturday about the positive test, per the court filing. The staff member did not wear a mask at all times during meetings with other Bureau of Prisons employees and other law enforcement officials in the days before learning of the exposure, the agency said. The bureau says the staff member did not enter the execution facility or the prisons command center and left the facility before the dozens of Bureau of Prisons employees who are part of the team handling the executions arrived. The Bureau of Prisons also started contact tracing to identify other staff members who may have had contact with the employee. The disclosure comes as the Justice Department is fighting to proceed with the first federal execution since 2003.

(Read more coronavirus stories.)
A joint EU special ops force formed to back Mali's fight against jihadist groups will deploy in the West African country on Wednesday, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said.

Around 100 French and Estonian troops will initially make up the force dubbed Takuba, Parly told the online version of the daily La Croix on Sunday.

A second contingent of around 60 Czech soldiers will deploy in October, to be followed by some 150 Swedish troops in January 2021, Parly said.

"Italy has just indicated its wish to join us," she added.

Jihadist and inter-ethnic violence in Mali and neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso killed at least 4,000 people in 2019, according to the United Nations.

The entire Sahel region is seeing ever more brazen attacks by Islamist groups despite the beefing up of national armies and the deployment of 5,100 French anti-terrorism troops.

As jihadist forces have weakened, however, they have increasingly resorted to the recruitment of minors, Parly said.

"Despite all precautions taken, some (child soldiers) can be wounded or killed during fighting," she warned.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 07:34:37|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, July 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump was seen wearing a mask while visiting a military hospital near Washington, D.C., on Saturday, the first time he did so on camera since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in the country.

"I'll probably have a mask," Trump told reporters ahead of his trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he visited injured soldiers and medical workers tasked with containing the coronavirus.

"I think when you're in a hospital especially in that particular setting, where you are talking to a lot of soldiers, people that in some cases just got off the operating table," the president said. "I think it's a great thing to wear a mask. I've never been against masks but I do believe they have a time and a place."

Trump has been refusing to wear a mask himself since the pandemic broke out, citing his good health and frequent negative tests for the virus. "I have no problem with a mask. I don't think you need one when you're tested all the time, everybody around you is tested, you're quite a distance," he said on Thursday.

Even Republican lawmakers have advised him to do so publicly so as to curb the spread of the contagion.

Regretting the fact that the "simple lifesaving practice" of wearing a mask has been politicized to showcase whether one supports Trump or not, Republican Senator Lamar Alexander said on June 30 that he had "suggested the president should occasionally wear a mask even though there are not many occasions when it is necessary for him to do so."

Trump wore a mask behind the scene in late May during a visit to a Ford factory in Michigan. "I did wear. I had one on before," he told reporters on camera at the plant when asked why he decided not to wear a mask.

"But I didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it," Trump said, showing the reporters a mask with a presidential seal on it that he said was the one he wore.

As the latest 1 million cases in the United States were added over merely 28 days, more than 20 states in the country have now mandated wearing face coverings in public, either statewide or limited to counties where the case rate has surpassed government thresholds.

Cases in the United States jumped by a staggering record of 71,389 Saturday from the previous day, according to Bloomberg News. The total number of infections in the country is approaching 3,240,000 Saturday afternoon, with death toll topping 134,000, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed. Enditem
Re: How many different anagrams can you make for the word MATHEM [ #permalink

JusTLucK04 wrote:

How many different anagrams can you make for the word MATHEMATICS?



I donot have any options...but the correct answer here is 8!/2!



I don't understand how?

Should it not be 11!/(2!*2!*2!)

Your solution is correct. The correct answer is indeed 11!/(2!*2!*2!): the number of arrangement of 11 letters out of which 2 A's, 2 M's and 2 T's are the same.Similar but much harder question to practice: how-many-words-can-be-formed-by-taking-4-letters-at-a-time-92675.html THEORY:Permutations of \(n\) things of which \(P_1\) are alike of one kind, \(P_2\) are alike of second kind, \(P_3\) are alike of third kind ... \(P_r\) are alike of \(r_{th}\) kind such that: \(P_1+P_2+P_3+..+P_r=n\) is:\(\frac{n!}{P_1!*P_2!*P_3!*...*P_r!}\).For example number of permutation of the letters of the word "gmatclub" is 8! as there are 8 DISTINCT letters in this word.Number of permutation of the letters of the word "google" is \(\frac{6!}{2!2!}\), as there are 6 letters out of which "g" and "o" are represented twice.Number of permutation of 9 balls out of which 4 are red, 3 green and 2 blue, would be \(\frac{9!}{4!3!2!}\).Hope this helps._________________
TEHRAN, Iran - A misaligned missile battery, miscommunication between troops and their commanders and a decision to fire without authorization all led to Irans Revolutionary Guard shooting down a Ukrainian jetliner in January, killing all 176 people on board, a new report says.

The report released late Saturday by Irans Civil Aviation Organization comes months after the Jan. 8 crash near Tehran killed 55 Canadian citizens, 30 permanent residents and dozens more with ties to Canada.

Authorities had initially denied responsibility, only changing course days later after Western nations presented extensive evidence that Iran had shot down the plane.

The report may signal a new phase in the investigation into the crash, as the aircrafts black box flight recorder is due to be sent to Paris, where international investigators will finally be able to examine it.

The flight was on the first leg of a trip to Canada via Kyiv, Ukraine at the time.

The shootdown happened the same night Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting U.S. soldiers in Iraq, its response to the American drone strike that killed Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3.

At the time, Iranian troops were bracing for a U.S. counterstrike and appear to have mistaken the plane for a missile. The civil aviation report does not acknowledge that, only saying a change in the alertness level of Irans air defence allowed previously scheduled air traffic to resume.

The report detailed a series of moments where the shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 could have been avoided.

The report said the surface-to-air missile battery that targeted the Boeing 737-800 had been relocated and was not properly reoriented.

Those manning the missile battery could not communicate with their command centre, they misidentified the civilian flight as a threat and opened fire twice without getting approval from ranking officials, the report said.

If each had not arisen, the aircraft would not have been targeted, the report said.

Western intelligence officials and analysts believe Iran shot down the aircraft with a Russian-made Tor system, known to NATO as the SA-15. In 2007, Iran took the delivery of 29 Tor M1 units from Russia under a contract worth an estimated $700 million. The system is mounted on a tracked vehicle and carries a radar and a pack of eight missiles.

The report did not say why the Guard moved the air defence system, though that area near the airport is believed to be home to both regular military and bases of the paramilitary Guard.

The report notes that the Ukrainian flight had done nothing out of the ordinary up until the missile launch, with its transponder and other data being broadcast.

At the time of firing the first missile, the aircraft was flying at a normal altitude and trajectory, the report said.

The plane had just taken off from Imam Khomeini International Airport when the first missile exploded, possibly damaging its radio equipment, the report said. The second missile likely directly struck the aircraft, as videos that night show the plane exploding into a ball of fire before crashing into a playground and farmland on the outskirts of Tehran.

The report put the blame entirely on the crew of the missile battery. Already, six people believed to be involved in the incident have been arrested, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili reportedly said in June. He said at the time three had been released on bail while the other three remained held.

In recent months, Iran has repeatedly delayed releasing the aircrafts so-called black box, which includes data and communications from the cockpit leading up to the shootdown. The U.S., under international regulations, has a right to be part of the investigation as the plane involved was a Boeing.

Iran is to send the black box to France on July 20, where Ukrainian and French experts are expected to examine it, Irans state-run IRNA news agency recently reported. Iranian officials did not have the equipment on hand to read data from the box.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians  including many Iranians with dual citizenship  and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. The route was popular with those travelling onward to Canada.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Pope Francis celebrates the Mass of Saint Peter and Paul, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday he was hurt by Turkey's decision to

make Istanbul's Hagia Sophia museum a mosque, the latest religious leader to condemn the move.

"My thoughts go to Istanbul. I think of Santa Sophia and I am very pained," he said during his weekly blessing in St. Peter's Square.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said the first prayers would be held in Hagia Sophia on July 24, after declaring the ancient monument was once again a mosque following a court ruling revoking its status as a museum.

The World Council of Churches has called on Erdogan to reverse his decision and Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, called it disappointing.

Erdogan said the nearly 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia, which was once a Christian cathedral, would remain open to Muslims, Christians and foreigners.

He added that Turkey had exercised its sovereign right in converting it to a mosque and would interpret criticism of the move as an attack on its independence.

Greece has condemned the move and UNESCO said its World Heritage Committee would review Hagia Sophia's status and that Turkey's decision raised questions about the impact on its universal value as a site of importance transcending borders and generations.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
BJP in 'wait and watch' mode on Pilot's rebellion in Rajasthan

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, July 12: The BJP is in a "wait and watch" mode over the unfolding crisis in the Congress in Rajasthan and will wait for the outcome of the show of strength between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot before deciding on its next course of action, party sources said on Sunday.

Rajasthan Govt in crisis:Sachin Pilot in Delhi with loyalist MLAs, what is happening?|Oneindia News

Gehlot has called a meeting of Congress MLAs on Monday, which is likely to give a clear indication of how much support he and Pilot enjoy in the legislative group.

Pilot, who is also the Rajasthan Congress president, is said to be in touch with some BJP leaders but saffron party sources declined to comment on whether it has held any discussion with him.

Pilot, who is camping in Delhi, has declared open rebellion, claiming that he has the support of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents in the state assembly.

Rajasthan crisis: At loggerheads with Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot to skip key party meet tomorrow

A BJP leader said the rebel Congress leader seems to have "made up his mind" and does not look in any mood to reconcile with Gehlot's leadership.

A statement released on Pilot's WhatApp group claimed that the Gehlot-led Congress government is in minority now.

The Congress has 107 MLAs in the 200-member state assembly while the BJP has 72. After losing power to its rival in the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP had swept the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by winning all 25 seats in the state.

The BJP has come to power in states like Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka through defection by MLAs from the Congress and other rival parties.

Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia was instrumental in toppling the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh and he joined the BJP with his supporters later.

Scindia and Pilot have long enjoyed warm personal relations, and the former on Sunday tweeted in support of the Rajasthan leader and had a swipe at the Congress.
A 35-year-old suspected fraudster, Isiaka Olatunde, has revealed how he and his brother, Ismaila Olatunji, allegedly used the names of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and former National Security Adviser, retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki, to swindle a contractor N25 million. The suspects were alleged to have swindled the contractor, Ganiuyu Orimoyi, of N25 million under the guise of helping him procure contracts from the office of Dasuki.

The brothers were arrested by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari.

Some time in 2014, Olatunji lied to the victim that he was an aide to Dasuki, President Goodluck Jonathans NSA. He told the victim that he could help him secure contracts from the NSAs office. He ended up extorting him to the sum of N25 million.

Orimoyi said he met Olatunji through his brother, Olatunde, a POP engineer, working for him at one of his building sites in Kwara State. Olatunji told the victim that he had a brother working with the former NSA. The victim believed him and when he was asked for money to perfect some documents for the contract, he didnt hesitate.

The extortion, however, took another dimension when Dasuki was arrested and locked up by the Department State Services. Olatunji told Oriyomi that as an aide to Dasuki, his bank accounts were being monitored by security agents. He further lied that his accounts had been frozen. He said he could no longer access his funds, which he wanted to use to fine tune the victims contract. He asked Orimoyi for loan, promising to pay back after Dasukis release.

He continued to propagate his lies by further claiming to be discussing with Tinubu, to provide him easy passage to join the APC, so that the National Leader of the party would later assist in facilitating the unfreezing of his accounts. Olatunji told Orimoyi that as soon as Tinubu assisted in talking to the relevant authorities to unfreeze his accounts, he would refund him. He then asked for more loans to facilitate joining of the political party.

Orimoyi complied, but in 2019 after Dasuki was released, the situation took a new turn. The victim demanded for his money, but the brothers went underground.

Orimoyi said: He and his brother told me they were in India receiving treatment and wanted me to come over so we could conclude our transactions. I went to India, but when I got there and called their phone numbers, they didnt pick. I had to return to Nigeria. They called me again, saying they feared DSS might be using me to tail them.

The brothers then asked him to come to Ghana, where they had holed up, working seriously on joining the APC. Again, the victim bought ticket en-route Ghana, but while in the plane, they called and told him they were returning to Nigeria, that he should wait for them.

He said: I stepped down and immediately the plane took off, I was arrested by some security men. They wanted to know why I stepped out of the plane. I was only released after the plane landed in Ghana. I wrote a petition to the IGP and the case was assigned to the IRT Unit in Osogbo, Osun State. Olatunde, who linked me to Olatunji, was arrested.

During interrogation, Olatunde claimed to have given the N25 million defrauded from Oriyomi to a popular Islamic cleric in Offa, Kwara State, known as Alhaji Ismail Mustapha. He alleged that whenever he defrauded Oriyomi, he takes the money to Mustapha, who had been preparing money ritual charms for him.

Following his confessions, IRT operatives swooped on Mustapha, who during a face-to-face confrontation, denied Olatundes accusations. Mustapha, however, paid N5 million to Oriyomi on bond and also went on to enter a court agreement where he promised to pay the balance of N20 million. But Mustapha, who felt wronged, wrote a counter petition, demanding further investigation into the matter.

At a point, Olatunde, Oriyomi and Mustapha were all invited to IRT office in Abuja. But Olatunde later disappeared from the station. He was rearrested a few months later and confessed to have lied against Mustapha. Olatunde, however, insisted that it was N8 million he and Olatunji collected from Oriyomi.

Olatunde, a father of three, explained: In 2012, I met Oriyomi, who gave me a job to do for him. We became friends and my brother, Olatunji, asked me to lie to Oriyomi that he had links to Dasuki. This was in 2014. My brother told him that he could help him get contracts from Dasukis office. I collected the sum of N300,000 and I told Oriyomi my brother had issues with his BVN and that whenever he needed money, he would call him. My brother and Oriyomi became friends.

Olatunde said Oriyomi started sending money regularly to Olatunji. When Oriyomi realised he had been defrauded, he asked Olatunde for the whereabouts of Olatunji, but I told him my brother was in India receiving treatment. He flew to India, but he didnt see him. The suspect further stated that by the time Dasuki was arrested and remanded, his brother had milked Oriyomi of N8 million.

He said: When Dasuki was arrested, Oriyomi started disturbing us to refund his money. We promised, but my brother suggested we should lie that Mustapha collected the money for ritual. When police brought Mustapha and I together, I accused him repeatedly until he got tired and accepted he would refund Oriyomis money. Mustapha wrote a counter petition and the case was moved from Osun State to Abuja. When I realised the truth would soon be out at the IRTs office, I ran. I ran to Lokoja, slept in a garage and then travelled to Sango-Ota area of Ogun State, where I started a new life. I was there for some months before the IRT Operatives came to arrest me.
The Indian Parliament has striven to achieve the vision of the Constitution for a just social order and laws providing right to information and food security are examples towards that end, Supreme Court judge Justice DY Chandrachud said on Sunday.

The Right to Information Act was enacted by Parliament in 2005 and empowers citizens to request information from any public authority. The Food Security Act came into force in 2013 and enables eligible households/ people to avail subsidized food grains.

The judiciary has consistently endeavoured to align itself with the constitutions underlying vision for a more just society. Parliament has similarly continued this aspiration by introducing social welfare legislations to ensure the RTI and the food security, Justice Chandrachud said in his speech on A changing society and Constitutional Continuity.

He was speaking at the celebration of birth centenary of his father, former Chief Justice of India late YV Chandrachud. The event was organized by the Indian Law society and ILS Law College, Pune.

The judiciary, Justice Chandrachud said, has taken effective steps to adapt to the changing needs of society including the striking down of several colonial era provisions.

The social vision of the constitution was nothing less than revolutionary but the political vision was based on an orderly transition governed by the rule of law, he added.

In what he termed a shrill discourse of polarized universe across the world, Justice Chandrachud also issued a word of advice. Humanity needs to gather together and remind ourselves of what we share. We may have myriad explanations to tell us why others are different from us but at the core of it all is our shared human identity, he said.
Justo Smoker, 34, was arrested Friday on charges of felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment in relation to the disappearance of 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos

A man has been charged in the kidnapping of an Amish teenager who went missing three weeks ago and is still yet to be found, prosecutors have announced.

Justo Smoker, 34, was arrested Friday on charges of felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment in relation to the disappearance of 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos.

Stoltzfoos was last seen walking home from church in the Bird-in-Hand area of Lancasteron on June 21. Investigators say they have reason to believe Stoltzfoos was harmed following her abduction.

Smoker became a person of interest in the kidnapping after police received information about a red/orange vehicle seen in the Gap area on the afternoon of the abduction, the East Lampeter Township Police Department said in a press release.

Multiple witnesses in the area reported seeing an Amish female in the passenger seat of a vehicle driven by a male. Witness descriptions of the driver and vehicle are consistent with Smoker and his vehicle.

Linda Stoltzfoos, 18, was last walking home from church in the Bird-in-Hand area of Lancasteron June 21. Investigators say they have reason to believe Stoltzfoos was harmed following her abduction

Surveillance footage observed by authorities captured Stoltzfoos walking alone on Beechdale Road, a route she typically took home after church. A red Kia Rio that matched Smokers vehicle registration number was also seen in the footage

Stoltzfoos was reported missing on the evening of Fathers Day by her father after she failed to return home from a youth group she had been set to attend. Investigators say Stoltzfoos never made it to the social gathering that night.

Surveillance footage observed by authorities captured Stoltzfoos walking alone on Beechdale Road, a route she typically took home after church. A red Kia Rio that matched Smokers vehicle registration number was also seen in the footage.

The same car was then seen two days later on June 23 parked in a rural area in Ronks, where they believe Stoltzfoos might have been taken after being kidnapped.

Investigators say they found clothing buried in a nearby wooded area thats believed to belong to Stoltzfoos.

Smoker was arrested on Friday night at the place of his employment and arraigned on Saturday morning on the two charges of felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment.

District Judge Joshua Keller, at arraignment, made Smoker ineligible for bail, citing the nature of charges and the ongoing investigation, East Lampeter police said.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are assisting in the search for Stoltzfoos, including the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police and Lancaster County District Attorneys Office.

Authorities are asking for anyone with clues or information to come forward as well as people who might have seen Smoker or his red Kia Rio sedan around the time Stoltzfoos was abducted.

Stoltzfoos weighs approximately 125 pounds and is 510 with blue eyes and brown hair, according to the FBIs missing person report, and was last seen wearing a tan dress, white apron and black head covering.

Police found nothing indicating Stoltzfoos was unhappy and wanted to leave her community, investigators said.

The FBI is now offering a reward of $10,000 for information leading to her recovery.

Stoltzfoos went missing on Beechdale Road on June 21. Two days later a car matching a description of one seen in the area at the time of her kidnapping was found on Harvest Drive

Smoker has an extensive criminal history stretching back to 2005 and has spent the majority of his adult life behind bars

Smoker, meanwhile, has an extensive criminal history stretching back to 2005 and has spent the majority of his adult life behind bars.

He had been a former high school wrestling all-star who had a 3.0 grade point average and earned a place on the Lancaster-Lebanon wrestling all-star team in 2003 before turning to a life of crime.

The 34-year-old was sentenced to serve 12-and-a-half years to 30 years in prison following a string of armed robberies in 2006.

Smoker pleaded guilty to the robberies, during which he and his brother, Victor, used a BB gun to rob four different businesses between Aug. 8 and Aug. 13, 2006.

During the trial, Smoker was revealed to have been adopted at age seven after he was found living on the street, just trying to survive, his defense attorney said.

They raised me better than this, Smoker told the judge of his adoptive parents. Im sorry for what I did and the people I hurt, including my family.

His adoptive father said Smoker had been trouble since we got him.

The judge told Smoker at the 2007 hearing that he could have imposed a sentence that would have kept him in prison for twice as long, if not the rest of his life, Lancaster Online reported.

But, the judge said he issued a sentence that ensures society is protected, but that you could still come out and lead a reasonable life.

Smoker ended up serving nearly the minimum on that sentence and was released on Feb. 28, 2019.
A Rare Travel Winner This Summer Weighs 10 Tons, Gets 18 Miles to the Gallon

Nowhere is the shift in pandemic-era travel and the industrys nascent recovery more visible than in Elkhart County, Indiana, a collection of gritty factory towns that is a two-hour drive east of Chicago. Among its plants are manufacturers of recreational vehicles, RVs.

Elkhart workers, to RV dealers across the country, are having one busy summer, as Americans seek road trips as an alternative to flying and long vacations, forcing manufacturing plants to ramp up production.

Some factories are keeping the assembly lines moving for as many as six days a week during extended shifts in order to meet the demand, according to Monika Geraci, senior manager, marketing strategy and operations at the RV Industry Association (RVIA).

This heightened demand is showing up in Elkhart Countys unemployment rate, which recently marked one of the biggest drops in the country. In May, Elkhart Countys jobless rate fell significantly to 11.9 percent, from nearly 30 percent a month earlier. Patrick Industries, a parts-maker for RVs, and Thor Industries, an RV manufacturer, are each based in the county.

The trend was not lost on Wall Street. Both Patrick and Thor saw their stocks shoot up by more than 200 percent in June from their low marks in March.

Indeed, airplane-wary travelers, combined with pent-up demand from months-long quarantines, are making RVs a rare bright spot for U.S. travel through road trips.

Skift Research from April showed that two-thirds of Americans expected their first trip after the outbreak to be a road trip. As cars provide greater opportunities for social distancing than public transportation, and with the spread of the virus picking up in recent weeks, more Americans may do this into the fall as well. After all, several schools have begun to announce at least a mix of remote and in-person learning for the upcoming semester, and many employees may continue to be working from home in the fall as well.

Story continues

With this in mind, the RV Industry Associations Geraci said her group is beginning to see interest in people possibly looking to work and learn from their RVs and that it has the potential to continue for a while.

The RVIA tracks unit shipments from manufacturers to dealers. While Mays percentage was lower than last year, Geraci said that was because manufacturers that reopened had to spend time ramping up by implementing safety guidelines, such as social distancing and cleaning. Junes numbers could better reflect the increased factory production.

While numbers compared to last May show a 30 percent decrease, the reality is the RV industry is very strong right now. Many RV dealerships that were able to reopen their showroom reported record sales, but RV sales were heavily dependent on whether or not state stay-at-home orders had been lifted, something that varied state-by-state throughout the month of May, said RV Industry Association President Craig Kirby in a company release. Now that all states have reopened, coupled with continued media attention on RVs as a way to travel and maintain social distance, the outlook for the RV industry this summer is extremely bright.

Heading into the pandemic, the RV industry was already doing well, according to Darryl Searer, president of the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart. He pointed out that, although the industry might not have been headed for a record year, it looked like it was going to be a very good year in terms of sales, and units shipped to dealers.

From 2016 to 2019, the RV industry had its four best years on record in terms of unit shipments from manufacturers to dealers, with each year featuring over 400,000 shipments. There was, however, a 16 percent drop in shipments in 2019.

Searer said that four RV dealers on the halls board of directors, whove all been in business for about 50 years or more, each had the best May in the history of their dealerships coming out of the pandemic.

Subscribe to Skift newsletters for essential news about the business of travel.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Senior Kashmiri separatist leader and Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chairman Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai was arrested by police in Srinagar on Sunday morning.

A police party visited Sehrais home at Barzulla Baghat at around 5.30 am and arrested him.

Sehrai has been under house arrest since August 5, when centre scrapped J&Ks special status and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories  Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature).

Sources said Sehrai has reportedly been booked under stringent Public Safety Act.

Under the PSA, a person can be detained without trial for three months and the detention can be extended upto two years.

Sehrai became the chairman of Tehreek-i-Hurriyat, a separatist party floated by Syed Ali Geelani in 2004 after his differences with his parent organization Jamaat-e-Islami.

He is a close aide of Geelani, had taken over as chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat after Geelani stepped down as head of the party in 2018.

After Geelani recently made the surprising decision of quitting separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference of which he was lifetime chairman, Sehrai was expected to take over as the new one.

After the 2003 split of united Hurriyat Conference  there are two factions of Hurriyat conference  a hardline which was led by Geelani and moderate led by cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Sehrais son Junaid Sehrai, who was an MBA graduate, had joined Hizbul Mujahideen in 2018 and was killed alongwith his associate in an encounter with security forces in Nawa Kadal area of Srinagar on May 19 this year. Junaid was divisional commander of Hizbul Mujahideen.
OMJASVIN M D By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Chennai's COVID-19 curve continues to see a gradual decline since July 1, from 2,182 positive cases to 1,168 cases on July 12. This is a 46 per cent decline of cases.

From July 1 to 12, the city had recorded 18,831 cases while till June 30, it had recorded 58,561 cases. The cases from July 1 have increased at a level of 32 per cent, which is lower than it was in June.

Till June 19, the city had recorded 38,327 cases and between June 19 and 30, cases rose at a level of 52 per cent as the city recorded 20,234 cases in the period.

The cases have stabilised even after the intense lockdown was relaxed on July 5. The cases gradually came down from 1747 to 1168. The city is currently recording cases at the same rate of which it recorded in the first two weeks of June.

However, these early trends could be an aftereffect of the intense lockdown from June 19 to July 5, and also the increased testing from 5,000 to 10,000 in the first week of July.

Since the restrictions have been relaxed, one has to wait for a few days to know if this is a temporary dip or a sustained one.

While the early trends look positive, the city corporation is expected to strengthen its contain strategies by moving it's fever camps to work places and crowded areas.

"This is something which was in the plans for the past week. Fever camps would be extended to markets and factories as people are now going for work,'' a top corporation official said.

So far, 9.91 lakh people have attended the 15,704 conducted by the corporation till July 11. A total of 44,616 samples were taken from the camps and 11,663 turned positive in that, which is a positivity rate of 25.46 per cent.

Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said that a market regulation committee will be monitoring the overcrowded markets in the city.

"81 divisional assistant engineers will head the committee and ensure the fish, meat, vegetable markets, provisional stores practice social distancing, and vendors, people wear masks," he said.

He added that 32 circles officers have been appointed to monitor if all the shops in the city had hand sanitizers in place for customers.

Meanwhile, giving more positive news, 75 per cent of people who were infected have been discharged in the city, and there are only 24 per cent of active cases.

Royapuram, which was seemed to be in an unrecoverable stage in June, now has only 14 per cent active cases, and Tondiarpet has 17 per cent, while Thiruvika Nagar, which emerged as a huge cluster following a prayer meeting, now has only 20 per cent active cases.

However, the daily tests, which touched the 10,000-mark in the first week of July, has lately been around 8,000.


Lodhis exit from the Congress comes months after Jyotiraditya Scindia and 22 MLAs loyal to him quit the party, toppling the Kamal Nath-led government

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Pradyuman Singh Lodhi resigned from the party and as member of the state Assembly, and joined the BJP on Sunday.

Lodhi, who was a legislator from Bada Malhera seat in Chhatarpur district, joined the BJP at the ruling party's state headquarters in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

On the occasion, state BJP chief VD Sharma announced Lodhi's induction into the party fold. "I have resigned as MLA. My resignation has been accepted. Only the BJP can develop my Assembly seat areas. The chief minister also approved developmental schemes for my area," Lodhi told reporters after joining the saffron party.

With this, the Congress's strength in the state Assembly has reduced to 91.

In March this year, 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the Congress after former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party, resulting in the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Madhya Pradesh government.

On 23 March, Chouhan took oath as chief minister for a record fourth term. The BJP currently has 107 MLAs in the state Assembly.
Military, state officers under EC scrutiny By Anthony David Their social media accounts to be monitored for political views View(s): View(s):

For the first time during an election, state sector officials, those in the military and police have come under a microscope for airing their views on the social media including Facebook.

The Election Commissions legal division will monitor the social media and any partisan views expressed by them will make them liable for action, EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told the Sunday Times.

This way, we will know who is acting with political bias. Such conduct will be brought to the attention of the Public Administration Ministry and the Police for further investigations, he said. Mr Deshapriya noted that Speaking for myself, I am reluctant to do this. However, it has to be done in the national interest.

In a separate move, the Election Commission, Mr Deshapriya said, had asked the Police to conduct a full inquiry into the conduct of five State Ministers who had continued to use their official vehicles till March. These vehicles, with election propaganda material pasted on them, had been used in campaign work, he said but declined to identify the State Ministers concerned.

Police Spokesman Jaliya Senaratne told the Sunday Times that the former state ministers who were still to return their vehicles were Roshan Ranasinghe (Mahaweli Development) who continues to use two vehicles, Sanath Nishantha Perera (Fisheries and Inland Fisheries) who continues to use one vehicle, Arundika Fernando (Tourism Promotion) who continues to use two vehicles. Mohan Priyadharshana de Silva (Human Rights and Law Reforms) and Keheliya Rambukwella (Investment Promotion) handed over their vehicles after investigations began.

Mr Deshapriya said the involvement of state officials in party politics had been an important issue for the Election Commission. Through the Facebook and through various other social media outlets they make comments and make posts criticising different political parties.

We have not been strict so far, but this time the Commission feels that there should be nominal punishment, even entries in their files. This is why we have entrusted both our legal unit and the investigation unit to undertake the task of monitoring.

Chairman Deshapriya also revealed that four serious complaints of using religious places for polls activity were now under investigation by the Police. If it is proved, the candidates concerned will lose their civic rights. If they win, they will lose their seats.
J ust two decades ago, the thought of chatting to your therapist via a video call would have been instantly dismissed. But online therapy has seen a meteoric rise over the past 10 years, and this has only been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Even in 2017, three years before the pandemic hit, the UK was seeing a surge of people going online for their therapy sessions. Babylon, the doctor app, had 150,000 active users using its online therapy tool, while PlusGuidance, a digital counselling service, had 10,000 users. Last year, the mental health app Calm became the first of its kind to be valued at $1 billion.

The pandemic has seen a surge in people turn to online therapy - as this was the only option for most regular patients.

I began online therapy purely by chance, Laura, who works in PR in London, tells the Standard.

Id been planning on starting for a while, following a tough few months, and had been waiting for an available slot. My first appointment was on March 10 and unbeknownst to me, that was the first and only appointment in-person.

Laura adds that she and her new psychologist tried their second appointment over the phone which didnt really work before resorting to Skype.

Im lucky in the sense that I havent had to experience any upheaval with my therapy in addition to also going through a global pandemic. I actually feel very grateful that I started when I did as its been a real help with navigating lockdown and the additional emotional strain that brings.

Ella, a freelance writer from West London, found herself in the same boat when lockdown began. Having previously had face-to-face therapy through the NHS, she had to swap to online therapy in March.

I enjoyed the switch as I am now able to be in my own environment, comfortable with a hot drink, Ella says. Afterwards, I can deal with my emotions that the session brought out in private, rather than having to commute home and navigate the streets with what is usually a blotchy and mascara-streaked face.

Laura finds her at-home sessions appealing too, but worries about her privacy living in a shared house.

Being able to do it from my own bedroom allows a certain level of comfort that maybe I wouldnt have had from an unfamiliar room, Laura says. Although having my appointments at home equally brings its own negative aspects, as I often worry that my housemate or a neighbour could overhear me talking about things that should be kept private between me and my therapist. So perhaps Im not as open as I could be if I was in a neutral space.

During lockdown, online therapy provider Talkspace said it has seen a huge increase in demand for sessions, while meditation app Headspace also reported a spike in downloads.

In May, a study found that lockdown made existing mental health issues worse, and a separate study from the Mental Health Foundation found that a quarter of UK adults, (24 per cent) have felt loneliness due to the pandemic - which rises to 44 per cent in the 18-24 age group.

Last month, research from Bupa Health Clinics said 65 per cent of Brits are anxious about returning to the workplace. Dr Arun Thiyagarajan, Medical Director at Bupa Health Clinics, said at the time: The mental health problems associated with Covid-19 are likely to significantly outlast the physical impacts of the pandemic, so its vital that were doing all we can to prevent them.

Brits in lockdown have had a lot to contend with: redundancies, furlough, uncertain job security and not being able to see family and friends - all on top of important global issues like George Floyd and Breonna Taylors deaths, the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests and an impending global recession. Its no wonder our stress levels have been rising. A study from University College London found that one in six Brits are worried about their finances, with those under 60 being the most affected as well as those living with a mental health condition.

I think we can expect increased anxiety, a possibility of increased low mood and, depending on individual circumstances, a sense of loss and grief, because you actually lost a loved one either from coronavirus or from something else and you haven't been able to be there, consultant clinical psychologist Emma Citron says.

An adjustment reaction can bring on anxiety and depression and in fact any surveys that have been done have said that at least half of the population is reporting some struggle with low mood and anxiety currently which is obviously much higher than usual incidents of mental health presentations.

As we ease out of lockdown, Brits will now be looking to address the issues that have built up during the pandemic and, with social distancing still in practice, some may be seeking online therapy. But where to start?

Vicki Nash, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Mind, says: The pandemic has had an overwhelming impact on our lives, especially for people with mental health problems. NHS figures suggest that there has been a decrease in people accessing therapy. And our research highlights that many people have struggled to access mental health support during the pandemic. But, as we begin to come out of lockdown, it's crucial people feel able to ask for help, and when they do, they can get the support they need.

Traditional one-to-one therapy has gone digital, and some therapists may choose to make this the new normal. Below, is a handy guide on how to go about starting online therapy and how to get the most out of it.

Ive never been to therapy, how can I get a referral?

The first option would be looking into a free set of therapy sessions with the NHS. You dont even need a referral from your GP, you can refer yourself directly to a psychological therapies service, although you will need to be registered with a GP in England to access this. You can find a NHS therapy service local to you here.

The other option is to look into private therapy, which will cost money, but could offer a broader range of options.

Nash says: Services must adapt to make sure everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets the right treatment and range of treatment they need, this includes making sure that everyone has access to online support if they need it, and if they dont, making sure that alternatives are in place, as we begin to recover from this devastating pandemic.

What can I do if Im on a waitlist?

For those who are currently on waiting lists for therapy, Nash says you can try Minds telephone support service, GP-recommended self-help books, peer support, relaxing and keeping active.

How do I know if Ive picked the right therapist?

Finding the right therapist is like finding the right job - it has to be a good fit for both parties involved. Even if youre getting free therapy through the NHS, and its not the right fit, you can ask to be referred to a different therapist, although this might take a bit of time.

If youve decided the private sector is for you, and youre willing to pay for your therapy time, its essential you do some research while picking a therapist. Most therapists specialise in particular types of therapy - so if it's cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) that youre after, be sure to pick someone who specialises in this.

If you dont know what type of therapy youre looking for, you need to identify where you need help. Think about what you want to gain from the sessions. If it's coping strategies youre after or if you simply need a safe space to talk.

If youve gone down the private sector route, ask if you can have a short introduction phone call before you commit to sessions. This way you can get a feel for the therapist and see if they are right for you.

What should I do if Im nervous about online therapy?

While many counselling services have been offering remote sessions during the pandemic, Nash says that these can cause extra anxiety - especially for those not used to speaking on the phone or over video chat.

She adds: We might also feel anxious sharing personal and confidential information relating to our mental health. If youve got a video call scheduled with a healthcare professional, its a good idea to do a dummy run beforehand, to make sure you have the right software installed. If youre worried about this, ask someone to help such as a friend, family member, carer or neighbour ahead of your appointment.

If you live alone, ask someone if they can help you by emailing or texting you instructions for example. If the technology is going to be problematic for you, or if you feel more comfortable using the phone rather than an online platform, ask your healthcare professional if your appointment can take place via the phone.

How can I ensure my privacy when Im speaking to my therapist remotely?

One of the biggest issues for those currently undergoing online therapy is privacy and ensuring your conversations remain confidential when you live with others.

Nash says: Its important to ensure that you are in a confidential space during a remote counselling session. If you live with others, go to a different room if possible so you wont be overheard. It is the responsibility of the healthcare professional to ensure that any digital platform they use is secure. If you have any concerns, talk this through with your healthcare professional.

Or take a cue from actress Busy Philips, who recently shared shes been doing therapy in her car.

What can I expect from my first virtual therapy session?

Your first virtual therapy session should be similar to a face-to-face session, just in the comfort of your own home instead. It's ok if the first session feels a little awkward, as you and your therapist are getting to know each other. Let the conversation happen organically, and you should leave the session feeling like youve been heard, are supported and hopeful, as well as excited for your next session to continue digging through issues. At the end of the session its likely your therapist will lay out a treatment plan so you have a good idea of what to expect in the coming weeks.

Is virtual therapy as effective as face-to-face therapy?

In a study from Northwestern University in the US, 325 adults with depression were assigned 18 sessions of either face-to-face CBT or telephone-based CBT. The participants in both groups showed a decrease in symptoms and those receiving telephone therapy were more likely to continue with treatment while those who received face-to-face sessions were less depressed six months later.

A similar study from the University of Leipzig in Germany looked at 62 adults who had depression and offered face-to-face therapy sessions for half of the group and internet-based therapy for the other half. In the three month follow-up, the online group had made significant progress while the face-to-face patients showed a resurgence in symptoms.

Nash says online therapy shouldnt be seen as a replacement to in-person therapy. We still want anyone to be able to access face-to-face therapy, when safe to do so, as for many people face-to-face treatment is crucial for building a trusting relationship between the therapist and the individual. We know that digital appointments work particularly well for some groups, for example children and young people, such as young men and BAME communities.

She adds that it can be unfairly difficult for those in BAME communities to be referred to therapy in the first place. For example, there is evidence to suggest that Black people are less likely to be offered talking treatments, and more likely to be given medication to manage their mental health problem. GPs and other healthcare providers must offer culturally relevant support, including making the right referrals rather than relying on medication for certain demographics.

There are also 1.9 million people in the UK who are digitally excluded from partaking in online therapy, as they have no access to the internet.

Other than going through the NHS, what other options are there for anyone seeking access to free therapy?

Nash says: Some community and charity sector organisations may offer free or low-cost talking therapies. Some local Minds, for example, are offering remote counselling during the coronavirus outbreak. You can contact Minds InfoLine to see what services are available in your area. The Mind Infoline can be reached Monday to Friday 9.00 am - 6.00 pm on 0300 123 3393.

So is online therapy the way of the future? It should be an option, yes, but so should in-person sessions. Whether virtual or face-to-face, if you need help - ask for it. Go to your GP, call one of the helplines Nash suggested or simply confide in a friend. Speaking to someone and unburdening yourself could do wonders.
The Punjab police on Sunday arrested Shiv Sena (Taksali) president Sudhir Suri over an objectionable video clip allegedly denigrating women and inciting enmity between different groups.

He was arrested from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Two Punjab police teams, comprising 11 personnel of Amritsar (Rural) district, nabbed Suri on Sunday morning, said Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta in an official release here.

A manhunt was launched for him after the release of a video with alleged derogatory remarks against women, followed by a Facebook video in which he had subsequently claimed that the objectionable video clip was a voiceover by some other person using his name.

The DGP said the Jandiala police in Amritsar (Rural) had booked Suri on July 8 in a criminal case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act after the first video went viral and was heavily criticised both in India and abroad.

Despite Suri's denial of any involvement in the particular objectionable video clip that had appeared in the social media, the DGP said he had ordered a massive manhunt against the suspect through Amritsar (Rural) police.

Gupta said he had also directed the Punjab Bureau of Investigation to get the clip examined though the Forensic Science Laboratory at the earliest.

Subsequent investigations revealed that fearing arrest, Suri could have fled to Indore, said the DGP, disclosing that the operation was successfully conducted in coordination with the Madhya Pradesh police.

The DGP said he personally spoke to Vivek Johri, his counterpart in Madhya Pradesh, at the time of the dispatch of the two police teams to Indore.

The teams, consisting of one deputy superintendent of police (crime against women), two sub-inspectors, three assistant sub-inspectors and five constables, drove non-stop for 21 hours to reach Indore, where Suri was caught.

Punjab police is now moving for bail cancellation requests before the concerned judicial courts in cases where Suri has already been bailed out earlier, said the release.

The DGP asserted a zero-tolerance policy against any individuals or organisations trying to incite communal hatred and fan communal passions through their speeches, statements, writings, posts on social media platforms etc.

He further said the Punjab police was highly sensitive towards dignity, safety and security of women and would take strict action, as per law, against anyone showing women in bad light.
Partial official results are expected on Monday.

Incumbent Andrzej Duda was marginally ahead in Poland's presidential election on Sunday, an exit poll found, in a result seen as likely to have profound implications for Warsaw's relations with the rest of the European Union.

The re-election of Duda, an ally of the ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS), is crucial if the government is to implement in full its conservative agenda, including judicial reforms that the European Union says are undemocratic, Reuters reported.

Duda's challenger, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, has pledged to repair Poland's relations with Europe and use the presidential veto power to hold back any legislation that would subvert the rule of law.

Read alsoPoland resumes mandatory quarantine for air passengers arriving from Ukraine

The exit poll by Ipsos showed Duda winning 50.4% of the vote, while Trzaskowski, the preferred candidate of the main opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform (PO), had 49.6%. Ipsos said it was too early to call a winner.

"All we need is to count the votes. The night will be tense but I am certain that when the votes are counted, we will win," Trzaskowski told supporters in a park just outside Warsaw's historic Old Town.

Partial official results are expected on Monday.

Opinion polls before the election had shown the candidates, both 48, neck and neck, with Trzaskowski having closed the gap on Duda, who initially looked like a clear favourite.

Backed by the government, Duda ran an acrimonious campaign, laced with homophobic language, attacks on independent media and accusations levied against Trzaskowski that he would serve foreign interests instead of Poland's.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 21:21:52|Editor: huaxia

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A spectacular drones light show was staged during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC). The WAIC 2020 online summit was hosted by Shanghai. The light show was presented above the Huangpu River in the city. China hosted the first WAIC in Shanghai in 2018. It has since been developed into an influential platform for AI cooperation and exchange.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham renewed his promise to call former special counsel Robert Mueller to testify about the origins of his Russia probe after Mr Mueller published an op-ed over the weekend defending it.

Apparently Mr. Mueller is willing  and also capable  of defending the Mueller investigation through an op-ed in the Washington Post," Mr Graham said in a statement on Sunday. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have previously requested Mr. Mueller appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his investigation. That request will be granted."

Mr Graham was referring to a request from Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein to interview Mr Mueller as part of the panel's probe into Justice Department procedures during its various Russia investigations from 2016 through 2019.

Mr Mueller's op-ed - prompted by Donald Trump's decision to commute the sentence of his 2016 campaign adviser and longtime ally Roger Stone on Friday - broke his long-held silence on recent criticisms among GOP ranks of his Russia investigation.

Mr Stone was convicted on five counts of lying to Congress earlier this year, charges that sprung from Mr Mueller's probe which spanned from 2017 to 2019.

Though he will avoid time in prison thanks to Mr Trump's commutation, Mr Stone remains a convicted felon, and "rightly so," Mr Mueller wrote in his rare op-ed for The Washington Post.

In addition to Mr Mueller's team, "Congress also investigated and sought information from Stone" in 2017, Mr Mueller wrote.

"A jury later determined he lied repeatedly to members of Congress. He lied about the identity of his intermediary to WikiLeaks. He lied about the existence of written communications with his intermediary. He lied by denying he had communicated with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks' releases. He in fact updated senior campaign officials repeatedly about WikiLeaks. And he tampered with a witness, imploring him to stonewall Congress," Mr Mueller wrote, referring to Mr Stone's connection with Russian government agents who leaked hacked emails from the Clinton campaign to Wikileaks during the 2016 campaign.

"The jury ultimately convicted Stone of obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress and tampering with a witness. Because his sentence has been commuted, he will not go to prison. But his conviction stands," he added.

The former special counsel's investigation has come under increased scrutiny in the GOP-controlled Senate. The Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Financial Services Committees are investigating the origins of some federal law enforcement operations to counter Russian election interference headed by Obama-era officials at the FBI and Justice Department in 2016 and 2017.

Mr Trump, Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, and other Republicans have accused those Obama-era officials of letting their personal liberal sympathies drive the investigations into possible ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

Congressional Democrats have accused Republicans of attempting to re-write the history books to obscure the ethically questionable  and sometimes illegal  behaviour of Trump campaign officials uncovered by Mr Mueller.

In his op-ed, Mr Mueller wrote: "I feel compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office. The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes.

"We made every decision in Stones case, as in all our cases, based solely on the facts and the law and in accordance with the rule of law. The women and men who conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest integrity. Claims to the contrary are false."

Mr Graham commended the president's decision to commute Mr Stone's sentence on Friday, and also cast aspersions on the DOJ's counterintelligence operations against Russian election interference.

"In my view it would be justified if President [Trump] decided to commute Roger Stone's prison sentence. Mr. Stone is in his 70s and this was a non-violent, first-time offense," Mr Graham tweeted.

"Over time we learn how biased and corrupt Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller probes were," the chairman added.

Mr Graham's views were not reflective of the entire Senate Republican conference.

Utah Senator Mitt Romney, the only Republican to vote to convict Mr Trump at his impeachment trial earlier this year, characterised the president's commutation of Mr Stone's sentence as "unprecedented, historic corruption".

The Justice Department's inspector general has issued several reports highlighting problems with the FBI's use of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants but has disputed Mr Graham's notion that political motives undergirded the direction of the bureau's operations.

The FBI's 2016 counterintelligence investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia  nicknamed Crossfire Hurricane  was opened for an authorized investigative purpose and with sufficient factual predication, Mr Horowitz wrote in 2019.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's sentence - over the objections of some aides and without the involvement of his administration's pardon office - allowed an old friend to jump to the front of the slowest and longest line of federal inmates seeking mercy in decades.

The grant of clemency to Stone is one of only 36 Trump has granted, with 180 denied. After more than three years in office, Trump's six predecessors had acted on hundreds or thousands of petitions for clemency.

Stone is emblematic of the very few people to receive clemency from Trump, with most being political allies who appealed directly to the White House instead of following Justice Department protocol.

But Stone stands out as the first whose conviction grew from an investigation that also examined the president's conduct. In an interview this past week, Stone boasted of resisting pressure from prosecutors to implicate the president and predicted that Trump would reward his loyalty.

A juror in Stone's 2019 trial called Trump's announcement a "shocking act of corruption for the president to commute the sentence of a person convicted of lying to protect him." Stone was convicted of seven felonies, including lying to Congress about his efforts to figure out what WikiLeaks had planned during the 2016 election so he could help Trump's campaign with the information.

The juror, Seth Cousins, 51, told The Washington Post: "The fact remains that Roger Stone is a convicted felon, that he was found guilty of seven counts of lying to Congress and intimidating a witness and of impeding an investigation. Nothing that Trump or anyone has done or can do changes that fact."

In early February, the Trump campaign chose a black great-grandmother he had freed from prison in 2018, Alice Marie Johnson, to star in a Super Bowl ad touting the president's record on criminal justice. Stone is a more accurate face of clemency under Trump - the trickle of recipients has largely been white men with political connections or currency with the president's most loyal supporters.

Johnson, who had served about 22 years for a first-time, nonviolent drug crime, had a line into the White House, too, in that her case was championed by reality-television star Kim Kardashian West.

"This is a constitutional crisis in that the pardon power is a constitutional tool given to the president to address injustices, and the president has not fulfilled that duty," said Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota who runs a clinic representing inmates seeking clemency. "The messages I am getting today from people with loved ones in prison are filled with anguish: 'Why [Stone] and not my son? Why him and not my husband?' "

Roughly 13,500 inmates who have sought clemency are in limbo, according to the Justice Department's website.

A senior administration official said there were serious divisions among Trump's aides and allies over Stone's case, with some cautioning that keeping him out of prison could be politically risky. Among those opposed was Attorney General William Barr, who called the prosecution "righteous" in an interview Wednesday with ABC News, the official said, adding that those pushing Trump to show loyalty to Stone included Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who is close to the president.

By Saturday, Trump had grown frustrated that he was not getting more credit from conservative media and others for the Stone announcement, the official said. A second administration official said Trump had been warned that the commutation could depress his lagging poll numbers, but he wanted to make a statement against the Russia investigation and help Stone, and he personally worked to craft the messaging to defend the commutation.

There was intense and lingering interest in Trump's orbit, personally and politically, to "make things right for Roger," according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. A second Trump aide added that Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson's on-air urging of the president to help Stone was even more significant.

"I never lobbied any White House official or the president," Newsmax chief executive Christopher Ruddy, a longtime Trump and Stone associate, said in an interview, but noted that he publicly called for the commutation of Stone's sentence.

The White House on Saturday declined to comment on the commutation of Stone's 40-month sentence.

A senior administration official said the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney was not involved in discussions about Stone's commutation. That has been true for a number of a number of people who have received clemency from Trump despite failing to file petitions with the pardon office or meet its requirements.

Earlier this year, Barr conveyed to White House officials that he thought commuting Stone's sentence was a bad idea, according to people familiar with the discussions, but the senior administration official said there have been no conversations on the subject between the attorney general and the White House for months.

Barr angered some Justice Department lawyers this year when he and his deputies pushed career prosecutors in the Stone case to soften their sentencing recommendation. Ultimately, the judge gave Stone a sentence closer to what Barr had sought, but Aaron Zelinsky, one of the Stone prosecutors, told Congress last month that Barr and his deputies' actions in the case were "based on political considerations."

Stone and his lawyer, Bruce Rogow, did not respond to requests for comment Friday and Saturday.

Despite the national groundswell for racial equity in recent weeks after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, the commutation for Stone shows the president continuing to take his clemency cues from celebrities, political allies and Fox News. Trump is within his rights; clemency is one of the most unlimited powers bestowed on the president by the Constitution.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh defended the president's action on Stone's sentence as "the right thing to do."

"Roger Stone was targeted by the same partisan witch hunt Democrats have used to harass President Trump," he said. "Democrats don't care how many lives they ruin in their reckless and obsessive drive to undermine the president."

Trump has waged a years-long campaign to undermine the special counsel investigation into his 2016 campaign. Some supporters also are urging him to pardon Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser who pleaded guilty, as part of the special counsel probe, to lying to the FBI but then sought to withdraw his plea.

The Department of Justice is trying to dismiss the charges against Flynn, which would make the pardon unnecessary, but this week a federal judge asked the full District of Columbia appellate court to review whether he can hold hearings and explore whether Flynn was given preferential treatment before dismissing the case.

Trump told reporters Saturday that Stone had been treated "very unfairly" and compared his friend's predicament to Flynn's. But asked whether he would consider pardoning Flynn, as well as George Papadopoulos, another former campaign aide who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, Trump did not answer.

"People are extremely happy because, in this country, they want justice, and Roger Stone was not treated properly," he said. "I'm very happy with what I did."

Stone's commutation was the latest sign that the pardon office, which for 125 years has served as a key adviser to the White House on clemency, has been sidelined during this administration.

Federal offenders file petitions with the pardon office for commutations that shorten their sentences or for pardons that erase the civil consequences of criminal convictions, including limits on gun ownership, jury service and voting rights.

The pardon office's decisions undergo scrutiny by the deputy attorney general, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, who makes final recommendations to the Office of White House Counsel.

The last and only time the Trump White House signed off on denials of clemency was in April 2018. Offenders routinely refile requests but cannot do so until previous requests have been denied.

In an interview days before the Stone announcement, Nicole Navas, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said the office has continued to process applications during the pandemic. The department has repeatedly declined to say how many petitions are backlogged at the White House.

Most Republicans were quiet about the commutation, but Sen. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania called it a "mistake," and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the lone Senate Republican to vote to convict Trump during his impeachment trial, condemned the move.

"Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president," Romney wrote on Twitter Saturday.

In virtually every respect, Trump's commutation of Stone's sentence violates standards set forth by the Department of Justice for ordinary people seeking the same relief.

According to those guidelines, which deem commutation an "extraordinary remedy," requests are generally not accepted until convicts have begun serving their sentence. Stone has served none of his sentence.

Commutation requests also are generally accepted only from people no longer appealing their convictions. Stone told reporters this week that he preferred a commutation to a pardon because it would let him continue to try to have his conviction overturned in court. In announcing the commutation, the White House endorsed Stone's appeal, indicating that Trump did not wish to "interfere" with Stone's opportunity to "vindicate himself before the courts."

Of the grounds the Justice Department lays out as "appropriate" for commutation consideration, it is not clear that any apply to Stone.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced him to 40 months only after weighing the need to avoid an unduly severe sentence, one consideration in the guidelines. She also rejected that Stone's age - he is 67 - or his health justified a lesser sentence, factors also mentioned in the guidelines. During his February sentencing hearing, Jackson indicated that his defense team had submitted some confidential materials related to his health, but she noted that since his conviction, he had sought and received permission to crisscross the country for paid public appearances.

Stone had also sought to delay the start of his sentence because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Department of Justice has been releasing some inmates to home confinement, particularly those who are older, because of the virus. However, Jackson last month refused to delay the start of Stone's sentence until September, as he had requested, arguing that the facility where he has been ordered to serve has not been the site of a major outbreak.

Lauren-Brooke Eisen, director of the Brennan Center's Justice Program at New York University Law School, noted Saturday on Twitter that the White House statement said Stone "would be put at serious medical risk in prison." She tweeted: "That concern doesn't seem to apply to the health of so many others locked in federal prison during the #COVID19 pandemic."

The Justice Department guidelines also contemplate commutation for felons who have rendered "meritorious service" to the government, generally for cooperating with investigations but not receiving adequate consideration of that assistance at sentencing. In Stone's case, his conviction stemmed from an unwillingness to assist Congress's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and he has worn his similar refusal to cooperate with prosecutors as a badge of honor.

President Barack Obama issued a record number of commutations but left Trump with a backlog of about 11,300 petitions. More than 9,100 petitions for clemency have been filed since Trump's election, of which about 1,500 arrived after the campaign ad featuring Johnson appeared, according to the Justice Department's website.

Johnson said Saturday that she remains optimistic that Trump will issue more grants of clemency.

Stone "is not one that I have personally advocated for, but that there's movement on clemency makes me hopeful that there will be more," Johnson said. "The people I am advocating for have spent years in prison and have proven that they rehabilitated themselves."

They include a number of women and people of color serving long sentences for drug crimes. Two of the women, LaShonda Hall and Lenora Logan, are inmates with whom Johnson served time. Another is one of Johnson's co-defendants, Curtis McDonald, who is 70 and was quarantined with covid-19 when they spoke last month. Johnson also is pushing for the release of Chris Young, a 32-year-old serving a life sentence for drug crimes who also has been talked up by Kardashian West.

In an email from his prison in eastern Texas, Young said he would like the president to know, "Not only could I be the best example for those who are coming from dire circumstances like I came from, but I could be the best example for those who wonder if they should they have compassion & sympathy for those in situations like me."

- - -

The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett, Robert Costa and Toluse Olorunnipa contributed to this report.
Bringing volunteers together for the greater good of the community is the task of the Office of Civic Engagement.

The office, created just over a year ago under Mayor Tim Kellers administration, provides support and helps coordinate volunteerism across Albuquerque.

We put in a whole new volunteer engagement platform, which debuted in January, to be the main meeting point for volunteerism, said David Chene, civic engagement manager, mayors office. What we do is we have all of the city volunteer opportunities posted on the One ABQ volunteer site, cabq.gov/abq-volunteers. In addition, any community partner, any organization that leverages volunteers or wants to create a donation drive can use the site free of service.

Thats kind of one innovative thing weve turned into a whole community approach, where anyone can use the site free of charge to recruit volunteers, track volunteers, log hours and manage documents so its a really cool and innovative tool that anyone can use.

Currently there are more than 450 opportunities to volunteer with all city departments such as parks and recreation, animal welfare, the Albuquerque Police Department, as well as the public libraries, museums and partner organizations such as food banks. There are over 10,000 volunteers enrolled.

Theyre not always active but theyve created accounts in our system, Chene said. We can send out our work with community partners and send out communications to all those people to let them know about new and different volunteer opportunities across the city. The idea is to connect people to opportunities that matches their interests and skills where they want to do it. So in their neighborhoods, or in the communities that they live in.

City volunteers must sign a waiver and undergo a simple background check that can be done online. Once their background check clears they are free to volunteer with any of the programs listed on the One Albuquerque volunteer engagement platform, oneabqvolunteers.com.

On the site there is an entire page dedicated to COVID-19 responses. In March, all the traditional volunteer opportunities just kind of stalled due to all the social distancing needs, according to Chene.

Generally the demographic for volunteers are older folks who really needed to pay attention to social distancing, so we created the COVID-19 response page with different ways that you could volunteer from home and also to list all the critical areas in the city that really needed support, like our emergency operation center needed volunteers and still does in the West Side homeless shelter, he explained. We needed people to screen folks coming in so we are able to work in direct partnership with the emergency center to coordinate volunteers for COVID-19 response.

In addition, many community partners post on the COVID-19 response page.

We helped recruit for a handful of the different mask making groups, Chene said. They helped to make I think over 20,000 masks up to this point. And then the emergency operation center would help get the masks to places that need them most. They are amazing volunteers that are logging hours and all the hours that are logged for COVID-19 equates to over $25 an hour in reimbursable funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance grant. This money has played a real critical role in recovery at some point.

The Office of Civic Engagement also partnered with the University of New Mexico through Corona Care New Mexico, which connects volunteers to frontline health workers to help with childcare, pet sitting, household tasks and other errands.

Unfortunately, our numbers go up and once the fall hits, if it gets worse, were set up to help wherever we can and community members can find safe ways to help, Chene said. Its really amazing to see all these initiatives pop up and its really been inspiring to play such a small role really as a connector to just help connect organization people and community members to one another especially during this difficult time.

In addition to giving back to the community volunteerism is a pathway to employment, according to Chene. He began as a volunteer over 15 years ago and said most of his jobs have been a direct result of the network he built as a volunteer.

Theres a lot of evidence that says now that active volunteers are 27% more likely to find full-time employment while volunteering, he said. And so our system is built so you can build a volunteerism resume. You get to create your own profile and it really kind of looks like a resume and you can add the information from that to your resume. It helps you get your foot in the door at different city departments or different organizations around town to build networks to find a pathway to employment.
St. Stephen was set to host its 36th annual Chocolate Fest this year but when the government announced it was cancelling all festivals until the end of the year, organizers knew they'd need to get creative.

Jennifer Lord, oversight manager of Chocolate Fest, wanted to find a way to keep the tradition going and include people from across Canada.

Organizers launched a chocolate box that can be shipped across the country from St. Stephen, the town by the Canada-U.S. border that is home to the Ganong Bros. candy company.

The box includes activities such as bingo and cookie decorating, supplies to design your own Chocolate Fest T-shirt, and lots of chocolate.

"A lot of people assume we will be cancelled, so they were just grateful I think to have the festival continue even if it does look very different from previous years," Lord told Information Morning Saint John.

In past years, the festival had live music, pudding eating contests and candy hunts.

Chocolate Fest/Facebook

Lord said the festival running from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6 will still have a few in-person events, which will be announced soon.

But they wanted to include people who aren't able to travel and others who may have never thought to participate.

"We've sold some boxes to people in British Columbia, Ontario and Newfoundland, which normally they wouldn't come to St. Stephen for the festival."

The box also includes a Zoom invitation for the chocolate fest comedy show with comedian James Mullinger.

There are eight different activities in the box so recipients can be kept busy during the five-day festival.

Lord said she knows St. Stephen won't see as many visitors this year but the festival is trying to make the best of it.

The deadline to order a box is Sunday at midnight. After that some boxes may still be available but they will be limited and may not include all the activities.

"With the box you get to enjoy all the sweet fun too."
This being an election year, and with the media determined to send President Donald Trump into retirement, we shouldnt expect to hear anyone give Trump credit for anything. All they have to offer is blame  and criticism.

Even as a Trump critic myself  and an original Never Trumper who has despised the real estate mogul since June 2015, when he declared his White House bid and revved up the crowd by essentially calling my Mexican grandfather a criminal, rapist and drug dealer  I get sick of it.

No president gets everything wrong or everything right. Whether were talking about CNN on the left or Fox News on the right, the media is always trying to hypnotize the public. Why not just report events?

Trump haters are stuck on the narrative that failed Democrats in the 2016 election, i.e. Trump is a bad person.

Why, even going to Mount Rushmore to praise America on the Fourth of July, we are told, is a diabolical attempt by an evil president to stoke divisions and start a culture war.

If there is a war, the first shot was fired decades ago. In the words of Billy Joel, Trump didnt start the fire.

I dont think the left has thought out this line of attack. It takes as least two parties to go to war. If Trump supports America, then can we assume his opponents are against America? Is that really where anti-Trump liberals want to make their stand?

The 2020 election should be about a whole host of things  from reviving the economy to battling the coronavirus to curbing police violence. Instead, the election could boil down to how we all feel about America.

Ill play along. I dont care for Trump, but I love America. And I liked his speech.

We declare that the United States of America is the most just and exceptional nation ever to exist on Earth, Trump told cheering supporters.

Now that the activist fringe has succeeded in pulling Biden to the left and away from the moderate center, whenever the Democratic candidate talks about America, his robotic cadence sounds like this: We wont just rebuild this nation. Well transform it.

You know whos been transformed? Joe Biden. To think this is the same guy who, in 2008, Barack Obama put on the ticket because the Delaware senator had built his whole brand around being the working-class whisperer. While Democrats abandoned their common-man roots and became the party of coastal elites, Biden remained connected to blue-collar folks who wear hard hats and carry lunch buckets.

This year, Trumps campaign message is obviously: America the Beautiful. Bidens message seems to be: America the Broken.

Thats a stark choice. Which message do you suppose will resonate with more Americans?

Yeah, me too. I was afraid of that. Most Americans think the country is like a house that could use a touch-up, a little paint, maybe some minor repairs. But America does not need to be torn down to the studs and rebuilt with safe spaces, woke culture and police-free CHOP zones.

Our country is not perfect. But nor is she, as many on the left claim, rotten to her core. The left wants to give America a stern scolding. Its going to wind up giving Trump something he doesnt deserve: four more years.

The media know this, which is why they wasted no time in demagoguing Trumps Fourth of July speech. They know a winning message when they hear it. And coming up with a better, positive message takes too much work. Its easier to go on the attack.

But do you know what really bugs me about the medias attack on Trumps speech? Its not partisanship or politics. Its personal responsibility, or rather the lack thereof.

Trump told the crowd: Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our Founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.

All true. Did protesters really think they could go on rampages, create mayhem, destroy public property, burn down police stations, break windows, loot stores and generate chaos  and there would be no consequences or condemnation? Americans are all supposed to feel good about that, just accept it as a healthy exercise of free speech?

That settles it. The hard left  and the Democratic Party it now controls  should be disqualified from leading this country. How can they run it? They dont even understand it.

ruben@rubennavarrette.com
PM chaired review meeting on Covid-19 pandemic preparations

India PIB

Prime Minister's Office

Posted On: 11 JUL 2020 1:33PM by PIB Delhi

Hon'ble Prime Minister, today reviewed the Covid 19 situationin the country. The review meeting was attended among others, by Hon'ble Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Member, NITI Aayog, Cabinet Secretary and other senior officials of Government of India.

The Prime Minister took stock of the situation in various parts of the country and the preparedness of various States. The Prime Minister directed that we must reiterate the need to observe personal hygiene and social discipline in public places. The awareness about Covid should be disseminated widely and a continuous emphasis on preventing spread of the infection should be laid. He said that there is no room for any complacency in this regard.

The Prime Minister appreciated the concerted efforts of the Centre, State and local authorities in containing the pandemic situation in Delhi. He further directed that similar approach should be adopted with other State Governments in containing the Covid-19 pandemic in entire NCR area.

The successful example of surveillance and home based care through 'Dhanvantri Rath' in Ahmedabad was highlighted and it was directed that it may be emulated in other places. Prime Minister also directed that real time national level monitoring and guidance should be provided to all affected States and places with high test positivity rate.

******

VRRK/SH



(Release ID: 1637938)

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Brazilian bombshell Alessandra Ambrosio took a refreshing dip in the Pacific Ocean alongside her son Noah Phoenix in Malibu on Saturday.

The 39-year-old CAA model stunned onlookers wearing a $226 guava-colored Sereia ruffled bikini set from her own swimwear line, which had a scalloped-edge and tie-straps.

Alessandra showcased her phenomenal 5ft9in figure while wearing the sexy two-piece from her second swimwear brand, GAL Floripa.

Scroll down for video

Brazilian bombshell: Alessandra Ambrosio wore a red scalloped-edge bikini as she took to the surf on the beach in Malibu on Saturday

Family bonding: She took a refreshing dip in the Pacific Ocean alongside her son Noah Phoenix, eight, who looked like he was just having the best time with his mother

Ambrosio co-founded GAL Floripa in March with her younger sister Aline and best friend Gisele Coria.

The Fyre Festival paid promoter - who retired her Victoria's Secret 'wings' in 2017 - previously ran her eponymous swimwear line ale by Alessandra from 2014-2018.

Alessandra smiled with pride while watching her eight-year-old boy body surf. Meanwhile, Ambrosio dramatically jumped waves while keeping her brunette locks dry in a tiny top bun.

Walking advertisement: The 39-year-old CAA Model showcased her phenomenal 5ft9in figure while repping her second swimwear brand, GAL Floripa

Second time: The Fyre Festival paid promoter - who retired her Victoria's Secret 'wings' in 2017 - previously ran her eponymous swimwear line ale by Alessandra from 2014-2018

Pert: Alessandra smiled with pride while watching her eight-year-old boy body surf

Weeee! Ambrosio dramatically jumped waves while keeping her brunette locks dry in a tiny top bun

The American Housewife guest star appeared to have a blast bonding with little Noah as they beat the 90F-degree summer heat.

Alessandra was also joined in the surf by a blonde gal pal barely containing her assets in a leopard-print bikini.

Ambrosio - who boasts 18.1M social media followers - later Instastoried sandy snaps of Noah and her yellow bikini-clad daughter Anja Louise, who turns 12 next month.

No one was seen wearing masks or face coverings, which California Governor Gavin Newsom made mandatory for all public outings - including beaches - on June 18.

Sitting pretty: Alessandra first posing in her $226 guava-colored Sereia ruffled bikini set in a campaign shot from her range

Ready for the next wave! The American Housewife guest star appeared to have a blast bonding with little Noah as they beat the 90F-degree summer heat

Making a splash: Alessandra was also joined in the surf by a blonde gal pal barely containing her assets in a leopard-print bikini

As of Sunday, there have been over 130K confirmed COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County, which has lead to 3,795 deaths - according to Johns Hopkins University.

The MasterChef guest star amicably ended her decade-long engagement to her children's father - Re/Done denim co-founder Jamie Mazur - in March 2018.

Alessandra has been romancing Alanui co-designer Nicolo Oddi ever since they met at HQ2 Nightclub in Atlantic City back in July 2018.

Her pride and joy: Ambrosio - who boasts 18.1M social media followers - later Instastoried sandy snaps of Noah and her yellow bikini-clad daughter Anja Louise, who turns 12 next month

Unprotected: No one was seen wearing masks or face coverings, which California Governor Gavin Newsom made mandatory for all public outings - including beaches - on June 18

Amicable: The MasterChef guest star ended her decade-long engagement to her children's father - Re/Done denim co-founder Jamie Mazur - in March 2018 (pictured August 25)
In a setback for the Madhya Pradesh Congress, its MLA Pradyuman Singh Lodhi resigned from the party as well as membership of the state assembly and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday.

IMAGE: Congress MLA from Bada Malhera, Chhatarpur district, Pradyuman Singh Lodhi being greeted Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan after joining BJP, at party's State headquarters in Bhopal. Photograph: ANI Photo

Lodhi, who represented the Bada Malhera assembly seat in Chhatarpur district, joined the BJP at the ruling party's state headquarters in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.



On the occasion, state BJP chief V D Sharma announced Lodhi's induction into the party fold.

Chouhan and Sharma welcomed Lodhi into the BJP.

Talking to reporters after joining the saffron party, Lodhi said, "I have resigned as MLA. My resignation has been accepted. Only the BJP can develop Bada Malhera assembly constituency and the Bundelkhand region. The chief minister also approved developmental schemes for my area."

Before joining the party, Lodhi went to Chouhan's residence on Sunday morning.

He also met senior BJP leader and former Union minister Uma Bharti, who in 2003 represented the Bada Malhera seat in the state assembly.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly's pro-tem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma said Lodhi's resignation as MLA has been accepted.

He submitted the resignation on Saturday. I told him to reconsider it till Sunday. But, he again came to me today and requested to accept the resignation. So, his resignation has been accepted, he said.

With this, the Congress's strength in the state assembly has been reduced to 91.

In March this year, 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the Congress after former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party and joined the BJP, resulting in the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Madhya Pradesh government.

On March 23, Chouhan took oath as chief minister for a record fourth term.

Following the resignation of 23 members and death of two sitting legislators, the effective strength of the 230-member state assembly at present is 205.

The BJP currently has 107 MLAs in the state assembly.

Besides, the House also has four Independent MLAs, two of the Bahujan Samaj Party and one of the Samajwadi Party.
The event was attended by Director of the Ministry of Healths Medical Services Administration Department Luong Ngoc Khue, the leader of Cho Ray Hospital and the doctors directly engaged in treating Patient 91, and representatives from the UK Consulate General in HCM City and the Flight Crew Division 919 of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, where the patient works and also that will bring him home.

Today is a very happy day for the Vietnamese health sector and doctors. We have just said goodbye to Patient 91 and given him a certificate before his discharge, said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue.

Earlier on July 10, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son had a working session at Cho Ray Hospital to inspect preparations for the transfer of Patient 91 to his home country.

Currently, the Vietnamese Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs, and the UK Consulate General have completed the procedures and schedule for the repatriation of the patient.

After all the hospital discharge procedures are finalised, Patient 91 will board a flight to Hanoi at 7pm today (July 11) to take another flight to the UK from Noi Bai International Airport at 11pm.

Patient 91 was the most severe COVID-19 case with the longest treatment time in Vietnam. He underwent a total of 116 days of treatment after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, including 65 days at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, and 51 days of intensive care and rehabilitation at Cho Ray Hospital.
Dubai-based RIF Trust, a leading residency and citizenship by investment advisory, is making one last call for the current Malta Individual Investor Programme to book an appointment before July 31.



The move will likely save 150,000 as its quota is now almost full, a company statement said, citing Malta's Authorities.



Following this date, the new citizenship programme is expected to be 150,000 more expensive as the revised regulations will likely see an increase in the non-refundable contribution of 150,000 to off-set the removal of the bond purchase requirement.



In 2013, the Malta government allowed for a concession of 1,800 families to obtain a limited number of passports. The programme has proven popular with Saudi Arabian expats from neighbouring countries with limited visa-free travel, such as Yemen Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, and other Gulf state residents in the UAE who make up a large share of the applicants.



Subject to due diligence checks, this programme grants EU citizenship in exchange for a 1 million capital outlay for a single applicant and has become worlds most prestigious and powerful Citizenship by Investment Programme.



The Malta programme has been extremely popular with Saudi Arabian expats as it offers several benefits; such as visa-free access to 184 countries, the ability to live, travel, work and study anywhere in the European Unions 26 countries; Malta also has a visa-waiver programme with the USA allowing visa-free travel for business or leisure for up to 90 days and flexibility to do business anywhere in Europe.



Given Covid-19, Maltas free and strong healthcare system has become increasingly attractive for its citizens. In addition, Malta has many strong historical links with Arabic culture with 32% of the Maltese language based in Arabic.



Mimoun Assraoui, CEO of RIF Trust, said: Our clients in Saudi Arabia are high net-worth individuals who are looking for greater access to Europe and the USA for themselves and their families. With a Malta passport, they can truly access any part of the world.



For those that cannot afford the 1 million capital outlay or are seeking permanent residency instead of citizenship, we have many Saudi Arabian clients choosing Maltas Residency and Visa Programme for 190,000. This programme gives to the main applicant and their family permanent residency immediately and visa-free access to the EUs 26 Schengen countries.  TradeArabia News Service
The coronavirus crisis has been tough on the media industry. For months the focus has been on the future of regional newsrooms, job cuts, ABC indexation freezes and government relief packages. But it seems a key regulator is about to get caught in the crisis. For more than 40 years the Australian Press Council has played a quiet but important role in ensuring publishers uphold good standards of journalism. It also lets readers of particular newspapers, magazines and digital sites  such as The Sydney Morning Herald, News Corp's The Australian, Woman's Day or Daily Mail Australia  make complaints about articles that they have concerns about. Now, the industry body is on its knees. Newspapers, magazines and digital outlets rely on the APC to uphold them to good journalism standards. Credit:Phil Carrick Australia's publishing industry is financially challenged and the pandemic  which has created one of the worst advertising markets in decades  has put it under further pressure. As subscribers of the APC like Nine Entertainment Co (publisher of this masthead), News Corp Australia, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Daily Mail Australia and the soon-to-be refreshed Australian Associated Press look at ways to manage their own costs, they have turned their attention to how much they pay the council. Nine and News Corp declined to comment. The APC was unavailable for comment before deadline.

The APC handles more than 700 complaints each year which are managed by its staff or through an adjudication panel. Articles which appear in gossip magazines like Woman's Day, cartoons from newspapers and images that are displayed in online articles on Daily Mail Australia can all be complained about. Complaints in recent years have evolved from inaccuracies to the way people are represented. For instance, after multiple complaints were made about stories relating to gender identity and sex characteristics last year, the APC released a set of voluntary guidelines to help inform the way journalists report. The panel adjudication and handling of complaints is expensive and time-consuming and the APC has no ability to penalise financially or legally. If a complaint is upheld by the council, a publisher will often apologise or take down the article. Losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding would mean that the APC cannot operate under its existing model. Industry sources said the organisation is in meetings with subscribers to discuss ways they can add value and avoid the cuts to funding. Further funding cuts could also occur next year when Antony Catalano's Australian Community Media is due for payment. Nine, which owned the regional media business until last July, is currently paying its contribution. Subscription to the APC is not compulsory but the two biggest organisations  Nine and News Corp  contribute about 70 per cent of annual funding, which in 2017-18 calendar year was $2.1 million. Other subscribers like AAP, the MEAA, Bauer Media (publisher of Australian Women's Weekly, New Idea and Woman's Day ) Daily Mail Australia, Australian Community Media and The New Daily, each contribute between one and 10 per cent of total funding. Guardian Australia does not subscribe to the Press Council and uses an internal set of guidelines for regulation. The ABC sits under the Australian Communications and Media Authority code of practice.
MBABANE  Muzikayise Dube, the CEO of Category A public enterprise ENIDC, is spitting fire.

Three days after going to court to stop the Times SUNDAY from publishing an expose on a deal between the Eswatini National Industrial Development Corporation and an Israel entity known as AquaMaof Aquaculture Technologies LTD, the Chief Executive Officer has allegedly now told his employees that he has reported them to the Police Intelligence. Dube suspects his staff of having hacked the parastatals computer systems and distributed confidential information to various platforms. This publication has seen a memorandum dated July 8, 2020 addressed to all ENIDC staff members through which he informs them about the management of confidentiality in the corporation. It has come to our knowledge that a considerable amount of confidential information on the corporations transactions, projects and communication has been stolen from the office. This information includes classified emails communication with clients and partners, clients files, meetings records and payments paper trail, among others, reads the memo.

Stolen information

It continues: It is suspected that the stolen information may involve hacking of the corporations systems including the server and personal computers. At the latest instance, the corporation has engaged services of the Police Intelligence to investigate and bring the perpetrators to book. Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni said a case in this regard had not been opened in any of their police stations. She said this could most probably be because Dube was not looking to open a case against anyone but only seeking assistance from the police.

Wondered

The Intelligence Department said they would not be the one to deal with such a matter but probably the Fraud Department would. But the Fraud Department also said they didnt have such a case. Thats why I suspect he hadnt opened a case per se but engaged the police to assist him, Mnguni said. She wondered why such a matter would be reported to the Intelligence Department instead of the Fraud Department. Meanwhile, in the memorandum, Dube told the employees that there was no doubt of the immeasurable extent of the damage this irresponsible behaviour has done to the Corporations business. Without implicating any staff member, we are reminded that theft of official information, data and written materials, and sharing it with external parties illegally (without permission) infringes on the corporations Privacy Policy and Code of Ethics Policy. It is also a criminal offence, and cannot be tolerated, adds the memo. It is worth noting that the Kingdom of Eswatini does not have legislation on cyber security that could address issues such as hacking of computer systems.




Antony Fernando By

Express News Service

NAGAPATTINAM: Fisherfolk resorted to a protest on Saturday condemning officials for continued seizure of fish caught using banned purse seine nets. They demanded that the ban affected their livelihood and appealed to the State government to revoke it.

Tension in the fishing hamlets had been simmering for a while a Fisheries department and Marine police cracked the whip on those engaging in illegal fishing practices. On Friday eight truck loads of fish caught using the banned nets were impounded triggering a protest. Fishers in Nambiar Nagar called for a meeting to discuss their next course of action and decided to picket the Fisheries Department office on Saturday.

Police cordoned off the road between Nagore and Nagapattinam and riot control personnel were deployed. Roads leading to the District Collectorate were also fortified with barricades. Meanwhile, the district administration invited the fishers for peace meeting on Saturday morning. Senior officials including SP S Selvanagarathinam, and Tahsildar A Francis Xavier took part. The fishers stood firm in demanding that the ban on purse seine nets be revoked, and the officials refused.

With the meeting failing to evolve a solution, women surrounded the sieged building and some threatened to self immolate. Soon hundreds of men and women tried to take out a procession towards the Fisheries Department Office but were stopped by police. As the situation became volatile, senior police officials including inspector-general of police (IGP) of Central Zone HM Jayaram and Deputy inspector-general of police (DIGP) of Thanjavur Range Rupesh Kumar Meena rushed to Nagapattinam.

A second meeting was convened in the afternoon ub which fisher representatives from Pazhaiyar, Poompuhar, Thirumullaivasal, Kottaimedu, Madavamedu and Manmadhan Nagar also took part.

District Collector Praveen P Nair and Fisheries Joint Director R Amal Xavier convinced mechanized boat owners about the threat they posed to fibreglass country boat fishers if they used purse seine nets. The fishers eventually agreed to wait till Wednesday for a favourable decision.

Amal Xavier said, We tried our best to make the fishers understand purse sine fishing is destructive, non-sustainable and non-ecofriendly. The district administration would write to the government to take a call on the issue by Wednesday.

Nets banned all over the country, says minister

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said, The pair trawling and purse seine fishing nets have been banned not only in Tamil Nadu, but also at the national level following court orders. The Madras HC as well ruled against its usage in 2018. How can we allow anything that is illegal? Fishermen should understand this.

CM urges Centre to repatriate 40 fishers

Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to make arrangements for the repatriation of around 40 fishermen from Tamil Nadu who are still stranded in Iran.Recalling his earlier letter dated May 19 wherein he had requested for repatriation of stranded fishermen from Iran to Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister said accordingly, 681 fishermen from Tamil Nadu were repatriated safely via INS Jalashwa on July 1. But around 40 fishermen were left behind due to the inadequacy of space in the ship. Therefore, I request you to arrange for their repatriation at the earliest to Tamil Nadu in a special flight, Palaniswami added. ENS

Six Sri Lankan fishermen rescued

Chennai: Six Sri Lankan fishermen were rescued on Saturday by an Indian Coast Guard Ship, Rajkamal. According to the Coast Guard, the fishermens boat was in distress, and was noticed 190 nautical miles north-west of Port Blair by a Dornier aircraft, while carrying out aerial surveillance. Upon informing the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Port Blair and Colombo, a rescue mission was immediately launched, said the Coastguard. ENS
Boeing has been reeling from a series of devastating setbacks, including the grounding of its Boeing Max 737 fleet after two deadly crashes. The company may not have wanted to deal with another controversy. (Stephen Brashear / Getty Images)

I used to argue with my very progressive mother about whether women belonged in combat.

Women create life, she told me. They should not be in the business of snuffing it out.

I think her rationale probably sprang from her pacifist tendencies, but hers was not an unusual point of view.

Indeed, American women were not officially allowed to serve in all combat roles until 2016.

When I read this week that Boeings new communications chief is out of a job for penning an essay almost 33 years ago opposing women in combat, which he had long since renounced, I have to admit, I was surprised. I probably should not have been.

After all, we are in the midst of this decades great reckoning, which was unleashed by women who were sick and tired of being sexually harassed and violated by powerful men. The #MeToo movement, among other things, caused a great culling of abusive male bosses that continues to this day. The current iteration of the reckoning is more complicated. At its roots are a rage against racism and sexism and longstanding social inequities that have manifested themselves in every aspect of American life. There is, in addition, something relatively new afoot. It has to do with the nebulous concept of safety.

This idea, as Jonathan Chait recently wrote in New York magazine, frequently collapses the distinction between words and action  by describing opposing beliefs as a safety threat. I first encountered the concept during free-speech debates on college campuses, where, for instance, students were virulently opposed to inviting, say, a right-wing provocateur like Milo Yiannopoulos onto campus, because he made them feel unsafe.

So, for example, when Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton wrote an overheated essay urging the president to call out the military to quell violent protests, he was accused of endangering the safety of Black reporters at the New York Times, where his essay appeared. The opinion editor was forced out for his poor judgment, both because the piece was shoddily edited and also because he hadnt read it before publication.

Story continues

Around the same time, a young political data analyst who worked on the reelection campaign of President Obama tweeted out a Princeton study that found  to greatly simplify the work  that violent protests after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. reduced the Democratic vote, and peaceful protests increased it. The analyst, David Shor, was attacked for, among other things, anti-Blackness and soon lost his job.

As Chait put it, Since criticism of violent protests is racist, and racism obviously endangers Black people, an act as seemingly innocuous as sharing credible research poses a threat to safety.

Of course, Shor was not criticizing anything.

He was highlighting a research paper produced by Omar Wasow, a Black political scientist who co-founded the social networking site BlackPlanet. Wasow has spent 15 years studying civil rights protests of the 1960s, and has, as he tweeted, paid particular attention to how nonviolent and violent actions by activists & police influence media, elites, public opinion & voters.

Seems pretty innocuous, but the very act of studying violent protests is perceived in some quarters as inappropriate, or not helpful, as one history professor told the Chronicle of Higher Education. Even raising the question, University of Michigan Professor Heather Ann Thompson told the Chronicle, puts an undeserved onus on people protesting injustice.

::

In 1987, Niel Golightly was a young Navy pilot when he wrote a long piece called "No Right to Fight in Proceedings, the magazine of the U.S. Naval Institute. Although he was trying to make a serious argument, the piece reads like parody straight out of the He-Man Womans Haters Club.

"Women do not naturally band together for ritual comradeship," he wrote, in a passage characteristic of the entire ridiculous piece. "Their enormous personal courage usually reflects their loyalties to family and home rather than to each other and 'the group.' But while feminine loyalties are arguably more civilized, productive, and intellectually defensible than the male compulsion to be part of a group, it nevertheless remains that the bonding imperative is crucial to the collective mettle of men in combat."

The essay was recently brought forward, according to Boeing, by an employee who used it as the basis of an internal anonymous ethics complaint against Golightly.

Apparently, Boeing officials, already reeling from a series of devastating setbacks, did not want to face another controversy at a moment when the company says it has made an unrelenting commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Apologies and renunciation were not enough.

In a statement released by Boeing, Golightly explained that the article was a 29-year-old Cold War Navy pilots misguided contribution to a debate that was live at the time.

He said that his argument was embarrassingly wrong and offensive, and that the criticism that followed quickly opened my eyes, indelibly changed my mind, and shaped the principles of fairness, inclusion, respect and diversity that have guided my professional life since.

This is a fraught moment for discussions about race and gender. Emotions are raw and, as we see in the current discussion about "cancel culture," free speech and responsibility, there is little room for error.

I just dont see how firing someone for something they wrote  and disavowed  decades ago, helps advance the cause of justice. And yes, to my surprise as well as yours, I am defending a middle-aged white man I've never met.

I guess we could all use a little compassion and empathy right about now.

@AbcarianLAT




Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has questioned the suitability of ICASA council candidates sent to her by Parliament, according to a report in the Sunday Times.

The report stated that the National Assembly provided Ndabeni-Abrahams with a ranked list of 10 candidates for positions on the ICASA council on 5 June, and instructed her to appoint six people.

The minister reportedly replied to Parliament with a letter on 30 June, questioning the suitability of the candidates and rejecting several of them due to their lack of experience.

ICASA plays a vital role in the South African economy  and ICT sector in particular  as it is responsible for managing the allocation of spectrum to mobile network operators.

Mobile network operators, including Vodacom and MTN, have been requesting new spectrum from the government and ICASA for years, as it will allow them to offer better mobile data coverage at higher speeds and lower prices.

ICASAs allocation of spectrum will also determine how and when mobile operators can roll out their 5G networks in South Africa.

Vodacom, for example, said it used temporary spectrum from ICASA to fast-track the launch of its 5G network in May.

This latest news follows a report on 14 June that Ndabeni-Abrahams was facing an unprecedented stand-off with Parliament over the appointment of new ICASA councillors.

It was stated that the ranking of the candidate list was seen by the ministers associates as an attempt to force her to align her choice with the views of the Parliament.

Return to work

Ndabeni-Abrahams received the candidate list from Parliament following her return to work after being placed on special leave for two months.

The minister was placed on special leave for violating lockdown regulations  specifically, for visiting a friend for lunch during strict lockdown regulations in South Africa.

While the minister was on special leave, Minister in The Presidency Jackson Mthembu acted in her position.

Following her infringement of the national lockdown regulations, Ndabeni-Abrahams issued a public apology for her actions.

I regret the incident and I am deeply sorry for my actions. I hope the President and South Africans will find it in their hearts to forgive me, Ndabeni-Abrahams said.
International evangelist Morris Cerullo dies at 88

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International Pentecostal evangelist Morris Cerullo died at the age of 88 on Saturday, the day after his family said he was being treated for pneumonia at a hospital in California.

Today we remember the incredible life of this great man. Your Legacy will live on! the evangelists family wrote on Instagram on Saturday, announcing his death.

On Friday, Cerullos family wrote on Facebook about his hospitalization.

Dear Friends, we would appreciate your immediate prayers for Dr. Cerullo who is being treated for Pneumonia at the hospital, the post read. Please also pray for Theresa who has been working around the clock to assist in his care. She needs your prayers too for extra strength at this time. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for Morris and Theresa!

The evangelist is survived by his wife, Theresa, his children, David Cerullo and Susan Peterson, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

In December 2016, Cerullo told The Christian Post in an interview that he had battled serious health issues, but had recovered after being bedridden for nearly eight months that year.

He said it was Gods healing that restored him after vasculitis, a family of uncommon diseases that feature inflammation of the blood vessels with no known cause, left him unable to move. This is probably the greatest miracle Ive ever seen in my life. You know Ive seen thousands and thousands of people miraculously cured but nothing like this. I was given up by the doctors. I was paralyzed, they had me in a wheelchair for maybe seven, eight months this year, Cerullo said at the time.

I had my whole leg here eaten away, he said, rolling up his pants on his right leg to display his now healthy foot. I have pictures. I showed them on TV of the whole of my leg in the red. Raw. Way down. Deep inside. ... I was bedfast. No doctor could help me. So what I did? God gave me an incredible miracle, and so you can see brand new flesh.

Cerullo authored more than 80 books about Gods miraculous moves. He also wrote an autobiography called The Legend of Morris Cerullo: How God Used an Orphan to Change the World.

The autobiography goes back to my roots. Most people, they see Morris on the platform, Ive been in India with 500,000 people in one service, and they see me up on the platform but they dont know the real me. And so I wanted to let them know how I have experienced the grace of God in my own life, he said at the time.

How God took a little orphan boy who lost his mother when I was 2 years of age and had a drunken father who deserted five children, and how the hand of God, so mysteriously from the time he was a little boy, was on his life and how God led him through the Jewish Orthodox orphanages that I was placed, he added.

He earlier said God told him son, do you know prophets never retire? God then gave him the idea for the Morris Cerullo Legacy and Training Center, he said. Its a facility in San Diego to train evangelists from around the world.

Cerullos ministry recently opened a $200 million religious-themed resort and conference center in San Diego.

San Diego has been my home since 1959 and Im thrilled to bring this vision to life in such a vibrant community, Cerullo said at the time. San Diego is a diverse city and we look forward to welcoming people of all cultures, faiths and backgrounds to experience Legacy International Center.

Cerullo traveled around the world for his ministry, which spread following major international preaching missions he organized. He made some controversy and was indicted for failing to report his total income for over three years in the 1990s, though charges in the case were dismissed.
The UKs largest animal welfare charity has warned that the new Trade and Agriculture Commission is a Trojan horse that risks undermining the nations world-leading farm and food standards.

Giving its backing to The Mail on Sundays Save Our Family Farms campaign, the RSPCA criticised the Governments failure to guarantee that the UKs tough welfare and environmental practices would be enshrined in a future post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

It also attacked the new commission  set up by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss to tackle concerns that a deal with America could allow inferior products to flood Britain  for being a Trojan horse which fails to fulfil the Governments manifesto promises to protect welfare standards.

It also attacked the new commission  set up by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss (pictured) to tackle concerns that a deal with America could allow inferior products to flood Britain  for being a Trojan horse which fails to fulfil the Governments manifesto promises to protect welfare standards

Announcing details of the commission, whose members are drawn from industry and farming bodies, Ms Truss last week insisted that she was putting British farming first and that our high food and animal welfare standards wont be compromised.

But the RSPCA criticised Ms Truss for failing to appoint a single representative from the animal welfare sector on the 16-member board. RSPCA chief executive Chris Sherwood said: Our real concern is that the commission is going to be a Trojan horse for deregulating and reducing our outstanding farm welfare standards.

While Mr Sherwood welcomed the independence of Tim Smith  a former Food Standards Agency boss who has been named as the commissions chairman  he questioned whether the panel would have teeth, given that its findings will only be advisory.

When the commission publishes its report, Parliament needs to have the opportunity for transparent debate on its recommendations and the ability to pass a binding resolution, said Mr Sherwood.

Announcing details of the commission, whose members are drawn from industry and farming bodies, Ms Truss last week insisted that she was putting British farming first and that our high food and animal welfare standards wont be compromised

We dont want this to be something where the report gets buried or is kicked into the proverbial long grass. Instead, we want to see a cast iron, legal guarantee in the Agricultural Bill that our animal welfare standards will be protected in future free trade deals.

We want to see the UK exporting our leading farm and animal welfare standards around the world  championing our high standards and ensuring that food coming into the UK, which is unlawful to produce here, is not allowed in.

Mr Sherwood said the Conservative Party made a manifesto pledge before last years Election to protect animal welfare standards.

Ministers insist they will not undermine UK standards in any future trade deal but farmers and campaigners were left furious in May when a bid to enshrine the promise into law as part of the new Agricultural Bill was defeated. There are also fears that farmers will be undercut by low-quality imports from countries which have weaker welfare standards.

Mr Sherwood warned this could result in a flood of chlorinated chicken, hormone-fed beef, pork produced from sow-stall systems, and egg products from hens in battery cages.

The reason why chlorine is used is because chickens are kept in such filthy conditions and their waste isnt removed after they are slaughtered, he said. That wouldnt happen here because of our animal welfare rules.

Environment Secretary George Eustice has previously called animal welfare law in the US woefully deficient.

The RSPCA will support the Commission, but Mr Sherwood urged the Government to go further by amending the Agricultural Bill to enshrine their commitment to our animal welfare standards.

Without this clear, legal protection, the Government is leaving the door open to rolling back on these promises and negotiating away these crucial protections, he said.

Brexit presents an opportunity: to protect our farm animals and protect British farmers, making Britain a beacon for higher welfare production, and we urge the Government to grasp this.

This stuff really matters. Agricultural Bills only get passed very rarely because they take an awful lot of parliamentary time. This Bill could be our legislation for the next ten to 20 years. This is about future-proofing farm animal welfare standards and ensuring that theyre safeguarded for a generation.

The RSPCAs intervention came as Mr Smith called for cool heads and thoughtful discussion.

Calling for an international coalition that helps advance higher animal welfare standards across the world, he expressed hope that the UKs world-leading animal welfare standards could influence World Trade Organisation policy.

However, he failed to rule out chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef being allowed into the UK as part of a US trade deal.
A man shops for meat during the pandemic.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Tyson Foods is accelerating development of robotic technology that will assist with meat processing following a series of coronavirus outbreaks at meatpacking facilities around the US.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been a total of 16,233 coronavirus cases in meat processing facilities across 23 states.

Tyson has already invested $500 million in robotics since 2017, but CEO Noel White told the Wall Street Journal the company plans to ramp up these efforts in response to the pandemic.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

In the not-so-distant future, robots may be cutting and processing packaged meat for Americans.

Tyson Foods is reportedly accelerating development of robotic technology designed to handle processes like deboning the 39 million chickens that go through the company's plants each week, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

While the project has been in the works for several years, the meatpacking company increased urgency around the effort in the wake of a rash of coronavirus outbreaks across its facilities starting in May. Tyson, as well as competitors like Smithfield Foods, quickly became hot spots for spreading the virus, sickening workers and prompting temporary closures that led to national meat shortages.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been a total of 16,233 coronavirus cases in meat processing facilities across 23 states in the US. As of July 10, these illnesses have contributed to 86 deaths, the CDC findings show.

"Meat and poultry processing facilities face distinctive challenges in the control of infectious diseases, including COVID-19," the CDC report states. "COVID-19 outbreaks among meat and poultry processing facility workers can rapidly affect large numbers of persons."

Tyson Foods CEO Noel White told the Wall Street Journal that the company has already invested $500 million in robotics since 2017, and has plans to ramp up the project amid the coronavirus. Tyson currently has a dedicated facility on its Springdale, Arkansas headquarters where engineers and scientists are testing and developing meat processing robots.

Story continues

Tyson is not the only meat behemoth turning its sites to robotics. Competitors like JBC and Pilgrim's Pride have also working on developing similar automated robotic technology in recent years. "They are much closer to what the person can do than seven years ago," JBS CEO Andre Nogueira told the Wall Street Journal.

While automated robots could reduce exposure to the coronavirus and help prevent employees from working in close proximity, some have concerns that they could take the place of human jobs in an economy that has left 21 million Americans unemployed. Further, many of these workers are already earning comparatively low wages to other individuals in similarly hazardous lines of work, at an average of $15.92 an hour. Construction workers, for example, earn an average of $28.51 an hour, according to the US Labor Department.

Read the original article on Insider
Start-up Genome and ICTA launch 2020 Global Start-up Ecosystem Report View(s):

The 2020 Global Start-up Ecosystem Report (GSER) by Start-up Genome and the Global Entrepreneurship Network was launched this week at The Ecosystems Couch Conference.

The GSER is the worlds most comprehensive and widely-read research on start-ups. Its release comes at a critical time when several start-ups in Sri Lanka are running out of funding and facing closure in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers said in a media release.

The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) engaged Start-up Genome to benchmark Sri Lankas performance against more than 250 start-up ecosystems globally in the report. It has identified the Sri Lankan governments support for technology companies and competitive talent as reasons for start-ups to operate in Sri Lanka. The report recognised Sri Lanka for being the number 2 destination among global start-up ecosystems for affordable talent.

Reaffirming the governments support, ICTA Chairman, Jayantha De Silva said, The value of Sri Lankas start-up ecosystem has more than quadrupled from Rs. 5.4 billion to Rs. 21.8 billion in the past two years. ICTA is committed to facilitating the continued growth in ecosystem value and start-up output. We, as the Island Of Ingenuity, take pride in our product engineering talent pool which has delivered world-class products and gained investor confidence globally.

Despite the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, local investors have also reassured their commitment to supporting local start-ups. Chairman of the Lankan Angel Network, Mano Sekaram said, Over the past decade, regional VCs, foreign investors, and other parties have made significant investments into tech start-ups. With this backdrop, were excited to launch Sri Lankas first Angel Fund to further support the growing ecosystem.

The report also identified the strong potential of Sri Lankan start-ups in the eCommerce and FinTech sectors. New regulations by the Central Bank has empowered Sri Lankan FinTech start-ups, which have also found new support with the launch of HatchX, which is Sri Lankas first FinTech accelerator and the first virtual accelerator in South Asia. The accelerator was launched in April 2020 and is an initiative by Hatch in partnership with the Lankan Angel Network.

Commenting on these findings, CEO of PayHere, Dhanika Perera said: The COVID-19 pandemic expedited consumer adoption of eCommerce out of necessity. PayHere recorded a remarkable 4x growth on daily payments processed for local eCommerce businesses. This shift in consumer behaviour has now convinced traditional businesses to move online.

With an expanding footprint, the 2020 GSER provides insights and guidance to foster thriving start-up ecosystems and leveraging them to restart economies following the COVID-19 lockdowns. This is the time for policymakers, community leaders, and foundations to double down on their support of local start-ups  the #1 engine of job creation and economic growth, said JF Gauthier, Founder & CEO of Start-up Genome.
About 10,000 Hong Kong passport holders currently in Australia will be offered the chance to apply for permanent residence as concerns continue over Chinas imposition of a national security law.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said his country had suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and extended visas for the territorys residents.

An Australian immigration minister, Alan Tudge, said in an interview on Sunday that Hongkongers in Australia would be able to apply for permanent residence once their current visas expired.

Mr Tudge told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that applicants would have to pass character and security tests before gaining permanent residency.

He said: So its not automatic. But its certainly an easier pathway to permanent residency and of course once youre a permanent resident, theres then a pathway to citizenship there.

If people are genuinely persecuted and they can prove that case, then they can apply for one of our humanitarian visas in any case.

Mr Morrison announced on Thursday a range of visas that will be extended from two to five years and offer pathways to permanent residency visas.

Expand Close Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, left, has suspended his countrys extradition treaty with Hong Kong (Neil Hall/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, left, has suspended his countrys extradition treaty with Hong Kong (Neil Hall/PA)

The move comes after China bypassed Hong Kongs Legislative Council to impose the sweeping security legislation without public consultation.

The national security law prohibits what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities or as foreign intervention in Hong Kong affairs.

Under the law, police now have sweeping powers to conduct searches without warrants and order internet service providers and platforms to remove messages deemed to be in violation of the legislation.

Mr Morrisons announcement follows a similar move in the UK, with the country extending residency rights for up to three million Hongkongers, while Canada has suspected its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and is looking at other options including migration.

Australia last offered safe haven visas to Chinese people after the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters around Beijings Tiananmen Square in 1989.

More than 27,000 Chinese students in Australia at the time were allowed to stay permanently.
In a victory for the Trump administration, a US judge has ordered Iran to pay over $879 million in compensation for bombing an eight-story towers complex in Saudi Arabia back in 1996.

According to reports, the decision has been hailed by the Trump administration while the Iranian government has refused to acknowledge its involvement in the case and thereby declining to pay the staggering sum.

Read: Iran: Explosion Reported In West Tehran, Official Deny Claims

The blast killed 19 Americans

As per reports, the attack on the Khobar Towers complex housing Western and Saudi troops was carried out by Saudi Hezbollah, a militant group from the conservative Sunni kingdom's Shiite minority. The militant group reportedly drove a truck filled to the brim with explosives into the complex.

According to reports, US federal district court judge in the ruling stated that evidence strongly suggests Iran aided the militant group in carrying out the horrific bombing. The judge reportedly added that the victims from the bombing suffered extensive physical injuries as well as severe psychological trauma and the $879 million would deter similar attacks in the future.

Read: Pompeo Slams UN Report On Deadly US Drone Strike On Iranian

A US State Department spokesperson, in a tweet, claimed that justice for the victims and families of the terror attack was long overdue. In 2018, Judge Howell had ordered Iran to pay $104.7 million in a similar case regarding the complex bombing.

24 years ago, Iran-sponsored terrorists killed 19 Americans at the Khobar Towers and injured hundreds more. A U.S. court has once again found Iran liable to pay damages to victims and their families. Justice is overdue for the many victims of Iranian-supported terror.  Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) July 9, 2020

Read: Iran's Virus Death Toll Reaches Almost 12,000

Read: Iran Says It Has Built Underground 'missile Cities' Along Gulf Coastlines, Warns Enemies
Iain Duncan Smith has said the UK should learn from what happened in the 1930s when it comes to present day China - and the government should review its contracts in the strategic nuclear sector and other areas of national security.

The former leader of the Conservative party said the UK needs to urgently look at its relationship with Beijing as China is not a "trusted vendor".

He claimed Chinese dominance is now a threat to the free world and Britain needs to be very cautious.

Mr Duncan Smith, who remains a leading Conservative, told Sky News: "If you think you can turn a blind eye to a country's appalling treatment of both the people in its own home territory and its aggression abroad then you buy what we learnt years ago - a problem which is bigger and bigger as the years go by.

"We learnt this back in the 1930s, we have to think again now we are facing a very similar problem."

Chinese involvement in Britain's nuclear sector began during David Cameron's time as prime minister.

That embrace of Beijing now seems naive to many people.

Since then, the political temperature has cooled rapidly in light of the increasingly authoritarian direction of the ruling communist party.

Accusations of a cover up over the COVID-19 crisis, the crackdown in Hong Kong and security concerns over China's involvement in Britain's 5G network are creating a febrile atmosphere.

Professor Anthony Glees, an expert in national security and intelligence, said China has made no secret it wants to be the most powerful economic and military power in the world and Britain is walking a dangerous path.

He said: "Nuclear energy is built to provide 25% of our energy requirements for the decades to come, so 25% is a lot of energy and that needs to be controlled entirely by British scientists, British technology, British software.

"And the British government needs to be sure that no foreign power - in this case China - has the ability to turn the thing off, to put it crudely.

Story continues

"I think people just need to ask themselves a somewhat simplistic question, but it makes the point.

"Would the Chinese let Britain build a nuclear power station in China?"

It is, of course, a rhetorical device and requires no answer.

China's investment in the UK's nuclear sector is at the moment primarily financial, but its ambition is far greater than that.

State-owned China General Nuclear UK (CGN UK) is a minority stakeholder in the Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset, which is under construction, and Sizewell C in Suffolk.

Both are in partnership with the French company EDF.

But the big prize is Bradwell B in Essex.

CGN UK holds the majority stake (66.5%) with EDF playing a minority role.

If it eventually designs and builds a nuclear reactor on the site, as planned, it would be an enormous achievement and it would be a way of showcasing Chinese nuclear technology to the rest of the world.

There is, though, another side to this; the UK, dealing with a twin Brexit/COVID crisis, needs investment - and China is a country you simply cannot ignore.

Dr Yu Jie, senior research fellow on China at Chatham House, said the UK should be careful about sending out mixed messages.

She said: "I think at the moment there seems to be a lot of inconsistency happening with the UK government.

"On the one hand we hear rhetoric about a so-called 'golden era' welcoming the Chinese investment whilst on the other hand you have Tory backbenchers and the China Research Group scrutinising the Chinese investment, so I think there's kind of mixed messages making the Chinese very confused about exactly who's representing the United Kingdom."

In a statement CGN said it had already invested more than 3.8bn in the UK economy and had helped create many thousands of jobs.

It went on to say that it was proud of its work supporting the UK economy and the government's goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

A spokesman from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: "Nuclear power has an important role to play in the UK's low-carbon energy future.

"All nuclear projects in the UK are conducted under robust and independent regulation to ensure that the UK's interests are protected."
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has opened two more key trade routes with Afghanistan after months-long closure of the border due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share 18 crossing points.

Pakistan closed its border with Iran and Afghanistan after COVID-19 cases increased in the country early this year.

Pakistani Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq on Saturday said the Angor Adda point in South Waziristan and the Kharlachi crossing in Kurram districts were reopened to boost trade between the two countries.

"Trade should be the mainstay of Pak-Afghan relations and prosperity of regions on both sides of the border," he tweeted.

While the Angor Adda was operationalised on Friday, two days ahead of its scheduled opening, the Kharlachi was reopened on Saturday.

Pakistan is gradually reopening all its major trading points with Afghanistan.

Last month, it reopened Torkham crossing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Chaman point in Balochistan and Ghulam Khan in North Waziristan tribal district to promote bilateral business and trade activities.

Pakistan is the largest importer of Afghani products, while Afghanistan is the 4th largest destination for Pakistani exports.
The plan intends to tap unused mineral resources nationwide with the aim of boosting the sectors contribution to gross domestic product and supporting the countrys comprehensive development efforts

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has called for outlining a comprehensive vision for developing the countrys mining industry, a presidential spokesman said.

The plan intends to tap unused mineral resources nationwide with the aim of boosting the sectors contribution to gross domestic product and supporting the countrys comprehensive development efforts, spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement following El-Sisi's meeting on Saturday with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla.

The meeting discussed the petroleum ministrys efforts to develop the sector, especially the mining, petrochemicals, and natural gas industries. The officials looked at projects including refining and petrochemical plants in the Gulf of Suez, efforts to boost natural gas production and the government plan to gradually convert public buses to natural gas.

El-Sisi called on authorities to tap into the countrys natural gas output including through expanding access by households to natural gas.

The meeting comes nearly two weeks after Egypt discovered a gold deposit in its eastern desert containing estimated resources of over 1 million ounces of gold and a high extraction potential of 95 percent.

The discovery comes amid a plan by the petroleum ministry to boost the sector to raise its contribution to gross domestic product, the petroleum ministry said. The plan has two phases, with the first running from 2018 until the end of 2021.

Egypt is looking to attract foreign direct investments of $375 million to the mining sector in the next two years and increase the forecast for direct investments from $700 million to $1 billion by 2030.



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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 18:09:25|Editor: huaxia

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Tanzanian President John Magufuli gestures during a press briefing in Dodoma, Tanzania, June 30, 2020. (Xinhua)

The national congress of Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party on Saturday endorsed President John Magufuli as its candidate in the country's general election slated for October this year.



DAR ES SALAAM, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The national congress of Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party on Saturday endorsed President John Magufuli as its candidate in the country's general election slated for October this year.

Magufuli, who is seeking to be re-elected for a second and final five-year term in office, garnered 100 percent of the votes from 1,822 CCM's national congress delegates at the Jakaya Kikwete Convention Center in the capital Dodoma.

"The 100 percent victory is a debt to Tanzanians that I will repay by working harder. I will not let down Tanzanians," he told cheering delegates.

Magufuli retained Samia Suluhu Hassan as his running mate saying she is hard working and respectful.

The CCM national congress was also attended by representatives from a handful of friendly countries, including China, Vietnam, South Africa, Zimbabwe among others.

The national congress was also attended by leaders from 18 political parties in the east African nation.

On Friday, the ruling party also picked the Minister for Defense and National Service, Hussein Mwinyi, as presidential candidate for Tanzania's Zanzibar, which formed the union with Tanzanian mainland.

"If I will be elected president of Zanzibar I will follow the footsteps of President John Magufuli in fighting corruption, indiscipline and misuse of resources," said Mwinyi. 
DeVos Vows to Have US Schools Reopened in the Fall: Theyve Fallen Behind

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos vowed to have schools reopened nationwide for in-person classes in the fall, saying that it can be done in a safe manner amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parents are expecting that this fall, their kids are going to have a full-time experience with their learning, and we need to follow through on that promise, DeVos told Chris Wallace on July 12.

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, she said that it will be a matter of how and not a matter of if.

DeVos said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) never recommended that schools be shuttered in the first place, although some CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus hotspots need special consideration.

Where there are hot spots in the future, in the fall, of course that has to be dealt with differently, she said.

Due to the shutdowns, students have suffered by not going to class in person, instead opting to engage in distance learning, DeVos said. Her comment came after President Donald Trump wrote that virtual learning has proven to be TERRIBLE compared to going to class in person, and its not even close.

Trump then threatened to withhold federal funding to schools that dont reopen in the fall.

Theyve fallen behind this spring. We need to ensure theyre back in a classroom situation wherever possible and whenever possible, and fully functioning, fully learning, DeVos said, adding that mental, emotional, and social issues have arisen among children who are stuck at home.

Schoolteacher Aurora Chen hands belongings left behind before schools were shut down to a student who just graduated at Yung Wing School P.S. 124 in New York City, on June 29, 2020. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

She reiterated Trumps warning about withholding funds.

American investment in education is a promise to students and their families, she said. If schools arent going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldnt get the funds.

Last week, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that Trump wants to boost funding to schools in the next stimulus package bill that is being negotiated between Congress and the White House.

But hes looking at potentially redirecting that to make sure it goes to the student and it is most likely tied to the student and not to a district where schools are closed, McEnany said.

The president will always stand up to teachers unions who want to keep schools closed, she said, adding that keeping them closed is untenable.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued warnings that there are intellectual and mental consequences of online learning.

All policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school, the group wrote late last month.

Time away from school can have negative impacts on children, and it is associated with social isolation, making it difficult for schools to identify and address important learning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation, the AAP said.

DeVos, meanwhile, said that the CDC will work with schools that are planning to reopen in coming months.
A large number of students in colleges and universities are finding it difficult to fund their education owing to the lockdown imposed to curb the Covid-19 pandemic, found a survey conducted by a professor from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B).

Almost 82% of the 38,108 students surveyed said they were anticipating difficulty in funding their education while 27% respondents said their chances of continuing education in the academic year 2020-21 were either low or very low.

BN Jagtap, a professor from the department of Physics, IIT-B, and Anand Mapuskar, an educationist who has earlier served in the department of higher and technical education of Maharashtra, conducted the survey of 38,108 students from colleges and universities across Maharashtra to understand their perception of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on higher education.

Of the respondents, 73% said they would have to support their families financially. This is expressed by 75% of male students and 70% of female students. The urban-rural divide is evident in the responses, said Mapuskar. A higher number of students from rural areas expressed the need to help their family financially. For instance, 79% students from rural areas said they had to support their families as compared to 71% from metro cities.

Taking students hardship in account, the University Grants Commission (UGC)  the apex body that regulates all higher education institutes  had issued a circular on May 27 asking all institutes to be sympathetic towards students while asking them to pay tuition fees. Soon after, the University of Mumbai (MU) had, in June, asked all colleges not to hike fees for the new academic year and to allow students to pay fees in instalments.

Vinod Patil, officiating registrar of MU, said the decision was taken in accordance to UGC guidelines keeping in mind that families of students may have lost income due to lockdown.

Of the total 38,108 respondents, 19,495 were female, 18,602 were male and four were transgender students. The survey was aimed at understanding the perception of students on four issues  economic hardship on students, online education, reopening of colleges and new academic year, and students perception of their degree courses.

The survey found that 91% students have smartphones, 32% have laptop/desktop and 6% students reported to have no device at all. The survey also found that a majority of the students interviewed were accessing their academic activities online.

In Maharashtra, 66% students were studying at least one online course during the lockdown. However, the urban-rural divide was prominent in this case as well. In metro cities, district headquarters and taluka headquarters almost 67%-70% were taking online classes as opposed to only 62% in rural areas.

However, very few feel that online classes are useful. Around only 33% felt that the online course was useful while 26% were of the opinion that online courses cannot replace face-to-face teaching. The surveyors, therefore, suggested a hybrid model involving a correct mix of online and face-to-face education so that educational institutes can function with social distancing norms.
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department filed an emergency motion with a federal appeals court on Saturday seeking to move forward with the first federal execution in nearly two decades.

Daniel Lee, 47, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection on Monday at a federal prison in Indiana. He was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell.

But Chief District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled Friday in Indiana that the execution would be put on hold because of concerns from the family of the victims about the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 130,000 people and is ravaging prisons nationwide.

The Justice Department is seeking to immediately overturn that ruling. In the emergency motion to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, it argues that the judges order misconstrues both federal and state law and has no basis in equity and asks the appeals court to permit the government to carry out the execution on Monday afternoon.

The capital sentence at issue here  imposed for the murder of an eight-year-old and her parents during a robbery to fund a white supremacist movement  has been repeatedly upheld by federal courts, and the inmates own efforts to halt its implementation have very recently been rejected by this Court and the Supreme Court, prosecutors wrote in the filing.

In response, lawyers for the victims family said the relatives need no reminder of the gruesome details of those crimes.

The Justice Department also argues that while the Bureau of Prisons has taken measures to accommodate the family and implemented additional safety protocols because of the pandemic, the familys concerns do not outweigh the public interest in finally carrying out the lawfully imposed sentence in this case.

The relatives would be travelling thousands of miles and witnessing the execution in a small room where the social distancing recommended to prevent the virus spread is virtually impossible. There are currently four confirmed coronavirus cases among inmates at the Terre Haute prison, according to federal statistics, and one inmate there has died.

The family argues it isnt trying to overturn Lees death sentence but instead they seek to exercise their lawful rights to attend the execution of Lee, so that they can be together at that moment in time as they grieve their losses, according to the filing. The family hopes there wont be an execution, ever. They have asked the Justice Department and President Donald Trump not to move forward with the execution and have long asked that he be given a life sentence instead.

The relatives, including Earlene Branch Peterson, who lost her daughter and granddaughter in the killing, have argued that their grief is compounded by the push to execute Lee in the middle of a pandemic. Peterson, who is 81 and has not left the county where she lives since February, was told by her doctor she should not travel and should avoid contact with others as much as possible to during the pandemic, the filing said.

Plaintiffs face the unacceptable choice between exercising their right to witness the execution and risking exposure to a deadly disease, the lawyers wrote.

Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press this week that he believes the Bureau of Prisons could carry out these executions without being at risk. The agency has put a number of additional measures in place, including temperature checks and requiring witnesses to wear masks.

The injunction that was imposed late Friday delays the execution until there is no longer such an emergency. The court order applies only to Lees execution and does not halt two other executions that are scheduled for later next week.

The decision to resume executions has been criticized as a dangerous and political move. Critics argue that the government is creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency around a topic that isnt high on the list of American concerns right now.

The federal prisons system has struggled in recent months to stem the exploding coronavirus pandemic behind bars. As of Friday, more than 7,000 federal inmates had tested positive; the Bureau of Prisons said 5,137 of them had recovered. There have also been nearly 100 inmate deaths since late March.
Alexey Komissarouk, a software engineering manager, was among those let go when San Francisco real estate startup Opendoor laid off more than 600 employees in mid-April in response to the coronavirus pandemics economic impact.

As an Israeli citizen working with an H-1B visa, Komissarouk cant receive unemployment benefits. But more crucially, under immigration rules, losing his job set a clock ticking on his time in the United States.

Getting laid off is hard for anyone. But for international workers on H-1Bs, the specialized-skill visas often used in the tech industry, the consequences are far more severe than lost income. Holders of these visas have 60 days to find a comparable new job or leave the country.

Until recently, the issue was moot because tech layoffs were rare and skilled tech workers in high demand. But during the pandemic and economic crisis, as layoffs mount, suddenly thousands of overseas workers now face a stark reality of having to hustle to find work in a tight market. Many have put down roots here  they may have purchased homes, seen their U.S. citizen children enroll in school, be paying off student debt for degrees from American universities.

The 60-day deadline ticking clock adds a lot of pressure and anxiety to whats already a stressful situation, Komissarouk said.

The tech industry and immigration advocates are calling for a temporary extension of the deadline.

Without action, these issues will lead to hundreds of thousands of unfilled jobs and have profound negative economic effects, said a letter to the Departments of State and Homeland Security from TechNet and other trade groups, requesting that laid-off visa holders have at least until Sept. 10 to find new employment.

It did not receive a response. But the Trump administration, which is ideologically opposed to immigration, is already clamping down on H-1Bs and other work visas. An executive order in June temporarily blocks new work visas for people from outside the U.S. through at least the years end. The administration had previously made it harder for immigrants to get or renew H-1B visas.

With each passing week, more and more people are being thrust into this impossible situation of within 60 days finding a job that doesnt exist or leaving the country on a flight that doesnt exist, said Doug Rand, who worked on immigration policy in the Obama administration and is co-founder of Boundless Immigration, a technology company that helps immigrants obtain green cards and citizenship. The sane thing to do would be to take that uncertainty off the table, to make sure nobody has to worry about renewing their immigration status or work permit for the duration of the crisis.

Jeremy Neufeld, a researcher at the Niskanen Center, estimates that more than 100,000 H-1B holders could face the predicament this summer. That includes thousands who may have been waiting for over a decade to receive a green card because of nationality caps that have created a huge backlog.

When recovery can finally start, businesses and teams who relied on the talents of these individuals will be handicapped, he wrote.

But immigration foes said that requiring H-1B holders to leave the country if they lose their jobs is reasonable, pointing to the huge surge in joblessness among Americans.

The H-1B program is not there to provide employment opportunities for people from outside the U.S., said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Its there to provide American companies with talents and skills that cannot be easily replicated. It was never the purpose of the program to keep these people employed and keep them in the U.S.

Peter Leroe-Munoz, vice president of technology and innovation policy at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which advocates on behalf of local companies, said that most people who qualify for H-1B visas are so highly skilled that they cannot be readily replaced with domestic employees.

There were not enough Americans workers before COVID-19 to address these technology roles, whether in computer science or advanced engineering, he said. So many jobs were already unfilled because we simply did not have the tech talent in the U.S.

Job-hunting in the time of COVID-19 comes with added complications. There are legions of other laid-off workers to compete with. Interviewing over Zoom obscures body language. Many companies are in belt-tightening mode and may not be comfortable adding workers, especially ones from overseas.

Besides layoffs, other corporate cutbacks can affect H-1B holders.

Visa holders who have their hours cut or their salaries reduced could be viewed as having a change in their status, said Reaz Jafri, head of immigration for law firm Withers.

In such cases, we are telling employers to file an amended petition, Jafri said. We are being very conservative because we dont want people to run afoul of immigration laws.

Julie Pearl, CEO of immigration firm Pearl Law Group, said she fears that reduced pay could be considered a material change from what the original visa application said. We will fight to protect those peoples ability to stay here and believe the courts will be sympathetic, she said.

Even something as innocuous as working from home  which almost every tech worker is now doing due to shelter-in-place orders  theoretically could affect the visas since they are tied to working at a specific location.

We have had to prepare a ton of amended labor condition applications for people no longer in the office, Pearl said. That change is not going to get anyone in trouble, its just bureaucratic.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Visa holders who are furloughed, meaning they are unpaid but often still receive benefits and have not officially been let go, are seen as equivalent to permanently laid-off ones for visa purposes, so they also face the 60-day deadlines.

Pearl and Jafri both said that laid-off H-1B holders can apply for visitor visas to buy them more time to seek employment. Some could even chose to return to graduate school and obtain student visas  although theyd have to pick an institution offering in-person classes, since the administration wants to deport international students taking all-remote classes.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in an email that it is monitoring pandemic immigration issues and will consider stakeholder recommendations (and) assess various options related to temporary worker programs in coordination with (the Department of Homeland Security) as the situation evolves.

Upon request, it may provide special support for individuals who may be affected by circumstances beyond their control, it said, mentioning visa extensions or expedited processing as possibilities.

There is a big silver lining for laid-off H-1B workers. If they find a new job, their existing H-1B visa can be transferred to the new employer  they dont have to go through the annual lottery again.

Pearl said she fears that the administration might take a hard-line stance on that and find a way to say, Nope, sorry, too bad; you lose a job, youre not a U.S. worker so youre out. We will try to litigate if that happens, she said.

Komissarouk did land a job within the deadline and got his visa transferred.

In some ways I got a little bit of a head start because Opendoors layoffs came earlier than those at some big-name tech companies, like Uber, Lyft and Airbnb, he said. If I were still in the market today, I would be competing with a bunch of engineers from these very fancy top-tier companies.

Tech and immigration advocates fear that the net result of all the skilled-visa crackdowns will be increased offshoring: American firms will still hire workers from overseas, but will keep them based in their home countries or satellite offices in countries with friendlier immigration policies like Canada. That means less tax revenue and less economic activity for the U.S. The Bay Area, which has one of the largest concentration of H-1B workers in the country, could particularly feel the impact of such a move.

The explosion of working from home, coupled with anti-immigration administration policies, creates the perfect storm for shifting high-tech jobs overseas, said Nick Bloom, a Stanford economics professor. High-tech firms wont be bothered if the person is in Santa Clara or Mumbai. But we care about it because those workers provide auxiliary jobs and pay huge amounts of taxes that support social services.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
After weeks of sweltering temperatures in Niagara with more 30-plus Celsius days to come, St. Catharines MPP Jennie Stevens plans to hold Premier Doug Fords feet to the fire regarding a promise to mandate air conditioning in all long-term care homes.

No senior in Niagara should be living in lockdown without any air conditioning. Its hard enough that youre in sweltering conditions. Its just not fair, Stevens said.

The poor seniors, theyre lonely as it is after being in quarantine for three months. And then to live in a heat box, its not fair.

Stevens said her office staff are currently surveying Niagara long term care homes, to identify those that do not have adequate air conditioning for residents.

Although all Niagara Region-run long term care homes are fully air conditioned, she said there are some privately run homes in the region are not.

Its not all nursing homes. I think the CEOs of nursing homes should make sure there is adequate AC put in place now, before the legislation that Ford said hes going to be bringing forward, Stevens said. It could take awhile before that legislation comes forward. I think the CEOs of private long-term care homes should make sure our seniors are looked after.

Stevens wrote a letter to Ford on Friday, asking him to immediately make it a law that every long-term care home provide air conditions in residents rooms, and communicate that clearly and with urgency to every CEO of for-profit nursing homes in Niagara.

Seniors who are already suffering in the stifling heat, while they protect themselves and others from COVID-19, cannot wait for legislation, she wrote.

Our seniors and their families have suffered enough during this ongoing pandemic. The least you can do is to ensure they can continue to protect themselves from the virus and avoid the danger consequences of extreme heat, by installing air conditioning before more lives are put at risk.

Last week, Ford said his government would move forward with developing the legislation rapidly.

I cant imagine sitting there in 27-, 28-degree heat in a room. Its just unacceptable, he said during a media conference on Wednesday.

Stevens said she hopes that legislation is brought forward as early as Monday.

Im going to be at Queens Park Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and if the premier puts forward legislation to ensure all homes get AC, you can bet your booties that we (the NDP) will help pass that in less than five minutes, Stevens said in an interview.

No senior, and I cant stress it enough, in Niagara nursing homes should be without air conditioning right now.

Niagaras acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji said he shares concerns about seniors during the recent heat wave.

RELATED STORIES Premier Doug Ford promises air conditioning for long-term care homes

He said seniors who may also suffer from chronic illnesses are particularly vulnerable to excessive heat.

If something is stressing them, they are not able to compensate as well. Absolutely, heat-related illness can be a big concern and we have had quite the spate of high heat this week, he said.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has made some of the air-conditioned public location inaccessible where people might otherwise visit to escape the heat.

I think its definitely a concern for them and something thats a bit more challenging for them to deal with of late, Hirji said.

Absolutely, we would support that air conditioning should be available for our elderly residents. I think its quite important for their health.
Microsofts support for Android is going beyond native apps and devices like the Surface Duo. Thurrot reports Microsoft is collaborating with Google to help bring more (and importantly, better) progressive web apps to Android devices through the Play Store. Apps built using Microsofts PWABuilder tool will use Googles Bubblewrap utility and library to take advantage of new features, including a new standard for web shortcuts, deeper push notifications and visual customizations. Web apps should feel more at home on your phone, to put it simply.

The expanded features shouldnt require significantly more effort to implement, Microsoft said.

It will likely take a while before you see apps making use of the new features. It could lead to more and improved apps reaching your phone, though. And its not surprising to see Microsoft and Google working together in a case like this. This gives creators more reasons to use Microsofts toolkit, while Google gets more developers who build Android-friendly web apps instead of pointing people to generic apps inside a browser.
The general education (GE) curriculum movement originating in the United States is only now taking center stage in undergraduate education in China, becoming a mandatory graduation requirement and a core component of the country's university education system.



The Outline of China's National Plan for Medium-Term and Long-Term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) identified the overarching goal of utilizing general education to promote all-round student development. The Ministry of Education seeks to eliminate barriers across various knowledge disciplines, so that the mutual foundational interconnected nature of human knowledge and learning can become more explicit.

The broadening of GE curriculum varies with the institutions involved, given their own mission, history, culture, educational objectives, and future development plans. Nonetheless, they are all offering broader and deeper learning experience, highlighting the appreciation of diverse cultures, advocating active community involvement, and underscoring the significance of whole-person development.

An example is the liberal arts core curriculum in Shanghai's Fudan University. Its comprehensive curriculum is made up of six knowledge modules, covering humanities and cultural heritage, philosophy and critical thinking, cultural dialogue and world vision, scientific spirit and scientific exploration, ecology and biological conservation, as well as artistic creativity and aesthetic experience.

All students need to take at least one course right across the six knowledge modules. Under the coordination of the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum Office, more than 200 courses are grouped into around 50 basic course units allowing students to see how they are systematically connected and intertwined.

The Principal Leader System is in place to allow every teaching team to optimize the course. Each course is supported by one to two Master or PhD students as tutors.

The implied function of general education is empowering students to have more discretion in selecting various academic domains upon admission. Originally, they were locked into an increasingly specialized and professionalized academic program with strict and specific paths, limiting their capabilities and opportunities for more individual interests, career choices or even further study.

Many of the GE courses are designed based on the broad array of current faculty interests and available academic resources; meanwhile, academics are able to build on their discipline-field expertise, and offer interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Therefore, the emphasis of both substance and method allows genuine integration and intersection of disciplines.

Involved in a fast-changing world of economic development and technological advancement, undergraduates are expected to acquire relevant dispositions and transferable skills so as to become competent human capital sustaining the globalization of the knowledge economy. The GE curriculum also prepares students to enhance their cooperation and collaboration, interpersonal communication, critical and independent thinking, and problem-solving skills.

These lifelong learning traits are essential for graduates entering a constantly changing job market, especially when the specialized knowledge is becoming of less importance and value. Meeting human resource needs in the competitive globalized marketplace through contemporary higher education system is paramount.

In China, the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) called for the emergence of an innovative society, with heavy and repeated usage of terminologies like "independent innovation" and "abundant human capital" to illustrate the nation's development directions.

For lectures emphasizing directional instruction, academics will equip students with the skills to comprehend the philosophical basics, underlying assumptions and fundamental methods across various knowledge disciplines. For tutorials that focus more on inquiry-based learning, experienced tutors will help students to actively and independently develop their own conclusions and conceptions.

A more dynamic and interactive classroom learning experience is always expected among the current generation of students as they become less tolerant of sitting quietly and listening. Meanwhile, through collaborative works and discussions, students are compelled to justify their own positions and engage with different perspectives of their classmates. The main focus is always about enhancing high-order core competencies like reflection, evaluation, and creation.

Nonetheless, the expansion of general education becomes more challenging within every institution under the constraints of disciplinary divisions, and inadequate cooperation across departments. Meanwhile, both publication pressures and grants applications are compelling academics to spend less time to go over their various areas of knowledge and explore the meaning of general education.

Each institution also needs to cater to student needs thoroughly in defining the scope and targets of GE courses. Moreover, although substantial efforts have been devoted to promotion, the curriculum seems to have been supported more in theory more than in practice. Every institution should develop more structures and incentives to facilitate ongoing intersections of those diverse disciplines, and within the broad academic community and society.

In higher education, the introduction or re-emergence of general education undeniably represents a transformative shift from specialized academic training to holistic educational experience. It is all about individual enrichment in a rapidly evolving world, and rejuvenation of general education corroborates further development and societal progress.

Mathew Wong is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Education University of Hong Kong.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.
Swarm of crop eating locust reached central Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The swarm was reported in Unnao, Sitapur, Barabanki and Lucknow district. In Lucknow, the swarms of locust was first reported in the western part from where they moved towards residential areas in the city. Lucknow district administration sprung into action to scare the locust away.

A very large swarm of locust entered Lucknow from nearby Unnao. The swarm was spread across four square kilometers. It fragmented into smaller swarms and crossed into Barabanki, said Manish Bansal Chief Development Officer ( CDO) of Lucknow.  We deployed large sound systems atop vehicles in area where the locusts were reported to scare them away, he added.

Fire tenders filled with chemical sprays were also rushed to some areas on the outskirts of the city where locust were reported to be resettling down.

Locusts swarms was reported in villages under Kakori area along with many parts of the city including Indiranagar, Thakurganj, Aliganj and Dubagga. Teams of local police patrolled the area in their vehicle with their sirens on.

As per forest department officials the swarm comprised of both developing pink locust and developed yellow locust. The swarm is believed to have remained in Lucknow for around four hours. The officials concerned have been directed to review the damage caused by the locusts swarm. We are also on alert to handle any more swarms of the insect, said Bansal.

Hours before locust swarm reached Lucknow it caused havoc on the farms of Sitapur district bordering Lucknow. The locust swarm reach Sitapur on Sunday morning and caused damage to paddy farms, government officials said. Other districts on central and east UP have also been put on alert regarding the locust swarm movement.

Uttar Pradesh along with five other states of north India were on alert to handle possible movement of locust swarms.

Reportedly these locust swarms originated from North Africa and reached India via Pakistan.
Iran Civil Aviation Says Military Approved Flight Of Downed Ukraine Airliner

Radio Farda July 12, 2020

Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) has blamed the "forgetfulness" of an Iranian air defense unit's commander for shooting down Ukraine International Airlines' (UIA) flight 752 on January 8 over Tehran, killing all 176 aboard.

In a report on the procedure of investigation into the tragedy, CAO says although the Iranian military had permitted the doomed plane to take off, a "human error" led to firing two anti-air missiles at the airliner. CAO also says when a missile battery was moved to a new location its commander forgot to follow standard regulations which led to the tragedy.

CAO's seventeen-page report published on Saturday, July 11 has expanded on the tragedy in chronological order, reiterating that the main cause of firing missiles at UIA's plane was "human error" and "forgetting" to implement obligatory readjustment of an air-defense system in the north direction.

The "forgetfulness", CAO has insisted, led to a 107-degree error of the anti-air unit's system.

Overall, the report revealed very little new information not surmised earlier. The Islamic Republic has all along relied on the human error argument to deflect as much criticism and responsibility as possible.

After three days of secrecy and denial, "human error" was the term used by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in January for referring to the cause of the shooting.

About two weeks ago, the Tehran military prosecutor for the first time spoke of a "105-degree error in the radar navigation system."

As Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 took off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini international airport on January 8, heading Kyiv, two missiles were fired at the plane. The three-year-old Boeing crashed near the capital city, killing all 167 people aboard.

The crash victims included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, eleven Ukrainians, ten Sweden, four Afghans, three Germans, and three Britons. Only after three days did the Guard take responsibility for the tragedy.

CAO report says, at 4 a.m. that day, "the military informed the civil air department of the country that only the planes already identified by the air-defense network and received its permission were allowed to take off from the airports' runways.

After hours of coordination with various authorities, the flight permit for the Ukrainian passenger plane was finally issued at 6:10 a.m.

According to the CAO, the commander in charge of a "relocated" anti-air unit, "forgot" to adjust the system toward the north direction. Therefore, at 6:13 it erroneously identified the UIA's plane as "approaching the defense system".

Several Islamic Republic officials had earlier maintained that the head of the air-defense system tried to contact high-ranking officials and get their permission to fire.

Nonetheless, the CAO's report asserts that no records have been registered of messages exchanged between the commander in charge of the anti-air unit and the "Coordination Center."

Without receiving any message from the Coordination Center, the officer in charge of the anti-air unit finally fired a missile at the UIA's plane at 6:14:41 and hit it with another one at 6:15:11, local time (+5:30 GMT).

Although the Islamic Republic has repeatedly admitted that it is not capable to decipher and read the data recorded on the plane's black boxes, it has failed to handover the flight recorders to other countries.

Nonetheless, Tehran recently announced that the black boxes will be read in France sometime in July.

Dissatisfied with the "Iranian-style" co-operation on issues such as black boxes and the Islamic Republic's legal liability for compensation to victims' relatives, Ukrainian officials have warned that should efforts fail to resolve the issues through "negotiation", they will be left with no choice other than referring the case to international litigation.

At the same time, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on July 2 that Iran has agreed to compensate the families of the victims of the Ukrainian plane.

Meanwhile, the interim spokesperson of the victims' association, Hamed Esmaeilion, in a tweet on Thursday, July 4 said the families of the victims have unanimously agreed they will not accept any compensation from Iran before a full and fair independent investigation is made.

In another tweet, on the same day, Esmaeilion who lost his daughter and wife in the crash said he had received a call from the Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne who assured him that there was no agreement between the affected countries and Iran regarding compensation yet.

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-civil- aviation-says-military-approved-flight-of-downed -ukraine-airliner/30721985.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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US Senior Diplomat Says Iran And Venezuela 'Are Governed By Thieves'

Radio Farda July 11, 2020

U.S. Special Representative on Iran Brian Hook says that Washington's sanctions have cut Iran's oil exports from 2.5 million barrels a day in May 2018 to 70,000 barrels in 2020.

Hook who was speaking at a video-seminar on Iran and Venezuela organized by the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C. said, "This is the price the regime pays for acting like an outlaw regime." The Islamic Republic and Venezuela he said, "are rich countries that are governed by thieves".

The other speaker at the event was Elliot Abrams, the State Department's Special Representative for Venezuela, who also pointed out that corruption was a part of Venezuela's 95 percent decline in oil exports, compounded by U.S. sanctions.

Hook, who has just returned from a trip to the Middle East drew a parallel between Iran and some of the other regional countries, reiterating that when one visits Arab Gulf states and Israel it becomes clear that "the Iranian people have been robbed of decades of progress".

Hook also maintained that the Iranian model of governance is being rejected both inside the country and in places where the Islamic Republic exercises influence, such as Lebanon and Iraq. He pointed out widespread protests in all three countries as a clear sign that people are rejecting the model presented by the Iranian regime. He added that the difference is the Gulf Arab states and Israel are "investing in their own people" while Iran "is squandering" its resources on terrorism and anti-Semitism.

Tehran rejects accusations of terrorism and argues that its allies in the region are defending themselves as an "axis of resistance" against Israel and the United States. But at the same time many top Iranian officials have called for Israel's annihilation and regard the Islamic Republic as the leader of the Muslim world.

Hook also reiterated that the Trump administrations' "maximum pressure" policy toward the Islamic Republic has forced it to cut back on weapons and money it provides to its proxies in the region.

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/us-senior- diplomat-says-iran-and-venezuela-are- governed-by-thieves-/30720729.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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The Lake County commissioners along with OhioMeansJobs Lake County and the Lake County Workforce Development Board this week announced a new partnership with Coursera to support the county with the critical skills to succeed in the era of digital transformation.

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Coursera is a multilingual online education platform with over 45 million users.

It offers a variety of more than 3,800 specialized courses from 190 institutions and organizations, including Stanford University, Duke University, and the University of Michigan.

According to Lake County Workforce Development Director Patrick Mohorcic, Coursera will enable job seekers to:

* Master the most in-demand technology and business skills

* Enjoy an engaging and interactive learning experience with leading instructors

* Work at a specific pace with bite-sized sessions and a self-paced learning model

* Earn university-accredited certifications in industry-vetted disciplines

Certifications include Python, data science, Google IT, machine learning, and digital manufacturing and design technology specialization.

The workforce program is provided to anyone free of charge through Courseras Workforce Recovery Initiative which has been designed to help governments provide their unemployed workers with free access to 3,800 online courses.

The program ends Dec. 31.

We are also excited to provide this complete online training during the novel coronavirus pandemic, Mohorcic said. This is a great opportunity for students, job seekers and employees to upgrade their skill set as we move into a new normal.

For more information or to sign up, call 440-350-4000, option 3. An OhioMeansJobs Lake County career counselor will assist with the process.
Israel's prime minister is repeating his promise to provide speedy financial help for self-employed workers after thousands protested what they see as a failed government response to the economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus.

Benjamin Netanyahu said at his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday that workers would receive an immediate stipend of several thousands of shekels and could expect a safety net for the next 12 months.

He said he would to ease bureaucratic hurdles and would hold dialogues with workers' representative to solve outstanding issues.

Netanyahu's remarks come after some 10,000 people demonstrated in central Tel Aviv Saturday, demanding that the government fulfils the promises it made to assist Israelis imperilled financially because of the virus restrictions.

The protests came as anger has swelled over Netanyahu's handling of the crisis.

Critics say the money promised in previous plans hasn't been doled out.

Israel recently reimposed restrictions, closing bars, events spaces and other venues, because of a spike in coronavirus cases.
New York, 11 July 2020 (SPS) - South Africa's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jerry Matthews Matjila, regretted on Tuesday that the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) still lacks a broad mandate for human rights monitoring, deploring the Security Council's "selective" and highly "politicized" attitude.



"South Africa notes with concern that the issue of human rights components has not escaped the political dynamics of the Security Council as it continues to be politicized and selectively applied," said Ambassador Matjila during a debate in the Security Council on peace operations and human rights.



"While some members of the Security Council advocate the importance of the human rights component in peacekeeping missions, it is regrettable that the same vigour and enthusiasm is conspicuously absent from other missions, such as the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara," the South African diplomat deplored.



He added that the decisions of the Security Council to give several peace missions human rights monitoring mandates "reflects the general acceptance" within that body of "the relevance of this component in the UN peace efforts."



Currently 12 UN peace operations (six peacekeeping missions and six special political missions) have human rights monitoring mandates, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, who took part in the debate.



The ambassador stressed that members of the Security Council must not "stand on the wrong side of history" by allowing their "narrow interests to trample on the interest of the majority of the world's citizens whom the Council is mandated to serve."



Matjila noted that peace operations are mandated to monitor and report on the situation on the ground. But, "if human rights violations do not fall within the realm of protection of civilians it would be difficult for peace operations to intervene without an appropriate mandate." (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
New Delhi:

The Pakistan high commission employee, who was recently expelled by India for spying, had named 16 other "staffers" who were also allegedly involved in the espionage ring, police said on Tuesday.

During his joint interrogation by the Delhi Police and intelligence agencies, Mehmood Akhtar had claimed that 16 other employees of the diplomatic mission were in touch with spies for extracting sensitive information and documents pertaining to army and BSF deployment, said a senior police officer privy to the probe.

His claims are still being verified and, if found to be true, the police might write to the ministry of external affairs to take the matter forward, the officer said.

Read: Espionage racket: Pak HC staffer Mehmood Akhtar asked to leave India within 48 hrs, MEA says he came on ISI deputation in 2013

Crime Branch teams are raiding various places in Rajasthan to apprehend the locals who were providing confidential documents and information to Akhtar, who allegedly headed the espionage racket.

Two teams of Crime Branch are currently in Rajasthan along with the other arrested accused-- Maulana Ramzan, Subhash Jangir and Shoaib-- to seek details of paramilitary personnel who might be involved in leaking information to them, sources said.

Two persons have also been detained in Rajasthan and are currently being questioned, said the officer.

Read: Pak espionage racket: Samajwadi Party MP Munawwar Saleem's close aide Farhat arrested by Delhi Police

"It is suspected that some retired officers were in touch with the arrested spies," he said.

Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Munavvar Saleem's personal assistant Farhat Khan was also arrested last week in connection with the espionage racket.

Akhtar was caught receiving secret documents here on October 26. Ramzan and Jangir, residents of Nagaur, Rajasthan, were held along with Akhtar. Another accused Shoaib was detained in Jodhpur and brought to Delhi by the police where he was arrested.

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The mayor of Seoul, a contender to be South Korea's next president and a former human rights lawyer, took his own life a day after he was accused of sexual harassment, authorities said Friday.

Park Won-soon, whose body was recovered on a mountain in the capital, is by far the most high-profile politician to be implicated in a harassment case in South Korea, a highly patriarchal society where the #MeToo movement has led to the fall of scores of prominent men in multiple fields.

Park offered a general apology in a suicide note -- handwritten with ink and brush -- found at his official residence and released by city authorities.

"I'm sorry to everyone. I thank everyone who has been with me in my life," he wrote, asking to be cremated and his ashes scattered at his parents' graves. "I'm sorry to my family, to whom I only caused pain."

"Bye everyone," he signed off, without referring to the allegations against him.

A heavyweight figure in the ruling centre-left Democratic party, Park ran South Korea's sprawling capital -- home to almost a fifth of the national population -- for nearly a decade.

He won three elections while promoting gender and social equality, and did not shy away from expressing his ambitions to replace incumbent President Moon Jae-in in 2022.

His death came a day after his former secretary filed a police complaint -- said to involve sexual harassment -- against him.

According to a document purporting to be the statement of Park's victim, who worked as his personal secretary from 2015, he committed "sexual harassment and inappropriate gestures during work hours", including insisting she hug him in the bedroom adjoining his office.

After work, she said, he sent her "selfies of himself in his underwear and lewd comments" on a messenger app.

"I brainwashed myself, bearing tremendous fear and humiliation, that all of this was in the interest of Seoul City, myself, and mayor Park," she said, according to the document.

Story continues

The police confirmed a complaint had been filed but declined to confirm the details.

Park's death means the investigation will automatically be closed.

South Korea remains male-dominated despite its economic and technological advances, but the country has seen a widespread #MeToo movement in the last two years, sparked by a prosecutor who publicly accused a superior of groping her at a funeral.

The perpetrators have included a former provincial governor who sought the presidency in 2017 but was jailed last year for sexual intercourse by abuse of authority after his female assistant accused him of repeatedly raping her.

Park is the country's highest-profile politician to die by his own hand since former president Roh Moo-hyun, who jumped off a cliff in 2009 after being questioned over corruption allegations involving family members.

- Jailhouse to courthouse -

Park was a student activist in the days of South Korea's military dictatorship -- he was jailed for taking part in a rally against then-president Park Chung-hee -- and later became a human rights lawyer.

He defended many political activists and in the 1990s won South Korea's first sexual harassment conviction, in a landmark judgement.

He helped launch the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, an influential NGO pushing to reform the conglomerates that dominate South Korean business.

Park also founded the Beautiful Foundation -- a philanthropic group that promotes volunteerism and community service.

It grew into one of the largest non-profit organisations in South Korea and launched the Beautiful Stores, a chain of charity shops modelled after Britain's Oxfam shops.

Reactions were mixed on Friday, including both condolences and criticism that he killed himself to avoid punishment.

There was an outpouring of grief from his supporters, some of whom wailed at Seoul National University Hospital as his body was brought in.

"Mayor Park, you were an excellent politician," one poster wrote on Daum, the country's second-largest portal site.

"But a twist of fate put an end to your journey. I hope you are at ease in heaven."

Others were more critical of the 64-year-old, accusing him of exploiting his power to harass a subordinate and then taking his own life to "avoid the fallout".

"The victim must have had painful times in the run-up to the filing of the complaint," wrote one user. "I hope Park reflects on his misdeeds and atones in the afterlife."

A memorial altar was to be set up in front of the Seoul city hall for citizens to pay respects.
Now we see yet another misguided project to mine coal in the Wollombi valley, an area of outstanding natural beauty abounding in wildlife and man-made historic sites.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro has all the jobs figures but tellingly no statistics on the numbers of koalas, wombats, birds and other creatures to be lost forever if the bulldozers wreck yet another beautiful valley for the sake of a dying fossil fuel. Lance Dover, Pretty Beach Barilaro says coal mining directly employs 28,600 people. Does he realise that the Great Barrier Reef, the destruction of which coal will be directly responsible for, provides 64,000 jobs? Janet France, Northbridge Credit: Last week, my husband and I drove up to the Hunter Valley, passing through the historical hamlet of Wollombi and the beautiful valley bearing its name. At the time, we commented that we know of no other village in Australia that has been so well preserved and cared for, despite its increasing popularity with tourists and day-trippers. The valley itself is glorious and we have been admiring its bucolic scenery since the 1970s when the road was a mere dusty (or muddy) potholed dirt track. Now I read in the valley is designated for coal exploration and mining; greed for this destructive fossil appears to have no boundaries. I hope that common sense will prevail and a backflip will be performed  quickly. Helen Robinson, Killcare Barilaro is eager for the beautiful heritage area of Wollombi to become a potential coal mining area. Its the jobs and growth argument, of course. I have a suggestion: lets look for coal at Oallen (near Braidwood), stunning natural country where Barilaro has his seven-bedroom getaway on 94 acres. Lorraine Hickey, Green Point

I agree with your correspondent regarding the Central West Orana renewable energy zone and the planned New England zone (Letters, July 11-12). How disappointing to learn 13 potential areas for coal exploration have been listed between Narrabri and Newcastle. The proposed coal exploration is not only a disaster for the farmers in the Wollemi National Park area but for future zero carbon emissions. Robyn Lewis, Raglan If you can't keep your distance, mask up My laypersons conclusion from the latest expert advice about wearing masks is that there is no evidence to support the contention that masks do not reduce risk of infection, although experts are divided ('''The assassin is out there': Virus calls for a new way of thinking'', July 11-12). Accordingly, while it was considered a bad idea a couple of months ago, its probably a good idea to wear a mask now where social distancing is difficult. This is in spite of the fact that were actually still not meant to go anywhere where social distancing cant be maintained, except in schools, where apparently the evidence is theres no strong evidence of risk of infection. Why would anyone find that confusing? Ross Duncan, Potts Point As an Australian living in the US and anxiously observing the developing COVID-19 situation back home, I'm encouraged to see Australia's leaders finally embracing masks. When you wear a mask, you do it to protect others even more than yourself. I implore you to avoid the American experience where mask-wearing, like gun control, is seen by many as an infringement of individual freedoms. If you think wearing a mask is a nuisance, consider the inconvenience of struggling to breathe on a ventilator. Louise Langdon, Michigan (USA)

NSW teachers and parents alike dread the thought of a return to remote learning. When the pandemic began, however, we were told we might not see a return to face-to-face teaching until much later in the year. So far, the virus has not created clusters in NSW schools but the Victorian experience demonstrates that very real possibility. It is time for teachers to consider wearing masks in class. Philip Cooney, Wentworth Falls I walked past a smoker at a distance of some three metres only to breathe in air that was heavily polluted by cigarette smoke. What was in the smokers mouth and lungs was quickly in mine. In that stream of smoke was the usual cocktail of particulate matter plus possible bacterial and viral pathogens that might include COVID-19. Smokers exhale strongly and the exhalations carry well beyond a 1.5 metre safe zone. If the virus is not carried by smoke, it could be in the accompanying respiratory droplets. Risk reduction measures could all be compromised: cigarette smoke has no place in public spaces. Trevor Somerville, Illawong Credit: I have worked in the airconditioning industry most of my life both in its control and air filtration and particularly in the area of operating theatres and sterile laboratories. A virus is very small and can be trapped only by an absolute filter the air resistance of which is so great that extensive pleating of the medium is required to allow sufficient air flow. To provide such efficiency in a face mask that allows normal breathing would occupy the space of a 16-bottle wine box. Walk around with that on your face. Further, no matter the filter's efficiency, its all for nothing unless the seal around it is perfect to prevent air bypass. No  not even a little wincey bit. No cloth face mask, nor any other type, can prevent a virus from passing through. Large droplets would be captured but, on drying, any virus would be liberated. Wear a face mask if it makes you feel better but dont expect them to work. Richard Lynch, Belbora Pubs, the super-spreaders

One universal truth we seem to have gained out of this pandemic is if you want to kickstart a second wave of the virus, just open pubs (''Pub cluster traced as Victorian cases soar'', July 11-12). Brian Collins, Cronulla We have Victoria in lockdown and the virus is spreading again in NSW and still, people dont keep their distance or, better still, stay home. We must adjust to a less selfish way of life and a life of less travel, fewer clothes, less dining out, fewer people at celebrations. Jenny Greenwood, Hunters Hill Holiday at home On one hand, we are encouraged to travel within Australia to spend our dollar but with border closures occurring at the drop of a hat, many travellers have been caught out or are reluctant to travel interstate (Brace for life on the borderline", July 11-12). Lets just restrict holidaying to your home state, or better still no holidaying until this virus can be eliminated much the same way as it has been in New Zealand. Peter Miniutti, Ashbury Brits were no angels

Your correspondent appears to refer to the British incursion into China as a period of "democratic rule" in Hong Kong (Letters, July 11-12). Far from it. British colonial rule was tightly controlled from Whitehall and the governor and executive were appointed therefrom. Any democratic way of life is ultimately at the will of China and, at this point, it could be construed that poking China in the eye is not helping things along there. It is Chinese sovereign territory no matter how much hyperbole is applied and, despite some mere 150 years of colonial rule, has always been so. Jacky North, Narara Kudos for Carriageworks Wonderful news (Green light for Carriageworks lifeline, lease, July 11-12). The generosity of a handful of philanthropists provides the immediate life-saving ring while the government secures the line. Hopefully, no tangles ensue. To boot, a reinstated capable Arts Minister Don Harwin is back on deck working constructively to make it all happen. Carriageworks is an important pillar of the states cultural life. Artists may not create jobs in their own right but they inspire others, big business included, to think imaginatively outside orthodoxy. Common sense has prevailed. The Berejiklian government is to be complemented. Cleveland Rose, Dee Why Face it: Trump's right For once, it seems US President Donald Trump got it right. He should never wear a mask. Striding down that hallway he looked positively evil (''US President Donald Trump wears a mask in public for first time during pandemic'', smh.com.au, July 12). Arthur Cooper, Alstonville

Accursed cursing Your letter-writers refer to the increase and acceptance of really bad and unnecessary foul language by NRL players (Letters, July 9). Why single them out? I cant think of one Australian comedian, male or female, who can do a stand-up routine or a comedy show production without these gratuitous and unnecessary expletives. And Andrew Constance and John Barilaro do a good job, too. Popularised by The Big Yin, it is now de rigeur and infantile. Yes, I do swear, but in selected company. Adrian Bell, Davistown Royal pardon Have you never said or written something that you have regretted and hoped others would not continually judge you for? Regardless of your views on an Australian republic, give Prince Charles a break (Letters, July 11-12). Surely he has achieved more in his work for the environment to be forgiven for a long-ago mistake. We should all be allowed some forgiveness to move on in our lives, regardless of who we are. Cherri Browne, OConnell Nice one, David Perkins  or not - to rely upon British gutter press repetitions of the illegally obtained private telephone conversations of Charlie with the woman whom he always loved. James Richardson, Langwarrin (Vic)
Nguyen Tuong Van, Secretary-General of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Vietnam-US diplomatic ties, Nguyen Tuong Van, Secretary-General of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), has penned an article on the role of parliamentarians in the 25-year diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

In the article, Van, who was former deputy director of the external relations department in the Vietnam National Assemblys Office with nearly 20 years in charge of Vietnam-US relations, recalled the day a quarter of a century ago when US President Bill Clinton officially announced the normalisation of US-Vietnam relations.

She stressed that no one could have imagined that the two countries that were once mortal enemies were closing their traumatic past and moving on to a new chapter in their history.

In order to take historic steps in Vietnam-US relations, from a former enemy to a friend and a comprehensive partner since 2013, many changes have occurred in the way of thinking and ideology of the heads of parliament and government on both sides, Van noted.

According to her, what Vietnam and the US have done is the result of a long process with persistent efforts by both sides to overcome major obstacles.

Van wrote, It is important to mention the contributions of American lawmakers who have tried their best for the development and interests of the two nations. Prominent among them were the late Senator John McCain and the former Senator, US Secretary of State John Kerry, who led the way in breaking the iceberg of suspicion among American politicians. Looking back at the whole process, there is a paradox in Vietnam-US relations, that is, those who fought in the past became the pioneers in healing the relationship. Without the strong support of Senators McCain and Kerry, the normalisation process would have been delayed for many years since opposition in the US Congress was still very strong.

She said in the final years of his life, Senator McCain suffered from brain cancer, but he continued to fight for peace, stability and law and order in Asia-Pacific, especially the actions of China in the militarisation of the South China Sea (called East Sea in Vietnam).

Also a veteran of the US, joining the naval force in the war, Senator - former Secretary of State, John Kerry is often regarded as one of a pair of cards along with Senator McCain in the issue of healing wounds between the two nations although the two senators belonged to opposing parties.

Senator Kerry was the Chairman of the Special Committee on Prisoner of War and Missing in Actions Affairs (POW/MIA). At that time, the Vietnam War was still a very sensitive issue, a painful wound for Americans. But, with dozens of trips to Vietnam and Southeast Asia, and by studying thousands of documents and images, Kerry clarified the rumours of US soldiers imprisoned in secret prisons" in Vietnam. That helped him gain a high reputation in the US Congress.

Van also mentioned Senator Patrick Leahy, Vice Chairman of the US Senate Appropriations Committee, who has devoted 30 years to war recovery efforts between the two countries. Senator Leahy is considered the next generation of McCain and Kerry in cultivating Vietnam-US relations. Senator Leahy, 79 years old, has a special affection for Vietnam and has made great contributions to budget allocations for Vietnam not only in dealing with the aftermath of the war but in many fields.

As trust between the two countries improved, Senator Leahy started projects to help Vietnam, in which the Leahy War Victims Fund provided prosthetics and wheelchairs to help thousands of Vietnamese people.

Senator Leahy was also a campaigner for the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers missing in the war. He once said the work helped ease the pain of hundreds of American families, and he could only do so with the help of the Vietnamese Government, even when Vietnam was facing poverty and hunger after the war and the US economic embargo.

Van underlined that 25 years is not a long time in the history of relations between the two countries, but what Vietnam and the US have achieved, with the contributions of the US Congress, US Congressmen and the National Assembly of Vietnam, is really impressive. It significantly contributed to paving the way for the outstanding co-operation of the two countries in all fields at present.

Besides bilateral interests, the two countries are closer to each other because they share strategic interests in maintaining peace, security, stability, cooperation and order based on laws in Asia-Pacific, including issues in the East Sea, Mekong, Korean Peninsula and coordination in regional and international forums. Most importantly, the relationship between the two countries was established on the basis of the principles of respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political institutions, Van wrote in the article.

She highlighted that the strategic trust between the people and the leaders of the two countries has been increasingly improved, and expressed her belief that, in the future, the two sides will continue to dismiss differences, respect history and look forward, for a shared future of trust, peace and prosperity.
A personal trainer and mother of three has revealed how a cough led to a horror diagnosis of something far more sinister.

At the age of 12, Vanessa Laub, 42, went to visit her doctor for what she thought was a stubborn chest cough, but she was diagnosed with scoliosis - a major curvature of the spine that can occur among teenagers during growth spurts and puberty.

Despite being told she would be in a wheelchair by the age of 21, Mrs Laub, from Brisbane, has defied the odds to go on and have three children and become a personal trainer.

Mrs Laub said she refused to have surgery and instead decided to work on her fitness by strengthening her muscles to support her back.

A personal trainer and mother of three has revealed how a cough led to a horror diagnosis of something far more sinister (Vanessa Laub pictured)

Mrs Laub was diagnosed with scoliosis and told she wouldn't be able to have children. But she had defied the odds and now has three sons (pictured) as well as becoming a personal trainer

After being diagnosed, Mrs Laub said she had to wear a thick plastic back brace to avoid the spine from curving further - which is a method still used today.

'Wearing the brace was the worst part about the whole process - I had to wear it 23 hours a day and could only remove it when showering or swimming,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

For four years between the age of 12 and 16 Mrs Laub wore the brace that ran from below the breast to the pubic bone, which she described as 'awfully uncomfortable' and 'embarrassing to wear'.

'It was awful growing up wearing the brace because other kids used to make fun of me and call me a robot,' she said, adding the brace also limited how much she could eat,' she said.

'It was a horrible thing because I couldn't wear certain clothes and couldn't go to the beach, it was truly awful.'

Mrs Laub said she has no family history of scoliosis and was surprised this occurred because she's only 150 centimetres tall.

For four years between the age of 12 to 16 Mrs Laub wore the brace that ran from below the breast to the pubic bone, which she described as 'awfully uncomfortable' and 'embarrassing to wear'

Mrs Laub (pictured) said she has no family history of scoliosis and was surprised this occurred because she's only 150 centimetres tall

Although doctors told her she would be wheelchair-bound and wouldn't be able to have children past the age of 21, Mrs Laub had her first son by 24

WHAT IS SCOLIOSIS AND WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS? Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine that occurs most often during the growth spurt just before puberty While scoliosis can be caused by conditions such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, the cause of most scoliosis is unknown About 3 per cent of adolescents have scoliosis Most cases of scoliosis are mild, but some spine deformities continue to get more severe as children grow Severe scoliosis can be disabling Signs and symptoms of scoliosis may include uneven shoulders, one shoulder blade that appears more prominent than the other, uneven waist, one hip higher than the other Source: Mayoclinic Advertisement

Mrs Laub (pictured) never had any surgery, rebelled against wearing the back brace and instead began swimming and dancing again

Despite wearing the brace, Mrs Laub's condition worsened and at age 16 a specialist doctor strongly recommended surgery to insert rods into the back to support either side of the spine - but she refused.

'I said no because to me this wouldn't be an improvement; If I had the surgery I wouldn't be able to bend over ever again, which seemed far worse than having a curved spine,' she said.

Mrs Laub never had any surgery, rebelled against wearing the back brace and instead began swimming and dancing again.

And although doctors told her she would be wheelchair-bound and wouldn't be able to have children past the age of 21, Mrs Laub had her first son at 24.

'Doctors told me if I got pregnant I wouldn't be able to carry the child and it would cause a lot of issues for my spine, but it didn't,' she said

'Doctors told me if I got pregnant I wouldn't be able to carry the child and it would cause a lot of issues for my spine, but it didn't,' she said.

She said her son's condition also didn't occur because of her scoliosis.

In order to support herself and be able to carry her son, she started weight training to strengthen her muscles.

After her divorce at age 38, Mrs Laub decided to become a personal trainer herself at Goodlife Health Clubs where she found a love and passion for helping others through fitness.

'My clients are the ones who inspire me everyday to keep going and stay strong,' she said.

She has worked a lot on strengthening her core, which has helped her spine.

Mrs Laub said in order to support herself and be able to carry her son, she started weight training to strengthen her muscles

'My clients are the ones who inspire me everyday to keep going and stay strong,' she said

Mrs Laub remarried last year and lives a happy lifestyle with her family and works out regularly.

Although she has lived with scoliosis for most of her life, she said she has never experience any pain and can do every exercise possible at the gym.

Mrs Laub hopes her story can inspire others living with the same condition to not give up and exercise as much as possible to help the body both mentally and physically.
JUST WONDERING

These people who keep complaining about how Gov. Wolf mishandled the virus by shutting things down needlessly for political reasons  I wonder how many of their loved ones contracted the virus, became sick and/or died from it? I wonder how many of them admired the way Republican governors opened things up very quickly? And I wonder how many of them admire the way some of these same Republican governors have been shutting things down again because of the spike in cases and deaths? Consistency of thought would be most appreciated.

JB

CHECK MATE

You claim Trump supporters thank him for their stimulus check? You cashed it, didnt you! Stop the negativity  youll feel better in the long run.

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

MORE QUESTIONS

So, how did the Democratic Party, the party of the working man, come to be against people returning to work and living normal lives? How has the national Democratic Party, the party of tolerance, become the party of censorship and rejection of free speech? I suppose book burning is next. If all we need to prosper is ongoing stimulus payments, why should any citizen, ever again, have to pay any taxes whatsoever? After all, the government, even though trillions in debt, can simply print all the money we need! When totaling the deaths, real or imagined, from COVID-19, should the increased deaths from alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide be added to the count? Or subtracted?

NO RESPECT FOR CONFEDERATES

Our U.S. Congress has submitted the yearly military budget which our president approves. However, he will not sign it as Elizabeth Warren has added bad pork to it. She wants to bury U.S. history buy renaming all military installations named after Confederate generals. Proof that some of our legislators dont have respect or anything else better to do. They are destructive rather than constructive.

RIDDLEWOOD KEN

LOVE A LITTLE

I read Sound Off every day and I cant believe the hatred that is being written. It is not about Trump or Biden, Its about the Republicans hating the Democrats and the Democrats hating the Republicans. People write about the country being better but with all the hate that is being written, this country is divided. We need to work together to make it better. Just because you dont agree with someones thinking doesnt mean the are wrong and you are right. We all cant get what we want, there is some give and take. Lets see some love.

DISAPPOINTED

THE SCHOOL TEST

Back to school? Wooah! You have got to be kidding me! I dont think that anyone has enough information yet to make that decision. Just wearing masks isnt the answer. Were talking kids here, running around, playing, pulling each others masks off, touching each other, just having innocent fun. Sounds great, but also sounds like crazy. Sure,we all need a break after what we been through. Everyday they have new updates: Kids cant get it, Now they can. Wear masks, dont wear masks. We dont have a clue what in store for us yet, but we are ready to send our children back to school. I think the only ones who should be in school right now is the CDC and the WHO. Lets see if they pass the test first. Then the children. Now thats smart!!

PETE DOWN THE STREET

FLUNKING THE DEADLY LESSON

On March 6 President Pinocchio stated that anybody who wanted a coronavirus test could get a coronavirus test. On July 6, in Phoenix, Ariz., people were waiting six to eight hours to get a test. Some peoples cars ran out of gas while they were waiting in line to get a test! And now, with insufficient testing supplies, hes ordering, unconstitutionally, all schools to reopen in the fall. Of course, hes not providing any plan or funding. President Lysol doesnt believe in planning. He mistakenly believes that he can bully parents into sending their children to unsafe schools. When will you Trumpers realize the only thing President Apathetic cares about is getting re-elected? He views the deaths of students, teachers, parents, grandparents, etc., as collateral damage.

BILL FROM BROOMALL
Kanpur : , July 12 (IANS) Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have been deployed in the Bikru village in Kanpur, where eight policemen were killed by gangster Vikas Dubey on July 3.

Dubey was killed in an encounter with the Special Task Force on Friday while he was being brought to Kanpur, following his arrest in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

After the RAF deployment in the village, police have been holding 'chaupal' to ease the tension prevailing in the village after the incident.

The police have also been asking people to help in recovering the arms and ammunition, looted from the police on the night of the incident, through the public address system.

IG Range Mohit Agarwal said, "On the instructions of seniors, we are making announcements ('munadis') across the village, warning residents against hiding firearms looted during ambush on July 3. Besides, police have also given 24-hour deadline in this regard to the local residents." The police are already carrying out a house to house search in the village and seven live bombs were found on Friday.

Circle Officer (CO) Tripurari Pandey also convened a meeting with the villagers to instil faith in them and listen to their other problems.

Pandey also heard the complaints of people whose land and property was forcefully grabbed by Dubey. He assured them that he will help them get their land back.

Dubey and his family have been controlling the village panchayat for almost 15 years.

"We are meeting the villagers in order to remove the fear from their minds and to listen to their grievances. Situation is returning to normal after Vikas Dubey was eliminated," he said.
Reno Omokri has warned against any form of attack on Joy Nunieh, a former Acting Managing Director of Interim Management Committee of ...





Reno Omokri has warned against any form of attack on Joy Nunieh, a former Acting Managing Director of Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission, who recently made some damning revelations about the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.





Addressing the press after she appeared before the Senate ad-hoc Committee investigating NDDC, Mrs. Nunieh recounted her ordeal at the hands of the Minister before she was removed as the NDDC MD.





Among other claims, she said Nobody makes any payment in NDDC without Godswill Akpabios approval. When we first came, on the day of the inauguration, he said to me in the car, Madam MD, if you dont do what I say, the same pen with which I used to sign your paper is the same pen Ill use to remove you.





Following her many revelations, Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media believes Nuniehs revelations could put her life in danger.





In a tweet on Saturday, Omokri said, Nothing must happen to the ex-Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Corporation, Joy Nunieh, who has just made shocking allegations of corruption against @Senator_Akpabio, Festus @FKeyamo and Gen @MBuhari.




After a similar debate late last year, it was agreed that two of what were four approved border crossings, both in the northwest, would remain open for six months, a period that expired at midnight Friday. The council majority had initially proposed that at least three should remain open for at least another year, while Russia proposed only one for six months.
Signs are seen submerged in floodwaters on the bank of the Yangtze River in Nanjing, China on July 12, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Flooding and Earthquakes Devastate Chinese Provinces, as Jiangxi Announces Wartime Preparations

The Chinese regime upgraded its flood response alert to its second-highest level on July 12, after announcing that 27 provinces have been affected by heavy rainstorms that continue to wreak havoc.

Meanwhile, along thousands of miles of the Yangtze River, water levels surpassed alarm stages.

On July 12, people in Wuhanthe city where the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus first emergedwere using sandbags to raise and reinforce river banks, while some areas of the Yangtze reached more than 94 feet, more than 15 feet above the average ground level of the city.

Authorities estimate that the river level may rise to more than 95 feet by July 14, or more than 16 feet above ground level.

Several towns in nearby Jiangxi Province were almost submerged by flooding.

Meanwhile, the northern Chinese city of Tangshan experienced a 5.1-magnitude earthquake early on July 12. The tremors damaged buildings that were made of poor-quality material. That day, the counties of Luchun in Yunnan Province, Zoige in Sichuan Province, and Wushan in Chongqing city also recorded quakes of magnitude 4.4, 4.0, and 3.0, respectively.

Authorities announced that millions have been displaced, with at least 141 people dead or missing. But given the Chinese regimes history of concealing information, experts fear that the true numbers are far higher.

Jiangxi Battles Embankment Breaches



Southern Chinas Jiangxi Province issued its highest flood warning on July 11 after embankment breaches caused several counties to be inundated.

On July 12, state-run CCTV reported that out of Jiangxis 1,580 miles of river or lake banks, nearly 1,400 miles had reached above their alert levels.

Local rivers in Jiangxi, such as the Rao, Xin, Xiu, and Chang rivers, have also been flooded since July 6.

Particularly at Poyang, Chinas largest freshwater lake, levels were rising at an unprecedented pace.

The water level of Poyang lake has increased by over 53 centimeters (1.74 feet) every day in the past three days, according to a report that cited Xu Weiming, a top flood control expert in the province. Now, it is over two meters (6.56 feet) higher than the alarm level.

The Chinese Communist Party boss of the province, Liu Qi, announced July 11 that the province had entered wartime preparations. Liu asked the province to prepare for heavy floods and a big catastrophe.

In the Mianchuan and Jiangxinzhou townships of Jiujiang city on July 12, local authorities ordered: Seniors, children, and sick residents must leave your homes today.  Others be prepared to leave at any time.

On July 10, authorities in Jiangzhou township, also located in Jiujiang, issued a call on social media for migrant workers aged 18 to 60 to help with disaster efforts, citing a severe lack of hands to reinforce dams.

The devastation has been overwhelming to local businesses.

Three-thousand tons of tea became trash after being submerged in floodwater over one night, said Mr. Zheng, a tea factory owner in She county, in Chinas eastern Anhui Province, in a social media video published on July 10.

Zheng told state-run media Beijing News that he was worried that he couldnt compensate the more than 1,000 farmers who supplied him with the tea leaves.


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CHANGSHA, July 11 (Xinhua) -- China's Shibadong village, the birthplace of "targeted poverty alleviation," has lifted all families out of poverty, sending a heartening message as the nation scrambles to eradicate absolute poverty by the end of this year.

The village in central China's Hunan Province has seen the poverty headcount ratio drop to zero, down from 57 percent in 2013, said Shi Jintong, Party chief of the village, in an interview with Xinhua.

Home to 225 families and 939 villagers, Shibadong's per capita net annual income increased more than eight times, from 1,668 yuan (238 U.S. dollars) in 2013 to 14,668 yuan in 2019, Shi said.

The once-impoverished village has been closely watched as a testing ground for "targeted poverty alleviation," first put forward there in 2013. This concept of designing relief policies to suit different local situations later became a guiding principle in China's fight against poverty.

Faced with rugged terrain and scarcity of arable land, the village has substituted traditional crop planting with more profitable kiwi farming and developed other businesses that suit local conditions, including the tourism and embroidery industries that prosper on the local ethnic Miao culture.

Shi Basan, a 70-year-old local villager, was amazed by the speed of change.

"Back in 2013, the only thing 'electric' in my house was a light bulb, and meat was a luxurious food for us," said Shi, whose family cast off poverty by joining a kiwi cooperative.

"Now we eat meat whenever we want, and we have extra meat to make preserved pork for sale," she said.

Ma Huihuang, a township official assigned to Shibadong to aid the poverty-reduction drive, accredited the success to the launch of local industries that have helped the village wean itself off external aid.

The official said the most difficult part of the campaign was that some families either lack income-earners or had been dragged down by medical or educational burdens. They now receive dividends from the booming industries and benefit from local policies that exempt them from medical and educational fees.

The COVID-19 epidemic brought a temporary lull to the village's tourism business, but locals said the quick recovery in business has boosted their confidence.

"We had no income in the first quarter due to COVID-19. But since the epidemic is under control now, tourists have returned to the village in large numbers. We can surely recoup the losses in the months to come," said Shi Quanyou, who runs a family inn.

Saturday marks World Population Day. China has slashed the number of people living in poverty by more than 700 million since 1978, making it the first developing country to meet the United Nations target of halving its poor population.

Yet the country is still in an uphill battle to enrich millions of people who still live below the poverty line, to achieve the goal of eliminating absolute poverty by the end of this year, in a country with a population of 1.4 billion.

Across the country, rural industries like the ones in Shibadong have helped many shake off poverty. Others have improved their lot through such major measures as relocation, ecological compensation and education. Social security allowances are given to the sick, the disabled and others who cannot work their way out of extreme poverty.

The key is to identify the poor population, tailor relief programs to local conditions, and send appropriate resources and personnel to implement the programs, said Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

He hailed this round of poverty reduction efforts as implementing properly the "targeted poverty alleviation" concept.

The Chinese government has set the end of 2020 as its target for eradicating absolute poverty, known as one of the "three tough battles" that the country must win to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020.
For the last four months, police constable Mahinur Khatun, 37, has been going beyond her call of duty to serve her community in West Bengals East Burdwan district. She grew up in the neighbourhood of Khagragarh in Burdwan and hers is a rare success story here. Most of her neighbours are daily wage labourers, rickshaw pullers, housemaids or street vendors. Khatuns mother sold paper bags to shops; her father was a truck driver.

During the lockdown, as Khatun did her rounds to enforce the governments stay-at-home rules and social distancing norms, she saw first-hand the economic devastation in her neighbourhood.

People were going door-to-door asking each other for potatoes or rice. In all my 12 years of patrolling, I had never seen things being so bad. Until recently, they had jobs and incomes, Khatun said. It broke my heart. When everyone is poor in a neighbourhood, who will take care of whom?

Watch | HT Salutes: Burdwan cop who turned messiah to help the needy with ration

Khatun supports herself, her parents and her 19-year old son on a salary of Rs 40,000. She had been saving up for cardiac bypass surgery for her father, Masud Choudhury, 70. In April, with things in Khagragarh were getting worse, I asked my father if we could use that money to help people. He agreed, Khatun said.

The policewoman began to put together ration packages of oil, rice, flour, lentils, onions and potatoes, which she distributed with the help of her family, weekly or fortnightly.

By April 20, she had spent most of the Rs 2 lakh that she had saved up. But by then word had spread; others began to donate money and supplies, and the crowdfunding platform Milaap got in touch, asking if they could help her launch a campaign on the site.

When we heard about her father, we offered to help raise funds for his treatment. She, however, insisted that the collective need of these families was much bigger than her own, says Mayukh Choudhury, CEO and co-founder of Milaap. We plan to help her set up a campaign for her father at a later date, as and when she needs it. Meanwhile, the response to the campaign has been wonderful to see.

Click here for complete coronavirus coverage

By April 24, the Support Mahinoor campaign  which uses a different spelling of Khatuns name had raised Rs 6 lakh. By the start of this month, Khatun has distributed over 10,000 packages. When Amphan hit on May 20, she began to hand out basic medical supplies too.

Weve been out of work for three months, and no one else stepped up to help, says Ishrat Bibi, 35, a daily wage earner who lives with a family of seven. We would have been left to die if not for Mahinur Didi.

Remisha Bibi, 60, a housemaid, adds that Khatuns door is always open and that alone is comforting. If I am sick or I need help, I know I can go and ask her.

Every week, Khatun continues to put together her food packages, usually with her parents help. What will I take with me when I go? My treatment can wait. Im happy the money was put to good use, says her father. She might launch another campaign on Milaap, for her dad, Khatun says. Meanwhile, she has started saving again.

In her neighbourhood, lines continue to form outside her door, but she doesnt have enough funds to keep going. Whatever I do now is out of my monthly salary, says Khatun. Im running out of money, so I can only afford to buy rations for three or four families a week at the most, earlier I was able to help over 500 families a month, she said. Most of her neighbours still have no work and no income.

Her good work will surely be rewarded, said Bhaskar Mukherjee, superintendent of police in East Burdwan. We are always proud of her exemplary efforts.

Hindustan Times and Facebook have partnered to bring 15 stories of HT Salutes. HT is solely responsible for the editorial content of this series.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

LAS VEGAS, NEW MEXICO  Thanks to a generous donor, the New Mexico Highlands University Foundation announced that it will establish a George Floyd Memorial Scholarship, named for the Black man killed by Minneapolis police in May that sparked protests around the country.

Theresa Law, vice president of student and donor engagement at the university, said the scholarship is an opportunity for Highlands to support African American students who are not only interested in pursuing advanced education, but also opportunities to change their communities for the better.

This new scholarship will benefit African American Highlands University students who are leaders on campus or in their communities, or who are working on issues of diversity, equality and injustice, she said in a news release. The scholarship is open to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Law said the Highlands Foundation has formed a committee to review applicants and will begin meeting this fall. The first scholarships are expected to be awarded in the spring semester of 2021.

The George Floyd Memorial Scholarship committee has representation from Highlands faculty, staff and administration, donors to the fund and Highlands alumni. This committee will recommend deserving applicants for the scholarship award based on a personal essay by the applicant, Law said.

Anyone interested in contributing to the scholarship fund can write a check to NMHU Foundation, George Floyd Memorial Scholarship, Box 9000, Las Vegas, NM, 87701. Or they can donate online by visiting nmhufoundation.org/george-floyd-scholarship-donations.

Donations may be tax deductible.
MONTREAL - A Paris-based game developer is cutting ties with the managing director of its Canadian studios as the company continues to grapple with allegations of misconduct.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/7/2020 (555 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL - A Paris-based game developer is cutting ties with the managing director of its Canadian studios as the company continues to grapple with allegations of misconduct.

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Ubisoft says Yannis Mallat is "stepping down from his role and will leave the company, effective immediately."

It says he cannot continue in the role, given recent allegations that have come to light against multiple employees in Canada.

The company previously announced that Maxime Beland, its Toronto-based vice-president of editorial, has resigned and another unidentified employee in Toronto has been fired.

Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot has said he will "revise the composition" of the company's editorial department and transform its human resource processes.

He says the company fell short of its "obligation to guarantee a safe and inclusive environment" for employees.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2020.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

About 16 industrial enterprises were restored in the Golestan Province (northeastern Iran) during the first three months of the current Iranian year (March 20-June 20, 2020), chairman of Industry, Mine and Trade Organization of Golestan Province Hossein Toluian said, Trend reports referring to the organizations website.

According to Toluian, currently, these enterprises operate with the production capacity of more than 60 percent.

Toluian added that over the past three years, 100 industrial enterprises have been restored in Golestan Province.

The chairman stressed that in general, there is more than 60 percent progress in the construction of 246 industrial enterprises in Golestan Province.

"If these industrial enterprises are put into operation, 5,210 people will be employed," he said.

Toluian said it is estimated that 17.5 trillion rials (about $417 million) will be invested in the construction of these enterprises.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

The University of New Mexico has whittled the search for its next top medical official down to four finalists, who will begin Zoom online forums with the campus community this week.

The school has started to identify candidates to be executive vice president for UNM Health Sciences, unveiling each one week before the candidate holds meetings with different groups on campus.

So far, the only one named publicly is Dr. Veronica Mallett, who for the past three years has been the senior vice president for health affairs and dean at Meharry Medical College School of Medicine, in Nashville, Tennessee. Since March, she has been executive director of the Center for Womens Health Research at Meharry.

Mallett will begin a series of remote forums Thursday.

UNM said on its website that the school has determined the other three finalists but declined to publicly identify them. Forums with those finalists are scheduled to start July 20, 23 and 27.

In this search, UNM has taken the approach of announcing candidates a week before their scheduled interviews primarily as a courtesy to the candidates, Cinnamon Blair, a university spokeswoman, said in an email. As this is a competitive search, we would seek to keep knowledge of each candidate relatively uniform throughout the process.

Whoever is chosen will take the place of a longtime fixture on UNMs north campus. Dr. Paul Roth, the current top executive at the Health Sciences Center, is retiring at the end of the month after more than 40 years at the university, including more than 26 years as the medical school dean.

Roth is stepping down as dean of the UNM medical school, chancellor of the UNM Health Sciences Center and CEO of the UNM Health System.

UNM President Garnett Stokes said she will split up some of Roths responsibilities and hire two people to replace him. In addition to a new executive vice president, she will also hire a medical school dean.

Dr. Mike Richards, senior vice chancellor for clinical affairs, will be the interim executive vice president for health sciences starting Aug. 1 until a permanent replacement is hired.

Dr. Martha McGrew has already stepped in as the interim dean of the School of Medicine. McGrew has been the executive vice dean since 2015.

The next executive vice president will be stepping in as one of the top medical officials in New Mexico in the middle of a pandemic and a financially struggling university system. The UNM Health Sciences Center in the 2020 fiscal year had more than 10,000 employees and a $2.2 billion budget.

He or she will also be one of the highest-paid public employees in the state. Roth is paid about $675,000 a year.

Mallett, the only publicly identified candidate, has some regional experience. She held several leadership positions at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso from 2011 to 2015, according to her resume.

In 2018, Nashville Medical News reported that she was one of three Black female medical school deans in the country.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A total of 10,08,805 people have attended the 16,106 fever camps held in Chennai till July 12. According to the data of the civic body, 50,703 cases of Influenza-like illness have been reported from the camps and 46,277 swabs were taken for COVID-19 test. In that, 11,930 have turned positive which brings the positivity rate to 25.20.

Anna Nagar and Perungudi Corporation zones showed a high positive rate at 49 per cent, while zones in North Chennai - Thiruvottiyur, Tondiarpet and Royapuram - recorded a positivity rate of 10, 13 and 15 per cent respectively.

Most number of camps - 1759 - have been held at the Royapuram zone, where 78,880 people have attended. However, in the 1489 camps held in Kodambakkam, 1,11,880 people have attended and in the 1514 camps held at Thiruvika Nagar, 1,08,672 people took part.

The average outpatient per camp is 63, the highest OP average, 80, is at the Manani Zone, where 291 camps were held and 23,268 people attended.

Manali has a positivity rate of 43.53 per cent, as 427 have turned positive out of the 978 swabs taken totally till now.

The overall picture of the fever camps indicates that the north Chennai zones have fared better than the Central and South Chennai zones.

Ambattur, Teynampet, Kodambakkam, Valsaravakkam and Alandur all have a fever camp positivity rate of more than 30 per cent.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-11 22:33:38|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

MiG-31 fighters fly in formation during the military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, June 24, 2020. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi)



Russian Su-35S and MiG-31BM fighters took off and identified the target as an RC-135 plane.



MOSCOW, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Russian fighter jets chased away an RC-135 reconnaissance plane belonging to the U.S. Air Force over the Sea of Japan on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

Russian airspace control detected an air target over the neutral waters of the Sea of Japan flying towards the Russian state border, the ministry said in a statement.

Russian Su-35S and MiG-31BM fighters took off and identified the target as an RC-135 plane, before escorting the U.S. aircraft at a safe distance until it flew away from the Russian border.

The defense ministry said its jets carried out the flights in strict compliance with international rules for the use of airspace over neutral waters. 
By John Baer

I guess its no surprise that Pennsylvania going green during a pandemic would result in people, too many people, thinking, Well, guess the pandemics over.

Green, after all, means go, right? Like waving a green flag in an auto race. Drivers dont just speed up a bit. They floor it. Even in the turns.

So, that happened. As counties started turning in early June, people floored their new-found freedom and COVID-19 cases climbed.

Not everywhere. But in lots of places, including Dauphin County, Philly and the southeast and especially Pittsburgh and the southwest.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said his county went from zero cases a day in mid-June to 200 a day in early July.

Statewide, cases jumped by the thousands, even as the whole state went green.

Speculation rose that spikes came from big crowds during weeks of Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyds May 25 killing in Minneapolis.

Makes sense, given all we heard about the danger of crowds  and given that health experts, including top doc Anthony Fauci, expressed concern that protests would spread disease.

But our state Health Department says nope  very few cases are from protests.

Recent spikes are more linked to younger people going to restaurants and bars, says department spokesman Nate Wardle, and people not wearing masks.

This can lead to thinking that the stay-out-of-crowds order is hokum (from the early 20th Century, origin unknown, meaning, for some reason, nonsense).

Or that the lying leftist media, in partnership with Democratic mayors, is covering up the truth about protests.

Except theres data from the respected non-partisan National Bureau of Economic Research showing no evidence that urban protests reignited cases.

The bureau said thats because most protesters were younger and less vulnerable to the disease, because protests were outside and because urban areas with protests saw increased social distancing among the greater population.

In short, more people were mitigating at that time than not.

Still, as in everything coronavirus related, who knows?

All we know is cases rose in Pennsylvania, forcing a new state order to wear masks all the time. And this, predictably, caused more stirs among the live-free-or-die crowd (which sounds a little too literal these days), as well as renewed charges that Gov. Tom Wolf is a tyrant.

On the same day of the new mask order, July 1, the state Supreme Court said the legislature could not end Wolfs emergency declaration, as it tried to do.

Republican legislative leaders slammed the ruling as giving Wolf king status.

Then a handful of GOP lawmakers  including Lebanon Countys Russ Diamond and York Countys Mike Jones  condemned the ruling and the mask mandate.

In a joint statement, they pledged to work to see the governors edicts evaporate, just like COVID-19 by all indications is on a trajectory to do so.

I like their optimism about the disease. Id like it more if any of them had a medical degree.

Its understandable why many are angry and/or confused by governments handing of this whole mess.

From all crowds are bad to some crowds are no problem.

From Wolfs order to stay out of crowds to Wolf walking in a crowd of protesters.

From the World Health Organization saying the disease spreads through direct contact with respiratory droplets, to a large group of scientists saying that might be wrong, that the source of infection can linger in the air.

From U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams saying in March stop buying masksthey are NOT effective, to Wolf and others ordering masks for everybody everywhere.

(Who knows? Maybe if wed masked since March, wed be better off today. As is, Wolf says masks could be mandatory until theres a vaccine.)

If theres a bright spot in our green world, its that our state is better off than many others.

On a case-per-capita basis, were somewhere in the middle of states. On a deaths-per-capita basis, despite being the fifth most populous state, we rank 10th.

Going forward? Anybodys guess. Theres hope, sure. For fewer restrictions and more normalcy. For an end of the tedium of the new normal.

But the fact is nobody knows whats next.

Even as cases climb, its hard to imagine any political will to return to a statewide lockdown. But flareups forcing a return to restrictions on a local or regional level can make what comes after green worse than what was hoped for.

John Baer may be reached at baer.columnist@gmail.com
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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday again attacked the government over the Ladakh face-off, and asked what happened that China "took away" India's land when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is at the helm. He also tagged a news report quoting a defence expert, alleging that the Government is "misleading" the media on the Chinese disengagement along the LAC and that disengagement at the Galwan Valley is disadvantageous to India.

"What has happened that under Modi ji rule, China took away Mother India's sacred land," he asked in a tweet in Hindi.

Gandhi has been attacking Modi and his government on the standoff in Ladakh and has accused the prime minister of "surrendering" India's land to China.

The Indian and Chinese armies are locked in a bitter standoff in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for the last eight weeks. The tension escalated manifold after the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15 in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Gene Martinez, who formerly resided in Great Kills for more than four decades, and Judy Los Banos have been planning their June 13, 2020 wedding -- for which they invited nearly 300 guests -- for nearly two years.

So when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced a global shutdown, they knew their lavish affair that was supposed to take place in a Scotch Plains, N.J. catering hall, wasnt going to happen.
House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) criticized Republicans for not speaking out against President Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's prison sentence, pointing out on ABC's "This Week" that Stone was convicted for lying to a GOP-led committee.

The big picture: Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) are the only Republican senators who have condemned the move, with Romney calling it "unprecedented, historic corruption" and Toomey noting that Stone was "duly convicted" by a jury.

Trump lashed out at both senators on Twitter late Saturday night, calling them RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and accusing former FBI officials of spying on his campaign.

Schiff claimed Trump has "abused the pardon power" to protect himself from "criminal liability," which he said is an impeachable offense. But he added: "If the Republicans won't even say a word, of course they're not going to vote to impeach and convict."

What he's saying: "Republicans won't stand up for the rule of law, won't stand up for the independence of the Justice Department. It shouldn't matter, but this was a Republican-led investigation that Roger Stone lied to," Schiff said.

"The committee was then chaired by a Republican, and here you have no more than a couple Republicans willing to say a single word about someone who came before Congress and lied to them, intimidated witnesses and obstructed them. Why? Because he did it to cover for a president of their party."

"This is the distinction between now and Watergate. The Republicans then would not have stood for this, and Nixon understood that. Donald Trump understands that he has these Republicans cowed."

Go deeper: Robert Mueller speaks out on Roger Stone commutation
Six people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

An Iranian air defense unit that "forgot" to adjust its radar system triggered a chain of communication and human errors that led to the deadly downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet in January, according to a report from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization.

Iran said it mistakenly shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 shortly after take-off, killing all 176 aboard. Decoding of the jet's black boxes is expected to start July 20, Bloomberg reported.

Read alsoIran refuses to negotiate with Ukraine on compensation to UIA plane crash victims  MFA

The plane was downed by two missiles, fired 30 seconds apart, from an air defense unit that mistook the jet for a cruise missile. An operator had forgotten to re-adjust the north direction on the radar system after moving to a new position, an error that contributed to misreading the radar's data, according to the report published on CAO's website on Saturday.

"The operator of the air defense system launched a missile at what it had detected as a hostile target without response from the command center," CAO said in the report, adding that an unnamed person took action independently and without authorization from superiors.

The incident took place hours after Iran's defense systems were put on high alert following the country's missile attack on a U.S. air base in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian general by the order of President Donald Trump.

Six people have been arrested in connection with the incident, authorities said in June without giving details.

As UNIAN reported, Kyiv-bound Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight PS752 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport in the early hours of January 8. It was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members on board. Two passengers and the crew members were Ukrainians. There were also 82 citizens of Iran, 63 citizens of Canada, 10 citizens of Sweden, four citizens of Afghanistan, three citizens of Germany and the United Kingdom each. There were no survivors.
Mumbai: Actor Abhishek Bachchan, who is currently admitted to Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital where he is being treated for coronavirus COVID-19, shared an update on his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and daughter Aaradhya, who also tested positive on Sunday (July 12).

The 44-year-old actor informed that while his wife and daughter will be home-quarantined, his mother Jaya Bachchan, who has tested negative, will be under self-isolation. The actor also wrote that he and his father are still in the hospital and will remain there until doctors decide otherwise. The statement from the actor came amid speculation that he has been discharged from the hospital.

"Aishwarya and Aaradhya have also tested COVID-19 positive. They will be self quarantining at home. The BMC has been updated of their situation and is doing the needful.The rest of the family including my Mother have tested negative. Thank you all for your wishes and prayers," Abhishek tweeted along with a folded hand emoji.

"My father and I remain in hospital till the doctors decide otherwise. Everyone please remain cautious and safe. Please follow all rules!," he wrote in another tweet.

Earlier in the day, BMC officials sealed all four bungalows of Bachchans  Jalsa, Prateeksha, Vatsa and Janak. A sanitation drive was also carried out at Jalsa where the family lives. The Juhu bungalow was already declared a containment zone and no one is now allowed to enter or exit the area.

The BMC also conduct contact tracing among all staff members, and at least 30 people were identified as high risk contacts. Total 16 people including guards and staff from Bachchan family have been tested, reports of which will come out on July 13.

Amitabh's wife Jaya Bachchan has tested negative for the virus and so has the couple's daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda and her children Agastya and Navya Naveli. Shweta is married to Delhi-based businessman Nikhil Nanda. She, Agastya and Navya have been living with Bachchans since the lockdown was imposed.
Iran to Contribute to Security of Syrian Skies Amid Continuing Israeli Air Strikes

Sputnik News

04:45 GMT 11.07.2020

Iran will help Syria strengthen its air defence as part of an agreement between the two states signed on Wednesday. The agreement was signed by Iran's Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, and Syrian Minister of Defence Ali Abdullah Ayyub.

The agreement provides for the strengthening of military ties, as well as enhancing constant coordination between the parties. Moreover, Bagheri said that Iran's strengthening of Syria's air defence was aimed at increasing the pace of defence cooperation between the two countries.

Does this mean an increase in Iran's military presence in the country? How will this affect relations with other countries and regions, as well as the withdrawal of foreign forces from Syria?

What should be expected from Israel? Could this affect Russian-Syrian defence contracts and military-technical cooperation? Sputnik talked to Boris Dolgov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to find out.

According to Dolgov, the agreement provides an opportunity to better resist Israel's illegal aggressive attacks:

"Iran has supported Syria in the fight against terrorist groups since the beginning of the internal conflict in 2011 by sending military advisers, IRGC members and volunteers to strengthen the Syrian armed forces. But there has never been a large Iranian military presence. Iran helped create a number of armed formations, including the people's army with 50,000 participants, and provided financial and organizational support to create it. The agreement expands the current forms of military-technical cooperation; it is aimed at enhancing the fight against terrorist groups operating in Syria. Air defence strengthening is an important aspect of that. Israeli Air Forces still attack Syrian military facilities, which are partially used by Iranian forces. The agreement is precisely aimed at strengthening air defence systems to counter these illegal aggressive attacks," he said.

The Russian expert pointed out that the agreement is unlikely to allow Iran to bring army garrisons into Syria; it will strengthen the military-technical cooperation between the two countries:

"This agreement is more about the military-technical cooperation between Iran and Syria. This is a positive factor for the Syrian army in their fight against armed terrorist groups."

Boris Dolgov believes that the Iran-Syria agreement won't force the illegitimate foreign forces in Syria, represented by the US and its allies, to leave this country, but perhaps will further infuriate them:

"Officially, only Russia and Iran take part in resolving the Syrian conflict and supporting the Syrian army at the request of Syria's legitimate government. Any other armed groups are present and act in Syria illegally. I'm talking of Turkey, the United States, and in some ways even Israel. These countries don't have relevant agreements with Syria, nor have they a UN mandate to be in Syria. Therefore, one can expect the condemnation of the agreement or some kind of anti-Iranian and anti-Syrian campaign propaganda, as well as exaggerating the scale of Iran's military presence in Syria on the part of these forces (the United States and Israel). It's likely that these forces will respond to the Iranian presence in Syria, including with military actions. Therefore, the Iran-Syria agreement isn't going to force these armed forces to withdraw."

Boris Dolgov also thinks that the agreement won't affect Moscow-Damascus military-technical cooperation in any way, but will only further strengthen the Russian-Iranian-Syrian forces in the fight against a common enemy, terrorist groups:

"There is a propaganda campaign in the West regarding some alleged competition between Russia and Iran in terms of military influence in Syria. But this is unlikely to happen. The military-technical cooperation agreements between Russia and Syria have been in effect for many years; they are implemented gradually and quite successfully. The current agreement between Iran and Syria is not going to affect the Russian-Syrian partnership. On the contrary, it will be an addition to this military-technical cooperation, since Iran has its own military-technical capabilities, which it will use in Syria. There can be no competition since these are not commercial contracts, but interstate agreements on military supplies and military personnel training. All this is aimed at specific political state goals: protecting Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Both Iran and Russia have one goal in Syria: to support the country in the fight against a common enemy, armed terrorist groups."

Hossein Royvaran, Iranian political scientist, a lecturer at Tehran University, an expert on Middle Eastern and Arab countries, former head of National Iranian Radio and Television's regional office in Beirut, also believes that the agreement won't affect Iran-Russia relations since the Russian government supports the Syrian government:

"Russia will appreciate enhanced Iranian support to strengthen Syria, and will most likely support this cooperation."

Royvaran pointed out that the Iranian forces' position in Syria wouldn't change either, because Iran didn't want to create its own military base in the country:

"The Iranian military presence in Syria is based on the Syrian government's decision on the need for such a presence. As soon as Damascus says that there is no such need, the Iranian military will leave Syria. Iran doesn't want to stay in Syria and create its own military base there," he said.

The Iranian expert believes that the Iran-Syria agreement is not going to affect Iran's relations with other countries because this cooperation is formalized:

"Since the agreement doesn't introduce any changes in relations between the two countries, it will not significantly affect Iran's relations with other states. Military cooperation between Iran and Syria has been around for several years. The two countries signed military and economic cooperation agreements even before the Syrian crisis; the new agreement adds specific content to the cooperation between the two states. Therefore, we should consider this agreement a continuation and development of many years of cooperation; and it seems that cooperation will only expand with this new agreement. In this context, Israel's possible reaction is of little significance to Iran. Israel cannot determine the policies of two independent states."

A Sputnik

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Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong and President of the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) and Prime Minister Hun Sen discussed issues regarding the relations between the two nations during their phone talks on July 9.



The top Vietnamese leader lauded the Cambodian governments management, and the solidarity of the Cambodian people in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and in socio-economic development.



He thanked Cambodia for its close coordination with Vietnam within the bilateral framework as well as the ASEAN cooperation framework, and suggested the two countries tighten their cooperation in the pandemic combat, while maintaining border trade.



As for the issue relating to people of Vietnamese origin in Cambodia, the Party and State leader expressed his hope that Cambodia will continue to create favourable conditions for them to stabilise their lives in the country, thus contributing to the development of Cambodia and enhancing the bilateral ties.



For his part, Hun Sen congratulated Vietnam on successfully organising the 36th ASEAN Summit in the form of a teleconference, saying Cambodia will actively support Vietnams ASEAN and AIPA 41 Chairmanship in 2020 and non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021.



The Cambodian leader said he believes that under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Vietnamese people will reap new, greater achievements in the renewal process, and successfully organise the 13th National Party Congress.



Praising Vietnams efforts and successes in the fight against COVID-19, he thanked Vietnam for sharing its experience with and supporting Cambodia in this sphere.



Cambodia will continue to create conditions for people of Vietnamese origin to settle in the country, he pledged.



Both leaders spoke highly of the intensive and extensive development of the cooperation between the two Parties and the two countries across areas, bringing practical interests to people of the countries.



They agreed to continue joining hands in implementing joint statements and agreements, along with preparing for the 18th meeting of the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Committee, and the 11th meeting on cooperation and development between border provinces of Vietnam and Cambodia when possible.



The leaders also consented to take specific measures to remove difficulties to boost economic ties sustainably.



They shared the view on the historical significance of the signing of two documents recognising the achievements of land border demarcation and marker planting, and concurred to push ahead with necessary procedures to put the documents into place.



The two sides will also continue negotiations to deal with the remaining border work, thus building a common border line of peace, stability, cooperation and development.

They will closely and effectively coordinate and support each other in regional and international issues, especially within the ASEAN cooperation framework and ASEAN-led mechanisms, the UN, the WTO, the ASEM and Mekong Sub-region cooperation mechanisms.
Indias aviation industry has been hit the hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic and its fallout. Flights were grounded for the better part of the June quarter and even now only one in two are allowed to ply on domestic routes. This has meant deep losses for all airlines as fixed costs remained but revenues dried up for an entire quarter. Even the current quarter (July-September) is expected to bring in scant revenues for airlines due to continued uncertainties on travel and the whole of 2020-21 could well be a washout year.

Saddled with fixed costs and only meager earnings, airlines have been forced to defer delivery of new aircraft as even after flight resumption, load factors (number of occupied seats per aircraft) remain abysmally low. Not just deferring aircraft deliveries, airlines have also had to slash employee salaries, cut jobs and defer payments to vendors, oil companies and other creditors. Sources have indicated that Air India alone could be sitting on vendor dues of tens of thousands of crores and that most airlines with weak financials are deferring payments to remain viable. Industry estimates suggest every third job could be cut and the industry wide loss could hit a record for the year.

In this scenario, it was inevitable that the industry would witness some consolidation even as it scouts for funds to urgently capitalise airlines.

So the reports of AirAsia BhD being in talks with Tata Sons for exiting the Indian arm come as no surprise. AirAsia India is a two-way joint venture with Tata Sons, with the Malaysian partner holding 49 per cent equity and reports have suggested that the Indian partner may buy out AirAsia BhD at a discount. Tata Sons declined to offer any comment on the matter. But any selloff by AirAsia BhD will mean the Tatas get to own and operate two majority owned airlines in India (since the group already has majority 51 per cent stake in Vistara). Will they want to continue with both?

Anyway, an indication of the Malaysian companys possible exit from India had come last month itself, when CEO Tony Fernandes had said in a conference call with Credit Suisse analysts that India and Japan were only peripheral markets for the airline. While currently growing and committed, we would never say that we would never exit India, Fernandes had been quoted saying by CS.

It would be fair to say that AirAsias journey in India, since inception seven years ago, has been dotted with troubles. And the current situation, brought about by the pandemic and consequent assault on airline industrys fortunes, may only exacerbate the pain. A source had said earlier that a significant fleet expansion done by AA India last year could turn into the airlines biggest headache in these times. As per government restrictions, only a part of the capacity can be deployed and that too only on domestic routes in India, rendering the remaining aircraft idle and adding significantly to the airlines costs.

When fleet expands, more money is needed to maintain the aircraft, use them. Also, more money is needed to subsidize the losses, this source had pointed out. AirAsia India has never reported a profit though it had narrowed losses year-on-year last fiscal. AirAsia had narrowed losses quite significantly last fiscal but the situation brought on by Covid19 means India and Japan operations are struggling. Unlike other markets, India needs lots of funds. The airline now has a fleet of 30 aircraft  it added nearly a dozen aircraft in a short period of time before Covid19 and thus needs to pump in more money to fund the increased losses as capacity sits idle, the source had added.

The tough decisions that await the promoters of AirAsia India are similar to what better funded and larger airlines are also struggling with currently. An analysis by global aviation consultancy CAPA has highlighted the massive funds needed by the industry to get through these trying times. Excluding market leader IndiGo, Indian airlines will need up to $3-3.5 billion of recapitalization or anywhere between Rs 22,000 crore to Rs 26, 000 crore and any delay in such a massive funds infusion may inflict further damage (including in the case of Air India) and could serve as a catalyst for consolidation.

As of now, India has five scheduled airlines  Air India, Vistara, Spicejet, Go Air and AirAsia India. Consolidation could result in a significant change in the structure of the industry, CAPA said, adding we may be left with just 2 to 3 airlines if timely recapitalisation did not happen. A large airline, Jet Airways, was grounded in April last year for want of massive funds; Air India has been up for sale through a government mandated disinvestment process and in any case, the airline industry is expected to post a record combined loss for the June quarter. CAPA has, in fact, said that market leader IndiGo could account for as high as 70 per cent of the market, even if it does not expand operations, purely due to widespread consolidation in the market.

Amid all this industry chaos, not only has the government offered no specific package to help the airline industry out of the morass, it has capped domestic fares thus further hurting airline balance sheets. An industry veteran had said earlier that earlier airlines were offering tickets at prices well below the floor currently set by the government but these prices were for limited seats and the policy of dynamic fares allowed them to make up the difference by offering higher fares closer to the date of travel. Now that fare bands have been prescribed, pricing flexibility has been denied to the carriers.

Airlines are doing their bit to remain solvent. IndiGo, for example, has taken cost reduction initiatives such as pay cuts of up to 25 per cent, cut capex and renegotiated terms with vendors, suppliers and lessors. But to be able to survive the aftermath of Covid19, Indias airlines not only need a massive doze of funds, they also require the confidence of the travelling public. Both these factors seem to be in short supply at the moment.
The story of Kumari seeks to empower the women of Nepal to voice their discomfort with practices that should be critiqued, but have been pushed behind a veneer of culture.

On 25 April 2015, a 7.8 magnitude quake ravaged Nepal, killing 9,000 people and damaging over 6,00,000 structures in Kathmandu and nearby areas, some of which turned to dust from the impact. In the aftermath of the seismic disaster, while national and international humanitarian organisations came to the rescue of those affected, a troubling lack of menstrual hygiene management was observed in the relief measures that followed. A study carried out in three villages in the Sindhupalchowk district found that none of the respondents had reported receiving menstrual products as relief materials in the first month since the earthquake.

For Sophie Maliphant, who was in Nepal when the quake occurred, the crisis allowed her to look at the Himalayan nation anew. The same year, she published The Country That Shook, a children's book which aimed to reintroduce young readers to the earthquake without invoking trauma. While the book initiated conversations about the catastrophe among students in some UK schools, in Nepal, the proceeds from the sales helped rebuild a school in Solukhumbu. Three years later when Maliphant, a UK-based graphic designer, visited the school, she began to learn about the different menstrual practices observed in rural Nepal, including chhhaupadi or menstrual huts.

Though outlawed in 2005 and criminalised in 2017, the tradition of chhaupadi  which banishes menstruating women to huts, forbidding them to enter the shared spaces within their homes  is still prevalent in many Nepalese communities, most notably in the far western region. "Its not an alien idea to me to see separation and menstruation side by side. Sometimes separation is practised to honour the body and to care for the downward pull of energy that happens during menstruation, but to see that the differentiation was happening in Nepal in a way that made women feel impure and dirty was serious," recounts Maliphant. It was this realisation which spurred Kumari and her Moon Cycle  a storybook illustrated by multiple Nepalese girls and women from different regions, and written by Maliphant herself.

Named after 17-year-old Sarita Gurung's deceased mother, Kumari and her Moon Cycle is a fictional story of a young Nepalese woman whose "surprise discovery of a bicycle in her village in the Nepalese Himalayas leads her on a journey through the nature of her female body, empowering her to make her own decisions and fully appreciate her innate wisdom." Maliphant had met Gurung, a Dhading native, at a workshop she helped conduct in her village a few years ago and the two have been in contact since. Now, their conversations about Kumari have been memorialised in the initial chapters of the book.

Though a work in progress, the story of Kumari seeks to empower Nepalese women to voice their discomfort with practices that should be critiqued, but have been pushed behind a veneer of culture. "I was thinking of a way to evolve the workshops we had already conducted or funded. Ive always felt that even though workshops tend to be informative, they ultimately do not create a support system around women to rely on  an issue faced across a lot of countries where people are trying to improve hygiene standards through both education and resources." Therefore, once Kumari and her Moon Cycle is published in English and various Nepalese languages, Maliphant along with a network of activists and aid workers, plan to follow it over a three-week programme, where each chapter will inspire dialogues on the interdependence of menstrual hygiene, self-worth, bullying, human rights, politics, and feminism.

While most of the illustrators associated with the project have never met Maliphant, they somehow found a way to work with her through social media. Interestingly, none of them have had a formal art education; however, their involvement has led to the inadvertent fulfillment of one of the objectives of the book  to make young artists view their hobbies as valuable. And these artists aim to paint a candid picture of Nepalese society, its sensibilities and contradictions. "Menstruation is nothing to be embarrassed of. In fact, we should think of it as a shared experience," says illustrator Ashma Dahal. Another artist from the Terai region, Puja Gupta adds, "Kumari's journey will simplify the ramifications of orthodox menstrual practices, some of which may not seem detrimental at first."

When the time comes to send the draft to print, Maliphant wants Kumari and her Moon Cycle to feature illustrations from at least 30 local artists, reflecting the ethos of a sustainable, egalitarian community  devoid of formal hierarchies. However, she also acknowledges that the lived experiences of the people, even within a community could be different. Those differences can also be observed in how overtly change has been embraced by different groups in Nepal and Maliphant is witness to it. "There's been a slow change which is significant because quick changes are usually untenable. Quite often, I get messages from men who want the workshops to come to their villages so that their wives and daughters are educated around hygiene and self-care. Although that still doesnt apply to every family and there's a lot of work to be done, it's at least becoming less of a taboo to say the words."
St Louis Police executed a search warrant on Friday night to seize the rifle Mark McCloskey was seen using to defend his home from Black Lives Matter rioters last month.



The pistol his wife used to defend their home is reportedly in the hands of their attorney, so it's possible they're entirely disarmed.



Antifa terrorists just recently threatened to kill them and burn down the historic Midwestern palazzo they've spent 32 years restoring.



Soros-funded St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner wants to throw them to the wolves.





JUST IN: Sources tell @ksdknews that St. Louis Police executed a search warrant tonight at the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey.



Sources say they seized the rifle he held during a confrontation with protesters in June at their Central West End home.https://t.co/22SGpoc2UW  Rob Edwards (@RobertDEdwards) July 11, 2020

BREAKING: I just got off the phone with Mark McCloskey. He confirms that a warrant was executed at his St. Louis home. Police took his gun. https://t.co/UgHtyJj6dw  toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) July 11, 2020



From KSDK, "McCloskeys served with search warrant, police take rifle shown in viral pictures":

5 On Your Side has learned St. Louis police officers executed a search warrant Friday evening at the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the Central West end couple who confronted protesters with weapons in June.



Sources tell 5 On Your Side police seized one of the weapons, the rifle, from the couple and they told police their attorney has the pistol seen in photos.



5 On Your Side is not aware of any charges against the McCloskeys at this time, and the warrant served Friday evening was just for the guns.

From Todd Starnes, "Warrants Served on St. Louis Couple Who Defended Home Against BLM Thugs":

Mr. McCloskey tells The Todd Starnes Radio Show that police seized the AR-15 he was photographed holding while an angry mob assembled on the lawn of his private home.



We complied with the search warrant. They took my AR he told me. Im absolutely surprised by this.



He also said both he and his wife have retained criminal counsel.



Mr. McCloskey declined to answer any more questions, but I suspect they would be willing to go to jail before they back down.

Fox News covered the disturbing revelations on Friday night:







Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt told Fox News that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has an "abysmal record in prosecuting violent crime" and has been letting rioters and looters off the hook.



"Under Missouri law, under the Castle Doctrine an individual has really expansive authority to protect their own lives, their home, and their property," Schmitt said.



"And I think the story here to watch here is the local prosecutor, Kim Gardner," he said. "Kim Gardner has an abysmal record in prosecuting violent crime, has recently released and been complicit in the release of dozens and dozens of inmates who have been charged with violent crimes, and has a record of making politically-motivated decisions not based on the law. So, this is certainly something to watch."



"It's hard to get into the mind of Kim Gardner," Schmitt said. "As I said, she has a sketchy track record of making politically based decisions."



Gardner put out a statement claiming the BLM rioters who invaded their private neighborhood were "peaceful protesters" and they were "met by guns and a violent assault" and threatened that she will "use the full power of Missouri law to hold people accountable."









In this livestream footage you can clearly see the STL black lives matter mob entered through the gate to a private community. This was not a public sidewalk. https://t.co/NeKHgTBWEu pic.twitter.com/UdYq3pGtlb  Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) June 29, 2020

They didn't "march past," that's fake news. They marched through a gate, into private property, past a big sign that said "no trespassing."



Followers, the "just passing" narrative will be strong tomorrow. Expose it wherever you see it. https://t.co/BmuQAiCjBu pic.twitter.com/B471pmQNPK  Allum Bokhari (@LibertarianBlue) June 29, 2020

tHeY dIdNt bReAk tHe GaTe pic.twitter.com/x7Yz3miE9r  robyn (@CCbucko) June 29, 2020



Mark McCloskey revealed in an interview on Wednesday that he has been a "lifelong Republican" and called the Black Lives Matter movement a "terrorist organization."



"I want to set the record straight on one thing. I've been reading a lot of reports about me from the media... Some of whom have accused me of being a Democrat, and I have donated money to various candidates, particularly ones who were personal friends of mine over the years, but I've been a lifelong Republican," McCloskey said.



"Another thing I'd like to clear up is that the media reports me as being a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and I am certainly not. Black Lives Matter to my understanding is a Marxist organization opposed to everything I stand for and everything I hold near and dear. I do stand for equal justice under the law, but that's got nothing to do with this terrorist organization known as Black Lives Matter."



McCloskey said the St. Louis antifa group "Expect Us" on social media threatened to come "get us" and said they're going to burn down their house.







Protesters went to their house again on July 3 but it appeared they hired either private security or had private citizens come help them defend their house.





ARMED GUARDS AT MCCLOSKEY MANSION pic.twitter.com/Zh00pGStzA  The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) July 4, 2020

THE MCCLOSKEY RESIDENCE IS NOW GUARDED AND BORDED UP pic.twitter.com/nth0Bz5nnZ  The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) July 4, 2020



The future Gardner and other Soros-funded attorneys general are working to create is one where rioters, looters and thugs are allowed to roam free while law-abiding Americans are treated like criminals and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for defending themselves from the mob.



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New Delhi: As the crisis within Rajasthan Congress party deepens, state Congress president and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has been invited for a meeting with Rahul Gandhi at 5.30 pm on Sunday (July 12, 2020).

According to sources, if Pilot keeps his meeting with Rahul then all is good in the party otherwise it is quite possible that Pilot, alongwith his loyalist MLAs, will join BJP.

Pilot arrived in Delhi today to meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and apprise her about the political situation in Rajasthan.

It is speculated that Pilot is miffed with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and the MLAs supporting Pilot do not share good ties with Gehlot.

Sources said that Pilot now feels that the party is planning to remove him from the state president post. Pilot is of the view that Gehlot wants to sideline him and the latter has made his displeasure known to party high command too.

The flashpoint between the two top Congress leaders was a probe ordered by the state police into "poaching" of MLAs. Gehlot has accused the BJP of trying to lure Congress MLAs to topple his government in the state.

Though the BJP has dismissed his claims, saying the developments reflect a power struggle between Gehlot and Pilot.

The Rajasthan police has issued notices to Gehlot and his deputy Pilot to record their statement in connection with the alleged attempts to topple their Congress government, sources said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Gehlot has summoned all Congress and independents MLAs for a meeting tonight at 9 pm at the chief minister's residence.
Editorial cartoonists captured the fear in the air about sending kids back to school in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic Several artists riffed on a new kind of school supply shopping  for protective suits, masks, gloves, hand sanitizers and hydroxychloroquine.

Schools were in the news as President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding if they dont open this fall. Actually, the president has little to say about how schools operate, as they are run by states and localities. In Florida, Miami-Dade schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he would not reopen schools unless the community moves into Phase 2, bucking an order from Gov. Ron DeSantis to open schools for in-person instruction five days a week.

Other topics in the cartoons include the Treasury Departments release of the companies that benefited from the governments Paycheck Protection Program, including businesses owned by members of Congress, restaurant chains and the Catholic Church; the surge in coronavirus cases in the United States, which set several daily records for new infections; the Supreme Court ruling that shot down Trumps claim that he is immune from investigation while he is president; a spike in gun violence in cities around the country, including New York and Chicago; the showdown between the WNBA and one of the owners of its Atlanta Dream franchise, U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, over the leagues support for Black Lives Matter; and Chinas crackdown on free speech in Hong Kong.

Cartoons were drawn by Bill Bramhall, Dan Wasserman, Dana Summers, Drew Sheneman, Scott Stantis, Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Phil Hands, Joel Pett and Joey Weatherford of Tribune Content Agency; and A.F. Branco, Mike Luckovich and Michael Ramirez of Creators Syndicate.

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Implement consensus, handle differences properly to bring China-India relations back on right track: Chinese envoy

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 10:10, July 11, 2020

NEW DELHI, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said on Friday that China and India should implement consensus and handle differences properly to bring the bilateral relations back on the right track.

"It is even more important to firmly grasp the consensus reached by our two leaders when the bilateral relations are overshadowed," Sun said in video remarks on current China-India relations.

"I believe as long as we follow the guidance of our two leaders, implement the consensus reached by the Special Representatives, focus on friendship and cooperation, defuse suspicion and misgivings, and properly handle differences and sensitive issues, we will be able to address challenges we are facing and bring the bilateral relations back on the right track for a sound and steady development," he said.

Sun made the remarks after the Special Representatives of the China-India Boundary Question, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had a conversation over the phone on July 5 and reached a positive consensus on easing the current border situation.

"Currently, our front line troops are disengaging on the ground in accordance with the consensus reached by the Military Corp Commander talks," he said.

Sun noted that against the backdrop of what recently happened at Galwan Valley, some quarters in India raised doubts about the consensus reached by the two leaders and have wrong perception of the direction of China-India relations, bringing disruptions to the bilateral relationship.

Clarifying some fundamental points, Sun said China and India should be partners, rather than rivals.

"For both China and India, achieving development and revitalization is the top priority where we share long-term strategic interests," he said.

Since the 1990s, China and India have reached an important consensus that the two countries pose no threat to each other.

During the Wuhan Informal Summit in 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again stressed that the two countries provide each other with development opportunities instead of posing threats, which the two sides should adhere to.

"This is the fundamental judgment on China-India relations, charting the course for the development of our bilateral relations," Sun said.

"Only through correct view of each other's intentions with a positive, open and inclusive attitude, we can ensure a stable and long-term development of bilateral relations and avoid any strategic miscalculation," he said.

Sun stressed that China and India need peace rather than confrontation, saying that the two countries should always bear in mind the overall bilateral relations, put differences in an appropriate place and not allow differences to interfere with bilateral relations.

"We should seek common development as partners rather than opponents or adversaries," he said. "Why should we fight against each other that will only hurt those close to us and gladden the foes?"

Sun noted that China and India need to pursue win-win cooperation instead of zero-sum game, saying the two countries are fully capable of achieving win-win results through cooperation as they boast huge market potentials and high economic complementarity.

He said that China and India need to build trust, rather than suspicion.

"If China and India wish to speed up the realization of our own development and revitalization, mutual respect and support is a sure way and meets the long-term interests of both countries," he said. "Suspicion and friction is a wrong path and goes against the fundamental aspiration of the two peoples."

The ambassador said China-India relations should move forward rather than backward as this year marks the 70th anniversary of China-India diplomatic ties.

"Now the China-India relations are facing a complex situation," he said. "We should take a broader and far-sighted view, work together to overcome and turn it around as soon as possible."

"We should meet each other half-way, expand positive dimension of cooperation, narrow down negative factors and refrain from doing harm to mutual trust and cooperation," he added.

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Bhopal:

Amid growing opposition clamour for a judicial probe into the encounter killing of eight SIMI activists, Madhya Pradesh's Home Minister Bhupendra Singh Tuesday said there was no need for any investigation, while state's police chief Rishi Kumar Shukla maintained the CID will go into the incident.

Eight undertrial terror suspects of the outlawed SIMI had been shot dead by police in an alleged encounter within hours of their escape from high-security Bhopal central jail after killing a constable. Videos shot purportedly at the scene of the encounter appeared to question its authenticity, prompting demands by opposition parties for a judicial inquiry.

ALSO READ: (Bhopal SIMI jailbreak: Madhya Pradesh DGP forms SIT to probe encounter which killed 8 prisoners)

"It is mandated by the law that the state's CID will investigate the encounters for a free and fair probe," Director General of Police Rishi Kumar Shukla told PTI, adding there was nothing new in it."CID is going to do its duty according to the law and inform the (competent) court," he said. Home Minister Singh, however, struck a different note.

"There is no need for any investigation into the encounter," he told reporters in Anuppur district earlier in the day."Bhopal Police Range Inspector General Yogesh Choudhary has already briefed the media about details of the encounter yesterday," he said. "He (IG) has briefed on how the encounter took place.

ALSO READ: (Bhopal 'fake' encounter: NHRC issues notice to MP govt, officials)

So there is no need for any inquiry," Singh said. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), he said, will only look into the jail break incident -- the plan, from where the accused got help, from inside and outside, their links in the country and their network. "NIA will not inquire into the encounter," he said.Meanwhile, sources close to DGP Shukla said he has already asked Superintendent of Police (CID) Anurag Sharma to head the probe into the encounter.

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Reza Aslan accused CNN boss Jeff Zucker of canceling his travel show Believer in an attempt to appease President Donald Trump, who was the target of Aslans expletive-laden tweet in 2017.

The tweet came in June 2017 in the midst of the London Bridge terrorist attack, during which time Trump tweeted that the attack justified his travel ban that he called a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. Aslan responded by saying, This piece of s*** is not just an embarrassment to America and a stain on the presidency. Hes an embarrassment to humankind.

This is a manand an administrationwho very explicitly said that Islam is not a religion but a political philosophy and that it is not protected under the First Amendment in the United States because its not a religion, Aslan told The Daily Beast. I know who this man was.

Also Read: Tucker Carlson's Top Writer Resigns After Discovery of Racist, Sexist Comments in Online Forum

Aslan was pressured by CNN executives, producers and public calls across the political spectrum to issue an apology. He said that he did not want to send an apology, but was afraid that he would be punished by losing Believer, a show he always dreamed of making. CNN not only owns the show, but also the premise, which involves Aslan traveling to different countries and meeting with people of various religions. One such episode prompted backlash from Hindus for focusing on a sect that consumes human brain as part of a ritual. Despite this, the show received strong ratings upon its premiere in March 2017

Aslan published the apology and thought the issue was resolved, only to receive word four days later that Zucker had decided to cancel Believer after three months on air.

The response from the production company was, Wait a minute, what? We thought this was over. He apologized. You accepted the apology. This was four days ago. And the quote that was delivered to me [from Zucker] was, I have no choice in the matter. I gotta get rid of your boy,' Aslan recounted. I was flabbergasted. It just didnt make sense to accept an apology, wait four days, and then in the middle of one of the biggest news days of the year to just simply cancel it.

Story continues

Aslan said he was told Zucker cut his show in an effort to appease Trump and prevent him from cutting CNN off from access to both the president and White House officials. In 2017, AT&T was attempting to complete its acquisition of Time Warner, a deal that Trump threatened to block unless CNN fired Zucker, though he had no authority as president to do so.

Also Read: WarnerMedia to Sell Atlanta's CNN Center, Sidesteps Threat of Impending Layoffs

But Aslan believes the move was far more vindictive, saying that Zucker promised him that he would get the rights to Believer back if he agreed to stay quiet and not add fuel to the backlash from conservatives over his Trump tweet. Instead, he ended up in negotiations with the network that lasted nearly a year, to the point that by the time he got the show back, interest from other networks to pick up Believer had vanished.

The process was so deliberately dragged out, that by that point any excitement from the networks who wanted to take [the] show in order to make a statement had pretty much died down, he said. And Id moved on. Im excited that people will get to watch the show now, because Im very proud of it, but this was a deliberate plan to make sure the show could not be revived in the aftermath of this controversy.

A CNN spokesperson told The Daily Beast, we did not move forward with [Believer] because of his inappropriate tweet and we parted ways amicably. While we owned the series, Rezas agreement was with Whalerock, the company that produced it. Once we gave Whalerock the rights and paid what we were responsible for, it was their decision on what to do with the series.

But amicable isnt how Aslan would describe his relationship with CNN, saying that cable news is garbage, and youre better off avoiding all of it. He also compared his ousting to complaints about cancel culture that were made in a letter signed by over 150 pundits and commentators on Harpers.

Read original story Reza Aslan Accuses Jeff Zucker of Canceling His CNN Show to Appease Trump At TheWrap
The villages on the outskirts of Pune declared as containment zones by the district administration on July 8 will support the10-day lockdown called by divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar.

The villages which were sealed include Manjri, Kadamwakvasti, Narhe, New Kopre, Khanapur, Shevalewadi, Wagholi, Gujar-Nimbalkarwadi, Khadakwasla, Kirkitwadi, Pisoli, Wadali wadi, Bhilarewadi, Urali Kanchan, Loni Kalbhor, Nanded, Manjri, Kunjirwadi, Kondhwe-Dhavade and Dehu.

People have been following all the norms for the last three days. Now people will be following the 10-day lockdown as declared by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Friday, said Sachin Baravkar, Haveli sub-divisional officer.

We are yet to take a decision on how to allow essential services and milk distribution, added Baravkar.

On Saturday, villagers at Kirkitwadi were following 10am- 2pm rules promptly. The gram panchayat volunteers were taking a fine from people who were not wearing masks.

Most of the people are wearing masks, so we havent had many problems in the last three days. Most of the people are following rules, said Satish Jadhav, Gram Panchayat volunteer, Kirkitwadi.

The volunteers were on duty from 9am to 7pm. In Gujar-Nimbalkarwadi, there was pin-drop silence on roads after 2pm.

Generally people dont roam outside after 2 pm, since morning people follow social distancing norms, adds the owner of Indira medical.

Two-day break for six villages

Six villages, including Hinjewadi, Mangaon, Marunji, Nerhe, Jambhe and Kasarsai which had called a shutdown for a week starting from July 9 have taken a two-day break.

The villages have been given a two-day break to stock up essential commodities as a 10-day lockdown has been declared, said Tulshiram Raykar, village development officer, Hinjewadi.

However, villages are still not clear about whether industries and IT parks will work or not.

We are waiting for a complete order to come, whatever district administration decides we will follow it. We might give people a break on July 13 as well, said Samir Buchade, Marunji sarpanch.
The streets of the south Houston neighborhood Vanessa Guillen where grew up filled with people showing their support for the slain soldiers family Saturday afternoon.

A line of cars waiting to buy plates to-go from Perfect Choice BBQ stretched for over a mile down Galveston Road. All of the proceeds of the sales were for the slain 20-year-old Fort Hood soldiers family.

This is how we unite, said Rick Torres, owner of the barbecue joint. If something happens to someone, in our culture and our heritage, Mexicans, we cook. We bring people together.

Guillens friends, family, neighbors and community volunteers carried plates of brisket, sausage, rice, beans and funnel cakes to the line of cars in 100 degree heat for hours. Torres said they werent expecting such an overwhelming turnout.

Were really moved by the whole situation, said Jenny Mendoza, a 2009 graduate of Cesar Chavez High School, where Guillen graduated from. Were not going to take it sitting down.

IN WAKE OF SLAYING: Secretary of the Army announces independent review of Fort Hood

The remains of Guillen were found months after she went missing in April. A suspect in her death, Aaron Robinson, died by suicide as police were preparing to arrest him. A second suspect, Robinsons girlfriend Cecily Aguilar, faces federal conspiracy to tamper with evidence charges.

There is an investigation into Guillens reported sexual harassment in the army, as well as her murder while on duty at the post. Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy on Friday said he would launch an independent review of the command culture at Fort Hood.

The soldiers killing has ignited a national movement calling for her justice and for reform in the military.

I feel like us Latinos need to stick together and take care of each other, said Lili Bedmata, a Chavez High School graduate and volunteer at the fundraiser. She was part of our community, so we need to fight for her justice.

The walls of Perfect Choice BBQ, across the street from Chavez High School, are now painted with a mural of Guillen in a graduation cap and gown.

Mendoza said she hopes the image of Guillen celebrating graduation will inspire them.

Guillen was in the top of her class, her family said, and she inspired those around her to achieve their goals.

When people see this mural, it will remind them that this person was one of us, said Mendoza.

hannah.dellinger@chron.com
MBABANE  A station commander of a police station is alleged to have slapped a pregnant officer in the face.

It has been established that the commander thought the woman was asleep during a nightshift and awakened her with a slap. The well-known head of the police station is said to have driven to the station to supervise the nightshift and found the woman, understood to be carrying triplets, appearing to him to be asleep. Relatives to the police officer said an ultrasound scan showed that she was carrying triplets. The Times SUNDAY has learnt that her husband is also a police officer. Her husband is reportedly angry with the station commander for allegedly hitting his wife. Investigations unearthed that the alleged assault traumatised the female police officer as she had not expected her supervisor to slap her.

Health problems

There are fears that her stress may cause health problems, it has been revealed. The woman chose not to open a criminal case. Instead, she reported the matter to the station commanders superiors. Stephen Dlamini, the Hhohho Police Regional Commissioner was entrusted with the responsibility to handle the matter. His rank is assistant commissioner. The womans name and that of the station commander cannot be disclosed pending the internal police enquiry into the incident. Inspector Nosipho Mnguni, the Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer, said the matter was being handled internally as no case had been opened against the station commander. She said the regional commissioner was trying to establish facts of the matter. Mnguni mentioned that he had already engaged both parties to find out what really transpired at the police station.

I can confirm the matter was reported to the Hhohho Regional Police Commissioner, whos presently handling the matter internally, she said. Section 49 (1) (b) (iv) of the Police Service Act of 2018 states that a police officer commits a disciplinary offence if that officer assaults or indecently assaults another officer. Section 49 (1) (c) (iii) states that an officer commits a disciplinary offence if he or she sleeps on duty without an authority or reasonable cause. A relative to the woman who was allegedly assaulted said the couple was not prepared to entertain media questions as they were still dealing with the incident and its aftermath. Asked why they were not opening a criminal case, the relative mentioned that the couple felt it was prudent to first engage the police superiors before taking further action against the station commander.


The Care for Society Network International (CfSNI), a Non-Governmental Organization, has launched a community radio education programme to promote primary education, for communities across 13 municipalities and districts in the Eastern Region.



The program called Deep Reach Community Radio Learning is designed to give access to children in these communities to teaching and learning opportunities based on the Ghana Education Service Curriculum, once they tuned in to Radio One, a community radio based at Bunso on 100.7FM, from Friday, July 17, 2020 in the evenings.



The districts include Abuakwa North and South, Atiwa East and West, Suhum, Ayensuano, Upper West and Lower West Akyem, Fanteawka North and South, Denkyembuor and Kwaebibrem.



The CfSNI is running this initiative in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Abuakwa South Municipal Assembly to fill the gap for the many children in the remote communities who have limited access to internet networks and Television channels to access the government online learning as a result of the closures of schools.



Mrs Anita Amoako-Gyimah, President of CfSNI, said the key objective was to promote distance primary education through community radio to bridge the gap for the rural and urban children in this time that schools had been closed due to COVID-19



Throwing more light on the program, she indicated that children would be engaged in their classroom subjects like history, our World Our people (OWOP), Religious and Moral Education (RME), English and Science on the radio on scheduled periods and also have the opportunity to phone-in for clarifications.



She was grateful to all stakeholders including the parents and teachers in the community who had volunteered to facilitate the program and appealed to parents to take interest in the program by ensuring that their kids tuned in to the station at the designated times.



The CfSNI was formerly called Yen Anidaso Clubs of Readers (YACoR), a non-governmental organization interested in community development through mind-set change, cooperation and lifestyle transformation to eradicate barriers to all forms of education and poverty in rural settings in Ghana and beyond.



Mr Kojo Ofori Sarpong, Abuakwa South Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said radio was a powerful and most effective way of communication, and was optimistic that the program would go a long way to bridge the inequalities and gaps in the access to quality education, especially in this coronavirus-hit times.



He disclosed that the Assembly had provided multi-usage solar lamps for children in the remote communities to aid them in learning at home and pledged the Assembly and the Education Directorates support to ensure the success of the program.



Nana Etwienana Bra Kwante Agyeman, Okyenhene Menatohene, was full of gratitude to the organizers of the program, describing it as a novelty that would serve the interest of education for many children in the area.



He noted that all the districts were dotted with remote and hard to reach communities that had been cut off from the online education currently ongoing to fill the gap of schools closure, and assured support of the Okyenhene and his council for the success of the program.

Source: GNA









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The principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said social distancing cannot happen in a classroom environment. "Were being told to say its OK to be in the classroom and I know its not," the principal said. After the outbreak at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina, many teachers would not accept the advice that schools are a low-risk environment, the principal said. Senior students at the college are believed to be a major contributor to the cluster, which reached 134 people on Saturday, making it the states largest.

There is a time bomb starting on Monday, the principal said. Loading Weve got community transmission, were putting 20 to 25 adults together in a room all day. I dont know why they are not looking two or three weeks down the line. Manolya Moustafa, the head of science at a government school in Melbourne's west, said there was insufficient space to maintain distance in the classroom. "[Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton] himself said that the largest outbreak in Victoria, at Al-Taqwa College, was due to senior students being able to spread the virus in the same way as adults, yet these very students are being sent to school on Monday when community transmissions are out of control," Ms Moustafa said.

The union for Catholic and independent school teachers argued on-site staffing should be minimised rather than having a default setting in which most teachers work at school. Premier Daniel Andrews said a return to remote learning would be hard on many families, but there was "simply no alternative" if the lockdown was to succeed. "We can't have the best part of 700,000 students, as well as parents, moving to and from school, roaming around the community as if there wasn't a stay-at-home order or as if there wasn't a lockdown," Mr Andrews said. "That'll put at direct risk us achieving our aim and that, of course, is to drive these numbers down at the end of the six-week period." Mr Andrews said he expected that Catholic and independent schools would follow the same remote learning regime.

Loading Professor Sutton said it would have been irresponsible of him to recommend all students go back to school, given the state faces the biggest health crisis since the Spanish flu pandemic a century ago. We have to throw absolutely everything at it; its the biggest public health challenge of our lifetime, he said. It would have been irresponsible of me to have gone into a phase where we might even have increasing numbers day on day, to have kids going back to school. Education Minister James Merlino said that unlike the first phase of remote learning in term two, the default setting for teachers would be working on-site, although schools would have flexibility to have some teachers and staff working remotely.

But Professor Sutton baulked at recommending teachers wear masks in the classroom, despite issuing advice last week that people should wear them where they cannot be socially distant. Teaching is pretty tough with a mask on. They require those facial expressions, they need to be heard clearly," Professor Sutton said. Australian Principals Federation Victorian branch president Julie Podbury said schools also had a duty to educate children to the best of their ability in a heavily disrupted year. ... weve still got to go forwards and weve still got to educate our kids the best we can, so that when we resume everyday school theyre not too far behind, Ms Podbury said. Parent Emma Read said she had mixed feelings about her children being schooled at home once again.

"Im stressed, worried but also a bit relieved," said Ms Read, of Heidelberg. Back to school, at home: Emma Read, partner Paul Moloney and children Hugh, 7, and Bryn, 9. Credit:Chris Hopkins "Its a bit of worry about how were going to manage all this again." From Monday, she and her partner, Paul Moloney, who are both working from home, will spend weekdays with their children Bryn, 9, and Hugh, 7, who wont be returning to Heidelberg Primary School for term three. The children are in years two and three and Ms Read said remote learning did not run smoothly last time, although their teachers provided amazing support.
It might look as if liberals ran the tables at the Supreme Court this term. After all, there were progressive victories on abortion, gay rights and immigration. On the term's final day, the court rejected President Donald Trump's sweeping claim that Congress and state prosecutors could not subpoena his financial records.

Looks, and bottom lines, can be deceiving. Progressives obtained major wins in high-profile cases. But conservatives won several equally significant victories that largely escaped public notice - and managed to accomplish changes in the law that the conservative legal movement has been seeking for years. And even when the court rejected conservative legal arguments, it ended up helping the conservative cause by defusing contentious issues in an election year. In some cases, the conservatives may have won by losing.

One case, Seila Law v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, involved presidential power and the role of independent regulatory agencies that conservatives have long decried as the "headless fourth branch" of government. The immediate case involved the CFBP, whose director was largely insulated from being removed by the president. The court's conservative majority, in a decision by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., said that in order for the law to pass constitutional muster, the president had to be given full authority to remove the director.

Most regulatory agencies have several commissioners rather than a single director. But the language of the court's ruling significantly pared back cases dating to the New Deal in which the court had allowed agencies to operate free of presidential control.

In their place, the court suggested that an agency exercising "significant executive power" must be subject to presidential control, raising questions about the future of other regulatory agencies. The sweeping logic of the decision was a major coup for the conservative legal movement, which has long sought to increase the president's control over administrative agencies.

The conservative legal movement obtained equally significant wins in a series of decisions involving religious freedom, simultaneously requiring that government treat religious institutions equally with nonsectarian ones and exempting religious entities or those with religious concerns from otherwise applicable rules, such as anti-discrimination laws.

In one case, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, the court ruled that anti-discrimination statutes such as Title VII and the Americans With Disabilities Act do not apply to religious teachers at religiously affiliated schools - dramatically broadening an exemption that had previously applied to those in the role of "ministers." In another case involving access to contraceptive coverage, Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, the court held that the Trump administration could exempt employers with religious or even moral objections from the minor requirement that they notify their insurance providers about their objections to providing coverage.

The court's approach augured future wins to conservatives that will limit the scope of civil rights protections. For example, the court this year held that Title VII's prohibition on job discrimination because of sex extends to gay and transgender workers. But the other rulings strongly indicate that the court will be wary about extending that protection in situations where employers claim religious objections.

Even as the court expanded religious entities' ability to opt out of anti-discrimination legislation, it widened the government's obligation to provide public support for religious entities. In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the court, again in an opinion by Roberts, ruled that a program that provided scholarships for private schools had to make those scholarships equally available to religious schools.

Previously, the court had held that a government program that provided help to private schools for playground resurfacing had to be made available to religious schools as well. The Montana case represented a dramatic expansion of requirements for direct funding of religious education, which the court said was mandated by the constitutional protection for free exercise of religion. The combined effect of the religion decisions is to require government support for institutions that are not required to comply with legal prohibitions on discrimination.

Even in cases where the conservative argument lost, Republican politicians won. The court's seemingly progressive decisions on social issues were electoral gifts to Republican politicians up for re-election. The public largely supports women's ability to have an abortion, protection against deportation for the young immigrants known as "dreamers" and anti-discrimination rights for LGBTQ employees. The Supreme Court's decisions on these issues prevent Republican politicians from having to defend unpopular rulings by Republican-appointed justices in the lead-up to the election.

The subpoena cases offer another example in which conservatives may have won by losing. Even as the court rejected Trump's arguments, its technical disposition of the cases ensured that his financial records will be kept secret until after the election, which was his goal all along.

A fair assessment of this term is not that liberals won. It is that conservatives did not get everything they wanted. Not yet, anyway.

- - -

Litman is an assistant professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School and host of the podcast "Strict Scrutiny," about the Supreme Court.
Grammy-winning rock band Bon Jovi released a new charity single called American Reckoning on Thursday.

The song was directly inspired by the tragic killing of George Floyd on May 25 by four Minneapolis policemen.

Lyrics referenced the late 46-year-old being unable to 'breathe' after having a knee on his neck for 'eight long minutes' during a counterfeit bill arrest.

New music: Grammy-winning rock band Bon Jovi released a new charity single called American Reckoning on Thursday

RIP: The song was directly inspired by the tragic killing of George Floyd on May 25 by four Minneapolis policemen

'God d*** those eight long minutes,' frontman Jon Bon Jovi sang.

'Laying face down in cuffs on the ground / Bystanders pleaded for mercy / as one cop shoved a kid in the crowd / When did a judge and a jury become a badge and a knee on these streets?'

Floyd's death sparked worldwide Black Lives Matter protests and lead to the firing and charging of officers Derek Chauvin (second-degree murder) as well as officers James Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao (aiding and abetting).

'I was moved to write American Reckoning as a witness to history,' the 58-year-old Oscar-nominated songwriter said in a statement.

'Laying face down in cuffs on the ground': Lyrics referenced the late 46-year-old being unable to 'breathe' after having a knee on his neck for 'eight long minutes' during a counterfeit bill arrest

June 3 mugshots: Floyd's death sparked worldwide Black Lives Matter protests and lead to the firing and charging of officers Derek Chauvin (L, second-degree murder) as well as officers James Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao (aiding and abetting)

Frontman Jon Bon Jovi said in a statement: 'I was moved to write American Reckoning as a witness to history. I believe the greatest gift of an artist is the ability to use their voice to speak to issues that move us' (pictured last Wednesday)

Justice reform charity: Through December 31, 100% of the proceeds from the download will support Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative

Postponed: American Reckoning will also appear on Bon Jovi's 15th studio album Bon Jovi: 2020, which Island Records will finally release on December 31

'I believe the greatest gift of an artist is the ability to use their voice to speak to issues that move us.'

Through December 31, 100% of the proceeds from the download will support Bryan Stevenson's justice reform charity, Equal Justice Initiative.

American Reckoning will also appear on Bon Jovi's postponed 15th studio album Bon Jovi: 2020, which Island Records will finally release on December 31.

'These are trying times': On April 20, the Do What You Can rockers canceled their summer tour with Bryan Adams due to the coronavirus pandemic

Fully-recovered graduate: It was a month afterthe 58-year-old Oscar-nominated songwriter told ET that his 18-year-old son Jacob (R) recovered from a 'mild version' of COVID-19 - 'just the intestinal kind' (pictured June 6)

On April 20, the Do What You Can rockers canceled their summer tour with Bryan Adams due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was a month after Jon (born John Bongiovi) told ET that his 18-year-old son Jacob recovered from a 'mild version' of COVID-19 - 'just the intestinal kind.'

As of Sunday, there have reportedly been 3.29M confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States leading to over 137K deaths.
SCOTLAND  This is one of those places that I always wanted to visit.

Its almost like a foreign land, among the corn fields and apple orchards.

Yep, Im not on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, checking out the old country, where my fathers mother was born and emigrated to the United States more than 100 years ago.

Im talking about this little town of about 1,730 people, which coincidentally corresponds with the apparent age of several of the ancient dwellings near the crossroads center, just east of the Merrick Brook.

To sing a line from an old tune, I took the low road here, driving up through Versailles, which is pronounced Ver-SAILS, here in Eastern Connecticut. But you knew that.

The conga line of vehicular lemmings began on Interstate-95 in New Haven, but as I drove east, the traffic got thinner and thinner in the late morning. Then, I headed north on I-395. A few miles after the turnoff for the casino, I passed the first field of white plastic-wrapped hay bales, followed by Millers Pond Road and the sign for the Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor, which I had never heard of.

I got off at the exit for Occum, Taftville and Baltic, then took Route 97 north, quickly finding out that Versailles is part of the town of Sprague, which I had actually heard of. The country roads were fine for driving 25 mph, maybe my favorite cruising speed, eyeing the knee-high-by-the-9th-of-July corn stalks, and the general loveliness and quiet of the country on a staycation kind of work day.

Even the abandoned carton factory in Sprague held some interest as I got farther off the state road just to explore, slowing down for old houses with field stone chimneys, and bemoaning my lack of a plastic cooler when I saw the little farm with the $2 dozen eggs sign.

Canterbury town line? Another place Ive never been, and it has to be the first time Ive ever driven along a thoroughfare  theres a word  called Woodchuck Hill Road. Finally I got to the intersection of Routes 14 and 97.

On one side of the little green with the gazebo is the cute Scotland Town Hall, which in the coronavirus pandemic has limited hours, of course.

On the other side of the green is the town package store, which was decidedly busy this late-Thursday morning, with the rigors of isolation bringing the establishment some steady pre-weekend business.

One of the great things about being a reporter  besides being able to rationalize asking anyone anything  is to think of a reason to drive to a place in Connecticut youve never been.

This reason was that besides not having any COVID-related fatalities  knock on wood  the town of Scotland is only one of two communities in Connecticut that has not reported any COVID cases, period, the other being Canaan in upper Litchfield County.

I pulled into the tiny parking lot and headed to the front door, where Sue, 65, was stymied by the locked front door. It seems that she had to make an appointment to renew her dog license.

I asked what her theory was for the towns COVID luck. There are fewer people in town, she mused behind her mask. And with her age, Sue was in the demographic sweet spot for coming down with it. Its terrible for the elderly, she said, heading back into her car.

I walked over to the green and looked west, where a crane and crew are rebuilding the bridge over the brook, which powered local industries in the 19th Century.

I walked back to Town Hall and was standing there, scribbling in a notebook, when a woman in a convertible stopped and looked at me. Being in the country, I waved and she drove 20 yards, stopping in front of the building. It was Liz Wilson, who served as first selectman for a dozen years, starting in 1997. Shes still a part-time administrative assistant, training the next generation.

Of course its the small town and multi-acre properties that are responsible for quashing the COVID here. Plus, with Town Hall open by appointment and really no place for social congregation, there are no real spots to congregate and either transmit or catch the virus.

She said that many town residents have jobs in the medical industries in places such as Windham, Willimantic and Hartford, 38 miles away.

So theres a hint for folks dodging the Rona: move to the country.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
A report is being prepared on giving the Police of Armenia a false report about terrorism, shamshyan.com reported.

The police on Friday received a call that a bomb had been planted in a building in Yerevan and that it would go off.

The first responders who arrived at the scene, however, found out that this bomb threat was false.

The report about the bomb was received at the e-mail address of a company operating in the aforesaid building, and on behalf of Arsen Mkrtchyan, the lawyer of retired General Manvel Grigoryan, an ex-MP and former chairman of the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union who is under house arrest.

It turned out that a person had sent a false report in the name of this lawyer.

The police are taking measures to find out who had sent this false report.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday, July 10 dismissed US allegation over Moscow offered bounties to the Taliban for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan.

According to US intelligence reports, a Russian unit infamous for assassinations and other covert operations had offered the Afghan Taliban bounties to killing American soldiers in 2019, international media reported. However, out of the 20 American troops killed, it is yet not clear which cases were under suspension.

Read: Vikas Dubey Traced To Faridabad; Gangster's Bounty Hiked And Aide Shyamu Bajpai Arrested

Meanwhile, Russia has constantly denied it. Recently, the country's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that it was all a sham. He also added Russia had welcomed a peace deal between the United States and the Taliban in February and also provided assistance to help it work.

There has been a hype in the United States over speculation on alleged ties between Russia and the Taliban and our alleged push on them to fight against US servicemen or even a reward for their heads. I can only say that the entire thing has hinged on unscrupulous speculations, and no concrete facts have been presented whatsoever, Lavrov said during a videoconference on foreign policy issues.

Read: McGrath Raises Russia Bounty Issue In Kentucky Senate Race

US unsure of intelligence input

Earlier, US National Security Advisor Robert OBrien said that President Donald Trump was not verbally briefed on Russian bounty reports because of a lack of confidence in the intelligence inputs. In an interview with an international media outlet, OBrien said that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefer decided against briefing the President since it was unverified intelligence.

Later at the White House, the NSA reiterated that the CIA officer who serves as the Presidents briefer chose not to tell Trump about reports that suggested Russian military intelligence unit had offered incentives to Taliban-linked militants to kill US troops because she didn't have the confidence in the intelligence.

Read: Pentagon: US Will Respond If Bounty Reports True

Read: CIA Didn't Verbally Brief Donald Trump On Russian Bounty Reports: US NSA

Image credits: AP
Past month of fighting against COVID-19 in Beijing a historical record: official

Global Times

By Liu Caiyu Source: Global Times Published: 2020/7/11 19:20:40

Saturday marks a month after the new outbreak of COVID-19 in Beijing which was first discovered at the Xinfadi wholesale market on June 11. The past month has witnessed an anti-epidemic campaign participated in by the entire city and its residents, as well as a month put aside for medical treatment of cases with the struggle surely being recorded in the history of Beijing, an official from the Beijing Municipal government said on Saturday.

In no less than one month, Beijing effectively contained the clustered infections related to Xinfadi market - where there has been zero newly confirmed cases for five consecutive days, the number of cured patients who were discharged from hospitals are increasing and the risk areas for COVID-19 infection are on the decrease.

The extraordinary anti-epidemic measures won praise from both China and foreign nations and will surely be recorded in the history of Beijing, Xu Hejian, a Beijing municipal government official said at Saturday's daily briefing.

The nationwide epidemic is stable overall and the epidemic in Beijing is improving, the Beijing official said, apart from high-and medium-risk areas, people nationwide who come to Beijing can travel freely with a green QR code and normal body temperature. No nucleic acid tests are required.

So far, Beijing has only one high-risk COVID-19 area, Huaxiang in Fengtai district with medium-risk areas being lowered to 12.

Beijing raised the alarm at the very first instant, and it took only 22 hours to determine the Xinfadi market was the key point for the viral epidemiology investigation. Beijing also shut down the Xinfadi market at the very first moment, and precisely located high-risk groups, the Beijing official said.

Beijing contained the epidemic in such a short time span paying a minimum price which teaches a lesson to those countries who have failed to curb the virus about half year after the outbreak began, Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert at the Peking University First Hospital, told the Global Times.

Some Beijing residents and people working in supermarkets reached by the Global Times hailed Beijing's anti-epidemic campaign in the past month as a "success and reassuring mission done by the Beijing government and residents."

They said it is not an exaggerated appraisal for Beijing, but a sincere affirmation for the achievements that Beijing has made, while COVID-19 continues to sweep the globe.

"When the first infection case was reported on June 11, I was really nervous and had imagined the worst case scenario like that of SARS re-emerging in Beijing, but the swift measures adopted by Beijing soon dismissed my concerns," a Beijing resident surnamed Fan, told the Global Times.

So far, confirmed infections in the US climbed to 3.1 million, Brazil surpassed 1.8 million and India reached 820,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Xu said that during the "accurate and effective" epidemic prevention and control period, Beijing authorities had been racing against time to screen infections, perform COVID-19 tests, and conduct an epidemiological investigation.

A "dense net of epidemic prevention and control" was made, Xu said, in which Beijing has confirmed all patients who should be confirmed, and strictly quarantined those who should shut down all places that should be shut down and also conduct strict elimination.

More than 1.1 million people have been tested in Beijing since June 11. More than 5,000 people in Beijing will be released from quarantine in a second group on Saturday, after the first group of quarantined people related to the Xinfadi market were allowed to return home on Tuesday. The Beijing government said more than 74,000 people at high risk of exposure to the market were quarantined.

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Hong Kong, July 12 : Long queues appeared outside polling stations across Hong Kong on Sunday as residents flocked to cast their votes in a weekend primary held by the opposition camp for the upcoming Legislative Council (Legco) elections, a day after it drew a higher-than-expected turnout.

Hongkongers were seen queuing up in multiple stations before polling started 9a.m., as politicians of the opposition bloc made their last-ditch effort to canvass votes for the selection of candidates for September's Legco elections, reports the South China Morning Post newspaper.

Some 318,184 people had voted as of 1 p.m. (local time) on Sunday, said the primary's organiser, Power of Democracy.

By the end of Saturday, 234,547 Hongkongers or 5.26 per cent of the city's 4.5 million registered voters, cast their ballots to choose their opposition candidates.

The territory-wide primary was held in the wake of China's imposition of the national security law on the city, which outlaws acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
China said a handful of packaging samples of imported shrimp tested positive for the coronavirus, raising questions again over whether the pathogen can spread through food or frozen products.

The virus tested positive on the outside of about five shrimp packages and the inside of one shipping container, said Chinas General Administration of Customs. The samples were from three Ecuadorian plants, and imports from those processors will be halted, it said. A leading Ecuadorian shrimp exporter disputed the findings.

The test result doesnt mean the virus is contagious, but reflects the loopholes in companies food safety regulations, said Bi Kexin, director of the food import and export safety bureau in the customs department. Customs will further strengthen control of the origins of imported cold-chain food.

China last month pointed to imported salmon as a possible culprit for Beijings fresh Covid-19 outbreak, sparking a boycott of the fish as supermarkets took the produce off their shelves. China also began mass testing of cold food imports at ports, and blocked shipments from meat plants abroad that reported infections among workers.

Evidence suggests that its extremely unlikely for the virus to be transmitted through food, said Gorjan Nikolik, associate director of seafood at Rabobank.

Its a typical food scare, he said. I expect them to be very short-lived.

The US Food and Drug Administration issued a fresh statement on the matter, saying theres no evidence that Covid-19 is transmitted through food or food packaging.

Ecuadorian shrimp exporter Santa Priscila questioned the findings and lamented the blow to the industrys reputation, saying Chinese officials had refused to provide information on the testing in recent weeks.

They found one positive non-contagious test inside the wall of the container as a result of 227,934 samples taken from the containers, that is 0.0000043%, Santa Priscila President and founder Santiago Salem said in a statement.

Low Risk

Chinese officials have also agreed with global experts that imported food poses a low risk of transmitting the virus. Thats led to confusion overseas over why China is continuing to test and halt shipments.

The tests are an important measure to prevent the risk of the virus being transmitted from imported cold chain food channels, Bi said. This is a necessary measure taken to protect the health of the people and does not interrupt normal international trade.

Employees in some countries are still working even after becoming infected with the virus, raising the risk of food contamination, Bi said. Because there are epidemic clusters at some overseas facilities, China halted meat imports from a total of 23 plants, including Brazil, the UK, the US and Germany, he said.

For shrimp, China is a much bigger buyer than it is for salmon, Rabobanks Nikolik said. Chinese purchases are on the same scale as the US and Europe, and Ecuador is a leading supplier, he said.

Last year, Ecuador exported $3.2 billion of shrimp, including about $1.4 billion to China in shipments that take about three weeks to arrive.

Chinas customs authorities also tested a total of 227,934 samples and the rest of the samples were negative, it said. The samples which tested positive had been delivered to ports in Dalian and Xiamen.
Severe storms continued Sunday night in south Alabama, but the rest of the state has been cleared from the threat of severe weather.

However its not over quite yet. A severe thunderstorm watch continues for a few south Alabama counties. It will be in effect until 10 p.m. CDT:

Several south Alabama counties remain in a severe thunderstorm watch as of Sunday evening.

A second severe thunderstorm watch, issued earlier today for central Alabama, has been canceled.

Forecasters on Sunday evening were watching storms pushing southward through Alabama.

750pm...Severe storms continue to move toward the coast. Damaging wings to 60 mph and frequent lightning are the main threats. Behind the line, the severe thunderstorms watch is being cancelled.#mobwx pic.twitter.com/EwSP0K5sUF  NWS Mobile (@NWSMobile) July 13, 2020

Storms were approaching the Mobile metro area as of 8 p.m.:

800 PM - Shelf cloud produced from a severe warned thunderstorm approaching the Mobile Regional Airport from the north this evening. Strong winds are expected as the storm moves south across the Mobile area over the next hour or so. pic.twitter.com/lhuUw5Hi27  NWS Mobile (@NWSMobile) July 13, 2020

Multiple severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued so far today, and some flooding issues have been reported.

There have also been multiple reports of trees and power lines down in areas in the path of these storms.

NOAAs Storm Prediction Center has removed the slight risk (Level 2 of 5) from Alabama as of 8 p.m. A marginal risk remains for only southwest Alabama.

The severe thunderstorm watch has gotten smaller as of 8 p.m. The counties left in the watch (expires at 10 p.m.) are Houston, Baldwin, Mobile and Washington.

The Storm Prediction Center said scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph will also be likely in the second watch area as well as hail up to an inch in diameter.

Next comes the heat. The weather service expects temperatures to climb through the week, with some spots possibly reaching the upper 90s by mid-week.

The heat combined with higher dew points could mean more heat advisories are needed for parts of the state this week.
Representative image

Thermal coal imports at India's 12 major ports dropped 34.70 per cent to 17.71 million tonnes (MT) in the the first quarter of the current fiscal, according to the Indian Ports' Association (IPA). Impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, coking coal imports too witnessed a decline 28.49 per cent to 10.69 MT in the quarter.

These ports had handled 27.13 MT of thermal coal and 14.95 MT of coking coal in the April-June period of the previous financial year.

The IPA, which maintains cargo data handled by these ports, in its latest report said "percentage variation from the previous year" in thermal coal and coking coal handling was 34.70 per cent and 28.49 per cent, respectively.

Thermal coal is the mainstay of India's energy programme as 70 per cent of power generation is dependent on the dry fuel, while coking coal is used mainly for steel making.

India is the third-largest producer of coal after China and the US, and has 299 billion tonnes of resources and 123 billion tonnes of proven reserves, which may last for over 100 years.

India has 12 major ports -- Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (Ennore), V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) -- that handle about 61 per cent of the country's total cargo traffic.

These 12 ports had handled 705 MT of cargo in the last financial year.

Cargo handled by the country's major ports declined by 19.68 per cent to 141.92 MT in the first quarter of this fiscal.

These 12 ports had together handled 176.69 MT of cargo during April-June period of 2018-19.

Ports like Chennai and Kamrajar saw their cargo volumes nosedive about 40 per cent during April-June, while Kolkata and JNPT suffered a drop of over 30 per cent.

While Chennai port saw 39.91 per cent decline in cargo handling to 7.28 MT, Kamarajar (Ennore) port suffered a drop of 39.41 per cent to 5.16 MT in April-June, as per IPA data.

Cargo handling at Cochin port slipped 33.78 per cent to 5.63 MT, while the same at JNPT declined 31.38 per cent to 12.09 MT. Kolkata port logged a fall of 27.26 per cent to 11.72 MT.

Container trade was severely hit as it recorded a decline of 32.28 per cent in terms of TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit), while thermal coal handling declined by 34.70 per cent.

Ratings agency Icra had earlier said that while all cargo segments are vulnerable, container segment is expected to be more adversely impacted.

While general cargo throughput may witness 5-8 per cent contraction for the full year 2020-21, the container segment may drop 12-15 per cent, it had said.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Congress, which has accused the government of irregularities in Covid purchases, launched the #LekkaKodi social media campaign on Saturday, demanding that the government release details about the expenditure, and also funds released by the Central government

He appealed to all Congress legislators, MPs and party workers to participate in the campaign. Siddaramaiah demanded transparency on money spent for purchasing the PPE kits, test kits, sanitiser, and thermal scanners. They must give details on the market price of the equipment, the price at which the government procured them, and the details of the companies, he said.

The Congress also demanded the government provide information about food kits distributed. How many food kits were given to migrant labourers and how much money was spent on it? he asked. It is the governments duty to provide the details to people. KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre and other Congress leaders too demanded the government make information about the Covid expenditure public.

The government had rubbished the allegations made by the Congress.
Erdogan Says Conversion of Hagia Sophia Into Mosque Step Towards Making Turkey Great

Sputnik News

21:12 GMT 11.07.2020

ANKARA (Sputnik) - The decision to convert Istanbul's Hagia Sophia into a mosque is a step towards making Turkey great and the opinions of other countries do not matter, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.

"We made a decision to change the status of the Hagia Sophia, based on the opinion of our people and not those who say things about us", Erdogan stated during an appearance on Turkey's NTV broadcaster.

During his television appearance, Erdogan added that the country will continue to "take the right path, in order to build a mighty and strong Turkey".

The ruling to turn the site in Istanbul into a mosque has been met with firm resistance from many members of the international community. The Russian Orthodox Church has expressed its regret that Ankara ignored calls to preserve the site as a museum, and both Washington and Athens have also criticized the decision.

On Friday, Turkey's highest administrative court annulled a 1934 decree, which made the site into a museum. This decision means that the Hagia Sophia can now be used as a mosque, and a presidential decree was signed opening the site for Muslim prayers.

A Sputnik

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M ore than 70 workers have tested positive for coronavirus at a vegetable farm in Herefordshire during the harvesting season.

Herefordshire Council and Public Health England told The Hertfordshire Times a spike in Covid-19 cases in the area was due to an outbreak at AS Green and Co in Mathon, near Malvern.

The outbreak has occurred during the harvest season when around 200 workers live in mobile homes on site.

Public Health England (PHE) Midlands has asked all 200 key workers to self-isolate as a precaution and the council is arranging food supplies for those on site.

Katie Spence, PHE Midlands Health Protection Director said the testing results showed a "significant percentage of positive cases" despite the individuals being asymptomatic, meaning they weren't showing symptoms of the disease.

A small number of workers became symptomatic earlier this week and they and a few close contacts among the workforce were tested initially and found to be positive," said Ms Spence in a statement on Herefordshire Council's website.

"In line with NHS guidance, affected individuals were asked to self-isolate for seven days, with their households and close contacts asked to isolate for 14 days.

Englands 20 areas most at risk of new coronavirus outbreaks revealed

As we have seen a global trend of large food producers being subject to outbreaks, as a precautionary measure, the decision was made to test the entire workforce."

The key workers living on site at the farm are employed to carry out picking and packing work which the council says is vital to the UK food supply chain and local economy.

A spokesperson for AS Green said: "Our staff are our priority, they are hard-working key workers helping us provide food for the country during these unusual times.

"We contacted PHE and we are working closely with them and Public Health at Herefordshire Council to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

73 people have tested positive for coronavirus at the farm / PA

According to AS Green's website, the company supplies major retailers including Asda, Aldi, M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury's.

"Public Health England advises that it is very unlikely Covid-19 can be transmitted through food or food packaging, so shoppers can remain confident buying British fruit and veg," said AS Green in a statement on its website.

Our site is currently closed for all visitors and with the assistance of the various bodies no workers are being permitted to leave our site and are receiving the required support at our site."

Loading....

AS Green and Co said it had put in place a number of infection control measures to reduce the risk of staff contracting coronavirus.

Workers were encouraged to wash their hands regularly, maintain social distancing in communal social areas and in the indoor packaging area, and PHE Midlands said personal protective equipment was provided for staff where applicable.

Following the Pick for Britain campaign  an initiative to bring together UK workers and farmers together to prevent crops rotting in the ground during the pandemic  the farm said it had received more than 300 applications.

On the firms website, it says workers are expected to share accommodation at Rook Row Farm, while there is a recreational building with a pool table, dart board and TV for all employees.

Karen Wright, Director of Public Health for Herefordshire, added: While Herefordshire is the first to experience an outbreak of this kind, this is not unexpected.

"Our priority is to protect the health and wellbeing of all residents in our community.

"Prompt testing on the farm has allowed us to understand transmission and control the spread of infection.

"We continue to support the farm management, their workers  who form an important part of our local economy, and the local community through this challenging time. Anyone who has a fever, persistent dry cough, or loss or change in their sense of taste or smell should call 119 or go online to arrange a test.
By AFP

ISLAMABAD: Four Pakistani soldiers were killed in a clash with militants in the northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, the military said on Sunday.

The incident took place in the turbulent town of Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan District, where several military operations have been launched in recent years against homegrown and foreign militants.

The latest clash occurred when security forces were conducting an operation against the hideouts of suspected militants in the area.

"As soon as the troops cordoned off the area" they came under fire, the military said in a statement. "All dug-out terrorists were shot down by security forces," but during the exchange of fire "four soldiers embraced shahadat", or martyrdom, it said.

Four "terrorists" were also killed in the clash, the statement added.

Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for more than a decade, with thousands of civilians and security personnel killed in extremist attacks.

Violence in Pakistan has declined following army offensives in the region, but militant groups are still able to carry out isolated attacks. The area remains notorious for the availability of cheap guns, drugs, and smuggled goods.
Opposition Conservatives are demanding that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testify before the House of Commons finance committee as it prepares to study how much the government spent in awarding a now-cancelled contract to the WE Charity.

"I will be adding Justin Trudeau's name to the list of witnesses. I will be calling on him to appear and testify under oath before being sworn in," Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre said during a news conference on Sunday. "Normally, prime ministers don't appear before parliamentary committees, but these are not normal times."

Poilievre successfully passed a motion on Tuesday calling on the committee to hold four meetings this month to examine the matter.

The Liberal government is under fire for its decision to award a $19.5 million sole-sourced contract to WE Charity, a partnership that would have seen the organization administer more than $900 million for student work this summer under the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG).

Poilievre said Sunday that he would also be adding Finance Minister Bill Morneau to the witness list, given that both he and Trudeau have ties to the WE organization and did not recuse themselves from cabinet discussions about the contract.

"The prime minister can agree voluntarily to show up and attend and respect the invitation of a parliamentary committee," Poilievre said. "Or, Parliament can compel him to appear  something that would take longer but could be done and should be done if the prime minister hides from accountability."

If there is disagreement over Trudeau's willingness or ability to testify, Poilievre said, his party would simply present a motion, which would require the support of other opposition parties.

The NDP declined to answer whether it would back such a motion but told CBC News that the party believes in "getting to the bottom of this, and the more answers we get (including from Trudeau and Morneau), the quicker we can get those answers for the Canadian public."

Story continues

Poilievre said he would have "news in the days ahead" about whether his party would also ask WE co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger to testify.

Opposition MPs continue to exert pressure

Poilievre's Tuesday motion previously called for least four witnesses to provide testimony, including Clerk of the Privy Council Ian Shugart, Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth Bardish Chagger, a senior deputy minister from Employment and Social Development Canada and a representative from Volunteer Canada.

His motion passed alongside a separate one from NDP finance critic Peter Julian, demanding that the government produce all documents, memos, briefing notes, correspondence and other documents regarding the creation of the program.

On Sunday, the NDP's Charlie Angus also called for Parliament's ethics committee to study "ethical conduct and avoidance of conflicts of interest within the Prime Minister's Office," requesting that PMO Chief of Staff Katie Telford testify, among other witnesses.

Should his motion pass, Angus wants the committee to release recommendations to "better permit the Prime Minister's Office to conduct the business of government with public confidence in its integrity."

Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion is already investigating Trudeau's involvement in awarding the contract. CBC News learned last week that Trudeau's mother, Margaret, and brother, Alexandre, have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to appear at WE Charity events.

In June, the prime minister said federal public servants had identified the organization as the best fit for the job.

Alastair Grant/The Associated Press

Parties take aim at Morneau

The Conservatives and NDP have also asked Canada's ethics watchdog to investigate Finance Minister Bill Morneau after his connections to the organization came to light.

"One of Minister Morneau's daughters is a current employee of WE Charity. It would seem apparent that Minister Morneau would recognize that the fact that his family member was an employee of this organization necessitated him to recuse himself regarding this extraordinary decision to outsource nearly billion-dollar commitment of public funds in a single source contract," Angus wrote Friday in a letter to Dion.

Grace Acan, who was born in Uganda but joined Morneau's family in 2010, has worked for the charity's travel department since 2019. Morneau's other daughter, Clare, has also been involved with WE Charity, speaking at several WE Day events.

Morneau's office said Acan's role in the organization is administrative and not linked to the work WE does with the federal government. The spokesperson said Clare Morneau's involvement has been strictly voluntary.

WE lays off workers involved in deal

WE Charity has laid off hundreds of contract workers intended to administer the CSSG after the partnership with the organization was terminated earlier this month.

According to the Toronto Star, WE Charity had hired 465 contract workers before the project was pulled. The organization has laid off 450 of them while giving the other 15 full-time positions, the Star reported.

"WE Charity made the decision to not take any of the funds that were allocated to pay for the work delivered for the CSSG program. All sunk costs and remaining payments to contractors and vendors are being paid for by WE Charity," the charity said in a statement to CBC News Saturday.

The initiative, which the Conservatives argue could have been achieved through an expansion of the Canada Summer Jobs program, is now being taken over by the federal government.
New Delhi, July 12 : With its government in Rajasthan on the brink, Congress managers are looking for ways to call a truce between the warring camps led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot.

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said "There is a time and a place for everything. Gehlot and Pilot are seasoned leaders and have to demonstrate the perspicacity and maturity they are famous for. Turbulence should be shortlived and solutions lasting and deep." Singhvi's remarks came amid the political crisis in the state after Deputy Chief Minister Pilot went incommunicado along with over a dozen MLAs.

Pilot, who arrived in the national capital on Saturday has also sought meeting with party interim chief Sonia Gandhi over the issue.

According to party sources, Pilot did speak with Congress treasurer Ahmed Patel late at night but the problem between Gehlot and his deputy is deep rooted ever since Gehlot took over as Chief Minister.

The Congress is trying to pacify both the camps in the state to save it from embarrassment, sources said.
For a country with 14 neighbours, China remained a regional power without a regional policy for a long time. But a new China has, in recent years, adopted a sophisticated trishul (trident) approach at the local, national and regional level, especially in South Asia.

At the local level, the Khunjerab Pass on the Karakoram highway in Pakistan; Tatopani and Kerung-Rasuwagadhi in Nepal; the Wakhan Corridor in northeast of Afghanistan; and Nathu la, Shipki la and Lipulekh in India are signs of integration, aimed at the borderland geography and communities. These instruments are likely to be mainstreamed and transformed into national and cross-regional grids. For instance, the Khunjerab Pass recorded a trade volume of nearly one billion dollars in 2019, and is already connected with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through the Karakoram highway. The Shigatse-Lhasa-Shanghai railway line is proposed to be extended to Nathu la in Sikkim and Kerung-Rasuwagadhi in Nepal. Besides the use of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) in trade  such as the $6 billion border trade between Muse (Myanmar) and Ruili (Kunming-China)  foreign exchange reserves in RMB are being promoted.

At the national level, China has already grabbed a significant portion of South Asias trade volume. China-South Asia trade recorded an over five-fold jump from a mere $1.18 billion in 1990 to $5.57 billion in 2000, and another 23-fold jump to $127.36 billion in 2018. Over 23% of the total global imports of Bangladesh, 15% of India, 24% of Pakistan and 19% of Sri Lanka are from China. All South Asian countries now have a significant trade deficit with China. Bhutan is the only country which has steadfastly remained outside the trishul framework, despite the Doklam intrusion and other fresh claims by China.

From Hambantota and Colombo Port City in Sri Lanka to investing $3 billion each in the Payra Power project and the Dhaka-Chittagong railway in Bangladesh, from putting in $8.62 billion to complete eight energy projects under the CPEC in Pakistan to planning railway lines to Indian and the Nepalese highland borderlands, China has upset Indias predominant position both as a traditionally core neigbouring country and influential economic-democratic-military power.

At the regional level, China has adopted four methods.

First, it has entered the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) process, and promoted the Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM) cooperation initiative. Second, it exploits forums it leads, such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) initiative, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Boao Forum, to attract South Asian countries into its fold. Third, it has effectively started using newly-created development funding agencies such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund to finance projects in South Asia. Fourth, the gradual unfolding of region-wide projects such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and its alignment with regional and sub-regional groupings in South Asia in the next few years will further extend its reach.

India has reacted to Chinas trishul strategy in four ways. It announced a neighbourhood-first policy, and re-engaged neighbours with a more liberal attitude. It initiated interventions such as waterways, railways and a gas pipeline in Nepal, and established electricity grid connections with Bangladesh. It blocked Saarc, and reinvigorated counter-balancing regional institutions such as the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) initiative and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec). But India has not come up with a comprehensive counter-trishul approach yet.

Indias neighbourhood is now entangled in an unparalleledbalancing dilemma. These countries are striving diplomatically to convey an impression of non-alignment. Aware that the cost of alignment, even at the perception level, could generate suspicion, they consciously appease India on its core concerns such as terrorism. But India is adept at immediately sensing significant deviations in their foreign policy. Nepals tilt towards China, even without major formal agreements and projects, was obvious. Later, when Nepal signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) related to access to ports, partnership in BRI initiatives, and other trade and investment ventures with China. India unsuccessfully tried to use the proverbial stick but had to quickly fall back on the theme of historic and cultural ties. These nations fear that the competitive and conflictual existence of two giant neighbours, however beneficial, can result in micro-management in their domestic affairs. This could even jeopardise their sovereignty.

When Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa visited India to allay apprehensions about his earlier aligned posture, and when the Maldives President Ibrahim Solih reassured India of its traditional hold in the island, they were, in fact, trying to evolve a new balancing technique. In Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, overwhelmed by President Xi Jinpings liberal investment announcement in 2016, said that Bangladesh would maintain good relations with everyone. The purchasing power of our people will increase, and who will be the bigger beneficiary of that in our region? India. India is best poised to benefit from the Bangladeshi market. Chinas trishul approach, Indias attempts to counter it, and the new balancing code being adopted by smaller neighbours, is transforming South Asia.

Mahendra P Lama is a senior professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University and a former member of National

Security Advisory Board

The views expressed are personal
Muscovites desperate for a summer holiday abroad this year have found a loophole thats letting them evade Russias coronavirus ban on foreign travel. A loophole that involves a 14-hour round trip via Belarus.

Travellers are exploiting the soft border between the two former-Soviet neighbours. Russians can drive to Minsk with minimal checks, and once there they can make use of Belaruss more liberal Covid-19 restrictions.

Since the quarantine, Minsk has become a Casablanca, the main crossroads for Russians who want to leave the country, said Maxim Valetskiy, a Russian businessman with an Israeli passport and family in London, who has used the detour four times since the Kremlin halted foreign travel at the end of March.

Russians have been advised to stay put this summer even as other coronavirus restrictions are loosened, as the government deals with the fourth-highest infection rate in the world. Domestic travel within Russias 6.6 million square-mile territory is mostly allowed, but many are put off by the countrys underdeveloped and crowded tourist resorts.

Saudi Mountains, Crimean Beaches Beckon for Covid Staycations

Russians arent the only ones seeking out cumbersome detours to work around coronavirus restrictions that have slashed international travel this summer. Stanley Johnson, the British Prime Ministers father, has been criticized for using Bulgaria as an air bridge to visit his villa in Greece, which had restrictions on visitors from the U.K.

I want to go on holiday where I choose, and thats certainly not on the Black Sea in Russia, said Elena Venediktova, a 44 year-old real estate broker in Moscow, who has booked a two-week holiday via Belarus in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurgada from Aug. 1. Europe may be off limits but there are lots of other seaside destinations. You just have to make a slight effort.

Reservation Surge

The loophole is proving to be a boon to Belorussian tour operators in a disastrous year for most of the global holiday industry. Minsk-based Travel House has seen a surge in reservations from Russians for package holidays in Turkey and Egypt since those countries opened their borders on July 1. All of the trips are run through Belavia, Belaruss state-owned airline.

In theory Russians are allowed to cross the border only to study, receive health treatment or to care for a sick relative, but many tour operators get around that by securing their clients a booking at a Belorussian sanatorium.

The demand is huge -- all the flights to Egypt and Turkey are booked solid beyond mid-July, said Yury Surkov, Travel Houses commercial director, who estimates that Russians will soon make up about 40% of flights from Belarus to major tourist destinations. Were adding flights from regional airports.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov acknowledged on state TV late that the loophole exists, but said that the Kremlin isnt planning to close it. The government said Friday it may restart some flights abroad in mid-August.

We cant forbid people from using this opportunity, Lavrov said. Of course people should be careful and use common sense when taking such decisions.

(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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Lakhimpur : , July 12 (IANS) Unable to reconcile to the demise of their mother, three siblings -- two men and one woman -- ended their lives in a suicide pact.

The incident happened on Saturday.

The bodies of the three were found hanging in the dining room when the police broke open the door. Their father had found the door locked when he came home and then informed the police.

One of them was a former school teacher and another an ex-employee of a private company.

The siblings had quit their jobs after their mother's death.

According to police, a suicide note found on the bodies said the siblings were "unable to bear the loss of their mother". The two brothers, including one who was disabled, and their sister allegedly took their own lives when their father -- a retired engineer of the agriculture department -- was not at home.

The father, Aditya Prakash Awasthi, 60, told police his wife had died of illness in September last year. Since then, his three children Preeti, 25, Gagan, 35 and Pawan, 30, were disturbed.

While Pawan had been employed in a private company in Lucknow, Preeti was working as a school teacher.

"They quit their jobs after my wife passed away. I apparently could not fill the void left by her death as all my children were very close to her," said Awasthi.

SHO Kotwali police station Ajay Mishra said that neighbours told police that the siblings had stopped socializing after their mother passed away and kept to themselves. "It appears to be a case of suicide and a suicide note was also found. Bodies have been sent for autopsy," he said.
Capitalizing off a pocket trip, Rocknificent spoiled the sophomore debut of Dan Patch Award winner Lyons Sentinel with a strong stretch rally to win their division of the $210,932 Pennsylvania Sires Stake on Saturday at The Meadows.

The event for three-year-old pacing fillies, known as the Adios Betty, was contested over three divisions, with Drama Act and Party Girl Hill Taking the other splits.

The action-packed card featured 16 racesall stakes splits for two- and three-year-old pacing filliesfeatured a number of budding stars. But the most intriguing story line was Lyons Sentinels season kickoff, which was delayed by COVID-19 disruptions. She looked sharp in three qualifiers, but on Saturdays sloppy-but-drying surface, she could not hold off Rocknificent, who prevailed by a length in 1:50.4. Shouldabeenatd completed the ticket.

The win by Rocknificent, a Captaintreacherous daughter out of Dan Patch awardee Rocklamation who banked $285.006 at two, was not much of an upset. In fact, players expected it, sending her off at 3-5 versus 3-2 odds for Lyons Sentinel.

It was always going to come down to a sprint, said winning driver Scott Zeron. I was happy my horse was able to win and not have to do any work. Shes an extremely intelligent horse who puts herself in great positions all the time. She has a really quick turn of speed. So even chasing a great horse like that, it becomes a foot race at the end. Im always confident that she has the quicker foot.

Linda Toscano trains Rocknificent for Enviro Stables, South Mountain Stables and Little E LLC.

Jim King, Jr., who conditions Lyons Sentinel, was far from disappointed with her performance.

It was her first time out, and trip beat her, King said. You cant be upset with that. I dont think theres any shame in her game.

Drama Act took to the track at its sloppiest earlier in the afternoon and she relished the off going, powering to a wire-to-wire victory in 1:50.4 with a back half in :54.3. Alexiss Beach finished second, beaten two-and-a-half lengths, with Blazin Grace third.

She paced the back half in :52.3 last week at Hoosier, so we know shes got it in her, said Krista Harmon, who conditions the daughter of Well Said-Lounge Act for owner The Ok Corral. As long we stay healthy and sound, I think well be there at the end of the year. You look at her and you dont see a 1:50 mile coming out of this little butterball, but its in there.

Saturdays program also featured the Sand Tart, a PASS for freshmen pacing fillies, with the splits going to Grace Hill, Continualou and Let Er Buck.

Grace Hill got to perform after the tracks upgrade to "fast" and the daughter of Always B Miki-Western Silk took full advantage, roaring to the point with a quarter-pole move for driver Dexter Dunn and winning her second-straight PASS split, this one in 1:52.4. Dancethenightaway was second, two-and-three-quarter lengths back, while Marsala Hanover earned show.

She has a long stride and does her work pretty easy, Dunn said. She went in 1:52 today and felt like she was doing it pretty easy. She has a good future.

Nifty Norman conditions Grace Hill for Tom Hill.

Continualou was sitting second near three-quarters when driver Chris Page confidently pulled the pocket with her. The daughter of Sweet Lou-Continual Velocity cruised by, breaking her maiden in 1:54.2. When Uptown Hanover and Oceans Apart rounded out the ticket, it gave trainer Ron Burke a 1-2-3 sweep of this split.

I realize how old Im getting when Im starting to drive the moms of these things, Page said. I drove her mom  had like three lungs  and I think she passed that on to her baby. She felt pretty good and I thought, well, well give her a shot. The skys the limit for her.

The Bethinator notched the fastest victory in the $100,000 PA Stallion Series for sophomore pacing fillies, winning in 1:51.3 for Dave Palone and trainer Brett Pelling. Enduring Hope provided tote board fireworks in another division, upsetting at 26-1 for Tim Tetrick and conditioner Tom Fanning. Also victorious were Ashtini, Girl On The Beach and Alexa Skye.

Lady Newton and Fighting Evil each scored in 1:54 to share stake honours in the $100,000 PA Stallion Series for freshmen pacing fillies. Blonde Onthe Beach, Darby Hanover and Podium Girl took the other divisions.

Live racing at The Meadows resumes Monday (July 13) with a 15-race card featuring a $5,000 total-pool guarantee for the Early Pick 4 (Race 3) and a $2,713.47 carryover in the final-race Super Hi-5. First post is 12:45 p.m. (EDT).

(The Meadows)
Too many Republican governors talk about personal responsibility while refusing to establish and/or enforce regulations that could protect us from the coronavirus. If we had faith in personal responsibility, we wouldnt have laws or jails. We wouldnt need tax auditors or speed limit signs, either, and wed have no police to defund.

I see a reasonable amount of personal responsibility exhibited here in the Bay Area, but my experience was very different when I was in Lake Tahoe. I saw far less distancing and too many people without or not wearing their face masks, even upon entering stores. Worse, and more so on the Nevada side of state line, we encountered ridicule and hostility from some for wearing our masks. I have seen hostility go both ways, but it is your lack of personal responsibility that could get me sick, or keep me stuck inside my house longer than need be. We need leaders who take responsibility and lead.

Mitchell Goldman, Richmond

No badge of freedom

When did not social distancing and not wearing masks become badges of individual freedom? When did it become acceptable to think, let alone say, that sacrificing 100,000 lives was a small price to pay to restart the economy? When did it become acceptable to play a game at one of the major colleges whereby the first one at a party to get the coronavirus won a prize? Have we lost what remains of our collective mind, the very conscience, if not the soul, of this great nation?

Please, please give us a leader who can restore our sense of moral authority.

Ian Mitroff, Berkeley

Lack of maintenance

Regarding S.F. schools: Equipment, staff insufficient to get all students back Aug. 17 (Front Page, July 8): Jill Tuckers piece on the unpreparedness of the San Francisco public schools to open is very disheartening. She mentions such things as the shortage of custodians, entire buildings where windows dont open and the lack of critical supplies. None of this surprises me.

I moved to San Francisco in 1992. That fall, I took an evening City College of San Francisco course at Everett Middle School. I remember being appalled by the lack of maintenance in the boys restroom. Some years later, I volunteered at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy. The school actually had bake sales in order to purchase supplies.

It appears to me that the citizens of San Francisco do not consider funding public education very seriously.

Richard Hewetson, Mountain View

Fireworks out of control

Im having trouble understanding what went on in the Bay Area on July Fourth. Fireworks are part of the holiday, but what happened on Saturday was new. It was full-scale bombs, a far cry from sparklers.

I live in the hills with a view of the area, and the sheer number of huge explosions was unprecedented. Hundreds of M-80 firecrackers and larger going off every minute for hour upon hour.

Is our collective psychosis so advanced that a display of explosions rivaling any war in history is our only solution to COVID-19 and shelter-in-place? I felt as if a monster was unleashed that became a species-numbing answer to something of which we have no control. If this is our response to a malevolent virus, what comes next? God help us all!

Douglas Morrisson, Hayward

So many battles to fight

So according to Trump deepens cultural divides on day of unity (Nation, July 5), our agitator in chief thinks he is in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators and the looters? Oh, that must explain why hes been unable to defeat a coronavirus that has affected over 2.8 million Americans and killed 130,000 of them. Hes too busy with other battles, as well as planning a museum with monuments to heroes. I wonder whether hell insist that one of the statues be of himself.

Hector Maldonado, Pinole

Dont split the vote

Regarding Referendum on Trump (Letters, July 6): Please do not allow a third party to nominate a goldfish to run against President Trump. We cannot risk splitting the vote.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders, including Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, alleged that leaders of Opposition parties of Congress and BJP are trying to create communal disharmony in Hyderabad by raking up the issues of temple and mosque within the old Secretariat premises.

Speaking to reporters at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday, Rammohan said there had been no communal clashes in the city during the past six years. He said the Opposition, which did not find a single issue against the government, was trying to create communal disharmony. Rammohan said when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, several religious structures which were obstructing developmental works were relocated.

Even in GHMC area, around 20 religious structures were relocated for road widening works after consulting the elders of respective religions. When Hyderabad is peaceful, Opposition parties are trying to hatch a conspiracy to disturb the communal fabric, he alleged.

Stressing the need for demolition of the old Secretariat, Khairtabad MLA and former Minister Danam Nagender recalled that when K Rosaiah was Chief Minister, a major fire broke out in the Secretariat. He said at the time, a delegation from Singapore was in the Secretariat, and a fire tender was unable to reach inside to put out the fire.

He said people should not believe in false allegations levelled by the Opposition. People of all castes and religions consider Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as God, Nagender said. TRS MLC MS Prabhakar Rao alleged that Opposition leaders, who are anti-development, were bringing religious issues to the fore and slinging mud on the TRS. MLC M Srinivas Reddy was also present at the press meet.
President Donald Trump wore a mask during a visit to a military hospital, the first time the president has been seen in public with the type of facial covering recommended by health officials as a precaution against spreading or becoming infected by the novel coronavirus. (Image: AP)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 08:39:16|Editor: huaxia

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People wearing face masks visit the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, Canada, on July 11, 2020. After a 4-month shutdown, the Royal Ontario Museum reopened to the public starting on Saturday, with visitors required to wear face masks or face coverings. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
BEIRUTFormer Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn says he is assisting those who helped him flee from Japan to Lebanon last year but refuses to provide details about the escape, saying such information would endanger them.

In an interview aired late Saturday by the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV, Ghosn refused to comment on allegations from prosecutors in the U.S., who said last week that he wired more than $860,000 (U.S.) to a company linked to one of the men accused of helping smuggle him out of Japan in a box in December.

Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret and private security specialist, and Peter Taylor, 27, are wanted by Japan on charges they helped Ghosn escape the country in December after he was released on bail.

Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 and was expected to face trial in April 2020. He posted 1.5 billion yen ($19 million Canadian) bail on two separate instances after he was arrested a second time on additional charges, and released again.

When pressed to speak about the Taylors, who are under arrest in the U.S., as well as others who helped him flee, Ghosn refused to speak about any specific person. He said that after he arrived in Lebanon he vowed not to speak about how he left Japan because any statement I am going to make will endanger the people who helped me leave Japan.

Asked if he is aiding those who helped him get out of Japan, Ghosn said, of course. When asked about the Taylors, Ghosn said: You are talking about specific people, and I will not comment. However, I am helping everyone who stood by me as much as I can, financially and in any way I can.

I made the entire plan of how to get out, but I needed information and assistance. I am not ready to involve these people at this moment simply by talking about it, he said. He is believed to have been smuggled inside a large box.

Ghosn, who holds Lebanese, Brazilian and French citizenship, said the only side that stood by me is the Lebanese state. They intervened and they asked the Japanese state, Why are you doing this to him?

Ghosn said that when he arrived in Lebanon, Japan requested the Lebanese government hand him over. Lebanon approved, if they receive the case file. They (Japanese) didnt send anything for six months, he said.

Earlier this month, a Turkish court released four pilots and a private airline official from jail, pending the outcome of their trial on charges of smuggling Ghosn out of Japan to Lebanon, via Turkey.
Veteran actor Dharmendra on Sunday wished speedy recovery for his frequent co-star, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who along with son, actor Abhishek Bachchan was tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Dharmendra and Amitabh have worked together on several hits of the 1970s-80s including Sholay, Chupke Chupke and Ram Balram. The 84-year-old star said he is sure his courageous younger brother will bounce back in no time. Amit, get well soon. I am sure of my courageous younger brother... he will soon be fit and fine in a day or two... Dharmendra wrote on Twitter.

Amit , get well soon. I am sure of my courageous younger brother......he will soon be fit and fine in a day or two ...Jaya, dont worry...every thing will be fine my brave baby....Look after yourself and everyone at home.....Love you all......take care .   Dharmendra Deol (@aapkadharam) July 12, 2020

The father-son duo shared their health update on Twitter on Saturday night. I have tested COVID positive. Shifted to Hospital. Hospital informing authorities, family and staff undergone tests, results awaited, Amitabh, 77, tweeted.

Abhishek, 44, followed his fathers tweet, saying, Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic.

Meanwhile, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and daughter Aaradhya have also tested positive for Covid-19. Jaya Bachchan has tested negative but will be tested again later.

Dharmendra also extended support to Jaya, his Guddi co-star. Jaya, dont worry... everything will be fine my brave baby... Look after yourself and everyone at home... Love you all... take care, he added.

Also read: Amitabh Bachchans residence Jalsa declared containment area, sealed

Dharmendras wife, actor-MP Hema Malini also took to Twitter to wish good health to Amitabh.

Amit ji has tested positive & has been admitted to Nanavati hospital. I pray for his well being & Im sure that with all our collective prayers, he will come out of this safely  Hema Malini (@dreamgirlhema) July 12, 2020

Amit ji has tested positive & has been admitted to Nanavati hospital. I pray for his well being & Im sure that with all our collective prayers, he will come out of this safely (sic) Malini, who has worked with the actor in films like Sholay, Trishul, Baabul, Baghban among others, said.

My mother @dreamgirlhema is fit & fine  ! The news regarding her health is absolutely fake so please dont react to such rumours! Thanks to everyone for their love & concern .   Esha Deol (@Esha_Deol) July 12, 2020

There were also rumours that Malini was rushed to a hospital due to poor health. Debunking the reports, her daughter, actor-author Esha Deol on Sunday said Malini was fit and fine. The news regarding her health is absolutely fake so please dont react to such rumours! she tweeted.

As per BMC, the coronavirus case tally in Mumbai rose to 91,457 on Saturday. There are 22,779 active patients in Mumbai.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Terrances death marks the fourth weekend in a row a child has been fatally shot in the city. On July 4, Natalia Wallace, 7, was shot while playing on the parkway with several young children in front of her grandparents home. On June 27, Sincere Gaston, 1, was shot with his mother as they drove home from a laundromat and Lena Nunez, 10, was hit by a stray bullet while inside her Logan Square home and on June 20, Mekhi James, 3, was killed while riding in the back seat of a vehicle with his father the day before Fathers Day.
Making a difference with the stories we tell our children By Adilah Ismail What started off as a single book project to help young children directly impacted by the Easter attacks, grew into Kiribath Publishers that celebrates one year of publishing childrens books View(s): View(s):

A few years ago, Sachee Ranaweera was looking for board books for her young son. Board books have rounded edges and simple storylines, are designed to cultivate curiosity and are sturdy enough to withstand the tactile inquisitiveness of a toddler. While there were numerous English books available, what Sachee was specifically looking for were board books written within Sri Lankan contexts and reflecting its diversity. Her search finally yielded a solitary copy of an old board book by beloved author Sybil Wettasinghe, who passed away last week, tucked in a book store. But little else.

For Sachee, this is the gap that Kiribath Publishers fills  thoughtful, well-written childrens stories with faces, places and situations recognizable to Sri Lankans. She has since purchased every book the year-old publishing company has published, either for her son or as gifts for young children. A counting book about Sigiriya for instance, she explains, situates numbers through an excursion in Sigiriya  counting the stairs, the monkeys, mirror wall reflections, bathing pools and hornet nests (Ssssh! Dont wake them up! the book cautions)

Kiribath Publishers began as a response to the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka last year. Sasha Jayamaha received a call from an NGO requesting if the counsellors at a counselling facility she co-runs could be sent to help those in Batticaloa directly affected by the attacks. Soon, there was a realization that the scope of work was deeper than expected and there were large numbers of children affected. Sasha and a friend, Shari de Costa, wrote a childrens book titled When Bad Things Happen specifically as a tool to help parents in the affected churches speak to their children about what had taken place and to process the trauma through their belief systems.

Dileeni Abraham, a teacher and trainer of counsellors at the Colombo Theological Seminary, shared the book with a group of teachers of children in church and community contexts in the Batticaloa area two months after the Easter bombings. She explains that having the book helped teachers and parents speak to their children about difficult experiences such as these instead of sidestepping what happened.

I definitely believe that books and storytelling are very helpful ways to help children understand their emotions around loss, grief, traumatic and violent events. Children can identify with the children in the stories  their feelings, thoughts, confusion and with how the children in the stories are able to grieve, find a resolution to their emotions and learn to accept losses and see that life does go on. Through stories, children can understand their own physical and emotional experiences due to trauma. It normalises their experiences as well as builds resilience as they identify with the resolution that the children find in the stories. It also helps children open up and talk about what they are feeling and experiencing which is an essential part of healing from trauma, noted Dileeni, emphasizing the importance of well written, sensitive stories set in the local culture.

Illustrated by Royden Gibbs, When Bad Things Happen isnt for sale as it was written for young children directly impacted by the Easter attacks. But the wider reception to the book and its translations as well as seeing the excitement of children recognizing characters like themselves and familiar spaces in the story they were reading, were reminders that there was a vacuum to be filled and work to be done.

In its first year, Kiribath Publishers have published 15 books for children aged 2  8 years and are now mulling over expanding their age groups. Their range of books spans all three languages and formats such as lift-the-flap, board books, colouring books, counting books and more. Sasha and Shari work to ensure that the books are trilingual and match different writers with illustrators according to themes and formats. Its been a year-long learning experience to understand the market, and the economic slowdown has slightly dampened the plans the duo had for the year but they intend to keep learning and growing.

When we were growing up we read books mainly set in England or America with places and characters that were foreign to our experience. We wanted the next generation of Sri Lankan readers to have books they could identify with, says Shari.

In Guess Who?, an interactive format is combined with Singlish to teach children the names of animals like the lizard, water monitor, peacocks and civets through local dialects. The Girl on the Sun explores the wonder and imagination we experience as children and is available in English, Sinhala and Tamil and comes with a colouring book. The publishing companys latest book, which is out this month, is When Parents Argue. The book enables adults to have a conversation with a child about domestic arguments and help them understand that parents are not perfect and make mistakes. Meanwhile, a forthcoming publication examines income inequalities.

The stories we tell our children can make a difference  and it is this which undergirds the books carefully sent out into the world by Sasha and Shari and the people they work with, through Kiribath Publishers.

It (story telling) is incredibly important especially since there is so much change from when we grew up to the era of technology our children are growing up in. They need to know they can imagine alternative worlds and go on adventures simply using their

imagination and they do not simply need to live through a screen and what it feeds them. Imagination is a powerful tool and storytelling feeds it, explains Sasha.
Libraries Open

All locations of the Burke County Public Library are now open to the public on a limited, appointment only basis. Based on the governors most recent order masks will be requested to be worn while at the library. The number of people allowed into the libraries will be limited and social distancing will be required. You may call the library at 764-9261 (Morganton), 874-2421 (Valdese), or 764-9283 (C.B. Hildebrand) to schedule an appointment. Appointments may be made to use computers (non-recreational use), browse the stacks for books, read the newspaper or a magazine in the reading areas, use a study room, or to research in the North Carolina room. Appointments are time limited so more people can have access to the libraries. If you have materials to return, the book boxes are open at each library location. Materials should not be returned inside. All returned materials are quarantined for 72 hours before going back on the shelves. Until further notice, the library will not be accepting donations of materials except for items for the Most Wanted List. For those wanting books but not wanting to come inside, the Books2Go curbside service is available.
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Linkedin Chayut Setboonsarng (Reuters) Bangkok, Thailand  Sun, July 12, 2020 17:09 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665b4d89 2 Environment Thailand,monkeys,animals,coconut,PETA,Britain Free

A monkey trainer in southern Thailand said on Saturday that few monkeys are involved in harvesting coconuts for export, disputing an activist report which has caused several British supermarkets to ban coconut products from the country.

Nirun Wongwanich, 52, who trains monkeys to fetch coconuts at a "monkey school" in the province of Surat Thani, said most coconuts used for export are harvested by humans with poles.

Only a few farms in the south use monkeys for taller coconut trees, he said, denying accusations of cruelty.

"There is no truth to that. I have been with monkeys for over 30 years ... I have a bond, a relationship with them," Nirun told Reuters, adding that he trains six to seven monkeys a year.

Earlier this month several British retailers pulled Thai coconut products from their shelves after a report by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) alleged that coconuts in Thailand are picked by abused monkeys.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's fiancee Carrie Symonds called on other supermarkets to follow suit. "Glad Waitrose, Co-op, Boots & Ocado have vowed not to sell products that use monkey labor, while Morrisons has already removed these from its stores," she tweeted.

Glad Waitrose, Co-op, Boots & Ocado have vowed not to sell products that use monkey labour, while Morrisons has already removed these from its stores.



Time for ALL supermarkets to do the same.



Im told Asda, Tesco & Sainsburys STILL sell such products. https://t.co/nWbEIHpzFL  Carrie Symonds (@carriesymonds) July 3, 2020

PETA has said it believes virtually all coconuts from Thailand are picked by monkeys.

Read also: Fossils reveal special relationship between humans, monkeys 12,000 years ago

However, Thailand's government has denied the PETA report, saying the use of monkey labor is "almost non-existent".

Mananya Thaiset, Thai deputy minister of agriculture, said Thailands 200,000 coconut growers overwhelmingly use human labor and machines for harvesting.

"Even all the monkeys in the entire forest won't be enough for the industry," Mananya said.

A PETA official on Saturday rejected the Thai arguments.

"The industry's efforts to side-track the issue with a count of the number of farms and monkeys ... only shows the world they are trying to do more of the same  keep monkeys in chains," PETA Asia official Nirali Shah said.

Thailand last year produced more than 806,000 tons of coconut from 1,243.7 square kilometers, government data shows. It exported coconut milk worth 12.3 billion baht ($396 million), about 8 percent to Britain.

Topics : Thailand monkeys animals coconut PETA Britain
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Slovakia on Thursday reported its biggest daily jump in new coronavirus cases since April 22 in a jolt to a country with one of the fewest number of infections and deaths from COVID-19 in Europe so far.

Prime Minister Igor Matovic said 53 new cases recorded on Wednesday - the seventh day since June 30 the daily rise was in double digits - was "not a positive figure" but that he believed Slovakia could still head off a second wave of the pandemic.

On Monday epidemiological authorities in the central European country will look at whether tighter restrictions need to be imposed again to contain the contagion.

Matovic said this could include a legal amendment so that people returning from riskier destinations abroad could be contacted by text message and required to report to authorities.

Earlier on Thursday he hinted the state could again reimpose restrictions when he wrote on his Facebook page: "Too many (cases) for us to continue to rely on people's responsibility."

The Health Ministry said regional health authorities had identified outbreaks and the situation was under control.

Slovakia's largest daily spike in cases was 114 in April. In total, it has reported 1,851 infections, of which 1,477 have recovered and 28 have died. Active cases, at 346, are the highest since May 12.

While the increase in infections is relatively small compared to western European neighbours, it comes after the country of 5.5 million went through May and June with daily case numbers mostly in the single digits.

"I believe that, despite the not positive figure from today, we will together manage to prevent this second wave from coming to Slovakia and that we will manage the coming days, weeks and months as successfully as the first wave," Matovic told a televised briefing in Bratislava.

Slovakia was one of the first European nations to shut schools, shops and borders when the pandemic hit the continent in March. Restrictions have since been lifted and travel into and out of the country has resumed during the tourist season.

(For an interactive graphic on new coronavirus cases in Slovakia: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/yxmvjlrwzvr/index.html)

(Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Jeffrey Epstein went to (or was sent to) the grave keeping his secrets. However, Ghislaine Maxwell almost certainly shares the same secrets. The latest allegation is that she has or had videos of two high profile American politicians, as well as two other influential people, having sex with underage girls. If thats true, its reasonable to believe that she has more than just those videos. A lot of famous people may soon be in trouble, although probably not Trump, who wised up a long time ago about Epstein.

The Sun writes that William Steel, the pseudonym for a former jewel thief, claims that Ghislaine Maxwell, whether as insurance and because shes a very kinky person, videotaped two highly placed American politicians, as well as other powerful people, having sex with underage girls.

According to Steel, who was not paid for the interview, Ghislaine liked to show off videos of famous people engaging in illegal and immoral behavior. To that end, she tried to impress Steel with footage of two high-profile politicians engaging in sex with underage girls, as well as two high society figures in a threesome with another young girl.

Although Steel called Ghislaine a nymphomaniac, he says she wasnt showing the videos to impress him with her sexuality. Instead, power was the ultimate turn-on:

He says: I was forced to watch their videos because they were trying to impress me. They wanted to convince me of their power and who they held in their grip. They boasted about owning powerful people.

Steel claims that he has a fair amount of information about the disgusting, debauched duo and that hes willing to testify in court. While acknowledging his past felonies, Steel assured The Sun that he never had sex with the underage girls, limiting himself to encounters with Maxwell and threesomes with adult women.

Just as was the case with Steel, not everyone who associated with Epstein and Maxwell was interested in sex with underage girls. Before Epsteins conviction, he and Maxwell were just two more rich, connected people in the Hollywood and New York social scene. After Epsteins conviction, smart people dropped them, while thrill-seekers enjoyed the edgy feeling of socializing with a depraved felon.

Trump, for example, knew Maxwell through her famous father, Robert, but eventually wanted nothing to do with Epstein:

Jeffrey Epstein turned Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago into another of his hunting grounds for young girls, leading Trump to bar him from the Florida resort, court papers claim. Trump allegedly banned Epstein from his Maralago Club in West Palm Beach because Epstein sexually assaulted a girl at the club, according to the papers, filed in the Sunshine State as part of an ongoing legal battle between Epstein and Bradley Edwards, who represented many of Epsteins underage accusers in civil suits against him. The filing is dated April 2011, well before Trump ascended to the presidency. [snip] I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him, Trump told reporters at the White House of Epstein during an appearance with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. I had a falling out a long time ago, Id say maybe 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.

Indeed, according to Bradley Edwards, who represented many of Epsteins victims, Trump was one of the few people in those monied circles who helped him build a case against Epstein.

The Clintons were not so wise. Bill Clinton famously flew repeatedly on Epsteins Lolita Express airline. According to Politico, Bills daughter, Chelsea, was especially close with Maxwell:

Maxwell first grew close with the Clintons after Bill Clinton left office, vacationing on a yacht with Chelsea Clinton in 2009, attending her wedding in 2010, and participating in the Clinton Global Initiative as recently as 2013, years after her name first emerged in accounts of Epsteins alleged sexual abuse. Ghislaine was the contact between Epstein and Clinton, a person familiar with the relationship said. She ended up being close to the family because she and Chelsea ended up becoming close. Lawyers for Maxwell did not respond to requests for comment, and a spokesperson for Clinton disputed the idea that the two women were ever close.

That friendship, if real, doesnt mean Chelsea ever engaged in immoral or illegal conduct. It does suggest, though, that she didnt choose her friends very wisely, especially because she continued her close friendship with Maxwell after Epsteins initial conviction on sex offense charges.

Chelsea and her husband later claimed to be ignorant of Maxwells Epstein connection, which may be true. Still, its hard to believe that two people as connected as Chelsea and Marc Mezvinsky didnt know anyone who could have set them straight.

If Maxwell survives her pre-trial imprisonment, any trial in her case will get very interesting very fast. If I were a betting woman, though, I do not think I would bet on the prison system doing any better a job keeping her safe than it did keeping Epstein safe.
"We are seeing other people starting their own initiatives. We want to tell you that we will support any democratic initiative that can result in freedom for the people. We will join those initiatives. Even those who are in government and want to work towards freedom, we will support them even the civil servants," said the MDC Alliance leader during a recent e-rally.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 11

By Fidan Babayeva  Trend:

The volume of foreign trade operations between Azerbaijan and Malaysia amounted to $61.3 million from January through May 2020, which is almost 2 times more compared to the same period of 2019, Trend reports citing the State Customs Committee (SCC) of Azerbaijan.

Over the mentioned period, value of export of Azerbaijani products to Malaysia exceeded $38.9 million, while a year earlier it was $172,000. Malaysia's share in Azerbaijan's total exports increased from 0.47 to 0.54 percent

Import from Malaysia to Azerbaijan decreased by 22.1 percent over the year, from $27.3 million to $22.3 million. The share of Malaysia in Azerbaijan's total imports increased from 0.47 to 0.54 percent of the total volume.

Thus, the balance of foreign trade between the two countries for the reporting period was positive and totaled over $16.6 million.

The overall foreign trade turnover of Azerbaijan amounted to $11.1 billion in the reporting period, showing a 22.9 percent growth year-on-year. At the same time, the balance of foreign trade turnover increased by 0.9 percent over the year and remained positive, amounting to $2.8 billion.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: Fidan_Babaeva
STEPANAKERT.  According to the information provided by the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Ministry of Health, one new case of the coronavirus has been confirmed in capital city Stepanakert, from the circles of a previously confirmed hotbed, Information Headquarters reported.

To date, COVID-19 has been diagnosed in 147 people in Artsakh, of whom 119 have overcome the disease.

At present, 28 citizens are receiving treatment, and 84 people are isolated.

A total of 68 samples were taken Saturday for testing.

To date, 2,707 samples have been tested.
If you want to know what Hell will be like, take a long hard look at the final weeks of a political campaign. Breathe in the stench of desperation and resultant lies. It explodes when the out-of-state PACs start flooding our hometowns with nasty ads to accomplish the agendas of the millionaires who fund them.

The Swamp, usually content to stay in DC, seeps into our districts.

That's what Club for Growth is currently doing to the two southernmost congressional districts in Alabama. They are pouring more than $2 million into the Republican congressional runoffs in AL-01 and AL-02.

Don't miss this: the amount this conservative PAC is spending to defeat two pro-business, pro-life conservatives in South Alabama is more than twice what they're spending against all Democratic candidates nationwide. In the 2018 midterms, they spent more against Republicans than against Democrats.

Who are these people, and why are they suddenly so passionate about what goes on in South Alabama?

Club for Growth is funded by a cadre of zillionaires from places like Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, and beyond. By a country mile, their most prominent donor is a guy named Dick Uihlein, who makes shipping and office products you've probably seen under the brand name U-Line. Mr. Office Products has dumped more than $16 million in the Club for Growth kitty in the last year.

Read: Not from Alabama. Not concerned about Alabama's particular needs. Not in any way accountable to the people of Alabama.

Why is a "conservative" group radically committed to defeating two decidedly conservative candidates in favor of others who--based on declared policy positions--are virtually identical to their opponents? Why doesn't CFG trust Alabama Republicans to pick their primary winners, and dedicate their resources to making sure conservative candidates prevail in November over Democrats in swing districts?

Its because Chicago and Philadelphia business people have an agenda that serves the interest of their businesses. They loathe Trumps tariff plan. They think the Farm Bill is a government handout that Congress should slash. They think projects like widening the shipping channel in Mobile Bay--maximizing the capacity of the port and securing tens of thousands of Alabama jobs--is a waste. They also want to get rid of federally-backed flood insurance.

You see, hurricanes aren't a problem in Chicago.

And to accomplish their goals, they need a certain number of sitting Congressmen fully on board.

How do out-of-state fat cats line up Alabama Congressmen to do their bidding? They search the world over and find candidates who need the money. They check them out and decide who will play ball, and then they show up with sacks of cash and a low regard for the truth. They firebomb the district with propaganda in the final days of the campaign, hoping to sway undecided voters.

If they are successful, when the smoke clears, the guy they super-funded knows that he owes his political life to them. Hard to say "no" to the folks who put you over the wall. And that's how an out of state group gains tremendous sway over Alabama's congressional representation.

No man can serve two masters.

When these races in the two southernmost districts of Alabama were in the hands of the people who knew the candidates best, they were pretty clear. Jeff Coleman (AL-02) and Jerry Carl (AL-01) have the endorsements of the Alabama Farmers Federation, the Business Council of Alabama, countless mayors, chambers of commerce, and on and on. And to be clear, Alabama business and industry leaders arent doing either of these guys a favor with their endorsements. Each organization has a mandate from its members to use its political influence to benefit their own. Alabamas own.

Both Coleman and Carl are either largely self-funded or funded by donors within the state. Donors who have a vested interest in seeing Alabama prosper. But the Club for Growth guys decided they knew better, and that they would spend any amount of money to defeat them. I promise you this: a Chicago billionaire doesnt give a whit if Mobile loses jobs because their port cant handle them, or if Wiregrass peanut farmers get kicked in the teeth by gutting of the Farm Bill. He never has to look these people in the eye.

So CFG hires some folks to photoshop Jerry Carl to look like a cartoonish Swamp Creature and spends more than a million dollars drowning his district in that imagery. (A PAC calling a homegrown businessman a swamp creature is rich.) They photoshop a picture of Jeff Coleman onto a donkey flanked by Nancy Pelosi and spend a fortune telling you on repeat that they are birds of a feather. (Real life: Jeff Coleman is so conservative, Nancy Pelosi would cross the street to avoid speaking to him.) Its all so ridiculous that it would be funny...if it didnt sometimes work.

But it does. And even if you generally agree with Club for Growths free-market philosophy, you should never approve of their methods. Like many PACs, they lie and destroy what little civility a race has left in the final days. As a Christian, I will never accept that. I will not reward it. Whats more, they spend far more money running negative ads against the opponents of their chosen candidates than on positive ads extolling the virtues of said candidates. Again, not exactly a study in integrity.

The only thing that can neutralize the landslide of toxic messaging and attempted power grab of a group like Club for Growth is a populace that decides to reject them. To reject deceptive, gutter politics coming from them or any other.

We should be indignant when folks come to Alabama to "explain" our own people to us. We've been here a long time, Club for Growth, and we haven't been asleep. We know these guys. We understand how they live their lives, how they run their businesses, and what they stand for.

It is insulting that you attempt to tell us what ruby red, deeply conservative Alabama needs. It is revolting that you drive the political discourse so far into the ground that it can smell brimstone. You want a project that desperately needs some conservative attention? I've got one for you; it's in your backyard.

Its called Chicago. You should go get on it. Because weve got this.

Dana Hall McCain writes about faith, culture and public policy. She is a member of the 2020 Leadership Council of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 07/12/2020



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[ Spoilers Warning: This report contains spoilers revealing whether Colt and Jess are still together or if the : Happily Ever After? couple have broken up].

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So are Jess and Colt still together or has the couple split up? And how does Vanessa come into play?

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So what is Colt's relationship with Vanessa like now? Are they still "just friends?"

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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Colt Johnson plans to meet Jess Caroline's family in Brazil despite having a crush on his supposed best friend Vanessa Guerra on Season 5 of : Happily Ever After?, so what happened between Colt and Jess -- have they split or are they still together?Colt from Las Vegas, NV, first appeared on Season 6 of with his now ex-wife Larissa Dos Santos Lima, and the pair followed that up with a stint on Season 4 of : Happily Ever After?.Colt and Larissa got married in June 2018, according to Clark County Clerk records obtained by Reality TV World, but their relationship took a nosedive due to serious arguments and Larissa accusing Colt of cheating on her.After a big fight in January 2019 at Colt's home he shares with his mother Debbie, Larissa getting arrested for the third time and Colt subsequently filed for divorce in Clark County Court.Colt and Larissa's divorce was finalized on April 30, 2019, with both former spouses agreeing not to slander or defame either other in the press or on social media.Season 5 of : Happily Ever After? premiered June 14 on TLC, and Colt admitted it was not easy for him to get over his lost love, Larissa."After the divorce, it was hard for me to move on, but I'm ready for Colt 2.0," Colt said, before telling Debbie that he was ready to begin dating again."It's way too soon for Colt to start dating. His heart has been broken and he's not going to make any good decisions," Debbie told the cameras."To be honest, I'm lonely and I want someone to spend my life with," Colt said.Debbie didn't know, however, that Colt had already started dating someone new -- a Brazilian woman whom he didn't think Debbie would approve of."I wasn't looking for anything specific, but this gorgeous little red head reached out to me named Jess," Colt shared. "Jess is beautiful. She is 26 years old, she has a rocking body, she has glasses, and she loves cats!"Colt said while Jess lives in Chicago, they met once in Las Vegas when she was visiting and spending time with some friends. Colt said they really hit it off and she's fun and likes to party.Colt planned a trip to Chicago to spend the weekend with Jess, revealing she was an au pair from Brazil living in the United States on a visa. Colt insisted he had never intended to date another Brazilian like Larissa, but Jess just sort of fell into his lap.Debbie was "a little suspicious" when Colt suddenly packed his bags for a weekend trip and said he was visiting "friends."Once Colt arrived in Chicago, he and Jess met up at a restaurant, and Jess said her J-1 visa was going to expire in six months but she wanted to stay in America longer because "it's amazing."Colt called Jess "a breath of fresh air" and was grateful for the new life she had breathed into him."I love Colt and he's my boyfriend now," Jess gushed. "He is good for me."The couple then spent the night in Colt's hotel and slept together, but Jess was upset because Colt had yet to share with Debbie that they were dating.Colt told Jess he didn't want to rush things and Debbie didn't know everything about him. Colt said he was just trying to be "careful" because his last relationship "almost destroyed" him."I'm falling hard for Jess... but I don't really know Jess that well. I don't want to go into another relationship like my marriage was. At the end of the day, I can't do the same thing I did with Larissa," Colt said in a confessional.Colt later met Jess' friends, who were wary of Colt's intentions and loyalty when they found out Colt had a friend "from the gym" named Vanessa who called him all the time.Colt -- whom Jess' friends also found a little "controlling" -- said he met Vanessa online and she was "just a friend" who had helped him through his divorce from Larissa, but Jess wasn't buying it.Colt promised Jess that he'd stop talking to Vanessa to make her happy, but Colt really had no plan of following through on his word given he considered Vanessa to be his best friend.Regardless, Colt told Jess that he would put her first, as long as she'd be willing to make him a priority as well."After Larissa, I never thought I'd find love again. But with Jess, I think we have a future together," Colt said in a confessional.Knowing her visa was expiring soon, Jess suggested she could apply for a new visa, either for "studying" or a K-1, meaning Colt would have to marry her for her to stay in the U.S.Colt told the cameras it was "too early" to be talking about a K-1 visa but he didn't want to see her go back to Brazil either.Jess asked Colt if he'd be up for a trip to Brazil so he could meet her family, and he said he would love that. Jess gushed with excitement, and Colt was so pleased Jess wanted him to be involved with her family -- which was something Larissa allegedly never wanted."This is a really huge step for us, and I'm glad Jess and I are starting to talk about what our future looks like together," Colt said in a confessional, before telling Jess that he was in love with her.Once Colt returned home, he came clean to Debbie about his relationship with Jess and claimed that he was in love."Two from Brazil," Debbie scoffed. "As long as Larissa is still in this country or waiting for her deportation, I don't think Colt should be involved with anyone else. It's too fast -- too much, too fast... [And] over my dead body you'll live in Brazil."Colt said Jess made him feel happy and supported, but Debbie acknowledged Larissa was like that at first as well. Debbie said she didn't understand why Colt was interested in women from different countries and he always lived "in the moment" without "thinking ahead."To protect her son, Debbie decided to join him on his trip to Brazil. Colt hoped Jess and Debbie would get along, but it was apparently also important that Jess' father grew to love Colt.Fans were then introduced to Vanessa, who was invited to Colt's house for dinner since she agreed to watch his cats while he and Debbie took off to Brazil."I met Vanessa during the last few months of my marriage to Larissa. We started talking online, and eventually, we decided to meet at a casino, and we just kind of hit it off," Colt said."Jess has never met Vanessa. She doesn't even understand who Vanessa is, and she's so jealous of her. I told Jess I wouldn't talk to Vanessa anymore, and I was wrong to lie to Jess, but Vanessa is my best friend and she's been there a lot longer than Jess has."Colt then admitted he had sex with Vanessa one time."Honestly, I have a crush on her. I think she's a great girl," Colt confessed. "But I don't think she returns the favor, and so I moved on."Vanessa said she was going through a divorce of her own when she met Colt and Colt had been there for her. She said they were best friends.Both Vanessa and Debbie thought Colt was moving too fast with Jess. Debbie even said she wished her son would date someone like Vanessa instead of Jess.Jess was crazy about Colt as well, but Larissa actually called Jess on the phone to warn her about how Colt was an alleged manipulator and womanizer."Colt is a demon," Larissa told Jess during the call. "I know that everything's perfect with him from the [beginning] but he changes and turns into someone mean."Larissa called Colt "dangerous" and said he might sabotage Jess' status in the United States given he was trying to deport Larissa."Once he doesn't need you anymore, he's gonna try to do the same that he did to me," Larissa told Jess. "I know that I was arrested and I'm a little bit crazy... but I don't want same thing to happen [to you] that happened to me."Jess insisted Colt was cute and said beautiful words to her, but Larissa asked Jess if Colt was hiding his phone from her.Jess admitted, "Yes," and then Larissa went on to say, "Congratulations. Welcome to the club."Larissa told the cameras that while she was married to Colt, he was "very shady" and "trying to talk to other women.""I believe Colt cheated on me," Larissa continued. "Colt is nasty, so Jessica should be careful and [not] trust him anymore."Larissa added that Debbie is "a wolf" and "insane."Jess was nice to Larissa on the phone but decided not to take her words to heart since she said she really loved Colt.But it appears Colt and Jess' relationship is going to be explosive on a future Season 5 episode of : Happily Ever After?.In a trailer that was recently released for the rest of the fifth season, a clip showed Jess throwing her shoes at Colt in a hotel room."You lied!" Jess shouted. "Again! Vanessa talk. You still friends. You talk every day!"Jess shoved a phone in Colt's face and yelled, "Look at this! You lie!"Colt appeared startled and then yelled for Jess to stop and talk to him as she stormed out of the room.Colt first sparked dating rumors with Jess in June 2019, just two months after his divorce from Larissa was finalized, In Touch Weekly reported.Colt and Jess reportedly went public with their relationship in July of last year.Jess called Colt her "person" on Instagram, revealing they had already been together for "a while," and Colt dubbed Jess his "muse" for drawing, a hobby he apparently picked up in his spare time, In Touch reported."I'm with him because I want and because he wants," Jess reportedly explained."We have chemistry... The important thing is how he treats me. He makes me laugh and he's nice. We like the same movies and songs."Colt reportedly went on to post photos and sketches of diamond engagement rings on Instagram, the magazine reported in September 2019, leading his followers to believe he was ready to pop the question to his girlfriend."Looking for someone that makes jewelry," he captioned the image on his Instagram Stories. "DM me please."Colt and Jess only dated for a few months last year and decided to break up by October 2019, Starcasm reported.The pair now appear to be on bad terms, and that might even be an understatement.In April 2020, Jess accused Colton of sharing nude photos she had sent him during their relationship.Starcasm reported that Jess publicly flipped out on Colton and called him out for being an alleged abuser."I am tired of all the abuse I had in my old relationship and I still have it!" Jess reportedly declared in the first of a series of posts on her Instagram Stories."Enough, I can't take it anymore! I'll tell you the whole truth... no woman needs to go through this."Jess then reportedly wrote the following message to her Instagram followers: "I am really nervous right now about a DM I just received by a guy who says he is Colts Johnson friend my ex boyfriend, a guy who uses women to stay relevant on the show. He is the only person who I trusted to sending private pictures while we were dating long distance.""Now I just got this DM from his friend and he told me Colt sent it to him. Everyone already knows Colts loves to leak pictures of his small penis. But I never could imagine he could get that far and leak images that I trusted on him."She continued, "I know [revenge] p*rn is a crime and I need some legal guidance. If you are an attorney or law enforcement please tell me how I can proceed to make this sicko stop. I am located in New York. Thank you."Jess also wrote a long message that she tagged Larissa in."Don't be silent about abuse! Do not be silent by threats, do not be afraid, do not be ashamed! Today I'm going through this, if I don't speak tomorrow it will be another. Women, get help! I do not wish that even for the worst enemy, all the suffering that goes on, all my [friends know], how much I cried and suffered," Jess reportedly wrote."Today I am happy and he keeps trying to abuse my psychologically! Every day is a new DM from someone related to him, calling me names and now sending pictures I sent him in the past. I will not shut up, I will fight for me and for all! Let's get together, let's empathize! We are in 2020 where we women... [have] rights!"Jess continued, "In the middle of 2020, we can't leave men [looking like] hero, like the good man of the mother! Man who plays with women for fame, where he said that Brazilian is all whore and crazy and would be great for him, discloses my photos, disrespects many women!"Jess vented enough is enough and women must put an end to situations like that."He should be banned from this show forever, he had not [done] anything nice to anyone. He likes attention and money and will do whatever he has to do to get TV time again," Jess concluded.Jess also shared a screenshot of a DM message Colt's alleged friend Sena had sent her with a nude bathroom selfie of Jess attached.In addition, Jess posted another screenshot of a text exchange she allegedly had with another male friend of Colt's from last year, Starcasm reported.The unidentified male friend claimed he had seen a "whole gallery" of nude photos of Jess -- and Larissa as well -- while looking through Colt's phone."I didn't show anything [last year] out of fear, but this is repeating itself and I won't shut up," Jess reportedly admitted.Larissa apparently had Jess' back and re-posted the screenshots to help her out and spread the word.Jess moved on from Colt with musician Brian Hanvey, while Starcasm reported Colt went on to date Vanessa, who was newly-divorced at the time.According to court records, Vanessa and her husband of nearly seven years finalized their divorce in early October 2019.In early July, the @tote_the_memes Instagram account, a fan account, shared screenshots of direct messages Vanessa allegedly exchanged with a follower revealing numerous details about her relationship with Colt.In the messages, Vanessa alleged claimed she actually lived with Colt "before Jess was in the picture."Vanessa also reportedly said she was the person who drove Colt to the airport when he flew to see Jess in Chicago -- and she picked him up once he returned to Las Vegas.However, Vanessa reportedly alleged she was never Colt's girlfriend and they are not dating now."Never was an official girlfriend. I couldn't take him seriously," she allegedly wrote in one text message."Honestly it was never anything. I could never stop going out with other men which is why he never stopped talking to women."Vanessa reportedly believes Colt "is not happy with himself," which supposedly "breaks" her heart. However, she insisted Colt is "always going to be family" to her "no matter what sh-tty things he's done.""I wish he'd get help. I tried to help him, but couldn't. I hope he finds some self worth one of these days."Colt is not Vanessa's type, according to the alleged exchange, and she "couldn't" see past that. She apparently prefers "bearded tattooed men."Vanessa is also reportedly dating someone else now.The Instagram account also allegedly obtained a photo of Vanessa and her bearded boyfriend and a text message in which Vanessa wrote, "I'm actually dating someone else. Which is why you see [Colt] follow/unfollow me all the time. He's a very jealous person."As for Larissa's love life, she got back together with Eric Nichols following their September 2019 split.Although Larissa is shown living the single life on Season 5 of : Happily Ever After?, a trailer shows Larissa is going to want Eric back, followed by footage of the pair fighting.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi dubbing him as champion of untruth for his claim that the 750MW Rewa Solar Power Project was the biggest in Asia, comments that drew a sharp retort from the BJP.

Asatyagrahi (champion of untruth), Rahul said on Twitter referring to Modis speech on Friday about Rewa scripting history by being home to Asias biggest solar power project.

Soon after Rahuls tweet attack, Congress leaders pointed out the 2000 MW Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka and 2450 MW Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan were almost thrice the size of Rewa Solar Power Project.

2000 MW Pavagada Mega Solar Project is the pride of Karnataka. It isn't about me or my party, Pavagada project is an achievement of the people of the state, Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar said. Shivakumar was the power minister in Karnataka when the power plant was inaugurated in 2018.

Congress also dug out comments made by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in January acknowledging Pavagada Solar Park as the worlds largest solar park.

As the Congress piled on with the attack, BJP General Secretary B L Santosh hit back at some great brains in Karnataka Congress asking them to understand the difference between a Solar Plant and a Solar Park.

Some great brains of Karnataka Congress are ridiculing Union Government for calling Rewa Solar Plant as Asias biggest. They tell that Pavagada is biggest. Somebody educate them the difference between Solar Plant & Solar Park. Rewa is plant & Pavagada is park, Santosh said.

Why would the PM misinform public? But this isnt the first time that the PM has been twisting facts to falsely claim credit. This Govt is heavily dependent on creating false narratives to suit their agenda, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said.
WATERLOO REGION  Masks are mandatory in indoor public spaces and on public transit in Waterloo Region starting Monday.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, who introduced the motion at regional council calling for mandatory face coverings, said wearing a mask is the ultimate sign of caring for your neighbour.

We have a long history of both being a resilient community, but more importantly being a very caring and compassionate community, Vrbanovic said. I hope people will put that hat on, along with their mask.

He said the bylaws will make sure the region can continue to move forward, and people can get back as much a sense of normalcy as possible in their lives.

Some view the bylaws as infringing on their rights, but Vrbanovic pointed out the flip side of that argument.

With rights also comes our collective responsibility toward each other and our community, he said.

Your decision to wear a mask will actually help to save lives  Together lets look out for our community.

Coun. Tom Galloway, who supported mandatory masks from the start, thinks most people will follow the new requirement.

There are going to be people who might cheat, feign an exemption, but that will be a small number of people, Galloway said.

He said the bylaws are imperfect, but they will help keep the curve flat to avoid closing things again and move to the next stage of reopening as soon as possible.

The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit made face coverings mandatory inside any commercial or retail establishment in mid-June, when both that area and Waterloo Region moved into Stage 2. Galloway said Guelph has about a 90 per cent compliance rate  and thats a good goal for here.

Thats going to go a long way, Galloway said.

People are asking why now when local numbers are low, and not months ago. We are doing well and we want to keep it that way, Galloway said.

He is concerned that people who are exempt will stay home to avoid confrontations with others who may be bothered theyre not wearing one, but he stressed that some have legitimate reasons.

Theres no need for individuals to self-enforce this, he said. People generally are law abiding.

People who are unable to wear a mask due to a medical condition or disability and children under five are exempt from wearing a face covering, defined as a medical or non-medical mask or other face covering, including a bandana, scarf or other fabric that covers the nose, mouth and chin.

Regional Chair Karen Redman stressed that the bylaw does not require someone to show proof of exemption, and many health issues and disabilities are invisible.

If you see someone not wearing a mask, assume they have a medical reason, she said.

Regional council voted unanimously last Monday night to pass two bylaws requiring face coverings on transit and in indoor public settings. Delegations took 3.5 hours at the start of the special council meeting, arguing both for and against a mask rule.

Theres strong views on all sides, said chief administrative officer Mike Murray at Fridays briefing.

He said bylaws passed by council was a more democratic route that allowed public input, compared to just issuing and edict.

Thats a pretty robust process and it provides an opportunity for the community to weigh in, and it provides an opportunity for our elected officials to make an appropriate policy decision, Murray said. Im hopeful that because of that public process that the community will be supportive of the direction that the regional council has taken.

The bylaws are in effect until Sept. 30, unless extended by council. They will be enforced by complaints.

Signs must be posted at entrances to all public spaces where masks are required. In the Guelph area, businesses were required to enforce the rule or face a hefty fine.

Acting medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang appreciates the bylaws here make it clear everyone is responsible for reducing the spread of COVID-19.

I was really pleased to see the bylaws that are passed does put the responsibility on all of us who can wear masks to wear masks, reinforcing what weve been trying to say all along which is that its a collective responsibility for us to protect each other, Wang said.

Redman said the region needs to find the new normal, and council believes wearing a mask is part of that.

This is an important step in helping our region safely reopen and move from Stage 2 to Stage 3 in the near future, Redman said. When we keep our germs from others by wearing a mask, we help reduce the virus from spreading. Its a simple and inexpensive action that we can take to take care of each other.

Find out more about the bylaws at regionofwaterloo.ca/en/face-covering-by-law.aspx.
That trust deed set out that money could be spent on enterprise development, community infrastructure, educational, health and social development and cultural development. It was also set up to provide a ranger program, bursaries and the protection and promotion of cultural heritage. The trust deed permits investments in stocks and securities. At the conclusion of the 2019 financial year, the total investment in shares, unit trusts and bonds was $60 million. That was up from $51.3 million the previous year. Cash in the bank and term deposits totalled $47.1 million. The trust's accounts disclose that it is exempt from paying annual income tax. It made a gross profit on investments last year of $19 million and after expenses, delivered a net profit of $16 million. The trust distributed $1.5 million to each of its three member regional trusts. The accounts do not disclose how that money was spent. CCTV footage shows the smoke from burning homes in Aurukun during the unrest on New Year's Day. Credit:Queensland Police Service On Friday, newly elected Aurukun Shire Council mayor Keri Tamwoy said the trust could do more to advance the community, but that would have to be a decision of the traditional owners who run it.

"I was too young when this agreement was negotiated and I cannot answer for how the community generally feels about it," she told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age . "I would have to put that to the 1200 people here. It is a charitable trust and there are no major capital works that it has provided. "Under the agreement, traditional owners are able to request funds to build a home on their own country out of the community and several have done that. I don't know how many.'' Ms Tamwoy said she felt the fund "could be utilised better''. "The Aurukun Shire Council has put applications to the fund managers for certain projects but nothing has eventuated yet,'' she said. "Any changes to the trust would have to be the decision of the traditional owners involved who would have to meet and discuss it. That is not an issue I can comment on as mayor.'' Although it is difficult to get an exact figure on the beneficiaries of the royalties, a lawyer who worked on the trust said some 12 family groups were involved, amounting to about 400 men, women and children.

The families in the traditional owner groups who are also represented on the trust board include: Chevathen, Ngakyunkwokka, Bond, Walpo, Brown, Martin, Koomeeta, Owokran and Bandicootcha. Because the Rio Tinto bauxite mining lease extends past the Aurukun tribal area, a small number of traditional owner clan groups from the neighbouring Napranum community are also beneficiaries of the Western Cape Communities Trust. They include the John, Charger, Guivarra, Lifu and Port families. Bauxite being loaded for export from Rio's Weipa mine in far north Queensland. Credit:Joseph Mayers Each year or so, they get a distribution of white goods from the trust  freezers, fridges, airconditioners, TV sets and so on, and they can also get vehicles, boats or travel or funeral payments," the lawyer said. But there is more than $120 million in assets in the trust and it is increasing every year. You really do have to ask why [some of] these people dont have adequate housing, access to health care and education for their children, and why they are still dependent on welfare payments to live. In truth, these are the richest poor people on Earth. He said there was no suggestion of mismanagement or misuse of the trust funds. There is also no suggestion of any illegality.
Protesters take part in a self-employed business owners demonstration against the Israeli government in Rabin square in Tel Aviv - Shutterstock

Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to provide financial support for Israelis who lost their livelihoods due to lockdown after more 80,000 people protested his government's economic response to the coronavirus over the weekend.

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday to voice their frustration with Mr Netanyahu, who won praise for his early response to the outbreak but has come under criticism amid a severe fresh outbreak in cases.

Mr Netanyahu did not acknowledge the Tel Aviv protest ahead of his weekly cabinet meeting, but promised that financial help was on the way, starting with cash handouts of up to 7,500 shekels (1,700) to the self-employed.

"This support, this grant, is not dependent on legislation and we have instructed that it be put into effect today. The button will be pressed and the money will reach accounts in the coming days," he said.

Unemployment surged to a record 20 per cent in Israel after the economy was shut down to help tackle the coronavirus, while some business owners complained they did not receive enough financial support from the government and as a result could still go bankrupt.

According to Israeli media reports, at least six per cent of the Israeli population has caught coronavirus but the true proportion could be much higher.

The infection rate currently stands at around 1,000 cases per day, far higher than the previous peak of 700 in March. Israeli officials are said to be considering a second lockdown if the number of daily cases exceeds 2,000 this week.

It came as coronavirus infections surged across the Middle East and the economic damage caused by the pandemic began to become clear.

Iraq, Lebanon and Iran are also struggling with severe economic crises and record infection rates, with Iran reporting 221 deaths in just 24 hours, marking a new record death roll.

Iranians wearing protective face masks ride the metro, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Tehran, Iran - Reuters

"The simplest solution is to close down all activities, (but) the next day, people would come out to protest the (resulting) chaos, hunger, hardship and pressure," said Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, stressing that lockdown could lead to protests.

Story continues

In neighbouring Syria, at least two doctors in the opposition-held northwest have been infected, a monitoring group reported on Saturday, raising further fears that the virus could easily spread throughout war-torn Idlib.

The anticipation is a catastrophic outcome... Dont forget we are in a conflict zone. So doctors are already scarce and need to move between more than one place, said Naser al-Muhawish, of the Early Warning and Alert Response Network.

Lebanon has seen its highest daily increase of coronavirus cases for the third day in a row, less than two weeks after the airport reopened from a three and a half month closure.

The government is pinning almost all of its hopes of getting out of its crippling economic crisis - which has seen the local currency lose over 80 per cent of its value in recent months - on summer tourist season, making further airport restrictions unlikely.

Hospitals are suffering, the head of the main coronavirus hospital said on Twitter. "Delayed payments, mounting costs, dwindling supplies and power shortages all pose serious challenges... we might be heading into a storm".
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's banks should brace for a big jump in bad loans due to coronavirus-induced economic pain, the financial regulator said on Saturday, noting the deterioration of asset quality at some small and mid-sized financial institutions was accelerating.

China's Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a statement that profit growth would slow sharply at some banks while others could see profits decline.

If banks were to make the minimum amount of provisions for their non-performing loans, which some have yet to do, profits for the sector would fall by more than 350 billion yuan ($50 billion), the statement said.

Data from the commission shows that Chinese commercial banks booked 2 trillion yuan in profits in 2019, up 8.9% from a year earlier.

Outstanding non-performing loans in the sector totalled 3.6 trillion yuan as of end-June, while the bad loan ratio rose to 2.10%, 0.08 percentage points higher than the beginning of the year, the statement said.

Small firms have been allowed to delay loan and interest payments and the central government has called on the countrys financial institutions to sacrifice 1.5 trillion yuan in profits this year to help counter the economic impact of the virus on companies.

Beijing has also allowed local governments to use the proceeds of special bonds to replenish the capital of certain small banks.

The regulator warned of illegal fund flows into real estate and the stock market, and of renewed risks in the shadow banking sector without elaborating.

It also vowed to strengthen regulation of capital flows and crack down on speculation in the financial sector to prevent asset bubbles.

($1 = 6.9990 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Lusha Zhang, Cheng Leng and Ryan Woo; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Anti-Government Protesters Arrested in Serbia After Another Coronavirus Lockdown

By VOA News July 11, 2020

Serbian police said Saturday they arrested 71 people after violence erupted in Belgrade late Friday during a fourth night of anti-government protests triggered by another coronavirus lockdown.

The head of Serbian Police, Vladimir Rebic, said 14 riot police were injured as they tried to protect the parliament building with tear gas in downtown Belgrade from hundreds of right-wing protesters who tried to storm the building with rocks, bottles and flares.

The protests over President Aleksandar Vucic's handling of the coronavirus pandemic evolved during the course of the week into anti-government demonstrations attended by thousands of people.

The first demonstration took place Tuesday after Vucic re-imposed a weekend curfew to contain a second eruption of coronavirus infections that has overwhelmed hospitals in Belgrade.

Critics say the new surge in infections is the result of the government's decision to relax some lockdown measures in May and to allow parliamentary elections to be held on June 21, which Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party largely won.

While Vucic later reversed his lockdown, the protests continued and turned into a general rebuke of his management of the coronavirus crisis.

Vucic dismissed his critics' claims and accused his political opponents of planning the protests.

"The perpetrators will be defeated, the majority of them will be arrested, and they will have to answer for all the crimes they committed," Vucic said in a live television broadcast from Paris, where is engaged in normalization talks with Kosovo along with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Police said 130 officers have been injured since the protests began on Tuesday but did not say how many protesters have been hurt.

Vucic noted that Friday was the most difficult day for the country since the coronavirus outbreak began in December. Eighteen people died of the disease in Serbia in a 24-hour period, according to data published Friday.

The coronavirus has infected more than 18,000 people in Serbia and claimed more than 380 lives, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

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According to reports, the government has also stopped these apps from obtaining an injunction to block the ban order.

If you thought TikTok and the 58 other banned Chinese apps will return in a few weeks, think again. The Indian government has filed a caveat at Rajasthan High Court against the Chinese companies who own the 59 apps recently banned in the country. Reuters reported that the government has also stopped these apps from obtaining an injunction to block the ban order.

The caveat being filed is suggestive of the fact that the government expects one or more of these companies to challenge the ban imposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

We spoke to some lawyers to understand what this move means in a legal process and here are some points -

- A caveat essentially means that if a company approaches the court (the Rajasthan High Court in this case) to file a case against the app ban, the government will have to be informed and no hearing can take place without both parties being present.

Let nothing be done till the applicants (government) are heard in the matter, said the court filing signed by Additional Solicitor General of India Rajdeepak Rastogi, according to the Reuters report.

A caveat ensures that any case filed is presented to both parties in question and both are informed beforehand of the hearing date so as appropriate legal representation can be made in court, lawyers explained.

- A caveat of this sort can be filed for any case, its not specific to this case or the government.

Such caveats are usually filed to prevent a ruling in favour of companies without hearing the government in this case.

- These companies/apps can still approach the court to file a case against the order. However, now thanks to the caveat filed, if the case is filed at Rajasthan High Court, the court will have to make sure that government representatives are present for the hearings.

- The Indian government might file similar caveats in other courts in the country as well.

What all of this adds up to is the fact that the ban against these 59 Chinese apps is not going to be lifted any time soon.
By Saeed Azhar and Davide Barbuscia DUBAI (Reuters) - Troubled hospital operator NMC Health's entity in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), NMC Healthcare LLC, is considering applying for restructuring and insolvency proceedings locally, two sources familiar with the matter said. The move comes three months after NMC Health Plc, the London-listed holding company for the hospital group, went into administration in April after months of turmoil over its finances. The two sources told Reuters that NMC Healthcare LLC was looking at options to file under the jurisdiction of Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), which has its own laws relating to insolvency and corporate restructuring

By Saeed Azhar and Davide Barbuscia

DUBAI (Reuters) - Troubled hospital operator NMC Health's entity in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), NMC Healthcare LLC, is considering applying for restructuring and insolvency proceedings locally, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The move comes three months after NMC Health Plc, the London-listed holding company for the hospital group, went into administration in April after months of turmoil over its finances.

The two sources told Reuters that NMC Healthcare LLC was looking at options to file under the jurisdiction of Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), which has its own laws relating to insolvency and corporate restructuring.

Such a move would help create a framework for the recognition of debt claims while the administrators of NMC Health Plc finalise the scheme of arrangement with creditors, one of the sources said.

A third source said the ADGM move is an option to obtain protection from the court from any enforcement proceedings from creditors, similar to Chapter 11 in the United States.

A scheme of arrangement is a binding agreement about payment of all, or part of, a firm's debts over a period of time.

The administrators for NMC Health declined to comment.

The ADGM Registration Authority does not comment on its regulatory operations or disclose its engagements with external entities publicly, it said in an email.

NMC Health is the largest private healthcare provider in the UAE, operating more than 200 facilities including hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.

NMC's operating entities were unaffected by the appointment of administrators in April and services continued.

That is unlikely to change as UAE authorities are keen to ensure hospital services in the Gulf state are not affected during the coronavirus pandemic, the second source said.

NMC's implosion this year amid allegations of fraud and the disclosure of more than $4 billion in hidden debts has left some UAE banks and overseas lenders nursing heavy losses and prompted legal battles to try and recover money owed.

The troubles began in December when short-seller Muddy Waters raised concerns over the company's financial statements and were compounded by doubts over the size of stakes of major shareholders, including founder BR Shetty.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Davide Barbuscia; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Louise Heavens)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Police said the men had been standing in the street when several other men opened fire after words were exchanged. A 23-year-old man and a 33-year-old man were taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, each with multiple gunshot wounds. A 32-year-old man was shot in the head and was taken to Norwegian Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, and a 34-year-old man was shot in the arm and also was stabilized at Norwegian, officials said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 23:42:22|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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COLOMBO -- Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday informed the ruling political party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, to temporarily halt election rallies following a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases from a drug rehabilitation center in Sri Lanka's north central province.

Following the prime minister's announcement, the ruling party said in a statement that all election rallies to be held on July 13, 14 and 15, which were to be attended by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Rajapaksa, have been canceled until further notice to comply with health guidelines.

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SINGAPORE -- Singapore's Ministry of Health reported 178 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 45,961.

Of the new cases, one is an imported case, one is a community case and the rest 176 are linked with the dormitories of foreign workers.

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DOHA -- The Qatari health ministry on Sunday announced 470 new infections of COVID-19, increasing the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 103,598.

The total recoveries in the country increased to 99,743 after 809 more patients recovered, while one more patient died, raising the death toll to 147, the official Qatar News Agency quoted a statement by the ministry as saying.

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KABUL -- Afghanistan's Public Health Ministry has announced decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the country as 85 cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 34,451 in the country, the ministry said in a statement Sunday.

According to the ministry, 14 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Kabul, 18 in Herat and the remaining 53 are in other parts of the country.

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HANOI -- Vietnam reported two new cases of COVID-19 infection on Sunday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 372 with zero deaths so far, according to its Ministry of Health.

The latest cases were two Vietnamese women, aged 31 and 36, who recently returned to the country from Russia, Vietnam News Agency reported, noting that they were quarantined upon arrival.

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WASHINGTON -- Despite his leading role in the U.S. fight against COVID-19, top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci has been sidelined by the White House, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Citing a senior White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Post reported that Fauci "no longer briefs (U.S. President) Trump and is never in the Oval (Office) anymore."

According to the report, Fauci had not spoken to Trump since "the first week of June."

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HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection reported 38 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, including 30 local infections.

The newly reported cases brought the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong to 1,469.

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MINSK -- Belarus reported 165 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking its total to 64,932, according to the country's health ministry.

There have been 461 new recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 55,380, the ministry said.

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BEIJING -- With joint efforts of both sides, China-Mexico relations have maintained a good momentum of development, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang has said.

Zheng made the remarks on Friday at the 17th political consultation between the two countries' foreign ministries via video link, which was also attended by Mexico's Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs Julian Ventura.

For his part, Ventura spoke highly of the bilateral cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 and other fields. Enditem
Two robbery suspects who attack motorists held in Lagos traffic to steal their belongings were on Monday night, July 6, arrested by operatives of RRS on patrol along Oshodi  Oke, Lagos.

The suspects, Tunde Olaiya, 24, and Tokunbo Omotola, 26, were arrested in separate encounters in Oshodi  Oke.

One stolen iphone X was recovered from Olaiya.

According to a statement released by the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, Olaiya, an ex  convict, had around 8:00 p.m. in Ojodu  Berger, Ikeja, in company of one Bolaji Nigga strangulated a motorist held in traffic light and stole his iphone X.

The duo while returning to Oshodi to hand  over the phone to their buyer were intercepted by Rapid Response Squad (RRS) bikers, who suspected them to be traffic robbers.

On search, one pass-worded iphone X was recovered from his pocket. While his colleague escaped from the scene, Olaiya couldnt explain where he got the phone. This prompted the officers to transfer him to RRS Headquarters, where he confessed to have collected the phone from a motorist in traffic.

Other items recovered from the suspect include powdery substance used in traffic robbery to break glasses of vehicles.

The victim, whose phone was retrieved from Olaiya, described his experience in the hands of the criminals as traumatic. He thanked the Police for helping him retrieve the phone and SIM card.

Tokunbo Omotola, who is equally an ex  convict was also arrested in Oshodi for traffic robbery.

He confessed in his statement to the police that apart from robbery at night, he engages in pickpocket during the day. He added that his robbery points were 7Up, Ojodu Berger; Kara Bridge, Oshodi, Mile 12 and Ojota Bridge.

Tokunbo Omotola added that he has been in the business since 2017.

Both suspects confessed that once the phones are collected, they remove the SIMs and sell them at N2000 each and sell the phones separately.

The Commissioner of Police Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu has reaffirmed his commitment towards ridding the State off criminal elements. The suspects will be charged to Court, the statement said.
Inside Arcadia Children's Daycare in the Bronx, New York, bright rubber circles have been placed on the floor to teach toddlers about social distancing. Doorknobs, sinks and surfaces have been thoroughly disinfected. Items that may be more likely to transmit the coronavirus, such as dress-up clothes and puppets, have been stashed away in storage.

Arcadia is one of approximately 3,000 city-regulated child care programs across New York City that have been shuttered for more than three months due to the pandemic. Last Tuesday, New York City's Board of Health voted to allow day care centers to reopen as of this Monday, making the city among the last places in the country to permit child care for young children to resume.

For some parents, the news that day care centers can operate again couldn't come soon enough. But for others, sending their child back now feels too risky, too costly or too complicated. As a result, day care centers are scrambling to open their doors with expensive new health protocols, while contending with the possibility of having fewer parents pay tuition.

Image: Arcadia Children's Daycare in the Bronx (Angus Mordant / for NBC News)

The regulations they face vary by state. In New York, day care facilities must have no more than 15 children per room; staff members must wear masks; daily health screenings must be performed; and there must be frequent cleaning and disinfection of toys and the facility, among other requirements.

"We are completely ready. But I'm concerned that kids just won't be coming in," said Ruben Zagagi, Arcadia's executive director. "Parents are scared of bringing their kids in. Many are still at home. They don't need us  they don't need a day care."

Nonetheless, Arcadia, which serves children ages 2 through 6, all of whom qualify for government-subsidized child care due to their family's income levels or are part of the city's universal prekindergarten program that is free to all students, is set to welcome kids back Monday. A couple of parents have already said they will not be sending their children, and a handful of others have said they are uncertain if they will, said Arcadia's educational director, Sue Sussman.

Story continues

Image: Arcadia Children's Daycare (Angus Mordant / for NBC NEws)

Reluctance to send children back to day care without a vaccine or a reliable treatment yet for the coronavirus, especially as the pandemic continues to cost millions of Americans their jobs, extends across the country. In May, 63 percent of the 2,000 families surveyed by the online child care marketplace Care.com said they were uncomfortable placing their children in day care as states reopen, and nearly half said they were more concerned about the cost of child care now than they were before the pandemic.

Maji Hailemariam, a Flint, Michigan, mental health epidemiologist and assistant professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, will not be sending her 14-month-old back when his day care center reopens at the end of next month. She and her husband are working from home and have decided they would rather juggle child care and work than risk their son getting exposed.

I will keep my child for as long as it takes until I feel safe enough.

"I will keep my child for as long as it takes until I feel safe enough," she said. "You're not dealing with one family or one group. It's your kid, and sets of families that are sending their kids, and their lives, and the teachers'  when you bring all that into play, it's hard."

Not all parents have the luxury to choose to keep their kids home, though, with wealthy and white parents more likely to have job flexibility or the means to hire a nanny.

And others feel the benefits of day care outweigh the risks. Maggie Hart, of Manhattan, will be sending her 3-year-old, Archie, back to his preschool when it reopens in several weeks. She said she feels it is important for him to return: He has started having some anxiety when he leaves their apartment, and he has been daydreaming of elaborate plans that he wants to do "when the germs are gone," ranging from having a big party to going to the zoo, she said.

Related:

"I'm ready for him to see his friends," said Hart, who works in advertising. She added, "I'm not sure I'm the best to help Archie learn all the things he needs to learn."

Costly protocols, razor-thin margins

For reasons that the medical community does not yet fully understand, children appear less likely to get severely infected by the virus, and also may be less likely to spread the infection.

The success of the 300 New York City sites that ran care for children of essential workers with oversight from the Department of Education or the Department of Health while all other child care centers shut down may provide hope to parents considering a return to day care now: They took care of thousands of children when New York was getting the hardest hit, and saw no clusters or outbreaks of the coronavirus, according to Katie O'Hanlon, a New York City Department of Education spokesperson.

Still, day care centers are not invincible. In Texas, more than 1,300 staff and children at child care facilities across the state have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

But many experts are in favor of children of all ages returning to school, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which last month said it "strongly advocates" having students physically present in school.

Dr. Kathryn Edwards, an infectious diseases specialist and professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, cautioned that more information was needed about Texas' cases before drawing conclusions.

Adults are much more adept at giving the virus to children, so I think theres a greater risk from the adults.

"I think that with proper precautions, it is safe," she said of day care. "Adults are much more adept at giving the virus to children, so I think there's a greater risk from the adults."

Experts say the new cleaning and safety regulations are an added cost for an industry that already runs on an extremely thin profit margin, and comes as they are grappling with months of lost tuition, since many day cares have been closed since mid-March.

"You're putting child care centers in a very precarious situation absent federal or state aid. You might be in a position where you see the closure of many of these centers down the line," said Radha Mohan, the executive director of Early Care and Education Consortium, which represents about 6,500 centers belonging to large, multistate child care providers.

Among the consortium's members, which include chains such as Bright Horizons and KinderCare, Mohan said those that have already reopened are seeing an added cost of $400 to $500 a week just to pay for personal protective equipment. But increasing the price of tuition to cover the expenses may not be a viable solution.

Image: Arcadia Children's Daycare in the Bronx (Angus Mordant / for NBC News)

"A lot of providers recognize you need to balance cost and profitability against parents' ability to actually pay for this service, especially post-pandemic. We're walking into a situation where so many people were furloughed for months or they took pay cuts, so in terms of affordability, a lot of families are now in a worse position than they were before to pay for the cost of child care," she said.

There has been some aid. In New York, the state set aside $65 million in federal funds to help day care centers and preschools reopen. But early childhood educators say that's not enough, a refrain echoed at the K-12 level as well, where public schools are attempting to safely reopen at the same time that their budgets have been decimated.

At Arcadia in the Bronx, the directors are steeling themselves for higher costs and lower revenue. The school's pre-kindergarten program, which begins in September, typically has a wait list; this year, only half of the 42 slots have been claimed so far, they said.

Image: Arcadia Children's Daycare in the Bronx (Angus Mordant / for NBC News)

Whatever happens, Sussman, the educational director, is looking forward to welcoming children Monday. She has kept in touch with Arcadia's oldest students through remote learning and has been in awe of their ability to keep their spirits up.

"These kids have become resilient. They're still trying to enjoy their lives. They're playing, reading a book, dancing," Sussman said. "This is the way it's supposed to be."
In 1937, the Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp wrote a letter to a friend, noting her exclusion from an avant-garde exhibition in Paris. While a male Belgian artist in her circle was refused entry too, as a woman it is ten times harder to hold your position in this caldron.

And therein lies a tale, one that may be receiving an updated ending. Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943), a pathbreaking artist, is the only woman on a Swiss bank note, and she has been featured previously in major museum exhibitions. But her name is hardly bandied about  certainly not with the frequency of her husbands, Jean (Hans) Arp  and some influential people in the art world are collectively looking to change that.

Among her advances was using interior design as an artistic tool, an early version of installation art, and when she wasnt painting she made textiles, costumes and sculptures and edited magazines. She was a dancer, too.
A US-based Ghanaian lawyer, Professor Kweku Asare, aka Kwaku Azar, is contesting the President's directive asking the Auditor-General to take his 130 days accumulated leave.

The learned lawyer has filed a suit against the Attorney-General describing the president's action as very unconstitutional.

Mr. Daniel Domelovo, the Auditor General has about 130 days of accumulated leave hence on July 4, this year, the President directed him to proceed on leave.

To the US-based Ghanaian lawyer, Professor Kweku Asare, the President's directive was unconstitutional.

In an interlocutory injunction, Prof Asare is seeking an order directed at the President, his agents, privies, assigns, servants whatsoever to cease and desist from issuing directives to the Auditor General.

He is further seeking an order that except for stated ground in Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution, the Auditor Generals tenure cannot be disturbed whether couched as involuntary or accumulated leave.

He further contended that the directive by the President amounts to removal which the courts must remedy.

Prof. Asare held that the declaration by the President to Mr Domelovo to hand over to his deputy Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu was inconsistent with or in contravention with the letter and spirit of Articles 187 (1) 187(7) of the Constitution.

Prof Asare stated that the appointment of Mr. Asiedu to act as Auditor-General contravenes the Constitution.

He is therefore seeking an order directed at Mr Asiedu to desist from performing the acting role of the Auditor General.

He contended that Mr Asiedu has not taken the Oath of the Auditor General and cannot be said to be acting in that position.

Joined in the suit are Mr Asiedu and the Auditor General/ Office of the Auditor-General.

The suit is expected to be moved on July 29, this year at the Supreme Court.

---GNA
Theres no downside to wearing a mask, Admiral Giroir responded. Im a pediatric I.C.U. physician. I wore a mask 10 hours a day for many many years.

Dr. Adams wore a mask during his entire interview on the CBS program Face the Nation even though he was being interviewed remotely from Indiana. He said measures like wearing face coverings were critically important.

Earlier in the pandemic, Dr. Adams had discouraged people from buying masks, in part so there would be enough for medical workers, and he had said masks do not work for the general public in preventing them from getting coronavirus.

On Sunday, when the host of Face the Nation, Margaret Brennan, asked if he regretted saying that masks were not effective in keeping the general population healthy, Dr. Adams replied: Once upon a time, we prescribed cigarettes for asthmatics, and leeches and cocaine and heroin for people as medical treatments, adding, When we learn better, we do better.

Dr. Adams, one of the highest-ranking Black officials in the Trump administration, was also asked about his recent comments that mask-wearing requirements should be enforced locally and not as a national mandate. He had said, in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement, when we have people being killed for handing out single cigarettes or for falling asleep in a fast food line, I really worry about over-policing and having a situation where youre giving people one more reason to arrest a Black man.

Ms. Brennan asked him on Sunday, Are you saying that racism makes it too risky to mandate masks?

Dr. Adams replied, So, to be very clear, Im not saying it makes it too risky. Im saying, if were going to have a mask mandate, we need to understand that works best at the local and state level, along with education. We need people to understand why theyre doing it. We need people to understand how they benefit from it, because if we just try to mandate it, you have to have an enforcement mechanism, and were in the midst of a moment when over-policing has caused many different individuals to be killed for very minor offenses.

With record numbers of cases in states like Florida, which on Sunday reported 15,000 new cases, the highest single-day total of any state since the pandemic began, both health officials were questioned about the administrations reluctance to consider returning to a lockdown in some cities and states.
All Rajasthan Congress MLAs in touch with me; Govt is stable: Avinash Pande

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, July 12: As it grapples with factionalism in its Rajasthan unit, the Congress on Sunday said its government in the state is stable and will last its full term.

Rajasthan Govt in crisis:Sachin Pilot in Delhi with loyalist MLAs, what is happening?|Oneindia News

Congress general secretary in-charge for the state Avinash Pande said all party MLAs in the state were in touch with him and wondered who were the ones purported to be siding with Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot.

Pilot, who has been engaged in a power tussle with Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, continues to be incommunicado, leading to anxiety in the state unit.

Rajasthan crisis: Here is how the number stack up

Pande told PTI that he had not spoken to Pilot for the last two days and had left a message with him.

"All Congress MLAs are in touch with me and the government in Rajasthan is stable and will last its full term," he said. The Congress general secretary said party chief Sonia Gandhi has been updated on developments in Rajasthan.

"I have not talked to Pilot for the last two days and I'm trying to reach out to him. I have left messages for him," he told PTI.
12.07.2020 LISTEN

Malaysias record on letting journalists be is a blotted one. This month, authorities have been kept busy intimidating the independent news outlet Malaysiakini, with a seven-member federal court panel agreeing to hear contempt proceedings against its editor-in-chief Steven Gan. Charged under section 114A of the Evidence Act, Gan and his outlet are said to have permitted the publication of over five reader comments critical of the judiciary.

The Committee to Protect Journalists senior Southeast Asia representative Shawn Crispin urges Malaysian prosecutors to drop the bogus contempt of court charges pending against Steven Gan and stop using legal threats to intimidate the media. In Crispins pertinent view, Pursuing an independent news outlet over comments from random internet users reeks of a witch hunt and sends a worrying signal about the state of press freedom under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassins new government.

Malaysia is facing a season of official pettiness and persecutions. Boo Su-Lyn, editor of the health news portal CodeBlue, is being investigated under the Penal Code and Official Secrets Act for publishing the findings of an investigation into a fire at the Hospital Sultanah Aminah in 2016 that left six dead. Her claim is that the report in question had been declassified.

Former ministers have also attracted official attention, including the former women, family and community development minister, Hannah Yeoh. The MP attracted the interest of authorities after being targeted for supposedly disseminating a remark that the governments deputy minister of women and family development had been less than keen to deal with child marriage. The remark, she argues, was falsely attributed to her.

The judicial calendar may well have other additions if the investigation into the work of six journalists working for Al Jazeera sufficiently exercises state prosecutors. The six journalists, of whom five are Australian, are being investigated on possible charges of sedition and defamation. Breaches of the countrys Communications and Multimedia Act are also being considered in the possible charge sheet.

The journalists in question are part of Al Jazeeras 101 East program, which took interest in Malaysias treatment of undocumented migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The crew had much to work on. The movement of control order, implemented in response to the pandemic, has been particularly brutal towards the undocumented who clean and slop the underbelly of the state.

In May, Malaysian authorities executed four immigration crackdowns and arrested over 2,000 undocumented migrants. Among them were asylum-seekers and 98 children. This took place despite the promise by authorities on March 27 that they would not focus on their documents the most extreme case that could happen is a 14-day quarantine COVID19. That is all. By May, the National Police Inspector-General Abdul Hamid Bador had removed the gloves and any sense of pretence, readying his forces to arrest and detain any undocumented residents supposedly in breach of the partial lockdown. We cannot allow them to move freely while the MCO is still in progress as it will be difficult for us to track them down if they leave the identified locations.

The policy has been astonishingly self-defeating. Concentrating such individuals in confined quarters has had the effect of encouraging the spread of COVID-19. On May 26, Noor Hisham Abdullah, director-general of the Ministry of Health, was grave in warning. We have identified detention centres as a high-risk area. On May 22, 35 cases were identified at a detention centre. Within four days, the number had bulked to 227 across three sites. By May 31, the number had increased to 410 across four sites.

The work of Al Jazeeras six journalists yielded up Locked Up in Malaysias Lockdown, featuring much of what we already know. Al Jazeera does not mince its words introducing it. Now, undocumented foreign workers are scared for their future. Out of work and forced to live in cramped conditions, some are starving and dependent on charities to survive. The Malaysian government may have successfully checked the spread of the coronavirus but had also put some of the poorest areas of Kuala Lumpur behind barbed wire  testing and fingerprinting migrants, and arresting anyone without valid documents.

The short production raised the hackles of the political establishment, who insist that any tolerable standard of journalism must accord with government policy. Malaysias Defence Minister Ismail Saabri insists that Al Jazeera apologise to all Malaysians. As international media, we expect Al Jazeera to have high ethics. But, the report does not seem to contain clear facts and is full of baseless accusations. The immigration departments director general has warned that foreigners making inaccurate statements aimed at sullying the country could have visas and work passes revoked. The hunt for Md Rayhan Kabir, one of the migrants interviewed in the report, has also commenced pursuant to the countrys Immigration Act.

The six staff members were duly asked to present themselves at the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters on Friday. Al Jazeeras statement, released on Thursday, affirmed that it stood by the professionalism, quality and impartiality of its journalism, warning of serious concerns about developments that have occurred in Malaysia since the broadcast of the documentary. The network also noted how its staff had been targeted by sustained online abuse, including death threats and disclosure of their personal details over social media. Repeated attempts to obtain the government view on the topics covered in the report failed due the refusal to grant interviews.

The obvious is often the most infuriating for authoritarian states, even amateurish ones with airs. While Malaysias abuse of journalists has some way to go before it keeps company with violence of the Philippines, it is making a spiteful effort to climb the charts. An air of intimidation has set in.

The deep irony in all of this is that the five Australians of the Al Jazeera outfit can count on little genuine assistance from to the land of their citizenship. The Australian government has shown itself to be rather keen in targeting the fourth estate for publishing material it deems in breach of national security legislation. Dan Oakes of the ABC awaits the deliberations of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions over a brief by the Australian Federal Police for his role in publishing the Afghan Files.

Any potential prosecution will need final approval of the Australian Attorney General, Christian Porter, who nurses a faux belief in the merits of the free press and his role as its defender. In Australia, secret trials and investigating journalists for exposing state abuses is all the rage. The fox, in the form of Porter, is guarding the hen house. Malaysias heavy handed authorities, for that reason, have nothing to trouble themselves over.

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: [email protected]
Four more women accused of supplying young girls for billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to abuse are facing investigation as it's revealed Ghislaine Maxwell moved house 36 times in a year before she was caught by the FBI.

Sara Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff and Nadia Marcinkova are being investigated for their alleged role in Epstein's sex-trafficking ring, according to a report in the Sunday Telegraph.

Ms Kellen, dubbed Ghislaine Maxwell's 'lieutenant' by Epstein's victims, is said to have flown on the paedophile's 'lolita express' almost as many times as the disgraced couple.

Ms Kellen, who is said to have taken a leading role in the sex ring, and the other three women, have previously been accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to sleep with.

One was also said to have been involved in a sexual relationship with the financier.

Sarah Kellen worked as an assistant for Jefferey Epstein and was named in his 2008 plea agreement as 'potential co-conspirators'

Nada Marcinkova who now goes by Nadia, was allegedly one of Epstein's victims according to interviews with victims back in 2005, before she began procuring girls for the paedophile herself

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are pictured on a pheasant shoot with Prince Andrew, Sandringham, Norfolk, Britain - 08 Dec 2000

According to the Sunday Telegraph, all four of the women received salaries and bonuses for their role in the operation.

Sarah Ransome, then 22, identified Ms Kellen, as well as Ms Maxwell, as being present and calling her in to Epstein's room before one incident of abuse.

'When Jeffrey wanted me, you know, Sarah Kellen or Ghislaine would call me into his bedroom, and I had no choice but to go,' she said.

She said that Ms Kellen and Ms Maxwell would give her sex tips on how to better please Epstein, adding that every girl she brought to the billionaire's island, she knew was there to sexually please the financier.

Lesley Groff attends Central Park Conservancy 30th Anniversary Gala at Central Park Boathouse on February 23, 2010 in New York City. Lesley Groff has also been named as one of the couple's potential co-conspirators

The four women were given immunity from prosecution in a deal struck between Epstein and the US Attorney for South Florida in a 2008 criminal case, but the arrest of Ms Maxwell last week has now raised the possibility that the FBI could revisit the case. According to the Sun on Sunday, Ms Maxwell moved 36 times in a desperate attempt to avoid arrest before she was finally placed in cuffs on 2 July.

Responding to the accusations in an earlier statement, Ms Kellen's lawyers admitted that she scheduled appointments for the couple, and was conscious of the 'pain and damage Epstein caused'.

Another of the women, Ms Marcinkova, said that she was herself a victim of Epstein's perversions at the age of 15 after arriving in the US from Slovakia. She is then alleged to have started helping the paedophile to find other underage girls.

The investigation into these additional co-conspirators now largely depends on Ms Maxwell's willingness to try to reduce her sentence, which could be 35 years if she is found guilty.

Christina Oxenberg, a former associate of Ms Maxwell's, told the Telegraph that Ms Maxwell had 'wire-tapped' the lolita express so that she could later use it for leverage if she was arrested.

'She will name names. She's a drowning rat,' Oxenberg said.

According to another former friend said that Ms Maxwell 'has tapes of two prominent US politicians having sex with minors' and boasted of 'owning' powerful people.

The ex-jewel robber, who used the pseudonym William Steel, said they 'forced' him to watch the footage as they wanted to convince him of their 'power'.

He also claimed to have seen clips of 'celebrities' and 'world figures' having 'threesomes, even orgies' with minors.

It follows Maxwell, 58, being arrested last Thursday on charges she helped lure at least three girls - one as young as 14 - to be sexually abused by Epstein, who was accused of victimising dozens of girls and women over many years.

Socialite Maxwell, above in 2013, the daughter of the late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, is the former girlfriend and long-time close associate of Epstein

A former friend of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, pictured in 2005, claimed they 'forced' him to watch the footage as they wanted to convince him of their 'power'

Steel told The Sun: 'They wanted to convince me of their power and who they held in their grip. They boasted about 'owning' powerful people.'

He added: 'I saw videos of very powerful people - celebrities, world figures - in those videos having sex, threesomes, even orgies with minors.'

The former friend also referred to two 'high-profile' American politicians who were in videos with minors.

Maxwell, the daughter of the late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, is the former girlfriend and long-time close associate of Epstein.

She is accused of facilitating his crimes and on some occasions joined him in sexually abusing the girls, according to the indictment against her.

Several Epstein victims have described Maxwell as his chief enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for abuse. She has denied wrongdoing and called claims against her 'absolute rubbish.'

Maxwell was arrested by a team of federal agents last week at a $1 million estate she had purchased in New Hampshire. The investigators had been keeping an eye on Maxwell and knew she had been hiding out in various locations in New England.

She had switched her email address, ordered packages under someone elses name and registered at least one new phone number under an alias 'G Max,' prosecutors have said.

The property where Maxwell was arrested by the FBI seen in an aerial photograph in Bradford, New Hampshire. She is accused in four counts of acting as Epstein's madam

The British socialite will appear in New York's southern district court on July 14 at 1pm and the hearing will take place over video-link due to coronavirus.

She will join from the 'hell-hole' jail where she is being held and only the judge, Alison Nathan, will be present along with one prosecutor and one defence attorney.

Maxwell - a friend to billionaires, celebrities, presidents and royalty before her arrest - is facing a six-count federal indictment which could see her jailed for 35 years.

She is accused in four counts of acting as Epstein's madam, hunting down and 'training' young girls for him to abuse in the late 1990s.

Another two counts accuse her of lying about the abuse to a court when she was sued by one of the victims - Virginia Roberts - in 2015.

However, observers and experts believe she is not the state's primary target, and will likely be offered a plea deal to turn on others in Epstein's circle.

Epstein was initially jailed for 18 months in 2008 after being allowed to plead guilty to a single charge of soliciting sex from a child prostitute, despite at one stage facing a 53-page FBI indictment.
The big shareholder groups in Probiotec Limited (ASX:PBP) have power over the company. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, 'Dont tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.

With a market capitalization of AU$156m, Probiotec is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it's seems that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Probiotec.

Check out our latest analysis for Probiotec

ASX:PBP Ownership Breakdown July 11th 2020

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Probiotec?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

Probiotec already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Probiotec's historic earnings and revenue, below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

ASX:PBP Earnings and Revenue Growth July 11th 2020

Probiotec is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that Charles Stringer is the largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding. Paradice Investment Management Pty Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 7.8% of common stock, and Wesley Stringer holds about 6.6% of the company stock. Wesley Stringer, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors.

Story continues

We also observed that the top 9 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Probiotec

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Probiotec Limited. Insiders own AU$51m worth of shares in the AU$156m company. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 44% stake in PBP. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 8.6%, of the shares on issue. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Probiotec you should know about.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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.



Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

By Nargiz Ismayilova - Trend:

Azerbaijans Aztelekom LLC completed four open tenders worth 1.3 million manat ($764,705),Trend reports referring to the public procurement website.

In accordance with the terms of the tenders, the materials related to the construction and operation of communication line facilities were purchased (1), the sets of welding equipment for ensuring labor safety were installed (2), a distribution box with a sealed plastic case for 10 subscribers, necessary for the construction and operation of a communication line in the farm was installed (3), as well as 5,000 pieces of 6.5 meter-high metal poles and 650 pieces of 8.5-meter high metal poles painted with acrylics were installed (4).

In accordance with the data, the winner of the first tender was Huseyn Abdullayev, the winner of the second winner - Maibo LLC, the winner of the third and fourth tenders - Aztelmash LLC.

Some 332,500 manat ($195,588), 124,600 manat ($73,294) and 840,700 manat ($494,529), respectively, will be paid to the winning companies.

Aztelekom LLC has been recently working on a network reconstruction project based on Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) technologies to meet the demand for telecommunication services, as well as render the high-quality, sustainable and multi-stage communication services.

----

Follow the author on Twitter:@IsmailovaNargis
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Kish Island power plants in Hormozgan Province (southern Iran) have saved $1 billion, Director of the Iranian Offshore Oil Companys (IOOC) branch on Kish Island Shahsavar Arghash said, Trend reports referring to the companys official portal.

According to the director, the Kish Islands power plants have saved more than 15 million barrels of diesel over the past 10 years.

Arghash added that the gas that extracted and processed together with oil was used instead of diesel fuel in Kish Island power plants.

In recent days, 5 million cubic feet (about 141,000 cubic meters) of additional gas processed in Asaluyeh point was transported to the Siri Island and from there to power plants on the Kish Island.

The Iranian Offshore Oil Company(IOOC) is one of the companies operating under the subordinate of the National Iranian Oil Company(NIOC). The companys operating point is in the Persian Gulf. With the exception of the North Pars, South Pars, Gulshan and Firdovsi fields, all offshore oil and gas fields in southern Iran are operated by the Iranian Offshore Oil Company.
Will the Qinglongqiao River, which has been flowing for 500 years near our village, keep flowing for another 500 years?

That is a question raised by Xie Ling in February 2018, who then had just took office as the Party head of Zhangzhenqiao village in Wuxi, East Chinas Jiangsu Province, and a river chief of the Qinglingqiao river.

She came to the village with a plan provided by Wuxi Municipal Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., under which many unapproved riverside structures in the village should be demolished.

The chicken sheds, duck sheds and tofu workshops by the river have caused heavy pollution and some sections of the river even began to stink, Xie said, adding that We have no choice but to remove these structures.

Xies proposal was immediately rejected by Hu Rongqing, a villager who built a livestock farm near the river. My family depend on the farm for a livelihood, he argued.

However, Hu was opposed by another villager who said his business had intensively polluted the environment of the village. Soon, other villagers chipped in, starting a heated debate.

Then, the village committee director sent for Hus cousins to help persuade him. Under their persuasion, Hu gradually calmed down. Later, Xie promised to find a job for Hu to dispel his worries over the source of income.

Hu pulled down his farm half a month later. With the help of Xie, he secured a job at Jiangsu Wenhui Steel Engineering Co., Ltd., earning an annual income of nearly 100,000 yuan (about $14,283). Recently, the man has become more energetic and motivated as his boss promised to raise his salary.

Villagers participated in water management with greater enthusiasm as they saw Hu became better-off and the river was also cleaner. Under the mobilization of the river chief, they would volunteer to help dredge waterways, come rain or shine, making no complaints even when they are splashed with mud.

Two years efforts of the villagers have led to great achievements. The stinking ditch has evolved into a river with fish and shrimps, just like in my childhood memories, said Zhang Jinzheng, a 78-year-old villager, adding that now residents can get spiral shells in the river for food.

By dismantling unapproved riverside structures and curbing water pollution, water management can improve living standards and boost economic development.

China established a comprehensive river chief system in June 2018, marking a new stage of the countrys management and protection of rivers and lakes. Over the past two years, the system has gradually taken effect.

According to monitoring data, 75.4 percent of Chinas water sections were graded in categories I-III, meaning good water quality, between January and October in 2019, an increase of 2.3 percentage points year on year, while those graded as inferior category V fell 1.9 percentage points year on year.

The unremitting efforts of river chiefs and the people who have participated in the cause contributed to such a transformation.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Water Resources, China now has over 1.2 million river and lake chiefs and stewards at township and village levels. The primary-level river and lake chiefs and volunteers have become an important force protecting the waters, playing a crucial role in promoting the implementation of the system of river and lake chiefs and enhancing management and protection of rivers and lakes.
Equatorial Guinea Coronavirus Update - Coronavirus cases climb to 3,071, Total Deaths reaches to 51 on 12-Jul-2020

In Equatorial Guinea total confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) have increased to 3,071, while 51 people died due to the growing infection in the country.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) update from around the world:

New Delhi, 04-July-2020: BJP President JP Nadda said that over 8 lakh BJP workers joined hands to help the people during the lockdown. Today New Delhi reported over 2,505 raising the total count to 97,000 in the city. New Delhi reported total of 3,004 new cases in past 24 hours.

BJP President JP Nadda said, "over 8 lakh BJP workers distributed nearly 22 crore food packets, 5 crores 'Modi ration kits' and more than 5 crore face covers during the lockdown period. Our workers encouraged about 58 lakh people to contribute to 'PM CARES Fund.'"

New Delhi, 04-July-2020: New Delhi reported over 2,505 new cases in last 24 hours. Total deaths in Delhi rise to 3,004 in Delhi. The health department announced revised guidelines today, according to the new guidelines Covid patients suffering from immunity-targeting health conditions like cancer, HIV and others are not eligible for home isolation. Total cases in Delhi inches behind to reach 1 lac.

France: France is reporting higher number of deaths but but slightly fewer people with severe conditions were admitted into ICU in past fourth day. France reported 315 deaths last day as compared to 345 deaths the day earlier. In France 133,670 confirmed cases and 14,412 deaths reported so far.

Here are the latest cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in Equatorial Guinea:

Sr. No. Date Total Cases New Cases Total Deaths Deaths 1. 07-Jul-2020 3,071 0 51 0 2. 08-Jul-2020 3,071 0 51 0 3. 09-Jul-2020 3,071 0 51 0 4. 10-Jul-2020 3,071 0 51 0 5. 11-Jul-2020 3,071 0 51 0 6. 12-Jul-2020 3,071 0 51 0

TOP 10 Deaths by country due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak:



1. Europe (196,565)

2. North America (185,534)

3. USA (137,577)

4. South America (104,066)

5. Brazil (71,584)

6. Asia (69,820)

7. UK (44,819)

8. Italy (34,954)

9. Mexico (34,730)

10. France (30,004)

Total Deaths Worldwide (569,173)

Globally till now over 569,173 people died due to the outbreak of deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19). The new infection and death cases are increasing fast. Authorities in the Equatorial Guinea and other countries are taking proper measures to contain the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19).

As of now Europe is the worst affected country in the world with over 196,565 deaths and 2,570,816 confirmed cases.

Check latest update: Coronaviurs Covid-19 cases around the world
The telecom regulator has asked Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea to put on hold specific plans that promised faster speeds to certain priority users, as it questioned whether the network preference came at the cost of deterioration of services for other subscribers.

A source said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked the two operators to withhold the specific plan for the interim period.

The TRAI has written to the two operators -- Airtel and Vodafone Idea -- and questioned them about their individual plans that promised faster speeds to certain priority users.

The regulator has asked if priority to high-paying customers in those specific plans came at the cost of service deterioration for other subscribers.

It has asked the operators how they are protecting the interest of other general subscribers.

When contacted, an Airtel spokesperson said: "We are passionate about delivering the best network and service experience to all our customers."

"This is why we have a relentless obsession to eliminate faults, and have been consistently recognised by international agencies as the best network in terms of speed, latency and video experience.

"At the same time, we want to keep raising the bar for our post-paid customers in terms of service and responsiveness. This is an ongoing effort at our end," the Airtel spokesperson added.

The Bharti Airtel had announced last Monday that it would give preference to platinum mobile customers, who pay Rs 499 and above per month for post -paid connection, on its 4G network.

The platinum customers will get better 4G speed on the Airtel network compared to other customers.

The TRAI has given Airtel seven days to respond to its questions, a person privy to the development said.

In case of Vodafone Idea, the company had launched a postpaid plan, REDX, promising up to 50 per cent faster data speeds, besides other benefits and privileges.

Asked about TRAI's latest move, a Vodafone Idea spokesperson said: "Vodafone RedX plan offers a range of benefits including unlimited data, calls, premium content, international roaming pack etc. for our valued postpaid customers who want more."

"VIL is committed to serve its customers with the best in class offerings and high speed 4G data across all markets. VIL's fastest 4G speed in many markets, including metros, has been verified by global testing agencies, such as Ookla and OpenSignal amongst others," the VIL spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, a VIL source, who did not wish to be named, said the company was taken aback at the TRAI's letter over the weekend asking it to block the plan without any opportunity to respond on an important matter such as tariff.

The company source said that the RedX plan was filed with TRAI in November and further modifications to the plan were, once again, duly filed in May. The plan has been in the market for last eight months and customers are already on-boarded.

The VIL source said the company was of the view that there was no violation of tariff regulation on this plan.
Park Ju-sin, center, the son of late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, arrives at Seoul National University Hospital, Saturday, as a funeral altar for his father is in place there. He returned home from the United Kingdom earlier that day to attend his father's funeral. / Yonhap





By Jun Ji-hye











A female former secretary of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who filed a sexual harassment complaint against him, appears to be encountering fears of "secondary damage" as she has been the target of personal insults and abuse online.







The secretary filed the complaint with police, Wednesday, reportedly alleging that Park had touched her numerous times and had sent her "inappropriate" messages on Telegram since 2017.







Park was found dead in an apparent suicide on Mount Bukak in Seoul at 12:01 a.m. Friday.







The reason for his presumed suicide is not yet known, but many have suggested that he acted amid mounting personal pressure following the complaint.






There will be no Schueberfouer this year, but a series of culinary hotspots and free attraction rides across town.

The capital's adapted summer program will last until 13 September, with numerous small-scale events organised across the city's districts. For instance, a Ferris wheel was constructed on Kinnekswiss, and several food trucks installed in the Merl Park and on rue de Strasbourg. Since the Glacis parking will not be occupied by the Schueberfouer, it will serve as a drive-in cinema.

Mayor Lydie Polfer noted the importance of revitalising the capital. All attraction rides will be free for kids, the DP politician underlined.

Apart from the general sanitary regulations, another significant measure taken by the city is that none of the food and drink trucks will sell alcohol.

Further information can be found via the following link.
A former cabinet official has revealed that President Donald Trump suggested that one response to the devastation of Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria would be to sell the US territory.

Elaine Duke, who served as Mr Trumps second secretary of Homeland Security when John Kelly was promoted to chief-of-staff, recalled the presidents initial reaction in an interview with The New York Times this week.

The presidents initial ideas were more of as a businessman, you know, she said. Can we outsource the electricity? Can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?

In his time in office, the president has also suggested buying Greenland from Denmark or trading the Arctic territory for Puerto Rico.

Ms Duke clarified that the idea of selling Puerto Rico was never seriously considered or discussed after it was raised, and that the president had shown concern for the suffering of the islands people after the disaster.

However she said that the president's concern was overshadowed when he traded angry tweets with politicians in Puerto Rico, which she saw as a frustrating distraction.

Ms Duke said that as the hurricane approached the island in the autumn of 2017, she was derided by other members of the cabinet for trying to get the president to take the situation more seriously.

Having argued for an emergency declaration before the hurricane made landfall, Ms Duke said that Mick Mulvaney, the presidents budget director at the time, told her: Quit being so emotional, Elaine, its not about the people, its about the money.

Mr Mulvaney denies making the remark.

Ms Duke is the latest ex-cabinet member to criticise her former boss. She told the Times that Trump cares little about policy, and uses hate-filled, angry and divisive language.

Recommended Supreme Court blocks Trump from ending legal protection for migrants

The most significant role Ms Duke played in her time in the administration was signing the memo to end DACA in 2017  the Obama-era protections for young immigrants. She said that she was pressured into the plan after being cut out of the decision-making process.

Ms Duke did not include any policy reasons for ending the programme in the memo as she did not agree with the ideas being pushed by then attorney general Jeff Sessions, and Mr Trump's adviser Stephen Miller.

The lack of any specific policy reasoning was at the centre of the Supreme Court ruling invalidating the decision in 2020. The court found that the Trump administration had not considered the implications of shutting down the programme.

Ms Duke, a lifelong Republican, has said that she is not sure if she will vote for the president again.
An image posted to Twitter by South African police showing firearms seized in the operation. (Courtesy of SAPoliceService/Twitter)

Five Killed in Siege at South African Church

Five people have been killed and six hospitalized after gunmen took hostages at a church in South Africa on Saturday, police said.

It was unclear how many hostages were in the church at the time, but all have been freed, according to the South African Police Service. They have arrested 40 suspects in relation to the attack at the International Pentecostal Holiness Church in Zuurbekom, northwest of Pretoria.

Of those who died, four were found shot and burned in a car and the fifth, a security guard, was also shot in his car while responding to the incident. Police officers were among those hospitalized with injuries.

More than 34 firearms, including rifles, short guns, and pistols, were seized by police.

I am certain that the speedy response by the joint security forces has averted what could have been a more severe blood bath, said National Commissioner of Police General Khela John Sitole in a statement.

It is rather unfortunate that such an incident takes place during a time when South Africa is being plagued by a deadly virus and violent crimes, Sitole added.

Police responded to reports of a shooting and siege at the church at 3 a.m. (9 p.m. ET).

A group of armed people came into the church and allegedly attacked people inside indicating they were coming to take over the premises, a police statement said.

Police added they are investigating the possibility the attack may have been motivated by an internal feud between conflicting parties of the church.

The-CNN-Wire

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CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio  A woman and child are dead following an apparent murder-suicide, according to reports.

A 34-year-old woman and a 4-year-old girl were found dead Saturday at a home on the 3900 block of Delmore Road, just east of Noble Road, according to Cuyahoga County Medical Examiners Office records.

The two were found in a bedroom of the house, both suffering from gunshot wounds, Cleveland Heights police told News 5 Cleveland.

Investigators determined that the woman shot the girl before turning the gun on herself, Fox 8 reports. Fox 8 confirmed the deaths with Cleveland Heights Police Chief Annette Mecklenburg.

A cleveland.com reporter was not able to reach Cleveland Heights detectives Sunday afternoon, and an officer reached by phone said he was unable to speak on the case, and Mecklenburg would not be able to provide any information until Monday.

No other information about the incident has been made publicly available.

This post will be update if more details are released Sunday.

More Northeast Ohio crime news:

Man, toddler found dead in driveway in Akrons University Park neighborhood, medical examiner says

13-year-old girl injured after driving car, crashing into pole in Clevelands Brookside neighborhood, police say

Man dies after truck crashes into pole in Clevelands Kinsman neighborhood, police say
That American dream, soon into reality.

President Donald Trump said Friday that he would be signing an executive order that will provide protection and a path to U.S. citizenship for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

DACA is a program created during the Obama administration. It aimed to provide work permits and access to higher education for people brought to the country as children by undocumented parents. The program also allows the recipients called "Dreamers," to hold driver's licenses and in-state tuition.

In an interview with Noticias Telemundo anchor Jose Diaz-Balart, Trump revealed he would be signing a "big immigration bill" that would "take care" of the DACA program. He said the White House is still working out legal complexities, Fox News reports.

When pressed on whether the executive order would provide Dreamers legal status, Trump said the administration is looking into implementing a merit-based bill that could also give the immigrants a road to citizenship.

In an NPR report, Judd Deere, the White House spokesman, said the executive order would also include strong border security and a legislative solution to DACA. However, it does not include amnesty.

Ted Cruz Reacts

Republican Senator Ted Cruz urged the Trump administration to exclude a road to citizenship, claiming it violated the president's constitutional authority.

"It was unconstitutional when Obama issued executive amnesty, and it would be a HUGE mistake if Trump tries to expand amnesty illegally," Cruz said.

Also read: Supreme Court Blocks Trump's Efforts to End DACA, Grants Relief to Undocumented Immigrants

Trump's latest comments clashed with recent reports claiming the administration would renew its effort to end Obama's DACA program after the Supreme Court voted against ending the program in a 5-4 decision.

According to the Supreme Court, the president did not offer enough reasons to end the program and the protections it provides undocumented immigrants. However, the court allowed the administration to file for another motion to terminate the program.

Disrupting the Economy

Trump's announcement came after a group of prominent business leaders asked the president to keep the program.

In a letter written by the members of the Coalition for the American Dream, the leaders noted that thousands of DACA recipients are part of the American workforce and industries. Disrupting the program, they say, would have a devastating impact on the economy.

The letter went on to say that tens of thousands are currently employed as front line doctors, nurses, and in other industries fighting the novel coronavirus, the New York Times reports.

A demographic profile compiled by the Center for American Progress in April 2020 showed there are over 202,500 DACA recipients currently working to protect the health and safety of Americans.

Many of the recipients were doctors, nurses, and medical students. Some also worked as teachers who strive to provide children with a sense of well-being. Other DACA recipients work in industries that grow, pack, and fill shelves with food.





Want to read more?
The choice of a defence attorney by Hushpuppi, a popular Instagrammer facing 20 years for multimillion-dollar fraud and money laundering scams has piqued the interest of many Africans on the internet.

Ramon Olorunwa Abbas - known to his 2.5 million Instagram followers as Ray Hushpuppi has engaged the services of Gal Pissetzky to defend him during the trial.



In a promotional video on the website of his law firm, Mr Pissetzky says he does not fear prosecutors or judges and nothing will stop him from getting justice for his clients.



He adds that being a husband, father and friend helps him to understand the fears of his clients who may be facing lengthy sentences.



Attorney Pissetzky told the BBC that his client, who posts on Instagram about his extravagant lifestyle, was not a criminal and had made his money legitimately.





VIDEO: How Dubai Police busted Nigerian Insta-celeb Hushpuppi"He is a social media influencer with millions of followers, with millions of people that respect and loved him, and he loved them, and that's what he did. In today's society, that's a business," he said.Mr Pissetzky admits that he is not "100% familiar" with social media and his children consider him too old but he knows "that's how people make money today".The Chicago defence lawyer's argument that Hushpuppi was paid by designer brands for promotion has set the stage for what promises to be a long trial in American courts."In my opinion, the FBI and the government here acted illegally when they kidnapped him from Dubai without any legal process to do so," Mr Pissetzky told the BBC."There was no extradition, there were no legal steps taken, there were no court documents filed, it was simply a call to the FBI. He is not a citizen of the United States, the US had absolutely no authority to take him," his lawyer says."If Dubai wanted to expel him, they should have expelled him back to Nigeria. I've never heard of anything like that. That is the real story here."Profile of Mr PissetzkyMr. Pissetzky has represented many clients in high-profile cases, and is frequently quoted in the press.He regularly appears on TV as the legal consultant/advisor regarding high profile criminal cases.EXPERIENCEAttorney Pissetzky devotes his life to defending the rights of those accused of a variety of state and federal criminal felony charges. Mr Pissetzky has taken over 100 cases to trial both before a jury and before a judge.He has litigated Fourth and Fifth Amendment motions in which law enforcement violated his client's Constitutional rights. Mr Pissetzky has handled multi-issue complex trials and appeals.He has argued before the Illinois Supreme Court, as well as numerous Illinois and Federal Appellate Courts.His practice focuses on defending clients of complex federal an state crimes, such as financial crimes, wire fraud, mail fraud, political corruption, medicare fraud, conspiracy, large-scale drug crimes, murder, attempted murder and other violent crimes, gun offences, sex offences, as well as any criminal forfeiture proceedings that occur as a result of the criminal charges.He has been vigorously representing clients in both the state and federal court systems for well over 20 years. Located in Chicago, he represents clients throughout Illinois and the country. Mr Pissetzky prides himself on providing superior client service. He is truly dedicated to protecting the rights of his clients and preserving their future.Mr Pissetzky began his successful career as a defence attorney in 2002 after spending four years with the Cook County State Attorney's Office. He obtained his J.D. from the John Marshall Law School. He is a member of the Illinois Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.LANGUAGES SPOKENHebrewPolishSpanishLICENSEIllinois Active And Authorized To Practice Law 2000WORK EXPERIENCEPartner at Pissetzky & Berliner, LLC (2006-present)Partner at Meczyk & Associates (2002-2006)Assistant State's Attorney at Cook County State's Attorney's Office (2000-2002)EDUCATIONJ.D., John Marshall Law School, Chicago Law, 2000B.A., University of Illinois, Chicago Criminal Law and Political Science, 1997AWARDSRising Star Super Lawyer, 2011Top 100 Trial Lawyers Association of Trial Lawyers of America, 2010Top 100 Trial Lawyers Association of Trial Lawyers of America, 2009Top 100 Trial Lawyers American Trial Lawyers Association, 2007Cum Laude John Marshall Law School, 2000Honors University of Illinois, Chicago, 1997"10 Best Client Satisfaction" attorneys by the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys"Top 100 Trial Lawyers: Illinois" by The American Trial Lawyers AssociationSPEAKING ENGAGEMENTSParental Problems with Student Activities - Television ShowFEATURED INForbesFox 32 ChicagoFox NewsChicago TribuneWGN RadioDaily HeraldFox 6 NowThe National HeraldWashington PostPress Reader

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.

Featured Video
Iran is determined to develop its oil industry in spite of U.S. sanctions imposed on the country. (AFP Photo)

DUBAI: Iran is determined to develop its oil industry in spite of U.S. sanctions imposed on the country, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in a televised speech on Saturday.

We will not surrender under any circumstances. We have to increase our capacity so that when necessary with full strength we can enter the market and revive our market share, said Zanganeh.

The minister was speaking before the signing of a $294-million contract between the National Iranian Oil Company and Persia Oil & Gas, an Iranian firm, to develop the Yaran oilfield that is shared with neighbouring Iraqs Majnoon field.

The agreement aims to produce 39.5 million barrels of oil from the Yaran oilfield in Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran, the Iranian Oil Ministrys news agency SHANA said.

Hit by reimposed U.S. sanctions since Washington exited Irans 2015 nuclear deal in 2018, Irans oil exports are estimated at 100,000 to 200,000 barrels per day, down from more than 2.5 million bpd that Iran shipped in April 2018.

The Islamic Republics crude production has halved to around 2 million bpd.
A pharmaceutical factory in Yaroslavl, Russia (Photo: VNA)

Moscow - Russias pharmaceutical companies should consider setting up ventures in Vietnam instead of only focusing on exports, heard a virtual meeting held on July 10 on potential for the Vietnam-Russia trade and economic cooperation after the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the event, Executive Director of Russias Union of Professional Pharmaceutical Organisations (SPFO) Liliya Titova stressed a bright prospect for Russias pharmaceutical products in the Asian market, especially Vietnam.

The total imports of pharmaceutical products to the Southeast Asian nation is estimated at 7 billion USD each year. Of the figure, products of Russia account for about 9 million USD, Chief Representative of the Russian Trade Office in Vietnam Vyacheslav Kharinov noted.

He added that the two countries have devised a plan to approve an intergovernmental agreement on recognising each others pharmaceutical products, creating favourable conditions for Russia's pharmaceutical products to access the Vietnamese market.

Echoing Titovas views, he urged Russian businesses in the field to pay heed to forming ventures in Vietnam and pointed out that most of the raw materials are from abroad, offering cooperation chances for the Russian firms.

Statistics from Russia showed that the countrys exports to Vietnam doubled to 150 million USD in the first four months of 2020 compared to the same period last year. Of the number, pharmaceutical products to Vietnam made up for 15 percent of Russia's exports in the chemical industry.
A tech-savvy population, a fast-growing economy, and the perks of being first in an emerging market -- Vietnamese entrepreneur Le Thanh saw the potential in booming Ho Chi Minh City for his start-up transforming coffee grounds into masks. The 35-year-old chemistry graduate worked for two multinationals before stepping out on his own three years ago to launch ShoeX -- a sustainable footwear company which nimbly pivoted to masks as the coronavirus pandemic struck. When he entered the workforce, Thanh was drawn to the higher salaries and no-nonsense working culture at foreign companies he assumed were a cut above local firms, tangled up in rules imposed by his country's staid Communist rulers. "But now I see there are more openings in a place where things are a bit murky," Thanh told AFP from his buzzing Ho Chi Minh City co-working space. He is not alone in believing Vietnam -- and especially its southern commercial centre -- is poised to become an innovation hub thanks to its young, educated and digitally active population. Vietnamese e-commerce and e-payment companies have been "flooded" with private equity in the past couple of years, said Eddie Thai, a Ho Chi Minh City-based partner at venture capital firm 500 Startups. Their rise has been stellar. Vietnam-based start-ups made up 18 percent -- or $741 million -- of the capital invested in Southeast Asia in 2019, up from four percent in 2018, according to a report by Cento Ventures. Although Indonesia remains the leader, the amount pumped into Vietnam start-ups pushed ahead of Singapore for the first time in 2019, the venture capital firm said. The gold rush comes in spite of cumbersome regulations for foreigners, Thai told AFP, making it difficult to invest and repatriate capital. Last year, popular e-wallet platform VNPay reportedly snagged the largest deal in Southeast Asia, attracting $300 million from Softbank's Vision Fund and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC. And although Thai said investment had paused due to the coronavirus pandemic, Vietnam is well-placed to bounce back. Its economy unexpectedly grew in the second quarter and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts a 2.7 percent expansion for the year despite the global downturn. The country also has a huge pool of software engineers who cost substantially less than their Indian or Chinese peers. And unlike the tech talent in wealthy start-up hubs such as San Francisco or London, they understand what consumers in the emerging world want, Thai says. - Exciting, young environment - Air pollution -- and then the outbreak of COVID-19 -- prompted Thanh to take a gamble on sourcing Vietnamese coffee waste material to turn it into masks. His cutting edge design uses woven fibre made from coffee grounds to make a washable outer layer, with a biodegradable filter inside. "I took a risk and hoped it would succeed," he said, adding that there had been a surge in orders of his masks from Europe, the US and Japan since they launched in April. A similar strain of environmental innovation courses through many other smaller start-ups in a country among the most vulnerable to climate change. They exploit the high tech literacy of the population -- 70 percent of which is under 35, according to the World Bank -- to sell new products to a receptive market. Bui Thi Minh Ngoc wanted to find a sustainable alternative to standard menstrual products, searching for months to find the right organic cloth for her sanitary pad business GreenLady Vietnam, which she operates largely on Facebook. "In Vietnam, there are not many specialising in period products and reproductive health," the 26-year-old said as she checked material samples at a tailor in Hanoi. "But I like to do things which are difficult." While Vietnam is yet to produce any truly "disruptive technology", said Trung Hoang of local investment platform VinaCapital Ventures, China has shown what is possible. The Asian giant -- also an autocratic one-party state -- has managed to incubate dynamic tech behemoths like Alibaba and Tencent that have risen to the forefront of the industry. Back in his Ho Chi Minh City office space, packed with young professionals, Thanh fizzes with enthusiasm for Vietnam's start-up culture. "I am in this exciting and young environment. It's inspired us all."
KEY FACTS 12:20 p.m.: Florida sets record with more than 15,000 positive tests

10:20 a.m.: Ontario reports 129 new cases

9:18 a.m.: COVID-19 forces cancellation of TFC match

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Sunday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

9:39 p.m.: Mexico surpassed Italy on Sunday in the number of COVID-19 deaths, and has become the worlds fourth-deadliest nation.

Deaths rose by 276 to 35,006, according to data released by the Health Ministry on Sunday. Cases rose by 4,482 to 299,750. Over the last two weeks, total deaths in Mexico also overtook Spain and France, as Latin America has increasingly become a hotspot for the pandemic.

Mexicos President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has prioritized reactivating the economy over enforcing strict lockdowns, a strategy that has drawn criticism that his government hasnt taken the virus seriously enough. Like other Latin American countries, Mexico has vulnerable populations where people must work to meet basic needs and live in crowded quarters, adding to the challenge of enforcing social distancing.

The country posted repeated record rises in cases this week, with health officials reporting more than 7,000 new confirmed cases for the first time Thursday night. Despite that, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell has said the illness is not spreading in the country as quickly as it was.

8:55 p.m.: Toronto FC and D.C. United, whose opening match at the MLS is Back Tournament was postponed early Sunday in the wake of worrying COVID-19 tests, will now play at 9 a.m. on Monday.

Major League Soccer confirmed the rescheduled start on Sunday evening. Toronto didnt make it out of the hotel for the 9 a.m. kickoff Sunday after a pair of COVID-19 tests prompted the match to be called off minutes before it was scheduled to start at the ESPN sports complex in Orlando, Fla.

The league said a round of pre-game testing Saturday had returned a positive test for a D.C. United player and an inconclusive test for a Toronto player. The positive test was considered unconfirmed until backed up by a second test.

Both teams participated in another round of testing today, and all players from the two clubs tested negative, the league said. Based on those results, the game will be played (Monday) morning at 9 a.m. ET.

The player who received an initial positive test and the player whose test was inconclusive will undergo additional testing and will not play in (Mondays) match.

7:28 p.m.: As new cases of COVID-19 remain manageable and hospitalizations decrease, Premier Doug Ford will announce Monday that Ontario is moving into the third stage of reopening the economy.

Senior government officials confirmed to the Star on Sunday that the premier is set to announce that more businesses and attractions will be able to open by the end of this week.

That means restaurants and bars, which are restricted to serving meals and drinks on patios, could be allowed to offer indoor dining as long as patrons maintain safe physical distancing.

Sources close to Ford, speaking on background in order to discuss internal deliberations, said officials are poring over the data from regional public health units to determine which regions can open first.

As it was with stage two, which took effect last month, Toronto and Peel Region will likely be among the last regions to reopen. Durham, Halton, York, Hamilton, London, and Ottawa should open sooner.

4:55 p.m.: The peak of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Florida will be sometime in front of us in July, AdventHealths president and CEO said Sunday on the CBS show Face the Nation.

Terry Shaw said that his projection is assuming that people practice social distancing and wear masks to slow the spread of the virus.

His remarks come as Florida on Sunday reported 15,300 new COVID-19 cases, once again shattering its record for a single-day increase in cases since the pandemic began and for the first time breaking a national one-day record, according to The New York Times. The statewide total, including nonresidents, is now 269,811.

Former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, also on Face the Nation, said, Things are going to get worse before they get better and that some models show that theres possibly going to be a peak in the next two or three weeks.

As cases continue to skyrocket, Disney this weekend reopened some of its parks and the NBA is preparing to resume televising games later this month from the resort.

More than 4,200 Floridians have died due to COVID-19 infection since the beginning of the pandemic.

3 p.m.: Prince Edward Island woman in her 80s has tested positive for COVID-19, the provinces chief public health officer said Sunday.

In a brief statement, Dr. Heather Morrison said the Queens County woman is self-isolating at home and contact tracing is underway.

Morrison said the new case is not believed to be linked to a recent COVID-19 cluster in P.E.I. or to a Charlottetown seniors residence where a worker had tested positive.

On July 4, the P.E.I. government had announced three confirmed COVID-19 cases, including a woman in her 20s who worked at Whisperwood Villa. They were the first cases in the province since late April.

1 p.m.: Oshawa has hired a private security company to patrol its downtown to help crack down on the vandalism, drug use and violence that have exploded in the area during the pandemic, a move thats drawn criticism from anti-poverty advocates who say it will further stigmatize the homeless.

In June, city council unanimously passed a motion to spend $100,000 to hire CDN Protection Limited to provide a higher level of security enforcement with specially trained guards who are more able to address these types of situations occurring at Memorial Park and throughout the downtown.

According to the city motion, since businesses have shut down due to COVID-19, there has been an increase in vandalism, drug use, graffiti, violence and defecation around the downtown over the past few months. The areas residents and businesses have also expressed concerns about their safety.

Read the full story from the Stars Noor Javed.

12:20 p.m.: Florida on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any one state since the beginning of the pandemic.

According to state Department of Health statistics, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases.

California had the previous record of daily positive cases  11,694, four days ago. New York had 11,571 on April 15.

The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week in Florida, with 514 fatalities. On Sunday, 45 more deaths were reported.

Throughout May and into June, the state reopened much of its economy with some restrictions.

Testing has increased, but the percentage of people testing positive has risen even more dramatically. A month ago, fewer than five per cent of tests came up positive on a daily average. Over the past week, the daily average exceeded 19 per cent.

Because of the increase in cases and the positivity rate, doctors have predicted a rise in deaths, saying the mortality rate usually increases two to four weeks later as some of those infected get sicker and eventually die. Health experts are concerned that people are gathering in crowds, and have expressed concern that the Republican National Conventions nomination party for President Donald Trump will be held in Jacksonville in August.

11:50 a.m.: Quebec added 114 new COVID-19 infections today as health officials in Montreal urged bar patrons and employees having frequented an establishment since July 1 to get tested.

With the new confirmed cases, the province has now had 56,521 cases of COVID-19.

The province also added seven further deaths linked to the virus for a total of 5,627. Of those, three deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.

On Saturday, Montreals public health authority urged people and employees having frequented bars since Canada Day to get tested after at least eight cases started in five Montreal bars.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante also took to Twitter to call on citizens falling into the public health warning to get tested.

10:40 a.m. (updated): Ontario is reporting 129 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 36,723 cases. The province also processed 25,726 tests.

Three more deaths were reported for a total of 2,719.

Hospitalizations, ICU admissions have both decreased with the number of vented patients being relatively stable, Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted. There are 116 patients in hospital, with 29 in ICU and 19 of them on a ventillator.

She tweeted that 27 of Ontarios 34 public health units reported five or fewer cases, with 18 of them reporting no new cases at all.

10:15 a.m.: Health experts say that using Toronto and Edmonton as hub cities for the NHLs Stanley Cup playoffs probably isnt a danger to public health in the age of COVID-19.

But they add there are no guarantees and the system has its flaws, including the movement of bus drivers, hotel staff and others in and out of supposedly coronavirus-free bubbles; a dependence on testing that can be less than 100 per cent accurate; and whether professional athletes, teams and the league can be trusted to follow and enforce self-isolation rules after a player tests positive.

Read the full story from the Stars Kevin McGran.

9:18 a.m.: Toronto FCs opening match against D.C. United at the MLS is Back Tournament was called off Sunday after one positive and one inconclusive test for COVID-19.

The inconclusive test came from a Toronto player while the positive test was from a D.C. United player. Both players and teams are being retested.

MLS deputy commissioner Mark Abbott made the announcement just minutes before the scheduled 9 a.m. ET kickoff at ESPNs Wide World of Sports complex.

The match will be rescheduled once results of the new tests come back, Abbott said.

It marked the teams second delay. There were supposed to meet Friday night but the game was pushed back to Sunday due to Torontos late arrival at the tournament because of additional COVID-19 testing.

7:51 a.m.: When a few cases of COVID-19 popped up in Kingston in late June, contact tracers immediately started looking for patterns.

For months they had kept infections low, with just two discovered the entire month before. So where did these new ones come from? What could the patients have in common?

It turned out that two of them had recently gotten their nails done. That crucial clue helped public health officials quickly link the cluster back to a west-end salon, test over 6,000 people, and get hundreds more to self-isolate.

As we emerge from months of lockdowns, the virus that causes COVID-19 could be lurking anywhere. A nail salon, a restaurant patio, a wedding or funeral. But with new infections and deaths down across Ontario and in the GTA  on Friday the province announced there were fewer active cases than there have been since before the April peak of the outbreak  we may soon be in a situation where we can proactively fan out the flames. As the epidemiologists call it: cluster busting.

Read the full story on cluster busting from the Stars May Warren here.

7:18 a.m.: The governor of Japans Okinawa island demanded a top U.S. military commander take tougher prevention measures and more transparency hours after officials were told that more than 60 Marines at two bases have been infected with the coronavirus over the past few days.

Okinawan officials on Sunday reported a total of 61 cases  38 of them at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the centre of a relocation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansen  since July 7. They said that U.S. military officials told them the two bases have since been put in lockdown.

The disclosure of the exact figures came only after Okinawas repeated requests to the U.S. military.

7:11 a.m.: South Korea has reported 44 additional cases of the coronavirus over the past 24-hours, maintaining an uptick in new infections in the greater Seoul area and central cities.

The additional figures released Sunday took the countrys total to 13,417 with 289 deaths. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 21 of the newly reported cases were local transmissions, all of them recorded either in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area or two central cities.

7:01 a.m.: Indias coronavirus caseload is nearing 850,000 with a record surge of 28,637 in the past 24 hours, prompting authorities to announce a weeklong lockdown in the key southern technology hub of Bangalore. The new confirmed cases took the national total to 849,553.

The Health Ministry on Sunday also reported another 551 deaths for a total of 22,674. India has overtaken Russia in the number of cases and is currently behind the United States and Brazil, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Southern Karnataka state, whose IT hub Bangalore is home to Microsoft, Apple and Amazon offices, extended Sunday lockdowns to one week beginning Tuesday.

6:59 a.m.: Australias worst-hit Victoria state reported 273 new cases on Sunday, the sixth straight-day of triple-digit increases.

State Premier Daniel Andrews said a man in his 70s died overnight, bringing Australias death toll to 108, including 24 in Victoria, which currently has 1,484 active cases. A sudden surge in COVID-19 saw Victoria report a record 288 infections on Friday and 216 Saturday.

Australias most populous state New South Wales reported five new cases on Saturday. Andrews warned Victorians this is a dangerous time.

The major city of Melbourne is in virtual lockdown and Andrews said we simply have no choice but to acknowledge the reality that we face and to do what must be done. That is to follow (the) rules, to only go out when you need to and to only go out for purposes that are lawful.

6:50 a.m.: Taiwan wrapped up an annual film festival with an awards ceremony Saturday night as it holds more public events after keeping its coronavirus outbreak to a few hundred cases.

Actors and others lined up for photo shoots with no social distancing, and participants didnt wear masks in historic Zhongshan Hall in Taipei. Taiwan, with a population of about 23 million people, has had 451 confirmed cases and seven deaths.

6:10 a.m.: For the last four months, Canadas public health experts have been racing to stop the spread of COVID-19 by trying to figure out how everyone is getting it, and whom they may have given it to.

But even the best efforts have left doctors stymied about the source of more than one-third of this countrys known COVID-19 infections. Not knowing where cases come from makes outbreaks that much harder to stamp out.

Now medical researchers and supercomputers are turning genetics labs into virus detective agencies, looking first to find the novel coronavirus itself within blood samples from thousands of infected patients, and then comparing all of those isolated viruses to each other looking for places they differ.

Every close match will draw a line from patient to patient, ultimately painting a picture of how the virus spread.

Saturday 7:35 p.m.: U.S. President Donald Trump appeared in public wearing a face mask Saturday, after long resisting, as the country broke its own record for new coronavirus cases in a single day, with more than 66,600 fresh infections documented in 24 hours.

The U.S. has broken its own record in three out of the last four days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with the Friday total coming in above 66,600.

Trump donned the Navy mask, with an official presidential seal, as part of a photo-op as he visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Its the first major such appearance, amid reluctance on the presidents part to be seen in public with a face covering.

Ive never been against masks, but I do believe they have a time and a place, Trump said before he left the White House for the visit. He has at times appeared to mock people who wore masks.

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LEELANAU PENINSULA, MI - Gone are the days of packing into a crowded wine tasting room, standing hip-to-hip with strangers as you wait for your turn to sample sips from some of your favorite Northern Michigan vineyards. At least for now.

This new era of social distancing has prompted wineries across Michigan to not only update their tasting protocols with more focus on reservations and contactless service, but its also pushed them to reimagine their regional wine events. Some of those results look pretty fun.
It's hard to get a feel for a game in a couple of hours. It's even harder when your screen is filled with streaming artifacts, but such is life in 2020. Ahead of Ubisoft's Forward gaming event, the company offered us some remote demos of two of its AAA releases this year. While my colleague had no issues playing Watch Dogs Legion, my substandard internet connection meant my session with Assassins Creed Valhalla was taxing. But I like what I think I saw.

After losing its way with back-to-back-to-back releases in the early-to-mid 10s, 2017s Egypt-based Origins was a return to form for the Assassins Creed series, followed a year later by the similarly good Odyssey, which mapped mainland Greece and its many Aegean islands. For Valhalla, Ubisoft is jumping a millennium forward in time, and focusing on the Viking invasion of England.

As the leaks over the past week have suggested, the demo Ubisoft has been showing journalists, YouTubers and streamers is set entirely in East Anglia, a still-fairly-rural part of the UK, situated to the Northeast of London. Were in the late 9th century, when the Anglo-Saxons had already lost parts of the country to Viking colonists.

Ubisoft

Much of the appeal of the past two Assassins Creed games, for me at least, has been in sightseeing; Ubisoft builds beautiful, if somewhat empty, sandboxes that I get lost in, exploring for hours. What little Ive seen of Valhalla appears to be much the same. I traveled across picturesque landscapes to historical renditions of Norwich, Thetford and Bury St Edmunds, with little to do between settlements but admire the scenery and gather some resources. Sightseeing was tough, given the aforementioned streaming issues, but viewing the local capture afterwards showed a truly stunning world.

Like Odyssey, you can choose between a male or female protagonist, in this case both named Eivor. The demo allowed for switching between protagonists on the fly, and your gender, at least from what I experienced, has no bearing on how characters interact with you, or your ability to romance them. While this, and the many gay encounters I had in ancient Greece, felt natural in the last game, it makes less sense in this time period. Itll be interesting to see how staunchly Christian Anglo-Saxons, who viewed any casual sex as sinful, deal with my advances. With that said, the intensely awkward silence after an otherwise-chatty Ubisoft rep watched me instigate some gay Viking sex was perhaps the most memorable part of my demo, and as the series has skewed more towards RPG, I appreciate being able to roleplay as I see fit.

Ubisoft

Enough about whats the same -- whats new in Valhalla? The big-ticket items are assaults and raids. Assaults are roughly analogous to Conquest Battles in Odyssey. I led a small army to attack a fort or castle, which, in the demo, this felt remarkably similar to a round of For Honor: managing crowds, supporting troops and taking down more powerful enemies as I battered my way to climactic one-on-one fight. Raids are a more freeform exercise. You can approach these stealthily, or just rush in with your army from the offset. I took out six or so guards without being detected, and then reached a door that required a second pair of hands to open. I then blew on a horn to summon the raiding party, forced my way in and killed the remaining enemies inside.

Being a Viking, your character is better-suited to all-out combat than past assassins. You have two weapon slots, which can be populated with a combination of items; you could dual-weild small axes, carry a weapon and a shield, or a larger two-handed weapon. There are also three distinct types of bows, all of which handle differently. This leads to a greater variety of options when approaching combat encounters, especially in the context of the assault battles.
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Florida has set a record for new infections after reporting 15,300 coronavirus cases on Sunday - the highest single-day total for any state - as three Arizona teachers who shared the same classroom catch the virus before one died from the illness while some of the state's morgues near capacity.

Kimberley Chavez Lopez Byrd, 61, who worked at the Hayden Winkelman School District for 38 years, died on June 26, according to CNN.

She had been hospitalized a little less than two weeks before her death. Arizona health officials have reported more than 122,467 cases of the virus with at least 2,237 deaths.

Two other teachers, Jena Martinez and Angela Skillings, were also diagnosed with the virus last month. They both shared a summer classroom with Byrd and said they are still struggling with the effects of COVID-19.

All three teachers wore PPE, which included masks and gloves. They also used hand sanitizer and made sure to social distance, but they still ended up getting sick.

Arizona is one of several states, including Florida, California and Texas, that has seen a significant increase in cases within the past few weeks.

Nearly 69,700 confirmed cases over the last seven days came out of Florida, which now has a total of 269,811 cases and at least 4,346 deaths.

The US as a whole recorded an additional 61,000 confirmed cases on Saturday and now has more than 3.2million infections and 135,000 deaths.

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Kimberley Chavez Lopez Byrd (pictured with her husband Jesse), 61, who worked at the Hayden Winkelman School District for 38 years, died on June 26

Arizona health officials have reported more than 122,467 cases of the virus with at least 2,237 deaths. An Arizona resident is tested for the virus on June 27

Byrd's husband, Jesse, told CNN that his wife, who suffered from asthma, diabetes and lupus, started feeling sick in June.

She was prescribed antibiotics and steroids before being hospitalized on June 13.

Jesse said the last time he spoke with his wife was the next day on June 14 when she called him to say that doctors were putting her on a ventilator.

'I just had this horrible gut-wrenching feeling just knowing how much of a struggle this was going to be because I knew her lungs were compromised even before this ... fear, just the worst fear that you could feel,' Jesse told CNN.

Shortly after her hospitalization, Jesse, his daughter, son and multiple relatives also tested positive for the virus.

Byrd is being remembered as a loving teacher who cared for her students and had a passion for teaching.

Jeff Gregorich, the superintendent of Hayden Winkelman Unifed School District, recalled how some of his fondest memories of Byrd was 'every time I would see her, she would show me [pictures of] her last weekend fishing at the lake'.

Gregorich then spoke about the seriousness of COVID-19 and how the teachers were all careful but still ended up getting the virus.

Byrd (pictured with her husband) had been hospitalized a little less than two weeks before her death

Byrd (left) shared a summer classroom with two other teachers, Jena Martinez (right) and Angela Skillings, who were also diagnosed with the virus last month

'I think that's really the message or the concern that our staff has is we can't even keep our staff safe by themselves ... how are we going to keep 20 kids in a classroom safe? I just don't see how that's possible to do that,' he told CNN.

Jesse also said that he doesn't believe schools should reopen any time soon, saying: 'They have no business opening the schools to try and get back to a traditional classroom ... let's get through this pandemic first before we try to get back to normal.'

State officials have also revealed that one Abrazo location is nearing capacity in its morgue, according to ABC 15.

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's office is also reportedly near capacity.

Mayor Gallego said the Abrazo location, which was not identified, is 'near capacity' in their morgue space and they are looking at options to prevent problems.

'It's specific just to one areathis is not a statewide problem,' Gallego told the news outlet. 'Maricopa County... is looking at everything they can do...'

Phoenix officials are also bringing in refrigerated morgue trucks as the existing facilities overflow.

Meanwhile, in Florida (residents in Hialeah pictured) has recorded a grim record of nearly 500 deaths in a single week

People wearing masks wait to enter to the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida

On Saturday, five states and territories set a record for coronavirus-related hospitalizations: Puerto Rico, North Carolina, Alaska, Florida and California. Motorists lined up to be tested for COVID-19 in a parking lot at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

The Byrd family's tragedy rings true for thousands of Americans who have lost loved ones to the virus that spread like wildfire across the US in mid-March.

While New York and other northern states, including New Jersey and Connecticut, were among the first to see the impact of the virus, several southern states are now starting to take a turn for the worse.

On Friday, the US recorded more than 70,000 confirmed cases for the virus in a single day.

More than 61,000 Americans tested positive for the virus on Saturday, the same day five states and territories set a record for coronavirus-related hospitalizations: Puerto Rico, North Carolina, Alaska, Florida and California.

California is averaging 91 reported deaths per day while Texas is close behind with 66. Florida, Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey and South Carolina also saw sizable rises.

On Sunday, Florida's Department of Health reported that 15,299 people tested positive within a single day. That figure is the most by any state in a single day since the pandemic hit the US.

California had the previous record of daily positive cases - 11,694, set on Wednesday. New York had 11,571 on April 15.

The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week as Florida reported 514 fatalities - an average of 73 per day. Three weeks ago, the state was averaging 30 deaths per day. Since the pandemic began in March, 4,346 people have died in Florida of COVID-19, the state says.

Testing has doubled over the last month, going from about 25,000 tests per day to almost 50,000, but the percentage of people testing positive has risen even more dramatically. A month ago, fewer than 5 per cent of tests came up positive on a daily average. Over the past week, the daily average exceeded 19 per cent. About 10.7 per cent of Saturday's 143,000 tests came up positive.

'I still think we need to increase our testing a little bit more,' said University of Florida epidemiologist Dr Cindy Prins, adding that the state and local health departments should ramp up their contact tracing.

Prins said that she's still concerned about large crowds, gyms and some restaurants as being places of mass transmission. Reports of illegal clubs and raves in South Florida is also a worry, she said.

'I really do think we could control this, and its the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when were in a crisis, and we're definitely not doing it,' she said.

'I know people want to live their lives. There have been a lot of other times, people have made those sacrifices in order to benefit our society. Its almost like a war effort. Thats what we need right now.'

Hospitals in several counties have stopped doing elective surgeries. HCA West Florida have ceased inpatient elective procedures at hospitals in Hillsborough, Pinellas and six other nearby counties, said an HCA spokeswoman on Sunday.

Florida ceased elective surgeries statewide from March until early May in order to free up beds, and to reserve personal protective equipment for health care workers caring for COVID-19 patients.

Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach are the top three counties for hospitalizations, with 3,232 people hospitalized - 42 percent of the 7,542 people in hospitals statewide for coronavirus.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez told CNN on Sunday that his county's hospitals will soon reach capacity, but he said more beds can be added, including for intensive care.

'We still have capacity, but it does cause me a lot of concern,' he said.

Throughout May and into June, the state reopened much of its economy with some restrictions - and the number of positive cases began rising, but it wasn't until the last week that the daily death total began rising, too.

Because of the increase in cases and the positivity rate, doctors have predicted a rise in deaths, saying the mortality rate usually increases two to four weeks later as some of those infected get sicker and eventually die. Health experts are concerned that people are gathering in crowds, and have expressed concern that the Republican National Convention's nomination party for President Donald Trump will be held in Jacksonville in August.

On Saturday, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom reopened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, concerning health experts who urge people not to gather in groups.

Guests at the park said that people were wearing masks and social distancing, and videos showed near-empty parks.

Texas set four records on Saturday: new single-day cases, seven-day average of cases, seven-day average of deaths and hospitalizations. A doctor is seen in Houston informing relatives of a patient who died

Medics try unsuccessfully to save the life of a COVID-19 patient in Houston, Texas

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis said that even with the rising rates, he still wants the schools to reopen as scheduled next month, saying children have not proven to be vectors for the disease in states and countries where campuses are open.

He said while each county will have to come up with procedures, depending on their local infection rate, not opening the schools would exacerbate the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students.

'We know there are huge, huge costs for not providing the availability of in-person schooling,' he said. 'The risk of corona, fortunately, for students is incredibly low.'

Meanwhile, a commissioner for a county near Jacksonville is seriously ill with the virus, according to a posting by his daughter on Facebook.

St Johns County Commissioner Paul Waldron had recently voted against a county ordinance requiring masks, but not because he opposed them.

He said he wanted more answers from county administrators about which masks are most effective and whether the county had enough for employees and visitors at government buildings.

A total of 33 states have seen their number of cases rise this week. Dr Robert Lahita, clinical professor of medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, urged states with increasing caseloads to rethink their reopening.

He told CBS on Friday that there will be 'tremendous deaths' in those areas and said it was a 'very good idea' to impose new lockdowns.

He said: 'I'm hoping that the governors use some common sense and close up again.

'It comes close to irresponsible, reopening, until we have absolute proof that the disease is under control.'

He said that he fears doctors and experts have been 'pushed to the side' and re-openings have become an 'economic issue'.

'I understand that some of these meetings at the governors' mansions have included eight businesspeople versus one epidemiologist or one doctor,' he said.

'Prioritization for a lot of the governors are to get the economy rolling again.'

President Donald Trump has emphasized the need to re-open the economy. He has also urged administrators to reopen schools in the fall. Yet even he had to accept the reality of the virus on Saturday, and wear a face mask during a visit to the Walter Reed medical center (pictured)

Trump has emphasized the need to re-open the economy, ahead of the November election. He has also consistently urged administrators to reopen schools in the fall.

Yet even he had to accept the reality of the virus on Saturday, and wear a face mask during a visit to the Walter Reed medical center. It was the first time he'd been seen in public wearing a mask.

More people in the US now have COVID-19 than live in Chicago, the country's third-largest city.

Texas, Arizona and South Carolina are now being buffeted by the pandemic.

The three states have all seen their death tolls rise by more than 100 per cent in the past four weeks, according to an analysis of state and county health data by The Washington Post on Friday.

Four more states - Mississippi, Tennessee, California and Louisiana - have seen at least a 10 per cent jump in that time span.

Texas set four records on Saturday: new single-day cases, seven-day average of cases, seven-day average of deaths and hospitalizations.

Houston area hospitals are reaching capacity, with some patients being treated in ICU wards.

After mid-April, the daily death toll declined as shutdown orders took effect across the country and the virus curve began to flatten.

The low point came July 5, with 217 recorded coronavirus deaths - the lowest toll since March 24.

Wearing face masks, guest could once again enjoy rides such as Thunder Mountain onSaturday

Since then, amid record-breaking case numbers in several states, the death count has begun to rise, surpassing 800 deaths each of the past four days to Friday.

Nicholas Reich, a University of Massachusetts biostatistician who aggregates more than 30 epidemiological models to create a forecast of the coming weeks of the pandemic, on Wednesday predicted that by August 1, the country would see its death toll rise to 147,466.

That would mark an increase of about 16,000 over two and a half weeks.

'The model's best guess is that we will see a slow and steady increase in new #COVID19 deaths in the US over the next four weeks, between 3,800 and 5,000 per week.

'This captures declines in some states, and increases in others,' Reich wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, as the virus rages out of control in other parts of the US, New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this spring - while also trying to prepare in case another surge comes.

New York's early experience is a ready-made blueprint for states now finding themselves swamped by the disease.

It could also come in handy at home, as the region readies for a potential second wave of infection that experts predict will likely come at some point.

Gov Andrew Cuomo has offered advice, ventilators, masks, gowns and medicine to states dealing with spikes in cases and hospitalizations and, in some places, rising deaths.

Some health care workers are heading to other states to help fight the virus, reciprocating the influx that gave New York hospitals some much-needed relief just months ago.

At the same time, the Democratic governor has ordered travelers from more than a dozen states to quarantine for 14 days, while urging New Yorkers not to let up on wearing masks or social distancing.

Yet with the virus tearing through the South and West, Cuomo warned Friday it would eventually rear up again in New York.

'We're doing everything we can,' he told WAMC radio, but 'I can feel it coming.'

A widely cited University of Washington model doesn't project spikes - at least through its November 1 time frame - in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, whose Democratic governors have coordinated on traveler quarantines and, earlier, some shutdown policies. But that doesn't mean the densely populated tri-state area is in the clear.

'We expect the virus to return in all of those states,' said Dr Christopher Murray, head of the university's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. 'The question is one of timing.'

As cases spiked in March and April, New York became the nation's coronavirus nightmare, with New York City at the crux of it.

Statewide, over 18,000 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals at one point in April. Daily deaths peaked at 799 in April, and have totaled over 24,000.

As the virus rages out of control in other parts of the US, New York is offering an example after taming the outbreak. Gov Andrew Cuomo (pictured) has offered advice, ventilators, masks, gowns and medicine to states dealing with spikes in cases and hospitalizations

New York (residents dining outside at the Brazen Fox in Manhattan) has taken reopening relatively slowly - and braked, postponing the resumption of indoor restaurant service in New York City, after cases began surging elsewhere

Now, as states from Florida to Texas to California see new confirmed cases soar, hospitals fill up and daily death tolls hit new records, numbers have dropped precipitously in the tri-state region.

New York reported six new deaths statewide Saturday, when hospitals were caring for a total of about 800 coronavirus patients.

While New York has been gradually reopening, it also has been quietly preparing to handle another surge if it comes.

After health workers in New York and elsewhere grappled with shortages of masks, gowns and other protective gear this spring, Cuomo said he would order hospitals to have a 90-day supply on hand.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would build its own reserve of ventilators, protective equipment and coronavirus test kits, identifying local suppliers and manufacturers rather than looking to federal authorities or global markets.

'We've learned a tough lesson that we have to create, and we have to protect ourselves,' said de Blasio, a Democrat, who also said the city would stockpile as many as 18 million shelf-stable meals.

Mount Sinai Hospital has also expanded from 94 intensive-care beds to 235 and converted an atrium and lobby into wards for less-critical patients at the height of the crisis.

Now, it's developing a coronavirus playbook of sorts, so clinicians will have how-tos immediately at hand, said Dr Roopa Kohli-Seth, who oversees intensive care.

New York's nursing homes, which lost more than 6,400 residents to the virus, have set up wings to separate infected residents.

They're now required to test staffers weekly and have at least a two-month supply of protective gear. And they are no longer accepting recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals, as the state initially directed them to do.

They admitted over 6,300 patients before Cuomo reversed the policy under pressure May 10.

'We know how to fight this virus now. We have the resources,' said Stephen Hanse, who heads an association of New York nursing homes.

The health care system overall is better prepared now, said Dr W. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiology professor.

'The difference now is we know the capacity of this virus to rapidly spread to cause disease, its impact on the health care system and our needs in terms of testing, personal protective equipment, ventilators - all the other things we didn't know six months ago,' said Lipkin, who is working with the city to test hundreds of thousands of people a week.

New York has taken reopening relatively slowly - and braked, postponing the resumption of indoor restaurant service in New York City, after cases began surging elsewhere.

Thousands of contact tracers have been hired to try to keep the virus in check. And mask-wearing has been widespread in the nation's biggest city since a city recommendation and subsequent state requirement in April, while some other states have only recently started telling residents to don masks in public.

Still, with more New Yorkers getting out and about and riding mass transit, and police taking a hands-off approach to enforcing mask and distancing rules after several violent clashes caught on video, experts worry its inevitable case numbers will spike.

'Im not sure how long this progress is going to hold,' said Dr Irwin Redlener, the director of the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia University.

Rob Griffin, a professor of emergency management at the University of Albany, said the state needs to spell out rules for any future shutdowns, 'so you don't have to make a decision on the fly'.
Mr John Dramani Mahama, former President and Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said the timing for the military deployment in parts of the country was wrong as it could deter people from coming out to register.



He said it could not be mere coincidence that the state deployed military officers to help immigration officers to enforce the border closure directive by the President to stem COVID-19 spread at a time the Electoral Commission was about to commence compilation of a new Voters roll.



Mr Mahama said though the military officers might not be beating or harassing residents in the areas they were deployed to, their presence alone was enough to scare people away, as Ghanaians had been accustomed to the presence of the police in town and the immigration at the borders with the military being deployed in extreme national emergency.



He called on the citizenry to desist from comments which engender citizenship debates of some ethnic groups in the country saying, the Constitution was clear on who qualified to be a Ghanaian and that no one had the power to redefine anothers citizenship.



The former President cited the civil war in neighbouring Ivory Coast which was sparked by such unguarded comments to underscore the need to avoid hate speech and let Ghanaians be united in our diversity for in it lied the strength of the country.



Torgbuiga Amenya Fiti V, Paramount Chief of Aflao, bemoaned the far reaching consequences of the border closure directive brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic on his people, and called for help to alleviate the suffering of the people.



He said despite the relaxation of the restrictions including the lifting of the lockdown, Aflao residents were not seeing any changes at all as people who always crossed over the border to Togo to access basic necessities of life such as food and water could no longer do that and so had to stay hungry and thirsty.

Source: GNA









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With an addition of 7,827 fresh coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, Maharashtras Covid-19 tally has jumped to 2,54,427, state health department bulletin stated on Sunday. The state has reported 173 coronavirus fatalities in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 10,289. The number of Covid-19 patients who have recovered from the infection in Maharashtra stands at 1,40,325 after 3,340 patients were discharged across the state in the last 24 hours.

Mumbai remains the worst-affected city in Maharashtra with coronavirus cases in jumping to 92,988. The financial capital has reported 1,243 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours and 44 fatalities taking the citys total death toll to 5,288.

The state administration has conducted 13,17,895 tests for coronavirus across the state till date. The number of active cases in the state now stands at 1,03,813.

Mumbais Dharavi, Asias largest slum, has emerged as an inspiration for the rest of the world on how to contain the spread of coronavirus disease, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Saturday.

Thackeray said, Dharavi is an inspiration for the world on how to curb the spread of a pandemic.

The chief minister said that 82 percent of patients in Dharavi have recovered from the disease and the number of active cases had dropped sharply in the area to 166. He underlined self discipline and community efforts as key to success achieved in Dharavi.

Even the World Health Organization lauded the Dharavi model earlier this week.

In Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, South Korea and even in Dharavi - a densely packed area in Mumbai - a strong focus on community engagement and basics of testing, tracing, isolating, and treating the sick is key to breaking chains of transmission and suppressing the virus, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Taiwan would welcome a visit by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, its foreign ministry has said, adding that any invitation would be handled under relevant rules if a request to visit is received, reported Radio Free Asia, a US-funded international broadcasting corporation.

The Dalai Lama is welcome to come to Taiwan again to propagate the Buddhist teachings, foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said on Monday, adding that an application by the Dalai Lama to visit would be handled in accordance with the principle of mutual respect and at a time of convenience for both sides.

A visit to Taiwan by the Dalai Lama would be his first since 2009 and would certainly anger Beijing, which claims self-governing Taiwan as a renegade province and regards the Tibetan spiritual leader as a dangerous separatist intent on splitting Tibet from Chinese rule.

As the political scenario changes, it may be that Ill be able to visit you in Taiwan again soon. I hope so, the Dalai Lama said in a video message sent to supporters in Taiwan on the occasion of his birthday, July 6, and referring apparently to recent moves by the countrys president Tsai Ing-wen to further distance from China.

Whatever happens, Ill remain with you in spirit, the Dalai Lama said.

Greetings and well wishes poured in from around the world on Sunday, the Dalai Lamas 85th birthday, with Tibetans in Tibet defying Chinese prohibitions on celebrations by offering prayers and posting images of the revered spiritual leader online.

Western politicians and foreign dignitaries including former US President George Bush, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Nobel laureates, and European politicians meanwhile sent video messages voicing admiration and support.

The esteem in which you are held by the people of the United States is a demonstration of the deep and enduring affinity between Americans and Tibetans, said US Ambassador to India Kenneth Ian Juster in a statement at celebrations held in Dharamsala, India, by Tibets government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration.

I believe the warm feelings between Americans and Tibetans spring in part from the recognition that yours is a just and noble struggle--a struggle to secure for your people the same self-evident and unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that our Founding Fathers enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, Juster said.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet into exile in India in the midst of a failed 1959 Tibetan national uprising against rule by China, which marched into the formerly independent Himalayan country in 1950. Since then he has been living in Dharamsala.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 21:30:57|Editor: huaxia

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BLANTYRE, Malawi, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Just a few days after the swearing-in of new ministers in Malawi, women in rural communities have shown optimism with a good representation of women in the cabinet.

Gertrude Chawala, 53, said in an interview that she is glad that the president has fulfilled his promise of including and empowering women in higher positions of the government.

Women in Malawi face a lot of challenges including gender-based violence, inequalities and sexual violence. Many girls and women now believe in the band of new female ministers appointed that they will push for freedom from some of the obstacles that they have been facing for decades.

"For so long, women have been undermined when it comes in leading key positions, for this reason, it has been a trend that our voices weren't loud enough to make a significant impact. I believe that 39 percent representation of women in the cabinet will see our daily life challenges getting minimised," said Chawala, a local primary school teacher.

At a wider scope, women in Malawi are marginalised in terms of economic development, reproductive health, education, human rights just to mention a few. With this remark, I personally urge women who have made it into the cabinet to use their positions wisely, this is might be our breakthrough," she said.

Anime Banda, a 43-year-old business lady, also believes that the newly appointed cabinet especially women in the cabinet will help to aid the youth and women from some of the stagnant economic challenges that have been in existence for so long.

"There are many potential youth and women out here who can contribute to the economy of this country, but there are some policies that hinder us from progressing. For instance, it's hard for most of us to access bank loans because our businesses are small for them to earn our trust. It is, therefore, my appeal to the new cabinet, especially women ministers because they know our problems better," she said.

The newly appointed cabinet consists 39 percent of the ministerial and deputy ministers, a development which has applauded by many.

According to the newly appointed deputy minister of labour, Vera Kamtukule, she will ensure that women rights are respected in terms of equality in workplaces.

"I know how women are treated in various workplaces, I believe this is the chance to ensure that women get access to deserving job positions and also ensuring that men and women are treated equally," she said. Enditem
Millions of swabs made by a local manufacturer will be on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 after receiving official approval from Health Canada late last month.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/7/2020 (556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Millions of swabs made by a local manufacturer will be on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 after receiving official approval from Health Canada late last month.

Winnipeg-based Precision Advanced Digital Manufacturing (ADM) had long been a major producer of medical products, but during the pandemic, the company engineered a 3D-printed nasopharyngeal swab design that quickly took off.

Called Canswab, the company says its product is the first Canadian-made COVID-19 testing product to receive federal health approval.

"Weve signed a letter of intent with Precision ADM," tweeted federal minister of innovation, science and industry Navdeep Bains Friday. "With a current capacity of 120,000 swabs per week, the company is heavily supporting our testing efforts."

With the need for swabs expected to stay high, the company said it has secured an additional 20,000 square-foot facility in order to properly mass-produce the Canswab.

In a release, the company said it has received orders from a number of provincial governments, in addition to the federal governments letter of intent. To meet that demand, the company is scaling up production with the goal of manufacturing between two and four million swabs per month.

Supplied Precision ADM says Canswab is the first Canadian-made COVID-19 testing product to receive federal approval.

The company uses additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, to manufacture its products, including the Canswab.

"We have been manufacturing surgical products such as spine devices and joint replacements for a long time, but during this pandemic, we have taken steps to make sure we are doing all we can to support a secure domestic supply chain for our health-care system in Canada," said Precision ADMs CEO Martin Petrak in a release.

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"Adding additional 3D printing capacity to our operations will enable us to produce essential testing equipment in North America and help our communities faster," he added.

The company, which has an FDA-registered facility, said in its release that it aims to not only produce the swab for Canadian governments, but also for other countries.

Earlier in the pandemic, many provinces, U.S. states and hard-hit countries like Italy faced a shortage of nasopharyngeal swabs, which led to an increased effort by manufacturers to keep up with demand, along with applications by new manufacturers for approval.

On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that some U.S. testing sites continue to run low on both swabs and the equipment needed to process them.

Precision ADM is headquartered at 1595 Buffalo Pl., near Winnipegs Linden Woods neighbourhood. Aside from medical products, the company also manufactures devices for the aerospace, energy and industrial sectors.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca
Currently, more than 10,000 companies are registered in Hungary with annual net sales of more than HUF 1 billion and almost 7,000 of these are of fully-owned by Hungarians, according to business database company Opten Kft., writes origo.hu.

According to Opten, the number of "billionaire" companies in Hungary has been growing dynamically for years. In 2011 there were only 6,500 such firms in the country, but in a few years their number has increased by more than 50%.



While the number of large foreign-owned companies is stagnant or has barely risen from year to year, the number of domestic-owned companies is growing at an accelerating rate, Optens data suggests.



Compared to the 2017 reports, the 2018 data includes more than 1,000 new purely domestic companies with a turnover of more than HUF 1 bln.
A Virgin Airlines passenger plane has created history by becoming the first aircraft to depart from Brisbane airports heralded new runway.

A Boeing 737-8FE, destined for Cairns, departed about 11.15 a.m. after first passing under a water-arch guard-of-honour produced from the water cannons of two emergency service vehicles.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was among dignitaries at the launch on Sunday to see the flight depart with 170 passengers.

She said the runway would not only accommodate more passenger planes but also freight services which alone was worth billions to Queenslands economy.

This is setting up Queensland for the future, she told reporters.

To see that first full planeload of tourists heading up to Cairns on that Virgin flight was good news indeed.

The runway took eight years to construct at a cost of more than $1 billion and will double Brisbane Airports capacity for aircraft movements.

Other than for severe weather events, planes will be able to arrive and depart without hindrance.

Its predicted to take four decades until the airport even gets close to reaching its scheduling capacity, says Brisbane Airport Corporations Runway Project Director Paul Coughlan.

One thing airlines hate is having aircraft circling or waiting on the ground and all that circling over the Sunshine and Gold Coast, it all disappears, Coughlan told AAP.

The runway is 3.3km (2 miles) long and has been strategically placed to allow the future addition of a domestic passenger terminal.

The new runway will be used by planes departing to, or arriving from, destinations to the north and west of Brisbane, both domestically and internationally, such as Cairns, Darwin and Townsville or Europe, Asia and the Middle-East.
Pope Francis on Sunday joined an international chorus of condemnation of Turkey's decision to convert Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia landmark back into a mosque. "I think of Hagia Sophia, and I am very saddened," Pope Francis said towards the end of his midday sermon in Saint Peter's Square. It was the Vatican's first reaction to Turkey's decision to transform the Byzantine-era monument back into a mosque, a decision that has already drawn criticism from around the world. The Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano on Saturday carried reaction from different countries to Friday's decision to turn the monument from a museum back into a mosque, but without any comment. A magnet for tourists worldwide, the Hagia Sophia was first constructed 1,500 years ago as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire and it was there they crowned their emperors. It was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, then became a museum in 1935. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who critics say is chipping away at the Muslim-majority country's secular pillars, announced Friday that Muslim prayers would begin on July 24 at the UNESCO World Heritage site. Several other Christian leaders have already spoken out against Turkey's decision. Bishop Hilarion, who heads the Russian Orthodox Church's department for external church relations, described it as "a blow to global Christianity". The World Council of Churches, which represents 350 Christian churches, said it had written to Erdogan expressing their "grief and dismay". - 'Provocation to the civilised world' - The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos, on Sunday denounced what he described as the "instrumentalisation of religion to partisan or geopolitical ends". "The outrage and the arrogance doesn't just concern the Orthodox Church and Christianity but all of civilised humanity... independently of religion," he added. Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni took a similar view, calling Turkey's decision "a provocation to the civilised world". Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also condemned the move, not just for the damage it would do to relations between Greece and Turkey, but Ankara's relations with "the European Union, UNESCO and the world community". The transformation of the Hagia Sophia dominated the headlines in Greek newspapers this weekend. The Kathimerini newspaper stressed the political dimension of Turkey's decision, which it said effectively underlined the secular roots of modern Turkey and demonstrated "Erdogan's megalomania". Erdogan on Saturday dismissed protests from Russia, the United States, France and UNESCO. "Those who do not take a step against Islamophobia in their own countries ... attack Turkey's will to use its sovereign rights," he said. In the past, he had repeatedly called for the stunning building to be turned back into a mosque and in 2018, he recited a verse from the Koran at the Hagia Sophia. Erdogan's announcement came after a top court cancelled a 1934 cabinet decision under modern Turkey's secularising founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk to preserve the then church-turned-mosque as a museum. Muslims gathered outside the Hagia Sophia on Friday to celebrate the court decision that cleared the way to converting it back to a mosque Pope Francis made his comments about the Hagia Sophia at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer Saint Peter's square Some Greeks protested outside the Agia Sofia church of Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, when news broke of Turkey?s decision Istanbul's Hagia Sophia
George Calombaris took a trip down memory lane on Saturday.

The former MasterChef judge shared an epic throwback photo to Instagram of himself starting out in the industry as a chef.

George, 41, who is now bald, had fans remarking about his full head of hair in the comments.

Unrecognisable: Former MasterChef judge George Calombaris (pictured), 41, sent fans WILD when he shared an epic throwback photo of himself with a full head of hair to Instagram on Saturday

'Simple back then. Cook... and just cook well,' George captioned the photo alongside several hashtags including 'younger' and 'throwback'.

In the picture, the restaurateur wore his white chef's uniform and was surrounded by his peers.

He showed off a full head of dark hair, a contrast to his current day look.

Back then: George shared a picture of himself starting out in the industry as a chef. Fans remarked in the comments section about his full head of hair. Pictured on another occasion in 2003

'God George! You had a lot of hair back then,' one follower commented alongside a laughing face emoji.

Another added: 'By George, you've got a mop of hair there!'

One even asked whether George got a helping hand, writing: 'OMG, is that a wig, George?!'

New panel: Last year, George, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston were replaced as MasterChef judges by Andy Allen (left), Melissa Leong (centre) and Jock Zonfrillo (right)

Last year, Channel 10 took a gamble by replacing George, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston as judges with three virtual unknowns - Melissa Leong, Jock Zonfrillo and Andy Allen.

In April, George was the first to break his silence on the revamped show, praising the cooking competition after its grand debut.

Taking to Instagram at the time, he wrote underneath a photo of this year's returning contestants: 'OMG. A massive result last night on MC12 launch night.'

What a guy! In April, George was the first judge to break his silence on the revamped show, praising the cooking competition after its grand debut

Nothing but praise: 'OMG. A massive result last night on MC12 launch night,' he wrote underneath a photo of this year's returning contestants

Online: Returning chef Hayden Quinn, who appeared on season three and has since been eliminated, was quick to comment on the post, writing: 'What a night mate! Haha I needed a hug! Thanks for all the support'

He continued: 'Congrats to Channel 10, Endemol Shine Australia, all the awesome crew, the contestants and the new judges. Well done!'

Returning chef Hayden Quinn, who appeared on season three and has since been eliminated, was quick to comment on the post, writing: 'What a night mate! Haha I needed a hug! Thanks for all the support.'

Fellow celebrity chef Curtis Stone also commented on his Instagram post, writing: 'George, you're an absolute gentleman,' alongside the hashtags 'humble' and 'gracious'.

The premiere episode was watched by 1.23million viewers nationwide, making it the highest rating reality TV premiere for the year.
North Korea calls for US to drop 'hostility policy'



It is still premature to expect North Korea to return to nuclear talks with the U.S. anytime soon. Pyongyang, however, appears to be cautious in not totally ruling out any possibility of resuming dialogue with Washington before the November U.S. presidential election.



Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said Friday that another summit with the U.S. was "unnecessary" and "useless" for the North as long as there was no change in Washington's negotiating position. By saying so, she certainly intended to call for the U.S. to withdraw its "hostile policy" toward the North as a precondition for the resumption of nuclear negotiations which have been stalled since the Hanoi summit between the two countries in February 2019.



It is worth noting what she added: "We are not saying we are not going to denuclearize, but that we cannot denuclearize now." Then she urged the U.S. to take "major steps." Her remarks seemed to imply that Pyongyang would denuclearize if Washington changes its position toward the North.



The sister, the first vice department director of the Workers' Party Central Committee, also boasted of the strong personal relationship between Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump. She said her brother asked her to extend greetings, wishing Trump success in his endeavors. However she made it clear that the North would not adjust its U.S. strategies and nuclear plans based on the relationship with the American president.



One may say what she said all is nothing new. But it came after Trump said Tuesday that he was open to a meeting with Kim Jong-un. A U.S. broadcaster quoted Trump as saying, "I understand they want to meet and we would certainly do that." He added, "I would do it if I thought it was going to be helpful." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also expressed hopes for a restart of the suspended talks with the North.



Former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton predicted a third summit between Kim and Trump could take place as an "October surprise" right before the U.S. election. Trump, for his part, may seek such a meeting in a desperate bid to raise his re-election chances amid criticism over his poor performance in domestic affairs, including the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.



It is important to revive the momentum for dialogue. The Kim regime should first resume working-level negotiations with the Trump administration to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula and restart the peace process. What's at stake is how to restore trust in each other. And first and foremost, the North should show its true intentions regarding denuclearization.






The official sources said that four more people died of the virus on Saturday - three in Kashmir Valley and one in Jammu region

Virtual lockdown is likely to be re-imposed sagaciously across Kashmir Valley and parts of Jammu region as the COVID-19 cases surged rapidly in the Union Territory (UT) over the past couple of weeks.

The authorities in Kupwara and Rajouri have already restricted the movement of people by enforcing Section 144 CrPC to prohibit assemblies of four or more individuals and also imposing certain curbs on trade activities to stem the spread of Coronovirus after fresh cases surfaced in the frontier districts.

The official sources said that ten more people died of the virus-three in Kashmir Valley and one in Jammu region-on Saturday, raising the toll to 169 in the UT. Also with 268 more persons testing positive, J&Ks COVID-19 tally has reached 10, 156. However, about six thousand patients have already recovered, the sources said. Srinagar has recorded the maximum number of 42 deaths followed by Baramulla district with 32 fatalities.

In view of the grim situation, many doctors and other medical experts have urged the government to re-impose lockdown across the Valley and parts of Jammu which too have reported a sharp increase in the COVID-19 cases. They have, at the same time, appealed to the general public to take all necessary precautions including wearing face masks, using sanitizers and maintaining social distance to fend off the danger. Their pleas have been endorsed by various religious, social and political organisations and civil society groups.

Some trade bodies on Thursday publicly pledged they will cooperate with the administrations if it decides to impose lockdown-like curbs again to check Coronavirus spread in the Valley. The number of deaths due to COVID-19 and that of the positive cases are on increase. The situation appears to be alarming and we feel there is a need for re-imposing lockdown to save lives. If Government decides to do it, we will fully support the move, said president of Kashmir Traders and Manufactures Federation, Muhammad Yasin Khan, who also heads Kashmir Economic Alliance, an amalgam of the Valleys trade bodies.

Kashmirs Divisional Commissioner, Pandurang K. Pole, acknowledged the administration has received requests from various quarters including doctors and other sections of the society for re-imposing lockdown in the Valley. But he said that the final call will be taken by the government soon after into consideration its pros and cons.

He said in an interview, Yes, demands are coming from various sections of the society including doctors, paramedics, some traders and other sections who want that the lockdown be re-imposed. The final call will be taken by the competent authority soon. So far the government has not taken any decision over the issue.
New Delhi

Nepal has formally complained to the Indian government about coverage of the Chinese envoys meetings with senior Nepalese leaders in a section of the Indian media, describing the reports as baseless and part of a smear campaign.

The complaint was made through a note verbale or unsigned diplomatic correspondence sent by Nepals foreign ministry last week, people familiar with developments said on Sunday.

There was no immediate reaction from Indian officials to the development.

Nepals cable TV operators had on July 9 removed all Indian news channels, except Doordarshan News, from their networks over the same issue, and Nepals envoy in New Delhi, Nilambar Acharya, had raised the media reports with the external affairs ministry.

The complaint from Nepals foreign ministry said it had taken seriously the content of reports by some Indian media outlets, which were baseless and abusive towards the country and its leadership, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

Such reports went against public decency and were part of a motivated smear campaign that has hurt the feelings of the Nepali people, the complaint said. Relations between the two countries are based on understanding and mutual respect of each others interests and concerns, and the media plays a vital role in disseminating the correct information and advancing these ties, it added.

Nepals cable TV operators had said they were irked by objectionable and derogatory references to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Chinese envoy Hou Yanqi in the media reports. One Indian news channel had suggested the premier could be honey trapped by the ambassador.

The Chinese envoy in Kathmandu has had a series of meetings with the president and leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, including Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who are seeking the ouster of Oli. The move against Oli has come at a time when his government issued a new map showing the Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepal, triggering a border row with India.

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Russian fighter jets chased away an RC-135 reconnaissance plane belonging to the U.S. Air Force over the Sea of Japan on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

Russian airspace control detected an air target over the neutral waters of the Sea of Japan flying towards the Russian state border, the ministry said in a statement.

Russian Su-35S and MiG-31BM fighters took off and identified the target as an RC-135 plane, before escorting the U.S. aircraft at a safe distance until it flew away from the Russian border.

The defense ministry said its jets carried out the flights in strict compliance with international rules for the use of airspace over neutral waters.
Aaron Carter is preparing to build a family, recently proposing to his girlfriend, as they try to have a baby.

And the former child star is also spending time with their other kid, a German Shepherd named Zelda.

He showed off his new braids and his tatted bod Saturday as he took Zelda for a walk in his Los Angeles neighborhood during a break from quarantine.

Man's best friend: Aaron Carter showed off his new braids and his tatted bod Saturday as he took his dog Zelda for a walk in his Los Angeles neighborhood during a break from quarantine

The 32-year-old went shirtless in a pair of color-blocked orange and blue track-pants and no shoes.

He was beaming as he spent some time with his "home protection dog," whom he walked on a leash and harness.

Carter let his new braids breathe, after he dyed them red and blue Friday, showing them off in an interesting Instagram post.

He wrote: 'This is the violet hour, the hour of hush and wonder, when the affections glow and valor is reborn, when the shadows deepen along the edge of the forest and we believe that, if we watch carefully, at any moment we may see the unicorn.'

Serving body: The 32-year-old went shirtless in a pair of color-blocked orange and blue track-pants and no shoes

Puppy love: He was beaming as he spent some time with his "home protection dog," whom he walked on a leash and harness

Splash of color: Carter let his new braids breathe, after he dyed them red and blue Friday, showing them off in an interesting Instagram post

Dog tags: The I Want Candy artist also added some color to Zelda's look, taking to his Instagram story as he had a floral ID tag printed

The I Want Candy artist also added some color to Zelda's look, taking to his Instagram story as he had a floral ID tag printed.

He announced his engagement to girlfriend of five months Melanie Martin, 32, last month on Instagram, writing: 'Love wins.'

It came just days after they broke some sad news on YouTube: 'She suffered a miscarriage due to stress conditions. Were gonna give it some time, let her heal and then were going to try again. We both want that. I gotta take care of her.'

They previously revealed in April that they were expecting their first, as he said on Instagram Live while showing the positive pregnancy test: 'Obviously I have a baby on the way. I'm going to be a busy father for sure.'

Carter told People at the time: 'This is what we both want. We both were trying for it. Im just focused on the future and being a dad. I want to be a good dad.

Wedding bells: He announced his engagement to girlfriend of five months Melanie Martin, 32, last month on Instagram

Sad news: It came just days after they broke some sad news on YouTube : ' She suffered a miscarriage due to stress conditions. Were gonna give it some time, let her heal and then were going to try again'

Expecting: They previously revealed in April that they were expecting their first, as he showed off a positive pregnancy test on Instagram Live

'Im focused, my music career has been doing really well, and touring, having my clothing line out, all that stuff I have going for me that isnt necessarily just music. Family is most important to me.'

He made his relationship with Martin Instagram official back in January, later getting her name tattooed above his eyebrow, adding to the Rihanna face tattoo he got back in September.

Martin was arrested in March and held on $50,000 bail, after he claimed she choked and punched him after breaking up with her and asking her to move out.

They reconciled a few weeks later in April, when they announced their pregnancy, revealing that he dropped the charges against her.

The Lizzie McGuire actor recently listed his Lancaster, California home for $599,000, after he purchased it in October of 2018 for $430,000.
Returning Officer Tan Meng Dui said that the PAP won the election held on Saturday amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with 61.24 per cent of votes, compared to 69.86 per cent in the last election in 2015, reports Xinhua news agency.

Singapore, July 11 (IANS) Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has won the city-state's general elections, garnering 83 of the total 93 parliamentary seats, a poll official said on Saturday.

The Workers' Party (WP), which got six seats in the 2015 election, won 10 this year.

A total of 191 candidates from 11 political parties and an independent candidate competed for 93 seats in the election, which is organized into 14 Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) and 17 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs).

The PAP won the 83 seats from 13 SMCs and 15 GRCs, while WP retained the 10 seats from Hougang SMC, Aljunied GRC and Sengkang GRC.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his team won Ang Mo Kio GRC with 71.91 per cent of the votes.

Lee told a press conference that the percentage of popular votes the PAP won in the election was not as high as he had hoped.

Nevertheless, the result reflected broad-based supports for the PAP, he added.

The prime minister, also PAP's Secretary-General, said he was honoured by the faith Singaporeans had put in the ruling party and the heavy responsibility Singaporeans had entrusted with the party.

"I will use this mandate responsibly to deal with COVID-19 and economic downturn, and to take us safely through the crisis and beyond," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, along with his East Coast GRC team members, won with 53.41 per cent of the votes.

Heng moved from Tampines GRC to East Coast GRC this year.

The PAP took 83 of the 89 seats in the 2015 election with 69.86 per cent of the popular votes, which was higher than the 60.14 per cent gain in 2011.

Some 2.65 million people were eligible to vote in Saturday's elections, the 13th since independence.

--IANS

ksk/
Voters are seen keeping a distance at Brisbane City Hall in Brisbane, Australia on March 28, 2020. (Jono Searle/Getty Images)

QLD Opposition Unveils $1 Billion Plans for Private-Sector Builds

Opposition leader Deb Frecklington has shifted focus from fighting to reopen Queenslands borders to electioneering with a pledge to sign-off on $1 billion (US$695 million) of infrastructure projects if she wins office.

The Queensland Liberal National Party will team with the private sector to deliver a raft of new public-private projects by 2024, Frecklington said.

She said her party would be focused on constructionnot obstruction as she positioned herself to depose Labors Annastacia Palaszczuk at the Oct. 31 election.

I want to partner with industry to unleash the potential of private-sector investment and create jobs right across Queensland, she said.

Its time to declare Queensland open for business again and encourage investors to back our great state once again.

Frecklington has also promised to deliver a budget and cancel the Christmas leave of senior public servants in the first 100 days if she wins office.

The LNP has previously said it was also committed to the construction of the New Bradfield Scheme, the biggest dam in Australia, with a storage capacity of 28 Sydney harbours that would irrigate an area larger than Tasmania.

By Darren Cartwright
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Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia  Mon, July 13, 2020 00:01 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665c2a78 4 Inforial Free

It seems ironic that the COVID-19 health crisis has led to a decrease invisits to health facilities, which has affected many factors in public health, including family planning. Limited access to health facilities for those in need of family planning serviceshas led to an increase in the number of unintended pregnancies, while other services for reproductive health issues have also become difficult to access.

A recent study conducted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with contributions from Avenir Health, Johns Hopkins University and Victoria University, highlighted that prolonged lockdowns with major disruptions to health services will hamper access for 47 million women in low-and-middle-income countries to modern contraceptives, which may lead to 7 seven million unintended pregnancies. It also predicted 31 million additional cases of gender-based violence.

The disruption of the UNFPAs programs on the ground could result in 2 million cases of female genital mutilation and 13 million child marriages between 2020 and 2030 that could have been averted, UNFPA said on its website.

According to National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) headHasto Wardoyo, in limitedaccess to healthcare facilities during the pandemic, Indonesian needs to pay attention to mistimed pregnancies.

[] Because even before the pandemic, approximately 17.5 percent of pregnancy were unintended, with higher rates in big cities. There is also domestic violence, divorce, stunting, stillbirths, maternal and neonatal deaths that make up population problems we have to deal with, Hasto said at a press conference for the commemoration of World Population Day alongside BKKBN deputy for population control Dwi Listyawardani.

BKKBN, as a government body that is in charge of the Family, Population and Family Planning Establishment (Bangga Kencana) program, conducts activities with different themes every year to observe World Population Day on July 11.

This year, the theme is Impact of COVID-19 on Family Planning, Womens Health and Gender-based Violence,in line with UNFPAs theme of Putting the Brakes on COVID-19: How to Safeguard the Health and Rights of Women and Girls Now.

The theme aims to raise awareness about what is needed to maintain, protect womens sexual and reproductive health during the pandemic and assure that the efforts made so farare on the desired trackto fulfill the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Dwi added that the BKKBN continued to optimize its efforts to assist the ministries, government bodies and provincial administrations on population issues.

We are also composing a draft of the academic text forthe bill to strengthen Law No. 52/2009 as well as the presidential regulation (Perpres) regarding the Population Development Grand Design, while we help the population issues to surface into the mainstream of Indonesias development, Dwi said.

The BKKBN has long been coming up with new,innovative ways to approach teenagers regarding resilience, and through the Generasi Berencana (Generation Planning/GenRe) program, it has targeted a number of issues, including raising the minimum age for marriage to 21 years old for women and 25 for men.

The GenRe program is directly aimedat teenagers and parents who have teenagersthrough Teenagers Information and Counseling Center (PIK Remaja) for the former.

At this moment, there are 23,579 PIK Remaja centers across the country, which are expected to be a forum for teenagers to gather, share stories, do creative activities and exchange information with their peers.

A survey conducted by the BKKBN involving 20,680 families in Indonesia revealed that most of them are resilient in facing COVID-19 because they accept [the reality], support each other and avoid quarrels during the pandemic. Behind the family resilience against COVID-19, there are the roles of women or wives in maintaining a harmonious household,said Hasto, referring to data that shows that 99 percent of families surveyed support each other, 98.1 percent avoid quarrels and 97.7 percent accept the current conditions.

Hasto went on to say that 79.9 percent of families surveyed limited their spending during the pandemic, but what needed to be paid attention to were those who had sold their possessions, including jewelry (50.6 percent), borrowed money from their neighbors (19.8 percent) and argued with other family members and are at risk of divorce (2.5 percent).

The UN first declared World Population Day on the Day of Five Billion on July 11, 1987, to mark the world population reaching 5 billion that day. The day was then declared as a time to raise awareness of population problems that can occur as a result of a growing population, as well as what can be done to overcome these problems, such as family planning, promoting gender equality, alleviating poverty, improving maternal health and protecting human rights.

The main events that the BKKBN will conduct in collaboration with UNFPA to observe 2020 World Population Day include workshops, webinars and dialogues that involve the authorities, religious leaders, women leaders and the youth. They will focus on the promotion of reproductive health, youth reproductive health, family planning and prevention of gender-based violence against women and girls.
The coronavirus pandemic could change the festive season forever as children are banned from sitting on Santa's knee and younger men are recruited for the role.

COVID-19 restrictions will force a wave of younger generation of men to don red suits in shopping centres this Christmas.

The change comes as older men who traditionally play the part fear contracting the respiratory illness.

The role of Santa Claus will be played by younger men this year. Pictured: Lauren Phillips, Santa and Rebecca Judd at a Christmas Luncheon at The Atlantic at Crown Casino

The Scene to Believe group, who manage Father Christmas actors in shopping centres in more than 200 locations in Australia and New Zealand, are encouraging younger men to apply.

'COVID has reshaped our ideas of who Santa needs to be and it means that he's not necessarily defined by age,' a spokeswoman for the recruitment group told The Daily Telegraph.

Rowan Stewart, 37, is one of the successful applicants and believes the role will be relatively easy.

'Well, you're basically just talking and playing with kids for four to five hours and everyone just really likes you, you're like a bit of celebrity and it's just great fun,' he said.

Santa Claus sits in his chair as he poses for photographs at Luna Park on December 24, 2018

When asked about whether he thinks youngsters will notice if Kris Kringle is slimmer and younger than tradition dictates, Mr Stewart said he would explain that Santa has been on a health binge.

'I'd just say that Santa's been on those low-calorie biscuits and he's been doing a lot of working out, and thank them for the compliment.'

Children also won't be allowed to sit on Santa's knee this year as a result of the virus, but the new recruit doesn't believe it will detract from the magic of Christmas.

'You've still got the entire experience, the beautiful set and the trees and the reindeer and elves, so it's all of that and plus they're meeting Santa.'

Veteran Father Christmas' will be involved in training the new cadet on how to embody the role.
The Home Secretarys promise to crack down on foreign criminals dodging deportation has been thrown into doubt by farcical new failures to secure the removal of offenders.

The Mail on Sunday has unearthed two cases that demonstrate the urgent need for the new fast-track deportation legislation promised last month by Priti Patel.

In one, an Albanian gangster jailed for six years for driving his car at police while fleeing a 1 million drugs bust, avoided deportation by arguing he would be at risk from a blood feud if he was sent home.

Home Secretary Priti Patel meets new recruits during a visit to Sussex Police Headquarters in Lewes, East Sussex on Monday 6 July

In the other, an Iraqi refugee dodged deportation after he was released early from prison by mistake and went on to become a notorious county lines drug kingpin.

The cases highlight the legal hurdles faced by the authorities when trying to deport serious foreign criminals.

Three weeks ago, Ms Patel told the Commons: The Governments position is, if you abuse our hospitality and commit crimes in the UK, we will do everything in our power to remove you.

Yet the number of serious offenders deported has fallen by 11% in the year to March from 5,327 to 4,743.

David Spencer, research director at think-tank the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: It is scandalous there are thousands of foreign criminals living freely in our communities when they should long since have been deported.

One such offender is Resul Rahova, a convicted Albanian drug dealer. After arriving here in October 2011, he was granted refugee status with limited leave to remain until February 2017.

Cocaine dealer Resul Rahova, who was jailed for six years after driving his Mazda at police while fleeing a 1 million drugs bust, posted a picture of himself on his cell on August 11th surrounded by plates of food and a can of Pepsi

Handed a six-year jail term for drug offences in 2016, he dodged a Home Office deportation bid the following year by successfully arguing he was at risk of a blood feud in Albania.

Despite further attempts to kick Rahova out, he has been allowed to stay here under the Human Rights Act. Meanwhile, Iraqi refugee and convicted drug dealer Serook Saeed, 33, avoided deportation after being released early from jail by mistake.

He took advantage of his freedom to become a county lines drugs boss. Saeed, who argued his life would be in danger in Iraq, is now back behind bars after being convicted of heading a gang running heroin and cocaine from London into Kent.

Given he was not only able to avoid deportation but also received asylum due to an earlier blunder, it is unclear if he will face a new deportation order once released from his current sentence.

Last night, the Home Office said: Deportation was pursued tenaciously against both these individuals Where new offending occurs, we will consider fresh deportation action. The Home Secretary is looking into reforming the system to ensure those who come to this country and commit crimes can be deported faster.

In a further statement, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: 'This Governments position on foreign national offenders could not be clearer. If you abuse our hospitality and commit crimes in the UK, we will do everything in our power to remove you.

'But tougher action is needed to speed up the removal process and deter foreign criminals from entering the country. I will be changing the law and introducing the foreign national offenders legislation (as announced in the Queens Speech) to maximise the removal of FNOs and stop them from returning to the UK in breach of a deportation order.

'In simple terms we need to change our laws to make it easier to deport foreign national offenders.'
These Tunisian political forces believe that a conflict of interest exists between Al-Ghannouchis roles as Ennahdas leader and the speaker of the parliament

Amid calls for a strike by some MPs and political moves by others to withdraw confidence from Tunisian parliament speaker Rached Al-Ghannouchi, the countrys Islamist Ennahda Party, which is headed by Al-Ghannouchi, is currently going through tough times.

According to Al-Arabiya, a parliamentary source revealed that a number of political forces in parliament are fed up with Al-Ghannouchis suspicious moves and practices, including his attempt to implement the Muslim Brotherhoods agenda in the North African country.

They also accused Al-Ghannouchi of seeking to expand his authority by disregarding that of the president.

These Tunisian political forces believe that a conflict of interest exists between Al-Ghannouchis roles as Ennahdas leader and the speaker of the parliament.

As a result, they agreed to collect signatures for a vote of no confidence against Al-Ghannouchi, the details of which they will officially reveal on Monday.

This step, the source said, has been undertaken by political forces including Al-Kotla Al-Democrateya (40 seats); Tahya Tounes (14 seats); Al-Islah Al-Watani (15 seats) and Al-Kotla Al-Wataneya (nine seats).

They are also backed by the Free Destourian Party, which has 17 seats in parliament. Awatef Koresh, a Destourian MP, told Sky News Arabia on Sunday that Al-Ghannouchi represents a threat to Tunisias security.

Koresh called on the rest of the political forces in the Tunisian parliament to join an open strike organised by her party against Ennahda.

However, no other party has more seats than Ennahda (52 seats) in the Tunisian parliament. Overall, the parliament has 217 MPs.

This puts into question the chance for success of a no-confidence vote against Al-Ghannouchi, especially since the anti-Ennahda forces have tobased on parliamentary regulationssecure an absolute majority (73 votes) for their bill to remove Al-Ghannouchi from the top legislative post within only three weeks.

These developments are part of the countrys ongoing political crisis.

Prime Minister Elyes Al-Fakhfakh is facing corruption charges, and there is an investigation, led by a judge, taking place over this issue.

An independent parliamentarian published documents in June that show that Al-Fakhfakh owns shares in companies that were awarded state deals worth $15 million.

Some MPs want Al-Fakhfakh to resign, while others have unsuccessfully attempted to have a vote of no confidence against him.

The premier, while addressing parliament, argued that he will resign if he is proven guilty, but he claims that he no longer owns shares in these companies.

Al-Fakhfakh, a former finance minister, joined the Ettakatol party after Tunisias 2011 revolution. Ettakatol was by then an ally of Ennahda.

Even to form his current coalition government, Al-Fakhfakh had to reach an agreement with Ennahda, following months of a political deadlock, as it represents the largest political force in parliament. Ennahda took seven out of 32 portfolios to back the government.

Earlier this month, Ennahda announced that it will review its position on Tunisias coalition government in light of the prime ministers corruption case.

The suspicion of a conflict of interest by the prime minister... has harmed the image of the governing coalition, and requires a reevaluation of the [partys] position about the government, the Islamist party said in a statement.

Sources told Reuters that withdrawing Ennahdas ministers from the government is among the possible scenarios, but nothing has officially been decided yet.

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Britains decision to offer refuge to millions in Hong Kong, UK's former colony, was met with a stern telling-off by China

Participants wave British and U.S. flags during a rally demanding electoral democracy and call for boycott of the Chinese Communist Party and all businesses seen to support it in Hong Kong. (AP)

London: Only five years ago, then-British Prime Minister David Cameron was celebrating a golden era in U.K.-China relations, bonding with President Xi Jinping over a pint of beer at the pub and signing off on trade deals worth billions.

Those friendly scenes now seem like a distant memory.

Hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent days over Beijings new national security law for Hong Kong. Britains decision to offer refuge to millions in the former colony was met with a stern telling-off by China. And Chinese officials have threatened consequences if Britain treats it as a hostile country and decides to cut Chinese technology giant Huawei out of its critical telecoms infrastructure amid growing unease over security risks.

All that is pointing to a much tougher stance against China, with a growing number in Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Conservative Party taking a long, hard look at Britains Chinese ties. Many are saying Britain has been far too complacent and naive in thinking it could reap economic benefits from the relationship without political consequences.

Its not about wanting to cut ties with China. Its that China is itself becoming a very unreliable and rather dangerous partner, said lawmaker and former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. He cited Beijings trashing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration  the treaty supposed to guarantee Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy when it reverted from British to Chinese rule  and aggressive posturing in the South China Sea as areas of concern.

This is not a country that is in any way managing itself to be a good and decent partner in anything at the moment. Thats why we need to review our relationship with them, he added. Those who think this is a case of separating trade from government  you cant do that, thats naive.

Duncan Smith has lobbied other Tory lawmakers to cut Huawei out from Britains superfast 5G network. Not only that: He says all existing Huawei technology in the U.K. telecoms infrastructure also needs to be eliminated as soon as possible.

The company has been at the center of tensions between China and Britain, as U.K. officials review how the latest U.S. sanctions  imposed over allegations of cyber spying and aimed at cutting off Huaweis access to advanced microchips made with American technology  will affect British telecom networks.

Johnson decided in January that Huawei can be deployed in future 5G networks as long as its share of the market is limited, but officials have since hinted that that decision could be reversed in light of the U.S. sanctions. A new policy is expected within weeks.

Huawei says it is merely caught in the middle of a U.S.-China battle over trade and technology. It has consistently denied allegations it could carry out cyber espionage or electronic sabotage at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.

Weve definitely been pushed into the geopolitical competition, Vice President Victor Zhang said Wednesday. U.S. accusations about security risks are all politically motivated, he said.

Nigel Inkster, senior adviser to the International Institute for Strategic Studies and former director of operations and intelligence at Britains MI6 intelligence service, said the issue with Huawei was not so much about immediate security threats. Rather, he said, the deeper worry lies in the geopolitical implications of China becoming the worlds dominant player in 5G technology.

Its less about cyber espionage than generally conceived because, after all, thats happening in any place, he said. This was never something of which the U.K. was lacking awareness.

Still, Inkster said hes been cautioning for years that Britain needed a more coherent strategy toward China that balances the economic and security factors.

There was a high degree of complacency back in the 2000s, he said. There was always less to the golden era than met the eye.

Britain rolled out the red carpet for Xis state visit in 2015, with golden carriages and a lavish banquet at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II. A cyber security cooperation deal was struck, along with billions in trade and investment projects  including Chinese state investment in a British nuclear power station. Cameron spoke about his ambitions for Britain to become Chinas best partner in the West.

Enthusiasm has cooled significantly since. The English city of Sheffield, which was promised a billion-pound deal with a Chinese manufacturing firm in 2016, said the investment never materialized. Critics have called it a vanity project and a candy floss deal.

Economic and political grumbles about China erupted into sharp rebukes earlier this month when Beijing imposed sweeping new national security laws on Hong Kong. Johnsons government accused China of a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and announced it would open a special route to citizenship for up to 3 million eligible Hong Kong residents.

That amounts to gross interference, Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming said. Liu also warned that a decision to get rid of Huawei could drive away other Chinese investment in the U.K., and derided Britain for succumbing to U.S. pressure over the company.

Rana Mitter, an Oxford history professor specializing in China, said that the security law  combined with broader resentment about Chinese officials handling of information about the coronavirus  helped set the stage for a perfect storm of wariness among Britains politicians and the public.

Mitter added that Britain has careened from uncritically accepting everything about China to a confrontational approach partly because of a lack of understanding about how China operates.

Some have cautioned against escalating tensions. Philip Hammond, the former British Treasury chief, warned that weakening links with the worlds second-largest economy was particularly unwise at a time when Britain is severing trade ties with Europe and seeking partners elsewhere. Hammond also said he was concerned about an alarming rise of anti-Chinese sentiment within his Conservative Party.

Duncan Smith rejected that, saying concerns about Chinas rise are cross-party and multinational. He is part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a newly launched group of lawmakers from more than a dozen countries  from the U.S. to Australia to Japan  that want a coordinated international response to the Chinese challenge.

We need to recognize that this isnt something one country can deal with, he said.
A design plan for the Tran Hung Dao Bridge that spans the Red River and connects Hoan Kiem and Long Bien districts have just been revealed.

Speaking with the Transportation Newspaper, a representative from the Transport Engineering Design Inc. (TEDI) which designs the project said that the 5.5-kilometre bridge would start at the junction of Le Thanh Tong and Tran Thanh Tong in Hoan Kiem District and end at Nguyen Van Linh Street or National Road 5 in Long Bien District.

A design proposed by TEDI depicted a 31-metre-wide, six-lane bridge which would have a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour.

The project is estimated to cost VND 9 trillion (USD391 million).

Tran Hung Dao Bridge has been included in a general construction plan for Hanoi by 2030 with a vision to 2050 approved by the prime minister in 2011. Dtinews

Hanoi to build new bridge over Duong River The Hanoi Department of Transport has reported to the municipal People's Committee about the Ministry of Transport's project on building a new Duong Bridge (Duong Bridge No 2) over Hanoi's Duong River.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 23:59:32|Editor: huaxia

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DAR ES SALAAM, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities on Sunday submitted a list of 920 villages allowed to remain within protected areas and reserves for wildlife and forests across the nation, said a statement by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development.

The list of 920 villages was submitted to regional and district commissioners by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Mary Makondo, in the capital Dodoma, said the statement.

The submission of the list to the regional and district authorities was aimed at ending a long-time land dispute between villages located near or within protected areas and reserves for wildlife and forests and conservation authorities, said the statement.

The submission of the list to regional and district commissioners was intended to enable them to identify the 920 villages and give them support and protection, said William Lukuvi, the Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development.

"For quite a long time, villagers residing within protected and reserve areas had been subjected to harassment by conservation authorities, including burning of their houses and destroying their farms in the name of conservation," said Lukuvi.

On September 23, 2019, the government endorsed the annulment of 12 protected areas and seven reserves for wildlife and forests and allocated them to the 920 villages for habitation.

A statement by the Prime Minister's Office said the annulled protected areas and reserves that covered a total of about 707,660 hectares will be allocated to people for settlements, farming and livestock keeping.

In January 2019, President John Magufuli ordered relevant authorities to suspend removal of 366 villages situated in protected areas for wildlife and forests.

President Magufuli also directed responsible ministries to identify wildlife and forests protected areas which had no wildlife and forests and allocate them to farmers and livestock keepers.

About 40 percent of land in Tanzania is set aside in protected areas for conservation. Enditem
For the second week in a row, new coronavirus infections reduced in Nigeria despite an increase in the number of people tested, PREMIUM TIMESs review of official data shows.

The previous weeks reduction in new cases was the first after six consecutive weeks of increase.

Nigeria recorded 3,823 new cases in the past week (July 5-July 11), a six per cent reduction compared to the 4,087 new infections recorded in the previous week.

The new cases dropped despite an increase in the number of people tested across Nigeria last week, suggesting the countrys COVID-19 curve may be on a steady decline.

Data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that 30,077 tests were conducted last week, a 30 per cent increase from the 21,030 tested the previous week.

The 21,030 tests conducted the previous week was a two per cent increase over the 20,588 tests conducted in the preceding week.

Fewer Recoveries, More Deaths

While new cases reduced, the number of people who recovered from the virus and were discharged reduced significantly last week.

A total of 1,641 patients recovered and were discharged last week, a 42 per cent drop from 2,837 who were discharged in the previous week.

Also, 90 new deaths were reported between last Sunday and Saturday, which amounts to a 20 per cent increase when compared with the 72 who died from the virus in the previous week.

Amongst the prominent people who lost their lives to the disease last week was the Chief of Staff to Kwara State Governor, Aminu Logun and a former chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Ondo State, Matthew Adeyeri.

Hammering on compliance

With the increasing number of confirmed cases in the country, NCDC has said in the absence of a vaccine, compliance with infection prevention and control (IPC) measures remains the most effective intervention to control the COVID-19 outbreak.

The agency and experts have stated that the implication of non-compliance with safety protocols might be grievous with the resumption of domestic flights and interstate travels.

Nigerians have been repeatedly told to ensure the use of face masks and maintain social distancing, although both have been largely breached by residents.

Nigeria so far

As of the time of reporting, 31,987 cases have been confirmed, 13,104 cases have been discharged and 724 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory,

A breakdown of the 31,987 confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 12, 275 cases, followed by FCT  2,538, Oyo  1,706, Edo  1, 678, Delta  1, 359, Rivers  1,357, Kano  1,303, Ogun  1,080, Kaduna  978, Ondo  670, Katsina  655, Borno  586, Gombe  530, Bauchi  519, Plateau  516, Ebonyi  508, Enugu  476, Abia  405, Imo  386, Jigawa  321, Kwara  311, Bayelsa  299, Nasarawa  244, Osun  231, Sokoto  153, Niger  135, Akwa Ibom  134, Benue  121, Adamawa  110, Anambra  93, Kebbi  86, Zamfara  76, Yobe  62, Ekiti  49, Taraba- 27, Kogi  5, and Cross River  5.

Lagos State remains the epicentre for the disease with the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the country, while Zamfara has not reported any new confirmed case in the past 54 days.

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The other five states with the highest number of confirmed cases are FCT, Oyo, Edo, Delta and Rivers.

As regards testing, the country has so far collected 178,265 samples since the beginning of the outbreak in Nigeria in February.

Timeline last week

On Sunday, 544 new cases of COVID19 were reported in the country.

On Monday, 575 new cases of the pandemic were reported in the country. This brought the tally of confirmed cases to 29,286 as of 11:55 p.m. on July 6.

On Tuesday, 503 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded.

As of 11:55 p.m. on July 7, the country had reported a total of 29,789 cases, out of which 12,108 had been discharged and 669 had died.

A total of 460 new cases of the pandemic were reported on Wednesday which brought the number of confirmed cases to 30,249.



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On Thursday, 499 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.

On Friday, 575 new cases were reported in Nigeria, hence bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 31,323 as of 11:55 p.m. on July 10

On Saturday 664 new cases of the viral infection were recorded.

Therefore, a total of 31,987 cases has been reported, out of which 13,103 have recovered and 724 have died.
Colin O'Grady wakes and falls asleep every day to one thought.

The high school English teacher, who has taught in Fairfax County Public Schools for more than a decade, is constantly asking himself the same question: Will he opt to teach virtually this fall? Or will he risk setting foot on campus to see his students again?

He misses the human moments that inspired him to become a teacher - the face-pulling in response to a strange line of Shakespeare, the bright eyes signaling sudden understanding. He worries for children living in unstable homes, deprived of the classrooms that served as safe havens. And he long ago grew exhausted with his work-from-home setup, his family's small house diced into quarters that do not separate O'Grady, his wife and two children.

Still. He fears the virus. He is not confident his school will take sufficient safety precautions. He doesn't want to get sick, or his family to get sick. And if he and his wife, also a teacher, do return to school, he has no idea what they will do for child care.

"There just isn't a good answer," O'Grady said. "I've never been so worried for myself, for my family, for my kids, for my community, for my students. I've never been so concerned about the existence of so many people at the same time."

His time to decide is running out. O'Grady, along with roughly 14,500 educators in Fairfax, has until July 15 to choose between teaching from home or in the classroom next school year. Families in the Northern Virginia district, which educates 189,000 students, face a similar choice: 100 percent distance learning or a hybrid option that will bring kids to campus for at least two days of in-person instruction each week.

What parents say will go. For teachers, there is no guarantee the district will honor their choice. Where they wind up will depend on how many families request in-person learning, and whether they or family members suffer health issues rendering them more susceptible to the virus.

5 1 of 5 Washington Post photo by Bill O'Leary Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Washington Post photo by Bill O'Leary Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford Show More Show Less 5 of 5









As the deadline approaches, frantic calculations, whispered prayers for guidance and furious debates are playing out in homes, in online forums and during long, contentious virtual board meetings. Families, teachers and administrators are fracturing into entrenched camps.

Hundreds of parents, clamoring for a full five days of face-to-face school, have joined such Facebook groups as "Open Fairfax County Schools" and "RE-OPEN FAIRFAX," which urges members to like "our linked page 'Virginia Women for Trump' for more great reopening news!" But the district's three major unions issued a statement in late June urging their members to select distance learning en masse unless administrators revise their fall plans.

And many, like O'Grady, have no idea what to think, do or feel.

An already wrenching decision is further complicated by a brewing political maelstrom - escalating daily as President Donald Trump demands in all-caps tweets that schools reopen nationwide. The pressure may be hotter in Fairfax County than anywhere else: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has twice singled out the district for criticism, calling its hybrid reopening plans disastrous and insisting it is "fail(ing) America's students."

Fairfax Superintendent Scott Brabrand said DeVos's remarks are not helpful. He is trying to ignore her, and any politician who engages in "teacher bashing, principal bashing, school district bashing and superintendent bashing."

"Now is not the time for critics and criticism against folks who are trying to do the right thing for kids, families and our society," he said. "This is the most difficult moment to be a teacher, a principal, a superintendent, a school educator in - in at least a generation."

O'Grady and his wife debate the decision any moment they can steal. He studies newspapers and the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He religiously tracks updates posted by the school system and the county. He has set up phone calls with school board members, seeking more information, and he's devouring every scientific paper he can find.

Four days out from his deadline, he still had no idea what their answer would be. O'Grady has begun phoning his mother, an epidemiologist, every other evening.

"Mom," he asks, "what should we do?"

Catherine Smith knew her decision immediately: Her daughter would return to school.

Despite the best efforts of her teacher, virtual learning was a fiasco for the high school junior, who struggles with science and math. Without a teacher to look over her shoulder or prod her to do her work, the teenager basically stopped learning physics and chemistry.

"This is supposed to be a gold-standard, world-class school system," Smith said. "I personally think they ought to be back five days a week."

Smith, who declined to share her political affiliation, said she was thrilled to see DeVos slam Fairfax. "It's a rightful calling out," she said. "We expect more. We expect better."

She's a member of "Open Fairfax County Schools" on Facebook. Elsewhere on the social media site, some parents have cast reluctant teachers as cowards.

"If you can't teach kids for 5 days a week, give back the money you ask taxpayers every year," one woman wrote in reply to a public post about Fairfax's reopening plans.

"Grocery store clerks can be at work with reasonable protections and teachers can't?" another man commented. They "just need to take reasonable precautions. Ridiculous."

Some members of the school board have also raised concerns about the plan. Member Megan McLaughlin said five days of in-person school must be the ultimate goal, although any reopening must adhere to guidelines released by the American Academy of Pediatrics and follow recommendations from county health officials.

"When you look at Fairfax County's own covid data for youth 0 to 17, there have been zero deaths and far fewer cases," McLaughlin said. She also pointed out that many schools overseas that have opened without outbreaks - as has happened in China and Denmark.

Heightening some families' mistrust of online learning are memories of Fairfax's disastrous spring. After weeks of preparation, the district's initial efforts collapsed after privacy breaches, online harassment and technical failures. The chaos led to the resignation of the school's top tech official.

In an interview, Brabrand said Fairfax "struggled for two weeks" but the school system recovered and offered two months of excellent distance learning, superior to programs in the region and nationwide. He expects the fall will be the same, he said.

Brabrand said he will reopen school fully, for five days a week, only when experts say people can stand within 18 inches of each other without transmitting the virus. That's the average distance between Fairfax students under normal conditions, he said.

"With our schools at full capacity," he said, "it's just not possible to maintain social distancing."

The superintendent is winning local support. In an appearance Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, asserted that his state is "not going to be rushed into" fully reopening schools and will instead probably take a "hybrid" approach, similar to Fairfax's.

According to a proposal from Montgomery County, his state's largest school district, schools would open on Aug. 31 with remote learning. Students would gradually return to school buildings for up to two days a week in the fall.

"From the beginning of this crisis we've always been working closely with our doctors, our scientists and our epidemiologists to make sure that we're doing the things that make the most sense," Hogan said.

But DeVos stuck to her hard line Sunday, failing to answer directly when asked about Brabrand's concern over spacing and insisting the federal recommendation to keep students at least six feet apart is mere guidance, meant to be flexible. During an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," DeVos said she hopes Brabrand will meet with her team to "talk about ways that they can look at this freshly."

"Kids have got to be learning full time," she said.

Simon Jacoby, a high school senior, plans to return to campus. He trusts the social distancing plans, except in the bathrooms, where many students sneak to vape. And he's used to donning a mask for his job at an Italian restaurant. If anything, he worries Fairfax will add too many unnecessary, fussy rules. But he's going back no matter what.

"At home, with my phone, surrounded by all the distractions possible, I don't do anything," he said. "At school, they tell you what to do and you don't have any choice but to do it."

Lisa Zargarpur, an elementary school music teacher, said she developed enough tricks last semester to make teaching virtually work pretty well. Nonetheless, she is planning to teach in person next year.

At 50, Zargarpur said, she does not feel seriously at risk. She also has a healthy immune system, as do her husband and three children. She owes it to her colleagues with medical conditions, she said, not to take up an online teaching slot.

Zargarpur knows music class will look very different: no sharing of instruments, no partnered folk dance routines and probably no singing. But she is excited for the challenge - and she says she's starting to feel that familiar, back-to-school thrill.

"In the end it comes down to this," she said. "I miss my students, and I want to go back and see them."

Teachers will likely get their assignments at the end of July, Brabrand said, after the district processes parent preferences and calculates how many staffers it needs inside school buildings. Teachers with medical conditions will receive first priority. Those with at-risk family members or child-care needs get second priority. The rest get last priority.

Many don't expect to get their wish. They are preparing for disappointment as best they can: tracking every twist in federal health guidance, then comparing it to Fairfax's reopening plans; emailing and attending hours-long virtual town halls to determine what school will look like; and sifting through YouTube to study how other teachers have navigated socially distant classrooms.

And, sometimes, they are pulling spouses into rooms where they cannot be overheard by children to discuss what will happen if mom and dad get sick. Or die.

"I'm wondering what will happen if I am exposed to COVID," an English teacher said in an email, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. "I'm wondering what PPE I will be given, because I've never in 10 years been issued a single box of tissues or hand sanitizer."

"I hope," she added, "that parents recognize what we are sacrificing for them and their children."

Becca Alfano suspects her situation will not win her a virtual spot. She is 30 and healthy, and so is her husband. She is just ending a year's maternity leave, which she spent caring for her daughter, who was born in September.

The girl was six months old when the pandemic hit, so she never got to experience the gradual exposure to the outside world her mother had planned. Now, Alfano worries about her daughter's untested immune system. Throughout the summer, she has refused to take her daughter into any buildings. The most she has dared do is carry the baby on occasional walks outdoors.

Alfano already found a day care, so that's not a concern. But she is worried about what will happen when her request to teach remotely is inevitably denied and she comes home from work each day because there's no way she can isolate from her little girl.

"That would be absolutely traumatizing for her," she said. "And I can't put that on my husband either. He can't be the sole caregiver."

Fairfax special education teacher Karen Roth, meanwhile, is fixated on what might happen to her parents. They live in Indiana and are in their late 70s. Her mother just had a heart monitor installed. Her father recently suffered three strokes. Her only living sibling is battling cancer.

"I am the last one who is healthy enough to go help them in a crisis," she said.

Roth, who keeps a tab open on her laptop with The Washington Post's coronavirus tracker, is careful to avoid virus exposure. She rarely visits the grocery store. She hasn't gotten her hair cut since February. ("And I don't look good.")

Still, she has yet to select her preference between in-person or remote teaching. She is aching to see her students - but one thought holds her back.

"What if I go back to school and get the virus, or think I might have the virus, or am just not sure if I have the virus, and one of my parents has an emergency?" she said. "I have to be there."

- - -

The Washington Post's Ovetta Wiggins contributed to this report.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos kept up the administration's push to reopen U.S. schools in the fall on Sunday, but failed to embrace any blueprint - including federal health guidelines - for how that could be done safely.

'We know that children get the virus at a far lower rate than any other part of the population. There is nothing in the data that would suggest that kids being back in school is dangerous to them,' DeVos told CNN's 'State of the Union.'

She did not offer any details on how her department would advise or help school districts and states with their reopenings amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases across the country.

DeVos also downplayed the risk of children bringing the virus home to parents, grandparents or caregivers.

'There is nothing in the data that would suggest that kids being back in school is dangerous to them,' said Education Secretary Betsy DeVos

Asked if schools should follow the recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which Republican President Donald Trump criticized last week as too stringent, DeVos said every school building is different, as is every population.

Her comments drew an immediate rebuke from Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said the Trump administration's approach to schools reopening was dangerous.

'What we heard from the secretary was malfeasance and dereliction of duty,' Pelosi said on CNN. 'Going back to school presents the biggest risk for the spread of the coronavirus. If there are CDC guidelines, they should be requirements.'

'They should be mandates, not requirements'

'What we heard from the secretary was malfeasance and dereliction of duty,' responded House Spea

Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control, has said his agency would not revise the guidelines on reopening schools

Internal documents from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that fully reopening K-12 schools and universities would be the 'highest risk' for the spread of coronavirus, according to a New York Times report

Facing a battered economy as he seeks re-election in November, Trump has pressured states to reopen shuttered businesses and schools. On Friday he said the Treasury Department would re-examine schools' tax-exempt status and their federal funding if they did not resume in-person classes.

But since many states relaxed coronavirus restrictions, the virus has found a new toehold. So far in July, 24 states have reported record increases in cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, according to a Reuters tally.

While acknowledging that the Education Department did not have its own safe reopening plans to promote, DeVos repeatedly stressed that each school district and state must devise their own plans based on their local coronavirus infection rates. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Two elderly men were stabbed with scissors on the New York City subway last week, as crime surges in the city and a Long Island sheriff warned the city authorities were 'starting to lose control'.

Shootings last month in New York City were up 130 per cent year on year - from 89 shootings last year to 205 this year.

During the July 4 weekend the city saw 21 shootings that left 44 people injured and eight dead.

'When you see the vandalism in all our own communities - when you see the assaults, you see Molotov cocktails being thrown at law enforcement vehicles, you have to start to realize that, we're starting to lose control,' said Errol Toulon, Suffolk County sheriff.

'And once we start to lose control, we're not losing control to peaceful protesters, these are criminals,' he told Fox News.

'And so once we start to relinquish authority to them, we're going to have chaos in our streets.'

The subway attack started at 7:30am July 5 in Queens when Patrick Chambers, 46, shouted at two elderly men sitting across from him: 'Why aren't you home with your kids?' police said.

A July 5 subway attack in New York City at 7:30am was captured on camera

The bald man in the blue t-shirt was attacked with scissors by Patrick Chambers, wearing gray

Chambers lunged at a 71-year-old man with scissors, stabbing him in the stomach.

A second man, also in his 70s, tried to intervene and was himself slashed with scissors.

The attack, on the 7 train near 52nd Street and Lincoln Avenue, was posted on Facebook by Patrick Gordon and spread rapidly on social media.

A woman can be heard shrieking in the background.

A man is heard yelling: 'Get off the train!'

Chambers appears to kick at the men on the floor before walking away to the other end of the subway car, then return to one of the men, jabbing him at least once with the blade.

Both victims were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Chambers was taken to a local hospital for a psychological evaluation and charged with two counts of assault, two counts of menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, which cops recovered from the suspect, police said.

Chambers went to the end of the subway car and then returned to stab the pair a second time

Sheriff Toulon, whose Long Island district borders New York City, said there were many reasons for the uptick in violence, but bail reform laws played a part.

He said judges should be more forceful in denying bail for dangerous criminals.

'We should hold the judges accountable and make them explain why individuals are obtaining bail [and] if there are particular groups that seem to be targeted by a particular judge,' said Toulon.

'That's where I believe that we should be focusing our attention on not changing laws or giving individuals the opportunity to return back.'

Errol Toulon, Suffolk County sheriff, appeared on Fox News to discuss New York City

Former police commissioner Ray Kelly said on Fox News that bail reform could be changed 'very easily just by giving judges the discretion to keep people in custody who are a danger to society.'

On June 29 Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, announced he was slashing $1 billion from the New York Police Department (NYPD) annual $6 billion budget.

Calls to defund the police, reducing the cost of policing and directing the money to social work instead, have proliferated since the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

De Blasio said he hoped the budget cut would improve the efficiency of the NYPD - the largest force in the United States.

'I am excited to say that we have a plan that can achieve real reform, that can achieve real redistribution, and at the same time ensure that we keep our city safe,' he told reporters.

The deal involves moving school safety agents, who are unarmed but wear police uniforms, into the Department of Education, canceling a July class of roughly 1,100 police recruits, and shifting certain homeless outreach operations away from police control.

On top of the $1 billion cut in operating expenses, there will be a more than $500 million cut to the NYPD's capital budget, with the money instead used to build youth recreation centers and for public housing developments, de Blasio said.
Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader Sachin Pilot's office here has been reportedly sealed on Sunday after two employees of the department tested positive for Covid-19.

The Panchayati Raj and Rural Development headquarters being headed by Pilot will remain sealed on July 13 and 14, said officials, adding that the staff shall remain available on phone.

Pilot is in Delhi and has triggered a political storm by declaring that the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan is in crisis as a total of 30 MLAs are supporting his camp.
It is so heartening. I wish all parents of young kids could see the sky wont fall in if they miss a bit of formal instruction. Its all about meaningful engagement.

Susan Mahar, Fitzroy North I would have thought masks would be compulsory

On Tuesday my son-in-law resumes work. He will travel to his place of employment by public transport, during which time he will be expected to wear a face mask. During the day he will be working in close proximity to anywhere from 85 to 100 other people. However, on government advice, he and those he comes into contact with are not required to wear a mask, quite the reverse, they have been told that they should not follow the safety instructions issued to fellow citizens. At the end of my son-in-laws working day he will once again don his mask, for his own protection and that of others, as he travels home. My son-in-law is a highly qualified science teacher working at a secondary college and somehow this position makes him immune to the contagion sweeping through our state.

Considering the infection rate that has already occurred with teachers and pupils at another college, I would have thought that masks would not only be advised but would be compulsory.

Cushla McNamara, Richmond THE FORUM The sorry state ...

I always read and enjoy Anson Camerons articles in Saturdays Spectrum. His latest (Welcome to wasteland, 11/7) hit the spot with me as I live in Port Melbourne. I support his notion that Station Pier, beacon to our city, is tawdry and not developed to its potential. As he says, so many ports in the world are vibrant and welcoming, yet our historical entrance is underused and almost hostile to incoming visitors. Some of the cafes in the immediate hood are derelict, and there is no accommodation in the vicinity for those arriving by ship. It is a disappointing portal to our wonderful city. If this dock were better serviced by cafes, shops and hotels, it would prove its worth in reflecting glorious Melbourne.

Sue Parrington, Port Melbourne

... of Station Pier

Anson Camerons article describes a sorry sight and experience for the traveller disembarking at Station Pier. As one of the volunteer Waterfront Welcomers, an initiative of the local business community and the local council, I couldnt agree more with his assessment. While we have time to reflect during this coronavirus lockdown, there is a desperate need for re-development of the whole area keeping in mind that this is one of the major entry points to our city and state. I call on the state government, the Port of Melbourne and other relevant authorities to resolve the long-standing planning issues and invest in this vital piece of infrastructure with the aim of making Station Pier a real welcome to Melbourne of which we can all be proud.

Barbara Fisher, Port Melbourne We can change

There will come a time when COVID-19 wont be a daily headline. Lets be different this time and keep hold of the insights delivered and lessons learnt when that happens. For one, this pandemic cant be viewed as a phenomenon divorced from our existence. To the contrary, it is our very actions and inactions that are delivering frightful outcomes. Our greed and indifference has disturbed the natural order and without mitigation, our destiny provides little hope of promise.

We can change, we can realign our thinking, we can build a community that is respectful of the world it inhabits.

Jaroslaw Kotiw, Strathfieldsaye Come and see for yourself

Dear Brett Sutton and Daniel Andrews, I invite you to visit one of my year 12 classes this week.

I work at a state school, so dont expect a clean classroom. If my classroom was a shop it would accommodate 11 people, but therell be 26 in there plus your good self. Apparently students can manage social distance and maintain hygiene in class, but it is too hard for them to wear masks. I wont be wearing one either, because youve told me I cant teach with one on. It would be best if you come when we are not moving between classes as the school has narrow corridors, so it gets a bit crowded. A third of my year 12s are 18 years old and arrive by public transport from all over metropolitan Melbourne. A quarter of them come from hot spots with a high rate of community transmission. Several of my students live with an at-risk person. I live with one of those too, but dont fit into the narrow criteria that allows me to work from home. Dont worry though, Ill temperature check them before your arrival and Ill try and rustle up some hand sanitiser.

Name withheld

Extend the shutdown

The suppression strategy is causing a yo-yo of uncertainty and chaos, economically and psychologically. Im a part-time special needs teacher returning to school for term three, as will my VCE-aged son. But my daughter (who also has special needs) is immuno-compromised. We worry about bringing the virus home with us. How many others are in this invidious category? Surely its time to change tack and take a leaf from the NZ playbook. Stay shut down for longer, so we can emerge more confidently at the other end.

Jennie Irving, Camberwell The Resources Minister ...

I am not sure what Keith Pitt considers a good investment (Minister backs coal as fund vows exit, The Age, 10/7). Information provided by Energy Networks Australia a year ago will enlighten him to the fact that three-quarters of coal-fired power stations are operating beyond their designated lifespan. Older assets are more unreliable and costly; Loy Yang has tripped offline in December 2019 due to excessive heat, Hazelwood has closed and Yallourn is expected to close before its 2032 retirement. This has led to 2133MW of thermal power being unavailable.

As federal Resources Minister, Keith Pitt needs to look at ways to innovate and work alongside First Super to develop alternative resources that represent innovative technological replacements to coal. As someone in their mid-30s, I dont see how my superannuation can benefit from an industry that is winding down and will be devoid of investment due to excessive capital upkeep and technical unreliability amid soaring temperatures.

Julian Roberts, Burwood ... has to catch up

Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt is mystified as to why superannuation funds are divesting from coal. Apart from the obvious emissions argument and member wishes, he could call previous Bank of England governor Mark Carney, who said publicly that the vast majority of coal reserves in the world are stranded assets and unburnable. The end of financial year message from my super fund was that the best-performing investment option was Global Environmental Opportunities. The minister needs to catch up.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn

Common sense has failed

For a long time I have wondered why there havent been an ad similar to the Grim Reaper ones to frighten us into sensible behaviour, considering the common sense approach has failed miserably.

So a big yes to the proposition of Jeanette vant Riet (Please, this is serious, Letters, The Age, 11/7) to resurrect the Grim Reaper ads. These ads certainly encouraged me to stay nice, so graphic were they.

Trish Young, Hampton

Reaping what we sow

The spread of COVID-19 in the western and northern suburbs is one of the consequences of casualisation of the workforce. Your taxi driver who tests positive is probably not just a taxi driver, but also a security guard, a cleaner and a packer  all casual, all insecure work. Hell be in close proximity with hundreds of people in diverse locations every day. This is what he needs to do to survive. He gets no holiday pay or sick leave. He probably lives with other people on a similar treadmill. Hes just one of thousands. On the other side of town, in the large houses and the full-time jobs, numbers are low. This is the decimation of the servant class and good luck with trying to contain it.

John Laurie, Newport

A sobering corrective

Peter Hartcher, (Brace for life on the borderline, Comment, The Age, 11/7) provides a sobering corrective to those who might think the mantra We are all in this together is trite. His citing of the Christian concept of purgatory, as a metaphor for how we will now exist until a coronavirus vaccine becomes available, is suitably sobering. Difficult as it may be for some, we now face a starkly utilitarian future, where, socially, the greater good is everything. Stoicism will be a virtue. Those who propose one-dimensional strategies in dealing with an insidious enemy should be treated warily. Hubristic politicians are best avoided. Patience is vital. Self-indulgence isnt helpful. Measured leadership and humility in our leaders should be valued.

Jon McMillan, Mount Eliza Its not that simple

Recent commentary that Australians have had plenty of time to return from overseas ignores some important points. Many Australians moved overseas to find work in their chosen field which wasnt available at home. They have employment contracts to fulfil and have leases on their accommodation. Perhaps, like a family member of mine, they also waited until they found employment back home. People returning to important work should not be seen as a burden. The current uncertainty is stressful to them and their families. Resettling in Australia will be difficult enough without bearing the full cost of hotel quarantine.

David Anthony, Ballan

Lets just do it

We argue endlessly about wearing masks. The science is unclear; but for each of us the downside is tiny; and the upside may be enormous. Lets just do it and use it too as a signal: I really care. Lets fix this together.

Andrew Laing, Williamstown A failed experiment

It was inevitable that Daniel Andrews would be feeling the heat for Victorias hotel quarantine failures (Insight, The Age, 11/7) when his government has embraced the neo-liberal economic model put in place in the 1980s by past federal and state governments. This model has seen previous government-supplied services, like education, energy generators, medical suppliers like CSL, telecommunications, road and rail infrastructure and even security services privatised or jointly developed as public-private partnerships. Universally we have seen the quality of services degraded, the cost of supply to the consumer increased and windfall profits flowing to the finance industry and to often shonky private operators.

The cost of this three-plus-decades-old, neo-liberal economic experiment is now obvious to all.

Craig Horne, Fitzroy North

AND ANOTHER THING Coronavirus

Ill give you 24 hours notice that Im going to lock the stable door, until then you can all bolt and spread out taking your diseases with you. Whatever happened to common sense?

Phil Allender, Nirranda Credit: Dont ask. Just mask.

Michael Petit, Brunswick Take swingeing cuts to the public health system, add ideological preference for private security services, mix with slashed regulatory red tape and voila: Coronavirus on steroids.

Greg Curtin, Blackburn South

Is anyone else appalled at the onslaught of advertising of winter remedies that disguise the symptoms of colds and flu at a time of the coronavirus spike?

David Baylis, Mentone New car number plate logo? Victoria  the Virus State.

Kum Mak, Glen Iris Politics

Michael OBrien must be so grateful he is leading the opposition, he has the opportunity to snipe without actually making any decisions.

Jean Andrews, Cheltenham What will Peter Dutton do if a boatload of refugees from Hong Kong arrives on the north coast?

Geoff Collis, Eltham At least Daniel Andrews doesnt have to worry about rallies in the city calling for his resignation.

Peter Venn, Bentleigh East
OTTAWA COUNTY, MI  A 34-year-old Hudsonville man is in critical condition after his vehicle drifted off the roadway, struck a cement culvert and was thrown into a light pole early Sunday morning.

The man was ejected from the vehicle during the crash, according to a news release from the Ottawa County Sheriffs Office. He sustained critical injuries in the crash and was transported to Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital via Aeromed.

Deputies responded to the crash, on 48th Avenue north of Van Buren Street in Georgetown Township, at about 2:11 a.m. July 12.

A preliminary investigation showed the man was driving south on 48th Avenue when his vehicle drifted off the east side of the roadway. The driver was not wearing a seatbelt, according to the accident report.

After exiting the roadway, the vehicle continued south along the ditch of 48th Avenue until it struck the water culvert for the driveway to Unity Christian High School. After striking the cement culvert the vehicle was thrown into a light pole where it came to a rest, deputies reported.

No other occupants were in the vehicle and no other vehicles were involved in this crash.

This crash remains under investigation by the sheriffs office.

Also on MLive:

Defund Police graffiti found near homes of Grand Rapids city officials, at city hall

Girl, 11, hit by car in Ottawa County crosswalk

Motorcyclist, passenger killed in hit-and-run in Newaygo County
Iran Says Misaligned Radar, Human Error To Blame For Downing Of Ukrainian Airliner

July 12, 2020

Iranian authorities say a misaligned missile battery and miscommunication between soldiers and superior officers were to blame for the January downing of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people.

The conclusions by Iran's Civil Aviation Organization were detailed in a new report released late on July 11.

Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 was struck by two missiles and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's main airport on January 8.

The disaster happened the same night that Iran launched a ballistic-missile attack that targeted U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

That attack was in response to an American drone strike that had killed the powerful commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major General Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad five days earlier.

"A failure occurred due to a human error in following the procedure" for aligning the radar, causing a "107-degree error" in the system, the Civil Aviation Authority said in its report.

The authority said the document was a "factual report" and not the final report for the accident.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-says-misaligned -radar-human-error-to-blame-for-ukrainian-jet- downing-that-killed-176/30721982.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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South African Rand (ZAR) Rocked by Mixed Market Mood

The South African Rand (ZAR) traded in a wide range against the Pound (GBP) and most of its other peers this week, against a backdrop of fluctuating market sentiment.

Movement in the Rand was initially driven by some domestic data however, with ZAR exchange rates stumbling in the first half of the week as South African consumer confidence plunged to a 30-year low in the second quarter.

But the Rand was quick to right itself, recouping the majority of its losses in the mid-week as a sharp sell-off of the US Dollar (USD) sent investors flocking to high-yield emerging market currencies.

The latter half of the week was then characterised by significant volatility in ZAR exchange rates as coronavirus uncertainty played havoc in emerging markets and resulted in the Rand closing the week on a sour note.

Market economists at ETM Analytics, said: Given all the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and global economic recovery prospects, market sentiment continues to switch between risk-on and risk-off in a matter of seconds.

Pound (GBP) Supported by New Stimulus Package

At the same time, while the Pound (GBP) has struggled to find any meaningful gains against the South African Rand (ZAR) this week, it has surged in broader trade.

After an initial stumble at the start of the week, despite the UK recording its strongest construction PMI in two years, investors turned bullish toward Sterling, propelling GBP exchange rates higher ahead of Chancellor Rishi Sunaks summer update.

This was the key focus of the week for GBP investors as Sunak outlined a new 30bn stimulus package aimed at helping protect jobs in sectors worst hit by the coronavirus crisis.

The Chancellor promised to leave no one without hope as he unveiled measures including incentives to employers to bring back furloughed staff, VAT cuts and the scrapping of stamp duty until next year.

While GBP investors welcomed the package, analysts warned more will need to be done if the Chancellor is to stave off mass unemployment in the future as Sunak confirmed the governments furlough scheme would be tapered off in October.

Analysts at Economic thinktank NIESR, said: While the aim of the summer statement is laudable, the new measures look to be badly timed and could precipitate a rapid increase in unemployment. The incentives offered to employers look too small to be effective. Many employers have been topping up the pay of furloughed workers and are expected to bear more of the cost of the scheme from next month. They will be reluctant to do this now they know that the scheme wont be extended

Meanwhile, tempering the Pounds gains through the latter half of the week were renewed Brexit jitters as the substantial difference remained between the UK and EU following the latest round of talks.

GBP investors were particularly worried by EU chief negotiator Michel Barniers warning that British companies should expect new barriers when selling their products in the EU after Brexit.

GBP/ZAR Forecast: Rebound in GDP to Buoy Sterling

Looking ahead to next weeks session, there will be a slew of UK economic releases to keep GBP investors busy, the most influential of which may be Mays GDP figures.

This could see the Pound to South African Rand (GBP/ZAR) exchange rate strengthen at the start of next week if GDP rebounded sharper-than-expected.

Also of note to GBP investors will be the UKs latest jobs report. Will a jump in unemployment in May undermine Sterling sentiment?

On top of this there will also be another round of Brexit talks taking place in Brussels next week, likely capping any upside in GBP exchange rates unless a breakthrough is found.

For ZAR investors the focus next week looks to be on South Africas latest CPI release, with another month of deflation likely to drag on the Rand.

The Rand is also likely to remain highly sensitive to market sentiment, potentially weakening ZAR exchange rates if coronavirus concerns continue to build.
The interim secretary general of the World Council of Churches has written to Turkey's president expressing his grief and dismay over Turkey's decision to change the status of Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque.

As a World Heritage museum, Hagia Sophia has been a place of openness, encounter and inspiration for people from all nations, Ioan Sauca said in the letter released Saturday by the Geneva-based group.

The colossal Hagia Sophia was built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral and was converted into a mosque after the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 1453. The secular Turkish government decided in 1934 to make it a museum.

Sauca said the museum status had been a powerful expression of Turkey's commitment to inclusion and secularism.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday formally converted the building back into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled the 1934 decision turning it into a museum.

Erdogan, a devout Muslim, has frequently used the debate over Hagia Sophia to drum up support for his Islamic-rooted party. The decision has provoked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians.
Madam,



The coronavirus is one major pandemic and natural disaster to have stigmatised the entire globe since the Noah ark incidence. The spread of the virus is much faster that the sale of hot cakes and this has led to a majority of countries in the world to close schools to curb the spread of the virus. The biggest question is what forced the Government of Eswatini to reopen schools? When the prime minister announced the closure of schools, I applauded the decision as it was aimed at protecting peoples lives. The virus is still a problem as the number of new cases keeps escalating.

I was one of those who were calling for the reopening of schools not because I was prioritizing education over health but it is also a fact that the virus is here to stay, so if we prolong the reopening of schools, when should they be reopened? Since the closure of schools I was hoping that government was working on the issue of how and when to reopen schools. But I was shocked when government ordered the reopening without providing teachers and pupils with protective clothing. How will checking the pupils temperature at the gates help in maintaining their health? The screening at the gates is of no use because the pupils will not be able to behave accordingly when inside the school premises. If government was still not ready to reopen schools, then why did it do it? Kenya decided to reopen schools in 2021, why didnt we do the same because its clear we are not ready in terms of safety and resources?

It was mention that the available quarantine centres are already packed, so where will people go if the reopening schools comes with an increase in positive cases? And where will the resources to cater for them come from, since government is already down on its knees financially? I think government must revoke its decision and close schools again. Education is a necessity but health should always come first. In conclusion I encourage the entire nation to be safe from the virus by observing all the required health measures and regulations.
The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 83 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the last 24 hours. This brings the total number of cases to 4,925. The number of deaths has increased to 111.

278,388 tests have been carried out in Luxembourg since the start of the outbreak, a rise of 4,522 since yesterday.

One new death was recorded.

As a reminder, the ministry of health only communicates the number of new infections, tests, and virus deaths on weekends.

On Friday, Luxembourg had recorded a total of 967 hospital recoveries. Three people were in intensive care, and 24 in standard care.

The reproduction rate (Rt) was 1.23 and the effective reproduction rate (Rt_eff) had decreased from 1.17 to 1.09.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus both in Luxembourg and abroad, see our live ticker.

Development since start of outbreak

New cases per day
.

Hindustan Unilevers decision to drop the words fair and lightening from its advertisement caption for its Fair & Lovely product has rendered the issue of colour of human skin as the critical focus of the public debate. For many, such a decision is welcome towards minimising, if not completely eliminating, discrimination based on colour- and gender-driven stereotypes. It is, perhaps, rightly argued that the opportune moment signifying a moral initiative taken by the company under reference, however, has arrived at such an initiative only after a long career that the advertisement under reference continued to enjoy. However, this initiative has come up primarily in the immediate context of the tragic death of George Floyd who was brutally killed in police action in the United States (US). The emergence of such moral sensitivity, which, for its validity, depends on the negative context of the tragic death, raises a couple of relevant questions. First, how does one understand the cosmetic companys arrival at this moral sensitivity? Second, how does the assumption that playing down the skin colour as a physical property of the corporeal body would have a positive impact on the moral constitution of the self as well as the other?

Arguably, as the late arrival at moral sensitivity would suggest, the market driven by an utilitarian profit motive lacks self-sufficiency, particularly with regard to social ethics. The logic of profit fails to create a compelling impact on those company owners who, on account of their disinterestedness, could not make their respective advertising policies sensitive to sociocultural equality. If the company under reference had responded to such a normative concern much before the occurrence of such a tragic context, it could have saved itself from the charge of being instrumental in its moral commitment to a social cause. While one would tend to appreciate the decision, in a larger sense, it could be argued that the capitalist market does suffer from this moral lapse. In the context of the general lapse in the economic world of the market, there is a scope for the moral argument that cultural equality or colour egalitarianism as a moral value does not seem to have its origin in the profit-driven market. Hence, those who control market transactions in general and cosmetic products in particular need to import moral values from spheres other than the market. Thus, these companies have to pick up some ethical tips from the moral practices around which human interactions happen outside the market transactions. It could be then argued that moral values may not necessarily have their origin in market transactions. The market, thus, tends to have an instrumental commitment to moral values that reside outside the former. A capitalist market works with the rational calculation that on instrumental considerations it is compelled to drop the politically incorrect tag in the present case of fairness from the caption of Fair & Lovely. What it cannot permit is the risk of adversely affecting the production of the cream under consideration. The moral standing of capitalism therefore lies in what it requires and not in what it permits.
By Nadia Prupis

Record carbon dioxide levels are set to surpass the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million (ppm) this year and will likely never fall below that line again in our lifetimes, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Photo credit: NASA

Scientists at the UK Met Office used emissions data, sea surface temperature figures and a climate model from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii to track the trajectory of CO2 levels and found that carbon dioxide will for the first time remain above 400 ppm all year and hence for our lifetimes.

Emissions have increased over the past 12 months due to the continued burning of fossil fuels, but the impact has also been exacerbated by an unbridled El Nino event. Reports from earlier this year also found that 2016 is poised to become the hottest year in recorded history.

The findings highlight increasingly urgent concerns about global efforts to curb climate change as outlined in the Paris agreement negotiated last December and signed in April by nearly 170 nations.

Its a sign we are still on track for a high emissions scenario. We wont be looking at below 400 ppm in our lifetimes, Richard Betts, co-author of the study and Met Office scientist, told Climate Home.

The outlets editor Ed King reports:

The fact emissions rose faster than usual, Betts told Climate Home, was no surprise.

Higher CO2 rates are expected as El Nino warms and dries tropical land areas, slowing the uptake of carbon by trees and plants and increasing the risks of forest fires.

[.] If and when the world continues to warm as the UNs climate science panel predicts it will based on current rates of warming gases, the threat of more fires at that scale could rise.

The study also found that devastating forest fires in Indonesia in 2015 and 2016which NASA scientists warned at the time were the worst climate crisis on Earthmay have fueled about 20 percent of El Ninos addition worldwide CO2 levels.

Photo credit: NOAA

Carbon concentrations have passed the 400 ppm limit before, but never permanently. The new study confirms that those days may be over for good.

Once you have passed that barrier, it takes a long time for CO2 to be removed from the atmosphere by natural processes, Betts told the Guardian on Monday. Even if we cut emissions, we wouldnt see concentrations coming down for a long time, so we have said goodbye to measurements below 400 ppm at Mauna Loa.

The authors write: In the longer term, a reduction in CO2 concentration would require substantial and sustained cuts in anthropogenic emissions to near zero.

The safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is around 350 ppm maximum, climate advocates say. But according to Betts, We could be passing above 450 ppm in roughly 20 years.

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Fremont plans to begin the school year next month with students doing distance learning from home. .

In a special meeting Friday afternoon, the Fremont Unified School District Board of Education voted 3-2 to start the school year with distance learning, which means teachers will use virtual instruction and classrooms will remain off-limits.

Districts across the Bay Area and state are figuring out how to start the new school year during a continuing coronavirus pandemic.

Oakland district officials said Friday students will begin with distance-learning before phasing into in-classroom instruction as soon as four weeks later. Teachers in San Jose are resisting plans to return to the classroom, citing health risks.

Under the Fremont boards plan, schools will remain shuttered until there are no new cases of the coronavirus reported in Alameda County for seven days, according to the boards motion. When the county reaches that benchmark, which is unlikely to be any time soon, the board will re-evaluate whether students can get back in the classroom.

The seven-day average of new daily cases in Alameda County was more than 120 on Saturday, and the last day that the county reported zero new cases was March 16.

The board plans to consider proposed exemptions from the distance learning plan for certain groups of priority students.

Board members Michele Berke, Ann Crosbie and Dianne Jones voted to approve the motion, while board president Desrie Campbell and vice president Larry Sweeney objected.

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.

Campbell said officials need to factor equity into the decision. Some families have technology or language gaps that make it difficult for children to access virtual learning.

I have some concerns about some of the families who are not able to do distance learning, Campbell said during the meeting. This is something that I will not be supporting.

Anna Bauman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: anna.bauman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @abauman2
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-11 23:46:33|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

- - - -

RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday 2,994 new coronavirus cases, raising the total number in the kingdom to 229,480, the health ministry tweeted.

In addition, the cases of recovery increased to 165,396 after 2,370 new recoveries were reported, while 30 more fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 2,181.

- - - -

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi Health Ministry on Saturday confirmed 2,734 new COVID-19 cases, as the total number of infections climbed to 75,194.

A statement issued by the ministry also confirmed 95 more deaths during the day, raising the death toll from the virus to 3,055 in the country.

It also said that 1,699 people recovered, bringing the total recoveries from the disease to 43,079.

- - - -

YANGON -- The number of COVID-19 infection cases has increased to 330 in Myanmar as of Saturday, according to latest figures from the country's Ministry of Health and Sports.

According to the ministry's release, four people tested positive for COVID-19 while being under quarantine in Yangon region after their recent arrivals from India and Britain.

- - - -

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN -- Brunei reported no new case of COVID-19 on Saturday with the national tally of cases standing at 141.

It marked the 65th consecutive day without new cases since May 7.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, no active cases are being treated at the National Isolation Center.

- - - -

YEREVAN -- Armenia on Saturday reported 489 new COVID-19 cases, taking its total to 31,392, according to the country's center for disease control.

Data from the center showed that 710 more patients have recovered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 19,419.

- - - -

BEIJING -- Chinese authorities issued a statement on promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the development of the maritime economy on Saturday, the 16th Maritime Day of China.

China's seafarers are still at the forefront of ensuring the smooth operation of international logistics and supply chains as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide, according to the document posted on the website of the Ministry of Transport.

- - - -

HANOI -- Vietnam reported a new case of COVID-19 infection on Saturday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 370 with zero deaths so far, according to its Ministry of Health.

The latest case is a 29-year-old Serbian man recently entering the country from Oman, said the ministry, noting that he was quarantined upon arrival. Enditem
Maxwell was with her rescue cat at her 800,000 New Hampshire property at 8.20am on July 2 when the door was bashed down

A massive cat-hunt was launched after Ghislaine Maxwells terrified pet ran off injured when 60 armed FBI agents and police used a battering ram to smash down her door.

Maxwell was with her rescue cat at her 800,000 New Hampshire property at 8.20am on July 2 when the door was bashed down.

A source familiar with the FBI operation said: All hell broke loose. The door was smashed in along with half the front wall. The cat was injured and terrified out of its wits and took off into the woods.

As Maxwell was hauled off in handcuffs to Merrimack County jail, her pet was forced to fend for itself in the 156-acre woods around her home  the area is filled with bears and porcupines.

In the middle of everything else, a major mission was launched to save this poor animal which had been hurt and was out there trying to avoid being eaten by a bear, said a source.

There were security people and highly paid lawyers out there looking in the woods. No-one wanted any harm to come to this poor creature.

The search went on for four days before the cat was finally discovered. The animal has been treated and is doing well.

The irony is, the front door was unlocked so there was no reason to smash it down with a battering ram and cause so much chaos and damage. It was overkill and the poor cat was an innocent victim.

As Maxwell was hauled off in handcuffs to Merrimack County jail, her pet was forced to fend for itself in the 156-acre woods around her home  the area is filled with bears and porcupines

Maxwell, who had not been seen in public since Epstein killed himself in a New York jail after being charged with multiple child sex offenses, bought the stunning home in Bradford, New Hampshire, in an all-cash deal last December.

It is in the name of Granite LLC and, unlike her London property, has not been put up as part of her bail surety.

On Friday Maxwells lawyers said six friends and family members have offered to put up $5 million for her to get bail, which includes her mews home in Londons Belgravia, worth more than 3 million.

The mews home is where the infamous picture of Prince Andrew with Virginia Roberts was taken in 2001, on the night she says she was first forced to have sex with the Prince

The mews home is where the infamous picture of Prince Andrew with Virginia Roberts was taken in 2001, on the night she says she was first forced to have sex with the Prince.

Andrew vehemently denies all claims and said in his Newsnight interview he did not recall ever meeting Ms Roberts and was at a Pizza Express in Woking on the night in question.

Maxwell has offered to rent a home in New York if granted bail at Tuesdays hearing and to pay for private security.

Her lawyers argue she never tried to flee during the past 12 months and never left the country despite having UK, US and French passports.

She will wear an ankle tag and be monitored round the clock if she is allowed out of jail.
The European Union said long-stalled talks between Serbia and Kosovo were back on track after a video meeting between the two countries leaders.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic held a virtual meeting mediated by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

The video summit was aimed at setting up the first face-to-face meeting of the Balkan leaders since November 2018 under an EU-backed dialogue process.

EU special envoy Miroslav Lajcak, who also took part in the meeting, said Vucic and Hoti were scheduled to meet in Brussels on July 16.

The EU-facilitated dialogue on [a] comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo is back on track after 20 months, said Lajcak after the end of the virtual meeting.

We agreed on the main elements of the process. We also agreed on the agenda of our next meeting that will take place this coming Thursday, in Brussels, in person. I want to thank our partners for their constructive engagement today, Lajcak said.

On July 10, the two Balkan nations agreed to resume talks after a video summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In those talks, Vucic and Hoti held firm to their positions. Vucic said the EU-backed process will be meaningless if they focus on whether Belgrade should recognize Kosovos independence. Hoti said mutual recognition between the two countries is the only way to normalize relations.

"The talks will require political courage from both sides," Borrell said in a statement earlier. "It has never been easy to find solutions to problems that lasted for so long and were so painful."

In a joint statement after the July 10 talks, France and Germany said that Vucic and Hoti agreed to resume the dialogue and said the two agreed to deepen cooperation in various areas to help rebuild trust.

The statement noted that the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is extremely important for security and stability in the region and, beyond that, of great significance for the EU membership prospects of both countries."

Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008 in a move rejected by Belgrade. Five of the EUs 27 countries  Romania, Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, and Spain  also dont recognize Kosovos independence.

EU-mediated negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade broke down in 2018 over reports of a proposed land swap and after Kosovo imposed a 100-percent tax on Serbian imports.

Both Kosovo and Serbia, which aspire to join the EU, have been facing mounting pressure from the West to reboot negotiations.

The new push comes after prosecutors in The Hague charged Kosovar President Hashim Thaci with war crimes, leading to the postponement of a planned June 27 White House summit between Thaci and his Serbian counterpart.

With reporting by AP
12.07.2020 LISTEN

Ghana, like the rest of the world is reeling under the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic that is ravaging the world. The COVID-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first two cases of the disease in Ghana were confirmed on 12 March 2020, when two infected people returned from Norway and Turkey. It will be recalled that on 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that the novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness that affected a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. This was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019. In response to the fast spread of the disease, government imposed a partial lockdown on the two biggest cities: Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi as a way of containing the spread.

This partial lockdown though did not affect Health workers but inconvenienced them greatly. It should however be noted that our employer has to a large extent motivated us by granting all health workers six-month tax exemption and has also offered to pay some selected healthcare workers additional 50% of their monthly remuneration for three months.

Recognizing the complementary nature of different skills in the provision of healthcare delivery which are all crucial, as well as the fact that our membership is composed of different classes of health workers, we in the Health Services Workers Union see all healthcare workers as frontline workers.

Prior to the emergence of the devastating and livelihood-wrecking COVID 19 members of the Health Service Workers Union had worked in an underfunded, under-resourced, and un-prioritized healthcare delivery sector. Without gross exaggeration majority of the members are up in arms against their employers for myriad of unresolved labor disputes.

According to Bangdiwala et al., the increased globalization and interdependence among countries, sustained health worker migration and the complex threats of rapidly spreading infectious diseases coupled with changing lifestyles, makes the health workforce essential. Building the human resources for the health sector should not only include healthcare professionals like physicians and nurses, but every worker within the healthcare value chain.

A strengthened primary healthcare system will increase coverage and address the basic health needs of societies, especially in low and middle-income countries where healthcare access is a critical challenge. There is a global crisis in the health workforce, expressed in acute shortages and mal-distribution of health workers, geographically and professionally. This massive global shortage, though imprecise quantitatively, is estimated at more than 4 million workers.

Ghanas healthcare expenditure has increased over the past two decades. However, increased healthcare expenditure is required to enhance the acquisition of better hospital resources that may improve healthcare.

This disturbing situation of Ghanas Healthcare delivery system is further escalated by the emergence of COVID 19 and its attendant challenges. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, health care systems across the globe have reported substantial personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages, compromising their ability to keep health care professionals safe while treating increasing numbers of patients. Gloves, face masks, N95 respirators, powered air-purifying respirators, eye protection, and gowns are central to transmission-based precautions. An initial delay in COVID-19 testing increased PPE use, further intensifying demand and Ghana is no exception. Presently, over 779 health care workers have been infected in Ghana, many of who worked in our government hospitals. The break down are 190 members of the GMA, 410 nurses, 156 members of the Health Services Workers Union, and 23 members of the Pharmacist Association make up the number of infected health personnel.

UNION INTERVENTIONS

Representing members of our union, we have consistently monitored interventions by employers and government to ensure strict adherence to ILO protocols in safeguarding the lives of our members with reference to Article 21 of our Collective Agreement with the Ministry of Health which provides that a health agency or facility shall place emphasis on the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees at all times. To this end, the Agency or Facility shall provide in writing Health and Safety Regulations and these shall be reviewed periodically. Similarly the Labour Act 651 (2003) enjoins the employer to provide for coherent and systematic measures aimed at promoting occupational safety and health of workers. For instance, Section 9 (a) of the Act states that the employer shall provide work appropriate raw materials, machinery, equipment and tools and (c) take all practicable steps to ensure that the worker is free from risk of personal injury or damage to his or her health during and in the course of the workers employment or while lawfully on the employers premises. These provisions set forth the principle that workers must be protected from sickness, disease and injury arising from their employment. Yet for us in the Health Services Workers Union the reality is very different.

The Unions response to the pandemic is driven by passion built on the tenets of representation and social justice. The Union has additionally procured ten thousand pieces of hand sanitizers and thirty thousand nose masks and has since distributed to all its members. Additionally, the Union continues to advocate for the Government to supply health workers with PPEs.

To respond to this crisis, policies and actions are needed to address the dynamics of the health labor market and the production and management of the health workforce to strengthen the performance of existing health systems. Schools of public health need to develop the range of capacity and leadership in addition to the traditional training of healthcare managers and researchers.

Jerry Detse Mensah-Pah is the Regional Industrial Relations Officer of the Health Services Workers Union of TUC Ghana and a fellow at Centre for Social Impact Studies (CeSIS).
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 10:56:26|Editor: huaxia

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PHNOM PENH, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Sunday confirmed 15 new imported COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 156, according to a health ministry's statement.

The new cases are 15 Cambodian men, aged between 21 and 33 years old, the statement said, adding that they all travelled from Saudi Arabia to Cambodia on Friday, with a connecting flight in Malaysia.

"They were tested positive for COVID-19 (on Saturday) and are currently undergoing treatment at the Chak Angre Health Center in southern Phnom Penh," Health Ministry's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said in the statement.

She added that all other 79 passengers including 78 Cambodians and one Malaysian have been placed under a 14-day mandatory quarantine at various quarantine centers.

The Southeast Asian country has recorded a total of 156 confirmed COVID-19 cases to date, with 133 patients cured and 23 remained hospitalized, said Vandine. Enditem
The Red Sox announced that left-hander Mike Kickham has been added to the teams player pool. Boston now has 50 players in their pool, ten shy of the 60-man maximum.

Kickham joined the Sox on a minors contract last December, and is looking to make it back to the big leagues for the first time since the 2014 season. The southpaw posted a 10.98 ERA over 30 1/3 innings for the Giants in 2013-14 and then bounced around the minors and the independent leagues. Kickhams journeyman sojourn brought him to the Cubs, Mariners, Rangers, a return stint with the Giants, and (for the past three seasons) the Marlins farm system. A return call to the majors hasnt come despite some decent numbers, as Kickham has a 4.06 ERA, 2.19 K/BB rate, and 7.8 K/9 over 835 1/3 career minor league frames.

Given the uncertain nature of Bostons pitching, Kickham might have a decent shot at cracking the Sox roster. Staff ace Eduardo Rodriguez and left-handers Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor are are sidelined after positive COVID-19 tests, plus Collin McHugh wont be fully ready to pitch by Opening Day. This creates plenty of opportunity for a pitcher like Kickham to earn a roster spot as the Red Sox try to figure out how theyll approach this dearth of arms.
It has been more than two decades since Gwyneth Paltrow starred as Helen Quilley in the romcom Sliding Doors, but 2020 has all the hallmarks of a time where our lives could have taken a very different turn.

Certainly, this upheaval in the world from the coronavirus pandemic isn't quite as simple as when Helen missed the train and her life spiralled onto two alternate paths.

Diversity in the boardroom can bring better results, research has found. Credit:iStock

But right now, in so many ways, it is easy to feel we have little control about what is going on around us and even less say over our future. This is particularly the case when the focus on the immediate effect of the pandemic is rightly dominating the minds of business leaders and policy makers tasked with steering the country through this health and economic crisis.

This path we have ended up on, however, is not carved in stone. And 2020 has given us a chance to reflect and do better so when we look back on this moment, we don't have to spend it lamenting all the things that could have been different.
The runway extension project at Con Dao Airport will reclaim 120 metres from the sea and cost VND2.3trn (US$99m).

The Department of Transport at Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province has submitted a report about the progress of Ba Ria-Vung Tau's key projects in 2020, in which the runway extension at Con Dao Airport is one of the most important projects.

According to the adjusted development plan for aviation sector until 2020 with a view to 2030, Con Dao Airport will be used for military purposes and civil services with a capacity to serve 2 million passengers a year. It will cover a 141-ha land and cost VND2.3trn.

On April 20, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung granted the Ministry of Transport the authority to approve of the adjusted development plan for Con Dao Airport.

Since the project would reclaim 120 metres from the sea, the Ministry of Transport has asked Vietnam Airlines and consultant agencies to review the design plan to ensure that the project meets ICAO's requirements. The design plan will be submitted to the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam and the Ministry of Transport.

Con Dao Airport went into operation in 2004 and was upgraded to receive ATR72 plane and other similar planes. Its runways were 1.8 km long and 30 metres wide. It had three parking lots for planes and a terminal to serve 200 passengers.

In 2006, it was upgraded again to serve 300,000 passengers a year. However, it can only operate for 12 hours a day because the airport is located in a valley with bad weather. Two sides are surrounded by the hills and two sides are the sea and the lighting system is too out-dated for night flights.

In the past years, VASCO has increased the number of flights to Con Dao to 20 return flights as demand is high. The number of visitors to Con Dao Island has grown by 25-30% annually. Dtinews

Why does only one airline fly to Con Dao Island? Deputy head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) Vo Huy Cuong affirmed that the watchdog agency is unbiased when licensing air routes to Con Dao Island.
Many analysts say that Chinas actions in Ladakh mirror the more assertive approach it has taken across Asia, especially in the South China Sea.

New Delhi: First it was cellphone towers, new roads and surveillance cameras, popping up on the Chinese side of the disputed Himalayan border with India.

Then it was more run-ins between troops on each side, pushing, shoving and eventually getting into fistfights.

Then, about three years ago, Indian soldiers spotted their Chinese foes carrying iron bars with little numbers written on them  a weapon apparently issued as standard gear, and a sign that the Chinese were gearing up for hand-to-hand combat.

This is how China operates, said JP Yadav, a recently retired official with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, on the Indian side. These are very planned things.

Now, weeks after a deadly clash erupted along the border, thousands of Chinese and Indian troops are amassed over a contentious, jagged line in one of the most remote places on earth. Satellite photos reveal a major Chinese buildup, including a blizzard of new tents, new storage sheds, artillery pieces and even tanks.

Each country has accused the other of provocative actions along the murky border. But according to people who live and work in the region, Ladakh, a Chinese push into Indian territory has been building for years.

The area, high up in the Himalayas, has little obvious strategic value, few resources and few people  its difficult to even breathe up there, with much of the terrain above 15,000 feet. But India and China, both in the grip of increasingly nationalistic governments, will not give an inch of territory, even along a border so remote that it has never been conclusively mapped.

The Ladakhis caught in between are a fragile group, numbering perhaps a few hundred thousand. They are Tibetan in culture, identify themselves as Indian and have long been pulled in different directions at the edges of empire.

If we dont speak now, it will be too late, said Rigzin Spalbar, a Ladakhi politician. The Chinese have intruded and encroached on our land. Even the media is not telling the truth. They are only showing the things that the government wants them to show.

Mr. Spalbar and other prominent Ladakhis insist that they have reported Chinese incursions for years, but that the Indian military refused to do anything about it. They say there was a code of silence, in which the Indian media was complicit, and that the Indian armed forces didnt want to face the fact that a more powerful and aggressive military was steadily nibbling away at its territory.

Indian Army officials declined to comment for this article. Chinese officials have been stingy with details as well, including about whether any Chinese troops were killed in the clash in June. Western intelligence agents, who see the border as one of Asias most dangerous flash points, say they think that China lost more than a dozen soldiers in the fight.

In early July, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi swooped into Ladakh, rallying the troops while wearing a puffy green army jacket and aviator-style shades.

Friends, he vowed, the era of expansionism is over, implying that India was willing to push back against China.

Years ago, the two countries agreed that their troops should not shoot at each other during border standoffs. But the Chinese seem to be testing the limits. In the June fighting, which left 20 Indians and an unknown number of Chinese dead, Indian commanders say that Chinese troops used iron clubs bristling with spikes.

Many analysts say that Chinas actions in Ladakh mirror the more assertive approach China has taken across Asia, especially in the South China Sea, since its leader, Xi Jinping, took over in 2012.

And Mr. Modis brand of renewed Indian nationalism may also have provoked the Chinese. The Indians, too, have also been building military roads along the disputed border, known as the Line of Actual Control. And Indian officials recently promised to take back Aksai Chin, a high-altitude plateau that India says is part of Ladakh but that China controls and claims as its own.

Aksai Chin is a very important strategic place to the Chinese military, said Yue Gang, a retired colonel in the Peoples Liberation Army. If India were to seize it, he said, it would cut the transportation between Tibet and Xinjiang, two restive areas that China is constantly concerned about.

In culture, language, history and Buddhism, Ladakh is close to Tibet. But Ladakhi scholars are firm about one thing: They dont want to be part of China.

Up until a few years ago, Ladakhi and Tibetan nomads roamed freely, pushing their herds of goats, sheep and yak across the lonely, high-altitude plains. They used to converge along a stretch of the Line of Actual Control and barter.

Ladakhis see themselves as Indians, said Sonam Joldan, a Ladakhi political scientist.

The Ladakhis carried Indian products like basmati rice; the Tibetans brought Chinese-made goods like plastic Thermoses. The trading sessions ended, Ladakhis say, after Chinese troops occupied the area.

This is hardly the first time Ladakh has been swept up into geopolitics.

In the mid-19th century, the British helped set up the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which seems to stretch endlessly across the Himalayas. The British, who controlled the Indian subcontinent, believed that the bigger the buffer zone against the Russian empire, the better.

So they allowed the maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir to also grab neighboring Ladakh, enabling him to corner the lucrative trade in pashmina wool. This part of Asia is known for its cashmere (the word for which is derived from Kashmir), and Ladakhs longhaired Changthangi goats produce especially fine pashmina.

But even after several treaties were signed, the border between Ladakh and China was never neatly defined. It snakes across high mountains that few people have ever climbed.

There were different narratives during the British times, said Siddiq Wahid, a scholar of Central Asian history. Aksai Chin was a part of a Tibet, and it was not a part of Tibet, it was part of Ladakh and not part of Ladakh.

Shortly after India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan was created, war erupted between the two countries over Jammu and Kashmir. The princely state, which had hoped to stay independent, hurriedly agreed to be part of India, and thus Ladakh became Indian.

In 1950, China invaded Tibet and soon built a road linking it to Xinjiang, slicing through Aksai Chin. The area was so desolate that it wasnt until several years later that India even found out about the road. This triggered a brief war in 1962 that ended in a disastrous loss for India, and China seized all of Aksai Chin, more than 14,000 square miles.

By the mid-1970s, things had cooled down, at least on the China front. A protocol evolved between Indian and Chinese troops, including a ban on firearms during border standoffs and regular meetings to iron out disputes.

Things were still hot with Pakistan, though. The same piece of territory, Jammu and Kashmir, has propelled India into repeated conflicts with both Pakistan and China  two nations which, like India, have nuclear arms today.

Indian soldiers who served along the China border in the 1980s and 1990s remember friendly interactions with the Chinese troops.

We used to shake hands and they would take photos with us and we would take photos with them, said Sonam Murup, a retired officer.

Those visits with the Chinese were welcome distractions. Soldiers stationed along the border had to tramp around a frozen moonscape for weeks, with little food or water.

Wed wash our face once maybe every 15 or 16 days, Mr. Murup recalled.

But the bonhomie with the Chinese ended years ago. Ladakhis say Chinese troops have blocked herders access to Indian territory in areas like Demchok and Pangong Tso, a scenic lake where several brawls have erupted.

Indian officers say they have tried to follow protocols for avoiding confrontation, like unfurling banners that read This Is Indian Territory in English and Chinese, but that the Chinese refuse to listen. Indian commanders acknowledge that their soldiers, too, now carry hand weapons, like bamboo sticks and sling shots.

The Chinese have clearly outpaced India in developing the region, Indian commanders concede, which could give them a strategic advantage in a conflict.

They have better facilities, said Mr. Yadav, the former border official. He said China had paved a highway running right along the border and that Chinese border troops were resupplied by military vehicles carrying supplemental oxygen.

But Mr. Yadav said the Indians had some advantages. He claimed the Chinese troops were in poorer shape, saying, They dont walk much.

More important, he added: They have not seen war, while on our side our soldiers have been waging war every day in Kashmir.
The PAP won 83 of the 93 parliamentary seats in the polling, compared to 83 of the 89 seats in the last general election in 2015, showed the results revealed by Returning Officer Tan Meng Dui early on Saturday (July 11) morning.

The ruling party garnered 61.24 percent of the votes, compared to 69.86 percent in 2015 general election.

A total of 191 candidates from 11 political parties and an independent candidate contested in the election.

The whole country is organized into 14 Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) and 17 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs), with a total number of 2.65 million eligible voters. A total of 96 percent of the eligible voters cast their votes in the election.

The PAP won victory in 13 SMCs and 15 GRCs.

The Workers' Party (WP), which got six seats in the 2015 election, secured 10 seats this year, becoming the only opposition party to succeed in some constituencies.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long and his team won Ang Mo Kio GRC with 71.91 percent of the votes. The PAP team also safeguarded the West Coast GRC by challenging the 80-year-old politician Tan Cheng Bock, who formed the Progress Singapore Party last year. Tan lost the presidential election in 2011 with a narrow margin.

Lee told a press conference early on Saturday morning that the percentage of popular votes that the PAP had won is not as high as he had hoped for, but the results reflected the broad-based supports for the PAP.

He said the results reflected "the pain and anxiety" felt by Singaporeans in this crisis, and the clear desire for a diversity of voices in the parliament.

With the election over, it is time for Singaporeans to put aside their differences and come together to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, protect jobs and "create the future together," the prime minister said.

Amid the spread of the virus, Singapore's President Halimah Yacob dissolved the parliament and issued the Writ of Election on June 23. The contesting candidates spent nine days campaigning since the nomination day.

After a cooling-off day on Thursday, the polling was held on Friday when voters went to 1,100 polling stations nationwide to cast their votes. The polling hours were formerly announced to be from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time, which was later extended by two hours.

Additional protective measures taken in the election such as voters sanitizing their hands and wearing disposable gloves before receiving the ballot papers, may have triggered the long queues at some polling stations.
Dozens gathered Saturday to discuss why a Black Lives Matter billboard in a parking lot in southwest Houston caused such strife in the local Vietnamese community that death threats were made against the man who bought the sign.

Insurance company owner Le Hoang Nguyen, who is Vietnamese American, paid for a billboard that read Black Lives Matter and Stop Racism in English and Vietnamese.

Soon after the billboard went up, Nguyen said in a July 8 Facebook post that he had received messages from people within the Vietnamese community calling for his lynching and to boycott his business.

You try to be strong but when your entire life, 50 years, that you worked so hard to build, to share, gets unfairly and unjustly judged, convicted and executed  in the court of public opinion, it hurts, said Nguyen in the video, while donning a cap with an American flag.

Tran Quoc Anh, president of the Vietnamese Community of Houston and Vicinities, said Saturday that he planned a town-hall meeting to discuss the strife, but that it was canceled because the shopping center owner feared for his tenants in case of a protest. Tran said he still showed up to announce that the event was called off.

Were here together to help both sides educate each other  why they support it, why they are against it  and together, we can sit down in our community so we can be peaceful, Tran said. We dont want it to blow up.

Nguyen, who was not present at Saturdays event, declined to comment, but said in a public statement that his goal was to use the billboard to start important, but difficult conversations, to inspire future leaders, and to show support for ending all racism and injustice.

It is not a political message. It does not support any particular organization. It supports the simple idea of the Black Lives Matter movement to stop racism and injustice for all, he said. It does not mean other lives do not matter. I believe every life matters. But, if we do not stand up for the lives of those most marginalized, how can we say that all lives matter?

Different experiences

In his statement, Nguyen also responded to arguments he received that Vietnamese Americans also face discrimination and that the U.S. is the land of opportunity and requires hard work to succeed. Nguyen agreed  noting his own experiences with racism as an immigrant and Vietnamese American  but stated that the discrimination has differed from the experiences of Black Americans.

I did not grow up with people who ran when they saw me. I did not have to fear for my life anytime I saw the police. I was never told I am worthless by those with different skin colors, Nguyen said. I know that my life would have been a lot harder to build if I did. Who am I to judge the enduring challenges that others face?

Around 30 community members, including State Reps. Gene Wu and Hubert Vo, both Democrats who represent the area, turned out to the billboard site Saturday.

Vo, who became the first Vietnamese American elected to the state Legislature, said hes faced discrimination his entire life as an Asian American and wanted to stand in solidarity with the Black community.

Im here to support our fellow minority community, Vo said. We need to put a stop to this because were in the 21st century. This shouldnt be happening anymore.

Wu said he was notified that an anti-Black protest would take place at the billboard site, causing him to call on people to counter the protest in a tweet on Friday night, before learning that it was canceled.

As a representative of the Asian community and a local state representative, my stance is that bigotry or hatred of any kind in this city of diversity, immigration and tolerance simply will not stand, Wu said.  The community in general was concerned that this was going to be a black eye for the Asian community, because the Asian American community has not had a great relationship  with the African American community, and that is a shame.

Bang Nguyen, 60, however, said he believes the billboard sends the wrong message to the community and implies that the Vietnamese community has issues with the Black community.

We are not against Blacks or any race here, Bang Nguyen. Why is it that they decide to bring it here? Its more of a political thing than anything else. They give the Black community the wrong message that the Vietnamese community are racist or against Blacks, and that is not correct.

Anna Duc Tran, 72, agreed with Bang Nguyen, feeling as though the billboard was a tool of division.

We are here to gather everyone to pray for everyone to love each other, every race, said Anna Duc Tran through translator and freelance writer Nguyen Le. We value all human lives.  We must not discriminate against each other.

Though Anne Chao, the manager of the Houston Asian American Archive and adjunct lecturer in the humanities department at Rice University, considers racism human nature, she says that racial discrimination has undoubtedly been a part of Asian culture  some of it stemming from ignorance, Asian societys praise for lighter skin and some of it from a complicated history with other communities.

Chao said that Asian Americans and immigrants were discriminated against once arriving in the U.S., especially when white residents felt that they were threatening their jobs. Many Asian American immigrants found ways to start their own businesses, including independent grocery stores in Houstons African American neighborhoods, such as Third and Fifth Wards and Sunnyside, where the rent was typically cheaper.

Model minority myth

Relationships between Black and Asian communities were mostly cordial through the 1950s, Chao said.

Asian grocers began to sell credit to African American customers and hired within the Black community for deliveries, Chao said, but in the 1960s, at the height of the civil rights movement, things began to change.

Bad experiences with looting, rioting and robberies during that time caused many Asian American business owners to leave certain neighborhoods, Chao said. Many held onto their experiences, causing some to think negatively of African Americans, Chao added.

Some would suspect customers to be thieves or wouldnt let African Americans touch products in their stores in fear them being stolen, she said.

Chao said activist Glenda Joe, who was half-Chinese and half-Irish, worked to help Asian American business owners in Houston to become more welcoming of all patrons and to combat negative stereotypes of Black people and colorist sentiments. Some of the tension subsided, but some of it endured.

The myth of the model minority, a concept that praises Asian people for being hard-working and silent about their discontent while comparing them to other minorities, has also not helped relations between the Asian and Black communities, Wu added. This myth, Wu said, is a common form of racism against Asian Americans that restricts their ability to speak up about needed change and move forward, especially into leadership positions.

The Asian American community needs to not only stand up against that, but they need to stand up for other communities. Because if Black lives dont matter, why would Asian lives matter? Wu said.

Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas, of District F, who watched many of the interactions from afar, said the attacks against Nguyen shows what has been happening historically  the demonization and disregard of Black people.

She added that a larger conversation needs to happen between members of the Asian American and Black community in Houston  especially in District F where the billboard is located.

According to local government data, the area was 42 percent Hispanic, 24 percent Black, 18 percent Asian, 14 percent white, and 2 percent other in 2018.

Brandon Mack, 36, an organizer of Black Lives Matters Houston chapter, said people of different generations showing up in solidarity and in support of Black lives was an important step.

It is about building and bridging communities together because collectively that is how were going to get to where we have racial equity and racial equality in our country, and its going to be through collaboration and people educating each other on why Black lives matter and the importance of stopping racism, Mack said.

brittany.britto@chron.com
An Iranian air defense unit that forgot to adjust its radar system triggered a chain of communication and human errors that led to the deadly downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet in January, according to a report from Irans Civil Aviation Organization.

Iran said it mistakenly shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 shortly after take-off, killing all 176 aboard. Decoding of the jets black boxes is expected to start July 20.

The plane was downed by two missiles, fired 30 seconds apart, from an air defense unit that mistook the jet for a cruise missile. An operator had forgotten to re-adjust the north direction on the radar system after moving to a new position, an error that contributed to misreading the radars data, according to the report published on CAOs website on Saturday.

The operator of the air defense system launched a missile at what it had detected as a hostile target without response from the command center, CAO said in the report, adding that an unnamed person took action independently and without authorization from superiors.

The incident took place hours after Irans defense systems were put on high alert following the countrys missile attack on a US air base in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian general by the order of President Donald Trump.

Six people have been arrested in connection with the incident, authorities said in June without giving details.
An 11-month-old baby girl has tragically died in a house fire in Bargo, south-west of Sydney.

Emergency crews were called to the scene on Avon Dam Road about 6.25pm on Sunday night and arrived to find the house well alight.

NSW Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia a baby found unresponsive during the search of the home died at the scene.

Three adults and another child who managed to escape were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and shock.

The body of a baby was found inside a burning home in Bargo on Sunday night

Multiple fire crews were called to the scene of a house fire which claimed the life of a baby

The home was destroyed in the fatal blaze, despite the desperate efforts of fire crews

NSW Ambulance paramedics treated a woman, 79, and a man, 57, for smoke inhalation and lacerations. Another woman, 27, was treated for shock.

They were taken to Campbelltown Hospital in a stable condition along with an 18-month-old boy who was also taken to hospital as a precaution.

Six Fire and Rescue NSW crews, with assistance from Bargo Rural Fire Service battled to bring the blaze under control, which has since been extinguished.

The house was destroyed in the blaze and is now a crime scene.

'Fire investigators are making their way out the scene,' a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman said.

Footage from the scene shows smokes billowing from the home.

A number of fire trucks blocking the cordoned off road as shocked residents watched on.

Paramedics were also seen carrying a small child to a nearby ambulance.

Police advised that Avon Dam Road is currently closed and for motorists to use Lupton Road as an alternative route.

The latest tragedy to rock the town 100 kilometres south-west of Sydney comes seven months after 50 homes were lost in the devastating bushfires last December.
London, July 12 : Wendy Barclay, chairwoman in influenza virology at Imperial College London, has said that coronavirus particles can remain infectious in the air for more than an hour.

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Barclay said: ""It is the first time that the World Health Organization has acknowledged that the airborne route contributes to the spread of this disease.

"Of course, there are other routes as well... But what this new acknowledgement means is that the route through the air probably also contributes in some circumstances." Barclay said the virus could remain suspended in the air and travel some distance away from the person who had breathed them out, with laboratory studies showing it could remain infectious in the air for more than an hour.

She added that replenishing the air in a room was important to avoiding spreading the virus, rather than recirculating the air like some air conditioning systems do.

Barclay's remarks come after the World Health Organization (WHO) last week acknowledged that there emerging evidence that COVID-19 can be spread by tiny particles suspended in the air, the BBC reported.

The airborne transmission could not be ruled out in crowded, closed or poorly ventilated settings, a WHO official had said.

WHO officials have cautioned the evidence is preliminary and requires further assessment.

If the evidence is confirmed, it may affect guidelines for indoor spaces.

As of Sunday, the total number of global coronavirus cases stood at 12,735,924, with 565,489 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot tried to warn the Congress leadership about the trouble brewing in the state government about two weeks ago, according to party insiders aware of the developments.

Pilot, who is also the state Congress president, held a one-on-one meeting with senior leader Ahmed Patel in the national capital in June end to discuss his differences with chief minister Ashok Gehlot, leaders from both camps confirmed on condition of anonymity.

In the meeting, Pilot told Patel, considered a close aide of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, that his differences with Gehlot had gone too far, according to one of the leaders cited above. There was a long list of grievances that he spoke about.

It is not clear what emerged at the meeting as both Patel and Pilot were unavailable for comment. It is also unclear if there was any follow-up action by the Congress.

Pilot also met other senior leaders such as KC Venugopal, general secretary in charge of organisation.

That Pilot and Gehlot had differences was not unknown in the party circles. When the Congress won the 2018 elections, bagging 107 seats in the 200-member assembly, Pilots supporters credited him for the victory. But Gehlot dug in his heels. Rahul Gandhi, the then Congress president, made Gehlot the CM and Pilot his deputy.

Also read: Amid political turmoil in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot to skip key party meet

However, as a second leader pointed out, this arrangement was more on paper than in reality. The deputy chief minister had limited powers and wouldnt be consulted on any decisions in the state. Most of the times he found out about cabinet decisions from media reports, this person added, asking not to be named.

And while Pilot was the party chief in the state, efforts were on to have him replaced.

On Sunday, as the Congress stared at crisis, party MP and former minister Kapil Sibal tweeted: Worried for our party. Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables?

Congress leaders say there may be a maximum of 19 legislators, perhaps fewer, supporting Pilot, who visited Delhi over the weekend. His supporters are believed to be in a hotel in Gurugram. According to one of the leaders backing Pilot, the number of legislators supporting him could increase. News agency PTI reported that Pilot claims there are 30 MLAs backing him and that the Gehlot government is already a minority one.

Also read: Sidelining of Pilot in crucial decisions behind the turmoil?

The crisis in Rajasthan surfaced when the state police issued notices to Gehlot, who is also the home minister, and Pilot over an alleged bid to destabilise the government.

While the Rajasthan government said notice was also sent to the chief minister, the leader close to Pilot called that a joke.

This was taking humiliation to a different level...Is this how a deputy chief minister is treated? the leader asked. The chief minister also holds the home portfolio. So how can they question him?
Weve never seen anything like this. Since the onset of the COVID-induced recession, unprecedented levels of monetary and fiscal stimulus have been pumped into the economy, demonstrating the Federal Reserves efforts to support the economic recovery. To prevent the fallout seen during the Great Depression after monetary accommodation was withdrawn too early, the Fed plans to continue this accommodative policy.

Against this backdrop, continued volatility could be on tap as the market unpacks the effects of surging COVID-19 cases, the U.S. presidential election, the historic gains from the pandemic-driven low point and economic reopenings. According to some analysts, this combination of continued stimulus and the resulting improvement of the credit market and liquidity sets the stage for growth.

We mean business when we say growth. Not just in the short-term, Wall Street pros argue that several names are in it for the long haul, boasting strong growth prospects through 2020 and beyond.

Bearing this in mind, we used TipRanks database to pinpoint three stocks flagged by members of the Street for their impressive long-term growth narratives, with each Buy-rated ticker sporting over 30% upside potential. This is on top of the huge gains each has already posted in 2020.

Arconic (ARNC)

Hoping to advance the automotive, aerospace, commercial transportation, industrial and building and construction markets, Arconic offers aluminum sheet, plate and extrusions, as well as cutting-edge architectural products. Even though the company has experienced headwinds in the aerospace sector, it has managed to add 110% to its share price since April 1, with one analyst calling for even more gains.

Writing for Credit Suisse, four-star analyst Curt Woodworth believes the third quarter represents a major inflection point as Ford and GM truck/SUV production sharply accelerates and OEMs need to restock heat-treat plate, which has limited shelf life. Looking at its Q1 performance, he cites the fact that despite the rough macro conditions, segment EBIT rose 26% year-over-year with margins up 310 basis points. This demonstrates the system-wide restructuring benefit, in Woodworths opinion.

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To support his bullish thesis, Woodworth points out that ARNC has multiple growth levers including its 600 million pounds of excess capacity, which is slated to be absorbed by automotive and even packaging over the next two years. ARNC won material share on the new 2020 GM SUV launches and should see sharply higher utilization rates at its Tenn. plant by end 2020. Once ARNCs non-compete with Alcoa expires in 4Q, we expect ARNC to quickly re-qualify for US can sheet production, which could add $40 million to EBITDA, he added.

It should be noted that 737 Max issues at Boeing have taken a toll on demand. While Woodworths estimates for aerospace volumes in 2020-2021 are conservative, he stated, ... we expect aerospace will be a material driver in 2022-24 as build rates accelerate, especially for the 737 Max where ARNC has a high margin content share.

Speaking to its valuation, Woodworth thinks its compelling given the companys strong positions and ~250kt spare capacity. Adding to the good news, the robust free cash flow could enable the dividend policy to kick off in early 2021.

Everything that ARNC has going for it prompted Woodworth to initiate coverage with an Outperform rating and set a $22 price target. This target implies shares could climb 52% higher in the next year. (To watch Woodworths track record, click here)

Turning now to the rest of the Street, it has been quiet when it comes to other analyst activity. Woodworths call is the only recent review, so the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy. (See Arconic stock analysis on TipRanks)

Moderna Inc. (MRNA)

Biotech company Moderna is no stranger to the spotlight, thanks to its efforts to advance a COVID-19 vaccine. Despite having already gained 220% in 2020, several analysts believe that theres still plenty of fuel left in the tank.

Pointing to the encouraging Phase 1/2 results from Pfizer and BioNTechs competing mRNA/LNP-based COVID-19 vaccine, five-star analyst George Farmer, of BMO Capital, argues that they are a positive for MRNA. According to the analyst, the data supports the utility of this technology platform against SARS-CoV-2 and the likelihood of success of MRNAs mRNA-1273.

Looking specifically at Pfizer/BioNTechs candidate, BNT162b1, it is one of several mRNA vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2. Remarkably, after 28 days, 24 participants receiving two injections of either 10 ug or 30 ug of the vaccine generated neutralizing antibody titers against coronavirus infection that were about 2-3 times what was seen in convalescent sera used as controls. On top of this, the vaccine had a robust safety profile.

Turning to mRNA-1273, two injections of Modernas experimental vaccine produced neutralizing antibody titers in 8 out of 8 subjects that reached or exceeded titers generally measured in convalescent sera.

In contrast to mRNA-1273, which encodes for a version of the complete trimeric coronavirus Spike protein, BNT162b1 encodes for just the Spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD). Whether this makes a difference in relative potency remains to be seen; however protection conferred by DNA vaccines encoding the RBD or full-length Spike appeared comparable in macaques, Farmer commented.

While Farmer points out that these results set up a head-to-head competition, with Pfizer/BioNTechs timeline and scale matching MRNAs Phase 3 plans, he remains optimistic. These results also set up a competitive race between the PFE/BNTX and MRNA vaccines, but the potential market is certainly large enough to accommodate both, in our view, he said.

As a result, Farmer is still giving MRNA a thumbs up, reiterating his Outperform call. In addition, the price target stays at $112. Should the target be met, a twelve-month gain of 79% could be in store. (To watch Farmers track record, click here)

In general, other analysts are on the same page. 12 Buys and 2 Holds add up to a Strong Buy consensus rating. Based on the $85.36 average price target, the upside potential comes in at 36%. (See Moderna stock analysis on TipRanks)

Overstock.com (OSTK)

Last but not least, we come across Overstock.com, which is a tech-driven online retailer that sells products ranging from furniture and home decor to apparel and jewelry. Given the strong projections for 2020 sales and its year-to-date gain of 591%, one member of the Street is taking an even more bullish stance.

Representing D.A. Davidson, five-star analyst Tom Forte tells clients that several factors have made him more optimistic going forward. First and foremost, separate from COVID-19, the company has made improvements to the business.

Thats not to say COVID-19 hasnt had an impact on OSTK. During the months of April and May, the company reported a 120% gain in sales as a result of the pandemic, with the strength persisting in June.

Weighing in on this result, Forte commented, Further, when considering the valuations for other e-commerce players managing surges in demand from COVID-19, including its closest peer Wayfair (which, according to Capital IQ, trades at more than 1.6x EV/Sales), should Overstock be able to further exploit the opportunity and emerge with faster sales growth than we are currently forecasting, we see the potential for upside to our one-turn multiple.

If that wasnt enough, Forte highlights the government contract it won (a $6B annual spend, while recognizing it was one of three providers selected, along with Amazon and Fisher Scientific).

Based on all of the above, Forte assigned a new price target, in addition to staying with the bulls. He didnt just lift the figure, he set the new Wall Street high when he bumped up the price target from $33 to $66. This new figure conveys his confidence in OSTKs ability to surge 35% in the next twelve months. (To watch Fortes track record, click here)

Like ARNC, OSTK has stayed relatively under-the-radar, as Forte is the only analyst to have thrown an opinion into the mix recently. To this end, the stock gets a Moderate Buy consensus rating. (See Overstock.com stock analysis on TipRanks)
Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia is to reopen for Muslim worship as a mosque after an almost nine-decade hiatus, in the latest historic tussle with Christianity over religious sites. The UNESCO World Heritage site was constructed as a cathedral during the Byzantine empire but converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. A Turkish court on Friday overturned a 1934 cabinet decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a museum, clearing the way for a July 24 reversion to its status as a mosque. The move adds to a long list of such conversions of holy sites over the centuries. The following are examples: - ALGERIA - Algiers' Ketchaoua Mosque was built in about 1612 and enlarged in 1794, making it one of the country's main mosques. The French, a year into their 1830-1962 colonial reign, turned it into the Catholic church of Saint Philippe. The first mass was celebrated there on December 24, 1832. In 1838, it was consecrated the Algiers Cathedral and enlarged, destroying most of the old mosque. But with Algeria's independence in 1962, Ketchaoua again became a mosque, hosting its first Friday prayer in 130 years. Since then, it has been renovated with Turkish funding. - CYPRUS - Selimiye mosque in northern Nicosia, originally the Roman Catholic cathedral of Saint Sophia, was the work of French masons who accompanied the Crusades. It was built in the 13th century during the reign of the Frankish Lusignan dynasty on the eastern Mediterranean island. The cathedral was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman seizure of Nicosia in 1570. Tradition has it that imams preparing to deliver the Friday sermon climbed into the minbar, or pulpit, leaning on a sword used during the conquest of the city. The finest example of Gothic architecture on the island, the Catholic cathedral of Saint Nicholas in the northeastern city of Famagusta was consecrated in the 14th century during the Lusignan period. It was transformed into Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque after the Ottoman empire captured the coastal city in 1571. - EGYPT - Attarine Mosque in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria was originally an octagonal church dating back to 370 and dedicated to St Athanasius, a pivotal figure in the Coptic Orthodox church. The place of worship was converted into a mosque during the Islamic invasion of the seventh century, and it is named after its location in the old spice market of Alexandria. During the Napoleonic invasion, explorers believed the tomb of Alexander The Great was buried inside the mosque in a green sarcophagus. It was renovated several times during Ottoman rule, and has been open to the public since its latest rebuilding in 1976. - LEBANON - The site of today's Al-Omari Grand Mosque in downtown Beirut was a Roman temple or bath site before the Byzantines built a church there. After the Islamic conquests it was converted into a mosque named after Islam's second caliph, Omar ibn al-Khattab. But when Frankish crusaders conquered Beirut in the early 12th century they turned it back into a church, before its capture in 1187 by Muslim conquerer Saladin -- who turned it back into a mosque. The crusaders then recaptured it and transformed it into a cathedral in 1197. Finally in 1291 the Mamluks captured Beirut and converted it back into a mosque, which it has remained ever since. - PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Mosques in the Palestinian West Bank town of Nablus also reflect its history throughout the Byzantine era, the Islamic conquests, the Crusades and the Mamluk period. A number are linked to Judaism and early Christianity, such as Al-Khadra, which has been a mosque since 1187 after having served as a church during the Crusades. The city's Great Mosque was originally a church built by Roman Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century. In 1186, it was converted into a mosque by the Ayyubids after Saladin's conquest. - SPAIN - Cordoba mosque, known as the Mezquita, in Spain's southern region of Andalusia was the holiest site of Muslim worship in the West during the Umayyad caliphate of the 10th and 11th centuries. It has been a Catholic site since the Christian reconquest of the city in 1236, after which a cathedral was built inside the building. Regarded as one of the finest monuments of Moorish architecture, the mosque-cathedral was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1984. - SYRIA - The Umayyad mosque in the Old City of Damascus is one of the holiest places of worship in Islam. It is located on the site of a temple of Jupiter which Roman Emperor Theodosius I transformed into a church in the fourth century. It became a mosque in the seventh century and contains the shrine of John the Baptist, who is revered by both Muslims and Christians. burs/hc/fz/par A top Turkish court has revoked the sixth-century Hagia Sophia's status as a museum, clearing the way for it to be turned back into a mosque A 2017 file photo of the Ketchaoua mosque in the famed UNESCO-listed Casbah district of Algiers as workers complete the final stages of its renovation The Lala Mustafa Pasha mosque, also known as the Saint Nicolas cathedral, in the eastern port city of Famagusta, in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus A 2004 file photo of Beirut's Al-Omari Grand Mosque The minaret of the Al-Khadra mosque in the old quarter of the West Bank town of Nablus A March 12 file photo shows Mohammad Ali al-Sheikh, the eldest of the muezzins who call Muslims to prayer, on a balcony of the Umayyad Mosque in the ancient quarters of Damascus
Election workers sort vote-by-mail ballots for the presidential primary at King County Elections in Renton, Wash., on March 10, 2020. (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)

West Virginia Mail Carrier Pleads Guilty to Attempted Election Fraud, Officials Say

A West Virginia mail carrier pleaded guilty on July 9 to altering requests for absentee voter ballots, after being charged with election fraud and injury to the mail, officials said.

Thomas Cooper was charged in May after eight mail-in requests were tampered with, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell said in a statement. Party affiliations on the ballots were altered, officials said.

In another report, Cooper claimed that he altered the requests as a joke.

Cooper, of Dry Creek, had a U.S. Postal Service contract to deliver mail in Pendleton County. But in April 2020, the county clerk discovered 2020 Primary Election COVID-19 Mail-In Absentee Requests that appeared to have been altered.

The clerk reported the finding to the West Virginia Secretary of States office, which began an investigation, Coopers office said. The investigation found five ballot requests that had been altered from Democrat to Republican. On three other requests, the party wasnt changed, but the request had been altered.

Cooper was responsible for the delivery of mail to the towns of Onego, Riverton, and Franklin.

He conceded in an interview with Cogar and a postal inspector that he changed some of the requests he picked up from the Onega post office from Democrat to Republican.

According to the affidavit, when he was then asked about the other requests, Cooper said, Im not saying no, but if the requests were picked up along his postal route, I would take the blame. Cooper was then asked if he was just being silly, and he replied he did it as a joke and that he didnt know those voters, according to The Associated Press.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Instructor Chablis Torres (C) reads to children in a pre-school class, wearing masks and at desks spaced apart as per coronavirus guidelines during summer school sessions at Happy Day School in Monterey Park, California on July 9, 2020.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

The country's top association of pediatricians urged lawmakers and community leaders to carefully weigh the challenges that lie ahead for school reopening plans this upcoming academic year.

A statement released Friday by the American Academy of Pediatrics signaled a turn by the group away from the aggressive reopening plans held by President Donald Trump's administration.

"A one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate for return to school decisions," the letter read in an apparent pivot from a statement that last month said decision-makers should aim to have "students physically present in school" for the upcoming year.

Last week, Trump clashed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over its guidelines for schools reopening.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a new warning for lawmakers and community leaders looking to reopen schools that they must follow "science" and "evidence, not politics."

The group  along with educators and superintendents  wrote in an open letter posted Friday that though "children learn best when physically present in the classroom," public agencies "must pursue re-opening in a way that is safe for all students, teachers, and staff."

The letter was cosigned by the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

"A one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate for return to school decisions," the letter read in an apparent pivot from its emphasizing in a statement late last month that decision-makers should aim to have "students physically present in school" for the upcoming year.

The group's apparent support for pushing for classes to resume with students in classrooms lines up with President Donald Trump's aggressive sidelining of "very tough" guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for schools reopening, even threatening on Twitter to "cut off funding" for school districts that don't reopen soon.

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In addition to the group's previous messaging matching the administration's, AAP President Dr. Sally Goza was present at the White House's "Summit on Safely Reopening America's Schools" on July 7.

The CDC's current guidelines for reopening schools include added measures like more space between students' desks, barriers between sinks in bathrooms, and shutting down common spaces. Education officials from districts across the country have aired concerns that most schools don't have the funding or resources to comply with the guidelines.

"We are very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open," Trump said at a briefing earlier this week. "It's very important for our country, it's very important for the well being of the student and the parents."

The letter said the US "response to COVID-19 has laid bare inequities and consequences for children that must be addressed," and the group then called on Congress to divert funding to schools that are struggling to secure the necessary resources to reopen safely.

"Reopening schools in a way that maximizes safety, learning, and the well-being of children, teachers, and staff will clearly require substantial new investments in our schools and campuses," the letter read. "We call on Congress and the administration to provide the federal resources needed to ensure that inadequate funding does not stand in the way of safely educating and caring for children in our schools."

Plans for reopening in school districts across the US are still largely unclear as officials have weighed the possibilities of different approaches including in-person, remote learning, and a hybrid approach of both that would bring students into classrooms in limited numbers.

Read the original article on Insider
Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao said two religious shrines were inadvertently damaged during the demolition of the old Secretariat buildings. (DC Photo: SSR)

Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) has expressed regret and pain over the damage cause to a temple and a mosque during the demolition of buildings in the Secretariat complex, and promised to build a temple and mosque in the new admin hub that will come up there.

In a statement, the chief minister said: I came to know that while demolishing the multi-storeyed old buildings, the temple and mosque adjacent to the old buildings were damaged as debris fell on them.I feel sorry about the incident. It should not have happened. The governments intention was to build a new complex by demolishing the old building

osque.

We will construct a temple and m

s without causing any damage to the temple or the mosque in the Secretariat premises in a more spacious way even if it means spending of crores of rupees. We will construct the temple and mosque at government cost and hand them over to the people concerned.

Chandrashakar Rao said he would discuss the reconstruction with the groups that maintained the temple and mosque. This is my promise. Telangana is a secular state. We will continue the secular spirit come what may. This incident happened unexpectedly, he said.

Everyone should understand this properly without prejudice.

After the demolition/damage to the shrines was reported in the media, opposition parties have piled on to the issue. The BJP has demanded a replacement temple at the exact spot where it stood , while Congress leaders said the government has succeeded in making a Babri Masjid-like issue.
Online exhibitions dont quite cut it, Mr. Glimcher said, and being surrounded by affluent collectors in the Hamptons is helpful for a gallery in that it nurtures relationships.

Our fuel comes from people being in front of art, he said.

Mr. Glimchers father, the Pace founder Arne Glimcher, has been coming to the area since the 1970s. The big change is that the spaces out here werent run by the big New York galleries, he said. It was more local. And that closer-to-home focus included the artists that were shown. He added: Coming to East Hampton was not about doing business. It was to get away from the gallery. Its ironic that we have a gallery now.

He chuckled, adding, But the collectors are here, and the work has to be seen.

Another veteran, Helen A. Harrison, the director of Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center here, said the international vibe of the new entries was unusual for the area; the only comparison she could think of was before her time, the legendary 1957-60 Signa Gallery, a pioneering showcase for modern art, founded by the collector and artist Alfonso Ossorio with John Little and Elizabeth Parker, two other artists who had settled in East Hampton. It featured Abstract Expressionist masters like Robert Motherwell and Jackson Pollock but faded with the coming of Pop Art.

And incursions from Manhattan have not always gelled. Ms. Harrison recalled that in 1981, a high-profile collaboration from dealers Leo Castelli, Marian Goodman and Holly Solomon was launched in East Hampton to great fanfare.

It failed, Ms. Harrison said. People didnt open their wallets. They were showing the same people as in Manhattan, but people went back there to do the buying.


Concerns rising over lax security management on national asset



By Jung Da-min



Defense technology is an important asset for a country as it is a gauge of the level of a nation's security, and can lead to high revenue through exports.



In Korea, however, such important technology and confidential information have been subject to lax security management, with a series of confidential information leaks found at the state-run arms development agency.



Last month, an audit by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) into its subsidiary, the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), discovered that two former senior researchers had found work abroad after copying a massive amount of data from computers at its research center onto portable USB storage devices.



One of them reportedly joined a research center affiliated with Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates. He is believed to have taken with him key technology for South Korea's Low-Cost Guided Imaging Rocket (Bigung in Korean) designed to counter North Korean fast boat swarm attacks.



The audit was conducted over a month following suspicions of data theft. DAPA examined all the logs of portable storage devices use by 1,079 retired and incumbent employees between January 2016 and April 2020.



Following the audit, DAPA requested a police investigation into the case, but this may not be easy as the two former researchers have already found work abroad.



In a separate case in April, DAPA requested a police investigation into another retired employee who is also suspected of having stolen confidential data from the ADD using portable storage devices. The suspect has been working at a local private university after leaving the ADD.



DAPA's own investigation confirmed three former researchers used portable storage devices over nearly 1 million times to open or transfer data files. But the DAPA said while it found there was theft it has not yet confirmed what data was involved, and the police investigation will determine this.



Adding to concerns is that there are dozens more retired employees who are suspected of having copied confidential data onto portable storage devices without permission, although it has not been confirmed whether they offered the data to institutions or used them for other purposes.



Erroneous security system



The question is, how such confidential data at the country's top arms development agency could be stolen by its members so easily without detection over the years.



The DAPA audit found the ADD has been operating without proper security systems, while its data has been poorly managed with old security software that should have been updated several years ago.



Saved information has been poorly managed as well  about 62 percent of the 6,882 research computers at the ADD have been operated without a security program called Data Loss Prevention, which prevents information theft by limiting the use of unauthorized storage devices. About 35 percent of the computers were not even registered as ADD information assets, and there were 3,635 unauthorized storage devices used despite such portable devices only being allowed in exceptional cases according to the ADD regulations.



There were no security check points at the gates of the ADD, nor security guards checking visitors. Anyone with a registered pass could come in and out without their photos checked at the gates and vehicle security screenings were not conducted.



The ADD is supposed to check security-related issues for its soon-to-retire employees, but hasn't conducted any checks for the past three years.



Poor customs and loose sense of security



DAPA has now vowed to upgrade its security system and strengthen screening at its entry points, as well as intensifying supervision on prospective retirees and researchers engaged in key defense technology work. It also said it is considering establishing a new regulation that requires former ADD researchers to apply for permission when seeking jobs overseas.



But despite such a pledge for a system improvement and stronger punishment for security rule violators, the problem of defense technology theft is not a one-time matter but rather a chronic issue stemming from customary activity, according to Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum.



"Such loopholes in managing confidential information at the ADD are not new, but rather have been tolerated in the name of customary practice. It has been usual for researchers in the field of arms development to personally carry such data for their references and it has also been common for those who once worked at state-run research agencies to later join other research institutions at universities or private companies in the defense industry," Shin said.



However, he said the recent case of the former ADD researcher joining a research center with the UAE's Khalifa University is worrisome, as this means that the country's key technologies could be given to other countries. He said, despite such a lax sense of security, there had been no such technology "leakage" to other countries before this.



He said the matter of information theft could be prevented if strict regulations and procedures are put in place and adhered to.



Shin also pointed out the problem of current restrictions, which ban senior researchers at state-run arms development agencies from working at local defense firms after retirement  a rule for ranking public officials designed to prevent corruption through ties with private organizations or companies whose work is related to public organizations. Shin said such a regulation could lead to retired senior researchers giving technology to foreign companies or research centers.



"Retired employees from state-run arms development agencies have nowhere to go," Shin said. "Overall, the matter of information theft is linked to this structural problem."


Some universities under the Delhi government have already conducted examinations even as Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday announced that all state universities would not conduct any tests.

The state universities under the Delhi government include the National Law University, Delhi Technological University, Ambedkar University, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT) and the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW).

Some universities like the Ambedkar University and the IGDTUW have already completed their assessment process of students and even announced the results.

IGDTUW has a strong mechanism of continuous internal assessment followed by end-semester examination.

As per UGC guidelines, the university has completed its online end-term assessment for all its students during May-June using its in-house e-learning management software (e-LMS), it said.

Ambedkar University Vice Chancellor Anu Singh Lather said the varsity had successfully completed the 2019-20 academic year for most of its students.

Despite being severely affected by the pandemic and the lockdown, the university has risen to the challenges and finished the winter semester 2020 on June 12, she said.

AUD is one of the few educational institutions who have declared results for all its programmes across all semesters, Lather said, adding that this had been made possible because of the dynamic system of continuous assessment.

The Delhi Technological University had already conducted exams for students of final year in the online mode, and even given them marksheets and provisional degrees so that students could join jobs.

The exams for students of intermediate semesters were scheduled from July 20 but now the varsity will wait for the governments directive on how to assess students.

The Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University had not conducted its exams yet. It has over one lakh students and comprises 127 affiliated colleges.

The NSUT held its online open book exams between July 3 and 10. It said an alternate mode of assessment as proposed by Sisodia had already been devised.

The alternate mode of assessment comprises around 50 per cent assessment on the basis of mid-semester examinations and around 50 per cent assessment on the basis of continuous assessment.

The continuous assessment is being done on the basis of the first class tests (held in February 2020), home assignments, attendance and the ongoing comprehensive time bound assignment.

The ongoing open book examination is not an engineering services exam, the NSUT said.

It is a time-bound home assignment/tutorial. The student has to attempt this time-bound assignment from his/her home and is allowed to use books/notes/internet etc, the NSUT said.

The comprehensive time bound assignment (OBE) shall enable students to revise all the concepts of second semester so that they are well prepared to take up the courses of third semester, the NSUT said.
Almost one in 10 Australian women in a relationship have experienced domestic violence during the coronavirus crisis, with two-thirds saying the attacks started or became worse during the pandemic.

A survey by the Australian Institute of Criminology also reveals more than half of women who had experienced physical or sexual violence before the COVID-19 crisis said the violence had become more frequent or severe since the start of the pandemic.

The research shows 4.6 per cent of all women experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or former cohabiting partner between February and May.

The Morrison government will on Monday announce a $3 million package to provide more counselling and support services for women and their children who have experienced family violence.

The AIC research shows 4.6 per cent of all women  and 8.8 per cent of women in a relationship  experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or former cohabiting partner between February and May.
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah has harboured fears for Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang for being Running Mate of NDC flagbearer and Ex-President, John Dramani Mahama.



The NDC National Executive Committee and Council of Elders days ago unanimously selected the former Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang as Running Mate to Ex-President John Mahama.



Following the selection of the Professor, Mr. Mahama wrote a note on his Facebook complimenting her qualities.



Naana Jane is God-fearing, a distinguished scholar, a conscientious public servant, and a role model'', he said.



The party's National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi also stated that the NDC is ''certain in our minds that this is a winning ticket. His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, ably supported by the competent, trustworthy, honest, sincere, matured Professor Naana Jane Agyemang will deliver victory for the NDC in the coming elections''.



But Hon. Simon Osei-Mensah has called on Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang to tread cautiously as Running Mate on the ticket of the NDC.



According to him, the party has consistently mistreated members of the Fante confederation in the party.



He told host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' that since 1992, all Fante persons selected to be Running Mates have been sidelined by the party.



''NDC, through out their history, there was a Fante under the 1992 constitution and still they've not treated them well. So, when I heard about another Fante, my heart missed a beat. From 1992 going, with all those that have been selected to be on their ticket, let them show me one person they have treated well. I just want one, he said.



Listen to full submissions below:





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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A Colorado man allegedly brandished a gun at a Latino man and his girlfriend, who made a U-turn in the mans driveway after getting lost. Now the man, 58-year-old Paul Favret is facing felony and misdemeanor charges.

New York Daily News reports that Chris Ochoa and his girlfriend were driving to a friends wedding rehearsal dinner in Sedaliaa town about 30 miles south of Denverwhen their GPS sent them to the wrong house.

Upon realizing the GPSs mistake, Ochoa turned the car around to get back to the main road and called his friend for directions. But when he was driving back, a large red truck pulled in front of me and cut me off, blocking the road, Ochoa wrote in a Facebook post about the incident, which happened on June 12. Favret immediately got out of his truck and pointed a gun at us.

According to the polices incident report, Ochoa said that Favret, the homeowner, ran them down and shouted, I want to blow your fucking head off. Ochoas girlfriend called 911.

I stayed as still as possible because I knew he was in a rage, I knew he could shoot any time, and I knew I could die at any time based on how he was reacting, the 26-year-old driver wrote in his statement. As a minority, I felt in danger. Ochoa is Mexican-American, and from the photos he postedwhich his girlfriend tookFavret appears to be white.

According to NBC News, Favret is the founder and CEO of the oil and gas company Resource Energy Partners. However, the companys team page has been taken down from its website since the incident. After being made aware of this last week, Resource Energy Partners placed Mr. Favret on administrative leave and retained outside counsel to conduct a thorough review of the incident, a statement released by a companys spokesperson read.

Favret is facing five criminal charges, including two felony menacing charges and three misdemeanors related to firearms.

The Facebook post in question does not portray an accurate version of the events. However, I deeply regret my actions that day, Favret told KUSA-TV through a company spokesman.

Story continues

I had no way of knowing the identities of the individuals in the vehicle, Favret added. I just saw the unknown vehicle very close to the home at a time when we were not expecting any visitors and our property is clearly marked with our address and is about 1/2 mile from their destination.

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Britain's most powerful hedge fund boss has launched a blistering attack on fund managers over their failure to challenge corporations on issues from climate change to corporate scandals.

Billionaire Sir Chris Hohn  whose firm TCI Fund Management was the world's best performing hedge fund last year  said it was 'time to call bulls***' on City rhetoric which failed to materialise into action.

Fund managers that fail to hold boards to account on key issues should be fired, said Hohn, the former boss of Rishi Sunak from the Chancellor's hedge fund days.

Tough talk: Sir Chris Hohn said it was 'time to call bulls***' on City rhetoric which failed to materialise into action

Hohn has put $7trillion asset manager BlackRock  whose boss, Larry Fink, sent a letter to boards in January warning investors will begin to avoid climate damaging firms  and other fund giants in his sights.

The City veteran is riding high after TCI's $250million bet against German payment company Wirecard, which collapsed last month after saying 1.7billion of cash on its balance sheet probably does not exist.

TCI had already filed a criminal complaint against Wirecard in May following allegations of accounting fraud going back years.

Hedge funds and short-sellers have been vilified for preying on the misfortunes of corporations and their shareholders. But there is growing acknowledgement that their contrarian approach and reluctance to accept the company line could serve as an early warning system on major strategic missteps or wrongdoing.

Activists such as TCI, as well as Elliott, Paulson and Nelson Peltz's Trian Partners, have become both more visible and vocal in recent years. Hohn, who takes both equity stakes as well as short positions, said: 'There's a lot of passiveness in the fund management industry.

'We were very public about [Wirecard]. We were short 1.5 per cent of the company, $250million. But we were very public. We filed a criminal complaint saying this was a fraud, needs to be shut down. We were active. We wrote to the board, said you have to fire the CEO.'

He said because TCI's Wirecard investment was 'short'  City shorthand for borrowing stock to sell and buying it back later when the price drops  it was unable to force change. He added: 'Everyone chose to ignore us. But we took action. And where you're a large shareholder, you can force it. We think it's really quite simple.'

Hohn is a powerful voice in the industry and last year became the world's top hedge fund manager after a stellar performance by TCI.

His fund grew $8.4billion last year  more than any other  taking its assets under management up 39 per cent to $30billion.

Hohn urged major shareholders to table motions for other investors to vote on at annual shareholder meetings to force change.

He said: 'It's about time investors call bulls*** on the asset management industry and say, 'What do you actually do?' It's all right to have some vague thing and say 'we engage'. Well, what does that mean?

'What we've learnt as an activist is it's very easy for a company to ignore you. But when you put an AGM motion [forward], I can assure you the laughter stops.'

The 53-year-old, who has donated to climate change group Extinction Rebellion, said fund managers have already acted on pay and created a 'strong precedent' for other issues.

Hohn, who wants all companies to reveal their emissions and their plans to reduce them, argues companies which fail to tackle climate change will expose themselves to future financial penalties and costs from increasing regulation, taxation and litigation.

He added: 'We don't even need this stuff to be regulated by governments.

'It just takes one or two of the large asset managers to adopt this policy and overnight tremendous pressure would occur on companies to change.'

Hohn singled out BlackRock  the world's largest asset manager, whose boss Larry Fink has spoken out about pollution by companies  of 'greenwash'.

He added: 'They have all the votes to table on every single portfolio company they own.

'They can call an AGM motion for a sustainability plan and vote on it. Not every shareholder has enough votes to do so.

'But the big index funds, the big active managers like BlackRock and Vanguard  they have enough votes.

'If asset managers are just passive, our position is they should be fired, because not caring about the pollution of a company is like not caring about the balance sheet of a company.'
Survey results from Sherry FitzGerald have revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed many aspects of people's lives and buyer behaviour is adapting accordingly. The pandemic has accelerated some trends already evident and is reshaping the Irish housing market in real time.

While sustainable design and good architecture are prerequisites for the future of Irish housing, so is a dramatically increased supply. Irish housing, in the future, needs to be all about quality and quantity, according to Michael Grehan, Chairman of Sherry FitzGeralds residential arm.

To better understand the current mindset of people looking to buy their own home, on 11th/12th June last, Sherry FitzGerald conducted an online survey with over 10,000 registered potential buyers looking to purchase in Dublin, Cork, Galway & Limerick. The full online survey was completed by over 1,500 respondents.

The key findings of the Sherry FitzGerald survey were as follows:

- Buyer sentiment remains resilient with over 60% of respondents reporting that their commitment to purchase a property was unaffected by Covid-19.

- A further 20% of respondents said they were now even more committed to buying, whereas 18% said they were less committed to buying.

- In a post Covid-19 environment, access to reliable broadband was the top-ranking feature for purchasers, followed by more outdoor space and a good energy rating.

- Other important features were space for a home office and access to public parks.

- 62% of respondents were under 40 years of age and a high proportion of these were first-time buyers, 29%.

- 80% of respondents were seeking a house or apartment of less than 500,000 in value, which reflects the regional spread of the survey. Demand from First Time Buyers is largely concentrated in the 200,000-400,000 price bracket, accounting for 76% of demand.

- Interestingly, 55% of respondents reported difficulty in securing a property in their preferred location, a reflection of the ongoing supply side shortage in the housing market.

- 67% of respondents had only begun actively looking for a property less than 6 months ago.

- Over 30% of respondents had only begun their search within the last 3 months.



The degree of engagement by potential purchasers in the survey was a surprise on one level, but on another level reflected the fact that purchasers remained in touch with us during lockdown.

"The most remarkable finding of the survey was, I think, the fact that nearly one third of respondents to the survey had only begun to actively look to buy since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Perhaps this shows that, in an increasingly uncertain world full of ideological division, people see Ireland as a safe and secure place according to Michael Grehan.



We have seen a significant pick-up in enquiries from the diaspora with a 42% increase in visits to our website from the U.K. alone between May & June. Interestingly, within these figures, we have recorded an increase in visits to our website from both Northern Ireland and Scotland in the same period. Furthermore, in June, U.S. traffic to our website increased by 38%, with the highest number of visits coming from the state of Virginia, followed by California and New York.

"There is a discernable trend among people whose families have flown the nest, looking to trade down; others are looking for more space. A third of our city centre instructions in the last month are from people moving out of the centre of Dublin in search of more space for their families, yet there is great demand for these properties from younger buyers. Those with mortgage approvals are very decisive and want to buy.

"Certainly, we are coming across plenty of viewers whose employers do not envisage them returning to an office, 5 days a week, for the foreseeable future. There will undoubtedly be a change in housing demand patterns, and it will be interesting to see how the new hybrid of office/remote working evolves in the longer term. People love the variety of services & amenities available in Dublin, but they also love the relationship with nature that is so rare in a crowded world. Currently, 1 in 4 of our sales in regional Ireland are to people moving from cities, both within Ireland and from abroad, as some people are making virtual purchases."
Beirut: Iranian investigators have blamed the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet over Tehran earlier this year on the misalignment of an air defence unit's radar system.

All 176 passengers and crew aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 were killed in the January 8 crash, which sparked widespread public anger.

Aircraft parts from the wreckage of the crash near Tehran. Credit:Bloomberg

Iranian authorities took days to admit that their forces had fired an antiaircraft missile at the Boeing 737-800 shortly after its takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Most of the casualties were Iranian; 85 had citizenship or permanent residence in Canada. Many were students; some were headed to Canada to resume their studies after the holiday break.
North turned off by party virus of nationalist politics By S. Rubatheesan in Jaffna No-show at party meetings worries candidates View(s): View(s):

On Monday, a pocket meeting organised by local sympathisers of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Meesalai, Chavakachcheri saw fewer than 50 people from nearby villages taking part in the nearly hour-long meeting. Many left even before the event was officially wrapped up.

With just three weeks left for the parliamentary polls on August 5, the election mood in the North is yet to warm up as pocket meetings organised by the different parties saw only sparse gatherings.

The reason, party insiders said, was the coronavirus global pandemic, lack of support by party cadre disenchanted by being ignored once elections are over, and shortage of campaign donations.

Addressing the media on Thursday, Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya also observed that voters in the North and Eastern provinces were less enthusiastic about the upcoming poll. He stressed that people should be informed of the importance of the elections that would determine who would represent them in parliament for the next five years.

In the Jaffna electoral district, which includes Kilinochchi district and has a total of 571, 848 voters, there are 33o candidates from 19 political parties and 14 independent groups contesting seven seats. The Northern Province will, significantly, have the longest ballot paper due to the high number of candidates contesting the polls.

The Tami National Peoples Front led by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and the Tamil Peoples National Front led by the former chief minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, have been critical of the TNA, claiming it was colluding with the previous United National Front government elected to office in 2015.

Annalingam Annarasa, Leader of the Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives in Kayts, is, however, one of the citizens increasingly frustrated with the Tamil nationalistic politics which have dominated the region in recent decades.

Mr. Annarasa said some 20,000 fishing families in the region were completely helpless in the face of failure by parties to provide the community with urgent needs to and to take up their issues publicly, especially over bottom-trawling by Indian fishermen in the northern sea, which threatens their livelihood.

Currently, major Tamil political parties are divided for petty reasons which would further split the vote. Other national parties are talking about development alone. Once elected, what are they going to do for us? To be honest, people are really fed up with this system, Mr. Annarasa told The Sunday Times.

He pointed out that it was a Peoples Liberation Front (JVP) parliamentarian who had raised the fact that there have been no prosecutions of fishermen arrested for bottom-trawling under the new strict law passed in parliament in 2017. Former TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran tabled the bill as a private members bill.

In the Vanni electoral district which includes the Vavuniya, Mullaitivu and Mannar districts, more than 20 parties and independent groups are contesting six seats with 287, 013 voters in their sights.

During a meeting of candidates held on Monday at the Jaffna District Secretariat under the chairmanship of the District Secretary who also functions as Returning Officer (RO), various candidates lodged complaints of being under constant surveillance by military personnel and of facing intimidation at pocket meetings in their electorates.

The concerned candidates claimed their vehicles were checked repeatedly for leaflets and propaganda materials at newly-set-up roadblocks. Officials assured them their complaints would be forwarded to the Election Commission.

Shanthi Sriskantharajah, who is contesting in the Vanni electoral district for the TNA, wrote to the Election Commission recently alleging that at least 27 new road checkpoints have been put in place in the Mullaitivu district alone to harass people and candidates when they are travelling around the region for campaigning purposes.

People prefer to not attend the pocket meetings due to so many checkpoints they have to go through in order to reach the meeting location, Ms. Sriskantharajah said.

It has become a difficult task for us to take our message to the people. Organising small pocket meetings consumes a significant amount of our time. The candidate said only 47 people turned up to one of her pocket meetings this week.

The Head of Department in Media Studies at the University of Jaffna, Dr. S. Raguram, said the election mood in the region was downbeat compared to other regions in the country due to increasing frustration over nationalistic brand politics, the differing expectations of younger generations and the ongoing threat of coronavirus global pandemic.

I dont see a vibrant election rally with the participation of enthusiastic voters even though it is organised as a low-key pocket meeting in a village, Dr Raguram said, noting that this would reflect voter turnout if many people lose interest in the polls.
While President Donald Trumps reelection campaigners are knocking on doors in Michigan, organizers for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden are worried that resuming normal campaign activities could contribute to the spread of COVID-19.

Holding large events where people have the potential to come into close contact runs counter to the recommendations of public health experts, but Michigan remains an important presidential battleground with 16 electoral votes coveted by both candidates.
The teenager killed off the coast of NSW in a horrific shark attack has been identified.

Mani Hart-Deville was mauled to death at Wilsons Headland at Wooli Beach, north of Coffs Harbour, just before 2.30pm on Saturday.

Board-riders helped the 15-year-old to shore and he was given first aid for serious leg injuries but died at the scene despite efforts to resuscitate him.

NSW Ambulance inspector Scott Acton said no words could describe the scene paramedics faced.

Tributes are flowing for the year 10 student, who has been described as clever, artistic and a lover of the ocean.

Mani Hart-Deville has been identified as the teenager who died following a shark attack on Saturday at Wooli Beach. Source: Instagram

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Mani was a student at South Grafton High School.

We have received some sad news about a member of our school community, the school wrote on Facebook.

One of our Year 10 students died suddenly and tragically. Our thoughts and heartfelt sympathy are with the students family and friends.

Mani Hart-Deville was surfing at Wooli Beach on Saturday when he was mauled by a shark. Source: Getty Images

South Grafton High School said students will receive support when they return from school holidays, and listed resources and mental health hotlines for parents.

Friend Zoe Simone Fletcher told the Sydney Morning Herald she was in disbelief following the tragic news.

I still ... can't get my head around the fact that he's really gone. He was such an amazing mate, so caring and down to earth, she said.

"This has and will continue to impact so many people's lives for many years to come. He will never be forgotten."

Following the fatal shark attack, beaches in the area were closed  including Wooli, Diggers Camp and Minnie Water  with drones and jetskis used on Sunday to assist investigations.

Surf Life Saving NSW warned people on Twitter not to enter the water in the region until further notice.

Clarence Valley mayor Jim Simmons said visitors had flocked to the region for the school holidays and there would likely have been many people in the water who would have been shaken by the tragedy.

It is Australias fifth fatal shark attack this year.

Story continues

Last Saturday, a 36-year-old Sunshine Coast man was mauled by a shark while spearfishing off Queenslands Fraser Island.

With AAP

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
Canadian cannabis brands are having a tough time getting consumers to notice them.

No brand in Canada has more than 41 per cent recognition among current cannabis users, with most languishing between one per cent and 15 per cent, according to a survey of 3,000 consumers conducted by pot data firm Brightfield Group.

Even those that attract the most attention arent converting that awareness into purchases. While Canopy Growth Corp.s Tweed and Aurora Cannabis Inc.s Drift have the widest brand awareness at 41 per cent and 34 per cent respectively, less than half of consumers familiar with those brands actually go out and buy them, according to Brightfields report.

Industry players have primarily focused on raising capital, but this has not inherently translated into strong customer relationships, the report says. As the market becomes more consumer-centric, brands must focus on developing a deep understanding of the competitive landscape and consumer behaviour to stay relevant and ensure they dont risk being seen as a commodity.

Unlike more mature consumer markets, the brands that attract the highest levels of satisfaction arent necessarily those with the most awareness either.

Tilray Inc.s Canaca, for example, has very low consumer awareness at nine per cent but those who buy it tend to love it, with 97 per cent reporting overall satisfaction and 99 per cent saying theyre likely to purchase again. Tweed, by comparison, has an 89 per cent overall satisfaction score and 90 per cent are likely to buy it again.

What does this mean for Canadian cannabis companies, according to Brightfield? For now, its anyones game.

CBD labeling

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration study of CBD products shows the category is still very much the Wild West.

Of the 102 products studied that indicated a specific amount of CBD, less than half came within 20 per cent of the amount promised. Meanwhile, 37 per cent had more than 120 per cent of the amount indicated and 18 per cent contained less than 80 per cent of the advertised amount, according to the FDA.

Perhaps most troubling for those consumers who choose CBD because theyre not comfortable with its psychoactive cousin THC, 49 per cent of the products tested contained some measurable amount of THC or the closely related compound THCA.
The turmoil in Rajasthans Congress-led government on Sunday gave rise to contrasting political scenarios with experts and political leaders saying developments and negotiations over the next few days could determine the future of the two-year-old administration.

In the 200-member House, where the halfway mark is 101, the ruling alliance currently enjoys the support of 125 legislators.

The Congress has 107 legislators, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has two, the Bharatiya Tribal Party two, the Rashtriya Lok Dal one; there are 13 independents also backing the government. In the Opposition benches, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 72 lawmakers and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party has three seats.

Also read: Rajasthan govt in crisis as Sachin Pilot leads rebels out

To be sure, there is no clarity on the number of legislators backing Pilot (the range of numbers doing the rounds is a wide one, from nine to 30); while ministers in the Gehlot camp insisted the government was safe.

In this backdrop, experts said there were three broad scenarios.

One, the Congress central leadership could swing into action, mollifying Pilot and instructing Gehlot to let his deputy work independently and not infringe on his portfolios. Pilot, who is also the Congress state chief, could come back into the fold if allowed to manage his portfolios independently.

Already, senior leader Kapil Sibals tweet urging the party to wake up hints that efforts are on to mend fences. Key to this resolution would be the party brass convincing Gehlot to budge on some sticking points like appointment of bureaucrats in the four ministries held by Pilot and picking some of the younger leaders associates to important positions in the party.

Also read: Amid political turmoil in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot to skip key party meet

Conversations with senior leaders in the Congress also threw up an additional compromise scenario that involved a key point of friction between Gehlot and Pilot: the position of the state party unit chief.

A senior party leader told HT that over the past few months, leaders close to Gehlot have been pushing for the removal of Pilot, who has held the position for six years. In a compromise scenario brokered by the Congress central leadership, Pilot could vacate the position for a nominee of his choice, thereby retaining influence over election machinery and choice of poll candidates, added the leader quoted above.

A central Congress leader confirmed that they were in touch with Pilot and lines of communication were open although another leader said that he had stopped taking their calls

Still, this is an unlikely scenario, said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. It may have worked six, maybe even two months ago, but is perhaps too late now.

Two, the rebellion within the Rajasthan Congress could grow with more legislators joining the Pilot camp and quitting the party, thereby reducing Gehlots government to a minority.

In this case, these leaders could quit  which would bring down the strength, and the halfway mark, of the House  and subsequently join the BJP, . This is what happened in Madhya Pradesh in March.

The BJP could step in and form the government with allies and independents, and bypolls to the vacant seats would be held within six months.

Also read: Sidelining of Pilot in crucial decisions behind the turmoil?

Author and political commentator Rasheed Kidwai said, Perhaps, if a leader makes up mind to desert parent organisation, there is very little that can be done.

Three, negotiations in the Congress could break down with Pilot leaving the party along with his supporters and forming a third front.

If Gehlot and his supporters manage to cobble together a majority along with independents and allies, the government might survive but could be weakened and be greatly dependent on smaller players. In this scenario, Pilot could seek to form a government supported by the BJP. But with his numbers, it is unlikely that the BJP will allow him to be chief minister.
Mali's security forces arrested more opposition leaders on Saturday and Prime Minister Boubuou \Cisse said four people had died in major unrest in the vulnerable Sahel nation.

An almost insurrectional atmosphere pervaded the capital Bamako as authorities cracked down on the opposition alliance known as the June 5 Movement, even as Cisse promised a government "open to facing the challenges of the day".

A total of six opposition figures have been detained in two days as the movement vowed to turn up the heat until embattled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita quits.

As Cisse visited a hospital in the capital he spoke of four dead and around 50 people injured in clashes with security forces on Friday, but doubts were raised over the death toll from some of the worst unrest in years.

Friday saw widespread protests against Keita, with thousands rallying in Bamako to demand his resignation over a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption.

Deep-seated frustrations

On Saturday, Cisse told media: "The president and I remain open to dialogue," and added that he would quickly form a government ready to deal with the country's problems.

But almost as he spoke, Malian gendarmes arrested Choguel Maiga and Mountaga Tall, both leaders in the June 5 Movement, a group spokesman said.

Unrest has spead to parts of Mali that were previously spared fighting. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP/File)

Led by influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, the movement is channelling deep-seated frustrations in the West African country.

Two other opposition leaders, Issa Kaou Djim and Clement Dembele, were arrested late Friday, the alliance said, and two figures considered intellectual pillars of the movement were also detained, it added.

Friday's protest was the third such demonstration in less than two months -- significantly escalating pressure on the 75-year-old president.

Demonstrators attacked parliament and ransacked the national television station.

Keita warned that security would be maintained "with no signs of weakness", but signalled his willingness "to do everything possible to calm the situation".

'Step up' pressure

The alliance called on the public "to maintain and step up this mobilisation until the aim is achieved, which is the resignation of the president."

Meanwhile, however, security forces broke into an opposition meeting that was examining ways to pursue a campaign of civil disobedience and obtain the release of those who had been arrested, spokesman Kaou Abdramane Diallo said.

Security officials "were looking for armed men, and came in cars and rammed the gate", an opposition member said on condition of anonymity.

Bamako bears scars of unrest with many roads littered with rocks and stones and the remnants of barricades. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP)

On Saturday, officials counted the cost of the violence.

"The material damage has been considerable: six vehicles burnt, the windscreens of seven vehicles smashed, the machine to digitalise the archives stolen -- it was new -- and the server of the news programme and other material damaged," the head of the state-run television and radio network, Salif Sanogo, told AFP.

The television station resumed broadcasts on Saturday and was being guarded by security forces.

Such fighting is rare in Bamako, which has been spared much of the violence that is routine across swathes of Mali.

The country has struggled to contain an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012, before spreading to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes.

The opposition's call for civil disobedience includes suggestions such as not paying fines, blocking entry to state buildings and occupying crossroads.

After weeks of growing political tension, Keita offered Wednesday to appoint new judges to the constitutional court.

It has been at the centre of controversy since April 29, when it overturned provisional results for March's parliamentary poll for about 30 seats.

That saw several members of Keita's party elected and triggered protests in several cities and is widely seen as having ignited the country's latest crisis.
The now familiar and very welcome sound of local businesses opening their doors again will be heard on St Georges Terrace on Thursday, July 16 when The Dock and Leitrim Design House open theirs to welcome you all back into the building.

For the time being the building will be open with managed access on a limited basis on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11.30am - 4.00pm.

The great supporters of both Leitrim Design House and The Dock, the artists, friends and community users have been very much to the forefront of thinking in both the enterprises located in the old courthouse building and although closed to the public the teams in both organisations have been working very hard behind the scenes.

For The Dock this has meant doing a full overhaul of the equipment in the performance space where a state of the art sound and lighting system is being installed.

Funded through The Leader programme with support from Leitrim Development Company this new set up will bring the sound and lighting quality in The Dock up to an international standard.

At the end of May, The Dock embarked on an upgrade to its website with a view to a re-launch in late September.

This new design will make it easier to access some of the great projects The Dock have been commissioning from visual and music artists since the closure and to read and hear about the work of these artists.

The fact that the performance space is not available currently has not stopped plans for shows and over August and September, they will be launching a mini-programme of events and new work by artists that will take place in locations around the town. Keep and eye out on local press and social media for details.

The Dock will open on July 16 with an exhibition by Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh who is one of the leading painters of her generation.

The Dock will open on July 16 with an exhibition by Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh

She is deeply committed to painting, its qualities, its energy and stillness, her work has been at the centre of Irish painting for the past decade. Sinead has been represented by Kevin Kavanagh Gallery since graduation.

She was awarded the RHAs Hennessey Craig Scholarship, selected for the RHA Futures exhibition, and has been shortlisted for the AIB Art Prize.

Sinead was also nominated for the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize, held as part of the Liverpool Biennial. Ni Mhaonaigh trained at TUD (Fine Art Painting) alongside figures like Anita Groener and Patrick Graham.

As ever admission to the galleries will be free although access will be on a managed basis. Members of staff will be on hand to answer any questions you may have so please do not hesitate to ask.

The Leitrim Design House has quietly continued to run programmes that support the creative sector; the creative craft and design businesses that are so much a part of the Leitrim landscape.

These programmes have been funded by Creative Ireland and by the Leitrim Development Company through the LEADER programme. The Leitrim Design House is also expanding its online platform and offers you many ways to shop local and support Irish businesses. Remember a little Leitrim goes a long way. From the comfort of your home you can support local businesses. They ship all over the world.

To complement our opening hours, they offer; teleshopping - you can order by phone; Click & Collect - you can collect your goods already packaged and waiting; By Appointment - enjoy the gallery to yourself.

Their priority is to look after our customers and offer you many routes to shop safely. They are proud to say that everything they stock is 100% Irish. In these current times it is now more important than ever to support Irish business so if you cannot visit your loved ones in person you can, from the safety of your own home, send them a memento of Leitrim and of Ireland.

'The Memory of Water by Leitrim based artist Maria Noonan-McDermott on ARTWALL is showing at the Leitrim Design House until the end of July.

The inspiration for this solo exhibition on ARTWALL titled The Memory of Water comes from Marias affinity for water. It fills the artist with a sense of calm and clarity so much so she cant imagine living any distance from it.

Luckily, living in the North West of Ireland shes just a stones throw away from an abundance of sacred surroundings, rivers, loughs and coastlines.

Please do pop in and enjoy the exhibitions. They will be very happy to see you. They have put measures in place that ensure the safety of our visitors and staff, which is our priority so opening hours maybe subject to change.

For updates please visit either www.thedock.ie or www.theleitrim designhouse.ie They look forward to welcoming you on July 16.
While huge for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a Supreme Court decision Thursday that reaffirmed the tribes historic jurisdictional boundaries as current today will have little impact on the day-to-day lives of nontribal members in the region, according to a University of Tulsa law professor.

Aila Hoss, an expert in American Indian law, said in an interview Friday that while she believes the criminal case won by Jimcy McGirt will be cited in future criminal litigation for the next decades, the ruling will have a very limited application in the short term.

The only thing this case does is reaffirm that states dont have criminal jurisdiction on tribal reservation lands when we are dealing with an Indian defendant who has been accused of a major crime, Hoss said.

That sentiment was made clear in the opinion written by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch.

The State worries that our decision will have significant consequences for civil and regulatory law, Gorsuch wrote. The only question before us, however, concerns the statutory definition of Indian country as it applies in federal criminal law under the Major Crimes Act.
Chennai: Southern Tamil Nadu saw a spike in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday even as the spread of the virus seemingly came under control in Chennai city, where 1203 cases were detected on the day the State total stood at 3616 new cases and 65 deaths.

Besides Madurai, which has been showing a rise in coronavirus infection for quite some time prompting the government to continue the total lockdown, the districts below it in the map suddenly saw a surge in infections.

On Tuesday, Virudhunagar had 253 new cases, Tirunelveli 181 cases, Thoothukudi 144 cases and Kanyakumari 119 cases, causing concern since the districts have lesser medical facilities when compared to the cities like Chennai and Madurai.

In Chennai the rapid spread of the virus was brought under control because of the total lockdown since June 19, said a Corporation official. During the total lockdown movement of people came to a bare minimum and that helped prevent the spread, he said, adding that even after the relaxation if the people could minimize their outings the pandemic could be brought under control.

He said that even in slums the infections came down. In April most slum areas had 30 per cent infection, which had come down to 7 to 10 per cent now, the official said. Giving a specific example, he said in Tondaiarpet the infection was 31 per cent in May and now it was just 10 per cent. So is the case with Royapuram where it came down from 17 per cent to 5.3 per cent, he said.

Increased awareness by the Corporation authorities was one reason that people started taking precautions and started behaving responsibly, he felt.

State Food and Civil Supplies Minister R Kamaraj, too, expressed the same sentiments on the spread of coronavirus coming under control in Chennai.

After inspecting a medical camp at Dharmapuram Street in Teynampet, the division that had the highest number of Covid-19 cases initially, the Minister said, We are making progress in our efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

In Teynampet area, at one point, if 100 persons were tested, 35 would have symptoms like fever and cold but now the number has gone down to 16.52, Kamaraj said. This was an indication that the virus would be brought under control in Chennai, he said.
More tech news includes Googles Google for India event and Xiaomis Global Ecosystem Product launch event.

Reliance Jio continued its spree of investments this week. The company raised 730 crores by Qualcomm making it the thirteenth investment in a span of 12 weeks. In addition to that we saw Mozilla suspending its Firefox Send service owing to malware abuse.

So heres a look at todays top tech news:

Reliance Jio-Qualcomm deal

Qualcomm today invested 730 crore in Jio Platforms for a 0.15% stake in the company. With this Reliance Jio has raised a total of 118,318.45 crores so far.

Google for India event

Google will be hosting its Google for India event on Monday. The sixth edition of the event will witness Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai giving a special keynote address.

Mozilla suspends Firefox Send service

Mozilla has temporarily taken down its file-sharing service Firefox Send. The company said that it is investigating reports of abuse from malware operators.

Xiaomi Global Ecosystem Product Launch event

Xiaomi will be hosting its Global Ecosystem Product Launch event on July 15 wherein it will launch Mi Electric Scooter and Mi Smart Band 5. It is also expected to launch Mi TV Stick at the event.
Members of the Awutu-Senya East branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Party have expressed worry over what they termed selective justice by the Kasoa Police Command against their Polling Agents and the Party faithful since the voter registration started.



According to them the continuous heinous and life-threatening attacks on them on daily basis, with culprits walking freely on the streets of Kasoa Township was questionable.



Speaking at a press conference at Kasoa, Mr. Delali Sewopkor, NDC Constituency Communication Officer, said the press conference was held to bring to the attention of the entire nation, the well-coordinated attacks designed to intimidate people who did not belong to the New Parotic Party (NPP) in the Constituency.



Barely two weeks that the Electoral Commission (EC) commenced the new voter registration process in the area, it has been characterized by bloody violent attacks in the area.



He indicated that, the attacks started with a shocking attack on one Ebenezer Tetteh, a branch chairman of the Party and a polling station agent within Kasoa Zongo Electoral area after he raised concern about the slow pace of the process.



He alleged that the harmless concern raised angered about 15 national security officers around who attacked him and hit his head multiple times with a concreate block and left him with deep cuts on his head and he became unconscious.



The statement said, on Thursday July, 2 at about 17.30 hours, Madam Naa Koryoo, the Partys Parliamentary Candidate while monitoring the process and on reaching Iron City Electoral area, was chased out in a Rambo-style and in the process she damaged her vehicle.



The attacks allegedly continued on Friday July 3 and Sunday, July 5, when Mr. Adams Nuhu, the Youth Organizer, Nana Bamfo of Amuzukope registration center known to be the stronghold of the NDC, and one Prosper a polling agent were respectively beaten mercilessly.



The Party further indicated that the alleged attacks continued unabated, being led by a widely known hooligan by name 2 cedis attacking one Polling Agent by named Gilbert at home and destroyed his property worth thousands of Ghana Cedis.



They stated that the matter had since been reported to the Kasoa Police Command and the victims were issued with police medical forms to seek medical attention, which were return to the police dully endorsed by medical officers.



Gruesome crimes and brutalities are being meted out to innocent residents and NDC members by widely known and easily identified NPP members, but they have not been arrested or even invited by the police.



According to Party, continuous inaction by the police in Kasoa have empowered such hooligans to be committing more and more crimes, attacking, assaulting members of the NDC and were disturbing the peace and tranquility in Kasoa, it added.



Later in an interview with Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the press conference, Mr. Sewopkor appealed to members and sympathizers of the NDC not be afraid about intimidation and attacks on them, but to come out in their numbers to register in order to vote out the NPP government that had failed Ghanaians, in the forthcoming general election on December 7.



He urged them to strictly adhere to the COVID-19 pandemic protocols in place to protect them from contracting the virus, saying stay safe, your family needs you, NDC needs you and Ghana needs you alive.



Later when the Kasoa Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Mr. Kosoono was contacted, he denied the selective justice accusation, but confirm that some cases have been reported at the District Command.



He said no arrest had been made, because investigations were ongoing to apprehend all those involved in the act.

Source: GNA









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Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough faced some social media backlash after he invited the Texas Republican Partys in-person state convention to Montgomery County Wednesday after Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner canceled the event set for downtown Houston.

But the first term judge was unfazed by the disapproving comments.

While there has been no official word on if the convention would land in Montgomery County, Keough said the issue has sparked national attention.

This issue here in Houston is national news, he said. There are a lot of moving parts but we hope to hear something (Friday).

Houston First, the public nonprofit that serves as the citys convention arm, sent a letter to the partys executive committee notifying it that the convention has been canceled. The letter triggers a part of the contract called a force majeure clause, which allows one side to cancel for an occurrence out of its control. The definition included epidemics in the City of Houston, according to the Houston First letter.

The Texas Republican Party on Thursday sued Turner and Houston First Corp. for canceling the partys in-person convention scheduled for July 16-18 in downtown Houston.

Turner encouraged party officials to move their convention to Montgomery County.

I think Judge Keough in Montgomery County is more than happy to host the 6,000 delegates (there), Turner said. I think they should go to Montgomery County.

Despite Keoughs position that the county is open for business, he acknowledged the virus is something to take seriously and taking appropriate precautions can slow the spread.

County health officials confirmed two more deaths Thursday, but the data shows active cases have dropped each day this week.

The two deaths, bringing the county total to 40, were a Spring man and a Willis man, both in their 70s and hospitalized at the time of their deaths. Both men had other health conditions as well.

The countys total number of cases is now 2,876 with 1,000 of those active. Since Monday, active cases have dropped by 61.

Total hospitalizations, including both county and non-county residents, dropped six from Wednesday to 221. Of those 221, 36 are Montgomery County residents.

The CDC recommends the following measures in a public place: stay at least six feet from others at all times; wear a cloth face covering to help protect yourself and others; 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; and bring hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol to use if soap and water are not available.

For those needing to be testing, MCPHD has launched an online registration process for its voucher program for both symptomatic and asymptomatic. The testing is for Montgomery County residents only.

To get a voucher, go to mchd-tx.org or mcphd-tx.org and click on the need to be tested link. Fill out the information. A voucher will be emailed. Once you have the voucher, make an appointment at your choice of testing center and get tested.

For more information, the MCHD/MCPHD COVID-19 Call Center is open Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Please call 936-523-5040.

Houston Chronicle reporter Jasper Scherer contributed to this report.

cdominguez@hcnonline.com
It was the painting that caught my eye at first, glistening in the West Cork sun. Pink and purple rushes, Monet-like, offset with green and yellow hills in the background. I never buy art - mostly because pieces like this are out of my reach monetarily - but was drawn to it.

I was delighted when the stallholder, a slight woman with a gentle manner, explained her painting technique.

Behind me, I was half aware of a local woman coming over to the man standing on the next stall, wood carvings laid out in front of him, to wish him luck. A booming English voice thanked her, explaining that he was in court next week.

He moved over to me, asking about my Northern accent, and at that moment I realised I was chatting to Ian Bailey and his partner, Jules Thomas. I said nothing about knowing who he was. I didn't want an uncomfortable scene. I went on my way, painting under my arm.

Later, I became aware that we were staying around five minutes away from where Sophie Toscan du Plantier, the French national so brutally murdered in Toormore in December 1996, had lived.

It's a beautiful place in summer. Stony hills with splashes of purple heather and rushy orange crocosmia frame the landscape, while blue sea rolls around the focal point, the Fastnet lighthouse, apparently the reason Sophie chose the area.

She had raised the height of her bed so she could see the lighthouse out the window, its turning light a beacon at night reflecting on Roaringwater Bay.

Maybe it's the fact I am 39, the same age she was when she died fighting for her life, but I couldn't get her out of my mind. How does something like that happen in a place so remote and rugged?

Bailey was the prime suspect, though never put on trial in Ireland. A French court tried him in absentia in 2019 and found him guilty in a trial widely criticised for going ahead without the accused present.

This week, he fights another attempt to extradite him. I wanted to speak to him and made contact. He agreed to an interview last Thursday.

I found him sitting on a bench at Schull pier, wearing a straw hat to ward off the sun. He had been cutting grass and was tired.

He can be gruff, though was polite, and happy to talk about his poetry, less so about the Du Plantier case. He wanted to know what angle I was taking. I told him I had no idea whether he had murdered her or not but that I would write fairly. He shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of acceptance and we began.

There was no need for me to ask did he murder the woman known to locals as Sophie Bouniol; he was immediately at pains to deny it.

He has been accused of being publicity hungry in the past, though he says he did not seek interviews but responded to requests. While some publicity has been damaging, it has helped Bailey, too.

"Way back, a false narrative was created - that I somehow murdered a French lady - and I had nothing to do with it. Things have shifted and turned and people have come up and apologised to me because they believed initially that I was somehow the murderer.

"Subsequently, because of information that's come into the public domain, they realised that I - and my partner, too - were victims of a grave miscarriage of justice."

He hasn't helped himself over the years, joking with a former editor that he did it to further his career.

"I certainly wasn't the only suspect. I know I was framed, they [gardai] put me in the frame. One of them [whom he names] has already said to a friend of mine that I was the 'ideal suspect'. I think this was a case, as an academic lawyer [he has three law degrees], of what I would call result-orientated investigation.

"Something occurs, and somebody who the authorities do not like and want to put in the frame, and they just go at that, and they don't look at any other evidence. And we know that statements were falsified, changed, altered lost."

He continues: "There are many victims of this. Myself, Jules, our families, the French family, and there are other victims - even the community here is a victim."

I challenge him: "It's interesting you say that, because anybody looking into the case would agree that the victim in all of this, the original victim, was Sophie Toscan du Plantier."

"Absolutely," he says, eyes narrowing, "but then there are secondary victims"

The case, I say, has cast a shadow on a beautiful area. "Oh, it's a complete anathema to the whole place and it's a beautiful place, the people are beautiful. It's quite wild, you have to work quite hard to be here and to be imaginative and creative. I'm sorry, I'm getting tired now, I can tell"

He rubs his temples and we take a break. I wonder if he is annoyed by my comment about the woman whose life was stolen from her. I wonder if maybe I'm being unfair to Bailey. He has had a lot to endure.

"This is the third time I've been subjected to a European arrest warrant; I don't think there is anyone else in the world who has ever experienced that," he says wearily.

"It's a form of torture. I try not to let it get to me too much but it's difficult." It's something he refers to as a "John Wayne state of mind" in one of his poems.

Was it strange to see a trial in which he was the accused unfold in another country?

"I took the decision that I was just going to ignore it and I was just going to carry on with doing what I was doing."

He copes by practising "detachment meditation", wood carving and writing poetry. If he loses this week, legal wrangling will continue, but he knows he could well be facing the prospect of the rest of his life in a French jail for something, he says, he did not do.

"It's not a situation anyone would want. It's horrendous for myself and for Jules. We've both suffered collectively and differently."

The last time he travelled outside Ireland was in 2007, to Barcelona. The risk of arrest meant he could not go to his mother's funeral in 2014.

Jules has had her personal life delved into, in particular the fact that she has been a victim of domestic abuse by Bailey. When I point out that she took flak for deciding to stay with him, he agrees.

"She's supported me through thick and thin." His next phrase is unintentional but unfortunate: "The one thing is at this stage that neither of us have any skeletons in our closet."

Despite their problems, it is clear they are close. "We started the markets in 2000. I get real enjoyment out of that. I sell my poetry and I have a second collection out.

"A lot of it was written when I was being bonfired on a pyre of lies [in Paris] and I used the poetic muse as a form of cathartic defence mechanism."

The photographer arrives and tells us to talk among ourselves while he snaps away. Ian offers to recite one of his poems. He suddenly becomes animated, chanting to the rhythm of the sea below. "On the land an army/Of men and women/wait to see the iasc/Off the boats/Into bins and/Down the hatches/Slit their throats/And process catches."

It's a poem called Erin's Herring, about the fish plant opposite us, which he worked in when he first came to Schull, his "special place".

We dine there, al fresco, and talk. Before ordering, I ask him about writing. He misses journalism and the thrill of seeing his copy in print. We explore poets. He likes Heaney but isn't a fan of John Montague.

The latter, now deceased, savaged him in a written piece and once said while he had talent, he did not apply himself. Bailey smiles, pointing to his two published poetry books.

We talk about Covid-19. He laments not being able to go out for cultural nights or sing in the local church due to lockdown.

I ask him about a story that appears on the West Cork podcast about the murder. The presenters comment on a typewriter with plants growing out of it. Bailey tells them he bashed out the keys with a hammer.

Montague had given him a typewriter. Was this the same one? "No," he says, "but his typewriter has gone the same way." He maintains he does not dislike Montague but complains he was "extraordinarily mean" with money.

Writing has got him into trouble, too. During previous libel cases, some disturbing self-penned aspects surfaced. He wrote about his sexual fantasies and about a previous violent episode with his partner. There was the line "I made you feel death was near". Bailey says he felt violated, his innermost thoughts aired to all. He felt his writing had been taken out of context.

Aside from the podcast, which he cooperated with, there has been renewed interest. A book by Ralph Riegel, which Bailey thinks is "fair", is selling well.

Film-maker Jim Sheridan, and separately, Netflix are exploring making films.

"I know there are people here in Ireland who know I had nothing to do with this. I've even been told as much by certain people and yet nobody is coming forward to acknowledge that."

When I ask what he means, he says: "There are people who know, I'm sure, who did do it, and know I had nothing to do with it."

He finishes his haddock and chips, stands up, empties a glass of white wine and leaves. I sit for a while thinking. He has suffered for 23 years, accused of a crime he claims he is innocent of. Speaking with him, it is clear that has become adept at resisting any attempt to imply that he was in some way responsible. Having spent the afternoon with him, either way the man has endured more than many.
Primary, as in partner, not elections. Its a mini-series (two seasons of three half-hour episodes each) in which two couples in open relationships change partners, laugh, cry, get horny, get laid and finally return to their primaries. In the sex scenes theres a definite emphasis on the womans pleasure and reactions.

All the actors are excellent. They relate like people who actually know each other. This is the best thing Ana Foxxx has ever done in her busy career. Mainstream-worthy. Her scene, late in the series, with her primary, Derrick Pierce, is extremely erotic (including a bit of anal), as is a brief but super-hot tryst with busy businessman Isaiah Maxwell (Ep. 3).

Kira Noir is also very fine and the scene with her primary, Small Hands, that closes the final episode, is passionate and moving. Penny Pax as a prattling girlfriend of Pierce, and Michael Vegas as a smooth pick-up with Kira provide strong support, along with several non-sex actors who flesh out the narrative. And theres a good lesbian threeway with Ana, Kira and Serena Blair at the sex club House of Shadows.

And its very well directed by Casey Calvert, from a script by her and industry veteran Mark Logan. The camera moves fluidly between locations and Calvert is sensitive to tone and nuance from her actors. There is a lot of dialogue, also realistic and convincing. Joy, frustration, anger, humor, passion, tendernessa lot like real life, but with hotter people.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: One of the Uttar Pradesh police constables, involved in the encounter of dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey, has tested positive for COVID-19.

The constable was part of the escort team of UP STF and state police which was bringing the gangster back to Kanpur from Ujjain, where Dubey was arrested from Mahakat temple on Thursday.

However, the other cops who were also accompanying the team have tested negative for the deadly virus. Even the sample of slain criminal taken before sending his body for autopsy had also tested negative for COVID-19.

Hospital authorities have issued an advisory to those who had visited LLR ward where four constables, including the one who tested positive, were undergoing treatment. In the advisory, the authorities have asked all such persons to undergo COVID-19 test for their personal safety and the community at large.

ADG Kanpur Zone Jai Narain Singh, IG Kanpur range Mohit Agarwal, Kanpur DM Brahma Deo Ram Tiwari, SSP Dinesh Kumar P were among those who had visited the ward where four injured cops were being treated. According to hospital sources, nearly 1000 people had visited

the said ward.

The constable, who tested positive on Sunday, was in the same vehicle in which Dubey was being brought back to Kanpur and it had met with an alleged accident near Bhaunti area in Sachendi on Kanpur Dehat -Kanpur National Highway.

The sample report of the constable came in late on Saturday evening. He has now been shifted to the isolated ward for COVID-19 patients at Lala Lajpat Rai hospital, Ganesh Shankar Vidhyarthi Medical College principal Dr R B Kamal said. He clarified that four other cops present in the same vehicle had tested negative.


The PLA Navy guided missile destroyer Zibo (Hull 156) conducts exercises in waters of East China Sea in early July 2020. Photo: navy.81.cn

By Liu Xuanzun

Amid rising tensions across the Taiwan Straits with the US military's increasingly frequent operations in the region, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy recently held drills in the East China Sea, with the latest, more powerful, anti-stealth aircraft-capable version of the Type 052D destroyer making its first public appearance, according to military reports over the weekend.

In early July, a destroyer flotilla affiliated with the PLA Eastern Theater Command Navy conducted training exercises at an undisclosed location in the East China Sea. The training subjects included air and missile defenses, attacks on surface vessels, and joint anti-submarine operations, the PLA Daily reported on Sunday.

According to more details released in a statement and photos posted by the PLA East China Sea Fleet on Friday, the drills featured the guided missile destroyer Zibo, which has the hull number 156, among several other warships.

Having entered military service on January 12, the Zibo is the PLA Navy's first ship of the improved version of the Type 052D destroyer, which is dubbed the Type 052DL, reads an article on the website of the government of Zibo, the city in East China's Shandong Province the destroyer is named after.

This is the first time the Zibo was seen in action according to a publicly available report, observers noted.

Compared to the original Type 052D, the Type 052DL has a longer helicopter deck, and is equipped with a new, meter wave long-range radar on its after-mast, the article said, noting the improvements enable the destroyer to carry China's most advanced Z-20 ship-born helicopter, and to better cope with hostile stealth warplanes.

The exercises came at a time when tensions are rising across the Taiwan Straits, as the US not only approved a new arms sale to Taiwan on Thursday, but also sent a destroyer to waters north of the island of Taiwan and conducted close-up reconnaissance on the Chinese mainland on Friday, according to the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI), a Beijing-based think tank.

The US frequently sent military aircraft and vessels to and near Taiwan since June, and Taiwan is also set to hold its annual Han Kuang exercise on Monday.

The US military will likely play a part in Taiwan's Han Kuang exercise, as it has secretly sent military personnel to participate in past occasions, and the US and Taiwan secessionists are planning to cooperate in resisting a potential Taiwan reunification-by-force operation by the PLA, Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, told the Global Times on Sunday.

PLA naval drills can serve as a deterrent to US reconnaissance operations, and also send a warning to Taiwan secessionists, Li said, noting the PLA is prepared for all options.

Just like the US' close-up reconnaissance on China, the PLA can also conduct similar operations on US bases in Asia-Pacific region, observers said.
Bosnians commemorated on Saturday the massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, marking the 25th anniversary of killings that shocked the world and have stood out as Europes only atrocity since World War Two constituting genocide.

Nine newly identified victims were buried at a flower-shaped cemetery near the town, where tall white tombstones mark the graves of 6,643 other victims.

After 25 years we succeeded in finding his mortal remains, so they can be laid to their final rest, said Fikret Pezic, who buried his father Hasan.

The remains of some 1,000 victims of the massacre in the eastern town during Bosnias 1992-1995 war are still missing.

Ifeta Hasanovic decided to bury incomplete remains of her husband, saying: We were aware they cannot be complete after 25 years, at least there are some, I did not want to make any new delays.

World leaders addressed the ceremony by video link, unable to attend because of coronavirus epidemic. Instead of the tens of thousands visitors who typically attend the commemoration each year, only a few thousand came after organisers banned organised visits.

During the Bosnian war, Bosnian Serb forces pushed non-Serbs out of territories they sought for their Serb statelet. Fleeing Muslims took shelter in several eastern towns, including Srebrenica, that were designated as United Nations safe zones.

On July 11, 1995, the Serb forces commanded by General Ratko Mladic overran Srebrenica, which was protected by lightly armed Dutch peacekeepers.

They sent women and children away and captured and executed the men and boys they found. The bodies were dumped into mass graves and later exhumed by U.N. investigators and used as evidence in war crimes trials of Bosnian Serb leaders.

We grieve with the families that tirelessly seek justice for the 8,000 innocent lives lost, all these years later, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Washington brokered Bosnias peace deal months after the massacre.

Most people at the commemoration were Muslim Bosniaks, reflecting conflicting narratives about the bloodshed - which hinders reconciliation nearly 25 years after the end of war in which about 100,000 people were killed.

The UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted Mladic and his political chief Radovan Karadzic over Srebrenica genocide but they remained heroes for Serbs, many of whom deny that genocide happened.

On Saturday, the Serbs in the nearby town of Bratunac organised an event marking July 11 as the Srebrenica Liberation Day.

Sefik Dzaferovic, the Bosniak chairman of Bosnias tripartite presidency, called for legislation that would ban denial of genocide.

There can be no trust as long as we witness attacks on the truth, denial of genocide and glorification and celebration of executors, Dzaferovic told the commemoration gathering.
Video game giant Ubisoft is installing new leaders at its Canadian studios following an announcement over the weekend that its managing director for Canadian operations was stepping down.

Yannis Mallats departure comes amid recent allegations of sexual harassment that have rocked the Paris-based companys Montreal and Toronto studios.

Mallats exit was communicated to staff in a memo from CEO Yves Guillemot.

The recent allegations that have come to light in Canada against multiple employees make it impossible for him to continue in this position, Guillemot said in the memo.

Christophe Derennes, formerly executive vice-president of production at the Montreal studio, will now lead that studio, while Christine Burgess-Quemard, executive director, Ubisoft worldwide, will take over the other Canadian studios, including Toronto.

This decision is difficult, but necessary given the magnitude of the problems raised in recent weeks at our studios in Montreal and Toronto, Burgess-Quemard said in a staff memo regarding Mallats departure.

Last week, the company announced that Maxime Beland, its Toronto-based vice-president of editorial, resigned and another unidentified employee in Toronto was fired.

And in Paris, vice-president of editorial and creative services Tommy Francois was placed on disciplinary leave.

As well as Mallat, chief creative officer Serge Hascoet has resigned, as has Cecile Cornet, global head of human resources, as she believes it is in the best interest of the Companys unity, according to a statement from Ubisoft.

In the staff memo, Guillemot said Hascoets resignation comes after in-depth discussions we have had together. Guillemot will be personally overseeing a complete overhaul of the way the editorial department works, according to the memo.

The multiple public announcements of the departures mark a shift for an industry that has long grappled with sexism and harassment but dealt with allegations behind closed doors, said Concordia University communications studies professor Mia Consalvo, who holds the Canada research chair in game studies and design.

Youre just seeing more and more public accusations, and I think that public opinion has changed enough since #MeToo and some other high-profile cases that the game industry finally has to publicly react to these things, she said.

Its sad that its taken this long, but it is starting to happen.

I dont think anythings going to be fixed overnight, but I think we are starting to see a larger consciousness, a larger acknowledgment that this is unacceptable.

Ubisoft has not disclosed the nature of the allegations leading to these departures, but allegations on social media point to issues with the companys culture, including bullying, sexual harassment, a highly sexualized culture rife with drinking and partying, and an incident where a female employee was choked at a staff party.

As one anonymous accuser put it: Women are pitted against each other and then your issues are minimized. Your work opinions are overlooked and I have experience(d) being laughed at when I went to my boss about issues and told not to tell him when I mentioned that during a monthly party, a colleague came to my desk as I was still working and told me he wanted me to give him a blow job.

The Star has not been able to independently verify the allegations.

Montreal HR firm Relais Expert Conseil is heading an independent investigation open to current and former Ubisoft employees.

RELATED STORIES Europe Games maker Ubisoft shakes up staff amid misconduct probe

Mallat did not respond to a request for comment; neither did Beland last week.

Ubisoft previously announced that it is shaking up its HR processes in response to the allegations. In a July 2 letter to staff titled Change Starts Today, Guillemot announced a structural shift including the appointment of a head of workplace culture and a review of the companys procedures.

No one should ever feel harassed or disrespected at work, and the types of inappropriate behaviour we have recently learned about cannot and will not be tolerated, wrote Guillemot.

Externally moderated sessions with employees were set to begin Monday.

Ubisoft, though founded in Paris, has become a staple in Canadas gaming industry, with its studio in Montreal and offices in Toronto, Halifax, Winnipeg and Quebec City. Its responsible for popular games including Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell; last Friday information about the upcoming game Far Cry 6 was leaked, flooding Twitter with tweets about the game.
The National Investigation Agency has filed a second FIR with terrorism related charges against four people in connection with the bid to smuggle 30 kg gold via diplomatic cargo addressed to the Consul-General of the UAE in Thiruvananthapuram.

The NIA, which had taken over the case on Friday, said that initial inquiries have revealed that the proceeds of smuggled gold could be used for financing terrorism in India.

Officials said that the smuggled cargo was earlier being transported in regular flights, and it only came on the radar of the investigative agency when the smuggling was done through chartered flights because of the coronavirus lockdown.

The FIR has been filed under the stringent UAPA act, and lists offences under conspiracy and commission of terrorist act by raising funds through gold smuggling to threaten the economic security and monetary stability of India.

FIR filed under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 bu NIA in Kochi, Kerala on July 10, 2020. Image: News18 EXCLUSIVE

The four accused named in the FIR include Swapna Suresh, who worked in Kerala governments IT department and was previously an employee of the UAE consulate. She was arrested from a Bengaluru hotel on Saturday night after six days on the run.

According to the agency, 30 kg of 24 karat gold worth Rs 14.82 crore was seized at the international airport in Thiruvananthapuram last Sunday. This consignment was camouflaged in diplomatic baggage from UAE that is exempted from inspection, but this consignment was confiscated based on specific inputs. Sarith, who had turned up to receive the consignment, was arrested.

Swapna Suresh and another accused Sandeep Nair have been taken from Bengaluru to Kerala on Sunday. The customs has taken into custody another person from Malappuram related to this case, and sources in the customs department say they have some evidence of their involvement in this case and that he needs to be questioned.
This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletter, or follow The Marshall Project on Facebook or Twitter.

By the time Richard Midkiff walked out of a Florida prison last year at age 42, he had spent more than half his life behind bars for a crime he committed when he was 19.

Midkiff has now restarted his life: A full-time paralegal in Ocala, Florida, and the president of the board of a national organization providing legal help to incarcerated people, he begins his busy workdays at 5 a.m. And last month, he proposed to his fiancee, Marianna Kuchma, on the beach.

But Midkiff may not have his freedom much longer. Because of a legal dispute over the wording of his 1997 plea agreement for his role in a murder  and despite the fact that he has not committed any new offenses  a Florida court on July 2 ordered him to report back to the Department of Corrections to spend 15 more years in prison. He was given 15 days to challenge the decision.

In its ruling, the 5th District Court of Appeal noted that Midkiff was a legal adult at the time of his crime, not a juvenile deserving of more lenient treatment. At the same time, the court acknowledged in a footnote that Midkiff appeared to have completed his prison time in a remarkably favorable way and to be a model of rehabilitation.

His former warden agrees. Midkiff is the very embodiment of how we would all ideally want the justice system to transform people into productive, loving citizens, said Kim Southerland, who ran Marion Correctional Institution when Midkiff was serving much of his sentence there.

A warrant could be issued to take Midkiff back into custody as early as this week, though he is seeking a stay while he pursues an appeal. With the clock ticking, he is scrambling to get his fiancees engagement ring resized and to pay his elderly mothers bills  he worries that he may never see her again as a free man.

Story continues

And along with grappling with the possibility of going right back to a place where I was told what I can eat, when I can shower, how I can interact with my family, Midkiff said, he knows a new danger awaits him in prison: I havent even gotten around to contemplating how Im headed into a COVID-19 breeding ground.

A transformation behind bars

In 1996, when Midkiff was 19, he and a 17-year-old acquaintance robbed a man in the Orlando area who they thought would have drugs. Midkiff sat in the getaway car while his friend, J. Patrick Swett, went inside the home with a gun. This doesnt take away either of our guilt, which I have been trying to reckon with ever since, but nowhere in the realm of possibility did I think he would shoot this person, Midkiff said.

Both Midkiff and Swett were charged with first-degree murder; under the legal doctrine of felony murder, anyone involved in a crime that turns into a homicide can be charged with the killing even if they didnt pull the trigger. Midkiff agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and spend 38 years in prison.

Image: Richard Midkiff when he was 16. (Courtesy of Richard Midkiff)

The victims family, according to court records, wanted the shooter to get a longer sentence than Midkiff, so the judge gave Swett 38 and a half years. (Neither the victims family nor Swett, who was also released from prison, could be reached for comment.)

In prison, Midkiff by all accounts transformed himself. He started a program called Story Time Dads, which helped incarcerated fathers record videos of themselves reading books so that their children at home could read along with them. He was also the creator and program coordinator of a prison school called SAGE, which provided dozens of classes on topics including public speaking, interviewing, financial literacy, real estate, creative writing and philosophy.

I even started going to him for help  Id ask him, Can you build a new program for me to meet this need, or can you work with these inmates? said Southerland, the former warden.

Midkiff also became a certified law clerk and one of the most prolific jailhouse lawyers in Florida, according to his advocates across the state.

Image: Richard Midkiff inside the Marion Correctional Facility. (Courtesy of Richard Midkiff)

So he took note when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of rulings in the 2010s declaring that prisoners who were sentenced to decades behind bars as juveniles  meaning under 18  deserve to have their sentences reviewed to see if they had grown out of the adolescent mindset that contributed to their crime.

Midkiffs co-defendant, Swett, who was 17 at the time of the crime, sought such a review and was granted a new sentence: time served. He was freed in 2018.

With the help of an outside attorney, Midkiff immediately filed a motion saying that the original plea agreement, as requested by the victims family and verbally agreed upon by all parties, said that the shooter should get more prison time than the getaway driver. Therefore, if Swetts sentence was being shortened, so should his. (The victims family did not attend Midkiffs hearing to fight his release.)

A judge agreed with Midkiffs argument, and he was released in June 2019.

I have bad news

Going free after more than two decades was kind of like being a newborn except knowing how to walk and how to speak, Midkiff said. Once, when he was waiting to cross a street, he jumped when he heard a robotic voice coming from the traffic light say, Dont walk! His first night sleeping in a friends house, in a room with a soft bed and a door that he could open himself, he nearly had a panic attack.

On Midkiffs first Friday out, he went to dinner with Kuchma, who had been writing to him for years after being introduced to him by her mother, who was a prison volunteer. (The day she had planned to come see him in prison for the first time happened to be the day after he was released; he had to call her to tell her that he was free and to cancel the visit.) Theyve been together ever since.

Image: Richard Midkiff proposed to Marianna Kuchma on the beach last month in Florida. (Courtesy of Richard Midkiff)

They both knew that the Florida attorney generals office had filed an appeal opposing Midkiffs release, but they were not concerned. The trial court judge had ruled strongly in Midkiffs favor, and he had strong evidence of his rehabilitation  support from prison staff and volunteers, as well as colleagues on the outside.

Since his release, Midkiff has worked on hundreds of legal cases, with a special interest in those involving juveniles. Hes also still in touch with his former warden, who asks him about ideas for how to help these guys, Southerland said. Which he doesnt have to do. He could just move on with his life and forget prison.

In February, Midkiff flew to New York City to speak to law students at New York University about his jailhouse lawyer work.

He was so generous with his knowledge, said Sukti Dhital, executive director of the NYU School of Laws Robert and Helen Bernstein Institute for Human Rights, who invited Midkiff. This story is not just about him but about all those hes served and continues to serve.

Through NYU, Midkiff became board president of the Legal Empowerment and Advocacy Hub, which works to democratize the law by helping incarcerated people and pre-trial defendants themselves use it.

Apart from his work, Midkiff has spent the past year enjoying nonprison food and convincing Kuchmas mother and siblings to let him marry her.

But then, after a year of freedom and just weeks after getting engaged, Midkiffs lawyer called him. I have bad news, Mark OMara said simply. (OMara, an Orlando-based criminal defense attorney, is best known for representing George Zimmerman, including in a libel case against NBCUniversal, which owns NBC News; the suit was later dismissed.)

The appeals court had found that the language saying that Swett should get more prison time than Midkiff was written in Swetts plea deal, not Midkiffs. Therefore, Midkiff had no legal grounds to benefit from it.

Midkiff had long believed in the legal system  and he had trained himself while incarcerated not to cry. But the tears came quickly.

It all rushed back: The 23 years of smells, of sounds, of fears, frustrations, regrets and the great losses of being in prison, he said.

Undergirding the courts ruling is the idea that Midkiff, who was a year into being a legal adult at the time of the crime, should not be able to benefit from Supreme Court rulings that said juveniles sent to prison for decades should get a second chance.

Juvenile resentencing is not newly discovered evidence in an adults case, the appeals court ruled.

But many experts on crimes committed by teenagers question the basis of the hard line that the court system draws at age 18. Brain science shows that there is no or very little difference between a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old in terms of impulse control, risk taking, being easily influenced by peer pressure and considering the consequences of ones actions.

There is no magic birthday when someone transitions from a child to an adult, said Lael E.H. Chester, director of the Emerging Adult Justice Project at the Columbia University Justice Lab, which focuses on 18- to 25-year-olds.

Midkiffs case captures many aspects of whats wrong with the American system of punishing young people, youth advocates said. For instance, the notion that everyone involved in a crime, even the driver, should be charged equally: This especially affects teens, who tend to be influenced to do more impulsive, negative things when theyre in groups, research shows. And then theres the notion of thinking of sentences as a strict number of years to be enforced no matter what, ignoring any rehabilitation that has occurred.

Pleas for freedom

Midkiff and his legal team are pursuing a few strategies to keep him out of prison in a state where COVID-19 cases are spiking and 175 percent more common behind bars. But they are running short on time.

The first option would be to get Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and the state clemency board to commute his sentence. Midkiff had filed a petition for clemency while he was in prison, but once he got out, he assumed it was no longer necessary and let the application lapse; his lawyers are trying to update it and get it back on the governors desk.

Kuchmas family members have all written to DeSantis pleading with him to help Richie, as they call their soon-to-be in-law. Our family has embraced him and have a deep respect for who he is today, her mother wrote. The grandchildren look up to him! I have never seen my daughter so happy.

Image: Richard Midkiff and his fiancee, Marianna. (Courtesy of Richard Midkiff)

DeSantis office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman for the state attorney generals office, which argued in a brief that Midkiffs original plea deal did not entitle him to a shorter sentence, said in an emailed statement that nothing precludes him from seeking clemency considering the unique circumstances of his case. She declined to comment further because the case is ongoing.

The other possible route to continuing Midkiffs freedom is through the courts. A three-judge panel of the appeals court decided that he should return to prison; now he will try convincing either the full court or the Florida Supreme Court, or even a federal court, to take up the case.

If he gets a hearing, Midkiffs legal team said that he would make an argument based on the common-law concept of manifest injustice: the idea that a ruling that might be internally logical should still be overturned if the resulting unfairness is so clear and directly observable it is shocking to the conscience.

I am already free, Midkiff said. But now it feels like any minute the cops could show up and take me back.
Image: PTI

Ahead of the monsoon session of Maharashtra legislature, scheduled to begin from August 3, the legislature secretariat, in an order, has increased its staff strength to 50 percent from the 15 percent it was earlier.

This will be effective from July 13 to July 30, the order says, adding that a roster should be prepared to that effect. With the exception of those who have applied for leave during this period, others mentioned in the order have been asked to join work for the forthcoming session.

Sources, however, said that the increase in staff strength at a time when COVID-19 cases in the state are rapidly rising is a risky move.

"This will obviously increase the people coming to the Assembly, and in effect the risk of transmission of the virus. At this point, when the cases in the state are increasing, I do not think it is a prudent decision," an official who works at the legislature told Moneycontrol, adding that this is especially considering a clerk working inside the premises had earlier succumbed to COVID-19.

"Moreover, the premises are under-prepared to cater to such a large number of workers turning up," the official said, claiming that they did not even have sanitizers just a couple of days back. Sources also said that there are at least 16 to 17 staffers at the legislature who have tested positive for the disease.

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"There are at least 16 staffers in Raj Bhavan who have now tested positive. The staffers at the legislature are weary that something similar might happen with the state legislature. It is unwise to increase the strength at this point," a second official said.

According to reports, two Raj Bhavan employees had tested positive last week, after which 100 others there got tested, of which 16 have tested positive. Those who have contracted the virus include senior staff members at Raj Bhavan, sources said.

The monsoon session of Maharashtra legislature, which was scheduled to begin from June 22, was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is scheduled to start from August 3.

Maharashtra, India's worst-hit state, registered a record single-day jump of 8,139 new cases on July 11, taking the state's tally to 2,46,600 positive cases.
Most of the people who have excelled academically made it through the helping hand of parents who got involved in their studies.

It has, therefore, become very critical that parents devote some time and get actively involved in the academic affairs of their children in order to help them become successful.

This is coming from Mr. David Oppong, Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Education, who has also advised parents and guardians to support their pupils to excel at this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

What we expect parents to do is to collaborate with teachers to draw up a timetable for their wards to keep them busily learning, because time is not on their side.

The pupils have missed a lot of academic work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept them at home for a long time, Mr. Oppong told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi,

This was on the sidelines of the inspection of facilities at the Kumasi Senior High Technical School (KSTS) - to identify learning challenges for prompt redress by the government and educational authorities.

Projects inspected included; a completed 18-unit classroom block constructed with sponsorship from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND), and the School's Administration Block, dormitories, amongst others.

The programme, which had in attendance the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah, and Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr. Osei Assibey-Antwi, also saw the delegation inspecting a deteriorating drainage system at the KSTS.

Mr Oppong said ensuring adequate preparation of the Junior High School (JHS) final-year students towards the BECE was a shared responsibility.

Parents should, therefore, not leave that burden on the teacher alone.

---GNA
Two weeks ago, this column called it. The Covid Tracker app would be worth downloading, we said. Its pros would outweigh its cons.

Last Tuesday, the Irish people agreed. About 1.1m people have now downloaded it. That is an astonishing take-up rate, even if almost all of the registrations were in the first 48 hours.

It won't stop Covid-19, but it will help.

Stepping back, it is also worth acknowledging that Ireland is a special place, one where there is still a real sense of community. Whatever the technical arguments around the app, people who downloaded it believe they are helping their families and communities. That shouldn't be lost in all of the noise. This is a good place to live, even with all of our issues.

And yet, I'd like to gently raise a point. We were at the mercy of Apple and Google here. What I mean is that there is no way we could efficiently contact-trace using our phones without those two companies saying we were allowed to.

The HSE was explicit about this last week when I asked. No other technological approach, other than the one favoured by Apple and Google, would properly work.

All other attempts would either deplete battery life or have a comically high failure rate - for example, not working when the phone screen is locked.

The solution was handed to us - and other governments - by the only two companies who have any say whatsoever in the technical design. No other tech company or civil authority can really intervene. If they had not decided to proceed, we couldn't have built a working app.

In other words, a health emergency service was only deliverable to us, and other sovereign countries, if Apple and Google also thought it was a good idea.

While we understandably congratulate ourselves for the effort that has clearly gone into all of this, the duopoly is also surely food for thought.

Last week, HSE boss Paul Reid was asked whether this technology was something Ireland may need. I don't think it's a purely academic question to rely on for future responses to issues such as flu outbreaks.

"Yes," he said. "We are looking at a future model for the Irish state to have test and tracing and I see this technology being part of it."

I asked Health Minister Stephen Donnelly about this lack of choice, whether he might share any concerns that Ireland might become reliant on Apple and Google for such future health services, and he acknowledged the point. But then he shrugged his shoulders, saying that the two tech giants had become unavoidable utilities.

"It's a facet of modern life," he said. "They are the technology platforms. We're largely dependent on the ESB to keep the country running, but that's OK."

Obviously one can see his point. By controlling iOS and Android, it's no big news that Apple and Google steer vast, vast swathes of daily information, culture and business.

But isn't it worth stopping to pause every now and again at just how restricted our options can sometimes be?

I realise that this isn't a perfect example of the issue I'm trying to raise.

In all fairness, the way Apple and Google have constructed this Covid Tracker app's API has been pretty exemplary. Far from being any sort of bad influence, they actually saved health authorities and governments from their own temptations to add in things like trackers and location identifiers.

Yes, that's right: it was Apple and Google which ensured proper privacy levels associated with this entire app. They did it by building in restrictions on using location tracking, among other things.

I also believe both Apple and Google did this out of a genuine sense of wanting to be involved in a positive contribution to a global problem.

We can become quite cynical about the motivations of tech companies - we journalists are especially guilty of this. But they're no different to the rest of us. Over the last few months, I have had the opportunity to talk to several people involved at a senior level in both companies - as well as in the Irish app developer Nearform and officials like the HSE's acting CIO - and I have encountered nothing but a sincere wish to try to help solve a real problem.

But both scenarios can be true. It is possible that this is a really well done app, conceived and executed with the best of motivations, while still showing how hopelessly dependent we are on the exclusive domain that just two companies have on the infrastructure.

Arguing that these sorts of dominions are all around us in tech isn't quite right. Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft hold formidable leads in their respective sectors. But neither is irreplaceably baked into the infrastructure. All have alternatives. There simply is no alternative to Apple and Google when it comes to phones. They own all the highways and levy most of the taxes. Everyone else must abide or simply not participate. It's one of the most striking duopolies we have ever seen.

To be fair, there was some interaction between our own authorities and both Apple and Google on feature and technological requests with regard to this app. But, ultimately, the decision was always, is always and always will be with a handful of developers and executives in those two tech giants.

The fact that this app's infrastructure is so superior to any possible alternative (that didn't involve Apple and Google) will inevitably mean that future health service responses may now reflexively look at options from those two firms, as HSE boss Paul Reid suggested last week. Why wouldn't we? It works, it's a fast deployment and all the other options are crap.

Maybe we'll evolve into a new era of public-private partnership which suits us. But maybe there's also a structural imbalance here that we need to keep an eye on.
This is a hard, exhausting time. But it's also a pivot point. An idealistic generation is rising on the scene hungering to fill the spiritual vacuum their parents left them. There is a palpable desire for solidarity, to shake off an excessively individualistic culture.

In periods of tumult and confusion many people lose faith in systems of change. They feel it's necessary to take the extraordinary action to tear down systems of power. For example, a Senate investigation concluded that from January 1969 to April 1970  a period of tumult similar to our own  there were 4,330 bombings in the United States, which killed 43 people  averaging about nine bombings a day.

Today, thank God, we don't have bombings. But we do have a lot of people on the right and the left who have lost faith in the institutions of free speech and open debate  the basic liberal order. They see that free speech stuff as a mask elites wear to preserve their power. They produce what is crudely called the cancel culture, they treat speech as violence, they attempt to ruin politically discordant people because of some tweets.

I defend liberalism because I think our core problem is ignorance and incompetence and not an elite conspiracy. The world right now is astonishingly complicated, our systems need reform. I don't think one vantage point can grasp reality or devise solutions. We have to have the open exchange of views that is the essence of liberalism.

I am a liberal in a classical Enlightenment sense, but I can't give three cheers for liberalism, or maybe even two. I understand why so many, and so many younger people, are rejecting it. Liberalism, as it emerged in the 18th-century Enlightenment, and as it was institutionalized in America, was based on several false or distorted ideas.

Liberalism was based on the idea that reason is separate from emotion, that we need to be dispassionate to see clearly. This is false. Emotions assign value to things and undergird reason. Because of this error, liberalism has often devolved into a detached, passionless rationalism.

Liberalism was based on the idea that the choosing individual is the elemental unit of society. It put great emphasis on individual autonomy. This is distorted. We're also embedded creatures, members of families, and groups, shaped by our histories. Liberalism sometimes devolves into atomization, an alienated society of lonely buffered selves.

Liberalism assumed that people are primarily motivated by self-interest. This, too, is distorted. People are motivated by both self-interest and a yearning desire to lead a morally meaningful life. Liberalism often produces a disenchanted materialist realm.

By itself, liberalism is so thin it can't even defend itself. When young people passionately demand racial equity, liberalism's response is to protect free speech. Young people have a dream. Liberalism offers a neutral process.

Which is why the constitution of liberalism has to be supplemented with the morality of personalism.

One of the reasons that America is so angry right now is that there is so much dehumanization. Racism reduces a human being to a skin color. The first casualty in a culture, political or generational war is the willingness to see the full humanity of the other. In this moment, some people seem eager even to dehumanize themselves by reducing themselves to a simple label and making politics their one identity. "Speaking as a. ..."

If liberalism left little space for group identity, the current conversation makes group identity everything and leaves no space for individual conscience. You get all these absurd generalizations: White people believe this. Elites believe that.

Personalism is the belief that at the heart of any successful relationship, any successful organization and any just society, there is an earnest and ongoing effort to see the full depth and complexity of each human person.

Shadi Hamid struck a blow for personalism with a Twitter thread this week: "As a Muslim, an Arab, and a brown person, it always grated on me when people would assume things about me merely because of my 'identity,' largely an accident of birth. I cared about being Muslim and being Arab, and I was proud of my heritage. But that didn't mean that I stopped being an individual. I was a writer who happened to be Muslim, not a Muslim who happened to be a writer."

Personalism is about constructing systems where the whole person is seen and cultivated  schools where a child is not just a brain on a stick, hospitals where patients are not just bodies in beds, cities where cops see people, not "perps," communities in which each person is seen as a rich interplay of multiple identities, economic systems that allow people to realize their full dignity as makers and earners.

Personalism judges each social arrangement by how well it fosters the kind of relationships that enhance the full complexity and depth of each soul. This awful year will be somewhat redeemed if we can end it with a sense of this kind of common morality, and if we can begin the hard work of reforming our institutions to be in line with it.

David Brooks writes a syndicated column for the New York Times.

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Hundreds of surfers gathered in the water at Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin's favourite beach in Sydney to pay tribute to the champion snowboarder after his tragic death last week.

About 500 friends of the 32-year-old gathered in Narrabeen, on Sydney's northern beaches to say their goodbyes after Pullin suffered a shallow water blackout and drowned while spearfishing near Palm Beach on the Gold Coast last Wednesday.

A memorial was held at the beach where he died on Saturday, organised by his girlfriend of eight years, Ellidy Vlug and attended by former surfing world champion Mick Fanning.

But for those who couldn't get to Queensland, Pullin's friend Chris Enever organised a paddle out at the Sydney beach he called home for the bulk of his 20s.

Pictured: One mourner wipes away tears while in her wetsuit as she prepares for a paddle out in Pullin's honour

Friends pay their respects in memory of Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin at North Narrabeen Beach on July 12

Surfer Mick Fanning (pictured) joined the paddle out during the early morning service on Saturday

The couple shared a Kelpie puppy named Rummi (pictured together) and were planning the rest of their lives together

About 500 surfers gathered in the water at Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin's favourite beach in Sydney to pay tribute to the champion snowboarder after his tragic death last week

The northern beaches were Pullin's stomping ground when he was in his 20s and where he met Ms Vlug at a mutual friend's party in 2012.

The couple moved to the Gold Coast in 2018 after purchasing their dream home and were the happiest they'd ever been before his death.

Mourners who gathered on Sunday farewelled the 'amazing' three time Olympian and two time World Champion.

Mr Enever spoke of how 'the clouds opened up' to reveal 'the most perfect, pristine day' as everyone paddled out on their boards, The Daily Telegraph reported.

'I think Chumpy sent a few more waves than we were expecting that made it a bit tricky on the way out, threw a spanner in the works,' he said.

The northern beaches were Pullin's stomping ground when he was in his 20s and where he met his partner, Ellidy Vlug

A friend of Pullin's is comforted as she cries at a moving tribute to the late snowboarder

Hundreds of surfers arrived at North Narrabeen beach to say farewell after the initial ceremony in Queensland on Saturday

'It's so hard to comprehend and believe it's real. Everyone is still in disbelief and thinking he'll pop back up and make a joke.'

Nate Johnstone, a fellow snowboarder who considered Pullin one of his closest friends, also read a speech he'd written along with Sean Tully, another of Pullin's mates.

'Chump you were taken from us far too early, however your time here was not wasted and your approach to life was infectious,' Mr Johnstone read.

'The legacy you've left behind is something to be admired, and it's an inspiration to so many but who you were to me was the person I looked up to most and I'm so proud to call you my friend.'

Mr Johnstone described Pullin as his 'brother' in the touching tribute.

North Narrabeen was crawling with surfers and friends of Pullin's as they farewelled the champion snowboarder, who died in a tragic spearfishing accident last Wednesday

Three of Pullin's closest mates read touching speeches at the memorial

The surfers claimed waves were particularly strong - with one person saying it was Pullin's doing

'The world needs more people like you in it. Our time for making new memories has passed, but the ones we have, we will forever hold in our hearts.'

His shock death was described as a 'wake up call' among mourners.

Pullin was an experienced free diver and had 'mastered the art of holding his breath for long periods of time,' Ms Vlug previously explained to Daily Mail Australia.

He often went out spearfishing on his own or with friends, and Ms Vlug said she never once had any concerns about anything going askew.

On the morning of his death, the couple woke late before Pullin decided to go get some sun.

The girlfriend of late Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin paid tribute to his life in a moving dawn memorial (pictured, Ellidy Vlug flanked by family and friends during the morning service on Saturday)

Ms Vlug and a handful of friends (pictured on Saturday morning) waded into the same waters that took her beloved boyfriend to share an emotional farewell

Family and friends comfort a tearful Ms Vlug (pictured) during the morning service on Saturday

Ms Vlug told Daily Mail Australia she last saw her boyfriend alive moments before he'd decided to go for a dive, telling him: 'Love you, watch out for sharks'.

Another surfer found him unconscious on the ocean floor and notified lifesavers, who pulled him to shore.

Paramedics performed CPR for 45 minutes on Pullin but were unable to revive him.

On Saturday, the 28-year-old model and business owner led an early morning service surrounded by heartbroken friends and family in tribute of Pullin.

Supported by an army of surfing mates, Ms Vlug paddled into the waters at Palm Beach, just meters from where the Olympic snowboarder died.

Ms Vlug (pictured, centre) and Pullin's father (left) carry their boards out to the surf during the morning service

Friends, family and locals (pictured, left) turned out to the morning service to send their final farewell to Pullin, as Ms Vlug was comforted at the scene (right)

Ms Vlug and a handful of friends waded into the same waters that took her beloved boyfriend for the emotional farewell.

The group of mourners donned wreaths of flowers around their heads and wetsuits.

Surfer Mick Fanning and Pullin's father joined the mourners in a paddle out while grieving locals who chose to stay back planted bouquets of flowers in the sand.

Bouquets had been steadily arriving since Wednesday afternoon, and were partially buried in the sand to keep them in place overnight.

The group of mourners donned wreaths of flowers around their heads and surf swimsuits (pictured on Saturday morning, Ms Vlug in a headdress and black wetsuit)

Grieving locals planted bouquets of flowers in the sand (pictured on Saturday morning) as Ms Vlug wept in the centre, surrounded by loved ones

Friends and family attended the morning service to pay tribute to Pullin, as Ms Vlug (pictured, centre) was comforted at the scene

Ms Vlug first visited the scene with close friends on Friday, and shared a touching video to social media showing the flower arrangements sitting on the shore as the sun rose in the background.

'Chump my baby, rest in paradise,' she wrote.

'I can't bear to type these words.'

Ms Vlug was first warned something might be amiss by her neighbour, Belinda Anderson, on Wednesday morning.

Ms Anderson had spoken with Pullin on his way out of the house, so knew he was heading down to Palm Beach to go spearfishing.

Hours later, she saw a post in a local community Facebook page. It read that a man in his 30s had been pulled to the shore, unconscious.

Friends and family don swimsuits to wade into the water to pay tribute to late Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin (pictured)

Ms Vlug and the couple's dog Rummi (pictured) are seen at the beach during the morning service

The couple's Kelpie Rummi (pictured) waits on the beach while the surfers paddle out to pay their respects

Pullin and Ms Vlug's dog Rummi (pictured) looks on as the morning service is carried out

Pullin (pictured with Ms Vlug, left and right) was a keen spearfisher but tragically blacked out underwater on Wednesday)

She immediately sought out Ms Vlug.

'I went over and showed his partner the message as I knew he was out there,' Ms Anderson explained.

Ms Vlug previously told Daily Mail Australia she returned from a walk to her neighbour at her door telling her there had been an accident.

She rushed down to the beach with her mother, where she was told by first responders that the victim was in fact her partner of eight years.

'The world lost an amazing human today,' Ms Anderson wrote in a touching tribute to her neighbour.

'He was loved and admired by so many. He passed away doing what he loved'.

Pullin's father (left) with Ms Vlug (centre) and the kelpie Rummi

Surfers paddle out in memory of Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin during the morning service

Mourners paddle out to pay their respects to Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin (pictured) at Palm Beach, where the sportsman died on Wednesday

Family and friends surround Ms Vlug in the water to pay tribute to late Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin (pictured)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 01:37:14|Editor: huaxia

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BUDAPEST, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Hungary will impose new restrictions on cross-border travel next week in order to prevent the coronavirus from being imported from abroad after a surge in new cases in several countries, the government said Sunday.

"Hungary is today among the safest countries in Europe," Gergely Gulyas, head of the Prime Minister's Office, said at a press conference. But given new outbreaks around the world, the government is putting the health and safety of Hungarians foremost and is doing everything possible to prevent the virus's return, he said.

"Border control must therefore be tightened, from Tuesday midnight countries will be categorized into three categories -- red, yellow and green -- based on their rate of new coronavirus infections," Gulyas said, adding that the list would be periodically revised.

Foreigners from countries in the red category are banned from entering, while Hungarian citizens arriving from those countries will have to quarantine for two weeks or until they test negative twice, 48 hours apart.

Both Hungarians and foreigners arriving from countries in the yellow category -- which includes, among others, Serbia, Bulgaria, Portugal and Romania, will have to quarantine for two weeks but will be allowed out if they test negative twice, 48 hours apart.

Countries in the green category can continue to enter without restrictions. Croatia, which is one of the main summer destinations of Hungarians, is free of restrictions for the time being. Enditem
United Nations, July 12 : The UN Security Council (UNSC) has adopted a resolution, with 12 votes in favour and three abstentions, on the mandate renewal for the cross-border humanitarian mechanism in Syria.

Resolution 2533 decides to renew the border crossing of Bab al-Hawa for 12 months, until July 10, 2021, reports Xinhua news agency.

Following the vote on Saturday, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, pointed out that years of illegal sanctions have been exacerbating the economic and humanitarian crises in Syria, devastating livelihoods, and bringing untold sufferings to innocent civilians.

The sanctions have also seriously undermined Syria's ability to respond to COVID-19, Zhang said, adding that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, lifting unilateral coercive measures has become more important and urgent for improving the humanitarian situation in Syria.

Bab al-Salam is the humanitarian gateway to northern Aleppo while Bab al-Hawa serves Idlib.
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The novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 566,000 people worldwide.

Over 12.7 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their nations' outbreaks.

The United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 3.2 million diagnosed cases and at least 135,155 deaths.

PHOTO: TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump wears a mask as he visits Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland' on July 11, 2020. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)

Sunday's headlines:

NYC reports 1st day since March without a single COVID-19 death Florida breaks 1-day record for new cases since start of pandemic Biden campaign slams Trump for 'politicizing' mask-wearing for months Nearly 600 military medical teams sent to help Texas hospitals

Here is how the news is developed on Sunday. All times Eastern.

7:36 p.m.: NYC reports 1st day since March with no COVID-19 deaths

For the first time since March, New York City on did not report a single confirmed or probable COVID-19 death on Saturday, according to preliminary data from the city's health department.

On Friday, the city reported two probable deaths.

The health department's portal does warn that "due to delays in reporting, recent data are incomplete." These delays are especially prevalent on weekends.

The milestone comes four months to the day that New York City reported its first confirmed COVID-19 death.

Since March 11, the city has had more than 23,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

5:46 p.m.: Texas sets another record for hospitalizations

Texas broke its one-day record for new COVID-19 hospitalizations again on Sunday, with 10,410 patients hospitalized.

Hospitalizations have been steadily on the rise in Texas since the end of June, state health department data shows.

The state recorded 8,196 new cases on Saturday, for a total of 258,658. The statewide positivity rate was 16.33% as of Saturday.

Story continues

Harris County leads the state with 43,939 cases, more than a third of which are between the ages of 20 and 40. At this time the county has 97 ICU beds available.

There were 80 new fatalities recorded in Texas, bringing the statewide total to 3,192.

4:05 p.m.: South Carolina positivity rate increases to 22.3%

The South Carolina health department said the state's positivity rate has reached 22.3% -- the highest percentage it has seen in the last 28 days.

The state recorded 1,952 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, for a total of 56,485.

An influx of both in-state and out-of-state tourists has likely contributed to the increase in cases along the state's coast, health experts have said.

MORE: South Carolina emerging as coronavirus hot spot, as hospitalizations rise and virus spreads

The state recorded 10 new deaths on Saturday, for a total of 950.

There are currently 1,472 hospitalizations related to COVID-19, with 72.76% of hospital beds in use statewide.

12:15 p.m.: Arizona positivity rate remains above 20%

Arizona recorded 2,537 positive cases on Saturday, bringing the statewide total to 122,467.

The state conducted 12,170 total tests, resulting in a positivity rate of 20.8%.

There were 86 new deaths in Arizona on Saturday. The state has now recorded 2,237 total deaths since the pandemic began.

There are currently 3,432 people hospitalized in the state from COVID-19. An estimated 89% of ICU beds in Arizona remain full.

11:40 a.m.: Florida breaks 1-day record for new cases

The Florida Department of Health reported 15,300 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, making it the highest one-day total for a state in the U.S. since the pandemic began. It is nearly 4,000 more new cases than the previous record, set by California on Wednesday with 11,694.

There were another 45 deaths reported Sunday, according to the Health Department. This brings the statewide death total to 4,346.

PHOTO: People gather at the 33 & Melt restaurant 'maskless' rally and dinner to protest mandatory face mask restrictions during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Windermere, Florida, July 11, 2020. (Octavio Jones/Reuters)

Some of the increase in new cases could be attributed to the amount of tests being conducted -- there were 136,711 tests conducted on Saturday, the highest for the state by far.

The state reported a positivity rate of 11.2%, which is down 1.3% from Saturday.

In a press conference on Saturday, Florida Gov. DeSantis insisted his state is a leader in coronavirus testing.

"Florida had more tests yesterday than the country as a whole did in March."

PHOTO: People walk through the Lincoln Road Mall, July 10, 2020, in Miami Beach, Florida. (Johnny Louis/Getty Images)

11:10 a.m.: Uptick in cases in NJ town linked to parties, mayor says

The mayor of Westfield, New Jersey, announced that a rise in cases are linked to people going to parties in the community. There were 11 new cases announced on Saturday, all of which were people between the ages of 18 and 25.

"I hope this spike serves as a reminder that we all have a responsibility to remain vigilant to mitigate community spread," Mayor Shelley Brindle said in a statement posted on Facebook. "Wash your hands. Keep a safe distance. Wear a face covering. Working together, we can get this genie back in the bottle."

The town has seen 28 new cases since June 30.

10:40 a.m.: New York matches previous low for new deaths

New York state reported five new deaths on Sunday, tying the record low since the pandemic began. The death total in the Empire State has now reached 24,979.

The state recorded an additional 677 cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total of positive cases to 401,706.

"New York State continues to move forward combatting COVID-19 with its phased, data-driven reopening in the face of alarming increases in cases throughout the country and in the nationwide death rate," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.

State officials are monitoring a rise in cases in Rensselaer County, and may be linked to several individuals who tested positive for the coronavirus after traveling back to New York from Georgia, the governor's office said.

10:10 a.m.: Over 7K hospitalized in Florida for COVID-19

There are 7,332 patients hospitalized in Florida for COVID-19, according to data from the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties are the top 3 counties with hospitalizations.

Miami-Dade has 1,647 hospitalizations, Broward has 1,020 hospitalizations and Palm Beach has 605 hospitalizations.

The state reported 9,960 new coronavirus cases on Saturday and an additional 421 hospitalizations. There were also 95 deaths on Saturday, marking a one-week record with 496 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.

2:25 a.m.: Biden campaign slams Trump for 'politicizing' mask-wearing for months and 'actively discouraging' the issue

A spokesman for former vice president Joe Biden's campaign reacted to President Trump's decision to wear a mask during his visit to Walter Reed Medical Center on Saturday, slamming him for spending months "ignoring the advice of medical experts," and "politicizing" mask-wearing.

"Donald Trump spent months ignoring the advice of medical experts and politicizing wearing a mask, one of the most important things we can do to prevent the spread of the virus. Rather than taking responsibility and leading, he wasted four months that Americans have been making sacrifices by stoking divisions and actively discouraging people from taking a very basic step to protect each other," campaign spokesman Andrew Bates wrote in a statement released Saturday night.

"By contrast, Joe Biden has led by example from the start and as President will make decisions informed by science to protect the American people and defeat the virus," he continued.

Numerous Biden staffers have taken to social media on Saturday to point out that Biden has been wearing a mask for months, and that President Trump mocked him for doing so during a Memorial Day visit to a war memorial.

When the child finally does that thing you've been asking him to do https://t.co/4UvczSX70s  Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) July 11, 2020

"Our Adult Son President remembered not to spread or catch an infectious respiratory disease today. Is this leadership??" the Biden campaign's Digital Director Rob Flaherty joked.

Our Adult Son President remembered not to spread or catch an infectious respiratory disease today. Is this leadership??  Rob Flaherty (@Rob_Flaherty) July 12, 2020

1:56 a.m.: Nearly 600 military medical teams sent to Texas hospitals to help with COVID-19

U.S. Army North confirms that 580 military medical personnel are being sent to Texas by U.S. Northern Command to assist with taking care of COVID-19 patients at civilian hospitals.

The 50 nurses and respiratory therapists who were sent to San Antonio earlier this week are part of this larger deployment. In effect, there are now six Urban Augmentation Medical Task Forces of 85 soldiers, along with 72 sailors from a Navy acute team and rapid rural response teams who will be operating in civilian hospitals in Texas.

The deployments of these teams were a big help in New York hospitals and they proved to be more useful than setting up large temporary field hospitals or sending the Navy hospital ship.

Last night Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a military medical team deployment to Texas, but that was before the Pentagon had finished working out the details.

10:05 p.m.: Several 4th of July partygoers at Michigan sandbar test positive

Several people who attended a Fourth of July party at Torch Lake sandbar near Rapid City, Michigan, have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Health Department of Northwest Michigan.

The popular hangout spot on Houghton Lake in northern Michigan had been flagged by police as problematic in a press release on July 8. Michigan State Police said it saw an increase of 26% in call volume over the previous 10 years at the so-called Torch Fest. Seven people were arrested for drunk and disorderly charges and nine were charged with operating while intoxicated.

Photos released by police showed hundreds of people and boats crowded into close quarters.

PHOTO: Several people tested positive for COVID-19 after attending Torch Fest at the Torch Lake sandbar near Rapid City, Mich., on July 4, 2020. (Michigan State Police)

"If you were at the Torch Lake Sandbar party over 4th of July weekend, you should monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and seek testing if symptoms should develop or if you were at high risk for exposure due to being in close proximity with others or not wearing a cloth facial covering," the health department said in a statement.

PHOTO: Several people tested positive for COVID-19 after attending Torch Fest at the Torch Lake sandbar near Rapid City, Mich., on July 4, 2020. (Michigan State Police)

ABC News' Joshua Hoyos, Scott Withers, Matthew Fuhrman, Luis Martinez, John Verhovek and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.

State records continue to fall for new cases, hospitalizations originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
- Mary Namatovu got engaged recently and went for a traditional introduction ceremony at her fiance's home

- With social gatherings being banned in Uganda, Namatovu took to social media to let the world know she was getting married soon

- She asked whoever may be objected to their union to come forward and say so before the wedding day

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed people to the edges, disrupted people's plans and has instead reintroduced a new norm whose end is very uncertain.

Nothing can illustrate this statement better than what a Ugandan lady did in a bid to protect herself from disappointments that come with marriages.

READ ALSO: Sandra Sarfo Ababio: Lil Win's 'girlfriend' gives 'free show' in new video

Mary Namatovu and Jonathan Katamba during their introduction ceremony on June 21. Photo: Isaac Sanyu

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: New photo of John Dumelo and wife sparks baby number 2 rumours

With weddings and churches being banned and in some cases being restricted to a specific number of people, Mary Namatovu had to find a way to let the world know she is getting married soon.

The soon-to-be-wed bride took to Facebook to let everybody know that she was engaged and whoever had an objection to their union should come out early enough.

READ ALSO: PHOTOS: Afia Schwar flaunts beautiful daughter Pena in stunning photos to celebrate her birthday

Mary Namatovu went to her Facebook announcing her engagement and to the world. Photo: My Wedding

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Saahene: Despite youngest son shows off powerful car in new photo

Natomovu posted her fiance's photo asking all those he may be married to or engaged or those he may have sired children with to come forward before the d-day.

Hey people, his name is Jonathan Katamba, the last born of four, the most amazingly faithful surveyor, property seller and manager I know in Uganda. He says he wants to marry me. If anyone objects this, speak now. If he is engaged to you please speak now, if he has a child with you speak now. When he marries me, please hold your peace, she wrote.

The two have been long-term friends and they held a traditional introduction ceremony on June 21 and they are now waiting for the day to tie the knot.

From the look of their old photos, it's indicative the two have been dating for long. Photo: Isaac Sanyu

Source: Facebook

Vox pop: Which team "Nana-Bawumia or Jane-John" will win the 2020 election? | #Yencomgh

Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news!

Source: YEN.com.gh
File pic

Amid a political slugfest over the BJP's alleged attempts to topple the Congress-led Rajasthan government, several state ministers and party legislators met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at his residence.

Urban Development and Housing Minister Shanti Dhariwal, Health Minister Raghu Sharma, Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Labour Minister Tikaram Jully, among others, visited Gehlot.

Apart from Congress MLAs, Independent MLAs also met the chief minister.

Khachariyawas said that BJP's conspiracy has been exposed and they will not be successful in fulfilling their agenda of toppling the state government.

Congress MLA Rajendra Gudha said, "While the chief minister is fighting the coronavirus crisis, (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah and his team are trying to topple the state government. They are butchers."

Later at night, Gehlot convened a meeting of the council of ministers at his residence to discuss the political situation in the state.

Earlier at a press conference, Gehlot had accused the opposition BJP of trying to topple his government by offering his legislators large sums of money.

He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were unable to "tolerate" him or his government and were therefore planning a conspiracy.

Rejecting Gehlot's allegations, BJP state president Satish Poonia said the political situation in the state was the result of infighting in the Congress and the chief minister was just trying to shift the blame.
In a rare address to the Iranian parliament (Majles), Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made it clear that impeaching President Hassan Rouhani is out of the question.

Speaking via video link on Sunday July 12, Khamenei said: "I strongly believe that governments should carry on doing their job until the last day of their term of office." He also advised that the Rouhani administration "should not slow down its momentum by any means."

Iran's Supreme Leader has not been among politicians or the public since the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic in Iran in mid-February. He is thought to be in total isolation and protected from exposure to the virus.

Khamenei pointed out that "a confrontational atmosphere in the leadership of the government institutions will do harm to public opinion." He advised that "as the administration is spending its last year in office while the Majles has just started its first year, the legislative and executive branches should avoid damaging behavior."

In early July some 200 MPs tabled a motion to question Rouhani's performance in foreign policy, particularly about the failing nuclear deal with world powers and they strongly criticized 25-year-long pact with China.

Later, 130 members of the parliament went a step further beginning a motion to impeach Rouhani for his failures in the area of economy, foreign policy and tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the new MPs who entered the Majles in May had threatened in their election campaign to impeach Rouhani and take him to court for failing to fulfil his election promises particularly in the area of economy.

Khamenei's speech which was made to a closed-door session appears to have been more clearly against any move that would question the administration's authority and legitimacy. Later, the speech was published for all to see.

Last week, in a controversial session the Majles heckled Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, signalling the way it was going to go about weakening the Rouhani administration.

Khamenei told the lawmakers to avoid insulting and accusing cabinet ministers. Members of the parliament had called Zarif a "liar" and a "coward" in the controversial session.

Regime insiders on social media pointed out during the past days that apart from Khamenei's opposition to the idea of impeaching Rouhani, the logistics for replacing an unseated president would take something around nine months, while Rouhani will be automatically out of office in a matter of 10 months. They argued that the motion was not worth the political chaos that would be created in the process of impeachment.

In another part of his speech, Khamenei reiterated that Iran's "ailing economy" should not pin its hope on foreign actors. However, he did not say anything about the controversial economic cooperation pact with China which is said to put the country's resources and territory at the disposal of the Chines for 25 years.

However, unlike his previous statements about the economy, Khamenei did not repeat his usual jargon about "jihadist economy" being "a remedy for Iran's economic problems."

He called the current parliament "the strongest and the most revolutionary Iranian parliament of all times and said the turnout in the Majles election was acceptable.

The Majles election in February had the lowest turnout in the past 40 years, with the figure for Tehran being barely over 20 percent, while the national turnout was around 42.4 percent.

Elsewhere in his speech, Khamenei referred to student protests in July 1999 and nationwide protests June 2009 but concluded oddly that those protests disappointed the country's enemies.

The 1999 protests were against the restriction of press freedom by the Islamic government and the massive 2009 demonstrations were against a presidential election that was rigged by the IRGC and other hardliners close to Khamenei. Both protests were violently suppressed, while the Islamic regime's security forces killed tens f protesters and sent hundreds of others to jail.

Khamenei's speech on Sunday is likely to disappoint the nation regarding the possibility of any change after the Rouhani administration, and at the same time, it made Rouhani and his ministers utterly indebted to Khamenei, reducing the likelihood of voicing any demand for political change in the people's interest from within the government.
Image

Train to the Bronx

Dear Diary:

I was just starting out as a lawyer and was to make my first court appearance in the Bronx. Having grown up in Brooklyn, I knew my way around that borough and Manhattan by train. I was less familiar with the lines that ran to the Bronx.

A friend in my office offered some advice.

Take the Lex, but dont get on the wrong train, he said. You want to go to Yankee Stadium. Just remember its Lou Gehrigs number.

I went to the subway station and got on a 5 train when it pulled in. I immediately began to wonder whether I was on the right train.

I asked one of the other passengers if he knew what Lou Gehrigs number was.

He said he did not.

DiMaggio was 5 if that helps you, he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 02:15:18|Editor: huaxia

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ALGIERS, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the COVID-19 in Algeria exceeded 1,000 on Saturday since the first case was recorded on February 25.

Over the last 24 hours, 470 new COVID-19 cases and eight new fatalities were reported, bringing the total number of infections to 18,708 and the death toll to 1,004 in Algeria.

Algeria has resumed economic and commercial activities since June 7 as part of the efforts to return to normal life.

China and Algeria have offered mutual help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Chinese medical expert team arrived in Algeria on May 14 for a 15-day mission to help fight the coronavirus, through sharing China's experiences in controlling its spread. Enditem
Okinawa Governor Wants Tougher Action as 61 Marines Infected With Virus

TOKYOThe governor of Japans Okinawa island demanded a top U.S. military commander take tougher prevention measures and more transparency hours after officials were told that more than 60 Marines at two bases have been infected with the coronavirus over the past few days.

Okinawan officials on Sunday reported a total of 61 cases38 of them at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the center of a relocation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansensince July 7. They said that U.S. military officials told them the two bases have since been put in lockdown.

The disclosure of the exact figures came only after Okinawas repeated requests to the U.S. military.

Gov. Denny Tamaki, in telephone talks late Saturday with Lt. Gen. H. Stacy Clardy, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, demanded the U.S military increase disease prevention measures to maximum levels, stop sending personnel from the mainland U.S. to Okinawa and seal the bases, as well as provide more transparency.

Okinawans are shocked by what we were told (by the U.S. military), Tamaki told a news conference Saturday. It is extremely regrettable that the infections are rapidly spreading among U.S. personnel when we Okinawans are doing our utmost to contain the infections.

We now have strong doubts that the U.S. military has taken adequate disease prevention measures, he added.

Tamaki said he wants more talks with the U.S. military. Okinawan officials also asked the Japanese government to pressure the U.S. side to provide details including the number of cases, seal off Futenma and Camp Hansen, and step up preventive measures.

Adding to their concern is quarantining of an unidentified number of American service members arriving from the mainland U.S. for ongoing staff rotations at an off-base hotel due to shortage of space on base, officials said.

The Marines said in a statement Friday that the troops were taking additional protective measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus and were restricting off-base activities. The statement said measures are to protect our forces, our families, and the local community, without providing details on the infections.

The Marine Corps Installations Pacific said on its Facebook page on Saturday that this week, the Marine Corps experienced two localized clusters of individuals who tested positive for the virus. It said those who tested positive were in isolation.

Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan under a bilateral security pact, and the residents are sensitive to U.S. base-related problems. Many Okinawans have long complained about pollution, noise, and crime.

Okinawans also oppose a planned relocation of Futenma Air Base from the current site in a densely populated area in the south to a less populated area on the east coast.

Okinawa has had about 150 cases of the coronavirus. In all, Japan has had about 21,000 cases and 1,000 deaths, with Tokyo reporting more than 200 new cases for a third straight day Saturday.

By Mari Yamaguchi
Former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges took to the pages of the New York Times to explain the citys current state of civic dissolution in the column As Mayor of Minneapolis, I Saw How White Liberals Block Change. Subhead: But this revolutionary moment is inviting us to be a part of the solution. The Star Tribune republished the Hodges column yesterday under the same headline. I would have preferred Suicides not painless. Hodges writes:

As the mayor of Minneapolis from 2014 to 2018, as a Minneapolis City Council member from 2006 until 2014 and as a white Democrat, I can say this: White liberals, despite believing we are saying and doing the right things, have resisted the systemic changes our cities have needed for decades. We have mostly settled for illusions of change, like testing pilot programs and funding volunteer opportunities.

These efforts make us feel better about racism, but fundamentally change little for the communities of color whose disadvantages often come from the hoarding of advantage by mostly white neighborhoods.

In Minneapolis, the white liberals I represented as a Council member and mayor were very supportive of summer jobs programs that benefited young people of color. I also saw them fight every proposal to fundamentally change how we provide education to those same young people. They applauded restoring funding for the rental assistance hotline. They also signed petitions and brought lawsuits against sweeping reform to zoning laws that would promote housing affordability and integration.

Nowhere is this dynamic of preserving white comfort at the expense of others more visible than in policing. Whether we know it or not, white liberal people in blue cities implicitly ask police officers to politely stand guard in predominantly white parts of town (where the downside of bad policing is usually inconvenience) and to aggressively patrol the parts of town where people of color live  where the consequences of bad policing are fear, violent abuse, mass incarceration and, far too often, death.

Underlying these requests are the flawed beliefs that aggressive patrolling of Black communities provides a wall of protection around white people and our property.

* * * * *

Whatever the result, a sustainable transformation of policing will require that white people of means disinvest in the comfort of our status quo.
A video of an Iraqi doctor compassionately singing for a COVID-19 patient has gone viral on social media as thousands of people liked and shared the awe-inspiring footage. An elderly woman, who contracted the novel coronavirus was seen sentimental in the video as the medic motivated her to battle the disease by performing melodies for her in the ward in an encouraging move. With over 2.3k views, the footage has inspired many as users lauded the hero for not only treating the patient medically but also caring about the emotional wellbeing of his patient.

Iraq from the other side, an iraqi doctor sings to an infected woman #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/Ue3ro1dPdq  khalo atheer (@atheer_mtc) July 8, 2020

Iraqi doctor singing to COVID patient to make her feel better.@NobelPrize should consider Nobel prize for this great doc.

Hes real human, treating that old lady like his mom#coronavirus #pandemic

pic.twitter.com/7FalGmNCE2  saud kenaah (@Springs_USA) July 8, 2020

Described as "white army", the healthcare workers have been lauded by the activists in Arab and in Iraq as messages of solidarity full of gratitude and compassion were poured in for the hospital employees who are facing the COVID-19 health crisis in the frontline. In the clip shared by Khalo Atheer on Twitter, one can see the extra mile the medics go to cure the patients of coronavirus who are both physically and psychologically impacted by the severity of the disease. Attired in his hazmat suit, the doctor can be seen giving an impromptu performance for a woman clad in a black veil and a protective mask as she edged close to an emotional breakdown.

Read: 4 Rockets Hit Baghdad's Green Zone In Challenge To Iraqi PM

Read: Cockpit View Of Targets Being Struck In Iraq

10 doctors have died due to COVID-19

Over hundreds of medical staff have succumbed to the COVID-19 in the Arab world whilst their fight against the malignant coronavirus. In Iraq, at least 10 doctors have died due to the infection, while a 105 in Egypt passed away in the line of duty, as per reports so far. Earlier last week, Baghdads vast exhibition grounds were converted into makeshift hospitals as masked workers lugged hospital beds into rows and the doctors and officials sounded the alarm over sudden surge cases in the country. While doctors have been running low on medical equipment, including key protective gear, and the healthcare system has been stretched to its maximum capacity, they are working tirelessly to cure as many patients despite challenges.

Read: Coronavirus Live Updates: Amitabh Bachchan Responding Well; India's Tally Nears 8.5 Lakh

Read: US Records 66,528 New Coronavirus Cases, Highest Single-day Spike

(Image Credit: Twitter/ Khalo Atheer)
Hyderabad, July 12 : Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) workers attacked the convoy of BJP MP Dharmapuri Arvind in Warangal Urban district on Sunday.

Angry over certain remarks made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader against Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao at a news conference, workers of TRS hurled stones and eggs on his convoy.

The MP escaped unhurt in the incident, which occurred when Lok Sabha MP from Nizamabad was coming out of BJP office after addressing a news conference. Raising slogans against Arvind, TRS workers tried to stop the convoy.

When the police tried to stop them, they attacked the convoy. The protesters also tried to barge into BJP office, leading to a clash between the two groups.

Supporters of both the parties exchanged blows. Police intervened to control the situation and detained the TRS workers.

Protesting against the attack, BJP leaders and workers marched towards the residence of local TRS MLA Vinay Bhaskar to stage a sit-in. Police stopped them, leading to tension. Police arrested the protesters.

Earlier, addressing the news conference Arvind alleged that at a time when people were facing a crisis due to COVID-19, the chief minister was taking rest at his farm house. He also claimed that the Centre's BJP-led government was unable to help the state due to the chief minister's negligence.

The MP also made allegations of corruption against the chief minister and his family members.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy has condemned the attack on Arvind. "Strongly condemn the attack on MP from Nizamabad by TRS workers. This attack gives credence to the fact that opposition in TS is being continuously & systematically suppressed in every way possible, about which I also apprised the concerned police officials," Reddy tweeted.

BJP general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao said that the attack on BJP MP by TRS goons is highly condemnable. "TRS does not gain politically by attacking BJP leaders. BJP grows in suppression," he said.

State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay also condemned the attack on Arvind's convoy. He said while people of Telangana were scared of COVID-19, the chief minister was scared of the BJP.

Sanjay warned the TRS that if it resorts to attacks, BJP will be forced to give a befitting reply. He claimed that the attack on the MP's convoy was pre-planned.
While anything can happen in the span of two months, officials with the Delaware (Ohio) County Fair have indicated the 2020 renewal is on target to proceed as scheduled  albeit with some significant changes in place.

"We are excited to continue planning for the fair while working hand in hand with the Delaware (General) Health District to ensure that we have a safe and enjoyable environment for all of our patrons," senior fair board president Tom Wright said in a news release referenced by Columbus, Ohio, outlet ThisWeek Community News.

In addition to the implementation of now standard physical distancing guidelines throughout the fair, which will be held Sept. 19 to 26, the fair will implement numerous other safety and health adaptations in conjunction with mandates issued by Responsible Restart Ohio. Sanitation stations will be placed throughout the grounds, one-way traffic flow through buildings and barns will be encouraged, and grandstand occupancy for will be capped at 2,500  despite recent renewals of the Little Brown Jug attracting over 40,000 people from around the world.

Fortunately, as it pertains to the five-day harness racing meet at Delaware culminating with the Little Brown Jug, hundreds of simulcast locations across North America are responsible for a significant portion of the money wagered on Delaware races.

"We are wanting to create a safe environment for families and race fans to enjoy this annual tradition," Wright said.

(with files from ThisWeek Community News)
(Newser)  Calling the reopening of the nation's schools "not a matter of if" but "a matter of how," Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Sunday that the students have to get back into the classroom. "Parents are expecting that this fall their kids are going to have a full-time experience with their learning, and we need to follow through on that promise," DeVos said, Fox News reports. Being out of the classroom all spring has impaired students' learning, DeVos said, adding that students with mental and emotional issues especially have suffered. They'll need to be present in school to catch up, she said. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, DeVos repeated the threat that President Trump also has made, to withhold federal funding from schools if they don't open. "American investment in education is a promise to students and their families," she said. "If schools aren't going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldn't get the funds."

story continues below

Schools can operate while keeping students and employees safe from the coronavirus, DeVos said, but she wouldn't say whether they should adhere to the CDC guidelines. "The CDC guidelines are just that, meant to be flexible and meant to be applied as appropriate for the situation," she said on CNN's State of the Union. Trump has pressured the CDC to relax its guidelines, but the agency's director said that won't happen. "There is nothing in the data that would suggest that kids being back in school is dangerous to them," DeVos said. She made no suggestions about what schools should do if cases rise again after the reopenings. "Where there are little flare-ups or hot spots, that can be dealt with on a school-by-school or a case-by-case basis," DeVos said. Later on CNN, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi objected to DeVos' statements. "The president and his administration are messing with the health of our children," Pelosi said. (Read more coronavirus stories.)
Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) is believed to have given birth to their third son in May.

And the glamorous former model, 33, showed off her enviable post-baby body in a series of self portraits on Saturday.

Posing up a storm in Utah, the mother-of-three looked effortlessly chic in a black ensemble with a belt cinching in at her svelte waistline.

Scroll down for video

Yummy mummy! Makeup-free Lara Bingle, 33, showed off her incredible post-baby body in stunning self portraits in Utah on Saturday after the 'secret birth' of her third child with husband Sam Worthington

In the various photos, Lara posed on the picturesque red sandstone rocks surrounding Lake Powell, in Utah.

'Self portrait in Utah @ysl Kate 99 via route 59,' Lara captioned the images, while promoting the luxury, studded suede purse worth AU$3,960.

The former socialite, who hails from Cronulla, a beachside suburb in Sydney's south, was barefoot in the sand as she pouted for the camera.

Perfect backdrop: In the various photos, Lara posed on the picturesque red sandstone rocks surrounding Lake Powell, in Utah

Expensive taste: Lara was promoting a luxury, studded suede purse by YSL worth AU$3,960

Natural beauty: Lara's short blonde locks were slicked back with water and she appeared to be completely without makeup for the laid-back photo shoot

Lara wore a billowing, loose-fit blouse paired with a structured belt worn high around her torso.

Her short blonde locks were slicked back with water, while her flawless complexion appeared to be makeup-free.

The Los Angeles-based businesswoman also shared a video of herself kayaking on the same lake last week.

Holiday? The Los Angeles-based businesswoman also shared a video of herself kayaking on the same lake last week

Lara lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Sam, who is best known for playing Jake Sully in the Avatar film series.

The couple share three sons, Rocket, four, Racer, two, and a newborn baby whose name they haven't disclosed.

Lara and Sam are yet to reveal when exactly the baby was born.
The Congress has sent its senior leaders Ajay Maken and Randeep Surjewala as central observers to Jaipur to avert a crisis as it faces factionalism in Rajasthan.

The two leaders along with party general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Congress Avinash Pande will be reaching Jaipur later in the evening and will hold discussions with party MLAs, sources said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has summoned a meeting tonight of Congress MLAs. The sources said that around 19 Congress MLAs are said to be siding with Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and are incommunicado.

The Congress is trying to save its government in Rajasthan, which faces a rebellion from within. Pilot is miffed with Gehlot over the notice sent to him by the state police investigating the alleged horse-trading of Congress MLAs.

The chief minister has blamed the BJP for trying to topple his government, a charge the BJP has denied.
New Delhi:

In a further blow to Indo-Pak ties, Pakistan today pulled out six officials at its high commission in Delhi, days after a mission staffer Mehmood Akhtar was expelled by India over alleged espionage.

Though there was no official announcement about Pakistan withdrawing its diplomats, according to Pakistani sources, six mission officials have returned home.

The officials, who left India, included commercial counsellor Syed Furrukh Habib and first secretaries Khadim Hussain, Mudassir Cheema and Shahid Iqbal whose names were referred to by Akhtar during his interrogation in connection with the spying scandal, according to sources in the Pakistan high commission.

"The decision has been taken after it became impossible for the officials to work in this vitiated atmosphere. "Indian government is threatening and blackmailing our diplomats. So, in this condition, it is impossible for us to stay in this country and work," sources alleged.

Espionage racket: Expelled Pak high commission employee named 16 other staffers involved in spying

The development comes days after India declared Pakistani official Akhtar persona non-grata for espionage activities, triggering a tit for tat action by Islamabad, which also expelled an Indian high commission official posted there.

Read: Pak declares Indian HC official Surjeet Singh as persona non-grata; asks him to leave Pak in 48 hours

Earlier, media reports emerging from Islamabad said Pakistan may ask at least two officials of the Indian high commission to leave the country for their alleged involvement in subversive activities.

The two officials were identified and their photographs were being flashed by different TV news channels in Pakistan.

Geo TV reported that commercial counsellor Rajesh Agnihotri and press counsellor Balbir Singh may be expelled.

Indian officials said because of such media reports the security of these diplomats has been "hugely compromised".

Citing sources, the channel claimed that Agnihotri was directly linked with RAW, while Singh was working for Intelligence Bureau (IB). The duo, it was alleged, were using their positions in Pakistan as cover to hide their real identities.

It claimed Singh was also running a network of militants in Pakistan and expelled High Commission official Surjeet Singh was also part of his network.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Tomas Vargas, Jr., of Stockton, Calif., says that receiving money through the city's universal basic income experiment has been life changing. Snap Jackson Photography

A few years ago, Tomas Vargas, Jr., was having a tough time supporting his family. The Stockton, California, resident, a part-time supervisor at UPS, found his paychecks were not enough to cover his expenses. To pick up extra cash, he looked for more work, by fixing cars and helping neighbors out around their houses. "I was stressed out," Vargas, 36, said. "I was living paycheck by paycheck but I was having to hustle on top of it to get my bills paid." Then, something changed. He was selected to participate in a new program offered by the city. Called SEED, which stands for Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, the program set out to give 125 city residents $500 per month for 18 months. At first, Vargas said he thought it was a joke. Today, he says the money has made a real difference in his life. Having the extra income enabled him to think about his future and find more meaningful full-time work. He could also spend more time with his family.

"The most important time is with your kids when they're young," Vargas said. "I got the opportunity to do that." Stockton's experiment comes amid a national debate over how to give Americans more financial support. The coronavirus pandemic has prompted Congress to send millions of Americans $1,200 stimulus checks and give unemployed individuals an extra $600 per week to help limit the financial damage. But that help is limited, while COVID-19 rages on. All eyes are on Congress to see whether they will send a second wave of stimulus checks and extend the extra $600 per month in unemployment benefits. While some Republicans have called for reining in spending, some Democrats have suggested even more generous programs. One bill proposed by Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and Ed Markey, D-Mass.; would send as much as $10,000 per month to American families for the duration of the pandemic.

People know what they need, and so it's just very efficient to deliver a cash payment. Elaine Maag Senior research associate, Urban Institute

The plan is a spin on universal basic income, whereby the government provides people with a guaranteed amount of money per month. Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs first learned of the concept as a student at Stanford University, when reading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s book, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?" in which he calls for a basic income to help fight wealth inequality. "I remember reading that as a college freshman and thinking, 'Wow, I had never heard this part of his legacy. I wonder what happened. Why was that not taught?'" Tubbs said. Years later, Tubbs came upon the idea again in 2017, when he was elected mayor of Stockton, his home town. He asked his policy team to research ideas for programs to address various issues, and universal basic income popped up again.

Michael Tubbs, former mayor of Stockton, California. Nick Otto | AFP | Getty Images

"I think the crux of most of our issues in Stockton are poverty and systemic universal poverty," Tubbs said. Putting something together required careful planning. As a first-year mayor, Tubbs said he knew the idea was politically risky. In February 2019, SEED began sending $500 per month to 125 randomly selected residents. The program was originally an 18-month experiment. However, it has been extended to 24 months, due to COVID-19 and through donations from philanthropist Carol Tonan. The last payments will be issued in January. To qualify, residents must be 18 or over and live in a neighborhood at or below Stockton's median household income of $46,000.

There is no racial justice without economic justice. It's a key policy moment right now for guaranteed income. Sukhi Samra Director, Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration

The program studies recipients with one key question in mind: How is guaranteed income impacting their income volatility? Evidence points to a positive difference in the lives of the recipients, said Sukhi Samra, director of SEED. Most are using the money for basic expenses which allows them to spend more time with their children, Samra said. One woman he cited was able to quit her second job as an Uber driver, which made her feel unsafe, but was forced to do to make ends meet. Others have said they have less anxiety and stress, are sleeping better and have improved relationships with their spouses and children.

Critics say such programs are a handout for people who should work to earn more money. "There's always the fear that we're going to give money to someone who doesn't deserve it," said Elaine Maag, senior research associate at the Urban Institute. Yet other government programs might not provide support exactly where individuals and families most need it, she said. "People know what they need, and so it's just very efficient to deliver a cash payment," Maag said. SEED's goal goes beyond improving the lives of local recipients. It also strives to make the case for universal basic income on a national level. To that end, the program is gathering data to compare people who are receiving the money to those who are not. "Covid-19 has illustrated what we already intuitively knew to be true," Samra said. "The economy just isn't working for most working class Americans."

Stockton is the county seat of San Joaquin County in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California DenisTangneyJr

The movement also coincides with the racial protests taking place around the country. "These conversations are inextricably linked. There is no racial justice without economic justice," Samra said. "It's a key policy moment right now for guaranteed income." Tubbs said he is advocating for bigger adoption of the idea. To that end, he has spoken with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and almost every major Democratic presidential campaign. In the meantime, more cities are making plans to implement similar programs. Last month, 11 U.S. mayors including Tubbs formed a coalition called Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. They represent cities including Jackson, Miss.; St. Paul, Minn.; Newark, N.J.; Compton, Calif., Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif.; Shreveport, La.; Tacoma, Wash.; Columbia, S.C.; and Atlanta. More from Personal Finance:

Fewer Americans may get a second stimulus check

This proposal would give as much as $10,000/month to American families

What unemployment benefits will look like without that extra $600 a week Some mayors will initiate a program in their cities before the end of the year, while others are more tentative, Tubbs said. Together, they are advocating for the concept to be duplicated on a federal level. "This is not Democrat or Republican. This is really an American thing," Tubbs said. "Hopefully with enough conversation, with enough mayors, we can push our federal friends to come together and put this in place for our residents." For people like Vargas, the difference the extra income can make is tangible. But the program's benefits go beyond just money. Earlier this year, Vargas' new job a local airport fell through due to COVID-19. But he was able to find a new one from a connection he made through the SEED program. Now, he works at a non-profit helping to educate young people who are about to become parents. It's part of the positive example he promised he would set a decade ago, after attending 13 funerals in one year mostly due to street violence. "It gives a lot of hope to people who have nothing at all," Vargas said of the SEED program. "Even the little bit they're doing now makes the biggest difference. I hope it gets bigger and helps other people out."
STC signed a non-binding agreement in January to buy the majority stake for $2.4 billion, but extended the process in April by 90 days

Saudi Arabias largest telecoms operator Saudi Telecom Co (STC) said on Sunday it would need another two months to complete the purchase of Vodafone Groups 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt.

STC signed a non-binding agreement in January to buy the majority stake for $2.4 billion, but extended the process in April by 90 days, citing logistical challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, STC said it was extending this period again until September for the same reasons.

Vodafone Egypt is the countrys biggest mobile operator with 44 million subscribers and a 40% market share.

STC is majority owned by Saudi Arabias state fund the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) London, United Kingdom  Sun, July 12, 2020 22:09 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665c267d 2 Science & Tech Serpentine-Galleries,Acute-Art,Christo,Bulgaria,artist,arts,augmented-reality Free

Have you ever dreamed of owning a monumental sculpture by the late Christo? Serpentine Galleries and Acute Art are now paying tribute to the late Bulgarian-born artist by bringing back to life his final large-scale public artwork, The London Mastaba, in augmented reality.

For three months in 2018, the monumental sculpture was installed on top of the Serpentine Lake in Londons Hyde Park, where passers-by could admire 7,506 pink and purple barrels that Christo stacked on a floating platform.

Accessible via the free Acute Art app, The London Mastaba AR (Hyde Park) offers art enthusiasts the opportunity to discover an exact virtual replica of the installation through their mobile phones when they visit the Serpentine Lake.

While this site-specific initiative has been designed to be used in Londons Hyde Park, VR and AR production house Acute Art has announced that it is currently working on a version that art aficionados can use at home, or wherever they are.

The democratizing power of new immersive media will bring Christo and Jeanne-Claudes unique artistic vision to wide and diverse audiences across the globe, Daniel Birnbaum, artistic director at Acute Art, said in a statement.

Last May, Acute Art collaborated with Danish-Icelandic conceptual artist Olafur Eliasson for a similar AR project accessible through the companys app.

Wunderkammer (or Cabinet of Curiosities in German) allows tech-savvy art enthusiasts to project realistic-looking sculptures of animals, objects and weather phenomenons into their homes.

Some of the digital objects included in Wunderkammer are particularly interactive, as light sculptures and objects are invisible to the eye until the user catches them with their hand.

Most AR collectibles in Eliassons latest project are free to collect, although a few are offered for around US$3 for a 30-day period.

Read also: Olafur Eliasson creates augmented reality artwork in quarantine

A potentially lucrative market

While Acute Art CEO Jacob De Geer said that his company was founded on the vision of democratizing art and bringing it to places where it could not be before, there is huge potential for the commercialization of AR artworks.

New Jersey-born street artist KAWS put this theory to the test in March with an ambitious AR project, which encompassed a public exhibition and the drop of two AR sculpture editions of his trademark Companion that are available for purchase on Acute Arts app.

Collectors could acquire a piece of the project in various ways, including as an edition of 25 nearly six-foot-tall AR sculptures that were available to buy together for US$10,000 on the companys website.

Owners are able to place, capture, and document these AR works, collectively named COMPANION (EXPANDED), at different locations using the Acute Art app. More surprisingly, they can keep the AR sculptures private, or make them publicly available for anyone who has downloaded the app.

Although less expensive than some pieces by KAWS on the market, these AR works can also be swapped and re-sold on the app for a price of the owners choosing. Acute Art has announced that a 30 per cent commission will be tacked on, split equally between the seller and the buyer.

Art lovers on a budget could also purchase another collectible by KAWS, which takes the form of an open edition of 1.5-foot-tall AR sculptures that are available in three colours, and can be purchased on the app for a period of seven or 30 days at a time.

These AT THIS TIME (EXPANDED) artworks were sold at various price points, with one sculpture being on offer at US$6.99 for seven days, and all three sculptures available for US$29.99 for 30 days.

When I realized the quality that could be achieved and experienced in AR, I was immediately drawn to its potential. I have been creating objects and exhibiting works in public spaces throughout my career, and this allows me to expand on that in a whole new arena. The possibilities of locations and scale are endless, and Im excited to start a new dialogue in this medium, KAWS said of the successful initiative in a statement.
Washington

Determined to proceed with the first federal execution in nearly two decades, the Justice Department plans to appeal a judge's ruling that would halt authorities from carrying it out on Monday.

The family of the victims in the case had requested that it be called off because their fear of the coronavirus would keep them from attending. Not that they wanted to see the killer die; they have long asked that he be given a life sentence instead, and their pandemic objection could postpone the execution indefinitely.

Daniel Lee, 47, was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Monday. Lee, of Yukon, Okla., was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell.

But Chief District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled Friday that the execution would be put on hold because the family's concern about the pandemic, which has killed more than 130,000 people and is ravaging prisons nationwide.

About an hour after the judge's ruling, the Justice Department filed its notice to appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and filed court papers asking the district judge to stay the order pending the appeal. The 7th Circuit, based in Chicago, includes Indiana, which is where the execution was to take place at the federal prison in Terre Haute.

The Justice Department argues that it is likely to win an appeal. It contends that executions require extensive planning and coordination with other law enforcement officials and says dozens of staff members were already being brought in from other facilities ahead of Monday's planned execution.

Attorney General William Barr has said part of the reason the Trump administration wants to resume executions is to deliver a sense of justice to the victims' families.

But relatives of those killed by Lee strongly oppose that idea. They wanted to be present to counter any contention that it was being done on their behalf.

"For us it is a matter of being there and saying, 'This is not being done in our name; we do not want this,'" said relative Monica Veillette.

The relatives, including Earlene Branch Peterson, who lost her daughter and granddaughter, argued that their grief is compounded by the push to execute Lee in the middle of a pandemic.

"The harm to Ms. Peterson, for example, is being forced to choose whether being present for the execution of a man responsible for the death of her daughter and granddaughter is worth defying her doctor's orders and risking her own life," the judge wrote.

The injunction delays the execution until there is no longer an emergency. The court order applies only to Lee's execution and does not halt two other executions scheduled for later next week.

The decision to resume executions has been criticized as a dangerous and political move. Critics argue that the government is creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency around a topic that isn't high on the list of American concerns right now.

The family hopes there won't be an execution.

"The family is hopeful that the federal government will support them by not appealing today's ruling, a reversal of which would put them back in the untenable position of choosing between attending the execution at great risk to their health and safety, or forgoing this event," said Baker Kurrus, an attorney for the victims' family.

The relatives would be traveling thousands of miles and witnessing the execution in a small room where social distancing is virtually impossible. There are four confirmed coronavirus cases among inmates at the Terre Haute prison, according to federal statistics, and one inmate there has died.

"It feels disingenuous to me for someone to say they're doing this in our family's name and for us and no one's taken into account our well-being and health," Veillette said.

Last week, Barr said he believed the Bureau of Prisons could "carry out these execution without being at risk." The agency has put a number of additional measures in place, including temperature checks and requiring witnesses to wear masks.

The federal prisons system has struggled in recent months to stem the skyrocketing coronavirus pandemic behind bars. As of Friday, more than 7,000 federal inmates had tested positive; the Bureau of Prisons said 5,137 of them had recovered. There have also been nearly 100 inmate deaths since late March.

Lee's attorneys also sought the delay on grounds that they've been forced to choose between their own health and adequately defending their client.

Chevie Kehoe, whom prosecutors described as the ringleader, recruited Lee in 1995 for his white supremacist organization. Two years later, they were arrested for the killings of the Muellers and young Sarah in Tilly, Ark., 75 miles northwest of Little Rock. At their 1999 trial, prosecutors said Kehoe, of Colville, Wash., and Lee stole guns and $50,000 from the Muellers as part of their plan to establish a whites-only nation.
From top left to right, Allison Bates, Jake Dickerson, George Lyons and Craig Pappin will have their chance to win the 6-year judicial seat during the state primary elections, Aug. 4.

JACKSON, MI  Four individuals are campaigning for votes to fill the judicial seat soon to be vacated by retiring 12th District Court Judge Darryl Mazur. Allison Bates, Jake Dickerson, Craig Pappin and George Lyons are on the ballot in the Aug. 4 primary. The top two vote-getters will face off in the Nov. 3 general election. The district judge term is for six years. Bates, Dickerson and Pappin will be on the nonpartisan ballot, while Lyons is running as a write-in candidate due to an error in his election filling. Incumbent 12th District Judge Michael Klaeren is up for reelection this year, though he wont be appearing on the ballot until the November general election. MLive Media Group has partnered with the League of Women Voters of Michigan to provide candidate information and other voting resources to readers ahead of 2020 elections. All responses in the voter guide were submitted directly by the candidate and have not been edited by the League of Women Voters, except for a necessary cut if a reply exceeded character limitations. Spelling and grammar were not corrected. Publication of candidate statements and opinions is solely in the interest of public service and should NOT be considered as an endorsement. The League never supports or opposes any candidates or political parties.

Each candidate was given a list of questions relevant to the office they are campaigning for which has been assembled into the leagues voter guide that can be accessed by visiting vote411.org.

All responses in the voter guide were submitted directly by the candidate and have not been edited by the League of Women Voters, except for a necessary cut if a reply exceeded character limitations.

Spelling and grammar were not corrected. Publication of candidate statements and opinions is solely in the interest of public service and should NOT be considered as an endorsement. The League never supports or opposes any candidates or political parties.

Here is how each candidate responded to the questions.

Describe your qualifications and experience for this office and explain your reasons for running. How would you be an asset?

Bates: I have been an attorney for 29 years. I have experience as a prosecutor, defense attorney, and referee. My experience makes me uniquely qualified in this race as I have perspective from both sides as a litigator, and from both sides of the bench.

The candidate elected to fill the vacancy in District Court will be presiding over a domestic violence specialty court. I have prosecuted domestic violence cases, represented indigent criminal defendants charged with domestic violence, and in my current position as referee, preside over domestic violence cases with juvenile offenders, as well as cases of abuse and neglect of minor children and family law cases, which both often involve allegations of domestic violence.

I am running for District Court Judge because I believe my experience makes me well suited for the position, and it is the best way to use the skills I have gained to continue to best serve my community and the courts.

Dickerson: I worked as a Corrections Officer for 9 years before earning my license to practice law. At the beginning of my legal career I was in private practice. I handled general civil, bankruptcies, family law, landlord/tenant, and some estate planning.

The bulk of my practice involved criminal defense work in which I handled over 30 trials in 3 1/2 years. The trials involved everything from misdemeanor assault all the way up to first degree murder. For the last 8 years, I have been an Assistant Prosecutor here in Jackson County. As an assistant prosecutor, I have handled almost 100 felony jury trials. I have also served as a member of the Human Trafficking Task Force, Violent Offenders Task Force, Gang Violence and Gun Task Force, and the Jackson County Recovery Court.

I am running for District Judge because I deeply care about the community. I am the only candidate that was both raised and raised a family in this community. I feel that my experience and investment in the community matters.

Pappin: I am a licensed attorney in good standing with the Michigan Bar Association since 2010. My practice includes; criminal law (both prosecution and defense), business law, and landlord tenant law.

I have served in the military as a Law Enforcement Specialist, as a Special Agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and as a locally elected official in the City of Jackson.

Additionally, I started a retail business in 1988.

Recognizing a large portion of the District Court docket consists of civil matters, my business experience is invaluable. Years of practical experience have uniquely positioned me to be highly qualified.

My reason for running is about continuing to serve my community. I have had the honor to serve my nation in the military, and my local community as an elected official. I want to apply my unique knowledge and experience in a way to benefit Jackson County with an insightful perspective, to interpret and apply the law in a fair and impartial manner.

Lyons: iI believe I'm qualified to serve the people of Jackson County as Judge in the 12th District Court. Well, I've practiced and been a member of the State bar since November 1, 1996 I've practiced in Jackson County, Ingham County, Wayne, Wastenaw County, Livingston County, Monroe County, Eaton County, Berrien County, Branch County, Genesee County, Oakland County, Clinton County , Kalamazoo County, Calhoun County, Hillsdale County, Lenawee County, Macomb County, Van Buren County, Eaton, and Isabella County.

Ive also practiced as a visiting attorney in California, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Georgia and Illinois. Ive practiced in Michigan State and Appeals Court(s). Ive practiced in the Eastern and Western Federal Court of Michigan as well as the Federal Court of Appeals in Cincinnati Ohio. Ive also practiced in Federal District Court in West Virginia. Ive practiced virtually all aspects of law, criminal family , probate etc.

Due to our current circumstances, what are the most important challenges facing our community, and how do you propose to address them?

Bates: The pandemic has changed all of our lives. We have had to balance the need to protect our citizens from a devastating virus, and at the same time try to salvage our economy for the benefit of our citizens.

The courts will be impacted by the economic damage from the pandemic. Many of the individuals who find themselves in court, especially the criminal justice system, suffer from mental health issues and substance abuse problems. Funding for programs to address these issues is already less than adequate to meet demand. Clearly, as all levels of government attempt to bring their budgets under control, funding will continue to shrink. Innovative solutions will be necessary to address the needs of our community as it relates to court ordered services.

As a referee I have faced the problem of limited resources and how to best serve individuals in court. As a judge I will continue to work with court staff and community agencies to find the best solutions available for our community.

Dickerson: For the last several years it has been clear to me that the biggest issues in Jackson our gun violence and substance abuse issues. That is why for the last several years I have been involved in the Violent Offenders Task Force, Gang and Gun Task Force, and the Jackson County Recovery Court.

We are seeing way too many people dying from senseless acts of violence and drug overdoses. If elected Judge, I think it would be important to keep focusing on these areas. The last several months has brought on a whole new set of issues to the forefront. With the current health pandemic and the social strife about racial inequality, everyone has had to take a different look at things.

One of the focuses of my campaign has been procedural fairness. I think at times, Judges can get caught up in the this is my courtroom mentality. I dont want to let that happen, because it is the peoples courtroom. It would be my goal to treat every case like it is the most important case, because to them, it is.

Pappin: The most important challenges facing our community are violence and substance abuse. These are not mutually exclusive and co-occurrence happens frequently.

Currently, an alternative court known as the Aggression Court is operating in Jackson County District Court.

I propose addressing one facet of violence - domestic violence - by continuing the Aggression Court.

This court focuses on safety and accountability to reduce the number of domestic violence incidents.

The court oversees the coordination of services (including substance abuse) to help lower recidivism and help the client gain insight in the dynamics of domestic violence and apply strategies such that they become a catalyst of change in the domestic violence paradigm.

Continual education and awareness is also important. As new techniques, programs, and technologies evolve, a leader in the criminal justice system must appreciate these changes and look for ways to improve and implement them when appropriate.

Lyons: No one appearing before the Court should be subject to anything less than their full measure of justice, without respect to race, creed color or sexual orientation. The Court must represent more than a place of judgment and punishment.

The Court must be a place where the community can go for fair resolution to its disputes. Where no man or woman is treated with less respect and less dignity because of their station in life. Where bonds in criminal matters are set in such a way that no citizen spends time in jail for no other reason than they cannot afford bond. . Lastly, and perhaps most important, the Court must never forget its primary purpose is to serve the needs of all the people.

What is your position regarding alternative courts to meet our communitys needs for drug courts, mental health courts, veterans courts, etc.?

Bates: I believe that specialty courts can be extremely beneficial to both the participants and the community at large. The goal of any court order in a criminal case should be to prevent the criminal behavior from repeating itself. This often involves addressing the mental health issues or substance abuse problems which prevent the accused from conforming their behavior to appropriate community standards. If the underlying conditions are not addressed, neither the individual or the community is best served.

Especially in the case of drug courts or recovery courts, it appears that participants benefit from seeing others who are struggling with sobriety overcome those challenges to improve the quality of their life. It provides hope that they too can overcome a problem that may have been plaguing them for most of their adult life. The group dynamic also aids in accountability. The excuses for behavior that may work on some people do not tend to work on others participating in recovery.

Dickerson: I believe that alternative courts are extremely important and are the future. I have been a member of the Drug Court and Veterans Court here in Jackson for several years. It absolutely changes lives. I have also had cases and dealings, as well as observed the Mental Health and Domestic Violence Courts we have here in Jackson. All of these courts do wonderful things and really help handle some of the bigger issues we have in our community.

They have innovative ways to tackle problems that dont have a traditional, simple solution. The data shows that they both help keep the community safer and save money. It also goes along way towards procedural fairness, which makes people feel like they matter. I would definitely want to continue the excellent work these courts are doing, but I would also like to add more. The drug court here in Jackson is a felony court only. I would like to start a misdemeanor drug court and hopefully tackle some of these issues before they get to felony level.

Pappin: I support alternative courts.

Having the privilege of serving with the Mental Health Court for over six years, I know first-hand how alternative courts can be effective in identifying and treating the underlying cause of a defendants entry into the criminal justice system. The entire community benefits from a lower recidivism rate, and on an individual basis, the offender has a more durable opportunity for meaningful rehabilitation.

Drug and veteran courts exist in Jackson County at the Circuit Court (felony) level. My experience with these courts in private practice has taught me the clear financial, societal, and individual advantages in diverting some clients from the traditional criminal justice route such that the outcome can result in lower recidivism and a positive outcome not just for the defendant, but the community as a whole.

Lyons: The Court should have a role in addressing issues of mental health. It is often the case and has been my experience that mental health issues and substance abuse go hand in hand. These issues jointly and separately must be addressed by the Court. Otherwise we have a revolving door scenario, the Defendant as well as the greater community isn't served. Likewise, we have an affirmative duty help our veterans. It is small repayment for their service.

Do judges have an obligation to improve public understanding of the courts? If so, how should they carry out that obligation?

Bates: Judges do have the obligation to improve understanding of the court system. The primary responsibility comes with helping the individuals that appear in court understand the system they have entered, usually unwillingly. Courts are busy, and it can be difficult to explain legal procedure to an individual, However, it is a judge's duty to address the questions and concerns about the legal process that individuals may have. In criminal cases, most defendants are entitled to counsel even if they are indigent, however, that benefit does not apply to every type of proceeding. A common phrase is "access to justice". An individual cannot possibly access justice if they do not understand the justice system.

I also believe that judges should be willing to speak to school groups and other community groups about the court system. I have done this and it is fascinating to take questions from the group. The system is complicated and there is a lack of understanding, but also interest in learning.

Dickerson: I absolutely believe judges have an obligation to improve public understanding of the courts. It is not a judges job to just sit up on the bench all day and then do nothing else. A judge is a servant of the people. It is an important position in the community and it is an elected position in the community. For these reasons I believe a judge should be out in the community and involved. One of my favorite things to do as an Assistant Prosecutor is to go to the local schools and read or conduct mock trials. I love explaining and telling them what I do, or even better yet, listening to them say what they think I do. I think it is important for everyone in the community to know what it is a judge does. It is not a position where people should be afraid of you. I would want people to know that I am just a regular person. I would want them to see me out and about and not be afraid to ask questions and get to know what I do.

Pappin: Our justice system must be fair and impartial. Equally important, the public must have confidence in the system. Public understanding of the courts is critically important in developing and maintaining that confidence.

In that context, Judges have an obligation to improve understanding of the courts. This can be accomplished in several ways. Community engagement, such as, in speaking about whats happening in the courts can be discussed in public venues. Additionally, on a daily basis, Judges can help to explain processes to litigants, defendants, and public spectators in real time.

I view this as an ongoing obligation, and as passionate as I am about the law, I look forward to doing what I can to promote public understanding of the courts.

Lyons: Yes, the Court should be an active member in the community, educating citizens, as to their right and duties under the law. The Court must remain in tune with the needs of the community. As a servant of the People the Court must reach out and listen to the People. Understand their needs and re assure them that they will get a fair shake and a equal opportunity to be heard and adjudicated.

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Amitabh Bachchan tests positive for COVID-19 View(s):

MUMBAI, July11 (AFP)  Bollywood veteran megastar Amitabh Bachchan, 77, has tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to hospital on Saturday in his hometown of Mumbai, he said on Twitter, calling for those close to him to get tested.

I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital, Bachchan wrote, saying his family and staff had already been tested and were awaiting their results.

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested! he added.
Two new artificial intelligence projects designed to provide better services in hospitals are the first promising shoots out of Queensland's newly formed AI Hub.

The state government launched the $5.5 million hub in May with the mission to develop AI projects within Queensland.

Queensland's new tech incubator AI Hub has announced two health AI projects from its latest datathon. Credit:iStock

Now the AI Hub has announced two projects out of its first collaborative workshop, the Medical Datathon, where 16 teams of experts from many different fields came together to solve problems.

Queensland AI Hub Director Dr Kelvin Ross said there was a broad focus on using data to improve treatment for patients with COVID-19.
My work as a consumer protection attorney requires me to travel a lot, which allows me to see the many beautiful places and the many pleasant faces across Montana. Ive found that there are very few similarities among the cities and towns and our friends, neighbors and strangers within the 630-miles-wide and 255-miles-tall borders of Montana. Each is unique and special. Yet, there is one universally true thing that all Montanans share: Our broadband access to the internet is horrible. Specifically, we rank dead last  50th in the nation  for broadband internet access.

Ive heard the joke, Hey, the Internet is going to be big someday. Somebody should let Montana know. Itd be funny if it werent so true. Even in some of our largest communities, the investment in broadband infrastructure is either non-existent or so spotty that it is not even worth trying to make a call or send an email.

Dont get me wrong. Like most Montanans, my family and I enjoy getting off the grid and I am often glad when hiking that I cant get a phone call or email. Still, when we need to be connected, every one of our communities and tribal nations should have access to high-quality, universal broadband.

As a nation and a state, we spend untold millions on building and maintaining our highways, roads and bridges. Now, the U.S. Congress and the Trump administration are considering crafting legislation to invest in our national infrastructure as we try to dig out of the recession associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, an important and worthy effort. In doing so, they should include funding for a national build-out of broadband infrastructure to provide high-speed internet access to all Americans, not excluding those of us in rural communities.

There are a number of reasons that this is important to Montana and our nation.

First, universal access to broadband is a powerful economic development strategy that makes all of our communities more competitive in the 21st century economy. Our ability to grow existing Montana businesses and to create new companies that provide high-paying jobs is largely dependent upon our ability to remain connected through quick and reliable internet access.

Second, as we recover and adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, Montana and other rural states must be able to adjust to a growing work-from-home business environment, and the growing number of job opportunities associated with this trend. No Montanan should be denied a good-paying job because they do not have access to broadband. Yet that is happening today, every day.

Third, Montana farmers and ranchers increasingly require access to a broadband internet connection, as they deploy new, innovative technology and data collection tools. We need universal broadband to support our friends in these industries upon whom we rely for affordable food and economic prosperity.

I applaud the efforts of U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and the rest of our congressional delegation to bring universal access to high-quality, affordable broadband to all of Montana, not just the cities. In Montana, many thousands of us live and work in frontier communities. There is no better place for the frontiers of technology, including universal broadband, to make a positive difference in peoples lives, businesses, farms and ranches.

John Heenan is a consumer protection attorney in Billings and a former Democratic candidate for Congress.

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How to solve people-centred problems View(s):

For nearly seven decades, I have been reading books on various subjects as a habit. In terms of clarity, brevity and lucidness, two books rank highest in my list  Buddhism in a Nutshell by Ven. Naradha and Kalamanakarana and Muleekanga  by Prof. Hema Wijewardene written in Sinhala. Both changed my life for the better in terms of my personal spirituality and my approach to work.

I had the privilege to go through the manuscript of Business Oriented People Management written by Attorney-at-Law and former Director-General of the Employers Federation of Ceylon, Franklyn Amerasinghe. I can say without any reservation that each chapter of this book was a delight to read. Having been away from organisational human resources for a few years, this was an opportunity for me to update my knowledge of people management in modern times.

The author has used his vast experience in business, dealing with trade unions and government ministries relating to labour and regulation, to show how challenges can be approached and managed in practical ways. His bold and conceptual thinking and ability to translate those ideas in simple ways to the reader is highly commendable.

I will certainly add this to my list of favourite self-help reads and recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their knowledge on issues and people management.

I hope this book will be made available in Sinhala and Tamil for the benefit of non-English speaking professionals who work in Human Resource Management in Sri Lanka.

I have also had a direct relationship with the author for many years, on business as well as on my own professional life and learnt a lot from his guidance and advice. He has also encouraged me to do research and be innovative in my thinking. He can get you to zoom out and think out-of-the-box. He has the rare ability to combine business and legal concepts with his own successes and setbacks in life, which is very inspiring.

I see this book as a guide to understanding the discipline one would need to manage people effectively. The topics it covers are relatable to all industry sectors, so I recommend this book to anyone working in management.

For those in politics, this book can help them make better, more proactive decisions in the governance of a nation, by looking at national challenges from a commercial point of view.

A few important things to note:

The chapters are not structured in typical academic style. Instead, the author uses the chapter layouts to highlight issues that are important and relatable to the present time so they can be used as a quick reference guide to problem-solving.

The introductory chapters cover some key historical facts and explain the evolution of legal concepts and management practices. It then goes on to discuss objective setting and individual performance management for teams which are the most crucial steps when it comes to managing people. The distinction between Industrial Relationships and Employee Relationships is also clearly differentiated at the outset.

One of the notable things in the book is how it brings crisis situations to the forefront. For instance, it uses the current Coronavirus pandemic as an example to show that even though it is not the fault of a single person in the organisation, how it can create vulnerabilities and challenge internal employee procedures and practices that have been working for years  thus creating management issues. It certainly gives ample food for thought on how one should approach such problems in ones workplace.

The use of Senage Systematic Technology as a case study to discuss organisational performance vs. individual performance is a great way to show modern people managers how to incorporate theoretical concepts to everyday work life.

One of the other most timely topics the book covers is the practice of Working from Home that became the norm during the pandemic. The challenges and opportunities it has brought are immense, especially as it was an organic shift to everyday work life that people were forced to get used to. Essentially the working from home scenario is very similar to a crisis situation for any company who had never experienced it before.

Another invaluable discussion the book brings to the forefront is on Human Capital Management (HCM). The art of balancing workforce acquisition, workforce management and workforce optimisation is not easy and understanding how it can be approached in a way that adds value to an organisation is a good skill to have for any manager.

The book also captures three trends that are very current in todays context. They are Talent Acquisition, Planning for Business Risks and the Impact of Globalisation of local Industrial Relations and Human Resources. I found these discussions both profound and thought-provoking.

One of the authors greatest traits is his ability to be an effective and empathetic communicator and negotiator. He shows that, at times, effective listening can solve more problems than talking, which is a skill that most people lack. The chapters on Communication, Negotiation and Leadership truly reflects the authors confidence in these subjects.

There is a saying in Sinhala, bokken-ma kiyana adahas, meaning these ideas come directly from my gut. I believe that this is precisely how the author has delivered his thoughts in this book. His sincere but confident articulation of ideas and how he relates them to his career and professional success is a great way to learn.

This book was a great read for me for two reasons. Not only was I able to refresh my own knowledge, but I was also able to lean on contributions made by other international experts in the field. Some of the notable mentions were:

Interest-based Problem-Solving Harvard Negotiating Model, The distinction between Profit Sharing and Gain Sharing, Inoues writing on Gain Sharing systems in Japan, Warren Bennins statements on Leadership, Greenleafs concept of Servant Leadership, Daniel Yankelovichs point of view on Relational Leadership as against typical top-down hierarchical linkage and the importance of the Social Dialogue as suggested by the ILO.

I sincerely hope that this book will make a positive change to anyone in Sri Lanka who manages people.

(The reviewer is a Past President CIPM)

Book Facts Business Oriented People Management- by Franklyn Amerasinghe Reviewed by Ranjith Cabral
Over 30 Congress legislators and some independent Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are in touch with senior Congress leader and Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and they have pledged their support to him, news agency ANI has reported quoting sources.

The development comes amid speculation of a rift between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Pilot, who continues to be incommunicado.

Later in the day, Pilot, in a statement claimed that with the support of 30 MLAs, Gehlot-led government in the state is in minority.

Pilot also said that he won't be attending a key meeting of Congress MLAs called by Gehlot on July 13.

Political crisis in the state surfaced on July 10 when the Rajasthan Police issued notices to Gehlot, Pilot and the government chief whip, seeking time from them to record their statements over an alleged bid to destabilise the state's Congress government.

Sources close to Pilot said the letter from the special operations group (SOG) had upset the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress chief, who apparently saw this as an insult.

Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary in-charge for the state Avinash Pande said all party MLAs in the state were in touch with him and wondered who were the ones purported to be siding Pilot.

"All Congress MLAs are in touch with me and the government in Rajasthan is stable and will last its full term," he said.

The Congress has 107 members in the state 200-MLA state assembly.
Former public safety minister Ralph Goodale says a bill now stalled in the House of Commons could be augmented to improve RCMP oversight  a suggestion that comes as calls to reform the national police force increase.

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (the CRCC) is the outside body tasked with reviewing Mounties' behaviour based on public complaints.

The Liberals introduced a bill earlier this year  before the COVID-19 crisis halted non-pandemic business  that would expand the agency's mandate to also cover complaints involving the Canada Border Services Agency.

But Goodale, who served as public safety minister between 2015 and 2019, said the bill could be strengthened further.

"With the legislation before the House, it might be a good idea to add some additional things to it other than the original intent to cover also the CBSA," Goodale told CBC News.

"For example, you could establish a timeframe within which the commissioner would be required to respond to any report or any recommendations that come from the review body."

Whenever the CRCC isn't satisfied with the RCMP's handling of a complaint, it sends its findings to the RCMP commissioner for review. The CRCC's final reports can only be released once the commissioner weighs in.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, who was appointed during Goodale's time in office, has been criticized recently for the length of time it sometimes takes her office to weigh in on the CRCC's reports. Those delays ultimately stall public release of those reports  but Lucki hasn't contravened the act because it imposes no limit on the amount of time she can take to respond.

A number of CRCC's high-profile investigations have been stalled for months  in some cases for more than a year. One of those delayed reports looked at the RCMP's response to Indigenous-led anti-fracking protests in New Brunswick 2013. Another examined the RCMP's handling of the Colton Boushie investigation.

Story continues

Boushie, a 22-year-old man from Red Pheasant Cree Nation, was shot and killed during an altercation with Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley in August 2016. A jury at Stanley's trial acquitted him of second-degree murder in February 2018.

More representation needed, said Goodale

Goodale, who lost his Saskatchewan seat in the 2019 election, said adding an appeal mechanism to the law could improve the integrity of the review process.

"One other thing that might be done is to establish some method of review or appeal, if you have a situation where the review body and the commissioner are at odds with one another," he said.

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

"There needs to be a way to resolve that dispute or that disagreement, and having some kind of review or appeal process might also strengthen the credibility of the process so people can trust that this is truly transparent, truly accountable, and that that justice is being done."

The longtime Liberal cabinet minister also said more could be done to make sure specific communities are represented in the review process.

"Could you have, for example, a panel of experts that represent the diversity of the community and they could rotate into the process when a particular community is involved ?" he said. "So the people affected by the by the processes will be able to trust those processes and see themselves reflected in those in those processes."

Goodale says Bill C-3 should pass soon

Calls for changes to the RCMP have ramped up in recent weeks following a number of high-profile and controversial arrests and takedowns caught on camera. Those calls are part of a broader debate in this country about police use of force  stirred up both by incidents in Canada and by the continent-wide wave of protests triggered by George Floyd's death in police custody in Minneapolis.

The oversight legislation, Bill C-3, is at second reading in the House and likely won't be looked at again until the fall.

While parliamentary procedure prevents anything novel from being added to a draft bill, Goodale said he believes his recommendations fit within the original scope of the legislation.

"That legislation should be adopted as quickly as it can be," he said.

"The important thing is for the review bodies to have the resources and the expertise to be able to do the job that the public expects them to do, to deliver answers in a timely way, to include the communities that are affected so that they can they can trust the process, and for accountability to be seen to be done."

Goodale introduced an identical bill in early 2019 during his time overseeing the portfolio. While it had bipartisan support, it failed to make it through Parliament before the election, inciting questions about why it wasn't introduced earlier in the Liberals' first mandate.

The CRCC receives, on average, more than 2,000 complaints from the public every year, ranging from allegations of wrongful arrest and improper use of force to reports of bad driving.
On Monday the Supreme Court gladdened the hearts of cellphone users by ruling that a 1991 federal law outlawing most robocalls could largely remain on the books. But it struck down a 2015 amendment that made an exception for calls seeking to collect debts owed to or guaranteed by the federal government.

The carveout, the majority concluded, was an unconstitutional content-based restriction on speech. That was small consolation for the political consultants who brought the lawsuit. They still cant use robocalls to solicit contributions to political campaigns or conduct polls.

The decision in Barr vs. American Association of Political Consultants was obviously a victory for long-suffering cellphone users. But if you read the several opinions in the case, something else becomes clear: The various justices dont see free speech in the same way.

Thats worrisome because, with the spectacular exception of the 2010 Citizens United campaign-spending case, liberal and conservative justices alike usually have been receptive to free-speech claims under the 1st Amendment.

For example, in 2011 the court ruled 8 to 1 in favor of the hateful Westboro Baptist Church, which had been sued by the father of a Marine killed in Iraq whose funeral had been picketed by the anti-gay church. In his majority opinion Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote: As a nation we have chosen  to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.

Flash forward to Mondays robocall decision. Kavanaugh, in an opinion joined by Roberts and Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas, said the exception for government debt collectors was the sort of content-based regulation of speech that the court subjects to strict scrutiny. (Justice Neil M. Gorsuch agreed in a separate opinion. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the debt-collection provision couldnt survive even a less exacting standard of scrutiny.)

But three of the courts liberal justices would have upheld the carveout for robocalls related to government debt collection.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer, in an opinion joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, suggested that the court neednt subject the debt-collection carveout to strict scrutiny because it concerned commercial regulation, not political speech. (Breyer also warned that too zealous an application of the content-neutrality principle could undermine regulations that involve speech, such as drug labels or safety warnings in the workplace.)

Actually, so-called commercial free speech has been protected by the court under the 1st Amendment since 1976, when the court struck down a Virginia law prohibiting pharmacists from advertising the prices of prescription drugs.

In the majority opinion in that case, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote: As to the particular consumers interest in the free flow of commercial information, that interest may be as keen, if not keener by far, than his interest in the days most urgent political debate.

Then and now, the idea that the 1st Amendment protects commercial speech is controversial, but the issue hasnt always divided liberals and conservative members of the court.

Liberal justices William J. Brennan and Thurgood Marshall joined Blackmuns opinion in the drug advertising case. The only dissenter was the conservative Justice William H. Rehnquist, who complained that the majority elevates commercial intercourse between a seller hawking his wares and a buyer seeking to strike a bargain to the same plane as has been previously reserved for the free marketplace of ideas.

Moreover, advertising by profit-making businesses isnt the only area in which courts have found 1st Amendment protection for speech involving money.

In 1980, the Supreme Court struck down an ordinance that prevented some charities from soliciting door to door. (Rehnquist dissented in that case as well.) And in 2015, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals cited a Supreme Court precedent in striking down a local ordinance banning panhandling. Its a reach to describe a request for spare change as a political statement that would be protected under Breyers reading of the 1st Amendment.

Not every legal thinker approves of the doctrine of commercial free speech. An old joke has it that liberals hate it because its commercial and conservatives hate it because its free speech. But whatever your opinion, a divide on the court about what the 1st Amendment means is troubling  even in a case about annoying phone calls.

Michael McGough is the Los Angeles Times senior editorial writer, based in Washington, D.C.

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Lome, Togo (PANA) - The number of cases of infection in Togo has risen to 718 following the registration on Saturday of eight new people infected with COVID-19, official sources told PANA here Sunday
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 15:04:36|Editor: huaxia

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WELLINGTON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- One new case of COVID-19 was reported in managed isolation facilities in New Zealand, said New Zealand Ministry of Health on Sunday.

The new case is a woman in her 20s who arrived in New Zealand on July 4 from Rome, via Doha and Sydney, it said.

The woman had been in managed isolation at a hotel in Christchurch and is now in quarantine. She had previously been identified as a close contact of another case. As a result, and as per protocols for testing of close contacts within the managed facilities, this woman was retested on the sixth day of her arrival and tested positive, said the ministry in a statement.

The ministry said that 72 days have passed since the last case of COVID-19 was acquired locally in New Zealand from an unknown source.

The new case brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 1,194, which is the number New Zealand reported to the World Health Organization.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 25. There is no one in the country receiving hospital-level care for COVID-19.

Laboratories across New Zealand completed 1,824 tests overnight, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 428,600. Enditem
Fifteen people have been arrested after a female PC was punched in the head as police clashed with a gang of youths in a quiet seaside town.

Officers were called at around 10.30pm on Saturday to reports of a man damaging a car in Shoreham, West Sussex.

Police initially attempted to arrest a suspect following the incident in Upper Shoreham Road, but a 'large group of youths descended on the area'.

The arrests, 13 of whom are aged between 14 and 17 years old, were made for offences including assaulting an emergency worker and violent disorder.

All of those arrested have been taken to custody, Sussex Police said, and a dispersal order has been issued for Shoreham town centre until midnight on Monday preventing large groups of young people from congregating in the area.

Police were called to a street in Shoreham, Sussex after reports of a man damaging a car

Officers attempted to arrest a suspect, but a 'large group of youths descended on the area'

Chief Inspector Nick Bowman said: 'This behaviour, and the violence towards police officers going about their duty, is totally unacceptable and we are appealing for any independent witnesses to come forward.

'Fortunately, our officers did not suffer any serious injuries in the incident, but we will not tolerate attacks such as this on emergency workers.

'Everyone, including parents and guardians, has a responsibility to ensure children and young people are following the current guidelines, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Mr Bowman added: 'We are keen to hear from anyone who saw the incident, in particular anyone who may have any video footage on their mobile phones.'

Anyone with any information can contact police online or by calling 101 quoting serial 1690 of 11/07.

It came as last night there were illegal raves in London with police dispersing a large gathering in South Norwood Country Park.

Another large gathering at Burgess Park in Camberwell, south-east London saw officers and a helicopter used to disperse ravers.

Police launched a murder investigation after a man was stabbed to death at the Black Prince Estate in Kennington, south London, shortly after 10pm on Saturday, where a 30-year-old man was found with stab wounds.

The London Ambulance Service also attended but, despite the efforts of paramedics and police, the man died at the scene.

His family have been informed and a post-mortem examination will be arranged in due course.

A short time later, a 26-year-old man took himself to hospital with stab wounds, which police believe were sustained in the same incident.

His injuries have been assessed as not life-threatening. No arrests have been made.

There were also reports of a stabbing in west Norwood with police and ambulance at the scene.

The disorder comes after London was rocked by three stabbings in the space of ten hours as blood poured onto the capital's streets following the easing of lockdown.

The arrests were made for offences including assaulting an emergency worker and violent disorder

Separate attacks on Friday saw a young man killed in Poplar, a police officer knifed in Hendon and another man left fighting for his life after an assault in Haringey.

Police were called to Alexia Square, Poplar in east London shortly after 6pm and found a man believed to have been in his late teens or early 20s with stab wounds.

Despite emergency services carrying out first aid the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A second man, believed to be in his late teens, was rushed to hospital by London Ambulance Service.

The attack came less than five hours after a police officer was stabbed chasing a man suspected of having a knife.

Scotland Yard said officers were called at around 1.15pm to reports of a man seen in possession of a knife in Hendon Way, north-west London.

After tracking down the suspect, the man fled from officers who gave chase and one was stabbed in the arm, the force added.

The man was then tasered and arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm, it added.

Police said the man was also taken to hospital as a precaution.

Later, at around 10.40pm Friday, another man was knifed in Westbury Avenue, Haringey.

The 23-year-old has been taken to hospital where his condition has been assessed as critical.

There has been no arrest at this stage.
Its been a wickedly hot summer so far and its likely to get even hotter in the future.

Twenty-five years ago, the City of Chicago suffered through a devastating heat wave. Hundreds of vulnerable people lost their lives, many of them seniors who lived in inadequately ventilated, low-income rental housing.

In 2003, Western Europe experienced weeks of intense temperatures that killed 30,000 people.

Closer to home, in 2018 Montreal experienced its hottest summer in 97 years. That heat wave, two Julys ago, resulted in 66 deaths and public health officials recorded almost 6,000 ambulance calls.

Our communities are at growing risk from a rapidly heating planet.

Heat waves are becoming far too frequent, and far too deadly in regions where they havent been experienced before.

In a typical year, heat waves kill more people than all other natural disasters combined. Those outcomes will only intensify as the effects of global warming accelerate.

Unfortunately, global climate change isnt taking a break for the COVID-19 pandemic. This summer, the Siberian Arctic has been sweltering through temperatures of plus 30 C. The past five years have been the hottest on record.

Carbon dioxide levels are at their highest levels in the atmosphere in 650,000 years  a result of human industrial processes spewing discharges into the air. Even if governments did everything in their power to reduce industrial carbon emissions today, temperatures would continue to rise for decades.

That means prolonged heat waves will be part of our future and thats why its essential to plan and mitigate for what lies ahead.

While certain regions will be hit harder by extreme temperatures, its reckless to believe that Southern Ontario would be immune from prolonged periods of extreme, dangerous heat. Weve had a preview of those hot, humid temperatures this month.

NASA reports that by the end of the century, what had been once-in-twenty-year extreme heat events (heat waves lasting many days) are projected to occur every two or three years.

Global warming and income inequality are linked.

People living in poverty or experiencing social exclusion are hit hardest and suffer most from extreme temperatures. Seniors, persons with disabilities and particularly those in adequate housing or living rough on the streets will be most at risk.

Many highrise apartment buildings are heat traps. Concrete multistory complexes heat up during the day and often take hours to cool down  offering little relief for those without air conditioning.

Because of age and disrepair, rooming houses and residential care homes, often considered the most modest form of rental accommodation, are also particularly vulnerable.

Its rare to find landlords or property management companies that invest in heat-mitigation strategies -such as green roofs- that provide shade, remove heat from buildings, and reduce temperatures of the roof surface.

And governments -whether federal, provincial or local- havent done nearly enough to mitigate the risk of extreme heat, particularly for those living in vulnerable housing. Cathy Crowe, a Toronto street nurse and this countrys leading voice against the dangers of extreme heat has repeatedly pointed out, Very few Canadian municipalities are prepared for a heat wave.

Maybe its because in Canada we naturally worry more about the risk of extreme cold; yet far more people die from complications related to heat exposure than they do from extreme cold.

The City of Hamilton has an innovative program to assist social assistance recipients with the costs of purchasing an air conditioner, but even that can become problematic when landlords stack on extra fees for installing and running cooling units. For many low-income tenants, the cost of running air conditioners is simply unaffordable.

Over the last few weeks, family members have been sharing concerns about hot conditions in Ontarios long-term care homes where inside temperatures have hit 30 C or more.

Premier Ford is considering making air conditioning mandatory in seniors homes  the province needs to more!

While a landlord is responsible for providing heat to a residential dwelling at a minimum of 21 C between Sept. 15 and June 1 of each year, theres no obligation to keep temperatures below a certain threshold in summer.

Some jurisdictions in the United States consider air conditioning as an essential need: A tenant has a right to air conditioning and the landlord is required to provide it.

In Phoenix, Arizona, rental units that use air conditioning cannot exceed a maximum temperature of 27 C. In Dallas, landlords are required to provide their tenants with refrigerated air from April 1 to Nov. 1.

With the frequency of heat waves and soaring temperatures in Southern Ontario, it is time for the province to recognize air conditioning as an essential and vital service the same way it does with heat in winter.

The Residential Tenancies Act needs to be amended to require landlords to provide and install adequate cooling systems in residential units in order to maintain indoor temperatures at room temperature (20-22 C). This requirement should be in place from June 15 until Sept. 1 of each year after which the existing indoor heat requirements for residential units come into effect.

If weve learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, its that planning ahead is essential. The heat is already here and theres much more to come.
Heavy rainfall lashed north Bengal on Saturday, leading to flooding in low-lying areas, and the weather department issued a yellow warning for Himachal Pradesh for July 12 as the monsoon trough ran close to the foothills of the Himalayas passing eastward from Arunachal Pradesh to Punjab.

The India Meteorology Department said heavy-to-very heavy rainfall is expected in sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim and East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on Sunday, and it could be accompanied by thunderstorm in the Gangetic West Bengal. Private forecaster Skymet added that Assam, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and coastal Karnataka could receive moderate rainfall in the next 24 hours.

Heavy rainfall across north and east Indian has led to several accidents and landslides. In Uttar Pradesh, two women were killed and four others suffered injuries in separate incidents of wall collapse in Sultanpur district on Saturday.

Incessant rainfall for the last five days has triggered landslides and floods in Arunachal Pradesh, damaging roads and houses and inundating low-lying areas. The death toll due to monsoon-related incidents in the state has climbed to 15.

Meanwhile, cloudy skies in Delhi kept the mercury in check on Saturday but a high humidity level (98pc) after overnight rainfall caused inconvenience to the residents. The weatherman predicted a generally cloudy sky, light rain and strong surface winds on Sunday.

Since June 1, when the monsoon season started in the country, Delhi has gauged 79.4 mm rainfall against the normal of 112.1 mm. The monsoon reached Delhi on June 25.

So far in July, 43.5 mm rainfall has been recorded in Delhi, which is 23 per cent less than the normal of 56.5 mm.

In West Bengal, low-lying areas of Jalpaiguri and other places on the foothills of the Himalayas were inundated after heavy rainfall, and authorities began moving people to higher grounds. Jalpaiguri recorded 93 mm rainfall in 24 hours till 8.30 am on Saturday, while Siliguri recorded 61.4 mm.

More showers are expected in the region over the next two days.

Kolkata too was lashed by rainfall, leading to traffic snarls in parts of the city. A yellow weather warning has been issued for heavy rainfall in middle hills of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, Shimla Meteorological Centre Director Manmohan Singh said. The weather office issues colour-coded warnings to alert people ahead of severe or hazardous weather that has the potential to cause damage, widespread disruption or danger to life. Yellow is the least dangerous of all weather warnings.

Una was the hottest place in the hill state with a maximum temperature of 36.4 degrees Celsius.

The maximum temperatures in Haryana and Punjab hovered close to normal with forecast for some spells of rain in the next two days.
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Imagine fighting COVID-19 in African communities where there are no hospitals, pharmacies, respirators or masks. Add pervasive malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS as well as malnutrition. East African communities are dealing with plagues of locusts and 12 million people faced starvation before COVID-19. Infection compounds at an alarming rate.

Dr. Florence Muindi keeps a watchful eye on the spread of COVID-19 around the world. It has invaded 40 countries in Africa. As the founder and executive director of Life in Abundance (LIA), she is concerned for people in 56 communities in 14 countries where LIA is already working. All have reported cases of COVID-19.

Muindi says they are seeing it in the most difficult places that present ideal conditions for COVID-19 to spread. There are over 100,000 cases with 3,257 deaths, but poverty, close living, lack of sanitation and underlying conditions make people vulnerable, she says.

LIA empowers churches to meet challenges in their own communities as they share the Gospel. They have mobilized in the face of COVID-19. Church leaders, trainers and volunteers from local churches have formed Corona Prevention Taskforce teams that focus on training, awareness, promotion of good personal hygiene, distribution of masks and hygiene materials.

Trainers teach hand washing door to door and have created more than 5,000 handwashing stations in virus hot spots. They give away face masks, hand sanitizers and bar of soaps as they pray with families and share the Gospel.

LIA-staffed clinics are working with local health authorities to fight COVID-19. Food banks have been set up in churches. In many cases, hunger due to isolation and few resources is taking a toll.

Pastors trained in trauma counseling meet with those who are overwhelmed and afraid of the future. Dr. Muindi described the impact of COVID-19 on African communities, The crisis in Africa is beyond Covid-19. As governments race to control the virus to avoid a catastrophe, the poor and vulnerable are facing a threat that is worse than Covid-19.

Lockdowns have put millions out of work. They are desperate. In Kibera, one of our urban communities in Nairobi, where well-wishers went to distribute food, two people lost their lives in the melee. The government reacted by banning distribution of food to the needy, not only to avoid chaos, but to also ensure social distancing, she says.

COVID-19 restrictions and closure of markets has disrupted the flow of food. It means many are facing hunger, and with it, increased vulnerability to COVID-19. In short, the crisis is already with us, and it is not a health crisis, it is an economic one.

Meeting the needs of the church is a special priority at this time. Muindi says their staff is working remotely with churches, encouraging them to collect and distribute food and sanitary products for those affected. They recently took food packs to Mathare, where thousands of families are suffering as well as Egypt, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and more.

In the midst of hardship, there is good to be recognized as believers are finding encouragement. A lot of prayer is occurring as the church asks God to spare Africa. Thus, even as the government's labor to contain the virus, we believe God is doing the greater work. Churches are running online service, prayer meetings and cell group Bible studies. There is a 24/7 prayer going on for 30 days in Kenya and a lot of churches and ministries are participating.

Finally, Dr. Muindi touches on whats ahead for LIA, The LIA teams are serving as taskforces and will remain connected with our partner churches. Our clinics remain open and caring for the sick. Home visits and caring for the vulnerable is happening as we are able.

Governments will continue to do what governments can do, while God will do what only He can do. Meantime, the control measures continue to bite, and we have to address the economic crisis right now. Our concern is that the longer the crisis goes on, the more critical the economic crisis gets, and the more resources we will need to support the communities we serve.

To learn more about LIAs response to COVID-19, visit lifeinabundance.org.

Editor's Note: This article is reprinted by permission of The Southeast Outlook, newspaper of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY.
By James Betts

In 2019, from March 17 through May 15, The Salvation Army served 28,000 meals in Newark and 403,000 meals statewide. Due to COVID-19, from March 17 through May 31, 2020, we have served over 400,000 meals in Newark and over 2.4 million meals statewide, including hot meals and groceries.

The pandemic has taught us that our ability to scale up relief efforts is an imperative, particularly in areas hardest hit by natural disasters and other unforeseen crises such as coronavirus. It has made clear the importance of flexibility and adaptability, which are crucial when trying to effectively serve highly-vulnerable communities and families. Without this agility, nonprofits cannot remain relevant, serve their stakeholders, or ultimately survive.

Our service during both World Wars, and in the aftermath of 911, Superstorm Sandy, and other natural disasters has taught us how to organize and mobilize. Yet, these calamities pale in comparison to what we have seen and experienced with coronavirus. As one of the largest disaster relief organizations in the U.S., we are accustomed to deploying thousands during major catastrophes but the short and long-term consequences of COVID-19 are eye-opening and staggering.

Another key lesson has been the importance of nonprofits coming together, collaborating, and unifying to help underserved populations. In order to help the nearly 14% of Americans who are now unemployed, nonprofits cannot afford to be territorial. We need to grow relationships and partnerships with other not-for-profits with a spirit of cooperation and a shared goal of serving those in need. This means understanding our strengths, acknowledging the strengths of our partners, and accepting that we do not have all the answers. It also requires adopting a mindset of not competing for resources but collaborating for the greater good.

In New Jersey, food banks have been key partners of The Salvation Army in this fight, as are United Ways, other nonprofits, elected officials, municipalities, major corporations, and countless volunteers. Only by coming together have we staved off hunger for the hundreds of thousands who need us most.

Nonprofits also need to diversify their support. For instance, The Salvation Armys Thrift Stores were closed due to the pandemic. This was a major source of our revenues prior to the pandemic. This meant embracing change, so we immediately pivoted and shifted our focus, and our resources, to where the need was greatest  feeding people and providing shelter.

In addition, nonprofits must expect the unexpected, which includes forging alliances long before they are required. If an organization wants to constantly improve, it has to have a built-in change management process. This necessitates making constructive change on a regular basis, so you do not struggle when the time warrants dramatic changes in how you operate.

During the pandemic and beyond, we are focused not only on feeding people but also on giving them hope. We are doing this in big and small ways, through our local community centers and a national call center we established in March. Post-COVID-19, we will be providing case management to help people get back on their feet and become self-sufficient, which is a core part of the mission of The Army.

All nonprofits should work to build strong and flexible outcome measurement systems and infrastructure. Strategies and tactics for serving people will continue to evolve, so we must remain flexible and open-minded. Focusing on purpose is fundamental as demands and tactics will always change. We must constantly learn and be students - studying who we are working beside, who we employ, and, most importantly, who we are serving.

As this disaster continues to unfold, we have no idea what the future will bring. We are hopeful, though, that many nonprofits and the people they serve will come out stronger on the other side of the pandemic. We hope that you will join us in supporting our great state and nation in the spirit of collaboration and with a deep acceptance of the changes that will result.

Major James Betts is the Divisional Commander of The Salvation Army New Jersey.

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Officials are investigating how two cargo vessels came to collide in the Welland Canal on Saturday during what should have been a routine manoeuvre.

Videos shared on social media show the Florence Spirt and Alanis crashing into one another, causing damage.

The canal is located in southern Ontario and connects Lake Ontario with Lake Erie. The collision occurred at about 4 p.m. near Port Robinson, said Jean Aubry-Morin, vice-president of external relations for the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. He described the crash as "rare."

"It's a routine passage. It's an area that is common. Obviously, as witnessed by the public, there was an unfortunate incident that the two vessels collided."

Alanis was heading up the canal toward Duluth, Minn., with a load of wind turbine parts, while the Florence Spirit was heading down to Quebec with a load of coal, Aubry-Morin said.

No one was injured, and there was no fuel spill or other environmental impact, he said.

Both vessels have since been moved to safe locations, where they will undergo complete inspections.

Investigators are now working to determine how the two ships came to collide.

"We don't know if it's a mechanical failure of one of the vessels, most probably the Florence Spirit, or if it's a manoeuvre issue. At this point, it's too early to say," Aubry-Morin said.

A 'preferred location' for passing

Vessels pass in that part of the canal hundreds of times each shipping season, especially at the location where the two ships crashed, he said.

"In fact, it's a preferred location for passing because there's plenty of space, speed is limited and it's typically a safe area for passage," Aubry-Morin said. "It's very unfortunate that this situation happened. We are curious to find what caused the situation."

He said Transport Canada and the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) will also be investigating.

A news release from the TSB confirmed it's deploying a team of investigators to the site to "gather information and assess the occurrence."
For forest rangers in Vietnam, its a jungle out there

Danger is an occupational hazard for a ranger in the Bac Hai Van Forest and the most dangerous creatures are fellow humans.

It was around noon. Time to take a short break after lunch. All of a sudden, an agitated family of three rushed in, the son holding a knife in his hand. "Give me back my trap," Le Hung yelled and went on to spew choice words of abuse. His mother Truong Thi Vang and his father Le Thanh were not restraining him. They were furious, too. That scene is still vivid in the mind of Nguyen Van Luong, deputy head of the forest protection unit, as he recalled what happened in November last year at the office of the Bac Hai Van management board. Bac Hai Van is a protected forest in Thua Thien Hue Province, central Vietnam. Luong and his colleagues remained calm. They had seen this before. The family had just found out that their animal traps had been seized by the forest rangers. "If this is your trap, please come in so that we can make a record. If its not, please leave," they said. Their request did not register with Hung and his parents. They were mad. Hung lunged his knife, but Luong was able to intercept the move and snatch the weapon. Hungs parents joined the scuffle. The office was having its yard fixed then and there was a lot of rubble there. Once his knife was taken, Hung rushed out, picked a brick and threw it into the office. The first one missed, but the second hit Luong squarely in the face. He was rushed to the Hue Central Hospital, bleeding profusely. Luong asked everyone not to tell his wife, who had just given birth to their first child less than two months ago." The longer I can hide the bad news, the better for her," he reasoned. But the very same day that he was attacked, his wife heard the news on the media and saw pictures of her husband and his bleeding face. Sobbing, she called him on the phone. His mother heard and rushed to the hospital, crying. His face bandaged, Luong could not say much to calm the two women down. As he tried his best to move his mouth and tell his wife not to worry much about his facial wounds, he had no idea that just several days later, he would face more attacks from poachers, that his wife and mother would be reduced to tears again.

Nguyen Van Luong, deputy head of the forest protection unit of Bac Hai Van Forest in Thua Thien Hue Province. Photo by Dac Thanh.

A dream start In 2013, Nguyen Van Luong was a fresh graduate from the Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry. The young man was over the moon as he announced to his parents: "Ive already got a job." The Bac Hai Van Forests management board had visited the school to recruit young and talented staff for the task of guarding the forest. Luong was chosen to join the specialized forest protection force of Bac Hai Van under a scheme to "attract talents for state agencies." Luong, the only son in a family of three children, left his home in Huong Tra Town to work around 100 kilometers (62 miles) away. Today, he is a civil servant with a monthly salary of less than VND4 million ($170) and prone to being assaulted while remaining totally unarmed. Playing with fire The Bac Hai Van forest comes into view after traveling about 50 km south of the former imperial city of Hue on National Highway 1 to reach Loc Thuy Commune. A mountain range running from the Annamite Range to the sea is a natural border separating Da Nang City and Thua Thien Hue Province. Right at the border, the northern part is Bac (North) Hai Van forest, which is under the management of Thua Thien Hue Province and the southern part, Nam (South) Hai Van forest, comes under Da Nang.

The Nam Hai Van forest has been a familiar topic in the media for well over a decade. Forest fires and deforestation have taken turns to damage the forest and its degradation can be clearly seen in satellite images. Illegal loggers have stolen its trees and the timber has been traded across the country, but the problem is still not solved. On the other side of the mountain range, Bac Hai Van has luckily been spared the same fate, but maintaining its relative safety takes a lot of effort and sacrifice, particularly from the forest rangers. Luong still remembers clearly his third day at work when the forest taught him his very first lesson. With zero experience, he stepped on a bumblebee hive. Suffering stings all over his body, Luong was admitted to hospital for emergency treatment. Hospitalized for three days, Luong hid the incident from his family. But the young man was a quick learner and picked up many tricks to keep himself safe in the wild  except from fellow human beings. Four months after Hung and his family assaulted him, Luong found his motorbike burned in the middle of the forest. A report from the Bac Hai Van Forests management board submitted to the police reads: On March 18, 2020, a team of rangers, including Luong, were patrolling a forest area in Lang Co Town after they had collected 45 animal traps the previous day. The team spread around to see if they could find more traps and track down the culprits. In one hour, they collected 19 more traps. They failed to catch the trappers, but were able to chase them away. As they returned to the spot where they parked their motorbikes, Luong saw smoke billowing from afar. "Too much smoke, this must be a forest fire," Luong told his comrade. They rushed towards the smoke and found that all three motorbikes had been set on fire. As there was nothing they could do to save the bikes, they quickly raked leaves and tree branches to prevent any small fire from spreading and developing into a blaze.

The three motorbikes of rangers at the Bac Hai Van specialized forest protection unit are burned down on March 18, 2020. Photo courtesy of the unit.

The motorbike, worth VND18 million ($770), was the most valuable asset Luong and his wife had. His monthly salary would not allow him to buy a new one right away. However, Luong had learnt about the dangers of his job early on. In 2013, when hed just joined the team, he saw his colleague, Nguyen Dac Thanh, get stabbed in the face. A local family were encroaching into the forest to enlarge their farm. Thanh asked them to stop, but they paid no heed. Then he confronted them directly and stopped them as they began clearing the forest trees. In the ensuing scuffle, Thanh was stabbed in the face and suffered a wound just next to his eye. Tran Quoc Hung, deputy director of Bac Hai Vans management board, said hed almost got killed 14 years ago. He was having a drink at a coffee shop next to the boards office when a strange man charged in, slashed him and fled. The locals rushed him to the hospital. He needed 15 stitches on his neck and was hospitalized for weeks. When police finally caught the attacker, he said he had been hired to do it. As investigators dug deeper into the case, they found that several attacks were related to a case in which Hung and other rangers had chased away poachers and prevented them from stealing the wood. One day in 2016, ranger Pham Van Hung had left his motorbike by the edge of the forest to go on a patrol. When he returned, the two tires of the bike had been slashed. A few months later, when he was driving the bike, he heard a weird sound from the engine. He stopped at a garage for checking it and found someone had put sand in the oil tank. The engine could no longer be used. A year later, the motorbike of ranger Nguyen Hong Linh was smashed and its rear view mirrors stolen. Scant protection Under the verdant canopy of the Bac Hai Van Forest, the fight between rangers and poachers shows no sign of ending. An owl that is rescued from a trap at Bac Hai Van Forest thanks to a ranger. Photo by Dac Thanh. In most cases, the poachers are locals. The profit they can make from forestry products (including wildlife and timber) without making much investment, is too attractive to give up, especially since the punishment, mostly fines, are too small to act as a deterrent. This is a problem that has been admitted by officials numerous times, but not much has happened to change it. What this means for rangers of this specialized protection unit is that they have to fight with one arm tied behind their backs. If it cannot be proved that someone has entered the forest for hunting animals, chopping trees or violating any other forestry law, members of the unit do not have the right to apprehend trespassers lest they face charges of making false arrests. Poachers are smart enough to avoid being photographed or filmed so collecting evidence is not easy. Furthermore, almost all the essential equipment the rangers use on their job are bought with their own money. The only equipment they are provided for self-defense is a cane. Every year, each ranger gets two uniforms, two sandals and one pith helmet for doing the job of guarding forest resources, preventing and putting out fires if any and chasing away poachers and loggers who do not shy away from violence. These days, with heat wave after heat wave hitting the central and northern regions, the rangers of Bac Hai Van are busier than usual with activities designed to prevent forest fires and as important, forest fires from spreading by creating flame resistant barriers. This involves burning certain areas that can catch fire easily and once the barrier is large enough, putting out the flames. This is a difficult and arduous task. "Any carelessness can lead straight to a forest fire and in some particular areas, we have to carry the water and the extinguishers a long way to put out the fire," Luong said.



In this photo and top photo, rangers putting out the flames they create in the first place to make the flame resistant barriers. Photos by Dac Thanh.

Thankless job?

Officials from the Thua Thien Hue Forest Protection Deparment once asked rangers in Bac Hai Van if there was a way to reduce tensions and attacks on them. The deputy director of the forest management board replied: "There is no other way, we have to confront them to keep the forest intact." But the rangers do not take the assaults personally. When Hung, the man who attacked and injured Luong last year, was sentenced to two years in prison, the ranger did not demand any compensation beyond the hospital bill of VND10 million ($430). On May 21 this year, prosecutors of Phu Loc District invited Luong over. They wanted to extend the jail term for Hung, saying that two years was not enough for what he had done. But Luong did not agree. He said the sentence was enough and that he hoped Hung would repent. After graduating from a college in Hue, Vien Anh Thang of Quang Binh Province joined Luongs team a year ago. The bespectacled young man still has some dyed hair left from his college days. It was not long before Thang got a taste of things to come. His bike was smashed during a patrol. Other people in the team contributed money so their youngest colleague could fix the bike.

Nguyen Van Luong (R) and his colleague during one his their patrol. Photo by Dac Thanh.
SOMERS  Some University of Wisconsin System officials and students were shocked after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released new regulations last week that leave international students education and visa status hanging in the balance.

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program had put temporary exemptions in place for international students that allowed them to take more courses online than previously allowed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. The new guidelines state that students enrolled in hybrid model courses may continue to remain in the United States, but students may not remain in the U.S. should their schedules become fully online.

Nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States. The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States. Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status. If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings, the guidelines said.

As the pandemic persists, many schools remain unsure of how students will return to school this fall, including the UW system. So far, UW-Madison plans to welcome students back to campus this fall on Sept. 2 with the adoption of a hybrid model  courses will be taught virtually and in-person when possible.

UW-Parkside created a phased restart approach called the Ranger Restart, and will also be adopting a hybrid model, according to Elaine Philippa, UW-Parksides international studies manager. The Ranger Restart website notes that in order for students to return to campus, it is imperative to follow the guidelines and that circumstances may require us to go back to a previous phase.

Philippa was surprised by the new regulations, having just returned from a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters where she had no phone reception. Philippa said that Parkside has put together a list of their international students and is remaining in constant contact with them during this time.

We have run a list of all international students schedules for fall and examined who had been contemplating taking all online classes because that would affect them and we are now identifying the classes that would be needed to be changed in format to a hybrid model, Philippa said. We are doing everything we can to comply with the immigration regulations and assist our international students in reaching their goal of studying in the United States and obtaining a U.S. degree.

If Parkside were to go back to a complete online model, Philippa noted that international students would have to go back home, which presents its own set of challenges. Due to COVID-19, Philippa said travel, especially international travel, is difficult right now and has fewer flight offerings.

While she said she hopes this will not happen, Philippa said students could continue their education online in their home countries. Parkside usually hosts around 90 international students each year, though the university did lose some students due to the pandemic, with most of them in the business program, according to Philippa. The business program has many offerings online, which Philippa said has allowed students to continue with their degree paths in an online format. But, Philippa noted that the regulation changes have left students feeling nervous.

They are committed to obtaining their academic degree and having changing regulations so suddenly put on them causes a degree of anxiety that Im hoping wont affect their performance, Philippa said.

Big impact at UW-Madison

UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank released a statement Tuesday in response to the new regulations, which would affect 5,800 UW Madison new or continuing international students. With the hybrid model, Blanks statement said it is believed that international students would be allowed to enroll and remain in the U.S.

But, in her statement, Blank also noted the virus has caused many changes, and the new regulations are inflexible to possible changes, such as the ones seen during this past spring semester. UW-Madison is urging ICE to drop or amend the plan through cosultation with Wisconsins congressional delegation as well the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the Association of American Universities, according to Blanks statement.

Since the start of the pandemic, international students have faced numerous difficulties and hardships, including travel restrictions, closed consulates, required and recommended quarantine periods, not to mention acts of xenophobia, hate and bias, read Blanks statement. These students are valued members of our community, and we will continue to support and advocate for them.

Students react

Ahmad Hamid, a UW-Madison international student from Malaysia, is a senior majoring in chemical engineering. Hamid said the sudden switch to online courses this spring was difficult, as he focuses better in person. While he noted a few positives, such as being able to review lecture videos online, Hamid said the online format had mostly cons.

Hamid said he was genuinely concerned when he heard the news, but believes UW-Madison students wont be affected because of the hybrid model.

Students should be patient while universities across the country try to figure out how to manage this, Hamid said. I strongly believe that we will get through this. Keep yourself updated with news, and hopefully things will get better. Dont lose hope!

Tanvi Dhariwal, another UW-Madison international student, is from Pune, India. She was set to graduate this December with degrees in art history and Italian. The pandemic, Dhariwal said, has already taken away all of her research projects, which she now has to conduct online rather than traveling to see art or archives in person.

Dhariwal said she was uncertain if she would still be able to graduate early or conduct her research if she was forced to leave due to the new ICE guidelines, with limited resources and not all countries having access to research databases.

Please stop using international students as pawns, Dhariwal said. We are people with feelings and we dont need the extra uncertainty and turbulence, especially since were so far away from home.

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In early April, when testing for the coronavirus was beginning to ramp up, the virus was detected almost evenly throughout Alameda County, from low-income neighborhoods in Oakland and San Leandro to middle-income areas in Hayward and wealthy enclaves in the Tri-Valley.

Across the country, politicians and celebrities were calling the virus the great equalizer. Anyone and everyone was at risk of becoming infected: on a trip to the grocery store, from a coughing jogger, from a contaminated door handle.

But the pandemic, it turned out, would not impact everyone equally.

A Chronicle analysis of public health data in Alameda County found that the coronavirus has grown at a far quicker pace in low-income neighborhoods where more people couldnt work from home and where access to critical testing and other resources remained sparse early on.

Rates of infection are nearly five times higher in neighborhoods like Oaklands Fruitvale than in the wealthiest suburbs, The Chronicle found. The explosion of coronavirus cases in lower-income areas occurred across the Bay Area and the country. And while the disproportionate impact in largely minority communities is well documented, the spread of the disease over time from neighborhood to neighborhood is more difficult to track.

Todd Trumbull

The Chronicle analyzed data showing the daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases in each ZIP code since March in Alameda County  the only Bay Area county that publishes such time-stamped information on infections.

The most severe impacts were in neighborhoods already dealing with long-standing health and economic inequities, said experts in public health who reviewed The Chronicles analysis. Preventing the continued spread will require flooding those areas with financial and medical resources for people who need them most, they added, but local, state and federal officials have been unable to fully patch an already tattered social safety net.

We knew who was going to be hardest hit as soon as we knew we had a contagious virus, said Kiran Savage-Sangwan, executive director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. We knew who was still going to have to go into work and live in crowded conditions and be without insurance. We knew where we should have been focusing our efforts from day one.

The Chronicle designated ZIP codes with household incomes at least 80% below the median as low-income, and those at least 120% above the median as high-income. Those in between were classified as middle-income. Areas with fewer than 10 confirmed cases were excluded because of gaps in Alameda Countys data.

Todd Trumbull

The Chronicle analysis found that during late March and April, just as cases were beginning to be detected in Alameda County, ZIP codes in middle-income communities had the highest case rates, due in part to high numbers in the city of Hayward.

But then the burden began to quickly shift away from people who were able to work from home and had room to isolate if they became sick to areas where people still had to go into work and where confined living spaces made isolation all but impossible.

By July 7, infection rates in low-income ZIP codes were 4.5 times higher than in high-income ones  78 cases per 10,000 residents compared with 17 cases per 10,000  and twice as high as in middle-income areas.

During a two-week stretch in late June and early July, just three East Oakland ZIP codes  in Fruitvale, around the Coliseum and on the border of San Leandro  accounted for more than a fifth of the roughly 2,000 newly confirmed cases in Alameda County, even though they are home to just 7% of the countys population.

Across the Bay Area, many heavily impacted neighborhoods are predominantly low-income communities of color: San Franciscos Bayview-Hunters Point; East San Jose; the cities of Richmond and San Pablo.

Though public health agencies and local officials have scrambled to steer resources to these neighborhoods, including offering wage replacement for people with COVID-19 and sharply expanding testing sites, the data suggest more should have been done earlier  and still needs to be done moving forward.

We didnt move fast enough in the communities that we should have early on, said Dr. Jorge Caballero, cofounder of Coders Against COVID, a volunteer effort that provides testing location data and analytics to public and private entities across the country. Its hard to ignore what could have been had we acted sooner.

It started in early March with a sore throat and low-grade fever, but quickly moved into Shirley Lopezs lungs, causing her to gasp for air. The cough became so deep and persistent it made her vomit. She had to prop herself up with three pillows when she slept just to breathe.

Lopez wanted to get screened for COVID-19, but with no insurance and no community testing sites open, she had few options. It wasnt until March 23, nearly three weeks after getting sick, that she went to Alameda Countys first community testing site in Hayward on opening day and found out she had the coronavirus.

Lopezs mind anxiously raced through all the people she had been in contact with: Did she get them sick? Could she have spread the virus?

On top of the debilitating health impacts, Lopez also missed two months of work and wages as an in-home caretaker. Her daughters had to self-quarantine for several weeks, resulting in a complete loss of income for the household of five.

I cried many nights thinking, How are we going to get through this? Lopez said. I wasnt only worrying about my health, but also the repercussions on our finances. There should be more places where families can go get help.

Lopez lives in a part of San Leandro that has been hit hard by the virus: It has the eighth-highest case rate out of 53 ZIP codes reporting data in Alameda County.

When Lopez developed symptoms, she went to the Terra Nova Medical Group in Oaklands Fruitvale neighborhood, which mostly serves immigrant patients without insurance.

Of the 64 Terra Nova patients known to have been tested for the coronavirus through June, roughly half received positive results  a sign that the virus had taken hold in the community.

Look at how densely populated it is between Lake Merritt and San Leandro, were talking about tens of thousands of people, a huge amount of people that live together, said Dr. Carlos Ramirez, the physician at the clinic. To me that was the most scary part.

Alameda County Health Director Kimi Watkins-Tartt said the rapid growth of cases in lower-income communities is due to both a higher disease burden, and efforts to put testing sites in areas that have historically struggled with poor health outcomes.

She said the county has made it a priority to get resources to low-income residents; East Oakland now has four walk-up and drive-through community testing locations, but it wasnt until early May that the first one opened. The city of Oakland also requires many employers to provide at least two weeks of emergency paid sick leave, among other measures.

We went into COVID with people marginally housed, homeless, in overcrowding living situations, with no living wage, no paid leave, no sick leave, Watkins-Tartt said. Its not one thing, its not two things, its a lot of things all coming together to make this a very difficult thing to prevent in some communities, and also difficult to recover from in those same communities.

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.

A similar pattern has emerged in other Bay Area counties.

In Santa Clara County, many of the ZIP codes with the highest case rates are clustered in and around East San Jose, a predominantly low-income Latino and Vietnamese American neighborhood.

In Contra Costa County, the three cities with the highest case rates  San Pablo, Richmond and Bay Point  are all working-class and have large Latino and Black populations, while wealthier areas like Moraga, San Ramon and El Cerrito have far lower case rates. Despite the imbalance, community testing sites are concentrated in higher-income cities.

And in San Francisco, many of the neighborhoods with the highest case rates are in low-income communities of color, including Bayview-Hunters Point, Tenderloin, Excelsior, South of Market and Visitacion Valley. The only middle-income ZIP code in the city with high case rates is the Mission District, but studies have found that Latino residents there who work essential jobs are mostly the ones testing positive.

In the very beginning of the pandemic, there was this idea that it was going to be a universal experience, no one was immune, said Tina Sacks, an assistant professor at UC Berkeleys School of Social Welfare. But the reality is we never had the same risk of contracting the illness, or having the same outcomes once we contracted the virus.

Sabrina Hall lives with her four children and grandson in the Bayview. She said she missed around two weeks of work between late February and mid-March because she had developed a severe cough and was having problems breathing, but her local clinic didnt have tests and there were no community sites nearby. Yet her employer wanted her to confirm she was negative before she could return to work.

I went to the clinic, but they didnt have any supplies, so they refer you to the hospital and they send you back to the clinic, which is a loop, Hall said. It was really frustrating, because I was out of work and trying to make ends meet as a single parent, which was really stressful.

Hall, 39, ultimately tested negative twice. But the economic impacts lingered. She had to rely on her 17-year-old daughter to help pay some bills and had to ask a neighbor to drive her to work when she returned because she wasnt able to fix her car.

As cases continue to surge across California, public health experts said the state and counties will need to provide more aid to people like Hall and Lopez, including not just access to tests and medical care, but also financial assistance, food assistance and places to quarantine if they become sick.

Despite being bedridden for more than a month, Lopez considers herself lucky: She has recovered from COVID-19, and no coworkers or family members contracted the virus.

She also was in a less precarious position than some of her peers: Lopez recently regained health insurance, and no one in her household lost their job. Although the experience upended her life, Lopez said, the fallout for people with fewer resources could be much worse.

I cannot imagine how some people could do it, she said. Somebody is going to have to stand up and say, We need to put money towards these people who need it, because their lives are going to depend on it.

San Francisco Chronicle

developer Audrey Debruine contributed to this report.

Joaquin Palomino and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jpalomino@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoaquinPalomino, @cdizikes
In a statement late Saturday, Ahmed al-Mesmari, a spokesman for the LNA, called for oil revenues to flow into a bank account in a foreign country with a 'clear mechanism' to distribute funds fairly among Libya's regions

The National Libyan Army (LNA) led by commader Khalifa Hafter said they will only allow the reopening of oil fields and terminals once a mechanism has been set up to fairly distribute revenue across the country, which is split between rival, warring factions.

Powerful tribes in eastern Libya closed export terminals and choked off major pipelines at the start of the year. The move was aimed at pressuring their rivals in the U.N.-supported government in the capital, Tripoli, in the country's west.

In a statement late Saturday, Ahmed al-Mesmari, a spokesman for the LNA, called for oil revenues to flow into a bank account in a foreign country with a ``clear mechanism'' to distribute funds fairly among Libya's regions. He did not name a country to host the account.

He also demanded international guarantees that oil revenues would not to be used to fund ``terrorists and mercenaries.'' He was apparently referring to the mercenaries, mostly Syrians, that Turkey brought in recent months to fight on the side of the Tripoli government, which is backed by an array of local militias as well as Turkey, Qatar and Italy.

LNA are backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Russia and France.

Al-Mesmari also called for an audit to Libya's central bank in Tripoli to review the spending in the past years.

Oil, the lifeline of Libya's economy, has long been at the center of the civil war, as rival authorities jostle for control of Africa's largest reserves. The closures have deprived authorities of over $6.5 billion.

LNA's supporters say the Libyan Central Bank, which is based in the capital and collects oil revenue, only uses it for the benefit of the Tripoli government.

Last month, the tribes offered to end the closure as part of a political settlement. They mandated LNA to negotiate the opening of the oil facilities.

The state-run National Oil Corporation said Friday it has resumed crude exports, shipping 730,000 barrels to Italy. Al-Mesmari said the shipment, which was contracted before the closures, was allowed in order to ease the strain on storage facilities.

In recent weeks, ``regional countries'' have been quietly negotiating with the Tripoli-based government over the distribution of oil revenues in talks supervised by the U.N. and the U.S., according to the state-run oil company.

LNA launched an offensive in April last year to try to capture Tripoli. The offensive quickly stalled, however, and in recent weeks LNA have fallen back as the Tripoli-allied militias, with Turkish support, gained ground.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online

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Speaking ahead of the mega tree plantation drive of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Officers' Training Academy in Kadarpur village here, the Home Minister also lauded the contribution of security forces in the battle against COVID-19 in the country.

Gurugram (Haryana): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the whole world was appreciating India's successful fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

"India is one of the most populous countries. Everyone thought how will a country like India battle COVID-19, there were apprehensions but today the whole world is witnessing how one of the most successful battles against COVID-19 has been fought here," the Home Minister said.

"In India's battle against COVID-19, all of our security forces are playing a huge role, nobody can deny it. Today, I salute these corona warriors. They have proved that they not only know how to fight terrorism but also against COVID with help of people," he added.

The Union Home Minister said that many jawans have given up their lives during the COVID-19 crisis phase, and paid tribute to them.

"I have talked to families of those jawans and today once again I thank them, your sacrifice will not go waste. Whenever the history of the human race's fight against COVID-19 is written, the contribution of India's security forces will be mentioned in golden ink," he said.

He also hailed the plantation drive and said that trees planted today should be taken care of by the jawans till they reach maturity, he added the trees chosen for plantation today consisted mostly those which had a long life and would help the generations to come.

Together the CAPFs have targeted to plant around 10 lakh tree saplings across the country today. Heads of all the CAPFs or their representatives were present in the event held at Gurugram.
The state has granted coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearances to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to cut 1,001 mangrove trees for the eight-lane Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway, which will pass through the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

The details of the clearance came to light earlier this week when the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) published the minutes of its June 11 meeting, during which the proposal was discussed and accorded conditional clearance. It has now been recommended to the Union environment ministry.

The 379-km greenfield expressway connecting Mumbai to Vadodara expects to reduce the travel time between the two cities to four hours instead of the current seven through national highway (NH)-8. Of the 379-km, 78.1km (phase II) extends from Vasai to Talasari across 4km CRZ area, encompassing 32.4 hectares (ha) crossing the Vaitarna River. Of this, 3.2ha is CRZ1A (the most protected coastal zone), which is home to 1,001 mangrove trees, while 2.68ha is mangrove buffer. The maximum mangrove losses would occur at Navghar and Vadiv villages in Palghar, falling under the Safale forest range.

As the project proponents (NHAI) have decided to build much of the road through the mangroves on stilts and considered the least damaging alignment to forest cover, the project was issued conditional clearance, said a senior MCZMA official.

On September 17, 2018, the Bombay high court (HC) had said that no development permission shall be issued by any authority in Maharashtra for any area under mangroves. Regardless of ownership of land having mangroves, all constructions taking place within 50 metres (m) on all the sides [of mangrove stretches] shall be forthwith stopped, the HC had said.

According to Neenu Somraj, deputy conservator of forest and member, MCZMA, NHAI will need permissions from the HC to cut the trees. Minimal mangrove areas will be affected. However, the planning body will need permissions from the HC, and apply for forest clearance under the Forest Conservation (FC) Act, 1980. An area for compensatory afforestation will be identified during the forest clearance process.

The exact loss of mangrove trees was identified by the Dahanu forest department, but NHAI has not been asked to obtain any clearances from the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority.

According to the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the project, which HT has reviewed, the project is likely to have an impact on a total forest area of 191.58ha across Vasai, Palghar, Talasari and Dahanu (including Dahanu taluka eco-fragile zone across 28 km) would lead to the diversion of 13% reserve forest, 2% mangrove forest, 71% protected forests and 14% private forests, and a total of 69,095 trees are expected to be lost. The expressway would pass at a distance of 1.28 km from the boundary of the Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary and 0.45 km away from its eco-sensitive zone boundary, the EIA read.

NHAI had applied for clearances under the FC Act for 94.5ha forest diversion for phase II in 2018 but retracted the proposal as a much larger forest area is involved.

We welcome the CRZ clearance. Based on the clearance, we will be applying for FC for the entire 191.58ha. All the conditions proposed by the authorities concerned will be followed. We are ready to ensure compensatory afforestation as much as 10 times the number for the mangroves lost, said B Mukhopadhyay, general manager, environment, NHAI.

Meanwhile, during MCZMAs meeting on Tuesday, a conditional clearance was accorded to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to construct sea walls (anti-sea erosion bunds) at Gharapuri Island, Panje village in Uran, and a boat landing jetty at Nhava. The proposal was deferred last year by the coastal authority over concerns of mangrove loss.

Loss of mangroves is yet to be ascertained but JNPT needs to obtain the HCs clearance, said Somraj.

Environmentalists were upset with the latest decisions. At a time when we need to protect the remaining mangroves and wetlands in MMR, such clearances defeat the purpose of having an environment and climate change department, said BN Kumar, director, NatConnect Foundation, a not-for-profit environment group.

Debi Goenka, a petitioner before the HC in the matter of mangroves, said, A short-sighted approach under the guise of creating artificial infrastructure is destroying natural carbon sinks without any realisation of how it will impact us in the future.

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Bella Thorne is ready for a ring.

The actress, 22, hinted that a proposal from beau Benjamis Mascolo might be on the horizon as she shared a sultry selfie video on Sunday.

'Soon to be [ring emoji],' the Famous In Love actress wrote, strongly suggesting a possible engagement.

Ring, ring: Bella Thorne hinted that beau Benjamin Mascolo could be ready to propose when she shared a sexy selfie video on Sunday

Marriage on the mind: 'Soon to be [ring emoji],' the Famous In Love actress wrote, strongly suggesting a possible engagement

While she was hinting about something for her ring finger Bella rocked a sizable sparkler on her index.

It was no wonder why Italian heartthrob Ben was ready to pop the question.

The Infamous actress looked was the definition of alluring as she slipped into a low black top with pearls around her neck.

Her auburn locks were styled softly and she played up her perfect pout with a swipe of pink lipstick.

Only adding to fans suspicions, the picture was tagged from the upscale Nobu Los Cabos, making it clear it was a special night for the pair.

What a catch: It was no wonder why Italian heartthrob Ben was ready to pop the question to the stunning and talented starlet

Wowing: The Infamous actress looked was the definition of alluring as she slipped into a low black top with pearls around her neck

The right setting: Only adding to fans suspicions, the picture was tagged from the upscale Nobu Los Cabos, making it clear it was a special night for the pair

Bella and Ben have been relishing in their time together as they vacation in Mexico together.

Before their rendezvous south of the border, it had been five months since the couple were together.

Bella shares some romantic shots with Ben last week which made it clear they are a match made in heaven.

'After 5 months reunited & it feels so good ' she wrote in the caption, then asking 'Where shall we go next ??'

The star explained how the pandemic has been keeping them apart, noting: 'Ben isnt allowed in America yet... and I cant go to Italy unless I have a work permit there.'

Reunited and it feels so good: On Tuesday Bella shared a sweet Instagram of the pair and wrote about how happy she was to be with her boo after five months on different continents

Bella and Ben have been dating for a little more than a year, first linked last spring.

Before that she endured a year long relationship with rapper Mod Sun.

During their polyamorous relationship Bella briefly dated YouTuber Tana Mongeau, who she remains friends with.

Bella was also linked to Scott Disick during his wilder days.
A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking adequate ex-gratia monetary compensation to the next of kin of all Indian citizens who succumb to COVID-19, especially for the financially weaker sections of society.

The PIL, which is likely to come up for hearing in the coming days, also sought a direction to the Centre as well as the state governments to formulate an appropriate 'compensation plan' to provide ex-gratia monetary compensation to the kin of essential/ healthcare workers who have succumbed to COVID-19.

It urged the court to seek a status report from the governments on the total number of COVID-19 related causalities and measures taken by the authorities for compensating the loss of life due to this disaster in the country as well as abroad.

The petition claimed that majority of the country's population belongs to financially weaker sections of the society, wherein only one person is an earning member and the others in the family solely dependent on that income for their sustenance.

"The said citizens are also the tax payers of our country. In such a structure, whereby the death rate is only increasing at an alarming rate per day, it is imperative for the State to formulate appropriate guidelines, on compassionate grounds, for ex-gratia compensation to the families of the COVID-19 casualties, especially for the front-line workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedical staff etc., solely with the purpose of aiding the families for their basic survival and sustenance during this pandemic," the plea said.

"Pertinently, the death of an Indian citizen not only impacts his/her own personal life, it affects the lives of all the members of the family who were dependent on the sole source of income. In the event of death of such a family member and while regarding the huge unemployment which COVID-19 has encompassed globally, the dependents are with no finances for survival," the plea, filed by advocate Deepak Prakash, said.

It claimed that the death rate due to COVID-19 is exponentially increasing with each passing hour, especially in cases of front-line workers such as police officials, doctors, para medical staff, government employees, media reporters etc., thereby rendering the whole family of the deceased in an extremely vulnerable position.

"Till date COVID-19 has no cure/vaccine and has been declared as a notified 'disaster', thus, it is the duty of the State, on compassionate grounds, to provide relief to its citizens by adequately compensating the kin of the deceased in order to financially assist the families thereof, who are in an extremely vulnerable and helpless position, having suffered due to the outbreak of this deadly virus," it said.
BJP National President JP Nadda interacts with party leaders and cadres through video conferencing during the extended nationwide lockdown imposed to mitigate the spread of coronavirus pandemic; on Thursday. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, July 12 : BJP national President JP Nadda on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Kerala government over the COVID-19 pandemic, alleging that the state government's attitude was always negative and it messed up the health crisis.

"The state government messed up the COVID-19 crisis. Pinarayi Vijayan's government tried to suppress the real figures and always had a negative attitude even when the Indian Medical Association suggested increased testing," Nadda said while addressing the people of Kerala via a virtual rally after inauguration of a Bharatiya Janata Party office in Kasaragod via videoconference.

The remark comes at a time when India has become third worst-hit nation with nearly 8.5 lakh coronavirus cases, with Kerala registering a total of 7,438 cases.

"The Pinarayi government said that they have enough quarantine facilities, but it wasn't the case. People suffered due to that. Migrant workers in Wayanad had to stage a protest against the state government. The Kerala House was given to anti-CAA protesters but wasn't given to Malayali nurses who needed it," the BJP chief claimed.

He alleged political patronage to private companies in Kerala and compromise of medical data in the process.

Nadda also trained his guns at Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi over his "secret meeting" with the Chinese Ambassador during the Doklam stand-off (in 2017). "The people of India know that Rahul Gandhi was meeting the Chinese Ambassador secretly during the Doklam stand-off and you misled the nation and did not inform the country," he said.

"You've missed all 11 defence committee meetings. This is how you run a country? India got to know only when the Chinese Ambassador put your picture with him online. This 'love for your nation' is fake," Nadda said targeting Gandhi.

The BJP President said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had an emotional connect with the people of Kerala. "PM Modi has emotional bonding with Kerala. When Puttingal temple (fire) incident happened (in April 2016), the Prime Minister reached the spot in less than 8 hours with a team of best doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences for the treatment of the injured persons." He added that it is not only the emotional connect, the PM has taken care of giving Kerala proper political representation. "Many Keralites, including Suresh Gopi, have been nominated to the Rajya Sabha and are in the Lok Sabha," he said.

"Before addressing the people in Abu Dhabi, Modi met with the Kerala diaspora, talked to them, had lunch with them, and understood their problems in detail and then tried to solve them. He did the same when he went to Dubai," said Nadda.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
By Associated Press

KINGSVILLE: The US Navy has welcomed its first Black female Tactical Aircraft pilot.

"MAKING HISTORY!" the U.S.Navy tweeted Thursday in response to a post that Lt.j.g. Madeline Swegle had completed naval flight school and would later this month receive the flight officer insignia known as the "Wings of Gold."

The Naval Air Training Command tweeted that Swegle is the Navy's "first known Black female TACAIR pilot."

BZ to Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle on completing the Tactical Air (Strike) aviator syllabus. Swegle is the @USNavys first known Black female TACAIR pilot and will receive her Wings of Gold later this month. HOOYAH! @FlyNavy @NASKPAO #ForgedByTheSea #CNATRA #CNATRAgrads pic.twitter.com/FKSlURWQhJ  Naval Air Training (@CNATRA) July 9, 2020

According to Stars and Stripes, Swegle is from Burke, Virginia, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2017.

Officials said she is assigned to the Redhawks of Training Squadron 21 in Kingsville, Texas.

Swegle's milestone comes more than 45 years after Rosemary Mariner in 1974 became the first woman to fly a tactical fighter jet, according to news outlets.
T J S George By

Pardon my parochialism (or is it realism?) but I do feel that north and south are different and never the twain shall meet. It is the Aryan concepts that make things complicated. See what Manusmriti (2nd century BCE?) says: From the eastern sea to the western sea, the area in between the two mountains [presumably the Himalayas and the Vindhyas] is what wise men call the land of the Aryas... Beyond it is the country of the barbarians.

The view that those who are not Aryans are barbarians, is barbarian. It is that view that sustains the idea of northern superiority. In fact, in cultural and intellectual terms, the Dravidians have a maturity that enables them to benefit from it, without flaunting it to claim superiority over others. Yes, the north is north and the south is south.

New light is shed on this old topic by Early Indians. Author Tony Joseph uses new data made available by advances of DNA analysis technology. The new hypothesis validates the old hypothesis but in a different way. According to the new data, there was no large-scale migration to India during the last 40,000 years or so. Rather there were two very ancient populations, one located in north India and the other in south India. All of todays populations descended from the mixing of these two groups, technically given the tags Ancestral North Indian and Ancestral South Indian. ANI has Caucasian roots while ASI, in all likelihood, migrated from Africa via the southern route 50,000 years ago.

History sustains the north-south divide. Indus valley/Harappan civilisation was Dravidian and it moved south following the Aryan invasion. The phrase Aryan invasion is anathema to the politicians of the north. They want us to believe that Aryans came from Thoothukudi and thereabouts. What is the use of history if it does not serve politicians?

The Vedas are projected as the foundations of Indian civilisation. Anything that points to the possibility of a civilisation before the Vedas would therefore be a body blow to Hindutva theories of India. Ironically, Rigveda itself describes how the Aryans clashed with the Dasyus to get control of the land. Who were the Dasyus who were in control of the land before the Aryans came? Tony Josephs chapter The First Indians begins with the explanation: How a bunch of out of Africa migrants found their way to India, dealt with their evolutionary cousins ... made this land their own and became the largest human population on earth. He has an Appendix that explains how migration from Eurasian Steppes changed the demography in a region extending from Europe to South Asia. And yet, there are some who insist that the story of the Aryan invasion is a vast conspiracy.

Actually this whole thing is tied to, and sustained by, the north-south dichotomy that governs life in India. The BJP is perceived as a north Indian party. (Its foothold in Karnataka is seen as an aberration.) Its cultural essence is Hindi. To that extent, its appeal to the Dravidian, non-Hindi south will remain limited.

How can the alienation disappear when even our epics appear in variations that suit linguistic differences? The norths favourite Ramayana Tulsidas Ramacharitmanas doesnt do well anywhere in the south. It is Kamba Ramayanam in Tamil Nadu, Dwipad Ramayanam in Telugu desam, Torava Ramayana in Kannada desa and Adhyatma Ramayanam in Malayala bhasha. Poor Valmiki is drowned in his variations.

How do we react to a sentence like: The Aryan race flourished in India as agriculturists and as conquerors of the aboriginal races. Or, the civilised race conquered the whole country from the barbarians. Or, even the claim that the Aryan conquerors went west, settled down in Iran and composed the Zend Avesta. These were theories propounded even by renowned scholars like Romesh Dutt. But they make no sense when they ignore the inherent preconceptions in terms like barbarians.

E V Ramasamy developed a whole philosophy on Ramayana being a vehicle for northern cultural domination. That notion is unlikely to change as long as Ayodhya is central to the Rama story. And, dont forget, Ravana is seen as a southerner and as a hero. This could be a game that no one wins in the end. In fact, it can be a game in which there are only losers. Strong enough reason to pay special attention to Tony Josephs exhortation: We are all Indians. And we are all migrants.


ANN ARBOR, MI - A hydroplaning car lost control on I-94 in Ann Arbor Friday night, striking a man outside his own vehicle and killing him, police said.

The deceased was a 36-year-old man from Warren, said the Michigan State Police. Family confirmed that his name was Matthew Griebe His death occurred in a series of crashes on eastbound I-94 near Stone School Road caused in part by a July 10 storm in southeastern Michigan, police said.

A GoFundMe was started by his sister Stacey with the goal of raising $20,000. It has already surpassed $3,000 in less than a day.

Officers responded to the initial car crash at 9:55 p.m. Friday, police said. After hydroplaning and losing control when driving over a large body of water, the first vehicle struck a median wall, leading the driver to pull over to the side of the road and call 911, police said.

Minutes later, a second car hydroplaned and crashed into the first car, police said. The driver of the second vehicle exited to assess the crash damage, police said.

Shortly after, a third car lost control on the body of water and collided with the first two cars, as well as the Warren man, police said. The victim was pronounced dead on scene, police said.

Nobody else involved suffered anything other than minor injuries, police said. Ann Arbor police and Huron Valley Ambulance assisted on scene. Neither alcohol nor substance use is considered a factor in the crashes at this time. The incident is still under investigation.

An alert to avoid eastbound I-94 near State Street was released at 10:36 p.m. Friday by the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office. All lanes reopened at 3:08 a.m. Saturday, July 11, according to another sheriffs office alert.

It is recommended that during times of low visibility, including storms, that people involved in traffic crashes remain inside their vehicles until authorities arrive on scene, said the Michigan State Police.

Read more from MLive:

Motorcyclist killed in crash on I-96 in Detroit

Skyline High School rowing community holds small Black Lives Matter protest near University of Michigan

East Washington between Main Street and 4th Avenue closed July 14-16
In this May 27, 2020, file photo, medical personnel work in the emergency department at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springwhile also trying to prepare in case another surge comes.

New York's early experience is a ready-made blueprint for states now finding themselves swamped by the disease. It could also come in handy at home, as the region readies for a potential second wave of infection that experts predict will likely come at some point.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has offered advice, ventilators, masks, gowns and medicine to states dealing with spikes in cases and hospitalizations and, in some places, rising deaths. Some health care workers are heading to other states to help fight the virus, reciprocating the influx that gave New York hospitals some much-needed relief just months ago.

At the same time, the Democratic governor has ordered travelers from more than a dozen states to quarantine for 14 days, while urging New Yorkers not to let up on wearing masks or social distancing.

Yet with the virus tearing through the South and West, Cuomo warned Friday it would eventually rear up again in New York.

"We're doing everything we can," he told WAMC radio, but "I can feel it coming."

A widely cited University of Washington model doesn't project spikesat least through its Nov. 1 time framein New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, whose Democratic governors have coordinated on traveler quarantines and, earlier, some shutdown policies. But that doesn't mean the densely populated tri-state area is in the clear.

In this April 13, 2020, file photo, a patient arrives in an ambulance cared for by medical workers wearing personal protective equipment due to COVID-19 concerns outside NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

"We expect the virus to return in all of those states," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the university's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. "The question is one of timing."

As cases spiked in March and April, New York became the nation's coronavirus nightmare, with New York City at the crux of it. Statewide, over 18,000 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals at one point in April. Daily deaths peaked at 799 in April, and have totaled over 24,000.

Now, as states from Florida to Texas to California see new confirmed cases soar, hospitals fill up and daily death tolls hit new records, numbers have dropped precipitously in the tri-state region. New York reported five new deaths statewide Sunday, when hospitals were caring for a total of about 800 coronavirus patients.

While New York has been gradually reopening, it also has been quietly preparing to handle another surge if it comes.

In this April 1, 2020, file photo, a medical personnel wears personal protective equipment while working at the Samaritan's Purse field hospital in New York's Central Park. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

After health workers in New York and elsewhere grappled with shortages of masks, gowns and other protective gear this spring, Cuomo said he would order hospitals to have a 90-day supply on hand. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would build its own reserve of ventilators, protective equipment and coronavirus test kits, identifying local suppliers and manufacturers rather than looking to federal authorities or global markets.

"We've learned a tough lesson that we have to create, and we have to protect ourselves," said de Blasio, a Democrat, who also said the city would stockpile as many as 18 million shelf-stable meals.

Others are preparing, too.

Mount Sinai Hospital expanded from 94 intensive-care beds to 235 and converted an atrium and lobby into wards for less-critical patients at the height of the crisis. Now, it's developing a coronavirus playbook of sorts, so clinicians will have how-tos immediately at hand, said Dr. Roopa Kohli-Seth, who oversees intensive care.

In this June 26, 2020, file photo, diners eat al fresco due to COVID-19 concerns in the West Village in New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

New York's nursing homes, which lost more than 6,400 residents to the virus, have set up wings to separate infected residents. They're now required to test staffers weekly and have at least a two-month supply of protective gear. And they are no longer accepting recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals, as the state initially directed them to do. They admitted over 6,300 patients before Cuomo reversed the policy under pressure May 10.

"We know how to fight this virus now. We have the resources," said Stephen Hanse, who heads an association of New York nursing homes.

The health care system overall is better prepared now, said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiology professor.

"The difference now is we know the capacity of this virus to rapidly spread to cause disease, its impact on the health care system and our needs in terms of testing, personal protective equipment, ventilatorsall the other things we didn't know six months ago," said Lipkin, who is working with the city to test hundreds of thousands of people a week.

In this March 25, 2020, file photo, patients wear personal protective equipment while maintaining social distancing as they wait in line for a COVID-19 test at Elmhurst Hospital Center, in New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

New York has taken reopening relatively slowlyand braked, postponing the resumption of indoor restaurant service in New York City, after cases began surging elsewhere. Thousands of contact tracers have been hired to try to keep the virus in check. And mask-wearing has been widespread in the nation's biggest city since a city recommendation and subsequent state requirement in April, while some other states have only recently started telling residents to don masks in public.

Still, with more New Yorkers getting out and about and riding mass transit, and police taking a hands-off approach to enforcing mask and distancing rules after several violent clashes caught on video, experts worry it's inevitable case numbers will spike.

"I'm not sure how long this progress is going to hold," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, the director of the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia University.

In this April 9, 2020, file photo, workers wearing personal protective equipment bury bodies in a trench on Hart Island in the Bronx borough of New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Rob Griffin, a professor of emergency management at the University of Albany, said the state needs to spell out rules for any future shutdowns, "so you don't have to make a decision on the fly."

Some experts have said New York didn't move quickly enough early on. New York City's massive public school system closed March 16, and a statewide stay-at-home order took effect March 22.

If such measures had been implemented by March 8, Columbia University researchers estimate about 17,500 lives could have been saved.

To New York City's elected public advocate, Jumaane Williams, the city and state responses to the crisis were frustratingly blind to foreseeable inequities.

The city's Black and Hispanic residents were hospitalized and died of the virus at more than twice the rates of whites and Asians, and people from very poor neighborhoods at twice the rate of residents of wealthy areas.

In this May 27, 2020, file photo, a medical worker wearing personal protective equipment cleans gurneys in the emergency department intake area at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan, in New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

In this July 8, 2020, file photo, Stephane Labossiere, right, with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, hands out masks and printed information about free COVID-19 testing in Brooklyn being offered by NYC Health + Hospitals, in New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

In this June 25, 2020, file photo, arriving travelers walk by a COVID-19 travel advisory sign in the baggage claim area of Terminal B at New York City's LaGuardia Airport. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

In this June 12, 2020, file photo, a nurse gestures for a patient as on-campus staff working on the grounds of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale are tested for COVID-19 by nasal swab before they can begin their shifts, in the Bronx borough of New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

In this April 17, 2020, file photo, a patient is prepared to be loaded into the back of an ambulance by emergency medical workers outside Cobble Hill Health Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Cuomo also ordered nursing homes to accept recovering coronavirus patients to free up hospital beds, a move since blamed for the rapid spread of the disease in those facilities. More than 6,400 people have died of coronavirus in New York nursing homes, and the policy was later rescindedthough state officials argued it was employees who were causing the outbreaks. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

In this April 1, 2020, file photo, medical worker transports a patient at Mount Sinai in New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

In this May 27, 2020, file photo, medical personnel wearing personal protective equipment frequent the employee respite facilities at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan in New York. As coronavirus rages out of control in other parts of the U.S., New York is offering an example after taming the nation's deadliest outbreak this springbut also trying to prepare in case another surge comes. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Williams feels New York's shutdown was too slow and limited, leaving too many workersmany of them people of colorobliged to commute to jobs that might not have been able to provide protective equipment. That can't happen again, the Democrat said.

"The big thing, for me, is to shut down swiftly, open up slowly and make sure there's an infrastructure for communities we know are going to be impacted the most," Williams said. "We learned lessons that we didn't need to learn, and hopefully other people will, too."

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.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  When 85-year-old Claire Haspel was hospitalized with COVID-19, all she could think about was getting home to her husband Fred and seeing the rest of her family.

She got her wish.

After spending a week in isolation at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC ) in West Brighton, she was discharged to continue her recovery at home. I felt like the luckiest person -- to be able to walk out of RUMC -- and me at 85-years-old, she said.

But that was just the beginning.

When she got home to Grant City  to the same house where she was born and raised  she found the team at RUMC had passed the baton for her care to the capable hands of the Visiting Nurse Association of Staten Island (VNASI) -- the not-for-profit agency that has been providing in-home health care exclusively for borough residents for more than a century.

A registered nurse (R.N.) from VNASI visited Haspel to check and monitor her vitals -- blood pressure, temperature, blood oxygen level and breathing; to make sure shes be eating right, and to arrange for physical and occupational therapy as needed, to help her get back on her feet and make sure her recovery went smoothly. Her family was also kept apprised of her care and recovery.

I cant say enough about these nurses, this wonderful service, Haspel said of VNASI. When I came home from the hospital, I was still very weak and tired. I had no appetite, but they were so patient and professional. They listened to me. Im feeling more like myself every day, she said.

Over the last few months VNASI staff has played a key role in RUMCs efforts to treat and discharge coronavirus patients, according to hospital administration.

VNASI has served an essential role in our COVID-19 efforts at RUMC, said RUMC President and CEO Daniel Messina. VNASIs work and support allowed RUMC to create a very aggressive surge plan, leading to enhanced capacity, by optimizing through the pandemic, he said.

And VNASI will continue to play a key role in RUMCs comprehensive outpatient treatment center for recovering coronavirus patients, he said. Dr. Messina, along with Dr. Philip Otterbeck, chairman of medicine at RUMC, have announced the new center, at 288 Kissel Ave should open later this month.

PART OF THE FAMILY

Our staff stands ready to serve RUMC patients with COVID-19 aftercare and treatment, said VNASI President Hope Illicato, R.N. We are the home care agency, the bridge between hospital care and continued recovery in the familiarity of the patients own home.

A home health nurse quickly becomes part of the family, said Marybeth Kenney, R.N., director of professional services for VNASI, who has more than 30 years of experience in home health care. She said the agency is currently serving more than 50 patients recovering from COVID-19. The beauty of this program is that our talented team of nurses are able to treat people at home, and keep them out of the hospital setting while they recover, she said.

Lisa Mandell of Huguenot, an R.N. who has been a field nurse with VNASI for 34 years, said shes been seeing an average of five to seven patients a day, two to three times a week since the height of the coronavirus crisis, but said the numbers have been dropping as fewer patients have been hospitalized and released.

It was initially rough, but Staten Islanders are lucky because many of our patients have support from family members, she said. She said the agency works to educate family members about patient care as well.

All of the nurses who make home visits wear personal protective equipment (PPE), including gowns, booties, gloves, masks and face shields. We go in feeling a little like the Pillsbury Dough Boy, Mandell said, smiling. Were covered from head to toe.

Illicato said the agency is appreciative of support its received from elected officials and community-based organizations who have seen to it that the nursing staff has the proper protective equipment. Our elected officials have been very supportive in seeing we have all that we need to safely and successfully go out to treat patients, she said.

In addition to, and in between home visits, nurses make use of tele-health options, including virtual visits. We also use technology to screen patients and to see what treatment options might work best for individual patients, said Krystal Castelle, R.N., who coordinates tele-health visits and options for patients.

LONG HISTORY OF SERVICE

The VNASI has a history of serving the home health needs of borough residents that dates back more than a century before the current COVID-19 pandemic .

The agency was founded in 1917, as an outpost of the Henry Street Settlement House on Manhattans Lower East Side. Its purpose was to provide health care to underprivileged children and their families who lived on Staten Island, who were not being served. Its nurses also helped borough patients recover from the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.

Although the agency is sometimes confused with other certified in-home health-care agencies with similar names, Illicato stressed that VNASI is unique to the Island. We are Staten Island-based, we serve all of Staten Island, and the majority of our staff live and work here and know the community. Our sole focus is on serving this borough. Our mission is the health and well-being of Staten Islanders, she said.

In addition to treating adults, VNASI provides early intervention and assessment for children with developmental delays and disabilities from birth to three years old.

The VNASI headquarters are at 400 Lake Ave., Mariners Harbor. For more information about the agency and its services, or how to receive services, call 718-816-3500, or access the VNASI website at www.vnasi.org.
Three months to the governorhsip election in Ondo State, tension and controversy has trailed the actions of the main political actors in the state.

In the past week, lawmakers commenced impeachment proceedings against the states deputy governor; the states chief judge rejected the impeachment move; the Secretary to the State Government resigned while the chairman of the ruling party in a local government also resigned.

These are many others are included in this weekly round-up of political happenings in Ondo in preparation for the election.

Deputy governor sues assembly

The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, on Monday sued the House of Assembly over alleged plans to remove him from office after leaving the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)..

Mr Ajayi, through his lawyer, I. Olatoke, filed a suit seeking to halt the impeachment proceeding at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Aside from the House of Assembly, the suit filed by his lawyer has the Inspector General of Police, State Commissioner Of Police, State Security Service (SSS) and the Speaker of the Assembly, David Oleyeloogun, as defendants.

SSG resigns, attacks Akeredolu

The Secretary to the Ondo State Government, Ifedayo Abegunde, resigned his appointment from the Rotimi Akeredolu administration.

Speaking on his resignation, he said Mr Akeredolu made him suffer as he didnt release any fund for my office grants. He also alleged that Mr Akeredolu did not win the 2016 election to become governor.

Ifedayo Abegunde [PHOTO CREDIT: Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde;s Facebook Page]

Mr Abegunde said he and other unnamed persons helped Mr Akeredolu become governor despite not winning the election.

In his reaction, Mr Akeredolu, called on security agencies to probe the allegations made by former SSG as he disclosed that he had never supported electoral fraud and would not do so in the October 10 election.

Ondo Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi (PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter)

Commencement of deputy governors impeachment process

The state assembly on Tuesday began impeachment proceedings against Mr Ajayi over alleged gross misconduct, abuse of office, financial recklessness, and abandonment of office and official duties.

Mr Ajayis removal is supported by 14 of Ondos 26 lawmakers while nine others dissociated themselves from the impeachment. The stance of three lawmakers has not been publicly stated.

Deputy Speaker Suspended

The Ondo Assembly on Wednesday suspended its deputy speaker, Irioju Ogundeji, and two other members of the House, Adewale Williams and Favour Tomomewo, for kicking against the planned impeachment of Mr Ajayi.

The three suspended lawmakers were among the nine lawmakers that opposed plans to remove Mr Ajayi

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After the suspension of the three lawmakers, another lawmaker and supporter of Mr Ajayi, Jamiu Maito, resigned from his position.

Mr Maito was the majority leader of the assembly and his resignation was read by the Clerk of the House, Bode Adeyelu, during the plenary session.

Assembly writes Chief Judge to set up investigative panel

On Thursday, the Ondo assembly announced that it has written the chief judge of the state, Oluwatoyin Akeredolu, to set up a seven-member panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct levelled against Mr Ajayi.

The lawmakers said the setting up of the panel was in line with section 188 (5) of the 1999 constitution as amended. They also asked the judicial arm to report back to the House as soon as possible.

But Mrs Akeredolu in her response to the letter rejected the request on the grounds that two-third majority as required by the 1999 constitution for setting up of such a probe panel was not formed in the assembly.

The chief judge also said she had received a letter from Mr Ajayis lawyers stating that the process of impeachment was sub judice.

11 Ondo APC aspirants reject indirect primary

On Friday, 11 governorship aspirants of the ruling party sent a formal letter to the partys Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee (CEONCPC) rejecting the indirect mode of primary announced by the party for its July 20 election.

Only one aspirant, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, did not append his signature on the letter.

Mr Akeredolu is believed to prefer the indirect primary which allows voting by delegates and officials of the party.

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Those who rejected the indirect mode are Joseph Iji, Odimayo Okunjimi, Olayide Adelami, Issacs Kekemeke, Olusola Oke, lfeoluwa Oyedele and Olajumoke Anifowoshe.

Others are Awodeyi Colinus, Olubukola Adetula, Abraham Olusegun and Nathaniel Adojutelegan.

APC chairman resigns from party

The Chairman of APC in Ese- Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State, Samuel Olorunwa, resigned his membership of the party.

He tendered his resignation letter on Friday at the APC state secretariat in Akure.

He is a close ally of Mr Ajayi, who is now in PDP.

Deputy gov asks court to jail lawmakers for contempt

Mr Ajayi, on Friday, asked the Federal High Court in Akure to jail the 26 members of the state House of Assembly for contempt.

He asked the court to impose one-year imprisonment on the lawmakers for deliberately plotting and executing plans to impeach him despite his suit filed at the Abuja division of the court challenging the impeachment process.

He also asked the court to set aside all the actions so far taken by the lawmakers, including the impeachment notice served on him on July 7, since he filed his suit on June 26, 2020.
REUTERS/Gregg Newton

Take a gander at any of the public social media groups for enthusiasts of Orlando, Floridas Walt Disney World and youll find a common refrain: the theme park, which reopened on Friday amid a COVID-19 catastrophe, has super-short lines for all its top roller coasters right now.

What Disney World Staff Fear Most as It Barrels Toward Reopening

Disney World closed in mid-March, when COVID-19 cases began sweeping the country. Then on Friday, the same day Florida reported its largest single-day increase in the virus and the first day the U.S. reported more than 70,000 cases, Disney World reopened its gates.

The reopening also comes one day after unionized Disney staff lobbied, unsuccessfully for COVID-19 testing. The result, say Disney megafans who visited on reopening day, is a weirdly empty park.

Distanced Disney rules, some fans say.

Ummm Disney, can you be like this all the time!?? one person posted in a public Disney group, alongside pictures of virtually non-existent lines for popular rides.

Walking onto every ride with 5 mins wait if that! another wrote. I wish everyday was like that.

Some shared wait-time maps of Disney Worlds Animal Kingdom, which showed 5-minute waits on all major attractions. Others commented that plague-Disney was a great way to see the park without the crowds and expressed amazement that Disney Worlds typically in-demand tickets were so readily available for the rest of 2020.

Some of the emptiness is the result of Disney Worlds safety measures as COVID-19 cases see a frightening surge in Florida. Face masks are required in the park (although not elsewhere in Florida), and visitors will have their temperatures checked before entering.

Although Disney-goers could previously travel between the theme parks distinct sections (like Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom), inter-park travel is now limited. Disney World has also changed its programming, eliminating large parades and fireworks shows to discourage large crowds.

Story continues

Still, questions abound about whether the parks will be able to avoid COVID-19, especially for employees who work there full-time. A recent Disney World promotional video might have accidentally inspired more fears than it soothed.

The unsettling video, which featured masked Disney workers saying welcome home is the scariest thing Ive seen in weeks, an NPR host noted on Twitter.

Some 100,000 Disney World employees have been furloughed since April. The precarious employment adds to pre-existing economic strain for park workers, some of whom already experience food scarcity and sleep in their cars, New York magazine noted.

Some Disney World employees arent returning at all after they demanded more routine COVID-19 testing. The Actors Equity Association, which represents some of Disney Worlds character actors, released a statement on June 25, saying it was unclear how Disney World can responsibly move toward reopening with COVID-19 cases spiking in Florida.

For weeks, we have made it clear to Disney that testing is a fundamental part of maintaining a safe and healthy environment for everyone, from the guests to the cast, Mary McColl, the unions executive director, said in the June 25 statement.

It is deeply disturbing that while coronavirus cases in Florida surge, Disney is refusing to provide regular testing to one of the few groups of workers in the park who by the very nature of their jobs, cannot use personal protective equipment. Now is the time for Disney to pause, focus on the science and put the safety of their actors and stage managers first by making regular testing available.

The following day, Disney rescinded its re-employment call for workers represented by the Actors Equity Association. The union has since filed a grievance with Disney World, accusing it of retaliat[ing] against workers fighting for a safe workplace during this pandemic.

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(Reuters) - Police in St. Louis, Missouri, searched the mansion of a couple who brandished guns at protesters marching outside their home last month in widely seen videos, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said.

The police arrived on Friday evening with a search warrant and seized a semi-automatic .223 caliber rifle, police said, apparently the same weapon wielded by Mark McCloskey during the June 28 incident.

McCloskey, 63, and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, 61, are both personal injury lawyers, and have said they were frightened for their lives when demonstrators protesting against police violence marched by their mansion on their way to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson.

The protests were part of a nationwide wave of marches and demonstrations over police violence against Black people prompted by the killing in May of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Videos show the McCloskeys, who are white, shouting at Black and white protesters, who are apparently unarmed, to keep off their property over several minutes. Some in the crowd record the scene on their cellphones, or shout out that the protesters have no interest in causing the couple harm. Patricia McCloskey pointed a handgun at the crowd.

The McCloskeys and a lawyer representing them did not respond to requests for comment.

Soon after the incident, Kimberly Gardner, the city's chief prosecutor, said she was alarmed by the videos and that her office was investigating a possible infringement of people's right to peacefully protest, saying in a statement that "intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated."

The couple have said they were within their rights to defend their property.

The McCloskeys have repeatedly filed lawsuits or threatened to do so in order to defend their property rights, according to an investigation published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Saturday.

In 2013, Mark McCloskey destroyed bee hives just outside his mansion's wall that were placed there by a neighboring synagogue in order to provide honey for Rosh Hashanah celebrations, the newspaper reported. McCloskey left a note saying he would sue the congregation if they did not remove all trace of the hives, it said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Alistair Bell)
Hotel Business News and Analytics

Important! This article is written by orangesmile.com editors and is protected by copyright law. The article can only be re-used with a direct link to www.orangesmile.com

NEWS BLOCKS:

Hotels in Europe Suffer From Low Bookings

Recently, the European Travel Commission (ETC) published its quarterly report European Tourism: Trends and Prospects. This document once again proved that the tourism sector was hit by the pandemic like no other industry in Europe. Moreover, the uncertainty regarding recovery makes it even harder for hotels to plan their business. Experts foresee that bookings in 2020 will be as much as 54% lower than last year.



This is particularly important for Europe where many people work in tourism. To stimulate the market, countries across Europe try to open their borders early so that hotels in Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon hotels, as well as hotels in less-visited destinations can utilize the summer holiday season. That being said, it is now clear that destinations will recover at a different pace depending on their major source markets. Destinations popular with domestic tourists will recover faster than those that mostly benefit from international guests.



According to the report, the consequences of the health crisis will be noticeable until 2023. The occupancy and revenues of hotels in Europe are likely to remain below the 2019 level in the next two years. In January-April 2020, the decline in international arrivals in Europe was 44% compared to the same period of 2019. If the situation persists, between 14.2 million and 29.5 million people who work in tourism in Europe might lose their jobs.



Hotels in Nicosia and the rest of Cyprus, as well as Croatia and Zagreb hotels, had the highest decline in guests in April and May 2020, -78% and -86% respectively. Iceland, on its turn, also suffered from a drop of 52% in international arrivals. However, the countrys health system was efficient in controlling the spread of the virus, and so Reykjavik hotels are now open again and wait for international guests.



Hotels bookings in January-May 2020 were 96.9% below the result of 2019. However, there are some signs of recovery as flight and hotel bookings have been growing recently. Such destinations as Spain, Portugal, and Greece are the most popular choice. Leisure tourists are responsible for the majority of new bookings. In the coming months, short-haul and domestic travel are likely to show the biggest growth. In this regard, such countries as Norway, Germany, and Romania have a bigger chance to recover quickly. On the other hand, countries like Iceland, Croatia, and Montenegro that depend on long-haul travelers might find it harder to recover.

12.07.2020Stay in touch with the latest news of a worldwide hotel industry. All up-to-date analytics, reports , and news about hotel business trends on OrangeSmile.com.
Another Mojito Day went by on Saturday and fans of perhaps the most popular cocktails in the world raised a toast to the reckless journey of the cocktail from its early days under the scorching sun in Cuba to the form it's taken today.

But history says the drink has had myriad births.

One tale regales us with the repeated attempts of Richard Drake, the state-sponsored privateer aka the Queen's pirate to conquer Havana, Cuba in 1586. But it was not easy.

Not only did his soldiers fail to make it, but they also suffered a lot stricken by severe dysentery. Now they needed some desperate remedies. The small party that went ashore to see if they could find some local medicine returned with a few crude ingredients - aguardiente de cana (local moonshine made from sugarcane spirit), mint leaves, and plenty of limes. Out of them, they made a tonic for the ailment, scurvy, they were suffering from. Hardly convincing for the eye, but abracadabra the potion worked!

Though we know today that it was not the spirit but the lime that really worked up the magic to deal with scurvy, a disease that once terrorised seafarers, the drink they took struck a chord with the sailors. The sailors christened called the new magic potion El Draque, after the name of their leader.

In the 1800s, the cocktail was already popular among African slaves working in the sugarcane plantations of Cuba. But how did it get the name Mojito?

Mojo is an African word that means "to place a little spell," something that the deadly combination has been doing to its hardcore fans for more than five centuries. Or maybe the name came from the Spanish word, 'mojadito,' that means 'a little wet.'

The cocktail would have died with hardly a whimper right in its birthplace, Cuba along with slavery, had it not received the Midas touch of a giant born in the same country in the 19th century.

Rum, known as kill devil was a dark pungent spirit, born as a byproduct in the molasses and sugar industry. Initially, it was so crude a drink that it couldn't aspire to go beyond the small circles of African slaves who distilled it to drown their sorrows after a hard day's work in the plantations of Cuba and other Caribbean islands. Could it someday share space with classy spirits like brandy and whiskey?

All such doubts were cast to the wind when in 1862 when Don Facundo Bacardi Masso established the legendary Bacardi Limited in Cuba. Running the spirit through charcoal filters and other strict measures, Bacardi proved to the world that rum could be turned to liquid gold with proper attention and expertise.

Mojito too was born to stay.

Once Bacardi became a hit Don Facundo turned his attention to reinvent the classic Cuban cocktail first by knocking off the crude aguardiente from the recipe replacing it with Bacardi Carta Blanca White Rum. Bacardi Mojito was born. What a journey for that crude cocktail, from the rugged El Draque that saved the lives of sailors stranded on the shores of Havana some three hundred years ago.

The history of mojito is not complete without mentioning the contributions of legendary writer, Ernest Hemingway (and later our pop culture icon, James Bond).

During the 1930s Heminway took occasional breaks from writing to immerse himself in the ambience of two hotels - El Floridita and La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana. They both got iconic status, thanks to his presence. Hemingway famously declared in a plaque displayed today in La Bodiquita: "My Mojito in La Bodiguita, my Daiquiri in El Floridita." No wonder the hotel is still a favourite haunt for both mojito fans as well as Hemingway followers who visit Cuba.

Today mojito is one of the most famous cocktails in the world. Want to taste it the Bacardi way? Here are a couple of recipes Hemant Mundkur, brand ambassador of Bacardi India has curated for our palate:

1.BACARDI Mojito

- 50 ml BACARDI Carta Blanca Rum 4 lime wedges

- 10 fresh mint leaves

- 20 ml sugar syrup

- 25 ml soda water/club soda Sprig of fresh mint

Glassware: Highball glass

Garnish: Mint sprig

Method:

Take the lime wedges and squeeze them in the glass and add sugar syrup. Gently press together the limes and sugar with a muddler.

Bruise the mint leaves by clapping them between your palms, rub them on the rim of the glass and drop them in.

Next, half fill the glass with crushed ice, add the BACARDI Carta Blanca rum and stir.

Top with crushed ice, a sprig of mint and club soda.

2. Watermelon Basil Mojito

- 50 ml BACARDI Carta Blanca 3 to 4 chunks watermelon

- 2 to 3 basil leaves

- 20 ml Fresh Lime Juice

- 15 ml Sugar Syrup

Glassware: old fashioned glass

Garnish: Basil leaves sprig a watermelon wedge

Method:

Take watermelon, sugar, and lime and muddle gently in an old-fashioned glass.

Bruise the basil leaves by clapping them between your palms, rub them on the rim of the glass and drop them in.

Next, fill the glass with crushed ice, add BACARDI Carta Blanca rum and stir.

Top with crushed ice, a splash of club soda and garnish with basil leaves sprig and watermelon wedge.
A criminal, who was out on parole was arrested by the Delhi Crime Branch from the Chand Bagh area of the national capital.

Gangster Anwar Thakur, a life convict in a murder case and reportedly an aide of Dawood Ibrahim was apprehended with a Brazilian make semi-automatic pistol worth 22 lakh on July 10, police said.

Thakur, belonging to Meerut and currently residing in Pandav Nagar, Mayur Vihar, Phase I, police said.

The accused is a life convict in a murder case in Delhi. He had brazenly shot dead a police informer inside Police Station Sadar Bazar, Delhi. At present, he came out on parole on March 17 and was knowingly reviving the Gangs in North East Delhi, Police said.
Over 600,000 Hongkongers Cast Protest Vote Against Beijings New Security Law

HONG KONGMore than 600,000 Hong Kong citizens cast ballots over the weekend in primary elections seen as a symbolic protest vote against the tough national security law imposed by the regime in Beijing, the citys pro-democracy camp said July 12.

The unofficial poll will decide the strongest pro-democracy candidates to contest elections in September to Hong Kongs legislature, known as the Legislative Council. The goal is to seize majority control for the first time from pro-Beijing rivals, by riding a wave of anti-CCP (Chinese Communist Party) sentiment stirred by the law, which critics say has gravely undermined Hong Kongs freedoms.

While the primaries are only for pro-democracy candidates, the level of participation is seen as a guide to popular opinion in the city of 7.5 million people, a major financial hub.

A high turnout will send a very strong signal to the international community, that we Hongkongers never give up, said Sunny Cheung, 24, one of a batch of aspiring young pro-democracy advocates who are running in the primary and giving stump speeches.

The primary election is our first time to let Beijing know Hongkongers never bow down to China.  We urge the world to put Hong Kong under the global spotlight, pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong said ahead of the opening of polling booths at noon local time on July 11.

Defying warnings from a senior Hong Kong official that the vote might fall foul of the national security law, residents young and old flocked to more than 250 polling stations across the city that were staffed by thousands of volunteers.

Long lines formed down streets, in residential estates and at businesses-turned-polling stations, with people casting an online ballot on their mobile phones after having their identities verified.

People wait to vote during primary elections in Hong Kong on July 12, 2020. (Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images)

On the eve of the primaries, police searched the office of independent pollster Robert Chung, whose Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI) helps organize the election, raising concerns among activists of interference in the poll.

Despite the threat, organizers said 592,000 people had voted online, and 21,000 had cast paper ballots at the end of two full days of pollingmore than expected, and representing around a third of voters who backed pro-democracy candidates in an election last year.

Even under the shadow of the national security law, there were still 600,000 people coming out, said Au Nok-hin, an organizer who was a lawmaker from 2018 to 2019. You can see the courage of the Hong Kong people in this  Hongkongers have created another miracle.

The new law punishes what the Chinese regime describes broadly as secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, and allows mainland security agents to operate officially in Hong Kong for the first time.

Some pro-democracy activists fear that even with this tactical vote to maximize their chances, authorities will try to stop some candidates from running in Septembers election.

They can arrest or disqualify any candidate they dont like under the national security law without a proper reason, said Owen Chow, a young pro-democracy localist candidate.

Lester Shum, Joshua Wong, and Janelle Leung speak during a primary election, organized by pro-democracy opposition parties for the upcoming legislative election in Hong Kong, on July 11, 2020. (Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

At a time when Hong Kong authorities have barred public marches and rallies for months on end amid coronavirus social restrictions, and arrested individuals for shouting slogans and holding up blank sheets of paper, the vote is being seen as a crucial and rare window for populist expression.

I can really feel that young people havent given up yet, even though we are facing a very depressing future, said Prince Wong, 22, a candidate in the New Territories West district.

It helps me become more determined to fight.

By Jessie Pang and James Pomfret

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report.
I have had it with my constitutional rights being violated. Enough is enough. I cant take it anymore. As a result, from this day forward, I refuse to let the government dictate what I can and cannot do. The result?

From this day forth, I refuse to wear a cloth covering over my  genitals.

Thats right. Im not going to let any government tell me what I can and cant do with my own personal body! Besides, we all know this is a big Soros/Gates plot to keep us all covered up and embarrassed of our God-given bits and pieces! I refuse to be a sheeple! Cloth coverings over genitals dont work! Plus, its uncomfortable. Its hard to get any air circulating down there. Im an American, dammit, and no one can tell me what to do. Besides, theres plenty of studies that prove wearing a cloth covering over our genitals is kinda-sorta harmful to our health.

Be free, America! Rip off your cloth coverings over your genitals!

Ahem.

Of course, the above is ridiculous, juvenile, silly, and stupid.

Its also a wonderful counterpoint to the diminishing number of people who still insist on either A) not wearing a mask or B) complaining very loudly about it. Bottom line? Your constitutional rights are not being violated when the government tells you to mask up. Courts have decided this numerous times, dating back to a 1905 United States Supreme Court decision (Jacobson v. Massachusetts) in which the court ruled this dude Jacobson  who wouldve been a hoot on Facebook  had to get a smallpox vaccination. You know, because of public health and whatnot.

Today? No one wants to stick a needle in your arm (yet). All the government  and the vast majority of Americans  are asking for is that if you cant socially distance, you wear a mask. Pretty simple. Pretty straightforward. Pretty easy.

Of course, the fact Im still writing about this demonstrates not everyone is doing the whole mask thing. (Also, wearing a mask and not covering your nose doesnt work. It would be like covering my ass but leaving my front uncovered, splashing my frank and beans all over the joint.)

Do masks help combat the spread of coronavirus? Almost certainly. Study after study after study demonstrates that. Are there studies that go against the prevailing wisdom? There are. A lot fewer, for sure, but they exist.

So lets be fair, lets give the benefit of the doubt, lets say were not sure if masks work. Lets say were not sure if they are effective.

Well  call me crazy  but doesnt it make a bit more sense to err on the side of caution during a global pandemic that has already killed nearly 600,000 humans? Whats worse: Wearing a mask while shopping in Walmart even though it might not do anything, or accidentally killing someone in Walmart because youre an asymptomatic carrier and as it turns out  ta-da!  masks work?

At this point in the pandemic, if you insist on not wearing a mask to prove a point, youre no better than if I walked into Target without pants. Youre foolish, selfish, and silly.

And if youre the type to continue to rail against masks in an effort to draw support to your constitutional cause  slippery slope! What will the government do next?!  youre not only foolish, selfish, and silly, youre maybe even a little  well, evil is strong, but its ticking over into that neighborhood.

To be clear, I loathe wearing a mask. Its uncomfortable, and not being able to read another humans facial expressions is not cool. But uh  so what. Its a small price to pay for the possibility of controlling this disease, which would in turn allow us to retain some sort of normalcy until such time theres a vaccine or effective and widely available treatment.

I mean, even President Trump  who some people tell me, very good people, is a foolish, selfish, silly, and ticking toward evil man  threw one on the other day. See? Everybodys doing it!

So mask up, folks. Its for the greater good. Same with me wearing pants, even though I cant accidentally kill you by shopping nekkid.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 18:39:46|Editor: huaxia

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MOGADISHU, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Somali security forces backed by the Southwestern state army killed seven al-Shabab fighters and injured five others on Saturday in an operation in Bardale town in the southern region of Bay, an official confirmed on Sunday.

Mohamed Isak, governor of Bardale town, told journalists that the joint operation started when the army got intelligence that the militants were hiding in the area to plan further attacks in the area.

"There was intense confrontation between the army and the militants in Bardale town, but our forces subdued the militants killing seven of them including a senior leader who was in charge of finance and we also injured five others," Isak said.

He noted that a government soldier was killed and three others injured during the confrontation.

The latest operation came barely two days after Somali National Army (SNA) killed five al-Shabab militants including two senior leaders in another operation in Janale town in the country's southern region of Lower Shabelle.

Meanwhile, the Somalia National Army (SNA) said its forces have captured al-Shabab territories in Mubarak district of Awdhagle in the southern region.

The SNA said in a statement on Sunday that the areas were captured during a sting military operation to liberate areas still under al-Shabab control.

The army said the operation which was also carried out on Saturday also saw the forces remove landmines which had been planted by the extremist group in the area.

The army said it will intensify military operations to ensure they flush out all al-Shabab remnants in the areas which are still under their control.

Somali army backed by African Union Mission in Somalia forced al-Shabab extremists out of the capital Mogadishu in August 2011, but the militants still hold swathes of rural areas in southern and central Somalia conducting ambushes and planting landmines as they stage attacks in the city and elsewhere. Enditem
Some five schools in the Western region have recorded confirmed cases of the COVID-19 while results from other tests are yet to come.

This is according to the Western Regional Director of Health, Dr. Jacob Mahama.

"About five schools, each has one case but Nsei SHS in Axim has eight cases. Archbishop Porter Girls too we had one case but there are other cases which results haven't come yet, he said.

On her part, the Public Relations Officer of the Western Regional Education Service, Kate Biney, told Citi News they have two suspected cases from two schools.

I know that Ahantaman Girls has recorded a suspected case and Archbishop Porter Girls also has one suspected case who showed the signs and have been isolated. Nsei, Diabene and Adiembra I will have to check.

So far headteachers of these schools including Archbishop Porter Girls have been unavailable for comment.

The government deployed 200 personnel, including individuals from the Ghana Education (GES) Service and the GHS to monitor the COVID-19 situation in various Senior High Schools after six students and a teacher of the Accra Girls SHS tested positive for COVID-19.

The GES and GHS in the statement said the personnel have been actively spread out across the country for the task to ensure that the schools do not become hotspots for the spread of the virus.

A team of 200 personnel, drawn from the Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, the Regional and District Directorates of Education are actively spread out all over the country and are monitoring the situation closely.

Further, all health institutions to which senior high schools have been mapped with health facilities to ensure that any suspected cases are promptly dealt with in accordance with the laid down protocols, the joint statement noted.

---CitinewsRoom


When the novel coronavirus hit Tanzania in April, President John Magufuli called for three days of prayer to ask for Gods protection. A month later, he declared victory over the virus and invited travelers to return to his nation.

His decision to reopen concerned the World Health Organization (WHO) because there was almost no information on the spread of the virus in Tanzania. The country is home to 55 million people and has one of the weakest health care systems in East Africa.

In many African nations there is a lack of good, trustworthy information about COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Some governments do not want to admit that the epidemic exists. Other nations cannot do testing because they are so affected by poverty and conflict.

The Reuters news agency examined the latest information about the disease. It found that Africa, with a population of 1.3 billion people, had over 493,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 11,600 deaths. To understand these low numbers, Latin America has half the number of people, but 2.9 million cases and 129,900 deaths.

The official numbers make it appear that COVID-19 has affected relatively few people in Africa, but the truth may be much worse.

WHO special envoy Samba Sow warned on May 25 of a possible silent epidemic if testing was not given a high priority.

By July 7, 4,200 tests per million people had been carried out across the continent. That information comes from a Reuters study of reports from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. That compares with averages of 7,650 in Asia and 74,255 in Europe.

Many health workers, diplomats and local officials told Reuters that tests were not available in most African countries. They also said that some governments will do just about anything to hide their infection rates, even if it means they will lose money from international health organizations.

We cannot help a country against its own will, Michel Yao told Reuters. He is head of emergency operations for the WHO in Africa.

Trouble in Tanzania

When Tanzania confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on March 16, the government reportedly set up a group to work with the WHO, foreign embassies and international aid agencies. The group never met again, said two people who were involved.

Its very clear the government does not want any information about the state of COVID in the country, said one aid official. Like many of those questioned by Reuters for this story, the official asked not to be identified for fear of having problems with political leaders.

Both Tanzanias health minister and a government spokesman did not answer telephone calls or emailed questions about the crisis. The spokesman had earlier denied he was keeping information about the disease from the public.

Tanzania has not published nationwide coronavirus numbers since May 8. At that time, it had recorded 509 cases and 21 deaths.

Tanzania has received some $40 million from international organizations to fight coronavirus, two diplomats told Reuters. But it missed out on tens of millions more, another official said.

By mid-May, the government decided to ease public health restrictions. Yet doctors and diplomats said the disease was far from contained.

The United Nations agency cannot force countries to share information. In late April, WHO officials expressed concern about the spread of the virus in Burundi. The country quickly expelled four WHO experts.

Burundi was one of the first African countries to close its borders in March. But the country saw a growth in suspected cases after large groups gathered in the days before the May 20 elections, a health care provider said. He also did not want his name used in this article.

Others countries simply cannot share information because they do not have any. Their medical systems are too broken to gather reasonable numbers.

Even at the best of times, collecting quality data from countries is not easy, said John Nkengasong. He is director of the Africa CDC.

For example, Islamist militants and ethnic militias operate across large parts of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. It is impossible for governments there to know how many have the virus.

Many other nations have very little ability to perform tests beyond their capitals, said Franck Ale of the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres - Doctors Without Borders.

Im Susan Shand.

The Reuters News Agency reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

epidemic  n. a contagious disease that effects a lot of people

tourists  n. those people who visit a place for pleasure

data  n. information or numbers used by experts

envoy  n. the representative of a country or organization

priority  n. of high importance
In 2018, AfterPay founder Anthony Eisen (pictured) splurged on a Byron Bay beach home

Australia's newest tech billionaires started out as neighbours but now have an array of mansions to call home after building multi-million dollar property empires which include their own version of 'The White House'.

Afterpay's Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar have been slowly growing their real estate portfolios which now stretch from Byron Bay to Melbourne.

A beach pad in Byron Bay dubbed 'The White House' is a popular holiday retreat for A-List celebrities including Kate Moss and Elle Macpherson.

Once home to a biscuit king and long-desired by Australia's elite looking to escape the rate race - it cost a few biccies to snap up.

A cliff-top penthouse in Sydney with a swanky roof-top terrace allows you to gaze over some of the country's poshest suburbs.

The mansion in Byron Bay, known as The White House, features stunning ocean views and is just a short walk from the beach

The five-bedroom home was previously rented out to superstars such as Kate Moss and Elle Macpherson, for an eye-watering $14,000 a week

Eisen and Molnar, who co-founded the tech-start-up Afterpay, hit the jackpot after shares in their buy now, pay later business soared last week by 9.5 per cent to $68.16 in the stock market.

The entrepreneurs, who each own 20.5 million shares in the company, are now worth a cool $1.4billion catapulting them on to Australia's rich list.

The wealth is tied up in equity but it has not stopped them from forking out on brick-and-mortar assets.



Since launching the buy-now pay-later company in 2014, the tech gurus have slowly been adding to their real estate collection.

The five-bedroom home, known as The White House, features stunning ocean views and is just a short walk from the beach

Eisen's luxury home in Sydney's Bellevue Hill he held on to despite relocating with his family to Melbourne

Eisen, who took over as chief executive of the company last year, splurged on a Byron Bay home in 2018.

He bought the property in Wategos Beach for a cool $7.6 million from Charlie Arnott, of the Arnott's Biscuits family, according to Domain.

The property, known 'The White House', has five-bedrooms and features stunning ocean views just a short walk from the beach.

Previously rented out to superstars such as Moss and Macpherson, it will set you back an eye-watering $14,000 a week.

The holiday home compliments Eisen's other property in the affluent coastal suburb of Brighton, in Melbourne's south-east.

He dropped $6.2 million in 2017 on the mansion he shared with his wife Samantha.

The family has since relocated to Melbourne but Eisen has also held on to his luxury home in Sydney's Bellevue Hill.

Nick Molnar pictured with his wife Gabrielle in September 2018 before the birth of their daughter Ella

The Bellevue Hill home boasts five bedroom, two bathroom home with a price tag for $7.8million in 2017

Property records show Eisen bought the five-bedroom, two-bathroom home for $7.8million 2017.

Molnar has also been cashing in on the roaring success of the buy-now pay-later company and has an impressive string of mansions to match.

The tech-superstar bought a $10 million penthouse on the Ben Buckler clifftop in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs with his wife Gabrielle in August last year.

The three-bedroom North Bondi property includes a rooftop terrace and a pool.

The couple also own a two-bedroom apartment in North Bondi, which they first bought in 2013 for $900,000.

Their expansive property empire is a long way from their some-what humble beginnings.

Molnar bought a $10 million penthouse on the Ben Buckler clifftop (pictured) in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs with his wife Gabrielle

Molnar said he always tries to maintain a boundary between work and his personal life, dedicating breakfast to spending time with his wife and daughter Ella (pictured together)

Molnar and Eisen were neighbours, both living in Sydney, when they launched Afterpay in 2014.

Eisen, 47, already had a successful career working in investment banking where he specialised in mergers and acquisitions.

The former chief investment officer at Australian holding company Guinness Peat Group was approached by Molnar, who was just 18 at the time, with a business idea to create a consumer lending start-up aimed at millennials.

His idea was sparked after the 2008 financial crisis, which ultimately deterred a generation from wanting to commit to a credit card.

The fledgling company gained traction with online shoppers and a campaign was launched to get consumers to contact their favorite retailers and request that they offer Afterpay.

Eisen bought a property in Wategos Beach for a cool $7.6 million from Charlie Arnott, of the Arnott's Biscuits family in 2018

The couple also own two bedroom apartment in North Bondi, which they first bought in 2013 for $900,000

The tech start-up quickly grew and was taken public in 2016 resulting in steady customer growth until March this year when the coronavirus took hold and brought the business along with many others to a halt.

Afterpay shares sank by more than 30 per cent, before re-surging from April when Chinese tech giant Tencent bought a five per cent stake.

The partnership between the two tech companies helped push the shopping service into the Chinese market and Molnar and Eisen into the company of Australia's mega-rich.
The email was frantic, but after months of waiting for her unemployment benefits to kick in with false hope and only $150 in her bank account, Mary Vervan was done waiting patiently.

I find it hard to believe that there is no way to expedite this. After all, my son has been waiting MORE THAN FOUR MONTHS. I have been waiting almost THREE MONTHS, Vervan said in a May 29 email to the office of Sen. Christopher Kip Bateman, R-Somerset.

Legislative aide Tiffany Raphel shared a questionnaire form with Vervan and her 21-year-old son, who had been waiting for the benefits they filed for on April 13 and February 23, respectively, and told her to wait two weeks.

But the 58-year-old Manville resident never received a call back. Frustrated, she demanded answers from the senators office.

Raphel replied with a stark admission: The Senator has already tried calling the Director of Unemployment several times. They will not take our calls because they have no answers for us. Weve called the Governors office and they do not return our calls.

That was the last effort I could find, said Vervan, who eventually got through over the phone July 2, but has only received partial backpay. Her son still hasnt received any money. If they cant get through and they work for the state, who can?

Some legislative offices that worked with the Labor Department to accelerate unemployment claims that had gone unaddressed say theyve hit a wall with the department. After weeks of passing along constituents in desperate need of help, communication ceased and residents continue pleading for answers, they say.

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Were the ones listening to these people cry on the phone, telling you theyre about to lose their home or cant pay this bill, and Im in tears. Its terrible because they just cant get ahold of anyone at the Labor department, and neither can we, said Raphel, who has 40 open cases she sent to the unemployment office with no response.

Bateman said hes personally tried calling Gov. Phil Murphys chief of staff George Helmy, the unemployment liaison, Labor commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo, and dozens of other officials.

Its like banging your head on the wall, Bateman told NJ Advance Media. Weve had some success but I tell you, its frustrating to keep doing this and hearing from nobody.

The email Mary Vervan received from state Sen. Kip Bateman's office, letting her know they were also having trouble getting through to an unemployment agent.

Bateman called for an investigation into the issues plaguing the unemployment office, and state Senate President Steve Sweeney has announced plans to form a bipartisan committee to examine the administrations pandemic response, including the states handling of nursing homes and prisons.

Behind closed doors, Democratic representatives in Congress last month expressed dissatisfaction with the administrations response to the continuing fiasco, while their Washington D.C. offices are inundated with complaints from constituents trying to claim benefits.

But through weekly calls with Asaro-Angelo and education sessions on unemployment-related issues, the Labor Department has been working with legislators to serve constituents under the mountain of claims filed by the one in four New Jersey workers out of a job, Labor spokeswoman Angela Delli-Santi said.

While we remain responsive to all inquiries from legislative and Congressional staff, we cannot prioritize the less than 1% of claimants who call their offices ahead of the 99% who dont, Delli-Santi said. There is a process, and it has supported 1.1 million unemployed or underemployed New Jerseyans with more than $9 billion in benefits.

More than 1.3 million claims have been filed since mid-March, with more than 200,000 weekly claims filed at the peak in April. The aging unemployment system, which failed to see major upgrades in nearly two decades and depends on a 50-year-old coding language, has crumbled under the stress, leading to glitches and an unreliable website.

More than 96% of eligible claimants have received their money, and many of the remaining open cases are complex  cross-state work, students who came back from college, and workers with more than one job  and time-consuming to resolve, Delli-Santi said.

We completely understand this is a difficult time for many New Jerseyans, and, while the unemployment system is working, thats of little consolation to those waiting for benefits, she said.

Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi said New Jerseyans are rightfully done being patient with the system. Her office still has 125 cases open prior to April 11, and countless more since then.

Its a continuously absurd thing that we dont get responses from the liaison, said Schepisi, R-Bergen. Its really difficult. We dont even get confirmation that our requests have been received or anyone is working toward it.

Out of the more than 200 cases her office has forwarded, theyve only received communication about five resolved cases, she said.

These people have run out of money, theyve maxed out their credit cards, and theyre becoming desperate. They get angry on the phone with us, they break down, and we put them on a spreadsheet and continue to send it to the liaison, she said.

We hear nothing. Its disheartening, its frustrating, and it makes my staff who have been working day and night frustrated because people cant even understand how we arent getting responses, Schepisi added.

Other officials say theyve had few issues with their liaisons, but echo the unemployment fiasco needs to be resolved before this leads to further economic crisis as residents are unable to pay rent and bills.

Theres a high volume of claims coming through, and thats a problem. Its not that theres no genuine seeming interest to resolve the case, said state Sen. Declan OScanlan, R-Monmouth. Its just that it shouldve been done six weeks ago.

And State Sen. Anthony Bucco said his office has worked closely with the Department of Labor to pass along claims  more than 1,100, by his estimate. But plenty of those fall through the cracks and go unsolved, pushing the senator to make personal calls.

They respond much quicker to a senators direct email than the staff in someones legislative office, he said. It doesnt make it right, but if thats the facts were dealing with, Im going to do what I have to do to get these claims cleared.

If someones case gets resolved, he said hes more likely to hear from the thankful person once the money hits their account, than receive confirmation from the Labor department.

Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr noted working with Assemblywoman Linda Carter, D-Union, was critical to streamlining cases, but without that point of contact, shes not sure how much she could have helped residents.

Theres going to be a lot of lessons learned out of these last five months. One is that mayors are on the frontline, and talking with us is going to be helpful. We need to understand the system too, and that system is not user friendly, she said. And it doesnt do me any good to go and spend an hour on hold.

But the Labor Department needs to start prioritizing now for the future, ensuring that all workers have access to unemployment benefits in a timely fashion, Mahr noted.

We need to understand the resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall, and we may have to go back into lockdown and file for unemployment. We have to make sure that residents remain confident in all levels of government, and the Department of Labor is critical in doing that, she said.

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Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz.

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"Chevrolet, ole! We made the Baja run! / Toughest run, under the sun!

Chevrolet, ole!"

Chevrolet in 1963 drove its lineup of new trucks from Michigan to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and this wacky yet strangely compelling video is the result.

"New Chevrolet trucks for '63 / as driven tough as trucks can be!"

One special bit of awesomeness in this two-minute video is that nearly all the narration is rhyming verse.

"Production models set to go / from Michigan to Mexico!"

Six trucks set out from GM's proving grounds: a Suburban, two pickups, a tanker truck, a box truck, and a dump truck.

"This is Baja, where trails are roads / These are the trucks and their back-breaking loads!"

After we see a brief glimpse of a smiling border guard (aren't they all?), the trucks arrive in dusty Mexico.

"New light-duties with independent front suspension / coil springs tight with tension!"

We're thinking all new-vehicle information should be released as poems.

"Walk these trucks over a trail / where a truck cannot afford to fail."

If you've never seen off-roading footage of a box truck, a tanker truck, or a dump truck, this is your chance.

"Great new engines, lotsa hustle / diesel engines, long on muscle."

Shout-out for the in-cab shot of the driver double-clutching.

"New Chevrolet frames stand up to the ride / take constant pounding right in stride."

Marching-band music also adds a key element.

"Cabo San Lucas and we're halfway done / and we're pushing back to Michi-gun."

Apparently, there was no stopping for a dip in the pool and a few margaritas.

"Chevrolet, ole! We made the Baja run / Toughest run, under the sun.

Chevrolet, ole!"

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It might seem like a strange job, but being a piglet porter is an important source of income for a group of elderly women in Que Son District, Quang Nam Province, located in central Vietnam.

The job description is simple: carrying the piglets out of sellers baskets, putting them on the scale, and delivering them to buyers.

This is a nobody-knows-what-it-is kind of job," said Tran Thi Thao, one of the experienced female piglet porters.

"I cant even tell my relatives what I'm doing for a living.

"Sometimes bus drivers wont allow me to get on because I just smell so bad."

Carrying piglets for a living

Ba Ren Market in Que Son District, Quang Nam Province is the go-to place for local consumers looking to purchase pigs.

The markets reputation as a trading hub for swine is has spread so far that both buyers and sellers travel from as far as Nghe An Province, 528 kilometers north of Quang Nam, to purchase its pigs.

Part of what sets Ba Ren apart from other markets is the crew of female pig porters who spend their days carrying hogs from sellers baskets to scales, making sure customers get what they pay for while staying clean in the process.

The female porters begin their day at 6:00 am, chit-chatting through face coverings under the shade of traditional Vietnamese non la conical hats.

The ladies voices are raised, loud enough to be heard over the clatter of cages, scales, tables, and chairs being set up as vendors prepare for a busy day at the market.

That noise all comes to a screeching halt the moment a procession of piglet-carrying motorbikes rumbles into the market.

Here come the piglets! Quick, lets grab them. What a long wait today! exclaimed one of the female porters as the motorcade arrived.

These sellers have one job  meeting with buyers and discussing business. Everything else, including carrying the piglets, bathing them, and weighing them, is handled by the porters.

To increase their income, the female piglet porters at Ba Ren Market in Que Son District, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam also provide baskets and stools for rent. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre

Working together to earn a living

The markets crew of porters is an experienced bunch, with many of them having worked together since the marketplace was established decades ago.

Tran Thi Thao from Phu Sa Village, Que Xuan Commune, Que Son District affectionately considered their leader.

Not just because she is a 26-year veteran of the market, but because the 60-year-old woman is widely deemed the cleverest on the team.

My job is to carry the piglets where they need to go, she said. When I need to weigh them, I hold them tight and step on the scale. Then I weigh myself without the pigs and subtract the difference.

According to Thao, disputes are extremely rare amongst the markets porters.

Each of us has our own regular clients we attend to. When some sellers dont show up, we work together to help those who do, she explained.

Each morning at 7:30 am, piglet merchant Huynh Van Tanh visits the market on his motorbike, typically carrying about a dozen pigs he has brought from his familys farm in the provinces Tam Ky City.

The moment he parks his bike, women porters quickly rush to his aid, untying the strings holding his cage together, preparing a bamboo basket for the piglets, and setting up his vendor area.

While all this is happening, Tanh appeared to wander off in search of a cup of tea, unworried about leaving his wares in the hands of the porters.

One piglet porter counts her little earning after a hard morning at work at Ba Ren Market in Que Son District, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre

According to Xuong, one of the female porters, the women earn VND500 (US$0.02) for handling each little piglet and VND1,000 ($0.04) for each larger one.

To increase their income, porters provide low plastic stools and large bamboo baskets for rent.

I charge VND5,000 [$0.22] per morning for every piglet basket, and VND1,000-2,000 [$0.04-0.08] for plastic stools, said Xuong. I earn about VND100,000 [$4.3] in total each day.

Thao, the senior porter, says that most of these female porters do not have their own farms to work on and simply learned how to handle the pigs by working at the market.

Every day I make just a little money. I seldom get to keep big notes in my purse, only banknotes of VND500 or VND1,000, she said.

Everything else goes toward my familys meals.

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Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen OConnor recently wrote a blistering separate opinion in a case in which she was a part of the 5-2 majority. OConnors action was so unusual it alone should grab the attention of Ohio lawmakers. But the concern OConnor flagged is even more urgent than that.

She suggests via her separate concurring opinion that the high-court ruling -- which found Ohio law silent on whether judges need to consider ability to pay before imposing court costs -- could lead to rippling injustices for defendants without means if the General Assembly does not act to close that loophole.
The Congress government in Rajasthan was pushed to the brink on Sunday as Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot raised a banner of revolt against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, claiming support of 30 MLAs and some independents in the 200-member state Assembly.

Pilot, the state Congress chief, said in a statement that he would not attend the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party convened by Gehlot on Monday morning, as simmering tensions between the two came to boil.

Rajasthan Deputy CM and Congress leader Sachin Pilot not to attend Congress Legislative Party meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow, said a message posted on the WhatsApp group of the leader.

Pilot had been a contender for the top post after the Congress victory in the Assembly elections in December 2018, but was edged out by the experienced Gehlot, sowing the seeds of distrust between the two.

Read: Notices that created trouble for Congress in Rajasthan

Engaged in a power struggle with Gehlot, the notice by the Special Operations Group on Friday proved to be the final straw for Pilot.

After a late Saturday night meeting with Congress Treasurer Ahmed Patel, Pilot remained incommunicado, triggering buzz that he joining the BJP.

Congress leaders swung into action to salvage the situation by contacting MLAs considered close to Pilot and convincing them to support the party in the time of crisis, while Gehlot summoned a meeting of party MLAs and other legislators supporting his government in Jaipur late Sunday night.

The Congress also dispatched AICC General Secretary in charge of Rajasthan Avinash Pande and senior leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala and Ajay Maken to Jaipur as central observers to salvage the situation.

A meeting of the Congress Legislative Party is scheduled at 10.30 am on Monday, which Pande hoped would be attended by Pilot.

Also Read: Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot-Ashok Gehlot differences on the boil; Congress leadership steps in

Reports had it that Pilot had the support of 16 Congress MLAs and three Independents, whom the Congress had distanced itself with for allegedly hobnobbing with the BJP.

I am hopeful that he (Pilot) will definitely be there on Monday. He is the state unit president, the deputy chief minister and our senior leader, Pande told reporters before leaving for Jaipur.

The Congress had also succeeded in convincing three MLAs, purportedly supporters of Pilot, in returning to the party fold. The trio  Rohit Bohra, Danish Abrar and Chetan Dudi  addressed a press conference in Jaipur on Sunday evening and expressed confidence in Gehlots leadership.

Read: Rajasthan going MP way? Gehlot says BJP luring Congress MLAs with cash

The BJP has rejected allegations levelled by Gehlot at a press conference on Saturday, accusing it of making attempts to topple his government.

The Congress government is battling internal differences and is divided into two camps. Finding itself in trouble, the Gehlot government itself has sent a notice to the government. The responsibility to run the government and save the government rests with the chief minister, Rajendra Rathore, Deputy Leader of the BJP in Rajasthan Assembly, said.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made clear on Sunday that she wants schools to reopen fully for most students for the 2020-21 academic year, even as covid-19 infection rates are soaring in some parts of the country and some superintendents say it is impossible for them to do that.

DeVos made her latest statement about what schools should do on CNN's "State of the Union." In the interview with journalist Dana Bash, DeVos doubled down on calls she made last week for schools to reopen. "Kids need to be in school," she said. "They need to be learning, they need to be moving ahead. And we can't - we cannot be paralyzed and not allow that or not be intent on that happening."

DeVos said nothing, however, about what school superintendents have been saying they need to reopen: billions of dollars in additional federal funding to cover the costs of changes they have to make and personal protective equipment they need to buy. In fact, DeVos last week threatened to withhold federal funding from districts that didn't do what she wanted, even though she can't unilaterally stop funding approved by Congress.

School district leaders nationwide have been working for months to figure out how to plan for various contingencies for 2020-21: all students staying at home and doing remote learning, all students returning to school, or a hybrid of some in school and some at home.

Though some districts are planning to reopen in a few weeks, it is still unclear exactly how most of them will do with covid-19 rates skyrocketing in several states. Health experts have warned that surges are likely to continue into the fall, which could complicate reopening plans of any kind.

DeVos hadn't said much in recent months about schools reopening - until last week, after President Donald Trump tweeted that all schools should open five days a week for all students. He also threatened to withhold funding from those that don't do so.

The New York Times last week published internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documents warning that opening K-12 schools and institutions of higher education in the way Trump and DeVos want - fully - would pose the "highest risk" for the spread of covid-19. CDC guidance calls for extensive measures that schools must take, including social distancing of six feet, which can be difficult or impossible in school buildings with small rooms.

After calling twice last week for schools to fully reopen - once at the White House and once at the Education Department - the education secretary on Sunday did it again but did not directly answer Bash's questions.

When asked whether schools should follow the CDC's guidelines on reopening, DeVos said, "The CDC guidelines are just that, meant to be flexible and meant to be applied as appropriate for the situation."

But when asked whether she would be comfortable if school districts decided remote learning was necessary, she said, "I think the go-to needs to be kids in school, in person, in the classroom because we know for most kids that's the best environment for them." She did say that exceptions could be made for students with health conditions.

Bash persisted, asking what districts should do if they can't ensure all students can come to school safely. DeVos said, "If there is a short-term flare-up for a few days, that's a different situation than planning for an entire school year in anticipation for something that hasn't happened."

She also said: "Where there are little flare-ups or hot spots, that can be dealt with on a school-by-school or a case-by-case basis," she said.

As for whether she has a plan to help school districts open, DeVos said there are "really good examples that have been used in the private sector."

"We're a country of action," she said. " ... We have education leaders who can work hard and figure this out."
Former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who conducted a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, has defended his investigation and said the conviction of Roger Stone, an adviser to President Donald Trump, was handled properly.

Mueller called the Russia investigation "of paramount importance" and said Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes.

"He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so," Mueller said in an opinion piece published on July 11 by The Washington Post.

Stone had been due to report to prison next week until his jail time was commuted by Trump on July 10. He faced a sentence of three years and four months for lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing the House of Representatives' investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. The presidential grant of clemency stopped short of a full pardon for Stone, 67, a Trump loyalist who has served as a political operative for several Republican presidential candidates.

Mueller, a former FBI director, said he felt compelled to write the opinion piece to respond to claims that his investigation was illegitimate and that its motives were improper. Mueller also said he specifically wanted to address claims that Stone was a victim.

In announcing Trumps decision to commute Stones sentence, a White House statement on July 10 said Stone had been a victim of the "Russia hoax, had suffered greatly, and was treated very unfairly.

But Mueller traced the basis for prosecuting Stone, recounting how he had not only tampered with a witness but also lied repeatedly about his efforts to gain inside information about e-mails that Russian intelligence operatives stole from top Democrats and provided to WikiLeaks, which published them at a crucial time in the run-up to the election.

Mueller said Stone was critical to the investigation because he claimed inside knowledge about WikiLeaks release of the stolen e-mails and because he communicated during the campaign with people known to be Russian intelligence officers. He also communicated with members of the Trump campaign about the timing of the WikiLeaks releases, Mueller said.

Mueller's investigation, which concluded in April 2019, stopped short of reaching conclusions about Trumps conduct, including whether he obstructed justice.

Though his report on the investigation detailed multiple interactions between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, it did not find sufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Kremlin to tip the election.

Mueller acknowledged that in his opinion piece, adding that the investigation did, however, establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome.

He said it also established that the Trump campaign expected it would benefit from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.

Muellers reaction comes after the White House statement called his investigation absolutely baseless and said the charges he sought were the product of recklessness borne of frustration and malice.

His opinion piece also appears to refute the White House assertion that the investigation was perpetuated by the Left and its allies in the media in an attempt to undermine the Trump presidency.

Trump's decision to grant Stone clemency also drew a strong reaction from House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called it "an act of staggering corruption."

With reporting by AP and AFP
The public is now assuming that Johnny Depp might be lying after suddenly changing one of his allegations against Amber Heard.

The three-week libel case trial between Depp and News Group Newspaper has started, and the court heard a different statement from what Depp previously claimed in the exclusive video released by DailyMail.com.

During the third day of Depp's cross-examination at the high court in London, his official account on how his marriage with Heard ended up in divorce came under careful examination.

According to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor, he jetted to Australia with Heard to film the fifth installation of the franchise in March 2015. Ever since the former couple flew to the country, Depp said that he started to realize that their marriage was doomed.

"She was unwilling to sign a prenup," Depp recalled. "My attorneys tried to get her to sign a postnup agreement."

He added that the "Aquaman" star started yelling at him soon after his attorneys asked her to sign the postnup.

However, Sasha Wass QC, representing the Sun, accused him of causing the feud since he had been drinking too much again and taking MDMA pills.

"That night the complainant shoved Ms. Heard into a ping-pong table, threw bottles through window panels of a glass door, then grabbed Ms. Heard and tore off her nightgown," the statement read, referring to the March 4, 2015 incident.

Wass added that Depp even shoved the actress and allegedly smashed her head against the fridge, but Depp replied to each accusation and said, "not true," "no, ma'am," or "fabrication."

"After Miss Heard threw the second vodka bottle at me, which severed the tip of my finger and crushed the bone, is when I began what I would feel as some species of nervous breakdown," the actor added. "I didn't want to live at that time."

During that heated argument between Depp and Heard, they caused up to $150,000 damage to the rented home.

The Sun's Barrister also revealed that Depp painted a male genital organ on a picture, an accusation the actor refuted and claimed that he did not remember that drawing.

Wass then read out a message that Depp sent to his doctor, asking for advice about his injury.

"I cut the tip of my middle finger off. What should I do? Except of course go to the hospital," Depp allegedly texted. "I am so embarrassed for jumping into anything with her. [Expletive] in the world. JD."

Twelve days later, Depp sent another text message to Dr. Kipper, thanking the doctor for taking care of him. The same message revealed that the actor mentioned that he was the one who chopped his left middle finger off, and its scar should be a reminder not to cut it off again.

The same series of alleged text messages from Depp was previously read out in court by The Sun's representatives, Adam Wolanski, QC, and their columnist Dan Wootton in March 2020.

The libel battle for the publication's article about Depp being abusive toward Heard will continue for three weeks, and the truth is expected to come out before the battle ends.

READ MORE: Amber Heard Pooped On Bed As A Prank -- Claims Johnny Depp!
Srinagar, July 13 : The Jammu and Kashmir Police, along with security forces, have arrested four terrorist aides during two separate search operations in North Kashmir's Bandipore district on Sunday, officials said.

Acting on a specific input, the police along with the army and CRPF personnel, arrested a terrorist associate during a search operation in Chandargeer area of Bandipore.

"He has been identified as Shafat Ahmad Dar, a resident of Chandargeer. Incriminating materials, including a live grenade, has been recovered from his possession," police said.

The police said that similarly, during a search operation in Sadhunara area in Bandipore, the police along with army and CRPF personnel arrested three more terrorist associates identified as Mudasir Ahmad Khawaja, Abdul Qayoom Margo and Ishfaq Ahmad Dar, all residents of Sadhunara.

Incriminating materials, including two live grenades, one AK magazine, 25 live rounds of AK-47 and one under-barrel grenade launcher (UBGL), have been recovered from their possession.

"All the four terrorist associates are actively involved in providing logistic support and shelter to active terrorists of proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba," the police said.

The police said a case under relevant sections of the law has been registered and further investigation has been initiated.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

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A savage thunderstorm, flinging lightning from cloud to cloud and dumping walls of rain, rolled like a bad omen across the northwestern corner of New Mexicos Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range at 2 a.m. on July 16, 1945.

Hunkered in below, at a base camp called Trinity Site, 30 miles southeast of

Socorro, several hundred scientists, military officers and enlisted men waited anxiously, watching puddles accumulate on the desert floor among an old ranch house and recently constructed barracks, support buildings, bunkers and towers.

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This tempest-tossed day, of all days, had been selected to test the Gadget, the super bomb designed and developed over the previous two years at the top-secret laboratory city of Los Alamos, 225 miles to the north.

Detonation was originally set for 4 a.m., but the storm washed away that plan and threatened to do the same with the rest of the day.

But then a break in the weathers fury, one maelstrom stepping aside for another. The test was reset for 5:30 a.m., and the countdown to the first atomic explosion was on.

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They set off the bomb right under the Oscura Mountains, which are sacred to the Mescalero Apaches, said Karl Laumbach, a Las Cruces archaeologist who has worked Trinity Site. It started a new world, the end of which we dont yet know.

Game on

We can only guess where the Atomic Age is going, but we can fix its start.

Officially, the countdown to the first atomic detonation started at 5:10 on that summer morning at Trinity Site 75 years ago.

But in reality, it began in December 1938 in Berlin, when two German chemists unintentionally split a uranium atom.

Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman were puzzled by the results of their 1938 experiment. They did not know they had split an atom. At the time, no one believed that was possible.

Hahn sent a letter describing the experiment to his former assistant, Lise Meitner, an accomplished Austrian physicist of Jewish descent who had been forced by Nazi anti-Semitic laws to leave Berlin for Sweden.

Meitner conferred with her nephew, Otto Frisch, also a physicist, and they determined that Hahn and Strassman had indeed done the impossible.

This was immense.

The ability to split atoms, a process Meitner and Frisch termed fission, presented the possibility of nuclear chain reactions that could release huge amounts of energy for producing electric power  or unleashing the destructive horrors of weapons never envisioned before.

In October 1939, the month after Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, initiated World War II by invading Poland, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was given a letter, signed by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein, warning him of the potential danger of atomic weapons.

But the U.S. response was sluggish. Not much was done about developing atomic weapons for the United States before Japan attacked the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The U.S. declared war on Japan, Germany declared war on the U.S., and it was game on.

It became a race to get the bomb before Hitler, said Luis Campos, professor of the history of science at the University of New Mexico.

Jim Walther, director of the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, said a German atomic bomb became the American government and militarys worst nightmare.

Im (impressed) by the energy scientists put into a crash course in developing the bomb for the United States, Walther said.

Site Y

That crash course, code-named the Manhattan Project, included research and production at 30 sites in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

The main sites were at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, on New Mexicos Pajarito Plateau.

Oak Ridge and Hanford were tasked respectively with the production of uranium and plutonium, elements capable of sustaining nuclear chain reactions. Los Alamos, designated with the code name Site Y, was assigned the job of designing and building the bombs.

Army Brig. Gen. Leslie R. Groves, who played a leading role in the construction of the Pentagon, was tapped to direct the Manhattan Project. Groves had a brusque, abrasive personality but was recognized for his ability to learn on the go and get things done.

He selected J. Robert Oppenheimer, a gifted physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, to head up the scientific team at Los Alamos.

Oppenheimer came with baggage. He was close to members or former members of the Communist Party, including his wife, Kitty, and his brother, Frank. But Groves believed Oppenheimers assets outweighed those concerns.

Oppie was a complex man, said Jon Hunner,a retired New Mexico State University history professor and author of books about Oppenheimer and Los Alamos. He was brilliant, multilingual. He taught himself Sanskrit so he could read the Bhagavad Gita.

Hunner lives in France, north of Paris. The Journal interviewed him by email.

At Los Alamos, (Oppenheimer) was able to manage some very difficult egos, Hunner said. He was charismatic, charming, but also could be blunt if he thought someone a fool.

Lab with a view

It was Oppenheimer who suggested New Mexico as the location for Site Y.

Oppie first came to New Mexico when he was in his late teens, after being sick for a year, Hunner said. He took a trip through the Southwest to regain his health and stayed at a ranch above Pecos. He returned to New Mexico once he started teaching in California and bought a cabin (in the Jemez Mountains) even before he bought a house in Berkeley.

Groves and Oppenheimer settled on the Los Alamos Ranch School, a private school for boys, as the place to build Site Y. The government purchased the property in November 1942. Construction of Manhattan Project facilities started at Los Alamos in December 1942 and was completed in November 1943.

Located near San Ildefonso Pueblo, the property was culturally intriguing and scenically spectacular. Hunner believes those facts played an important role in the development of the bomb.

While scientific experiments can be done in a lab anywhere, New Mexico helped the scientists to be more creative  to think outside the box  because most of them had never experienced the diverse peoples, the desert, the high mountains and the distinctive light of New Mexico, he said. It put them in a different mindset.

Collection of crackpots

The Los Alamos scientists were an impressive lot. According to Ferenc Szasz, late UNM history professor and author of The Day the Sun Rose Twice, nearly every important American physicist was working at Site Y by 1944.

Los Alamos had Nobel Prize-winning scientists and their families, refugee scientists from Europe and their families, Hunner said.

The Los Alamos scientific team included Niels Bohr, a Dane; the Italian immigrants Enrico Fermi and Emilio Segre; the Hungarian-born Edward Teller; Hungarian emigre John von Neumann; and German emigre Hans A. Bethe; as well as such American-born geniuses as Oppenheimer and Richard Feynman.

The collective intelligence of these scientists was never in doubt, but they could be difficult, eccentric, prima donnas.

In The Day the Sun Rose Twice, Szasz writes that Groves proclaimed them the largest collection of crackpots ever seen.

Of course, it took more than scientists to make Los Alamos function.

There were military experts on munitions and their families; military men, some back from combat; and women who provided security, did administrative duties and were human calculators, Hunner said. There were employees from northern New Mexico who did everything from manual labor to assisting in the labs and Native Americans from nearby pueblos. This was an instant city with an incredible collection of people from all walks of life.

Its a secret

And since it was a secret city, care was taken to keep what was going on at Los Alamos confined to an inner circle of scientists and administrators. Wives; people in Espanola, Santa Fe, San Ildefonso Pueblo and other nearby communities; even local people trucked in to work at Site Y were kept in the dark. At least that was the intent.

Richard Melzer, retired UNM-Valencia Campus history professor, tells about workers from Espanola and San Ildefonso being put in backs of trucks covered with canvas so they would be unable to see where they were going during their ride to Los Alamos.

It was so foolish because these men had grown up in the area and knew every bump and turn in the road, Melzer said.

Stories about what was going on up on The Hill spread through northern New Mexico.

Some, such as Los Alamos being a base for manufacturing submarines or producing windshield wipers for submarines, were just jokes.

Others were based on observation.

Since the wives of scientists, military personnel and others were permitted to live at Los Alamos, locals started to notice a lot of pregnant women who were unknown to them circulating in communities near the secret facility. During the war years, 208 babies were born at Los Alamos.

This was the basis for a rumor that Los Alamos was a sanctuary for pregnant members of the Womens Army Corps, or WACs.

And how about this one. Northern New Mexico in the 1940s was a pretty laid-back, easy-going place. But suddenly there were all these men walking around in coats and ties.

Melzer said thats what started the story about Los Alamos being a concentration camp for Republicans.

It could happen. After all, there was a Democrat in the White House.

Spy guys

Los Alamos worked hard on security, even, under pretense of providing protection, keeping close scrutiny on Oppenheimer because of his communist affiliations.

But because security personnel lacked resources and worked overtime looking at the wrong people, at least three spies at Los Alamos passed atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, an American ally at the time but also a potential enemy.

According to history professor Melzers 2000 book, Breakdown: How the Secret of the Atomic Bomb was Stolen During World War II, the Los Alamos spies were Klaus Fuchs, David Greenglass and Theodore Hall.

Fuchs was a German native and Communist Party member who had emigrated to Great Britain. His Communist Party background was apparently overlooked or suppressed, because Fuchs was one of 22 British scientists sent to work at Los Alamos.

Between June and September 1945, Fuchs reportedly passed enough information to Soviet courier Harry Gold in Santa Fe to put the Soviet Union two years ahead in its nuclear research.

Greenglass, a native of New York City, was the younger brother of Ethel Rosenberg, who, with her husband Julius, was executed by the U.S. government for espionage in 1953.

An Army tech sergeant and machinist at Los Alamos, Greenglass passed secrets about the explosive lens component of an atomic bomb to Soviet courier Gold. The exchange took place in June 1945 at an apartment Greenglass and his wife rented at 209 High Street NE in Albuquerque.

Like Greenglass, Hall was born in New York City. He was a physics prodigy, graduating from Harvard at age 18 and joining the scientific research team at Los Alamos when he was just 19.

Hall, who had socialist sympathies, passed valuable information about the plutonium bomb, the kind of bomb tested at Trinity Site, to Soviet courier Lona Cohen in August 1945 on the UNM campus. As a result, the Soviet Union knew the most essential elements of Americas secret weapon less than a month after the Trinity detonation.

The Soviets tested their first atomic bomb in 1949.

If it had not been for the spies, it would have taken a lot longer for the Soviets to develop the bomb, said Museum of Nuclear Science director Walther.

Melzer said the three spies did not play their risky game for money.

They were in it for their ideology, he said. They wanted to make sure both great powers had the bomb so neither of them could use it.

Melzer said the story of Soviet courier Cohens departure from the Las Vegas, N.M., railway station with the plutonium bomb secrets given her by Hall sounds like something from a John le Carre or Eric Ambler spy novel.

Cohen had hidden the plans in the bottom of a Kleenex box. When she was stopped by a plainclothes agent questioning passengers boarding her train, she handed him the box so she could find her ticket in her handbag.

After being cleared to board, Cohen, counting on the chivalry of the agent to return the box, walked away as if she had forgotten about it.

The plainclothes man courteously hailed Cohen from the platform and handed the tissues up to her on the train, Melzer said.

Suite success

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Germany surrendered in May 1945. There was no longer any fear of Hitler getting the bomb. But Japan was still in the war, so the work at Los Alamos continued.

Despite years of intense research, Los Alamos scientists were still uncertain just what kind of monsters they had created. Testing would be beneficial.

However, they were pretty confident that Little Boy, an atomic bomb that used a gun-type mechanism to trigger a uranium chain reaction, would detonate. Besides there was not enough uranium available to make a test of this type of bomb feasible.

But they were less certain about Fat Man, a bomb that contained a sphere of plutonium touched off by a method called implosion. And plutonium was more plentiful and easier to make. So scientists gathered at Trinity Site to test the Gadget, a bomb like Fat Man.

What happened if Gadget detonated was another uncertainty. Scientists calculated there was about a three in a million chance it would initiate a chain reaction that would destroy the planet, our whole world.

On departing for the test at Trinity, one Los Alamos scientist told his wife there were three possible outcomes  the bomb might be a dud, it might work as expected, or we all may be blown to bits.

On the night before the test, Italian Nobel Prize-winning physicist Fermi was taking bets on whether or not the bomb would ignite the atmosphere and, if so, whether it would destroy the whole world or only New Mexico.

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At about T minus 9 seconds, according to Szaszs The Day the Sun Rose Twice, Tchaikovskys Nutcracker Suite, broadcast by a local radio station on the same wave length, broke into the countdown.

But a few half notes later, the early morning darkness was shoved aside by the brightness of many suns and a mushroom cloud, variously described as changing in color from yellow to red to orange, to purple to green to white, climbed 7.5 miles into the sky.

Success.

The atomic test at Trinity Site did not blow up the planet, not even New Mexico. But it changed the world and the state forever.

First of a two-part series


As coronavirus infection rates rise sharply in the U.S., the White House is pressuring schools across the country to reopen for the autumn term.

At a recent White House talk on school plans for the fall, President Donald Trump argued that some officials are keeping schools closed for political reasons, not because of health concerns.

And, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told governors during a recent conference call that she opposes plans by some school districts to limit in-person classes to only a few days per week.

Such pressure from the federal government adds to an already complex situation, as schools across America make difficult decisions about how to restart classes.

The new normal will include school buses taking fewer children, online learning, outdoor classrooms and quarantine rules for infected children.

Plans for the coming school year are taking shape each day. They are different from district to district and from state to state.

Debates about such plans have been highly emotional, with anger growing among parents and administrators. They have been made more troubling by record numbers of COVID-19 cases reported each day.

In Florida, some school districts want students back in the classroom in early August. But cases there have been rising. On average, Florida has been reporting more than 7,000 new cases a day. That is more than seven times what the state was reporting one month ago.

The state of New Mexico has been able to avoid major outbreaks. The state is planning a model that includes online and in-person learning.

Parents in New York State have demanded that schools reopen in the fall. In Maine, outdoor learning is planned.

Districts nationally are putting together rules for wearing face masks. Some districts want all students to wear them. Others plan to limit the requirement to older children.

Each of these decisions tries to balance health concerns with regaining as much normalcy as possible. Parents are tired and desperate for help after months of balancing full-time work and full-time home schooling. Children, separated from their friends, have a strong desire to socialize. Teachers remain concerned because so much is still unclear about the virus.

Districts are worried about being able to pay for added supplies  including masks and more buses. And school officials said the rise in virus cases could ruin reopening plans before they are even put in place.

If we see large outbreaks happening across communities, its going to be very hard to keep schools open, Dr. Ashish Jha told Fox News Sunday, a television program. He is director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.

Schools across the U.S. shut down suddenly this year as coronavirus cases first began rising. That led to a mix of distance learning, poorly planned homeschooling and, for some families, no schooling at all.

Districts are now turning their attention to how to create more structured environments. But the debates have been filled with uneasiness.



Near Rochester, New York, parents strongly supported fully opening schools. A group of them recently gathered outside a school administration building. They held signs that said, No normal school? No school taxes!

Christina Higley is a parent in the small city of Webster, outside of Rochester. She said she had started a Facebook group to demand answers from school officials and be part of the decision-making process related to changes at local schools. The discussions there launched a movement for reopening schools.

Theres a lot of parents that are saying Open our schools. Let us have the decision if we feel comfortable sending the children into them, Higley said.

The decisions are even more complex in districts where case counts are rising. In Manatee County, Florida, the working plan is for all younger students to return to school full time on August 10. Older students would depend on online learning while they are brought back into school buildings slowly over time.

But that proposal is not finalized because of a sharp rise in infections. The area recorded its highest number of new cases in a single day in late June.

If a student is confirmed to have the virus during the new school year, classrooms or whole buildings would need to be carefully cleaned, said Mike Barber, a district representative. Students and workers with confirmed infections would not be able to return until they had tested negative two times.

Medical experts have expressed concerns for childrens development and mental health. The American Academy of Pediatrics is a professional organization of childrens doctors. The group said it strongly supports the goal of students being physically present at schools.



In Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Shael Norris said she is especially concerned about children who could face abuse at home and parents who risk losing their jobs to care for their children. Norris has two children who will attend high school in the fall and runs a nonprofit organization that fights sexual violence.

Maine has not had a major coronavirus outbreak. It is now reporting only a small number of new cases each day. Still, the states largest school district of Portland has left all choices on the table: a full reopening, a partial reopening or fully online learning.

The district sent a letter to parents that said it plans to use outdoor space when possible. But that solution can only work in Maine for a few months of the year because it can get extremely cold there.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has repeated that he has the power to decide when schools in his state will reopen.

Cuomo said, "We want kids back in school for a number of reasons, but we're not going to say children should go back to school until we know it's safe."

Im Alice Bryant.

This story combines reports from the Associated Press and VOA News. Alice Bryant adapted them for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

Quiz - Debates on US School Reopening Turn Emotional Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

school district - n. an area or region containing the schools that a school board is in charge of

quarantine - n. the situation of being kept away from others to prevent a disease from spreading

outbreak - n. a sudden start or increase of disease

mask - n. a covering used to protect your face or cover your mouth

desperate - adj. very sad and upset because of having little or no hope

distance learning - n. a method of study where teachers and students do not meet in a classroom but use the Internet to have classes

comfortable - adj. not causing any physically unpleasant feelings

negative - adj. not showing the presence of a particular germ, condition, or substance

on the table - expression. When something is on the table, it's an option, especially one that could be negotiated.
July 12 (Reuters) - The United States is weighing restricted options to deal with China over its recent moves in Hong Kong, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, as tensions between Washington and Beijing heat up.

Steps against Hong Kong's financial system risk hurting U.S., Western and Hong Kong companies and consumers, according to the report https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-weighs-limited-options-to-punish-china-over-hong-kong-11594576800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=10, citing U.S. officials and analysts.

Measures like more targeted sanctions against Chinese officials and trade moves against products made in Hong Kong would have little impact on Beijing's integration of the city into the mainland's political and security system, the Journal added.

On Thursday, Trump administration officials discussed Hong Kong plans in a White House meeting, people familiar with the gathering told the Journal. Officials will regroup early this week and may announce sanctions or other measures, one person added.

Washington last week imposed sanctions on the autonomous region of Xinjiang's Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, a member of China's powerful Politburo, and three other officials.

Beijing described the sanctions as "deeply detrimental" to mutual relations between the countries and warned that China would impose reciprocal measures on U.S. officials and organizations.

As bilateral tensions escalate over matters ranging from the coronavirus, trade, the new Hong Kong security law and allegations of human rights violations against Uighurs in the Xinjiang region, the U.S. government alerted American citizens on Saturday to "exercise increased caution" in China.

Earlier, a Bloomberg report said Trump's top advisers weighed proposals to undermine the Hong Kong currency's peg to the U.S. dollar, although the idea did not appear to have gained traction.

Chinese state lenders were revamping contingency plans over the threat of U.S. sanctions, according to a Reuters report last week. (Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Malala Day is commemorated on July 12, the birthday of Malala Yousafzai, to honour women and childrens rights around the world. On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen after she publicly advocated for the education of girls.

Despite the attack, Malala soon returned to the public eye, fiercer in her views than earlier and continued her advocacy for gender rights. She founded the Malala Fund, a non-profit organisation to help young girls go to school and also co-authored a book titled I Am Malala, an international bestseller.

Apart from having a day dedicated to her, Malala has been felicitated with several awards and honours. In 2012, she was awarded the first-ever National Youth Peace Prize by the Pakistan government. In 2014, at age 17, Malala became the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace prize in recognition of her efforts for childrens rights which had begun even before she was shot. The UN has declared her as the most famous teenager in the world in its Decade in Review report in late 2019.

Malala has also been awarded an honorary Canadian citizenship and became the youngest person to address the House of Commons in Canada. The documentary on the activist, He Named Me Malala, was shortlisted for the Oscars in 2015.

Yousafzai has also authored another book titled We Are Displaced that chronicles her experiences of travelling the world and visiting refugee camps.

In June this year, Malala Yousafzai completed her degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. She tweeted about the big news with two pictures and wrote, Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford.

Now a book that documents the journeys of 25 exceptionally brave girls who fought oppression and defied regressive social norms for their right to education has been announced just ahead of Malala Day. HarperCollins India has acquired the rights of the anthology which is compiled by Malala Fund and will be released in 2021.

Edited by Tess Thomas, editor of Assembly, the digital publication and newsletter of Malala Fund, the book will feature school-aged girls who are speaking out, tackling local issues in their communities and showing the next generation that they too can do the same.

Malala Fund created Assembly, our digital publication and newsletter, to help more girls tell their stories just like Malala Yousafzai did. This print anthology will feature personal essays by girls around the world about their fight for education and equality, said Thomas.

The book is yet to be given a title.

Krishan Chopra, publisher at HarperCollins, said the book is of enormous relevance.

As a fallout of Covid-19, the dropout rate of girls in schools is expected to rise and the irony is that in academics, they are either equal or ahead of the boys, when given sufficient opportunities. We are delighted, therefore, to announce this anthology, he said.

Commissioning editor of the book, Ananya Borgohain, added, Because of Covid-19 and the lockdown, many people in India have lost their jobs, making it difficult especially for low-income households to sustain their childrens costs of education.

It is important for people to know the stories that can give them not just hope but also crucial information about access to education. This is what this book will do, she adds.

-- with PTI inputs

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Henry Cavill has revealed he reads reviews of his performances and thrives on criticism of his acting in The Witcher.

The Superman actor plays fantasy hero Geralt of Rivia in the hit Netflix series, and told Vanity Fair that he threw himself into the part, so much that he scours fansites to read feedback on his work.

I am very happy that people liked the character so much, he said. I know that there are mixed opinions out there as well, which I really thrive upon reading as well. For me, its vital to go about and read  Im on all the Reddit forums. Im reading all the reviews. Im literally trying to get everyones information.

Cavill said one of the toughest aspects of working on the show was finding the right balance between author Andrzej Sapkowskis original source material, and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrichs interpretation of it.

I think any of those criticisms, they often lie in things like  we dont have the advantage of a long involved conversation or dialogue with Geralt, so they are criticisms which I think I was prepared for, he explained.

So for me, its about seeing that, understanding it, and working out how I can do my job better within the framework provided, [how to] appease and make those people feel comfortable that I do actually understand this character, and love this character just as much as they do.

In June, Hissrich said that, for the shows forthcoming second season, she will abandon stories set in multiple different timelines. The structure proved controversial, with some fans complaining that they were too confusing to understand.
A man has suffered serious burns and three others were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation after separate suspicious house fires on Brisbane's northside overnight.

Emergency services were called to one blaze at a house on Storkey Street in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Windsor just before 2am on Sunday.

There were three people inside the home and escaped, but paramedics took a man to the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital in a serious condition with serious burns to his hands.

Police said the fire caused extensive damage to the house and a crime scene has been declared, with detectives investigating the cause.
A Rhode Island man was airlifted to the hospital by helicopter early Sunday after a head-on collision on I-84 in Plainville, state police said.

State police said the 48-year-old man was in the front passenger seat of a 2016 Toyota Highlander traveling west on the highway, when the car was struck by a wrong-way driver in a 2009 Audi Q7.

The crash was reported around 4:20 a.m.

The two cars crashed head-on in the center lane, state police said.

The Toyota came to rest in the highway median, and the Audi came to rest in the right lane and shoulder.

Police said the man sustained suspected serious injuries in the collision, and was taken to Hartford Hospital by a Life Star helicopter.

The 53-year-old female driver of the Toyota and the 34-year-old driver of the Audi were both suspected to have sustained minor injuries in the crash, police said. Both were taken to Hartford Hospital by ambulance.

Enforcement action is pending at this time, state police said in a statement released Sunday.

Police are asking any drivers who may have dashcam footage of the collision to help in their investigation.

Any witness to the collision is asked to contact TFC John Wilson #1060, at Troop H, at 860-534-1098.
At Mount Rushmore on July 3, President Donald Trump used the familiar tactic of stoking fear by warning that a left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution.

This transparent falsehood signified an effort to revive his failing campaign for reelection. In the aggregate of national polls compiled by Nate Silvers FiveThirtyEight website, Trumps approval rating is about 40 percent, about as low as President Jimmy Carters dismal rating 100 days before the election of 1980 and President George H.W. Bushs in 1992. Carter lost his campaign for reelection in a landslide, and President Bush, in a three-candidate contest, was badly beaten. Knowing some history, a highly-respected Connecticut-educated opinion writer for New York Citys newspaper of record recently asserted that the election is close to over. An equally sharp Connecticut-born and based elections analyst currently gives Trump only an 8.5 percent chance to win a second term.

Forecasts are not facts. Four years ago, Trump proved himself to be an energetic, resourceful campaigner, and much could happen before Election Day. Nevertheless, history suggests what Trump will only improve his prospects by moderating his tone and tactics. The gloomy, almost depressing, culture-war themes at his rallies in Tulsa and Phoenix last month and at the South Dakota event, ostensibly not a campaign rally, must be replaced by providing leadership through a more uplifting, optimistic message.

In 1984, a television advertisement supporting President Ronald Reagans campaign for a second term began: Its morning again in America. I did not vote for Reagan in that election, but I recognize the brilliance of this ad. Its sentiment minimized the threats posed by growing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union, warfare and related violence in Latin America and the Middle East, where 220 U.S. Marines were killed by a truck bomb in Beirut, Lebanon in October 1983. the lingering effects of a recession, and the AIDS epidemic. Instead, the slogan was memorable by capturing the spirit of many Americans. Reagan did not promise the best of times, but he did offer leadership toward rebirth. Not surprisingly, Reagan was re-elected in a landslide. Providing leadership requires inspiring trust and showing a path forward.

According to an ancient saying that apparently originated more than 2,000 years ago in Aesops Fables: Be careful what you wish for because you might get it. One shrewd Connecticut-born political journalist recently opined that many people who supported Donald Trump in 2016 thought he would be a terrible president but did not expect him to win the election, and voted for him as a gesture of protest against the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton Democrats. Since Trumps inauguration in January 2017, he has been deeply divisive, posing as a patriot while subverting basic American ideals. Willingness to enflame the culture war works sometimes, especially for challengers, but this strategy is not advisable for a president during a global public health and economic crisis that has been complicated in the United States by protests against structural racism and police violence. At some point, every president must be accountable for the state of the nation, even for events beyond his direct control.

President Trump has been complacent, even dismissive, about the continuing threat of coronavirus, too willing to rely on short-term economic indicators such as daily changes in the equity markets and monthly unemployment reports but insufficiently concerned about the cruel realities of long-term health risks. Although Trump clearly would prefer to make the election about ideology, identity, and his warped version of history, in the national referendum on four years of his presidency, a central issue must be whether he can do the job.

That was the question in July 1979, when President Carter was mocked for his so-called malaise speech. In a time of rising energy prices and ongoing economic stagflation, Carter sought to deflect attention by lamenting what he described as a crisis of confidence ... that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. Many Americans agreed, blamed Carter, and voted for Reagan.

Four years later, believing Reagan had been an effective president and was optimistic about the future, voters rewarded him with one of the greatest landslide victories in U.S. history. In this years election, under very different conditions, if President Trump does not quickly re-brand himself and change tactics, he is inviting resounding defeat and rejection comparable to Carters debacle in 1980.

Steven S. Berizzi is a professor of history and political science at Norwalk Community College.
The number of children getting vaccinated in Florida is declining and COVID-19 may be to blame.

Numerous doctors and even the state health department have noticed an alarming trend of parents not bringing their children in to get vaccinated due to coronavirus fears.

Dr. Maria Milla, a pediatrician at Nicklaus Childrens Hospital, said she has noticed parents growing skittish about taking their children for routine vaccinations in the last few months. Since her practice is located in a hospital, Milla said she thinks parents are afraid to bring their children into a place associated with being sick.

The decline in vaccinations is occurring across all ages, Milla said. The only vaccination rate that hasnt gone down is the Hepatitis B vaccine, which is given to newborn babies in the hospital before they are taken home.

In May, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study reporting that routine vaccinations for children across the country have declined as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, as compared to the same time period in 2019.

Most notably, up-to-date vaccines for children aged 5 months went from approximately two-thirds of children being vaccinated from 2016-2019, to fewer than half  49.7 percent  in May 2020, well into the pandemic, according to the CDCs May 22, 2020, Morbidity and Mortality Report.

In Miami-Dade County in April, there was an approximate 60 percent decline in childrens vaccines administered as compared to 2019, according to data from statewide immunization registry Florida SHOTS. In May, there was about a 40 percent decrease.

But, now more than ever, it is important that children receive their vaccine and flu shots before returning to school in-person, Milla said.

Vaccines cannot be put on the back burner at this point, Milla said. They definitely still need to be a priority despite the fear.

Vaccine preventable diseases can be more deadly than COVID-19 for children, Milla said. While most children who get COVID-19 typically have mild symptoms or none, this would not be the case for diseases like measles, mumps, pertussis or whooping cough  diseases immunized by the vaccines.

Story continues

She is trying to assure parents that it is safe to come into her office and that her practice is following strict infection control practices. Regular check-ups are set for morning hours, while sick patients can only come into the office during the afternoon. Milla is also not seeing any patients that have COVID-19 symptoms in person.

To help address this issue, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is running free vaccine drives through its UHealth pediatric mobile clinic. The doctors office-on-wheels goes across Miami-Dade County to neighborhoods where many children are uninsured and under-vaccinated.

The UHealth mobile clinic parks outside Arch Creek Elementary in North Miami to provide vaccine shots to children as part of the free vaccine drives throughout Miami-Dade County. On Tuesday, May 19, 2020, the University of Miami Health Systems pediatric mobile unit provided free vaccinations throughout Miami-Dade County to help keep children up-to-date in their vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Lisa Gwynn, a UM professor of pediatrics and medical director of the mobile clinic, said she is concerned about the spread of preventable diseases that could happen if children do not get their routine vaccinations, specifically to vulnerable populations like the elderly and immunocompromised.

People will start getting these diseases, Gwynn said. So here we are in the middle of a pandemic and then were going to have all these comorbidities of other vaccine preventable diseases on top of that. Its a recipe for disaster.

The mobile clinic will work with the Florida Department of Health and Miami-Dade School District to help get local children vaccinated, Gwynn said. She said UM nurses are working with school districts to call parents with children behind on vaccines and give them information on how to get free vaccines, especially if they dont have a doctor they regularly see. The clinic is working with the state health department to identify hots pots for low vaccine rates.

Were really working toward identifying schools and areas that have lower immunization rates and really trying to target those areas, Gwynn said. Just encouraging parents to go back to their pediatrician, theyre waiting with open arms.

The Florida Department of Health said in a statement to the Miami Herald that it acknowledges parents have been hesitant about taking their children to the doctors office, but reiterated that going in for vaccines and check-ups is safe.

The less children are vaccinated and brought up to date on childhood immunizations, the greater risk they pose to themselves, their families and their communities, the FDOH said. An outbreak of a vaccine preventable disease could have devastating effects on communities.

The FDOH formed a work group with pediatricians, educators and public health employees to address the decline in immunization rates in Florida.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools said it is working with the FDOH to inform families about mandated vaccine requirements and that the district will be announcing where students can get free vaccines before the start of the school year.

Even before COVID-19, South Florida counties ranked poorly on its immunization of students compared to other counties in the state.

In the 2018-19 school year, Monroe County, home to the Florida Keys, had the second fewest amount of kindergartens up to date on their vaccinations in the state at 90.1 percent, according to the Florida Department of Health. Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties were ranked slightly better, coming in at 51st place (93.5 percent) and 52nd place (93.3 percent), respectively.

Broward County ranked the best in South Florida  coming in at 42nd of the states 67 counties with 94.2 percent of its kindergartens up to date with vaccinations.

Among rates of seventh grade students properly immunized during this period, Miami-Dade ranked 63rd out of the states 67 counties (94.8 percent), Monroe 62nd (94.9 percent), Palm Beach 57th (95.9 percent) and Broward 53rd (96.3 percent).

The statewide average of kindergarten students up-to-date with their vaccines is 93.8 percent, while for seventh graders it is 96.3 percent.

Dr. Audrey Ofir, a UM pediatrics professor and director of the Pediatric Comprehensive Care Clinic at Holtz Childrens Hospital at Jackson Medical Center, said public education is essential, and parents must know that it is safe to take their children to the doctor. She said it is important schools are very strict about vaccine requirements and should even consider offering vaccines on-site.

We have to reassure families that it is safe and really necessary right now to get back on track, Ofir said, and to get their kids checked out and make sure that they catch up on their vaccine before its too late and we end up with an additional crisis.

Vaccine Information

To contact the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County, call 305-324-2400.

To contact the University of Miami pediatric mobile clinic, call 205-243-6407.

To contact Nicklaus Childrens Hospital, call 1-800-432-6837.
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Three models and their pimp arrested in Ho Chi Minh City Sunday were part of a high-end prostitution ring charging up to $30,000, police say.

The arrests were made in raids on a five-star hotel and a luxury District 7 apartment.

Luc Trieu Vy, 27, a Da Nang native, arrested at the District 7 apartment, managed actresses and models to serve rich customers, the police said.

Luc Trieu Vy was arrested in District 7, HCMC, on the afternoon of July 12, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang.

The arrested women have allegedly told the police that Vy had contacted them to go to the hotel and serve three businessmen for $18,000-30,000.

One of them was introduced as Miss Vietnam in Australia.

The Crime Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security said very few members of Vys ring were real models and actresses, and that he made up details about the rest to elevate their prices.

Local police said they are questioning Vy and related individuals to investigate the prostitution ring further.

Under Vietnamese law, sex workers are warned and fined VND100,000-300,000 ($4.3-13), while pimps and sex ring organizers can face jail terms.
Iranian authorities say a misaligned missile battery and miscommunication between soldiers and superior officers were to blame for the January downing of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people.



The conclusions by Iran's Civil Aviation Organization were detailed in a new report released late on July 11.



Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 was struck by two missiles and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's main airport on January 8.



The disaster happened the same night that Iran launched a ballistic-missile attack that targeted U.S. soldiers in Iraq.



That attack was in response to an American drone strike that had killed the powerful commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major General Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad five days earlier.



"A failure occurred due to a human error in following the procedure" for aligning the radar, causing a "107-degree error" in the system, the Civil Aviation Authority said in its report.



The authority said the document was a "factual report" and not the final report for the accident.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
Laois Offaly TD and Minister Barry Cowen insists that he did not 'evade or attempt to evade a Garda' after he was stopped for drink driving in 2016.

A statement issued on behalf of the Minister for Agriculture was issued after a report that claims he did so.

The Sunday Times has today published an article referring to an incorrect Garda record dealing with the incident which occurred on 18 September 2016 despite the fact that my solicitors wrote to the newspaper in advance of publication.

I did not evade, or attempt to evade, a Garda. Such an act would constitute a serious criminal offence and I was not charged with such an offence. On being informed of its existence I sought a copy of this incorrect record and am taking steps under the Data Protection Act to have it corrected.

This incorrect Garda record can only have come into the possession of the newspaper through a criminal act. It is a criminal offence for a member of An Garda Siochana to disclose any information obtained in the course of his or her duties. I am informed that An Garda Siochana has commenced a criminal investigation into the source of this leak.

It is obvious that the disclosure of this information at this time in flagrant breach of the criminal law and my rights under data protection law is a disgraceful attempt to cause me the maximum personal and political harm," he said.

The statement said he would be instructing lawyers to vindicate his name and data protection rights.

Minister Cowen was put off the road for drink driving after he was stopped on his way home from the All-Ireland Final in Dublin in 2016.
Sowmya Mani By

Express News Service

TIRUCHY: Tiruchy, which had only 310 cases till mid-June, has seen a 75 per cent rise in cases in just 18 days. Of the 1,273 cases reported in the district till July 10, 75 per cent were reported since June 22. Initially, the spike was attributed to Chennai returnees, but even officials now admit that mismanagement, lack of proper contact tracing and inadequate testing have contributed to the rise in case load.

Chennai exodus & poor contact tracing

Ahead of an intense 12-day lockdown in Chennai and its surrounding districts beginning June 20, residents started leaving the capital in droves, heading towards districts such as Tiruchy. All of a sudden, a caseload that was only increasing by single digits, suddenly began jumping by 50 cases each day. While 75 cases were recorded on June 24, for instance, 87 were reported on June 29.

In the rural areas of Tiruchy district, the Chennai factor has been particularly strong.

Despite this, contact tracing and isolation of patients and contacts remained a problem. In the congested parts of Tiruchy city, this delay enabled a quicker spread of the virus.

One of the biggest mistakes was not tracing contacts fast enough, and allowing them to roam about freely. Only symptomatic contacts of positive patients were tested, which is not enough. Door-to-door screening, adopted in a big city like Chennai, could have easily been done in Tiruchy, but it wasnt. This led to a four-fold increase in cases in city limits from June 20 to now, admitted a health department official.

Civic body moved slowly

Busy areas like Big Bazaar street, which is densely populated with a mix of commercial establishments and residences, have recorded more than 50 cases in the past 10 days. Similarly, NSB road has recorded more than 107 cases because the Tiruchy Corporation failed to act swiftly.

Finally, on July 10, the Corporation decided to enforce a lockdown on three wards from where close to 50% of cases in the city limits have been reported daily.

We have decided to cordon off Wards 16, 17, 18 of Tiruchy city, which have seen a flare up of cases. EB Road and nearby roads have recorded many cases in 10 days. If we are able to control the spread in these areas, we will be able to contain the spread of the virus. They will be cordoned off for 14 days, said S Sivasubramanian, Corporation Commissioner.

Sivasubramanian also blamed large family functions for the rise in cases. However, officials too have been slow to act while clusters formed.

Even after an employee at a jewelry store on Tiruchys busy NSB road tested positive on June 22, the store continued to function and the patients contacts weren't tested. A whopping 107 people linked to the store have tested positive.

That store has over 500 employees. Thirty of those employees were staying in a hostel with the employee who tested positive. As they continued to come to work, the virus spread. The employees and contacts, from Thuraiyur and Musiri, were tested only after much furore on July 1. Till July 9, 107 contacts have tested positive. If the employees had been immediately isolated and tested, this wouldnt have happened, said a corporation official.

However, the civic body has learnt from this mistake. When an employee of another big textile showroom tested positive, the store was immediately closed and all employees placed in isolation.

Low testing, high virulence?

Throughout the rise in cases, Tiruchys testing figures remained disproportionately low. Even till July 3, only 700 samples, on an average, were tested daily in the entire district. It was only after much criticism, that authorities have increased testing to over 1000 samples a day in the past week.

Big Bazaar Street, which emerged as a prime hotspot in the district and the surrounding areas were quarantined after many residents tested positive on Saturday;

However, experts also cite the virulence of the virus as one of the reasons for the spike.

Initially, when we had patients who had travelled to New Delhi, their contacts, even family members did not test positive. Now, in the patients who have travelled from Chennai, Maharashtra and West Bengal, we are seeing many more contacts testing positive. This is because the virus is easily communicable. Even a contact who spends 15 minutes with a positive patient can become positive, said Dr Lakshmi, HOD of Microbiology, KAPV Vishwanathan Medical College.

Deaths rising too

An increase in deaths has also been reported in June and July and the district now has a mortality rate of 1.8 per cent, slightly higher than the official State figure of 1.4 per cent. The district has reported 23 deaths so far, of which 17 are from Tiruchy city. Of these, only 12 have been recorded in the health departments bulletin.

The Road Ahead

According to Tiruchy Collector S Sivarasu the district is projected to have around 4800 cases by July end. More than 1,000 samples will be tested every day and contact tracing is being done in a stringent manner, with a team appointed to handle it, he said.

As we are in a transition phase, we can arrest the virus at this stage. Clusters have been identified contact-wise, and institution-wise, said Dr Aravind Kumar, District Epidemiologist.

While symptomatic patients are being admitted to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital, asymptomatic patients are being treated at the COVID care centre in Bharathidasan Universitys Khajamalai campus. Another institution with 500 beds is ready at the Government College of Engineering in Sethurapatti, Srirangam.

We are prepared for 1000 active cases with our new facility. But people are still roaming about without masks and arent following social distancing. We urge people to follow the norms, the Collector added.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Budapest  Sun, July 12, 2020 21:06 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665c2601 2 World COVID-19,Hungary,Viktor-Orban,Budapest,travel-ban Free

Hungary's government said Sunday it was barring travel from Africa, most of Asia apart from China and Japan, and restricting entry from several European countries after worldwide spikes in coronavirus cases.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Chief of Staff Gergely Gulyas said that Hungarian health officials have placed 154 countries into three risk categories based on numbers of coronavirus infections.

"We need to protect our security so that the virus is not introduced from abroad... the level of active infection cases at home is falling, and we want to keep it like that," he told reporters in Budapest.

Entry into Hungary would be barred for citizens from countries assessed as "red" from Tuesday midnight, including all African and Asian countries apart from China and Japan.

European countries in the red zone are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus, Montenegro, as well as Hungary's neighbor Ukraine.

Hungarian citizens returning from "red" countries must pass a virus test and undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine, said Gulyas.

Citizens from countries in a "yellow" category -- including the US, UK, Norway, Serbia, Russia, China, and Japan -- will have to enter two-week quarantine unless they have tested negative for the virus within five days.

Four of Hungary's fellow EU members -- Bulgaria, Portugal, Sweden, and neighboring Romania -- will also face the same restrictions.

Countries in the "green" category can continue to enter without restrictions.

Hungary's population of almost 10 million has been lightly affected by the pandemic in comparison with other parts of Europe, reporting just over 4,200 coronavirus infections and around 595 deaths so far.

Earlier this month, Orban said Hungary would not follow an EU recommendation to lift coronavirus travel restrictions for more countries outside the bloc, citing a risk to health.

The EU's border relaxation, announced June 30 and left to member states to implement, was a bid to help rescue the continent's battered tourism sector, which had been choked by a ban on non-essential travel in place since mid-March.

The number of infections and deaths has risen relentlessly in many of the world's biggest nations, with the United States crossing three million confirmed cases.

In Europe, where many nations had successfully suppressed their outbreaks, spikes have occurred in recent weeks.
A group of medical providers gathering at the Gallup Indian Medical Center Source: Nate Teismann

Dr. Jeanne Noble has worked all over the world as an emergency medicine physician. So when the hospital where she works, UC San Francisco, asked if anyone was willing to fly out to the Navajo Nation and help with an escalating Covid-19 outbreak, she eagerly volunteered. The Navajo Nation, which reported its first Covid-19 case in mid-March, has seen infection rates per capita among the highest in the country. Thus far, there have been 8,000 cases and more than 300 deaths. The reservation, which is home to more than 170,000 people, is spread out across the varied desert landscape of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. The people refer to themselves as the Dine. Noble went to work at the Navajo Nation's hospital -- Gallup Indian Medical Center in New Mexico -- as part of the second group that made the trip out from UCSF. The first group arrived in April after responding to a call from Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez for health worker reinforcements. Around that same time, a similarly-sized cohort of medical providers from UCSF made their way to New York. Noble's group arrived in May. She was immediately impressed with the steps taken to ensure that more patients could get seen on-site. "They had put up plastic sheets and barriers to double the capacity in the emergency room, and then taken over an old pediatric clinic," she recalled. "There were also tents outside for the less sick patients."

A nurse takes a swab sample from a Navajo Indian woman complaining of virus symptoms, at a COVID-19 testing center at the Navajo Nation town of Monument Valley in Arizona on May 21, 2020. Mark Ralston | AFP | Getty Images

Still, many of the Covid-19 patients had to be transferred to larger facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, or Flagstaff, Arizona, if their health deteriorated. Often, Noble would have to call up three to four different hospitals in these regions to find space for her sick patient. Now, with a spike of cases in Arizona, Noble is concerned it'll become even more challenging for patients to get the intensive care they need. Noble and her colleagues have been back in San Francisco for a few weeks, but she says their experiences were a constant reminder that Covid-19 is a "terrible illness," as she treated dozens of patients who were suffering. But she also stressed that it's a disease that has disproportionately impacted certain populations over others, including low-income groups and communities of color.

Social and economic inequities

The Navajo Nation, which has experienced social and economic inequities for decades, has been particularly vulnerable. Large swathes of the population at high risk for serious complications from Covid-19: More than a third suffer from chronic medical conditions, including diabetes and heart disease. According to the CDC, American Indians and Alaska Natives have the highest prevalence of diabetes in the United States, more than twice that of non-Hispanic whites.

A group of providers wearing masks at the Gallup Indian Medical Center Source: Dr. Nate Teismann

But lack of basic services that many U.S. residents take for granted are another more pressing problem. Noble recalled how one of her patients, a man near the age of 70, had been sick with Covid-19 and discharged from the hospital after making a recovery. His home was 30 miles away, and he had no way to contact his family. So he started walking home in the blazing heat, eventually collapsing from dehydration. After being picked up by paramedics, the patient was checked back into the hospital, where he had just recently been discharged. "He didn't have a car or a phone and he was also diabetic and out of insulin," she said. "Unfortunately, this is a relatively familiar story." Noble pointed out that there is a service available that provides transportation to Navajo patients, but it's not perfect. Sometimes there isn't a ride available, or patients aren't given a number to call. Many of the Navajo live in overcrowded households with their families, where the virus can spread quickly, and more than a third lack access to running water at a time when it's critical to wash their hands. Moreover, hauling water can often mean breaking social distancing guidelines. There are only about a dozen grocery stores, and stocking up with basic food supplies can mean a three-hour drive. "Everything is exacerbated by the fact that in this community, a high percentage of homes don't have electricity and running water," said Dr. Nathan Teismann, an emergency care physician at UCSF. "There's also a relatively sizable homeless population, high rates of chronic disease, and behavioral health challenges - and that is fanning the flames of Covid-19."

A Navajo park ranger looks out over Navajo Nation-managed Monument Valley Tribal Park, which has been closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Arizona on May 21, 2020. Mark Ralston | Getty Images

All of the doctors and nurses agreed that the government needs to do far more to protect this population. Noble continues to be concerned about donations running out. She felt that at the very least, there needs to be funding for mobile health units so providers could visit patients at their homes, as well as better access to clean water. She is urging policymakers to consider solutions around housing, so there are more options available for people with Covid-19 to safely isolate. "These might be expensive propositions, but we're talking about a basic human right for things like access to drinking water," she said. Dr. Tara Sood, an emergency medicine specialist, recalled how one of her patients tested positive but was told to return home to recover. After speaking with him, she learned he lived in a small one-bedroom unit with his wife and two others, making it near-impossible for him to isolate himself. "Thankfully, we got him a hotel room," she said. But Dr. Sood noted that "socio-economic status" plays a huge role in both Covid-19 exposure and recovery. "There were so many patients living in homes with eight other people with nowhere else to go," she said.

Gallup Indian Medical Center emergency entrance Source: Dr. Nate Teismann

The hospitals that serve Navajo patients were doing a "heroic job," according to Noble, of making the most of what they had. At the Gallup Indian Medical Center, there were plastic sheets used to increase emergency department space, and a reuse program with face shields. There were also creative solutions for devising gowns. But the need to improvise revealed the underlying lack of supplies. "We were always on the cusp of outstripping supplies," said Teismann, who was working at the hospital in mid-June. "I constantly wondered while I was there, 'will today be the day that there aren't any more ICU beds'?" Noble believes there needs to be a long-term solution to ensure that hospitals in the poorest and most rural areas have adequate access to protective equipment. Donations can dry up, particularly as America's larger hospitals scramble for supplies.

A sense of isolation

One of the hallmarks of Covid-19, say the doctors and nurses, is the isolation that many patients experience. In their time with the Navajo Nation, they met with older, sick patients who didn't speak English well. And it was difficult to communicate with them if a translator wasn't available. Many were isolated from their family-members and didn't have cellphones. Some patients were flown out to unfamiliar places, including to larger hospitals in other states, which only increased their sense of loneliness. Some of these patients ended up on ventilators, and no one could visit them in person without adequate protective gear. "It's horrible and it's not how we expect someone's life to end," said Sood.

A patient is taken from an ambulance to the emergency room of a hospital in the Navajo Nation town of Tuba City during the 57-hour curfew, imposed to try to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus through the Navajo Nation, in Arizona on May 24, 2020. Mark Ralston | AFP | Getty Images

"It's an incredibly resilient and strong-willed population and they have fended for themselves for decades," said Noble. "And there's a strong sense of community," she noted, adding that it made it only more challenging for people to be separated from close friends and family-members. All the doctors and nurses said they had patients who were in their twenties, thirties and forties who needed to be hospitalized, but the majority were older. Very few people died at the hospital, as the sickest were transferred off to other places. But in one particularly harrowing case, a patient of Noble's in his late sixties lost consciousness and died in the car on the way to the hospital.

'This pandemic won't be dictated by human preference'

The doctors and nurses returning from Navajo Nation have a message to share for their fellow Americans. As of this month, officials are reporting record cases of Covid-19 and a smattering of states have been hit particularly hard by the virus. At the same time, people are itching to resume life as normal -- and some researchers have called it "pandemic fatigue." In some parts of the country, there's a widespread reluctance to wear a mask or follow social distancing guidelines. "If you're in young, you're not immune from getting critically ill," said Noble. "Wearing a face mask needs to be taken seriously, and social distancing needs to be taken seriously." "Just because you're not experiencing it (Covid-19) personally, it doesn't mean that massive chunks of the population aren't," said Sara Kaiser, a nurse practitioner. Kaiser said that she observed the Navajo people following the public health guidelines as best they could, and many were highly concerned for the health and safety of family members. "People are getting tired, but unfortunately the course of this pandemic won't be dictated by human preference," added Teisman. "Instead, it will follow the biology of a contagious respiratory virus."
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-11 23:27:28|Editor: huaxia

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Aerial photo taken on May 13, 2020 shows the container terminal of Weihai Port in Weihai City, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Zhu Zheng)

BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities issued a statement on promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the development of the maritime economy on Saturday, the 16th Maritime Day of China.

China's seafarers are still at the forefront of ensuring the smooth operation of international logistics and supply chains as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide, according to the document posted on the website of the Ministry of Transport.

As the world's largest trader of goods and the second largest economy, China's maritime transport plays a significant role in promoting world economic and trade development and building a community with a shared future for humanity, it said.

Cooperation in economy, technology and culture between China and the countries and regions along the Belt and Road is getting closer through the ocean under the BRI.

Meanwhile, the document noted that China has made remarkable achievements in navigation and maritime industry as of this year. The scale of ports, the number of seafarers, the production of shipbuilding and the scale of maritime fleets are in the front rank in the world.

This year's China Maritime Forum was held in Shanghai Saturday in a combination of online and offline activities. 
Aisha Jabbarova

Three Azerbaijani servicemen have died and four others have been injured while thwarting the Armenian attack on the border, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry reported on July 12.

Units of the Armenian armed forces have sought to launch an attack using artillery to seize our positions in the direction of the Tovuz on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, the ministry reported.

As a result of relevant response, the adversary has suffered losses and retreated, the ministry said.

Two servicemen - Vugar Sadigov and Elshad Mammadov lost their lives while thwarting the Armenian attack.

Khayyam Dashdamirov who was injured during the attack also lost his life despite doctors' intervention.

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

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The microfinance portfolio in Egypt has recorded EGP 26 billion, which is under 1 percent of the countrys GDP of around EGP 4 trillion, chairman and CEO of Decode for Financial and Economic Consultations Mohamed Yousef said

The microfinance portfolio in Egypt has recorded EGP 26 billion, which is under 1 percent of the countrys GDP of around EGP 4 trillion, chairman and CEO of Decode for Financial and Economic Consultations Mohamed Yousef said during a virtual panel held on Sunday to discuss developments in the microfinance industry amid the coronavirus crisis.

Yousef discussed the contribution of microfinance to Egypts GDP and how the sector can benefit from the potentials that have arisen from the COVID-19 crisis.

Yousef said that the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and companies that extend microfinance services should introduce more facilities to the sector, including postponing loan instalments to mitigate financial burdens on the sectors clients, as well as expanding in technology solutions to reach clients easier.

He added that the COVID-19 crisis has caused disruptions in global demand, economic slowdown, bankruptcy, supply chain disruptions and investments delays. Yousef said these challenges have resulted in a purchasing managers index decline of up to 44.6 percent, caused exports to decrease by 32.3 percent, and imports to drop to $4.2 billion in April, down from $7 billion in April 2019.

Regarding the providing of microfinancing, Yousef said that the Egyptian market has 40 banks, 13 of which offer direct and indirect microfinance services, while the non-banking sector extends such services through 989 entities and 11 companies.

He also expounded that the microfinance loan portfolio has increased three times from 2016 to 2019, with a 75 percent growth in total loans, which is dominated by the banking sector (23,633 loans) followed by microfinance companies (7,317 loans).

As a result of the ongoing crisis, Yousef said that the Egyptian Association for Microfinance estimates that 12 million citizens are in need of microfinance, and the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) expects that job losses in the informal sectors will lead to an increase in the poverty rate in Egypt to 44.4 percent, up from 32.5 percent in 2018.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Abo El-Azm, chairman of microfinance company Tamweely, told Ahram Online that the microfinance sector has a golden chance to drive economic development in Egypt given its flexibility, fast-tracking ability, and diversity.

He added that microfinance companies have the ability to provide facilities to clients faster and easier than banks.

Abo El-Azm also revealed that Tamweely will securitise 20 percent of its portfolio by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021, adding that the company has managed to provide EGP 2 billion in finances for 70,000 clients across the country, 40 percent of which are women, since the beginning of the companys operations in 2018.

He added that Tamweely, in cooperation with the Financial Regulatory Association (FRA), will focus on making facilities available to micro projects in the manufacturing sector due to their importance to the national economy amid the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath.

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Baramulla: Security forces on Sunday (July 12) killed at least three terrorists during an encounter in the Sopore town of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir. The 13-hour long gunbattle which started in the wee hours today, ended with this, whereas a search operation was underway when the latest report came in.

"Two more unidentified terrorists were killed in Sopore encounter. Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were recovered; a search operation is underway," Kashmir Zone Police said.

According to sources, one of the slain terrorists has been identified as Usman, affiliated with the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Toiba terror group. Sources added that he was involved in the recent terror attack in Sopore in which a CRPF jawan was martyred and a civilian was killed. IGP Kashmir said that the elimination of three terrorists in Sopore encounter is a big success for the police and security forces.

A joint team of Jammu and Kashmir police, 22 RR, and CRPF launched a cordon-and-search-operation at 4 am on Sunday after receiving a tip-off about the presence of terrorists in Reban area of Sopore. The source said that hiding terrorists opened fire on forces that triggered a gunfight. In the ensuing gunfight, one militant was killed, the official said.

At least 2-3 terrorists were believed to be hiding in the area when the gunfight ensued.

On July 11, two terrorists were killed in an ambush by army along the Line of Control (LoC) at Naugam sector in north Kashmir. The Army recovered arms and ammunition from their possession.

Security forces at India-Pakistan border have been put on high alert after an intelligence input revealed that terrorists were trying to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir to carry out 'action'. According to the input, there is a likely presence of armed terrorists in Bhimber Gali and Naushera sectors with an intention to infiltrate to carry out BAT (Border Action Team) action.

Sources in intelligence agencies told ANI that input has been shared with forces and the Border Security Force (BSF) to keep a close watch on activities in these areas.
Two leading U.S. Democrats on Sunday condemned President Donald Trumps clemency for his long-time friend Roger Stone, wiping out his 40-month prison sentence for political wrongdoing, saying it was a perversion of American legal standards.

It's staggering corruption, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of Trumps commutation of Stones sentence during an interview on CNN.

People should know this isn't just about lying to Congress, that means lying to the American people, and witness tampering and the rest, Pelosi said of the seven convictions a jury handed down against the 67-year-old Stone. It's about our national security.

U.S. presidential power for overseeing pardons and commutations is virtually unlimited, but Pelosi said legislation will be introduced that would in the future limit a president from commuting, pardoning or offering clemency to anyone who is convicted of a crime that affects the president's behavior and culpability.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who oversaw impeachment proceedings against Trump last year, was a guest Sunday on ABC Newss This Week show.

Anyone who cares about the rule of law in this country is nauseated by the fact that the president has commuted the sentence of someone who willfully lied to Congress, covered up for the president, intimidated witnesses, obstructed the investigation, he said. It shouldnt matter whether youre a Democrat or Republican, this should be offensive to you if you care about the rule of law and you care about justice.

Schiff, a longtime Trump critic, said Stone lied to cover up and protect the president.

Schiff said that Trump, with his Friday night action to keep Stone from heading to prison, is basically saying through this commutation, If you lie for me, if you cover up for me, if you have my back, then I will make sure that you get a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Other Americans? Different standard, Schiff said. Friends of the president, accomplices of the president, they get off scot-free.

Some Republicans join frey

Two Republican senators, Mitt Romney and Pat Toomey, on Saturday also attacked Trumps action.

Romney, who lost the 2012 presidential election to former President Barack Obama, called Trumps commutation of Stones sentence unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.

Toomey, from the eastern state of Pennsylvania, said Trump clearly has the legal and constitutional authority to grant clemency for federal crimes, but called his action a mistake. Toomey said Stone was duly convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction of a congressional investigation conducted by a Republican-led committee.

Trump, in a tweet Saturday night, called Romney and Toomey RINOS, an acronym that stands for Republicans in Name Only.

Stone was treated very unfairly, Trump said Saturday night about his commutation of Stone's prison sentence. The president blamed the jury forewoman and the judge and said Stone should have had another trial.

One Republican lawmaker, Senator Lindsey Graham, said in advance of Trumps action, In my view it would be justified. Mr. Stone is in his 70s (Stone is 67 - ed.) and this was a nonviolent, first-time offense.

A jury convicted Stone of seven offenses, including witness tampering and lying to federal authorities, and a judge sentenced him to 40 months in prison. He was to report to prison this week before Trump commuted the sentence, but did not pardon him, which left his convictions in place.

The clemency for Stone was only the 36th Trump has granted, with 180 denied. Many of those granted by Trump have been to political supporters of his or suggested by people he knows, rather than being processed through normal pardon procedures overseen by the U.S. Justice Department.

At the same points in their presidencies, 3 years after taking office, Trumps six predecessors had acted on hundreds or thousands of petitions for clemency.

One juror in Stones trial, Seth Cousins, told the Washington Post, that it was a shocking act of corruption for the president to commute the sentence of a person convicted of lying to protect him. The fact remains that Roger Stone is a convicted felon, that he was found guilty of seven counts of lying to Congress and intimidating a witness and of impeding an investigation. Nothing that Trump or anyone has done or can do changes that fact.

Special counsel Robert Mueller, who led the investigation into whether Russia colluded with the Trump campaign in 2016 to help him win, wrote in a Post opinion article that the probe was of "paramount importance" and asserted Stone "remains a convicted felon, and rightly so."

After a lengthy probe, Muellers investigation did not find clear evidence that Trumps campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election and did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. In any event, long-standing Justice Department policy says sitting U.S. presidents cannot be charged with criminal offenses.

Late Friday, Trump spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said that Trump granted Stone clemency in light of the egregious facts and circumstances surrounding his unfair prosecution, arrest and trial.

Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump presidency, she said. There was never any collusion between the Trump campaign, or the Trump administration, with Russia. Such collusion was never anything other than a fantasy of partisans unable to accept the result of the 2016 election.

The collusion delusion spawned endless and farcical investigations, conducted at great taxpayer expense, looking for evidence that did not exist, McEnany concluded.
A 51-year-old money lender was found dead in his house in Kondhwa, Pune on Saturday morning. The man was identified as Ghanshyam alias Pappu Padwal, a man with a crime record of 16 cases including one of attempted murder.

We suspect that the body had been in the house since Thursday, the doctors opinion on the exact time of death is awaited, said senior police inspector Vinayak Gaikwad of Kondhwa police station who went to the house where the body was discovered.

The body was found by Padwals niece who claimed to have been trying to reach him for a few days before she decided to come and check on him.

The house was locked from outside. She got a spare key and then opened the lock, said PI Gaikwad.

The man used to live in the area under the jurisdiction of Samarth police station where 9 of 16 cases against him are registered.

The last case registered against him is from 2010. A case of illegal money lending is also registered against him in 2006 in Pune, according to police.

He majorly earned money through money lending, said PI Gaikwad. Whether he had the required license to be a money lender is not yet confirmed.

The man was found with multiple injuries caused by a sharp weapon on his face and hands. The left forearm was missing, according to police officials who went to the house.

A case under Section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code was registered at the Kondhwa police station against unidentified persons.
Pope Francis says he was hurt by mosque decision, but Turkish government defends its sovereign rights.

Pope Francis has said he was hurt by Turkeys decision to make Istanbuls Hagia Sophia museum a mosque, but Ankara said the decision will maintain a relationship of equality and mutual respect in the country.

It was the Vaticans first reaction to Turkeys decision to transform the Byzantine-era monument back into a mosque, a move that has drawn criticism from around the world.

I think of Hagia Sophia and I am very saddened, Pope Francis said towards the end of his midday sermon in Saint Peters Square.

The World Council of Churches has called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reverse his decision and Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the worlds Orthodox Christians, called it disappointing.

On Saturday, Erdogan rejected international condemnation over the decision to change the status of Istanbuls landmark Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque.

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Those who do not take a step against Islamophobia in their own countries  attack Turkeys will to use its sovereign rights, Erdogan said at a ceremony he attended via video-conference on Saturday.

Geopolitical ends

Hagia Sophia was built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral and was converted into a mosque after the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 1453. The secular Turkish government decided in 1934 to make it a museum.

Erdogan on Friday formally converted the building back into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled the 1934 decision.

Bishop Hilarion, who heads the Russian Orthodox Churchs department for external church relations, described it as a blow to global Christianity.

The World Council of Churches, which represents 350 Christian churches, said it had written to Erdogan expressing their grief and dismay.

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos, on Sunday denounced what he described as the instrumentalisation of religion to partisan or geopolitical ends.

The outrage and the arrogance doesnt just concern the Orthodox Church and Christianity but all of civilised humanity  independently of religion, he added.

Erdogan said Hagia Sophia  known as Ayasofya in Turkey  would remain open to Muslims, Christians and foreigners.

The Hagia Sophias doors will remain open to visitors from all around the world, the presidents press aide Fahrettin Altun said on Saturday. People of all religious denominations are welcome and encouraged to visit it  just as they have been able to visit other mosques, including the Blue Mosque.

UNESCO said its World Heritage Committee would review Hagia Sophias status, and Turkeys decision raised questions about the effect on its universal value as a site of importance transcending borders and generations.
Sybil: Farewell to a legendary storyteller By Himansi Dehigama View(s): View(s):

When I wrote this I had just returned after paying my last respects to Sybil Wettasinghe, the legendary storyteller. According to her family members she was in good health just a week before, which was proved through the bright and vibrant colours of her last illustration done just a few days earlier, which we were lucky enough to glimpse.

How could one person make such delightful stories which were treasured, and embraced by generations? The world changes rapidly in the blink of an eye and every day the context of ones life is renewed in numerous ways with so many complexities. But Sybil, her writings, and illustrations still stand out, waiting to delight ones heart and soul, bringing out love, faith, compassion, and mostly an enchanting beauty which never fades. I believe it is the intimacy of her work that has made generations love her. We still breathe in those beautifully worded works intertwined with the subtle beauties of nature and the hidden innocence of the human being. Its because of her capacity of describing the world in unforgettable ways. Its because of the magical feeling she creates through eternally being engaged with things which otherwise are yet to attract our attention.

There was a time nearly 40 years back that I was impatient for Thursday to read the Dinamina where in a corner column appeared Sybil Wettasinghes Sooththara Puncha. That is an engraved memory of my childhood. The only book I had then was Sybils Duwana Rawula (The Runaway Beard). Never did I dream at that time, that I would, in another 40 years have the same craving to read her stories. Today, hugging the pile of her books I told my younger son, Putha, take care of these precious books even after I die. These books will continue to share your life.

I am a middle-aged woman now with young children and here I am with my mind still revolving around the beautiful memories of my childhood. When my boys sit with me and listen to all those stories, I feel I have given life again to my cherished memories. When I read Sybils books about the times she spent with her grandmother in Ginthota, these stories carry me back to the times I lived in a village many miles away from Colombo with my family, where my grandmother played a prominent role in my life.

On July 1, I was reading the story of Matigedara Lamayi to my son and his friend when I got the sad news. It was a coincidence. My heart cried out. But I thought to myself its just her physicality we would miss. Her heart and soul cannot be taken and described as separate entities as they represent each and every storybook and illustration. All her stories depict love, beauty, innocence, and the purity of little hearts. They are like intangible substances which blend together to make a vivid painting on a canvas. Through them, she creates all imaginings into which a little mind could deeply excavate. Her unique illustrations enhance the beauty of the aththammaas, seeyaas, muththas, devils, animals, gamaralas, princes and princesses of her stories. Though she is no more with us, her works will enlighten generations to come.

Three years back I was fortunate enough to meet her at the exhibition organized for her 90th birthday. It was such a pleasure to see her vibrant at that time. Seeing her I felt it was all the love she has for children that made her look so. Elegantly dressed in a Kandyan saree, she enjoyed meeting the little boys and girls and men and women of different ages, who surrounded her.

I have no doubt she regretted todays world. She lived for close to a century, through which rapid changes took place in society. That day in 1933 when her family decided to shift to Colombo to offer English education to Sybil, she says she felt like her vivid childish dreams were bundled up and loaded in a lorry with the other materials to be brought to Colombo with them. But the child in her didnt vanish, it couldnt be bundled up; instead, it was strengthened, becoming wings to soar high revealing more and more of her unique capacity to embrace society.

So let us make a pledge to make this world beautiful in her absence. Lets make our children blossom, surrounded by magical beauty as in Sybils enchanting stories. Lets pave the way for them to enjoy the beauty of a crawling line of ants, to listen to the harmony of croaking toads after an evening of torrential rain, to embrace the rain and the darker clouds, not just the shining sun and the blue sky, to gaze at a squirrel digging into a ripe fruit on a tree. Their lives then will be filled with eternal love, the love towards humanity which we long for.
Three days ago, Rajasthan plunged into a political crisis when Special Operations Group (SOG) registered a case of sedition in an alleged attempt to topple the Ashok Gehlot government. The FIR was based on interception of two mobile phones. Two people, whose numbers were intercepted, have been arrested and the SOG has issued notices to Gehlot, deputy chief minister Sachin deputy Pilot, chief whip Mahesh Joshi and some legislators to record their statements in the case.

Pilot left for Delhi on Friday and at least seven Congress legislators also reached the capital at different times. All of them are first-time MLAs. The presence of Pilot and Congress MLAs in Delhi fuelled speculations that there was an attempt to topple CM Gehlot but people close to Pilot said the deputy CM went to bargain hard with the party leadership because he felt sidelined in the state government.

ALSO WATCH | Rajasthan political thriller: Gehlot-Pilot tussle, SOG probe, resort politics

Also read: Ashok Gehlot marginalised Pilot, Congress failed to settle issues in Rajasthan

The problem with them started after Congress won the December 2018 Assembly elections and instead of Pilot, who had steered the party to victory, Gehlot was named the CM. After that, both of them have targeted each other in a subtle manner, without naming each other.

The latest trigger was the issue of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief. Pilot has been party president in the state for a long time and theres talk of appointing someone else on the post to follow one person, one post rule. People close to Pilot say he wants either his man in the saddle after him or an important portfolio.

Before this, during the recent bureaucratic reshuffle of IAS and IPS officers, political commentators said Pilot didnt get even a single officer of his choice posted. Forget about IAS and IPS officers, he cannot even get a BDO (Block Development Officer) transferred or posted, said one of the commentators who didnt want to be named.

Also read: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot to meet party lawmakers tonight

The buzz in the state bureaucratic circles is that Pilot has differences with bureaucrats in his departments, especially in the public works department (PWD). Political appointments are also due in the state and Pilot, obviously, wants some of his people accommodated.

But, there has been friction between the two top leaders since the time of the government formation, which had led to a delay in the formation of the state government. The Congress party leaders said that after much persuasion, Pilot was able to get the post of deputy chief minister and some important departments. Pilot also had to bargain a lot to get some ministerial berths for legislators considered close to him.

Since the government was formed in 2018, Gehlot and Pilot had been at loggerheads. Both Gehlot and Pilot have passed comments against each other without taking each others names on several occasions. Pilot had questioned his own government over the death of 107 children in a government-run hospital in Kota and had also repeatedly raised the issue of no meeting of the coordination committee constituted by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to iron out differences between him and Gehlot.

Political analyst Narayan Bareth said that there is a process in the political system and you have to invest time and hard work to reach a post. Sachin Pilot is angry because he wants a lot of things in very less time. He is the state party chief, deputy chief minister holding various portfolios. Just like party invested in Ashok Gehlot, the Congress is also investing in Pilot, Bareth said.
An official in Ho Chi Minh City said it was not fair if the Vietnam Australia International School (VAS) did not allow students to continue attending because of conflicts with their parents.

Parents gather at the Vietnam Australia International School in HCM City to protest against the online study fee policy

Speaking with the media on the sideline of the meeting with the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council on July 10, vice chairman of the municipal people's committee, Duong Anh Duc, confirmed that he has discussed the issue with the local education department.

"This is a private school and they have contracts with the parents," he said. "The parents can sue the school if they cant solve the problem."

The official said that foreign investors in education in Vietnam should be aware that Vietnamese people value study and they should try to find a solution that does not affect the students.

He, however, advised parents to reconsider their requirements and try to understand the difficulties of the school as this is the first time such a situation occurred.

Many parents have recently been shocked after the VAS refused to admit their children for the new school year due to their conflicts with the school.

In a letter sent to some families dated June 30, VAS wrote: "During the school closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we, despite lots of efforts, have not been able to reach an agreement with some parents. The conflicts have badly affected the studying and teaching environment of our students and teachers."

"To ensure the best benefits and development for your child, we have to inform you that the Vietnam Australia International School cannot admit the student to our school for the 2020-2021 school year," the school wrote.

Sharing about the news, parent Huynh Ngoc, who has two children studying at the school said that she was very shocked when receiving the letter.

"I haven't informed my children about this yet as I'm afraid that they will be hurt.

Ngoc said that she was one among the parents who protested against the school's online study fees during the school closure for virus prevention.

"I asked the school to discuss the online study fees with parents and make some other proposals including improving the quality of meals and teaching, and not changing foreign teachers so often," Ngoc said.

Another parent, Pham Thi Bach Tuyet also received the same letter which she commented as an unfair decision by one of the most costly international schools in the area. She said she was also among the parents who protested against the school's policies on online study fees.

"I was going to come and meet with the school's lawyer to seek an agreement for the conflict when receiving the letter," she said.

Conflicts between VAS and the parents have been going on for many months about the cost of online study fees during the school closure period. More than 100 parents have sued the school over the polices.

VAS has not made any comments on the issue. Dtinews

Vietnamese parents spend huge money on students' cram schools Many parents in Hanoi and HCM City are spending a huge amount of money on cram schools for their children who are forced to study heavily at early ages to get in the best primary or secondary schools.
Hindutva leader Tapan Ghosh, who had tested positive for Covid-19, died at a hospital on Sunday, his associates said.

Ghosh, 67, was the founder of far-right group Hindu Samhati.

He was admitted to a private hospital last week after he tested positive for Covid-19.

Tapan-da passed away this evening. He is survived by two sisters, Hindu Samhati president Debtanu Bhattacharya told PTI.

A former RSS leader, Ghosh is the second politician in the state to die due to Covid-19. Last month, Trinamool Congress MLA succumbed to the contagion.

Condoling Ghosh's death, senior BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta said he was one of the most dedicated persons fighting for the unity of Hindus in West Bengal.

He gave his life to this cause, inspiring thousands through personal example. He will always be remembered and provide constant inspiration. Om Shanti, Dasgupta, a Rajya Sabha MP, tweeted.

Ghosh, who has been a pracharak of the RSS since 1975, broke away from the organisation in 2007, following some ideological differences.

Known for fiery speeches and often controversial remarks, he formed Hindu Samhati in 2008.

Formed with just a few hundred people, the organisation under his leadership spread to all districts of West Bengal and also opened units in Jharkhand and Assam.

Ghosh left Hindu Samhati in 2018, following some differences within the outfit.
The Congress has sent its senior leaders Ajay Maken and Randeep Surjewala as central observers to Jaipur to avert a crisis as it faces factionalism in Rajasthan.

The two leaders along with party general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Congress Avinash Pande will be reaching Jaipur this evening and will hold discussions with party MLAs, sources said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has summoned a meeting tonight of Congress MLAs.

The sources said that around 19 Congress MLAs are said to be siding with Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and are incommunicado.

The Congress is trying to save its government in Rajasthan, which faces a rebellion from within.

Pilot is miffed with Gehlot over the notice sent to him by the state police investigating the alleged horse-trading of Congress MLAs.

The chief minister has blamed the BJP for trying to topple his government, a charge the BJP has denied.
Several brands choose celebrities to endorse and publicise their brand, owing to their influence all over the world. But before TV commercials became a thing, it was only print ads that gave success to these brands , as they were endorsed by a popular celebrity. Here we take a look at 8 celebrities who were a part of vintage ads and what they looked like.

 Youtube/Vintage nation

Hindustan Unilever Limited launched a Vaseline hair cream back in time and the ad was promoted by the Iconic Bollywood Villain, Prem Chopra. The tag line 'for that cool look all day' certainly matched the overall tone of the ad.

 Twitter/Jackie Shroff

One can't deny Jaggu Dada's impeccable fashion sense . The veteran actor outshined in the Avis ad, wearing a light denim shirt coupled with a denim jacket and leather boots. Jackie deemed fit for this ad, as the brand wanted to portray the 'toughness' of their products and no one else could nail it like Jaggu Dada!

 Twitter/Salman Khan



Besides ruling the showbiz business, Salman Khan had also endorsed several brands back in the days. He featured in Aditya Birla's Graviera Suiting's ad, for which he wore pleated flared bottoms with a sleek white shirt and suspenders. The ad also featured his co-star Sangeeta Bijlani.

 Twitter/VinodKhanna_FC

Late Bollywood actor, Vinod Khanna's effortless style, would certainly give other actors a run for their money. The Cinthol ad, back in 1980, showed him racing with a stallion, wearing all denim attire and looking ridiculously fashionable. This campaign was too cool for its time.

 Twitter/Saif Ali Khan

Saif Ali Khan knows how to garner all the attention and same was the case back in time when he shot for a bathroom hardware brand and tried to be candid for the shoot. The dialogue is proof of the existential crisis in our lives too!

 Twitter/SrBachchan

The legendary actor, Amitabh Bachchan's talent is not just limited to acting but it goes beyond that. Big B was called a 'Superstar Material' for Bombay Dyeing's vintage ad, as he looked all suited up in a subtle tone suit, with various other styles of the brand, displayed in the ad.

 Youtube/Jab we met Bollywood

Lastly, the classic ad of Chetak Soap and Shakti Detergent, showed Dharmendra and Hema Malini, after their marriage. With a serene background and the couple gushing in love, this ad is certainly for the keeps!

8. Amjad Khan For Glucose D Biscuits

 Youtube/The great ads

At the time when heroes were ruling the industry, it was our very first villain Gabbar Singh whose on-screen presence was pretty terrifying. But even Amjad Khan showed his childlike presence with Glucose-D ad, which is probably where Gabbar got his nutrition and vitamins from.
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

PATNA: Bihar will have a world-class Mithila-Haat' along the Delhi-Kolkata national highway on the North-East Corridor in Madhubani district by March 2022.

This 'Mithila-Haat' is a first of its kind in the state and would come up on a total area of around 1.79 acres.

Sharing details about this with The New Indian Express, Madhubani district magistrate Dr. Nilesh Ramchandra Deore said: It will be a platform, whereby the arts and crafts, madhubani paintings, cuisines and all other folk arts of Mithilanchal region will be branded at one place and promoted nationally and across the world.

The Detail Project Report (DPR) of the Mithila-Haat, prepared by architect Adarsh Singh and his team, has been reviewed by officials including Madhubani's DM, assistant collector Preeti and executive engineer of Water Resources and Building Construction Department recently.

Outlining the salient features of this project, Dr Deore said that a multipurpose hall will also be constructed for art training in addition to a Geographic Indication Centre (GIC).

There would be a pond next to this haat, well beautified to give a soothing geographical look artistically and aesthetically with all-around pathways for the residents of Jhanjharpurto visit with their family members, he said, adding that a total 50 shops will be in the Mithila-Haat.

There will also be a foodcourt with various cuisines of Mithilanchals region in this haat.

It has also been decided to build separate dormitory for men and women on the first floor of the haat whereas a meeting hall is proposed on its third flyer, Dr Deore said.

The Madhubani DM further said that approval has been received for the construction of this haat at Rs 3 crore.

He credited and thanked WRD minister Sanjay K Jha for rendering all assistance to this project.
The Department of Medical Assistance Services, which runs the Medicaid program in Virginia, is packaging the first shipment of masks to distribute to Medicaid recipients who receive home care. Each will receive five masks for themselves and their attendants. The agency said it expects to complete the delivery of cloth masks to the remaining program recipients this week.
Nepal has formally complained to the Indian government about coverage of the Chinese envoys meetings with senior Nepalese leaders in a section of the Indian media, describing the reports as baseless and part of a smear campaign.

The complaint was made through a note verbale or unsigned diplomatic correspondence sent by Nepals foreign ministry last week, people familiar with developments said on Sunday.

There was no immediate reaction from Indian officials to the development.

Nepals cable TV operators had on July 9 removed all Indian news channels, except Doordarshan News, from their networks over the same issue, and Nepals envoy in New Delhi, Nilambar Acharya, had raised the media reports with the external affairs ministry.

The complaint from Nepals foreign ministry said it had taken seriously the content of reports by some Indian media outlets, which were baseless and abusive towards the country and its leadership, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

Such reports went against public decency and were part of a motivated smear campaign that has hurt the feelings of the Nepali people, the complaint said. Relations between the two countries are based on understanding and mutual respect of each others interests and concerns, and the media plays a vital role in disseminating the correct information and advancing these ties, it added.

Nepals cable TV operators had said they were irked by objectionable and derogatory references to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Chinese envoy Hou Yanqi in the media reports. One Indian news channel had suggested the premier could be honey trapped by the ambassador.

The Chinese envoy in Kathmandu has had a series of meetings with the president and leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, including Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who are seeking the ouster of Oli. The move against Oli has come at a time when his government issued a new map showing the Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepal, triggering a border row with India.

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Linkedin Daniel Woolls (Agence France-Presse) Bethesda, United States  Sun, July 12, 2020 09:48 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665a667a 2 World COVID-19,US,US-election,Donald-Trump Free

US President Donald Trump wore a face mask in public for the first time Saturday, finally yielding to intense pressure to set a public health example as the coronavirus rampages across America.

Trump had on a dark mask featuring the presidential seal as he walked through the corridors of Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington to meet with wounded veterans.

Trump strode past reporters and did not stop to speak to them about what had become a hotly anticipated moment--would he have a change of heart on a practice recommended by the government's own medical experts, even as he resisted?

"I've never been against masks but I do believe they have a time and a place," Trump said as he left the White House.

News reports this week said aides practically begged the president to relent and wear a mask in public -- and let himself be photographed -- as coronavirus cases soar in some states and as Trump trails Democrat Joe Biden badly in polls ahead of the November election.

Trump has steadfastly defended his administration's handling of the pandemic even though the US is the hardest-hit country in the world.

The country has recently seen several days of more than 60,000 new cases, nearly 135,000 people have died and states have been left to figure out on their own how to reopen without a clear and coherent strategy from the White House.

To wear a mask or not has become a sort of political fulcrum for a deeply divided America.

Conservatives who back Trump often refuse to don one on grounds it impinges on their freedom, while progressives tend to back the practice as a show of collective responsibility at a time of a life-or-death crisis.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend people wear masks in public when they cannot engage in social distancing.

But Trump -- at political rallies, media briefings and elsewhere -- has repeatedly avoided wearing a mask, even after staffers at the White House tested positive for the virus and as more aides, including Vice President Mike Pence, have taken to wearing them.

In May Trump even made fun of Biden when the latter started wearing a mask in public, sharing a tweet that featured an unflattering photograph of the former vice president in a black face covering.

Trump has reportedly told aides that wearing a mask would make him look weak and he could not stomach the idea of letting the media photograph him in one.

Even Saturday as he left the White House to head to Walter Reed, Trump made it sound like he would wear a mask only because he would be in a hospital -- not that he had come around and embraced the idea of donning one regularly.

"I think when you're in a hospital, especially in that particular setting, where you're talking to a lot of soldiers and people that, in some cases, just got off the operating tables, I think it's a great thing to wear a mask," Trump told reporters.
Rising seniors at Central High School Sheyla Street (left) and Samyah Smalley lead protesters in a song on Sunday. Read more

They marched because Black students gain entrance into Philadelphias magnet schools and Advanced Placement classes at lower rates than their white peers. They marched because schools that contain crumbling, toxic asbestos often educate Black children. They marched because some changes that students have been seeking for 50 years still have not come.

Walk as if you are transforming education with your feet, said Keziah Ridgeway, a Northeast High social studies teacher and organizer of a Sunday rally and march up Broad Street for Black lives. The School District of Philadelphia will not be the same after today.

Hundreds of teachers, students, parents, and education supporters chanted, waved signs, clapped and sang from City Hall to district headquarters on North Broad, saying that changes are long overdue for the districts 125,000 students. They underscored a list of demands, from cleaning up environmental toxins still widely present in schools to creating robust ways for students and teachers to report racism against them.

In advance of the protest, district officials said they were creating a racial equity board and promised a move toward antiracist education in every area of the district, rewriting curriculum in every subject area and mandating ongoing training for every staffer.

Organizers and those who attended the march said that the districts promises were a step, but that they would keep up the pressure, given the school systems past performance.

The voices of hundreds of district teachers, students, and supporters, who were stretched curb-to-curb across Philadelphias wide major artery, could be heard echoing off Broad Streets cavernous buildings. Over the beat of drumming students, the marchers chanted for change, When Black students are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back, went the chants. No justice, no peace. Abolish school police!

As the peaceful march reached district headquarters, musicians took to its steps to declare their intentions in song. Were fighting for our children. We shall not be moved, sung parent and longtime supporter of antiracism Tamara Anderson.

Some district leaders were watching closely. Board members Ameen Akbar, Mallory Fix Lopez, and Angela McIver attended the rally, pledging they would do more than listen.

Theres urgency, and we need to push this, said McIver. Timing will be crucial. Less than two months after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by Minneapolis police, the nations attention is still fixed on the racial justice movement. And the district is led by William R. Hite Jr., a veteran superintendent who has less than two years left on his contract.

The diverse crowd marched under a blazing summer sun. Protest organizers handed out water, snacks, and sunscreen, urging attendees to get COVID-19 tested. The crowd was heavily masked.

 READ MORE: 'It's time to challenge what has become normal': Philly schools move toward antiracism

Zoe Sturges, who teaches at Mastery Charter-Clymer, was galvanized by an incident in which one of her kindergarten students was threatened with handcuffs, she said. The boy, 6, figured out how to use a classroom landline to call 911; police showed up and wanted to give the kid a lesson, Sturges said, with handcuffs and a ride around the block in a police car.

Sturges principal did not allow police to cuff the boy, but the message from society to Black children is clear, Sturges said.

Megan Cullinane said its her duty as a teacher to keep in mind the lived experience of her students at Edison High, where the student population is mostly Latinx and Black.

Its up to every individual to commit to this movement, said Cullinane, who is white.

Elissa Goldberg, a teacher at AMY at James Martin, a district middle school, was glad to hear about the districts move toward antiracism, but worried about buzzwords and empty promises.

There needs to be resources and support, money to do all of this said Goldberg, emphasizing the need for trauma-informed practices and mental-health supports for district students and families.

 READ MORE: Going to school on alternate days is favored option among Philly teachers, staff, survey says

Mariame Sissoko, a recent graduate of Central High, said the district continues to criminalize Black and brown students.

We have counselors who despite their best efforts do not know how to counteract the effects of anti-Black racism, said Sissoko.

The districts teaching force is overwhelmingly white.

Central student Sheyla Street, the daughter of State Sen. Sharif Street, decried the low percentage of Black students in magnet schools such as hers. As a Black student, she has been singled out and her academic abilities doubted, Street said.

Lets show Black students that the Philadelphia School District does care about them, and they matter here, she said.

Her father, himself a Central graduate, said that his daughter is still fighting for things he and his classmates demanded nearly 30 years ago.

For many people, this is a generational struggle, Sharif Street told the crowd.

The concerns of Black students at Central and Masterman have been elevated recently by social media accounts that detail their struggles in plain and painful detail  students called the N-word, students isolated and targeted.

After the main rally broke off, several dozen people marched to Masterman, where a group of students and alumni protested the conditions Black students have dealt with there.

I never understand why staff would target me and my Black classmates about our shorts, a Masterman student said. Students should not be defined by their Blackness, but by their intelligence, she said.

Johari Sankofa, a 2011 graduate of Masterman, said hes still marked by eight years at the school and that in reading the Black at Masterman Instagram account, its clear to him that current students still struggle with some of the same problems he lived through.

I dont want anyone targeted, Sankofa said. I dont want anyone called the N-word.
A failure occurred due to a human error in following the procedure for aligning the radar, causing a 107-degree error in the system, the authority reported. It then detailed, minute by minute, the chain of events that led to the planes targeting. The missile operator contacted higher command but received no response, the authority said. Twenty seconds later, the first of two missiles were fired. Video footage showed the second appearing to hit the aircraft. The plane erupted in a fireball before crashing on farmland on the outskirts of Tehran.
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Linkedin Nupur Anand and Shilpa Jamkhandikar (Reuters) Mumbai, India  Sun, July 12, 2020 17:59 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665b7b00 2 Entertainment Amitabh-Bachchan,Abhishek-Bachchan,aishwarya-rai,India,bollywood,actor,Celebrities,coronavirus,COVID-19,pandemic Free

Three generations of Bollywood's Bachchan family were hit by the coronavirus as former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her daughter on Sunday joined her father-in-law Amitabh and husband Abhishek in testing positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.

Maharashtra state health minister Rajesh Tope said in a tweet that Aishwarya and her eight-year-old daughter had tested positive for the virus.

It was not clear whether they had been admitted to hospital, as Amitabh, a legendary Indian actor, and Abhishek were on Saturday, when they said they had mild symptoms of COVID-19.

Hospital officials and government health authorities said earlier on Sunday that Amitabh and his son were in stable condition.

Aishwarya, 46, who often features on "most beautiful" lists, has worked in several Bollywood and Hollywood films. She is a brand ambassador for several multinational companies, including L'Oreal.

Amitabh's wife Jaya, also an actor, has tested negative, said the health minister. Amitabh, 77, a revered celebrity who endorses dozens of Indian and global brands, has a net worth estimated to be over $100 million, trade analysts say.

The minister later deleted his tweet, but another government official confirmed to Reuters the information was accurate. A spokeswoman for Aishwarya declined comment.

India on Sunday registered a record increase in the number of coronavirus cases, taking the total number of affected people in the country to nearly 850,000, the world's third-highest, and prompting authorities to re-impose partial lockdowns in some densely populated areas.

Federal health ministry data showed that more than 27,100 new cases were reported in the previous 24 hours, while the death toll increased to 22,674, after 551 people succumbed in a day.

Amitabh said in a tweet on Saturday night that he had tested positive for the infectious virus. Within minutes, his actor son Abhishek, 44, tweeted that he had also tested positive.

T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited ..

All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested !  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 11, 2020

Both were moved to the Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai despite showing only mild symptoms and the father-son duo appealed to their millions of fans to stay calm.

Authorities launched a massive sanitising drill at Bachchan's upscale residence in Mumbai, spraying disinfectant in the large compound and on cars parked there.

Amitabh Bachchan has been a prominent figure in the fight against the coronavirus by appearing in public service advertisements in which he urges people to wear a mask, wash hands frequently and maintain social distance in his trademark baritone.

India's film industry recently resumed film shoots after a months-long hiatus following the imposition of a nationwide lockdown in late March.

But actors over 65, such as Amitabh, are banned from the sets because of their vulnerability to the virus.
More than 1 million CCP cadres, most of them men, reportedly live in Uighur homes while the households adult males are in detention. Children as young as 2 years old are taken from their homes and raised in party-run orphanages. Mosques are under constant surveillance and are being either Sinicized  made subordinate to Chinese culture  or destroyed at the partys direction. The CCP is even reinterpreting Islams sacred book, the Koran, to align with its worldview.
Portuguese Judicial Police have reportedly been searching several wells in the Algarve looking for the remains of Madeleine McCann, who disappeared 13 years ago, but didn't find anything.

The search was concentrated in the Municipality of Vila do Bispo about 15 kilometres from the Praia da Luz apartment where Madeleine, her parents and siblings, Amelie and Sean were staying on holiday.

After more than a decade of searching, British, Portuguese and German authorities announced last month that they had a new suspect.

He is a 43-year-old German known as Christian B. who was living in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007 and is currently serving a prison sentence in Germany for another crime.

Police say he has a long history of crime, including drug trafficking, theft, sexual assault on minors, rape and child pornography.

The German Prosecutor's Office named him as their main suspect in the alleged kidnapping and murder of Maddie and several witnesses have emerged in Germany, Britain and Portugal who appear to reinforce suspicions that he was involved her disappearance.

He is also being investigated in relation to other missing minors in Germany and the Netherlands.
The Mumbai Police, on Sunday, recovered bodies of two women in the western suburbs, of which, one was a doctor and was found dead in her residence at Powai, while the other body was found in a nullah adjoining the Western Express Highway at Bandra, is yet to be identified.

According to the Powai police, on Sunday morning, a woman called the control room number and informed them that her sister who stays alone in her flat at Powais Paradise building was not responding to the door or phone calls. Vijay Dalvi, inspector from Powai police station said, After receiving the call a police team was dispatched and they forced open. The police found the sister lying on the bed. As she was not responding, she was rushed to the Rajawadi hospital where she was declared dead before arrival,

The deceased identified as Aruni Ravindra Diwanji, 56, was a doctor by profession and as her son stays in London she was living alone. Nothing suspicious was found as such, however, we have registered an accident death record (ADR) and are awaiting a detailed postmortem report, Dalvi added.

Meanwhile, in another case, the body of an unidentified woman was found in a nullah near the Indian Oil building, western express highway, Bandra. According to the police at around 11am on Sunday someone contacted the control room number and informed them about a decomposed body in the nullah. The police team recovered the body and sent it to Sion Hospital for post-mortem. The woman must be between the 45 to 50 year age group.

Shashikant Bhandare senior inspector from Nirmal Nagar police station said, we are assuming she may be washed ashore from somewhere. This nullah (where the body was found) is connected with the Mithi river. Initial Postmortem report suggests she may have died 5 to 6 days before, but a detailed report is still awaited, which will clear the cause of her death. We have registered an ADR as of now.
Half of voters say Keir Starmer has boosted their view of Labour as his leadership prepares to mark its first 100 days tomorrow.

In results that will set alarm bells ringing in Downing Street, a poll found Sir Keir is seen as preferable to Boris Johnson on a range of measures - from competence to ability to negotiate with the EU.

Some 52 per cent can imagine him as PM - including a third of Tory voters - while 49 per cent say their opinion of the party has become more favourable since he took over from Jeremy Corbyn.

However, the Opinium survey for the Observer also highlighted how far Labour still has to go to recover after its election catastrophe in December.

In results that will set alarm bells ringing in Downing Street, an Opinium poll found Sir Keir is seen as preferable to Boris Johnson on a range of measures - from competence to ability to negotiate with the EU

Ex-MI6 chief says he is 'pleased' Corbyn's leadership is over A former head of MI6 has said he is 'certainly pleased that Corbyn is gone', as he welcomed Sir Keir Starmer's election as Labour leader. During the 2019 general election campaign, Sir Richard Dearlove - who led the secret service between 1999 and 2004 - said then party leader Jeremy Corbyn represented a 'present danger to our country'. Speaking to Sky News' Ridge on Sunday, Sir Richard said: 'I'm certainly pleased that Corbyn is gone. 'I think my strong personal views about Corbyn as a potential prime minister are well known and well understood. 'It's a relief that he's no longer leader of the Labour Party. 'On Keir Starmer, he seems to me to be a Labour leader of the type that we would expect and personally I feel quite content and happy with the fact that he's now leading the Labour Party.' Advertisement

Just 36 per cent believe the party is ready to return to government now, and among the 'Red Wall' former heartlands that delivered Mr Johnson's historic victory 60 per cent think the opposite. On headline voting intention the Conservatives had a four-point advantage.

Tory MPs have been increasingly concerned at the solid start made by Sir Keir since he succeeded the hapless Mr Corbyn.

He has restored links with the Jewish community, including by sacking left-winger Rebecca Long-Bailey for retweeting an interview with an actress featuring an 'anti-Semitic conspiracy theory'.

And Sir Keir has held his own against Mr Johnson at PMQs, landing a number of bruising blows in the Commons, although the premier has upped his game recently.

The research asked people a series of questions about the leaders, and gave them a net rating by subtracting the number of negative responses from the supportive ones.

Strikingly on competence, Sir Keir scored a net positive result of 28 against -4 for Mr Johnson, after a series of government missteps during the coronavirus crisis.

The premier was rated minus two for strong leadership, while his Labour opponent was on plus 21.

Sir Keir even scored better when people were asked who they would prefer to negotiate with the EU.

Mr Johnson, whose election mantra was 'Get Brexit Done' recorded a net rating of plus two compared to plus four for Sir Keir.

Adam Drummond, head of political polling at Opinium, said: 'This week's results highlight how far Labour has come in Keir Starmer's first 100 days but also how far they would still have to go to have a chance of winning power.

'The Labour leader is seen as a potential prime minister by 52 per cent of voters and 49 per cent say that he has made their perception of Labour more positive, versus 29 per cent for Jeremy Corbyn at this point in his leadership.

'However, that far fewer believe Labour is ready for government and this is particularly the case in seats Labour lost in 2019.

'This speaks to the central question of Starmer's leadership so far: do the public see him as a potential winner in 2024 or are his strong ratings a more temporary phenomenon and down to the public seeking a sober, reassuring figure at a time of crisis?'
Massachusetts health officials on Sunday reported 172 more people were confirmed as positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and that another 15 have died from illness related to the virus.

Massachusetts has confirmed at least 105,629 residents tested positive for coronavirus and 8,110 deaths thus far during the pandemic, the Department of Public Health said.

More than 3.2 million Americans have been infected, and while Massachusetts totals have largely been declining, several states in the South and West are seeing record-breaking spikes in recent weeks.

The DPH also announced Sunday 27 newly reported probable cases of coronavirus, which includes patients who had a positive antibody test, indicating they had been exposed.

As of Sunday, 583 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, according to DPH data.

The states seven-day weighted average of positive molecular tests is now at 1.7%. The rate has been 2% or just lower since the end of June, data indicates.

A total of 1,213,914 molecular tests and 80,573 antibody tests have been administered in the state during the pandemic.

Sundays totals come after the commonwealths first week in phase three of the reopening process. Gyms, restaurants, movie theaters, museums and other establishments are slowly reopening after months of being shuttered to avoid spreading the virus.

On Monday, after waiting a week out of an abundance of caution, the city of Boston will shift into the third phase of the reopening plan along with the rest of the state.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said Friday that the city continued to monitor coronavirus statistics and noted there has been a decline in new COVID-19 cases over recent weeks. The city remains in daily contact with area hospitals and plans to continue to make coronavirus testing widely available. The mayor also noted the citys use of contact tracing; Massachusetts was the first state in the country to launch a contact tracing program.

All of those measures helped the city choose to move into Phase 3 with caution and confidence, Walsh said.

Massachusetts has managed to remain at a low rate of new cases and has not seen any recent surge, unlike other parts of the country. Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Tennessee have set single-day death records this week, according to the New York Times.

Florida reported more than 15,000 cases on Sunday  the highest single-day total recorded by any state since the pandemic began, according to multiple outlets. On Saturday, Fox News reported that nearly 500 people died after contracting coronavirus in the Sunshine State last week, also a new record.

The Times reported Saturday that the countrys seven-day death average hit 642 on Friday, which is up from 471 earlier in July. However, that number is much lower than what the U.S. was averaging each day in mid-April, which was more than 2,200 deaths.

Coronavirus in Mass.: Cases, maps, charts and resources

Here are the coronavirus cases listed by each Massachusetts county:

Barnstable County: 1,578

Berkshire County: 613

Bristol County: 8,460

Dukes County: 58

Essex County: 16,469

Franklin County: 384

Hampden County: 7,000

Hampshire County: 1,008

Middlesex County: 24,483

Nantucket County: 22

Norfolk County: 9,462

Plymouth County: 8,811

Suffolk County: 20,301

Worcester County: 12,648

Unknown location: 300

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Rep. Martha Roby, who is retiring after a decade in Congress, endorsed Coleman on Thursday after he lauded her service during a televised debate Tuesday night.

Shortly after Coleman announced Robys endorsement, Moore said although he appreciated Robys service, she is part of the Washington establishment in the same swamp the president wants to drain.

In a news release, Moore said: The people of District 2 will always remember when Martha Roby turned her back on Donald Trump when he needed us most. She was the first congressional person to draft a letter asking him to drop out of the presidential race. That is something that we will never forget. President Trump needs our support. Can we really trust Roby/Coleman for that?

Roby withdrew her support after the release of Access Hollywood tapes in which Trump made inappropriate comments about women in 2005.

However, Roby later gave Trump her support, and he endorsed her during her 2018 re-election, when she ran against Moore, who finished third behind Roby and Bobby Bright.

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One of Moores campaign points is his belief in term limits, citing a promise kept to term-limit himself while serving as a state representative.
WASHINGTON  Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday he will grant a request from Democrats to call Robert Mueller to testify before his committee, after the former Russia special counsel penned an op-ed pushing back against President Donald Trump's decision to commute the sentence of a longtime ally.

Mueller broke his yearlong silence Saturday, defending the prosecution of Roger Stone and the broader investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In an op-ed published in The Washington Post, Mueller said the flamboyant political operative was "prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes."

"He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so," Mueller wrote.

Mueller breaks silence: Former Russia special counsel Robert Mueller defends Roger Stone prosecution in wake of Trump commutation

Roger Stone clemency: Trump grants clemency to ally Roger Stone after railing against 'unfair' conviction, sentencing

Mueller's remarks, prompted by Trump's commutation of Stone's 40-month prison sentence Friday, are the first since he testified before a House committee last year after his team brought charges against at least a half-dozen Trump associates during his campaign and after he took office.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller testifies on July 24, 2019.

Stone, who was supposed to begin serving his sentence Tuesday, was the last person charged as a result of Mueller's nearly two-year investigation. Mueller's voluminous report, released last year, found that the Trump campaign was an eager beneficiary to Russia's systematic efforts to help Trump win the presidency, but it did not find a conspiracy with the Kremlin. The report also identified instances of possible obstructive behavior by Trump, including attempting to get Mueller fired.

Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and one of Trump's fiercest allies in Congress, previously rejected calls from Democrats to have Mueller testify before the committee. That appears to have changed.

Story continues

"Apparently Mr. Mueller is willing  and also capable  of defending the Mueller investigation through an oped in the Washington Post," Graham said Sunday.

President Donald Trump gestures as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks about an upcoming afternoon vote in the Senate during an event in the East Room of the White House about Trump's judicial appointments, Nov. 6, 2019, in Washington.

In a letter to Graham last year, Senate Democrats said Mueller's report, while comprehensive, leaves many outstanding questions, including about Trump's personal and business ties in Moscow and his campaign's efforts to obtain emails damaging to then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

"We believe Robert Mueller would be best-suited to answer these and other questions  from both sides of the aisle  and we feel the Committee would benefit greatly from his testimony," according to the letter.

Contributing: Kevin Johnson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Robert Mueller: Graham said he will call special counsel to testify
But DeVos stuck to her hard line Sunday, failing to answer directly when asked about Brabrands concern over spacing and insisting the federal recommendation to keep students at least six feet apart is mere guidance, meant to be flexible. During an interview on CNNs State of the Union, DeVos said she hopes Brabrand will meet with her team to talk about ways that they can look at this freshly.
Warsaw, July 12 : Voting was underway on Sunday in Poland's presidential run-off election, where incumbent Andrzej Duda, an ally of the conservative government, is pitted against the opposition-backed Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.

Duda, supported by the conservative Law and Justice party seeking a second five-year term, topped the first round of voting on June 28 with 43.5 per cent of the vote but fell short of the 50 per cent needed to win outright, the BBC reported.

Trzaskowski followed close with 30.5 per cent of the ballots.

For the run-off on Sunday, polling stations opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 9 p.m.

Speaking on the last day of campaigning on Friday, Duda said he would continue strengthening the Polish state, "built on our inviolable tradition which is sacred to all of us and in which we have been brought up for generations".

Meanwhile, Trzaskowski, who won the capital's race for mayor in 2018 promising "Warsaw for All", pledged to heal rifts with the European Union.

On Friday, a final poll, conducted by IBRiS for internet publication Onet.pl, confirmed a neck-and-neck between the two candidates.

The poll showed Trzaskowski, the Mayor of Warsaw and a candidate of the main opposition party Civic Platform (PO), at 47.4 per cent support, followed by Duda at 45.7 per cent.

Seven per cent were still undecided, the poll found.

Exit polls had indicated 62.9 per cent of voters cast their ballots on June 28, up from 49 per cent five years earlier.

The presidential race, originally planned for May 10, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown.

To date, Poland has a total of 37,521 COVID-19 infections, with 1,568 deaths.
Vatican City, July 13 : Pope Francis has said he's "pained" by Turkey's decision to convert Istanbul's Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.

Speaking at a service in the Vatican, the Roman Catholic leader added that his "thoughts go to Istanbul", the BBC reported.

Hagia Sophia was built as a Christian cathedral nearly 1,500 years ago and turned into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of 1453.

The Unesco World Heritage Site became a museum in 1934 under Turkish Republic founding father Ataturk.

But earlier this week a Turkish court annulled the site's museum status, saying its use as anything other than a mosque was "not possible legally".

Pope Francis confined himself to a few words on the issue: "My thoughts go to Istanbul. I think of Santa Sophia and I am very pained." President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the first Muslim prayers would be held in Hagia Sophia on July 24.

Shortly after the announcement, the first call to prayer was recited at the site and broadcast on all of Turkey's main news channels. Hagia Sophia's social media channels have also been taken down.

Islamists in Turkey have long called for it to become a mosque again but secular opposition members opposed the move.

Defending the decision, President Erdogan stressed that the country had exercised its sovereign right, and he added that the building would remain open to all Muslims, non-Muslims and foreign visitors.

The Pope is one of several religious and political leaders worldwide who have criticised the move.

The World Council of Churches has called on President Erdogan to reverse the decision. The Church in Russia, home to the world's largest Orthodox Christian community, immediately expressed regret that the Turkish court had not taken its concerns into account when ruling on Hagia Sophia.

It has also drawn condemnation from Greece, and Unesco said its World Heritage Committee would now review the monument's status.

One of Turkey's most famous authors, Orhan Pamuk, told the BBC that the decision would take away the "pride" some Turks had in being a secular Muslim nation.

"There are millions of secular Turks like me who are crying against this but their voices are not heard," said Pamuk.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The killing of George Floyd, a black American, has brought a moment of reckoning for the United States and triggered worldwide protests where people questioned deeply entrenched racist pasts. These conversations must enable Indians to look for the fault lines in their social system and the voices that go unheard among communities that are already marginalised. One such group is the 'Dalits' among Muslims. Due to the absence of studies and data, their stories of segregation on dining, wedding and studying go unreported and unrepresented. Professor Fahimuddin, a faculty member at the Giri Institute of Development Studies (ICSSR-UP government), shares the dismal profile of Dalit Muslims who are yet to be identified as 'existing'.

The paramount question is the existence of Dalits among the Muslim community. Both in social science literature and political discourse, this issue has been highlighted several times if there exists a group among Muslims whose lives are comparable to those included in Scheduled Caste communities belonging to other religious backgrounds.

In the absence of any reliable data and study, this issue is rather difficult to explore, especially because no caste other than those who follow Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism is included in the Schedule Caste category.

This is what writer John C Webster (1999;69) has referred to as the 'communal analysis of caste' that believes Dalits are people within the Hindu society who belong to a caste which the larger Hindu religion considers to be 'polluting by virtue of hereditary occupation'.

This further ligitimises the idea that the caste system cannot exist outside the periphery of the Hindu religion. This understanding was initiated by British rulers in subsequent Census operations during the beginning of 20th Century and it continues even today in one form or the other.

Tracing back to the beginning of the communal analysis of caste in modern India, Webster (1999) said that in the 1911 Census, the castes and tribes which were excluded from the Hindu religion on some or the other ground, were discussed separately during the Census process.

For this purpose, the Census prescribed 10 criterion to determine excluded castes and those that were included in all aspects of Hindu religion.

Quoting Hutton (1933; 473), Webster noted that the 1931 Census recognised exterior castes as primarily Hindu castes occupying a degraded position in Hindu social scheme.

Hutton (1933; 484) treated them as Hindus because he said they worshiped the same deities though were not allowed to enter the temple. It is significant that it was decoded that Muslims and Christians should be excluded from the term depressed class (Webster; 1999).

This communal view of caste also found support among national and social leadership, especially by Mahatma Gandhi. Webster (1999) notes not only his facts in response to the communal award but also his scrupulousness in having the Harijan Sevak Sangh confining its upliftment activities to Hindu Harijan was based on this premise.

On the ground of disabilities imposed on Dalits, BR Ambedkar (1969; 92) considered Dalits not to be Hindus distinct from one hundred percent Hindu.

The same understanding initiated by British, who considered Scheduled castes only as a part of Hindu religion. This continued to persist even after Independence and it is reflected in the Presidents Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order No. 19 of 1950 that categorically declared that no person who professes a religion different from the Hindu religion shall be deemed to be a member of scheduled caste.

This was amended in 1956 to include the Sikhs and in 1990 to include the Buddhists. In 1956, this religion criterion for determining caste membership was upheld by the Supreme Court which argued that caste was a peculiarly Hindu phenomenon.

Communal view of caste has also influenced researchers work and even the countrys Dalit movements. Researchers have a limitation that many times they have to base their studies on government data due to non-availability of alternative sources.

Webster (1999) notes that most sociologists and political scientists in studying Dalit since Independence confine their samples to Hindus. Initially Dalit movement too, under influence of such view, treated Dalits who converted to other religion as no longer Dalit and therefore no longer part of the history of the Dalit movement.

Research on the history of Dalit Christians indicates that this communal framework of analysis does not do justice to the complexity of either Dalit social reality or the modern Dalit movement (Webster, 1999).

A similar experience was noted among Dalits who converted to Buddhism where a stratum of 'Buddhacharyas' has emerged to perform weddings and other ceremonies. And these ceremonies continue to follow the so-called Hindu rituals (Fiske, 1972), while the internal hierarchy among Dalits persists. Neo-Buddhist Mahars look down with contempt upon those belonging to Scheduled Castes, but have not converted to Buddhism.

Jayshree Gokhale (1990:34) observed that despite the intent of ideology to actualise equality and community among all Dalits, the conversion has so far not led to new relations promoting emotional ties of equality among Dalits (Shah, 2001;207).

Social status of Dalits converted to Sikhism also continues to be more or less similar to their Hindu counterpart. It was recognised that in the matter of caste, the Sikhs, like the orthodox Hindus, hold aloof from the unclean classes, and even the Mazhabi Sikhs are excluded from the religious shrines and are left to the religious administration of granthis of their own caste (Bingley, 1985).

The communal view of caste is shared by those who claim that caste does not exist among Muslims because of its egalitarian ethos. Scholars working on issues relating to Dalit Muslims differentiate between textual Islam and lived Islam.

They have underlined persisting socio-economic inequalities between Dalit Muslims and other social groups while documenting instances of untouchability being practised in social dealings.

They argue that the false pride about there being no discrimination in the Muslim society on the grounds of caste constrained efforts at the community or the non-governmental level to improve the conditions of Dalit Muslims (Anwar, 2005).

Comparing socioeconomic and ritual status of Dalit Muslims with that of communities included in the Scheduled Caste, Ali Anwar (2005: 2) argues that our journey started more or less with the same social, educational and economic status. We washed clothes like them. We too were called dhobi (washerman) like them. The only difference was that they had a Hindu name while we had a Muslim name. They too cleaned dirt like us. Again the only difference was, they were called dom and bhangi and we were addressed as maihtar and khakrobor, halalkhor. Likewise lalbegi, nachi, pasi, bhant, bhatiyara, pamaria, nat, bakkho, dafali, nalband, dhobi, saiin, etc and other numerous castes, who follow different religions (Hindu/ Muslim) but their professions, social, economic and educational status are similar. And were termed as ashpriya (untouchable) in Hindu society, while in Muslim society they are called arzal (inferior).

In his book Masawat ki Jung, Anwar presents how Dalit Muslims are discriminated on the basis of caste everyday life by the Ashrafs. Such discrimination persists in mosques and even after ones death.

He provides a detailed description of the plight of Pamarias in a Pathan-dominated village of Bhojpur district where the community is not allowed to bury their dead ones in the upper-caste Pathan graveyards. He cites popular proverbs and stereotypes about the so-called low-born Muslims and dissects social formations with dazzling clarity.

Alis approach is criticised on account of losing sight of the political economic aspect of caste dynamism displayed in evolving to newer situations.

This approach is static as it freezes the institution of caste once and for all and loses sight of its dynamic aspects. Economic mobility, in conjunction with available political matrix, does change the social status and as a consequence opens up new possibilities of marriage transgressing the otherwise closed walls of castes (Ahmad, 2003).

On any social and economic indicator, Dalit Muslims are at the bottom of the ladder. The field survey by the Giri Institute of Development Studies has indicated that around 9 per cent children in the age group of 5-15 years among Dalit Muslims are child labourers compared to 4 per cent among all Hindus and 6 per cent among all Muslims.

The literacy rate among Dalit Muslims was found lowest (70 per cent) compared to all Hindus (79 per cent) and all Muslims (73 per cent).

In terms of attaining education, Dalit Muslims are most backward. The percentage of non-literate Dalit Muslims was 30 per cent as compared to 21 per cent among all Hindus and 26 per cent among all Muslims, according to a book, titled 'Backward and Dalit Muslims: Education, Employment and Poverty', by Surinder Kumar, Fahim Uddin, Prashant K Trivedi and Srinivas Goli.

Besides, a number of the Dalit Muslim households reported that they do not receive an invitation from non-Dalits for wedding feasts, etc. This is possibly a reflection of a settlement pattern segregated along the caste lines.

Responding to a question about seating arrangement, a section of Dalit Mumslims testified that they are seated separately in non-Dalit feasts. Almost a similar proportion of respondents confirmed that they eat after the upper-caste segment had finished the meal.

And yet another section reported that they were served food in different plates and their children were seated in separate rows during mid-day meals in their schools. Numbers here are relatively smaller generally in the range of 5-10 per cent but they do indicate the existence of untouchability among Muslims.

To elicit a response of Dalit Muslims on discrimination in religious spaces, a query on burial ground was posed to them. At least one-third of them stated that they were not allowed to bury their dead in upper caste burial grounds.

However, according to religious texts, Muslims offer prayer in the same mosque in some places, Dalit Muslims have a separate mosque because they felt discriminated in the main mosque.

A section of Dalit Muslims also felt that their caste is seen associated with menial jobs. Some Dalit Muslims have reported that they are served food and water in plates and glasses different from what was used by the upper-caste Muslims. Another section of the community reported that their children were asked to sit in separate rows in their schools.

On the basis of the above facts, there can be no doubt that Dalit Muslims were considered socially backwards and treated as a distinct group by their upper caste co-religionist. While the overall social status imposed on Dalit Muslims is that of an inferior group but the manner in which social supremacy is asserted by the upper caste Muslims varies across Uttar Pradesh.

The discrimination of Dalit Muslims included social and cultural segregation expressed in various forms of refusal to have any social interaction during marriages, social functions, graveyards and even in schools.

This is not an exhaustive study of untouchability among Muslims but indicators taken to investigate three sites viz home, food and religious places do give leads to explore these issues further. In fact, forms of untouchability such as settlement segregation, separate burial grounds, different utensils are exposed unmistakably by this data.

But on other indicators, a relatively lower number of respondents sharing the experience of caste discrimination may be just the tip of an iceberg. It is amply documented that the caste system operates among Muslims in a modified form, so is the practice of untouchability. One source of this modification is the absence of religious legitimacy to these practices which might have also influenced the reactions of respondents.

Relative backwardness among social groups, especially between OBC groups, has put Muslim OBCs is a worse-off condition than Hindu OBCs on all indicators.

A large proportion of them have been unable to even obtain OBC certificate and only a fraction of them could avail benefit of reservation for securing a job.

And their caste is considered socially backward by other Muslims. In fact, on most of the indicators they are either comparable or worse than Hindu SCs.

The data also reveals political under-representation of OBC Muslims. Any alleviation looks like a distant dream, as we are yet to even acknowledge the existence of the Dalit Muslims.
Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday (July 12) launched an attack on the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in the state.

Criticising the ruling Thackeray government for its handling of COVID-19 cases, BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya said, "COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra doesn't look good at all. All accounts suggest a worrying trend. Pune is witnessing a sharp rise in cases, so is Mumbai. After Amitabh Bachchan, now members in Anupam Kher's family have also tested positive. A clueless Maharashtra admin looks on..."

Maharashtra recorded another highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases with 8,139 new patients being detected on July 11 which took the case tally in the state to 2,46,600. With 223 fatalities reported during the day, the death toll crossed the 10,000-mark to reach 10,116, said a statement from the state health department.

The July 11 rise in cases surpassed the record increase of 7,862 reported the day before. At least 4,360 patients were discharged from hospitals on Saturday, which took number of recovered patients to 1,36,985. There are 99,499 active cases in the state while 12,85,991 people have been tested so far.

On Saturday, Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan were hospitalised in Mumbai hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. Actor Anupam Kher's mother Dulari Kher, his brother Raju Kher and his family members also tested positive for the infection. While Kher's mother was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai, Raju and others quarantined themselves at home. The 65-year-old actor too had also got himself tested. His test report is, however, was negative.

On the other hand, reports of Jaya Bachchan, Aishwarya and Aaradhya also came negative and they have quarantined themselves at their bungalow.
When the first cases of coronavirus were detected in the United States, Samantha Tillman didnt take it too seriously.

In late May, after Gov. Greg Abbott rolled back lockdown rules and allowed bars in Texas to partly reopen, Tillman, 29, went out to lift a few cold ones, just because it had been so long. She patronized a few restaurants, went to the grocery store, the gas station. She had a birthday party for her son and took a family trip to Port Aransas.

Her 67-year-old father didnt hesitate to head downtown and stand with others defending the Alamo during a crowded Black Lives Matter protest in June. Then they both started feeling sick. Tests confirmed it: COVID-19.

I thought this is just a big joke, Tillman said. Until a friend of mine who lives down the street lost his father to the virus.

Jerry Lara /Staff photographer

Tillman, a hairstylist who lives in St. Hedwig, is one of a growing number of young people who have contracted COVID-19 since Texas reopened, fueling a surge of infections that is overwhelming hospitals, testing centers and public health departments in San Antonio and statewide.

On May 1, the same day retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters and malls resumed operations, people under age 40 accounted for 42 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Bexar County. By last week, it had climbed to 57 percent, Metropolitan Health District figures show.

This is an extraordinarily dangerous time, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said recently. Our hospital capacity could run out in the next week or two if we keep growing like this.

Doctors, public health workers and infectious disease experts point to several reasons for the rising rates of COVID-19 among young people in Bexar County  a trend found in places where new infections are breaking daily records, such as Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio and Arizona.

There are so many things that contribute to that increase, said Angela Clendenin, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Texas A&M University. Theres no way to credit it to a single event.

RELATED: 'Not a conspiracy theory': South Texas judge, doctor point to people not taking COVID-19 seriously for 'tsunami' of cases

One major factor was Abbotts decision to reopen restaurants, businesses and bars. It was widely perceived as permission to resume normal activities, and to do so without face masks.

Many people  particularly young adults who are more likely to go out and socialize with friends in groups  let their guard down. The virus, which can be readily transmitted by people who show no symptoms, spread like wildfire.

The increase in COVID-19 cases among young adults has local officials worried. Metro Health is developing a targeted approach to raise public awareness and cut the spread of COVID-19.

Among the initiatives the agency hopes to unveil soon: A public health campaign  partly directed at young adults  and a handful of ads or stories on Snapchat and Tik Tok, social media platforms popular with teenagers and young adults. Another is partnering with social media influencers who can share COVID messaging with their hundreds or thousands of followers.

Many young people dont consume media the same way their parents and grandparents did, said Michelle Vigil, a spokeswoman for Metro Health. They dont watch TV. They dont listen to the radio. They dont like Facebook. We have to try a variety of different techniques to get the message out.

That message is more urgent than ever. Young adults, unaware theyre infected, are not only spreading the virus to each other, but also to their parents, grandparents and other older relatives, who are more vulnerable and likely to die.

And while young people, by virtue of their age and health status, tend to not get as sick from the virus, they still can suffer fatal complications.

As of Tuesday, 225 people in Bexar County under the age of 40 were being treated in hospitals, one-quarter of the total hospitalizations. Of those, 55 were in intensive care units and 18 were on ventilators to help them breathe.

Of the 175 people who have died from COVID-19 in Bexar County, eight were under the age of 40, including two teenagers, one of whom was a recent graduate of Southwest Legacy High School.

Its terrifying, said Marilyn Galindo, an internal medicine physician at University Hospital. Im in my mid-30s. Im having to send home people younger than me with a tank of oxygen. These are completely healthy 30-year-olds who may have lung damage for the rest of their life.

Where did it start?

For some young adults, its hard to pin down how they contracted the virus.

Ryley Stewart, 23, thinks she picked it up at the gym, where she worked out about 10 times in June. In the weeks before she tested positive, she had visited several restaurants  including Chicken N Pickle and Hops and Hounds  but both times, she sat outside with only one other person.

Clarissa Rodriguez, 23, surmises that her boyfriend, an H-E-B employee, brought the virus home. Other than work and trips to the store, the couple rarely went out.

Nina Contreras, 38, suspects she contracted the virus from a colleague at work, who later tested positive. The same with Ernestine Diaz, 35.

Valerie Casanova, 35, isnt sure yet if she has the virus, but it seems likely. Her 13-year-old daughter had body aches and night sweats shortly after attending church with her father and grandfather, both of whom later tested positive.

At the start of the pandemic in the U.S., young people were not the target of warnings about virus. They may have even thought they were exempt.

The public health messaging focused on certain people that tended to get sicker, including people who are older and those with underlying health conditions, said Julie St. John, an associate professor of public health at Texas Tech University Health Science Center.

Part of that was because we didnt know a lot about the virus at that point, St. John said. We learned more as time went on.

Directions from health experts were confusing, even contradictory, at least initially.

One example: Early in the pandemic, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams discouraged the public from buying or wearing masks. Seriously people  STOP BUYING MASKS! he wrote on Twitter in February. They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #coronavirus.

In April, following new guidance from global health organizations, Adams clarified his statements in favor of people wearing masks.

On ExpressNews.com: Nearly 2,000 come out to honor Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen

Once the initial message gets out, it takes a lot of effort and exposure to change that, St. John said. It takes a lot of work to change a persons mind.

The reopening of states in late May also confused the public. It was never supposed to be at the expense of wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing, she said.

Unfortunately, that message got lost.

Since then, Abbott has ordered bars closed again and masks be worn.

Many public health experts emphasized they arent blaming young adults for the recent surge in infections. They said going out and socializing are a normal part of development for young adults.

Sara Oswalt, a public health professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said many young people she works with understand the danger of the virus, and they changed their behaviors at first, but that is hard to maintain long term. There is a desire to return to life pre-COVID.

Alternatively, because the numbers werent really bad at first here, its possible many people didnt see it as a risk. So they resumed their normal behaviors.

This was a big shock

Carlos Javier Sanchez /Contributor

Vanessa Hernandez, 35, was treated at a local hospital, soon after testing positive for COVID-19 on June 10.

She had visited the R&J Saloon off South Flores Street on the South Side. Within 24 hours, Hernandez began getting headaches and body aches. It felt like she was coming down with the flu. Her temperature spiked to 100.3 degrees.

Over time, she began to feel tightness in her chest and could barely breathe. She went to a hospital, where doctors determined she had fluid in her chest. She stayed for three days.

It was pretty awful, said Hernandez, who has no underlying health conditions. I had no idea how my body was going to react. There are stories of young people who are perfectly fine  they just get a few symptoms  and there are stories of young people dying. The fear of all that, of all those possibilities, was awful.

With time, Hernandez began to feel like herself, but the symptoms continued off and on for several weeks, and it took a month before she tested negative.

I figured I would only have to quarantine for two weeks, she said. But the virus affects everyone differently. Just because its been two weeks, doesnt mean the virus is gone. People need to be retested.

Throughout the ordeal, she took extra precautions to keep her two children healthy. Still, they too developed symptoms. Her daughter, who is 17, was briefly treated at the hospital after throwing up for two days straight.

When any child is sick, being the mom, its just hard, Hernandez said. Thankfully, I was starting to feel better. I wasnt at my worst. But watching her not being able to eat, watching her take out the trash because she was constantly throwing up, thats what scared me the most.

Carlos Javier Sanchez /Contributor

Kim Garza, 34, also was briefly treated at an area hospital after she contracted the virus at a family gathering in mid-June, maybe from her nephews girlfriend, though its hard to say for sure.

They spent the night, and I saw his girlfriend drinking Theraflu that night in my kitchen, Garza said. When I think back, I think she knew she was sick. But she didnt say anything.

Garza had many of the common symptoms  headache, sinus pressure, loss of taste and smell, nausea. She never had a fever. Neither did her father or her three children, all of whom became ill.

But at one point, after experiencing shortness of breath, Garza went to an emergency room. She was given a breathing treatment and steroids and sent home.

This was a big shock for me, getting sick, she said. Even though I saw everything going on, on the news, I didnt think it would happen to me.

Infecting others

Christine Leyva considers herself reasonably healthy. At 35, she gets sick once or twice a year  if that.

In late May, one week after Abbott announced that bars could reopen, she didnt think much about going out with her friend, Cathy, to visit several bars on the St. Marys strip.

Early on, everyone was saying that the coronavirus was only affecting older people and those with underlying health conditions, said Leyva, a local real estate agent. I didnt think I could get sick or pass it along to others.

Within three days, Cathy fell ill and tested positive for COVID-19. Leyva, who felt fine for the most part, decided to self-isolate.

But by that point, it was too late  Leyva had already spent time with her parents, who are in their 60s, and her sister, who has an 8-month-old baby.

Within a month, Leyva tested positive for COVID-19. So did her father and sister.

Its possible her mother, nephew and niece also had the virus. They had minor symptoms and never got tested.

Leyva felt awful about infecting her family. At one point, her sister took her daughter  Leyvas 8-month-old niece  to the hospital after the baby became fussy and appeared to be sick.

There, doctors said it was likely just teething. Still, her sister didnt talk to Leyva for a week.

Now, Leyva takes a lot more precautions. She wears her mask frequently, even when its not required, and she doesnt go to restaurants as much.

Its scary, Leyva said. I understand why the numbers are rising. I think a lot of people like me dont get bad symptoms. Theyre passing it on without even knowing it.

eeaton@express-news.net | mstoeltje@express-news.net
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 22:29:26|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Five people were shot at an apartment complex in the U.S. Midwestern state of Michigan during a dispute on Sunday morning, U.S. media outlet CNN quoted Lansing Police Chief Daryl Green as saying.

Local police responded to a call of shots outside the complex around 3 a.m. (0700 GMT), according to the CNN report.

The police department of Lansing, Michigan's capital city, said it has no suspect information to report so far.

All five victims in the shooting, whose lives are currently not at risk, have been hospitalized for treatment, Green said, adding that the police will try their best "to hold those responsible accountable," according to CNN. Enditem
(Natural News) A memorial for firefighters that gave their lives during the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 in the village of Washingtonville, Orange County, New York was defaced by vandals.

The memorial was created in 2002 and is dedicated to five firefighters from Washingtonville who sacrificed their lives during 9/11. It consists of a 25-foot flagpole, a semi-circle of five granite monuments, one for each of the firefighters, a series of large plaques honoring the service of all emergency responders and a brick walkway known as the Walkway of Heroes, where each brick has the name and assignment of each emergency responder that gave their life on 9/11.

According to Washingtonville Mayor Joseph Bucco, the vandals cut down the flagpole and defaced the rest of the memorial with graffiti. The vandals also ran off with an eagle figurine that sat on top of the flagpole. It was found in the nearby St. Marys Church  the sign to which was also damaged. Officials believe the vandalism of the church is linked to the main incident.

The Washingtonville Police Department (WPD) hoped that the flagpole coming down was just an accident. However, when they arrived at the memorial there was no question that it was an act of vandalism.

WPD Chief Brian Zaccaro said that a tool was used to saw through the flagpole around 5 feet from the base, and a message was written on the part of the pole that was still attached to the ground. The WPD have yet to reveal the details of the message, as it may affect the overall investigation.

WASHINGTONVILLE MONUMENT VANDALIZED: #Police are investigating 2 incidents of overnight vandalism in #Washingtonville, including a downed flagpole at the 9/11 Fireman's Memorial that was was allegedly intentionally damaged. Anyone with tips is asked to call PD @ 845-496-9123. pic.twitter.com/VUYFo04EFa  Blaise Gomez (@BlaiseGomez12) July 8, 2020

It was like a punch to the stomach, said Joe Zaccaro, the creator of the memorial. I was just so upset and I started getting a bunch of text messages and emails from a lot of people from our town. (Related: After 9/11, liberals begged the country not to be bigoted toward all Muslims, so why are they bigoted towards ALL cops now, when only a few committed this latest atrocity?)

The WPD is working with New York State Police and the Orange County District Attorneys Office to find the perpetrators of this heinous act of vandalism. They have even offered a reward of $5,500 for anybody to come forward with information that can lead to the arrest of the criminals responsible.

Furthermore, the FBI field office in New York City has offered to help with the investigation, even though Washingtonville hasnt specifically requested for aid yet.

Listen to this episode of the Health Ranger Report, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he talks about how the Radical Lunatic Left is not even sparing language in its attempt to destroy America.

Washingtonville community stands together against vandals who desecrated the memorial

Every prominent individual in Washingtonville has come out to express their disgust at the act of vandalism and to condemn the actions of the criminals responsible. Local residents and volunteer firefighters even stepped up to keep watch over the memorial for two straight nights after the flagpole was cut down so that it wouldnt be desecrated again.

The destroy everything & hate everyone culture has struck again last night as the Washingtonville NY Orange County 9/11 Memorial park was vandalized & AMERICAN FLAG CUT DOWN. These individuals obviously don't know what sacrificing everything to save a fellow human being really is pic.twitter.com/oUFdh3gWr2  NYCFireWire (@NYCFireWire) July 8, 2020

Renaldo Robledo, a 9/11 first responder, went down to the memorial on Thursday, July 9, to leave a folded American flag and pay his respects.

It brought tears to my eyes, he said, because I lost a lot of friends [on 9/11], and its still hurting. News 12 Westchester also witnessed many other members of the community come by the memorial to place flags. The Monell Engine Company of the Washingtonville Fire Department even came down to install a temporary flag pole at the memorial.

They picked the wrong village here for this to happen, said Mayor Bucco, who pledged to get the memorial fixed immediately. In addition, he said that surveillance cameras will also be installed to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.

Other prominent members of the community who spoke out against the heinous crime include Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus, New York State Republican Assemblyman Colin Schmitt and New York Democratic Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney. Both Schmitts and Maloneys districts cover Washingtonville.

You just wonder who would do such a stupid thing, said Maloney, but what we were just talking to the mayor about is how they picked the wrong community and this community is going to come together like never before.

The desecration of this memorial is just one of the many acts of vandalism brought on by the wave of rioting and civil unrest across the nation. Learn more about it at Rioting.news.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

LivingMemorial.VoicesOfSeptember11.org

Westchester.News12.com

Newsweek.com

Fox6Now.com

NationalReview.com
Arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations of launching a military offensive using artillery fire along their shared border on Sunday, with Baku reporting two troops killed.

Azerbaijan's defence ministry said Armenia's "offensive" from its northern Tavush region was met with a "counterstrike" and retreated.

"Two Azerbaijani servicemen were killed and five more wounded," it added.

Yerevan, on its part, accused Baku of "using artillery in an attack aimed at capturing (Armenian) positions."

"They were repulsed, suffering losses in manpower. There were no casualties among Armenian servicemen," Armenia's defence ministry spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanyan, said in a Facebook post.

Fighting resumed late in the night with Azerbaijani forces shelling Armenian positions from trench mortars and tanks, according to Stepanyan.

"Azerbaijan's political and military leadership will bear the responsibility for the consequences of the escalation," she said.

The two former Soviet republics have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway territory which was at the heart of a bloody war in the 1990s.

But the Sunday clashes were far from Karabakh, and directly between the two Caucasus states, which happens rarely.

Since a fragile 1994 ceasefire, peace talks between Baku and Yerevan have been mediated by the "Minsk Group" of diplomats from France, Russia, and the United States.

- Spectre of war -

Sunday's clashes erupted days after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev raised the spectre of a fresh war with Armenia and denounced stalled peace talks.

On Tuesday, Aliyev threatened to withdraw from Karabakh negotiations "if they yield no results." He did not provide details.

Citing the right to self-defence enshrined in the United Nations Charter, he rejected the negotiators' premise that "there is no military solution to the conflict".

An all-out war between the two countries could potentially envelop the entire Caucasus, dragging in regional powers -- Armenia's military ally Russia and Azerbaijan's patron Turkey -- which compete for geopolitical influence in the strategic region.

Commenting on the clashes on Sunday, Aliyev said "Armenia's military adventure is aimed at dragging into the conflict the military-political organisation of which it is a member."

He was referring to the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Aliyev accused Yerevan of military buildup along the two countries' border and of "regularly" shelling civilian targets in Azerbaijan.

Ethnic-Armenian separatists seized Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a war that claimed 30,000 lives in the early 1990s, but the international community still views the region as part of Azerbaijan.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending exceeds Armenia's entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to take back the breakaway territory by force.

Moscow-allied Armenia has vowed to crush any military offensive.

In 2016, deadly clashes in Karabakh nearly spiralled into full-scale war.

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Canberra, Jul 11 (AP) Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration has given provisional approval to the drug remdesivir, an experimental medicine that has shown promise in the recovery time of the most seriously ill COVID-19 patients.

The approval comes as Australia is seeing a sharp increase in coronavirus infections in the state of Victoria, which reported a record 288 new confirmed cases Friday.

Also Read | Akhil Gogoi, Jailed Assam Activist, Tests Positive for COVID-19, Say Reports: Live News Breaking & Coronavirus Updates on July 11, 2020.

Authorities say remdesivir will be available only to patients who are severely ill, require oxygen or high-level support to breathe, and are in hospital care.

It is the only drug licensed by both the US and the European Union as a treatment for people with severe illness from the coronavirus.

Also Read | Indian Coast Guard Ship Rescues 6 Sri Lankan Fishermen Again, Second Time This Month.

With a population of 26 million, Australia has recorded more than 9,000 coronavirus cases, with 106 deaths. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Community, Charity & Cause, Arts & Culture

By Catherine Eve Published: July 11 2020

EMBRACE, a Farmingdale State College Memorial Gallery virtual summer PRIDE exhibition, celebrates LGBTQIA+ artists of New York.

The Farmingdale State College Memorial Gallery highlights and celebrates contemporary LGBTQIA+ artists of New York as part of EMBRACE, a virtual summer PRIDE exhibition.

Courtesy of Beth Giacummo

The exhibit, running on the colleges Visual Communications - Art + Design Facebook page through September 15, features the work of one invited artist each day. The public is invited to visit the site daily to see the exhibition unfold.

Courtesy of Beth Giacummo

EMBRACE, curated by Anu Annam and Beth Giacummo, includes works in all media reflecting various interpretations of how the LGBTQIA+ community has historically overcome separation and is paving the way for far-reaching acceptance. With physical expressions of love and affection limited globally, Giacummo said, the concept of the human embrace has never been more timely and unifying."

Courtesy of Beth Giacummo

Many Pride celebrations, which typically take place during Pride month in June, and which Giacummo said "serve as a primary source of support for many in the LGBTQIA+ community, were canceled due to the pandemic. EMBRACE is a way everyone can "come together."

The following are a few of the participating artists:

Bea Emilia Hogan

Bill Thierfelder

Brandon Perdomo

Carole J. Amodeo

David Antonio Cruz

Greg Fox

Kyle Horne

Lex Barberio

Lola Flash

Margaret DeLima

Marilyn Minter

Maya Kawachi

Molly Crabapple

Nichelle Rivers

Nicklin Heap

Robert Stenzel

Roya Jenner

Sam Neukirch

Terri Muuss

Tobi Kahn

Werner Sun

Courtesy of Beth Giacummo

One of the featured artists, mixed media artist Roya Jenner, created the piece Safe Space for the exhibition. In her artist statement, Jenner said she wanted to express how everyone has an identity, that although different  everyone is equalYou cant really pick your BINGO cards... what you get is what you get and you take ownership of them and hope for the best I hand drew in LGBTQ symbols showing just some of the identities that humans identify with. Note that the center square says SAFE SPACE. This translates to that all have equal access to a safe & free space to be themselves."

Photo courtesy of Beth Giacummo

Visit the Visual Communications - Art + Design at Farmingdale College Facebook page to view the exhibit which takes place now through September 15.

About the Memorial Gallery

The Memorial Gallery's mission is to serve as a vital teaching instrument and visual resource that enriches the Farmingdale college campus cultural life as well as that of the surrounding community. It acommplishes this through the exhibition of imagery related to the communication arts, which represent a wide range of media, cultures, and time periods.

The Memorial Gallery is located in Hale Hall, on the campus of Farmingdale State College State University of New York, 2350 Broadhollow Road (Route 110). The gallery and campus are currently closed to the public. All programming is being presented virtually.
Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City are set to begin charging automobile drivers an amount of money for entering downtown areas next year.

Members of the municipal Peoples Council on Saturday passed a resolution on boosting public transport and controlling the number of personal vehicles in the southern metropolis.

Accordingly, car drivers will be required to pay a fee whenever they enter downtown areas from 2021 to 2025.

Relevant agencies will also monitor vehicle exhaust and collect environmental pollution fees between 2021 and 2030.

The plan is considered significant to the enhancement of the citys socio-economic development as well as living conditions of local residents.

The municipal Peoples Council stated that improving public transport and minimizing the number of personal vehicles have to be carried out simultaneously.

The government will play a leading role in building infrastructure and operating the citys public transport system.

Delegates of the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Council vote during a meeting on July 11, 2020. Photo: Tu Trung / Tuoi Tre

The municipal Department of Transport previously proposed various measures to boost public transport, namely creating an efficient public bus network by 2030, organizing bus-only lanes, expediting metro and BRT projects, and running public motorbike and electric bicycle rental services.

In order to better manage personal vehicles, the ministry suggested charging a road toll in the city center, evaluating emissions of motorcycles, and inspecting technical safety and environmental protection conditions of vehicles.

In 2021-25, the city should focus on improving bus services and managing the number of personal vehicles in downtown areas, the transport ministry stated.

From 2026 to 2030, mass public transport will be developed while the number of personal vehicles will continue to be reduced.

The entire plan was projected to cost VND393.8 trillion (US$16.9 million), of which VND47.6 trillion ($2 million) will be funded by the state budget, while the rest will come from the private sector and official development assistance (ODA).

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Two teenage entrepreneurs who made $72,000 within weeks during the coronavirus pandemic hope to capitalise even further after lockdown restrictions returned to Melbourne.

Lachlan Delchau-Jones, 18, and Taylor Reilly, 19, from Brisbane, built a successful online business overnight from their bedrooms by selling craft and hobby products to bored Australians holed up at home.

After making more than $70,000 in four weeks, the pair have expanded their month-long venture and set their sights on Melbourne as the Victorian capital battles a second wave of the deadly virus which is threatening to spread to other states.

Victoria recorded 273 new cases on Sunday, just three days after Melbourne returned to stage three lockdown.

Brisbane entrepreneurs Lachlan Delchau-Jones, 18, (left) and Taylor Reilly, 19, (right) have set their sights on Melbourne after they recently made $72,000 within a month

As Melburnians can only leave their home for essential purposes for the next six weeks, the pair see a new opportunity to expand their booming online business.

'We're really going to start pushing it in Melbourne,' Mr Reilly told news.com.au.

The pair's bold plans to rejuvenate their instantly successful venture don't stop there.

'We have a big thing for wanting to venture internationally,' Mr Reilly added.

'With the riots going on, COVID-19 is going to come back, and that brings opportunity.'

The ambitious pair have been creating their own business ventures and websites since their early teens, long before they met online.

A light bulb moment while watching a new segment about the soaring sale of brainteaser puzzles while cooped up in their homes in Brisbane during the recent lockdown in April.

It sparked a lucrative online store that earned them more than $70,000 in 30 days.

The light bulb moment was sparked by Lachlan Delchau-Jones (pictured) while watching the news while in lockdown

'I called Taylor and told him I had just watched a news segment on ''how to stay occupied during the lockdown'' and I said ''there is something here'',' Mr Delchau-Jones recently told Daily Mail Australia.

Using a retail method called dropshipping, the pair decided to sell products in the craft and hobby niche to keep Australians entertained during isolation.

Dropshipping involves a vendor fulfilling orders from a supplier who then ships the product directly to the customer.

Knowing timing was vital as Australians would be seeking ways to stave off boredom over the impending Easter long weekend, Taylor rushed to Lachlan's house to begin building a business from scratch.

Over the next four hours, the teenagers sourced a supplier in China and built a website then set up Facebook marketing to run ads for the product online.

Taylor Reilly (pictured) hopes he and Lachlan can expand the business venture internationally

'Within a few hours we went from nothing established to a full fledged business,' Mr Delchau-Jones said.

'I called Taylor over at 10pm, and by 2am our computers were off and we were rocking and rolling to start the next morning. By 7am Saturday our ads went live.'

'We went into it thinking 'let's try and make a couple of hundred dollars this weekend'.

The teens' optimistic expectations were exceeded in the days that followed.

'The first day we were in business we made $600 bucks,' Mr Delchau-Jones recalled.

Orders amassed over the weekend and by Tuesday, when they could cash out their earnings via Shopify, they had hit $16,000 dollars having only spent $1600 on social media advertising.

The teenagers started processing thousands of dollars worth of orders within days of starting their online store. A screenshot shows their income days before they ended their project

When they ended the project on May 10 they had made a whopping $72,000.

Mr Delchau-Jones and Mr Reilly credit their success to timing and the coronavirus lockdown which saw more Australians spending time at home while businesses cut down on advertising costs.

'In terms in dropshipping those numbers are something you don't normally see. It is completely out of the ordinary,' Mr Delchau-Jones said.

'We created it as a project for the month to prove what was possible.

'It was very surprising. I knew we were onto something, but I still wasn't 100 per cent certain about capitalising at this time so I wasn't sure how it was going to go.

'A lot of people were pulling out [of ads] and people were unsure going in to lockdown. Everyone stopped advertising and ads got cheaper so we were just trying to capitalise and that we did.'

While entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted, Mr Delchau-Jones said there are steps others can take to build a personal fortune.

He said the first step in starting a business using the dropshipping model is to choose a product to sell by researching what goods are in demand.

Mr Reilly (pictured) is an Australian eCommerce businesses owner and the founder of TBR Enterprises,. He is also a Co Founder of Ecom Gym and Better Brand which he started with Mr Delchau-Jones in the past 12 months

'Choose a product with a high perceived value so it can be marked up. The product needs to look like the product is worth every dollar and worth its value,' he said.

Next, find a supplier by going to online retail service AliExpress - China's version of eBay - and searching for the product you wish to sell.

Mr Delchau-Jones recommends vetting the supplier to ensure you are working with someone you can trust.

'It is very crucial in dropshipping to connect with a supplier. If we weren't able to get the product we weren't able to run the business,' he said.

'The ultimate goal is to get the supplier's WhatsApp number and make sure you have constant line of communication so you know what is happening with your product.'

Once a supply chain is organised, you can begin building a website using a platform such as Shopify, which has easy-to-use templates.

The supplier will provide images of the product to share on the website, but Mr Delchau recommends having the order sent to you first to inspect its quality, which also gives you the option to take your own.

'When you add the product to your website, you can choose the mark up,' he said.

'I would suggest have a $15-$20 profit mark up on your product because you are going to be spending money on ads and testing. It will act as a bit of a barrier.'

Mr Delchau-Jones and Mr Reilly used Facebook Ads Manager to keep track of their advertisement campaigns (pictured)

A graph shows how their sales progressed throughout the first few weeks of their month-long coronavirus project

The fifth step is to run ads on social media. While this service is accessible across many platforms, Mr Delchau-Jones suggests using Facebook Ads Manager which easily links to websites and tracks which demographics are buying the product.

When products are sold, a notification will be sent to the Shopify website. The purchase orders will then need to be sent to the supplier to send to the customer.

Apps, such as Oberlo, mainstream this process by directing customers details from their Shopify order straight to the supplier.

The last step is to monitor ads to identify trends and sales patterns so you can double down targeting on demographics that are interested in the product.

But Mr Delchau-Jones warns to be prepared for setbacks.

The Brisbane entrepreneurs (pictured together during recent lockdown) rushed to build a website on Good Friday in time for the Easter long weekend

'Dropshipping is the entry point for a lot of people to business, ecommerce, and entrepreneurship,' he said.

'A lot of entrepreneurs gravitate towards the money, but in terms of dropshipping, you learn a lot from it.

'Be hands on, try to get your feet into the water and not expect too much, and pair up with someone you can trust.

'Of course there are errors but don't over think it. Once you jump into action and start implementing what you have learned you can reach success.'

In the wake of their newly found fortune, Mr Delchau-Jones is now renting a flashier apartment, while Mr Reilly has decided to save his earnings.
Custodial violence has not been clearly defined under any law. It is often tactically approved as a means of getting information regarding a crime, the names of accomplices or to extract confessions. Whenever questions are asked about the lack of strong laws on custodial torture in India, the standard reply is that existing laws are adequate to deal with this.

The custodial deaths of a father and son, Jayaraj and Bennicks at the Kovilpatti sub-jail in Tuticorin,Tamil Nadu, have raised some serious questions. It is a case in which the police registered an FIR that puts the entire blame on Jayaraj and Bennicks. The FIR states that when the beat police asked them to close their shop, they abused and prevented the constables from discharging their official duty, and threatened dire consequences. It further said that they resisted arrest and started rolling on the floor, which caused their injuries.

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, provides that a judicial officer is supposed to draw the presumption that judicial and official acts have been performed in an appropriate manner. The allegations in this FIR appear to be false and manipulated.This is substantiated from the videos that have given a different picture of the place, time, and circumstances of the arrest.There are news reports that there were multiple injuries on the gluteal region, anus and the knee bones of both persons. The question then is: Should such presumptions of law continue in favour of official acts?

While these videos are doing rounds, doubts remain whether these will become part of the charge-sheet.Will they be considered at the time of trial? In the past, many such pieces of evidence were either not included in the charge-sheet or were not relied upon during the trial. The law offers some protection against custodial torture. It mandates that the person arrested must be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of 24 hours of such arrest and that he cannot be detained beyond this without the authority of a magistrate. The purpose of this law is that the magistrate would examine the condition of the accused and decide whether there is a fit case to extend the custody.

If the news reports are true, the role of the magistrate who remanded the two to judicial custody raises a lot

of questions. The magistrate of Sathankulam allegedly did not meet the accused before remanding them to custody. He did not check if they were injured or whether they required any medical help.

Reports also suggest that the magistrate passed the order for remand through video-conferencing during which he did not enquire about their condition.

At the Kovilpatti sub-jail, a medical check-up of the two revealed serious injuries. Both were in a very bad shape but rather than sending them to hospital, they were sent to jail. It was only when their condition deteriorated that they were sent to Kovilpatti general hospital, where Bennicks died on June 22. His father Jayaraj died on June 23.

Questions remain as to whether the doctors in jail were incompetent or whether they did not send the two to hospital in order to protect the police. Breaking the bones of persons in custody is an institutional method allegedly favoured by the Tamil Nadu police. Acting on a complaint against the Tamil Nadu police earlier, the National Human Rights Commission ordered a spot enquiry. The Commissions investigation team found that 91 undertrial prisoners in Puzhal Central Jail had fractures on different parts of the body such as the forehand, forearm and knee at the time of admission. The team procured the health screening reports of these 91 prisoners at the time of their entry into prison. The matter is pending before the Commission.

The Law Commission of India on the topic of injuries in police custody, in 1984, suggested that in case a man suffers bodily injury or death while in police custody, the court may presume that the injury was caused by the police officer having custody of that person during that period. For some reason, 36 years later, even this has not been followed upon.

By not enacting a proper law against torture, the police have been given a free hand. No quarter can be given to policemen who behave like criminals. The two men in Tamil Nadu died not just because of the torture they suffered but also because of the apathy of the magistrate and doctors at the jail. The scene of the crime and other important facts appear to have been manipulated. Only a full enquiry into the sequence of events, without delay, can reveal the truth.

Jyotika Kalra is member, National Human Rights Commission

The views expressed are personal
Men who self-identify as female are being allowed to work for rape crisis centres, to the fury of womens rights campaigners.

Helplines across England are advertising for transgender volunteers to provide counselling and advice for victims of sex abuse, even if they are not legally or physically female.

Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre wrote on social media: We are looking for self-identifying women to join our amazing helpline and email support volunteer team.

The charity said it was trans inclusive and insisted there was no risk of men dressing up as women to access vulnerable women.

Helplines across England are advertising for transgender volunteers to provide counselling and advice for victims of sex abuse (file photo)

The centre deleted the remarks on Twitter after a storm of criticism but its website still advertises a job open to self-identifying women.

Elsewhere, Sheffield Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre is advertising positions that are only open to women  but said that included self-identifying women. And Support After Rape and Sexual Violence Leeds said: If you identify as a woman or girl then we are here for you. And it welcomed transgender women to deliver our services as volunteers or employees.

The services are now facing an angry backlash from those who say that women must be able to access female-only victims services. Under English law, only men can be convicted of rape.

There are fears that the policy of allowing self-identifying women to work for such services could deter victims from seeking help.

Last night Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, whose charity has helped thousands of rape victims in Iraq, told The Mail on Sunday: It seems to my mind completely contrary to the requirements of the clients. Rape crisis centres should be thinking about the victims.

Tory MP and former Minister Jackie Doyle-Price said the problem was a misunderstanding of the Equality Act, which bans discrimination  but does allow some exemption for single-sex services.

Campaigner Maya Forstater, pictured last year, said: 'This is not anti-trans, it is about womens rights'

When it comes to victims of rape and sexual assault, they should be offered a woman-to-woman service, she said.

Campaigner Maya Forstater, who was supported by Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling after losing her job over exclusionary comments, said: For a woman calling a rape crisis line, being confident of hearing another womans voice on the line is critical. Womens organisations need to know that they can use the single-sex exceptions in the law confidently, and say no to males. This is not anti-trans, it is about womens rights.

The revelations come as the Government prepares to reveal its long-awaited response to plans to let anyone legally change their gender by self-identification.

Under the controversial proposals, men would be allowed to declare they were female without having to live for two years as a woman or obtaining a formal medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Equalities Minister Liz Truss is expected to announce within weeks that the move is being ditched, while added safeguards could be introduced to protect spaces for women such as refuges and public toilets.

Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre did not respond to requests to comment. But in its now-deleted tweets, it said: CRCC is trans inclusive & always will be. We provide support to all women & girls who are survivors of sexual violence. We put the safety of these women and girls first and this is something we are mindful of when we recruit.

What about men dressing up as women to access vulnerable women? This is an issue with abusive men and not with trans women. We have never experienced this.
The ranks of Queensland's specialist child sex offender surveillance officers will almost double to a total of 40, the state government has announced.

On Saturday, Police Minister Mark Ryan and Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll announced an additional 18 child protection offender register coordinators monitoring child sex offenders across the state.

Police Minister Mark Ryan. Credit:Jorge Branco

Mr Ryan said the police service's Taskforce Argos, a dedicated child abuse investigation team, along with other police departments, had caught 115 offenders and charged them with 352 offences since September last year.

The total number of officers coordinating child protection management will rise from 22 to 40.
The Nigeria police have arrested a suspected internet fraudster, Chukwuebuka Obiaku, who allegedly lured an American woman to Nigeria with marriage and extorted her of $48,000.

Police spokesperson, Frank Mba, said the woman was rescued in a Lagos hotel after being confined in a hotel for over a year.

Police operatives have successfully rescued an American citizen who was confined in a Lagos hotel where she was held against her wish for over a year.

The police did not name the hotel.

The victim, a retired civil servant from Washington DC, USA, arrived in Nigeria on February 13, 2019, to visit Mr Obiaku, a native of Ikeduru LGA of Imo State.

The duo met on Facebook.

She was however rescued by Police operatives attached to the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Ogun State Annex following information received from a patriotic and civic-minded Nigerian in the Meran area of Lagos State.

The rescue of the American lady is coming on the heels of a similar case of an abducted Philippino lady who was lured to Nigeria by her supposed lover whom she equally met on Facebook, the statement read.

Police said investigations revealed that Mr Obiaku is a graduate of Business Administration and Management and an internet fraudster who has defrauded many unsuspecting members of the public locally and internationally.

According to the police, Mr Obiaku lured the victim into Nigeria under the pretext of love and deceitfully married her on May 15, 2019.

He subsequently held her captive in a hotel, extorted from her monies amounting to a total of 48,000-USD.

More so, he forcefully collected and took control of her credit and debit cards as well as the operation of her bank accounts, including the receipt of her monthly retirement benefits and allowances over the period of fifteen (15) months.

Chukwuebuka also used the victim as a front to defraud her associates and other foreign personalities and companies.

Other fraudsters in police net

In a similar development, operatives of the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Unit, INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), also arrested three suspects; Samson Inegbenesun 30, Blessed Junior 32 and Muhammed Zakari 36.

All the suspects, from Uromi in Edo State, were arrested for cyber-related offences, including advance fee fraud, money laundering and romance scam.

The suspects were arrested in Uromi, following investigations into suspected fraudulent online procurement and supply of COVID-19 protective masks, received through the INTERPOL NCB Wiesbaden, Germany.

Police said its investigations revealed that Samson Inegbenosun is an internet fraudster and a member of a Turkey-based online scamming syndicate.

He supplies foreign and local bank accounts to receive fraudulent funds and use same as conduit to other feeder accounts. Meanwhile, the police have recovered from him, a building apartment worth N20,000,000.00, a Toyota RAV-4 2015 model worth N6,500,000.00 and a Toyota Matrix 2002 model valued at N2,000,000.00 which he procured with the proceeds of the crime.

The second suspect, Blessed Junior, returned to Nigeria from Italy in February, 2020 but maintains close contacts and illicit dealings with his Italian associates. Investigations reveal that he has made over One Hundred and Twenty Million Naira (N120,000,000.00) from internet fraud and other cybercrime dealings.

He also received the sum of 52,000 EUROs recently from his criminal associates in Italy as commission for his active involvement in an international cybercrime deal. He also owns a filling station established with the proceeds of the crime.

According to the police, Mohammed Zakari, an expert in internet fraud, identity theft and impersonation, falsely claimed to be a British citizen.

He also poses to be one Kelly Galk on online dating apps which he uses to carry out romance scams and to defraud unsuspecting members of the public, locally and internationally. Investigation reveals he has made millions of naira from his illicit cybercrime transactions since he joined the syndicate.

The police said Mr Obiaku and the three other suspects will be charged to court on conclusion of investigation in line with the Cybercrime Prevention/Prohibition Act, 2015.

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Robert E. Lee: I wish theyd leave the lights on down here! Stonewall, are you awake?

Stonewall Jackson: Come on, Bob, Im tired. We all need some shut-eye.

Jefferson Davis: Now dont you boys start arguing about Picketts Charge again!

Cecil Rhodes: Jeff, I still dont understand why they made such a fuss over you chaps  you lost your war. But us, we beat those damned Boers. These days, though, nobodys grateful.

King Leopold II: Talk about ungrateful! After all I did to civilize the Africans and make Belgium rich, still they stuffed me away down here. And covered me with red paint first. Zut alors!

Edward Colston: You think you had a rough time, Leo, but what about me? Before they put me here, they tossed me into Bristol harbor. The yucky stuff down on the bottom, you wouldnt believe. And after all I did for that city.

Junipero Serra: Stop your bellyaching, Ed. I was a saint before I ended up here. Youd think that would have saved me.

Christopher Columbus: Im having it worst. Now it looks like I may lose my day. Which, by the way, none of the rest of you ever had. No Leopold Day, no Junipero Serra Day, no ...

Cecil Rhodes: Stop playing identity politics, Chris. But if you must, I had a whole country named after me ...

Columbus: Me too! And it still is. Got you there.

Rhodes: Well, I still have a few things you dont. Ever hear of a Columbus Scholarship? No way.

Davis: Complain, complain, complain, thats all you guys do. Look, if we were still standing up there, wed have other problems: rain, snow, sleet, pigeons, those awful demonstrators with no masks ignoring the 6-foot rule ...

Frank Rizzo: If I was still up there, Id be cracking heads together so hard they wouldnt know what hit them.

Josef Stalin: Me too. And Ive been down here longer than any of you, so Ive got a lot of cracking to do to make up for it.

Rizzo: You were mighty good at that in your prime, Joe.

Stalin: Theres some talk of taking me out of here, you know. That Putin fellow sometimes says nice things about me.

Leopold: Fat chance of that happening to me.

Lee: Dont feel sorry for yourself, Leo. We all have to adjust. And you never know  our time may come round again.

Leopold: Its about time we got some women down here.

Queen Marie Antoinette: Youre forgetting about me, Leo. You always do. And Ive been down here longer than any of you boys. Boys  thats the trouble. If I hadnt married that idiot Louis, I never would have ended up here. Sacre bleu!

King Louis XVI: Bah! We wouldnt be here if you hadnt said, Let them eat cake.

Davis: Enough, you two. Hey, why dont we play Twenty Questions again? That always makes the time go by.

Lee: OK, Im thinking of something.

Rizzo: Animal, vegetable or mineral?

Lee: Animal.

Serra: Heathen?

Lee: Yes.

Leopold: Royal blood?

Lee: No.

Stalin: Enemy of the people?

Lee: Heavens, no.

Rizzo: Lawbreaker?

Lee: No.

Rhodes: If its from that blasted Civil War of yours again, Im not playing.

Jackson: Its your stupid horse, Bob, Traveller. You choose it every time.

Lee: Right!

Stalin: Why just 20 questions? In Russia, we asked lots more questions when we interrogated them, but whatever the answers, we shot them. Much simpler.

Colston: Hey! The doors opening. I think were getting some new people.

Serra: No one you or I would know, Ed, Im sure. Were the wrong vintage.

Stalin: Hey Woodrow, come on in!

Adam Hochschild is a historian, journalist, author of 10 books and lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
IT is dismaying, although unsurprising, that police report a spike in pornography offences during the pandemic.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/7/2020 (556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

IT is dismaying, although unsurprising, that police report a spike in pornography offences during the pandemic.

Albertas internet child exploitation unit announced last week it has arrested 18 people for online sex offences. In one month alone, it received a record 243 complaints of online child exploitation  more than double the two-year average.

A police spokesman told the Edmonton Journal the level of online pornography activity has been unparalleled in the existence of the ICE unit, and could be linked to digital dependency during COVID-19 isolation measures.

The arrests reminded me of a young man I know who struggles with porn addiction. I wont publish his identity, but his story is instructive in highlighting the pervasive grip of online pornography for some people.

He approached me in 2019. I didnt know him well at that time, but I know his family. He said he had a pornography problem and he asked if I would consider being his accountability partner. I said I was unfamiliar with the term, but we should get together and talk about it.

Over a coffee, he told me that, as an accountability partner, I would install on my iPhone an app called Accountable2You, which would monitor all his devices. The app would give me a daily report of all his online activity. I invited him to tell me why he needed an accountability partner, and he told me his story:

He was about 11 years old when he Googled "sexy girls" and got an eyeful. In the following years, he visited porn sites once or twice a week, careful to clean his browser history in case his parent checked. He kept it a secret, saying his porn viewing felt "dirty but exciting."

In his late teen years, his consumption of porn escalated to more explicit sex acts. He said it became a daily habit behind the closed door of his bedroom, often when he should have been doing homework for school.

In the two years before we met, he had experienced cravings when he didnt get his daily dose of porn. He would avoid everyday activities so he could spend more time with porn. He also it was affecting his relationships with real-life women. He recalled being on a date "with a girl I really liked," and feigning illness so he could go home and escape to his porn fantasy world.

He decided to stop consuming porn when he heard a media report that named men who had been arrested for possession of child pornography. He realized with alarm that his quest for more extreme porn had led him to images of younger victims: "Theyre werent kids, they were young teenagers, but they could be children legally."

He felt his future would be ruined if he was arrested and publicly shamed for viewing child porn.

He tried several times to quit, his abstinence typically lasting a week or two before the cravings overcame his willpower. Thats when he decided to ask two people to be his accountability partners for his latest attempt to kick his addiction. I agreed to be one such partner, and asked if there were other ways I could help, such as checking in with him periodically or helping him financially to get professional counselling.

He declined further help, saying, "I think it will be enough to know youre watching where I go online."

It was enough, for a while. I checked the app daily and there were no obvious signs of improper activity. Then, after about five weeks, he emailed and said he was dropping me as an accountability partner. I offered to meet again to discuss his decision, but he declined: "I think Ill be OK now."

Fast forward about a year  I heard from him again several weeks ago. He asked if he could reactivate me as an accountability partner. While isolating during the pandemic and spending much more time online, he fell again into behaviour he knows is damaging and dangerous.

Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Hes not alone. Canadas Centre for Child Protection has warned police forces to prepare for new cases of porn-related abuse as pandemic restrictions on normal social activities push children and adults to connect virtually with other people and escape from the glum reality currently besetting the real world.

"I couldnt think of a better way to create conditions to cause this to increase," Det. Andrew Ullock, head of Peel Police internet child exploitation unit, told The Pointer, an online news source in Ontario.

"Theres more kids online more often and more predators online more often; its inevitable that theyre going to intersect with one another and when they do, theres going to be offences."

His thoughts can be a timely warning to parents. Where are the children going online?

carl.degurse@freepress.mb.ca

Carl DeGurse is a member of the Free Press editorial board.
An Offaly national school looks set to lose a teacher as the Department of Education proceeds with planned cuts to teaching numbers, despite challenges facing the sector due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Deputy Carol Nolan highlighted the issue after St Cynoc's National School in Ferbane was informed that it will lose a teacher this year because it only has 197 students instead of the required 201.

In a statement to the Tribune , the independent TD slammed the decision, saying it was entirely unacceptable for the Department of Education to proceed with planned cuts to teaching numbers while the Covid-19 crisis continues to generate severe challenges within the sector.

In May of this year I called on the then Minister for Education to impose a moratorium on reducing the number of teachers assigned to rural schools after it became clear that they were losing skilled and valuable members of staff because of the guidance being issued with respect to the pupil teacher ratio.

Instead of acting on that however, the Minister chose to ignore it, and so too has his successor, Minister Norma Foley. We are now in a situation where a National School in Offaly, which is already facing enormous difficulties because of the split site on which it is located, is going to lose a key member of staff.

I have been pursuing this matter for some time now and have engaged directly with the school and parents who wrote to me looking for help and assurances. Unfortunately, the Appeals Board at the Dept of Education has refused to reverse its decision that St Cynocs must drop one of its teachers.

Deputy Nolan continued: As I understand it from parents, this will mean that 3rd class will now be split, with one half joining 2nd class and the other half will join the other 3rd class.

Parents and teachers are absolutely disheartened and are at loss to understand the logic of the decision, especially when we read today that teachers unions and school managers say a full reopening of schools will not be possible unless panels of substitute teachers are hired for schools.

The independent deputy questioned what the point of dropping existing teachers only for them to be re-hired on panels as substitutes. This is a ludicrous situation and it has to be addressed by the new Minister before real long term damage is done, concluded Deputy Nolan.
Its been deeply comforting to think that whatever I am writing will soon be in the hands of someone else, especially in a time of so much physical distancing. Ive sent letters as far as Argentina and South Korea, and as near as only a few blocks from my door. Some of the handwriting Ive seen, like mine, has been laughably illegible; other letters are aesthetically works of art. One friend, an international student isolating on an otherwise-emptied college campus in New Jersey, enclosed a petal from a blossoming cherry tree. In these pages, I read the smiles I cannot see.

Im not alone in finding comfort in letter-writing these days. A recent New York Times article reported on the rise in snail mail and handwritten messages; the practice seems to have caught on as people cope with grief from the pandemic. That Ive only started writing letters now is ironic and sad, too, because the U.S. Postal Service is bleeding. The economic devastation of the pandemic could be the final blow that ends one of our nations oldest and most cherished institutions. While an increase in package volume during the first few months of the pandemic is providing temporary relief, no amount of letters we send can make up for the billions in federal funding that are needed to save it.

And yet, as with so many other things these days, Im holding out hope. A Postal Service survey published in May suggested younger people in particular were more likely to want to send cards and letters during this time. Though that doesnt mean a lot of us are actually doing it, part of me likes to think theres some Florentino Ariza out there, writing impassioned letters to the girl hes not permitted to see.

More likely, its because were missing our friends and classmates; were so badly aching for the simple physical connections that the coronavirus has taken away without a promise of near return. Perhaps its because a letter is an unhindered way of working through anxieties, thoughts and emotions during a period of nonstop information and tremendous grief. Perhaps its simply a break from a screen or just another way to mark the passage of time when the world seems to be on an indefinite hold.

In that sense, there are plenty of reasons to start writing letters now  not least because theres something to be said for slowing down. When I got your letter, the first thing I wanted to do was text you a picture  but I quickly caught myself, another childhood friend wrote. What an affront to letter-writing that would have been. I smiled as I pulled out a blank sheet to start my response. I like to think Ill keep this up for as long as I can, or at least as long as someone is willing to write back.

Jordan Salama (@jordansalama19) is a writer and the author of the forthcoming Every Day the River Changes.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Company cars and work mobiles are perks of corporate life for many employees. But could there soon be such a thing as company broadband to use at home?

Tristia Harrison is betting there will be  as 'working from home' becomes the new normal for many Britons. The chief executive of internet provider TalkTalk has just launched a new service that allows employers to splash out on 'business grade broadband for the home' for staff stuck in their houses.

She says the plan eliminates the risk of freezing in the middle of an important Zoom call.

Call of duty: Tristia Harrison says children gaming can slow work down

While Britain's broadband network has coped pretty well with millions of people logging on at home, many have experienced problems  not least because homebound children clog up the connection by playing online video games or by streaming movies on Netflix.

Business speeds, high security, and access to round-the-clock support from TalkTalk's IT gurus could be attractive to smaller businesses now reconsidering the money they spend on a trendy office.

'Traditional working is a thing of the past,' declares Harrison, who says she believes this will be how many companies operate in future, not just the next few months.

'Up to 20 per cent more people are expected to now work from home. What is interesting is the UK has managed remarkably well at working from home during this period. And most places will be thinking how to learn from this. I think looking forward there will be a much more flexible culture.'

She says in the few weeks since launch there's already been an 'amazing amount of interest for it'.

'We're talking to some large organisations,' she says. 'You've seen all the announcements by companies saying they're not going back till next year, not going back at all or partially going back.'

She says the huge surge in internet usage through lockdown was driven by demand for video streaming, adding: 'Gaming's been enormous through lockdown. And then you add to that everybody working from home and everybody trying to homeschool their kids as well.'

Harrison is talking from personal experience. Her two teenage sons have been learning from home, and she says they have been good at getting on with their schoolwork, as well as trying to get her into video games such as Call Of Duty.

'I've tried, but I'm terrible at it,' she laughs, adding of her boys: 'They're quite hilarious. They've done the usual things like giving each other buzz cuts.'

We're doing a video call, with Harrison back in TalkTalk's former headquarters in west London for the day, having moved its base up to Salford last year. One of the downsides of working from home, she says, is that she's had to hide away in the bathroom for video calls to get some peace and quiet, so this makes a nice change.

Harrison has led TalkTalk since 2017, taking over from Dido Harding after the company's infamous cyber-attack in 2015, which damaged its reputation. She has effectively been at TalkTalk since 2003, when it was part of Carphone Warehouse, where she was marketing director. In 2008, she moved to TalkTalk, which officially separated from Carphone Warehouse in 2010, and helped it forge sponsorship deals with hit TV talent show The X Factor.

Her promotion to chief executive in 2017 coincided with a return to the fold for TalkTalk's founder and its largest shareholder Sir Charles Dunstone, who became executive chairman.

Harrison explains their plan was to simplify TalkTalk and take it back to its roots by offering no-frills broadband so that 'we're not cluttered up or distracted by doing anything else'.

It has left its mobile business and recently sold its new fibre broadband firm FibreNation for 200million. The sale was put on hold last year when Labour unveiled plans to nationalise the entire industry if elected. Harrison said the announcement  on the eve of the unveiling of the deal  came as 'quite a shock'.

While she says nationalisation is not the answer to the UK's slow broadband speeds  it lags behind most other developed countries for full-fibre coverage  she agrees with the need for change.

'The UK cannot hope to compete if it stays so far behind any other European or global market on full fibre. We desperately need it. The period through lockdown has only shown that to be even more the case,' she says.

She praises Boris Johnson's ambition to connect Britain to full-fibre broadband by 2025, but warns that the industry will need to be smart to entice customers to switch to even faster speeds when the network is ready  or else there will be no point building it.

The row over Huawei does not directly affect TalkTalk and Harrison manages to tiptoe around the issue, merely saying she will be watching the Government's decision closely on whether to strip the Chinese firm's equipment from the new 5G mobile network.

Despite being one of the few women running a major listed company in Britain, Harrison says she is 'not a big fan of lots of targets'. But she hopes more home working will help women climb the career ladder more easily.

'I hope that this trend towards a much more flexible approach to work will really help,' she says, referring to part-time female workers or women returning to work after having children. 'It isn't just about women. It's about having flexibility for everyone. It's good to be able to get back to the kids and have a flexible work experience.'
This is not a country that is in any way managing itself to be a good and decent partner in anything at the moment. Thats why we need to review our relationship with them, he added. Those who think this is a case of separating trade from government  you cant do that, thats naive.
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Linkedin Josa Lukman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, July 12, 2020 14:30 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665afc9b 1 Books #literature,#fiction,#books,#literary,#Indonesia,#digital,#PramoedyaAnantaToer,#Titimangsa Free

The phrase Indonesian literature might bring to mind memories of school assignments and required reading, but a new literary initiative is poised to appeal to the digital crowd.

Sandiwara Sastra (Literary Play), a joint collaboration between the Education and Culture Ministry, the Titimangsa Foundation and KawanKawan Media, is adapting a variety of Indonesian literature into audio plays, perhaps taking note from the rising popularity of podcasts and audio books.

All-stars: A joint initiative called Sandiwara Sastra (Literary Play) involves a star-studded cast of 27 actors, including Reza Rahadian. (Courtesy of Titimangsa Foundation/-)

According to Education and Culture Ministry director general of culture Hilmar Farid, Sandiwara Sastra was envisioned just last month when producers Happy Salma of the Titimangsa Foundation and Yulia Evina Bhara from KawanKawan Media discussed the idea with him.

Halfway through their discussion, I immediately said yes [to the pitch]. In my opinion, its a really important project as literary works are vital in shaping our identity and telling our story with all of its problems, he said during a virtual press conference.

Twenty years ago, radio plays faced challenges from television and began to fade, but now theres a new interest in podcasts. And in some regions, radio still plays an important role.

Deep in her role: Actress Chelsea Islan records her lines for Sandiwara Sastra, in which she voices Lalita from Ayu Utamis novel of the same title. (Courtesy of Titimangsa Foundation/-)

Happy pointed out that the auditory sense was an important aspect to focus on, as much of the world was dominated by visual aspects and the sense of sight.

Sandiwara Sastra is an effort to open wider possibilities for literature to be exposed to a wider public, especially students who are studying from home, she said.

It can also offer an alternative [medium] for creativity during the pandemic, as the meeting of actors and literature will sharpen both the emotions and the mind.

The audio plays debuted on July 8 and are accessible online on Budaya Sayas Spotify channel. One episode is also broadcast every week on national radio station RRI.

For its inaugurating season, 10 3-minute episodes have been prepared. Each episode corresponds to different books and short stories by Indonesian authors throughout history.

Six titles have been adapted so far, they are Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (The Dancer of Paruk Village) by Ahmad Tohari, Helen dan Sukanta (Helen and Sukanta) by Pidi Baiq, Kemerdekaan (Independence) by Putu Wijaya, Mencari Herman (Searching for Herman) by Dewi Dee Lestari, Berita dari Kebayoran (News From Kebayoran) by Pramoedya Ananta Toer and Lalita by Ayu Utami.

The remaining four  Orang Orang Oetimu (Oetimu People) by Felix K. Nesi, Persekot (Advance Money) by Eka Kurniawan, Layar Terkembang (Set Sail) by Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana and Seribu Kunang-Kunang di Manhattan (A Thousand Fireflies in Manhattan) by Umar Kayam  are currently in the production phase.

The episodes are directed by author and theater actor-director Gunawan Maryanto of Teater Garasi, who recognized the risks of adapting literary works into an audio format.

When the texts meet the actors, the questions arises: How can the text be voiced? I tried to find a way to let the texts come to life through sounds. That was the challenge, he said.

The process was like an [experiment] of sorts for us creators; me, an actor, meeting other actors as a director and writer.

Finding one's voice: Actor Chicco Jerikho plays Diman in Pramoedya Ananta Toer's 'Berita dari Kebayoran' (News From Kebayoran), (Courtesy of Titimangsa Foundation/-)

A star-studded cast of 27 actors are involved in Sandiwara Sastra so far, including Christine Hakim, Arswendy Bening Swara, Reza Rahadian, Iqbaal Ramadhan, Vino G. Bastian, Marsha Timothy and Atiqah Hasiholan.

Yulia said the talents were not chosen based on their experience alone but also on their involvement and interest in Indonesian literature.

Journalist Najwa Shihab, who plays main character Aminah in Berita dari Kebayoran opposite actor Chicco Jerikho, said literature was important as it introduced a world different from our own.

Through literature, we are not bound by the limitations we witness and experience every day. Literature allows us to explore what is not yet realized [...], she said, adding that by reading, people are interacting with language.

If we only talk in conversations, we only use existing vocabularies, whereas by reading, we can come across new words and phrases, some of which we rarely see today, like those in [Berita dari Kebayoran].

Like painters, if we only know black and white paints, there will be limitations. Literature enriches us with a variety of colors and will help us express our ideas and show people what we stand for. (ste)
In the past week, the South African police karrie a huge mountain firearms to Vereeniging. In the small town on the river Vaal was once the British colonial power with the recalcitrant settlers of the peace Treaty, which ended in 1902, the Second Boer war. Now the place is to make Johannesburg a contribution to peace in the country. The officials headed to the site of the steel giant Arcelor Mittal. The whole Arsenal of weapons, which they had brought back was melted down, more than 33,000 pieces: 30.913 firearms, 1454 rifles, 894 shotguns and 725 parts of disassembled weapons.

Thilo Thielke

Free Rapporteur for Africa, based in Cape town.

F. A. Z. Twitter

The collection that you could equip a small army, had come together in just a few months. Between April 2019 and March 2020, the South Africa had made niches custodians of law and order for two different promotions already, more than 52,000 weapons harmless in this way. Most of the weapons had been collected in larger raids, said the police spokeswoman Brenda Muridili, others were reported by South Africans, which had caused the presence of the weapons discomfort. Specifically, the police pointed out that, in the destruction of the firearms to the law on hold. 13. In may, it was announced the destruction of action open to the public. Three weeks ago, the owner had time to prove that you were rightfully armed.

South Africa is one of the countries with the highest crime rate in the world. Between April 2018 and March 2019, more than 21,000 people were murdered, in the average, every day 58. So the murder rate had risen compared to the previous year by 3.6 percent. A day were committed in South Africa, 144 rapes or other sexual offences. Every three hours is murdered, a woman is five times as much as the global average. According to the statistics, the number of the murdered children had risen dramatically. 1014 minors had been killed, therefore, almost 30 percent more than in the previous year.

Updated Date: 12 July 2020, 07:20
UAE businesses are capitalising on a Dubai laboratory breakthrough in their drive to ensure safety in the workforce.

A sanitiser which mimics the human immune system to provide protection was initially developed by water treatment specialists Culligan Middle East for use by its own 400-strong workforce in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The surface and skin contact sanitiser is now used in sanitisation tunnels welcoming employees to work every morning at industrial sites across the UAE.

Thousands of gallons are used in electrical equipment spraying of Covid-19 testing stations, quarantine facilities, common areas, staff transport, cranes and other equipment.

While a stream of other products have been banned for not complying with safety regulations, Culligan Safe Guard 45 H 25 has been certified to the highest standards and is in use at ports, hospitals, hotels, construction firms, food production companies, as well as private and public sector offices, said a statement.

It is the result of a novel process by the laboratory team at the companys Dubai Technopark plant to convert an existing water treatment product into one providing the perfect combination of wide-ranging health protection and very low toxicity to humans.

The sanitiser can be safely applied directly to the skin and has many other applications, from hotel guest room to laundry.

When the pandemic broke out we looked for a good hand sanitiser for our staff, but couldnt find anything suitable in the market, said Culligan Middle East technical director, Rodger Macfarlane.

So I put on a lab coat and worked with the team to adapt one of our water treatment products through a novel process.

With a base of hypochlorous acid, a substance the bodys white blood cells produce naturally to combat infection, it has been tested and passed by Dubai Central Laboratory, certified both by Emirates Authority For Standardization & Metrology and Dubai Municipality, and also independently tested by an accredited UK laboratory.

This has all happened during a time when Dubai Municipality has banned a large number of other sanitisers for failing to comply with safety specifications, said Macfarlane.

Weve capitalised on Culligans 30 years of high purity water experience and are pleased to be playing our part in helping business recover from the effects of Covid-19, he said.  TradeArabia News Service
For the first time since 1948, there will be no holiday and official functions to commemorate martyrs day in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

In December last year, the list of gazetted holidays had no mention of martyrs day on July 13 and December 5, the birth anniversary of former J&K Prime Minister Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. Therefore, the question doesnt arise of holding any official function or declaring a holiday on Monday, said a senior official.

Following the revocation of Article 370 on August 5 last year, the government had issued a list of gazette holidays for the newly carved union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. However, July 13 and December 5 were omitted from the list inviting an outcry by the Kashmir centric parties.

Also read: Authorities order partial lockdown in parts of Srinagar due to spike in Covid-19 cases

The then prime minister of J&K, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, had declared July 13 as martyrs day in memory of those who revolted against the Dogra rule on July 13, 1931. Twenty-two people were killed in the protest against the then Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh.

While Kashmir commemorated the day as martyrs day and chief minister, ministers and DGPs used to pay tributes at the official programmes across the then state of J&K, in recent years Jammu had started observing it as a black day.

Pro-Jammu parties used to hold protest rallies wearing black armbands to express their resentment against the decision of successive Kashmir centric governments.

The parties also included Kashmiri Pandits, who called July 13, 1931, as the first-ever communal attack on religious minorities in J&K.

In the new list of gazette holidays, the government, however, declared October 26 as a gazetted holiday. On this day in 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh had signed the Instrument of Accession with the dominion of India.
YEREVAN, 13 JULY, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign ministry voices a strong condemnation of the ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijan'i armed forces in the direction of the Tavush region of the Republic of Armenia starting from the afternoon of July 12, which was accompanied by the attempts to infiltrate into Armenian positions with the use of artillery. As a result of the proportionate actions of the Armenian side, these provocative actions have been effectively suppressed,- says the written statement of the spokesperson of the Armenias MFA Anna Naghdalyan.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, in coordination with the Prime Minister of Armenia and the Minister of Defense, is in constant contact with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, presenting the situation on the ground and the consequences of further escalation.

Recently, the Azerbaijani side, in contradiction to the calls of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to refrain from provocative actions and warmongering rhetoric, to strengthen the ceasefire, constantly resorts to the threats of use of force and military escalation. The political-military leadership of Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for the consequences of the provocative action undertaken amid these threats,- Naghdalyan wrote on her Facebook account July 13, 2020

On July 12, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces made an attempt to violate the Armenian state border in an UAZ vehicle in the direction of Tavush Province on July 12 at about 12:30.

''After the warning by the Armenian side the Azerbaijani servicemen left their UAZ vehicle and returned to their positions. At 13:45 the Azerbaijani servicemen repeated the attempt to occupy the Armenian position by using artillery, but were silenced by the Armenian side. They suffered casualties and were repelled'', wrote the spokesperson of Armenias MOD Shushan Stepanyan

Azerbaijani MOD informed that as a result of the incident on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border 3 Azerbaijani servicemen have died and 5 have been injured. Later, Azerbaijan restarted shelling towards the same combat position with 82 mm mortars and a tank.
First came the high-pitched sound of an alarm from one of the two big ships getting way too close to each other in the Welland Canal. Then came the crunching grind of metal-on-metal that makes any ship enthusiast cringe.

Saturdays low-speed collision in the Welland Canal left both the 446-foot Florence Spirit and the 453-foot Alanis with some starboard damage, according to media reports.

There has been no official word on what caused the Canadian-flagged Florence Spirit, loaded down with a cargo of coal, to seem to drift into the path of the larger Alanis, which was hauling wind turbine parts. Speculation from maritime enthusiasts was that the smaller ship may have lost power in the moments before the collision.

The Welland Canal, located in Ontario, Canada, is a key piece of the Great Lakes waterway system. It connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

At the time of the 4 p.m. collision, the Alanis was upbound, headed to Duluth with a load of wind turbine parts. The Florence Spirit was downbound with its coal load, headed for Quebec, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. officials said, according to the CBC.

Its a routine passage. Its an area that is common. Obviously, as witnessed by the public, there was an unfortunate incident that the two vessels collided, said Jean Aubry-Morin, vice president of external relations for the St. Lawrence Seaway group. He described the crash as rare.

An Ontario resident name Alex Stewart was on shore and took a video of the collision, which has been widely shared. You can see it below.

Wasnt expecting this for my first time watching the boat go down the canal Posted by Alex Stewart on Saturday, July 11, 2020

No one was injured in the crash and there did not appear to be any environmental pollution stemming from the incident.

Both ships were taken to separate areas afterward so they could be inspected and investigators can determine a cause, Canadian officials said.

We dont know if its a mechanical failure of one of the vessels, most probably the Florence Spirit, or if its a (maneuver) issue. At this point its too early to say, Aubry-Morin told the CBC.

READ MORE

Soo Locks shut down for hours after 736-foot freighter loses power, hits pier

3 Great Lakes freighters head to early layup, nearly 100 shipping employees laid off
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Transshipment of goods from Libya through the Turkish ports stood at 1.5 million tons from January through May 2020, the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure told Trend.

The volume of cargo transshipment from Libya by ships flying the Turkish flag amounted to 182,697 tons, while the ships flying the flags of other countries transported 1.3 million tons from January through May 2020.

Ships flying the Libyan flag didnt transport cargo through Turkish ports during the reporting period, said the ministry.

During the reporting period, 39,007 tons of goods were transited from Libya through the Turkish ports.

The volume of cargo transshipment through the Turkish ports reached 151.5 million tons from January through May 2020.

The volume of cargo handled by ships flying Turkish flag stood at 11.9 million tons from January through May 2020.

The volume of cargo transshipment through Turkish ports by ships under the flags of their countries amounted to 5.9 million tons, and the ships flying the flags of other countries transported 133.6 million tons from January through May 2020.

Some 30.7 million tons of cargo were transported through Turkish ports from January through May 2020.

Cargo transshipment through the Turkish ports amounted to 27.9 million tons in May 2020.

The volume of cargo handled by ships under the Turkish flag amounted to 2.3 million tons in May 2020.

The volume of cargo transshipment through the Turkish ports by ships flying the flags of their countries amounted to 940,716 tons, and while the ships flying the flags of other countries transported 24.7 million tons in May 2020.

Some 5.7 million tons of cargo were transported through the Turkish ports in May 2020.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Forty-four years after they honeymooned at the Magic Kingdom, Carol and Steve Show donned mouse ears with "44" emblazoned on the iconic headgear and posed for photos in front of Cinderella Castle.

The two were among the estimated 16,000 people who descended on Walt Disney World Saturday as the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom welcomed guests for the first time since COVID-19 forced the parks' closure March 15.

The parks opened even as the Sunshine State recorded a sharp increase in new infections. On Saturday, the Florida Department of Health reported 10,360 new cases, the 18th consecutive day that at least 5,000 new cases of the novel coronavirus have been announced and pushing total cases to 254,511.

And those making their way back to the "Place Where Dreams Come True" found a smaller, much more sanitized and COVID-19-conscious world.

Opening day at Disney World as it happened: Small crowds, short lines, social distancing and COVID-19 merch

Steve and Carol Show of Port St. Lucie celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, which reopened to the public Saturday.

The coronavirus-forced changes were myriad, from touch-free forehead temperature checks to hand-sanitizing stations and six-foot separations between guests in lines.

Social distancing was emphasized by signage on everything from the ground to walls to trash cans, and reinforced by the addition of plexiglass-topped partitions in lines for rides and partitions at registers in shops. Visitors who ordered food had to order it online before they could enter the restaurant, remove their mask and eat. Masks were mandatory, except when eating.

None of that stopped the Disney faithful from snagging reservations as soon they opened up in late June, first for those with resort reservations and then for annual passholders.

Previous coverage: Passholders find signs of COVID-19 times as Disney World welcomes them 'home' for special preview

More: Disney's Splash Mountain to get new theme amid calls to ditch racist history

The Shows, both 64, "absolutely" had concerns about the spread of COVID-19 in Florida.

Story continues

And the Port St. Lucie, Florida, residents have "heard all the questions," especially, "Why would you be going there now?"

But their answer, said Carol Show, is, "Why wouldn't we?"

"We discussed this a lot," said the retired teacher. "We think Disney is taking so many precautions, we feel safer here than at stores. We're not very fearful people. We figure, let's live.

Disney has not specified how many visitors it planned to admit Saturday or what that count will be in for the foreseeable future. But Len Testa, co-author of "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World," estimated that there were just 10,000 guests in the Magic Kingdom and another 6,000 at Animal Kingdom on opening day.

Those taking the normally packed monorail from Disney World's Transportation and Ticket Center to Magic Kingdom will find signage on the ground requiring social distancing and only one to two parties per car.

"To put that number in perspective, the Magic Kingdom averages just under 60,000 per day," he said, adding that this week's preview events for annual passholders drew between roughly 7,000 and 8,000 per day.

Guests lined up early at the Walt Disney World transportation center, where they could board the monorail, ferry or buses for the Magic Kingdom.

Visitors who opted to ride the iconic monorail from the Transportation and Ticket Center to the Magic Kingdom entrance stood in a well-marked socially distanced queue. The trains cabins were divided using vinyl barriers, and only one or two families were allowed in each.

On a normal, pre-COVID-19 day, the trains would have been filled to standing room only capacity, but Jess and Brandon Bullock of Sarasota, Florida, didn't find much of a line. They did find freshly sanitized seats  one party per bench and no one standing, hanging onto handrails  and a much less frenetic crowd than usual.

"The feeling through security and monorail lines was pretty sterile," said Jess Bullock, 31. "Definitely not the usual bubbly atmosphere, but that's understandable."

A smaller-capacity crowd was on hand early Saturday for the reopening of Magic Kingdom, which opened along with Animal Kingdom from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Inside the park, they found shorter waits for favorite attractions and rides, though at times, Bullock said, waits were much longer than displayed on the Disney app or signs.

It rained at some points, and the 100-degree-plus heat index was stifling. Cinderella Castle glistened after a brief downpour, its blue and pink spires reflecting in puddles on the cement. The Magic Kingdom's central hub was hosting light crowds of picture-taking guests as of noon.

Overall, the Bullocks were pleased with what Disney's done to welcome guests back, but "to be quite honest, I think Universal has done a better job," Bullock said.

'We felt super safe': What the Universal Orlando reopening was like

"But Disney would be a close second," she said, adding that she and her husband will be back for a long weekend stay next week.

"I think the biggest thing is, Disney doesn't have as many places to rest and you don't see as many people out cleaning as you do at Universal."

Sisters Mary Griffin and Leslie Shinault of Rockledge, Florida, masked up and headed for a resort weekend at Walt Disney World for the reopening of Magic Kingdom.

One other thing stood out to sisters Mary Griffin and Leslie Shinault of Rockledge, Florida: We saw four strollers by the carousel, instead of hundreds, said Griffin, 56. And there was no one stepping on your heels."

A major but strictly-enforced downside: Those mandatory masks, which the sisters agree are absolutely necessary given COVID-19, but a nightmare to wear for hours in 90-plus-degree heat, Shinault said.

Despite any glitches, waits and the rain, Carol and Steve Show say they were just happy to return to a place they've loved all their adult lives and have visited often since moving to St. Lucie County a few years ago.

Decked out in bride-and-groom attire, the two retirees were hard to miss in a fairly sparse crowd. Even Bullock reported seeing "the anniversary couple," who bought "Together Again" T-shirts, new to Disney shops in honor of the reopening.

"We couldn't walk anywhere without feeling like a celebrity," Carol Show recounted. "Everyone was offering us congratulations as we walked down Main Street . all the cast members  even the Disney vice president  greeting everyone.

"It's our 'happy place,' " she said. "And we're so glad to be back."

Bottom line: Is Disney World safe now?

"Safe" is a subjective term but thanks to all the COVID-19 precautions, you may actually feel more protected at Walt Disney World than you might at your local grocery store.

There was near total-total compliance with the face-covering requirement and on the occasion that folks slid their mask below their noses, they fixed them quickly when asked to do so by staff.

The additional safety precautions did come at a price, though. The walls of plexiglass shields constant health safety reminders are reassuring, but they also pull you out of the "fantasy" a little. However, the ability to experience all of the parks headliners with other little-to-no waiting mostly makes up for the eerie atmosphere.

Contributing: Jayme Deerwester, USA Today, and Seth Kubersky. Contact Kennerly at 321-242-3692 or bkennerly@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bybrittkennerly Facebook: /bybrittkennerly

Video: Disney World shares look inside park as reopening day nears

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Walt Disney World: What we learned from the parks' reopening day
A report by the Presidential Probe Panel has shown details of how Ibrahim Magu, the suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Fina...





A report by the Presidential Probe Panel has shown details of how Ibrahim Magu, the suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), allegedly used a cleric to launder funds abroad.





Magu is currently being interrogated by the panel headed by retired Justice Ayo Salami over allegations of lack of transparency in managing recovered assets and mismanagement of EFCC.





A copy of the report made available to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Saturday in Abuja disclosed that the founder of the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry, Abuja, Dr Emmanuel Omalewas was used by Magu to launder funds.





Omales name was uncovered through an investigative report on EFCCs activities by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and mentioned in the final report of the Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets (PCARA).





The report added that the unknown Pastor is alleged to have bought a landed property on behalf of Magu worth N573 million in Dubai, United Arab Emirate.





Another individual who is helping in laundering funds for the Acting Chairman and who has been referred to in several petitions is one Pastor Emmanuel Omale of the Hand of God Prophetic Ministry.





Hes reported to have travelled to Dubai with Mr Magu, and his name was used in purchasing a property in Dubai for Mr Magu.





As an unknown pastor, the NFIUs report showed the huge movement of funds ranging from N573,228,040.41, the report said.





However, efforts had been intensified to reveal the real identity of the Pastor and to arraign him for prosecution if found culpable.





Magu is being held at the Police headquarters in Abuja.




The southwestern province of Tay Ninh on July 11 announced the search for four foreigners who had fled a medical quarantine camp established to gather those entering Vietnam for medical surveillance against the COVID-19.

A massive police hunt has been launched for the four foreigners fleeing from a medical quarantine camp in Tay Ninh province

The four were identified as Ying Ya Qiang (born in 1997), Qian Ski Cai (born in 1995), Dai Shu Qian (born in 1987), and Wang Yu Xiuan (born in 1994).

They entered Vietnam on July 5 through Mong Cai international border gate with China and then took a bus to Go Dau district, Tay Ninh province.

Tipped off by local people, authorities in Go Dau district met the four foreigners and asked them to move to the concentrated quarantine camp set up at Tay Ninh Economics and Technical Engineering School.

Surveillance footage released on July 11 shows the four managed to climb over the quarantine camps fence and flee away early the same day.

According to regulations, all citizens, Vietnamese and foreigners alike, are isolated in quarantine facilities for 14 days for medical observation as soon as they land in Vietnam, in an attempt to prevent a possible recurrence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the community.

Vietnam has gone through 87 days without new locally transmitted coronavirus infections. VOV
In 2018, several Indians were outraged to the core after a report by an international news agency pegged India as the most dangerous country for women with regard to sexual assault. Nearly two years since, not much seems to have changed with yet another video of a public rape threat going viral.

A stand-up comedian was compelled to share an apology on social media and take down her former content after she was brow-beaten into compliance by threats of arrest and rape.

Comedian Agrima Joshua has shared an apology for an old video in which she made a joke about the upcoming statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and what people were saying about it online. Following the call for her arrest by a Shiv Sena leader and a very public hate campaign against her, Joshua decided to come forth with an apology. The video was also taken down.

Within a day of the old video going viral again, however, another disturbing video started to trend on Twitter - that of a public rape threat against Joshua.

In a video that started going viral last night in response to the viral joke, a man can be seen giving an open rape threat to a the woman in the utmost crass language in order to intimidate her. The man has been identified as YouTuber Shubham Mishra.

How it began

The furore started when Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik posted a video on Twitter, seeking an arrest of Joshua for a joke on regarding Shivaji's statue, which is set to be erected in the Arabian Sea.

"Some comedian named Agrima Joshua has made contemptuous comments against Shivaji Maharaj while presenting her comedy skit," Sarnaik wrote.

Soon after Sarnaik's appeal to Maharashtra Home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh for Joshua's arrest, the comedian faced a barrage of hate comments and threats online. A group of miscreants also vandalised 'The Habitat', the venue in which Joshua's performance was held, in protest against the video.

The outrage compelled Joshua to post a public apology on Twitter in which she says she is sorry for hurting the sentiments of Shivaji's followers. She also added that the video had been taken down and that she had great respect for Shivaji.

I am sorry for having hurt the sentiments of the many followers of the great leader Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. My heartfelt apologies to followers of the great leader, who I sincerely respect. The video has already been taken down. Please amplify.  Agrima Joshua  (@Agrimonious) July 10, 2020

Following the violence, The Habitat shared a tweet in which it said, "We devote our lives to finding creative expression. Not towards acts of barbaric violence or mindless sharing of acts of violence," they wrote.

Thank you, to our family  Hope you are all safe at home during these troubled times. pic.twitter.com/pvT2AVeBeG  The Habitat (@IndieHabitat) July 11, 2020

Rape threat in public

Despite the apology, public outrage against the comedian grew after the call for her arrest. And one video has gone viral for its misogynistic and criminal content.

In the video, a man in a yellow shirt can be seen mindlessly abusing the comedian and issuing her violent rape threats amid numerous threats of violence.

The man in the video has been identified as Shubham Mishra, a low-level social media player who wants seemingly wants to make a name for himself as the next "Hindustani Bhau".

Bhau, the Bigg Boss 13 contestant, was recently in news after he made threats against filmmaker and producer Ekta Kapoor and called for her arrest after she allegedly disrespected the Indian Army in her web series.

Mishra, who has over 2 lakh subscribers on YouTube and also has a presence on the recently banned video-sharing platform TikTok, went a step further and called for raping Joshua. Mishra is well known for posting, polarising, incendiary and provocative videos regarding current affairs.

After the video of him giving a rape threat to Joshua went viral, several people including comedian Kunal Kamra, actress Swara Bhasker and others called for Mishra's arrest. Many also sought action against the man by the National Commission for Women.

Disturbing but not new

While the video is disturbing to the core, it is not surprising. In the past, several such hate campaigns including the one led by Mishra's guru 'Hindustani Bhau' himself prove that browbeating artists, especially women, into compliance, is not that hard. Take Kapoor's case, for instance. The powerful producer and media doyen had to remove the scene depicting an army officer's wife having an extra-marital affair from her webseries due to moral policing by obnoxious, self-righteous men.

All you need is a viral hate campaign, some political actors supporting the miscreants and voila!

The trend is scary not just for every Indian's constitutional right to freedom of speech and those who advocate it, but also paints a bleak picture of the state of women's security in India, where one case of rape is reported every 15 minutes.

In 2018, as per NCRB data, 33,356 cases of rape were reported across the country out of which over 93 percent were committed by persons known to the victim. As per a survey conducted by Reuters in 2018, India was the most dangerous place for women with regard to sexual crimes against women. While many including Indian politicians and administrators had questioned the veracity of the report and debunked its findings, the viral reach and popularity of videos propagating rape and violence against women in India seems to confirm that statistics.

Such videos are also a reminder that despite progress in terms of women's rights and creative freedom, India continues to remain a country where women have to apologise for everything - from their clothing to their jokes - if someone takes offence while men who issue open calls and threats for rape and violence go scott-free.
Supreme Court says Catholic schools can dismiss teachers for religious reasons

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The Supreme Court has ruled that two Catholic schools were within their rights to dismiss two teachers on the basis of classifying them as ministers rather than secular professionals.

In a decision released Wednesday morning, the high court ruled 7-2 that two California-based Catholic schools can classify their teachers as ministers and not be held by the standards of state antidiscrimination laws.

Justice Samuel Alito delivered the opinion of the court, being joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh.

Alito cited the 2012 Supreme Court decision Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, in which the court ruled unanimously that antidiscrimination laws do not apply to religious employment decisions.

The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of most private religious schools, and therefore the selection and supervision of the teachers upon whom the schools rely to do this work lie at the core of their mission, wrote Alito.

Judicial review of the way in which religious schools discharge those responsibilities would undermine the independence of religious institutions in a way that the First Amendment does not tolerate.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor authored a dissenting opinion, being joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in which she argued that the decision strips thousands of schoolteachers of their legal protections.

 the Courts apparent deference here threatens to make nearly anyone whom the schools might hire ministers unprotected from discrimination in the hiring process, wrote Sotomayor.

Agnes Deirdre Morrissey-Berru sued Our Lady of Guadalupe School of Hermosa Beach under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, claiming age discrimination.

Our Lady of Guadalupe argued that Morrissey-Berru was let go due to poor performance and because of a new rating system implemented that featured the teachers becoming catechists.

Although a district court ruled in favor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a three judge panel of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the ruling in April of last year.

The panel concluded that as a teacher, Morrissey-Berru held a position that was too secular to warrant a ministerial exemption and thus her claim of age discrimination remained valid.

Aside from taking a single course on the history of the Catholic church, Morrissey-Berru did not have any religious credential, training, or ministerial background. Morrissey-Berru also did not hold herself out to the public as a religious leader or minister, concluded the Ninth Circuit panel.

Morrissey-Berru did have significant religious responsibilities as a teacher at the School  However, an employees duties alone are not dispositive under Hosanna-Tabors framework.

In the other case, Kristen Biel sued St. James School of Torrance over not renewing her contract, allegedly because she had cancer, which violated the Americans With Disabilities Act.

St. James School responded Biel was released because of poor performance and that the decision was made before Biel disclosed her cancer diagnosis to the school.

In December 2018, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 that Biel was not a minister according to the standards set out by Hosanna-Tabor and thus could sue the school.

There was no religious component to her liberal studies degree or teaching credential. St. James had no religious requirements for her position, concluded the panel majority.

Nor did St. James hold Biel out as a minister by suggesting to its community that she had special expertise in Church doctrine, values, or pedagogy beyond that of any practicing Catholic.

The two cases were consolidated and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in May, with the religious liberty law firm Becket representing the Christian schools.

Our view was the court really seemed quite broadly in agreement that the schools should win their case and that the 9th Circuit was wrong, Becket Senior Counsel Daniel Blomberg, a member of the legal team representing the schools, told The Christian Post at the time.

I think the thing that the justices were probing was less about this particular case but more about how to draw the line doctrinally in future cases. I think thats one of the things that came through really clear was that the line being drawn by opposing counsel wasnt the right one.
Researchers listen to birds for answers why their numbers are so low

Alberta researchers are using hundreds of audio recording devices as they seek to understand why bird populations are declining.

A University of Alberta professor says a study published last year that suggested North America had lost billions of birds ruffled a lot of feathers in the scientific community.

"The basic premise that we have lost three billion birds, it is probably conservative, is my guess," Erin Bayne told Radio-Canada.

"That, in fact, the number is larger than that. That's what we are trying to figure out. How much more? What are some of the things we can do to reduce that loss and perhaps restore and recover some of it?"

Bayne said it's the job of researchers like him to strengthen those numbers, and one way of doing that is by simply listening.

They are using autonomous recording units (ARUs), about 1,000 of them in Western Canada, to create soundscape recordings of birds and other natural elements.

"Human noise affects wildlife," Bayne said. "We have shown very conclusively that traffic noise and noise from industrial sites reduces the quality of otherwise perfectly good habitat. Animals just avoid being there.

"Vocal communication is so important to those animals, that's how they communicate with each other. When we add our noise in, it makes it harder for that signal to be properly interpreted," he said.

"We are seeing over time less and less birds who make the sounds that make a soundscape such a beautiful thing to listen to."

Vincent Bonnay/Radio-Canada

A study in the journal Science from last fall pointed to a loss of 2.9 billion birds in North America since 1970, including an "overlooked biodiversity crisis."

Bayne says there are three main culprits: cats, windows and industrial development.

Keeping your kitty cat inside would be a huge help, as would the use of tools to reduce bird collisions with windows on homes and office buildings, such as tinting or the addition of a film coating.

Story continues

"The biggest thing we have to do is balance our need for the resources from habitats like this," Bayne explained.

"If we take away too much of any given habitat, those birds are not going to be able to recover. That is the biggest one. If we don't manage our habitat well, we are going to be in serious trouble."

And measuring where we are is where the ARUs come in.

They programmable audio recording units can capture as much data as is desired.

"We have roughly 700 terabytes of soundscape recordings from across Western Canada  probably one of the largest sets of audio files of nature anywhere in the world."

He said it would take 2 human lifetimes to listen to all of those recordings.

"With this equipment, we are much better able to track exactly how many individuals there are, when they are there, when they are arriving. That is all through sound. Most animals make a very unique sound you can track," he said.

Artificial light can have an impact, too.

Vincent Bonnay/Radio-Canada

And that's where student Carrie Ann Adams comes in.

"We are studying how all sorts of human development impacts wildlife. I am looking at the effects of artificial light on birds," Adams said.

"I am seeing the species that are present, and how often they are using this site changes when there is artificial light. Artificial light is growing at a rapid rate worldwide and yet it could be one of the most easily controlled pollutants."

Adams says night birds and their food source is currently on her radar.

"I am interested in seeing how nocturnal birds respond to artificial light because they are active at a time when artificial light is more visible in the environment and they prey on insects that are also active at night," she said.

"In the future, we will likely study bats, and using ARUs we can also do that."

There's a group in Calgary that is looking at the role office buildings play in bird populations.

The Calgary Migratory Species Response Team says minor changes can make a big difference.

"It could be related to turning lights down at a certain time, it may be something just on the glass that's not going to affect the appearance of the building but may help birds and bats to avoid collisions in the future," Kathleen Johnson told CBC News in November.

It's estimated 25 million birds die each year from striking buildings in Canada.

Meanwhile, researcher Bayne says some bird species are at greater risk than others.

"The aerial insectivores are birds you would regularly see in farms and over your fields. They eat flying insects. Some of them have declined 90 per cent," Bayne said.

"When I was a kid, my farm had barn swallows absolutely everywhere," he said. "They have declined 90 to 95 per cent over the past 20 to 30 years and our assumption is that it's primarily due to the loss of the insect food supply. Insects across the board are declining.

"There is also a new class of pesticides called neonicotinoids which are thought to be having a fairly substantive effect on insect food supplies, particularly in agricultural areas."
Delhi: The national capital on Sunday (July 12, 2020) reported 1,573 new COVID-19 confirmed infections that took the total tally to 1,12,494. There are still 19,155 active cases.

The coronavirus death count in Delhi on Sunday increased by 37 to 3,371, while the number of COVID-19 recoveries in the last 24 hours was recorded at 2,276.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the national capital has been able to minimise deaths of Corona patients in home isolation through this suraksha kavach called pulse oximeter.

"If patients detect their oxygen is falling they reach out to us for help. We immediately send oxygen concentrators to their home or take them to a hospital," stated CM Kejriwal.

Delhi has been able to minimise deaths of Corona patients in home isolation thru this suraksha kavach called pulse oximeter If patients detect their oxygen is falling they reach out to us for help. We immediately send oxygen concentrators to their home or take them to a hospital https://t.co/C0Yhulsdho  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 12, 2020

Meanwhile, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia visited the LNJP Hospital and met the team to thank for their untiring efforts.

He tweeted, "Delhi has seen a reassuring decrease in number of new cases in past few weeks. Credit goes to the #CoronaWarriors, doctors & medical teams all over Delhi!"

Visited LNJP Hospital and met the team to thank for their untiring efforts. Delhi has seen a reassuring decrease in number of new cases in past few weeks. Credit goes to the #CoronaWarriors, doctors & medical teams all over Delhi!#DelhiFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/SQTJm2fiej  Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) July 12, 2020

So far, a total of 89,968 Delhiites have recovered from COVID-19 and the recovery rate has bettered to 79.97%.

According to the latest health bulletin, the number of patients in home isolation has decreased to 11,059.

Delhi on Sunday conducted 21,236 COVID-19 tests, whereas the total number of tests in the national capital by Sunday evening stands at 7,89,853.

Delhi has been the third-worst COVID-19-hit place across India after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Authorities responded to an explosion and an ensuing three-alarm fire Sunday aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego that has left 18 sailors injured.

At approximately 11:30 a.m. EST, the San Diego Fire Department was called in response to the blaze, with a total of three alarms being sounded by 1 p.m. EST at the U.S. naval base.

At just before 2 p.m. EST, fire officials reported an explosion with at least one injury aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard. The U.S. Pacific Fleet Naval Surface Forces later announced via Twitter that sailors were taken to a nearby hospital for minor injuries and that the entire 160-member crew was off the ship and accounted for. Naval Surface forces initial reported that 11 sailors were injured, but later updated that number to 18.

The fire was called away at approx. 8:30 AM, July 12. Approx. 160 Sailors were aboard at the time. @LHD6BHR is going through a maintenance availability and has a crew size of approx. 1000. 18 Sailors have been transferred to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.  Naval Surface Forces (@SurfaceWarriors) July 12, 2020

According to the Associated Press, the USS Bonhomme Richard, which operates with San Diego as its home port, was undergoing routine maintenance when the fire occurred.

TV crews have since converged on the naval base as smoke continued to pour from the ship as firefighters continued to fight the blaze.

San Diego ship fire https://t.co/p6wSsK2Wpv  10News (@10News) July 12, 2020

ABC 10 News in San Diego has been carrying a live broadcast of the scene at the U.S. Naval Base.

According to CNN, and ABC News, authorities have yet to disclose the cause of the explosion.

The USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) is a landing helicopter dock (LHD) Wasp-class amphibious assault ship. It is the third ship in the U.S. navy to bear the namesake. It was commissioned for active duty in 1998. The ship has called San Diego its home port since 2018 after spending the previous six years abroad.

The name Bonhomme Richard originates from Captain John Paul Jones, who used the name to honor both America and France during the Revolutionary War. The name translates to Poor Richard in French and is a reference to the pen name used Benjamin Franklin when writing Poor Richards Almanac. Franklin was the ambassador to France at the time.
Russia Scrambles 2 Fighters to Intercept US Spy Jet Over Sea of Japan - Video

Sputnik News

11:15 GMT 11.07.2020(updated 15:24 GMT 11.07.2020)

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - Russian Su-35 and MiG-31 fighter jets were scrambled on Saturday to intercept the RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft of the US air force over the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the Russian Defene Ministry said.

"On 11 July, the Russian airspace surveillance identified an air target over the neutral waters of the Sea of Japan [East Sea], flying in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation", the ministry said in a statement.

Russian fighter jets escorted the reconnaissance aircraft at a safe distance and returned to the home base after the US aircraft flew away from the Russian border.

The Russian aircraft carried out the flight in line with international rules concerning neutral waters, the ministry added.

A Sputnik

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 23:08:12|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump considered selling Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the destructive Hurricane Maria in 2017, former acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke has told the New York Times.

In an interview with the newspaper on Friday, Duke said that "the president's initial ideas were more of as a businessman."

"Can we outsource the electricity? Can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?" Trump reportedly said, according to the New York Times interview.

Nonetheless, the idea of selling the U.S. territory was never seriously considered or discussed after it was raised, Duke said.

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017 and caused an estimated 2,982 fatalities and 90 billion U.S. dollars in damage, according to official data.

Trump has criticized Puerto Rican officials for their management of the relief fund that his administration provided for the island's recovery. In November 2018, White House officials told Congress that Trump didn't want any additional relief funding to the island. Enditem
On the Denial of a Legislative Franchise to ABS-CBN

More at: https://pinglacson.net/2020/07/11/on-the-denial-of-a-legislative-franchise-to-abs-cbn/

I don't think the standards for the granting of legislative franchises will change. The case of ABS-CBN's legislative franchise application is 'sui generis' in a manner of speaking.

The Machiavellian leadership style easily comes to mind, and if I may quote what Niccolo Machiavelli once wrote: "I'd rather be feared than loved if I cannot be both." Accept it or not, the President's body language was obvious enough for the House leadership and allies not to read and interpret the way they voted yesterday.

All that being said, Machiavellian or not, President Duterte's leadership style is a class by itself and is proving to be an effective style of leadership. Whatever individual and collective reasons the 70 Committee on Legislative Franchise members have in voting against the media giant, nobody can argue that under the Constitution, a legislative franchise is up to Congress to grant or not.

With regard to ABS-CBN, the only message I have for them is: "You fall today, you will rise tomorrow, and that's for sure." It is as simple as that.
Following George Floyds death on May 25, the Black Lives Matter protests began across the country, including Portland. History, it seems, is taking place, and Black photographers are helping to capture history as it unfolds.

*****

A wheelchair sits on the Burnside Bridge in a crowd of people participating in a Die-In for George Floyd. The protesters lay on the ground for about 9 minutes. (Mariah Harris)

Mariah Harris - @moments.by.mariah

They were all lying on the ground. Thousands of protesters were spread out across the Burnside Bridge, stomachs to the pavement in memory of George Floyd and his final moments. Mariah Harris, 29, moved through the crowd, aware she was witnessing history and that she had to capture it.

She wore a black crewneck that said, Black photographers matter, in bright pink letters.

Harris believes the narrative of the protests belongs to Black storytellers and photographers. So much of history, she said, has been told by white people. This is the time for Black people, especially Black women, to tell their story. Harris does this by sharing her lens.

That day she captured images of people kneeling on the bridge with their fists raised in the air, people with their faces pressed into the roadway.

She tip-toed around the protesters and tried to kneel when she could. She lay on the ground, trying to find the best shot. She looked out at the crowd, listened to people chanting, I cant breathe.

Then, she saw an empty wheelchair.

As she got closer, she saw a man lying in front of the chair. She centered the black chair with blue wheels in the frame and focused on the item so it stuck out against the sea of people.

To Harris, it represented the resilience of the protesters.

It took just a few seconds for her to snap the photo and move on, but the memory still sticks.

This is the longest string of protests Harris has ever seen. She knows she is witnessing history and that as a Black woman she has to be the one to document it. Thats why she went to the protest that night and has continued to go for 25 days.

Peoples Instagram feeds cant go back to normal. People need to see that empty wheelchair.

*****

A woman and a young boy watch as firefighters put out a dumpster fire during a protest. (Joseph Blake Jr.)

Joseph Blake Jr. - @pdxwulf_

Joseph Blake Jr. felt comfortable in the crowd, walking with other members of Portlands Black community on June 15.

The march was peaceful, well-planned and welcoming. He observed his surroundings and sometimes stopped to snap photos and capture his perspective.

The media, it seemed to him, was not depicting the protests fully  showing more violence than he witnessed day-to-day. However, Blake, who grew up in Portland, said he has never felt more comfortable in the city than when he is at a protest. In those spaces, he is heard, he feels uplifted, he is not alienated.

The protest that night was calm, a group of people marching for a united cause.

Then the volume increased.

He saw an older Black woman screaming at a group of about seven teenagers who were setting a dumpster on fire. She was pleading with them to not do it.

Please stop doing this. This is what they want.

Blake watched as the boys ignored her pleas, lit a fire and took off. He hadnt seen them during the protest earlier. To Blake, it seemed like they were just there to set fires and run.

The world slowed down. He picked up his Sony A6300 and started snapping photos.

He spotted a young boy and older woman huddled together watching the fire. Centered in the frame, the two look at the distant fire as blurred figures attempt to put it out. Even though the shape and size of the fire isnt clear from their distance, the flames burn bright and light up the rest of the image. It represented the contrast between people like him who protested in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and those who seemed more interested in drinking and causing destruction.

Blake posted the image on Instagram the next day.

For the people who are there to protest, thank you. For the people that just show up to cause trouble, please find something else to do.

*****

Two bikers stop for a photo during a Juneteenth march. (Michael Miller)

Michael Miller - @millerszn

The photos are important, but they are not why Michael Miller, 22, attends the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

Millers passion for photography came from his mother, who loved to document every moment. She never used a digital camera, but she took photos of everything. Miller used to hate it. Now, he recognizes the importance of preserving a moment in a photo.

He brings his Canon G7, a graduation present, to almost every momentous occasion. That included the Juneteenth celebration in Northeast Portland.

That day he saw people smiling, handing out water bottles and enjoying the warm summer day. He also saw a group of teens riding their bikes on the edge of the crowd.

To him, news outlets had made the protests seem unorganized, punctuated by random acts of violence, by showing mainly videos of dumpster fires and smashed windows. But he saw a community bonded by food, music, culture and a common goal.

He saw that community in those cyclists.

So, when they stopped at a corner, he ran to them, dodging between marchers, and kneeled in front of the group with his camera poised. He asked if he could take a picture. One of them heard him, tapped his friend on the shoulder, and they both turned to the camera.

Miller snapped the photo and the boys returned to their conversation. He thanked them and sped away.

Miller knows that years of systemic racism are what brought people to these celebrations. He knows that the protests, where he captures moments of joy and unity, are the result of years of police brutality, racism and microaggressions.

However, he also knows these demonstrations pull people together.

Thats what he wants to capture: the good within the bad, the unity of the protests in this challenging time.

*****

A Black woman listens to Jason Washington's granddaughter speak at a rally. (Annie Schutz)

Annie Schutz - @annieschutz

Annie Schutz, 20, was snapping photos of a speaker, Jason Washingtons granddaughter, when she turned to see a woman standing still.

She wasnt crying. She wasnt smiling. She looked solemn and concentrated. She wore a face shield that said, No justice. No peace.

Schutz had seen many emotional people during that march. There had been a lot of crying, yelling and cheering. Especially when the granddaughter had spoken about how her heart broke when her grandpa was killed by police.

But this woman was strong. Her expression wasnt blank. Schutz said it looked like she was trying not to break.

To Schutz, this womens demeanor represented how Black people have had to stay strong or emotionless in the face of injustice. How they had to stick up for themselves.

Now, other people are starting to support the movement and show up in unexpected ways. Schutz is appreciative for all attention the Black Lives Matter movement is receiving. Yet, she wonders why she, and women like the one she photographed, still have to fight this fight.

*****

An older Black woman and white male teenager link arms at the front of a group participating in a Black Lives Matter march. (Emery Barnes)

Emery Barnes  @emebarnes

The pair walked arm in arm in front of the crowd. One of them was a white male teenager. The other was an elderly Black woman. The woman carried a sign.

END WHITE SUPREMACY, it read.

Emery Barnes, 25, had been walking at the front of the march when he turned to see these two. Immediately he was entranced.

They were from different sides of a system that favored one and pushed down the other. They were connected only by the cause they were fighting for.

He took their photo.

Barnes felt lucky to be protesting but knew how the demonstrations looked from the outside.

His aunt from out of town messaged him one day to ask him if he was okay. She had seen fires and looting and chaos on the news. He replied that he was involved in the protests and they were peaceful.

He wanted to help show that through photography.

Barnes had recognized early on how the protests brought people together, but these two people linked arm in arm showed him just how big the movement was and how it stretched past Portland.

*****

A man throws a can of tear gas back at police officers. (CeeBee)

CeeBee - @Chaotically.beautiful.imagery

The sun had gone down on June 2. Thats when police, dressed in riot gear and carrying clubs, pushed back on the crowd of marchers.

Officers announced there was criminal activity and deployed tear gas and then stun grenades.

CeeBee, 27, ran to the back of the crowd, desperate to protect herself and safely make it back to her 5-year-old son  but she didnt leave.

She snuck off to the side to take some photos. She heard a clinking noise. A stun grenade landed in front of her. She ran away but some of the pieces from the canister burned holes in her pants.

Later, she was hit in the leg by rubber bullets so hard she would have a bruise for about a week. Her boyfriend was hit on his left shoulder.

Rubber bullets dont bounce, they pierce, CeeBee said.

At one point, blinded by tear gas, she held onto someones backpack as they fled the scene.

She felt attacked. But she knows she cant stop.

She said she doesnt care what happens to her physically, she needs to fight for a better world for her son. One where she doesnt have to think twice about letting him play with a Nerf gun. One where she doesnt have to worry about when he will go from being seen as a baby to seen as a threat.

At one point as CeeBee was running away, she turned back to see tear gas filling the air and her boyfriend leaning down. She held up her camera and snapped some photos as he picked up a tear gas canister and threw it back.

People needed to see the tear gas. She had quit her job to take photos of the protests. She wasnt going to let a rubber-bullet-battered leg stop her from taking that photo.

*****

A white man walks in front of a Black man holding up a fist during a protest. (Saman Haaji)

Saman Haaji  @therapeuticshot

Pioneer Square was still full at 9 p.m. on June 3.

Saman Haaji kept a firm grip on his camera as he squeezed past protesters to get to the center of the crowd.

That night, Haaji had a specific message in mind that he wanted to show in some of his images. He had noticed that while many white allies were showing up to the protests, some of them had been taking over the message. He wanted to capture an image that showed how white people need to amplify Black voices, instead of speaking over them.

But he hadnt quite found it yet.

Then, as he was photographing a Black man with his fist in the air, a white man walked in front of him.

Haaji checked the image on his camera. With the exception of his raised arm, the Black man was completely covered by the white man.

Later Haaji would post the image on Instagram.

Support, dont take over, the first line of the caption reads.

*****

The message "BLACK LIVES MATTER" was painted in front of a boarded-up business in downtown Portland. (Kayla Brock)

Kayla Brock  @kaylabrockphotography

Almost every day Kayla Brock, 25, passes walls spray-painted with messages such as, RIP George Floyd. But on June 19, one particular image stood out to her.

It was a simple message, BLACK LIVES MATTER, written on a piece of plywood used to board up a business.

To Brock, it was a representation of protesting during the pandemic: How the Black Lives Matter message was still spread even though the business was boarded up.

Brock believes people paid more attention to the Black Lives Matter movement because COVID-19 had shut down most events and large gatherings. We were forced to slow down, and therefore were more ready to listen and act following George Floyds death.

When everything is shut down, you have to face realities, Brock said.

*****

A cop poses for a photo behind a fence during a BlackLives Matter Protest. (Desire Rukundo)

Desire Rukundo  @mylifeasdesire

Desire Rukundo did not expect the cop to say yes when he asked to take his photo.

He had been marching to downtown Portland on June 7, stopping every once in a while to take photos, when he walked past a group of about three cops behind a fence.

His friends tried to stop him, but he was on a mission. He was even prepared to get pepper sprayed. But he was surprised when the cop with the shield over his face not only said yes, but also posed and talked with Rukundo for a minute.

Rukundo, who moved from Uganda about five years ago, said he has always heard terrible narratives about American cops, but this interaction made him think twice.

In Uganda, Rukundo hadnt shared any negative exchanges with police. He expected friendly interactions if they ever pulled him over. So, before he moved to the U.S., he didnt expect to have to worry about interacting with cops.

But after he arrived, he said he realized he needed to act a certain way to avoid being targeted. He doesnt own a hoodie. He doesnt wear red or blue. He doesnt drive because he is afraid of being pulled over. He said he has gotten used to living this way.

He doesnt understand how men who have an ounce of weed on them are convicted faster than a cop who was caught on camera killing a defenseless man.

This is not what he had expected when he moved here five years ago.

Rukundo believes there are good cops, and he said he talked to one June 7. However, he is still afraid to call them if he needs help. He knows there needs to be a change.

*****

A girl sits on a man's shoulders and holds up her hands during a Black Lives Matter march as the crowd shouts, "Hands up. Don't shoot." (Gia Goodrich)

Gia Goodrich - @gia.goodrich

Gia Goodrich, 36, had been marching with a small group of family members when one of her cousins pointed out a little girl, bouncing on a mans shoulders as he marched in a Black Lives Matter rally on June 3.

When she reached them, she held up her camera and lifted her eyebrow, her silent way of asking permission. They both motioned they were okay, and she began to make photos.

Goodrich likes to use the word make instead of take because she sees photography as an act of creation.

She made a few photos.

At one point when Goodrich was snapping pictures, the crowd began to chant, Hands up. Dont shoot.

The little girl raised her hands in the air, fingers spread.

To Goodrich, this moment represented the intergenerational nature of the protests. It also represented hope for a better future, one where all people can exist without fearing for their lives.

One way we can achieve this future is by listening to more Black voices during this movement.

Goodrich believes that everyone brings a different area of focus or different perspective to situations because of their cultural experiences and identity. When people listen to other people who have a different area of focus, it expands their world view.

White allies are important, but they should not be the center of the story.

Thats why its important that Black photographers be in charge of the narrative. Its also why Goodrich wants to feature people of color in her photos, like the little girl.

-- Madison Smalstig l msmalstig@oregonian.com l @madi_smals l

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories
The government has warned of the manipulation of information on social media platforms as viral video app TikTok faces a global backlash over security concerns.

Owned by Chinese company ByteDance, the mobile app has come under increased scrutiny in Australia after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week said he was looking at banning it over data and national security concerns following a similar ban in India.

TikTok has defended the security of the data it collects in Australia. Credit:Bloomberg

TikTok has an estimated 1.6 million users in Australia who log on to upload and watch 15-second videos of users lip syncing and dancing.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald asked Attorney-General and acting Home Affairs Minister, Christian Porter about security concerns involving TikTok and he said the government was working to combat disinformation through social media.
Students appearing for the CBSE board exams from next year will not have to study secularism, nationalism, federalism, demonetisation, GST, citizenship and democratic rights as these chapters, along with others, have been dropped from the syllabus to reduce the students course load amid the coronavirus crisis.

The Central Board of Secondary Education notified the new syllabus for Classes 9 to 12 for the 2020-21 academic session on Wednesday after cutting 30 per cent of the curriculum. A CBSE official said the changes in the syllabus were suggested by a committee of NCERT experts and were discussed by the board and subject experts before being made public. It also asked teachers to continue teaching the deleted topics to students if they felt it necessary.

Under the updated curriculum, the chapters deleted from the Class 10 syllabus deal with democracy and diversity, gender, religion and caste, popular struggles and movements and challenges to democracy.

For Class 11, the deleted portions are chapters on federalism, citizenship, nationalism, secularism and growth of local governments in India. Class 12 students will not have to study chapters on India's relations with its neighbours, the changing nature of India's economic development, social movements in India and demonetisation, among others.

While the news brought respite to students preparing for the exams, it set off a meme fest on the social media. Many academics criticised the move, saying it was ideologically driven and due to political considerations. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor thrashed the move, and Ms Banerjee urged the HRD ministry to ensure these vital lessons arent curtailed at any cost.

Core science subjects were affected too. The revised Class 11 Physics syllabus omits portions from Newtons Laws of Motion, Keplers law of planetary motion and the Doppler effect in waves.
A businessman awarded a peerage by Harold Wilson had a decade-long relationship with Communist-era spies who considered him so useful that they referred to him as 'intelligence agency staff'.

According to more than 1,000 documents unearthed at archives in Prague, Rudy Sternberg was meeting agents from Czechoslovakia's Statni Bezpecnost (StB) secret police in the 1960s and 1970s while being welcomed into Downing Street and rubbing shoulders with Ministers and foreign dignitaries.

The papers detail how the millionaire industrialist, who arrived penniless in Britain after fleeing Nazi Germany and who became Baron Plurenden in 1975, enjoyed considerable freedom to trade behind the Iron Curtain.

The files show that the StB suspected Sternberg of being a double agent, a concern shared by Russia's KGB. Their suspicions led them to terminate Ptacek's contact with Sternberg in 1973, although Sternberg continued to meet agents in London until at least 1974

In 1964, aged 47, he allegedly began an affair with a 23-year-old Czech mistress. At the same time, the files say, he began his relationship with the StB when he met a man called Major Ptacek, who would become his handler.

The documents detail two meetings in 1966, either side of Wilson's snap Election victory in March. Over dinner at Prague's 'Alhambra rustic bar', Sternberg  codenamed The Beginner  claimed he was privy to the Labour PM's innermost thoughts through a friend of his influential political secretary, Marcia Falkender.

According to the files, the friend was 'Baroness Plummer', believed to refer to the widow of Labour MP Leslie Plummer.

Joe Haines, above, who was Wilson's press secretary, said the documents confirmed his view of Sternberg, who died in 1978. 'When he came up for a peerage, a very high official in the Foreign Office approached me and said 'You can't do this, he's a spy,' he recalled

As well as Wilson's Cabinet plans, she allegedly told Sternberg that the Premier was having an affair with Falkender.

'Sternberg does not question at all that Wilson's secretary has relatively significant influence,' wrote Major Ptacek.

'Sternberg, based on information from Lady Plummer, considers the rumour that she is also Wilson's lover to be entirely truthful.' Lady Falkender, who died last year, always denied rumours of an affair.

In 1971, during a meeting in Prague, Sternberg  by then a millionaire from his import-export business  consulted Ptacek on the prospect of becoming a peer.

'He asked me what I thought about it,' wrote Ptacek. 'I recommended it to him, since he would become a 'privy counsellor' which would enable him to boost his position in society.'

Earlier, during two meetings in Prague in 1965, the documents claim that Sternberg  who was not designated as a spy by the StB  discussed the possibility of Britain selling Vickers VC-10 commercial aircraft to Czechoslovakia.

The StB's plan was for the contract to also boost the profile of Aviation Minister John Stonehouse, a paid Czech agent since 1962.

Joe Haines, who was Wilson's press secretary, said the documents confirmed his view of Sternberg, who died in 1978.

'When he came up for a peerage, a very high official in the Foreign Office approached me and said 'You can't do this, he's a spy,' he recalled.

Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson is pictured above in 1966. A businessman awarded a peerage by Harold Wilson had a decade-long relationship with Communist-era spies who considered him so useful that they referred to him as 'intelligence agency staff'

'I went to Harold and said 'Look, Rudy Sternberg is a spy,' and Harold said to me, 'He's a double agent.' That was the first I heard of it and the only time.

'After Harold died, I checked again with the Foreign Office and it was quite untrue  he wasn't a double agent or one of ours.'

The files show that the StB suspected Sternberg of being a double agent, a concern shared by Russia's KGB.

Their suspicions led them to terminate Ptacek's contact with Sternberg in 1973, although Sternberg continued to meet agents in London until at least 1974.

Historian Christopher Andrew, whose authorised history of MI5 covered the Sternberg affair, said: 'In a quest for more Soviet bloc contracts, Rudy Sternberg exaggerated his influence and inside knowledge. But given his knighthood, peerage and access to Harold Wilson, it's easy to see why the StB took him so seriously.'

Defending her father, Francesca Sternberg said: 'He was extremely patriotic. He considered himself English and he was always hugely patriotic when we were growing up. I think those allegations [that he was a spy] were probably extremely hurtful. He wanted to open trade links and was good at that. It's a shame that he was maligned for many years.'
We have had the luxury of hindsight and we would like to apologize to those who disagreed with our decision to fulfill our contractual agreement. The Promoter and staff were nothing but professional and assured us of the safety precautions, Great White said in a statement Saturday.
Beirut, July 12 : Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has denied reports that his government will resign, saying he is working at reducing burdens on citizens.

"We are working hard at supporting the most vulnerable families," Diab was quoted by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper as saying on Saturday after his meeting with Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, the Grand Mufti of Lebanon.

"Our support has reached 140 families. We have allocated 1.2 billion Lebanese pounds ($790,000 for industry and agriculture and will will soon pay 500 billion Lebanese pounds to support schools," he added.

Diab also noted that his government is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the necessary reforms in exchange for the IMF's funds, reports Xinhua news agency.

Media reports circulated over the past days about a possible resignation of the current Lebanese government because of its inability to implement necessary reforms, mentioning several names that could replace Diab.
Despite a decline in carbon dioxide emissions worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, atmospheric CO2 is set to reach an all time high in 2025 since the last 3.3 million years, a new study warns.

Jim Salinger, Lisa Alexander

The new research by a team from the University of Southampton is titled "Atmospheric CO2 during the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period and the M2 glaciation" and has now been published in Nature Scientific Reports.

To come to the drastic conclusion, the team studied the chemical composition of tiny fossils present deep in the ocean sediments of the Caribbean Sea.

The scientists used the findings from the minuscule pieces of fossils to reconstruct the concentration of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere during the Pliocene epoch, a geologic timescale extending from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present.

(Representative Image: Reuters)

During the Pliocene epoch, Earth was more than 3C warmer than it is at present. As a result, the planet had smaller polar ice caps and higher global sea-levels. Studying the role of atmospheric CO2 in shaping the climate at the time can help us predict what to expect with such CO2 levels in the future.



As Dr. Elwyn de la Vega, who led the study, said: "Knowledge of CO2 during the geological past is of great interest because it tells us how the climate system, ice sheets and sea-level previously responded to the elevated CO2 levels. We studied this particular interval in unprecedented detail because it provides great contextual information for our current climate state."

The CO2 experiment

In order to find out the atmospheric CO2 at the time, the team studied impurities in the shells of zooplankton called foraminifera or 'forams'. These forams are around half a millimeter in size and are found in huge quantities on the seabed.



Scientists studied the isotopic composition of the element boron found in their shells. The acidity (pH) of the seawater in which the forams live hints at the atmospheric CO2 present. CO2 presence in the past can be calculated from measurement of the boron in these ancient shells.

Impact of CO2 levels on global warming

(Representative Image: Reuters)

Dr. Thomas Chalk, a co-author of the study, said: "A striking result we've found is that the warmest part of the Pliocene had between 380 and 420 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere. This is similar to today's value of around 415 parts per million, showing that we are already at levels that in the past were associated with temperature and sea-level significantly higher than today.



The study even predicts whats to come. Currently, our CO2 levels are rising at about 2.5 ppm per year, meaning that by 2025 we will have exceeded anything seen in the last 3.3 million years," adds Dr Chalk.

We do not see similar sea levels and global warming yet though. Professor Gavin Foster, also a part of the study, explains this: "The reason we don't see Pliocene-like temperatures and sea-levels yet today is because it takes a while for Earth's climate to fully equilibrate (catch up) to higher CO2 levels and, because of human emissions, CO2 levels are still climbing. Our results give us an idea of what is likely in store once the system has reached equilibrium."
A Malian protest leader called for calm Sunday after four more people were killed during demonstrations calling for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's resignation, the West African country's worst civil unrest in years. Bloody demonstrations rocked the capital Bamako on Friday and Saturday, with witnesses saying that security forces fired live rounds during clashes with protesters. The atmosphere remained tense on the streets of Bamako on Sunday, as hundreds of people converged on the Badalabougou district for the funerals of four people killed in the violence. In the face of the heightened tensions, Keita had announced he would dissolve the poor Sahel country's constitutional court, the focus of anger since it overturned provisional results for parliamentary elections earlier this year. Protests in several cities on Friday descended into violence in which at least three people were killed. Fresh clashes broke out on Saturday as protesters took to the streets of Bamako, angered by a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption. Four civilians -- including a 15-year-old and 17-year-old -- were killed overnight Saturday, a hospital official told AFP on condition of anonymity. An emergency official at a large hospital in Bamako, however, told AFP the actual death toll since Friday stood at 11 not seven. Six opposition figures have been detained in recent days, of whom one was released late Saturday, as the government cracked down on the June 5 Movement, an opposition alliance tapping into the deep-seated nationwide frustration. But lawyer Alfifa Habib Kone said around 20 opposition members had been arrested since Friday. - 'Calm down!' - The movement's leading figure, influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, tried to tamp down the tensions on Sunday. "I once again call on the youth of Mali to show restraint and calm," Dicko told AFP shortly before speaking at a funeral. "We can truly find and obtain what we want (through) patience (and) good behaviour," he said. "But the struggle continues," Dicko said, adding that Mali's "endemic corruption (is also) bringing our country to its knees." In a video broadcast earlier on social media, Dicko said: "Do not set fire to petrol stations or this district. Calm down, please! Calm down!" He had recorded the video at his mosque, the scene of especially violent clashes at the weekend. While the known death toll is currently seven, Dicko's supporters, echoing the emergency official, have said the total is higher, posting videos resembling scenes of war. In the videos, at least two dead men can be seen lying in pools of blood, while others have bullet wounds. Shots can be heard at regular intervals in the distance. "You are killing Malians in the mosque with live ammunition. The mosque is on fire," said a man in one the videos, which could not be independently verified. On Sunday, hundreds crowded around the mosque, walking over spent bullet shells, rubble and the remains of torched tires. Opposition leaders who have not yet been arrested now appear to be in hiding. Fearing that Dicko might be arrested like other leaders of the movement, his supporters erected barricades on Sunday "in case the police return," one of them said. Clashes have also been reported outside the home of the constitutional court's president Manassa Danioko, a focus of public anger. - Civil disobedience - Following a long-delayed parliamentary poll in March -- which Keita's party won -- the court overturned the provisional results for about 30 seats, which meant several members of Keita's party were elected. This ruling is widely believed to have ignited the crisis. The 75-year-old president, in power since 2013, said Saturday he had revoked the nominations of all remaining members of the constitutional court so that new judges could be appointed from next week. Since the outrage that followed the parliamentary election, a disparate group of religious leaders, political and civil society members have joined forces to ramp up pressure on Keita. Its leaders have called for "civil disobedience", including the non-payment of fines and blocking entry to state buildings. It blames those in power for the violence, a rarity in Bamako. The former French colony has struggled to contain an Islamist insurgency that first emerged in the north in 2012 before spreading to the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Sunday that a joint EU special ops force formed to back Mali's fight against jihadist groups would begin to deploy on Wednesday. A first batch of around 100 French and Estonian troops will be joined later by contingents from the Czech Republic and Sweden, Parly told the French daily La Croix, adding that Italy may also take part.
South Korean stocks are set for a mild rebound next week despite new coronavirus concerns, as experts bet on improvements in global economic indices in June, analysts said Saturday.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,150.25 points on Friday, down 0.1 percent from a week ago.

The KOSPI started off the week with a 1.65 percent jump on Monday on tech gains, led by Samsung Electronics' surprise earnings guidance. But it shed all those gains by the end of the week on the global hike in COVID-19 infections.

Local analysts said the KOSPI is likely to gain next week, with investors weighing economic rebound hopes over COVID-19 worries.

"The KOSPI is likely to follow the global stock markets (next week)," NH Investment & Securities analyst Noh Dong-kil said.

"The global stock markets have continued hiking on the improving U.S. economic indices, along with health officials' predictions that the COVID-19 toll would likely show sporadic increases rather than a major resurgence," he said.

A series of key economic events and indices are scheduled for next week.

On Monday, South Korean government is set to release details of the so-called New Deal stimulus package, aimed at creating jobs and supporting the pandemic-hit economy.

Market consensus bet on improvements in U.S. retail sales in June and China's second quarter gross domestic growth, both set to be released on Thursday.

The Bank of Korea is widely expected to freeze the policy rate in the monetary policy meeting on Thursday. (Yonhap)
Pakistan's military says four soldiers and four "terrorists" were killed during a gunfight in the northwestern region of North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan.

A statement from the militarys public relations wing said the soldiers were killed during an "intelligence-based operation" early on July 12.

The statement said the gunfight erupted after soldiers surrounded what it called a military hideout near the town of Miran Shah, the main urban center in North Waziristan.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

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 militants.

Despite the armys claims of success, the region has continued to be the scene of violent attacks, targeted killings, and roadside bombs.

On June 10, the military said a roadside bomb targeting a vehicle carrying troops exploded, killing two soldiers and wounding two others.
New Delhi:

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has released a list of candidates which features six names for the upcoming 2017 Goa polls.

With this latest list, the party has now declared candidates for 21 of the total 40 constituencies in the coastal state.

Anti-corruption crusader Sandesh Talekar, who was instrumental in getting two government officials arrested red-handed by Anti-Corruption Bureau, will be in the fray from Canacona, a constituency which is currently represented by BJP minister Ramesh Tawadkar.

Former Youth Congress leader Milind Gauns, who joined AAP recently has been fielded from Sankhalim constituency. The constituency is presently represented by BJP MLA Pramod Sawant.

51-year-old activist James Maxie Fernandes who was on the forefront of the agitation demanding Konkani as official language of the state will contest on an AAP ticket from Curchorem constituency, currently represented by BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral.

The AAP has chosen lady activist Ursula Desouza for Aldona constituency. BJP MLA Glenn Ticlo is presently elected from the constituency.

Former Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party leader, Pradip Ghadi Amonkar, who joined AAP will be contesting from Thivim constituency. Presently, BJP MLA Kiran Kandolkar represents this constituency.

AAP has fielded Ranjit Cotta Carvallo in Fatorda constituency which is represented by Independent MLA Vijai Sardessai.

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Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

Many teachers and two unions want schools to delay bringing students back into the classroom, saying they prefer starting the school year with remote learning as COVID-19 cases in the state spike.

The Albuquerque Teachers Federation polled union members, and the vast majority of those who responded support delaying in-person classes for students until after Labor Day  at the earliest.

People dont feel safe, said Ellen Bernstein, ATF president.

The National Education Association of Santa Fe is also urging district leaders to start school under a remote model.

The state Public Education Department released its reentry guidance in June. It requires schools to start with a hybrid model that mixes in-person schooling with distance learning. Scheduling and logistics would be largely determined by the district.

Bernstein told the Journal that 4% of the 1,830 educators who responded to the survey were ready to start school under the hybrid model. The survey found that 88% of the licensed school employees agreed with a union proposal that would start school in August for all staff but push back in-person schooling for students.

The union suggests starting the hybrid model in September, if its safe to do so. The extra time would be used to coordinate online learning, get personal protective equipment and set up plans to accommodate staff who are at high risk for becoming severely ill from COVID-19, among other tasks, she said.

As educators we know that real school (brick and mortar with in-person instruction) is best for students. We all want to return to real school, ATFs statement said. However, real school has to be really safe for all staff and every student. We do not believe that the current data supports a safe return to in-person schooling in early August.

Albuquerque Public Schools is scheduled to resume classes Aug. 12.

In Santa Fe, Grace Mayer, president of NEA-Santa Fe, says staff members want to get back to the classroom, but there are many health and safety concerns. She questioned the feasibility of launching the hybrid model in less than a month.

We believe this is an unreasonable request and an untried model that cannot be done safely at this time, the NEA letter says. A remote model could allow for small groups of students to meet with staff and receive some in-person instruction and other services, the union says.

Ryan Stewart, secretary of PED, said that as of now the hybrid model is required for reopening schools, though local districts can determine when the first day of school is.

That could change. On Thursday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said that while she wants students to return to classrooms, start dates could be pushed back by several weeks or into the winter if COVID-19 conditions in the state continue to worsen. She called online-only classes a poor substitute for traditional school.

Stewart said the PED has received questions from a number of school districts about starting the school year with remote learning only.

There may be some limited  hopefully very locally specific cases  where you have to start remote just because of the safety and staffing issues, but by and large for the vast majority of schools out there, they should be offering an in-person, hybrid option, he said.

Stewart emphasized that the in-person portion of schooling would have safety measures in place such as requiring masks and social distancing.

The education secretary said the state is at a difficult crossroads. Overall, he said, families are more ready to return to campus than educators.

Stewart added that the state has used the latest data to guide its decisions on school reentry, landing on the hybrid model to get kids back into the classroom while contributing to downward transmission trends.

I just want all of our educators to know that their safety in all of this and the safety of their students in all of this is what we are prioritizing, he said.

PEDs reentry guidance says districts should create processes to accommodate high-risk staff and give opportunities to teach from home. However, there isnt a prescription on how to do that at the school level.

Potential retirement wave

With many educators hesitant to get back into the classroom, officials worry about a flood of retirements. After all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19 increases with age, and 25% of the teacher workforce in New Mexico is 55 years old or older  a percentage well above the national average.

Bernstein said shes heard a substantial number of teachers say they will retire if they dont feel safe going back to work.

Mass retirements would be a blow to the state, which is already facing a teacher shortage. According to data released late last year, there were 1,054 educator vacancies in the state, and 644 of those were teacher positions.

To have them retire now, I think is going to be a detriment to the education system and to the kids, Bernstein said.

Stewart said the potential for spikes in retirement is a major issue nationally and locally.

I think it keeps everyone in the system up at night, he said.

To keep teachers in the profession, he said the state is trying to reassure them that safety is a priority. And the state is working with districts on identifying additional assignment options for staff as needed, allowing flexibility around licensure.

Common concerns

Districts have until Wednesday to submit plans to the department, Stewart said.

Both unions have noted a tight time line and increased costs that come with implementing a hybrid model.

We just need more time to do this well, Bernstein said.

Stewart said the PED aimed to balance feedback and thoughtful planning with moving as quickly as it could.

Its never going to be fast enough, he said.

Bernstein said the union has received hundreds of questions and comments after PED issued its guidance. Common concerns include what child care will look like for educators children, how to make various learning models work for students with disabilities and how to ensure contact with students during online school.

Questions and anxieties are building as fall rushes near, which is at the core of why teachers and unions are looking for a change of course.

Educators have been asked for far too long to make do without, and make things work. In the past, we have stepped up and made that happen out of sheer determination, professionalism and compassion for our students, the NEA Santa Fe letter states. We cant make it work this time. We will not be coerced into risking our lives and the lives of our students, families and community.
Students, in most cases, will be required to wear masks on buses, and seats are likely to be assigned on travel to and from school. Some districts are asking parents to consider driving their own students to schools to help districts manage the number of students boarding a bus.

At school, students and staff in most districts will be required to keep masks with them at all times. Those masks will be required at times like passing periods and visits to the restroom where close contact with others is more likely.

Some teachers may allow students to remove masks while seated at desks and facing forward in classrooms.

Hand sanitizer or soap is likely to be provided in every classroom, and many school leaders say they plan to teach students how to sanitize desks between uses.

Building visitation will be limited, and many districts are canceling community rental of properties to allow cleaning staff adequate time to sanitize between day-to-day use.

Districts are taking steps to limit the exchanging of cash during school lunch payments and at some schools, students may eat in their respective classrooms rather than shared lunchrooms to maintain distance.
A woman cries as she leaves the memorial altar for late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in Seoul, Sunday. Park, a strong contender for Korea's next president and a former human rights lawyer, took his own life Thursday, a day after he was accused of sexual harassment. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
After a nine-year legal battle, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court will deliver its verdict over the management of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, one of the richest shrines in the world, on Monday.

Devotees are upbeat as they hope uncertainty over the management of the temple will be over facilitating smooth functioning of the shrine. A spokesperson of the royal family also expressed confidence that a favourable verdict will be given to preserve the age-old shrine.

Sanctity of the temple is supreme. We hope everything will be settled, said Velayudhan Nair, a regular at the temple for 52 years. The Fort Association of Residents, an umbrella organisation comprising devotees around the temple, is also upbeat.

The temple shot to fame after an estimated wealth of one lakh crore was unearthed during the SC-ordered inventory from one of the subaltern vaults of the sixth century temple in 2011. After this the number of visitors increased manifold and it turned into a major pilgrimage and tourism spot in south India.

The erstwhile royal family of Travancore had moved the apex court in 2011 against the High Court order that handed over the temple management and assets to the state government. The apex court had later stayed the HC verdict and ordered the inventorying of the temple.

When one of the secret vaults was opened in 2011, treasure estimated at one lakh crore was found. There are six chambers-- later coded A to F-- under the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. Of these, two are usually opened during the daily pooja and two twice a year and the remaining two (A&B) are secret vaults.

The second secret chamber B is yet to be opened and devotees and temple officials claim it may contain more wealth than the A vault. But the erstwhile royals, former custodians of the temple, opposed it strongly saying it was against tantric customs and rituals and may bring trouble to the city which originated from the name of the presiding deity (Thiru Ananatha Puram-- the land of Sree Padmanabha, Lord Vishnu).

During the hearing both the state government and the royal family had said they had no claim over the wealth found in one of the vaults as it belonged to the deity and the temple. The sixth century Vishnu temple was believed to be rebuilt by then King Marthanda Varma who defeated Dutch colonizers in the Battle of Colachal in 1741. The legend goes that after he won the war he dedicated his victory to the presiding deity and ruled the kingdom as Padmanabha dasan (servant of Lord Padmanabha).

A retired IPS officer T P Sundararajan, a staunch devotee, was the first to move the court in 2008, alleging large-scale pilferage at the temple. He claimed that many precious ornaments and jewels were smuggled out replacing them with lookalikes. Later the case was moved to High Court which handed over the management to the state government. While staying the HC order in 2011, the Supreme Court had ordered inventorying and later divested the royal family from managing temple affairs and formed an apex body to run the temple till the final verdict. In 2012, Sundararajan died while inventorying was half-way through.

As the legal battle prolonged there were suggestions to preserve the wealth of the temple, now manned by a battalion of commandos. During the earlier NDA regime, Minister of State for Tourism K J Alphons mooted a high-security museum to keep the treasure.

He had called on the royal family with an idea to build a 300 crore underground museum near the temple. He assured the Centre will bear all expenses for the world-class museum and convert it into a major attraction of the country but the royals were not moved. With the final settlement round the corner, many feel there will be a decision on the wealth as well, lying in underground vaults.

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Housing sales fell 67 per cent at 21,294 units across nine major cities during April-June due to outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Housing sales fell 67 per cent at 21,294 units across nine major cities during April-June due to outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and natiowide lockdown, according to data analytics firm PropEquity.

Recently, property consultant Anarock had released its data that showed an estimated 81 per cent fall in sales at 12,740 units across seven cities during April-June this year.

According to PropEquity, total housing sales during April-June 2020 stood at 21,294 units, down 67 per cent from 64,378 units in the year-ago period.

Barring Noida, all other eight cities witnessed a decline in sales.

Gurugram saw 79 per cent fall to 361 units for the period under review as compared to 1,707 units in same period last year.

Housing sales in Chennai and Hyderabad plunged 74 per cent at 996 units and 1,522 units, respectively.

Bengaluru witnessed 73 per cent dip to 2,818 units from 10,583 units, while Kolkata saw 75 per cent decline to 1,046 units from 4,152 units.

In Maharashtra, the sales of residential properties in Mumbai fell 63 per cent to 2,206 units. The demand was down by 56 per cent and 70 per cent in Thane and Pune at 5,999 units and 5,169 units, respectively.

However, Noida in the national capital region market bucked the trend to register 5 per cent growth in sales volume to 1,177 units during April-June this year from 1,123 units in the corresponding period of the previous year.

New launches fell 78 per cent to 11,967 units, while unsold inventories were down 5 per cent to 6,07,665 units during the period under review.

"These are unprecedented times for the world economy and India is one of the hardest hit countries due to COVID-19. Real estate sector which was slowly coming up by March was hit with a complete halt in construction and sales activities by March last week," PropEquity founder and MD Samir Jasuja said.

He said large developers with low debt leverage will ride out the storm and do reasonably well going forward within the context of the new normal.

"We may witness resizing of units, discounts, amenities and special payment schemes to be offered by developers to create demand, especially during the upcoming festive season, Jasuja said.

P E Analytics owns and operates PropEquity, which is an online real estate data and analytics platform covering over 1,18,010 projects of 34,217 developers across over 44 cities.
Yellowstone County held its second drive-thru testing event for COVID-19 Saturday, ending a week that saw five deaths and dozens of cases stemming from an outbreak at a local care facility.

The latest tally from Montana's Department of Public Health and Human Services shows the county leading the state in both active and total cases, at 258 and 435, respectively. Nine residents of Yellowstone County have died due to coronavirus.

In the past week, the United States has twice broken its daily record of new cases of COVID-19. The country has averaged around 53,700 new cases every day during that time, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tracked more than 126,000 confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak among nursing home staff and residents.

Canyon Creek Memory Care, one of seven assisted living facilities in Yellowstone County to confirm cases of COVID-19, reported that as of Friday night, 55 residents and 36 staff members had tested positive.

The family of 88-year-old Donna Kristiansen received her positive results Friday morning after being tested two days prior. Her daughter, Carol Stoltz, told the Gazette that she is currently asymptomatic. Just a week before the positive result, staff had tested Kristiansen for the first time, and the results came back negative.

She had just come out of the hospital, because of a broken hip. They tested her once she returned to Canyon Creek, Stoltz said.

Kristiansen, who has been a resident at Canyon Creek since March 31, still receives bi-weekly physical therapy sessions to heal her hip. Just like all other residents at Canyon Creek, Stoltz said her mother is isolated. Therapists come to her room wearing PPE.

Stoltz said she hasnt seen or spoken with her mother since her last day at the hospital. She receives daily updates on the general situation in the facility from its director, but for details regarding her mother, she has to call Canyon Creek. She said the time and effort needed to host a Skype call would put too much strain on staff members trying to cope with the outbreak.

Its been stressful. She doesnt have symptoms, but that doesnt mean shes not going to develop them. On the other hand though, I really like Canyon Creek and I trust the staff there. I dont regret putting her there at all, Stoltz said.

On Wednesday, Gov. Steve Bullock announced a mandate that all nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the state that receive visitors must conduct periodic surveillance testing of their staff and residents.

Canyon Creek and Spring Creek Inn Memory Care Community in Bozeman, both owned by Washington State-based Koelsch Communities, opted out of sentinel testing offered by the state in May.

Chase Salyers, a spokesperson for Koelsch Communities, wrote in an email Saturday that Spring Creek tested 30 of its residents May 5. Two days later, every test returned with negative results. Several staff members who have elected for tests have also shown to be free of the virus.

Against this background, Spring Creek Inn declined to participate in the voluntary sentinel testing program when it was offered by the State of Montana, Salyers wrote.

Salyers also wrote that, following the emergency order from Gov. Bullock, the facility was currently in the process of gathering enough kits to hold a second round of testing.

To assist with the explosion of cases at Canyon Creek, staff members at the Billings Clinic volunteered to work as employees of the state at the facility for the next 72 hours. Members of the Montana National Guard arrived at the facility within three hours notice Friday afternoon as well.

According to our orders, we have to be prepared to stay here for at least 14 days, but that can always change. Ive learned to take things minute-by-minute since April 20, said Master Sgt. Neil Keane, the NCOIC of a 19-person team based out of Billings.

The 12 guard members, with six people working in 12-hour shifts each, are tasked with providing food for the facilitys employees and sanitizing their work space. Keane said their mission has to operate outside of anything related to either law enforcement or providing medical care.

We definitely keep busy. Were basically covering all of central and eastern Montana. My teams been as far as Fort Peck and Fort Belknap, assisting the testing there, he said.

For RiverStones testing session at MetraPark Saturday, the Montana National Guard assisted RiverStone staff members. More than 150 vehicles started snaking through lines directed by Guard members at 8 a.m., and the last test wasn't completed until 1:30 p.m.

The Montana National Guard tallied 838 tests, nearly twice as many as the previous snapshot testing session held three weeks ago, according to a press release from RiverStone Health. Of those tested, 153 people showed symptoms of COVID-19.

Those showing symptoms can expect their results to arrive within a couple of days. During the June 20 round of testing, three people tested positive.
Kanye West is no stranger to making headlines and has been one of the worlds biggest and most controversial stars for over a decade. From Twitter rampages to buzzworthy moments on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, West seems to thrive on controversy and outrage.

Still, Wests announcement on July 4th that he was planning on running for president has managed to top everything. Only days after his announcement, West spoke to Forbes about his plans, and whether he still thinks of President Donald Trump as a friend.

Kanye West previously spoke out in support of Donald Trump

West had never sided with any particular political party during the course of his career, although many fans assumed he was liberal-leaning  especially after his controversial 2005 remarks about George Bush. However, in the summer of 2019, West shocked many of his supporters by announcing his support for Donald Trump.

West admitted that he didnt vote in the 2016 election, but that if he did, he would have voted for Trump. He also denounced liberal politics and began wearing one of the red Make America Great Again hats frequently.

It seemed as though the admiration was mutual  Trump publicly praised West, communicating with him on social media and calling him a great person. West even visited the White House to chat with Trump in person and took part in a highly-publicized photo shoot.

Many celebrities called West out for his support of Trump, including A-listers like John Legend. Still, Kim Kardashian West supported Kanye West through it all, explaining his support for Trump as proof of his individuality.

Kanye West recently announced a presidential run

We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States ! #2020VISION  ye (@kanyewest) July 5, 2020

On July 4th, West took to Twitter to announce that he plans on running for President of the United States. While he has been threatening a presidential run for years, no one was actually expecting it to happen this year.

Many fans were confused, and his interview with Forbes did little to assuage their confusion. In the interview, West announced that he had gotten COVID-19 earlier this year, that he is against vaccinations, and that his campaign slogan will be YES!

West also claimed that he has chosen a running mate for his campaign, a Wyoming-based preacher named Michelle Tidball. There were plenty of other bombshells in the interview, as West spoke out against Planned Parenthood and talked about how he hopes to run a faith-based campaign. As for his previous association with Donald Trump, West had plenty to say on the subject.

What does Kanye West think of Donald Trump now?

Kanye West | PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP via Getty Images

In his interview with Forbes, West claimed that he officially no longer supports Donald Trump. I am taking the red hat off, with this interview. Still, he isnt completely red to shun his association with Trump, and called him special.

He also claimed that Im not saying Trumps in my way, he may be a part of my way. Trump is the closest president weve had in years to allowing God to still be part of the conversation.

West also talked about the iconic shots of him wearing the MAGA hat, stating: One of the main reasons I wore the red hat as a protest to the segregation of votes in the Black community. Also, other than the fact that I like Trump hotels and the saxophones in the lobby.

As for Joe Biden, the Democratic political candidate, West spoke derisively: Joe Bidens not special.

Theres no telling what could happen next with Wests political campaign, but one thing is certain  he will continue to make headlines.
Britain is looking at developing infrastructure in south-east England to stop the major freight crossing to France becoming blocked when the transition deal with the European Union expires at the end of the year, Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove said.

There will be specific pieces of infrastructure that we put in place in order to smooth the flow of traffic, he told the BBCs Andrew Marr.

He said the British government would be saying more about the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland later this month.
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Introduction

The covid-19 pandemic caught the world by surprise. I used the word surprise partly because of the skepticism surrounding the outbreak of the virus and the response of world leaders towards tackling it. Some are prone to believe it because it affected their citizens directly at the initial stage (China) while others play politics with it (USA, Brazil, etc). These two sides are visible in the outbreak and management of the virus in Nigeria.

Whether it is politicized or not, is not the question here. What is however important in this discussion is the fact that we have a crisis on our hand which rattles scientists and overwhelmed health workers globally. In the face of this scourge, communication is paramount. How then can we (media practitioners) communicate effectively to combat this pandemic? The solution is an effective crisis communication.

Crisis Communication

When crisis happened, its always big news as such the media are so much interested in it as it is claimed that bad news makes good news. The media might be interested in the persistence of the crisis because it gives them substance to report. The job of a crisis communicator is to be prompt and factual. Sullivan (n.d) reiterates that in a crisis, the best course of action is to be forthcoming and honest and to do what it takes to facilitate stories. She furthers that engaging the media is important because the media are going to write and air stories with or without your help. Its in your best interest to participate in a story- even a negative one  in order to have your position correctly represented. The crisis communicator needs to remain close to the media and keep furnishing them with updates and respond to their enquiries.

Crisis is inevitable in human endeavor. As a matter of fact it should be expected. The practitioner should be proactive and anticipate the possibility of crisis. With Covid-19, the citizens are looking at the government and policy makers at all levels for directives. It is expected that the government communicate with the public about the challenges posed by the virus and government efforts towards combating it. Crisis communication in this regard should be directed to both media and publics depending on the circumstance.

Lattimore et al (2009, pp. 372) describe crisis communication as using all the public relations tools available to preserve and strengthen an organizations long-term reputation whenever its threatened.

The social media has the tendency of generating public opinion without due verification or given priority to facts. Nigeria public sphere was awash with a lot of misgivings about the Covid-19. This caused serious damage to the Covid-19 management efforts. Cutlip, Center and Broom (1985) note that the power of public opinion must be faced, understood and dealt with. It provides the psychological environment in which organizations (even governments) prosper or perish. Covid-19 crisis communication should be across board. It should not involve only the traditional media but also factor in the social media and happenings on the numerous social media platforms.

Countering the rumors generated by Covid-19 was not expected to be easy considering the kind of places some of the rumors are emanating from. A popular pastor down south attributed the pandemic to 5G network while an Islamic scholar in the north told his congregation that the virus was a hoax. Although Its difficult to verify the origin of some of the rumors on Covid-19, how far it has reached and the level of damage it has done or can do. It should be expected that rumors are bound to spread; it is the job of the practitioner to counter them. Lattimore et al (2009, p. 375) suggest that best defense is offence as such, they highlight five (5) strategies to tackle rumors which are:

Strive to increase and maintain trust and credibility. Keep audiences regularly informed through a variety of communication channels. Tailor each message to the audience receiving it so theres less likelihood of it being misunderstood. Establish an ongoing rumor hotline and other two-way communication channels to seek questions and concerns from key publics. Use written communication to answer the questions posed. Monitor possible effects of rumors so early intervention can be enacted if necessary.

Crises are anticipated and it is the job of the crisis communicator to be proactive. Sullivan (n.d, p. 62) observes that the key to effective crisis communication is to be prepared before the crisis occurs. Once an emergency happens, there is little time to think much less to plan. Without a crisis plan, you can be overwhelmed by events. Being proactive will help in early curtailment of the crisis. Communication is vital in crisis situation. A two-way form of communication must be established with the key stakeholders, the media, the publics and the frontline workers if there must be any chance of stemming the crisis.

In order to address crisis, scholars of crisis communication and management have suggested different strategies but postulation of Marguerite Sullivan appears more realistic because it focuses on the pre-crisis, during-crisis and post-crisis steps to take during crisis communication. Marguerite Sullivan, an American public affairs and communications specialist on crisis communication and management in her book A responsible Press Office: An Insiders Guide, hypothesizes the followings:

Before a Crisis

Maintain trustworthy, credible relationships with the media all of the time. If you do, the media will be less suspicious and more cooperative in the midst of a crisis.

Select someone to be the crisis manager (Presidential Task Force).

Have the crisis manager collect information on potentially troublesome issues and trends. Evaluate them, gather data on them, and develop communications strategies to prevent or redirect their course.

Identify members of a possible crisis management team. Have in place their roles, actions to be taken and possible scenarios. Have a list of their office, home, and cell or mobile phone numbers. Also have copies of their biographies. In a crisis, the press may want to know the backgrounds of those dealing with it.

Give designated spokespersons training in dealing with the media.

Determine the message, target, and media outlets that could be used in various crisis plans.

Have a list of the office, home, and cell or mobile phone numbers and deadliness of reporters who might cover your organization in a crisis.

Have a plan for setting up a media crisis center. This should cover such items as desks, chairs, phones, parking, electrical outlets, placement of satellite trucks, copy machines, even coffee. You also need to think about how to keep an office secure, particularly for your own staff.

During a Crisis

When a crisis hits, immediately get the word to the press. Otherwise, the media will get their information through other means.

Set up a 24 hour crisis and media center at a central place from which news is released, rumors dealt with, facts gathered, and briefings held.

Immediately go public with a trained spokesperson at the scene to conduct press briefings. Let the media and therefore the public know that you are dealing with the situation.

Say what you know and only what you know. Dont speculate. Dont be bullied into saying anything based on rumor. If you dont know something, admit it. Saying the matter is under investigation may be the best response.

Gather information as quickly as possible. Determine the basic who, what, when, where, and how. You might not get the why until later.

Get the government or agency leader and other top management to the crisis center. Cancel other plans. People want to see the leader, not just the public affairs staff. Having top management in front of the press during a crisis lends credibility and shows that the organization is not treating the situation lightly.

Inform your internal audiences  the staff and other government offices  at the same time you inform the press. If the press is the only source of information for the staff, morale can be damaged and employees can become confused and hurt, especially if the incident is reported inaccurately in the press. Because of where they work, the staff will be viewed as sources of information, and they can be the origin of leaks and rumors. Be sure they have it right.

Communicate with your internal audiences by email, if available, or through press releases and statements delivered to each office. If the staff is small enough, call a meeting at which members of the crisis team are available to answer staff questions.

Maintain a calm, gracious, and helpful presence. Avoid appearing flustered or overwhelmed.

Pre-empt negative publicity and communicate the actions being taken to solve the crisis. Verify news before releasing it.

Arrange for media access to the scene of the crisis. If at all possible. TV wants pictures. If there are space constraints, use press pool reports, with a representative of each type of media, wire service, newspaper, TV, radio, magazine, and photography at the scene, writing up a report and taking picture for their colleagues. No one may use these reports, including those in the pool, until they have been distributed to everyone.

Take care of the practical needs of the press, such as packing, phones, electrical outlet, desks, and chairs.

Keep a log of reporters who have called, what they asked, their deadlines, what you promised, and to whom it was delegated.

Always return phone calls. If you dont, reporters will look elsewhere for information. They will write a story with or without your help. Being not responsive takes control of a story away from you.

Simple sympathetic gestures can help rebuild the publics confidence. Offer reassurance. Tell what actions are being taken to solve the problem, to help those affected, and to return things to normal. But first make sure you are doing what you said you are doing.

Make sure the press spokesperson is involved with senior management in every decision and policy made. Every decision has a public ramification, whether management recognizes it or not.

Avoid fixing blame. That can be done after an investigation.

Appeal to third party endorsement for your effort. Get credible people who have been through similar experiences and command the publics attention to speak on your behalf.

Update information frequently and regularly. Announce when your next update will be.

Monitor media reports and correct errors immediately.

Establish a web site to inform people about the status of the situation. Put all news releases, statement, fact sheets, and links to other information on the site.

Establish an assessment group to study the problem and to prevent future occurrences. This is not for show; they should have real power.

Remember: openness and responsiveness during a crisis enhances your respect and credibility with the media. It can help you in the long run.

After a Crisis
Following the lead of Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who earlier this month limited international arrivals to Sydney Airport, the Australian national cabinet on Friday announced it had agreed to cut Australian international arrivals by half. Daily arrivals of returning Australians are now limited to 4,000 a week.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier asserted that Australians trying to return home now had had ample time to do so and obviously delayed that decision for a period.

This shows little understanding of the kinds of Australians who find themselves still overseas. Most Australians abroad are not frivolous gap-year backpackers able to fly home at the drop of a hat. They are working professionals who had made plans to live overseas for the medium term. Those of us in this position have ties to foreign countries that cannot be severed overnight.

In March, the Australian government urged all Australians overseas who wished to return home to make the necessary arrangements as soon as possible. However, moving countries takes time. To rush this process could be financially ruinous and is, for the most part, impossible. In order to reduce the risk of debt incurred from the premature severance of rental contracts, to maximise the chances of employment and to avoid welfare reliance, the repatriation process can take many months.
Last rites for a once vibrant city View(s):

I had no intention of working in Hong Kong. But I was urged by family, friends and diplomats to leave Sri Lanka after the JVP then under the name of DJV or something, announced they had killed me before they finished the job.

The Joint Operations Command(JOC) located at Flower Road close to Ladies College and that day with Brigadier Vijay Wimalaratne in charge, ( later killed along with Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa,) sent out patrols in search of my body while my wife and relatives visited the city morgue where they were asked go to try and identify my body.

That was in August 1989 when anarchy was in the air and Colombo and suburbs had been turned into killing fields.

Anyway thats another story to be told later and in greater detail because some of my journalist friends were earlier killed by the anarchist cadres. While the New York Times of which I was Colombo correspondent was trying to move me quickly to one of its overseas bureaus, a message came to me from Hong Kong. It was conveyed through Manik de Silva, offering me a job. The editors of the Hong Kong Standard knew nothing of the DJV attempts to get rid of me.

To cut the story short I flew to Hong Kong after maneuvering through the bureaucratic obstacles at Lake House (thanks to Lalith Athulathmudali then minister of national security) on a two-year contract and began working at the Standard on 15 September 1989.

I landed smack in the middle of a great ferment. Three months earlier Chinas Communist leadership had let loose its soldiers and tanks on protesting students and workers gathered in their thousands in Tiananmen Square.

Initially the students had been demanding an end to corruption in the upper echelons of the ruling class. But this protest gradually swelled as workers and others joined in calling for more freedom.

How many were killed when the army retaliated against the protestors is, I suppose, an issue that will continue to be contested for many years.

What shocked Beijing and probably more so Hong Kongs colonial administration was the reaction of the people of people shocked at the horrendous killing and abuse of the Chinese citizenry by Beijings leaders.

In fact it shook the colonial administration now in retreat to propose a Bill of Rights for Hong Kong that would never have been born had the fears of the Hongkongers of the future never been expressed in such definitive fashion.

A million or more Hongkongers had demonstrated in various ways against the atrocities of Chinese soldiers ordered to turn their weapons on innocent protestors. The perception of most Hongkongers was clear. If the Communist leaders would turn the guns on their own people what would they not do to Hong Kong people when the territory came under Chinese sovereignty in 1997? They feared the worst.

That fear was understandable. Most of those in Hong Kong then and their ancestors were mainland Chinese, mostly from Shanghai, who had fled to these one-time fishing villages to get away from the political turmoil and revolutions at home.

But they, who expected to be only temporarily here before moving on elsewhere, turned Hong Kong into a thriving city with their entrepreneurial experience and with the administrative skills of their colonial masters.

As I tried to delve deeper into the background of the political turmoil that led to the June killings in Tiananmen and beyond the sudden and unexpected reactions of the Hongkongers that brought millions on to the streets- including those businessmen-politicians of this vibrant city who had shown pro-Beijing proclivities and earlier rejected the slightest tendency for political reform. Now there was one emotion etched in the Hong Kong psyche.

That was the burning revulsion for the Communist leadership across the border and the stench of the hypocrisy in high places. Having been virtually thrown into the deep end of Hong Kong history and politics to write editorials, be a sketch writer covering the Legislative Council and features including on international affairs I had to spend my time studying the background to Hong Kongs colonial administration and the on-going negotiations between the UK and China and Beijings calculated moves to draft the Basic Law which would be Hong Kongs mini-constitution and would give Beijing an upper hand..

The more I studied Britains colonial administration the more I was intrigued by the chicanery and subtle manoeuvrings of the British colonial office in London and the civil service-run administration in Hong Kong.

The British were skillful. They let Hong Kong thrive with little interference and a generous helping hand to the burgeoning business community- local and foreign- that turned the territory into one of the great financial centres of the world.

The British allowed personal freedoms and a free press but did little to bring representative government to the territory. That was one way of keeping Hong Kong alive and kicking but on a fairly tight leash. As much as Hong Kong grew on me and I came to enjoy its dynamism and elan there was something missing. Press freedom yes but one sensed that information was subtly controlled or manoeuvred.

In early 1994 I wrote this in one of my weekly columns titled Off My Chest: This government talks blithely about its commitment to press freedom. But its actions belie the honeyed words that drop from the lips of Governor (Chris) Patten and his bureaucratic brigade.

I called for a clear and unequivocal answer. Is it serious about open and accountable government?

Most of my writings then did not endear me to the colonial bureaucracy. But it was still possible for journalists to say what they thought. The administration was ready to absorb a series of media body blows to keep the illusion that press freedom was thriving in Hong Kong up to a point that is.

During the 10 years I spent in Hong Kong I could write freely without my superiors or the government hovering over me. So was it with my political commentaries for Metro Radio.

That freedom is over. Early this month, the sovereign rulers in Beijing saw to that with a national security law that reduced Hong Kong, whose freedoms and life- style China promised to preserve until 2047, to a vassal territory in the making.

Hong Kong is now suffering from rigor mortis and the effervescent city that never slept will be dead before long. Libraries are being cleared of books on history and on Hong Kong life in the years gone by. A new generation of Hongkongers will emerge without any knowledge of history and culture except that dictated by the Communist agitprop.

Winston Churchill is thought to have said that history is written by the victors. Hong Kong will have a new history when Beijing presses turn out the new version as told by Xi Jinping. All that Hong Kong read and absorbed about their country and the emergence of Hong Kong will indeed be history.

They will end up on a modern Index like that published in 1559 by the Congregation of the Roman Inquisition and consigned to multiple fires.

There is one question that still puzzles me. Taiwan was considered the jewel of the Chinese crown. Deng Xiaopings One country, two systems formula for Hong Kong and the gathering of Macau to Beijings bosom were all intended to inveigle Taiwan to be part of the greater China.

Has Beijings heavy hand in flattening Hong Kong turned the Taiwan dream to dust or does it have a new super power grand plan to flatten Taiwan too?

That is not all. The strangulation of Hong Kong provides a frightening lesson for people around the world who see their freedoms and liberties in danger from potential autocrats with authoritarian predilections who see in China a moral tutor for repressive governance.

(Neville de Silva is a veteran Sri Lankan journalist who was Assistant Editor, Diplomatic Editor and a Political Columnist of the Hong Kong Standard before moving to London where he worked at Gemini News Service. Later he was Deputy Chief of Mission of Sri Lanka Embassy in Bangkok and Deputy High Commissioner in London before returning to journalism)
Hunter Valley councils and unions are preparing for a future without coal but say curbs on the Port of Newcastle imposed after the privatisation of ports near Sydney and Wollongong will hold back the transition.

Coal-dominated Singleton and Muswellbrook are among 10 councils in the Hunter Joint Organisation that are stepping up efforts to promote farming, renewable energy and tourism to wean the local economy off fossil fuels.

Singleton mayor Sue Moore at the town's Civic Centre. The mayor is looking to a time when her town is much less dependent on coal. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Impetus for the shift has come in part from the Berejiklian government, which recently released its Future of Coal Statement. It designated new areas for coal exploration but also noted a global shift to lower carbon emissions to address climate change would inevitably force changes for the Hunter.

"Recognising that coal is likely to have a finite lifespan as an energy source, we will work to support coal-dependent communities to diversify for the future, ensuring they remain vibrant places to live with good employment opportunities," Deputy Premier John Barilaro says in the report.
An internal report from the country's biggest maternity hospital warned that parts from an obsolete scanner could become dislodged and land on a newborn infant with "catastrophic" effect.

The fluoroscopy machine at the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street in Dublin has been in use since 2006 and was supposed to be replaced before it was 10 years old.

However, the machine continued to be used well past its "end-of-life" deadline, causing patient transfers, cancellations and rescheduled appointments.

An internal report, obtained under Freedom of Information, warned of the risk of parts from it becoming dislodged due to its age.

It said: "Should this happen while an infant was being examined, the resulting injury could likely be catastrophic as these parts are generally very heavy..."

The report also warned that equipment failure or delay due to equipment breakdown posed a serious risk to patients.

There was a significant risk of blood supply restriction and "risk of additional morbidity and death" for children with suspected malformation or twisting of intestines.

The National Maternity Hospital said last week that the fluoroscopy machine was going to be replaced and that it hoped a new scanner would be in place by the autumn at a cost of 500,000.

However, the machine remained in use for more than two years after serious concerns were first raised in the hospital.

A copy of a letter by a medical physicist sent to a consultant radiologist at the hospital in March 2018 warned that the quality of image from the machine was deteriorating and impacting "ability to see small detail".

In one instance, the quality of the scan was described as "significantly degraded".
A petition read during a protest at New Canaan Police Headquarters, calls for defunding the police, while giving New Canaan schools more money for mental health.

Nearly 80 protesters attended a demonstration held on Sunday, July 5, at the police station at 174 South Ave., where a petition citing six demands, posted on change.org/investinnewcanaan, was distributed.

The petition calls to Defund the NCPD [New Canaan Police Department], invest in the community, and use some of the funds to hire full-time HHS [Health and Human Services] staff to be stationed at NCHS [New Canaan High School] as a preventative measure to provide mental health counseling, substance abuse counseling, and recovery.

Superintendent Dr. Bryan Luizzi, and Chief of Police Leon Krolikowski both defended the schools ability to address mental health and teamwork between police and schools.

Our school system is well-funded and well-staffed, which results in a myriad of resources (counselors, psychologists, social workers) available to students in need, the chief said. Our SROs complement this student help team.

The schools have 10 psychologists and nine social workers to address the mental health of students, according to Luizzi.

The schools,with nearly 4,200 students enrolled, already have a relationship with Human Services. Our strong relationship with the New Canaan Health and Human Services Department ensures that students and families in need are provided wrap-around services, in and out of school, the superintendent said.

In addition our partnership with Kids in Crisis has been very positive and beneficial for our students through the years, Luizzi added. Kids in Crisis is based in Cos Cob, and has counselors to help children and families cope with unsafe situations, family conflicts, substance abuse, mental health issues, school problems, according to the organizations website.

Resource officers

The petition urges for immediate Termination of SROs and stop the push for K9s in New Canaan schools.

The presence of SROs and possible K9 drug searches in schools focuses on punitive measures rather than preventative measures, the petition reads.

The Board of Education has been resisting the police use of drug-sniffing dogs in schools.

We will not terminate our SRO program, Krolikowski said. Our SRO program is a model of community policing. School leadership and the SROs at Saxe (Middle School) and New Canaan High School work collaboratively to solve many complex issues and build, positive, lasting relationships with students.

We will continue to work with the superintendent so that our K9 can help interrupt the cycle of addiction which has plagued some of our students, the chief said. We seek to help, not punish, the chief added.

Our partnership with the police provides one dimension; our partnership with HHS provides another, with Kids in Crisis a third, our internal capacities provide a forth, Luizzi said.

Recognizing the intensity and vital importance of this work, the best approach is multidimensional with appropriate external partners, the superintendent said.

College bound

One protester, Maria Altamura, argued the schools put too much emphasis on getting students into colleges and asked Why are we not taking care of our students mental health?

Our district is totally committed to our students and helping them to be healthy and succeed in all facets of their lives, Luizzi said.

Luizzi gave many examples of efforts to achieve that goal, including a partnership with Yale University, and with efforts of our school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and administrators work together on behalf of the children in our care, the superintendent said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 16:19:19|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) in China posted robust month-on-month growth in June, as the world's largest auto market steadily expands its recovery, industry data shows.

Some 104,000 NEVs were sold last month, up 26.8 percent from the previous month, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

The year-on-year sales drop during the January-June period was 1.3 percentage points smaller than that registered in the first five months. Some 393,000 NEVs were sold in the first half of the year, down 37.4 percent year on year.

CAAM data also shows that China's auto market maintained recovery momentum last month, with both production and sales registering double-digit growth.

Total output reached 2.33 million units in June, up 22.5 percent year on year, while sales hit 2.3 million units, up 11.6 percent.

The association said the figures came in better than expected as measures to boost car consumption continued to prop up the market.

However, the association noted that uncertainties brought by the global COVID-19 situation remain and overseas market demand has yet to recover. It advised companies to monitor the changes in the domestic market and make adjustments accordingly. Enditem
The Centre has reportedly approached the Rajasthan High Court to block any of the banned Chinese apps from challenging the Indian governments move in court.

The Indian government has, in a petition filed with the HC on July 9, asked the court to stop moves for an injunction on the ban, sources told Reuters.

As per the sources, the Centres filing said it expects at least one or more companies to challenge the order issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY). It made the suggestion via a caveat which prevents a ruling in favour of the companies without hearing the governments arguments, lawyers told the agency.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Let nothing be done till the applicants (government) are heard in the matter, said the court filing signed by Additional Solicitor General of India Rajdeepak Rastogi.

The petition further states that the ban order was issued to safeguard the interests of Indian mobile and Internet users and ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian Cyber Space.

Why particularly the Rajasthan HC was approached or if any other HCs were also approached is not yet clear, the report added.

The IT Ministry nor the Chinese Embassy in Delhi responded to queries, the agency said.

Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed in Galwan Valley, Ladakh near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June. As many as 20 Indian army personnel lost their lives in the scuffle.

After the fallout, India banned 59 Chinese mobile apps including TikTok, UC Browser and WeChat citing security concerns. India also imposed mandatory physical checks on Chinese imports and increased scrutiny on Chinese investments in the country.

The government is likely anticipating a counter move from the companies after China invoked the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules in its statement against the ban.
Failure to vaccinate everyone will give rise to new variants, says UN chief

Actor Anupam Kher's four family members test COVID positive; mother admitted to Kokilaben Hospital

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Mumbai, July 12: Bollywood actor Anupam Kher on Sunday took to Twitter to share that his mother Dulari, brother Raju, sister-in-law Rima and niece Vrinda have tested positive for coronavirus.

Taking to Twitter, Kher wrote,''This is to inform all that my mother Dulari is found Covid + (Mildly). We have admitted her into Kokilaben Hospital. My brother, bhabhi & niece inspite of being careful have also tested mildly positive.I got myself tested as well & I have tested negative. BMC is informed.''

This is to inform all that my mother Dulari is found Covid + (Mildly). We have admitted her into Kokilaben Hospital. My brother, bhabhi & niece inspite of being careful have also tested mildly positive.I got myself tested as well & I have tested negative. @mybmc is informed.! pic.twitter.com/EpjDIALft2  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) July 12, 2020

While Anupam Kher's mother has been admitted to Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai, the rest of the family are quarantining at their home.

Security beefed up outside Nanavati Hospital, Big B's home

Soon after megastar Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan tested positive for COVID-19 and were admitted to a city hospital on Saturday, rumours had also started to spread that even Neetu and the "Sanju" actor are infected with the novel coronavirus.

Dismissing the reports, Riddhima told PTI, "Obviously not (true). Please stop spreading fake rumours. At least not at this time, would appreciate." Social media was abuzz with a tweet which claimed the Bachchans, who are at Nanavati Hospital, got the virus after Amitabh's grandson, Agastya Nanda, attended a birthday party hosted by Riddhima. The fashion designer also took to Instagram and called the claim baseless.

Sachin Pilot and his loyalist MLAs in Delhi as Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News

Abhishek, 44, said both his father and he had mild symptoms and requested everybody to be calm and not panic. Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you," Abhishek tweeted.

Riddhima Kapoor on rumours of Neetu, Ranbir testing positive for COVID-19: We are fit

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the complete Bachchan clan, including veteran actor Jaya Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, have underwent swab test for COVID-19. "Swab test have been taken of all the other family members, including Jaya ji and Aishwarya ji. Their reports are awaited. They have undergone RTPCR test...," he said.

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Story first published: Sunday, July 12, 2020, 11:17 [IST]
Is Canada really the next stop for Indian techies looking for greener pastures? It is a good option for sure, but it is probably not a go-to place for thousands of techies yet.

For, though the interest in the country is increasing at present, lack of skilled jobs in tech and vibrant tech ecosystem such as in the US are missing in the country and it would years to build that ecosystem, say experts.

Why are we talking about this now?

After the US proclamation that banned non-immigrant visas such as H-1B at the back of COVID-19, Canadian immigration reported a huge spike. For instance, the country saw 11,000 immigrants in May compared to 4,000 in April with significant number of them from countries such as India, China, the Philippines, the US, and Nigeria.

In addition, close to 85,500 Indians were granted permanent residency in Canada in 2019. Evidently, more number of Indians are moving to the country and this is likely to increase over the next few years.

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

Why were Indians moving to Canada?

Over the last few years, few startups started setting up base in Canada since the Trump administration tightened the H-1B visa rules since 2017 resulting in rising denial rates.

Vijay K*, a techie working for a US-based startup, moved to Canada with his family and is now a permanent resident. He drives down to the US whenever he has a meeting. It is pretty convenient, he added.

Pankaj Joshi, managing director, Nysa Global, said that they have witnessed bigger firms such as Amazon setting up base in Vancouver, which is only a three hour drive to its headquarters in Seattle.

A report by the Economist on the growing Canadian economy pointed out that Toronto created more IT jobs in the technology sector than Silicon Valley, Seattle, New York and Washington DC combined.

The report further noted that Canada is home to startups such as Shopify that are valued at $14 billion. The country is also an artificial intelligence hot-bed with Facebook and Samsung opening AI research labs there.

Still, it is only a third-tier investment destination.

Few immigration experts pointed out that if one considers sheer volume of techies and compensation, Canada lags behind the US immensely.

Why Canada is not there as yet?

Despite the proximity to the US, there are not just enough jobs or talent in the country. Barring few startups and research centres of bigger companies, the country does not offer the job opportunities for techies like the US does.

With the exception of cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, other cities are not promising. On the other hand, after the Silicon Valley, Austin, Chicago, and Colorado are emerging as startups hubs.

Salary is half of what you earn in the US as well. According to reports, if an employee gets an average salary of $134,000 in San Francisco, US, in Toronto, the average salary is close to $75,000.

Many techies who are turning to Canada are taking a pay cut in the hope for permanent residency. Some Indian students studying in Canadian universities are even driving cabs to make ends meet.

Sure, standard living in Canada is better than India. But if you are highly skilled and motivated, probably Canada is not right for you. It just does not have that ecosystem yet, added another immigration consultant.
A private school in Ghatsila under East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand asking its lower kindergarten (LKG) and under kindergarten (UKG) students to learn and practice national anthems of Pakistan and Bangladesh triggered a furore here on Saturday and Sunday, forcing the school to withdraw the online class curriculum in WhatsApp group with immediate effect, school management said this morning.

The matter came to the fore after BJP state spokespersons Kunal Sarnagi and Pratul Shahdeo twitted the matter to chief minister (CM) Hemant Soren, state education minister, HRD officials, central BJP leaders and East Singhbhum deputy commissioner (DC) on Sunday after many parents protested the move by the school.

The school teacher Shaila Parveen had given home tasks to the UKG and LKG students of Sant Nandlal Smriti Vidya Mandir (SNSVM) to learn and practice national anthems of Pakistan and Bangladesh on July 7 and 8. The teacher also shared the lyrics and YouTube videos of the two national anthems of both the neighbouring countries of India in the school WhatsApp group for the students and parents for the online classes being held in view of the Covid-19 lockdown.

I did it as per the school managements direction. The objective was to enhance the general knowledge of the students, said Shaila Parveen.

East Singhbhum district education officer (DEO) Shivendra Kumar said today they were looking into the matter. We are issuing show-cause notice to the school authorities to clarify their position. No school can order students to learn and practice national anthems of any other country except India, said the DEO.

SNSNV principal Sanjay Mallick said today that they have withdrawn both the anthems from the home task list of the students with immediate effect after protests by the guardians. We apologise to everybody if we have hurt anyones feelings or sentiments. Dear students and teachers of UKG and LKG, Good afternoon. This is to inform you that you need not learn the national symbols and national anthems of any country except India. This is for strict compliance, the principals order read.

The previous instructions in this regard are cancelled by competent authorities, the order further stated.

The principal said this was part of a project under International School Awards (ISA) by British Council. Under the project, students were to be taught the national anthems, symbols, emblems, bird, animal, flag etc of all the neighbouring countries. The UKG and LKG classes were dividing in five groups and five students of a group were given the national anthem of these two countries for general knowledge. We have, however, withdrawn it as soon as we realized the sentiments of the people, said Mallick.

BJP state spokesperson Kunal Sarangi demanded strict action against the school saying this was absolutely not acceptable at such a tender age. If action is not taken against the school, this will become a dangerous trend. Are we expecting and will we accept it if schools tomorrow start hoisting the national flag of Pakistan on August 14! At such a tender age, this is absolutely not acceptable. It is an attempt to manipulate young minds, said Sarangi.

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Pakistan has restored the bank accounts of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his four top aides, a media report said on Sunday.

Saeed, a UN designated terrorist whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on, was arrested on July 17 last year in the terror financing cases. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in February this year in two terror financing cases. He is lodged at the Lahore's high-security Kot Lakhpat jail.

Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, Haji M Ashraf, Yahya Mujahid and Zafar Iqbal - all on the UN Security Council's terrorists list - were the other members of the JuD and Lashkar-e-Taiba who got their bank accounts restored, The News reported.

They are currently facing sentences ranging 1 to 5 years in Lahore jail for terror financing cases filed against them by the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), the paper said.

"The restoration of bank accounts has taken place following formal approval of the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council," the paper said.

Citing sources, the paper said that the JuD leaders had appealed United Nations for restoring their bank accounts that they could run their family affairs.

"Initially we did not want to file an appeal but we were advised to file it as it was difficult for our leaders to run their affairs," a senior JuD leader was quoted as saying by the paper.

These leaders in their request to the government of Pakistan had also mentioned about their financial income and sources of earning. The same was forwarded to the UNSC along their bank account numbers and other related details, it added.

Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.

His bank accounts were frozen by the Pakistani government complying with the UNSC resolution.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 18) The next batch of remains of overseas Filipino workers who died in Saudi Arabia is expected to arrive in Manila on Sunday, July 19, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said Saturday.

Mga higit-kumulang 70 human remains na pauwi ng ating mga nasawing OFWs sa Saudi Arabia, OWWA Administrator Hans Cacdac told CNN Philippines' Newsroom.

[Translation: More or less 70 human remains will be sent home from Saudi Arabia.]

Cacdac added 38 of them died due to COVID-19.

In an earlier statement, the Department of Labor and Employment said the second batch of remains will arrive on July 20. More bodies of our dear OFWs will arrive on July 20 instead.

The first batch  49 OFWs who died of COVID-19 and other natural causes was flown home on Friday. The remains were transported to the Villamor Airbase, where the caskets were disinfected upon arrival.

Over 200 more remains are expected to be brought home in the coming days, according to authorities.

The repatriation of deceased OFWs in Saudi Arabia is being done in batches as each charter flight can only accommodate around 40 caskets.

The countrys COVID-19 inter-agency task force earlier approved the request to fly home the remains of COVID-infected OFWs, after health officials declared it was safe to bring home the bodies of those who caught the viral disease.
US' efforts to woo Europe to contain China a daydream

Global Times

By Cao Siqi and Zhao Yusha Source: Global Times Published: 2020/7/12 22:18:40 Last Updated: 2020/7/12 22:39:03

Washington's efforts to woo the continent a daydreaming

As US policy on China has become increasingly reckless and unrestrained, which is manifested in constant smears and sanctions, especially after the newly enacted national security law for Hong Kong, it has draw ire from rational voices within some European countries.

Whether it is in terms of domestic governance model or global governance model, the US and European countries - especially those represented by Germany - seem to be increasingly in conflict. Chinese experts pointed out that the US is losing support from more and more allies amid deteriorating China-US ties, as Europe has become accustomed to pressure from the US and its attitude toward China has become more evident.

Europe has realized that it is necessary to cooperate with China, but it has to make appropriate compromises to the US. However, it is impossible for Europe to take sides between the two superpowers, and a complete decoupling from China is impractical, they said.

Pragmatic choice

Among these European countries, China's relationship with Germany, which is considered a cooperation model between big economies, has again demonstrated promising cooperation and understanding following the passage of China's national security law for Hong Kong. The new law was attacked and defamed by countries led by the US as a "violation of human rights" and "an omen of the city's death."

In an interview with Germany newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Saturday, German Economy and Energy Minister Peter Altmaier said that Germany will not sever its trade relationship with China over the new law.

The protection of and adherence to human rights remains the government's highest priority, and this also applies to China, Altmaier stressed. "I'm not the world's headteacher of morality, but I am convinced that countries like China will only be successful in the long term if fundamental principles of the rule of law are guaranteed."

Voices advocating a less hostile approach to China than what Europe sees coming out of the US and the need for more US-European cooperation on China have also been heard from other officials, following warnings from top US officials that the country's efforts against China intensify.

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who spoke at the virtual European Union Defense Forum on Wednesday, said that "it's easy and it gives you a good feeling inside if you use strong words, but we also know that this approach is often one that blocks every contact and every possible influence."

She made it clear that China remains an important partner for the EU in dealing with important issues, such as climate change and trade. "If we see that China is trying to increase its influence in international organizations, not to further multilateralism but to push its own interests, then we must not weaken the international organizations," she said, in an apparent criticism of the US decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also delivered his concerns at the international forum known as the Primakov Readings on Friday, saying that Russia is worried about the US stepping up accusations against China and hopes that the US will not cross the bottom line, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Saturday.

Lavrov said he hoped China and the US will resolve their differences through diplomacy, and called on the US to abandon its usual approach of defaming and attacking other countries, choose to negotiate, and recognize China as a power.

It is clear to see Germany's attitude toward China is different in the national security legislation this year than the German attitude toward the anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong last year.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle on June 3, Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas pushed back against the "ganged sanctions" proposed by the US against China, saying they are not a wise move in the long run as they would hinder dialogue between Europe and China.

Maas had previously met with Hong Kong secessionist Joshua Wong Chi-fung in September 2019 in Berlin despite opposition from the Chinese government. But the German minister displayed a sharp turn in his attitude to Wong in the June 3 interview, saying Wong's opinions constitute separatism and do not conform to Germany's policies toward China.

"The reason why Germany showed a change of attitude is because the country has always stressed it is ruled by law. Like other countries which have their own national security laws, China can also formulate a national security law for Hong Kong," Sun Keqin, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The change also comes at a time when Germany, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, faces a very important task this year, especially in the second half of the year: To reach an investment agreement between Europe and China and to form a unified policy toward China, Sun pointed out.

As China and Germany have always valued dialogue on the rule of law and human rights, it is entirely possible for the two sides to exchange opinions on China's national security law for Hong Kong through internal exchanges. At a critical juncture in the negotiations for the China-EU Investment Agreement, Germany obviously does not need to jump out and blame or press China, Sun said.

Daydreaming

Analysts noted that the reason why German has always acted in a pragmatic way is that it went through World War I and World War II and experienced tremendous social and political changes, thus giving them a more profound understanding of ideology.

However, some other European countries, such as the UK and France, showed a more aggressive attitude toward China's national security legislation for Hong Kong.

Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies, China Institute of International Studies, said that the UK was inclined to prioritize its ties with China after Brexit, but it policies shifted after being cornered by the US to take a stance and amid some anti-China forces' hyping of Hong Kong issues within the UK.

The UK did not blindly follow in the US' footstep, Cui said, citing example of how the UK's policy-making deviates from that of the US within the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, so as to maintain a certain degree of autonomy. But the UK later found out the space to maintain that autonomy is narrowing as the US strengthened pressure on it.

Echoing Cui, Sun deemed the UK knows clearly that after Brexit, it cannot survive by depending only on the US. Cooperation with China is also very important.

Sun believes that the actions that the UK has taken regarding the national security legislation for Hong Kong are more symbolic and are completely different from the sanctions the US has imposed on China.

Analysts believe that German's rational attitude is able to exert influence on certain European countries, as it still shepherd the continent's economic development. The US' efforts to draw Europe to contain China as it did to the Soviet Union will turn out to be daydreaming.

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BRUSSELS - Many countries around the world are pushing ahead with plans for full-time, full-capacity, in-person classes, after having largely avoided coronavirus outbreaks linked to schools during more tentative reopenings in the spring.

From Belgium to Japan, schools are abandoning certain social distancing measures, such as alternate-day schedules or extra space between desks. They have decided that part-time or voluntary school attendance, supplemented by distance learning, is not enough - that full classrooms are preferable to leaving kids at home.

Those experiences and conclusions may offer hopeful guidance to societies still weighing how to get students and teachers back into primary and secondary classrooms.

Still, public health officials and researchers caution that most school reopenings are in their early stages. Much remains unknown about the interaction between children, schools and the virus. And parents and teachers, especially in Europe, have been vocal about their concerns. It is premature to say, as President Donald Trump put it, that "In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS."

While documented cases of younger students transmitting the virus to their classmates or to adults so far appear rare, there is enduring worry about the susceptibility of teens, college-age students and their teachers. And, especially in communities where the virus is still circulating widely, elaborate and expensive measures may be necessary to avoid shutting down entire schools each time a student tests positive.

Arnaud Fontanet, head of the Epidemiology of Emerging Diseases unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, said he "gladly" sent his four teenagers back when French schools reopened on a voluntary basis in mid-May. But he emphasized that was only because "the virus is not too much circulating in France."

"High schoolers are still contagious and primary school students are less contagious but not zero-risk," he said.

- - -

Public health officials and researchers say they have not detected much coronavirus transmission among students or significant spikes in community spread as a result of schools being in session - at least for students under 12.

Virologists warn there may be additional spread that hasn't been recognized, since testing asymptomatic people, particularly children, remains uncommon. But in many cases, young children who test positive have gotten it from someone in their family and do not appear to have infected others in school. Dig into reports of two or three elementary students with the virus, and often it turns out they're siblings.

There are exceptions. At the Ecole Louis-de-France, an elementary school in Trois Rivieres, Canada, almost an entire class of 12 students tested positive in late May. And at the Cheondong Elementary School in Daejeon, South Korea, two brothers were found to have the virus on June 29, and two students who had contact with one of the brothers tested positive the next day.

Such cases, though, have been rare. Before the suspected transmission in Daejeon, South Korea's education minister had emphasized that not a single student in the country had contracted the virus at school.

In Finland, when public health researchers combed through test results of children under 16, they found no evidence of school spread and no change in the rate of infection for that age cohort after schools closed in March or reopened in May. In fact, Finland's infection rate among children was similar to Sweden's, even though Sweden never closed its schools, according to a report published Tuesday by researchers from the two countries.

In Sweden, researchers also found that staff members at day cares and primary schools were no more likely than people working in other professions to contract the virus.

"It really starts to add up to the fact that the risk of transmission, the number of outbreaks in which the index is a child, is very low, and this seems to be the picture everywhere else," said Otto Helve, who worked on the report as a pediatric infectious-disease specialist at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

He said he sent his own children back to school.

Why young children may be less susceptible to the coronavirus or less prone to exhibit symptoms of covid-19, the disease it causes, remains a topic of hot debate among scientists. Theories range from the possibility that children have fewer of the receptors that the virus uses as a gateway into the respiratory system to their having higher overall immunity because of a greater exposure to other types of coronavirus.

But the overall observation has led some to question whether school closures were warranted in the first place.

"The scientific evidence for the effects of closing schools is weak and disputed," said Camilla Stoltenberg, director general of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, which has advised Norway's pandemic response.

She said that although she supported her country's March lockdown, it was less clear that Norway needed to close schools. "We should all have second thoughts about whether it was really necessary," she said. "We see now that, after having opened schools, we haven't had any outbreaks."

- - -

The calculations may be different, however, for students in their teens and older, as they are thought to be somewhat more prone to the virus and more capable of spreading it.

Fontanet, with the Pasteur Institute, was the lead author on twin studies that found the virus spread in the high school of one French town but not in its six primary schools before the country's March lockdowns.

In Israel, where the virus has been surging again, schools at every level have been affected. By early June, more than 100 schools had been shut and more than 13,000 students and teachers had been sent home to quarantine. The most notable outbreak was tied to a middle and high school: The Gymnasia Rehavia in Jerusalem saw 153 students and 25 staff test positive.

Israeli health authorities said they were unsure how many of those cases were the result of the virus being passed around within school buildings.

"We just don't have a good answer for that," said Hagai Levine, the chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians. Many students tend to spend time together in and out of school, Levine said, making it hard to pinpoint the actual site of transmission. "There does some to be evidence that there is less transmission in children under 10."

Plans are uncertain for what classes will look like in Israel on Sept. 1, when the next school year begins.

- - -

In many nations preparing to reopen school buildings for the first time in the fall, social distancing concerns are dominating the debate.

The Italian government, which closed schools when the pandemic first exploded and made no attempt to restart in the spring, has pledged to restart classes in mid-September and has committed to "less-overpacked classrooms."

"We don't want chicken coops," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a national address.

The U.S. Centers for Disease control recommends that desks should be spaced six-feet apart.

But many countries that resumed in-person classes in May and June have already abandoned some social distancing measures, at least in primary schools.

In Japan, where schools reopened shortly after the country's state of emergency was lifted in May, children initially attended on alternate days in some schools to allow for more space in classrooms. But classes are largely back to normal now, albeit with students and teachers wearing masks, washing hands regularly and taking daily temperature checks.

When France shifted from voluntary to mandatory attendance for primary and middle school students for the last two weeks of June, a social distancing requirement of four square meters between students was reduced to one meter laterally.

"This allows us to accommodate all students," Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said at the time of the announcement.

Similarly, before the biggest wave of school reopenings in Belgium in early June, policymakers declared that strict physical distancing rules would not be enforced, allowing more students in each classroom at once.

Belgian schools are now closed again for the summer, but leaders are planning an ambitious reopening plan for Sept. 1. For kids under 12, classes will remain in session, full-time and full-capacity, no matter how bad the second wave of infections gets in the country. If current infection rates stay steady in Belgium, students age 12 and older will attend school four days a week, with an additional half-day of virtual schooling. Officials would dial back the in-person schooling for the older children if there is a second wave.

To some extent, these shifts reflect growing confidence that bringing children together may not lead to a spike in infections.

There is also rising concern about the downsides of keeping students home.

Belgium's reopening was accelerated by an open letter from hundreds of pediatricians arguing that the educational cost of keeping schools closed was worse than the health risk of reopening them.

In Germany, some public health experts have welcomed plans to drop a 1.5-meter minimum distance rule and resume full-capacity classes after summer vacation. Policymakers fear that digital learning has put poorer students at a greater disadvantage and that there would be a rising mental health toll on students if school restrictions dragged on.

But the shift away from social distancing is also about practical concerns.

"Basically, the difficulty is enforcing social distancing among students," said Fontanet of the Pasteur Institute. He said distancing is hard for high school students, but especially for younger kids. "People have more or less given up on that entirely at this stage," he said.

Although schools in Israel initially resumed with strict rules about temperature checks, carefully spaced-out desks and masks, critics complained that the precautions quickly lapsed. "Within two or three days, that all fell away," said Dan Ben-David, president of the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research.

Italy's education minister, Lucia Azzolina, said that to keep classroom sizes at acceptable levels, districts would have to reopen shuttered school buildings and transfer some students elsewhere. She also floated the idea of holding classes in theaters, cinemas and museums - "even parks," she said.

But countries that have resumed classes already have found that it's easier and cheaper to welcome all students back to their classrooms than it is to devise complicated schedules with multiple shifts or to find new space.

- - -

In Israel, hypervigilant public health officials mandated that an entire school close any time a single coronavirus case was detected among students or staff.

By contrast, in Germany, when a student tested positive, that class was put into a mandatory two-week quarantine, but the rest of the school continued on.

Clearly, the German model is less disruptive. Some health experts have thus come to advocate that more important than social distancing within a classroom are efforts to create bubbles within schools, to limit potential contamination and the need to shut everything down.

England started sending some grades back on a voluntary basis in June. But when schools fully reopen in September for mandatory, full-time, in-person classes, elementary school students will be in "class bubbles" of up to 30 and high school students in "year bubbles" of up to 240.

Quebec, the Canadian province hit hardest by the coronavirus, experimented with various means of social distancing when it reopened elementary schools outside Montreal in May. Classes were limited to 15 students. Libraries remained closed. Recess times were staggered. Some schools painted green dots on schoolyard grounds to mark sufficient separation.

Bubbles will be introduced when elementary and high schools reopen for compulsory in-class instruction in the fall. Within classrooms, students will form groups of up to six students who won't have to maintain social distancing. Bubbles must keep a one-meter distance from each other and two meters from teachers.

Helve, the Finnish infectious-disease specialist, noted that bubbles may be especially valuable in societies with high infection rates, such as the United States, where it may be inevitable that a student or teacher shows up with the virus at some point.

"How do you minimize the impact on the school?" he said. "The more cases you have in a society, the more likely it is that you will have an outbreak at a school, or that you will have a teacher or a parent or a child who brings the virus to the school."

In part because there haven't been many outbreaks associated with schools, some students, parents and teachers who initially resisted classroom reopenings have come around.

One survey of French-speaking parents in Belgium found that 96 percent of respondents planned to send their children back to school in the fall.

Technically, they won't have a choice. Education is compulsory in Belgium for children age 6 and above, and although the requirement was suspended this spring, it will be back in force in September.

That's in line with moves by many countries away from voluntary in-person attendance, which saw limited uptake.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was forced to delay plans for a full reopening of elementary schools in England after strong resistance from teaching unions and some parents, intends to forge ahead in the fall.

"We want them all back in September," said Johnson. "We've got to start thinking of a world in which we are less apprehensive about this disease."

In France, when schools reopened in May on a voluntary basis, statistics from the Education Ministry showed that only about 1.8 million out of 6.7 million nursery and primary schoolers went back, along with 600,000 out of 3.3 million middle schoolers.

France had hoped reopening would address the inequalities evident under distance learning. But the government found that students from wealthier families were more likely to be among those who returned to their classrooms, while many poorer families continued to keep their children home. The education minister suggested the gap had to do with a lack of trust.

French officials ultimately made school attendance mandatory for the final two weeks of classes in June, before the summer holidays began. Families and teachers questioned the need for such a scramble for so little class time. Some accused the government of being more concerned about freeing parents to return to work than about the needs of students and teachers.

That's in contrast to the United States, where a growing chorus of families complain that state and local governments are downplaying the need for kids to be in school before parents can return to their workplaces.

The French government defended its decision.

"Two weeks count; two weeks are not nothing, whether it's out of an educational aspect or a psychological aspect," Blanquer, the education minister, said. "School should never be considered as a day-care center of sorts."

- - -

The Washignton Post's James McAuley in Paris, Karla Adam in London, Rick Noack in Berlin, Steve Hendrix in Jerusalem, Min Joo Kim in Seoul, Simon Denyer in Tokyo, Amanda Coletta in Toronto, Quentin Aries in Brussels and Chico Harlan in Rome contributed to this report.
First of all, Latinos are more likely to be employed in essential jobs. Meaning that they do not have the luxury of working from home, he says. They have to go out into the workforce. Second of all, these are precisely the workers that needed protections in the workplace even before covid-19. Farmworkers for example have one of the highest injury rates, one of the highest hazard rates in any profession and they are not protected.
The League of Woman Voters of New Mexico (LWVNM) is seriously concerned about the Administrations nomination of William Perry Pendley to be director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Mr. Pendley has a long history of favoring sales of public lands to private entities. We believe his appointment would be a threat to BLM lands, not only in New Mexico, but also throughout the West. BLM lands comprise the largest portion of our federal lands. This is an issue that affects not only New Mexico, but also other Western states with large swaths of BLM land.

LWVNM recently completed a study on whether it makes sense to transfer certain federal lands to the states where they are located. We concluded that such transfers are not justified by history or validated by law and would not make economic sense. Furthermore, such transfers are likely to limit public access and negatively affect the environment. For these reasons, we are concerned about the current nominee to head the BLM.

The League study was initiated in response to an effort by some New Mexico legislators to enact a large-scale transfer. Utah has passed a law demanding such transfers, and other Western states are now considering, or have considered, similar actions. Such transfers could result in these lands being sold off to private entities. There is also a risk that the federal government would attempt to sell federal lands directly to private entities.

Our study culminated in the adoption by LWVNM of a position that we will use to advocate for the federal government to retain ownership of federal lands. We focused on the lands most at risk, those managed by the BLM, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, such as wildlife refuges.

The core of our position is this paragraph: The League believes that federal public lands should benefit all Americans. The lands should remain under the jurisdiction of the federal government, with Forest Service and BLM lands managed according to a multiple-use, sustained-yield policy. We support improvements in management and regulation.

We also believe that if any sale or exchange is considered, it must not only be in the public interest, but also that a comprehensive assessment must be completed. Issues included in the assessment must include: environmental analysis, including air and water quality, biodiversity, endangered and threatened species; health impacts; environmental justice; suitability of the proposed land use; subsurface resources; financial/economic impacts; cultural resources; public access; management for fire and other natural disasters; and tribal consultation.

Our study committee reviewed legal analyses of the history of federal land ownership, as well as economic analyses related to proposals in specific states. We interviewed officials with the BLM, the Forest Service and the New Mexico State Land Office. We found no court-supported constitutional or legal basis requiring the federal government to relinquish ownership of its lands.

We thank our U.S. Senators Heinrich and Udall for their public statements of strong opposition to the nomination of Mr. Pendley. We will continue to monitor the status of federal public lands here in New Mexico.

Hannah Burling is president of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico and Christine Furlanetto is program chair. Both live in Santa Fe.
Lebanon is suffering a financial meltdown which marks the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-90 civil war

Lebanon's top Christian cleric stepped up criticism of the Iran-backed Shia group Hezbollah and its allies without naming them on Sunday, saying Lebanese rejected being isolated from their allies and driven into decline.

Lebanon is suffering a financial meltdown which marks the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-90 civil war.

For the second sermon in a row, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai stressed the importance of Lebanon's neutrality, implicit criticism of the heavily armed Hezbollah over its support for Iran in conflicts with Sunni-led Gulf Arab states.

Rai carries weight as the head of the Maronite church, the Christian community from which the president must be drawn in a sectarian system of government.

His last two sermons have been seen to mark a shift to a more openly critical stance against the policies of both Hezbollah and its ally President Michel Aoun.

Both back the government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab.

"The intervention was seen as a shift in his politics away from supporting the president and more into criticising the political position of the country, regionally and internationally," Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center said.

Rai, in a copy of the sermon sent by email, said Lebanese "rejected any ... parliamentary majority messing with the constitution ... and Lebanon's model of civilisation, and that it isolate it from its brothers and friends ... and that it move it from abundance to want and from prosperity to decline".

Lebanon's crisis is rooted in decades of state corruption and bad governance by the sectarian ruling elite.

Hezbollah's opponents say it shoulders blame as its alliance with Iran has led Gulf Arab states that once supported Lebanon to keep their distance, closing off an important source of aid.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has called on Lebanon to look east as it seeks help fix the economy, though he said last week this does not mean the country should cut itself from the rest of the world.

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(Reuters) - WeWork Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure said the office-sharing company was on course to have positive cash flow in 2021, a year earlier than a target the company set in February, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Claure, in an interview with the newspaper, said WeWork has seen strong demand for its office spaces since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

(Reuters) - WeWork Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure said the office-sharing company was on course to have positive cash flow in 2021, a year earlier than a target the company set in February, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Claure, in an interview with the newspaper, said WeWork has seen strong demand for its office spaces since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

The SoftBank-controlled company has also reduced its workforce by more than 8,000 people, renegotiated leases and sold off assets to reduce its cash burn and shed costs, FT said.

New York-based WeWork is currently in the middle of executing a five-year turnaround plan set out this year and is shaking up its top management ranks under Claure.

The plan included a target of reaching operating profitability by the end of next year and Claure told the FT that WeWork remains on track to meet it.

"Everybody thought WeWork was mission impossible," Claure, who is also a SoftBank executive, was quoted as saying by the FT. "And now, a year from now, you are going to see WeWork to basically be a profitable venture with an incredible diversity of assets."

WeWork told Reuters it did not have any further comment beyond the FT interview.

The company has gone through a tumultuous period since abandoning its initial public offering (IPO) in September. It was forced to push out co-founder Adam Neumann last year after SoftBank and other shareholders turned on him over his management style, his numerous conflicts of interest and his handling of the IPO.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda on Sunday launched an attack against the Pinarayi Vijayan government of Kerala, accusing it of corruption and nepotism and messing up data related to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

He also attacked former Congress president and Wayanad MP, Rahul Gandhi, for allegedly holding a secret meeting with the Chinese ambassador during the Doklam military standoff in 2017.

The BJP president, who was addressing a virtual rally after an online inauguration of the partys district office in Kasargod, said the Kerala government needed to come clean on the recent gold smuggling that led to the transfer of a senior bureaucrat.scandal.

The transfer of M Sivasankar, a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who was also a secretary to chief minister Vijayan, came after opposition parties in the state stepped up pressure following the seizure of 30 kg gold from a diplomatic consignment. A former information technology consultant to the state government is the prime suspect in the case.

What is the relationship between that IT officer and the personal secretary of the chief minister?We can see the heat in CMs office also. He wrote to Prime Minister saying no stone should remain unturned as far as the investigation is concerned. We have a saying chor ki daadi mein tinka, it means the office of CM is also involved somewhere, the BJP chief said.

Misappropriation of funds, crimes against women, nepotism in political appointments, political patronage and several other things are prevalent under this Pinarayi government, he said.

The BJP leader also criticised the Kerala government for its handling of the Covid-19 crisis, He said the CM had made claims that the state is equipped to cater to over 150,000 people, but when the Vande Bharat flights to bring home stranded Indians from abroad were started, the situation turned out to be different.

They tried to suppress the data. Even when the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said we should increase the tests, the attitude of the state government was negative, Nadda said.

He went on add, The Kerala house in Delhi was offered to anti-CAA {Citizenship (Amendment) Act} protestors} but not to the brave Malayali nurses who needed help. I also know that during the crisis, the health data of individuals was compromised. Migrant workers in Wayanad had to stage a protest against the government. There is political patronage to private companies, the BJP leader said.

Nadda claimed that the support for BJP in the state had been growing in the last decade, with its vote share rising from 6% to 16% and its membership growing from 1.1 million to 2.5 million. He urged the people to shun the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front, which he said were two sides of the same coin.

To keep BJP out, the Left and the Congress joined hands at the last moment. If the BJP had not protested against the Sabarimala issue (of allowing women of all ages to visit the shrine), they would have destroyed the faith of people, he said.

Shifting his attack to Rahul Gandhi, he said, the Wayand MP had not disclosed his meeting with the Chinese ambassador during the Doklam stand-off.

These days he is asking questions about China and shows desh prem (love for the country), but the people of India know when the Doklam standoff was on he secretly met the Chinese ambassador and did not tell anyone. India got to know only when the Chinese Ambassador broadcast the picture with him online, he said.

On Sunday, Gandhi again attacked the government over the June 15 clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in eastern Ladakh, alleging that the Chinese have captured Indian territory.

What happened {was} that China took away the sacred land of Mother India during Modi jis tenure? the former Congress president tweeted on Sunday morning.

The Kerala government brushed aside the BJP presidents criticism. The whole world is praising the states Covids management system and we have the lowest mortality rate: records speak. In gold smuggling case we dont have anything to hide. Our CM was first to call for a central agency probe. People know truth and that is our strength, said state industry minister E P Jayarajan.

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Brahm Vasudeva, the Promoter Chairman of Hawkins Cookers Ltd, passed away in Mumbai on Friday, July 10, 2020. With his passing away, the industry has lost a great leader who was a pioneer in many ways, extremely meticulous and a true business leader.

Vasudeva had been working as Vice-Chairman and Managing Director at Hawkins since 1968, and took over the reins as Chairman and Managing Director in 1984, when his father HD Vasudeva stepped down and handed over management to his son.

After 38 years of distinguished service to Hawkins, Brahm Vasudeva retired as Chairman and CEO on April 25, 2006, the day before his 70th birthday. With effect from April 26, 2006, he became the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.

A true business leader, Vasudeva built Hawkins has a great institution and also nurtured and mentored many managers during his tenure. A thorough professional, he had led several delegations to the government to fight for the advertising industry. One such instance was when the advertising tax was imposed while L K Jha was the Union minister. His active involvement in many industry bodies helped to bring in a lot of regulations and best practices for the industry to grow and surge ahead. He also closely worked with the MRUC council, when the Council was established and was trying to get their foothold.

The industry has lost a fine and inspirational person with great leadership skills and knowledge. May his soul rest in peace.

Industry pays rich tribute

Srinivasan Swamy, CMD, RK SWAMY BBDO, who was the sole agency for Hawkins for the past 35 years:

Brahm was a quintessential professional and a man of painstaking details. Hawkins range of products are market leaders because of his meticulous planning and execution. Actually, he was thorough in everything he takes up. He was the brain behind the start of ASCI and MRUC, the two institutions that are making a big difference to the marcom industry. He leaves behind a void that will be difficult to fill. He was also a fine gentlemen, who will be sorely missed.

Sam Balsara, Chairman & MD, Madison World:

I am saddened to hear about the passing away of Brahm Vasudeva. What a fine gentleman he was! The industry has lost a real stalwart and staunch loyalist who always spoke up in impeccable English on all issues that he felt strongly about. He was the founding member of ASCI and I believe he had written the code that we follow till today with some additions and modifications, of course. He was also the founding member of MRUC and of course, played a leading role in ISA. He will sorely be missed in industry matters.

I had last met him at the Subhas Goshal Memorial lecture when Uday Shankar spoke and he did not look too good. May God give his wife and children the strength to bear this irreparable loss and may his soul rest in peace. Amen.

Raj Nayak, Founder & Managing Director, House Of Cheer Networks Pvt Ltd:

When I was growing up, the first pressure cooker we had in our house was Hawkins. So, later in life when I met Brahm Vasudev, there was an instant connect. Brahm was one of the first clients who actively participated and was part of various industry bodies. He was a sharp shooter and outspoken. If he was part of an AGM or a meeting, you better made sure you had your facts right. Much senior to many of us, I always called him sir. He was a doyen in our industry and a fine human being. Lately, I used to meet him more at industry functions/ gettogethers. He stopped shaking hands years ago, much before COVID-19 and only greeted everyone with his trademark Namaste and a big smile. We will miss him. My sincere condolences to his entire family.

Girish Agarwaal, Promoter Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group:

Brahm Vasudev was a legend. He was a pioneer of many big things in the industry  he was the founding chairman of ASCI and had played a big role in the foundation of MRUC. He was a big strength for the Indian Society of Advertisers. In many ways, he was a stalwart. His passing away would be a big loss to the industry.

Ramesh Narayan, Founder, Canco Advertising and Area Director - APAC, IAA:

Brahm Vasudev was an institution. In advertising industry circles, he was famous for his sharp mind, his relentless eye for detail and his great command over the English language. His contribution to associations like the IAA, the Advertising Club, ASCI and ISA was immense. As a rookie, I had the privilege of working with him in the IAA. Personally, to me, he was warm and kind. I shall really miss his smile and his Namaste.
A pioneering digital platform has been launched in a bid to mobilise younger generations in the fight against climate change.

Former YouTube stars Jack and Finn Harries have joined forces with filmmaker Alice Aedy to set up the inclusive new online space, Earthrise.

Between them, the London-based team boasts around four million online followers.

Now they want to harness their audience to build a platform that can infuse climate activism with a strong sense of diversity and optimism as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.

Within days of landing on Instagram, Earthrise has already garnered more than 20,000 followers  and the team has barely got started.

It will develop into a curation of content from scientists, journalists and storytellers, aiming to untangle the intimidating jargon which has too long dominated the climate conversation.

Alice told the Standard that the space will strive to reframe the narrative surrounding the crisis at a time when the potential for real proactive change has reached a tipping point.

By breathing a more positive message into the climate activism space, she said that Earthrise hopes to stamp out widespread eco-anxiety caused by overwhelming and fatalistic discourses.

Filmmaker and photographer Alice Aedy / Earthrise

Alice said: We need a new roadmap and we believe in the power of storytelling. We are going to need imagination. We are going to need optimism. We are going to need hope to create a new world.

Twin brothers Jack and Finn, now 27, gained a massive subscriber-base aged 18 with their travel YouTube channel JacksGaps. Over the years they then turned their attention to raising awareness of environmental issues.

In 2017, while working in the Calais Jungle, Jack met  and started dating  Alice, 26, who was reporting on the refugee crisis.

The trios social media audience have watched them travel the world, make films, win awards and join Extinction Rebellion. Jack was even arrested at an XR protest in London last year.

Together the team now want to highlight through different channels how climate change is, crucially, a global social justice issue.

For them, telling the stories of people already living on the frontlines of climate change is key to bringing home the severity of the situation.

Finn said: We have always felt the larger our audience has grown the larger our responsibility is to talk about things that matter."

With Earthrise, it is fundamentally not about us or our personal narratives," he added. "We are trying to amplify voices that are so often not able to participate in this conversation, incorporating broader social stories such as the inequality that has been revealed by Covid and Black Lives Matter."

And Alice said the current landscape for activism amid the BLM movement, on and offline, is "incredible".

Jack and Finn protesting in central London / Earthrise

"There has been a remarkable use of social media and an appetite to learn about social justice issues that I just havent seen before," she said.

And we are aware that we need to make great strives to improve the societies in which we live. So it feels like the right time to launch. We can build a world that is fairer, greener and more equitable for everyone."

The short term plan is to establish the community on Instagram through multiple different strands and multimedia storytelling.

The group will share articles, quotes from inspiring individuals, and explanations of "confusing concepts" like the Green New Deal and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.

Climate in Colour activist Joycelyn Longdon will run her own strand called Climate in Colonialism 101 as part of the platforms drive for inclusive conversations.

Then a podcast called "Down to Earth" will be launched with an interview format to spotlight guests whose perspectives on the climate emergency often go unheard in the wider movement.

The long-term plan, on the other hand, includes nationwide live events, like talks and workshop, "to activate a huge group of young people who maybe hadnt yet engaged in climate".

Alice said: One of the most dangerous things we are trying to tackle is this idea of, Oh were f*** anyway. Whats the point? Im just going to live my life."

Jack Harries has built up a large following through his Youtubing and filmmaking / Earthrise

"So that feeling of powerless is something that we are going to dedicate this platform to trying to fight.

Were saying we're not experts. We're not scientists. Were young people, and we're inviting you to join us on our journey as we dive into these issues that are really really complex.

Jack said that they have already been inundated by young writers, designers, activists and science researchers who want to collaborate on the project.

The team have travelled all around the world to the frontines of climate change (Earthrise)

He said: "Its so exciting because I think all of our generation want to take action but they dont necessarily know how.

"And we are going to need everyone. We need to radically transform every aspect of society. This isnt just one industry that needs to change but every sector of the economy.

The trio argued that the language and storytelling must now change in order to push the movement forward.

"Last years story, mainly told by XR and the Youth Strikes, was essentially were *f****ed, Jack said, adding that they woke people up by escalating the language from climate change to climate crisis".

But now, especially post-Covid, the story should be: How do we build back better? How do we build a better world for everyone? How do we make it positive?"

We simply cant afford to return back to normal and we are absolutely heading towards that direction. It is going to take a lot to steer us onto a new course."
The medieval Christian conception of the great chain of being, so ably described and analyzed by Arthur Lovejoy and E. M. Tillyard, has been one of the most resonant concepts addressing mankinds unique position in the cosmos. Situated between the divine and the earthy, the angelic and the bestial, the spiritual world and the physical creation, the human being is understood as a hybrid being consisting of a higher nature and a lower nature in perpetual conflict with one another. It is a metaphor that makes good explanatory sense.

Thus, we are tugged in two antithetical directions, toward reason, order and imagination on the one hand and envy, resentment and malice on the other, toward the tablets on the mountain above and the calf in the wilderness below. The gravity of degradation, alas, is always stronger than the upward flight of intellectual clarity and moral commitment. This will never change, but the choice and struggle between the angel and the animal within us, between logic and appetite, is what constitutes the essence of human identity, and the intermittent victory of the former over the latter is what constitutes the essence of human potentiality -- that is, of the truly human.

What applies to the individual person may also bear on the political dynamic. It is, for example, the explicit theme of Shakespeares Macbeth in which the proper hierarchy of the state is reversed and order is supplanted by disorder, rule by regicide and social convention by political anarchy and moral disarray. The established hierarchy of the given order of things represented by the chain is overturned: hawks are hunted by owls, tame creatures run wild (II, iv). And as Banquo remarks when he sees the witches:

What are these, So withered and so wild in their attire, That look not like the inhabitants o the earth, And yet are ont?  You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so. (I.ii)

The restoration of community and decorum -- the climb up the chain -- begins when Birnam Wood marches toward Dunsinane Hill, deposing the usurper and reclaiming the moral heights.

Today, one might say that the fraught experiment in republican governance is, on the grand historical scale, a collective effort to ascend toward a higher form of social organization than that initially represented by the state of nature as Thomas Hobbes depicted it in Leviathan, where the life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. In the terms of the 2nd Century B.C. Greek historian Polybius in The Histories, who developed the concept of classical republicanism, we would say that democracy is a higher form of civil and political order than oligarchy or autocracy. Democratic and republican governance represent an attempt to move up the links of the political chain of being toward the ideal of civic responsibility and individual flourishing.

Decadence is a staple of the human condition, but there are times when the forces of debasement and corruption seem far more conspicuous and irreversible than at other times when they are in approximate abeyance. And this, I believe, is one of those times, especially when observing the cultural and political scene in our own advanced and presumably enlightened countries.

We have remarked the gradual, now accelerated encroachment of the socialist nightmare on the American dream, the rapid breakdown of public order following the COVID pandemic so egregiously mismanaged by our political and medical classes, the destructive riots of various groups of domestic terrorists joined by the unproductive elements of society, and the racist hysteria leading to the eruption of social violence and hatred of whites. We have watched good people being cancelled by their moral inferiors. And we have seen our political authorities either foment the mayhem or retreat into their bunkers of silence and inactivity. These are the people descending the chain of being into the terrain occupied by the rabble, sinking from the realm of communal order into the realm of turbid misrule.

Heather Mac Donald speaks clearly and acerbically about the current tolerance and justification for vandalism and violence and the elite betrayal of the principle of law, deplores the high-volume delegitimization of American justice and the incessant drumbeat about white supremacy, and concludes, These are no longer the warning signs of a possible breakdown of civilized life. That breakdown is upon usUnless new leaders come forth who understand their duty to maintain the rule of law, the country will not pull back from disaster.

She is obviously right but is anybody listening? The precipitous plunge from lawfulness to indiscriminate turmoil, from structure to chaos, from civility to barbarism is indeed upon us. Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote back in 1969-70 of the credulity, even the vulgarity of the supposed intellectual and social elite of the country, and added, I know there is an authoritarian Left in this country, and I fear it. He had every reason to.

The corrupt politicians polluting Washington, D.C. and many blue state executive branches, the raving mobs infesting Twitter, the domestic insurgents, including their subsidizers and political enablers, laying waste the nation, the professoriate that has indoctrinated two generations of students with leftist twaddle and deprived them of a legitimate education, the academic fellows and media experts signing virtue-signalling petitions against their betters who have offended the idols of mediocre conformity, the race hustlers, the Democrat vote-riggers, the lying journalists who have betrayed their mandate and write and report only to misinform and propagandize, the censors who operate the digital platforms, the radical feminists who control the university, the civic institutions and the public square, the scientists who betray the rule of objectivity to ensure government grants, transgender advocates pushing sex-reassignment surgery (worthy of Banquos befuddlement), the whole sick crew to quote Thomas Pynchons V -- these are the dwellers of the feculent swamp, or in common parlance, bottom feeders. I do not have the Christian forbearance to regard these people as just sadly deluded. In my mind, they are complicit with evil. Or at best, they are hurtling down the chain of being toward the feral depths and taking a culture, nation and civilization with them.

If they are allowed to drag us down into the moral and intellectual rot that is their natural home, democracy will have given way to ochlocracy (mob rule) or to despotism, republicanism to tribalism, the bestial will have overtaken the angelic, and the shining city on a hill will have become the fetid marsh of political decay. Stars, hide your fire, declaims Macbeth, let not light see my black and deep desires. The great chain of moral integrity and political order is disintegrating as we watch and the question now is whether Birnam Wood will march toward Dunsinane once again.

Graphic credit: Needpix

David Solways latest book is Notes from a Derelict Culture, Black House Publishing, 2019, London. A CD of his original songs, Partial to Cain, appeared in 2019.
An infectious diseases expert believes Australia is already into its second wave of coronavirus.

Professor Peter Collignon, who is from The Australian National University Medical School, tweeted on Sunday Australia (population 26 million) is getting a second wave of Covid.

More of a concern than the first wave as most cases are community transmission and nearly all from just one city (Melbourne), Professor Collignon tweeted.

He also predicted the likelihood of spreading the infectious disease could increase due to the time of year.

Winter has just started here, so also likely a factor in increasing risk of spread, he said.

Melbourne Fire Brigade members prepare to take food parcels to residents in a locked down public housing estate. Source: Getty Images

Victorias areas of Metro Melbourne and Mitchell Shire are currently in lockdown with residents only allowed to leave their houses for exercise, to provide care, for work or to buy essential items.

On Sunday, the states premier Daniel Andrews said another 273 cases had been reported.

Adrian Esterman, professor of biostatistics at the University of South Australia, wrote in a piece for The Conversation that Victoria is undeniably in a second wave.

Professor Esterman said its hard to know where to go from here.

Police conduct roadside checks on the outskirts of Melbourne. Source: Getty Images

Daily cases could still rapidly increase, or we could have reached the peak and we might start seeing cases subside, he said.

However, the number of new cases each day isnt necessarily the critical factor. More important is the daily number of new community-acquired infections.

Because we have no idea where these people got infected, it makes controlling the situation very difficult.

Some people questioned Professor Collignons assessment of a second wave.

But what constitutes one?

Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick in England, told the BBC how you define a wave is arbitrary and added its not really scientific.

However, it could be considered like waves in the ocean  a large one comes in and crashes down before a second follows.

Australia (pop 26m) is getting a 2nd wave of Covid. More of a concern than the first wave as most cases are community transmission and nearly all from just one city (Melbourne). Winter has just started here, so also likely a factor in increasing risk of spread. pic.twitter.com/shRKuRyzZM  Peter Collignon (@CollignonPeter) July 12, 2020

In the case of coronavirus  we see a large number of cases, then a low number, before an increase in cases again.

Story continues

That second lot of increased cases could be considered the second wave.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
All election rallies of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa have been cancelled temporarily, the SLPP announced on Sunday, following a spike in coronavirus cases in the country.The parliamentary elections in the island nation are scheduled for August 5. The country has so far reported 2,511 COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths.

All election rallies of President Gotabaya and Prime Minister Mahinda scheduled for July 12, 13 and 14 have been cancelled, the Sri Lanka People's Party (SLPP) said in a press release. The announcement came as the country recorded a jump in COVID-19 cases since the middle of this week. Sri Lanka on Friday recorded its highest single-day spike of 300 coronavirus cases in a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts in the north central region. Fifty-seven more cases were reported on Saturday.

Sri Lanka's top election official had also expressed concern over the delay in enforcing the COVID-19 health guidelines for the August 5 parliamentary elections, warning that candidates and supporters were defying measures to contain the spread of the disease which could endanger public safety.

Mahinda Deshapriya, Chairman of the National Election Commission, said the health guidelines for conducting the elections were announced on June 2 but they have not been legalised through a gazette notification.The health guidelines require wearing face masks, frequent hand washing and maintaining one-metre distance. The number of people at poll campaign gatherings has also been reduced to a bare minimum.

President Gotabaya on March 2 dissolved the Parliament, six months ahead of schedule, and called for snap polls on April 25. However, the election commission in mid-April postponed the elections by nearly two months to June 20 due to the coronavirus outbreak in the island nation. The commission last month informed the apex court that the polls cannot be held on June 20 because of the coronavirus pandemic and the new date was decided following a unanimous decision reached between the members of the commission.

There are over 16 million eligible voters in the country. The August 5 poll will elect a 225-member Parliament for a five-year term.Meanwhile the ministry of education said schools would be closed again if adequate COVID-19 preventive measures are not taken by the respective school authorities. Schools were reopened last week in the country.The Sri Lanka Medical Association has also expressed concern over the "blatant lack" of measures required to control the spread of the deadly virus.

(Image Credit: PTI)
To some people, COVID 19 is not something to take seriously. It's just the ordinary flu that can be cured with over-the-counter drugs until they get hit by it. Others survive, while others lose their lives.

A 30-year-old Texas man reportedly died after attending a "COVID-19 party." A doctor said the victim thought coronavirus was a hoax.

The patient, whose identity was not released, died at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jane Appleby said the patient told a nurse he had attended a party hosted by a person diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus. The host allegedly wanted to gather people "to see if the virus is real," NBC 4 San Antonio reported on Friday.

Appleby said those skeptical of the virus hold the parties with someone who has previously tested positive.

Earlier this month, authorities in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, said college students organized parties and gatherings with a coronavirus-infected person. The attendees put money in a pot. Whoever gets infected with the pandemic first wins the money, USA Today reports.

Texas COVID-19 Cases

On Saturday, state officials set another record high after reporting 10,351 new cases in a single day. Dallas County health officials said 1,101 new cases. It was the ninth-consecutive day the county surpassed a thousand cases.

Tarrant County health officials also recorded 423 new cases and four deaths, as reported by WFAA.

On Friday, Texas's hospitalizations hit 10,083. It was the first time the state had surpassed 10,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients. The previous week closed out with an average number of daily cases at 1,121. Health officials also reported 54 deaths.

According to a tweet by WFAA reporter William Joy, Texas's hospitalizations increased by 365 percent since June 10. The weekly average of cases surged by 393 percent, with the weekly positivity rate of 111 percent and weekly deaths up by 184 percent.

Texas Coronavirus Outbreak

In early June, hundreds flocked Corpus Christi, a popular beachfront vacation spot for Texans, after word spread that the city hardly had any positive cases.

Residents from various cities in Texas drove to Corpus Christi. At the time, the city did not require masks indoors. Peter Zanoni, the city manager, called it "a getaway from the rules and regulations."

However, the flood of tourists led the city to have one of the fastest-growing outbreaks. Corpus Christi has recorded 38 deaths, with 30 recorded in July. The victims who died from the virus include a 6-month-old baby, as reported by The New York Times.

The city's two dozen contact tracers are facing difficulties seeking detailed information about each new infection. Local officials are scrambling to curb the virus's spread that has affected 445 residents as of Wednesday. Hospitals are rapidly losing bed spaces for COVID-19 patients.

Data gathered from cellphones showed the city returned to a pre-pandemic level in early June, with restaurants seeing the most activity. Local bar owners also noted that they did not ask patrons to observe social distancing or wear masks. Retail stores did not start requiring face coverings until last week.

The outbreak forced city leaders to acknowledge that the tourists, who helped the city's economy thrive, may have also been the ones who caused the outbreak.

So, is COVID-19 still a hoax? You decide.

Read the latest news from the U.S.:
The deputy chief medical officer has warned Australia's death toll could rise further given the increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections in Victoria, as worries mount over a potential cluster linked to a pub in Sydney.

Dr Nick Coatsworth's warning on Sunday came as a man in his 70s died in Victoria, taking the national death toll to 108. The state reported the death of a 90-year old man on Saturday.

'Deaths are a reality of COVID-19, they are the reality of a pandemic,' Dr Coatsworth said in Canberra.

'It is possible that the death toll will increase, there is no doubt about that.'

An 18-year-old staffer has been confirmed among the now nine cases in The Crossroads Hotel cluster at Casula in Sydney's southwest

A man in his 70s has died and another 273 cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Victoria overnight as the state is gripped by a second wave of the virus

But he said Australia had learnt a lot during the pandemic and it had been able to avoid the large numbers of deaths seen overseas, particularly in elderly members of the community.

Victoria reported a further 279 COVID-19 cases, following on from 216 reported on Saturday and a record 288 infections on Friday. The state has recorded more than 1000 cases in the past week.

There are 57 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19, including 16 who remain in intensive care, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Sunday morning.

Victorians living in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are currently in the midst of a second lockdown in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus.

The reimposed lockdown measures in parts of the state mean people can only leave their homes for four essential purposes - groceries, daily exercise, to give or receive care and to go to school or work.

There are now fears NSW could face its own second wave after a cluster of cases from a Sydney pub surged to nine.

An 18-year-old staffer has been confirmed among the now nine cases from The Crossroads Hotel at Casula in Sydney's south-west.

Dr Coatsworth said people who visited the pub between July 3 and 10 should self-isolate immediately and get tested for COVID-19 regardless of their symptoms.

That includes people who have now left NSW and freight drivers who are known to frequent the venue.

Planet Fitness Casula, a kilometre away from the Crossroads Hotel, was forced to close on Sunday for a deep clean.

Gym management urged other members via social media to get tested for COVID-19.

'The member has not been at the club since Friday, 10 July and is in quarantine,' Planet Fitness said in a statement.

'Additionally, our team members are in self-quarantine as instructed by their doctor, as a precaution because of contact with the patient.'

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said NSW had the opportunity to clamp down on community transmission or go the way of Victoria.

The number of flights from overseas will be capped and returned travellers would be charged for quarantining in hotels, as was agreed by the national cabinet on Friday.

A medical worker is pictured performing a COVID-19 test. Melbourne has re-entered stage three lockdown restrictions

Victorians living in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are currently in the midst of a second lockdown in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus

Returning travellers will be charged $3000 for an adult, rising to $5000 for a family of four.

'We believe this is fair,' Ms Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

'Australian residents overseas have had three or four months to think about what they want to do. What we need to do is protect our citizens and put resources where they are needed most and that's in community tracing.'

Labor leader Anthony Albanese backs the national cabinet's decision but hopes no one's health is put at risk by putting off a return to Australia because of the cost of quarantine.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the pandemic had not yet reached its peak and authorities were throwing 'absolutely everything at it'.

'It is the public health challenge of our lifetime. The biggest for 100 years since the Spanish flu,' he said.

Professor Sutton said he was particularly concerned about outbreaks in Victorian hospitals and aged care facilities in recent days, which have forced hundreds of workers deemed close contacts into quarantine.

Lines of cars snake around the block as people line up for COVID-19 testing at the Crossroads Hotel testing center in Sydney

Dr Coatsworth said people who visited The Crossroads Hotel at Casula in south Sydney between July 3 and 10 should self-isolate immediately and get tested for COVID-19 regardless of their symptoms

There are 11 coronavirus cases linked to Brunswick Private Hospital, eight to the Alfred Hospital and two to Box Hill Hospital.

Eleven people have also tested positive at Menarock Life Aged Care Facility in Essendon, while 12 cases were recorded at Glendale Aged Care Facility in Werribee.

'The workforces know what to do but it is a risk that can't be mitigated down to zero,' Professor Sutton said.

'I have been an emergency department doctor for years and they are brave and they are brilliant in responding to the challenges of positive cases that need to be managed there.'

There are 237 cases linked to public housing blocks in Flemington and North Melbourne, but Professor Sutton warned the number could be much greater.

Twenty-eight people at a public housing tower in Carlton have also tested positive to the virus.

The state has recorded a week of triple-digit increases in new cases, including a record 288 infections on Friday.
<! Magu down >

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

The presidency on Saturday broke the silence on the suspension of Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.

According to the presidency, a series of documented allegations were made against the Ag. Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and that following a preliminary review of the allegations leveled against Magu and several other members of his staff, there were grounds for a detailed investigation to be conducted.

Hence, an investigative panel was constituted in compliance with the extant laws governing the convening of such a body.

As is the proper procedure, when allegations are made against the Chief Executive of an institution, and in this case an institution that ought to be seen as beyond reproach, the Chief Executive has to step down from his post and allow for a transparent and unhindered investigation, said the presidency, in a statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity).

The presidency said the EFCC did not revolve around the personality of an individual, and as such cannot be seen through the prism of any individual.

Therefore, the suspension of Mr. Ibrahim Magu, allows the institution to continue carrying out its mandate without the cloud of investigation hanging over its head.

The EFCC has many good, hardworking men and women who are committed to its ideal and ensuring that the wealth of our country isnt plundered and wherein there is an act of misappropriation such person(s) are brought to justice.

Meanwhile, Mr. Magu is being availed the opportunity to defend himself and answer the allegations against him. This is how it should be, as is the fact that under the Laws of Nigeria every citizen is presumed and remains innocent until proven guilty.

We must realize that the fight against corruption is not a static event, but a dynamic and ever evolving process, in which the EFCC is just one actor; and as we continue to work towards improving our democratic process so shall every institution of ours also embark on that journey of evolution, it said.

According to the presidency, what was, however, important is that there must be accountability and transparency and our people must realize that they would be held to account. This is the building block in the fight against corruption, the establishment of the concept of Accountability and the recognition of the Rule of Law.

Those who see Mr. Magus investigation, as a signal that the fight against corruption is failing, have unfortunately, missed the boat. There is no better indication that the fight is real and active than the will to investigate allegations in an open and transparent manner against those who have been charged to be custodians of this very system.

Under this President and Government, this is our mantra and guiding principle. There are no sacred cows, and for those who think they have a halo over their heads, their days are also numbered.

Mr. Magu was not immune  and regardless of the obvious embarrassment that potential acts of wrongdoing by him, given the office he held, may appear for the government. No other administration in the history of Nigeria would have moved to bring into the light and public domain such an allegation.

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A Pennsylvania police department has come under fire after a harrowing video emerged over the weekend of an Allentown police officer kneeling down on a mans neck during an arrest.

The footage circulated across social media on Saturday night showing a group of three police officers attempting to arrest a man outside of St. Lukes HospitalSacred Heart on West Chew Street in Allentown.

In the video, which is less than 30 seconds long, one officer appears to be using his arm and elbow on the mans back to restrain him, before pressing his knee into the mans neck, prompting the suspect to cry out in pain.

The scene evoked similar images to those seen in the police killing of George Floyd in May, who died gasping for breath as Officer Derek Chauvin knelt down on his neck for nearly nine minutes, ignoring his cries of I cant breathe.

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The footage circulated across social media on Saturday night showing a group of three police officers attempting to arrest a man outside of St. Lukes HospitalSacred Heart on West Chew Street in Allentown

In the video, which is less than 30 seconds long, one officer appears to be using his arm and elbow on the mans back to restrain him, before pressing his knee into the mans neck, causing the suspect to cry out in pain.

In Saturdays incident, concerned bystanders are heard calling out theyre on his neck and he cant breathe. The officer continues to press his knee into the mans neck regardless of the cries before the footage cuts out.

The man who filmed the incident, Justan Parker, said his takeaway from the video is that Black and brown lives dont matter to APD or to the city.

In a statement, the Allentown Police Department confirmed it is aware of the video and is actively investigating the incident.

We are aware, we are actively investigating, and depending on what we can get done today, we may have additional information regarding the incident released later this evening, a spokesperson said.

Earlier this month, the police department banned officers from using choke holds and other neck restraints.

Its unclear why the officers were attempting to restrain the man. Police have so far offered no further details about the suspect, including his condition.

Famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family of George Floyd, is leading the charge of outrage online, calling for the officer to be publicly named.

Allentown Police held down this man's face to the pavement and then one of its officers placed their knee on his neck!! This happened yesterday and is exactly what led to #GeorgeFloyd's death. We need this officers name and bade# [sic] NOW #ICantBreathe.

In a statement, the Allentown Police Department confirmed it is aware of the video and is actively investigating the incident.

The scene evoked similar images to those seen in the police killing of George Floyd in May, who died gasping for breath under the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin (seen right) who knelt down on his neck for nearly nine minutes, ignoring his cries of I cant breathe.

Hundreds of local residents gathered in downtown Allentown on Saturday night in protest against the scenes depicted in the video.

Mayor Ray OConnell and Allentown police Chief Glenn Granitz Jr. both attended the demonstration to answer questions and confirm they had seen the footage.

Speaking to protesters, OConnell called the footage disturbing, but called for patience as he said I think we need to gather all the facts and information before we go forward.

Granitz, meanwhile, confirmed there would be an investigation.

Were going to take a look at it. Were going to go through everything. And were going to give you an update as soon as we can, the police chief said, according to the Morning Call.

Protesters began gathering at 7th and Hamilton at around 11pm on Saturday night.

The demonstration was organized by Hasshan Batts, executive director of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley, who posted a call to action on Facebook hours earlier.

Where are we going to make it loud and clear that this is not OK? he said. If this is not OK to you, meet me on 7th and Hamilton, right now.

Mayor Ray OConnell and Allentown police Chief Glenn Granitz Jr. both attended the demonstration to answer questions and confirm they had seen the footage both seen left). O'Connell called the video 'disturbing'

The crowd marched over to the police precinct on 10th and Hamilton, chanting Black Lives Matter and Hands Up, Dont Shoot.

The protests remained peaceful and no police incidents were reported.

A similar use of force depicted in Saturdays incident led to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.

The death of the 46-year-old, who had been accused of attempting to use a counterfeit $20, has since sparked continuous global protests against police brutality and institutional racism.

The group Black Lives Matter to the Lehigh Valley is demanding for police to release more information regarding the video. They say they are planning more protests in the town later this week.

The Allentown Police Department has not yet returned a DailyMail.com request for comment.
President Hassan Rouhani's chief of staff has said the coronavirus pandemic delayed negotiations on a proposed Iran-China 25-year pact, but probably a final agreement can be reached by March 2021, when the current Iranian calendar year ends.

Mahmoud Vaezi who was speaking on state television July 11, also tried to deny rumors about some aspects of the deal, saying that subjects such as ceding Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf to China or accommodating the [Chinese] military have not been breached.

He also reiterated that if a document bearing obligations for Iran is signed, it must be ratified by the Iranian parliament.

The news about a long-term pact came to the surface last month leading to negative reactions among many Iranians who saw a strategic deal with China as a sell-out of Irans resources by the clergy-dominated regime in Tehran. Many social media opinion leaders charged that such a move is an attempt by the regime to save itself amid serious economic crisis and isolation.

Some others say that the Trump administrations tough stance against Tehran has pushed it into Chinas arms, but the initial negotiations with China were conducted in 2016 in the aftermath of the nuclear deal when there were strong hopes for normalizing relations with the West.

Although Iran has been enthusiastically heralding an imminent agreement with China, Beijing has been silent so far. This has led to speculations that speaking of a pact is more of a wish by Tehran at this point rather than an immediate prospect, given the fact that China largely observes U.S. sanctions.
A 24-year-old biker died, while his pillion rider sustained serious injuries after their bike skidded on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) flyover, on Saturday evening. Police said the incident occurred when both were headed to Thane after donating blood in Kurla.

The deceased Suresh Thakur, 24, was a resident of Wagle Estate in Thane, while Akshay Waikar, 23, who sustained severe injuries, lives near Teen Hath Naka in Thane. The incident occurred around 5pm when Thakur and Waikar were on their way home from Kurla.

An officer from Tilak Nagar police station, said, It appears that Thakur was riding his bike at a very high speed, due to which he could not control the vehicle, and it skidded on the EEH flyover. Both were dragged for around 25 meters on the highway. Thakur sustained severe injury on his head. Both were rushed to Rajawadi Hospital by passers-by. Thakur succumbed to his injuries, while Waikar is out of danger and recuperating in the hospital.

Meanwhile, a 24-year-old doctor was arrested by Powai police after his car dashed into a motorcyclist near the IIT-Powai signal on Sunday morning. The doctor has been identified as Siddharth Satyendra Chaudhary.

The victim, Sachin Bhosle succumbed to his injuries. He was a resident of Gavanpada Mulund.

According to Powai police the accident occurred at around 5am on Sunday, near the IIT Powai signal on the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR). An officer said, Bhosle was a driver by profession and was on his way to Vile Parle to see his aunt who was in very serious condition. Chaudharys car dashed him, while he was on his way to Vile Parle.

Vijay Dalvi, inspector, Powai police station said, The doctor had just finished his night shift and was on his way to his home. While coming on JVLR he came from the wrong direction, which probably caused the accident. Bhosle was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead.

The police arrested the doctor and booked him under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code. He was later released on bail.
New Delhi, July 13 : Amid the raging political crisis in Rajasthan and a catalogue of speculation, sources aware about the developments revealed that the Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress President Sachin Pilot will not join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Upset and angry over the sedition charges being levelled against him by the state special operations group (SOG), as one of his supporters said it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, Pilot decided that enough was enough and made his move.

While in Delhi, Pilot reportedly had a telephonic conversation with former colleague turned BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, on Sunday, said sources close to Scindia.

Pilot is reportedly furious that he and his supporters have been humiliated time and again by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, moreover many of his supporting MLAs have been followed by CID and daily reports are filed by them with the CM's office on who they have met and spoken with. The SOG summons for questioning over allegations of destabilising the government has got Pilot's goat.

A clearer picture is likely to emerge over the next two days when Pilot comes out from his self-styled incommunicado status. Sources added that Pilot wants a middle ground needs to be found in Rajasthan by the Congress leadership, some sort of balancing act between the CM and his deputy. In the recent past, Congress sources averred that Pilot spoke to Ahmed Patel and K C Venugopal and mentioned how he is been humiliated virtually daily by the CM.

Meanwhile, sources who could not confirm what the two leaders - Pilot and Scindia - spoke about, added, "The two have worked together for years. But ever since Scindia joined the BJP along with his supporters, both Pilot and Scindia have been in regular telephonic contact." On Sunday, Scindia came out in support of Pilot, alleging the Rajasthan Chief Minister had "persecuted" his deputy. In a tweet that further intensified speculations about Sachin Pilot's future in the Congress, Scindia said, "Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, Sachin Pilot too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the Congress." On Sunday late evening, after they spoke over phone, Pilot asserted that he will not attend the legislative party meeting scheduled to be held on Monday morning and has openly announced that the Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state is in minority after over 30 Congress and some Independent MLAs pledged support to him.

Pilot, upset at being summoned by the police of his own government, came to Delhi to meet interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. However, he received no communication from the party leadership.

Meanwhile, Gehlot, sources said, has apprised Sonia Gandhi, Rajasthan party affairs incharge Avinash Pandey, and Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal of the developments in the state.

But Pilot's brazen defiance of Gehlot and a telephone conversation with BJP Leader Jyotiraditya Scindia has left the Congress wary.
Mumbai: A day after Uttar Pradesh gangster Vikas Dubey was shot dead in an encounter, the Maharashtra ATS arrested two of his henchmen who were holed up in Thane. A team of Juhu ATS, headed by Daya Nayak, arrested the duo from Kolshet area. The accused duo is wanted in several crimes and was part of a sensational murder of a UP politician in 2001.

The ATS began the operation after the Juhu unit received specific information on the accused duo, later identified as Guddan Trivedi alias Arvind (46) and his driver Sonu Tiwari alias Sushilkumar (30).

The duo had been hiding in the Kolshet area in Thane and Trivedi was also allegedly part of the cop massacre killing eight officials, including a deputy superintendent of police, in Kanpur.

The accused persons had fled after the murder of the policemen at Bikru village on July 3. His preliminary questioning hinted towards his involvement in the murder of the politician Santosh Mishra in 2001 and many other crimes, said an ATS officer.

The officials said that the detailed questioning will be conducted by the UP police and all cooperation will be extended to them by the ATS. The officials are in the process of seeking clarity on the activities of the accused after they fled Kanpur.

The two accused will be handed over to the UP Special Task Force (STF) and a team is on their way to take custody of the duo. The arrests came a day after Dubey was killed in an encounter on Friday at Barra area in Kanpur hours after his arrest from outside a temple in Madhya Pradeshs Ujjain.
Harish Murali By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Covid-19 pandemic lockdown has left several houses and commercial establishments vacant with To-let boards springing up in many localities. Every street in suburbs has at least one such notice informing about a vacant space available for rent.

Even if those who have left the city with an intention of returning, the lockdown does not appear to be ending putting house owners in a quandary.

With labourers, competetive exam aspirants and families shifting to their natives, houses have gone vacant, say a majority of house owners.

As rents in suburbs are usually less when compared to Corporation limits, the majority of the middle-class families resided in Chrompet, Pallavaram, Tambaram and beyond. However, most of them have now gone to their natives owing to job losses among other reasons.

"I was working in a clothing store of a popular mall. However, they have remained closed for the past four months. With no salary and rents to pay, I moved to my native village in Madurai. I even told my owner that I will shift my belongings once the lockdown is lifted," said M Kathiresan, a resident of Mudichur, on the outskirts of Tambaram. He further added that his family and children are also in the native for the past four months.

Thoraipakkam being the hub for all the IT employees where most of them reside have also witnessed several properties listed for rent on popular websites. "Despite the government imposing an order for

deferring rent by at least three months due to the pandemic lockdown, my house owner was still taking money from us. As all four of us were working from our native districts about which we informed our house owner. We even told him to deduct the amount from the advance and cancel the agreement from April," said D Damodaran, a native of Tiruchy.

As rent was the main source of income for a few house owners, the pandemic lockdown has affected them equally. "The revision of rent as done annually was withheld this time. I even offered a rebate of Rs 200 to one of my tenants," said P Boopathy, who owns a set of five single portion houses in West Mambalam.
Linda Stoltzfoos (East Lampeter Township Police Department)

A man has been arrested and is charged with kidnapping an 18-year-old Amish woman who has been missing since June 21, the Lancaster County District Attorneys Office announced Friday.

On Friday, East Lampeter Township police charged 34-year-old Justo Smoker with felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment.

Linda Stoltzfoos, 18, who was last seen walking home from church in the Bird-in-Hand area is still missing.

According to a news release by the DA, investigators still dont know what happened to Linda and are still actively searching for her. It was stated that they have reason to believe Linda was harmed following her abduction.

Lieutenant Matt Hess talked to Dateline just days after Linda went missing and said that she was last seen around 12:30 p.m. that Sunday at a farm on Stumptown Road. When Linda didnt make it to her youth group later that evening, her parents became concerned and contacted the police.

There is no reason for us to believe that she wanted to just leave, Lt. Hess said at the time. He described Linda as a kind and quiet girl. She did not indicate to anyone that she wanted to leave or take a trip. From what we understand, just running off without telling anyone would be very out of character for Linda.

Justo Smoker (East Lampeter Township Police Department)

On Friday, investigators searched a rural location in Ronks, where they believed Linda might have been taken after being kidnapped.

Smokers vehicle was seen parked at that location on June 23. Investigators found articles of clothing believed to belong to Linda buried in a wooded area there.

Smoker became a person of interest in the kidnapping after police received information from multiple witnesses about seeing an Amish woman in the passenger side of a red/orange vehicle. The vehicle was also seen in the Gap area on the afternoon of the abduction.

Police obtained surveillance video - enhanced by FBI forensic technicians - that depicts Linda being abducted on Beechdale Road, where she had been walking home from church. That video also shows a red Kia Rio, that police said was involved in the abduction. Witness descriptions of the driver and vehicle are consistent with Smoker and his vehicle.

Story continues

Video: Amish community makes face masks for Ohio clinic in need

Smoker, of Paradise, Pennsylvania, was arrested Friday night at his place of employment. He was arraigned Saturday morning on the two charges. District Judge Joshua Keller, at arraignment, made Smoker ineligible for bail, citing the nature of the charges and the ongoing investigation.

East Lampeter Township police are being assisted by multiple agencies, including the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police and Lancaster County District Attorneys Office.

Justo Smoker's Kia (East Lampeter Township Police Department)

A Facebook page called Amish Girl Missing - Linda Stoltzfoos has been created to aid in the search for Linda. Several photos and videos have been shared to the page of community members volunteering to help with the search.

Linda is described as 5'10" and 125 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

Investigators are asking anyone who might have seen Smoker - or his red Kia Rio sedan - license plate KYB-9713, around the time Linda was abducted, and in the days after, to contact police at 717-291-4676 or to submit a tip on the Crime Watch website.
Over the past month, the Yemeni rial has declined against foreign currencies to the lowest rate since the war began in March 2015, registering 800 rials to the US dollar, amid international warnings of further declines.

This was clearly expressed by Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock in his briefing to the United Nations Security Council on Yemen June 24, warning of Yemen "falling off the cliff."

We have never before seen in Yemen a situation where such a severe acute domestic economic crisis overlaps with a sharp drop in remittances and major cuts to donor support for humanitarian aid  and this, of course, is all happening in the middle of a devastating pandemic, Lowcock said, noting that the value of the rial has plummeted and food prices have risen between 10% and 20% in some areas just in the last two weeks.

On June 2, the UN and Saudi Arabia hosted a virtual donor conference for Yemen, during which donor countries pledged $1.35 billion to help humanitarian agencies continue to provide basic and emergency services, including funding for coronavirus containment programs.

During his speech at the conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all parties in Yemen to cooperate with special envoy Martin Griffiths to achieve progress in negotiations on the economic and humanitarian levels in order to alleviate the peoples suffering, explaining that the number of civilian casualties increases every month, with over 500 people killed or injured since January.

Speaking about the most important causes of the economic deterioration, Mustafa Nasr, head of the Studies and Economic Media Center  which was based in Sanaa before the war, but now has branches in Taiz and Aden  told Al-Monitor, The devaluation of the Yemeni rial against foreign currencies is catastrophic, especially since it dropped by 12% during the first five months [of 2020], and could drop even more. The main causes of this are the ongoing military and political conflict, which coincided with a speculative [attack] on the hard currency by prominent [traders] in the market. Not to mention the impact of [the virus that causes] COVID-19 and printing quantities of new currency notes, all of which have contributed to this alarming plunge.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Said Shamakh, a financial expert and member of the Houthi-affiliated Shura Council, held Saudi Arabia, which is leading the coalition fighting Houthis in Yemen, responsible for the devaluation of the currency and the deterioration of the economy in Yemen.

Yemen has been undergoing a series of disasters for years, targeting it at various levels, with many tools, be it military or not. Hitting the economy is one of the most prominent tools of war that Saudi Arabia and its allies have been using since the war began, Shamakh told Al-Monitor.

He added, Economic indicators have declined, collapse is never-ending, and our economic growth is negative. This is the outcome of everything that Saudi Arabia and its allies are seeking to achieve in order to win the battle.

The division that occurred in Yemen as a result of the war reflected on the economic situation, as the legitimate government had in September 2016 moved the Central Bank to Aden, the city that it now takes as its temporary capital.

In response, the Houthis, as a de facto authority in Sanaa and their areas of control, issued a decision in December 2019 to prohibit the circulation of any new banknotes printed by the legitimate government, and only deal with previously printed banknotes.

This is how Yemen started having a divided economic system, further exacerbating the situation.

In light of all this, most Yemenis are still the ones bearing the consequences and standing alone, unable to confront the ravages of war, division and the ongoing economic deterioration.

Yemeni economic analyst Abd al-Wahid al-Oubali told Al-Monitor that years of war have formed a so-called war economy, to which various parties contribute, by depriving the banking system of its functions and printing banknotes outside its framework, which facilitates corrupt deals at various levels.

He added, The economy could never recover as long as the main revenues from selling oil derivatives and the expatriate transfers  estimated by the World Bank at $3.7 billion annually  as well as the aid provided by donors, do not make it to the Central Bank [in Aden] and the Yemeni economy does not benefit from them as for foreign currency cash.

Speaking about the urgently needed solution to reduce or stop the deterioration and collapse, Nasr noted that UN and international pressure to stop the war should first be exerted, in addition to forcing the conflicting parties to reach real peace in order for the Yemeni state to return and have control over all resources, according to the rules of the constitution and international conventions.

He noted, The country urgently needs an independent and unified economic administration to manage the economy and the Central Bank through unified measures, without any of the current division.

Nasr added, The coalition countries must quickly provide direct support to the Central Bank in the form of cash contribution deposits to reduce devaluation, in addition to starting reconstruction in Yemen, which is what the donor countries must provide and do, especially since the country is suffering under the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.

Oubali also spoke about solutions, saying, First and foremost, the banking system and its function need to be restored so that the Central Bank of Yemen becomes the sole controller of all revenues and expenditures. We also need to reactivate the oil refineries in Aden and the Marib gas [turbine] station to produce electricity [which are closed due to the war]. Expats should only transfer money through banks, not the black market, and a legal systematic process needs to be employed in order to address existing corruption and hold accountable those proven to be involved.

He added, We need to work on urgent austerity measures as well, perhaps the first of which is a comprehensive structuring of institutions, as well as reducing the number of ministries and embassies, minimizing expenditures and issuing a decision to pay the salaries of the leaders and ministers of the legitimate government in Yemeni rials, not in hard currency anymore.
Seth Nana Agyei

12.07.2020 LISTEN

The President of the Tertiary Education Students Confederacy (TESCON) of the NPP Valley View University branch, Seth Nana Agyei has charged the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to stop behaving like Kindergarten kids in Ghanas politics.

He urged the opposition NDC to shut up if they could not reason enough to know or understand that the final-year students at the Senior High Schools who had attained age 18 and above were eligible voters and reserved the constitutional rights to be registered in the ongoing voters registration exercise by the Electoral Commission (EC).

Speaking to a section of the media in Kumasi, the TESCON President said that the Electoral Commission did not err in setting up emergency centres for the SHS students to be registered. The SHS students are camped in school to prepare for their final examinations amid COVID-19 pandemic, and thus have little or no chance to register outside their campuses.

As a result, the EC announced at the end of an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held on Thursday, 9 July 2020 that it will start registering the final-year students on Friday, 10 July 2020, on the various campus.

The commission further indicated that students who participate in the exercise will be allowed to move their votes to their preferred location later in the year if they happen to reside in areas far away from the schools where registration is to take place.

However, the opposition NDC has since sued the Electoral Commission at an Accra High Court to stop the registration of voters in Senior High Schools.

The party is describing it is illegal and wrongful for registration to take place at any place that was not contained in a Gazette and notification in accordance with C.I 91. They want the court to rule that any such registration is null and void and of no legal effect.

The NDC is asking that an order be given to excluding names of students who will be registered at those illegal centres from the electoral roll come December 2020.

They also want the Court to restrain EC from carrying out the registration exercise.

Meanwhile, Nana Agyei said that the NDCs decision to go to the Court is irrelevant, shameful and only meant to befuddle the work of the EC and to also disenfranchise hundreds of SHS students come December 2020.

He encouraged the students to register in their numbers and vote massively for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the NPP in the upcoming general elections.
An Afghan official said four government soldiers were killed after suspected Taliban militants attacked a security post in central Afghanistan.

The attack occurred early on July 12 in the Pato district of Daikundi Province, a relatively peaceful area in the central highlands.

Abbas Kamyar, the provincial governors spokesman, said 12 militants were killed in the clashes.

Pato district borders the southern province of Uruzgan, one of the most volatile regions in the country.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

On July 11, at least 15 civilians were killed in separate incidents in the provinces of Ghazni, Faryab, and Maidan Wardak.

Hundreds of members of Afghanistans security forces and civilians have been killed in recent weeks as the Taliban continues to launch attacks across the country.

President Ashraf Ghani on July 6 warned that the spike in violence poses a "serious" threat to the peace process with the Taliban.

A peace deal signed by the Taliban and the United States in February calls for direct negotiations between the militant group and the Western-backed government in Kabul aimed at putting an end to the nearly two-decade-old war in Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by TOLOnews and Radio Killid
Vessels from a People's Liberation Army Navy fleet take part in a review in the South China Sea on Apr. 12, 2018. Visual China Group | Getty Images

The United States recently sent two aircraft carrier strike groups into the South China Sea in a show of military strength. The move of multiple American warships is in reaction to China holding military exercises in international waters that are contested by Vietnam and the Philippines. The stand-off raises global tensions at a time when each superpower has developed advanced technological capabilities in terms of artificial intelligence, remote imaging, and autonomous weapons systems. It is important officials in each nation understand how emerging technologies speed up decision-making but through crisis acceleration run the risk of dangerous miscalculation. Harkening back to Prussian general and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz's famous work "On War," military doctrine the world over has been rooted in an understanding of the ever-changing character of war, the ways in which war manifests in the real world, and the never-changing nature of war, those abstractions that differentiate war from other acts  namely its violent, political, and interactive elements. Military scholars and decision makers alike have discussed and debated these definitions time and time again, with the character of war often being defined by the technologies of the day, and the nature of war being articulated as the human element of armed conflict.

How AI changes the definition of war

With the advent of AI and other emerging technologies, though, these time-honored definitions are likely to change. At a fundamental level, battle, war, and conflict are time-competitive processes. From time immemorial, humans have sought to be faster in the ultimate competition of combat, in an absolute as well as in a relative sense. And in that regard, AI will dramatically change the speed of war. It will not only enhance the human role in conflict, but will also leverage technology as never before. For not only is technology changing, the rate of that alteration is accelerating. This is the central issue before us for armed conflict, and the side that can create, master, and leverage an equilibrium between the nature of war and the character of war, especially within the new environment of AI, data analytics, and supercomputing, will inevitably prevail in conflict. In a geopolitical environment increasingly defined by new and emerging technologies, national defense stands as one of the most consequential areas of development for the 21st century. It is important to assess the revolutionary impacts of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies on nearly every facet of national security and armed conflict, including the accelerated pace of warfare and the critical role of continued human control.

AI, once fully realized, has the potential to be one of the single greatest force multiplier for military and security forces in human history.

Ultimately, there are significant opportunities to deploy AI-based tools, as well as major rising threats that need to be considered and addressed. A variety of technologies can improve decision-making, speed, and scalability  some to a dizzying degree. But, as with so many other AI applications, policy and operational shifts are necessary to facilitate the proper integration and innovation of these emerging technologies and make sure they strengthen, not weaken, leadership capacity, general readiness, and performance in the field. Throughout human history, militaries have operated as the most overt political tool available to governments and society. Clausewitz himself famously wrote, "War is a continuation of politics by other means." And while modern security forces play a variety of interchangeable roles (peacekeeping, stabilization, and national defense), they invariably represent the threat of violence  the "mailed fist" purpose-built to ensure a particular outcome.

With this as context, it is no surprise that the ability to assure outcomes and plan for all contingencies, violent or otherwise, takes up a significant portion of military leadership and military strategists' time and energy. Here, through anything from predictive analytics to lightning-fast target acquisition, AI, once fully realized, has the potential to be one of the single greatest force multiplier for military and security forces in human history. Indeed, as noted in a Congressional Research Service report: "AI has the potential to impart a number of advantages in the military context, [though] it may also introduce distinct challenges. AI technology could, for example, facilitate autonomous operations, lead to faster, more informed military decision-making, and increase the speed and scale of military action. However, it may also be unpredictable or vulnerable to unique forms of manipulations."

Rather than constituting a single weapon system itself, AI is instead being built into a wide variety of weapons systems and core infrastructure. Tanks, artillery, aircraft, submarines  versions of each can already detect objects and targets on their own and maneuver accordingly. Alan Radecki | U.S. Navy | Northrop Grumman | Getty Images

The interim report of the U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence warns that: "How the United States adopts AI will have profound ramifications for our immediate security, economic well-being, and position in the world. Developments in AI cannot be separated from the emerging strategic competition with China and developments in the broader geopolitical landscape. We are concerned that America's role as the world's leading innovator is threatened. We are concerned that strategic competitors and non-state actors will employ AI to threaten Americans, our allies, and our values. We know strategic competitors are investing in research and application. It is only reasonable to conclude that AI-enabled capabilities could be used to threaten our critical infrastructure, amplify disinformation, and wage war."

AI already in a wide variety of weapons systems

AI's role in the military and on the battlefield is thus one of catalytic power, both for good and ill. Yet, the strength of AI does not manifest in the way a bomb or new weapons platform might perform or act. Its utility is much broader. As noted by Brookings Institution scholar Chris Meserole, AI is being deployed in myriad ways by the American military: "Rather than constituting a single weapon system itself, AI is instead being built into a wide variety of weapons systems and core infrastructure. Tanks, artillery, aircraft, submarinesversions of each can already detect objects and targets on their own and maneuver accordingly." This dynamic becomes particularly clear within the context of the spectrum of conflict modern militaries deal with today, notably hybrid conflict. Looking ahead, it will also define warfare of the future, namely through what John Allen and Amir Husain have coined as "hyperwar." The distinctions between hybrid warfare and hyperwar are important. As noted in a recent NATO report: "Hybrid threats combine military and non-military as well as covert and overt means, including disinformation, cyber attacks, economic pressure, deployment of irregular armed groups and use of regular forces. Hybrid methods are used to blur the lines between war and peace, and attempt to sow doubt in the minds of target populations."

Russian servicemen operate an S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft missile system on combat duty in the Kaliningrad Region in 2019. The system is designed to repel any contemporary aerospace attack, such as stealth and fighter aircraft, bombers, cruise and ballistic missiles, drones and hypersonic targets. Vitaly Nevar | TASS | Getty Images
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Linkedin Ruben V. Nepales (Inquirer.net/Asia News Network) Los Angeles, United States  Sun, July 12, 2020 16:35 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665b2b27 2 Entertainment Palm-Springs,Movie,film,Hollywood,Andy-Samberg,Cristin-Milioti,Sundance-Film-Festival,Hulu Free

What if you wake up to the same day over and over again?

In a fresh reworking of Groundhog Day, first-time director Max Barbakow and writer Andy Siara, Andy Samberg (Nyles) and Cristin Milioti (Sarah) meet in the titular California desert getaway and they get stuck in endless repeats of a wedding day (not theirs).

The existential romantic comedy Palm Springs was one of the films that stirred quite a buzz in the Sundance Film Festival last January. It would have been unbearable to watch the same two actors waking up each morning to the same day.

But Andy, a Saturday Night Live alum who won a best actor Golden Globe for his comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Cristin, who played the titular mother in How I Met Your Mother, are charismatic as they relive an endless time loop. Add to that a nice turn by JK Simmons as one of the wedding guests.

I think about that in earnest, in real life, Andy answered about what he would do or appreciate more if he experienced a similar time warp in real life. He likened the situation to what were going through, being stuck at home every day, in these pandemic times.

Its interesting, given the circumstances of everyone being quarantined, he said in this video call from the LA home he shares with his musician wife, Joanna Newsom, and their daughter, who was born in 2017. I lean into that a little bit in terms of things I can achieve at home. When I was in college, I used to enjoy cooking. Since I started achieving a level of success in comedy, I abandoned it completely.

"I have a kid now. This is a great opportunity for me to start doing that again. But five or six times now, Ive actually gotten to the stove, cooked a meal and recaptured that feeling. Its been really nice.

On how he and Cristin made it fun to shoot similar scenes again and again, Andy laughed as he explained, A huge part of acting for film and television is doing it over and over anyway. Its the part that I have always found the most challenging because I have a short attention span. But having done enough shooting now, I have been broken in that way. We found it fun because a lot of the scenes are pretty fun.

The California native shared what he wouldnt mind reliving: Probably a bunch of days from childhood. I was tempted to say my wedding day, which was an incredible day, but that might get exhausting (laughs). But for all of eternity, probably like a perfect day at the beach with the familysomething like that.

We always talked about how Nyles was adrift before he got stuck, said the member of the comedy music group, The Lonely Island, about how the film also touches on how we take certain things for granted. He was stuck metaphorically, then he became stuck literally. We all connect to that feeling, especially once you become an adult. You get into the rhythm of your life with your job or whatever your family situation is.

Ive had my own experience of going through emotions for a long time, then suddenly waking up one morning and realizing, oh my God, three years just went by, and that feeling of not enjoying every moment enough.

So, in some ways, Nyles has been set free from this but you realize its not what you actually want. Because it places less value on everything, so everything becomes meaningless. Message wise, were hoping that it helps people to enjoy things and appreciate them a little more on a day-to-day basis.

On his character Nyles sexual exploits while trapped in the same day, Andy smiled as he answered, It was in the original version of the script, so this is an Andy Siara creation. We liked the idea that if you couldnt die and you were just going forever, societal hang-ups, your willingness to explore things would likely burn away. It would free you up to just try things.

Read also: 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' saved by NBC thanks to social media outcry

Andy and Cristins obvious chemistry is also what makes the film from Hulu and Neon one of the years appealing rom-coms.

I was familiar with her work, Andy said about his costar. My wife and I watched the second season of Fargo, then her episode of Black Mirror, basically in the same week. I kept going, who is this? Shes so good. Theyre such different roles. I was just rooting for her.

Our producer Becky Sloviter also loved her. So, Cristin came in for a general meeting at our company just to discuss like maybe we could do something together. I swung in and said hi. We were chatting and hit it off, so as soon as this script came in, Becky and I immediately thought of Cristin.

I thought, oh, shes someone who clearly loves and understands comedy. But she also has legit dramatic chops that could counterbalance my energy in a nice way and raise my game to make me look like a better actor (laughs).

As for the dramatic turnaround of Brooklyn Nine-Nine being canceled by Fox and then, following public outcry, being picked up by NBC, Andy replied, I definitely know I had done seven years on SNL. That spoiled my subconscious into thinking like, yeah, you get on a show, then you make the show for seven years. I was a little blase about assuming the show would keep going. And also, I felt like we were writing good stuff and the cast was great. The really unexpected turn was when we were canceled, then picked back up.

It was, in a lot of ways the best thing that could have ever happened to the show because it galvanized our fan base into being very vocal about appreciating what we had been making.

Since that point, it felt like we are involved with something beyond getting the Golden Globes, which is a moment we will never be able to repeat how exciting that was. Were very grateful.

For her part, Cristinblessed with the most expressive eyesanswered about what she would do if she found herself confined in a time warp in real life: I imagine if I woke up having to repeat the same day, Id probably go on the same process that Sarah goes on. I would fight it hard at first. Then, I would probably live my life like I was a cartoon character that cant die, like I was Wile E. Coyote.

I would try to live it to the fullest. I would try to do what Andys character does. I would try to travel and see as much of the world as I could stay awake for.

I would try to build a life where Im going for it and not living in fear. Im hoping that whoever Im stuck in that time loop with is great [laughs].

The actress, who earned a Tony nomination for the musical Once, and won a Grammy for the shows album, shared what she would like to relive in her life.

I would say that it would probably be a day that maybe was wasted in some way, she said. And in terms of a day Id love to repeat over and over, theres actually a bunch of them, which is incredible. I was doing this show on Broadway for a while and I remember I had a birthday one night when we had to perform. There was a part in the play where the audience could only see me walking through a crowd and everyones backs were turned.

When I walked by everyone, they all said, Happy birthday. I love you! It was this very incredible moment. That was obviously just two hours, but it would be days like that where Im, oh yeah, that was such a gorgeous day.

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This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
Sushant Singh Rajputs Dil Bechara co-star Sanjana Sanghi has shared a still from the films upcoming song Taare Gin. The slow song talks about stars and what love feels like.

Sharing the still and a few lyrics of the song on Instagram, Sanjana wrote, Ek haseen mazaa hai yeh, Mazaa hai ya, Sazaa hai yeh? - Taare Gin,Dil Bechara.

She further added, One of my absolute favourite behind the scenes moments with Sushant while shooting the scene you all love. Dont know why, I just feel a little bit better every time I see this photograph. Abhi Nahi, ya Kabhi Nahi? KABHI NAHI! Chal Jhoothi!

Music maestro AR Rahman has given music for the song which has been penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Mohit Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal have sung the slow but playful song, which reaches a crescendo in the end.

Dil Bechara marks the directorial debut of casting director turned filmmaker Mukesh Chhabra. It is Sushants last film, which will be available for free viewing on Disney+ Hotstar from July 24.

The eponymous title track of the film released on Friday, leaving his admirers with a bundle of mixed emotions as they saw the late actor perform his final solo dance routine with panache. Farah Khan has choreographed the song, beautifully capturing Rajputs love for dance and camera. The song has been shot in a single take.

Also read: Farah Khan shares photo from her mehendi ceremony, says shes inherited her mothers double chin. See pics

Chabbra shared the story behind the making of the song on his Instagram page. He said Khan came on board the project without charging a single penny for choreographing the song because she wanted to work with him and Rajput.

Dil Bechara, is an official remake of 2014 Hollywood romantic drama The Fault in our Stars, which was based on John Greens popular novel of the same name. It chronicles the story of a college girl, Kizie (Sanghi), who suffers from cancer and meets Manny (Rajput), a survivor of Osteosarcoma. The film is is penned by Shashank Khaitan and Suprotim Sengupta.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Polish special callsign

Members of the Mysliborski Klub Lacznosci PZK (SP1PMY) will be active with the special callsign SN87LOT from Mysliborz between now and August 31st.

Activity is to commemorate 86th anniversary of the flight over the Atlantic Ocean by two Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas.

They flew from New York in little airplane "Lituanica" to Kaunas on July 15th, 1933. Their flight ended with catastrophy in a forest near the village of Pszczelnik (ca. 6 km from Mysliborz, West Pomeranian Voivodeship).

There is a monument dedicated to those two brave airmen at the place where airplane fell. Every year at this monument, there takes place celebrations with highest Polish and Lithuanian representatives.

Activity will be on various HF bands. QSL via SP1PMY, direct or by the Bureau
Duda, who during the campaign suggested that efforts to advance LGBT rights were worse than communism, vowed Friday to strengthen the Polish state, which he said was built on our inviolable and sacred tradition. Dudas campaign sought to highlight efforts by the ruling Law and Justice party to narrow inequality by expanding social benefits, which has mainly helped poorer voters in rural areas that are right-wing strongholds.
Photo credit: Dusko Jankovic - Getty Images

From ELLE

If the monotony of working from the sofa in your pyjamas is reaching fever pitch, then a move to the Caribbean might be just what you need.

Bajan prime minister Mia Mottley recently proposed a new policy that would allow remote workers from around the world to relocate to Barbados for a year, in response to the impact of Covid-19 on travel.

Under the scheme, travellers would have the option of a year-long stay on the paradise island after it officially opens its borders to international visitors on July 12.

According to Mottley, the scheme  dubbed the Barbados Welcome Stamp  would allow workers to work from the island digitally so people 'dont need to remain in the countries in which they are'.



Photo credit: Bob Thomas - Getty Images

According to the country's tourism website, usually non-nationals seeking to work on the island must register for and obtain an immigration status or work permit from the Barbados Immigration Department.

While British passport holders don't currently require a visa to visit Barbados, they are normally granted a specified period to stay on arrival.

The UK government's website states: 'If you wish to stay longer, you must apply and pay for an extension of stay through the Barbados Immigration Department. Its an offence to overstay the entry period or to work without a work permit.'

Given the complexities of obtaining work permits overseas and short-term travel during the pandemic, it is believed that a 12-month stamp would make the idea of staying on the island more appealing for remote workers and much easier from a visa perspective.

The scheme would also be incredibly beneficial to the islands loss of tourism income, which the Telegraph reports accounts for 40 per cent of its GDP and has around 30 per cent of its workforce employed by the industry.

Photo credit: Abstract Aerial Art - Getty Images

You dont need to work in Europe, or the US or Latin America if you can come here and work for a couple months at a time; go back and come back, Mottley stated.

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But in order for those things to truly resonate, what does it mean? It means that what we offer has to be world class and what we continue to offer is world class.

The concept is currently being refined by the Barbados government.

The scheme will be welcome news to the majority of remote workers. A recent survey from YouGov has found that seven in 10 (68 per cent) of new at-home workers said they would like to carry on working in the same way once the pandemic is over.

The majority (70 per cent) of the 4,002 adults who took part in the survey also believe that they can be as productive when working from home as in the office.

Photo credit: Cavan Images - Getty Images

After the British government announced the opening of air bridges earlier this month, Barbados has been included in its list of countries exempt from UK quarantine.

Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic is expected to restart flights from Heathrow on August 1.

Photo credit: Matteo Colombo - Getty Images

Those arriving in Barbados must take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) antigen test for the virus within 72 hours of their visit and to present a certificate confirming that they are Covid-19 negative.

Read more travel advice for Barbados here.

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New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday (July 12, 2020) launched the CAPFs nationwide tree plantation drive in Gurugam and said that several programmes are being run on environmental protection but only tree plantation can check pollution and save the Earth.

He stated that the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel across the country are not only providing security at various locations across the country such as airports, and railway stations and fighting the scourge of terrorism, but are also contributing in the nation's battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

                     -              1             pic.twitter.com/ranZIH3agE  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) July 12, 2020

Shah said the CAPFs have lost more than 31 Jawans to the pandemic and paid his respects to them on this occasion.

The Home Minister said this tree plantation campaign is being undertaken at a time when the world is faced with this pandemic.

Amit Shah said that the battle against COVID-19 is being carried out under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with people's participation.

"Today India is leading a successful fight in managing the pandemic in the country. At a time when the health services of even the most developed countries were collapsing under its impact, the whole world was concerned how would India, - such a big densely populated country with a federal structure, fight this pandemic, but today the most successful fight against this pandemic has been fought in India under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

The Union Home Minister said India is on a strong pedestal in the fight against COVID-19 under the leadership of the Prime Minister with the motto - One People, One Thought, One Nation.

The Home Minister said across the world only governments are fighting this pandemic, but here in India, 130 crore people besides State Governments are united in fighting this threat.

"Nowhere across the country there is a state of panic, in fact, we are committed to facing this challenge and are resolute in overcoming this pandemic," said Shah.

He added, "In this fight, our CAPFs are playing a very important role, - whether it be marketing, railway stations, whether state governments have sought support in managing crowded places or the local police have sought the support of our security forces in enforcing the lockdown, the Jawans of our security forces have not been found wanting."

The Union Home Minister saluted the Corona Warriors of the CAPF who not only provide security and fight terrorism but also set an example before the nation and the world by being alert during deployment on COVID-19 duty, without bothering about their own life and safety.

He said that the nationwide CAPF tree plantation drive has set a target of 1.37 crore saplings. He also quoted an ancient Hindu text and said a tree is worth more than ten sons.

Amit Shah said we should harness natural resources and not exploit them. He said our sages had long ago emphasised that one must not exploit Nature but instead must support Nature.

"Due to the exploitation of Nature, the ozone layer is depleting. We are emitting more carbon-di-oxide and carbon mono-oxide into the environment and without the ozone layer life is not possible," said Shah.



Emphasising on the important role played by trees in reducing pollution, Shah said that various varieties of saplings have been chosen in this plantation drive such as peepal, jamun, neem, vatavriksh, burgud based on their oxygen giving capability and abilities to survive in different seasons. He said several programmes are being run on environmental protection but only tree plantation can check pollution and save the Earth.

Amit Shah said PM Modi participated in the Paris World Environment Summit where he cautioned the world against overexploitation of Nature and the world accepted the Modi Formula in the Paris Declaration on tackling Climate Change.

"As a result of the Prime Ministers efforts, the International Solar Alliance was set up in India," he said.

"It was during Shri Narendra Modis tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat that it became the first state in India where a separate department was set up on environmental protection. The Prime Minister has also stressed on use of green fuels and has encouraged the use of ethanol-blended petrol," Shah added.

The Union Home Minister also stated that various programmes of the Government of India such as 8 crore free cylinders to rural households are also environmental friendly.

He concluded his address by saying that the CAPFs must ensure that the tree plantation drive should not be seen as the conclusion. It must be ensured that the saplings are taken care of till they are able to sustain on their own.

I commend the brave CAPF Jawans and applaud them for not only protecting and securing the nation but also having undertaken this massive campaign to plant more than one crore saplings of long-lasting trees, he said.

On the occasion, Shah also planted a sapling of a peepal tree.

The Union Home Secretary, Ajay Kumar Bhalla, DGs of the 7 CAPFs and senior officials were also present.

To mark the plantation drive, more than 10 lakh saplings are being planted at various locations of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) throughout the length and breadth of the country.
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.

Tuberculosis vaccine may limit COVID-19 deaths

A tuberculosis vaccine routinely given to children in countries with high rates of that bacterial disease might be helping to reduce deaths from COVID-19, researchers reported on Thursday in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After accounting for differences in factors that might affect vulnerability to the virus - such as income, education, health services and age distribution - the researchers found that countries with higher rates of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccinations for tuberculosis had lower peak mortality rates from COVID-19. A good example was Germany, which had different vaccine plans before East Germany and West Germany were unified in 1990, the researchers said. COVID-19 mortality rates among senior citizens are nearly three times higher in western Germany than in eastern Germany, where more older people received the vaccine as infants, they found. Study co-author Luis Escobar of Virginia Tech said in a press statement that BCG vaccines have been shown to protect against other viral respiratory illnesses. Escobar cautioned that the new findings are preliminary. The BCG vaccine is currently being tested for preventing COVID-19 in healthcare workers. (https://bit.ly/3gMvFkh)

Weekly dorm screenings would not contain COVID-19 outbreaks

Avoiding coronavirus outbreaks in college dormitories would require screening tests for residents at least every three days, according to Yale University researchers. Weekly screening would not be sufficient, they concluded. Their calculations, based on a computer model of 5,000 students and an 80-day semester, accounted for students' on-campus exposures to the virus as well as imported infections from students traveling, wandering about town to restaurants and bars, or from visitors. Frequent testing would interrupt transmission of the virus only if infected students are isolated, the researchers said. "Students must comply with infection control, social distancing, test scheduling and (if testing positive) isolation requirements for the repeat testing system to work effectively," the researchers said in a paper posted online on Thursday ahead of peer review. Also, the tests must be reliable, testing laboratories must guarantee timely results, and efficient communications and supports must be in place so students who test positive can be isolated quickly, they said. The researchers said universities must be prepared to close their residence halls if repeated testing fails to contain the spread of the pathogen on campus. (https://bit.ly/2CmjrQA)

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Molecular study finds multiple types of COVID-19

There are many "flavors" of COVID-19, according to new data that may someday allow coronavirus treatments to be targeted at the specific molecular changes making a person sick. To learn more about why only some coronavirus patients become severely ill, researchers studied patients' "blood transcriptome," the complete set of genes that are activated in immune cells in the blood. They found at least five different types of immune response against the coronavirus - not just "mild" and "severe," according to a paper posted online ahead of peer review. "In other words, there are different flavors of the disease," just as there are different types of cancer, study co-author Dr. Joachim Schultze of the University of Bonn told Reuters. Understanding the molecular mechanisms at work in a given patient could help doctors tailor the therapy to target those mechanisms, Schultze said. The findings also helped his team predict which drugs would likely benefit COVID-19 patients. One "prominent" candidate cited was the steroid dexamethasone, which has already been proven effective in some COVID-19 patients. Another "surprising" discovery they cited involved granulocytes, a type of white blood cell. "Granulocytes, cells that are not really known to be major players in the fight against viruses, play a major role in severe COVID-19 disease," Schultze said. The new findings "will help us to find better therapies and also will guide vaccine development," he added. (https://bit.ly/38GXUhA)

Months later, recovering patients still have symptoms

More evidence is emerging that severe COVID-19 has lingering after-effects. Nearly 90% of recovering COVID-19 patients discharged from a hospital in Rome were still not back to normal an average of two months after becoming ill, researchers said. Doctors there studied 143 adults who had been hospitalized on average for two weeks. Most had been diagnosed with pneumonia, and one in five had needed help to breathe. An average of 60 days after their first coronavirus symptoms, 87.4% still reported at least one symptom - particularly fatigue and shortness of breath - and 55% had three or more, researchers reported on Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. About one in four still had joint pain, and about one in five had chest pain. Roughly 44% said their quality of life was worse now than before they got sick. The researchers did not have information on patients' pre-COVID-19 medical problems and did not compare this relatively small group to patients discharged for other reasons. But they said their findings suggest more research is needed on the long-lasting effects of coronavirus infection. (https://bit.ly/2ZfFcdz)

Open https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/yxmvjqywprz/index.html in an external browser for a Reuters graphic on vaccines and treatments in development.

(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Will Dunham)
London, July 12 : A Briton who left London to join the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Syria has died while being held in prison in the country, according to a media report citing sources One source told the BBC that Ishak Mostefaoui, previously from east London, was killed while attempting to escape custody.

Another said Mostefaoui died during serious disorder in a jail in Hassakeh, which houses IS prisoners from various countries.

The death and surrounding circumstances have not been officially confirmed.

After being captured last year, the 27-year-old was held in a prison in north-east Syria controlled by the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

Last year, the BBC revealed that Mostefaoui was one of several University of Westminster students to have travelled to Syria.

In April 2014, Mostfaoui told his father that he was going to Amsterdam for a few days, leaving with just a small bag, and he then secretly made his way to Syria.

Four years later, he had his British citizenship revoked.

The sources told the BBC that he was one of around 10 men and 30 women from the UK being held by the militia, but he was the first to die in SDF custody.

The prison where he was held is a converted school. When the BBC spoke to him there last October he admitted joining IS.

Meanwhile, the government has refused to allow adult prisoners to return to the UK, saying they should be put on trial in the region.

A government spokesman told the BBC that the Foreign Office had advised against all travel to Syria since 2011.

"Those who chose to leave the UK and fight for, or support, Daesh potentially pose a very serious national security risk." Ministers have said that, of the estimated 900 people who have left the UK for Syria to join violent Islamist groups, 20 per cent have died, 40 per cent have returned to the UK, and 40 per cent are still in the region.
On Friday, Chinas aggression was met with further blockades and isolation from countries like Australia and the United States. The US President Donald Trump ruled out the second phase trade deal with China and the country is also considering a ban on Chinese apps.

Now China, which is considered to be the driving factor for the global economy, cannot afford to continue with its aggression if it is faced with global isolation. Here is why:

CHINAS ECONOMY HAS SHRUNK BY 6.8% -

Chinas economy has shrunk by 6.8% in the biggest contraction since the 1960s with retail sales falling by 19% due to the pandemic in the March quarter. An international boycott would further impede Chinas economy which has already taken a hit domestically.

HUAWEIS LOSS DUE TO US BAN -

Chinas telecom giant, Huawei after facing a ban from just one country, the United States faced a loss of 12 billion US Dollars in 2019. With countries like the United Kingdom actively considering a ban on Huawei for supplying 5G network in the country, Chinas companies could spur up losses.

READ: Tibetan community, US-Indians & Taiwanese stage anti-China protests in New York City

ALARM BELLS FOR MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY -

A ban could also impede Chinas manufacturing sector which contributes to 27% of its GDP as of 2019 as the world finds alternatives to Chinese products. Commonwealth Bank Analysis of Australian exporters have already shown that they will be able to substitute demand from China.

COST OF TRADE WAR WITH UNITED STATES

The trade war with just one country, United States, hurt Chinese economy as measured by Purchasing Managers Index 49.7 points where the value of large companies fell by 14.1 points to 36.3 within 12 months in 2019.

COUNTRIES ARE MOVING OUT THEIR SUPPLY CHAINS -

Countries have made efforts to move their supply chains and production lines out of China. Taiwan has encouraged supply chain investments in Taiwan leading to more than $33.5 billion domestic investments and Japan has budgeted $2 billion for companies to shift production lines out of China.

READ: US warns its citizens in China; tells them Xi's administration may crackdown arbitrarily

ITALY IS RESTRICTING FOREIGN INVESTMENT -

On 8 April, countries like Italy which is part of Chinas Belt Road Initiative expanded its Golden Powers Law to restrict foreign investment in sensitive areas to include a large number of other sectors over concerns of foreign takeovers of domestic firms.

THE EXPORT MARKET IS CLOSING DOORS -

Chinas economy depends on the $2.49 trillion export market with the majority of its trade surplus coming from the US and Hong Kong. If the countries impose bans on Chinese products like how Indias largest trade body CAIT has vowed to reduce the sale of Chinese products, it could impede the economy.

READ: UK-China ties freeze with debate over Huawei, Hong Kong

READ: China to impose visa restrictions on US personnel with 'egregious behaviour' on Tibet
Solar cells made of perovskite are at the center of much recent solar research. The material is cheap, easy to produce and almost as efficient as silicon, the material traditionally used in solar cells. However, perovskite cells have a love-hate-relationship with the sun. The light that they need to generate electricity, also impairs the quality of the cells, severely limiting their efficiency and stability over time. Research by scientists at the Eindhoven University of Technology and universities in China and the US now sheds new light on the causes of this degradation and paves the way for designing new perovskite compositions for the ultimate stable solar cells.

Perovskite is an attractive alternative to silicon, because it's abundant and easy to produce. What's more, over the past decade, the performance of perovskite solar cells has improved dramatically, with efficiency rates reaching more than 25 percent, which is close to the state-of-art for silicon solar cells.

The new research focuses on perovskite solar cells made from formamidinium-cesium lead iodide, a halide compound that has become increasingly popular as it combines high efficiency and reasonable heat resistance with low manufacturing costs.

Love-hate

However, solar panels made of this particular compound have a rather ambivalent relationship with sunlight, a problem that is well-known in the field, but barely understood. While the light of the sun feeds it with the much-wanted energy to convert into electricity, it also impairs the stability of the cells. Over time this affects their performance.

To understand why this is the case, the researchers at TU/e, Peking University and University of California San Diego did both practical experiments -- monitoring the photovoltaic performance of the panels over 600 hours of exposure and characterizing the degraded perovskites -- and theoretical analysis.

From this they conclude that sunlight generates charged particles in the perovskite, which tend to flow to places in the solar panel where the band gap (the minimum amount of energy needed for generating the free electrons) is lowest, in this case the formamidinium perovskite. The resulting energy differences make the mixed compounds that worked together so well to make the cell efficient, fall apart into separate clusters. It appears that especially the cesium-heavy clusters (the green dots in the image) are photoinactive and current-blocking, limiting the performance of the device.

Solutions

According to Shuxia Tao, who together with PhD candidate Zehua Chen and her colleague Geert Brocks was responsible for the TU/e part of the research, the new findings are one step further to finding the way to possible solutions.

"By combining macroscopic tests, microscopic materials characterization and atomistic modelling, we were able to thoroughly understand the instability of halide perovskites that are intrinsic to device operation. This opens the possibility for designing new perovskite compositions for the ultimate stable solar cells."

Possible strategies include using additives to enhance the chemical interaction inside the materials in the panels, tuning the band gaps by using other elements like bromide and rubidium instead of iodide and cesium, or modifying the energy levels to extract photo-carriers more efficiently.

Tao stresses that more research is needed to see what solution works best. In addition, separation of halide compounds is not the only cause for perovskite degradation. These additional causes require separate analysis.
A hostel has copped a $5,060 fine for breaching coronavirus guidelines.

The Tequila Sunrise hostel on Waymouth Street in Adelaide was raided by police at about 8pm on Friday night.

'Upon arrival police identified that the business failed to have a COVID Safe Plan in place and had concerns people were failing to physically distance from each other,' a South Australia police media release reads.

Investigators found the hostel was hosting four guests who had recently arrived from a COVID-19 hotspot in Victoria and were self-isolating in the accommodation.

The Tequila Sunrise hostel in Adelaide (pictured) was fined $5,060 for a coronavirus breach

'Officers had concerns over their ability to quarantine from other patrons and engaged SA Health who moved the three men and one woman to a Hotel on North Terrace to complete their self-quarantine,' the release reads.

The group have been tested for coronavirus with results pending, while the hostel was fined for failing to have a COVID Safe Plan, provide communal food and not providing space for physical distancing.

'Officers came in here in full body gear and masks and stuff and protective gear and took people away in ambulances,' backpacker Adam Merrett told 7News.

The other guests in the hostel were told to self quarantine immediately and take a coronavirus test.

'It kind of sucks for them cause if they would have been here for longer they would have put everybody here at risk,' tourist Chad Barr said.

The news comes after a police officer was forced to lockdown a pub in Bordertown after discovering a diner had contact with a coronavirus case.

Two police officers inside Tequila Sunrise hostel before the venue was fined for not having a Covid Safe Plan

Pictured: the Bordertown Hotel, South Australia, near the border with Victoria. Staff and patrons were locked down for hours on Friday night after a truck driver from interstate who had a meal there was deemed a close contact of a confirmed coronavirus case

A truck driver who had earlier eaten a meal at the pub close to the Victorian Border had potentially exposed patrons to the virus after being deemed a close contact of a person with the deadly virus interstate.

It is understood that he had flu-like symptoms a week previously and that health authorities called him during his meal to alert him to his potential exposure.

A patron filmed as the police officer wearing a face mask revealed that all customers and staff would need to give their contact details and self-quarantine for 14 days in case the truck driver tested positive.

The Bordertown Hotel was shut for several hours during the process, with neither staff nor patrons able to leave during the investigation during, which police tried to ascertain where the truck driver had been inside the pub.

Some customers moved on to the nearby Woolshed Inn, where police had to advise patrons there they would have to self-quarantine for 14 days or until test results confirmed whether the truck driver had the virus.

The truck driver received a negative result for his coonavirus test on Saturday.

South Australia shut its border to Victoria this week amid Victoria's worsening outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.

South Australia had no new coronavirus cases as of Saturday night, while Victoria recorded an increase of 216, revised down from 251, and has now surpassed New South Wales as the state with the most confirmed cases in total.

Defence Force personnel arrived at the Victoria-South Australia border on Saturday, and will help police checkpoints from Sunday.

Both sealed and unsealed roads across the border will have a checkpoint or hard road blocks to prevent people crossing into South Australia.

South Australian residents will be allowed to cross back in, but they will have to self-quarantine for 14 days.

The only exception is for truck drivers carrying commercial freight. They are required to wear a face mask at all times in public and must self-quarantine when not on duty.
Unless you are a royal fan who is completely in the dark, you are well aware of the tension between Prince William and his younger brother, Prince Harry. Although the two are still on speaking terms, the truth of the matter is that there is a bitterness between them that has left a lot of onlookers confused and saddened to see.

Prince William and Prince Harry are living on different continents right now, and distance is not the only thing driving them apart. We have heard rumors for months about friction between some members of the royal family, and at first, it was said to be their wives, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, who couldnt see eye to eye.

Everyone soon found out, however, that the real feud wasnt between the duchesses  instead, it was Prince Harry and Prince William, who were once so close, now involved in some sort of disagreement. Lets talk about how Prince Harrys royal rift with Prince William is reportedly rooted in the Duke of Sussexs sensitivity to criticism.

A prince with sensitive feelings

RELATED: Prince Harry Is Reportedly Secretly Tortured With LA Move, But Heres Why Its Not True

Prince Harry may put on a brave face, but in reality, he definitely has a soft side. We have seen this on many occasions, such as when he talks lovingly of his late mother, Princess Diana, or when he felt compelled on more than one occasion to come to the defense of his wife Meghan when she was being bullied by the British tabloids.

According to the Daily Mail, the Duke of Sussex actually takes things pretty personally, which is difficult considering how he has lived a life in the public eye. From the very beginning, fans as well as the news media have constantly been voicing their opinions regarding everything that Prince Harry does and even things that are out of his control.

Still, it is safe to say that it gets to him at times. As sixth in line to the British throne, the prince has always had a huge fan base, even more so in recent years since he and Meghan married and had their first son, Archie Harrison.

The royal feud between Prince William and Prince Harry

Prince Harry and Prince William | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

It wasnt too long ago that Prince William and Prince Harry were practically inseparable. These days, however, things are a bit different, and it is strange, to say the least.

So, what is the rift between them all about? According to The Sun, the once close brothers had a falling out a few years ago, and things havent been the same since.

Apparently, before Meghan and Prince Harry were married, Prince William voiced concern that their relationship was moving too quickly. After all, he dated Kate for many years before proposing, so naturally, he couldnt relate to a whirlwind romance.

Even so, Prince Harry got upset, and suddenly, there was tension between the two. Things began to escalate when Prince Harry felt that Meghan wasnt being treated fairly by the royals, and before long, the princes were involved in a rift that no one saw coming.

Prince Harrys rift with Prince William is reportedly rooted in the Duke of Sussexs sensitivity to criticism

Is it to be expected that Prince Harry ended up in a feud with his brother, or is he being overly sensitive? According to Daily Mail, the Duke of Sussex just may have a little trouble with criticism.

According to a source, Prince Harry tends to take things in a negative way, even when there is no negativity. The source told Daily Mail: Its my opinion that Harry feels he couldnt protect his mother, so hes going all out to protect his wife. He is so sensitive he often sees criticism or negativity where there isnt any.

Royal fans can only hope that the royal brothers can soon put their feud behind them and get back to the way things were.
London: There is "close linkage" between Huawei and the Chinese military, a former head of MI6 has claimed as he urged the British government to reconsider the company's role in Britain's mobile network.

Sir Richard Dearlove insisted that there was a "strategic security reason" for the government to about-turn on its decision to grant the telecoms giant access to 5G infrastructure.

His comments came ahead of a crucial meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday, London time, in which ministers are expected to block the purchase of any new Huawei equipment by the end of this year, and have it removed from 5G by the mid-2020s.

"I think the relationship between the Chinese state and Huawei is absolutely clear cut," Sir Richard said.
A top medical expert advising the Hong Kong government on Covid-19 has warned that each infected person could transmit the coronavirus to four others, as the virus has turned more infectious, while the city has now entered the most serious phase of the public health crisis.

Professor Gabriel Leung, dean of the University of Hong Kongs medical school, said he believed there were at least 50 to 60 hidden cases in the community as an international study indicated a strain of the virus had increased its infection rate by 30 per cent due to a DNA mutation.

He highlighted Kowloon East and Sha Tin as two areas most at risk of an outbreak and urged the government to prioritise testing resources for the elderly.

Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.

This is the start of a sustained massive local outbreak the likes of which we have never seen before, Leung said on a radio programme on Sunday.

On Saturday, health authorities warned that Hong Kongs third wave of Covid-19 was by far the most serious of the public health crisis to date, as at least 61 people in the city were either confirmed as infected or had tested preliminary positive.

Professor Gabriel Leung, dean of University of Hong Kongs medical school, says the number of people expected to be infected by each virus patient has increased to four at present. Photo: Edmond So

The city reported 16 local infections among 28 cases officially confirmed on Saturday, while another 33 people were awaiting confirmation they had caught the deadly virus.

The continued surge takes Hong Kongs Covid-19 total to 1,431 with seven deaths.

The [outbreak] situation has gone back to almost the same level when we had not placed any surveillance measures on the disease at all

Professor Gabriel Leung

Saturdays new local infections included those from previously known clusters revolving around two restaurants  in Ping Shek Estate of Kwun Tong district and in Jordan of Yau Tsim Mong district  as well as an elderly care home: Kong Tai Care for the Aged Centre Limited in Tsz Wan Shan.

Some 32 confirmed cases now relate to Bun Kee Congee and Noodle Foods in Ping Shek Estate and the eatery in Jordan, after three more infections were recorded on Saturday.

Story continues

Another three confirmed cases were connected to the elderly care home, bringing the total infections in that cluster to 37.

On Sunday, Leung cited an international study which suggested there was a DNA mutation in the most widely circulating strain of the virus, which has changed from 614G from the previous 614D, making it more infectious by about 31 per cent.

He said another local study confirmed such a trend, as the number of people expected to be infected by each case increased in March from 2 to three, and had now risen to four. But there was no evidence to show that the virus had become more deadly.

Hong Kong is currently facing a real and continuous local outbreak. The situation has gone back to almost the same level when we had not placed any surveillance measures on the disease at all, Leung said.

He said it was also worrying that many of the emerging cases took place in the two major districts of Kowloon East and Sha Tin.

It is very obvious that when the government relaxes social-distancing measures, the pandemic situation gets worse

Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, microbiologist, University of Hong Kong

There were many restaurants around the elderly care centre in Tsz Wan Shan, including a cha chaan teng frequented by taxi drivers. Many of the reported cases lived in areas of East Kowloon such as San Po Kong, Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong, Yau Tong, and Tseung Kwan O, Leung said.

Speaking on a television programme on Sunday, HKU microbiologist Professor Yuen Kwok-yung said the current wave of new infections was almost certainly due to the lifting of social-distancing measures.

It is very obvious that when the government relaxes social-distancing measures, the pandemic situation gets worse. The change is immediate, he said.

Yuen said Hongkongers needed to be more cautious again and avoid eating out, as the virus could easily transmit from one person to another in enclosed spaces if people did not wear masks.

However, he said even if the government tightened social-distancing measures immediately and to the strictest possible degree, it would not work without the cooperation of city residents.

Social-distancing rules worked in March because everybody was on high alert and cooperating, he said.

If everyone takes immediate measures now by wearing masks and practising good hand hygiene, Hong Kongs cases will decrease within next seven to 14 days.

Yuen also accused the authorities of not screening enough people for the virus.

At present, Hong Kong is conducting 4,000 to 5,000 tests a day. We will not be able to achieve wide-scale screening within the community at this pace, he said.

Residents should be able to just walk into the clinics and get tested, instead of waiting for an appointment, he added.

He suggested the government would need extra help, for example from mainland China, to raise its testing rate and weed out all infections.

Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, also from HKU, urged the government to tighten border restrictions again, particularly for exempted groups, such as aviation and cruise ship crews.

Everybody should get tested and must be quarantined for 14 days upon entering Hong Kong, he told a government radio programme.

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(Natural News) President Trump is calling on the Food and Drug Administration to take action on hydroxychloroquine in light of a new study that shows the drug can reduce the mortality rate in COVID-19 patients.

The study in question was a peer-reviewed, large-scale retrospective analysis of patients that was carried out by researchers for Michigans Henry Ford Health System from March 10 to May 2. After analyzing the records of more than 2,500 patients across the six hospitals in the system, they found that only 13 percent of those who were given the drug alone died, while 26.4 percent who were given only standard of care passed away. There was an overall in-hospital mortality rate of 18.1 percent, and the patients involved were all older than 18, with a median age of 64.

Most of those involved receive the drug within 48 hours of their admission. The findings were published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Doctors from the health system sent a request to the FDA for emergency use authorization to get the drug to patients for early treatment for COVID-19 in hospitals, as well as to allow them to prescribe hydroxychloroquine to patients on an outpatient basis and to use it as a prophylaxis as the method has been found to be effective in India.

Hydroxychloroquine gets a bad rap because its cheap and Trump supports it

White House Advisor Peter Navarro has accused some medical experts and media outlets of politicizing the use of the drug because Trump has been promoting it. He has spoken about the treatment repeatedly this spring and summer, and he even said that he had been taking it himself in the hopes of preventing himself from contracting the virus.

According to Navarro, the FDAs hydroxychloroquine moves have been based onbad science and the studies they used were poorly designed or set up for failure because the drug was given to patients too late. A major study that claimed to show the drug led to a higher rate of death was retracted last month. It was withdrawn from the Lancet after it was revealed that it relied on a questionable company known as Surgisphere using unverified and limited data.

Navarro said: If the results of the Detroit study are confirmed in later studies, President Trump was absolutely right that hydroxychloroquine can save lives. And if, in fact, early treatment use can lead to a 50 percent reduction in mortality, thats tens of thousands of American lives that are at stake.

He added that it could be you or one of your loved ones whose lives are saved if the study ends up being right.

Its also worth noting that this study, although successful, did not look at the combination treatment of hydroxychloroquine with zinc. The mineral has been found to be a key factor in the potentiation of the drug. Previous studies also left it out, which some say is responsible for their results concluding that hydroxychloroquine did not offer a benefit. Nevertheless, the Henry Ford study found that even the drug alone was better than nothing.

Hydroxychloroquine is a medication that is mainly used to treat illnesses such as malaria and lupus. Its an incredibly cheap drug, with the generic version costing less than $.50 per pill, and it has been in use for more than 65 years. That means it has a proven track record of being well-tolerated by millions of people.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of profits to be made from a COVID-19 vaccine and pricier (and far less effective) medications like Remdesivir, so its not surprising to see so many powerful people trying to disparage hydroxychloroquine. Additional studies are now underway, and we can only hope that the drug will prove to be as effective in fighting this pandemic as it appears.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com

USAToday.com
YEREVAN.  The Azerbaijani side has set itself the task of keeping the tension from time to time on any sector of the line of contact, and today's provocation was another manifestation of that. Vitali Mangasaryan, a military expert, made such an observation in a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am, referring to the Azerbaijani military units attempt Sunday to captureusing artillerya combat position in the direction of Tavush Province of Armenia.

However, according to him, the main direction of the attack of the Azerbaijani side is the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) wing. In other words, this incident must be considered from the point of view of the adversary's attempt to maneuver. "Azerbaijani media state that, supposedly, their units have carried out a successful operation and that they have no territorial losses, whereas according to their Ministry of Defense, they have given two casualties and five wounded. I believe the number of their casualties is more, but for now with such statements they are trying to hide their casualties. Besides, it should be taken into account that the Azerbaijani border troops, which are inferior to the army unitsboth technically and in terms of combat-readinessare serving on the border with Tavush," he said.

As per Mangasaryan, the escalation of border tensions may be due to the number of cases of the coronavirus in the Azerbaijani army. "Azerbaijani social media are flooded with information about the increase in the number of infected people in the army, which are officially hidden. This circumstance also can to some extent have its effect, aiming to divert the [Azerbaijani] public's attention from the real picture of the spread of the pandemic in the [Azerbaijani] army," he added.

Mangasaryan considered the use of artillery in the direction of Tavush to be a matter of concern, which, according to him, is an additional factor in escalating the tension. "If recently they [Azerbaijan] were using mainly firearms of different calibers, today they have already started firing from artillery, which poses serious risks in terms of increasing the tension, and it is very likely that they will gradually increase those calibers," he said.

According to the expert, it is not ruled out that this operation will be followed by the operation of the Azerbaijani side to target the border settlements of Armenia. "The [Armenian] society must be ready for any development," Vitali Mangasaryan concluded.

To note, the Azerbaijani side on Sunday made two attempts to capture a border position of the Armenian Armed Forces in the direction of Tavush Province, using artillery fire, but was suppressed by the Armenian army and driven back, suffering casualties. And in the evening, Shushan Stepanyan, spokesperson for the defense minister of Armenia, informed that the Azerbaijani side resumed shelling in the direction of the same position, but this time from an 82mm grenade launcher and a tank.
Amid reports of a crisis in the Rajasthan Congress government, senior party leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday expressed concerns over the direction in which the party is heading.

"Worried for our party... Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables?", Sibal's tweet read.

Earlier Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of attempting to topple the state government" by "buying" MLAs by offering them up to Rs 25 crore, a charge denied by the opposition party and its ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, which have claimed that "infighting" inside Congress was at play.

They also accused Gehlot of not trusting his own MLAs.

Reports have also surfaced regarding Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot arriving in Delhi, along with close to two dozen MLAs loyal to him as the crisis in the Congress government in the state.

However, the BJP has denied any involvement in the ongoing feud with the Rajasthan Congress.

Rajasthan BJP president Satish Punia said, "Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is a cunning politician, he is trying to blame BJP for his failure in governance. The allegations are completely baseless. He has the numbers then who will try to destabilise the government?"
A McDonald's Korea's employee, left, receives an award from the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. The award was presented to the American fast food company at COEX in Seoul last week for promoting a healthy working environment. / Courtesy of McDonald's Korea
Vodafone customers can expect an increase in their mobile network speeds as the $15 billion merger with TPG Telecom completes and forms Australia's third major telco player.

The two providers, which first announced plans to merge in August 2018, will operate as a single entity for the first time today, marking an end to a lengthy process riddled with regulatory hurdles.

TPG boss Inaki Berroeta says Vodafone mobile customers can expect an immediate boost in user experience. Credit:Renee Nowytarger

Vodafone customers in Melbourne and Canberra will be the first to benefit from the integration of TPG's spectrum and small cell equipment, which the company says will increase mobile speeds, provide consistent mobile coverage in busy areas and improve overall network performance.

"We've been working on a lot of the technology integration," TPG Telecom chief executive Inaki Berroeta told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. "We're putting the spectrum on our network, and that is going to give a lot of capacity. Capacity in a mobile phone is higher speeds...and use more data.
In violation of COVID-19 norms, relatives of a deceased coronavirus-infected patient at Nizamabad allegedly carried his body in their own autorickshaw for burial after they managed to secure it from the state-run government hospital with a relative's help.

The incident occurred on Friday, a day after the patient died while undergoing treatment.

An official release said three coronavirus deaths were reported at the Nizamabad hospital and the bodies were at the disposal of mortuary personnel after completion of formalities.

While the administrative personnel of the hospital were busy with management of COVID-19 cases, two corpses were sent in ambulances from the mortuary, it said.

Before the vehicles returned for the other body, the relatives of the Bhimgal village resident exerted pressure on the mortuary staff, saying they have their own auto and carried it.

They performed the funeral at a graveyard in Nizamabad.

As part of COVID-19 guidelines in disposing of those succumbing to the infection, the bodies are sent in an ambulance with a police escort.

According to an official, the family members of the deceased, who owned an auto, took the body, saying there would be delay in the arrival of an ambulance.

A relative of the family, who comes to the hospital often for certain works, helped them, he said.

Meanwhile, the mortuary personnel have been served notices.

Taking serious note of the incident, state Director of Medical Education Ramesh Reddy ordered a detailed inquiry.

The hospital superintendent has been instructed to file criminal cases on the staff who were involved in handing over the body, another release said.

All the hospital superintendents are instructed to strictly follow the guidelines and such incidents should not repeat in public interest, Reddy said.
Freedom Ride 2020 is scheduled for July 25 and will honor veterans, serving military, first responders and essential workers and their sacrifices so that we can continue to enjoy our freedom. The bikers will lead the ride followed by registered cars, trucks, jeeps and road vehicles.

Registration is $25 and includes lunch and kickstand holder. Those who preregister by July 19 will receive a t-shirt with their registration. Registration is available at https://gologoit.com/veterans_freedom_ride/shop/home.
(Natural News) Even as one of Asias major financial hubs braces for a resurgence of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, a potential new threat looms as a deadly new pneumonia has broken out in the center of the continent.

In Hong Kong, authorities have closed schools and tightened social distancing requirements after a new surge of coronavirus cases struck the territory. According to education secretary Kevin Yeung, the decision was taken due to the exponential growth of confirmed COVID-19 local cases over the past two days.

While Hong Kong is grappling with its new surge, Chinese officials have also warned that a new, unknown pneumonia, has broken out in Kazakhstan  one that apparently has a higher death rate than COVID-19).

Hong Kong experiences its largest outbreak yet

Hong Kongs latest outbreak of 147 new COVID-19 cases is small compared to outbreaks in the U.S. or Europe. For a territory that has largely kept its infection rate low, however, it represents one of the largest spikes since the pandemic began. (Related: Air travelers hiding coronavirus infections to get into Hong Kong highlight reopening risks.)

In response, Hong Kongs Education Bureau has ordered the closure of secondary and primary schools as well as kindergartens, starting on Monday. Meanwhile, the Food and Health Bureau announced new social distancing measures for bars and restaurants. The new measures included limiting customers per table to eight and four, respectively.

As society needs to resume some economic and social activities to a limited extent, it is inevitable that new local cases will appear, Sophia Chan, secretary for food and health, said.

The new cases were mostly concentrated in a public housing estate, an elderly care home and a local restaurant, though taxi drivers were also thought to have spread the disease. A number of them, however, were also of unknown origin.

According to David Hui, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the rise in cases was the most serious since the pandemic began. In addition, it also shows the risks that asymptomatic carriers and silent transmission pose to the territory.

There are a lot of silent transmission chains within the community, he said. I am most worried because there are a lot of cases with an unknown source of infections.

Hui also suggested that social distancing measures would have to be tightened further if the territorys infection rate did not slow down in the next few days.

Coronavirus has mutated in Hong Kong

Complicating matters is that the virus found in Hong Kongs latest cases was found to have undergone a slight mutation. This mutation was similar to that detected in Europe and Beijing in late May and June, according to Hui. While the severity of the symptoms from this mutation is the same, it does have a much higher transmission potential.

Mysterious pneumonia rocks Kazakhstan in the middle of its COVID-19 outbreak

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage in Asia, a new, deadlier disease may be rearing its head in the heart of the continent. Chinese officials warned that an unknown form of pneumonia, one with a higher death rate that COVID-19, was spreading through Kazakhstan.

Quoting local media reports, the Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan said that Atyrau and Aktobe counties, as well as Skymkent city, had been seeing an increase in cases of the mysterious disease since June.

According to the embassy, Kazakhstan had seen 1,772 deaths from the disease in the first half of the year, including 628 in June. This number also included a number of Chinese nationals.

The death rate of this disease is much higher than the novel coronavirus, a spokesman for the embassy said. The countrys health departments are conducting comparative research into the pneumonia virus, but have yet to identify the virus.

Kazakhstani officials, however, have denied the Chinese embassys report that the country is experiencing an outbreak. In a statement released Friday, Kazakhstans health ministry acknowledged the presence of viral pneumonias of unspecified etiology but denied that the outbreak was new or unknown.

In response to these reports, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan officially declares that this information does not correspond to reality, the statement read.

In addition, the statement also added that the unspecified classification for the pneumonia simply followed World Health Organization guidelines for the registration of pneumonia when the coronavirus infection is diagnosed clinically or epidemiologically but is not confirmed by laboratory testing.

According to the health ministry, health minister Aleksey Tsoy had spoken about the number of pneumonia cases nationwide at a briefing on Thursday. Tsoy stated that these cases included different types of bacterial, fungal and viral pneumonia.

During the briefing, Tsoy said that the countrys registered cases of pneumonia rose by more than 300 percent in June compared to the same month last year.

The Chinese embassys report comes as Kazakhastan continues to battle a surge of coronavirus cases. The deadly pandemic has infected 54,747 and killed 264 according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Among those infected is the countrys president and current security council chairman Nursultan Nazarbayev who tested positive for COVID-19 last month.

On July 5, the country implemented a second round of restrictions nationwide to combat the surge. Under these restrictions, international flights are grounded and inter-state travel suspended.

In the face of the ongoing pandemic as well as the new surge of pneumonia cases, Tsoy says that the country has seen an increased demand for medical staff, hospital beds and emergency supplies. Should the situation deteriorate, officials warn that they could tighten restrictions further.

Sources include:

FT.com

DailyStar.co.uk

Edition.CNN.com

Coronavirus.JHU.edu
Qualcomm Inc will invest Rs 730 crore in Jio Platforms in exchange for a 0.15 percent stake, joining a pack of big-ticket investors that have grabbed a piece of the digital unit of Reliance Industries (RIL).

Qualcomm, one of the worlds top wireless technology companies, is the third technology investor in Jio after Facebook Inc and American semiconductor giant Intel. The RIL unit runs the telecom enterprise Jio Infocomm, Indias biggest, as well as movie, news and music apps.

The deal with Qualcommthe 13th such investment in 12 weekstakes the total stake that Reliance sold in Jio Platforms to 25.24 percent. Mumbai-based RIL has now raised a combined Rs 118,318.45 crore from some of the worlds leading tech investors in the largest fundraising exercise by a company anywhere in the world and during a global lockdown at that.

Facebook led the investments in Jio by buying a 9.99 percent stake for Rs 43,574 crore on April 22. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate has since sold stakes in Jio to global investors such as General Atlantic, KKR, Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Abu Dhabi state fund, Saudi Arabias PIF and Intel.

Qualcomm has invested in Jio through its investment arm Qualcomm Ventures. The investment comes at an equity valuation of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and enterprise valuation of Rs 5.16 lakh crore.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said, Today, I am delighted to welcome Qualcomm Ventures as an investor in Jio Platforms. Qualcomm has been a valued partner for several years and we have a shared vision of connecting everything by building a robust and secure wireless and digital network and extending the benefits of digital connectivity to everyone in India."

"As a world leader in wireless technologies, Qualcomm offers deep technology knowhow and insights that will help us deliver on our 5G vision and the digital transformation of India for both people and enterprises, he added.

Qualcomm, which holds several patents and leads patent filings in India, describes itself as the worlds leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G.

The company is focussed on the development, launch and expansion of technologies like fifth-generation (5G) and offers technologies and products that are used in mobile devices and other wireless products, including network equipment, broadband gateway equipment, consumer electronic devices and other connected devices. Qualcomms technologies and products are also used in segments and applications beyond mobile such as Internet of Things (IoT), automotive, computing, and networking, among other industries.

With our shared goal of extending the benefits of digital connectivity to everyone and everything, we anticipate Jio Platforms will deliver a new set of services and experiences to Indian consumers. With unmatched speeds and emerging use cases, 5G is expected to transform every industry in the coming years," said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated.

"Jio Platforms has led the digital revolution in India through its extensive digital and technological capabilities. As an enabler and investor with a longstanding presence in India, we look forward to playing a role in Jio's vision to further revolutionise Indias digital economy, Mollenkopf noted.

The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.

Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.
(Being the text of a press release issued at Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on Friday, 9th July, 2020 by the National Coordinator of Nigeria Parents Forum, Mr. Monday Eze)

1. Nigeria Parents Forum, NPF, an association of Nigerian parents concerned about positive parenting with the hope of raising responsible children who will serve as leaders of tommorow, have received the news of the Federal Government decision to cancel the West African Senior Secondary Examination and other school examinations for 2020; and to lock down schools in Nigeria because of the Covid-19 pandemic for a full session with great shock.

2. That this unprecedented decision was taken by the Federal Government without proper consultations with parents, students and other critical stakeholders in the education sector like State Governments, Teachers and private school proprietors speaks much about the arbitrariness and ineptitude of the drivers or the managers of Nigerian Education System. Nigerian Parents Forum hereby registers her protest and displeasure over that wrong decision of the Federal Government.

3. As responsible parents we want to state that this laid-back approach to the management of a sensitive sector like the education system is not good for the country and for posterity as it amounts to playing with the future of our children. This is true as the Corona virus pandemic has no timeline and may not likely end after a session after all.

4. Nigerian Parents Forum appreciates and supports the position of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Services headed by Hon. Julius Ihonvbere asking the Federal Government to reverse the wrong decision. Furthermore, Nigerian Parents Forum hereby urges the Minister for Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, to convoke a consultative meeting of all the critical stakeholders in the education sector to aggregate suggestions on how to develop a realistic Covid-19 Response Protocol for the education sector to enable schools resume in the no distant time.

5. Nigerian Parents Forum pledges her loyalty to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.

SIGNED:

Mr. Monday Eze.

(National Coordinator, Nigeria Parents Forum)


One of my favourite walks in Ireland is a circuit, and so it can be begun at many points, but lets say you start out in Dalkey village, a lovely place in itself, with a coffee from Mugs, Thyme Out or the Country Bake, maybe a delicious sandwich in your pocket from The Grapevine or a book from that truly wonderful bookshop, The Gutter.

"Heading out of the village and onto the descent of Coliemore Road, you have the sea on your left, then Dalkey island with its Martello tower and ruined fort and ancient chapel of Saint Begnet, the magnificent view across the whole sweep of the bay and the expanse of the sky.

Often, ships are passing in the distance, and the bird life is astonishing. My wife and I have seen dolphins near the little harbour, where its possible to hire a boat and head out to the island, and seals are a frequent sight.

"The walk is hilly enough to be good exercise if you want it to be, and if you take it at pace, and of course you can add a further circuit if youre feeling ambitious, the gorgeous Vico Road, past Hawk Cliff, up to Killiney village.

Read More

But for now: Further along on the left of Coliemore Road, you have the glory of Dillons Park, where its nice to stop and read, and, across the road from it, on a furzy hill, another park whose name I have never been certain about, full of outcropping granite. Perhaps its simply Coliemore Park. It contains a memorial plaque to the great composer John Dowland, who was born nearby, and whose melancholy Elizabethan lyrics I love.

The coconut aroma of the gorse bushes is an amazing thing, on a summers day, and the view down to the Wicklow Hills, past Bray and even Greystones, is a sight to make the heart soar.

Heading back towards the village by Sorrento Road takes you parallel with the train track, which has its own music, and the wildflowers on the banks are stunning.

High on a hill is a cluster of apartments in the grounds of an old hotel. I have always been fond of them because I worked on the building site there, in the summer I turned 16, making tea for the bricklayers and doing odd jobs.

So, its a walk through memory as well as beauty. I feel very blessed that its part of my life.

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ALBANY  Could expanded telework opportunities for state employees help New York reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Its certainly something thats being assessed after roughly 36,000 state workers successfully telecommuted during the height of New Yorks pause order to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Communities across the globe saw significant drops in vehicle traffic and air pollution as businesses shut down and offices reduced capacity, unexpectedly testing the large-scale adoption of remote work.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is "evaluating the pollution trends and any potential policy opportunities for emissions reductions from the transportation and energy sectors recorded during NY Pause, DEC spokesperson Erica Ringewald said. While any analysis of such reductions is preliminary, DEC and our partner agencies will continue to use data like this as we evaluate all options to reduce emissions in New York state.

Transportation is the key driver of greenhouse gas emissions in New York, accounting for 36 percent of those emissions. Energy use in buildings follows as a close second at 30 percent. Long before the pandemic, New York committed to the ambitious goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent by 2050.

While data on the pause orders effect on air pollution is still being collected and analyzed, numerous cities usually bedeviled by greenhouse emissions have reported improved air quality. According to an IQAir report released in April, New York City saw a 25 percent decline in fine particulate matter between March 23 and April 13 compared to the same period last year.

Earlier: Thousands of state workers are home, but no whisper of furloughs

With Legislature idle, Cuomo changes 262 laws in 55 days

State University at Albany professor James Schwab, who specializes in air quality metrics, said researchers are still tabulating the data collected from university sites on the impact of stay-at-home orders on air pollution, but he anticipates New York's numbers will show similar findings that other communities have seen.

You do see the satellite images of much lower levels of pollution. I have a very strong suspicion that (New York's data is) going to show at least some of the primary pollutants are lower, Schwab said. I think theres no question thats a co-benefit of the telecommuting work model.

However, he noted that other factors related to people working from home could cause other pollutants to increase. For example, with restrictions on non-essential business, people had more items  from takeout meals to groceries and home supplies  delivered, possibly balancing out the reductions from fewer employees commuting to offices.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

In a microcosm approach, the Sustainability Advisory and Outreach Committee at Purchase College  a state school in Westchester County  calculated the panel's six members collectively prevented over 7,600 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere by working remotely during a two-month period. To remove that amount of carbon from the atmosphere, you would have to plant 19 mature trees. (By the time a tree has reached 25 years of growth, it will have absorbed about 400 pounds of carbon dioxide, researchers estimate.)

With hundreds of our professional staff and faculty telecommuting over the past couple of months, the impact is likely far greater for our campus community, the committee said. This impact looks exclusively at Purchases employee travel. Think about the energy savings as some campus buildings are shut down, lights cut off, HVAC units off, etc. By staying safe at home we are making a big difference for each other and our Earth!

The Public Employees Federation, the second-largest labor union representing state employees, expressed optimism that a permanent telework policy could come in the future.

Jane Briggs, spokeswoman for PEF, said employees have been more productive working from home and state officials have seen that telecommuting can work on a larger scale.

As a union, we have been trying for years to get a telecommuting agreement with the state. Unfortunately it took the COVID-19 crisis to let us do it in a big way, and every indication is that its working and its been productive, she said. We would like to see this long-term. We are in talks to see what we can do, but at this moment we were able to negotiate a continuation of our telework agreement until Oct. 2.
TDT | Manama

A total of BD36 million in fines was issued yesterday by the High Criminal Court against four banks and five officials involved in a massive money laundering operation. Chief Prosecutor Mohamed Jamal Sultan said yesterday that the verdicts were issued in five new cases involving five officials from Bahrain-based Future Bank, as well as three Iranian banks, reported our sister paper Al Ayam.

Fund transfers made by the banks amounting to around $1 million was also ordered to be confiscated. The court ruled in each case to convict all of the accused, and to punish the officials of Future Bank with a prison sentence of five years apiece while fining them the amount of $1 million each. In addition to this, each of the banks involved have also been fined $1 million.

Previously in this case, investigations had uncovered a plan that permitted Iranian entities, including those implicated in funding terrorism or which are under international sanctions, to carry out international transactions while avoiding organisational auditing.

It had been found that Future Bank, which is operating in Bahrain under the supervision of Bank Melli Iran and the Export Development Bank of Iran, had carried out thousands of international financial transactions, while providing covers for the Iranian entities there through deliberate concealment or removal of basic information while remitting money via the SWIFT network.

The Public Prosecution here investigated the matter and referred the Future Bank officials and the other implicated banks to the court for trial, as per the anti-money laundering and combatting funding terrorism law. Sultan added yesterday that the Public Prosecution is still continuing with its investigations with other related issues operation.
Yangon: Conservationists have warned a sudden change in Myanmar's law allowing the commercial farming of tigers, pangolins and other endangered species risks further fuelling demand in China for rare wildlife products.

The Southeast Asian nation is already a hub for the illegal trafficking of wildlife, a trade driven by demand from neighbouring China and worth an estimated $20 billion worldwide.

In June, Myanmar's Forest Department quietly gave the green light to private zoos to apply for licences to breed 90 species, more than 20 of which are endangered or critically endangered.

It was an unexpected move that caught conservation groups off-guard but was explained by the Forest Department as a way to help reduce poaching of wild species and illegal breeding.

Tigers -- thought to number just 22 in Myanmar -- pangolins, elephants and various vulture species, as well as the critically endangered Ayeyarwady dolphin and Siamese crocodile, can now also be bred for their meat and skin.

But conservationists say commercial farming in the long-term legitimises the use of endangered species and fuels market demand.

"Commercial trade has been shown to increase illegal trade in wildlife by creating a parallel market and boosting overall demand for wild animal products," conservation groups WWF and Fauna & Flora International (FFI) said in a joint statement.

Experts also fear Myanmar's lack of capacity to regulate the trade raises the risk of disease spillover to humans from animals and even the "next COVID-19".

John Goodrich from global wild cat conservation organisation Panthera warned farming can also "provide a means for laundering wild specimens", complicating efforts to police the trade.

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) does allow captive breeding of certain endangered species, but only under strict regulation.

But Myanmar's ability to police the trade is disputed, say environmental groups, who fear the country risks following in the footsteps of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, which have lost much of their wildlife.

The Forest Department said the new list was drawn up "in full adherence with the law" and after consultation with "conservation groups, academics, and experts in the field".

Conservationists fear the rule change risk undermining all the progress Myanmar had made in recent years to end the illegal wildlife trade.

Rare footage caught by FFI camera traps showed the "treasure trove" of species in Myanmar's forests, the group said.

"We must do everything we can to protect them."
Readers hoping to buy Castings P.L.C. (LON:CGS) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. Investors can purchase shares before the 16th of July in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 17th of August.

Castings's next dividend payment will be UK0.11 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of UK0.15 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Castings has a trailing yield of 4.0% on the current stock price of 3.72. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

View our latest analysis for Castings

Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. Castings paid out 64% of its earnings to investors last year, a normal payout level for most businesses. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 44% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.

It's positive to see that Castings's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

Click here to see how much of its profit Castings paid out over the last 12 months.

LSE:CGS Historic Dividend July 12th 2020

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. Readers will understand then, why we're concerned to see Castings's earnings per share have dropped 6.2% a year over the past five years. Ultimately, when earnings per share decline, the size of the pie from which dividends can be paid, shrinks.

Story continues

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the last ten years, Castings has lifted its dividend by approximately 4.1% a year on average. Growing the dividend payout ratio while earnings are declining can deliver nice returns for a while, but it's always worth checking for when the company can't increase the payout ratio any more - because then the music stops.

To Sum It Up

Has Castings got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? The payout ratios are within a reasonable range, implying the dividend may be sustainable. Declining earnings are a serious concern, however, and could pose a threat to the dividend in future. In summary, it's hard to get excited about Castings from a dividend perspective.

With that being said, if dividends aren't your biggest concern with Castings, you should know about the other risks facing this business. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Castings you should be aware of.

A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

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.



Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
Lucknow: A policeman involved in the encounter of dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey has tested positive for COVID-19. The constable was part of the team that was bringing Dubey back to Kanpur from Ujjain. Other cops who accompanied him have tested negative as of now.

The constable was travelling in the same vehicle in which Dubey was being brought back to Kanpur and the same vehicle had later met with an accident and overturned. Dubey was killed in a police encounter after he allegedly tried to flee from the vehicle after snatching a pistol from the cops.

A test conducted on Dubeys body at Hallett Hospital in Kanpur before it was handed over for last rites showed he was Covid-19 negative.

The positive test report of the cop came on Saturday evening. The remaining cops in the convoy will also be tested now.

The virus continues to rage in Uttar Pradesh and with 1,403 new cases reported on Saturday the tally crossed the 34,000 mark. Twenty-five new deaths were reported, taking the total toll to 913. About 22,689 people have been discharged from hospitals and the state currently has 11,490 active cases.

Kanpur also continues to see a surge in coronavirus cases with a total of 1,674 people having tested positive in so far. Fifty-seven fresh cases were reported on Saturday. Till date, 83 deaths have been reported from Kanpur, including five new deaths reported on Saturday. At the moment there are 542 active cases in Kanpur and 1,049 people have been discharged from hospitals.
(Natural News) Students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison are now calling for the removal of a statue of Abraham Lincoln on Bascom Hill, purportedly because of its being a symbol of White Supremacy.

The 16th president of the United States, Lincoln famously led the country through the American Civil War as well as freed the countrys slaves through the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.

He was also anti-Black, according to several student-led organizations in the university.

Just because he was anti-slavery doesnt mean he was pro-Black, Nalah McWhorter, the president of the Wisconsin Black Student Union in an interview with Channel 3000, referring to Lincolns debate with his opponent Stephen Douglas, in which he was quoted as being opposed to allowing Black residents to vote, become jurors, hold elected offices and marry white people.

I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, Lincoln was recorded as saying.

In addition to the Black Student Union, the Student Inclusion Coalition also called for the statues removal, arguing that Lincolns legacy includes several actions that harmed people of color, such as the ordering of the largest mass execution in U.S. history, in which 38 Dakota men were hanged, as well as the signing of the Homestead Act, which gave settlers land forcibly taken from Native Americans.

SIC stands with the Wisconsin Black Student Union.#WeareSICofUW pic.twitter.com/qWx32B58xJ  Student Inclusion Coalition of UW-Madison (@SICofUW) June 13, 2020

Lincoln also signed the Morrill Act, which established the nations land grant universities  including UW-Madison  again, by seizing land from Native Americans.

For him to be at the top of Bascom [Hill] as a powerful placement on our campus, its a single-handed symbol of white supremacy, McWhorter said.

According to UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank, however, removing Lincolns statue and in effect, his legacy, would be a mistake and that it would be much better if people examined and critiqued it instead. (Related: If left uncontrolled, Black Lives Matter mobs may soon target churches, religious monuments.)

However, when the totality of his tenure is considered, Lincoln is widely acknowledged as one of our greatest presidents, having issued the Emancipation Proclamation, persuaded Congress to adopt the 13th Amendment ending slavery and preserved the Union during the Civil War I believe that Abraham Lincolns legacy should not be erased but examined, that it should be both celebrated and critiqued, Blank said.

McWhorter, in an interview, said she does not understand Blanks response, noting that it made her feel horrible.

For them to want to protect a breathless, lifeless statue more than they care about the experiences of their black students that have been crying out for help for the past 50, 60 years, its just a horrible feeling as a student, as a black and brown student on campus, she said.

As reported by the Wisconsin State Journal, this is not the first time that students campaigned for the statues removal: In 2015, a different student group called About Race UW created a list of demands, including the removal of Lincolns statue from Bascom Hill. The idea, however, was promptly abandoned after being seen as too extreme within the Black community.

Another attempt in 2017 involved the universitys student government who called for the addition of a plaque recognizing Lincolns role in the deaths of the 38 Native Americans. As reported by The Daily Cardinal, however, this motion was shot down by Blank, who noted that Lincolns role in the matter was said to be restrained and that he had actually refused proposals sent by a territorial governor to sentence 350 other Natives to death.

Boston to remove Lincoln statue from city Square

The protests at UW-Madison regarding the removal of Lincolns statue from the universitys premises is not an isolated incident.

Springing from the violence and ruckus caused by the Black Lives Matter movement and its splinter groups, members of the Boston Art Commission voted unanimously earlier this month to remove the citys copy of Thomas Balls sculpture Emancipation Memorial from Park Square.

Also known as Freedmans Memorial, the figure, which is a replica of a statue in Washington, DC that was funded by freed slaves, has stood in the Square since 1879.

According to the citys Arts Commission, Bostonians have spent years calling for the statue to be removed due to its racial depiction of a Black person. The Commission, however, has not determined an exact date for when the statue will be removed, nor have they decided what to put in its place.

Tonight the Boston Art Commission voted unanimously to remove the bronze figurative elements of The Emancipation Group statue from its location in Park Square. pic.twitter.com/d9nzRyS1G5  City of Boston Arts (@ArtsinBoston) July 1, 2020

After engaging in a public process, its clear that residents and visitors to Boston have been uncomfortable with this statue, and its reductive representation of the Black mans role in the abolitionist movement, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said in the citys statement about the vote.

According to Tory Bullock, the Black man who started the petition, the statues removal from the Square presents a great opportunity for local Black artists, whom he would like to see get involved in the creation of a new statue that would best represent equality.

Sources include:

JonathanTurler.org

Channel3000.com

History.com

Archives.gov

Madison.com

BadgerHerald.com

DailyCardinal.com

NPR.org

WCVB.com
Mani Ratnam, the veteran filmmaker is totally busy with the production of his dream project Ponniyin Selvan. As reported earlier, the shooting of the movie has been temporarily put on a halt due to the coronavirus threat and lockdown. However, the latest reports suggest that Mani Ratnam is planning to resume the shoot of Ponniyin Selvan soon.

If the latest reports are to be believed, the shooting of the magnum opus will be resumed in September 2020. Even though the next schedule of Ponniyin Selvan was expected to go on floors in Thailand, the plans are now cancelled due to the current situation.

Instead, the Ponniyin Selvan team has decided to shoot the movie inside India itself. If things go as planned, the movie will go on floors in Pune by the first week of September 2020 and will be later shot at the various locations of Hyderabad. If the team fails to get permission from the government for the outdoor shoot, then Ponniyin Selvan will be shot in the AVM Studios in Vadapalani, Chennai.

According to the sources close to the project, Mani Ratnam is keen to resume the shooting of Ponniyin Selvan, due to two reasons. Firstly, the filmmaker doesn't want to waste the dates of the star cast, since it is a multi-starrer film. And secondly, Mani Ratnam wants to release the movie in 2021 as planned earlier, as the project started rolling after a long delay and he doesn't want to face the same situation again.

Ponniyin Selvan, which is jointly produced by Mani Ratnam's Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions, features an extensive star cast including Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Trisha Krishnan, Vikram Prabhu, Shobita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, and so on. AR Rahman composes the songs and background score for the movie.

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When 41-year-old Dilip Jha was hired as a chauffeur for a doctor last year weeks after buying his car, he imagined a steady income would help his family. But a few months into a job, his employer ran away with his car and splurged 2 lakh from the mans credit card too. The CBD Belapur police have registered a case of cheating against the accused.

Jha, a resident of Koparkhairane, runs a mobile repairing shop. In March last year, he bought a second hand SUV to drive as a tourist vehicle. A few weeks later, through a friend, Jha met Dr. Isa Nanda. Jha later learnt that Nanda was not a doctor and once lived in Bandra (East) as Ismail Khan.

Nanda asked Jha if he would work for him as a driver. After driving him around over the next two months, Nanda asked him to work for him full time as a chauffeur. Since Jha owned the car, Nanda agreed to pay him Rs 50,000 as monthly rent for the vehicle along with 20,000 salary and hired him for a year.

Less than a month since Jha was hired full time, on July 13, Nanda called him near Konkan Bhavan in CBD Belapur. Nanda was accompanied by his wife whom Jha knew as Daraksha Khan. Nanda allegedly told him that he is going to take the car for a few days out of state and return it later. Trusting him, Jha agreed.

The accused told Jha he would soon return the car but kept giving him evasive replies. He went to Chandigarh and then to Gujarat before he eventually switched off his phone, said an officer from CBD Belapur police station.

Jha was in contact with Nanda till October 1, when he promised to send the car back from Gujarat. But the car never arrived and Jha has not heard from him since. While he submitted a complaint with the police in October, his statement was recorded then but a case was only registered on Friday.

During my time of employment, I did not speak much as I was only a driver. Nanda alias Khan had claimed he owns more than 30 medical stores across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai and also runs a pharmaceutical company. I used to drop him at various locations in both cities, Jha said.

Police said they suspect Nanda to be a habitual offender who may have conned more people in a similar way.

We have received information that he was lodged in Thane jail and was out of bail. He also has a few cases against him, but due to lockdown, we are yet to make proper headway in the case. We are on the lookout for him, said the officer.

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With COVID-19 still casting uncertainty across Cowlitz County the YMCA of Longview has been forced to heavily cut back their programs and offerings for the last several months. That means their indoor pool, that safe haven on hot days, is not open to the general public and swimming safety lessons have been put on hold until groups are once again allowed to gather.

As the heat of summer threatens to descend upon us all the danger for drownings will inevitably spike along with the thermometer mercury. Making matters worse is the closure of facilities like the YMCA and the Catlin water park. That means that summer recreators will increasingly be pushed out to wilder destinations like lakes, rivers, and ocean beaches to find refreshment. Even seemingly mundane places to take a dip, like backyard pools or ponds, present their own set of hazards that can turn terrible in an instant of inattention.

With those unavoidable circumstances in play the YMCA is making an effort to reach out to the community in order to spread water safety tips that could be the difference between a good day, and the worst day. The difference between life and death.

Right now we arent open. We are answering the phones 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday so people can call and ask questions. As soon as we hit Phase 3 we are ready to reopen, Southwest Washington YMCA CEO, Janine Manny, said. The only reason we havent gone bankrupt is that a lot of our members have stayed with us and continued paying their dues.

Until then, though, the YMCA is leaning on methods of mass communication in order to spread their message of water safety.

Thats a big fear in our industry is that there will be a lot of drownings because there arent any swimming lessons going on, Susan Dickey, YMCA aquatics director, said. People are going to go out to outdoor water sources and might find themselves in trouble.

At the top of the list for water safety is the use of life jackets by children at all times and by adults whenever they are in wild or unfamiliar water. For the last twenty years a loaner life jacket program has been in place at Willow Grove for visitors to use and return at the end of their safe stay.

Thats an excellent program. If people have life jackets that are too small for their kids they should donate them, Manny said. All those life jackets out there collecting dust in peoples garages could be saving peoples lives.

According to Dickey drowning is the number one cause of death and injury for children ages one through four. She noted that drowning is also the second leading cause of death and injury for children ages five to 14, the third leading cause of death or injury for adolescents age 15-19, and the fifth leading cause of accidental death for all ages. Statistics provided by the YMCA note that someone dies from drowning every ten minutes in the United States.

Understandably, when a child begins to struggle in the water or goes under the first response of those nearby is often to jump in and attempt a rescue. According to the experts, though, that inclination to act as hero often compounds the problem with dire unintended consequences.

What happens right now is that a kid goes into the water and they get into trouble and an adult goes into the water and they arent a very good swimmer or the current too strong and they both drown, Manny explained.

Additionally, the YMCA provided the following tips in order to keep everyone safe and having a good time around the water as the summer heat starts to set in:

 Never swim alone and teach children to only swim in locations where a lifeguard is on duty. If there is a lifeguard on duty, ask about current water conditions.

 Supervise children whenever theyre in water. Whether its bath time or taking a dip in a pool or lake, make sure children are within arms reach at all times.

 Wear a life jacket There are many products on the market that claim to help children stay afloat, such as floaties or pool noodles, but only a life jacket is suitable to protect them in an emergency.

 Dont engage in breath holding activities. Children shouldnt hold their breath for a prolonged amount of time while swimming, as the activity has been known to cause drowning along with other severe physical side-effects.

 Dont jump in the water to save a friend who is struggling in deep water. Even people who are great swimmers can be overpowered by a panicked person and pulled beneath the water. The YMCA Safety Around Water program, and the American Red Cross program teaches the reach, throw, dont go concept of using a long object to reach for them and pull them to safety.

 Enroll children in water safety or swim lessons. Just like teaching your children to look both ways before they cross the street, having them participate in formal water safety lessons teaches them an important life skill.

Additionally, Dickey noted that the YMCA has created waterproof safety cards for parents and guardians to wear around their neck whenever children are present and engaging in water activities. Those cards can be picked up at the Longview YMCA upon request.

With swimming lessons I have a lot of safe cards for the parents to remind them to watch their kids and not be on their phones, Dickey said. You always have to watch diligently when kids are around water.

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France's ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain wished veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek speedy recoveries after the father-son duo tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. Amitabh Bachchan was admitted to Nanavati hospital in Mumbai on Saturday evening after his coronavirus test returned positive following which his son Abhishek's test too returned positive for COVID. As per the hospital's Sunday morning statement, Amitabh Bachchan is stable with mild symptoms and is under isolation.

READ | TV Star & 'Sarbjit' Actor Ranjan Sehgal Dies From Multiple Organ Failure At The Age Of 36

French ambassador wishes Amitabh Bachchan & Abhishek speedy recovery

Taking to Twitter, French ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain wished both Big-B and his son a speedy recovery and said that he was joining millions of fans in wishing them success in their fight against COVID.

I join millions of fans of @SrBachchan & @juniorbachchan in wishing them a speedy recovery as they fight #covid19.

Get well soon!  Emmanuel Lenain (@FranceinIndia) July 12, 2020

Amitabh Bachchan, apart from having a massive fan following in India, is also well known and respected by Indians abroad as well as in the global film fraternity. He has also acted in a few big-budget Hollywood films, such as League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Great Gatsby.

READ | Amitabh Bachchan Gets Speedy Covid Recovery Prayer From Arvind Kejriwal & 'billion' Others

Nanavati Hospital's update on Amitabh Bachchan

The hospital officials have issued statements with updates of Amitabh Bachchan's health since Sunday morning and have reassured that the actor is stable, is responding well to the treatment at the hospital, and was able to sleep well on Saturday night. Also, they have informed that the 77-year-old superstar will release 'Medical Bulletin' for his fans twice a day via his own social media handle.

Nanavati Hospital authorities have also informed that the swab tests conducted for the rest of the Bachchan family have resulted in the negative. Meanwhile, the superstar's daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and granddaughter Aaradhya Bachchan have tested positive for COVID in the swab test conducted by the hospital on Sunday. They, along with Jaya Bachchan, had tested negative in the preliminary anitgen test that was conducted on Saturday. The hospital has also revealed that the coronavirus Antigen testing was done by a private lab yesterday. Nanavati Hospital will conduct Swab tests for both Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan on Sunday.

READ | Aakar Patel Chooses Amitabh Bachchan's Covid Diagnosis To Fire Shocking Classist Attack
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Arrested revolutionary poet Varavara Rao's health is fast deteriorating and the State is trying to kill him, alleged his family on Sunday, further demanding urgent intervention from the authorities. Their immediate case of concern is to get him better tretment, they said.

Breaking down during a virtual press conference on Sunday, Varavara Rao's wife Hemalatha said, "During a phone call, he asked me if I attended his parents' funerals who died over seven decades back. He sounded weak and his voice and speech were muffled and incoherent switching from Telugu to Hindi abruptly."



As an eloquent and articulate public speaker and writer in Telugu for over five decades, a Telugu teacher for four decades and known for his meticulous memory, this fumbling, incoherence and loss of memory were in themselves strange and frightening, said Varavara Raos daughter Pavana. The call made on July 11 was much more worrisome as he did not answer straight questions on his health and seemed in a state of delirum.

As Varavara Rao was struggling to speak, his co-accused Vernon Gonsalves took the phone from him and informed his family that he is not able to walk, go to toilet and even brush his teeth on his own, they said.

We were also told that he is always hallucinating. He sees us and other family members waiting at the jail gate to receive as if he is getting released, Pavana said.

Alleging that no medical care is being given at the jail hospital, Pavana said, The confusion, loss of memory and incoherence are the results of electrolyte imbalance and fall of sodium and potassium levels leading to brain damage. This electrolyte imbalance may be fatal also. Taloja Jail Hospital is not at all equipped to handle this kind of serious medical condition. It is highly required that he be shifted to a fully equipped super specialty hospital to save his life and prevent possible brain damage and risk to life due to electrolyte imbalance.

We are extremely worried about Varvara Rao's health condition . His possesion is under Home Ministry of Central Govt and not under Maharashtra Govt. We appeal to the Central Govt to urgently shift him to a hospital.@AnilDeshmukhNCP  Dr.Jitendra Awhad (@Awhadspeaks) July 12, 2020

Stating that five-times his bail plea has been rejected, Varavaraos nephew N Venugopal said, Our single demand is to shift him to a multi-speciality hospital.

Rao, who is currently undergoing treatment in Taloja Jail Hospital in Mumbai, was arrested in November, 2018 for his alleged links with the Bhima Koregaon violance and a Maoist conspiracy to murder PM Narendra Modi. He was moved from Punes Yerwada prisons to Taloja central jail in the outskirts of Mumbai earlier this year. This was just a few days before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in India. Since then, the condition, especially in Mumbai, has been deteriorating.
By AFP

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis said Sunday he was "very distressed" over Turkey's decision to convert the Byzantine-era monument Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.

"My thoughts go to Istanbul. I'm thinking about Hagia Sophia. I am very distressed," the pope said in the Vatican's first reaction to a decision that has drawn international criticism.

The Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano had on Saturday carried reaction from different countries about Friday's decision to turn the monument from a museum back into a mosque but without any comment.

A magnet for tourists worldwide, the Hagia Sophia was first constructed as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire but was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who critics say is chipping away at the Muslim-majority country's secular pillars, announced Friday that Muslim prayers would begin on July 24 at the UNESCO World Heritage site.

In the past, he has repeatedly called for the stunning building to be renamed as a mosque and in 2018, he recited a verse from the Koran at Hagia Sophia.

Erdogan's announcement came after a top court cancelled a 1934 cabinet decision under modern Turkey's secularising founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk to preserve the church-turned-mosque as a museum.
The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Sunday refused to grant a default bail to civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad case. The court also granted NIA his custody for 10 days for interrogation.

The special court pronounced the order on the plea of NIA, in which the central agency sought an extension of the 90-day period to file a charge sheet against Navlakha and another accused, activist Dr Anand Teltumbde. The NIA claimed that its officers were unable to investigate properly owing to the Covid-19 outbreak. The agency also sought Navlakhas custody on the grounds that they need to interrogate him to unearth the conspiracy.

Navlakha sought a bail claiming that NIA failed to file a charge sheet against him within the stipulated period of 90 days. All the three applications were heard together by the court.

Navlakha was arrested in Delhi by the Pune Police on August 28, 2018, but his arrest was quashed by the Delhi high court. However, after the arrest was challenged, Navlakha and some other accused were put under house arrest from August 29 till October 1, 2018. This year in April, Navlakha and Teltumbde were arrested again.

Under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the agency gets a total period of 180 days to investigate a case and file a charge sheet. However, after the completion of 90 days, the agency has to show the progress in the investigation to seek an extension of 90 more days.

While seeking a default bail, Navlakhas lawyers claimed that the period during which he was put under house arrest should also be considered as period of detention for calculating 90 days.

The court, however, refused to accept the contention, observing that the period of house arrest cannot be included in the period of detention. The court also held that during the period of house arrest, Navlakha was never under the detention of police for investigation.

After rejecting his bail plea, the court directed the Taloja prison authorities to hand over Navlakhas custody to NIA from July 13 till July 22. The agency is directed to produce Navlakha before the special court on July 22. Meanwhile, the court also gave 90 more days to NIA to investigate the case and file a charge sheet against Navlakha and Teltumbde.

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A disgraced New York City priest, who was accused of embezzling $1 million from his congregations and allegedly using the money for sexual encounters with his own 'Sex Master', has been found dead in his New Jersey home.

Rev. Peter Miqueli, 57, was found dead at a Cornell Drive home in Brick Township Thursday, confirmed local cops, who did not provide more details about how the Roman Catholic priest died.

The Ocean County Medical Examiner started an investigation to determine how Miqueli died. A spokesperson was not immediately available when DailyMail.com reached out.

Miqueli resigned in December 2015 as pastor of New York City parish St. Frances de Chantal, located in the Bronx, after he was accused of living a sordid double-life as the urine-drinking sex slave of a musclebound S&M master, Keith Crist.

Rev. Peter Miqueli, 57, was found passed away at a Cornell Drive home in Brick Township Thursday. The Roman Catholic priest resigned from a New York parish he was heading in 2015 after he was accused of embezzling $1million he allegedly used for romps with a sex master

Miqueli was accused of living a sordid double-life as the urine-drinking sex slave of a musclebound S&M master, Keith Crist (pictured)

The priest was alleged to have paid out $1million to bodybuilder Keith Crist, in exchange for an unspecified number of $1,000 sexual interludes, allegedly funded by embezzling from church coffers.

Crist when located by the New York Post was unnerved by the news of the priest's death. 'I can't even speak right now' he told the newspaper before he hung up.

The priest also was alleged to have spent the money on as much as $60,000 in 'illicit prescriptions', according to a lawsuit filed by his parishioners.

Miqueli was even accused of using the funds to cover the cost of his $264,000 home in Brick, according to a lawsuit filed by his parishioners.

The priest's brother Joseph said he was notified by cops about his brother's passing, but said he didn't have anymore information.

'I don't know what happened to my brother. They won't even tell me where they found him, how they found him,' he said.

The brother said he and Miqueli were no longer speaking, but that he texted the priest every year on his birthday, July 7.

'No matter what he did, he was still my brother and I still love him,' Joseph told the Post. The priest and his brother were among 12 siblings.

Miqueli was even accused of using the funds to cover the cost of his $264,000 home in Brick, according to a lawsuit filed by his parishioners

Miqueli resigned in December 2015 as pastor of New York City parish St. Frances de Chantal (pictured), located in the Bronx, after he was accused of living a sordid double-life as the urine-drinking sex slave of a musclebound S&M master, Keith Crist

The Archdiocese of New York said at the time of the lawsuit that the allegations against Miqueli could not be substantiated. An investigation by authorities did conclude he had taken more than $22,000 collected from congregants.

The archdiocese repaid the sum and no charges were filed, the Post reported.

The disposition of the lawsuit was not known.

Miqueli also had begged to have a threesome with his girlfriend at the time, she claimed.

Tatyana Gudin said the priest was trying to lure her into his erotic fantasies.

According to Gudin, Miqueli and Crist, who is in his 40s, used whips, chains and chastity belts in drug-fueled romps which culminated in the bodybuilder urinating in the priest's mouth while he was still dressed in his dog collar.

Details of the alleged sexual romps were revealed in a lawsuit filed by parishioners just before Miqueli resigned 4 1/2 years ago.

Gudin piled extra claims on top of the suit, telling the New York Post that Miqueli tried to drag her in as well.

Gudin, who was dating Crist at the time, said: 'When Miqueli met me for the first time, he told Keith he thought I was pretty.

'Miqueli started asking Keith to try to pull me into their perverted sex games. I, of course, declined.'

Gudin had previously claimed that Miqueli focused his attentions on her in the hope of fulfilling a 'sick fantasy of defiling a pretty Jewish girl'.

Miqueli, accused of stealing over $1million in donations to fund the alleged sex romps, was accused of using the donation plate at leading churches on Roosevelt Island and in The Bronx when he led congregations there to pay for the encounters with Crist.

Gudin at the time alerted New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, but said nothing changed.

She wrote: 'I would like to tell you who your priest, Father Miqueli, really is. Keith has been Father Miquelis gay, for-pay prostitute [sic].

'More specifically, Father Miqueli is Keith Crist's toilet slave.

'If you don't know what that means, Cardinal, I will break it down for you...

'Keith Crist uses Father Miqueli as his toilet, and Father Miqueli drinks his p*** during their weekly, 3 day get-togethers when they take off to Father Miquelis [sic] house in Brick, NJ, far away from prying eyes.'

An email from a New York Archdiocese lawyer confirmed to the Post that Gudin's emails were received.

Gudin also claimed in her email that Miqueli had an interfaith fantasy of being humiliated in front of a 'nice Jewish girl' in Borough Park, Brooklyn.

Gudin, Crist's former girlfriend and confidante of ten years, wrote to Dolan about Miqueli's taste for high-end booze and put Crist in charge of a church thrift shop in order to pay for their luxuries.

'Miqueli loved to enjoy $300 bottles of Scotch,' she wrote. 'All on a priest's $2,474-a-month salary.'

She wrote that Miqueli had fired the St Frances thrift-shop staff in order to put Crist in charge, who turned it into thriving business, but 'only reported $50,000/year'.

'To add insult to injury, to cover his imbezzling [sic] activities, Miqueli would every so often fire whoever was the right-hand employee in the thrift shop, by accusing them of... theft!' she wrote in her email.
Presidential committee to review prisoner appeals for pardon By Ranjith Padmasiri View(s): View(s):

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed an eight-member committee to examine convicted prisoners appeals for presidential pardons, Presidential Secretariat sources said.

The committee has been appointed, taking into consideration the issue of overcrowding in prisons and the danger posed to prisoners from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The eight-member committee is headed by Bar Association (BASL) President Kalinga Indatissa. Its other members are BASL Vice President Shavindra Fernando; the Colombo Universitys senior law lecturer Menaka Arankaha; the Justice Ministrys Additional Secretary (Legal) Piumanthi Peiris; Prisons Commissioner General Thushara Upuldeniya; the Presidential Secretariats Legal Director Hariguptha Rohanadheera; former BASL Secretary Kaushalya Nawaratne; and the Presidential Secretariats Public Relations Unit Director Kapila Gunasinghe.

The committee has been appointed on the grounds that the President has received a large number of appeals from convicted inmates to grant them presidential pardons.

The committees mandate is to examine each inmates appeal for a pardon and make observations and recommendations to the President for further action. It will categorise the appeals based on a range of factors including the nature of the crime committed, the time spent in prison and the behaviour of the inmate while in prison.

The committee is expected to submit its observations and recommendations on the first set of appeals within the next several weeks.
By Arthur I. Cyr





"Judges are not politicians in robes."



Judge Neil Gorsuch, nominated for our Supreme Court in 2017, used that phrase to emphasize the law's majesty, and by the way to avoid answering hypothetical questions by politicians known as United States Senators.



In June, the court issued three decisions on politically charged matters. They struck down a Louisiana law requiring hospital-admitting privileges for doctors conducting abortions, extended federal civil rights protection to LGBT employees, and halted Trump administration plans to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which protects that category of undocumented immigrants.



Another important decision, stating the president has authority to remove directors of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, should satisfy conservatives. This matter, however, is less emotionally charged.



Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the majority in these decisions. This reversed his earlier vote on a similar abortion case, Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, when he was in the conservative minority.



That decision is now law and precedent, a rejoinder to critics who criticize the chief justice for changing his position. Justices should pursue the law, not personal preference.

In this sense, Gorsuch was right. Our common law system is the foundation of our government. Judges should not make decisions lightly or arbitrarily. They rarely do, especially at the federal level. Yet intense partisanship charges the most controversial, visible issues, including those just cited.



Therefore, we should remember the great majority of Supreme Court decisions are not 5-4, but involve margins more substantial. Such cases can also be extremely controversial.



An excellent example is the 2011 decision in Snyder v. Phelps regarding freedom of speech. In an 8 to 1 decision, the Court determined a hate group could picket military funerals, despite the added suffering imposed on those bereaved. The bigoted "church" involved craves publicity, pursued in disgusting ways, and will not be named here. The First Amendment protects their free speech, and ours.



By contrast, in June 2012 the Court narrowly upheld the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and a related law. National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius was decided 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining liberal justices. President Barack Obama's statement immediately after the Court decision emphasized benefits for people in need, not the legal considerations.



The Court confirmed the Affordable Care Act on authority to levy taxes. The Obama administration had argued that requiring insurance was justified under the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution.



The Court rejected this. The taxation basis permitted Roberts to join liberal justices. He has stated his goals include greater Court consensus, laudable but very difficult.



Roberts, confirmed in 2005, is erudite, cool under pressure, comparable to Gorsuch. Hapless Justice Brett Kavanaugh, confirmed after painful public controversy in 2018, lacks such skills.



This recalls another chief justice, Earl Warren. On taking office in 1953, Warren confronted a 5-4 division on the Brown vs. Board of Education school desegregation case. Warren delayed voting and spent months talking with his colleagues. The ultimate vote was 9-0.



Earl Warren was a successful career politician. Historically, politicians were well represented on the Supreme Court. President Abraham Lincoln, a successful trial lawyer and remarkably skillful politician, elevated Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, a powerful rival, to be Chief Justice of the Court. Chase excelled in the difficult job.



Roberts has written that the Founders of the United States were "practical statesmen, not metaphysical philosophers." The academics and activists comprising today's Supreme Court should heed this.





Arthur I. Cyr (acyr@carthage.edu) is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of "After the Cold War" (NYU Press and Palgrave/Macmillan).


Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 21:01:27|Editor: huaxia

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BAGHDAD, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Unknown militants attacked a convoy of trucks carrying U.S. logistical equipment in southern Iraq, an Interior Ministry source said on Sunday.

The attack took place on Saturday night when gunmen riding pickups forced the convoy to stop between the cities of Samawah and Diwaniyah and set fire to the trucks, which was carrying U.S. army's furniture and military vehicles, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The trucks were traveling from neighboring Kuwait to a U.S. base in Taji Camp in the north of Baghdad when the gunmen attacked the convoy and forced the drivers to get off the trucks before they set them on fire and fled the scene, the source said.

A police force from Diwaniyah arrived at the scene and took the drivers for interrogation as they launched an investigation into the incident, the source added.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the military bases housing U.S. troops across Iraq and the U.S. embassy in the Green Zone have been frequently targeted by insurgent mortar and rocket attacks.

The attacks came as the Iraqi-U.S. relations have witnessed a tension since Jan. 3 when a U.S. 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.

More than 5,000 U.S. 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.
Russia, China veto Western-backed UNSC resolution on Syria aid

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 11 July 2020 6:08 AM

Russia and China have for the second time this week blocked a Western-sponsored UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution to extend aid deliveries across the border from Turkey into northwest Syria amid concerns that the move violates the war-torn country's sovereignty.

On Friday, Russia and China vetoed the Belgian-German draft resolution, which would have kept two border crossings from Turkey - Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam - open for an additional six months.

It came hours before the expiry of the UN cross-border delivery mechanism to Syria, which was set up in 2014 and renewed ever since.

Moscow and Beijing argue that the mechanism violates Syria's sovereignty and that aid should be channelled through the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Concerns have also grown over Western efforts, which are made under the guise of humanitarian assistance, to support Takfiri terrorist groups that have been suffering heavy defeats against Syrian government forces.

Germany and Belgium said in a joint statement after the vote that they remain committed to ensure what they called the "critical lifeline" to "millions of people in dire need of cross-border assistance in Syria."

China said the US sanctions are to blame for Syria's collapsing economy.

"Humanitarian situation in Syria is dire largely because of the US unilateral sanctions," the Chinese mission to the UN tweeted. "The so-called humanitarian exemption brings no difference. It is more urgent than ever for the US to lift its ruthless sanctions against the Syrian people."

Also on Friday, Russia put forward a rival draft of its own that authorized the Syria aid operation only through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, but for one year.

However, the UN Security Council failed to adopt the Russian document as it received seven 'no' votes and four 'yes' votes, with four abstentions.

Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy stressed that Bab al-Hawa "accounts for more than 85 per cent of total volume of operations."

"We categorically reject claims that Russia wants to stop humanitarian deliveries to the Syrian population in need. Our draft is the best proof that these allegations are groundless," he tweeted.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft claimed that the Russian draft resolution "turns a blind eye to Syrians in dire need of humanitarian aid & makes a mockery of the UNSC."

Polyanskiy replied, "There's one thing, Kelly, that you preferred not to mention in your philippic - our draft that you killed actually PROLONGED CBM for 1yr for the most important border crossing in #Idlib. Now your irresponsible maneuvering puts even this arrangement at risk!"

On Tuesday, Russia and China vetoed an initial German-Belgium resolution authorizing the two Turkey crossings for one year.

Adopted in 2014, Security Resolution 2165 enabled UN agencies and their implementing partners to send humanitarian assistance across Jordan, Iraq and Turkey to the areas controlled by anti-Damascus militants in Syria.

In January 2020, the UNSC adopted a resolution extending the cross-border aid mechanism for six months but reducing the number of checkpoints from four to two.

Russia believes that at a time when the Syrian government retakes more regions, international aid to the militant-held areas can be delivered in coordination with Damascus.

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It was to be Natalie Wood's final scene. At 7.45am on November 29, 1981, the body of the triple-Oscar nominee - Love with the Proper Stranger, Splendor in the Grass, Rebel Without a Cause - was found in a dark and lonely cove off Santa Catalina Island.

The terrible irony of her death that night was that in 1980, Natalie had said in an interview: "I've always been terrified, still am, of water; dark water; sea water..."

There is an apocryphal story that a fortune teller had once told Natalie Wood's mother, Maria, that she would drown... and this fear of water had been passed on to her child.

The star who was called 'The Most Beautiful Teenager in the World' by LIFE magazine in 1956 was dead at 43 years of age - her body floating just beneath the surface of the water.

It remains one of Tinseltown's greatest mysteries.

It was from her 55-foot cruiser Splendour that Natalie Wood had vanished at 11pm the night before; with unconfirmed reports that there were shouts heard from the water that night. (Marilyn Wayne, a Los Angeles commodities broker, on a nearby boat to Splendour claimed to hear a voice screaming: "Help me, someone please help me!")

"This is the Splendour... need help," was how Wood's husband Robert Wagner notified the coast guard at 1.30am. (Author Suzanne Finstad noted: "The first call isn't made until 1:30 in the morning... That's two-and-a-half hours between the time that someone is heard screaming in the water.")

At around 11pm, Wood is believed to have left her cabin after a drunken row with Wagner, involving the actor Christopher Walken, who was also on the boat that night. (Walken was at the time making the movie Brainstorm with Wood.) The ship's captain Dennis Davern, gave a sworn statement to police alleging that Wagner shouted at Walken: "Do you want to f**k my wife? Is that what you want?"

So, were Wood and Walken involved in a dalliance of some description? Wagner wrote in his 2009 memoir, Pieces of My Heart: "The thought occurred that she was having an emotional affair." Was this what fuelled his alleged anger that night ? Please note: Wood's and Wagner's first marriage to each other broke up because of Wood's affair with Warren Beatty, on the set of Splendor in the Grass in 1961.

After allegedly accusing Walker of wanting to sleep with his wife, Wagner smashed a bottle of wine. Wood then disappeared to her cabin and was not seen again until her dead body (in a flannel nightgown, red down jacket, and blue wool socks) was discovered eight hours later by Roger Smith of the coast guard.

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Wagner, in his memoir, saw the argument differently. "Chris [Walken] began talking about his 'total pursuit of a career', which he admitted was more important to him than his personal life. He clearly thought Natalie should live like that, too," Wagner wrote. "I got angry. 'Why don't you stay out of her career?' I said. 'She's got enough people telling her what to do without you'."

Wagner claimed Wood then left. "The last time I saw my wife, she was fixing her hair in the bathroom while I was arguing with Chris. I saw her shut the door. She was going to bed."

Born July 20, 1938, in San Francisco, Natasha Zakharenko, as she was then, was manipulated by her overbearing mother Maria with a mixture of ambition and fear. When she was only five years of age, Maria placed her on the lap of director Irving Pichel, who was shooting Happy Land and landed Wood a part in the film. (Years later, Wood said that her mother told her to "make Mr Pichel love you".) She grew up in front of the camera, literally from that age on.

"God made her," Maria told one reporter, letting her guard down for once, "I invented her."

Another tale that emerged was that Maria, "a pimp", arranged for her 15-year-old daughter to be seduced by a 38-year-old Frank Sinatra.

There is also an apocryphal story that Wood's mother stopped her teenage daughter from going to the police after a Hollywood producer allegedly raped Wood during an audition.

In 1947, eight-year-old Natalie starred in Miracle on 34th Street. Eight years later, she starred opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. She was just sixteen.

Even a cursory skim of some of the books written about Natalie Wood leaves one with the unmistakable impression that she was insecure, if not unstable, all her adult life.

New York grand dame Liz Smith wrote that Wood's private life (the 'public' private life) was not as "messy" as Liz Taylor or Judy Garland's, yet her whole "life was an endless search to understand herself". Deprived, even robbed, of her childhood by her mother, Wood's state of mind as an adult was volatile, complicated, and reliant on her psychiatrist and her meds.

There is the story, impossible to verify, that in 1967 she turned down ex-lover Warren Beatty's offer to play opposite him in Bonnie and Clyde because she did not want to be apart from her shrink for a long period of time.

"I spent practically all my time in the company of adults," Wood said of her early years. "I was very withdrawn, very shy, I did what I was told and I tried not to disappoint anybody."

Wood's romantic relationships seemed typically dysfunctional and short-lived. She had flings with, among others, Warren Beatty, Elvis, Steve McQueen, Frank Sinatra, and American politician Jerry Brown (whose manhood she described as being "like a wand".)

Suzanne Finstad's notorious 2002 pot-boiler Natasha alleged that Wood was addicted to prescription medications as well as suffering from alcoholism and anorexia, quoting actor Robert Hyatt as saying: "Natalie would get up in the morning and take a dexie, then she would have a bowl of chicken noodle soup and white wine for breakfast."

Maybe some of the most poignant words about Natalie Wood - amid all the sordid sludge - were spoken by one of her friends, Tom Mankiewicz, after she died: "Studio life from an early age had cut Natalie off from so much, and she was eager to make up for it, but I often had the impression that she never knew exactly how to live her life.

"To stay on an even keel, Natalie needed all her cards, and she was very afraid of losing her beauty card." That card is at the bottom of the ocean now.

Natalie Wood married Robert Wagner, eight years her senior, for the second time, on July 16, 1972, aboard the yacht Ramblin' Rose. There had been a brief marriage to producer Richard Gregson in between (from May, 1969 to August, 1971), which she ended when she accused him of having an affair with his secretary and threw him out.

When Wood died, Wagner was to bring up his and Natalie's daughter, Courtney, as well as Natalies daughter Natasha from the marriage to Gregson.

From the beginning, Wagner and Wood's relationship seemed too fairytale - even for Hollywood - to last. Wood recorded their first date, arranged by the studio, thus: "Two lonely stars found their orbit - each other - and they were one."

Wagner himself was to write this melodramatic homage that would have made Mills & Boon blush: "At dinner, we both sensed things were different. I sent her flowers and the dates continued. I remember the instant I fell in love with her. One night on board a small boat I owned, she looked at me with love, her dark brown eyes lit by a table lantern. That moment changed my life."

Far more interesting reading, however, is what Wagner wrote many years later in his memoir: "There are only two possibilities: either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened. Did I blame myself? If I had been there, I could have done something. But I wasn't there. I didn't see her."

It was dubbed the 'curse of Rebel Without a Cause', because Wood's two co-stars in the 1955 classic, James Dean and Sal Mineo, had both suffered tragic and untimely deaths: Dean, just 24 years of age, in a car accident on September 30, 1955, near Cholame, California; Mineo, aged 37, stabbed to death in the alley behind his apartment in Hollywood on February 12, 1976.

Fortune tellers' prophecies, Hollywood curses, foul play, or merely a drunken, tragic fall into the sea late at night, the tragedy of Natalie Wood's death still fascinates the world almost 35 years later.

Last month, author Marti Rulli wrote an open letter to Natasha Wood, the 45-year-old daughter by producer Richard Gregson, who was launching her perfume 'Natalie', denouncing her for keeping silent until "you have something to sell".

Rulli, the author of the 2009 book Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendor added, a tad hysterically: "You are a victim of your step-father's empire of lies and deceit. The empire would crumble if you cooperate with the law, and you cannot face it, or you do not want to face it."

In February of this year, Natalie Wood's sister Lana is alleged to have confronted Wagner in the lobby as he entered a reception and demanded that he tell the truth about that terrible night in 1981. In a video that was recently posted online by the Radar website, Wagner is heard responding: "Lana, why would you even bring up anything like that? I have talked to everybody. You have accused me! You have accused me of murdering her!"

Her death remains a mystery that has haunted Hollywood to this day. Why would Natalie Wood, who had an almost pathological dread of dark water and drowning (after having almost drowned during the filming of The Green Promise in 1949 when she was a 10-year-old), have attempted to get into a dinghy at midnight off the coast of California on that ill-fated Thanksgiving weekend? Did she fall in? Or was she pushed?

In 1985, Christopher Walken ended his silence to say this: "The people who are convinced that there was something more to it than what came out in the investigation will never be satisfied with the truth. Because the truth is, there is nothing more to it. It was an accident."

Heavily hinting at foul play of some description, Natalie's sister Lana told CNN in 2010: "My sister was not a swimmer and did not know how to swim. She would never go to another boat or to shore dressed in a nightgown and socks."

A few years ago, Joan Rivers said: "Nobody really believes that RJ [as Wagner was known to his friends] consciously had anything to do with Natalie's death. But something happened that night on that boat. It wasn't just a sweet, sad accident."

Vanity Fair magazine concluded that Wood's death was the "final act in a two-day drama of jealousy and rage, fuelled by round-the-clock drinking."

The coroner's report found that Natalie had drunk seven or eight glasses of wine (Pouilly-Fuisse and had also imbibed from two shared bottles of Champagne) before the incident, concluding that the cause of death was "accidental drowning".

In 2013, the Los Angeles County coroner's office changed the cause of death from "accidental drowning" to "drowning and other undetermined factors".

Last month, one of the last people to see Natalie Wood alive, boat captain Dennis Davern, wrote an open letter to the Los Angeles Police Department claiming Robert Wagner "deserves to be arrested" for Natalie Wood's death. He claims that when "detectives had me hooked up to their polygraph test equipment, when I was asked, 'Did Robert Wagner murder Natalie Wood?', I answered yes - and I passed the test!"

Davern said he only decided to speak publicly about this because Natalie Wood's daughter Natasha had said that those who believe Robert Wagner murdered her mother are "conspiracy theorists".

"The last expression I saw on her face [Wood's] was pure humiliation as she stormed off to her stateroom," Davern also alleged. Closer to the truth is that Dennis Davern appears to be as slippery as the deck of the Splendour on the night of November 29th, 1981. Rather than trying to uncover the real truth about what happened to Natalie Wood so that the actress may finally rest in peace, Davern's motivation seems somewhat more base.

He has been trying to hawk his part of the story to the highest bidder in tabloidland for years. There was a farcical appearance in February 1992 on Geraldo Rivera's Now It Can Be Told, when Davern was filmed without his knowledge with author Marti Rulli, with whom he was writing a book about Natalie Wood. Rulli is heard prompting Davern to tell Geraldo: "They were yelling and screaming at each other to get off the boat... "

Davern is heard to respond: "Oh God, I don't know if I can tell them that or not." Rulli angrily replies: "Ten years of this, Dennis! This needs to be cleared up! We have to say how she got in the water, Den." Rulli is heard suggesting to Davern to tell Geraldo: "Don't you tell them how she got into the water - we put that in the book and we'll make billions from it."

Perhaps the only victim in all of this is Natalie Wood's legacy. Her name has been dragged through the mud at the bottom of the ocean ever since she drowned. Everybody has been out to make a dime out of her, dead or alive. And not just Dennis Davern.

Thomas Noguchi, chief medical examiner in the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, in his 1983 book Coroner, posed the question: "Wasn't it strange that the two men on the yacht didn't even know that she had left the boat? Why had she slipped out to the stern of the yacht in the middle of the night, climbed down a ladder, and untied the dinghy? What was she doing? And where was she going? And why?"

Suicide was even floated as a possible cause of her death (in 1966, Wood had allegedly attempted to take her own life with a drug overdose).

Wood drank heavily, was in an unhappy marriage - and almost as devastating for Natalie who had been a star since childhood, she was stuck in a rut of B-movies; her once-illustrious movie career was but a memory from the distant past.

There was a story that when Natalie heard that Meryl Streep had been cast as the lead in Sophie's Choice, a role she desperately wanted, she was inconsolable.

Added to this, Wood allegedly had a falling out with her publicist Kathie Berlin the month before she died over a feature in the 'Over-Forty' issue of Harper's Bazaar. "I thought she'd be thrilled," Berlin was reported to have said. "But she was furious and screamed at me, 'How dare you let them know I'm over 40?'. After that, she wouldn't talk to me."

Natalie Wood was not in a good place in her life, emotionally. But then, she rarely had been.

"Natalie," wrote Suzanne Finstad, "was always on the precipice of a crisis."

The last two entries in her private diary were "the undertow is very strong today" and, then, "this loneliness won't leave me alone". It seemed, just like Wood's life had come to embody her character, Judy, in Rebel Without a Cause, when she tells James Dean's misfit teen Jim Stark: "All this time I've been looking for somebody to love me."

Be that as it may, however, it was plain to see that the movie star was loved by the world. Upon her death, the tributes poured in. Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Elia Kazan, Gregory Peck, David Niven and Fred Astaire carried Natalie's coffin on December 2, 1981, at her funeral in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. Queen Elizabeth II sent Wagner her royal condolences by telegram.

A few months ago, 86-year-old Wagner, who wed actress Jill St. John in 1990, said of Wood's death in an interview with People magazine. "We were all so shattered by the loss, and we were all hanging on to each other. You just take it moment by moment and it gets better," he said.

In the same interview, Wood's daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner, who was just 11 when her mother died, spoke of before and after that fateful boat trip.

"I wanted her to stay home. I had a funny feeling. I don't know if it was just being a child who didn't want her mom to leave or what it was, but I didn't want her to go. I got the news [of her mother's death] when I was at a sleepover. It was like my life was in colour; and she died, and then it was black and white."

Still waters run deep.
Washington: Newly-limited humanitarian aid will continue flowing to northwest Syria under a UN Security Council Resolution passed on Saturday that appeared to satisfy no council member and led to harsh recriminations among them.

Under a compromise reached after days of negotiations and failed votes, only one of two existing border crossings through Turkey will remain open for the next year.

Members of a Turkish pro-government aid group wait in Istanbul for the departure of trucks carrying humanitarian aid destined for Idlib, Syria. Credit:AP

A majority of 12 members, led by Germany and Belgium and including the US, had argued, along with the United Nations and aid agencies, that closing the second crossing will deprive 1.5 million people between the city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, a third of them children, of their only lifeline for desperately needed food and medical assistance.

Russia and China, which had vetoed earlier resolutions for expanded aid and unsuccessfully proposed language critical of Western sanctions against the Syrian government, abstained in the final vote.
KAMPALA  Uganda has been ranked the sixth most popular destination in Africa for hosting international conferences and events in the 2019

statistics report released by the International Congress and Convention Association

(ICCA).

ICCA represents the worlds leading association for the global meetings, conference and events industry.

The rank is a four point advancement from the 2018 report where Uganda ranked 10th.

Uganda has over the last 5 years ranked consistently in the top 10 African destinations for hosting international conferences and events.

The rankings are based on the number of association meetings taking place regularly, rotating between at least

three different countries and with 50 participants.

UTB CEO, Lilly Ajarova, says Uganda in 2019 hosted 22 association

meetings including the 64th Commonwealth Parliamentarians Conference, 8th African

Population Conference, Africa Now Summit, 4th African Judicial Dialogue and the 2nd Congress of the African Primatological Conference; among others all which attracted a variance of domestic, regional and international visitors and contributed to the rankings that currently place Uganda as a top Meeting and Events destination in Africa.

In 2020, Uganda had organised and was scheduled to host a number of notable

conferences and meetings that had to be rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

These included among others; the G77 summit, Africa Climate week, World Health Summit, CBR World Congress and the AfrAA Conference, Ajarova explained.

She highlighted that many of these conferences have been rescheduled to take place in 2021 pending confirmation of the dates as the COVID-19 pandemic is examined and travel restrictions reviewed.

As Uganda continues to grow its MICE industry, the next few years will see our association meetings increase as the world normalises in the post COVID era, Ajarova concluded.

Related
A United States based Ghanaian lawyer has dragged the Attorney General to the Supreme Court following the President's directive to the Auditor General to proceed on his accumulated leave.



Mr Daniel Domelovo, the Auditor General has about 130 days of accumulated leave hence on July 4, this year, the President directed him to proceed on leave.



To the US based Ghanaian lawyer, Professor Kweku Asare, the President's directive was unconstitutional.



In an interlocutory injunction, Prof Asare is seeking an order directed at the President, his agents, privies, assigns, servants whatsoever to cease and desist from issuing directives to the Auditor General.



He is further seeking an order that except for stated ground in Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution, the Auditor Generals tenure cannot be disturbed whether couched as involuntary or accumulated leave.



He further contended that the directive by the President amounts to removal which the courts must remedy.



Prof. Asare held that the declaration by the President to Mr Domelovo to hand over to his deputy Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu was inconsistent with or in contravention with the letter and spirit of Articles 187 (1) 187(7) of the Constitution.



Prof Asare stated that the appointment of Mr Asiedu to act as Auditor General contravenes the Constitution.



He is therefore seeking an order directed at Mr Asiedu to desist from performing the acting role of the Auditor General.



He contended that Mr Asiedu has not taken the Oath of the Auditor General and cannot be said to be acting in that position.



Joined in the suit are Mr Asiedu and the Auditor General/ Office of the Auditor General.



The suit is expected to be moved on July 29, this year at the Supreme Court.

Source: GNA









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Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 03:56:53|Editor: huaxia

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People cycle past an election campaign advertisement billboard of Poland's incumbent President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, Poland, July 13, 2020. Poland's incumbent President Andrzej Duda has won re-election after winning the second-round election, the National Electoral Commission (PKW) said on Monday. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/Xinhua)

WARSAW, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Poland's incumbent president Andrzej Duda was ahead by a tiny margin in Sunday's presidential run-off, showed an Ipsos exit poll.

According to Ipsos, Duda, who is supported by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, received 50.4 percent of the vote, while his rival, Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski -- backed by the main opposition party Civic Platform (PO) -- won 49.6 percent.

With margins well within the 2 percentage point margin of error, the race is too close to call until at least partial results come in, with a distinct possibility that a winner can only be pointed out after all ballots are counted.

Under the State Electoral Commission's optimistic scenario, the official results of the presidential run-off could come late on Monday or in the night from Monday to Tuesday. Otherwise, the final results will be announced by 11 pm on Tuesday, according to the Polish Press Agency.

With 68.9 percent of the around 30 million Polish voters casting their ballot, the turnout surpassed the record set during the presidential elections of 1995, at 68.2, according to Ipsos.
Yemens internationally-recognised government has warned the tanker could explode and cause an environmental disaster.

Yemens Houthi rebels have agreed to allow the United Nations access to a stranded oil tanker that risks causing an environmental disaster off the coast of the war-divided country, Reuters news agency has reported, citing UN sources familiar with the matter.

The decaying oil tanker has been abandoned off the coast with 1.1 million barrels of crude on board which experts say could rupture at any time.

A breach of the vessel would have disastrous results for Red Sea marine life and tens of thousands of impoverished people who depend on fishing for their livelihood.

The 45-year-old FSO Safer is anchored off the port of Hodeidah under the control of Houthi rebels, who have previously blocked efforts to send inspectors to assess its condition.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) will hold a special meeting on July 15 to discuss the crisis, after water entered the vessels engine room which could have led to disaster, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

Dujarric said prospects had been revived for an inspection team to conduct light repairs and determine the next steps, and a UN source on Sunday said the Houthis had agreed to the visit.

They officially approved the visit of the UN assessment and repair team to the tanker, the source told AFP news agency on Sunday.

Effectively a floating storage platform, the Safer has had virtually no maintenance for five years since war broke out in the country, where the Houthis have seized much of the north from the internationally-recognised government.

The Yemen government has warned the Safer could explode and cause the largest environmental disaster regionally and globally.

Top Houthi leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said on Twitter last month the rebels want guarantees the vessel will be repaired and the value of the oil on board is used to pay salaries of their employees.



The market value of the oil is now estimated at $40m, half of what it was before crude prices crashed, although experts say poor quality could push it even lower.

Like other economic and aid issues in Yemen, the plight of the tanker has become a bargaining chip, with the Houthis accused of using the threat of disaster to secure control of the value of the cargo.

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed on Thursday said the money for the oil should be spent on health and humanitarian projects.

Armed Houthis gather outside the United Nations offices to denounce the Saudi-led coalitions blockade [File: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]

Ticking time bomb

Apart from corrosion to the ageing vessel, essential work on reducing explosive gases in the storage tanks has been neglected for years. Experts said the latest problem emerged in May with a leak in a cooling pipe.

The pipe burst, sending water into the engine room and creating a really dangerous situation, said Ian Ralby, CEO of IR Consilium, a global maritime consultancy which follows the vessel closely.

A team from Yemens Safer Exploration and Production Operations, a public oil company partly controlled by the Houthis, sent divers in to fix the leak, narrowly avoiding the ship sinking, Ralby said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned last week if the tanker ruptures it will devastate the Red Sea ecosystem and disrupt key shipping lanes.

The Houthis must grant access before this ticking time bomb explodes, he said.

Hodeidah port is a lifeline for northern Yemen with 90 percent of all supplies coming through it. Any disruption would inflict further hardship on a country which is again on the brink of famine after long years of conflict.





If the vessel ruptures youre going to have two catastrophes, said Lise Grande, the UNs humanitarian coordinator for Yemen.

Theres going to be an environmental catastrophe thats bigger than almost any other similar kind  and its going to be a humanitarian catastrophe because that oil will make the port of Hodeidah unusable, she told AFP.

Independent Yemen-based environmental group Holm Akhdar  Arabic for Green Dream  warned an oil spill could stretch out from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and into the Arabian Sea.

The regions ecology would need more than 30 years to recover from an oil spillage that size, it said in a recent report, adding that about 115 of Yemens Red Sea islands would lose their biodiversity and natural habitats.



In a country where the majority of people already rely on aid to survive, an estimated 126,000 fishermen, including 68,000 in Hodeidah, would lose their only source of income.

IR Consilium said any salvage operation after an oil spill would be greatly hampered by the coronavirus crisis.

In the midst of a global pandemic and on the edge of a conflict zone, the chances of an early and adequate response are vanishingly small, it said in a report.

Doug Weir, research and policy director at the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory, said without an independent assessment it is impossible to determine when an incident might occur, or its form and severity.

However the risks are clear, and the longer the dispute continues, the greater they become, and the more complex and expensive any salvage operation will be.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and former defence minister Sharad Pawar said that the issues with China should be resolved with dialogue and diplomatic strategies with the help of intervention by other nations and the United Nations. Pawar also said that Indias main opponent is China and not Pakistan but New Delhi cannot afford a direct war with it.

Pawar, in the second part of the three-part interview to Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana, said that the Modi government tried to take a different stand on Indias relations with other countries but it did not work.

We never changed our foreign policies for the relations with other countries and they were in continuation since Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi or even Atal Behari Vajpayees rule. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to take a different stand by calling Chinese President Xi Jinping on friendly visits and treated him on a swing (at the banks of Sabarmati). Modi tried to create a picture of having created ties of friendship with the neighbour. But these efforts have not worked, he said.

Also read: CM made a cautious decision to ease lockdown - Pawar in Saamana interview

Pawar said that China has successfully wooed all neighbouring countries including Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka against India. PM Modis first visit after taking over as the prime minister was to Nepal, but the neighbour now stands by China. Pakistan has already shifted its loyalty. India played a major role in the liberation of Bangladesh, but the country recently inked an agreement with China. Same is the case with Sri Lanka. This means all the countries surrounding India have started talking against it. The disagreement in relationship with these neighbours is the latest contribution (of Modi government), he said.

The NCP chief said that the issues with China cannot be resolved by war. Our military strength is just a tenth of Chinas and in such a backdrop, we cannot have direct war with the neighbour. It is true that we have readied our military forces and could have a war and are ready to pay the price if the need be. But instead of that, we should try to solve it with diplomatic strategies and dialogue. We have lost our territory to China more than 50 years ago and we have our dispute with it over it. We should build pressure with the help of other countries and the United Nations to regain it, he said.

Pawar said that though Chinas first enemy, almost three decades back, was the United States or Japan, it has now started posing against India and it was its strategy. When I visited China as defence minister in 1993 and met the then president of China, he had hinted at this. He had said that the country does not want to have any clashes with the neighbouring countries as their main target at that point of time was the US. He had said that they will look at neighbouring countries after about 25 years, he said.

Pawar, while replying to a question by Saamanas executive editor Sanjay Raut, said that the countrys economic crisis needs to be handled differently. He said that the Modi government needs to adopt a different policy for the revival of the economy which has been in the crisis in the view of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Millions of children forced into labor as COVID-19 creates global hunger crisis: World Vision

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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused at least 110 million children to go hungry and pushed 8 million others into child labor and begging, according to assessments in 24 countries across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia by evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization World Vision.

Other international groups like the United Nations and World Food Programme have warned that the economic impact of the new coronavirus is bound to increase child hunger, violence and poverty at alarming levels, and those predictions were confirmed by World Visions assessments.

COVID-19 is already affecting parents and caregivers ability to meet the needs of their children, says the World Vision report, titled Out of Time: COVID-19 Aftershocks.

Without urgent action, this will only get worse given that every second child, out of 2 billion children in the world, is living in poverty, it adds.

The report shows that a third of the 14,000 households in nine countries in Asia have already lost jobs or income since the coronavirus outbreak. Sixty percent of these families depend on casual (daily) labor as a crucial source of income, it says, adding that a quarter of all families surveyed did not have any food stocks on hand, and one third had only one weeks supply left.

In Cambodia, 28% of households facing loss of jobs and income were sending children out to work, and in Bangladesh, 34% were sending children to beg, the assessment found.

In urban slums in India, 40% of respondents reported a spike in domestic violence due to travel restrictions and a reduction in family income.

In Africa, 59% of respondents from communities World Visions works with reported spending less on healthy and nutritious food.

In Latin America, refugees are severely affected by the loss of income and one-third of children are going to bed hungry, the report says.

In Chile, 82 percent of the interviewees report having serious problems obtaining food, and in Venezuela, 70 percent have no access to food, which means that children under age five are at high risk of being malnourished. The report also shows 28 percent of the children surveyed are at risk of eviction from their homes, with seven percent already having been evicted.

According to a projection by the United Nations, up to 66 million more children could fall into extreme poverty because of the pandemic, adding to the estimated 385 million children who were already living in extreme poverty as of last year.

Health journal The Lancet has predicted that in the most severe scenario, reduced access to nutritious food could lead to an additional 1.15 million child deaths over six months.

The World Food Programme has warned that the number of people requiring life-saving food assistance could double to 265 million people worldwide.

In May, World Vision launched a $350 million campaign to help some 72 million people globally with pastors as key players.

[This is] the largest ever global response in our 70-year history  largest ever, Edgar Sandoval, president of the development organization, told The Christian Post at the time. We are aiming to reach 72 million people, including 36 million children. To do this, we need to raise $350 million and thats what everyone is working really hard to do  to raise the funds that we need to serve the most vulnerable.

He added, We know that pastors and other faith leaders can be a real power, force, in stopping COVID-19 because they have the position of trust in their communities and they can.
Press Release

July 11, 2020 Bong Go: learn from COVID-19 experience to usher in 'better normal'; urges agencies to prioritize transition to e-governance for more efficient and responsive delivery of service Aside from supporting calls of his fellow lawmakers to ensure access to fast and reliable internet for all Filipinos, Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology and other concerned agencies to prioritize developing e-governance systems and transform the conduct of government processes to make government more efficient, accessible, and responsive to the changing times. "Sa panahon ngayon, lahat nagta-transition na to online---from E-governance, E-commerce and also online learning. Importante na hindi po maiwan ang bansa pagdating sa transition to the digital age," Go said. Go stressed that the necessity for e-governance in the country has been growing in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic which limits physical mobility and face-to-face transactions among government offices, and between the government, citizens and businesses. "Dahil sa COVID-19, kinailangan mag-evolve ang mga transaksyon na normally ay kailangang face-to-face. Importante rin na ang gobyerno ay mag transition na rin. We should adopt more efficient, responsive and modern ways of transacting with our citizens. This will effectively make the government more in tune to the changing times," Go explained. Go said that E-governance will bring the government closer to the people in these times through modern platforms. "Matagal nang hinaing ng ating mga kababayan ang lumang sistema ng kalakaran sa gobyerno. Simpleng permit o lisensya, ilang araw inaabot at kailangang pisikal na pumunta at pumila pa sa mga opisina ng gobyerno. Hindi na po pwede 'yan ngayon," Go narrated as he explained how health and safety protocols currently imposed in the country cannot allow usual ways of transacting with government. He added that despite the fact that most regular private and public operations have been put to a halt due to the pandemic, the need of our people to transact with its government and avail of help continues. "Hindi po dapat magpatuloy na ganyang lumang sistema na lamang ang serbisyo ng gobyerno. Let us aim for a 'better normal.' Magmalasakit po tayo sa mga taong nangangailangan ng tulong lalo na sa panahon ngayon. Pabilisin po natin ang serbisyo at huwag na silang mas pahirapan pa," Go stressed. "Gamitin natin ang teknolohiya upang mas maging maayos at komportable ang buhay ng ating mga kababayan at masigurong ligtas sila sa oras ng pandemya. Hindi lang dapat handa tayo sa 'new normal', kundi paghandaan natin na malatag ang 'better normal' para sa ating mga kababayan," he added. Go, then, cited various levels of governance where e-governance will prove to be useful. These include government-to-government (G2G), government-to-citizen (G2C), and government-to-business (G2B) interactions. "Due to the pandemic, government-to-government (G2G) processes, such as transactions between two government agencies, are heavily hampered because we are physically limited by the social distancing and quarantine protocols in place to contain the spread of the virus," Go explained. "This will easily be resolved if we have e-governance platforms in place that would allow intra-government coordination and transactions to be done in an efficient, timely, and cost-effective manner," he added. Meanwhile, Go said that Filipinos who need to transact with the government for public services will not need to go to physical offices if government-to-citizen (G2C) e-governance platforms are available. "Kung mayroon din pong e-governance platforms sa G2C level, hindi na po mahihirapan ang mga kababayan natin na mag-avail ng frontline services ng gobyerno lalo na't hindi madaling lumabas ng ating mga kabahayan sa panahong ito," Go said. "Gamit ang makabagong teknolohiya, magagawa mong makipag-transact sa gobyerno upang maka-avail ng mga serbisyo nito gaya ng pagkuha ng lisensya," he added. Furthermore, Go also emphasized the need to build e-governance capacities in government-to-business (G2B) transactions to ensure that the economic activity in the country remains seamless amid the current pandemic. "Mahalaga rin po para sa mga negosyo na magkaroon ng e-governance platforms na magagamit nila upang makipag-coordinate o transact sa gobyerno para masiguro na tuluy-tuloy lamang ang pagpasok at operasyon ng mga negosyo sa bansa," he said. However, Go stressed that these undertakings will not be possible without swift and reliable internet access in the country. "The Philippines ranked 63rd out of 100 countries in the 2020 Inclusive Internet Index conducted by UK-based The Economist Intelligence Unit. The Index assesses internet availability, affordability, relevance, and readiness using multiple indicators." "Nakakalungkot po ito isipin, because now, more than ever, a reliable and speedy internet connection has become integral in the everyday lives of our countrymen. This need exists not only in our urban centers but also in our rural and provincial areas as well," he said. As one of those who pushed for blended learning in the country which ensures the continuity of education for Filipinos through online and offline modalities, Go also said that a speedy and reliable internet connection is an important element in ensuring the success of these efforts. "I have also called on concerned agencies to thoroughly study the possibility of utilizing both online and offline learning, for the benefit of our youth. Gaya ng aking sinasabi, ayaw nating lahat na maantala ang pasukan at klase, ngunit ang prayoridad natin lagi ay ang kaligtasan at kalusugan ng lahat. A speedy and reliable internet connection is an important element in our efforts, if we are to realize this goal," he added. Go further mentioned that as early as the 2016 State of the Nation Address, President Rodrigo Duterte has called on the DICT to develop a national broadband plan to accelerate the deployment of fiber optic cables and wireless technology to improve internet speed and coverage. "Have we addressed the President's call? We want to find out the specifics, not just regarding the plans, but also regarding the progress we have made as a country when it comes to transitioning to E-governance," Go asked. Go, then, called on his fellow lawmakers to work together to support the sectors of society who rely heavily on reliable, fast internet access. "Let us work together to help our countrymen, specifically the working class, our youth, our business sector, and all other Filipinos, who depend on reliable and fast internet access and other technologies, to realize this basic but important need, as we move forward towards a 'better normal' beyond this pandemic," he said.
Waterfalls can be found all over the world. They come in all sorts of sizes and shapes, from the fast moving to the tricklingly slow. Some have vast amounts of water, while some are known for their height, so categorizing the best or greatest depends on your criteria.

So what is the largest waterfall? Surprisingly, it is not on land at all, but located underwater, below the oceans surface. Though they are rarely seen, and indeed many people may not even realize they exist, underwater waterfalls are not only present, but are some of the largest waterfalls on the planet. This, the largest, is known as the Denmark Strait waterfall, and it can be found in the deep waters below the Strait of Denmark. Underwater waterfalls tend to be grand and powerful in nature. Instead of tumbling over cliffs or gorges, these waterways fall over cataracts below the oceans surface.

Location

Map showing the location of the Denmark Strait.

The Denmark Strait separates the island country of Iceland from the island of Greenland (a part of the Kingdom of Denmark). Also known as the Greenland Strait, it links the Greenland Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean, to the Irminger Sea, which is in the Atlantic. This oceanic strait connects Greenland to the northwest and Iceland to the south east, and runs for 480 km. The strait contains various cataracts. These cataracts, or ridges, start roughly 610 m below the oceans surface and drop down to 3050 m.

Underwater Waterfalls

Infographic showing the formation of the Denmark Strait Waterfall, an underwater waterfall.

The thought of an underwater waterfall may seem impossible. How can water fall within a larger body of water? While of course the waterfall is not exactly falling over a cliff edge or into the open air, underwater phenomena like this do exist. The trick is in the temperature, and therefore density of the water. The Strait of Denmark is home to such a vast waterfall due to drastic changes in temperature in the area. Extremely cold currents from the Nordic sea travel through the strait in a southward motion, where they encounter the warm water of the Irminger sea. Colder water is denser than warm water, and so these cold currents sink, or fall, under the warmer water. In areas where the sea floor drops away, such as the cataracts, the cold streams fall quickly over the edge of this underwater cliff. This motion creates a waterfall-like downward flow of water, despite being surrounded by other sea water.

Size

Nearly 3,500,000 m3 of cold current falls over the cataract edge per second. Niagara Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world and also one of the most impressive waterfalls on earth in terms of sheer volume, experiences 2,000 times less water flow than the Denmark Strait Waterfall. The height of the cataract, or drop on the seafloor, is 3,505 m tall. Comparatively, the tallest waterfall on land is known as Angel Falls in Venezuela, and measures only 979 m tall. This means the Denmark Strait waterfall is more than three times the height of any falls on land. This, combined with the sheer force and amount of water that rushes over the fall edge each second makes the Denmark Strait both a remarkable natural phenomenon, but also the largest waterfall on Earth.

The Unknown World Of The Deep Sea

There is so much yet to be discovered below the surface of that ocean, and natural phenomena like the Denmark Strait are indicators of that. Much as the deepest sea trench is exponentially larger than the tallest peak on land, these cascades and waterfalls are much larger and more powerful than their counterparts on land. The Denmark Strait waterfall, like many ocean landmarks, are signs of the wondrous and vast world beneath the sea, which scientists and researchers hope to further explore. What other amazing discoveries might be out there?

Read MoreHow Much Of The Ocean Have We Explored?
Rex Robles, a prominent member of a clique of Philippine military officers who plotted several coups in the 1980s against two presidents, Ferdinand Marcos and his successor, Corazon Aquino, died on July 5 in Manila. He was 77.

His family said the cause was cardiac arrest.

The officers first plot, against Mr. Marcos in 1986, was not carried out, but it proved to be a catalyst for military leaders who broke away to give rise to the mass protests, known as People Power, that drove him from office.

Mr. Robles and the other young officers were at the core of that breakaway group, known as Edsa, which was led by the armed forces chief of staff, Fidel Ramos, and the defense minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, for whom they served as a security detail.

With their sense of virtue and political entitlement, the younger officers, who called themselves the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, or RAM, were rebelling against what they saw as the corruption and incompetence of their superiors.
Eighteen sailors have been injured after an explosion caused a fire on a military ship in San Diego, the fire department said.

The sailors were taken from the USS Bonhomme Richard to hospital with "non-life threatening injuries" on Sunday morning, Mike Raney, a spokesman for Naval Surface Force, US Pacific Fleet, said.

San Diego Fire Department added that they were being treated "for a variety of injuries" and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Video footage showed firefighters rushing into thick smoke billowing from the 257m (844ft) amphibious assault ship docked at the San Diego naval base.

All sailors are believed to be accounted for and have cleared the area. Mr Raney said there were about 160 sailors and officers on board - far fewer than the thousand typically on the ship when it is on active duty.

Emergency crews in boats were spraying the burning ship down with water from hoses.

Federal Fire called on San Diego Fire Rescue crews to respond to the three-alarm fire that started at about 9am local time (5pm BST).

At about midday local time (8pm BST), the fire department said all its personnel had been instructed to leave the pier, as aerial footage showed the fire appearing to grow.

The ship was undergoing routine maintenance at the time of the fire.

The Bonhomme Richard has been stationed in San Diego since 2018 after it spent six years in Japan as part of the US Forward Deployed Naval Force.
A summons asking Rajasthans deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot to appear for questioning in a probe into attempts to destabilize the Congress government in the state is believed to have been the last straw that pushed him to break ties with Ashok Gehlot, sources said on Sunday.

Pilot reached Delhi on Sunday morning, a day after he received the probe letter, to meet the Congress high command and his camp has claimed the support of 23 MLAs. The Congress is trying to pacify factions led by him and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to save itself more embarrassment as well as the party's government in the state, sources said on Sunday.

Pilot was summoned by the Rajasthan Special Operations Group for questioning in an investigation that was launched after allegations were made of the BJP poaching Congress MLAs during the Rajya Sabha elections for three seats.

Two BJP members were arrested and an FIR was registered based on phone tapping. The transcript of the call said the "Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister are having a fight" and "the Deputy Chief Minister says he will be CM (Chief Minister)".

Sources said that Pilot after receiving the summons first spoke to Congress treasurer Ahmed Patel late Saturday night, and then decided to come to Delhi.

He has since gone incommunicado and is not taking phone calls from any Congress leader, including his friends in the party.

On the other hand, the Gehlot camp claims that the Chief Minister has the support of 103 MLAs and his government the required numbers in the state Assembly. Gehlot also denied that the summons was targeted at Pilot, and said he as well as the partys chief and deputy chief whips, had also received the same letters.

The sources added that the Congress was trying to pacify both the camps to save the party from embarrassment.

The MLAs from the Pilot camp are said to be lodged at different places, with about a dozen at ITC Grand in Gurugram, and a few others are at ITC Maurya in Delhi. According to sources, 16 Congress MLAs and three independents are in Delhi with Pilot.

According to the sources, MLA P.R. Meena, considered to be from the Pilot group, had sought to meet Sonia Gandhi to apprise her of the "step-motherly treatment given to them by the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan".

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Gehlot has called a meeting of all MLAs at his official residence in Jaipur late on Sunday and asked them to give a letter of support to him. Senior ministers have been roped in this regard.

Gehlot, sources said, has spoken with Sonia Gandhi, Rajasthan party affairs incharge Avinash Pandey, and Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal to apprise them of developments in his state.
Baytown police are investigating a Saturday morning shooting rampage that ended with the deaths of two people and a third being airlifted for life-saving surgery.

Police received a 911 call at 10:35 a.m. about multiple gunshots being fired at a home on the 3400 block of Rollingcreek Drive.
The Ghana Police Service has commenced investigations into a viral video which captures a male police officer slapping a woman at a voter registration centre.



The undated video which is making the rounds on social media shows the moment the policeman slaps the woman after some verbal exchanges.



The Police in a statement on Facebook assured the public that it will provide all the facts of the incident.



"The attention of the Police Administration has been drawn to a video circulating on social media in which a police officer is seen slapping a woman at a place believed to be a Voters Registration Centre," the statement said.



"The Police Administration wishes to assure the public that it has commenced investigation into the matter and will provide facts of the matter to the public in due time, all should be assured".



Video



In the one-minute amateur video, the police officer is heard threatening not to allow the woman to commence the registration process.



After some verbal exchanges which result in a man restraining the officer, he reaches across and lands a slap on the woman's face. Angered by the slap, the woman attempts to retaliate but she is restrained by another bystander.









Source: Daily Graphic









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Editors Note: The following was sent to members of the Midland City Council.



First and foremost, thank you for your service to the city of Midland. These are unprecedented times that I am certain none of you could have predicted when you made the decision to run for public service. Your jobs are not easy, especially now, given the country, state and city's ongoing COVID-19 crises. Please know that I am dedicated to helping strengthen our city in any way I can which is my reason for writing to you all today.

You may have immediately recognized my name. I am the Courtney Ratliff who launched the current petition to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School. You may think that this is solely an issue for MISD, but I feel differently. Public education directly impacts the image of a city and is an important factor in economic development. Businesses look at all aspects of a city before deciding to move their operations to that location. I have spoken to several business leaders in our community who have expressed concerns with our school district's continued use of a Confederate general as one of the two high school's namesakes. They have said that it is difficult to convince employees to relocate to a city that, in their eyes, openly supports an icon that does not stand for diversity and inclusiveness. For years, our city has sought to diversify our economy. That effort is made more difficult due to the image the school's name presents.

I would like to think of Midland as a city of inclusion, striving to create a great environment for all its residents. Midland has been my home for approximately 29 of my near 42 years, but my family have lived here well more than 90 years. At its core, Midland is a great city to raise a family. Recent conversations revolving around the school's name have revealed a side to Midland that has been concealed for decades. It is the side that caused a West Texas town in the 1960s to fight court-ordered desegregation. It is a side that voted to name a new, soon to be integrated high school in the height of the Civil Rights movement after the leader of the Confederate army and making all of said school's insignia related to the Confederate cause. Without question, Midland has a racist past. Now, we have an opportunity to correct one of our city's biggest wrongs. While I understand that this decision is that of the MISD board of trustees alone, your support on this initiative would help the cause tremendously. History will look back at our city leadership and pass judgement based on your actions today. I ask you all to be on the right side of history and make a public statement in support of changing the name of Robert E. Lee High School. Should any of you like to discuss this further, I welcome the conversation. Again, I appreciate your efforts to make the Tall City the best it can be for all Midlanders.
New York: Scanning through leaked flight logs from Jeffrey Epstein's private jet between 2001 and 2006, an unfamiliar name crops up time and again - 350 times, to be precise.

Only Epstein himself and Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate now incarcerated in a notorious Brooklyn jail after being arrested by the FBI, appear to have flown more often than Sarah Kellen on the plane dubbed the "Lolita Express".

Described as Maxwell's "lieutenant", Kellen is accused by Epstein's victims of procuring women and under-age girls.

Little has been heard of, or from, the 40-year-old and three other alleged female "co-conspirators" since they were given immunity from prosecution under a highly unusual "sweetheart deal" struck between Epstein and the US attorney for South Florida in a 2008 criminal case.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Three militants including a Lashkar-e-Toibas Pakistani commander Usman, who was involved in the recent killing of a CRPF jawan and a civilian, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Sopore area in north Kashmirs Baramulla district on Sunday.

A police official said that a joint contingent of police, CRPF and army men laid siege around Model Town, Sopore in the early hours today after receiving inputs about the presence of militants there.

He said as the security personnel were conducting searches, they came under fire from militants hiding in the besieged area.

SP Sopore Javaid Iqbal said in the ensuing gunfight, which continued till evening, three militants were killed.

He said bodies of the militants have been recovered and the combing operation in the area was going on.

A police spokesman said one of the slain militants has been identified as LeTs Pakistani militant Usman, who was involved in a recent attack on CRPF party in Sopore in which a CRPF jawan and a 65-year-old civilian were killed. The family of the civilian had accused security personnel of killing him after coming under militant fire.

The IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar termed killing of Usman as a big success for police and security forces.

Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said three AKs rifles and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.


The Covid-19 antigen test reports of Jaya Bachchan, her daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and grand-daughter Aaradhya are negative, while swab test results are awaited.

This was reported by zeenews.india.com after Amitabh Bachchan and his son, actor Abhishek Bachchan, confirmed in separate tweets on Saturday evening that they had been hospitalised with the novel coronavirus infection.

Both actors were admitted to Nanavati hospital, where all the tests of the Bachchan family members were conducted.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope told Zee News: "Only Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan's corona report has come as of now. Their family members, staff, drivers etc have been tested for the deadly virus at Nanavati Hospital and the reports are expected to come tomorrow (July 12)."

On Saturday evening, Big B had tweeted confirming he had tested Covid positive. "T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff undergone tests , results awaited .. All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested!" @SrBachchan had tweeted.

At the time of publishing this report, Nanavati sources stated that the 77-year-old senior actor is not on ventilator. Further details are awaited.

Soon after Bachchan's tweet, his son Abhishek Bachchan had tweeted to confirm that he too had tested Covid positive.

"Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for Covid-19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you," Abhishek, 44, had tweeted on his verified account, @juniorbachchan.
Mishra had on Saturday uploaded a video on his Instagram account in which he used abusive language and issued rape threats against the comedian over some comments she had made on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Vadodara Police on Sunday registered an FIR against one Shubham Mishra and detained him for allegedly issuing rape threats to stand-up comedian Agrima Joshua on social media.

Vadodara City Police took suo moto action in respect of an abusive, threatening video which was uploaded and shared on Social media by Shubham Mishra. We have detained him and initiated legal process for registration of FIR against him under relevent section of IPC and IT act. pic.twitter.com/XM6J8y4nDx  Vadodara City Police (@Vadcitypolice) July 12, 2020

According to The Indian Express, the cyber crime cell of the Vadodara Police has booked Mishra under IPC sections 294 (obscenity), 354 (A), 504 (intentionally insults to break public peace) 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (intending to insult modesty of a woman).

The police took suo moto cognisance and also booked Mishra under IT Act 67 (transmission of electronic material which is lascivious or tends to deprave or corrupt people).

According to a report in Ahmedbadad Mirror, Mishra had on Saturday uploaded a video on his Instagram account in which he used abusive language and issued rape threats against the comedian over some comments she had made on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The video had garnered outrage on social media.

In response to a tweet by actor Swara Bhaskar demanding police action against the 26-year-old Mishra, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh asked the Mumbai Police to take legal action.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj taught us to respect women.But if someone is using/threatening the wrong language about women, then there is a law for them. @MahaCyber1 verify this video. @CPMumbaiPolice take appropriate legal action against the person in the video as per the rules. https://t.co/4zxwOTIh0r  ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) July 12, 2020

The National Commission for Women (NCW) had written to Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) Shivanand Jha on Saturday, seeking immediate action from Gujarat Police against Mishra, reported news agency PTI. The NCW said it has been tagged in a video posted on Twitter in which the man can be seen hurling abuses and giving rape threats to the woman.

"The NCW is committed to creating safe online space for women and ensuring cyber security to women and is perturbed by the rise in use of cyberspace to instigate crime against women," NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said in the letter.

According to reports, a clip from Joshua's show in Mumbai last year, in which she spoke about comments by Quora users on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Statute being built in Mumbai had recently gone viral on social media and Joshua had since then been at the receiving end of threats and abuse online. Following the outrage, Joshua had on Friday taken down the clip and also apologised after Deshmukh directed police to take action against her.

I am sorry for having hurt the sentiments of the many followers of the great leader Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. My heartfelt apologies to followers of the great leader, who I sincerely respect. The video has already been taken down. Please amplify.  Agrima Joshua  (@Agrimonious) July 10, 2020

According to the Ahmedabad Mirror report, Mishra has also apologised to the comedian and said that he didn't give any rape threats. He also said that he was ashamed for making such a video and has deleted it.
Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A federal duck stamp costs $25.

Waterfowl hunters have to buy them every year and fix them to their licenses. But millions of other people buy them as well  lovers of wetlands, lovers of birds. People can use them as an entry pass to any of the nations wildlife reserves.

Philatelists with a fancy for stamps with beautiful pictures of waterfowl collect them. Artists vie every year to have their paintings chosen to be on one.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been issuing duck stamps since 1934 and the program has been hugely successful. It has raised over $1 billion thats been used to conserve about 6 million acres of waterfowl habitat. Nationally, 300 national wildlife refuges have been created or expanded with duck stamp money.

So naturally, the Trump administration, which has, willy-nilly despoiled environmental programs across the boards in its three years, has stuck its thick fingers and thoughtlessness into it.

By executive order this spring, President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt changed the stamps. From now on, or until the end of the Trump administration, the stamps cant just be of ducks, which is what they largely have been.

Starting with the designs this year and the stamps issued in 2021 the stamps must depict an appropriate waterfowl hunting scene or include a hunting-related element.

In other words, there will be ducks, but there also will be people with guns.

Ducks Unlimited, the national organization dedicated to both waterfowl hunting and habitat conservation, is on board with this change.

But area conservationist and ecologists have been left wondering why it had to be made at all.

If it aint broke, dont fix it, said Patrick Comins, executive director of the Connecticut Audubon Society.

With all the other issues out there, why pick this one? said Robert LaFrance, policy director Audubon Connecticut, the state chapter of the National Audubon Society.

Jenny Dickson, director of the wildlife division of the state Department of Environmental Protection said the staff there is disappointed with the change.

It changes the ability of an artist to paint the scene, Dickson said. People have collected these stamps as beautiful artifacts of ducks.

Its just one more example of the horrendous activities of the Trump administration, said Ben Oko, of Ridgefield, an avid birder who led the towns Conservation Commission for years.

The duck stamps program had its roots in the early decades of the 20th centiry when development across the country  along coastlines and in the prairie pothole country of the northern Great Plains  ate up wetlands, destroying the habitat waterfowl need.

Earlier legislation had called for preserving wetlands, but hadnt provided any money to do the job. Jay Norwood Ding Darling, a Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist, sportsman and wildlife conservationist, had the idea of the duck stamp.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act (now the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Act) in 1934, and Darling designed the first stamp.

The program has been so successful that individual states, including Connecticut, have started their own duck stamp programs.

This year, the DEEP announced from this year forward, state winners will be chosen from participants in the Junior Duck Stamps program consisting of students in kindergarten to 12th grade. In the past, professional artists from outside the state could submit paintings.

Its the perfect time to get them involved in conservation, Dickson said. They are our future conservationists.

One of the reasons the duck stamp programs have succeeded has been that they brought together all the parties involved in wildlife conservation: Hunters, birders, lovers of natural beauty, lovers of painting of birds.

The Trump administrations change in the program has the potential to alter that coalition. It creates another wedge issue.

LaFrance pointed out this has never been a problem. Right now, hunters and environmentalists support the Great American Outdoors Act, which will allocate as much as $1.9 billion annually for long-overdue maintenance of the countrys national parks.

Likewise they are supporting the Recovering Americas Wildlife Act, which allocates $1.4 billion a year to the states for wildlife conservation projects,

Both bills are moving through Congress. The Senate has passed the outdoors bill, while the House of Representatives has passed the wildlife legislation.

If COVID has taught people anything, its an appreciation of the great outdoors, LaFrance said. Thats the whole issue.

Contact Robert Miller at earthmattersrgm@gmail.com
R.I.D.E. checkpoints set up at two of south Niagaras hot spots didnt find any impaired drivers Friday.

Niagara Regional Police said officers stopped 100 vehicles between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. in Wainfleet and Port Colborne and conducted five roadside tests.

They set up on Quarry Road in Wainfleet and Pleasant Beach Road in Port Colborne, two locations heavily used since COVID-19 restrictions eased in Ontario.

Both roads have seen hundreds of people descend on them to use the quarry at Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authoritys Wainfleet Wetlands, and the beach at Pleasant Beach Road.

Wainfleet increased parking fines in response to illegal parking in the area around the quarry, while the City of Port Colborne increased enforcement at Pleasant Beach.

Police will have an increased presence with extra officers working general patrol, as well as RIDE spot checks, in the two areas and officers from the traffic enforcement unit will also be on patrol.

A release from police said the initiative was made possible, in part, as a result of grant funding from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services as part of the R.I.D.E program.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The past is never dead. Its not even past.

William Faulkners famous line comes from a harrowing tale about two women in Mississippi. One is a Black nursemaid, Nancy, who is to be hanged for the murder of a baby girl. The other is her White employer, Temple, the childs mother, who ekes out the semblance of respectable married life. Neither can escape the vengeful reappearance of deeds done many years earlier.

Since the killing of George Floyd, a Black American man, under the knee of a White police officer, the past has been reemerging with extra ferocity. In the U.S. and Europe, people have been pulling down statues of slavers and racists, renaming institutions and streets, and trying in countless other ways to change how the past is represented in the now.

In some cases, these actions seem so obvious its hard to believe they werent taken long ago. For more than a century, Mississippi, Faulkners home, has had a flag containing the Confederate battle standard, adopted by White supremacist legislators a generation after the Civil War. Its coming down only now.

In other cases, the gestures may be heartfelt, but they come off as awkward. When King Philippe of Belgium sent his deepest regrets for the wounds of the past to the Congo, which his country colonized brutally under the reign of one of his ancestors, he still couldnt bring himself simply to apologize.

Nor could Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, which also has a history of trading slaves  because some people may find that painful, as he said in parliament. He neglected to mention that many other people find the very omission of such an apology painful.

And then there are reactions like Donald Trumps. The entire debate about statues and symbols is a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, the U.S. president said against the background of Mount Rushmore and its granite faces depicting four of his predecessors, including two who owned slaves. Trumps approach  selective denial  is deceitful and insensitive. Its also cynical because his intent is to divide and mobilize a backlash.

Story continues

The noble way is to confront the past honestly, as Faulkners Temple does eventually. This path, however, inevitably leads to frustration and anguish. Sometimes the past indicts us without mercy. Other times its excruciatingly ambiguous.

As Rutte asked in parliament, can you hold people who are alive today responsible for the past? In one sense, doing so seems unfair, indeed impossible. But in another sense, it also seems unfair not to. After all, many American Blacks still suffer the aftereffects of slavery and Jim Crow, and many Whites indulge in their inherited privilege.

This moral ambiguity is why debates about reparations can never be satisfactorily settled, and not only when it comes to indemnifying the descendants of slaves in the U.S. Poles, Greeks and others regularly demand that Germany pay reparations for Nazi atrocities. Similar tensions exist between Japan and its former victims in Asia. But unless reparations are paid by the actual perpetrators directly to their victims, they can be counterproductive. Whoever ends up paying may feel absolved of all future responsibility. And both sides may inadvertently demean the original crime by haggling over its price.

The most moving expression of Faulkners simple and powerful message  that the past is condemned to keep living inside us  is this essay by Caroline Randall Williams. Genetically, she is more than half White; sociologically, she is Black. Like many Americans of color, shes the descendant of the victims and the perpetrators  of Black female slaves and the White owners who raped them for generations. As she writes, My body is a monument. My skin is a monument.

Reexamining our public monuments is actually the easier part of dealing with the past. Ruthless honesty, combined with respect for ambiguity, must start here. I often stand in the heart of Berlin, gazing at the vast Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, an undulating sea of concrete slabs. Then I turn around and look at the statue of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe across the street, lost in eternal contemplation. Germanys lowest and highest, both in the same place, both at once.

The harder part is living with a past that never dies. We cannot edit or rewrite it. So we must understand it and accept its exhortation. This country can only be loved with a broken heart, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on the anniversary of the end of World War II. Maybe thats also true of the U.S. and other countries  and of us as individuals. Maybe we can only love ourselves with a broken heart.

Faulkners Temple eventually understands that it was ultimately she who was responsible for her daughters killing. She goes to plead for Nancys life, but is too late to save her. Perhaps in our own way, we can  each of us  do better.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andreas Kluth is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He was previously editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist. He's the author of "Hannibal and Me."

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.
Exotic and expensive pods Cardamom cultivators ask for land to grow more of the pricey spice; say it can be as sought after as Sri Lankan tea and cinnamon View(s): View(s):

Despite being considered the Queen of Spices, Cardamom cultivation is not being treated royally, as cultivators lament over the lack of lands to cultivate this high-priced herb.

Cardamom is no longer an affordable aromatic spice due to a spike in price. These dried seed pods sell at Rs 26,000 per kilo in the retail market.

Cardamom grows in Sri Lankan rainforests in the Matale, Kandy, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura Districts as well as some places in Galle.

A group of cardamom farmers from Ranamure in Laggala, Matale District ask that the government allocate them lands to cultivate cardamom, so that they can bring more income to the country through export.

Our fathers were successful cardamom cultivators; they used the income earned from cultivating over 50 acres to build roads and temples in the area. However, these were rainforests/protected state lands, therefore the cultivation is very much limited, said Ekanayake Mudiyanselage Kapila Rathna Banda from Ranamure (64).

He said this cultivation is not healthy for the rainforest as the land is cleared to plant underground stems that spread on the forest floor limiting the growth of other fauna and flora in the rainforest.

We do not want to destroy our rainforests; hence our cultivation is very limited. If the government could provide us land in similar climate settings like Matale or Ratnapura, that has humid climate, rich soil and abundant rainfall, we can bring Sri Lanka green cardamom to global recognition next to tea and cinnamon, he said.

He said about 700-800 families used to live on the income from cultivating spices especially cardamom and pepper.

Of the countrys total demand, over 40 percent were supplied by cultivators in this area.

Unfortunately, most of the land we cultivated is now considered protected rainforest areas and no more cultivation is taking place, said 94-year-old Kiribanda who once was a successful cardamom cultivator.

He said a letter was handed to President Rajapaksa to consider the plight of cardamom cultivators who have the potential to contribute significantly towards the countrys economy.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 19:26:52|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A terrorist suspect who allegedly resisted police arrest in Sukoharjo district in the Indonesian province of Central Java has been shot dead.

The National Police's spokesperson Argo Yuwono said here on Sunday that the police had to shoot the suspected terrorist identified with initials IA on Saturday, as he attempted to resist the arrest.

"When we wanted to arrest him, IA resisted by using a sharp weapon, so we took stern measures," Yuwono said, adding that the suspect was brought to a hospital for medical treatment, but he died on Saturday afternoon.

The policemen wanted to arrest IA as they thought he was in connection to an incident on June 21 when a militant attacked Busroni who is the deputy chief of the Karanganyar district police in Central Java.

Yuwono said that the police have arrested three people, also in connection to the incident.

"This group is allegedly affiliated with ISIS. They plan to explode a police headquarters in Lampung," he added, referring to a province on the southern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Enditem
Boston Police Department detectives on Sunday said they have identified a suspect tied to a recent vandalization of a Black Lives Matter art installation.

On Saturday, police asked for help identifying a man and a woman photographed standing next to the installation, which is bolted to a MassDOT fence in the area of 321 Lincoln St. in Allston. Around 9:20 p.m. Thursday, the man was seen vandalizing the art display, police said.

On Sunday afternoon, police said they had identified a suspect, but they did not yet name the individual. Police said the investigation remains active and ongoing.

Investigation Update: The Boston Police Department Identify Suspect in Connection to Recent Vandalism in Allston https://t.co/yBjr5UJxG2  Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) July 12, 2020

Police urged anyone with information on the incident to contact District D-14 Detectives at (617) 343-4256. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463).

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Gurbir Singh By

The US and India have crossed swords on whether customs duty should be levied on Harley Davidson bikes, but the two countries are sailing in the same boat when it comes to banning the hugely popular Chinese app TikTok. Soon after the border clashes with China, in a retaliatory surgical strike India banned TikTok and 58 other apps on national security concerns. Its hurting both sides of the border. For TikTok, Indias 120 million users is a huge market, the largest, perhaps, after China. In India, the app was a form of self-expression in dance and quirky gigs especially for millions of rural youth.

The Indian government has different concerns. The Union ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the apps were banned as they were stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India, thereby comprising the sovereignty and integrity of India. The US administration, which has been blaming China for the spread of what Donald Trump calls the China virus, found a good point of alliance. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lost no time, and in an interview with Fox News, revealed that a ban on TikTok was something we are looking at. That he was serious about it was apparent when he compared a ban on TikTok with the earlier bans imposed on Chinsese tech giants Huawei and ZTE.

Chinese controls

Though TikTok denies it is involved in any snooping, and claims it stores user data in servers in the country of origin, critics have pointed to its questionable privacy practices like a leaked moderation guidelines that discourage criticism of events like the Tiananmen Square protests. The fear is, as voiced by Sarah Cook, an analyst of the right wing think tank Freedom First: The Chinese government has a history of gaining control over nodes in the information system.

However, the bigger concern cited is the symbiotic relationship between the Chinese state and Chinese companies, where the latter by law are required to share data with the government. The two specific laws that rope in Chinese companies are the 2017 National Intelligence Law and the 2014 Counter-Espionage Law. Article 7, for example, of the National Intelligence Law provides that any organization or citizen shall support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work in accordance with the law.

We are right to be concerned about possible data mining by Chinese companies that may fall into the hands of the Chinese government. However, it is a practice that goes back centuries to the East India Company where private commercial operators collaborated with their governments to subdue and colonize indigenous people. What is repugnant though is US double-speak. After all its intelligence agencies have been using private commercial companies for decades to spy on, assassinate leaders and remove elected governments.

US double-speak

We have forgotten how the United Fruit Company in the 1950s and 60s became an arm of the US government in the Central American countries of Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras. United Fruit not only became the largest single landowner in central America; it ran postal services, nurtured banana republics on behalf of the CIA, and deposed any regime that questioned US domination.



Or, more recently during the continuing Middle East conflicts, where Leidos Holdings merged with another defense contractor Lockheed Martin to become a $50 billion private military powerhouse. The merged entitys 8,000 private operatives, worked closely with the US military command, doing everything from analyzing signals for the US National Security Agency (NSA) to hunting down suspected terrorist fighters for US Special Forces.

Cyber snooping is not the prerogative of China and Huawei. Revelations by Edward Snowden, the former US defense contractor, leaked classified information on how the US and its allies were running numerous global surveillance programs. One of these was a government snooping programme called Prism which rode on the backs of nine US internet firms, and tapped into their servers to glean private information of millions of American citizens. The collaborating companies included Facebook, Google,

Microsoft and Yahoo. Or, even more recently, the company Cambridge Analytica became a tool of the Donald Trump election campaign. A whistleblower in the company, Christopher Wylie, exposed how Cambridge Analytica bought personal profiles of 50 million or more Facebook users in the US from an independent researcher Aleksandr Kogan. The data was then used to soft-target a mass of potential Trump supporters.

The Chinese, Huawei and TikTok are not innocent. But let us not pretend any of the other governments are. Those who have the wherewithal snoop on their own citizens, their neighbours and their trade competitors. Thats the new normal. We have advanced from the age of colonialism to digital imperialism. Technology has grown not to give us greater freedom, but to wipe out whatever individual privacy we thought we enjoyed.

Fight on

India has banned TikTok stating they were stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users data. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, too, in an interview revealed that a ban on TikTok was something we are looking at
Russia's Sechenov University has successfully completed the human trial round of the world's first novel coronavirus vaccine, according to a report by Sputnik News.

Vadim Tarasov, the Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology, told Sputnik that the university has completed the trial of the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute, an epidemiology research centre in Moscow.

Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic

The Russian Health Ministry had sanctioned the trial on June 16.

The first group of 18 volunteers received the vaccine on June 18 while the second group of 20 volunteers received the vaccine on June 23 at the Practical Research Centre for Interventional Cardiovasology, Sechenov University had said earlier this month.

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 report, Tarasov said the first group of volunteers would be discharged on July 15 and the second group on July 20.

In a human challenge trial, participants are deliberately exposed to the infection (in this case it is SARS-CoV-2 virus), in order to study the disease and test the vaccines. For the human challenge trial -- the exact virus strain that is used to infect the participant and dosage or how much of the virus the volunteers need to be exposed to needs to be determined and approved by the regulatory authorities.

The method is not new and has been used for developing vaccines for seasonal flu, typhoid, malaria and cholera, among others.

Globally, there have been over 1.2 crore confirmed cases of COVID-19. More than 5.6 lakh people have died so far.

Gilead Sciences, Oxford University's researchers and American biotech company Moderna are considered to be at the forefront of developing a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.

According to reports, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE's vaccine candidate is expected to be ready to seek regulatory approval by the end of 2020.

Meanwhile, Gilead Sciences said on July 10, an analysis had shown its antiviral remdesivir helped reduce the risk of death in severely ill COVID-19 patients, but cautioned that rigorous clinical trials were needed to confirm the benefit.

Remdesivir has been at the forefront of the global battle against COVID-19 after the intravenously administered medicine helped shorten hospital recovery times, according to data in April from a separate US government trial. That study showed a trend toward better survival for remdesivir but the difference was not statistically significant.
SIOUX CITY -- City officials have confirmed that construction on a long-awaited ALDI grocery store has begun at the corner of Floyd Boulevard and Outer Drive, but the company has largely declined to reveal much information about it.

Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott said at a June City Council meeting that the company was "getting ready to build" on the parcel, part of the city's Northern Valley Crossing development. ALDI paid the city $775,000 for the 2.61-acre lot in 2018.

Economic & Community Development Director Marty Dougherty said construction on the store began "in earnest" in June.

Recently the community seems to have rekindled its interest in the new grocery store, and Dougherty -- something of a local purveyor of ALDI information and news -- said he's fielded more than a few ALDI-related phone calls.

"Over the last few months, people keep calling. They must really like the store. So, that's good right?" Dougherty said.

The store is expected to be roughly 22,000 square feet and employ around 15 people, according to city documents. It would be situated squarely at the corner of Floyd and Outer Drive, not far from the Pizza Ranch.

For its part, ALDI -- a German discount supermarket chain with a massive U.S. presence -- has said little on the subject of the Sioux City store during the past two years.

"Thanks for your interest in ALDI. At this time, we do not have any information to share about ALDI opening a new store in Sioux City, Iowa. As soon as there are any updates to share, we will reach out," Matt Lilla, Faribault division vice president for ALDI, wrote in a statement June 30.

In early 2018, ALDI announced plans to open a store in Sioux City in 2019.

But 2019 came and went, and there was no ALDI in Sioux City. In August, a Facebook user asked the company in a post when it would open a Sioux City location. The company's response seemed to conflict with its announcement the year prior.

"We don't have any plans for a Sioux City store right now, but we'll let our real estate team know that you're interested! Thank you for reaching out with your suggestion!" ALDI USA wrote in its reply. In written statements in 2019 and in January of this year, Lilla said there would be a Sioux City store opening in 2020, but he provided few other details other than to confirm the store would open by the end of the year.

Though the public generally has been aware of the store's probable location for some time, ALDI never really publicized where it would be; the company did acknowledge the site back in 2018, in a development agreement with the city.

The store's location is one of the ALDI inquiries often fielded by Dougherty.

"I told them, would you please put a sign up?" he said with a laugh. "They said they would be putting a sign up shortly, so people can tell exactly where it is."

ALDI has engaged in a huge expansion across the U.S. during recent years. As of 2018, the company planned to spend $1.6 billion to remodel 1,300 existing stores by 2020 and announced a $3.4 billion capital investment to expand to 2,500 stores nationwide by the end of 2022.

Their supermarkets are known for their modest physical footprints and highly efficient operations -- shoppers have to deposit a quarter to use a shopping cart, and bag (or, commonly, box) their own groceries. The vast majority of ALDI merchandise consists of in-house brands.

The postponement of the store's arrival in Sioux City has generally been attributed to a lengthy delay in obtaining a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to build the store in the vicinity of the Floyd River.

Dougherty said the delay was largely, or at least partly, the result of a Corps of Engineers clerical issue, and he stressed that the area is not under any particular flood risk -- the Corps had a backlog of permits during 2018, for reasons that are not quite clear.

"A couple years ago, the Corps was very far behind in all those," Dougherty said.

"They (ALDI) always intended to build here, but there was a delay related to getting a permit," he added.

Though the company has never confirmed this, it appears possible that ALDI could eventually build more than one location in the Sioux City area.

In many of the metros in this region where ALDI has built a store, it has built more than one, though some are scattered into the suburbs. The Omaha and Des Moines metro areas each have eight ALDI locations (or more if locations farther outside the city limits are counted), while Sioux Falls has three.

"We anticipate there'll be other stores around the area," Dougherty said, though he cautioned that he couldn't speak to any specific expansion plans.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks to media about the Mueller report at the Capitol in Washington on March 25, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Lindsey Graham Will Ask Robert Mueller to Testify Before Senate Judiciary Committee

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he will call former special counsel Robert Mueller to testify about his investigation into whether President Donald Trumps campaign colluded with Russia, granting a request to Democrats on the panel.

Apparently Mr. Mueller is willingand also capableof defending the Mueller investigation through an oped in the Washington Post, Graham wrote on Twitter on July 12.

He added that, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have previously requested Mr. Mueller appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his investigation. That request will be granted.

Graham was referring to an opinion piece penned by Mueller in The Washington Post that defended the conviction of political operative Roger Stone. Stones sentence was commuted on July 10 by Trump, prompting top Democrats to raise allegations that hes a threat to national security.

In the opinion article, Mueller asserted again that Stone committed crimes related to messages he had about WikiLeaks and hacked emails that were published during the 2016 election.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 24, 2019. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so, Mueller wrote. Stone, who has denied any wrongdoing, wasnt charged with a crime of colluding with Moscow.

Its the first time Mueller has made a public comment about the investigation in about a year. Muellers investigation didnt find any evidence of collusion between Trumps campaign and the Kremlin.

We made every decision in Stones case, as in all our cases, based solely on the facts and the law and in accordance with the rule of law. The women and men who conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest integrity. Claims to the contrary are false, Mueller wrote in the article.

Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), were quick to accuse Trump of corruption after the commutation of Stones sentence, which hadnt started before the president acted.

Its staggering corruption, but I think its important for people also to know that its a threat to our national security, Pelosi told CNN on July 12.

Former adviser to President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse after being found guilty of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russias interference in the 2016 election, in Washington on Nov. 15, 2019. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The House speaker said she wants to see a bill that would prevent Trump from taking action in similar cases.

We will have legislation that says a president cannot commute or pardon or offer clemency to anybody who commits a crime, is convicted of a crime that affects the presidents behavior and his culpability, Pelosi said.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a key impeachment manager, as well as House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), said they will try to obtain a briefing from the White House Counsel on the circumstances surrounding Roger Stones commutation, according to a joint statement.

In addition, the Department of Justice should release grand jury materials related to Roger Stone and his communications with the President, the statement reads.

Trump, meanwhile, has maintained that Stone was unfairly targeted in a political witch hunt related to the Russia investigation.

He wrote on Twitter: Roger Stone was targeted by an illegal Witch Hunt that never should have taken place. It is the other side that are criminals, including Biden and Obama, who spied on my campaign  AND GOT CAUGHT!
Soldiers of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army and Indian Army have moved back at least 600 metres from the four friction points in east Ladakh where they were in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, people familiar with the developments told Hindustan Times after an on-ground verification by the army.

The PLA soldiers, who had maintained an aggressive posture, have also taken a step back at other locations along the 1,597 km Line of Actual Control in the western sector.

Initial reports had indicated that the PLA troops had moved 1.5 km from the stand-off point.

Military officials said this implied that there was no buffer zone.

All we have done is that both sides have withdrawn to rear positions so that no accident or flare-up takes place, a senior military commander said.

It was in this context that external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Saturday described the disengagement and de-escalation process with China as work in progress. Jaishankar said the process had been mutually agreed upon and just commenced.

Whats happened is that we have agreed on the need to disengage because the troops on both sides are deployed very close to each other, the external affairs minister told an event organised by India Inc, a UK-based media house. India and China on Friday said they would push forward efforts aimed at complete disengagement and easing of tensions along the LAC even as differences remained over issues such as Beijings insistence of claiming ownership of Galwan valley.

Officials said the disengagement had been completed at Galwan with neither of the forces sitting on or next to the LAC. The situation at Patrolling Point 15 (Gogra) and Patrolling Point 17 (Hot Springs) is that troops on both sides have disengaged although they are still some distance away from their positions on April 20, the day when the PLAs troop buildup started. The first violent clash between Indian and Chinese patrols on the northern bank of Ladakhs Pangong lake took place a fortnight later. Scores of soldiers (from both sides) were injured in the skirmish involving 250 men.

At Pangong Tso, the Chinese PLA has withdrawn from Finger 4 relief but some troops on both sides are still sitting on the ridge-line above it. Troops are also in close proximity at the Depsang Plains area but the broad indications are that both sides want to end the impasse.

Military and diplomatic officials said the two sides had decided to halt patrolling at the four stand-off points - Galwan, Gogra, Hot Springs and Pangong Tso - without prejudice to their patrolling rights as a precaution. This will help reduce temperatures on the border and avoid any chance of an accident.

India and China had agreed to a similar suspension of patrolling after similar stand-offs at Finger 8 in Pangong Tso in 2008 and at Depsang Bulge in 2013 were resolved.

The senior military commander cited above said the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) is dismantling structures and moving vehicles back at the stand-off points in daylight to maintain transparency. It also wants Indian troops to move back the same distance as there is a trust deficit between the two sides. It only requires a spark to catch fire and undo all the dialogue, said a senior military commander.

Military commanders of the two countries are expected to hold the fourth round of dialogue next week to build on the icebreaker conversation between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi. On Friday, the joint secretary-level Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs held their meeting.

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HONG KONG - Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents turned up over the weekend to vote in an unofficial primary election held by the citys pro-democracy camp as it gears up to field candidates for an upcoming legislative poll.

The primaries were held two weeks after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the semi-autonomous territory in a move widely seen as chipping away at the one country, two systems framework under which Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997. It was passed in response to last years massive protests calling for greater democracy and more police accountability.

Throngs of people lined up at polling booths in the summer heat to vote despite a warning last week by Hong Kongs constitutional affairs minister, Eric Tsang, that the primaries could be in breach of the new national security law because it outlaws interference and disruption of duties by the local government.

Organizers dismissed the comments, saying they just want to hold the government accountable by gaining a majority in the legislature.

The new law prohibits what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities or as foreign intervention in Hong Kong affairs. Under the law, police now have sweeping powers to conduct searches without warrants and order internet service providers and platforms to remove messages deemed to be in violation of the legislation.

On Friday, police raided the office of the Public Opinion Research Institute, a co-organizer of the primaries. The computer system was suspected of being hacked, causing a data leak, police said in a statement, and an investigation is ongoing.

Hong Kongs pro-democracy camp, which includes multiple parties, is attempting to join forces and use the primaries as a guide to field the best candidates in the official legislative election in September. Its goal is to win a majority in the legislature, which is typically skewed toward the pro-Beijing camp.

To hold the primaries, pro-democracy activists had raised money via crowd funding. They pledged to veto the governments budget if they clinch a majority in the legislature. Under Hong Kongs mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, the citys leader must resign if an important bill such as the budget is vetoed twice.

Organizers said Sunday that nearly 600,000 people voted at polling booths set up across the city, exceeding organizers estimates of a turnout of 170,000.

Despite the threat of the national security law, there are still nearly 600,000 people coming out to vote,  said Au Nok-hin, one of the organizers of the primaries. We can see Hong Kongers are really brave.
President Donald Trump attacked a pair of Republican senators who condemned his Friday night order to grant clemency to longtime advisor Roger Stone  calling them Republicans 'in name only.'

His late-night blast came after they became the only GOP senators to rebuke Trump for eliminating the 40-month sentence for his longtime associate, who was convicted by a jury of witness tampering and lying to Congress.

The response of Romney  the only Republican to vote for an article of impeachment against Trump  was withering, while that of Toomey was more measured, but both said Trump's decision was wrong.

'Do RINO'S Pat Toomey & Mitt Romney have any problem with the fact that we caught Obama, Biden, & Company illegally spying on my campaign?' Trump tweeted at about 11:30 Saturday night.

Mitt Romney has slammed Donald Trump for commuting the sentence of his close friend Roger Stone just days before he was scheduled to enter federal prison.

'Do they care if Comey, McCabe, Page & her lover, Peter S, the whole group, ran rampant, wild & unchecked - lying & leaking all the way? NO!' Trump wrote.

That was a reference to key figures in what Trump calls the 'Russia hoax'  former FBI director James Comey, and former FBI lovers Andrew McCabe and Lisa Page.'

Trump's pushback came after Romney called the move 'historic corruption.'

Toomey called it a 'mistake,' and also noted that Attorney General Bill Barr had said Stone's prosecution was a 'righteous.'

'The president clearly has the legal and constitutional authority to grant clemency for federal crimes,' Toomey said in a statement. 'However, this authority should be used judiciously and very rarely by any president,' he said.

NBC reported that Barr and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urged Trump not to grant clemency to Stone.

'It's staggering corruption, but I think it's important for people also to know that it's a threat to our national security,' House Speaker Nancy Pelsoi said of the president granting clemency to Roger Stone

Trump called Sens. Romney and Toomey 'RINOs,' a derisive term meaning 'Republicans in name only'

Trump also went after Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday blasted the move, although she did not respond directly when CNN asked if it should lead to another impeachment inquiry. She said the House would move forward with legislation attempting to restrict the pardon power for cases involving the president himself. (Stone is accused of lying to a House committee investigating links between the Trump campaign and Russians, although Stone was not charged with conspiracy).

'It's staggering corruption, but I think it's important for people also to know that it's a threat to our national security,' Pelsoi said.

House Intelligence Chair Rep. Adam Schiff of California fumed about the move on ABC's 'This Week' Sunday.

'The president through this commutation is basically saying, if you lie for me, if you cover up for me, if you have my back, then I will make sure that you get a get-out-of-jail-free card,' Schiff said.

Former Special Counsel Mueller defended Stone's prosecution in a rare Washington Post op-ed.

He called the Russia probe an investigation 'of paramount importance' and wrote: 'Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.'

Romney, who has been a vocal critic of the President on previous occasions - posted a savage message to Twitter on Saturday morning, which read: 'Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.'

It was a stunning rebuke from a member of the president's own party and the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee.

Stone, 67, was set to spend 40 months behind bars after a jury found him guilty of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements in connection with Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The Republican senator - who has been a vocal critic of the President on previous occasions - posted a savage message to Twitter on Saturday morning

Trump commuted Stone's sentence on Friday afternoon, describing his friend of 40 years as 'a victim of a corrupt and illegal Witch Hunt, one which will go down as the greatest political crime in history.'

Stone was seen outside his Florida home Saturday morning in slippers and a customized mask as he celebrated swerving time in the slammer.

Romney - who was the lone Republican to vote to convict Trump during his Senate Impeachment trial in February - joined a chorus of prominent Democrats outraged by the move.

Roger Stone makes an appearance outside his house holding up a double peace sign on Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Stone spoke with local reporters outside his Florida residence

Stone appeared outside his Fort Lauderdale home later on Sunday and once again posed for the cameras

Trump's longtime friend held up a copy of a newspaper as he stood near his Fort Lauderdale home on Sunday

Trump's 2020 Presidential opponent, Joe Biden, released a statement through his spokesperson claiming the Commander-in-chief had 'once again abused his power' and was 'laying waste to the norms and the values that make our country a shining beacon to the rest of the world.'

Biden further urged voters to boot Trump out of office at the November election, saying: 'He will not be shamed. He will only be stopped when Americans make their voice heard at the ballot box this fall. Enough.'

Biden's shortlist of Vice Presidential picks were also quick to vent their outrage publicly.

Senator Elizabeth Warren took to Twitter, stating: 'Donald Trump has abandoned the rule of law and made a mockery of our democracy. He truly is the most corrupt president in history.'

Florida Rep. Val Demings blasted: 'Roger Stone was sentenced to prison for an illegal cover-up of the pro-Trump Russian attack on our 2016 election. For the president to now commute his prison sentence is pure authoritarian corruption.'

She added: 'Regardless of our political parties or differences, we all know this is disgraceful. Pray that our republic will endure.'

Meanwhile, Senator Kamala Harris also chimed in, referencing current outrage over the death of black woman Breonna Taylor in her remakrs.

'Trump commutes the prison sentence of Roger Stone while the officers that killed Breonna Taylor are still free. The two systems of justice in this country must end,' she railed.

In a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described Trump's actions as 'appalling'.

High-profile Democrats were quick to blast Trump for commuting Stone's sentence

However, Trump supporters have taken an opposing view.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany called Stone a 'victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency.'

'Not only was Mr. Stone charged by overzealous prosecutors pursing a case that never should have existed, and arrested in an operation that never should have been approved, but there were also serious questions about the jury in the case,' she said in a statement.

Last month, Trump tweeted that Stone was 'a victim of a corrupt and illegal Witch Hunt, one which will go down as the greatest political crime in history.'

Trump and Stone have been friends for 40 year.s The pair are pictured with Nydia Stone in this undated file photo

Following news of the commuting of his sentence, Stone stepped outside his Florida home to celebrate with well-wishers.

'The president has saved my life, and he's given me the opportunity to fight for vindication,' he stated.

Stone said that entering prison would have been a death sentence in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

'I'm 67 years old. I had very, very severe asthma as a child. If you look at the profile of those who are most at risk, I think I fit that,' he said.

'This is a horrific, horrific nightmare when you realize that ... this investigation never had any legitimate or lawful beginning,' he said.

'It was a witch hunt. There's no question about that.'

Stone told the New York Post that the president spoke to him by telephone and informed him of his decision to commute his sentence.

'I told him I was grateful,' Stone said. 'He protected my health.'

Stone, 67, was set to spend 40 months behind bars after a jury found him guilty of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements in connection with Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He is pictured outside his Florida home on Saturday morning

Stone was certainly in a celebratory mood as he posed at the doorstep of his home Saturday. The convicted conservative political strategist is still on house arrest, so was unable to go further than his front gate

Stone spoke with local reporters outside his Florida residence

Stone added: 'He believes in justice. I felt pretty confident that if he heard the facts of my case, he would make the right decision.'

'Well I was, I was elated,' he said.

'Obviously I was somewhat relieved, but I was not surprised.'

Stone was glad that his legal troubles, which he described as a 'nightmare' and 'witch hunt,' were over.

'This is a horrific, horrific nightmare when you realize that ... this investigation never had any legitimate or lawful beginning,' he said.

'It was a witch hunt. There's no question about that.'

Stone told the New York Post that the president spoke to him by telephone and informed him of his decision to commute his sentence.

'I told him I was grateful,' Stone said. 'He protected my health.'

Stone added: 'He believes in justice. I felt pretty confident that if he heard the facts of my case, he would make the right decision.'

Stone, 67, was prosecuted as an offshoot of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe  which Trump repeatedly has cast as a 'witch hunt' designed to take him down.

A jury convicted the former strategist of seven felony counts in November, which included five counts of making false statements to the FBI and congressional investigators, one count of witness tampering, and one obstruction of justice count.

According to prosecutors, Stone lied during testimony and failed to turn over documents to Congress in 2017, showing he had attempted to make contact with the radical pro-transparency group WikiLeaks a year earlier.

He lied about five facts, obscuring his attempt to use intermediaries to get information that could help then-candidate Trump in the election against Hillary Clinton.

Prosecutors were initially seeking a prison term of seven to nine years, but Attorney General William Barr later retracted that recommendation shortly after Trump called it 'harsh' and 'unfair' on Twitter.
Dissolving Malis constitutional court had been a top demand for the protesters because the body had released official results from legislative elections this spring that now are being disputed by several dozen candidates. Keita also told Malians he was willing to consider re-doing the legislative elections in those areas, saying such concessions are needed to save Mali from further violence.
Chandhini R By

Express News Service

ERODE: This disabled couple in the remote Erode village of Pothiyamoopanur had an emotional rollercoaster of a weekend. Struggling to get by during the lockdown, K Somu and his wife Palaniammal, both in their fifties, were relieved to discover savings worth Rs 24,000 from the sale of a cow five years ago.

But their joy evaporated when bank staff on Friday told them the cash was worthless -- the notes had been demonetised in 2016. Turning to district officials for help, they found an unexpected benefactor: Erode Collector C Kathiravan on Sunday told The New Indian Express that hed give the couple Rs 25,000 from his own salary.

Somu, who is blind, and Palaniammal, who has a physical disability, earn a living by selling incense sticks and camphor in the locality. However, during the lockdown, they were unable to go out and sell their products. Their savings too had run out.

"So, our joy knew no bounds when my wife and I found our savings of Rs 24,000 from the sale of our cow five years ago. On Friday, we took the cash to the bank but were told the money was worthless," said Somu. The couple requested officials to convert the old notes into new ones, as they were struggling to get by. Unfortunately, bank officials have ruled out the possibility.

"There is no provision to convert the old currency. District officials can help them through some social welfare schemes or with financial assistance, a highly placed bank official said.

When The New Indian Express took this issue to the attention of the Erode district administration, officials said they would look into the matter but soon Kathiravan got in touch and said hed help the couple himself by donating Rs 25,000 from his own salary.

It may be recalled that in August 2018, the Reserve Bank of India said that as much as 99.3 per cent of the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes had returned to the banking system after the unprecedented note ban was announced on November 8, 2016.
Suspended Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police Devender Singh allegedly shared information including "sensitive" particulars with his contacts at the Pakistan High Commission which was grooming him to get some confidential details, officials have said.

While probing Singh's role, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had cracked passwords of his "secure" social media accounts which indicated his involvement with some staffers of the Pakistan High Commission, who had since been repatriated following their role in espionage activities in the national capital, officials said here.

The NIA filed a chargesheet against Singh, at present lodged in Jammu jail, and five others on July 6 in a case of allegedly waging "war against India" with the help of Pakistan-based terror groups especially the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Before his arrest, Singh's last posting was at the crucial anti-hijacking unit of the strategic Srinagar airport. Immediately after his arrest on January 11 this year, the Centre began the process of handing over the security of the airport to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) as a precautionary measure.

The 3,064-page chargesheet, filed in a Jammu court under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code, names Singh, self-styled commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group Syed Naveed Mushtaq alias Naveed Babu and his alleged network of aides.

The others named are his brother Syed Irfan Ahmad as well as the group's alleged overground worker Irfan Shafi Mir, alleged accomplice Rafi Ahmad Rather and businessman Tanveer Ahmad Wani, former president of the Line of Control Traders Association.

In the chargesheet, the NIA gave details of his role alleging that Singh was "in touch with certain officials of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi through secure social media platforms. Investigation revealed that he was being groomed by Pakistani officials for obtaining sensitive information".

The chargesheet, which comprises 3,017 oral and documentary evidences, gives details about his contacts at the Pakistan High Commission and also about the information shared by him.

The officials said he had been sharing "sensitive information" from the latter part of 2019 but refused to divulge further details.

The officials said Singh was in close contact with a person identified as Shafqat, an assistant working with the Pakistani mission here. The official was among the 50 per cent staff which was repatriated late last month.

The officials said Irfan Shafi Mir, an advocate who worked as an overground worker for the terror group, had always been negotiating with the High Commission officials and even receiving money on a regular basis.

Before his arrest, the accused had received a huge amount for organising seminars in Jammu and Kashmir and was tasked with fuelling unrest in the union territory especially in the Kashmir valley, they said.

Mir also visited Pakistan from where he allegedly carried information for the cadres of Hizbul Mujahideen in the Valley about the future course of action, the officials said.

Singh was arrested on January 11 this year along with Naveed Babu, Rather and the advocate when their car was intercepted by Jammu and Kashmir police near Qazigund on the national highway connecting the Valley with the rest of the country.

A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of an AK-47 rifle, three pistols and a cache of ammunition and explosives. The NIA took over the case on January 17.

The investigation found that Singh, in an apparent bid to shield Naveed Babu, had shifted him along with the advocate to Jammu and arranged safe shelter for them in the city in February last year as well.

Singh used his own vehicle for the movement of the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists and also assured them help in procuring weapons, the NIA alleged.
KAMPALA  The Ministry of Health confirmed 12 new coronavirus infections on Sunday  extending Ugandas cumulative total confirmed cases to 1,025.

The new cases include seven truck drivers from Malaba (5), Mirama Hills and Elegu and five community infections from the the districts of Tororo (2), Lira (2), and one from Cyanika border area.

Additionally, 17 foreign truck drivers tested positive for COVID-19 at the border points of entry and their entry into the country was not permitted.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has lifted the ban on public transport in Arua.

In a letter dated July 10 addressed to the Resident City Commissioner Arua Nahori Oya and also the chairperson Arua district COVID-19 task force, the State Minister for Health Robinah Nabbanja, said that movement of buses, taxis and other forms of public transport should resume operations.

She however added that the operators should observe the covid-19 directives.

Nahori Oya the RCC Arua warned the bus and taxi operators against transporting passengers from DRC and South Sudan since they are not allowed to enter into the country.

He also warned buses from Arua travelling to Kampala not to make stopovers in Nebbi and Packwach since they are still on lockdown.

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pti-PTI

Kathmandu, July 12: Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Sunday wished megastar Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan a speedy recovery after they tested positive for the COVID-19.

Amitabh tests positive, fans perform puja for speedy recovery|Oneindia News

The Bachchan duo were admitted to the isolation ward of the Nanavati hospital after they tested positive for the virus on Saturday.

"Wishing legendary actor of India @SrBachchan and his son actor @juniorbachchan good health and speedy recovery!" Oli tweeted. The Bachchans shared their health update on Twitter.

Abhishek, 44, said both his father and he had mild symptoms and requested everybody to be calm and not panic.

Will make 'every effort' to consolidate national unity, protect territorial integrity: Oli

I have tested COVID positive. Shifted to Hospital. Hospital informing authorities, family and staff undergone tests, results awaited, Amitabh, 77, tweeted.

Abhishek on Sunday tweeted that his wife and actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and daughter Aaradhya have also tested positive for the virus and will be "self quarantining at home".
BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12

Trend:

Azerbaijani citizens Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev have been held hostage by Armenia for six years, Azerbaijani MP Nagif Hamzayev said, Trend reports.

They were also called "criminals" upon the "decision of the court" of the illegal separatist-terrorist regime, the MP said.

If the visit to the graves of parents in the occupied Kalbajar district of Azerbaijan is a crime, then which fascist ideology does Armenia pursue by conducting a policy of ethnic cleansing and occupation of the Azerbaijani territories? Hamzayev added.

The "court" sentenced Asgarov to life imprisonment while Guliyev - to 22 years in prison and our compatriots were tortured for many years, Hamzayev, who is also the member of the parliamentary committee on human rights, said. These actions are contrary to the protocols of the 1949 Geneva Convention, requiring humane treatment towards civilians.

The world community already testifies that Armenia continues to flagrantly violate these international obligations, ignoring Azerbaijans calls for compliance with humanitarian law and the immediate mutual release of civilians detained from both sides, the MP said.

The world unequivocally accepts the fact of the occupation of Azerbaijans territories by Armenia and urges Armenia to withdraw its armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories in accordance with international law, Hamzayev added.

Despite the relevant resolutions adopted by the UN, the Council of Europe and other influential international organizations, as well as the options proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group, which is a mediator in the peaceful settlement of the conflict [Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict], Armenia is still an occupying power, the MP said. Armenia does not hasten to withdraw its armed forces and continues to support the separatist regime created here. It even tries to justify its actions related to the occupation.

Armenias targeted shelling of civilians and facilities by using heavy weapons and the ongoing hostage taking process clearly show that the crimes committed by Armenia during the conflict were a targeted and systematic policy pursued by the adventurous government, rather than accidental, the MP said. There are thousands of facts confirming the numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Armenia against the Azerbaijani civilian population during the military operations.

In an interview with Azerbaijan Television, Public TV and Khazar TV, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated on July 6 that violation of human rights and democracy in Armenia is not a topical issue.

There has never been democracy in Armenia, Hamzayev said. Immediately after the formation of Armenia as an independent country, it showed its true character. The fascists who committed the Khojaly genocide cannot be democrats. A country having its eye on other countrys land and leaves a million people homeless cannot be a democratic country. Armenia violated the main human rights of one million citizens of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis living in Armenia.

Unfortunately, international organizations that promote double standards remain indifferent to the fate of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis displaced as a result of the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the MP said. The international organizations do not take any steps to restore the violated rights of Asgarov and Guliyev held hostage by Armenia. This shows that international organizations supporting the occupying power do not pursue their goals, but fulfill certain orders and damage the growing reputation of Azerbaijan with their ugly deeds.

The forces that supported Armenia saw the determination of the Azerbaijani people to liberate their lands in the battles in April 2016 and during Nakhchivan battles from May through June 2018 and witnessed that the Azerbaijani army is one of the strongest armies in the world, Hamzayev said.

At the same time, the forces that supported Armenia saw that President of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev resolutely defended the national interests of our people, proclaimed the truth about our country from the highest podiums, exposed international organizations and the countries operating in accordance with double standards, the MP said.

The Republic of Azerbaijan is taking and will take all necessary steps to release Asgarov and Guliyev and reunite them with their families, Hamzayev said.
She's been forced apart from her husband Tim Robards who is stuck in Melbourne amid the city's reintroduced lockdown measures.

And on Sunday, Anna Heinrich cheered herself up as she took to Instagram to show off her blossoming baby bump.

The lawyer, 33, emphasised her evolving figure as she lounged around on her bed in a navy pyjama set.

Mother to be! On Sunday, Anna Heinrich cheered herself up as she took to Instagram to show off her blossoming baby bump after being forced apart from husband Tim Robards [pictured together] who is stuck in Melbourne

The proud mother-to-be, Anna kept her face out of the frame as she let her burgeoning bump steal the spotlight.

On Thursday Anna showed off some new baby clothes that she purchased on Instagram.

While revealing some hand-knitted toys, Anna couldn't stop gushing about a sweet denim jacket which had 'Baby Robards' stitched on the back.

'Can't wait to dress up my little girl!' Anna captioned a short clip of herself showing several muted yellow outfits.

Growing: The lawyer, 33, emphasised her evolving figure as she lounged around on her bed in a navy pyjama set

Exciting! On Thursday, Anna showed off some new baby clothes that she purchased on Instagram [Pictured with husband Tim]

In the following clip, she showed off her unborn child's new denim coat.

'How cute is this little denim jacket? But the best part is on the back... Baby Robards!' she proclaimed.

The pregnant beauty also showed the small collection of toys she had already acquired - including a hand-stitched piece of art from her mother-in-law.

On Wednesday, Anna revealed the sweet gift her hubby sent to cheer her up as he remains in Melbourne to film for Neighbours.

Jean-ius! The lawyer couldn't stop gushing about a sweet denim jacket which had 'Baby Robards' stitched on the back

'So talented': The pregnant beauty also showed the small collection of toys she had already acquired - including a hand-stitched piece of art from her mother-in-law

Anna shared a photo of a gorgeous bouquet of flowers along with a heartfelt note from Tim, 37, to Instagram.

'When your hubby lives in Vic and you live in NSW. Love you @mrtimrobards Pregnancy hormones on the rise,' Anna captioned the post.

'Keep smiling. I'm never that far away xoxo Love you. Your hubby,' read the touching note from Tim.

Anna has remained at the couple's home in Sydney, while Tim is based in Melbourne to continue production on Neighbours.

'I'm never that far away': This comes after Anna shared the charming bouquet which she was sent from her husband Tim

Fremantle Australia, the production company behind the long-running soap, has confirmed that Neighbours will continue filming scenes in Melbourne as the Victorian capital goes into stage three lockdown beginning midnight on Wednesday due to the sudden surge in cases of COVID-19.

Earlier this week, Anna posted an image of herself to Instagram with an emoji of tears running out of her eyes.

'Me right now not knowing when I will see my hubby next,' she captioned the heartfelt post.

Tim also seemed to be suffering from a severe case of the blues, with the chiropractor-turned-actor sharing a similar sentiment.

Separated: Earlier, the pregnant beauty shared her sadness to Instagram over not knowing when she will see husband Tim again after he returned to Melbourne to film Neighbours

'Current mood... blaaaa,' he captioned an image on his Instagram of him looking glum, while in a black hoodie.

Anna and Tim announced their pregnancy last month.

The couple, who got married in 2018, revealed the happy news on their respective Instagram accounts.

'It's been so hard to keep this a secret, over the past few months, but I can now finally shout... I'M PREGNANT!!!' Anna gushed in a post.

Glum: Tim also seemed to be suffering from a severe case of the blues, with the chiropractor-turned-actor sharing a similar sentiment

Happier times: It comes after the Channel 10 star took a break from filming over the weekend to catch up with Anna and her sister Andrea in Sydney, before returning to Melbourne

'With everything that's going on in the world we feel incredibly lucky and grateful to be starting a family together, and we're so looking forward to this next chapter in our lives.'

Tim echoed a similar sentiment on his own page, writing: 'We've been keeping busy in lockdown ... I can't wait to be a Dad!!!

'The giddy feelings in my stomach show there must be a few nerves, but I know Anna's going to be an absolutely amazing mother and I couldn't be more excited to start a family with her!'

Tim and Anna fell in love on the inaugural season of The Bachelor Australia in 2013.
Industrialist Swraj Paul has donated $5 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he studied mechanical engineering and later went on to found the Caparo Group that straddles various sectors, including value-added steel products.

MITs Kresge Auditorium is to be named after the 89-year-old Paul, whose two sons, Akash and Angad, also went to MIT. The donation has been made through the Paul familys charitable trust, the Ambika Paul Foundation, a statement from Pauls office said on Sunday.

Designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, the Kresge Auditorium is architecturally significant as a leading example of a minimalist thin-shell concrete structure. Located in the central area of the MIT campus, Kresge opened its doors in 1955 and has played an important role in the life of the MIT community. It was renovated in 2016.

In recognition of the gift, the large hall in the Kresge Auditorium will be named as the Lord Swraj Paul PC 52 and Angad Paul 92 Theatre; more generally known as the Swraj Paul Theatre at Kresge Auditorium.

Paul, a member of the House of Lords, said, I first came to MIT from India in 1949 at a time when there were very few Indian students in the United States, and the experience changed my life.

Because of my time at MIT, I decided to expand my Caparo companies into the US, and for more than 30 years, we have made significant investments across the country in our Bull Moose Tube and XL Trailers businesses.

I have always had a great respect for MIT as a world centre of technical excellence, and was delighted when my sons followed me there in the 1970s and 80s. MIT means a lot to our family, and I am honoured that we are able to support the continuation of its values and way of life through this iconic building.

The Kresge auditorium also serves as a venue for a variety of community activities including MIT events and symposiums and student performances, and Cambridge Symphony Orchestra and New England Philharmonic performances.

The Ambika Paul Foundation was established in 1978 in memory of Pauls daughter, Ambika, who died of leukaemia in 1968 aged 4. It was for her medical treatment that Paul first came to Britain in 1966, where he remained and went on to create Caparo, a diversified global association of businesses with interests predominantly in the design, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of value-added steel and niche engineering products.

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Prabhu Chawla By

In the heartlands badlands where crime writes the curriculum, caste is the syllabus and murder writes the chapters, the police write the exams. They get lessons in the Indian Penal Code from their criminal and political classmates. On Friday morning, ganglord and caste captain Vikas Dubey failed the murder lesson. He was shot dead by Uttar Pradesh cops who were taking him back to his criminal Patal Lok. Dubey, warned by police stooges of an impending raid, had gunned down eight cops the previous week. The UP Police was rudely shaken out of its stupor of caste camaraderie and political patronage by the slaughter of their own. Half a dozen of Dubeys associates encountered police bullets.

The template was the same adopted by police forces everywhere: gangster is caught, taken in a police vehicle, vehicle stalls or meets with an accident, gangster seizes policemans pistol and fires at cops who gun him down in self-defence. Despite procedural and legal holes in the narrative, public mood was overwhelmingly in favour of the state.

The liberal furore over Dubeys death has reignited the debate over the politician-police-criminal nexus, not just in Uttar Pradesh but also in other parts of India. Dubey wasnt a dilettante desperado. He represented a powerful criminal class that enjoys social, political and community legitimacy and endorsement, thanks to their utility to politicians and police. Even after being booked in several murder cases, he had been out on bail.

His house was a criminal democracya regal rendezvous for the rich, powerful and the poor alike. Since caste is the supreme subtext of UPs politics and society, Dubey was the uncrowned maharaja of the middle and lower class Brahmin community in Kanpur and around. Its no coincidence that the majority of his victims and aides killed by cops and cops he slaughtered were from the same community. Predictably, the political cacophony over Dubeys thuggish collusion with the law exposed the regions ignoble and incapacitated law and order machinery.

With the no-nonsense CM Yogi Adityanath leading from the front, trigger-happy goons were expected to crawl back into their hideouts. But the states faction and caste-ridden police force and bureaucracy are infected by a perpetual predilection  the lust for power and crippling their opponents. Caste, like in Dubeys case, is the murderous mosaic of the encounter environment. Since Yogi is a Thakur, a campaign against his government alleging persecution of Brahmins and other castes which challenge the establishment has gained traction.

The heartland has a long history of heartless villains who play politics with blood and bullets. In fact, the rise of the political dons began in the early 1980s when caste leaders became instruments to acquire power and wield weapons to silence foes. In February 1981, Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi mowed down 20 upper caste persons in Behmai village, barely 50 km from Kanpur. It forced the then CM VP Singh to resign.

Singh was the first CM to back encounter killings. The police shot down over 50 criminals during his short tenure. A case was filed in the Supreme Court, which promptly ordered a judicial inquiry. Surprisingly, 40 years after the massacre none of the 39 accused have been convicted. While 35 individuals related to the episode including Phoolan Devi have died, the relatives of the victims are awaiting justice. Phoolan became an icon and was awarded a Lok Sabha seat by the Samajwadi Party in 1996 following her release from jail. In a twist of caste karma, she was slain in 2001.

Between 1980 and 2000, local dons with community and caste credentials were chosen to mobilise voters in favour of various parties. Since the Congress was considered the party of upper castes like Brahmins and Thakurs, dons like Hari Shankar Tiwary became coveted caste influencers in Eastern UP. Not only could he sway the tide of victory, he became a lawmaker himself exemplifying the transition of the criminal to legitimate leadership.

During the mid-1990s, UP was polarised by the Ram Mandir issue, which saw the emergence of mainstream Muslim gangster netas like Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari. They were the darlings of both BSP and SP as vote swingers. Numerous cases of arson, murder and other transgressions have been registered against them. Virender Shahi, another Thakur don from Eastern UP, faced police ire, too. Strangely, even after four decades none of them have been convicted. Some of them even managed to shift from UP jails after Yogi became the chief minister.

The monk from Gorakhpur flaunts his commitment to eliminate criminals who abhor reform. He has given the authorities full freedom to go after gangsters. Bolstered by his unconditional support, cops boast about successful and lethal action against criminals. Last year when former UP chief minister Mayawati challenged the Yogi administration over the worsening law and order situation, the police responded in an equally harsh tone.

After Hyderabad police killed in an encounter all four men accused in the gang rape and murder of a 26-year old veterinarian, Mayawati tweeted on December 6: Crimes against women are on the rise in Uttar Pradesh, but the state government is sleeping. Police here and also in Delhi should take inspiration from Hyderabad Police, but unfortunately here criminals are treated like state guests, there is jungle raj in UP right now. Within a short time UP police tweeted: The figures speak for themselves. Jungle Raj is a thing of the past. No longer now. 103 criminals killed and 1859 injured in 5178 police engagements in the last more than 2 years. 17745 criminals surrendered or cancelled their own bails to go to jail. Hardly state guests.

Yogi has the full blessing of the Central leadership. Addressing a rally last year, Home Minister Amit Shah said, Till the time the SP and the BSP ruled the state, criminals would roam freely. But, after Yogi Adityanath assumed office, criminals are seen moving with a patta (placard) reading arrest us but dont do encounter. However for the Chief Minister, Dubeys ends is a golden opportunity to squidge an unholy culture of shoot and scoot and restore fear and respect for law. Otherwise, many more Dubeys, Ahmeds will sprout all over the state like they did in the past.

Yogis ill-wishers constantly allege that he targets only non-Thakurs, a charge he strongly refutes. According to the police, many omnipotent Thakur legislators have been sent to jail after being caught and convicted for serious offences. Yogi is unflappably unapologetic about his relentless law and order strategy. With a corrupt investigative machinery and unresponsive judiciary forcing conviction rates to plummet, the system has found its own methods to deal with those who kill at will.

Liberals all over the world are rattled by the use of lethal deadly police force while forgetting that silenced voices too have the right to live with dignity. Criminals cant be allowed to enjoy the latitude of luxury as they murder and maim. Dogmas are contingent on the situation. Might is right gains credibility when used in favour of the mundane masses and not to defend maestros of murder.

prabhu chawla

prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com

Follow him on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry shocked a lot of people when they decided to leave the United Kingdom for America. But some people werent so surprised.

A royal photographer even argued in a new report that Markle allegedly never had any intention of living in the United Kingdom after marrying Prince Harry in May of 2018.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at an event in March 2020 | Karwai Tang/WireImage

The latest report on Meghan Markle continued

Royal photographer Arthur Edwards recently made the claims to TalkRadio. According to The Sun, Edwards claimed Markle allegedly always wanted to leave, even though millions of dollars were spent on renovations to Frogmore Cottage.

The property was a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth, but it is now empty as the couple now lives in Markles native Los Angeles.

All that house refurbishment at Frogmore and the money that they spent on that, she had no intention of staying here, Edwards said.

He also spoke on their relocation to America, saying, She is dragging Harry along, and unfortunately, hes gone along with it.

After announcing their royal exit in January, the couple moved to Canada in March before settling in California, where they reportedly live in a mansion owned by movie mogul Tyler Perry. Although they no longer reside in the United Kingdom, The Sunday Times reports that they have started to repay the $2.9 million that was spent on Frogmore Cottage.

The report stands in stark contrast to past comments from the couple

Edwards comments conflict with remarks Prince Harry made shortly after he and Markle announced their intention to step back from their roles. He had been giving a speech on Jan. 19 at a London fundraiser for Sentebale when he opened up about their decision and what contributed to it.

Once Meghan and I were married, we were excited, we were hopeful, and we were here to serve, he began. But, he suggested, the unrelenting scrutiny they faced from the media overwhelmed them.

As many know, the couple faced widespread criticism from the moment they began dating in 2016, including from members of the royal family allegedly. It got so intense that Markle filed two lawsuits against British newspapers over their coverage of her throughout her marriage to Prince Harry, both of which are ongoing.

When Markle was directly asked how she was holding up in the midst of nonstop scrutiny in an October 2019 documentary, she admitted that she wasnt OK. As she spoke, her voice cracked and quivered.

"Not many people have asked if Im ok  its a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes."



Meghan reveals to ITV's @tombradby the intense media spotlight has left her struggling to cope while becoming a mum #HarryAndMeghan https://t.co/Uy21iE6ozJ pic.twitter.com/kZqhZV66OL  ITV News (@itvnews) October 18, 2019

Even though she was an established actress before she began dating Prince Harry, Markle shot to new levels of fame when their relationship began. Once things got serious, she had to change many aspects of her life and follow certain protocols that shed never had to in the past. And though she tried to make it work, it looks like she really just needed a break.

The couple will reportedly reevaluate their decision to step back in 2021 so well see whether they decide to stay in America or return to the United Kingdom fully.

Read more: Longtime Royal Photographer Slams Prince Harry for Criticizing the Commonwealth: Harry Should Stop Listening to His Wife
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August 5 polls: Disruption plans go up in flames, bomb-maker killed View(s):

A onetime LTTE intelligence cadre planned to explode a bomb in a public area to drive fear and prevent voters from going to polling stations on August 5  but it exploded prematurely at his house and killed him.

A Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) investigation, now underway, has revealed details of the plot. A guerrilla cadre who used the nom de guerre Mani Arasan, now operating from France, had given instructions to Menon, who died.

Besides being an intelligence cadre, Menon, his nom de guerre, it has come to light, has been an expert in the manufacture of low intensity explosive devices. He has been one of the Tiger guerrilla cadres who had gone through the Governments rehabilitation programme.

A female teacher, described as Menons girlfriend, a former member of the LTTE Police and another suspect are in custody. Menon had owned two motorcycles and had been tasked to place bombs in key locations. Police believe he also received funds from France from Mani Arasan.

The plot came to light after a bomb Menon was manufacturing triggered off due to an unexplained reason, a Police source said. There is evidence to suggest that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had plans to create a fear psychosis in the peninsula and force people not to vote, the same source said.

The discovery of the plot has led to intensification

of security measures in

the peninsula.

A former Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian, one of the main candidates contesting from the Jaffna District, has now been provided with Police Special Task Force (STF) security. In addition, he has also been assigned five motorcycles to be used by security escorts.

Police and the military are conducting spot checks to prevent any incidents during the polls campaign. They are assisted by the military in this task.

Top police team on polls duty in districts

A five-member team of senior Police officers comprising Senior DIGs, DIGs and SSPs are now making visits to districts to determine the security situation in those areas.

Election Commission officials were pleased they were reporting developments during their tour. One such instance was when the Police team found vehicles with stickers and cut-outs mounted. They not only informed the EC but initiated action to ensure they were immediately removed.

Wires crossed in electricity bills

Following an outcry on social media and in the mainstream media, Co-Cabinet Spokesman Minister Bandula Gunawardena announced this week the Government was considering a concession of 25 percent reduction to electricity bills that had recorded a power usage between 0-90 units during March, April and May.

This was after hundreds of complaints were lodged with the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Ministry of Energy over electricity bills that were delivered after two months amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The bills required payment to be made cumulatively.

But a calculation of the figures indicate the proposed 25 per cent discount for those using below 90 units will amount to Rs 200 on an average monthly bill.

This is because according to the electricity utility chart, the unit rate is Rs 7.85 from unit 1 to 60 units while from 60 to 90, the rate is fixed at Rs 10. A maximum bill is around Rs 800.

Now a committee has been appointed by the Ministry to study the issue and recommend to the Cabinet the next steps that need to be taken in this regard.

A frustrated electricity user remarked that this could be another cheap attempt by the Government to fool the people with this token concession when the total cumulative bill is thousands of rupees.

Former CM Wigs goes to Vaddukoddai

Candidates who find it difficult to conduct an aggressive election campaign amid the COVID-19 pandemic are trying various stunts to gain votes.

In the North, many go along with popular, well known local faces, when asking for votes in electorates.

Others simply called up their local party sympathisers and informed them to get some of their relatives for the pocket meetings in the neighbourhood due to current health guidelines.

One candidate lamented that he has to address so many poorly attended pocket meetings which consume so much of time and resources rather than addressing a major meeting with the participation of a decent number of people.

But the Northern Provinces former Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran who broke away from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to form his new party to contest the polls tried something new.

He decided to inaugurate his party campaign rally at a significant place in Vaddukoddai, the exact place where the infamous Vaddukoddai Resolution was passed to call for a separate state. This was done by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in 1976.

Any publicity is good publicity for Sumanthiran

A Jaffna based Tamil daily owned by a former member of the TNA is highly critical of party spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran. Analysts say this criticism is based on intra-party conflicts for preference votes in the upcoming polls.

Last week, it ran a lead story quoting a former LTTE official urging Tamil people not to vote for Mr Sumanthiran if Tamil nationalistic politics were to survive.

The next day, Mr Sumanthiran bought some 100 copies of this newspaper and gave them to the people of an election meeting in Jaffna before he started his speech.

As someone said, any publicity is good publicity for a politician, particularly during elections.

Duraiappahs grandson gets top Police post in Canada

Sri Lanka born Nishan Nish Duraiappah, who is from a distinguished Jaffna family and is the grandson of Jaffnas former Mayor Alfred Duraiappah who was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers, has become the new head of Canadas fourth-biggest Police force the Peel Regional Police. A former Hatton Regional Police deputy chief, he brings a wealth of experience to the role and succeeded interim chief Chris McCord. Mr Duraiappah is also the first person of colour to hold the office since the Peel Regional Police was formed in 1974.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Criminology from the University of Toronto and a Diploma in Public Administration from the University of Western Ontario.

Chief Duraiappah serves on the Board of Directors for the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) and has served on various OACP committees throughout his career. He is also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and became a Member of the Order of Merit in 2016.

DMK warns Indias PM about Chinas plans in Sri Lanka, urges revival of Sethu Samudram Project

A senior leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhakan (DMK) and a member of the Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament) has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revive the Sethu Samudram Project, the India Abroad News Services (IANS) reported

this week.

The move by the senior member T.R. Baalu, the report said, was to protect the Southern part of the country against China.

He cited Chinas huge investments in Sri Lanka.

The report adds:

In a letter to Mr Modi, he said: In the wake of the current conflict with China, we need to appreciate that besides our long borders in the north west and north east from Punjab to Arunachal Pradesh, the southern coastal borders, in particular the sea between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, has assumed critical importance from the security point of view.

The way in which China is moving closer to Sri Lanka will never be in our national interest, Mr Baalu added.

According to the DMK leader China has pumped in about $7,048 million for various projects in Sri Lanka. The Hambantota port has been taken over by China, he said.

These investments have made Sri Lankan people perceive that, as a friend and ally, China is more preferable than India. In such a scenario, we may not rule out Sri Lanka becoming another Nepal very soon, Mr Baalu said.

According to Mr Baalu, the southern Tamil Nadu coast, especially the Adams Bridge and Sethu Samudram areas have immense geo-strategic value.

The DMK leader said the Rs 2,400 crore Sethu Samudram project was inaugurated in 2005 but later certain elements inimical to the national security and economic prosperity of India, schemed and misled the judiciary by invoking irrelevant and religious beliefs and succeeded in their designs to stall the prestigious Ship Channel Project activities.

The Sethu Samudram Project envisages the dredging of a channel across the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka to allow ships to sail between the east and west coasts of India, instead of circumventing the island nation.

There was opposition to the project on the economic/religious/ecological fronts. The Hindus believe the Adams Bridge or the Ram Sethu was built by Lord Rama to reach Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of the demon king Ravana.

The Tamil Nadu government under the late Jayaram Jayalalithaa had demanded the Ram Sethu/Adams Bridge be called a national monument and contended that its demolition would impact marine ecology in

that region.
File image

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan tested positive for COVID-19 on July 11 and were admitted to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai. While Amitabh is 77, Abhishek is 44 years old.

They shared their health update on Twitter. I have tested COVID positive. Shifted to Hospital. Hospital informing authorities, family and staff undergone tests, results awaited, Amitabh tweeted.

"All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested, he added.

Soon after his fathers tweet quelling speculation about his health, Abhishek also tweeted.

"Earlier today both my father and I tested positive for COVID 19. Both of us having mild symptoms have been admitted to hospital. We have informed all the required authorities and our family and staff are all being tested. I request all to stay calm and not panic. Thank you," Abhishek tweeted.

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 BMC has been in touch and we are complying with them," he added.

Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic

Within minutes of Amitabh's post, the wishes for his speedy recovery began pouring in from his fans and colleagues from the film industry, flooding Twitter and other social media platforms.



Wishing you both a speedy recovery Amitji and AB... sending you prayers and positive energy...@SrBachchan @juniorbachchan

 PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) July 11, 2020

Celebrities including Akshay Kumar, Taapsee Pannu, Manoj Bajpayee, Sonu Sood, Rajkummar Rao, Anupam Kher, Bhumi Pednekar and Niel Nitin Mukesh among many others shared wishes for their fast recovery.



And you shall be back to health n happiness soon! champ ! https://t.co/CgpoHvlgqe  taapsee pannu (@taapsee) July 11, 2020



You have always been a fighter !! God bless for a speedy recovery https://t.co/NEAf0N4E10 Neil Nitin Mukesh (@NeilNMukesh) July 11, 2020



Praying for your speedy recovery Sir. Love and prayers  Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) July 12, 2020





Dear Amitji .. Please get well soon.. We wish you lots of love and a speedy recovery..

Warm Regards

 Genelia Deshmukh (@geneliad) July 12, 2020



Fighters like you know only one thing - fight. Your positivity and enthusiasm for life will bring you home soon and you shall inspire the world.  Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) July 12, 2020





Prayers... Youre a fighter & the personification of Survivor... FIGHT!!

Duas..

 Adnan Sami (@AdnanSamiLive) July 11, 2020



Wishing @SrBachchan sir & @juniorbachchan a speedy recovery Were all praying for you! Get well super soon! Take care  Vivek Anand Oberoi (@vivekoberoi) July 11, 2020





Wishing @SrBachchan sir & @juniorbachchan a speedy recovery

Were all praying for you! Get well super soon! Take care  Vivek Anand Oberoi (@vivekoberoi) July 11, 2020

Amitabh, who was roped in by the government in March to help spread awareness about the novel coronavirus pandemic, has been frequently posting on Twitter and Instagram as well as his blog, sharing advice on a range of issues.

Follow our full coverage on COVID-19 here.

Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here
Re: Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang's Nomination - A Victory for Inclusive And Participatory Democracy



In many of the commentaries that followed the nomination of Nana Jane Opoku-Agyeman as John Mahama's running mate, one message stood out - and it is the fact her nomination is seen as a victory for inclusiveness and gender empowerment.



While the upper-level leadership of the NDC is quick to attribute this nomination to women empowerment, most of the congratulatory messages from Feminist groups have expose our stark hypocrisy as people. The ill mannerism and lack of verbal articulation on the basic issue of this singular nomination of Jane Opoku-Agyeman by women's groups speak volumes.



The belief that by allowing a woman to run with a man will empower women is so absurd. We know better as a nation and people. Dont we? In my personal opinion, to invite the marginalized to be part of the centre does not pollute the centre by any means. Rather, it adds to the wealth of solution-driven ideas, but then again, let's roll back the years and interrogate the conversations that met Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings' quest for a leadership role in the NDC.



I feel exasperated by the ignorance of people who think we should elevate their petty parochial partisan interest above the constitution of the republic.



I feel exasperated because the people who are today rejoicing and engaging in praise-singing not long ago called Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings names and even attempted to emasculate her when she stood up for gender empowerment and made a compelling case for leadership in the NDC. Grown ass men including some so-called women empowerment advocates in the NDC join hands together in mocking Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings because she's not one of them. Today these same people are preaching something they laughed about not long ago.



Why didnt this same support not extended to Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings when she challenged late former President John Atta Mills in 2011 for the presidential candidate position of the NDC?



To the extent that these hypocrites are not discussing what particularly Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman can bring on board, all the arguments seem to centred around the fact that shes a woman; clearly explains our emotional intolerance and how we just consume everything forced down our throats without any independent thinking.



There's no woman in this country that has been insulted and humiliated for standing up for women than Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings. She remains the touched bearer for women empowerment and political participation for women.



Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has been reviled, lied about, called names and faced more obstruction and hate than anyone. And yet she persisted in her message of inclusiveness, and it is a huge insult to our sensibilities for anyone to say that Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman is the best thing that has ever happened to gender empowerment.



Let no one get it slanted, Nana Jane Opoku-Agyeman's nomination is not about inclusiveness, neither is it about gender empowerment. It is a nomination for political patronage, policy imprecision, corruption, horizontal apathy and to a very large extent serve Mahama's own agenda. But it certainly cannot make up for Mahama's inadequacies as to the flagbearer of the NDC.



The same derision for Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and the lack of patience to even listen and savour her substantive interpersonal communication which is actually an epitome of the pervasiveness of our ill training within Ghana's body politics will be served Nana Jane Opoku-Agyeman. She will be treated with the same disdain that the likes of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings were served.



We will ask legitimate questions of her. Questions that is infected with post-colonial arrogance, impressionism, and rigidity, about her public records.



The December elections is going to be fought on the public records of both President Nana Akufo-Addo and John Mahama. And since the NDC has elevated Nana Jane Opoku-Agyeman to the frontline and pushed Mahama to the backstage, we will ask questions relating to her public records. No one should be swayed by her meek act, inflated titles, and individual incompetence. Are the public records of Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman worth the mandate she is seeking?



I shall be back



Yours truly



Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah





Source: Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah









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 United Nations Security Council on Saturday adopted a resolution that leaves only one of two border crossings open for aid deliveries from Turkey into Syria.

The veto is against us, Mustafa Alkaser told NBC News from a refugee camp in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.

Its against the refugees, against the free Syrians who once stood up against Bashar al-Assad and demanded their freedom and dignity," he said Sunday in a telephone interview. Al-Assad, Syria's president, has clung to power for 20 years  the last nine of which have been amid a bloody civil war.

Aid agencies and doctors have also criticized the decision that will lead to the closure of the Bab al-Salam crossing in northern Syria for aid deliveries. Food, medicine and other lifesaving assistance will now be transported through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing alone.

The decision came days after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the region on Thursday, raising fears for an area where hospitals lie in ruins and camps overflow with people after nearly a decade of war.

It will restrict the flow of lifesaving medical assistance including PPE, oxygen, medications and ventilators to vulnerable communities that cant afford even the luxury of social distancing, Dr. Zaher Sahloul, who has worked extensively in northern Syria, said via email.

Image: The border checkpoint at the Bab al-Hawa crossing between Turkey and Syria's northwestern Idlib (Aarref Watad / AFP - Getty Images file)

He also criticized the harsh and heartless political maneuvering around border crossings following a week of high-stakes rivalry that pitted Russia and China against the 13 other U.N. Security Council members.

An overwhelming majority voted twice to maintain the two crossings from Turkey, but Russia and China vetoed both resolutions. Those vetoes were the 15th and 16th by Russia of a Syria resolution since the conflict began in 2011 and the ninth and 10th by China.

But early Saturday, the Security Council vote approving a single crossing from Turkey was 12-0, with Russia, China and the Dominican Republic abstaining. Russia, which has supported al-Assad, argued that aid should be delivered from within the country across conflict lines and said only one crossing point is needed.

Story continues

After the vote, Dmitry Polyanskiy, first deputy permanent representative of Russia to the U.N., tweeted that his country was "consistently in favor of humanitarian deliveries to Syria with full respect of the countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity and with coordination of its legal government."

This issue must not be politicized, he added.

China echoed his comment in a statement saying the country believes "the international community should increase humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people on the basis of respecting Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity." It also called on the U.S. to ease its sanctions on the Syrian regime to improve the humanitarian situation in the country.

But aid agencies also criticized the crossing closure.

"Lives will be lost. Suffering will intensify," aid agencies operating in Syria said in a joint statement.

They said it will be harder to reach an estimated 1.3 million people dependent on food and medicine delivered by the U.N. cross-border.

"Many will now not receive the help they need," the statement said. "With the first case of COVID-19 confirmed in Idlib, an area with a severely weakened health infrastructure, this is a devastating blow."

Oxfam, the International Rescue Committee, Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch also issued separate statements condemning the decision.

Belgium and Germany, which had pushed hard to keep the second crossing open, called it a "sad day" for both the security council and the people of Syria.

In a joint statement, they said 1.3 million people, including 800,000 displaced Syrians, live in the Aleppo area, including 500,000 children who received humanitarian aid through Bab al-Salam crossing  and now have that aid cut off.

One border crossing is not enough, but no border crossings would have left the fate of an entire region in question," they added.

U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft tweeted that the resolution was "not what the U.S. & others fought for and is far short of what the Syrian people need." Craft added in a separate statement that the outcome of the vote left her "sickened and outraged."

Back in Syria, Abdulkafi Alhmado, who lives in the countryside near the front line in the north of the country, accused Russia of using "the weapon of hunger" to try and secure victory for al-Assad.

He said the aid currently making its way into the country was barely enough.

Meanwhile, Alkaser, 38, said Russia and China's stance showed the inability of foreign powers to help the millions of people who have been displaced by the military conflict since 2011.

There is nobody ready to really stand with us and help us after almost 10 years."

Ammar Cheikh Omar reported from Antakya. Yuliya Talmazan and Adela Suliman from London.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Alabama schools are reopening for virtual-only and in-person, traditional learning. Heres a look at district plans for re-opening, which have been changed multiple times since AL.com first published these plans.

School districts are now pushing back start dates, and we are updating the table below with information as we find it, but please check with your local district for exact start dates.

If the method listed is hybrid, that typically means that the school district is starting back with a plan to bring different groups of children back on different days of the week.

Sort the table by clicking the column header. If you are unable to see the links on mobile, choose go to desktop site and they should be visible.

School district Start date How schools start Website link Link to info Acceleration Day and Evening Academy 8/11 traditional or virtual Link Link Alabaster City 8/19 hybrid Link Link Albertville City 8/24 traditional or virtual Link Link Alexander City 9/8 traditional or virtual Link Link Andalusia City 8/17 traditional or virtual Link Link Anniston City 8/5 virtual Link Link Arab City 8/20 hybrid Link Link Athens City 8/17 traditional or virtual Link Link Attalla City 8/17 traditional or virtual Link Link Auburn City 8/10 traditional or virtual Link Link Autauga County 9/8 traditional or virtual Link Link Baldwin County 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link Barbour County 8/20 virtual Link Link Bessemer City 8/20 virtual Link Link Bibb County 8/18 traditional or virtual Link Link Birmingham City 8/24 virtual Link Link Blount County 8/13 traditional or virtual Link Link Boaz City 8/20 hybrid Link Link Brewton City 8/10 traditional or virtual Link Link Bullock County 8/24 virtual Link Link Butler County 9/8 traditional or virtual Link Link Calhoun County 8/18 traditional or virtual Link Link Chambers County 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link Cherokee County 8/19 traditional or virtual Link Link Chickasaw City 8/19 traditional or virtual Link Link Chilton County 9/8 traditional or virtual Link Link Choctaw County 8/10 virtual Link Link Clarke County 8/31 traditional or virtual Link Link Clay County 8/25 hybrid Link Link Cleburne County 8/13 traditional or virtual Link Link Coffee County 8/10 traditional or virtual Link Link Colbert County 8/24 hybrid Link Link Conecuh County 8/20 virtual Link Link Coosa County 8/31 virtual Link Link Covington County 8/17 traditional or virtual Link Link Crenshaw County 8/24 traditional or virtual Link Link Cullman City 8/19 traditional or virtual Link Link Cullman County 8/20 hybrid Link Link Dale County 8/14 traditional or virtual Link Link Daleville City 8/21 traditional or virtual Link Link Dallas County 9/8 traditional or virtual Link Link Decatur City 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link Dekalb County 8/10 traditional or virtual Link Link Demopolis City 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Dothan City 9/8 traditional or virtual Link Link Elba City 8/10 traditional or virtual Link Elmore County 8/10 traditional or virtual Link Link Enterprise City 8/6 traditional or virtual Link Link Escambia County 8/7 traditional or virtual Link Link Etowah County 8/17 traditional or virtual Link Link Eufaula City 8/20 virtual Link Link Fairfield City 8/10 virtual Link Link Fayette County 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Florence City 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Fort Payne City 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link Franklin County 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Gadsden City 8/17 virtual Link Link Geneva City 8/24 traditional or virtual Link Link Geneva County 8/28 traditional or virtual Link Link Greene County 8/20 virtual Link Link Gulf Shores City 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link Guntersville City 8/25 traditional or virtual Link Link Hale County 8/20 virtual Link Link Haleyville City 8/20 hybrid Link Link Hartselle City 8/10 traditional or virtual Link Link Henry County 8/21 traditional or virtual Link Link Homewood City 8/19 hybrid Link Link Hoover City 8/20 hybrid Link Link Houston County 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Huntsville City 8/17 virtual Link Link i3 Academy 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Jackson County 8/7 traditional or virtual Link Link Jacksonville City 8/18 hybrid Link Link Jasper City 8/20 hybrid Link Link Jefferson County 9/1 virtual Link Link Lamar County 8/24 traditional or virtual Link Link Lanett City 8/24 virtual Link Lauderdale County 8/17 traditional or virtual Link Link Lawrence County 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link LEAD Academy 8/17 traditional or virtual Link Link Lee County 8/17 virtual Link Link Leeds City 8/20 hybrid Link Link Legacy Prep 8/24 virtual Link Link Limestone County 8/7 traditional or virtual Link Link Linden City 8/10 virtual Link Link Lowndes County 8/19 virtual Link Link Macon County 8/6 virtual Link Link Madison City 8/10 virtual Link Link Madison County 8/19 virtual Link Link Marengo County 8/17 traditional or virtual Link Link Marion County 8/11 traditional or virtual Link Link Marshall County 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link Midfield City 8/25 virtual Link Link Mobile County 9/1 virtual Link Link Monroe County 8/17 virtual Link Link Montgomery County 8/10 virtual Link Link Morgan County 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link Mountain Brook City 8/20 hybrid Link Link Muscle Shoals City 8/20 hybrid Link Link Oneonta City 8/18 hybrid Link Link Opelika City 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link Opp City 8/17 hybrid Link Link Oxford City 8/19 traditional or virtual Link Link Ozark City 9/8 virtual Link Link Pelham City 8/19 hybrid Link Link Pell City 8/21 traditional or virtual Link Link Perry County 8/24 traditional or virtual Link Link Phenix City 8/17 hybrid Link Link Pickens County 8/26 traditional or virtual Link Link Piedmont City 8/19 traditional or virtual Link Link Pike County 8/24 traditional or virtual Link Link Pike Road City 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Randolph County 8/27 hybrid Link Link Roanoke City 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Russell County 8/10 virtual Link Link Russellville City 8/19 traditional or virtual Link Link Saraland City 8/6 traditional or virtual Link Link Satsuma City 8/17 hybrid Link Link School of Cyber Technology and Engineering 8/17 traditional only Link School of Fine Arts 8/17 virtual Link Link School of Math and Science traditional or virtual Link Scottsboro City 8/24 traditional or virtual Link Link Selma City 8/24 virtual Link Link Sheffield City 8/17 hybrid Link Link Shelby County 8/13 hybrid Link Link St Clair County 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Sumter County 8/21 virtual Link Link Sylacauga City 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Talladega City 8/19 virtual Link Link Talladega County 8/20 hybrid Link Link Tallapoosa County 8/31 traditional or virtual Link Link Tallassee City 9/8 traditional or virtual Link Link Tarrant City 8/25 traditional or virtual Link Link Thomasville City 8/17 traditional or virtual Link Link Troy City 8/24 traditional or virtual Link Link Trussville City 8/12 traditional or virtual Link Link Tuscaloosa City 8/20 virtual Link Link Tuscaloosa County 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Tuscumbia City 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link University Charter School 8/19 traditional or virtual Link Link Vestavia Hills City 8/20 hybrid Link Link Walker County 8/20 hybrid Link Link Washington County 8/31 traditional or virtual Link Link Wilcox County 8/20 hybrid Link Link Winfield City 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link Winston County 8/20 traditional or virtual Link Link

State education officials released a framework of recommendations for reopening schools on June 26 but left most of the daily operating decisions, like whether students will be required to wear masks and what to do when children show symptoms of COVID-19, to local school officials.

Most dont require students to wear masks but encourage them to do so, some ask parents to check for fever at home, others say schools will do it.

There is one clear commonality. Nearly all systems plan to offer students the same choice--traditional or virtual classes.

Some allow students to switch at the end of nine weeks, while others want a commitment for the entire school year.

As of Aug. 10, 32 school systems, including Mobile County (the states largest district), Huntsville City, Madison County, and Montgomery County, have announced plans to start the year remotely. One public charter school, Legacy Prep in Birmingham, will start school virtual-only. And the Alabama School of Fine Arts will start with virtual-only school, too.

These are links to the plans weve found so far. In districts where we couldnt find a plan, if we were able to locate any information (official social media posts or news reports) about how the district plans to open, we included that link.

If your school district isnt listed, it means we havent found a reopening plan or other information online.

If your school district has issued a plan but isnt listed here, please email me at tcrain@al.com and well add it to the article.

For all of AL.coms back to school coverage, click here.

Updated 8/10/2020 6:00 p.m. to include adjusted start dates, hybrid and virtual-only decisions

Updated 8/10/2020 7:37 a.m. to include adjusted start dates, hybrid and virtual-only decisions

Updated 8/6/2020 6:35 p.m. to include adjusted start dates, hybrid decisions

Updated 8/5/2020 7:10 p.m. to include adjusted start dates, hybrid decisions

Updated 8/4/2020 4:15 p.m. to include adjusted start dates, hybrid decisions

Updated 8/4/2020 2:55 p.m. to include adjusted start dates, virtual-only and hybrid decisions

Updated 8/3/2020 7:00 p.m. to include adjusted start dates, virtual-only decisions

Updated 7/30/2020 4:40 p.m. to include adjusted start dates, virtual-only decisions

Updated 7/29/2020 7:15 p.m. to include adjusted start dates, virtual-only decisions, make table sortable

Updated 7/28/2020 8:10 p.m. to include additional plan links, adjusted start dates

Updated 7/23/2020 6:40 p.m. to include additional plan links, adjusted start dates

Updated 7/22/2020 4:45 p.m. to include additional plan links, adjusted start dates

Updated 7/22/2020 12:15 p.m. to include additional plan links, adjust district opening plans, and add start dates.

Updated 7/21/2020 11:35 a.m. to correct the link to Pike Road Schools plan. We apologize for the error.

Updated 7/20/2020 7:25 p.m. to include additional plan links and start dates. Added column to indicate whether the district would open with virtual school only.

Updated 7/18/2020 7:10 p.m. to include additional plan links and start dates.

Updated 7/16/2020 9:05 p.m. to include additional plan links and start dates.

Updated 7/15/2020 5:35 p.m. to include additional plan links and start dates.

Updated 7/14/2020 7:00 p.m. to include additional plan links and start dates.

Updated 7/13/2020 6:30 p.m. to include additional plan links and start dates.
CHARLOTTE FLAIR EXPLAINS WHY SHE HAS TAKEN TIME AWAY FROM WWE

Charlotte Flair took to Twitter this evening to explain why she was taking time away from WWE, specifically revealing she was having a breast augmentation surgery that was a follow-up to a previous surgery in 2018 brought about by a leaking implant:

My air conditioning is broken, and we have a little free time. These tweets may be spaced out a bit, but were going to talk time off, plastic surgery and boobs.  Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) July 12, 2020

The entire world having an opinion on the topic bothers me more than I care to let on, so we are going to discuss it.  Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) July 12, 2020

Im going to save the history of my boobs for a different bedtime story, so:



Picture it. Charlotte, North Carolina, 2018. A young queen, shortly after a career defining Wrestlemania victory, finds herself sicker than sick at her brothers house.  Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) July 12, 2020

A trip to the doctor tells us the likely culprit is silicone poisoning, and that my implant had been leaking for quite some time. It was one of the worse cases the doctor had seen.  Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) July 12, 2020

At that time, I had a few options to fix the issue. Each option had a specific recovery time. I love this job more than anything, so I picked the option that allowed me to return the soonest. That was the choice I made.  Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) July 12, 2020

Fast forward to a few months ago. Something felt off, so I went back to the doctor. Same issue again.



This time, Im going with an option that I believe will solve the issue long time, even though the recovery period is a little longer than I would like.  Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) July 12, 2020

Youre absolutely right; I do not owe anyone a thing. But I will not allow people to think Im somehow ashamed of it for even a second longer. https://t.co/lOy3gPZz0a  Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) July 12, 2020

To clarify: I do not have silicone poisoning this time. The surgery is cosmetic to fix an issue from a prior surgery  Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) July 12, 2020

Ill be back when Im ready. The body will be rested, and the mind still focused on legacy. Focused on this job. Focused on being better. Always being better.  Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) July 12, 2020

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
It seems that this tidbit made the news back in November 2016 -- although a lot of us probably overlooked it in the tempest of insanity that engulfed November 2016. Moana isn't known by that name everywhere in the world. Throughout Europe, the character was dubbed "Vaiana," allegedly due to a pre-existing brand name. Because if there's one thing Disney loves, it's avoiding litigation at all costs. In Italy, the film was re-titled Oceania, and a lot of people think it's because of porn.

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It turns out that Moana was also the name of a famous Italian porn star, who presumably never befriended a demi-god while on an epic quest to return a magical gem to a sentient island. The late Moana Pozzi was a "household name" in Italy, starring in various movies, including her own cartoon adventure Moanaland about "a porn star who exposes political corruption."

Mario Verger

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According to one unverified, third-hand account, Pozzi played a "big part" in the name change. The late actress also wrote a memoir in which she claimed to have had affairs with Robert DeNiro, Roberto Benigni, and the former Italian Prime Minister. So what we're saying is, perhaps Disney made a movie about the wrong Moana.

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter! And check out the podcast Rewatchability

Top Image: Pixar
Two police officers were fatally shot on Saturday by a man who later killed himself after they responded to a domestic disturbance call in McAllen, Texas, the authorities said.

Chief Victor Rodriguez of the McAllen Police Department identified the officers as Edelmiro Garza, 45, and Ismael Chavez, 39.

These are entirely very difficult, difficult moments, Chief Rodriguez said at a news conference. The officers came here to maintain peace. Instead, they were taken down by gunfire. The next few days for us moving forward as well will be very difficult for ourselves at the department, at the city of McAllen, but our strength will get us through.

Officers Garza and Chavez met around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday with two people who reported a disturbance, maybe some assaults, that had taken place at the house where the officers were later shot, Chief Rodriguez said.
The public can weigh in on an $800 million river sediment diversion proposal in Plaquemines Parish over three days of online meetings conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers this week.

The meetings at 9 a.m. Tuesday, 2 p.m. Wednesday and 6 p.m. Thursday will provide information about the permitting process for the proposed Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion, to be located near Wills Point on the east bank of Plaquemines Parish. The input will help the Corps, the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, and a contractor conducting an environmental assessment of the project understand what environmental and economic issues are most important to the public.

The diversion would capture sediment and freshwater from the Mississippi River and use it to maintain and build new wetlands in the Breton Sound basin. The environmental study will review alternatives for its operation and also look at ther effects on wetlands and land loss if it were not built, including maximum flows of 35,000, 75,000 or 115,000 cubic feet per second moving through the diversion into the sound, with either 2,500 or 5,000 cubic feet per second flowing through when the project's gates are shut.

The state is recommending the maximum 75,000 cfs limit, and expects the diversion to operate when the flow of water in the river at Belle Chasse goes above 450,000 cfs.

The study will also look at the effects of not building the diversion on continued wetlands and land loss in the area.

The project needs three sets of environmental permits aimed at assuring it will not interfere with river or hurricane levees, wont affect navigation in the river, and that its benefits outweigh any negative environmental or economic effects when completed and in operation.

Like the proposed Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion on the West Bank, the Mid-Breton diversion has been criticized by some commercial and recreational fishers over concerns that the freshwater diverted into the sound will kill oysters in existing commercial oyster leases, and disrupt the timing and location of shrimp and finfish on which they depend.

That could significantly disrupt both the states economy and force commercial fishers to go out of business, travel much farther for catches or move closer to fish resources.

One critic, Plaquemines Parish native and New Orleans resident Ken Ragas, recently charged in a letter to the CPRA that the agencys computer models showing the two diversions will build land were improperly based on data from the West Bay diversion near the mouth of the river, which was assisted in building land through the disposal of sediment dredged from the river by the Corps.

However, the modeling that is being used for the Mid-Barataria and Mid-Breton diversions is actually based on more recent surveys of the sediment carried by the river immediately upstream and downstream of the proposed diversion locationm the availability of sediment in sand bars along the river just upstream of the diversions, and on the topography of the areas where the sediment will be deposited.

That data is being continuously updated by both the U.S. Geological Survey and Tulane University research scientist Mead Allison, said Bradley Barth, diversion project manager for the CPRA.

Those studies also include assumptions about the potential removal of vegetation in the channels in which the water will flow after leaving the diversion.

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The state also has begun a number of studies aimed at finding ways to deal with potential effects on fishery resources, including identifying new locations for development of state-owned water bottoms to support oysters that would replace those that would not be viable when the diversion is built, and identifying refrigeration equipment or other strategies to assist commercial fishers in harvesting farther from present ports. The state also is likely to consider other mitigation alternatives, such as buyouts, to deal with fisheries changes.

The environmental impact statement will address a variety of other issues concerning the proposed diversion. Among them:

Marine mammals  The 2010 BP oil spill resulted in the death of several thousand bottlenose dolphins that have historically resided in both Breton Sound and Barataria Bay. Concerns have been raised that the diversions freshwater will either cause health problems for the remaining dolphins, or cause them to move to other locations along the Gulf Coast. Congress has already ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service to declare that both diversions meet the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but the environmental study must still address whether the diversion will harm the dolphins or other marine mammals.

Water quality  The Mississippi Rivers water during high-water periods fed by Midwest floods is rich in fertilizer and other nutrients. Since those high-water periods are when the diversion would most often be used, the effects of those nutrients and other potential contaminants will be studied. The study also will look at the effects of the lowered salinity levels on fisheries, and potential effects on drinking water sources.

Aquatic sites  The study will review whether the project might affect areas listed as essential fish habitat for threatened or endangered species, or effects on reefs.

Hurricane risk reduction  The project will require cutting through the river levee and the back hurricane risk reduction levee. The study will review whether the design will allow the levees to protect as intended.

Recreational and commercial fisheries  The study will detail the potential changes to finfish and shellfish by the diversions operations.

A draft version of the environmental impact statement should be completed in the fall of 2022, and will be subject to another round of public hearings and revisions. A final version of the statement is scheduled for fall 2023, followed by another public hearing, and the Corps decision on the diversion in January 2024.

The Corps decided against holding in-person scoping meetings to take public comments because of safety concerns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter Wednesday to Col. Stephen Murphy, commander of the Corps New Orleans District office, Lt. Gov. Bill Nungesser said that decision will leave out our most vulnerable stakeholders and commercial fishermen in south Louisiana.

Nungesser said he believes the meetings could be held safely with proper COVID-19 safeguards and asked that they be rescheduled at a later date because many of those who might want to participate dont have internet access or the availability of a computer or telephone service.

The public is being asked to add their own suggestions of possible issues to that list during the meeting and through formal comment submissions on the web, by email or by phone calls.

Comments can be mailed to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District; Attn: CEMVN-ODR-E #MVN-2018-1120-E00; 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118. Comments can be emailed to CEMVN-Midbreton@usace.army.mil .

Phone comments can be made by dialing toll free: 1-855-Mid-Bret (1.855.643.2738) Phone comments are limited to four minutes and can be done in languages other than English.

To participate in any of the three scoping meetings, go to the Corps website: https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/Permits/Mid-Breton-Sediment-Diversion-EIS/

On that page, under how to participate, are links for web access, numbers for phone access, and passwords for both.

The page also includes links to YouTube presentations by the Corps and CPRA that will be part of the meetings, and to other information about the project.

Mark Schleifstein covers the environment and is a leader of the Louisiana Coastal Reporting Team for The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate. Email: mschleifstein@theadvocate.com. Facebook: Mark Schleifstein and Louisiana Coastal Watch. Twitter: MSchleifstein
There are other homes along Bethlehem Road between Old Mountain Road and The Landings, and Celeste Henkel Elementary School sits at the intersection of Bethlehem and Old Mountain roads.

The Landings resident Dan Watkins said all of the residents as well as school buses and parents use all of Bethlehem Road.

They dont go up this road because its the most scenic in town, Watkins said. They come up it because its the most efficient road to get from their homes to the east.

Watkins said he uses the road four to five times a day and always meets someone else. He added that Bethlehem Road is 50 years old and should not be taken from the community so easily.

Its not an issue that we object to the expansion of the airport, Watkins said. Its not us not being cognizant of the overall significant impact to the community once this ever happens. Its a function of their (Statesville officials and representatives) priorities, and a fact that we should not be incurring the harm at this point in time simply because its an economic inconvenience for them.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought immediate action from Gujarat Police against a man for allegedly hurling abuses and giving rape threats to a female stand-up comedian on social media.

In a letter to Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) Shivanand Jha, the NCW said it has been tagged in a video posted on Twitter in which the man can be seen hurling abuses and giving rape threats to the woman.

"The NCW is committed to creating safe online space for women and ensuring cybersecurity to women and is perturbed by the rise in use of cyberspace to instigate crime against women," NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said in the letter sent late Saturday night.

"Considering the sensitivity of the matter, it is requested that the immediate action shall be taken as per the Information Technology Act, 2000, against the miscreant and feedback be apprised to the Commission," Sharma said.
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The legislature isnt scheduled to return to Raleigh until after Labor Day, but the actions of Congress might change those plans  and perhaps interrupt some summer vacations to address urgent state budget shortfalls.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Roy Cooper confirmed that he might call a special session if theres a need to allocate new federal coronavirus relief money or make budget adjustments before Sept. 2.

If Congress passes new federal funding or we receive a new revenue forecast well before Sept. 2, it may be important to call the legislature into to session to provide relief sooner, Cooper spokeswoman Dory MacMillan said in an email. The governors office will continue to work with the General Assembly to find consensus on the budget and COVID-19 relief.

According to The Hill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week that its likely Congress will approve another coronavirus relief package when lawmakers return to Washington on July 20. Divisions between the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-majority House could complicate the process.

North Carolina leaders are hoping Congress will help fill a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. So far, federal coronavirus money can only be used for government functions related to the pandemic.

The state will learn just how much revenue has been lost in the weeks following the July 15 income tax filing deadline.

Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson and a top House budget writer, said in a blog post that he anticipates that could happen probably in late July or early August.

The governor recognizes, as do legislative leaders, the easiest way to balance the budget, which is required under the North Carolina constitution, is to allocate the federal funds to cover the state budget deficit, McGrady wrote. It is also possible that when tax revenues become clear after the July 15 tax filing deadline that the budget picture will become clearer.

Local governments in North Carolina are also looking to Washington for help. The mayors of eight Triangle cities and towns are asking their congressional delegations for more federal assistance as they confront huge budget shortfalls.

Story continues

Cities and towns did not cause the situation that they now find themselves in; a global pandemic did, says the letter, which was signed by the mayors of Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Cary, Knightdale, Hillsborough, Carrboro, Morrisville and Garner. On behalf of our residents and businesses, we ask that you help North Carolina move beyond this crisis to a better day and support legislation that will address local revenue shortfalls and ensure a strong economic future.

The letter notes that COVID-19s effects are costing Cary $11 million and counting, and Hillsboroughs water system has lost $1.5 million because unpaid accounts arent cut off.

The greatest challenges moving forward for city governments are lost revenues due to the economic effects created by this crisis, the mayors wrote to U.S. Rep. David Price and U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis. These include declines in sales taxes and occupancy taxes, as well as water and sewer utility revenue due to industry slowdowns and because residents cannot pay their bills.
KATHMANDU : Amid the political turmoil in Nepal , the ruling communist party executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said on Sunday that he will not allow the party to split and any attempt from anywhere to weaken its unity would hurt the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and natural disasters.

Addressing the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) members in his hometown Chitwan, Prachanda said that he was determined to keep the party unity intact.

"It is natural to have differences of opinion, dispute and debate in a big party, but I will not allow the party to split," he said. "If there is a dispute in the party, there are proper procedures to resolve it."

His remarks came amid speculation that the NCP could split after top party leaders, including 'Prachanda', demanded Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli's resignation, saying his recent anti-India remarks were "neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate."

Prachanda also advised the party cadres to abide by the party principles and not to run from one camp to another at the time of the crisis.

"Don't describe some leaders within the ruling party as anti-national and others as nationalist," he said, in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Oli's recent statement that some of the ruling party leaders are aligning with the southern neighbour to remove him from power after his government issued a new political map incorporating three Indian territories.

The party and the government worked together to issue the new map, he pointed out.

Earlier in the day, addressing a meeting of the District Disaster Management Committee in Chitwan, Prachanda said that the political activities should not affect the government's response to the coronavirus crisis and natural disasters.

"Any attempt from anywhere else to weaken the party unity would not be in favour of the people," Prachanda was quoted as saying by The Rising Nepal.

He urged the entire political parties, civil society, media and one and all to engage in a combined battle against the COVID-19 crisis and natural disasters.

Oli and Prachanda have held over half a dozen one-on-one meetings in recent days, but the two leaders are nowhere close to a power-sharing deal.

Meanwhile, the ruling party is divided on one-on-one talks between Oli and Prachanda, with a senior party leader saying that prolonging the issues will not serve anybody's interest.

The meeting of the NCP's 45-member powerful Standing Committee to decide Oli's fate was scheduled to be held on Friday. But it was postponed for a week at the last moment, citing floods and landslides that killed at least 22 people.

NCP leader Asta Laxmi Shakya said it was okay for the party to postpone the crucial meeting for a week, keeping in mind the risk of extreme weather, but Oli should be ready to settle these issues after seven days.

She said that prolonging the issues will not serve anybody's interest and it means that differences will keep cropping up, impacting the party, The Himalayan Times reported.

Shakya said that one-on-one meeting between Oli and Prachanda would not help resolve the crisis.

If the PM does not feel comfortable discussing some issues in front of all the members of the Standing Committee, then he could discuss these issues with the rival faction, with both factions including three to four key leaders or they can discuss the issues in the party Secretariat.

"But the two co-chairs should not discuss issues themselves," she argued.

Shakya said that Prime Minister Oli should have used his address to the nation on Friday night to calm down the youths protesting in his support and say that the party would not split, but he did not mention any of these things.

NCP Standing Committee member Beduram Bhusal said that Oli mixed politics in his message meant to inform the public about the government's efforts to deal with natural disasters and COVID-19.

Bhusal said that the only option for resolving the internal rift was to discuss all issues in the Standing Committee and follow the bodys decision.

Another Standing Committee member Mani Thapa, however, said that Oli's statement that internal differences could be resolved through dialogue was a sign that differences between him and Prachanda were narrowing down.

Thapa said that he and some other second rung leaders have advised Prachanda to focus on one-on-one meeting with Oli as they were both signatories to the unity deal signed between the former CPN- UML and UCPN-Maoist Centre.

According to Thapa, Prachanda was initially hesitant to hold one-on-one meeting with Oli because he thought that could antagonise his faction leaders, particularly former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jahala Nath Khanal, but he finally agreed when some second rung leaders convinced him.

Under mounting pressure to resign, Prime Minister Oli has downplayed the intra-party rift and said such disputes are "regular phenomena" that can be resolved through dialogue.

The differences between the two factions of the NCP, one led by 68-year-old Oli and the other led by Prachanda on the issue of power-sharing, intensified after the prime minister unilaterally decided to prorogue the budget session of Parliament.

The political future of Oli is now expected to be decided on July 17 during the Standing Committee meeting, amidst the growing involvement of Chinese envoy Hou Yanqui to save his chair.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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In a time of increased racial tensions, Sikhs find themselves in a tough position.

At a stage when Americans across the country have taken to the streets to demand social justice, we continue to see opposing bigotry. On June 22, a Sikh-owned restaurant in Santa Fe was vandalized with racial insults splattered across its walls.

Sikhism, the fifth-largest religion in the world, originated from the Punjab region of South Asia. Although established in the 15th century, footprints of Sikhs in America can be traced back to the late 19th century. Prior to 2020, the U.S. Census did not have a religion category, so there is no accurate estimate of how many Sikhs currently live in the United States, although research from 2012 suggests a population estimate of over 200,000.

The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, wanted to emphasize the fundamental humanity and equality of all people. The literal meaning of Sikh is disciple. The code of conduct requires adherents to keep five articles of faith, most noticeable of which is uncut hair. Thus, observant Sikh males will wear a turban on their heads, which provides not only a physical identity of Sikhism, but also carries a pious meaning. The current paradox is that the Sikh religion promotes peace and tolerance, but at the same time Sikhs are continually the brunt of violence and racism at places of work and rest.

The first documented attack against American Sikhs occurred in 1907 in Bellingham, Washington, where white working men sought to drive out the mostly South Asian migrant workers. Even the military in 1981 adopted a ban against Sikhs joining while wearing turbans. Since then, there has been a lengthy history of animosity and discrimination, which worsened after 9/11 for no reason other than appearance. The turban that carries such religious meaning is now also a marker for discrimination and hate.

Equally disheartening is the issue that hate crimes continue to rise. The FBI reported a 200% increase in hate crimes against Sikh individuals since 2017. At a time when Black Lives Matter, we could use a lesson in solidarity, because action doesnt endure in the silo of just one community.

After many decades, the Army lifted the ban against Sikh articles of faith in 2017. We should use this learning opportunity to educate our communities about religious minorities and tolerance. Events such as Turban Day, hosted annually in Times Square, are an opportunity that was created to bring awareness to the Sikh identity. Since its origin eight years ago, over 30,000 turbans have been tied.

Sikhs are your neighbors and coworkers. We need to have these conversations because no community deserves prejudice. Now that we understand systemic bias exists and aims to divide, it is time to overcome it and stand united.

Tina Brar lives in Harrison, New Jersey
An elderly resident who lives near a property that has become known as Covid Party House described how a young woman outside the house was told to hush but responded by saying, Turn up the music".

Sadie OMahony, of Highfield West, near University College Cork, was giving evidence in the case against the landlord for being responsible for noise as a nuisance. Ms OMahony said: In the last couple of months we have had no sleep whatsoever. We have been in contact with Fachtna OReilly over the years but in the last six to eight weeks it is gone really bad.

She described having her granddaughter staying over last Friday night for the first time since the Covid-19 restrictions lifted and said they were all still awake at 5am on a morning when her daughter had to be at work for 8am.

Ms OMahony described another incident where two young women were outside the 'party house'. One said, We can do what we want. The other said, The residents would like to sleep'. (The first woman said), Turn up the music. And then it got even louder.

On another occasion, Ms O'Mahony said she heard a young man say through an open window after the gardai had called to the house, The shades are gone, we can do what we want.

Going back to another incident during Rag Week, Ms OMahony said that in the same house, there was a party one night and the gardai came out. We counted just over 100 people came out of the house, she testified at Cork District Court today.

Judge Olann Kelleher asked the witness if she had engaged with the landlord. Ms O'Mahony said: All he would say is blame UCC, blame the pubs It is the same thing all the time, They (students) have rights. Youd have no business talking to Mr OReilly, it is just the same thing all the time.

Eamon Murray, solicitor, said that up to 90% of the houses in the area were let to students and that Mr OReilly was the only one being blamed. Ms OMahony replied: Mr OReillys house is the worst house over the years. I am not saying the others dont give noise but his is the worst.

Mr Murray said Mr OReilly was a recently widowed 80-year-old man and there was a protest by residents outside his house on Model Farm Rd, Cork, with protesters wearing face masks and carrying placards.

Catherine Clancy, resident of Magazine Rd and chairperson of the local residents' association, said that since stage one of lockdown, there were long queues of young people buying drink at their local store, effectively making the shop 'no longer available" to residents.

Muiread OCallaghan, of Connaught Avenue, said a house four doors away from her home had become known as Party Central. She said that so many people come and go there that it was like a railway station.

Garda Peter ORiordan, a community garda in the area, gave evidence of gardai receiving a number of complaints of loud parties going on in each of the two houses.

Mr OReilly was not going to give evidence but decided to do so in what his solicitor Mr Murray described as a change of plans. He said he had five houses rented to students near UCC.

Judge Kelleher asked the landlord if the residents had rights at all. Mr OReilly said: They have rights to the peaceful enjoyment of their homes. I am obliged to follow the law to make sure they get it.

The judge asked him what he would do to address the concerns of residents with those making the noise in his properties. Mr OReilly said: The offender can tell me to get lost. I have to deal with the person causing problems diplomatically, inform them of their obligations to neighbours. Most times they adhere to these. Sometimes they do not. If they do not there is a process I put in place to get rid of them.

Mr OReilly added: "You explain to me how I can stop that party. When they go into a house I tell them no parties. It is not a term of the lease but I tell them.

Asked why the parties are continuing, Mr OReilly replied, Eight people in the house, they have mobile phones, they can fill the house in ten minutes.
G Subhash Chandra By

Express News Service

CHITRADURGA: The discipline taught by the Indian Army during training is being replicated by Havildar DM Yogesh, who returned home to Khandenahalli in Hiriyur taluk.

The 37-year-old Havildar Yogesh working in Artillery unit of the Indian Army at Jhansi cantonment is on a 30-day leave and has been staying in the temporary tent planted in his farm located at the border village.

He arrived at his village on July 5 has not only has taken up self-isolation from the family members, but also works regularly in the agricultural land where he is growing cucumber creepers and happily interacts with friends, COVID-19 front line workers who visit him regularly to enquire about his health.

Yogesh who underwent thermal screening at the KSR Bengaluru City Railway Station was directed to observe 14 days home quarantine at Khandenahalli. As there were children in his house, he decided not to put them at risk and stayed back at the tent fixed on his farm.

Speaking to TNIE Yogesh said, "As a responsible and a disciplined person from armed forces it is my duty to protect my country and family. Hence, I decided to stay away from my near and dear ones by camping on my farm. My health is regularly monitored by the PHC at Dharmapura".

"I am not having any health issues and my throat swab will be tested on Monday and once I get the negative report after completion of 14 days isolation, I can join my family and spend the remaining time till August 3," he said.

He said that he is all set to retire from his service on October 31 after completion of 19 years service since Jan 2002 and will permanently come back to his home state.

However, the rich experience and discipline taught in the armed forces will come to help him in his future as well, he said. He also said that being a son of the farmer, he will take up agrarian activities in the future.

Yogesh has put himself in the field, about 1.5 km away from his house. "I will regularly get food from home and my friends and well-wishers speak to me from a distance," he said.

"Besides this, I also enjoy working in the field where cucumber is grown," he said.

He further said, "This vacation will be a different one for me as I have to spend two weeks away from my family, even though I am near them."
The case of the Sudanese girl, Jasmine, gathered enormous support since it was reported by the The Guardian newspaper last week that she remained at risk of deportation to Sudan via Bahrain despite being the subject of an FGM protection order.

Labour MP Helena Kennedy, former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal and more than 30 MPs have added their names to the letter published by the the Good Law Project, a not-for-profit membership organisation.

The letter is spearheaded by activist Hooda Ali who herself is a victim of FGM and has witnessed life-changing consequences after being cut aged seven.

Ali said: "Jasmine will be aware of FGM because her mother has been cut, her aunties died after being cut. She will have been taught in school that her body belongs to her... But at home she hears of risk of FGM, that is incredibly confusing and scary."

Patel mounted a legal challenge around the case, which was dismissed at a hearing last month in the court of appeal.

Kennedy said: "This case has been fought hard by the Home Office because it lives in terror that if it becomes too easy to flee FGM and get asylum, the UK will be flooded with applicants. But every case should be decided on its own merit. It is very important our courts take a tough position on Female Genital Mutilation, which is a form of torture."

Jasmine was brought to the UK at the age of three by her mother, who is also a victim of FGM and whose two sisters died after being cut in their native Sudan.

The single mother's claim for asylum failed but inquiries by the family court into her daughter's welfare led a judge to conclude: "It is difficult to think of a clearer or more serious case where the risk of FGM is so high."

--IANS

hitesh/ksk/


While the state government has been establishing COVID care centres at marriage halls, auditoriums, many Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) too have come forward to facilitate home isolation and management of positive patients in their apartment premises. Though it is stated that the RWA should have a tie up with the medical team for the clinical support to the patients.

In this regard, on Friday, BBMP, with the help of Bangalore Apartments Federation, enabled 225 apartments campuses in Bommanahalli to create COVID Care Centres, thereby allowing immediate relief for 42,383 families.

The preparations to open country's largest COVID Care Centre at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) is underway. The BBMP claims it to be a 10,000-bed facility where asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms will be admitted.

The BBMP Mayor, M Goutham Kumar, apprised that 300 doctors and 600 nurses along with a supporting staff of 300 people will be deployed. "Waste from the centre will be treated as biomedical waste and disposed systematically. Laundry facility to wash blankets and bed-sheets will also be provided," he said.

Meanwhile, one of the major challenges in running a COVID-19 designated hospital is managing the medical waste that has shot up the cost of waste management exponentially.

Ours has increased exponentially. We have a third party person which is allotted to the state pollution control board and he manages the medical waste. Initially, for the first three days, there were no issues and the waste was regularly collected. Without informing me, the waste collection was stopped suddenly. For half a day, the waste was lying near the hospital in an area where we used to have an old incinerator. ACE Suhas is a COVID-19 designated hospital so I am told that there will be a different invoicing bracket and the hospital has to sign a new agreement, Dr Jagadish Hiremath, CEO of ACE Suhas hospital.

However, the ACE Suhas hospital has started counselling sessions for the staffers in which motivational speakers pay a visit to the hospital.

We have formed a committee, Cross Infection Prevention Committee, which is headed by our gynecologist. Everyday she calls the staff and holds a counselling session. We take their feedback and if there is any negative feedback we try to address them immediately. Motivational speakers are called to chat with our staff. We are trying to keep the morale up, the doctor added.

The tall claims made by the BBMP that powrakarmikas have been provided with safety kits crumbled last month, when 23 workers tested positive for the virus in a case of random testing.

With the rise in medical waste after the pandemic, the powrakarmikas have been vulnerable as they are exposed to hazardous waste. In a placard protest the safaikaramcharis had demanded complete safety equipments, including full body PPE for all powrakarmikas and regular medical checkups.

A demand for Rs 50 lakh health insurance for all powrakarmikas under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana has also been put forth to the government.

In a parallel development, the Bengaluru City police and the civic agency, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagare Palike (BBMP), have collected Rs 1 crore as fine collection in the last one month for 46,959 mask and social distancing violations.
London, July 12 : Some 5,000 people took to the streets of UK's Brighton city in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the media reported.

Large crowds of demonstrators set off from the city's Palace Pier on Saturday afternoon, with many carrying signs that read "Decolonise everything" and "Defund the police", the Metro newspaper reported.

Protesters shouted "black lives matter every day" and "UK is not innocent" as they walked together along the seafront and were serenaded by a string quartet as they passed the Brighton war memorial.

Congregating at The Level, thousands of demonstrators called out together: "It is our duty to do this every day. It is our duty to fight for racial justice. It is our duty to win. We are stronger together.

"We are here with love, peace and solidarity. We have nothing to lose - too many have already lost too much." Saturday's march came days after footage of a young man being held down by police emerged, according to the Metro newspaper report.

He shouted "I can't breathe" during the incident, complaining that one of the officers was putting pressure on his neck.

The Sussex force said the man was arrested and became aggressive towards officers before being placed on the ground.

The incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Saturday's demonstration follows mass anti-racism protests across the world in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American who died under police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 03:05:22|Editor: huaxia

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ABUJA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Scores of gunmen were killed following airstrikes by the Nigerian military targeting a notorious camp inside a forest in the restive northwest region, an official said on Sunday.

John Enenche, a spokesman for the military, said in a statement made available to Xinhua that the operation, in which fighter jets and helicopter gunships were deployed to the location, took place on July 10 in Kwiambana Forest of the northern state of Zamfara.

Several other gunmen, believed to be bandits by the military authorities, were also wounded in a mop-up operation that followed the airstrikes, Enenche said.

They were spotted fleeing on foot and about 15 motorcycles.

The airstrikes were sequel to a discovery that a group of structures hidden under the dense forest vegetation served as hideouts for suspected Islamic State West Africa Province militants. The camp, according to the military official, was headed by a notorious armed group leader identified as Dodo Gede.

The spokesman said the operation was one of the multiple military operations in Nigeria's northwest region that has been wracked by years of violence.

Banditry, kidnapping and other criminal activities have recently become rampant in the northwest region. The military high command said they are in control of the situation with multiple ongoing operations against the gunmen. Enditem
That the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, which consists of disparate allies like the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, is running a four-legged race is obvious.

But apart from being a clumsy combination due to the clockwork precision that those in the team often find it tough to achieve, such races often see the runners stumbling and having a hard fall much to their embarrassment.

Like it happened with the MVA regarding the transfer of 10 deputy commissioners of police (DCP) in Mumbai, which were announced and revoked within two days after the intervention of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The state government also had to face embarrassment after the Mumbai police tried to enforce an order meant to ensure that citizens restricted themselves to an area in a 2-km radius from their homes. Barricades and nakabandis set up to implement the diktat issued by Commissioner of Police Parambir Singh led to massive traffic snarls and had to be withdrawn subsequently.

The NCP is said to be upset at Uddhavs moves to gradually ease the lockdown restrictions in the state, instead of allowing normalcy to resume sooner. The Congress and NCP are also wary of the rising anti-incumbency against the regime due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases and disruptions to the economy caused by a continuing lockdown.

In what led to a churn in already choppy waters, the NCP sprung a surprise on the Shiv Sena by wooing away five of its corporators from Ahmednagar district. These dissident Shiv Sena leaders joined the NCP in the presence of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday, leading to protests from Shiv Sena leaders at the deputy chief minister breaking the chief ministers party.

The Sena prevailed on the NCP to ensure that these five corporators were returned to its flock. However, despite the last-minute damage control, it became obvious that the constituents of the MVA may be acting at cross purposes.

On Monday evening, Uddhav met NCP supremo Sharad Pawar to iron out these differences. A senior Shiv Sena leader claimed that even home minister Anil Deshmukh was unaware of the exact extent of the transfers by Singh, which were passed off as routine, internal ones.

When it comes to police postings in Mumbai, it is obvious that the Shiv Sena will want a say. This incident shows that we need better co-ordination among ourselves. The chief ministers consent will be necessary when it comes to running the government and taking administrative decisions, he explained.

A senior police official noted that when it comes to running a government, all parties must be in sync, which did not seem to be the case here.

The controversy and subsequent embarrassment over the DCP transfers also points to the politicization of the police force, and one faction of senior IPS officers trying to steal a march over another.

The Shiv Senas protests over the transfers was said to be catalysed by the objections of its ministers, legislators and even local functionaries, at officers of their choice not being posted in their areas or being shunted. However, the party has been muted over transfers in a Sena ministers fiefdom, which are said to have left him miffed.

The Shiv Senas Eknath Shinde, who is one of the few party leaders with an organic mass base, is said to be upset over the sudden transfers of four municipal commissioners in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) last month. This is said to have taken place at the NCPs behest. It is said that despite being the urban development minister, Shinde was not kept in the loop on the transfers of these civic chiefs, including that of Vijay Singhal from the Thane municipal corporation, and his replacement with Vipin Sharma.

The politically ambitious Shinde is the Shiv Senas boss in Thane, which is part of Mumbais extended suburbs. That Uddhav is wary of Sena leaders with a mass base, thanks to rebellions of such leaders within the party like Chhagan Bhujbal, Ganesh Naik and Narayan Rane, is well-known.

Shiv Sena ministers admit that despite this being a Shiv Sena-led government, it is the NCP which controls crucial portfolios like finance, home, water resources and housing, that calls the shots.

Compared to the Shiv Sena, which has traditionally confined itself to the politics of the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the NCP and to an extent, the Congress have a cadre of loyalist officers and bureaucrats. This helps them steal a march over their colleagues from the Sena when it comes to matters of the state and running the government.

On their part, the NCP has its own list of complaints against Uddhav and the Sena. NCP ministers, while admitting that the co-ordination within the government and between the three parties needs improve, note that Uddhav is inaccessible to his cabinet colleagues and legislators even during the unprecedented situation caused by the Corona pandemic.

They allege that under Uddhavs watch, a clique of select bureaucrats runs the show, often overruling ministers.

Leaders from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is the single-largest in the state assembly, claim that instead of them launching an operation to topple the government, it will fall under the weight of its own contradictions. They claim that eventually, the cumulative effect of these sticking points will result in matters reaching a boil.

Though NCP leaders say this claim and word-play is part of the politics played by the BJP, they admit that there can be no smoke without fire.
Thugs who assault police or other emergency service workers should face longer in jail, Priti Patel says today.

Writing exclusively for the Daily Mail, the Home Secretary reveals details of plans to double the maximum sentence for criminals convicted of attacking 999 staff.

She will today launch a review that recommends increasing the maximum jail term to two years, fulfilling a commitment in last years Conservative election manifesto.

Talks to double the maximum sentence for criminals convicted of attacking 999 staff have already begun

Miss Patel highlights recent shocking cases of disorder in which anarchists hijacked a Black Lives Matter protest in Westminster last month and far-Right thugs went on the rampage.

A minority of despicable individuals still seem to think they can treat emergency services workers as punchbags, the Home Secretary writes.

Now more than ever, those on the front line must be able to do their jobs without fear of harassment or physical attack. This Government is committed to doing just that.

Weve seen thugs subverting the cause of peaceful protests to attack police officers  even throwing missiles at police horses. I am completely unapologetic in my belief that any individual who assaults or attacks the unsung heroes of society belongs behind bars.

Its essential that in these horrific cases, a just punishment is handed down. Only then can our brave police officers, firefighters, paramedics and prison officers know that, as they go about their jobs, this Government has their back.

On June 10, there was horror at a video of Constable Andrew MacPherson struggling with a suspect on the ground in Hackney, east London.

Officers have been attacked by civilian in recent months, including an attack on Constable Andrew MacPherson while he was struggling with a suspect on the ground in Hackney, east London

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, whose department will oversee the changes, said: Being punched, kicked or spat at should never be part of the job for our valiant emergency workers who put their lives on the line to keep the public safe.

Assault can include acts such as a push, shove or being spat at, as well as more serious injuries that can lead to far longer sentences.

It will be the second time in less than two years that the maximum sentence for the offence has been increased.

In November 2018 the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act doubled the maximum penalty for common assault from six to 12 months.

The legislation covers police, prison staff, custody officers, firefighters, search and rescue workers and front-line health workers.

The Conservatives election manifesto last year pledged the further doubling to two years, and the consultation launched today seeks to set that in train.

Last year more than 11,000 suspects were taken to court for assaulting an emergency worker.

However only a quarter of those found guilty received immediate custody or a suspended jail sentence.

We must show brave police that we have got their back

By Priti Patel, Home Secretary

The work of our emergency services during the coronavirus pandemic has been simply astounding.

Each and every day, they put their lives on the line, facing more dangers than many of us do in our whole lifetimes.

Like many others, I have found it humbling to see those on the frontline go above and beyond in the most challenging circumstances to keep the public safe and control this deadly virus.

Writing exclusively for the Daily Mail, Home Secretary Priti Patel reveals she will today launch a review that recommends increasing the maximum jail term to two years, fulfilling a commitment in last years Conservative election manifesto

And yet despite this, a minority of despicable individuals still seem to think they can treat emergency services workers as punchbags.

Now more than ever, those on the front line must be able to do their jobs without fear of harassment or physical attack. This Government is committed to doing just that.

Those who carry out these attacks need to understand the seriousness of their crime.

Thats why today, were announcing a targeted consultation on doubling the maximum sentence for assaults on emergency workers  from 12 months to two years.

Its essential that in these horrific cases, a just punishment is handed down. Only then can our brave police officers, firefighters, paramedics and prison officers know that, as they go about their jobs, this Government has their back.

I recently spoke to police officers who were attacked on the job.

The Home Secretary revealed she has been in conversation with members of the police force who have been attacked while on duty

One officer from Gwent Police is still in recovery after being stabbed in the abdomen while on duty. The suspect was charged with attempted murder.

Another officer from West Yorkshire Police was coughed at by an individual claiming to be infected with coronavirus.

These are just two examples, but each and every day members of our emergency services are being attacked in the line of duty.

Hearing the impact these awful incidents have had on their lives, I am more determined than ever to make sure there are tough consequences to help stop the vile perpetrators.

Some of the injuries suffered have not only affected their physical and mental health, but the lives of their families.

I am determined that no police officer or emergency service worker should have to go to work fearing for their personal safety.

No family should have to live in fear of a loved one being injured or even killed.

Tragically, assaults on police officers have increased over the last year  between January and December 2019, there were 30,135 assaults on police officers. This is absolutely unacceptable.

And I know that the public agree with me that this has to stop. Recently weve seen thugs subverting the cause of peaceful protests to attack police officers  even throwing missiles at police horses.

Weve seen gangs of despicable criminals assaulting police officers in Hackney, who were responding to calls of concern from members of the public.

And weve witnessed vile scenes in Brixton, where violent thugs have brazenly damaged police property and threatened officers.

I am completely unapologetic in my belief that any individual who assaults or attacks the unsung heroes of society belongs behind bars.

We have already taken action to protect our brave police officers  giving them the resources, powers and support they need.

Miss Patel says she is 'completely unapologetic' in her belief that any individual who assaults or attacks the unsung heroes of society belongs behind bars

Weve already recruited over 3,000 police officers as part of our campaign to bring in 20,000 additional officers over the next three years.

Having more police on our streets will help officers to feel supported, safe in the knowledge that, when they tackle criminals, back-up is never far away.

Police funding has seen its biggest uplift in a decade, with available funding increasing by over 1billion this year.

And we will enshrine the Police Covenant in law to ensure officers, and their families, have the support they need.

The Covenant will focus on health and wellbeing, physical protection and support. They deserve nothing less.

To those emergency services workers who have been subject to the most dreadful abuse  I promise that I am committed to bringing perpetrators to justice, seeing that they face the full force of the law, and ensuring that the punishment truly fits the crime.

Rest assured, you will always have my support, and the support of this Government.
Jaipur, July 12 : Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader Sachin Pilot will not attend the legislative party meeting scheduled to be held on Monday, and has openly announced that the Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state is in minority after over 30 Congress and some Independent MLAs pledged support to him.

In an official statement, Pilot said, "Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot government is in minority after over 30 Congress and some independent MLAs have pledged support to me." Deputy Chief Minister Pilot, who is camping in Delhi with around 15 MLAs, has sought time from the Congress high command.

Pilot also had an elaborate discussion with Jyotiraditya Scindia, his former party colleague and friend, who recently jumped ship to the BJP after being sidelined in Madhya Pradesh by former Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

Pilot went to Delhi to meet interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. However, he received no communication from the party high command. In fact, Congress veterans, including Randeep Surjewala, Avinash Pandey and Ajay Makan, were asked to rush to Jaipur and hold a meeting of the party MLAs on Monday.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Gehlot has called a dinner of the party MLAs on Sunday night, which is also termed as 'dinner diplomacy'.
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Linkedin Rizki Fachriansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, July 12, 2020 13:45 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665ac398 1 National TNI-AD,Indonesian-Military,Indonesian-Army,West-Java,COVID-19,pandemic,virus-korona-indonesia,coronavirus,virus-cluster Free

The first confirmed COVID-19 cases at the Armys Officer Candidate School (Secapa) cluster in Bandung, West Java, were detected after one of the cadets visited a doctor because he was suffering from boils, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Andika Perkasa said on Saturday.

Addressing an audience of army cadets during his visit to the military academy, Andika said the first two cadets who were diagnosed with the disease had sought medical attention for seemingly unrelated symptoms.

Their COVID-19 swab test results came back positive, however, triggering widespread testing at the school, which led to the discovery of hundreds of more cases.

Two of our colleagues went to the hospital []. They didnt complain about any breathing difficulties. One of them complained about boils, if Im not mistaken, some sort of an infection. Whereas the other officer [complained] about back problems, Andika said during his address, which was streamed on the Indonesian Armys official YouTube channel.

Read also: Seven students at Sukabumi police academy test positive

He went on to say that there were 1,280 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the cluster, 991 of which were cadets.

I instruct anyone who has interacted with the two cadets to take a rapid test. I have sent rapid test kits to everyone, which means that Indonesian Army leadership has continued to care for and support our fellow colleagues, Andika said.

West Java recorded the highest spike with 962 new cases on Thursday, accounting for most of Indonesias latest all-time-high record of 2,657 new cases on a single day.

The significant increase in West Java comes from the Secapa [the Armys Officer Candidate School] cluster, national COVID-19 task force spokesperson Achmad Yurianto said during his daily press briefing on Thursday.

West Java COVID-19 task force spokesperson Berli Hamdani previously declared the military academy a new COVID-19 cluster in the province after hundreds of cadets tested positive during swab testing in the facility.
Aerial photo taken on July 9, 2020 shows an area of affected field in Xiangshuitan Township of Poyang County, East China's Jiangxi province. [Photo/Xinhua]

NANCHANG - East China's Jiangxi province Saturday raised its flood-control response from level II to level I, the top level of China's four-tier emergency response for floods.

The provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said that 2,242 km of the 2,545 km of riverside and lakeside embankments in the province have seen water levels exceeding the warning marks.

Floods since July 6 have affected over 5 million people and damaged over 443,000 hectares of crops, according to the headquarters Saturday.

People load sand into bags for dyke reinforcement in Lushan city, East China's Jiangxi province, July 11, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

The province has evacuated 405,000 people from flood-prone areas, with a total of 154,000 people in urgent need of living assistance.

More than 41,700 people are fighting the floods in Jiangxi, aided by 537 sets of mechanical equipment.

The province has increased patrol forces for round-the-clock monitoring of risks along the embankments.

In Dongzhi County, neighboring Anhui Province, floods had affected more than 260,000 people, or about half of the county's population, as of Friday. More than 6,667 hectares of crops were destroyed, said Yu Jianguo, deputy director of the Dongzhi county emergency management bureau.
WATERLOO  For Estefania Ravasio Corrales, the coronavirus is a double whammy. Theres a risk of becoming seriously ill. For her and other international students, it also brings risk of deportation.

A recent change in federal regulations for international students has left the University of Northern Iowa senior in fear she may not graduate. Students studying in the U.S. on F-1 visas are barred from taking classes solely online.

Its scary and disheartening, she said. A lot of plans are falling apart.

International students attending U.S. colleges that plan to operate entirely online this fall because of COVID-19 are not allowed to remain in the country, according to new regulations released Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

UNI has announced plans to resume classes with a mix of in-person and online courses this year, allowing international students to stay  for now.

Theres still a lot of uncertainty, said Ravasio Corrales of Perez Celedon, Costa Rica. The current decision could change at any moment because the numbers are rising here and in other states.

Under the new rules, the State Department will not issue visas to international students who study online, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection will not allow them to enter the country.

Due to the pandemic, Ravasio Corrales internship and testing required for her to graduate were canceled.

We are anxious and nervous because you cant plan. We dont know what the next step is going to be, she said.

If coronavirus cases continue to increase and UNI classes return to an online-only format, hundreds of international students will be forced to return home at a time when some countries are restricting entry to anyone from the U.S. Students who are unable to return home could face deportation. Some face financial challenges to even get home on such short notice. Ravasio Corrales said flights to her home in Costa Rica can cost between $1,000 and $2,000.

If she cant get home on her own, she faces the deportation process, which can mean being sent to a detention center for sometimes lengthy stays.

We dont know if were going to have to fly out in two weeks or four months, she said.

UNIs international offices have been inundated with concerns about the announcement, said Kristi Marchesani, associate director of admissions and director of international recruitment and admissions at UNI.

Nothing positive

Last fall, 385 students from 60 countries were enrolled at UNI, a number Marchesani expects will decrease.

The decrease in new international students in the U.S. that we have started to experience in the past years is an unfortunate trend that only weakens the university experience for everyone, she said.

It is hard to comprehend any positives to this rule modification considering the hardship it will put on students and the added difficulty to universities already trying to make the best decisions for the health and benefit of their students. The new rules also force international students to attend in-person classes during a pandemic, defying public health advisories on mitigating the spread of the virus.

Its such a sweeping change, and it came out of nowhere, at least for me, said, Triet Ngo, a UNI senior from Hanoi, Vietnam.

For Ngo, wearing a mask in public is nothing new. His home city of more than 8 million is one of the worlds most polluted cities. Ngo remembers the MERS outbreak in his home country in 2012.

I have been wearing masks for years, he said. But the outbreak scare would just last a few weeks, not months.

Ngo said his family at home is concerned for him as the situation is pretty much under control over there in Vietnam.

Theyre probably not coming to the U.S. anytime soon, and I dont think I can go back there any time soon, he said, noting flights are heavily restricted from the U.S. Its hard to find a ticket home.

The UNI Offices of Admissions and International Programs are coordinating with current and prospective students who may be affected by the federal action.

UNI is deeply disappointed by the federal governments announcement that it will discontinue an online course waiver for international students that prevents deportation as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, said Steve Schmadeke, UNI public relations manager. This decision sends the wrong message about the value international students bring to the university community and has added to the stress and uncertainty many of our students face. In addition, we are in communication with Congress about our concerns with the impact this ruling will have on our students and university.

Urging reversal

Helen Harton, a UNI professor for more than 20 years, has worked with many international students. She has written members of Congress, urging them to reconsider.

Im very concerned about the new guidance from ICE that would require international students to immediately go home if the pandemic forces their school to go online mid-semester, she wrote.Harton said the new rules are a problem for not only international students, but American students, universities and the U.S. economy. International students added $45 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018, according to the Commerce Department.

Harton also said attending classes online while living in another country can be nearly impossible due to varied time zones.

Synchronous classes may meet at 3 a.m. Chinese time. Some programs professors use (Gmail, Zoom) are banned in some countries, she said. This ruling will make the U.S. less attractive for international students for years to come. That means lost tuition for universities, but it also means less innovation from their research and less rich classroom and extracurricular experiences for our American students.Also, she said, graduate students with assistantships cant be paid by the university if they are in another country, even if they could do the work remotely.

Please use your influence to get this extremely short-sighted and cruel ruling changed. Pandemics call for flexibility, Harton wrote in her letter to Congress.

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued the Trump administration in federal court Wednesday, seeking to block a directive that would strip foreign college students of their visas if the courses they take this fall are entirely online, according to the New York Times.

For more information on UNIs plans, go to https://isso.uni.edu/immigration-updates.

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Jesse Tyler Ferguson is calling out one of the unwelcome commenters who tried to put a damper on his recent happy news.

The 44-year-old Modern Family actor, who recently welcomed his first child with husband Justin Mikita, clapped back at a troll over the weekend who derided the pair's choice for what to call their new son.

On the People Magazine Instagram account, where the couple announced the news on Thursday, a user commented 'what a stupid name seriously lol' of the name they chose: Beckett Mercer.

Not today, hater: Jesse Tyler Ferguson is calling out one of the unwelcome commenters who tried to put a damper on his recent happy news

Ferguson decided to reply to the comment after examining the hater's own Instagram page.

'"If we could all just get along as one nation." -you four posts ago,' Jesse wrote, showing the commenter's inherent hypocrisy.

'Sending love to you sir from us and Beckett,' Jesse Tyler added ironically.

Unfortunately, it was only one of many negative comments on the post, which were mixed in amongst well-wishers leaving congratulatory notes.

Take that: '"If we could all just get along as one nation." -you four posts ago,' Jesse replied to the post, showing the commenter's inherent hypocrisy

Ferguson and Mikita, 34, became first-time fathers this past Tuesday.

'Jesse and Justin welcomed their little bundle of joy Beckett Mercer Ferguson-Mikita on July 7, 2020,' the actor's rep confirmed to People on Thursday. 'The new parents are overjoyed and excited for this new journey as a family-of-three.'

Jesse revealed they were officially expanding their family in January, during an appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden.

New dads: Ferguson and Mikita, 34, became first-time fathers to baby boy Beckett Mercer this past Tuesday; seen last July

When James asked him if he knows if he's having a boy or a girl, Jesse joked: 'A human.'

Jesse announced his engagement to Justin in September of 2012, after dating for two years.

The duo said their I do's in New York City on July 20, 2013 with Angels In America playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner officiating the wedding.

After wrapping 11 seasons on his hit ABC sitcom, Jesse became the new host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in February.
By Online Desk

JAIPUR: Rajasthan may well be going the Madhya Pradesh way with state Congress chief and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot revolting against party veteran and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

In a message to media, Pilot said he wont attend the Congress Legislative Party meeting on Monday and that Gehlots has become a minority government. Pilot also claimed 30 MLAs support him.

Late-night reports suggested that he may meet BJP chief JP Nadda at 10:30 am on Monday but it could not be independently verified. According to sources, the trigger for the revolt is a police notice to Pilot on a case related to poaching of party MLAs to topple the state government.

Differences between the two leaders were brewing for some time but they reached a tipping point on Sunday with Pilot, along with a group of MLAs supporting him, rushed to Delhi to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

He reportedly could not meet her. Sources said Avinash Pandey, AICC general-secretary in-charge of Rajasthan, told Sonia there was no danger to the government.

READ| Jyotiraditya Scindia says Sachin Pilot too 'persecuted'; Congress' deja vu moment

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi spoke to Pilot over phone and sent senior leaders Ajay Makan, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Avinash Pandey to Jaipur to meet Gehlot. 

There is no reason for the BJP to be happy. All Congress party is together..., Surjewala told reporters after reaching Jaipur on Sunday night. The three leaders then went straight to the CMs residence.

The political turmoil in Rajasthan, coming barely three months after the debacle of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh following Jyotiraditya Scindias dramatic switch-over to the BJP due to similar differences with senior party leaders Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh, has left senior leaders worried.

Worried for our party. Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables, Congress leader Kapil Sibal tweeted. According to party sources, the problem started during the Rajya Sabha elections last month when Gehlot claimed there were attempts to topple his government. The Congress won two seats and BJP, one.

Gehlot wanted a new state Congress chief

Pilot has been Rajashtan Congress chief for over 6 years, but Gehlot is pushing for a change. Under party Constitution, the Pradesh Congress Committee chief can hold the post for five years.
Although today there are more questions than answers, the Rio Rancho Public Schools Board of Education meets in another virtual session Monday at 5:30 p.m., at which time useful answers should be forthcoming.

RRPS has been working to finalize its re-entry plans for the 2020-21 school year since it received official guidelines from the New Mexico Public Education Department.

RRPS intends to utilize its traditional start dates for the coming school year, and middle school and high school students may begin the new school year on or around Aug. 7, with elementary school students starting on or around Aug. 11.

RRPS anticipates having a finalized re-entry plan ready for the school board to view and possibly take action on Monday. That meeting will be live streamed online at rrps.net.

Five task forces working on draft plans made presentations to the board in June, and the state PED released its guidelines, which RRPS must incorporate into its final plans.

For example, the PED directed RRPS to require face coverings. Families are asked to provide their own, but the district will provide a face covering to those students whose families are unable to afford them and students who forget them.

Its also possible that students will experience a variety of learning models for the 2020-21 school year, ultimately to return to the traditional type of learning model  all students in classrooms  as soon as it is safe to do so.

Teachers union on board with district

Billie Helean, a first-grade teacher at Ernest Stapleton Elementary and in her second year as president of the Rio Rancho School Employees Union, said, Were working very closely with the district: masks, classrooms set up for social distancing; weve had a very wonderful collaboration with the district.

The union has about 300 members and represents not just teachers but also RRPS bus drivers, custodians, education assistants, etc.

Helean said, like unions and school districts across the nation, Im hearing a lot from folks who are older, who have very serious concerns, because they fall in those high-risk categories. (But) we understand the necessity of schools; were an essential part of a successful community and understand the importance of getting kids back to school.

Helean, who has six years in the classroom, said she worries about the younger teachers, too.

Teachers who are new to teaching and in their first or second years are shouldering a new burden teachers have never faced before, she said. Itll be interesting to watch that happen; we want to provide the environment to teach so they can see the joy and satisfaction of what teaching really is.

Helean said she hasnt been able to return to her Stapleton classroom and rearrange the desks, but I am prepared to wear a mask and socially distance from the kids.  Im really looking forward to how (the union) can support all staff as we go into this new school year.

Ready for Parent U?

RRPS has released the meeting dates and topics for this months free, virtual Parent University sessions.

These sessions will each focus on a different aspect of school re-entry to address parent and community questions and provide clarity and transparency about the planned processes.

Below is a schedule of sessions; all start at 5:30 p.m.:

July 16: What will teaching and learning look like in the fall? Presented by RRPS Curriculum & Instruction staff and RRPS School Improvement Office.

What will teaching and learning look like in the fall? Presented by RRPS Curriculum & Instruction staff and RRPS School Improvement Office. July 21: What will virtual learning look like? Presented by RRPS Curriculum & Instruction Staff, RRPS School Improvement Office and special guests from Edgenuity.

What will virtual learning look like? Presented by RRPS Curriculum & Instruction Staff, RRPS School Improvement Office and special guests from Edgenuity. July 23: RRPS COVID-19 safety practices. Presented by RRPS Safety and Security Department staff and RRPS Facilities Department staff.

RRPS COVID-19 safety practices. Presented by RRPS Safety and Security Department staff and RRPS Facilities Department staff. July 28: What will transportation and food services look like in the fall? Presented by RRPS Transportation Department staff and Sodexo

Visit rrps.net for more information.

Around the country

On July 7, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told the countrys governors in a conference call that she expects schools to be fully operational soon  regardless of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ultimately, its not a matter of if schools need to open; its a matter of how, DeVos told the governors, as reported by The Associated Press. School(s) must reopen; they must be fully operational. And how that happens is best left to education and community leaders.

President Donald Trump has staunchly supported in-person teaching coming back to classrooms for the 2020-21 school year. On July 6, he tweeted that the Democratic lawmakers wanted to keep schools shuttered in the fall for political reasons.

But New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, has been pushing for a hybrid model to allow students to return to school in the fall  a plan that means some classes will be in-person with a part of school time spent online at home.

Some districts, including RRPS, proposed a hybrid between traditional in-person learning and virtual learning, so students only physically go to school a few times a week. DeVos was opposed to that idea.

Students across the country have already fallen behind, DeVos said. We need to make sure that they catch up, (and) its expected that it will look different depending on where you are, but whats clear is that students and their families need more options.

Many principals opposed to re-opening

According to a poll conducted by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, with 1,450 principals responding, just 35.2 percent indicated they were somewhat confident or extremely confident in their school districts ability to preserve the health of staff and students as schools physically reopen in the fall. A similar percentage, 34.9 percent, indicated they were somewhat unconfident or not at all confident.

A principals primary and foundational duty is to keep students safe in school. Without that assurance, little real learning can take place, said NASSP Chief Executive Officer JoAnn Bartoletti. That only a third of principals feel confident they can provide that assurance under the current conditions should give us pause. They are being asked unreasonably to bridge a chasm between the realities of face-to-face learning and the need to safeguard the people in their school.

The primary concerns shared by principals include:

challenges of maintaining 6 feet of distance on buses and in crowded classrooms, often in windowless rooms with re-circulated air;

getting all students to comply consistently with mask rules and prohibitions against congregating;

the safety of staff, especially those who are older and immuno-compromised. By extension, there will be a shallower pool of substitute teachers during a time of extraordinary need;

concerns that resources would not be available to provide sufficient personal protective equipment and to regularly disinfect the building; and

the challenges of COVID-19 having become politicized.

The poll, administered July 7-8, comes on the heels of the Trump administrations demand that schools fully open in fall 2020 and a threat to withhold federal funding if they do not.
KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, head of the table, presides over a meeting attended by over 200 key group officials to discuss business strategies for the latter half of 2020 at the head office of KB Kookmin Bank on Yeouido, Seoul, July 10. At the teleconference gathering, officials shared ideas for effective corporate management following drastically changed business conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During a following speech, Yoon called for a back-to-basics growth strategy bolstered by robust sales and financing, keys to corporate survival amid a shifting paradigm. Courtesy of KB Financial Group
Express News Service By

NEW DELHI: A day after Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong called for New Delhi and Beijing to be partners and not rivals, China on Saturday warned India against being instigated by the United States.

An article published in the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, The Global Times, said, The US seemingly unequivocal support to India on the China-India border issue only serves US interests, and India is just seen by the US as a bullet in its containment policy toward China.

The US has stood firmly behind India in the stand-off against China. The US Secretary of State on Wednesday accused China of taking incredibly aggressive action and said the Indians have done their best to respond to that.

The Global Times article says the US gesture may have convinced some Indian politicians and military officers into believing that Washington will offer help in confronting China.

But for the US, befriending India serves to pressure and contain China rather than offer help to Indias geopolitical security, the article said, quoting Chinese analysts.

There is no doubt that Washington would prefer a conflict between China and India so that the US benefits, it added. The article warns India against being fooled by the US tricks.

The US could only pay lip service to India and is unlikely to offer any concrete financial or military help. India has to understand that it is just a bullet for the US in its containment policy toward China, not even a gun, the article stated.
The simmering tension between Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot reached a tipping point when the latter got summoned by his state police on July 10 for an investigation into a plot for destabilising the government.

It underlined, according to a senior Congress leader, the deep distrust of Rajasthan CM towards his able deputy chief minister and a bid to marginalize Pilot in the party and in the government that was formed in 2018. Although a similar notice was sent to Gehlot, asking him to record his statement, but a Pilot loyalist said that the deputy chief minister felt the probe is set to target him.

A similar notice was sent to Gehlot but pilot loyalists said that the deputy chief minister felt he was the target of the probe.

There were several bids to undercut Pilot in the past two years. But the Congress central leadership chose to ignore the warning signals. Finally, the party formed a coordination committee for Rajasthan in January this year but that panel so far has held just one meeting.

The Congress inability to nip problems at the bud was aptly expressed by Kapil Sibal. As news of Sachin Pilot screamed headlines, Sibal tweeted, Worried for our party... Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables ? Just four months ago, the Congress lost its government in Madhya Pradesh in a similar script: party veterans sidelining Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Worried for our party



Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables ?  Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) July 12, 2020

To be sure, the start of the new Congress government in the desert state was not exactly a smooth affair. Pilot, who left his family in Delhi to sweat it out, led the Congress campaign as the president of the party to victory, but Gehlot outstepped him to become the chief minister, primarily weighing on caste equations.

Party insiders added that for the past few months, the Gehlot camp has been demanding a change of guard in the Rajasthan Congress in a bid to remove Pilot from the state presidents post. They have started lobbying with Congress functionaries in Delhi that a new state chief is required (Pilot is holding the position for 6 years) before the ensuing panchayat election in the state.

Even as then Congress president Rahul Gandhi met the two leaders over several rounds to hammer out a solution, the uneasy equation between the Congress old generation and the new generation came to the fore.

Last year, chief ministers son Vaibhav Gehlot lost the Lok Sabha election, and senior Gehlot lost no time to blame Pilot for the defeat. He publicly stated that Pilot should take responsibility even as many party leaders questioned the chief ministers inability to ensure victory for his son.

Earlier this year, Pilot had expressed concern about deteriorating law and order situation in some areas of the state - seen as a comment on Gehlot who holds the home portfolio in the government.

A few months ago, the Rajya Sabha elections too saw tension rising between the two. Gehlot fielded Neeraj Dangi, a secretary of Congress party, for the coveted Rajya Sabha seat. Pilot wanted a bigger, well-known name but Gehlot stuck to his choice. And then, ahead of the polls, Gehlot alleged that Congress MLAs are being lured, indicating the party might lose a seat. The results proved to be otherwise and Congress secured seats for both candidates.

Pilot, who was credited for the victory, maintained that Any kind of doubts and suspicions spread around earlier were baseless.

The death of 107 children in Kota also brought out the difference between the two in which Pilot maintained that the state government needs to do more to prevent such incidents.

Another party insider points out that Pilots people are not being rewards. Many posts for political appointment are lying vacant and Gehlot is in no hurry to accommodate Pilot loyalists in these posts.

Last month, at a function at party headquarters to observe Sanjay Gandhis death anniversary, Pilot announced that as the party president in Rajasthan, he owes it to the Congress grassroot workers who worked very hard and therefore they need to be rewarded.

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M ichael Gove has said that face coverings should not be made mandatory in shops in England, but that he would "encourage" people to wear them.

The Cabinet Office Minister said that, while the policy on mouth and nose coverings in public places was kept under review, he thought it was best to trust the publics common sense.

His comments came as the Government faces further calls for clarity on its position on face masks.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson signalled a shift in policy and said the Government was looking at introducing "stricter" rules on wearing face coverings in shops and other confined spaces in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The move was cautiously welcomed by scientists. Face coverings are currently compulsory on public transport and in hospitals in England, and are now mandatory in shops in Scotland.

But when Mr Gove was asked about the rules on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show, he said he did not believe that they should be made a requirement in shops.

I dont think mandatory, no," Mr Gove said.

Michael Gove said he would encourage people to wear face masks in shops in England / PA

He added: "But I would encourage people to wear face masks when they are inside, in an environment where they are likely to be mixing with others and where the ventilation may not be as good as it might.

I think that it is basic good manners, courtesy and consideration, to wear a face mask if you are, for example, in a shop."

He added: I trust peoples good sense. Now of course the Government at all times does look at the emerging evidence about what the best way to control the disease is.

If necessary, and if tough measures are required and as we have seen in Leicester, obviously a very different situation, then tough measures will be taken.

Wear face masks, says WHO in change of stance

But on the whole it is always best to trust peoples common sense.

Speaking earlier on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday show, the Cabinet Office Minister acknowledged that wearing a face covering "definitely helps you to help others in enclosed space".

Face masks are appropriate in some settings and not in others wearing a face mask when you are out and about outdoors is significantly less necessary than when you are indoors," said Mr Gove.

The UK Government insisted early on in the pandemic that masks were not necessary for use by the general public when out and about.

But, during an online question and answer session with the public on Friday afternoon, Mr Johnson spoke about the role face coverings could play in preventing the spread of Covid-19.

Shops reopen during Coronavirus lockdown ease 1 /45 Shops reopen during Coronavirus lockdown ease Primark in Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn A member of staff prepares to open a branch of H&M in Canterbury, Kent, PA Primark in Birmingham PA NikeTown Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn Primark in Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn Shop staff in face masks give a round of applause to the first customers through the doors at the Fenwick store in Newcastle PA Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn A doorman in a face mask waits to welcome back customers to the Fenwick store in Northumberland Street, Newcastle PA People queue for outside shops in Canterbury, Ken PA People queue for outside shops in Canterbury, Kent PA Primark in Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn A customer dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) in line to shop at Primark, Birmingham PA Primark in Birmingham PA Primark in Birmingham PA NikeTown Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn Selfridges Matt Writtle/Selfridges Selfridges Matt Writtle/Selfridges A Harrod's 'Green Man' welcomes customers back to Harrods store in Knightsbridge, London PA Customers wait outside Harrods store in Knightsbridge, London PA Primark in Birmingham PA Primark in Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn Kathryn Stanczyszyn Kathryn Stanczyszyn/BBC People queue ahead of the opening of Primark in Leeds PA Selfridges Matt Writtle/Selfridges A customer dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) in line to shop at Primark, Birmingham PA A customer carrying bags of shopping leaves Primark in Birmingham PA Primark Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn Primark Oxford Street Jeremy Selwyn Shoppers in line outside John Lewis in Kingston PA Shops and businesses in Chelsea, West London prepare to re-open to customers Daniel Hambury REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS

As we get the numbers down in the way that we have and we really stamp out outbreaks in the way that we are, I do think we need to be stricter in insisting people wear face coverings in confined spaces where they are meeting people they dont normally meet, he said.

We are looking at ways of making sure that people really do have face coverings in shops, for instance, where there is a risk of transmission.

Labours shadow business minister said the party could support face coverings becoming mandatory in shops.

Speaking to Sophy Ridge , Lucy Powell said: We do need to get a lot more confidence back in the system and if the mandatory wearing of face masks in shops will help to do that then we absolutely support it.

We think the Government  instead of just showing a bit of leg occasionally on these things by briefing newspapers or saying things that are not clear guidance in press conferences as the Prime Minister did on Friday  (should) get some clarity.

Thats really something that would get confidence back into the system and get people feeling that they can go to the shops, they can go to restaurants and go to bars.

Eminent epidemiologist Professor David Heymann, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has said masks should be worn by all people in a situation where no one can physically distance to prevent infection of others

Dr Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, also said the PM was right to be reviewing Englands position on face coverings.
Big B turns 79: Superstar Amitabh Bachchan thanks fans, says 'I walk with pride of your love'

Coronavirus: The Bachchan family's 4 houses declared containment zones

India

oi-Deepika S

Mumbai, July 12: 4 houses of Amitabh Bachchan- 'Jalsa', 'Prateeksha', 'Janak' and 'Vatsa' - have been declared containment zones after the family members tested positive for coronavirus.

Amitabh Bachchan & Son Abhishek test positive, condition stable with mild symptoms | Oneindia News

According to the BMC, medical teams have been deployed at all four bungalows of the Bachchans. Thirty employees of the Bachchans have been tested for Covid-19 infection.

A day after Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchan were diagnosed with COVID-19, the megastar's daughter-in-law, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and granddaughter Aaradhya Bachchan have also tested positive for the virus.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Sunday said that Aishwarya, 46, and her eight-year-old daughter Aaradhya had tested positive but are asymptomatic, while the screen icon's wife, veteran actor-MP Jaya Bachchan's diagnosis was "negative".

India at good position in COVID-19 battle: HM Amit Shah

Amitabh and Abhishek revealed their diagnosis on Twitter on Saturday, saying they were in the isolation ward of the Nanavati Hospital. "I have tested COVID positive. Shifted to hospital.

Hospital informing authorities, family and staff have undergone tests, results awaited, Amitabh, 77, tweeted. Minutes later, Abhishek, 44, wrote on social media that both of them had mild symptoms and requested everybody to be calm.

Security was also stepped up outside Bachchan's two bungalows in Juhu and outside the Nanavati Hospital. As per BMC, the coronavirus case tally in Mumbai rose to 91,457 on Saturday. There are 22,779 active patients in Mumbai and the doubling rate is 50 days.
As the pandemic churns across the planet, air pollution levels have plunged dramatically.

Smog dissipates and the Venice canals resemble liquid silver thanks to the citys lockdown.

This temporary shift shows society can make a difference in creating a healthier world.

Open at Santa Fes Monroe Gallery at monroegallery.com, Life On Earth is a survey of environmental and climate issues documented by photojournalists.

The images range from buildings drowned by hurricanes to climate activist Greta Thunberg sitting alone in front of Swedens parliament.

We are at a point where we could reverse some of the effects, gallery co-owner Sidney Monroe said. Theres a story to be told in photographs of what we do as humans to the earth.

Photographer Ryan Vizzions photograph of a flooded North Carolina church standing in its own reflection documents the impact of Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Vizzions spotted the church while he was volunteering with an animal rescue group, Monroe said.

Its such a perfect reflection, he said of the 60-by-40-inch print. It almost feels like youre there. Its a very good example of the power of photography to tell that story.

Ashley Gilbertsons portrait of a pair of Wehea tribal members checking their cell phones during an Indonesian ceremony ushers traditional practices into the present.

Theres these massive clearings of the rain forest to make way to grow palm for palm oil, Monroe said.

The practice has led to widespread deforestation in Indonesia. The men are participating in a warrior initiation rite to show both the government and the large palm oil companies the Wehea people are prepared for war.

Its a perfect collision of the old world and the new world, Monroe said. It has a beautiful quality until you see the stumps of the trees.

The filthy Ukranian coal miners in the late Shepard Sherbells photograph also show the cost of humanitys footprint.

Sherbell photographed across the industrial and mining regions of the former Soviet Union as it broke apart in the 1990s.

You get a glimpse of how dirty the job and the product is, Monroe said. They were documenting the heroism and the strength of these workers. We were doing this without any sense of the effect on the environment.

In 2016, Nina Berman photographed Uranium Remembrance Day at Church Rock on the Navajo Nation. The largest nuclear catastrophe in U.S. History occurred in 1979 when the dam at the United Nuclear Corporations uranium mill tailings disposal pond broke, sending more than 1,000 tons of solid radioactive mill waste and 93 million gallons of acidic radioactive tailings solution into the Puerco River, contaminating Navajo land. The cleanup is still ongoing. The mining ended, but there are calls to revive it.

Church Rock residents march to the site to honor all those who died or were sickened by the results to demand a thorough clean-up and compensation.

There was a lot of uranium mining on Navajo land, Monroe said. Again, it was thought this was a great economic boost. But there was this great pool of radioactive water that burst through.

The Water Is Life banner became such a standout at the Standing Rock protest, he continued. Again, its the conflict between the desire for energy and very little regard for the people who have to live with these things.

Vizzions 2016 Defend the Sacred, Standing Rock contrasts a single Native American on horseback against an army of tanks and law enforcement. The protests against the Dakota Access pipeline became a rallying cry for indigenous rights. The tribes considered the pipeline a threat to the regions drinking water.

This is the effect of our footprint on the land, Monroe said. Its not an exhibit about disaster, he added. Theres a lot of beauty.

The exhibit will hang through Sept. 13.
Scarves tied around the torso to create a skimpy top have become the new summer wardrobe must-have.

Style bloggers from around the world, including Britain, America and Australia, have filled their Instagram pages in recent days with chic looks which all scarves tied daringly around their chest.

The trend, first popular in the Noughties thanks to the likes of Christina Aguilera and Beyonce, is well and truly back in fashion after first reemerging last year.

Fashion expert Susie Hasler said scarves have been given a 'modern update' and are best paired with 'high-rise jeans, or high-waisted mom denim shorts'.

However she warned women with larger chests should avoid the style, since it needs a strapless or no bra with them.

The simple scarf is moving away from its primary role of keeping our necks warm, and instead being turned into the next racy trend this summer as we see it used as a skimpy top (pictured, a fashion fan based in Canada)

Style bloggers from around the world, including Britain, America (pictured above are fashion enthusiasts from the US embracing the trend) and Australia, have filled their Instagram pages in recent days with chic looks which all involve turning the humble often-patterned accessory into a fashionable bodice covering

It appears the trend (pictured being tried by an American social media user) is well and truly back again following a reemergence in 2019 after first becoming popular in the noughties thanks to the likes of Christina Aguilera and Beyonce

Speaking to FEMAIL, Susie who runs Styled By Susie, said: 'Scarf tops were huge in the early 2000s with the likes of Beyonce wearing them with low-rise jeans.

'They've been given a modern update - and they look great. Wear them with high-rise jeans, or high-waisted mom denim shorts.

'Scarves in general are very trendy at the moment. We're seeing bandanas being used as hair accessories, helpful for lockdown locks - they're a cheap way to disguise roots or greasy hair days.

'They're a quick, easy way to update your look - and they're cheap too. It's also a nod to the fashion of the Nineties which is coming back in a big way.

'If you're not into crop tops, having a scarf, or handkerchief top, is a great way of just showing a bit of skin in the summer without showing your entire tummy.

A London and Cardiff-based style blogger (pictured), Hemes, with 1,349 followers, posted a shot of her in a floral scarf paired with jeans

While a fashion enthusiast (above) based in Australia suggested: 'When you want a new top, but dont want to break the bank. Use that old scarf lying about in your wardrobe.' She turned heads with a bright yellow scarf used as a top, teamed with an equally colourful blue midi skirt

Fashion expert Susie Hasler says scarves have been given a 'modern update' and are best paired with 'high-rise jeans (pictured left), or high-waisted mom denim shorts'

'But something to note - you cannot wear this style if you have a big chest, as it needs a strapless bra with them - or no bra. They're something that suit very few people.'

Style enthusiasts across Instagram showcased the versatile ways in which to wear the accessory, including as a bikini covering and with a clashing garment teamed with an equally colourful skirt.

A London and Cardiff-based style blogger, Hemes, with 1,349 followers, posted a shot of her in a floral scarf paired with jeans and insisted that the accessory would be her go-to product this summer.

'Saturday antics... using a @primark scarf as a top and loving it,' she wrote. 'Im definitely going to be buying some more scarfs with different prints this summer. Anyone else with me?'

The fashion expert suggested women with larger chests should avoid the style, since it needs a strapless or no bra with them. Pictured, a fashion enthusiast from Finland showcases a scarf turned into a top

Style enthusiasts (pictured left is a woman from Manchester, while right, is a person in London trying out the trend) showcased the versatile ways in which to wear the accessory

Fashion expert Susie said: 'If you're not into crop tops, having a scarf (above), or handkerchief top, is a great way of just showing a bit of skin in the summer without showing your entire tummy'

A stylish social media user showcases her scarf-top look, which featured white high-rise jeans paired with a black patterned accessory

Meanwhile, a Leicestershire-based fashion fan opted for white trainers and wide black jeans plus a matching jacket when sporting a bright floral-themed scarf.

One American influencer, Markele DeJanae, with more than 50,000 followers admitted she was joining the '#scarftop trend' this week and posted a snap of herself in a vibrant green garment.

While a fashion enthusiast based in Australia suggested: 'When you want a new top, but dont want to break the bank. Use that old scarf lying about in your wardrobe.'

She turned heads with a bright yellow scarf used as a top, teamed with an equally colourful blue midi skirt.

Another Instagram user said: 'Silk Scarf is back. If you didnt wear it last summer, you have a chance again! Its fresh, its feminine and you can do with your winter scarfs and adapt for summer time,' while one added: 'Scarf tops are really a thing this summer.'
The UN Security Council failed to find a consensus on prolonging cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria on Friday after Russia and China vetoed an extension and members rejected a counter proposal by Moscow. Without an agreement, authorization for the transport of aid to war-torn Syria, which has existed since 2014, expired Friday night. Germany and Belgium were working on a final initiative to save the effort, with hopes of bringing it to a vote this weekend. "We are ready to work round the clock, and call on others to think of the millions of people in Syria waiting for the Security Council to decide their fate," said German Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, who holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month. After Moscow and Beijing wielded vetoes for a second time this week, only three countries joined Russia in backing its proposal to cut the number of aid transit points from two to one. China supported Russia, but seven countries including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Belgium voted against, with four abstentions. An attempt by Russia to pass a similar resolution also failed earlier this week. The NGO Oxfam had warned that stopping cross-border aid would be "a devastating blow to the millions of Syrian families who rely on this aid for clean water, food, health care and shelter." Thirteen countries voted in favor of an earlier German-Belgian draft, but Moscow and Beijing opposed the extension because they favor a more limited proposal. European countries and the US want to maintain two crossing points on the Turkish border -- at Bab al-Salam, which leads to the Aleppo region, and Bab al-Hawa, which serves the Idlib region. The UN authorization allows the body to distribute aid to displaced Syrians without needing permission from Damascus. Russia and China argue that the UN authorization violates Syria's sovereignty, and that aid can increasingly be channeled through Syrian authorities. The latest proposal by Russia, which claims to want continued aid for the insurgent Idlib region, would have kept only the Bab al-Hawa access point open, and for one year. Moscow claims that more than 85 percent of current aid goes through Bab al-Hawa and that the Bab al-Salam entry point can therefore be closed. Western countries oppose it, with the US having described two entry points as "a red line." In January, Moscow, Syria's closest ally, succeeded in having the crossing points reduced from four to two and in limiting the authorization to six months instead of a year. - 'Dark day' - According to Washington's ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, keeping only one border crossing open would cut off 1.3 million people living north of Aleppo from humanitarian aid. Another diplomat noted that "if the authorization is renewed a few days late, it is not the absolute end of the world. It suspends the convoys for a few days, it does not put them in danger." For the UN, keeping as many entry points open as possible is crucial, particularly given the risk of the coronavirus pandemic, which is spreading in the region. In a report in June, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a one-year extension of the aid to include the two current access points. When asked Thursday if the UN would be satisfied with a single entry point into Syria, body spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: "We need more aid to go through the border. We do not need less to go through." David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, called it a "dark day" for Syrian civilians and the UN. He added it "defies logic or humanity to dismantle a system designed to bring life-saving aid to Syrians in the form of food, health supplies, vaccines, and now critical COVID-19 provisions." Only three countries joined Russia in backing its proposal to cut the number of aid transit points into Syria from two to one According to Washington's ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, keeping only one Syrian border crossing open would cut off 1.3 million people living north of Aleppo from humanitarian aid
A resident of the national capital has received a traffic challan for speeding more than 20 days after his car was stolen from near Vivek Vihar Police Station in east Delhi.

A resident of Hari Nagar in West Delhi, Yogesh Poddar's vehicle was stolen on June 6 and remains untraceable, police said. However, on June 28, he received a challan for speeding near Millennium Depot.

According to Poddar, he parked his car near Vivek Vihar Police Station on June 5 at around 8 pm. "I visited my in-laws in E-block, Jhilmil Colony, behind Vivek Vihar Police Station on June 5. Since the streets there were congested, I parked my vehicle on the main road near the police station. However, the next day, my car was not there, Poddar, who deals in the packaging of pharmaceutical materials, said, adding that he filed an FIR online.

Police claimed that there were no CCTV cameras near the spot where Poddar parked his car and despite analysing the footage from nearby areas, they could not spot his car.

"The area where his car was parked did not have a CCTV camera installed but we scanned footage from multiple CCTV cameras installed in the adjoining areas to identify the culprits who fled with the vehicle but we could not find anything,'' an officer privy to the investigation said.

Despite our best efforts, we could not trace the car and after a few days, following due procedure, we filed an untraceable report' in the court, the officer said. However, barely a week later on June 30, the complainant received the challan along with a photo of his stolen vehicle.

Poddar immediately informed the investigating officer as he was hopeful that police will now be able to trace the stolen vehicle.

"Until I received the challan on June 30, I thought the culprits must have either dismantled the car or sold it to someone outside Delhi," Poddar said. "But after I received the challan with the photo, I was surprised to see that neither the colour of my car nor its registration number had been changed, only a few stickers and an idol on the dashboard were missing. Despite this, police have failed to trace my vehicle," claimed Poddar.

Although, the untraceable report was filed before the car was challaned, it is still pending with the court and efforts are being taken to trace the stolen vehicle, senior police officer said.

Earlier this month, the husband of a Delhi court judge received a traffic challan for speeding two months after their car was stolen from their west Delhi residence.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

Few Santa Fe traditions are more cherished than the burning of Zozobra, attracting New Mexicans from across the state to celebrate the destruction of the past years gloom in one fiery burst.

However, as with many other traditions in 2020, Zozobra organizers have had to adapt to a world of COVID-19.

Ray Sandoval, who coordinates the event on behalf of the local Kiwanis Club, said the initial plan was to have attendees socially distance themselves at Fort Marcy Park for the Sept. 4 event. However, he and other organizers realized figuring out who could attend and who couldnt would be a difficult and self-defeating task.

It felt like we were doing a lot of subtraction, when the entire event is about bringing the community together, he said.

Eventually, the decision was reached to hold the event in front of a non-existent crowd and broadcast the Burning of Zozobra for people to watch at home. However, Sandoval said they needed to go a little to further to capture the spirit of the event.

For decades, people from all over have placed their fears, embarrassments and sources of anger inside Old Man Gloom to watch them burn into the night sky. The Kiwanis Club needed to make sure this aspect of the event was maintained, even in front of an empty crowd, Sandoval said.

To keep risk of transmission to a minimum, the Kiwanis created an online page where people could purchase gloom to burn for $1, rather than having people drop off handwritten glooms at a central location. The gloom, detailing whatever the person wants to rid themselves of, would then be printed out, placed inside the giant puppet and set ablaze.

People also have the option of uploading pictures of documents they want burned, as well.

If you have that pink slip, if you have that bad report card, if you have that parking ticket you havent paid in a while  well print them out and burn them for you, Sandoval said.

Another option, for an extra fee, is to select which part of Old Man Gloom your gloom will be placed in, such as the head or heart.

Sandoval said the fees will go toward much of the charity work that the Kiwanis Club usually relies on Zozobra to fund. He added that many people have been generous to nonprofits since the start of the pandemic and the Kiwanis wants to ensure some money goes to local charities.

So far, the virtual gloom has been a success. More than 1,000 glooms were bought on the first day and nearly 5,000 were purchased by the end of the week, Sandoval said.

A map of the purchased glooms shows that people from across the country have participated in the event, from California to Iowa. Sandoval said that, given the worldwide gloom caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the online option gives Zozobra newbies an opportunity to participate in a Santa Fe institution.

They definitely understand that 2020 is a year filled with a lot of gloom and theres a lot of stuff that people want to get rid of, he said. Zozobra is really a metaphor for this battle between the good and the bad of ourselves.

Those interested in purchasing gloom can visit https://burnzozobra.com/gloom/.
EngineNode has received permission from Meath County Council to build a large data centre near Bracetown, Co Meath, believed to involve an investment of "hundreds of millions of euro".

The company received planning permission, subject to appeal and conditions, for the data centre last month. It applied for permission for the development in November last year.

The development, expected to create 500 construction jobs and around 275 jobs when open, is to be built in a minimum of four phases. It will consist of four two-storey data storage buildings with a combined gross floor area over 92,100sqm. EngineNode is also set to build a two-storey office.

Among the 23 conditions set by the council, EngineNode is to pay 828,700 to the planning authority toward expenditure on public roads and public transport infrastructure benefiting development in the area and a further 1.85m for the provision of a distributor road. It is also to pay nearly 2.3m as a contribution in respect of the Navan to Dublin railway line.
Mumbai, July 12 : As the conversation around nepotism within the film industries around the country heats up, actors in Bengal have also raised their voice. Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, son of sixties star Biswajit, was accused a while back by actress Sreelekha Mitra of victimising her to favour a certain established actress. Prosenjit retorts saying he has worked with the maximum number of newcomers in his decades-long career.

"I know that the conversation around favouritism has been going on in the recent past and I really do not want to comment on anyone's comment on the matter. All I want to say is that as an actor I have worked with the maximum number of new actresses and directors," Prosenjit told IANS.

He added: "Till today, when I produce a film or a show for TV, out of 10 films you will get to see me as protagonist in maybe two films. In the rest of my productions, I do work with new directors, fresh faces, and a new cast of actors. There are many actors that I have launched who are now big stars. I do not want to name them, people know here (in Bengali film industry)." The 57-year-old actor's latest self-produced release "Nirontor", which launched on Zee5 recently, marks the feature debut of filmmaker Chandrasish Ray.

Prosenjit explained: "Look, when I have money, I can start any business. Why film production? Because as an actor, I feel that the industry and the Bengali cinegoers made me the star I am today. The only way to give back to the film industry is to give them new talent. What else can I offer than talents that can carry forward the industry? After 10 years, I will not remain the 'hero' Prosenjit. If Chandrasish becomes the successful director, I will be the happiest person to say I launched him. That is my way of paying tribute to the Bengali film industry that has given me a lot!" The conversation around nepotism and favouritism in Tollywood, or the Bengali film industry, took a fresh turn when actress Sreelekha last month put out a video on her YouTube channel alleging that Prosenjit practiced "favouritism" rampantly. She also said that she missed out on several opportunities to bag films of renowned directors because she never "compromised" before the power structure. She claimed she only got second leads in films as she never "slept with directors" like "other actresses". However, many celebrities including actress Swastika Mukherjee countered the allegation.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)
Morgan Godvin

Godvin is a student at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. She lives in Portland.

When I stand in Chapman Square, I see the Multnomah County Courthouse, the Multnomah County Justice Center, and the federal courthouse. All three of those buildings have incarcerated me for sentences ranging from seven days in jail to five years in prison. Police have served a no-knock warrant on my apartment, bursting through my front door at night, pointing guns at me and shouting. I threw my hands up and said, dont shoot! In 2013, the justification that police used to search my car  which led to a felony conviction  didnt match the facts as I knew them.

I am white, and therefore had fundamentally different and safer interactions with police and the system and was likely spared a longer prison sentence because of my racial and class privilege. I was not targeted by police based on an immutable aspect of my identity, the color of my skin, my race or my ethnicity. I was targeted based on my addiction and conduct, things bound in time and context.

Since March I have lived outside of the United States. I came home to Portland, the city where I was born, raised and lived my entire life on the 4th of July. I promptly went to Chapman and Lownsdale Squares to attend a protest. The Black Lives Matter movement, the unifying force behind the protests across the country, is something I support wholeheartedly. I recognize my own racial privilege, especially in my interactions with the justice system.

Between some of the protesters conversations, the signs and the graffiti, I came to a painful realization. Subtlety and complexity have been sacrificed for certainty. Certainty of good and evil, of friend and foe, of right and wrong.

The criminal justice system labeled me a criminal and put me in a cage. I was cursed at, screamed at, denied feminine hygiene products. I was subjected to dehumanization. American carceral systems are adept at dehumanizing entire populations, a human rights crisis and social justice issue I will spend the rest of my life fighting against.

Somehow this is controversial. but I want to point out that all cops are not bastards. ACAB has become a rallying cry, but its one that obfuscates humanity. The American system of policing is broken and unjust, our carceral systems are shaped by racism, our communities under-supported, but the individuals that comprise our police forces are not all anything. They are a diverse group of people, a mix of good and bad, just like each of us. Generalizations dont allow for the complexity inherent to humanity itself. (If the cops hijacked ACAB to mean, All Criminals Are Bad, I would be livid.)

You cannot decry dehumanization while in the same breath calling cops pigs and advocating for their slaughter. I doubt anyone means kill cops literally but Portland Police were thrilled to use images of that slogan in their latest press release. Murder is wrong, always. It is why the state should not commit it, judicially, extrajudicially, or ever.

Dehumanization and sweeping generalizations are not solutions to dehumanization and sweeping generalizations. I will not resort to the tactics of my oppressors, lest I become them.

I am complicit in the reductive Twitterification of complex concepts. Over-simplification comes at the cost of true understanding, without which we will simply over-correct from one extreme to another. Lasting solutions include nuance. Seeking mutual understanding is not the same as seeking to agree.

Before jumping to the intellectually lazy but gratifying conclusion that people I disagree with are just bad people, I seek to understand their perspective. Once you declare someone as your enemy you stop seeing them as multi-dimensional human beings.

I am horrified by police killings, repulsed by police brutality and appalled by the common instances of cruelty committed by police and correctional officers. I disagree with police tactics and often officers individual politics. But I can still try to understand, after all, I could be writing this from a very different perspective. Before the drug war ensnared me, I once wanted to become a police officer. I wanted to serve my community and help people, not bash heads. Systems failures cannot be laid at the feet of individuals alone.

I am not pro-police, I am pro-humanity. It is why I am anti-racist and anti-incarceration.

I am not a meek moderate. I, too, demand radical change. But lasting societal change means we must reject over-simplification, sweeping generalizations, and dehumanization. Yes, even when talking about them. The political normalization of those tactics has gone on for too long. The side of justice is the side of humanity, in all its messy complexity.

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Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan publishedon his Facebook pagethe national goals of the Armenian people. It reads as follows, in particular:

"National goals

The national goals of the Armenian people are:

- Ensuring the ideological, security, public, political, legal, economic, demographic, international, educational, intellectual, culturalinstitutionalconditions necessary for the eternity of the Armenian state.

- International recognition of Artsakh's [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] right to self-determination without any restrictions.

- International recognition of the Armenian Genocide, overcoming and eliminating the consequences.

- Ensuring the security, welfare, freedom and happiness, as well as other well-known rights of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia.

- Equality of all before the law, equality of women and men, ensuring equal opportunities for women and men to participate in public, state, economic life, establishment of national unity based on protection of rights and the fulfillment of responsibilities.

- Preservation and development of the national-state identity, autonomy and sovereignty of the Armenian people, including the restoration and development of national identity ().

- Consolidation of the pan-Armenian potential around the realization of national goals for the preservation and development of national values.

Pan-Armenian rules of coexistence

1. Violence must be excluded from the mechanism for the resolution of any internal Armenian issue. ().

2. The people and their free will is the only source of forming power. ().

3. The sovereignty of Armenia and Artsakh, the Armenian people is the highest value. ().

4. Armenia and Artsakh must be free from corruption. ().

5. The rule of law and rule, equality before the law, protection of rights and fulfillment of duties must become the core of national relations. ().

6. The purpose of the negotiation process for the settlement of the Artsakh issue should be the protection of the results of the Artsakh liberation war for the self-determination and security of the people of Artsakh. As a result of the negotiations, any solution considered acceptable for the governments of Armenia and Artsakh can be considered acceptable only in case of popular approval in Armenia and Artsakh.

We and the world

Throughout its history, Armenia has been in the "west of the east" and in the "east of the west," often becoming the scene of a clash of civilizations. We reject the presumption of a clash of civilizations and position ourselves in international relations as advocates of a dialogue of civilizations. International and inter-ethnic dialogue is our key vision of foreign relationsbased on mutual respect, to understand and striving to be understood.

Promoting dialogue and multilateral relations between civilizations, peoples and nations shall become an expression of our commitment to promoting international peace and stability. Armenia is ready to become a platform for such a dialogue."
An ice rink featuring a frozen waterfall in Beijings Changping district has become a popular destination among climbing enthusiasts and newcomers to ice sports. Located in the Huyu Natural Scenic Area, the rink consists of a 40-meter-high climbing area. With the approach to the Beijing Winter Olympics, ice and snow activities are attracting fans across the country. The China Tourism Academy estimated that 305 million people will visit such venues nationwide this season

Jan 18, 2022 05:36 PM
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 18:41:09|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- With joint efforts of both sides, China-Mexico relations have maintained a good momentum of development, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang has said.

Zheng made the remarks on Friday at the 17th political consultation between the two countries' foreign ministries via video link, which was also attended by Mexico's Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs Julian Ventura.

Not long ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reached an important consensus in a telephone conversation on strengthening bilateral cooperation in various fields, including the fight against COVID-19, Zheng said.

Noting the two sides have maintained close communication at all levels, Zheng said the two countries have made new progress in bilateral cooperation in such fields as pandemic prevention and control, economy and trade, as well as infrastructure construction.

China is willing to work with Mexico to continue to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen communication, coordination and cooperation in various fields and jointly safeguard multilateralism, so as to push the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to a new level, Zheng said.

Ventura spoke highly of the bilateral cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 and other fields.

Noting that Mexico values developing relations with China, Ventura said his country is willing to step up mutually beneficial cooperation with China in a wide range of fields such as epidemic prevention and control, trade and investment, culture, education and tourism in order to promote greater progress of their comprehensive strategic partnership.

The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern. Enditem
The encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey has kicked up dust over Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's alleged 'thok do' policy.

The encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey may have opened a Pandora's box for the Uttar Pradesh Police.

Questions are being raised on several aspects: from the need to fatally shoot a criminal attempting escape to the police narrative. But it has mainly kicked up dust over Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's alleged 'thok do' policy (a quote of the chief minister) which the Opposition has used to decry the rise in encounter killings.

Shortly after taking charge of India's most populous state with the worst crime statistics, Adityanath infamously told India TV in a June 2017 interview, "Agar apradh karenge toh thok diye jayenge (if they commit crime, we'll take them out)."

A few days later, his deputy, Keshav Prasad Maurya, picked up the cue to clarify what the phrase thok do, which could mean both to kill someone or to knock them out, meant. "Today criminals are terrified with the thought that either they will have to give up crime or leave UP, or, maybe, even leave this world," Maurya told The Hindu.

Months later, the chief minister's official Twitter handle celebrated the high encounter statistics being reported from the state since BJP came into power.

A UP top cop hailed the "encounter express."

#uppolice encounter express halts in the capital . ........... miles to go.... pic.twitter.com/tuIWVss5Fw  RAHUL SRIVASTAV (@upcoprahul) September 2, 2017

By December 2019, the number had risen from 430 in six months in power to a whopping 5,178 in two years and nine months.

The Uttar Pradesh Police informed the public of its 'success' in a December 2019 tweet after Opposition party leader Mayawati complained the state police was treating criminals like "state guests" following the Hyderabad Police's encounter killing of four men accused of rape and murder.

The figures speak for themselves. Jungle Raj is a thing of the past. No longer now. 103 criminals killed and 1859 injured in 5178 police engagements in the last more than 2 years.

17745 criminals surrendered or cancelled their own bails to go to jail. Hardly state guests. https://t.co/3Tk8qFLtK3  UP POLICE (@Uppolice) December 6, 2019

As of this week, records show that in all, there have been 6,145 encounter operations in which 119 accused have died and 2,258 others injured.

In these operations, 13 policemen, including the eight near Kanpur last week, lost their lives. A total of 885 policemen were injured, as per a report in The Indian Express.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sent notices to the Uttar Pradesh government over a number of alleged encounter killings by the state police in 2017-18.

It is the "solemn duty of the police force to protect the people and not to create atmosphere of fear under the garb of dealing with crime. Any death caused in an encounter, if not justified, would amount to an offence of culpable homicide," the commission had observed in its notice.

In February 2018, the NHRC had sent notices to the state's chief secretary and the police chief, taking suo motu cognisance of media reports that a 25-year-old man was shot in Noida allegedly by a sub-inspector of the Uttar Pradesh Police on the night of 3 February that year, and that the policeman was reportedly heard "telling his colleague that the encounter would earn him an out-of-turn promotion."

The commission, while issuing the notices in this case, had observed that it seemed the "police personnel in the state of Uttar Pradesh are feeling free, misusing their power in the light of an undeclared endorsement given by the higher ups."

It observed that the police force is meant to protect the people and that incidents such as encounters sent a "wrong message" to society. "Creating an atmosphere of fear is not the correct way to deal with the crime," the statement said.

In November 2017, the human rights watchdog also issued notices to the state government and the DGP, taking suo motu cognisance of media reports about the Adityanath government allegedly endorsing killings in encounters by police to improve the law and order situation. The NHRC had sought replies from them, including a detailed report within six weeks.

"According to the official statistics, as reported on 5 October, 2017, 433 such encounters had occurred over a period of six months starting from March, 2017 when the present government came into existence. A total 19 alleged criminals were killed in these encounters and 89 injured," the NHRC said in a statement, reported in The Hindu. It pointed out that 98 officials were also injured and one had died.

Another news story on 16 September, 2017, said 15 people had been killed in encounters since the new government had come to power in Uttar Pradesh, the rights body said, according to PTI.

The state government had reportedly described the encounters as "an achievement and a proof of improvement in the law and order situation," the NHRC said.

The rights body had also taken note of yet another seeming endorsement of the "encounter policy" by Adityanath in November 2017.

"Criminals will be jailed or killed in encounters," Adityanath apparently told reporters.

The commission had noted that it had also received intimation of "about 22 encounter deaths from the state police authorities in 2017", as per its standing guidelines.

The NHRC, while issuing the notices had observed that "even if the law and order situation is grave, the State cannot resort to such mechanism, which may result in the extrajudicial killings of the alleged criminal".

"It is not good for a civilised society to develop an atmosphere of fear, emerging out of certain policies adopted by the state, which may result into violation of their right to life and equality before law," it said in a statement.

Dubey was the sixth man to die in a police encounter after the ambush he allegedly masterminded in Kanpur's Bikru village past midnight on 2 July, killing eight policemen who had come to arrest him.

Madhya Pradesh police arrested Dubey outside the Mahakal temple in Ujjain on Thursday morning and was handed over to an Uttar Pradesh police team.

Dubey was shot dead on Friday by the police, who claim he tried to flee after the SUV carrying him from Ujjain overturned on an isolated stretch of a highway. Police said the gangster snatched a pistol from one of the policemen injured in the accident and was shot when he opened fire while trying to flee, an account being questioned by opposition parties.

According to NHRC guidelines for all states and Union territories, in case of custodial deaths the rights' body should be intimated within 24 hours, and within 48 hours of the incident in case of an encounter death, in order to protect and promote human rights.

The police force is entitled to use firearm in specific scenarios, but the norm is to shoot to incapacitate rather kill. Section 46 of the CrPC, 1973, lays out the conditions when a police personnel can cause the death of a civilian and not be charged with homicide.

"If such person forcibly resists the endeavour to arrest him, or attempts to evade the arrest, such police officer or other person may use all means necessary to effect the arrest."

However, a sub-clause in the same law states: "Nothing in this section gives a right to cause the death of a person who is not accused of an offence punishable with death or with imprisonment for life."

Section 100 in the Indian Penal Code also details circumstances when both personnel and civilians can kill without facing the lay.

An assault as may reasonably cause the apprehension that death will otherwise be the consequence.

An assault as may reasonably cause the apprehension that grievous hurt will otherwise be the consequence.

An assault with the intention of committing rape.

An assault with the intention of gratifying unnatural lust.

An assault with the intention of kidnapping or abducting.

An assault with the intention of wrongfully confining a person, under circumstances which may reasonably cause him to apprehend that he will be unable to have recourse to the public authorities for his release.

NHRC guidelines also state that a magisterial inquiry must be held in all cases of death which occurs in the course of police action, as expeditiously as possible (preferably within three months). The police is also required to surrender the weapon used in the encounter for ballistics examination, subject to the rights mentioned under Article 20 of the Constitution.

In keeping with the above norms, the Uttar Pradesh government has ordered an inquiry into the death of Dubey. So let's take a brief look at how the result of past inquiries.

According to The Indian Express, magisterial inquiries have been completed in 74 encounter cases where deaths occurred and the police have got a clean chit in all. In as many as 61 cases, closure reports filed by the police have been accepted by the court.

So, what will be the outcome of the probe into Dubey's death? Your guess is as good as ours.

With inputs from PTI
THE NORMALLY tranquil atmosphere of the idyllic Slieve Bloom Mountains is being repeatedly disrupted by illegal dumping and excessively loud race cars, people living in the region have told the Tribune.

The damage caused by illegal car racing and the new phenomenon of drifting (a type of stunt driving which is illegal on public roads) has left scars across the mountain's scenic roads and amenity car parks, which have seen a boom in popularity for hill walkers and cyclists in the last decade.

Local people told the Tribune this week that the issues mostly surface at weekends, when large groups of loud and modified cars congregate on the mountain at night and early morning hours  a sound which echoes across the mountains and causes a noise disturbance for people and farm livestock.

The stone monument erected in the look-out point of the JI Fanning Pass was dislodged from its foundation and dragged into the centre of the car park, where cars performed drifting stunts around it. Subsequently Laois County Council ingeniously embedded the damaged monument into the rock-face  however, even this has not prevented vandals from further damaging the monument only last week when it was broken beyond repair.

A bank of heather in the Glendine area was set alight last month when vandals set a car on fire after crashing it off the road into the embankment, heightening concerns of a repeat of the forest fires which engulfed swathes of the dense forestry on the northern side of the mountain range.

The issue has been raised at local authority meetings, most recently in County Laois where Independent Councillor, James Kelly, described recent incidents as disgraceful and implored the Council to help people living and working in the area pleading for the issue to be tackled.

Local people told this newspaper that instances of illegal dumping are causing major concern and described it as soul destroying to see one illegal dumpsite and another reappear within days. All types of domestic rubbish is repeatedly dumped in one of the most scenic beauty spots of the Midlands, the local Slieve Bloom Association said.

The mountains, which span Offaly and Laois and draw visitors from around the world, are also a place of work for many farmers and forestry workers, who said the level of damage is escalating and becoming more frequent on all parts of the mountains.

The JI Fanning Pass, created in 1995 and named after the visionary man who wanted to open the mountains for visitors, is becoming more often abused, local farmers said.

Tom Ryan, who farms a portion of mountainous land on the approach roads to the Glendine valley, said his livestock were recently disturbed by fireworks, which occured in the height of the Covid-19 restrictions.

I've called the Guards and in fairness to them you'd see them up here often enough, but it's impossible for them to be here all the time, he said. Speedbumps in the car parks would stop them - the fireworks went on for an hour or two and they left their rubbish all over the place, he said.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, when the mountains were outside the range of the very few who live nearby, significant damage was caused to several local authority barriers which were unearthed and twisted beyond repair.

Damage like that would have taken heavy machines, Tony Reddan, who transports felled trees from the Slieve Blooms said.

Machines have been damaged that were left overnight on the mountain and have cost thousands to put right again, he said.

Notably, local people have also reported several of the signs directing motorists to the Slieve Bloom Mountains have mysteriously disappeared, or have been altered to give the wrong direction and neither replaced or corrected by the local authority.

Signs in the Offaly area have been disturbed by pranksters, with Council road signs in areas including Roscomroe, Camross and Glendine changed to provide incorrect directions  a worrying situation for tourists and visitors unfamiliar with the mountains winding roads.

The number of visitors to the area is expected to increase for the remaining months of the summer holiday period and local councillors hope to create a rewarding experience for domestic tourists seeking out new places to visit in Ireland.

Kinnitty has seen a spike in visitors who have flocked to the picturesque village this summer to enjoy the mountain's biking trails and popular cafe, bars and nearby hotel Laois Councillor Conor Bergin said that as the Slieve Bloom Mountains are one of the region's main tourist attractions, we must protect them.

It really is in an appalling state and it has become a blackspot for anti-social behaviour. With many people opting for staycations this year because of Covid-19, we want to attract people to the area and the Slieve Blooms are one of our most treasured amenities he said.
A portion of former Rajya Sabha member Leonard Soloman Saring's house in Mangan, the district headquarters of North Sikkim, came crashing down on Sunday amid incessant rainfall, even as the state continued top grapple with landslides, officials said.

Due to continuous rainfall over the last couple of days, Saring's four-storeyed house in Mangan Bazaar partially collapsed due to subsidence, an official statement said.

The residents and shopkeepers of surrounding areas have been evacuated by the local administration, it said. There was no report of any casualty, it added.

Saring, 78, was a two-term MP between 1975 and 1987. Meanwhile, the Teesta river was in spate and residents of low-lying areas near Singtam in East Sikkim have been put on alert.

The incessant rainfall over the past few days have caused landslides in several parts of Sikkim and disrupted normal life, officials said.
Omans Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) has abolished some of the fees related to trucks entry and storage in Al Mazunah Free Zone.

This comes within Madayns efforts to fight the economic consequences resulting from Covid-19 pandemic, and to attract more local and foreign investments and encourage transit trade in the free zone, a statement said.

Meanwhile, Al Mazunah Free Zone, which pertains to Madayn, has witnessed notable growth during the first half of 2020. The total value of incoming goods to the free zone amounted to RO 334,378,910 $869,646,059.82) by end of June this year compared to RO 143,460,165 during the same period in 2019, marking a growth rate that exceeds 133 per cent, informed Said bin Abdullah Al Balushi, Director General of Al Mazunah Free Zone.

The volume of incoming goods to the free zone increased to 210,160 tonnes during the first half of 2020 compared to 129,170 tonnes during the same period in 2019, noting a growth rate of more than 62 per cent. Besides, the total number of incoming vehicles to Al Mazunah Free Zone touched 19,384 during the first half of 2020 in comparison to 945 during the same period in 2019, recording a growth rate that exceeds 1,951 per cent.

This steady growth is attributed to the incentives and facilities offered by Madayn through Al Mazunah Free Zone to offer an ideal investment destination for the investors and business owners. The free zone has recently signed several agreements to encourage further business growth.

Al Balushi pointed out that Al Mazunah Free Zone has signed an agreement this year with Al Madina Logistics Services to manage and operate the customs area services at the free zone. This agreement aims at raising the efficiency of handling operations, and management of loading and unloading of containers and trucks at the dry port.

An agreement was also signed with Shumookh Investment and Services to establish Facility Building at the free zone, which shall present integrated services and facilities required by investors, business owners and clients under one platform.

Dry Port

Hassan Ihsan Al Naseeb, Chairman of Al Mazunah Dry Port Company, stated that the company has officially commenced its operations at the free zone after the success of the initial launch at the inspection, examination and handling areas at the dry port. He emphasised that the launch of these operations comes within the companys plan to expand and invest in the field of dry ports through enhancing integration, cooperation and partnership between public and private sectors.

We aspire to see these operations achieve a qualitative shift in the smooth flow of imports and exports through Al Mazunah Free Zone. This shall contribute to achieving higher growth rates and boosting movement in the coming period in cooperation with our partners in Madayn, Directorate General of Customs, and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Al Naseeb said.

Al Naseeb noted that Al Mazunah Dry Port Company has selected and appointed a number of Omani cadres from the wilayat of Al Mazyunah who have got trained to 100 per cent manage and operate the port. This shall represent an adding value to the local community and national cadres. The company will move forward in providing promising investment opportunities for business owners and Small and Medium Enterprises in the fields of customs clearance, handling and equipment provision, among other available investment opportunities, he added. TradeArabia News Service
A woman casting her vote at the Chung Cheng High School polling centre on 10 July. (PHOTO: Joseph Nair for Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE  While the vote swing towards the opposition in the 2020 General Election (GE2020) was a surprise for many, it also marked a continuation of the demand for change expressed in GE2011, said analysts.

The results, which saw the Workers Party (WP) earning a record 10 seats in Parliament thanks to its stunning victory in the newly formed Sengkang group representation constituency (GRC), also did not show a flight to safety for voters  something many expected to occur in an election held amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike 2015, the results point to a flight from the status quo rather than a flight to safety. It is a clear expression of a vote for change, as was the vote in GE2011. This time, it is more significant than 2011, said political analyst Eugene Tan.

If the WP continues to grow in support, we can expect the move away from one-party dominance, he added. Tan, who is an associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University, was responding to queries from Yahoo News Singapore.

He said that while Singaporeans still believed that the Peoples Action Party (PAP)  which took home 83 parliamentary seats, with 61.24 per cent of the overall vote share  are best equipped to handle the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, they also demanded a government that was less paternalistic and more trusting of the people.

Similar sentiments were expressed by the participants of an Academia.sg online panel that convened on Saturday (11 July) morning to discussion the election aftermath.

My suspicion is that people are starting to think a bit more about what they want out of the government. And by government, I also mean the opposition, said media scholar Terence Lee, one of the panelists.

Political scientist Elvin Ong, another panel participant, observed that the vote share earned by the three major opposition parties had also risen, and linked this to the desires of todays average voter.

One can sort of categorise the moderate median voter in Singapore as having the political preference of: They want the PAP to still be in power but they (also) want to see more opposition voices to potentially challenges the PAP much more in Parliament, he said. Ong is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbias Centre for South-east Asia Research.

Story continues

Noting that there was a lot of nervousness about how the opposition would fare at the start of Polling Day on Friday, fellow panelist and lawyer Priscilla Chia said, I think with this election, it is truly unprecedented. (COVID-19) is unexpected. There were a lot of uncertainties surrounding the election.

In 2011, we saw the swing towards the opposition. In 2015, it went back to the PAP. Today, another swing to the opposition. So what does this trajectory mean for the opposition, for the PAP, moving forward? asked Chia, who in also involved in non-profit work with groups such as the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE).

The Sengkang victory

Raeesah Begum (left) and Jamus Lim, Workers Party candidates for Sengkang GRC, seen on walkabout in Anchorvale Link on 2 July 2020. (PHOTO: Yahoo News Singapore)

While breaking down the WPs victory in Sengkang GRC, Chia observed that the constituency encompasses quite a bit of former Sengkang West SMC (single-member constituency), Punggol East SMC and a bit of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

(This area) is a little under the radar, but has been quite a stronghold for WP, she said.

Chia said that while Sengkang GRC is a relatively new constituency, the WP team fielded there  comprising a relatively younger slate of candidates, including 37-year-old He Ting Ru and 26-year-old Raeesah Khan  were quite representative of the areas residents.

Moving ahead, I think the WP will try to consolidate and build its regional identity here in Sengkang, she added.

Another political scientist on the panel, Kevin Tan of the National University of Singapore, said the formation of a new constituency ahead of the election could have helped to level the playing field in the oppositions favour as there would be no incumbent to challenge.

The moment you create a new constituency, a new identity emerges. And then it depends on how you play your cards, he said. Tan also acknowledged the WPs brilliant strategy in contesting Sengkang, which saw its young candidates trying to dovetail their own identities with those of residents.

A social media election

Heng Swee Keat, Singapores Deputy Prime Minister and PAP candidate for East Coast GRC, seen during a walkabout in Simei on Friday (3 July). Heng's team narrowly beat their Workers' Party opponents, earning a 51.69 per cent vote share. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)

Many have also dubbed GE2020 the social media election, given the digital campaigning efforts necessitated by the pandemic regulations  which barred activities such as physical rallies.

Institute of Policy Studies senior research fellow Carol Soon noted that online party activities had started even before the election was called on 23 June, citing as examples the Progress Singapore Partys (PSP) meet-the-party session with its chief Tan Cheng Bock over Facebook Live and the Singapore Democratic Partys (SDP) Ask Paul Anything sessions on its Facebook page.

Another visible difference from past online campaigning is the visible efforts made to show and tell the candidates. Besides party branding and policy proposals, the character and values of the candidates are important factors that can make or break an online campaign, she said in response to Yahoo News Singapores queries.

Soon also highlighted the dangers of the online mud-slinging during the campaigning period, which also saw numerous police reports made against candidates and petitions calling for the resignation of a minister.

They smack of citizen retaliation, on both sides of the political spectrum. Such behaviours may signify a potential division along partisan lines and if left unaddressed, it may have long-term repercussions.

For one, we may see less online space for the middle ground to access unbiased information and speak up, she said.

On the positive aspects of the digital electioneering, Soon pointed to citizens contributions  especially by the young  towards promoting healthy political conversations.

This election could also be a youth-election but this needs to be studied further. During the campaigning period, young people took to social media and created content to educate citizens and their peers, many of whom were first-time voters, she noted, citing as examples social media influencers on Instagram, the socialservice.sg website and videos by Our Grandfather Story.

Citizens are trying to get others engaged in election issues based on facts and this bodes well for citizen engagement in Singapore, added Soon.

Commenting on WPs and PAPs campaign content, Ong said the formers evoked a sense of authenticity about the candidates, which gave viewers a sense of who they are. By contrast, he cited the example of Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keats digital campaign efforts, which gave no sense of him as a person.

I didnt get a sense of who the authentic Heng Swee Keat was, said Ong.

Looking forward

Regarding whats in store for Singapore politics going forward, SMUs Tan said that it will likely be incremental where the erosion of one-party dominance is concerned.

The question is not whether but when that dominance will wither. It will depend on what the PAP does to manage the pace of political change and what the opposition does to dictate the pace of change, he added.

Noting that the PAPs fourth-generation leaders have their work cut out for them, Tan said they still have some way to go in establishing themselves as the type of leaders the country needs.

Collectively, they know they can do better. Individually, they will have to reckon with the voters assessment. What matters now is how they respond to the change in voting to ensure that it does not result in a vote for radical change in future GEs, he said.

Follow Yahoo News Singapores GE2020 coverage here.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore

More GE2020 stories:

GE2020: WP scores stunning win in Sengkang, 2nd GRC ever to be won by opposition

Live: GE2020 polling draws to a close, Singaporeans await results

Overheard during GE2020: Quotes by party members, candidates

Most dramatic moments in Singapore's General Elections

GE2020: PAP loses most seats to opposition since independence, vote share falls to 61.24%
Jamshedpur: A controversy has erupted after a teacher at a private school in Jharkhand allegedly asked kindergarten students to memorise the national anthems of Pakistan and Bangladesh, prompting the administration to launch a probe amid accusations that she had an "anti-national mindset", an official said on Sunday.

Several parents had objected to the task, which was shared by the teacher in East Singhbhum district with YouTube links of the anthems in a school WhatsApp group for UKG and LKG students last week during online classes being held due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The matter was also highlighted on Twitter by BJP spokesperson Kunal Sarangi, following which the district administration constituted a two-member team to conduct a probe and submit its report in 24 hours, District Education Officer Shivendra Kumar said.

Authorities at the Ghatshila school in East Singhbhum had cancelled the task following protests.

"Deputy Commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla has directed a probe into the matter which will be conducted by a two- member team led by Regional Education Officer Keshav Prasad," the DEO said.

In a press statement, the BJP's state unit general secretary, Aditya Sahu, said, "The future of the children is dark and unsecured in such private schools, which ask children to learn Pakistan and Bangladesh anthems for homework."

A childs mind is very delicate and it develops according to the culture inculcated into the child. Such homework reflects the anti-national mindset, Sahu added.

The teacher could not be contacted for comment.
Commander highlights US footprints in anti-Iran threats

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, July 11, IRNA -- Iranian Border Guards Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Ali Goudarzi said on Saturday that Iran is facing with complicated threats posed by the US and foreign saboteurs just like Iraqi-imposed war.

Goudarzi said that the main mission of border guards is discovering the roots of contraband and fighting cross-border smuggling of fuel and weapons.

He hailed good coordination between border guards units in defensive and security fields.

Iranian border guards could safeguard borders by taking advantage of experienced forces, he noted

Stressing the presence of anti-Iran elements in social media, Goudarzi said that Iran must be pioneer in cyber space.

9376**1416

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Poland's highly charged presidential election is too close to call, and a bitter battle that pitted a conservative incumbent against a pro-European alternative is bound to get more complicated.

An exit poll showed President Andrzej Duda with a razor-thin margin over his opponent, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski. Both men declared victory, and the challenger's campaign is talking of "irregularities" in voting and planning protests. The highest turnout since the fall of communism shows that Poles are hugely invested in the vote.

Duda's lead - 50.8% over 49.2% - is within the margin of error of the exit poll, and the survey by the IPSOS pollster doesn't take into account nearly half a million votes by Poles living abroad that may favor the challenger. Official results may be published Monday.

Five years into a nationalist makeover, Duda and his allied Law & Justice party have transformed Poland from a nation hailed as a model of post-communist change to one battling against the European Union's values. With another term, the government could erode the rule of law so much that Poland remains out of the E.U. mainstream for years.

Duda thanked voters for their support and asked Trzaskowski for a late-night meeting, seeking to "shake hands and end this campaign." His rival said that when all ballots are counted, he'll be declared the winner.

"This is heading for the courts due to the scale of irregularities and the small margin between the candidates," said Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a political scientist at Warsaw University. "Regardless of the final result, we have a completely split country and both candidates realize this."

Financial markets will be in limbo until the winner is decided, though no bigger reaction is expected on Monday, Credit Agricole Bank Polska chief economist Jakub Borowski said by phone. The zloty has lost 0.4% against the euro this month, lagging most of its emerging-market peers.

- - -

Unable to run again, Duda would have little motivation to seek to compromise despite appearing to win by such a tiny margin. After it lost control over parliament's upper house in last October's general election, Law & Justice didn't swerve from its path.

In fact, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on Sunday that the ruling coalition must do more to eliminate the "imbalance" in the country's media landscape.

During the campaign, the incumbent criticized foreign-owned media for critical coverage. Meanwhile, international election monitors blasted pro-Duda public television for failing in its "legal duty to provide balanced and impartial coverage," while playing on anti-Semitic themes.

"We must look after the basic mechanisms of democracy, including fair media coverage of what's happening," Ziobro told public television. "We can't close our eyes to what happened. We're facing a serious debate."

- - -

A victory by Trzaskowski, on the other hand, would send a message to Brussels and Berlin that Poland still has one foot in the E.U. mainstream. That would be a welcome development for E.U. leaders who - while occupied by the coronavirus crisis and Brexit - have struggled with nationalist governments rejecting its liberal and multicultural agenda.

A Duda victory "would lead to further deterioration of the rule of law in Poland and pave the way for a complete state capture" by Law & Justice, said Piotr Buras and Pawel Zerka of the European Council on Foreign Relations. A second-term would allow the government to "dismantle the country's already damaged system of checks and balances - in a similar way that already happened in Hungary."

Given the massive advantage in public media, front-runner Duda wasn't able to score a knockout at the ballot box, while Trzaskowski gained about 4 million voters compared with the first round two weeks ago.

"This is just the beginning - we've woken up and started talking about the Poland we want," Trzaskowski told supporters on Sunday. "Their side had everything: the entire state apparatus, propaganda, a ton of money and manipulation, we just had civic society and common sense."
Avi Love steps off the Metro, checks an address on her phone, enters a hotel. In a room, she finds flowers and a blindfold. She strips off her dress, dons the blindfold, bites her lip in erotic anticipation. Enter Ricky Mancini, who alternates soft kisses and caresses with painful ass slaps. He gives her his pussy-wet finger to suck as she strokes him. He fumbles off her bra (hook was in the front, who knew), puts her on all fours on the bed, strips down as her labored breathing is interrupted by his rubbing his cock against her cheek before giving it to her. He reciprocates with tongue and fingers before insertingand taking her blindfold off. Director Bodilis gives Love ample face time, catching her look of sweet frustration when Mancini pulls all the way out in doggie and her concerned, then pleasured reactions to the anal.

Lana Roy blows out a birthday-cake candle as Kristof Cale and Vince Karter applaud. She opens her presents, a lacy bra and garter belt set, and strips off to model them, showing that she had previously been commando totale. Maybe the guys already knew this. They repair to a nearby deep-red couch to celebrate, avec anal. Roy and Karter are back in the next scene, walking with Love and Rico Simmons through the Paris night. The girls head off to a bedroom to gigglingly try on the new lacy lingerie they pull out of their shopping bags and then model their new prizes, giving the boys a little girly-girly show before letting them join in.

Clea Gaultier joins Love and Karter for Scene Quatre, chatting at a sidewalk cafe before heading inside for a cool menage, with Gaultier and Love competing in I Can Suck It Better Than You Can as Karter's furrowed brow indicates he's doing the French equivalent of calculating batting averages. Karter demonstrates he's no slouch in the oral department, flutter-tonguing Love's clit as Gaultier looks on, biding her time until Karter eventually turns his attentions to her. Finale has Roy, in bra, G-string and garter belt avec stockings, stalking down a narrow hallway to meet Cale in a bedroom. She wastes no time getting his pants open and sucking him, but Cale slows things down with some anal play with a metal plug as she eyes him, biting her lip, waiting for the main event, which includes substantial anal.

Five scenes of casual Dorcel Euro-sex, with three appearances each by Roy and Love, plus a cameo by Dorcel stalwart Gaultier. Use of condoms throughout emphasizes the casualness.
Mississippi is seeing the largest outbreak of COVID-19 among legislators in any state.

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

Twenty-six Mississippi lawmakers tested positive for coronavirus, CNN reported.

According to The Virginian-Pilot, 10 employees in the building have also tested positive.

Many lawmakers have not been wearing masks, and the floor of the legislature is also quite crowded and indoors.

Health experts have agreed that masks are proven to help reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Some lawmakers in Mississippi have not been wearing masks while in the state Capitol, and 26 state legislators, about one-in-six of the state's lawmakers, tested positive for coronavirus, CNN reported.

Earlier this week, WTVA reported that Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann tested positive for the coronavirus. House Speaker Philip Gunn also tested positive for COVID-19, the local outlet reported. According to CNN, neither Hosemann nor Gunn wore masks while visiting the governor's mansion last week.

"We could have done more to prevent this," State Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Democratic leader of the state's House of Representatives, told CNN in a statement.

"It seems it was all about some erroneous, dangerously promoted political stance. It's disgusting. Our governor refuses to order statewide mask requirements and our leadership decided not to require it at the Capitol."

According to The Virginian-Pilot, in June, lawmakers were crowded "shoulder-to-shoulder" in committee rooms, and in some cases even whispered in each others' ears without wearing masks.

State officials told The Pilot that no one has been hospitalized.

Mississippi has recorded over 34,600 coronavirus cases with more than 1,000 over the past day. The state also has over 1,200 deaths.

Earlier this week, Gov. Tate Reeves said he and his daughters tested negative for the virus.

"Limited contact with the people who were diagnosed, but better safe than sorry! If someone you know gets the virus, get a test!" Reeves said in a tweet.

Story continues

According to The Pilot, at least an additional 10 people who work in the Capitol have also been diagnosed with COVID-19, and the number is expected to be higher.

"If you have been in contact with anyone in the Legislature, or if you have been in contact with any staff person that works at the Legislature, you need to get tested," Reeves said according to the outlet.

Reeves mandated masks for 13 counties with a high rise of coronavirus cases, CNN reported

"Mississippi is in a fight for our lives," Reeves said.

Rep. John Faulkner told The Pilot he consistently wore a mask but still ended up testing positive for the virus. Health experts have agreed that masks are proven to help reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission.

"Even if you do all that you can do, there's still a possibility that you can be infected with this," Faulkner told the outlet. "If you're not practicing, following the guidelines from the CDC, then we're basically playing Russian roulette with our health and our lives and the lives of our friends and families."

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Linkedin Gemma Holliani Cahya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, July 12, 2020 19:36 555 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40665c1586 1 National sex-abuse,domestic-abuse,pandemic,COVID-19,safe-house,#DomesticAbuse,domestic-violence Free

She would send WhatsApp messages to our hotline early in the morning or at noon, when her husband was asleep, said Uli Pangaribuan, a lawyer representing a victim of domestic violence, about how her team was contacted last month.

She was very discreet, Uli from the Legal Aid Foundation of the Indonesian Women's Association for Justices Jakarta office (LBH Apik Jakarta) told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

She asked for our help but forbade us to contact her out of fear that her husband, who had been working from home for the past three months, would notice. She never called. She only texted, and she immediately deleted all the messages after she updated us.

The woman told LBH APIK that her husband had physically and sexually abused her during quarantine but that she could not flee because she had nowhere to go and he watched her every movement. She said he had often beaten her in front of the children, Uli said.

It took almost a month to finally help get her and her children out of the house and place them into a safe house. She left the house quietly one morning while her husband was asleep, Uli said. Similar situations have happened to many others who contacted us, which is horrifying because they cannot leave their houses like on normal days before the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the coronavirus has forced people to stay home, women living with violent partners have found themselves increasingly isolated from others and from resources that can help them. They have been trapped with their abusers in their own homes and have been exposed to increased violence.

Not every victim can leave the house and find shelter, especially when they rely financially on their husbands and have no family or friends nearby to help.

Some victims seeking help from LBH APIK are in this situation. Many of them have decided to bear life in the abusive environment until the pandemic shows signs of easing, Uli said.

Read also: Jakarta records spike in domestic violence reports during work-from-home period

In the three and a half months between March 26 and July 7, LBH APIK Jakarta recorded 122 cases of domestic violence  nearly half of the 249 domestic violence cases it handled last year.

Access to domestic violence shelters during the pandemic, Uli said, had become more important than ever. However, state-owned shelters required victims to provide documents showing negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or rapid antibody test results and proof that the victim had lodged a formal complaint with the police before the shelter accepted the applicant.

They are afraid, abused, traumatized, trapped for months during the pandemic. Yet they are required to go to the police station first and need to think about how they will get the rapid test. Not to mention that not all of them have money for the test, Uli said. These long processes take time and prevent them from getting immediate help.

The absence of a fast government response has prompted LBH APIK to provide independent emergency shelters for the victims. Some other independent entities have provided similar shelters.

LBH APIK is seeking more funding to support its independent safe houses. They are also accepting donations of basic daily supplies for victims living there.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Indonesia deputy country director Sophie Kemkhadze described gender-based violence as one of the "invisible consequences of these [health] crises".

They are invisible because, sometimes, they are hard to detect or because those who are affected prefer to stay silent," Kemkhadze said in a recent public discussion.

Read also: Activists, survivors step up campaign for sexual violence bill after another delay

Jakarta Integrated Care Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children (P2TP2A) head Wiwik Andayani said the organization had received 540 reports of domestic violence against children between January and June. Some 75 percent of the victims were girls.

Wiwik said its hotline had been available 24/7 to help women and children in need long before the pandemic hit Jakarta.

But not every P2TP2A branch in Indonesia is as well-prepared as the branches in Jakarta, which are supported by sufficient facilities and qualified staff, said Margaretha Hanita, who works on the UNDPs project to raise awareness about gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, a 14-year-old rape survivor from Way Jepara, East Lampung regency, Lampung, was allegedly raped and sexually abused multiple times by the head of a womens shelter run by the regencys P2TP2A.

Margaretha called on authorities to cut the bureaucratic red tape to access safe houses, urging both the government and civil society groups to help improve the quality of P2TP2As throughout the country.

Victims can no longer stay at their own home; they need to recover. Rapid tests can be taken later. Hopefully, [Indonesia] will apply this, she said.

Another challenge, Margaretha said, was that there were no facilities available that allowed the police to receive and investigate the cases online during the pandemic.

Read also: House drops sexual violence eradication bill from this years priority list

While the number of cases of gender-based violence during the pandemic has been quite high, lawmakers dropped a long-awaited sexual violence eradication bill from this years legislative priority list earlier this month, a move activists have described as ironic.

The bill, if passed into law, would make the government responsible for giving victims of sexual abuse protection and access to justice. Under the current law, victims are not entitled to any help from the government. They have to spend their own money to bring their cases to court or for counseling and rehabilitation.

The pandemic shows how pivotal it is to pass the bill into law, Uli said.

If you have been a victim of domestic abuse and need crisis support, please seek help from the organizations in your area. The following contact information may be of assistance:



LBH APIK Jakarta: 081388822669, 02187797289 or lbh.apik@gmail.com



P2TP2A: 081317617622 or 082125751234



Komnas Perempuan: 0213903963 or mail@komnasperempuan.go.id



The governments Sejiwa program: 119 ext. 8, 082125751234, 08111922911 or pengaduan@kemenpppa.go.id



Yayasan Pulih: 02178842580, 08118436633 or pulihcounseling@gmail.com
Bryan Ross searched for years for a kidney.

Hed walk past the Tree of Life mural at Wake Forest Baptist Health, where kidney donors sign their names, and wonder when he might see his donors name on the wall.

His wife, Donna, tried to be a donor but didnt pass a kidney function test. Their children were disqualified for various reasons. Coworkers at Catawba Valley Community College also offered to donate a kidney to Bryan, who has suffered from kidney problems since he was a boy. Each candidate who offered was disqualified by one test or another, Donna Ross said.

Each time we made it one step further in the process, she said. It felt like we were looking for a needle in a haystack.

Even a 2016 article in the Hickory Daily Record didnt find a donor. The couple was nearly ready to give up hope and resign Bryan to a future of dialysis.

One last Facebook call for donors in late 2019 answered their prayers.

Jimmy Martin was up for the challenge. Though he wasnt close with the Rosses, his wife Jane had worked with Bryan and Donna at CVCC. Martin also worked with the couples son at Newton Fire Department.